Hey @realDonaldTrump. You ready for this? pic.twitter.com/GHBy697yRI
— Michael Steele (@MichaelSteele) July 23, 2024
As President Biden steps aside and Vice President Harris declares candidacy, donors and delegates from Illinois say that the mood of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next month vaults from trepidation to elation. https://t.co/wrIrRkrpoe
— Chicago Sun-Times (@Suntimes) July 23, 2024
Per the Chicago Sun-Times:
…The programming of the four convention nights, starting Aug. 19, is going to be revamped now that Biden bowed out on Sunday. Democrats who didn’t think Biden, 81, had a chance of beating Trump, 78, after the president’s disastrous debate are relieved.
At the convention, Biden will be saluted for his presidential, vice presidential and Senate legacy. When Biden delivers his keynote address, one convention veteran said, he will get a lengthy standing ovation and be treated as a hero.
“We have so many reasons to love Joe Biden,” Harris said when she visited the Delaware campaign headquarters on Monday afternoon. If elected, Harris, who is Black and Asian American, would be the country’s first female president…
Bob Clark, another top Biden donor and fundraiser, was a host of a May event at Chicago’s Palmer House headlined by Biden, bringing in more than $2 million.
With Democrats unifying around Harris, “There is nothing but excitement from my donor base,” Clark said.
Clark has already donated $500,000 to the Chicago Host Committee for the convention and raised $500,000. With Harris reinvigorating Democrats, Clark said, “I’m going to give more and raise more.”…
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Monday endorsed Harris, then visited the Chicago convention’s West Loop offices, along with Michael Sacks, the major Democratic donor and fundraiser who is leading the Chicago Host Committee. Pritzker led applause for Biden’s 50 years of political service and said he’s committed to showcasing Chicago at the convention, an official said.
Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-Ill., who has been a Biden-Harris campaign surrogate, said Democrats “will be very excited to nominate Kamala Harris to be president of the United States,” adding that the convention will be “a very positive, exciting event, and I can’t wait to attend.”…
The outstanding question is over the early, virtual nomination that was planned in order to lock in ballot access in Ohio and other states. On Wednesday, the convention rules committee will meet to discuss what is being called a “framework to select a new nominee.”
According to a memo obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times, the Democrats confirmed that they are going ahead with a virtual roll call. The bottom line, the memo concluded is that the Democrats will have a nominee in place by Aug. 7. Democratic officials are working to create a virtual nominating process with an electronic voting system.
Collins: What do you make of when Republicans criticize Harris as a DEI hire, but J.D. Vance, who has much less experience and government, they don't say the same about him
Warren: The scariest part to the Republicans is she can win. They're going to say everything they can. pic.twitter.com/xPFytx3MEM
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 24, 2024
"Several Hollywood publicists and agents told CNN the DNC will be star-studded with one source sharing that conversations with an A-list pop star are currently underway about a possible performance" https://t.co/ftR2fA8PbZ
— Nick Field (@nick_field90) July 24, 2024
CNN is excited that “Hollywood is now energized by Kamala Harris”:
… Plans for Harris’ first presidential fundraiser in Los Angeles are already underway, a source said, adding that multiple television, film and music executives have already raised their hand to host an event.
A briefing for the entertainment industry has been scheduled this week, according to a Zoom invitation from the Harris 2024 Campaign Entertainment Surrogates, which was shared with CNN by a top agent who plans to attend.
“I haven’t seen so many people that I know here and elsewhere so enlivened by a moment in politics since Obama’s original convention speech,” producer Greg Berlanti told CNN. “Joe Biden’s selfless act, combined with the kind of change and optimism and turning of the page that Kamala represents has reengaged so many people I know in this election and they are ready to fight for so many of the values that VP Harris has been fighting for her whole career.” …
Harris, a California native, has longstanding relationships within the entertainment industry and has garnered public support this week from the likes of Shonda Rhimes, Jessica Alba, Cher, Spike Lee, Viola Davis, Amy Schumer, Kerry Washington and Lynda Carter, who posted a photo of Harris in front of a “Wonder Woman” mural – likely a nod to what will be her historic run as the first Black woman and the first Asian American leading a major party ticket.
George Clooney, who loudly called for Biden’s exit, endorsed Harris, first telling CNN he is “excited to do whatever we can to support Vice President Harris in her historic quest.” Harris also appears to have the support of one of the biggest stars in the world: Beyoncé, who, CNN exclusively reported, gave Harris permission to use her anthem “Freedom” as a campaign song, although she has not made an official endorsement.
“We’re back to where we were before, and that’s powerful,” a political strategist who is working with A-list stars this election season, told CNN. “It would have been fair to say that this very strong element of celebrity endorsements in the political cycle was on the sidelines, but they all put on their jerseys and are ready to go.”
“They love the president and have so much respect for them,” this individual added. “But there is clearly a different energy.”
“We are seeing unprecedented enthusiasm for VP Harris in every corner of our country,” Laura Brounstein, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign, told CNN. “She has been a leading voice on the issues that really matter to all Americans, including the need to restore our reproductive rights, protecting unions, and addressing climate change. It’s encouraging that her message is resonating in Hollywood, Milwaukee and across the country.” …
Sharing is caring (H/t our beloved LAMH47):
Meanwhile… Repubs in disarray!
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone 😊 😊 😊
Suzanne
In case any white women want to get involved/organized for MFP (Madam Future President)….. Shannon Watts of Moms Demand Action is organizing a Zoom call for tomorrow night at 8:30 PM EST. Link to be shared on her Xhitter.
Geminid
@rikyrah: Good morning to you! Hope it’s a good morning for all of us.
Glory b
https://youtu.be/7FWF9375hUA?si=LJ1CxP5-aVMHyMtQ
The official campaign song.
The rapper is Kendrick Lamar, who has blown up this summer.
WereBear
No, I don’t think Trump is ready.
JCJ
@Glory b: welp. There go all the BBL Drizzy fans.
WereBear
I would like to see a full costume song from Cats, the Musical, to reach the underserved Women in Rescue community.
But I can pause my run for President. I’m waiting for Baud! to age out.
Dagaetch
Morning everyone! I have discovered that the Dunkin Donuts Snackin Bacon is surprisingly tasty. Sharing because we all deserve more bacon in our lives.
Scout211
Her first campaign event running for president yesterday was so inspiring. She delivers such a powerful speech. She knows how to work a crowd and they responded. The DNC crowd will be no different. It will be full of enthusiastic and happy Democrats.
I really loved how the crowd responded to her wonderful statement about how she knows Donald Trump’s “type.” Chants of “Lock him up! Lock him up!” I’ve been waiting for the Dems to turn that one on Trump. Finally!
The other one, “We’re not going back!” was great, too.
LFG!
WereBear
@Dagaetch: Really brightens a turkey sandwich.
BR
@Suzanne:
I watched the Black Men Zoom call for Harris — it was great. I can’t believe that hearing from so many people on a Zoom call could be so compelling, but it really was to me:
https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/reidout-blog/kamala-harris-win-with-black-men-fundraising-rcna163280
Honus
As someone in another thread said about that last cartoon, I wonder why they aren’t just covering up the “Don’t”
BR
@Scout211:
This is such a powerful and all encompassing message / chant. It covers just about everything — future vs. past, an inclusive democracy vs. an authoritarian monarchy, a time when all are equal vs. a time where some were more equal than others, etc.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Now that the Reich Wing “DEI Hire” talking point offensive is kicking off, this from the ineffable Frank Coniff:
The comment thread is pretty funny.
Suzanne
Saw this report this morning from Political Polls (can’t figure out how to link):
White Men College Graduate: Harris+5
White Men No Degree: Trump+24
MazeDancer
When Beyonce and Taylor Swift – possibly, together – do a PPV for the Harris Campaign, what MAGA gonna do?
Bust out Kid Rock? Lee Greenwood? Kevin Sorbo, 65, in a Hercules suit?
The Inauguration – knock wood – will be impossibly wondrous.
Read that the AKAs have already booked every hotel room in DC.
A nice, white lady posted a primer on “do not steal Divine 9 stuff”. No imitating the strolls or wearing pink and green. How she gonna stop Tik Tok?
It’s all good. Looking forward to Mr. Biden’s Oval Office address tonight.
Suzanne
@BR: I’m very excited. SuzMom and I are going to watch it together.
WereBear
@Suzanne: Why I left the South to date.
Even the nice ones had family who weren’t.
OzarkHillbilly
Beware, a new Time Bandits is coming to a TV near you. Unlike most remakes, it actually sounds pretty good, and faithful to the zany spirit of the original. I am definitely gonna watch it
RandomMonster
Trump must hate that he can’t draw celebrity talent. Maybe he could ask Clint Eastwood to debate a stool.
OzarkHillbilly
@MazeDancer: I’m not fluent in acronym so please take pity on me: AKAs?
Kay
@RandomMonster:
Agree. He loves celebrities. He’ll be livid.
Suzanne
@Scout211:
It’s such a great rhetorical contrast to “Make American Great Again”. Forward, not back. Future, not past.
dc
We have to win this election. Up and down the ballot. If we manage to get the House, keep the Senate and the White House we have to deal with the outsized power of big money and famous people in politics. Get rid of corporations are people, they aren’t. Get rid of money is speech, it is not. And real campaign finance reform and regulation.
I am relieved and excited about all the support and excitement, but really, our futures shouldn’t depend on the whims of George Clooney or anyone like him, even if we really like them (Beyoncé, for example).
SFAW
@Dagaetch:
As I have said to friends/associates too polite to tell me to STFU:
Bacon is not just one of the basic food groups, it is at least three of the seven levels in the Food Pyramid.
opiejeanne
@rikyrah: Good morning, you treasure, you.
prostratedragon
@MazeDancer:
REKH. A very handy compendium.
Frankensteinbeck
I approve of the praise of Biden on multiple grounds. He did the right thing despite being put in that position by a gigantic and unfair betrayal by everyone he’s sacrificing for, from the bottom to the top. He deserves at least gratitude for that. It also has major practical value. Fine, the press succeeded in poisoning his reputation. Well, Harris gets to start at ‘Biden without the negatives’, so while she’s showing everyone how great she is herself, let’s pour on the pro-Biden sentiment so that remains a powerful advantage. Attach all of his successes and virtues to her, so she can add on her own and we absolutely destroy the Republicans with our enthusiasm.
3Sice
Liz Warren and AOC both bring the inconvenient truth when dealing with the crass media.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
Probably Alpha Kappa Alpha, which Wikipedia describes thusly:
“Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. is the first intercollegiate historically African American sorority.”
Barbara
@OzarkHillbilly: Alpha Kappa Alpha is a sorority founded by and mostly comprised of African American students (and alumni). Harris is a member.
zhena gogolia
I guess I can breathe easy, since Clooney endorsed Harris.
Mai Naem mobile
I watched a few minutes of Morning Ho this AM. Elise Jordan did one of those ‘undecided’ WI voters chats. She asked about Harris’ responsibility regarding Bidens condition. A couple of the voters mentioned it would depend on Harris and if she was a power grabber. Watched CNBC’s Squawk Box for a few minutes. They had a clip of Biden returning to the WH. Resident MAGat Joe Kernen mentioned how Biden looked good(wink! wink! Biden was lying about having COVID.) I haven’t watched Squawk Box in forever but Becky Quick(Melania doppleganger) didn’t let Kernen go there. She made some comments about vaccines etc and they moved on. It used to be that Becky Quick would sit back and let Kernen jabber on.
Frankensteinbeck
@dc:
They don’t. This wouldn’t have mattered one tiny fuck if the Democratic voters hadn’t freaked out. The screaming started at the bottom before the debate had gone 20 minutes, and the press knew they’d won.
Layer8Problem
An Open Thread question: Where can people go to get, I dunno, maybe US domestically produced national and international news that isn’t curated by conservative or billionaire owners to direct us in a particular fashion? For helping with our debating and decisionmaking and like that?
What have we got left? What news is the most reliable? I’m not despairing. I just want to know what news sources are reliable and what reliable ones are upcoming that won’t fold under pressure from rich assholes and foreign bots? Good information means good debate and, hopefully, better outcomes.
Brent
@OzarkHillbilly: Harris’ sorority. Alpha Kappa Alpha.
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW: @Barbara:
Thankyou. I knew of her sorority and that repubs were trying to make a big racist deal out of it but was unable to connect the dots.
eta: @Brent: and you too.
Layer8Problem
@zhena gogolia: Glad to see you here!
Suzanne
@WereBear: It’s an interesting divide. I am increasingly becoming convinced that race doesn’t function the same way for the under-40 set as it does for the older cohort. Which is not saying that racism is no longer a force, it absolutely is.
Like, look at the younger MAGAts: downwardly mobile, almost all. Full of ressentiment that PoC are outcompeting them. Not the same racism as their parents and grandparents. A slightly different flavor.
narya
@Layer8Problem: I subscribed to the Philadelphia Inquirer a few weeks ago (they were having a big special rate); they’re “owned” by a non-profit, I believe. I lived there for 4-5 years and grew up in NW Jersey, so it feels more “home” to me, and I’m okay with the largely local coverage (go Phillies!). I also subscribed to Talking Points Memo, and I’m contemplating Pro Publica (gotta check the budget).
UncleEbeneezer
@JCJ: Like Trump voters, they’re at home, crying, telling themselves their guy really won, lol.
WereBear
@Layer8Problem: Our last roundup of such mentioned a favorite of mine, MeidasTouch on Youtube. They have a variety of contributors, covering the spectrum of the coalition.
ProPublica, journalism website, just dropped a stunning piece on the Christian Nationalist/insane billionaire angle. I donate there.
If you want fun with it, Wonkette’s site, with many contributors.
Belafon
@Suzanne: So more of that Reconstruction era resentment.
WereBear
@Suzanne: I think you’re right, because I used to work fairs at the same college I once attended, and they are not dragging nearly the chains the sad MAGA kids are.
I see it starkly in what we learn from the Trump assassination attempt. Bright guy, but utterly trapped in a bubble where his good traits were useless. He was a late bloomer who bailed on going to college, searched for “major depressive disorder” he didn’t seek treatment for, or was sure we couldn’t get it, and he would never grow up into the He Man doll his culture demanded.
I don’t know what went wrong, But his culture did him no favors at all. And he set it all up to — additionally — punish his parents. Having searched for a killer experience he could copy, that is the one he chose.
Kay
@Suzanne:
There’s a clip of Harris at a gun safety event at either a high school or a college where she asks the students (who are seated in an auditorium) to raise their hand if they have ever been part of a school shooter drill – “where you had to hide in your classroom” – every hand goes up, but their faces, so somber and intense, no one has ever asked them about that before.
Moms Demand Action should just run that as an ad, over and over.
Suzanne
@Belafon: Yes.
I have been beating the drum that the Republicans’ hostility to college and student protest and loan forgiveness is really seeded in misogyny and homophobia and racism. If that stat that I posted is correct, that’s really interesting that college life is producing such a divide amongst men, too.
MazeDancer
This is a wonderful poster.
Childless Cat Ladies Unite!
mrmoshpotato
Oh Michael Steele…
TBone
In the event that our PA Governor Shapiro gets the Veep slot, please meet his replacement, our first Black Lt. Governor here in PA:
https://www.pa.gov/en/ltgovernor/lt-governor-austin-davis.html
I am so PA proud of these guys.
BretH
Much as I appreciate the first image visually, I am not thrilled with it as a message because I want us to be as far away from a person-worship cult as possible.
TBone
@MazeDancer: 💜😍
BretH
Did someone mention DEI?
WereBear
@MazeDancer: That’s another thrill!
Suzanne
@WereBear:
I mean, it’s why they’re trying to insult PoC and women and LGBTQ people by calling them “DEI hires”, right? Because they’re now being bested on the societal playing field? Because they’re not getting girlfriends or wives, they’re not making as much money.
danielx
Me likey.
Trivia Man
@MazeDancer: The Divine 9 are uniting behind her. Having worked with several of them i will testify they ate organized, ambitious, successful, and socially connected.
Lyrebird
@OzarkHillbilly: Hi Ozark!!
I am sure others have provided info about MVP’s sorority. If you are still reading, do you think you could tell someone with little upper body strength and a minimal tool box how to get started pushing pins up out of door hinges, all the better to put in some WD40?
WereBear
@Suzanne: Some kind of success was guaranteed, despite any mediocrity on their part. Because white men got all the good jobs full stop.
What could have gone wrong?
Mai Naem mobile
@Layer8Problem: McClatchy which owns The Sacramento Bee, Miami Herald and some other newspapers. The BBC and the CBC but you don’t really get much US domestic news. You have media like the Nevada Independent and the Arizona Mirror which cover more local stuff.
Layer8Problem
@Suzanne: Education broadens, I guess.
TBone
@OzarkHillbilly:
https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/kamala-harris-aka-sorority-divine-nine-20240724.html
We are PA strong!
BR
@BretH:
The media is at it already putting its thumb on the scale for the GOP regarding their attacks on Harris, as expected:
https://beige.party/@Lana/112840324284450836
Trivia Man
@RandomMonster: Its extra funny because in his mind Hulk is the tippy top A Lister. I don’t think i have ever seen him show such joy and admiration and respect for anyone as during the Hulk speech.
Hildebrand
@zhena gogolia: In this new day of ‘Democrats in Array’, is it still ok for me to tell Clooney to go f*ck himself?
WereBear
I urge everyone to check out Canadian news, commenters, and comedy. Both are staples in this house, being so near the border.
And nostalgia for Mr WereBear, who always watched the Christmas specials on Canadian “local” TV, a family tradition, because they left the cursing in the Christmas classics.
Omnes Omnibus
@Trivia Man:
He really is stuck in the 80s mentally.
Belafon
We talk about how Biden came out of retirement to beat Trump, but he also came out of retirement to beat Sanders, who, while sharing a lot of the goals of Biden, was very focused on a subset of the party and patronized the core, and would not have won.
WereBear
@Trivia Man: Pure toddler at the circus. Might be the last time we’ll see him happy.
Good.
matt
@Lyrebird: get a hammer and a big screwdriver, seat the screwdriver into the top of the pin from below and pop it a little with the hammer to loosen it out of the hinge.
OzarkHillbilly
@Lyrebird: Get a stout nail (16s work best), put the point at the bottom of the pin and gently hammer it up, with the door closed. Doesn’t take a lot of force or a Big Fn’ hammer. Once the pins get about halfway out, one should be able to pull them the rest of the way with your fingers.
You can oil the pins and put them back in without ever taking the door down and that will most likely fix your problem.
eta: @matt: made me think of something. If it’s an ext door there may be a cap on the bottom of the hinge. If so, use the screwdriver as he says.
TBone
@Lyrebird: start with the WD-40 on the stubborn parts. Hubby loves that shit and sprays it on first thing, then goes to work.
UncleEbeneezer
One thing I’m really loving about this moment is the enthusiasm and revival of hope. I know we love to cynically mock Hope/Change and lofty terms, but the importance of those things is real. I don’t know about everybody else, but ever since 2016 my approach to politics has been fight hard, we can win etc., but never really getting into real optimism. We had:
• The devastation of Hillary losing
• The horror of Trump as President
• Two failed Impeachments
• Covid with all its death, anxiety, disruptions, inflation etc.
• George Floyd
• Overturning Roe
• Killing Affirmative Action
• A nail-biter Biden-win
• Another nail-biter to give us 50-50-*1* Senate
• Sinemanchin blocking major changes
• Ukraine
• Gaza
• Rise in Anti-Asian hate
• Open/blatant Anti-Semitism
Despite moments of dancing in the streets when AZ announced for Biden, we haven’t really had a chance to really experience joy to the full extent, since 2016. Everything has been guarded. Every good feeling has had to be cautious. Something about Kamala is getting people to finally exhale after 8 years of holding our breath. And it’s great, and I intend to embrace it. She was my first pick in 2019 when the Primary started. And I still think she’s great. It’s wonderful to see so many other people coming around to it too. As one of my fave Black Podcasters, put it yesterday*: this is the time for stupid energy and fun and the kind of unrestricted optimism and enthusiasm that we all basked in with Obama before cynical cool-kid bloggers/podcasters labelled it cringe. It’s not cringe. It’s BELIEF. And as corny as it sounds, and I tell my tennis students this all the time, it’s absolutely essential if you want to win. You may not win, but if you don’t believe you can, you’ve already lost. Let’s GO!!!
Now I just gotta figure out which Kamala shirts I need!
Layer8Problem
@Mai Naem mobile: Are McClatchy still good? They had been surprisingly reliable at least until, I dunno, last decade, and may still be so.
LAC
@zhena gogolia: LOL! I know! So glad Clooney can sip his drink from Lake Como in peace.
SFBayAreaGal
@Dagaetch: BACON!!! Love bacon.
TBone
@BretH: I posted that in the early (late/early) Musk thread, and our Chris Johnson had an awesome response comment. I don’t know how to link to it though.
I tried to copy and paste Chris’s comment without success 😔
danielx
@Hildebrand:
In a polite and sensitive way.
Dear George, please go fuck yourself.
Jackie
@Suzanne:
“I like the poorly educated!” said a certain GQP presidential candidate in 2016
prostratedragon
Heads up: Next week Joy Reid will devote all her shows to breaking down Project 2025/Agenda 47.
Lyrebird
@OzarkHillbilly:
(heart emojis go here)
Thank you Ozark!!!
That likely will fix the problem, and it will also enable me to make use of the partial lesson from elderly relative who used to be able to do it all but no longer can, and a stroke has limited his ability to explain. I don’t know if that made sense, but serious THANKS.
stacib
@SFAW: I have a friend who was born / raised in Mexico. He says bacon was never served at his house, and he doesn’t like it at all. I think his parents should be brought up on child abuse charges. :-) WHO doesn’t like bacon – it makes everything better.
UncleEbeneezer
@BretH: Oh fuck, that’s good! I like Asha but I haven’t seen her this overtly political before. Usually she focusses on the law, trials etc. I love it.
oldgold
@UncleEbeneezer: This comment surprises me in a very good way.
Trivia Man
@matt: To follow that, after the pin is out the door should stay balanced on the hinges if you dont move it. If you do have to remove it, it wont take much strength to bump it off, the floor takes the weight and you only need to keep it balanced until you can gently lean it against the frame.
Be sure its a flathead screwdriver.
Mike E
@narya: I used to sling the Inky in Jr and Sr HS, it has deep roots in the region (their only competition was the reactionary Evening Bulletin which folded over a generation ago…the Daily News merged with the Inquirer). It still has to compete in these internet-frenzied times and stumbles occasionally but when compared to the “bigs” it’s definitely streets ahead vis balance/fairness.
Funnily enough, their sports coverage can be a mixed bag (much like the local slate of teams, heh).
Where the White women at?
Hildebrand
@danielx: lol
Dearest George, won’t you, and I say this with the greatest care, most kindly go fuck yourself.
Suzanne
@Layer8Problem: I think “education broadens” is only part of the story. I think that it also helps people be successful who, for whatever reason, don’t fit into the past generation’s image of success. Like…. NERDS and people who wanted to study. Like people who are not neurotypical.
It’s serving as a social escalator for a different kind of person.
Jackie
@MazeDancer:
Kanye?
stacib
@zhena gogolia: I thought about you when I saw that. My response – fuck Clooney straight into the center of the sun,
WereBear
@Jackie: “White Men, No Degree” was the category the Trump assassin fell into.
I got out in the world and got a degree piecemeal to switch careers midstream as the industry I started in, changed. I’m sure it would have been different if I hadn’t had it at the right time.
And so many of this category don’t have much in the way of skills, and there isn’t the leeway about degrees that some places had, back in the day.
WereBear
@prostratedragon: That must have gotten postponed, so looking forward to it.
TBone
@Mike E: we had the hard copy Bulletin every morning at breakfast when I was a child. Gramps read it over his sectioned grapefruit and us kids got the funnies with ours (and a teaspoon of sugar to help the grapefruit).
Now I get the FREE Inquirer email newsletter every morning in my inbox.
HinTN
@Suzanne: My lily-white granddaughter played with and was best friends with POC children from the age of 5 / 6. She’s 18 now and has none of the vestigial white folk mores along these lines that my generation had, whether actively and consciously or otherwise. It’s a sea change for the better.
Ken
@Trivia Man: Also, if you’re just oiling the hinges, do the pins one at a time. It is a pain, often literally, to re-hang a door if the hinges separate.
Shalimar
What pisses me off most about the last month is that we have been told for the last 9 years by various media that they were just covering Trump normally and there was nothing they could do to amplify the drip drip drip of horribles surrounding him that all passed before they were even noticed because there was always a new daily scandal.
And then this shitshow happened. It turns out they can blanket the news with hundreds of stories about the same thing. It never had to be a drip. They could have turned on the faucet whenever they wanted.
WereBear
@HinTN: About ten+ years ago, I looked up from my table at a college function and my line was composed of a whole rainbow of people who were about self-expression and casual joking and genuine friendship.
I didn’t have that. I’m glad they did.
Gin & Tonic
@OzarkHillbilly: I’d also recommend powdered graphite as a lubricant in this application. Effective but not as messy. Found in any hardware store.
japa21
@zhena gogolia:
I’m not really all that into nuance, but do I detect just a hint of sarcasm? Just a little?
twbrandt
As a 68 year old gay man who spent the first 30 years of his life hiding in the closet, “We’re not going back!” resonates powerfully with me.
narya
I want Joe to pardon his son on the way out of the White House.
TBone
@twbrandt: 💜
Jackie
@Hildebrand:
ABSOFUCKINGLUTELY!!
Pittsburgh Mike
As excited as I am to see Harris as the candidate, I really hope that she doesn’t get sucked too deeply into the celebrity endorsement game. You can spend a lot of time with speakers talking about how historic KH is as a candidate, and having Clooney and others endorse her, and leave the normies thinking that she’s an empty suit.
She needs to remember to give her vision of the country and specifics about how she’ll help get there. And point out what Trump has promised to do that’ll hurt ordinary people — reduce social security, get rid of the ACA’s protections for those with pre-existing conditions, get rid of ACA subsidies, and of course ban abortion nationwide.
I’m really hoping not to see a lot of drooling celebrities hyped up on proximity to power, sucking all the time available saying nothing but “Kamala is great!”
Layer8Problem
Thanks for the various pointers everyone. I hang around here and rely on it. My partner jokes condescendingly about “that echo chamber you visit”, and I respond with some of the stories about our food fights and our raging about “someone else on BJ being actively WRONG!” I’ve been using you good people as my editors and I expect that not everyone’s gonna blow sunshine up my skirt feeding me my preferred narrative. I want that. We question our priors. But our sources are still primarily the Times, the Post, MSNBC, and the Twitter. Oh yeah, and Bluesky, which we are assured is “billionaire-proof”. The media print what they want and present what they care to. Uncomfortable truths are only directed to one side. I don’t see what stops Elmo or the others from eventually declaring that Democrats and progressives will be proactively muted on their info spigots, because Democrats and progressives are wrong and not right.
We just spent three weeks yelling about polls, vibes, and the media environment. “The polls say this!!” “Oh good, the same polls that told us The Red Wave was gonna eat us all and that this or that special election Democrat’s on a knife-edge of Doom?” Dobbs still seems to piss people off, no matter what the dailies print. Project 2025 isn’t giving people warm feelings of joy and apparently only brought coffee to TFG a few times, he barely knew it. “The media just wrote 192 articles about OLD!” “Yeah, about one of the Olds.” Thumbs on scales.
The stuff we read and share is too often high-toned disinformation, intentionally or simply constitutionally, and yet we still use it to figure out what’s going on. I gave up on polls, so getting “but the POLLS!” thrown back as an unarguable truth recently was kinda grating. Are we left with nothing but kremlinology, gleaning inadvertent clues from Pravda and Izvestia and analyzing who’s standing next to The Leader in the photos from this year’s May Day parade and wondering what happened to the guy that was in last year’s photos?
Anyway
@Pittsburgh Mike:
Watch her Milwaukee speech from yesterday – she said all these things. All of ’em.
catclub
@Dagaetch: Sharing because we all deserve more bacon in our lives.
I need to add a caveat. Adding extra bacon to Eggs Benedict did not work for me. Just makes them too salty. The more variants I try the more I think the original is best. Smoked salmon does work, however.
scav
For the record, I’m still unable to come up with a single solitary thing in real, imagined or potential existence about which I would wonder vaguely what Clooney’s opinion of it was.
Ksmiami
@UncleEbeneezer: and truly a champion to fight back for women’s bodily autonomy- it’s the issue in 2024.
Lyrebird
@TBone: LOL thank you! Wondering if dear husband also gives you the briefings on the woes you will encounter if you use graphite spray where you needed WD40 instead. That relative in our fam is gone, but at least we have the internet.
@matt: @Trivia Man:@Ken:
Very much appreciated as well!!!
martha
Another random piece of anecdotal data: we were texting with one of our “work sons” (late 30s, white, college grad) yesterday. He says the DEI stuff is just a hard NO for his cohort. They might have other questions about Biden leaving, the Harris candidacy, etc. But using the DEI slander just eliminates any thought of looking at the Rs.
BR
@Pittsburgh Mike:
You saw her recent speeches, right? She did exactly that — spelled out a vision for what she’ll do (briefly — short speeches) and contrasted that with the GOP.
hueyplong
I’ll go ahead and be the first of the loud Don’t Betray Biden people here to suggest a general emotional amnesty toward the people within the party who got us to this happy place.
None, ever, for a media that took Fox-like marching orders to install a narrative that Biden only stepped into during this year.
Clooney seems to be on the edge of this spectrum and I’m as indifferent to his fate as he and others were to Biden’s.
I’m loving the new environment and hope my fellow Biden dead enders share the same sentiment or soon will.
cain
@Frankensteinbeck:
I agree. I think we would not have this kind of unity if Biden had not immediately endorsed Harris. Those two staged it well. This was his final Jiu Jitsu move. He made sure that he got someone with the same values.
If he had dithered or became bitter then the donors would have tried to put someone more centrist.
Kay
@BR:
The short speeches are a great idea. No one wants to listen to any candidate give a speech for more than 30 minutes. Maybe we can shorten everything about campaigns – start to finish, 90 days. People would love it. They’ve been begging for it.
BR
@cain:
I still want to hear the story someday of why he did it as two separate letters / statements separated by a half hour (or however long it was). Doesn’t really matter ultimately, but still must be some reason.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@HinTN:
The flip side to this is the “pale blue”, white, self-described progressive who was born/raised either in a lily white burb by (N)ice, (P)olite, (R)epublican parents or in a rural setting, moved to a blue area (typically urban over the last dozen years). They did not grow up with, play with or typically associate with POC.
We have legions of white professionals like this in Denver, it’s a case study. And they carry a crapton of underlying bigotry with them in terms of their economic policies (always neoliberal, Reaganomic, market-based), their racial tone deafness, and the big tell, schools. If they can’t “choice out” after having kids while living in their Urban Living Theme Park environment, they bail and always do so because of the “better schools” dog whistle. As a noted write up on this several years ago said “Gentrification Stops At The School House Door.”
Now, do they wake up every morning and say “Hey, let’s go burn a cross on the one black family down the street that hasn’t been displaced yet.” No, they don’t. But they were typically raised by a generation schooled in the Lee Atwater School of Racial Politics and dog whistles. They don’t have it to the extent that the prior generation does but it’s still manifests itself in oh-so predictable ways.
Black folks here discuss it constantly as they’re being pushed out.
Getting people to think “diversity” in meaningful ways starts young as you’ve pointed out. And that’s what bugs the hell outta us working on fostering *community* in a gentrifying urban core, namely that people starting families and having children who would benefit greatly by rubbing elbows with kids not white grow up to be far more racially sensitive people than those that didn’t.
Kristine
@Shalimar:
A few days ago, I read a comment that the MSM refrained from hammering Trump b/c they feared death threats, then focused on Biden b/c 1) Dems wouldn’t threaten their lives and 2) they could tell themselves they were doing their jobs.
Of course, that doesn’t explain why they’ve focused on Trump now. Maybe the apparent disarray lessens the risk of threat?
But I shouldn’t worry. They’ll all focus on Harris soon enough.
BR
@Kay:
Only problem — the roll call of all the local elected at the beginning of the speech then becomes like half the speech time. Need to figure out how to not do that. (I noticed that in some of Biden’s and Harris’s recent events.)
Betty Cracker
@narya: I get the unfairness — no other first-time offender would be facing that charge. But it would send a terrible message, imo.
opiejeanne
@SFAW: Oh, bacon! Our cat thinks she should have it at every meal, and for snacks in between. That’s what I’m pretty sure she’s saying when the bacon is frying in the morning and she’s singing her breakfast song. (She gets a tiny taste)
OzarkHillbilly
@Gin & Tonic: Yep, good thought. Lyrebird thanx you.
prostratedragon
@Hildebrand: Surely all this calls for a new beatification of some Unitarian jihadist.
schrodingers_cat
@zhena gogolia: Good to see you. I too am glad that KH won the Clooney endorsement.
In other news those who pushed Biden out have a new expertise. India. What constitutes racism and bigotry against Indians and South Asians. They know better than people born in India or even those in Britain or Canadians where Indians have been a significant minority longer than in the US.
I just marvel at the sheer breadth of their knowledge and certainty that they know best.
OzarkHillbilly
@narya: Will it be OK if Kamala does it on the way into the WH?
Kay
@BR:
Let Trump hold people hostage going on and on for an hour and a half. That’s why he babbles about sharks and windmills – he’s trapping them in that fucking room. She’ll do a brisk, tight 30 minutes and get them out the door.
WereBear
@catclub: Bacon and lox make a wildly good cream cheese.
Steve LaBonne
I think we can all take a breath and let ourselves realize that we have a really good candidate. She is a happy warrior with that indefinable “it” factor. That Milwaukee speech was dynamite, and beyond the joyful affect (which is delightful in itself) she hit every one of the important themes in a highly efficient way. We are going to win this.
Hildebrand
@hueyplong: Oh, I am absolutely thrilled with the passing of the baton – it was handled beautifully and hamstrung the ‘contested convention’ wankers. I will continue, though, to hate the way far too many kneecapped Biden with their ‘concern’.
I want Kamala to gather up every endorsement and bury Trump this election day. The day after election day, though, I want the loudest ‘Biden is cognitively impaired’ folks to be drop kicked into the sun.
LAC
@OzarkHillbilly: https://www.threads.net/@rekh/post/C9yIffkPCxG/?xmt=AQGzrdbqoumqG-RGVM-VzKJNOS7flJ2jw5NCMIyhZK9rUw
Kay
@BR:
I’m not counting that! That’s essential. You really do need local pols as surrogates. We have to kiss their ass.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Hildebrand: Absolutely. I feel the same way and I’ve been feeling pretty damn happy about how this week is unrolling.
Omnes Omnibus
@hueyplong: One of the important things here is that I think, to a person, the people who supported Biden staying in had no problems at all with Harris. I, for one, am delighted that she is getting the reception she is getting. I am completely onboard with her candidacy. My feelings and thoughts about the MSM and some D leaders can be dealt with after November.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Lyrebird:
If you haven’t seen G&T’s graphite recommendation in #97, do that. Far less messy.
It’s always nice when the home repair/restoration crowd comes together to help a fellow jackal.
WereBear
@Kristine: They never thought the “OLD” narrative would snare their own feet.
NotMax
@BR
Two headlines are better than one.
RedDirtGirl
@BR: In that thread someone links to two ABC articles by the same author, one calling attacks against JD Vance’s wife “racist”, the other calling attacks against Kamala Harris “racial”. Hmmm.
BR
@schrodingers_cat:
Like I commented yesterday, please don’t keep on like you speak for all of us brown folks. You have your opinions and others of us (me, and others I’ve seen) think it’s fine for the coconut meme to appropriate what was previously derogatory — context matters in language.
Suzanne
@Mike E: That’s a good question. White women with degrees have been blue for a while, and going bluer. White women without degrees have been redder. I think there may be an interesting trend line to follow there.
And, like many other things, this is also an age divide….. women have been going to and graduating from college in ever-growing numbers (and as a percentage of the population).
catclub
@WereBear: also never worried about face eating leopards
BR
@NotMax:
I thought about that option, but they were a half hour apart.
I wonder if it was because he is old school and sees them as two very separate actions: stepping aside from the nomination, and then once he has done so, endorsing.
WereBear
@RedDirtGirl: The one example in his life of what might be true love… and he’s preaching racism now.
A previous commenter put it somewhat like: “Sellouts can’t crawl back. Only forward.”
WereBear
@BR: Or, he knows how to build suspense.
BR
@Suzanne:
I remember a Betty Cracker post from years ago where she pointed out that women who are wholly dependent in their lives on men are who she has seen as the most die-hard Trumpers.
schrodingers_cat
@BR: I speak for myself. I have never claimed to speak for “brown” folks. I have never referred to myself as such.
BR
https://mastodon.social/@GottaLaff/112841871837161650
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Omnes Omnibus:
Precisely. The fact that the base of the Democratic Party has quickly and with craptons of money, come out to support her speaks volumes as well.
Suzanne
@BR: Oh yeah, that absolutely matches my experience. The women who like Trump are essentially tradwives or aspiring tradwives. We didn’t have that word at the time to describe it, but it’s real.
I think MeToo and Dobbs and this manosphere/birth rates shit has awoken a new generation of women to a sense of marginalized identity.
Jackie
@narya:
IfWHEN Harris wins the presidency, I’d prefer her to pardon Hunter. Then Joe keeps his word to honor the law.Win Win.
WereBear
@BR: Nowhere else to turn. This is domestic slavery, and it looks different from the inside, when it’s too late.
Betty Cracker is right. Their only protection, after they have been taught to fear all of ours, is their excuse is that it will save her soul and those of her children.
When abused, they are supposed to pray. Christian Nationalism, everyone. What we need is a good ol’ Twilight Zone type episode which dramatizes what Project 20205 is.
Better yet, a mini-series. Get me Netflix on the phone! I hear they will buy anything.
HinTN
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: The economic stratification is an enduring issue. It’s a way to isolate without outright bigotry and it’s a problem across the first world where “white” folks have been the majority. We’re making progress but it’s a long slog and the dislocations of climate change may overwhelm the baby steps.
Suzanne
@Omnes Omnibus:
The corollary is that the people who wanted Biden out also had no problem with Harris — in fact, they’re like “fuck yeah, all in!”. After a few weeks of being told “Joe is too old because Kamala is too black”… that wasn’t accurate. The age-and-performance thing really was a concern about age and performance.
Geminid
@Suzanne: There has been a notable shift in the voting behavior of the college educated since the 1970s. The Wikipedia article on the 1976 Carter/Ford matchup shows college educated voters breaking for Ford 55-43. They constituted 27% of voters at the time.
There were other interesting findings. The different age cohorts were fairly close. Voters aged 22-39 went for Carter 51-46, while those age 60 and above voted for Ford 52-47. Other cohorts fell in between.
Whites constituted 88% of voters and went for Ford 51-47. Black voters were 10% of voters and went for Carter 88-16. Hispanics were only 2% of voters and chose Carter 74-24.
Baud
I can’t leave you people alone for any period of time without all hell breaking loose.
The saving.grace is that I’m not forced to support an odious backstabber. Kamala is awesome and I’m proud to give her my vote.
AL, I’ve said this before but thank you for bringing the good news about Biden and Harris every morning. If Balloon Juice had the reach of the New York Times, this country would be in a better place. Maybe Cole should add games to the site.
The news about Steeplejack is devastating. Not enough good men in the world to lose one so prematurely.
I’ll be back next week. Try not to set off the Yellowstone supervolcano in the meantime, if y’all can help it.
Anyway
After three+ weeks of no teevee (since the debate) I cautiously turned on MSNBC yesterday – wonderful to see D governors and other electeds wholeheartedly endorsing KH and feeling energized and optimistic about her candidacy.
Chuck Schumer was the worst – how can someone be in public life for so long and not have a better media manner (sorry for the negativity – always a critic)
Kay
@Layer8Problem:
They didn’t. The GOP polling was +2. They won by 2.8
The people who said it was a red wave were GOP grifters and big social media accounts and some idiot pundits. Democrats over performed in the midterms only in terms of historical comparisons – other midterm years. They didn’t over perform the polling. I worked on the Ohio abortion referendum. The polling was dead- on.
I’m a partisan Democrat and have been for decades. I want to win. But it’s important we don’t tell ourselves stories that make us feel better. We can’t have effective strategies if we do that.
BR
@Suzanne:
To be fair, there have been a bunch of articles about donors who really were trying to push Harris out too. (On Sunday there were several who were pushing for the “blitz primary” and/or Manchin as the nominee and/or other crazy schemes.)
But I think you’re right that for the voters who were concerned it was just about being worried about Biden.
p.a.
As one of the above, glad it’s a (+), but it’s still disgusting. 52-47? Really? 47%?!?🤬
WereBear
@BR: This was Mr WereBear’s dream team from the beginning.
WereBear
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: What united us was the movement to dump the whole ticket and install donor-supported Johnny Mayo on White.
That’s not the party.
Jackie
@BR: That was my take: Two different actions, requiring equal importance.
Fake Irishman
@Kay:
And not only that, a tight 30 minutes gives her 10 minutes to mingle a bit, gets her 10 minutes less behind on her schedule, 5 minutes to breathe and five minutes that can be put toward squeezing in another event.
Logisitics are so important to a campaign (There’s a great biography out there in Jimmy Carter describing how he always arrived early at his events, greeted a lot of folks personally then gave his speech and was able to leave on time with everyone happy)
Suzanne
@Geminid:
Agreed…. and those facts are interesting, thank you.
There’s been an interesting shift in who the “college educated” is relative to 1972. Many many more women, increasing percentages of PoC (both American and international students), and often college is used by LGBTQ young people as a way to seamlessly escape their homophobic area.
Shalimar
@BR: The whole sequence of endorsements from Biden to Jeffries and Schumer seems like it was tightly choreographed to produce the overwhelming support that it did. Either Biden wanted to keep the 2 actions separate, or they wanted to give the media 30 minutes of happy stupidity thinking they would get the contested convention of their wet dreams before the whole house fell on them.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@BR:
The anecdotes related about college-educated/not women and their relative levels of support for Hair Furor have reflected one aspect of that…but not all.
Since we’re all talking about “in my experience”, I’ll portray this from the other side: highly educated, highly placed women who vote GQP come hell or high water. They have independent careers, high achievers, etc.
My wife just got back from a river rafting trip in Idaho with friends she went to HS with an eon ago and who have done exceedingly well for themselves. She’s a pediatrician, he’s a developer/landlord/restaurant owner. Outside of slumming with us from time to time, their circle of friends are very similar in terms of education level and more importantly, class level.
Class seems to drive this with women in that strata. The people on this rafting trip were all wealthy and the conversations weren’t political but they were all about basically getting richer and what to spend it on. The women on this trip were either doctors, lawyers, high-level execs in various companies, etc. And they’ll all vote GQP come November.
This isn’t new to us as we’ve been exposed to various representatives of their circle of friends since we moved back 5 years ago. And the conversations are *always* the same.
This is my long-winded way of saying don’t ever discount class as a factor in voting. I’d say these people are in the top 3-4% income/net worth wise and their world view reflects that.
rk
@dc:
George Cloony would have no say in anything if Democrats didn’t do fundraisers with him. Democrats can’t go asking money from him and then then get outraged when he uses his celebrity clout to question Biden’s health. I read that it was at Cloony’s fundraiser that people got concerned. Don’t ask millions of dollars from people and then get outraged when people express a loud opinion.
None of this would have mattered if Biden had not had that awful debate.
UncleEbeneezer
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: I see you’ve met my Sister in Highlands Ranch, lol. Democrat, loved Obama, Hillary, hates Trump. But still white-as-fuck. Obsessed with “good schools” and NPr etc. And in the richest irony she’s spent much of the last decade driving my Niece all over the country to support her all-white, “Hip Hop” dance team. I doubt a single member of the team, my Niece included, even listens to hip hop, or has even the slightest idea of the cultural history and importance of the genre. Oh White People, never change, lol*.
* Actually, no, please change!!!
Suzanne
@BR:
Oh sure. Fuck those guys.
But Biden was not performing well with some parts of his 2020 coalition. All the analysis was showing erosion of support amongst young people and PoC (probably much of the same people). These voters were polled over and over, and something like 2/3 of them expressed that they thought Biden was too old. That’s really what they thought. The thought expressed frequently was that they didn’t want Kamala Harris to replace him. That wasn’t it! They wanted her to replace him!
Trivia Man
@opiejeanne: My cat politely asks for coffee. I do pour over so i dip my finger and she gets to lick it off.
Soprano2
Just think how it would be received if they could get Taylor Swift to perform!! LOL
narya
@Betty Cracker: @OzarkHillbilly: @Jackie: I think having Joe do it insulates MVP (soon to be MP, I hope); there will be blowback no matter what, and Joe will not care. She could even disagree with the decision! I want Joe NFLTG Biden to show up. He’s always been there for his son, and this is the ultimate double-handed middle-finger salute to those who have hounded his son.
ETA typo.
Kay
@Layer8Problem:
And if we do that, if we throw out polling, we will not understand why leaders in the party are doing what they do because THEY all rely on polling. They all rely on it because it’s fairly accurate and it’s literally the best measure they have. It’s fine to say “the only poll that matters is election day!” but that isn’t helpful at all if your job is to come up with some strategy to win before election day. Normie voters can absolutely ignore polling if it upsets them or they don’t believe in it – they should. No reason they have to follow it. But strategists cannot and it is how decisions in campaigns are made, so if you choose to ignore it you will be furious about decisions that are made.
Bupalos
@BR: Pushing for the primary is not trying to push Harris out. Obama wanted the primary, Clyburn wanted the primary, there were good reasons to want the primary and one big one not to that I think was dominated by a defensive crouch that personally I think we don’t need. MVP would have almost certainly come out of any process stronger and Obama and Clyburn know that.
Keep the microphone. Keep pushing. Keep Dems in the spotlight. It’s not time to go safe.
WaterGirl
@Baud: That was like the week in review, that feels like a month, but has only been 3 days.
Shalimar
@Hildebrand: I don’t have a problem with the anti-Biden people who made it clear that Harris was the only alternative. I don’t like how it happened, but that is mostly what the media were doing. And I do think they were right now that it has safely settled down. Our chances of winning are better now.
My grudge is against the people who wanted someone other than Harris. That would have been an unmitigated disaster. Even a contested convention that Harris won would have wasted more than a month. And I think we will find out who the anti-Harris people were as reporters talk more about what they heard behind-the-scenes.
Soprano2
@MazeDancer: There isn’t a big enough venue in the world for that concert!
Betty Cracker
@Jackie: So we want to sandbag Harris right out of the gate for nullifying a jury verdict? That’s the lose angle in the win-win.
Trivia Man
@Kay: It is especially critical for down ballot people. Tammy can use all the extra push for her senate race. MVP can whip up enthusiasm for her at the same time.
Mai Naem mobile
@Layer8Problem: I saw a blurb that they were going to get bought a little while ago but as far as I know it didn’t go through.
WereBear
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: It’s not only a bubble, but a competitive and cut-throat one.
MCA1
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: Yeah, it’s been positively GOP-ish (in the sense of the old adage “Democrats fall in love, Republicans fall in line), but in a good way. The coalescence had to happen quickly for there to be any chance for press attention to turn back to the now suddenly old and enfeebled looking Trump; otherwise we’d have two more months of Dems in Disarray squabble stories.
Also benefits Harris in that (granted, 5 years ago and things/people change and evolve) her greatest weakness as a presidential candidate was garnering enthusiasm – she came across (to me, at least) as competent, serious and thoughtful, a better than average speech deliverer and sharp as a tack in any setting, like Judiciary Committee hearings, where she could put her prosecutorial skills on display. But in a crowded primary field she just couldn’t pull the spotlight to her with overwhelming charisma, so never launched. Sometimes American primary politics feels analogous to making people who are well-suited to compete in their event at the Olympics compete in a different event to qualify. The way this past weekend shook out was like she got to skip the qualifying this time around and move right to what she’s better at doing.
Trivia Man
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: My issue is a sliding glass door. I need new rollers, which looks simple, but i fear if i get the door out i wont get it back in.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@UncleEbeneezer:
LOL, I’m busting a gut here.
It’s called “Highlands Fucking Ranch” (HFR) here and the stereotype is that it’s where all the actual out-loud-and-proud Republicans live so as to not be around even pale-blue Dems.
Funny story, a fair number of the people I supported out of our Lakewood office lived in HFR, working fulltime remote even before The Plague Times commenced. A couple of them retired maybe a year before me (so in 2022 or early 2023). Each of them cashed out (having bought into that place 20 years ago when it was still on the southern fringes of the metro area) and moved further south and west, typically on acreage in a rural setting with a custom home because, and I shit you not, HFR was getting too *liberal* for them.
They didn’t say it in so many words but the messaging was clearly there.
Heh heh, I’m still chuckling over the all-white hip-hop dance team from HFR. The people who were in the Black Arts Festival parade a couple of weeks back here in City Park would roll their eyes.
prostratedragon
@Layer8Problem:
Somebody had to say it. Thanks so much!🫡
Kay
@Fake Irishman:
Biden is a great President but the habitual lateness pissed me off. It was true when he was VP too. I’m a little insane about it – people who are late drive me crazy so it’s extra bad for me but – value other peoples’ time! You can not waste the time of 3000 people! I took my youngest out of school in 2012 (I never do that) to go with labor people to a Biden event. He was two hours late. I mean, come on.
NotMax
@comrade scotts agenda of rage
The line Allan Sherman included about the changing political affiliation of Harvey and Sheila is not imaginary.
Suzanne
@Kay: We can’t throw out polling. We have to make decisions in an evidence-based way. It’s great to subject it to critique, but the whole “polling is broken, can’t trust it” narrative is far too close to “la la la” for my liking.
Kay
@Trivia Man:
I started following Baldwin and she and Harris together are all over her social media. She thinks Harris is an advantage to her campaign. Fingers crossed! But they’re pretty good at figuring out what’s in their self interest.
Shalimar
@narya: I agree with this. Biden has been in national politics for over 5 decades. Let him make a decision within his legal powers for his family and not worry about political implications now that he will finally be done with it.
andy
@Layer8Problem: Pro Publica? I know reporters who swear by it. but don’t neglect your daily paper. you gotta know what your city council, county board, school board is up to.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Trivia Man:
Google:
repairing sliding glass door rollers
And spend some time on YouTube.
I swear, when we bought the 1840s-era B&B in Central Misery back in 94 and started the restoration in 96, the people who spend time making really helpful YouTube instructional videos would have been a godsend.
Not that we would have had the bandwidth in rurl Misery, to watch em.
topclimber
@Baud: Oh, have you been away?
rk
@Suzanne:
I had a conversation with my young black male colleague (I work in a very ethnically diverse place). On the day Biden stepped down I asked him if it was true that young black men were for Biden (I have always thought that this was a republican fever dream). He said that all the young men he hung out with were Biden voters who were planning to vote for Trump. There was no coherent reason for this.
I just wanted to find a wall to hit my head against.
Kay
@Suzanne:
Also, it’s not really broken. If it were all down ballot Democrats would not be spending tens of millions of dollars on it.
To me it’s like this. If you had a chronic or life-threatenng disease you would need a positive attitude. There’s lots of evidence that helps and in any event you’ll be happier and happiness is important. But you don’t NOT get CT scans and MRIS and blood tests. You’re not “the only test that matters is.. inside my head and I am gonna beat this!”
Trivia Man
@Suzanne: Or they have been isolated and kept inside the bubble. They dont have non-trad rile models. There is a reason teen women ate discouraged from going to college and just heading straight for baby factory ASAP.
As the song says, “How ya gonna keep em down on the farm, after they seen Paree?”
Shalimar
@Bupalos: Bullshit. Harris would not have come out of a month’s worth of Democratic infighting any stronger than she is right now. And it would have been a wasted month not attacking Trump and Vance.
Hildebrand
@Shalimar: Yep – the folks who wanted Joe to pass the baton to Kamala don’t really annoy me (though if they leaned too hard into the whole ‘cognitive impairment’ nonsense…well…), but those who were anti-Kamala as well, or just rooting for chaos, bother me to no end.
Here’s hoping that both the anti-Kamala folks and those cheering for chaos still do the right thing and vote for her.
Suzanne
@rk: I had a similar discussion with some younger colleagues who I trust…. a mix of races. None of them liked Biden. They didn’t like Trump, either. So I would assume that they would just not have voted.
Spawn the Elder, who is trans and gay, sent me this text message this morning:
They just were not there. They told everybody who would listen.
UncleEbeneezer
@Suzanne: There is a huge difference between “no problem with Harris” and actively pushing for her, exclusively, to be the nominee. Had the narrative been “Replace Biden BUT ONLY WITH HARRIS” it would’ve been a much different conversation and we would’ve avoided a lot of the mess.
Either way: onward and upward, Stronger Together, U.N.I.T.Y., We Won’t Go Back and all that good stuff :)
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Nice to see you too! *waves
Geminid
@MCA1: I think Kamala Harris is a much better public speaker now than she was 4 years ago. My impression is she consciously worked on these skills during her first year as VP.
Public speaking at this level is an art and a craft. Even “naturals” like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama put a lot of work developing their public speaking skills. Their public speaking seems effortless but that is because of the hard work they put in.
Hildebrand
@Shalimar: The only people who really wanted a mini-primary or contested convention were folks in the media who would have made a mint on the chaos, or who didn’t want Kamala.
The way it has unfolded thus far is the best possible outcome.
Sean
@Kay:
Spot on. Real, honestly conducted polls, despite their very real problems, have been closer to accurate more often than some folks will admit. We can’t love a good poll and say a bad one means nothing or is wrong. At the very least using them helps spot trends when compared over time.
Trivia Man
@Baud: You were gone? I thought you just ran short on opinions.
Joy in FL
@Suzanne: Thanks for the info about the Zoom. I put it on my calendar and bookmarked her twitter so I can access the info easily.
hueyplong
@Bupalos: Of course, those that most wanted the primary were Trump and FTFNYT, so the word “safe” is susceptible to interpretation in this context.
topclimber
@Geminid: Yeah but I heard she’s lazy. So hard work can’t be the explanation.
Kay
@Geminid:
She is better than she was. I think that’s some of the excitement for political obsessives – we can see growth, not decline – there’s no ceiling. I think political people were very impressed with how adroitly and gracefully she handled the absolute shit show Democrats stuck her with, where she had to both back Biden and also prepare to step in for weeks. That was just talent. She never got rattled and made it look easy. That was noticed.
LAC
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C9ychdqJF8f/?igsh=MXdmeG9qZjI0YWRjNg=
a funny take on the VP race
BR
@Geminid:
Yeah, she’s gotten much better. I used to think Warren was a stronger public speaker than Harris, and better at weaving a narrative — in the 2020 primary for sure. But Harris has improved to the point that she’s just slightly below the Obama high water mark, well ahead of pretty much any other national Dems I can think of.
UncleEbeneezer
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: Actually, she lives in Castle Pines now. But that doesn’t really change anything, no? It has the exact same energy as HFR. It’s funny when I visit and hang out with her and her lawyer friends (who are mostly NPR-totebag Dems or a couple NeverTrump Conservatives) they can’t believe how radically Progressive I am. I’m like a zoo animal to them, lol.
tam1MI
@BR: YEEEESSSSSS!!! 😃😃😃
Soprano2
@Suzanne: I find myself wondering if that’s why more young white men aren’t going to college. Does it make them angry that there are more women in college that they have to compete with? Was it OK as long as women were a minority of the students in college, but once they got close to being half all of a sudden it was bad?
Trivia Man
@Fake Irishman: I think as at an event with Senator Kohl and noticed his masterful trick. He spike early in the program and stuck around. But while others were speaking he very very slowly inched to the back. Event ends he acknowledges the recognition…. Then is quickly out. It would have taken 30 minutes to wade through the crowd to leave but he was out in less than a minute.
KatKapCC
@Pittsburgh Mike: I will just gently note that this view is a little condescending, and that you should consider for a moment why you’re worried about even the chance that Madam Vice President would turn into a starry-eyed teenage girl because some famous people want to throw a party for her.
Suzanne
@UncleEbeneezer: Sure. I think there was a lot of uncertainty about how that could go logistically. Like, I expressed over and over that I am risk-averse. I literally did not know what path forward would give us the best chance of winning, I don’t know enough about election law and process to have any insight into how any transition could have gone. But as the weeks went on past the debate, and the freakout was growing rather than abating, I was definitely feeling like the situation was untenable.
My preference had always been for a behind-the-scenes push toward transition like, a year ago.
I think an assumption of good faith — until shown otherwise — amongst Dem voters is important. I also think that we need to heed evidence more. Right now, this looks to be turning out well and I am incredibly grateful that it is. But it very well could have been a shitshow. I want to not have shitshows!
Jackie
I didn’t want to post this in the Rev Rick’s thread…
But, where in the hell does TCFG get the idea he’s entitled to equal time as the POTUS?!😡
hueyplong
@Geminid: Agree. She became my #1 choice after I read a transcript of her questioning of some Trump official in a Senate hearing, which was very much not like the showboating stylings of most politicians. Those type skills turned to the speech making area are predictably good.
If she wins and isn’t torpedoed, she should be a great president.
WereBear
@Soprano2: Women destroyed the “Gentleman’s C.”
Suzanne
@Soprano2: Hey, I saw the news about your kitty. I’m so sorry. Many hugs.
hueyplong
@Jackie: Where the hell does Trump get any of his ideas? Probably malignant narcissism.
Kay
@KatKapCC:
The 2008 Dem convention was like a celebrity promenade. All the delegates were super excited. It’s fun and I know next to nothing about pop culture. Spike Lee came over and chatted with us in the Ohio delegation. I was fascinated with how thin female cable tv hosts were. It’s shocking. Maybe it’s gotten better. A lot of ads now have normal sized women. They looked like that old fashioned word “wasting”.
SatanicPanic
I know the election isn’t over and we have a lot of work to do, and no one here gave me a hard time about my stance so this isn’t directed at anyone here. But after a month of being told I was a crazy DINO who wanted Trump to win, I just want to say, I am glad people are coming around to the idea that this was a good thing. There’s a new energy that simply didn’t exist before. I was waiting, and waiting for Biden to get going. I had seen and heard some very concerning things. And yes, I was scared after the debate- scared that we had been losing and now were in total free fall. I was scared that Biden wouldn’t listen. I didn’t care that rich donors were cutting off the money supply because I did the exact same thing. Why should I expect them to keep throwing money away?
I said a lot of things in private about Biden that I now realize were wrong. He’s a selfless patriot and we all owe him a debt.
Anyway not trying to settle any scores just wanted to get this off my chest.
Trivia Man
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: the videos look easy, im just not sure about how tricky the trim will be. Im ok if i cant get the trim back on (DGAF about cosmetic in the bak yard) as long as it doesn’t compromise the weather proofing.
ssdd
@Jackie: lol cry more, Donnie.
Sean
@Jackie: I don’t even see how the equal time doctrine would apply since Biden is no longer a candidate.
They don’t really care about equal time anyway, they just want excuses to pretend the media is biased against him.
rk
@Suzanne:
Another conversation I had was with a democratic woman who told me that her son hated Biden and Trump and was not planning on voting. But now will vote for Kamla.
My own kids all thought Biden was too old and have been saying it for the last two years at least. They all would have voted for Biden but they kept saying that I have no idea how bad Biden does with young people.
That’s why I’m relieved Biden is not the candidate. Another indirect benefit is that they see for the first time in their lives someone doing something for the good of the country and putting the country before self. They’re used to seeing all these older adults selfishly cling onto power, RBG, Diane Finestein etc, literally dropping dead and not passing the torch onto younger people. The fact that 59 year old Kamla is considered young should tell us how ridiculous this clinging to power by the older generation is.
rikyrah
@Scout211:
Needs to be on T-shirts, Tote bags, Mugs
along with
THE PROSECUTOR VS THE FELON
UncleEbeneezer
@hueyplong: She absolutely KILLED it in those hearings. Also in the Kavanaugh hearings. She has the prosecutor’s killer instincts and I love it!!
TBone
@Lyrebird: I’m SO glad hubby doesn’t know about graphite! He was an auto mechanic for years before becoming the boss at the shop. What he does know is the value of good lube 😆
rk
@Kay:
I’m not sure that I would go hard on the celebrity thing during the convention. I think they should really focus on ordinary everyday people. I find too many celebrities completely off putting.
suzanne
@rk: Could not agree more. My Spawn was definitely going to vote for Biden, but I talked with a group of his friends and they were just not there. Would not have voted. I hope now that they will.
I also talked about this with a colleague who has a son a few years older than Spawn. She is for Biden, and she said that he son said, “We don’t like Trump, but we think Biden’s too old and that’s depressing”.
Geminid
@hueyplong: I talk politics a lot with a friend in Atlanta named Warren. He always voted Denocratic but he kept politics at arms length until the 2016 race. He hates Donald Trump.
So Warren was dismayed after the debate and one reason he was so distressed was that he did not think Harris could be a good candidate. I told him that this opinion was based on second-hand opinions by the various “experts” he follows and he really needed to go to the primary source– Harris’s public appearances– in order to appraise the matter.
Warren took my advice and now he’s a fan. He watched Harris speak yesterday and texted me in real time:
I texted back, “Confident.” I was referring to the Vice President but the word applied to my friend as well.
rikyrah
@Dagaetch:
Simple truth…LOL
opiejeanne
@Trivia Man: Is your cat then super-charged? Does she zip around the house like a maniac after her morning coffee?
BR
I’m curious how folks in Michigan think picking Shapiro as VP would go given that his been very vocally to the right of even Biden on Gaza / Israel. He seems like a good public speaker, but that issue alone, plus his charter school support (IIRC) could be problematic.
rikyrah
@UncleEbeneezer:
It’s crazy, but, Kamala running like this is peak Black woman in America.
Jackie
@Sean: Exactly. And Biden is speaking as our PRESIDENT addressing the nation, NOT as candidate.
OTOH, if TCFG wants to speak to the nation because he’s dropping his bid to run… by all means give him airtime!
Sean
@rikyrah: I think “we’re not going back” is certainly in the realm of “yes we can” in terms of its potential potency.
When Obama was running, that messaging caused the general ephemera of politics to drop away in favor of engaging in a cultural moment. It was pure excitement to be a part of a movement that resonated.
If “We’re Not Going Back” can get to that level, it could really transform everything.
Kay
@rk:
Agree- as I said I am the last person to ask about pop culture. I think they do it because it’s free positive media and obviously a lot of people like celebrities or they would not be celebrities, right? I don’t care for sports. But I’m willing to accept that a lot of people love watching and following sports and it brings them a lot of joy. I’m for that.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@UncleEbeneezer:
Actually, she lives in Castle Pines now. But that doesn’t really change anything, no?
Heh heh, Not. At. All. I really am LOLing at this. To quote John Hurt as Caligula in ‘I, Claudius” “Typical!”
It’s funny when I visit and hang out with her and her lawyer friends (who are mostly NPR-totebag Dems or a couple NeverTrump Conservatives) they can’t believe how radically Progressive I am.
Our circle of friends here easily fall into the NPR/Totebagger Dem crowd and yeah, I’m screaming and ranting (mainly about Denver-specific issues surrounding development, historic preservation and gentrification), they just roll their eyes.
On last week’s Idaho trip the wife took, sitting around one night all the relatively well-off folk asked her about moving back to Denver and when she said “In part, it was about moving to a blue state”, she said the reaction was crickets chirping to the level of Daffy Duck in “Show Biz Bugs”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDS3B65W6wA
Joy in FL
@Layer8Problem: This is a site you might have a look at.
https://ground.news/
Here’s their “about” page: https://ground.news/about
And here’s their blurb about themselves: “Ground News is a platform that makes it easy to compare news sources, read between the lines of media bias and break free from algorithms.”
I got the app at least a year ago, but I find I’m using it more lately, and appreciating it. It’s modestly priced, and I’m pretty sure there is a free trial, or maybe a free version. There is a web site and an app.
Someone on BJ mentioned it weeks ago, and that brought it back to my attention. Trae Crowder advertises it, and he often has a coupon code for it on his YouTube videos.
Geminid
@BR: I wouldn’t say Governor Shapiro is to the right of Biden on Israel and Gaza. He seems to have come down about where Biden is on these issues. Fetterman is to the right, but more stylistically than substantively I think.
Kay
@rk:
And I think it’s important to say this – the stars of the ’08 convention were black celebrities. There was this thing going on there that was a black people celebration – in the room. You just felt lucky to witness it, to be aligned with it, even if somewhat apart from it.
Soprano2
@BR: I have a friend who posted a comment on FB that she thought Biden’s family was engaging in elder abuse by continuing to encourage him to stay in the race because to her it was obvious he has dementia because she saw the same things in her parents. *sigh* We all bring our own frames to things, and that was hers. I posted two comments, one about his stutter and it being a neurological processing problem, which is most of what they were seeing, and another longer one about how I live with a person with dementia and there is no way Biden could have done the press conference and interviews and speeches he did if he truly had dementia that was advanced enough that they could notice it. I also said that the way he walks is explained by having neuropathy in his feet, plus wanting to make sure he doesn’t fall down. I think a lot of people see what they’ve been conditioned to see.
rk
@Kay:
I really don’t know next to nothing about celebrity culture. I basically live under a rock so what do I know. So what’s offputting for me may not be for others. But hopefully the people organizing the convention know how to strike the right balance.
Kay
@rk:
I stopped following it almost the moment I had children because I felt insanely busy and I’m kind of an obsessive – I have to focus.
So anything that happened in pop culture since 1990 I am not aware of :)
SatanicPanic
I’m glad that people are coming around. I was told a lot of nasty things (not here) for saying Biden needed to make way for Harris. It’s great that people were passionate about Biden but hopefully next time people can be a little more tolerant of suggestions like mine.
I also hope we can retire the theory about rich donors calling the shots. I mentioned this to my wife who is not online (like I am) but politically engaged, and her response was “they don’t want to throw their money away “. I didn’t either. I had stopped too. Because I was convinced he would lose anyway. The debate wasn’t even the kicker for me- I was already convinced he would lose.
That being said, I have an admission of my own. I said a lot of things about Biden in private that were wrong. He’s a good, patriotic man and his sacrifice here will likely go down in history as a great moment in US history.
Rand Careaga
@WereBear: Seen elsewhere (at LGM, I think): “Crooks was someone with his whole life ahead of him—which I imagine may have been the thought that made him pull the trigger.”
db11
@Geminid: You may be right in terms of where Shapiro is policy-wise on Gaza/Israel (equivalent to Biden), but that’s a problem in and of itself.
Kamala needs to make some distance from Biden on Gaza, for moral, legal and political reasons. Choosing Shapiro — who’s been an ardent, public supporter of Israel — blurs that message.
Bex
@Hildebrand: You bet it’s OK!
SatanicPanic
@Soprano2: my father has advanced dementia and there were definitely times in the last year where he could be totally normal part of the day and then by evening things would get weird. Biden’s appearance at the Juneteenth celebration looked like dementia to me, but maybe he was just in pain? I don’t know. The disease is cruel. My father was bodysurfing six weeks ago, now he’s involuntarily committed , tied to his hospital bed and can’t talk clearly.
rikyrah
It’s crazy, but, Kamala running like this is peak Black woman in America.
I should have known better.
I think we all anticipated Kamala getting 4 more years, and then running in 2028. We were ready for the free for all in 2028 in the Democratic Party.
That it’s happening this way, is so profoundly Black woman in America, I can’t even get past it.
I look at Black folks, and we are all just looking at one another, understanding the task…understanding the odds, and we’re all like..phuck it….let’s do this…
We are digging deep, to save democracy in America.
It’s who we are. The ones originally designated 3/5 of a human being…
Out here trying to save this country.
That’s who we are.
Tenar Arha
@Baud: ~waves hello~ good to hear from you!
We hoped you were maybe only busy being vetted for VP ;)
Geminid
@db11: You say that Harris needs to make some distance between Biden on Israel and Gaza like it’s a proven fact, not an opinion. I don’t see the evidence for this. In my opinion such a course would cut both ways electorally and be a wash at best.
Ramona
@rikyrah: this makes me wish BJ had a “like” button!
Archon
@Geminid: I went to a couple of events when Kamala was running for Senator and I came away from it unimpressed with her oratory skills and stage presence.
She has absolutely improved over the years.
zhena gogolia
@rikyrah: Amen.
Doc Sardonic
@SatanicPanic: Could have been pain. I am significantly younger than Joe but have been dealing with neuropathy in my feet for a long time. The way you move has an effect on everything you do, movement issues seem to have a cascading effect. Mentally it is distracting and creates cognitive issues due to expending so much mental energy managing the pain.
SatanicPanic
@Doc Sardonic: ah ok. Sorry to hear that you’re dealing with that, sounds really unpleasant
Aurora S
@Omnes Omnibus: Your generosity is commendable. And 100%, none of us had any problem with Harris (or any other Democrat—let us remember that there was no articulated step 2 after “throw Biden overboard”).
It’s great that things have cooled off a bit, but before anyone takes their victory lap, remember that this is *not* over. I can tell you right now that after this all shakes out, IF it all shakes out, I will not be able to file the episode of the last three weeks under “bygones”. I will remember all the dogpiling jackals that tore Biden to shreds and called the rest of us “Biden Dead Enders” for thinking that shanking Biden was not only kind of fucked up, but also far too risky if we actually cared about winning. It’s all going on the back burner until we can get Kamala Harris over the finish line, but these folks are all just going to have to understand that they’re not getting any emotional charity from me. This was an incredible gamble with people’s lives, and it better pay off. Asking for “amnesty” is a little insulting.
Doc Sardonic
@SatanicPanic: Thanks, it is what it is. I am finding that doing some movement therapy is helping with the physical portion, now I just have to work on the mental. If I could just get these little tiny rocks out of my shoes……😁
SatanicPanic
@Aurora S: keeping Biden was also a gamble tho. Imagine a counter factual where he was still in- it’s not better than today. And concerns about chaos and whatnot were misplaced. It’s ok to just let things go. Everyone was doing their best to win then and we’re doing it now.
SeattleDem
@Lyrebird: My trick is to use a small hammer and a large nail to push the hinge pin up from the bottom. First spray the joints of the hinge, then knock the pin up a quarter inch or so, and spray again. You only have to push it a half inch or so in order to get the whole thing, then you can knock it back down again.
WD 40 is good for taking off old gunk and rust, but 3-in-1 oil is what I use to reduce squeaks and binding. Both of them tend to drip off the bottom for a minute or two, so I put down a rag to protect the carpet.
Manyakitty
@Hildebrand: I’ll get in line with you. That guy can shuffle off to his villa on Lake Como and STFU forever.
Manyakitty
@stacib: as a Jewish person who follows a kosher diet, I’ve never intentionally eaten bacon. The mere stench of rotting pig flesh cooking gives me anxiety and I get sick to my stomach.
Pie away.
db11
So much.
And it has been deeply moving and incredibly inspiring watching the coalescence of high-achieving, politically active black women (and men!) lining up behind Kamala, ready and willing to do the work of organizing and mobilizing the rest of the coalition.
The historical debt is deep and continues to grow with each new cycle.
VOR
I saw the breakouts from one poll where the strongest demo for Trump was divorced white men. And the Republican platform is against no-fault divorce. Hell, Project 2025 wants to repeal the 19th amendment and take away the vote from women. Let’s go back to just white male landowners, as the founders intended.
No. We aren’t going back.
Quinerly
@hueyplong: 💙
Until I am persuaded otherwise, I believe Clooney ran his op ed by Obama.
Lynn Dee
Josh Marshall of talkingpointsmemo.com on Kamala Harris’s rapid consolidation of support — an excellent, relatively short thread (in response to a snarky Axios tweet):
https://x.com/joshtpm/status/181609507616402687
Ruckus
@WereBear:
shitforbrains is never going to be ready.
His brain is dissolving as we discuss his readiness. If he gets up and speaks he is going to very much satisfy a segment of his voters. Because they are as far gone as he is. He is going to lose a segment of his voters as well because as much as they might want him, listening to him speak will change that for that segment. They may not vote for any democrat but they very likely will not vote for deranged sfb. And that will give him a loss. Now I could be 100000% wrong, but I don’t think he is going to have much success overall. He’s just too far gone. And most everyone, over say 50, will recognize the signs because they likely have seen this with someone they know, that has aged out. Not everyone does this but enough humans do, that it is not unusual.
UncleEbeneezer
@Aurora S: This!
No One You Know
@rk: It makes a weird kind of sense if they saw that as a way of punishing an ally who didn’t deliver.
Lyrebird
@Aurora S:
(clapping from my row) I remain concerned about disinformation, too, while very fired up for Lotus Potus.
@BR: re: timing,
Notice that our current Potus was likely deeply involved in sending MVP out to the campaign stops she did, like in NC, AZ, that gee golly just happen to be places where she could have a private conversation with someone now on the Veep short list before having to announce publicly. I think Biden and Harris spent a good bit of time preparing for many different timelines.
Lyrebird
@Gin & Tonic: Thanks, G&T!
@SeattleDem: And thanks 2 u as well! Your description fills in further from Ozark’s directions, great.
Definitely. Did you provide the photo of a kitty keeping your wife from floating away? Thank you, all of those were so sweet.
@TBone: hee hee hee