I have a lot of thoughts, so strap in. This is gonna be a long one. Since Harris is now the nominee I had some time today while sitting under the willow and while I was driving places running errands to think about things without interference, and a couple of things occurred to me. Also, I took a half an edible about forty minutes ago so your guess is as good as mine where this post goes.
My first thought is that one of the perks of having Kamala on the ticket is youth related, but not in the way you probably are thinking in regards to the youth vote bump she is getting. That’s obviously a great thing just from a voting standpoint and turnout but just general excitement, memes, and energy. But the other youth related bonus to Kamala is that she is only 59 and as such, the vast majority of her political career comes after the 1994 Proposition 187 in California, the ballot initiative championed at the time by Republican Governor Pete Wilson.
Just a bit of history although all the majority of you are my age and older, but California used to be a red and then purple state. After prop 187, Republican support just bottomed out. In 1988 the first Bush was the LAST Republican to win the Presidency. Clinton won by slim margins in 1992 and 96, and since then the EAR/ONS/Golden State Killer has as much chance as getting elected on a statewide ticket there.
What does this mean? It means that since Harris has been in politics, she has been dealing with the lunatic wing of the GOP since day one. The Republican Party has crystallized down to it’s distilled wingnut essence, and every Republican of some stature there has been nuttier than a fruitcake. B1 Bob Dornan, Duncan Hunter and his shitty spawn, etc. Absolute nutters.
That means at no time in her political career has she ever experienced a sane Republican party- she has no memory of the golden ages when Reagan would have drinks with Tip O’Neill and Orrin Hatch and Ted Kennedy were buddies and all that bullshit that made Tim Russert and Chris Matthews moist in the loins. Bipartisanship and a sense of camaraderie and being friends with the opposition have never existed in her world. Republicans have only ever been awful and an impediment to progress. In other words, we finally have a candidate whose internal monologue is the same as ours when Republicans speak- “Get fucked, maniac.”
This is undeniably a good thing. Maybe one day in fifty years we can have bipartisanship again. But not fucking now.
A second thing I am seeing that I really like and really gets me excited is something Mistermix alluded to earlier:
The use of the word “weird.” This is not a coincidence, as I saw Tim Walz saying the same thing:
This is such an effective line of attack and is just electoral poison. It’s a brilliant way to define these guys in the eyes of voters, and it has the bonuses of being true, something low information voters can agree with, something is easy to say, and it is versatile because there are so many weird things about these fucking guys and it’s something you can say to Trump supporters without having them descend into whataboutism with your beliefs.
“You voting for Trump?”
No, he’s so weird. All that face makeup and the ridiculous orange hair. Just a weird dude.”
He’s been so normalized by the media that people forget how fucking weird he is. He buried his former wife in a golf course without a gravestone. He pervs on his daughter. He’s always babbling on about Hannibal Lector. He drinks all those diet cokes. He keeps praising dictators. He rambles on about the strangest shit. He only eats McDonalds. He likes steak well done and with ketchup. These are all really fucking weird things.
So yeah, maybe it took a younger candidate with a much younger comms and social media team to do what the rest of us missed. And it works on Vance, too, as hillbilly twitter and Appalachians like Beshear all continue to otherize Vance. What they are doing is basically the same thing Kendrick Lamar did to Drake this year with Euphoria, Meet the Grahams, and Not Like us.
A third thing I have observed is really a quite positive development. It has seemed that for at least fifteen years the Republicans have had a factory running non-stop to churn out douchebags to run and every time some loser like Tom DeLay leaves the scene they puke up a Howley or Tom Cotton. Just a seemingly endless back bench of dickheads, maniacs, and losers. I mean there have been so many young Republican scumbags churned out by this factory that many of them in the last 8-10 years have risen through the ranks, got elected, and then promptly got convicted or embroiled in a scandal and flamed out. And then for the same time period, you pan the camera to the Democratic side and it looks like a scene from the Russian politburo circa 1985. Just one 70-80 year old after another. Oh look, it’s Chernenko. Oh look, Breshnev. Oh look, Andropov. And on and on and on.
But I’ve spent the last few days thinking about VP choices, and it hit me- “Wow, we have a lot of fucking talent.” I mean we have a REALLY deep bench of governors and young elected folks out there who would all, in their own right, make great Presidents. Whitmer, Cooper, Beshear, Waltz and on and on and on. We have a lot of fucking talent. And we need to keep cultivating and growing that talent by winning statewide elections in all 50 states. We have some real starts in the larval phase with folks like Max Frost, and then you have AOC, who I would like to remind you I was an early adopter and donated to her first race because she is going places, and she is, as Mistermix noted a while back, going places. I could conceivably, if I keep going to the gym, live long enough to see her become speaker or make a run for President. Or Senate.
It’s really an embarrassment of riches and bodes well for the future. It’s reason to be positive.
A minor housekeeping detail. We have not really updated the commenting policy in a long, long time, and I think we need to add a statement that makes clear that there are some things we just will not accept and there is no need for timeouts and “what not just get the fuck out of here goodbye don’t let the door hit you in the ass how can I miss you when you won’t go away.”
I’m personally thinking about three things motivating this. One is the inevitable tsunami of racism that is about to start up now that we have a black candidate. The second and third stems from the current war in Gaza. I’m simply not going to put up with any dehumanizing bullshit about Palestinians or conflating Palestinians with Hamas and I am not going to deal with even whiffs of anti-Semitism. And don’t think I am saying any criticism of Israel is off the books, because Fuck Netanyahu and fuck the monsters in his coalition for the way they are prosecuting this war.
At the same time, I’m not a fucking idiot. Well actually I am on a lot of things, but on this, I am not. You’re not getting a timeout for going into a post on the Russia/Ukraine war talking about… Russia and Ukraine, and start saying shit to the openly Jewish writer about them not caring about “zionist bio warfare” or other bullshit. You’re not fooling anyone. It’s not just a weird coincidence that you just so happened to start this off topic bullshit in the Jewish guy’s post.. I see what you are doing. We all see what you are doing. You’re out of here.
I’ve already lost one person I cared about deeply who left the blog and who I would do anything to get back, I’m not losing another. So we’re going to make changes.
As always is the case, my ideas only come into fruition after Watergirl puts in the leg work, and she is writing up a draft policy with the change and all the front pagers will weigh in on it before we implement it. Thank you for understanding why this change is necessary, or I suppose if you don’t understand why it is necessary, guess what- we’re making the change any way.
A fraternity brother called the other day and said he was working in Ohio (he travels for work overseeing construction and production of pharmaceutical labs) and that he was going to swing by and that morphed into him coming for a couple of days, which is fine, but I had to do a rush three hour “I can’t let people know I live like this” clean and scrub the bathroom and kitchen.
As I mentioned earlier I spent a little time under the willow tree, which is so nice because it provides shade and muffles sounds other than the whispering of the branches. I like to just sit there and listen and hear what birds are where and just get an idea of what kind of critters are living with me here. I also like to watch Maxwell sit and watch things. How his whole body will twitch when he gets aroused by potential prey, or how his head will snap to something and lock in on it and it takes me a couple of minutes to finally spot the bird or frog or whatever caught his interest. Cats are just so fascinating from the littlest one to the largest lion out there.
I think that’s all I have. Gonna go watch some tv and wait for my friend and eat some peaches.
Steve in the ATL
A large number of posters have contacted me and asked why I had lobster bisque and blackened mahi mahi in far inland Kentucky. It’s because I saw a car—a Lexington KY local—with a “Salt Life” sticker on his car.
You’re trying too hard, dude, and you are hundreds of miles from the ocean so I question the amount of salt in your life.
ETA: sorry, there were no willow trees involved, but this is an open thread, right?
VFX Lurker
You’re a good man, John Cole.
Was this a typo? If it’s slang, no worries.
Hoodie
I’ve always thought that we should do more to emphasize the weirdness aspect of Trumpism. The “Mortal Threat to Democracy” stuff is true but, unfortunately, a lot of people tune it out as over the top because they understand political theory about as well as they understand quantum mechanics. A lot of people have a tenuous grasp of history and don’t go around with an encyclopedia of fascist movements in their brains.
bbleh
Nice post. Has a “King Bran” vibe.
I think a lot of people had the feeling that “Joe, those days are gone. C’mon, man!” And if the stories are to be even half-believed, we ONCE AGAIN owe a GIGANTIC debt to Nancy Smash! She deserves every damn medal they can stamp out, and then a fkin bronze statue in the Rotunda. (Which is not to say Joe did anything less than amazingly selfless AND statesmanlike. Can you imagine the Felon doing anything even … remotely in the ballpark? Hahaha.)
And as to comments, I know everybody’s keyed up, but how hard is it to … be reasonably nice? You can be heartfelt, and express even vociferous disagreement, reasonably nicely. Strong pushback, some edge, some sarcasm, ok, but not personally degrading or nasty. FFS we get enough of that from Republicans!
KatKapCC
It’s not just that Harris is well acquainted with the modern nutjob GOP, it’s that she’s been the target of their (and their voters’) bigoted ire from the very beginning of her career, when they said she only got ahead because she slept with Willie Brown. They have never ever believed she was smart or capable or had any merit whatsoever. By now, I imagine she’s so used to their nastiness that it mostly rolls off her, similar to Pelosi. It’s an unfortunate (to put it mildly) element of our misogynist and racist society that women, POC, and probably especially Black women, have had to inure themselves against shit like that, but if the Republicans think they’re gonna hurt her feelings by calling her dumb or slutty or whatever, I have a feeling Harris will be laughing all the way to the Resolute Desk.
David_C
I’m just on BP meds, so this will be normal as long as I don’t stand up quickly. Good point about dealing with the CA GOP. MVP is tough and the KHive hasn’t been unleashed to its fullest yet.
Oh, and we should be careful about weirdness charges. There’s good weirdness, like musicians and scientists (my peeps).
topclimber
FU and your policies. JC, whadda ya think, you own the place?
japa21
John, you are a mensch.
I am old, but the Dems are young. I was talking to my almost 47 year old son the other day. He was worried about my mental health after Biden dropped out. I let him know I am not suicidal. He is happy about Kamala, even though a little while ago he felt Biden made a mistake with her. Now that he has gotten to know her better he is excited.
But one of the things we talked about was how the Dem Party has gone from geriatric to more youth centered. I mentioned that Pelosi has done a great job of mentoring and backing the younger members of the House and when we win back the House the leadership at the top and in the Committees is going to be fantastic.
Agree with you on the commenting policy. Disagreement is one thing, but name calling is something else. And the particular incident you brought upped had me wondering. There are some commenters that are basically one note singers and they can be rather tedious, but most of them don’t attack others. I hope personal attacks are included and I know that it is up to us to moderate the comments.
bbleh
@KatKapCC: and I think the laughing is key. She has a genuine, easy laugh. And there is nothing that deflates a bully faster or more thoroughly than laughing at them. Like “wadda you kiddin’ me? What are you, nine?” (And if that goads them to further displays, so much the better.)
kindness
So….off topic a little. After spending time under the willow now that the willow has grown…. is it too close to the fence? We had a lot of fun with that one back in the day.
SiubhanDuinne
The only time in my life I felt warm fuzzies for Bush the Younger was after TCFFG’s inaugural speech when Dubya muttered, “Well, that was some weird shit.” So the adjective has some longevity.
ETA: Yay, I just got in to tonight’s White Women for Harris webinar!!
Jeffro
I skimmed it and came away with this nugget:
He’s a loon, a weirdo, and completely unfit for county dogcatcher (apologies to dogcatchers) much less anything else*. I think Kamala was already onto this, but maybe she’ll thank Cole in her Inaugural Address. ;)
*in the upcoming trumpov campaign implosion and landslide, I hope we grab that momentum and dramatically upgrade our standards for federal office. No one should be able to sit in Congress or the WH if they can’t pass a basic security clearance, haven’t already served in a state legislature or governor’s office, or haven’t disclosed 10+ years’ worth of tax returns.
Happy campaigning everyone! The tide is turning and it’s all very encouraging but always remember: “What happens next…is up to you.”
HARRIS/TBD 2024!
KatKapCC
@bbleh: It still blows me away that they’re really trying to make the “her laugh is weird” thing happen. Fetch is gonna happen before that ever does. Everyone’s laugh is a little weird, and only weirdos care about that.
different-church-lady
Anything that takes out the garbage is okay by me.
karen gail
I belong to StoneKettle Station; Jim Wright airlocks people rather than giving them a time out. Personally, I think more blogs should employ airlocks since so many people seem to believe that hiding behind a keyboard gives you the right to be cruel, to hurt others or just be an idiot.
HumboldtBlue
Dude? Where’s my car?
FastEdD
Well said blogfather. I’m 50 year veteran of CA politics and I fervently hope that the GOP becomes as irrelevant nationally as they have become here. It was Prop 187 that started their march to extinction. We work mostly on downballot stuff where they are still firmly entrenched, like city councils and school boards.
chemiclord
The only request I would have about any rules for commenting is that the masthead writers also try to follow those rules (at least to the extent they can). You’d think that’d be obvious, but I’ve seen plenty of places where respect quickly became a one-way street, and those are not healthy communities.
topclimber
@bbleh: The only problematic Harris laugh I remember is when she giggled after the first time she cast a tie-breaking vote in the Senate. She giggled and it seemed off-key. Might have been rookie nerves.
Word is she has lost any nervousness about being VEEP since then.
KatKapCC
@HumboldtBlue: Hahahahahahaha oh wow, I love it. Wonder how much they’ll have to shell out to get their Camaros and Cybertrucks out of impound.
japa21
@KatKapCC: One of the things I noticed in the new ad is how many people are shown laughing. I am pretty sure that is intentional.
HumboldtBlue
Haley Voters for Harris have told Nikki Haley to stuff it.
Gvg
I have always found it incomprehensible that the press tried to clean up his statements to coherence. He has always had such weird sentence nonstructure and not followed any rule of grammar. No one could reliably tell what he was talking about. There is a theory that his supporters project their own wishes onto his babble and all think he said what they want, but who can tell? He has always sounded like he failed elementary school to me.
Sometimes I think of the rest of the world listening to him and just squirm in embarrassment.
Older video from the 80’s or 90’s shows he used to be able to talk. I wonder when he had a stroke or something, or what happened.
bbleh
@KatKapCC: Real Men wear dark tinted mirror-plastic sunglasses, and ball caps, drive ridiculously over-styled truck-shaped vehicles that are far beyond what they can afford, and DON’T LAUGH. At most they smile when they force a bike off the road or run over an animal or something.
I will go out on a limb and say they’re in the early stages of a death-spiral.
karen gail
@Jeffro: Let’s not forget judges; both Thomas and Kavanaugh had women stand up and willingly testify about sexual abuse from them. Rather than be punished they were awarded life time seat on SCOTUS.
Then there are those who are willing to bend the law or create new standards for Trump.
I still want to do bodily harm to those who undid Roe vs Wade; I remember how a group of us celebrated when that judgment came down.
M31
not only did the press clean up Trump’s nonsensical incoherent ungrammatical ramblings, but as soon as Biden became president they transcribed every ‘um’ and ‘uh’ and repeated word, it was completely infuriating
rikyrah
I just wanted to again thank everyone for all the help that you gave to the GoFundMe this morning. I can’t thank the Jackal community enough. Thank you so much.
And, if anyone needs a reference:
https://balloon-juice.com/2024/07/25/thursday-morning-open-thread-passing-the-torch/#comment-9284689
SiubhanDuinne
@HumboldtBlue:
I’d do one of those neverending HAHAHAHAHA things, but I’d break the margins and probably the whole blog.
But please consider that delightful bit of news HAHAHAHAHA’d at.
Idjits.
VFX Lurker
@VFX Lurker: Ignore what I wrote upthread — you fixed that typo.
Thank you again for this great blog and community.
Dca
As a nearly lifelong Californian I can assure you that the Republican party produced loons on a regular basis well before Prop 187. Just look up Max Rafferty, who somehow got two terms as State School superintendent but flamed out when he ran for the Senate in 1968. My parents were Taft Republicans and thought he was crazy. The difference was that there were some non-loons as well.
rikyrah
@KatKapCC:
Black joy is a problem for some😒
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Good post, Cole. I agree that calling Trump and the Republicans weird is a good line of attack because it’s true. I think that can break through the partisan divide/polarization. I support the comment policy change as well
KatKapCC
@topclimber: As a lifelong nervous giggler, I can easily show her grace over that. I mean…I got the giggles the first time I had a gyno exam. THAT was awkward.
Splitting Image
I got to thinking the last few days, and in spite of everything, I think there are a few positives coming from the fact that Biden stayed on as long as he did and dropped out in favour of Harris so late in the campaign.
If Biden had announced two years ago that he wasn’t running, there would have been a lot of candidates throwing their hats in the ring for this year’s primary. Harris would presumably have been the frontrunner, but Buttigieg, Whitmer, Newsom, and maybe quite a few others would tested the waters. Not only would they all have spent millions in a bruising primary and battered each other trying to win the nomination, the Republicans would have had time to do their oppo research on not just Harris, but on most of the people who could plausibly be chosen as the VP.
Now that the dust has settled, Biden has handed the nomination to his hand-picked successor, who can run more or less as the incumbent. The Republicans’ oppo research on Biden is now in the trash, including everything they tried to dig up on Hunter Biden, and they have nothing on Harris or on any of her potential VPs. And Harris has an enormous warchest after having spent almost nothing during the primaries.
Overall, I think this is a decent situation to be in.
rikyrah
The racism that’s about to come…just gird those loins
Eyeroller
I only like well-done meat (I can tolerate medium well but that’s it) so I suppose I should leave.
Leto
@M31: it’s been a 3 1/2 year hit job that the press did on President Biden. Basically since his inauguration they’ve declared him “too old” and “mentally unfit”. Putting them barefoot in a room full of legos isn’t appropriate enough punishment.
Tom Levenson
@rikyrah: Thanks for the reminder.
rikyrah
The difference for Harris is that she has a cyber group – the Khive- which is battle ready…they have been waiting for this moment.
Jeffro
also on a side note: special thanks to WG and AL for their recent posts and keeping everything humming along – truly tops among front-pagers and greatly appreciated!
do we have a “JD Vance kicked-off-the-ticket” pool going yet? no? as soon as we do, I’m taking the ‘under’ ;)
Tom Levenson
@Leto: Concur.
I’m thinking coating their feet in honey and adding fire ants to the mix.
Mart
@Hoodie: Walz has been pointing out the weirdness of the weirdo’s with a joyful smile for awhile now. Great line of attack.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Something encouraging, reposting from below:
It’s Tumblr I know, but I’ve seen posts floating around that are positive for Harris:
Post 1
Post 2
They talk positively about how progressive she was as a prosecutor, particularly her strong and substantive record on trans rights.
One even reflects on how dumb “Kamala the Cop” thing was:
Leto
@rikyrah: we’re already getting a sample of it, and it’s just immediately fucking obvious. As Rep Frost said, “Anytime they say DEI, they’re meaning Ni-CLANG”. It’s a reflexive response they have, any time a POC does something they have to invariable open their racist traps and let the hate spew forth. It’s fucking vile. It’s the reason Pastor Johnson already had to put out a note saying, “JFC can you tone down the racism already? It hasn’t even been 24 hours!”
But we absolutely see them for who they are. We’ve known who they are, and we’re never going to stop beating them over the fucking head reminding them that they’re racist pieces of shit.
Tom Levenson
@rikyrah: Also I’ve been listening to Black Bluesky about what it means that the Divine Nine is about to deploy.
BR
@Splitting Image:
Yeah, I think it’ll be better for Harris to sprint to the finish without getting bogged down in the weeds of every little policy. People don’t care right now, and it can only hurt.
Like I see a bunch of Never Trumpers saying she needs to say she’s pro-fracking now to win PA. I mean, that just will come across as pandering. Instead she can say “look, we’re producing more oil and gas than ever in the history of the country under our administration, but we know it won’t last forever and we know we have to move to renewable energy because that’s where the jobs of the future are.” No flip flopping, no policy weeds.
Leto
@Tom Levenson: solid first step ;)
Edit: regarding Divine Nine, I picked up on the context that it’s 9 black sororities but is it more than that? Is it the first 9 black sororities that were created? Just trying to add more info here.
schrodingers_cat
@rikyrah: Its going to be a target rich environment, anti-black, anti-immigrant and anti-Indian, anti-SouthAsian. We have already had multiple debates about the coconut slur. With people insisting that its not a slur because of enthusiasm on Tiktok or some such.
SomeRandomGuy
Don’t forget “Oh, I can’t vote for Trump; he’s lost it, and it’s sad.”
Remember, the bastard can barely fill an extra large gaming shed, wired for… um… sorry, memory of the “house that got away.”
Remember, the bastard can barely fill the one section of a Wal-Mart parking lot where SCOTUSes drive their RVs for a morning bracer from the liquor store that’s seedy, but not too seedy, because Wal-Mart has standards, offer void in states where Wal-Mart sells liquor because *really*.
catclub
… but I am homicidal. Is that better?
Redshift
Pointing out their weirdness and unpleasantness is good. Also all their specific extremely unpleasant beliefs, not just the ones that are clear threats to democracy.
Jess
Regarding the “orc-ification” of the GOP, I’m sure it has struck most of us that they hate the libruls because they’re capable, intelligent people trying to do the right thing. There’s no hate like the hate that springs from self-loathing and shame. They love Trump b/c he is so grotesque, at least as much as most of them, and still thrives and is never held accountable. They love him for his complete lack of shame. They hate us because we are capable of facing our own shameful moments and doing better. They don’t want to vote for the best candidate; they want to vote for the one most like them.
dmsilev
For some giggles, go to Google Trends and compare web searches for ‘Trump assassination’ vs. ‘Vance couch’ over the last week. The heterosectional is well out ahead.
sab
@bbleh: My husband isn’t speaking to me right now because, although I was deeply saddened and disgusted by treatment of Biden last month, I decided to try to emulate Biden and move forward.
Husband isn’t ready yet to stop grieving, and he is furious with anyone who still isn’t consumed with outrage.
lamh47
Ah…John…gawd luv u, I kinda love that you’ve never changed or rather you’ve changed, but never a big douch-ey change…how about that.
Leto
Tim Walz on the golden rule in small towns, which keeps everything humming along: Mind your own damn business.
I like it. I like it a lot.
Ramona
@Eyeroller: but do you put ketchup on your well-done steak?
schrodingers_cat
If anyone is interested my 2 cents on the lotus emoji to replace the coconut palm.
TL:DR version I am using neither.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@HumboldtBlue:
God, those red, white, and blue outfits are so tacky
Jess
@Leto: I’m liking what I’ve seen of Walz. I think he would be a great choice for VP.
Redshift
One of the things I find extremely frustrating and wish I knew how to counter is that all of their claims of success and accomplishments are complete bullshit. The R Convention was chock full of them:
If they didn’t lie, they’d have absolutely nothing. You’d think that would matter more
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@sab:
Sorry about your husband acting that way towards you. I get feeling that way, but he shouldn’t take it out on you
lamh47
Now…speaking of the “youfs”… Kamala Harris is now on Tik Tok for those who do the Tik Tok thing.
I’ve got an account on all the big social media apps, including Tik Tok, but aside from folks sending me links, Tik Tok ain’t my bag. I barely have time to go on Instagram.
I’m a twitter and a facebook gal (YES I’m still on FB…contrary to what the YOUFS say, it is still the place that feels a bit more closer to real life than twitter, especially since Musky bought it up)
Anyway, if you are a Tik Tok-er… follow Kamala Harris new official account here:
Kamala Harris on Tik Tok
Make sure you checkout MVP’s first Tik Tok either on TT or one twitter here: https://x.com/KamalaHarris/status/1816597340695785650
KatKapCC
Trying to join the Zoom meeting but whoever is running it hasn’t started it yet. Not really a good look to be late to starting a dial-in meeting called “Answer the Call”. Anyone else have any luck
Okay, finally got in by audio!
UncleEbeneezer
Thank you, Future-President Harris!
Leto
@Jess: it was my first time seeing him, and I liked what I saw. Echo what we’ve all said in that, we have a very talented/deep bench. Whoever she chooses will be great.
topclimber
@KatKapCC: I should clarify that by problematic I mean in terms of pundit perceptions, not in terms of her emotional reaction.
Aziz, light!
@bbleh: Can we please drop the smug stereotype? Around town you’ll always find me wearing a ball cap and sunglasses while driving a pickup. None of these says a damn thing about my politics.
Jess
@Leto: Agreed!
Chet Murthy
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): i’m still grieving too. And I’m still worried that we’re not going to win in November. But I know one thing: the best way to honor Joe Biden’s legacy, to really cement his place in history, is to win in November. If that happens he will be honored above all but a few presidents. If we lose in November,Nothing else will matter.
Eyeroller
@Ramona: That was what my family did when I was a child. I use A1 now but ketchup isn’t something I would never consider.
I also hate all forms of seafood. Hatehatehatehate. The smell of it can nauseate me. But I understand that most people like it. My feelings aren’t hurt by that.
One of the reasons I noped out of LGM is the constant criticism by Loomis of other people’s food preferences.
KatKapCC
This call has more attendees than any other meeting in Zoom history, apparently!
Jess
@Eyeroller: Mmm…I remember A1 sauce! I haven’t had it since I was a kid. I should try it again.
Jess
@KatKapCC: Did you get in?
BR
@KatKapCC:
That’s great! I was just about to ask how it’s going. I’m really loving (as an outside observer) seeing the zoom call organizing that’s happening.
KatKapCC
@Jess: Yes, by audio only unfortunately, but better than nothing.
RobertS
Cole, you are a treasure. Your posts always bring a smile and a laugh. Thanks.
zhena gogolia
This alone would have disqualified him in any normal country.
Danielx
@bbleh:
Gotta go with Aziz, don’t make assumptions.
That being said, the proportion of assholes among people with big really shiny diesel trucks with no toolboxes is considerably higher than among the driving populace in general.
Ramona
@Eyeroller: I loove A1 on well-done steak! I like steak done rare too. For me, it all depends on how fresh the beef was.
I like fish but I can understand people being sensitive to the smell of it. Fish has to be very fresh to be safe to eat.
zhena gogolia
@sab: I’m sorry about that. I’m still grieving, but I’m also excited about Harris.
No One of Consequence
Just tell your Publican friends/enemies/frenemies/ancillaries :
Neither your Presidential candidate, nor your Vice Presidential candidate eats barbecue.
No part of the Republican ticket eats barbecue. The REPUBLICAN ticket. Then ask them what planet/timeline/country this is.
(OK, maybe if you stretch that to a McRib for the OompaLoompaAdjacent, it might pass with the porkrinds crowd, but it also might just be that pitMasters will draw the line somewhere in theres…)
-NOoC
UncleEbeneezer
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Sometimes a simple insult like calling someone a “weirdo” or “loser” is the most effective because everyone can see it’s true (there’s no need to even explain, we all see it), there’s no good comeback, and you avoid getting into boring tangents and side-arguments. Stand-up comics do it really well when dealing with hecklers. They just get the audience to laugh at the heckler until the heckler leaves or sits down with their tail between their legs. And Kamala should absolutely take advantage of the fact that she’s young and cool. If people vote for something so silly, why not use it to our advantage.
catclub
Oh, really? What small towns have you lived in?
In my small town someone wanted to open a rehab/drug treatment facility. (Did you know there are meth addicts in Mississippi?) Lots of people sure did not mind their own business on that one.
Omnes Omnibus
I’ve been advocating continuing to hammer on the GOP’s unpleasant weirdness for several days now. It works. They aren’t eccentric or odd. They are “I have bodies buried in my basement” and “I fucked a couch” weird. People you cross the street to avoid.
MagdaInBlack
@Leto: I do admire the statement, its how i try to live. But, I grew up in a small town (700 ) and I sure wish “mind your own business” was true 😉😊
zhena gogolia
HANNIBAL LECTER
(I miss you, Steep!)
lamh47
@KatKapCC:
Looks like there is 136,000 people registered…I’d imagine they’ve reached capacity…so may have to try another method?
Watch the stream here: https://x.com/cmclymer/status/1816634375389290614
topclimber
@Leto: Actually he succeeded in making sure there will be no stupid remarks emanating from the Capitol for the next two weeks by starting a recess earlier than planned.
Jeffro
you know, it’s funny: I love Whitmer, Kelly, Shapiro, Cooper…all of them.
Walz strikes me as Biden 2.0 for Kamala. Totally congenial truth-talking old white guy who does no harm and reassures…well, I dunno…our blessed ‘swing’ voters? ‘suburban’ voters? ‘moderates’? ‘independents’?
However it all shakes out, I have faith in KH and her staff and their vetting process. But I’m mentally adding Walz to the mix here along with my faves because (good) reasons. =)
lamh47
There is also the Black Gay/Queer men call today.
Special surprise guest: Second Gentleman Doug E!!
https://x.com/notcapnamerica/status/1816635683542384919
KatKapCC
Martin
So, the flip in 1994 didn’t happen for no reason. I had just moved to the state a few years before and was early in my career and one of the things I was doing there was demographic analysis of 0-25 year olds – basically the current college age population, the group coming out of high school, and the generation before them.
I learned a lot doing that work, most importantly the two linear distributions of age in a population and race in a population are not necessarily related. CA at that time was flipping into a majority-minority status (that officially happened in the 2000 census, but actually happened earlier). And when you looked that the age/race relationship what was apparent back in 1994 was that the state had a lot of white people and they were all old, and the state had slightly fewer people of color and they were almost all under 35. Long before 2000, the number of kids graduating high school that were non-white was larger than the number who were white. And while the state is not yet majority latino, the number of students coming out of high school that were latino WAS a majority nearly 10 years ago.
In 1994, there was this sense of ‘just look around – this is still a white state’ – all elected officials were, and so on. But when you looked at young people, young parents, people that hadn’t yet gotten the opportunity to be governor and maybe never would, but their vote counted as much as anyone else, you saw a state that wasn’t obviously a white state, and that ballot initiative is what got the reluctant to vote latino population to show the fuck up, and that sense of empowerment changed the state forever – latinos became a voting force that you couldn’t brush aside. And there were all the usual critiques here – oh, they’re young they won’t vote, oh, latinos never turn out, oh, whites won’t tolerate this. And guess what! You might need a catalyst like Prop 187 to light that community up, but once you do, watch the fuck out.
And I see a LOT of takes here by older commenters that look at their communities and project those demographics on the whole community (as white Republicans in CA were doing in 1994) and fundamentally misunderstand where the electorate is. You have to keep an open mind to the electorate looking very different, because often it does.
Do people know that it was all the way back in 2011 that most births in the US were not white. That means the entire 0-13 year old demographic in the United States is majority minority. They start voting in 5 years. And if they’re majority minority then their parents are as well – or at least one is a minority and the other loves the one who is and their kids. And that’s not just CA – that’s GA, FL, VA, AZ, and happening in EVERY state. Only two states didn’t see latino population at least double from 2010 to 2020 – NM and CA.
So what happened in CA demographically in 1994 is happening now across the country – more in some places, less in others. And some states have held off the consequences of that – TX has done an outstanding job of suppressing latino votes in the southern part of the state, but Trump only won TX by 5.5%. That’s not a solid red state any longer. It’s vulnerable like GA proved a few years ago. What we lack is a catalyst – and Trump could be that and Democrats can manufacture it to some degree – I think around Dobbs is the way to go, there are other options.
The other demographic shift where Project 2025 could prove a catalyst is religiosity in this country. It’s not just that the white population in this country is falling, the white christian population in this country is completely collapsing – and the GOP has gone 100% in on that group. And that collapse is seen almost entirely in young people. They are abandoning the church at an astonishing rate, and represent such a huge opportunity for Dems in this election – most impacted by Dobbs, most impacted by Project 2025, etc. – that I remain shocked that Dems aren’t throwing every sink we own at young voters. I know they aren’t reliable voters, which is why they are such a good group to chase – Democrats are GOOD at outreach and turnout, and there is so much more opportunity in that group than in any other. And every state has young people. You get them, and you lift every swing state.
And that’s largely what happened in 1994 in CA.
rikyrah
Do think it’s hilarious… The Haley voters going to war with her. I don’t even know if it’s real, but it’s 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Danielx
John Cole, you appear to have given three propositions and one advisory. I would say yes yes yes and yes.
Thanks for giving us the chance to discuss and vent even when we act like fools.
Well, most of us anyway. Throw the total assholes down the nearest convenient elevator shaft.
Eyeroller
@schrodingers_cat: At least according to Wikipedia the word is from कमल which is a script I do not read, but is supposedly kamala. How should that be read? There’s also padma. And apparently several other names.
Just as an interesting tidbit, the lotus has a close relative in North America (same genus), the American lotus Nelumbo lutea. It has been hybridized with the Indian lotus to create some cultivars.
rikyrah
@Martin:
There are Red States
And then there are voter suppressed states.
We have to work on the voter suppressed ones.
zhena gogolia
@Chet Murthy: We are on the same page.
I think we have a long, hard road ahead, and we have to stay focused on what’s important.
HumboldtBlue
zhena gogolia
@Jess: It’s good, but I still prefer Lea & Perrins!
rikyrah
@schrodingers_cat:
Would it be offensive for me to get a KAMALA and lotus t-shirt?
Eyeroller
@Jeffro: He’s about the same age as she is. The joke is that he looks so much older because he taught high school and supervised the lunchroom.
zhena gogolia
@Omnes Omnibus: I commented in the dead thread that I tried out the couch thing on a normie tonight at dinner. They did not understand me, and whatever they did understand of my explanation, they were unmoved by. I don’t think it will have wide appeal among people who actually vote. But this person already hated JD Vance for things he actually has done and said, so it’s all good.
Leto
@catclub: Summerville, SC which had a population of maybe 100k? Oh, then Hartsville, SC where I went to college. Maybe 20k? OH OH, how about when I was stationed in Italy? 100 Americans. 100 fucking people. You know we knew each other’s business because we were together 24/7/365 in just about everything we did. You don’t even have a small town here in the US that’s even like that. And you know what we did? MINDED OUR OWN FUCKING BUSINESS. I can’t help that Mississippi, which I did 6 years in that state, is a fucking hell hole, and that like most southern states is a fucking hell hole. It’s a staple in southern towns that you need to inject yourselves into each other’s lives, regardless of the consequences. It’s not like that everywhere else. It’s the whole point of what we’re arguing about here.
zhena gogolia
@Jeffro: Maybe it would reassure people who wanted Biden to run?
rikyrah
@sab:
Tell him that there are plenty of furious people out here.
Even if we pull this off..
Imma still be bitter.
So, tell him he is not alone
..
But, I can be bitter and work to save democracy in America too.😒
Whole lot of bitter workers here
Rusty
The weirdness dig can work. LBJ pasted Goldwater with “In your guts, you know he’s nuts.” Just another variation on the theme.
rikyrah
@lamh47:
So cool 👍🏾
Trivia Man
Try this one weird trick to save the world!
(Hint: it means voting)
lamh47
More lame attacks…smh
First of all, but she did pass, so the lesson is if at first you dont’ succeed try again and you too could become elected DA, AG, Senator and VP…sooooo..
Second of all, my understanding, California is one of the hardest bar exams in the country (btw, not for nothing, but my state of Louisiana also has a hard bar exam).
Third, did agent orange even graduate from Wharton? Like also didn’t he just barely get into the school cause of his father…
Fourth, not the flex they might think it is…
2liberal
Does anyone know who this is ? Because I don’t
mali muso
On the white women for Kamala zoom call…we broke the zoom with 100k attendees. It’s back on now.
ETA: Pink just showed up. And we just passed 1 million $ raised.
zhena gogolia
@2liberal: I’m guessing geg6, but I don’t know. I’m hoping she comes back soon. She has a lot going on.
lamh47
https://x.com/JoshMBlackman/status/1816464465816170704
More lame attacks…smh First of all, so the lesson is if at first you dont’ succeed try again and you too could become elected DA, AG, Senator and VP…sooooo..
Second of all, my understanding, California is one of the hardest bar exams in the country (btw, not for nothng, but my state of Louisiana also has a hard bar exam).
Third, did agent orange even graduate from Wharton? Like also didn’t he just barely get into the school…
Fourth, not the flex you think it is…
schrodingers_cat
@rikyrah: I don’t think so. Go right ahead!
Leto
@Leto: my edit timed out, but I wiki’d my hometown’s demo and in 1980 we had 6400 and by 1990 we had 22.5k. I remember the 100k number from my dad, but I think he was talking about Charleston at the time. It’s not 700 like MagdaInBlack, but it’s still relatively small.
Like I said, it also falls back to what we’re discussing here: mind your own fucking business. It’s not a hard message to convey, and it’s a good message against the Trumpers and God Botherers who want to try to dictate every fucking thing in your life. Stop being weird, and mind your own fucking business.
Omnes Omnibus
@zhena gogolia: I’m not saying that we tell everyone Vance fucks couches, but rather that we emphasize the fact that these people have sincerely weird ideas about the world. Because they do. You would move to the other end of the bar if one of them started telling you about their beliefs.
pluky
@Leto: Ask, and ye shall receive!
Five fraternities and four sororities.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Pan-Hellenic_Council
WaterGirl
@schrodingers_cat: I left a long reply at the end of a thread where you raised this earlier in the week.
I said it better than this, and with more words than this, but I basically said that if a person finds a word (or symbol) offensive, then it’s not for us to tell them that it’s fine and that they should not to be offended.
Kind of like black people can refer to themselves or others with the n-word, but it’s not ours to use.
I suggested that if cain, for instance, wants to use the coconut symbol, more power to him, but you’ve been a member of the BJ community for a long time, and it doesn’t seem too much to ask for the rest of us to respect the fact that you find it offensive.
That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t use it elsewhere if folks want to, but just not here.
Tony Jay could tell me all day long that the c-word totally means something else overseas and that I shouldn’t be offended because no harm is intended, but I still sure as hell don’t want to be called the c-word.
Note: Okay, I said it shorter earlier this week, not longer, but probably better.
My two cents as a part of this community in (mostly) good standing.
Trivia Man
@Jeffro: Where is the baseline head of lettuce as a marker?
Jeffro
@Eyeroller: I saw that! LOL
He really is a great surrogate/spokesman/whatever we want to call it for the Harris campaign and its messages. I’m on board. =)
Dorothy A. Winsor
@lamh47: As I recall, Trump transferred to U Penn in his junior year or so. Wharton is Penn’s graduate school of business, so Trump wasn’t enrolled there. He has no MBA. But Penn’s undergrad school offers a sort of major taught by Wharton and he was enrolled in that. I don’t think we know his grades.
Scout211
Zhena, phrasing! 😳
😉
Trivia Man
@Leto: “anytime a POC does something…”
To me it looks like “anytime a POC exists…” I have seen many pictures posed as “humor” that are simply black people on a stage and the comment is something like ‘better make the quota’ or some other DEI ‘joke’. Not even a hint of content or context just “black people funny”.
UncleEbeneezer
@bbleh:
Spoken word portion from a song titled Riffosaurus Rock by The Dagg Nabbit Stubbs, a really awesome, ironic and hilarious band that I used to know and shared a couple gigs with. “Build me a truck. A truck that eats big trucks. That runs on stem cells and styrofoam. And crushes road like a four-wheeled Thunderdome.”
japa21
Quick thoughts about how dirty this is going to get.
This was another topic my son and I discussed. It started when I mentioned that Pete B was on of the names being bandied about for VP. I said how much I liked Pete but having a gay man with a female POC might be a little too much.
He gave me one of those looks that translates as “Dad, where ave you been the last several years”. Then he said, the environment now is nowhere near 2016 or even 2020. Anything halfway openly racist, misogynistic, anti-gay, will back fire on the GOP. BTW, he has taught HS for the past decade and has a good feel for the attitudes of the young.
So, I say, bring it on. There is a reason the word went out among the GOP to back off the racism. And as we have already seen, they can’t help themselves.
Jess
@KatKapCC: Hope you’ll report back!
Jeffro
@Trivia Man: right??
LET’S GET SOME (USELESS) SPECULATION GOING, PEOPLE!
In these (usually unfortunately) unprecedented times, is it beyond the realm of possibility that trumpov dumps Vance for someone with equally repugnant views? Like, say, Katie Britt?
“I need…I need a woman on the ticket! Yeah, that’s the…er…ticket!” – DJT
(meanwhile of course, Harris/TBD 2024 continues to pound on trumpov for being the ‘chaos candidate’, only with f-bombs)
“Our economy is the envy of the world. Unemployment low, inflation low, booming in every sense…why would we want to fuck that up?” – KH next week, probably.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@Omnes Omnibus: probably everyone knows this one but anyway
How Nature says “do not touch”
Eyeroller
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Wharton has both undergraduate and graduate programs. This is a little different from the typical business college/school, where there is a distinction between the undergrad college and the MBA mill. But it’s common for other types of academic units, say for instance an engineering college, which would offer both undergrad and graduate degrees.
Leto
@pluky: Ty Ty!
Trivia Man
@Jess: I wonder if he has any riz with the far NW part of Wisconsin. Peeling off a chunk of those voters might make a big difference in the state. That are is all MN media covered.
Spanish Moss
@2liberal: I have a pretty good guess, as I imagine some others do, but if JC had wanted us to discuss it he would have provided more details. It’s probably best to move forward with the understanding that when we go too far in the comments we lose valuable people, so revisiting commenting policies is a good idea.
lamh47
So agent orange trying to get out of the debates, and this time using PBO as an excuse.
I know some folks are frustrated with PBO, but don’t even fall for it okey doke. Cut off the oxygen from the disruption fire to Dem unity that Chump & company trying to feed.
https://x.com/GlennThrush/status/1816634988953030676
trnc
Just got here. Cole on edibles may be my favorite Cole.
But don’t get hooked or anything. We don’t need JV writing some bullshit about you.
WaterGirl
@Jess: I think he looks like he could be Kamala’s dad and people will look to him for the nod of agreement when she says something.
It happens to women all the time, and we don’t need it happening to the first female president.
Of course, my opinion counts for nothing, it’s not like any of us have any influence on the decision, but that’s what I’m thinking so I thought I would share it.
Jess
@zhena gogolia: I’ll try that too!
prostratedragon
@Leto: It’s 4 sororities and 5 fraternities.
MagdaInBlack
@Leto: I’m right there with you. I was just amused,because I’ve often thought the whole damn republican party is a bunch of small town busy-bodies. 🙂
Jess
@WaterGirl: Ironically, he’s only 6 months older. (I’m exactly 1 year older; we have the same birthday!)
Martin
@rikyrah: Oh, absolutely. But that’s doing the work, as you know. A month ago we weren’t doing the work. Today we are.
Jeffro
@japa21: 110%
It is surprising how many of the stale, old attacks not only don’t land at all with the younger folks, but how many people in my age cohort just don’t give a shit.
race – nada
gender – nope
sexual orientation – zip
It’s a bad look and I think folks have caught on that it requires no skills whatsoever. Maybe having el presidente disastro trump for four years actually had an impact on persuadable voters. Who knows?
Jackie
I’m way late to this thread, but just wanted to say thank you for this post, JC! Welcomed by me, for sure, and I’m sure by many others!
Now, I’ll go back and read the comments and see if I’m right.
Omnes Omnibus
@Trivia Man: I think Walz speaks fluent Upper Midwest. There may be some Vikings related jokes*, but he would do alright in WI.
*Charles Woodson used to give Obama shit about being a Bears fan.
Scout211
I agree with John and other commenters, Democrats using the word “weird” to describe Trump, Vance and Republicans is not a coincidence. I think the Democratic messaging team choice that word. It’s really a good word to use because it’s a vague adjective that can mean any number of things to anyone and is not quite a smear and not quite a personal insult. But most people know it is referred to something that is not normal and is not a compliment.
I think it is effective because it’s so vague doesn’t sound mean. Walz really carried it off.
Omnes Omnibus
@Jess: I am pretty much halfway between them.
zhena gogolia
@Omnes Omnibus: Well, yes.
Trivia Man
@Jeffro: I bet Sara Palin would answer the call. She loves America that much, you betcha.
zhena gogolia
@Scout211: 😂 No rubber gloves were involved.
Chet Murthy
@japa21:
This reminds me of what Blogfather wrote in the OP about 1994 and California. Many of us grew up in a time when racism, misogyny, and homophobia were just …. well, part of the air we breathed. So of us even practiced those things. And even as we’ve recovered from those those things, we’re still in a defensive crouch about them, expecting that they’re the norm, and that decency and openness and allowing people to live their lives …. that that’s the aberration, not the norm. I live in California now, so I know that -here– those things are the norm. But about the rest of America (esp. where I grew up in Texas) I still am in a defensive crouch.
I really want to believe that the country is changing. I really, really want to believe it. But it’s very, very hard, esp. after 2016. I guess we’ll see.
Omnes Omnibus
@Scout211: Walz also manages a “What the hell is wrong with them?” tone that pairs him up with the listener/viewer.
Anoniminous
Heard from a friend who is in a position know. There have been 800,000 new small donors and about 100,000 new campaign volunteers since Harris got the nod.
zhena gogolia
@MagdaInBlack: They’re like those church ladies on the Andy Griffith Show.
Leto
@MagdaInBlack: pretty much. They’re the old person sitting out on their porch, scolding you as you go past, reminding you that they know your mom/dad/etc, and how they remember how young people were much more respectful in their time…
zhena gogolia
@Omnes Omnibus: I think the Upper Midwest accent is the most endearing regional accent in the country.
Geminid
I see former Representative Val Demings has been nominated for a position on the U.S. Postal Service’s Board of Governors. I like the idea of a former cop looking over Louis DeJoy’s shoulder.
Jeffro
@lamh47: I just saw that…LOL
running scared, eh tough orange man? countdown to Harris/TBD response in 3, 2, 1…
…”shouldn’t this nimrod be willing to debate any opponent, at any time, anywhere? He’s so sharp and on top of his game and all…”
Anoniminous
@Omnes Omnibus:
Why give anybody shit about being a Bear’s fan? THEY ARE A BEAR’S FAN!
nuf gesagt.
japa21
@WaterGirl: Understand what you are saying, but the main thing is to win the election. And he would play two vital parts.
I didn’t really phrase that the way I was viewing it in my brain.
Villago Delenda Est
@HumboldtBlue:
Darling Nikki continues to debase herself before the orange idol.
Jess
@Omnes Omnibus: So you also just turned 60? My condolences.
Steve in the ATL
@lamh47: that’s bold talk for someone named Blackman!
Should he be referred to always as “the ironically named Josh Blackman”?
Trivia Man
@Jeffro: I have full confidence that the younger people would have no hesitation at all about voting for Black, Gay, Woman, disabled, or other marginalized group.
BUT
They need to turn out and actual CAST A VOTE. There is a very long history of under-voting in that age group. Nixon won in 1972 partly because 18 yer olds earned the right to vote… and didn’t. 45% turn out ages 18-24.
Omnes Omnibus
@Anoniminous: Look, if you are trying give Obama shit, you are pretty much limited to his ears and the fact that he is a Bears fans.
UncleEbeneezer
@Scout211: Before the fame from Abbott Elementary, comedian Janelle James (who plays the principle) used to be on one of my fave black podcasts semi-regularly and I remember one time her saying about Republicans “God, what a bunch of fucking weirdos” and then going into her infectious, one-of-a-kind laugh. And that’s when I realized it really is the perfect insult because there’s no way to counter it and you’ll only look worse trying to.
Jeffro
@Trivia Man: the FSM doesn’t love me enough for trumpov to put out the call to Palin to (re)join the GOP ticket!
having said that…and knowing my history of getting things completely wrong recently…I probably just locked it in, so hey, let’s go!
Harris/TBD vs trumpov/Palin!
Is it possible to get ALL the electoral votes? I think we’re about to find out… =)
Leto
@zhena gogolia: such a good descriptor/image. Busybodies that need to mind their own business. Everyone knows the type.
Omnes Omnibus
@Jess: Not yet. Soon.
Jess
@japa21: I get what you’re saying. He’s so darn normal that he normalizes the radical notion of having a non-white woman as prez. People are going to believe him when he calls the MAGAs the weirdos.
japa21
@Anoniminous:
Being a Bears fan means you are willing to put up with less. It means you are willing to pay top dollar for an inferior product. It calls into question your judgment.
3Sice
@mali muso:
Lulz @ Trump and his weirdo d-listers.
Jess
@Omnes Omnibus: It’s like hitting 30 all over again.
Edit: Plus reading glasses and a bad back.
Trivia Man
@Omnes Omnibus: He is not my first VP choice but I’m sure he’d be fine. Ope – just gotta skoosh by ya there.
Digression – The sports thing is a small factor, but I thought it was weird that JD kept hitting it again and again. Hey Michigan! Ohio rules but we need to win Michigan! Like, repeatedly. -eye roll emoji goes here-
Omnes Omnibus
I just saw a stat that the WW call is averaging $20K in donations per minute.
dc
Couches against Vance (from Mastodon):
https://mastodon.social/@blogdiva/112849722131907313
Omnes Omnibus
@Jess: I had Pad Thai for dinner that night.
Leto
@japa21: it’s the same type of pairing Biden did with Obama. It also opens a permission structure for white people to vote for a black candidate. I mean, I fucking hate that. I hate that we even have to do that, it’s always rankled me, but here we are. Regardless of who she picks, it’s going to be a great choice.
Villago Delenda Est
@lamh47: Cheung is such a waste of protoplasm.
zhena gogolia
@Trivia Man: How about old people? I guess that’s a no-go.
Trivia Man
@Omnes Omnibus: I always laughed at the Cubs shade he threw. Southside for life was how I heard it. I think Sox even got to visit the White House while he was there. Back when it used to be an honor.
Jess
@Omnes Omnibus: I think I had that on my 60th…
zhena gogolia
@3Sice: Pink is on a Zoom?
HumboldtBlue
Republicans who have endorsed Vice President Harris, so far:
Former Defense Sec. Chuck Hagel
Former Amb. to India Robert Blackwill
Former Amb. to Romania Michael E. Guest
Former Congressman Adam Kinzinger
Former Congressman Chris Shays
Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan
Former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele
Republican Voters Against Trump
Haley Voters for Harris
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
@mali muso: Wow, Pink. – lets get this party started
Steve in the ATL
What do y’all know about post-workout recovery drinks? I’m thinking Pinot noir—cab would be too heavy after being on the elliptical.
Geminid
@Jeffro: “Weird” itself is a weird word. It violates the rule, “I before E except after C.” A suitable label for outliers like Trump and Vance.
Trivia Man
@zhena gogolia: LOL
Last I saw, ‘atheist’ was the most likely response to get a NEVER CONSIDER for president. Ranked below even ‘Muslim’. When that stat changes then we might be getting someplace.
zhena gogolia
@Steve in the ATL: Mix in a little Gatorade?
Jess
@Leto: And it really will be a DEI choice. Not that that’s a bad thing.
UncleEbeneezer
@Scout211: As long as everyone was consenting (shrug)
Jess
@Steve in the ATL: Beer and donuts. You’ve earned them, right?
Trivia Man
@HumboldtBlue: I have my fingers crossed for a TV ad with ex-cabinet secretaries under Trump. I have been watching and not one has endorsed him that I recognized. Several have hinted at being never trumpers (now) but if even a few unite with a pro-Harris ad that would be devastating.
waspuppet
@Dorothy A. Winsor: It’s quite … something watching Trump at his rallies try to insinuate to his minions that he has an MBA from Wharton without actually saying it. It’s like the only thing in his life he can’t bring himself to outright lie about.
As for Harris, yes exactly. I’m a single-issue voter, and my single issue is, do you understand what the Republican “Party” actually is? As such, my top 3 in the 2020 primaries were 1) Warren, 2) Harris and 3) Biden. (Yes, Biden.) So this is gonna be good.
WEIRD WEIRD WEIRD. That is exactly right. They are weird people and it’s way past time — like about 30 years past time — to say this regularly. If the 2016 election had been about policy, Hillary would have won in a walk. But if it had been about who is the more normal, approachable person, Hillary would ALSO have won in a walk. Our wealthy media class had to invent a fictional Hillary Clinton and put that up against Trump to make it competitive.
Leto
@Jess: haha true, true!
Jackie
@HumboldtBlue:
I read that earlier. That’s the most awesome thing I’ve read so far today.
We welcome (former) Haley voters to support MVP Harris’ campaign!
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve in the ATL: A batanga.
Villago Delenda Est
Nazi ho sez wut?
Omnes Omnibus
@waspuppet: She still got more votes.
Chet Murthy
@Villago Delenda Est: Haha, apparently Ms. Kelly is cited in Brit Hume’s divorce proceedings as a direct cause of his divorce. Glass houses, stones, etc.
Ksmiami
@karen gail: I’ve never needed to hide behind a keyboard to be an idiot thank you very much.
Steve in the ATL
@zhena gogolia: so many Pinots would be improved by a splash of Gatorade
@Jess: sure, if you discount the dark chocolate ganache cake I had before dinner….
@Omnes Omnibus: what’s it called if you use Pepsi instead of coke?
Omnes Omnibus
Vance’s illegitimate son lives in squalor.
BR
I’m trying to mentally calibrate what we’re seeing with these massive organizing zoom calls and such. I mean this is awesome, but I’m struggling to understand if this is unprecedented since Obama ’08 or not. Was there anything like this in 2020 or 2016?
Gvg
@rikyrah: heck, I suspect Kamala is bitter. I haven’t forgotten. Even if she does win, I will wonder what he could have done in his second term. I want her to appoint him to her cabinet. Maybe Secretary of Labor? Also give him lots of assistants that he can mentor and train while having a lighter work load so he is only needed for jujitsu strategy.
We have to work, but I have grudges. Some I can’t afford to indulge until years. Others I don’t know names for sure yet. I want more facts to come out, not unreliable rumors. We can elect better democrats later if we know.
Spanky
@2liberal: My guess is that Cole’s referring to Angry Black Lady.
Scout211
Elon Musk’s transgender daughter responds to Musk’s recent interview claiming he was tricked into approving her surgery.
NBC
More at the link. (Much, much more)
Geminid
@HumboldtBlue: Geoff Duncan could be effective campaigning for Harrisk in Georgia, and in North Carolina as well. He more or less said he was willing and I hope he does. Duncan may not sway many Republicans but Independents like this sort of thing.
Chet Murthy
@BR: I sure can’t remember this kind of fervor in 2016. Quite the opposite. 2020? Who knows? I can’t remember a damn thing except the fear and worry.
mali muso
@David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch: Yeah, she was just off the stage from a concert in Sweden, on a plane or a bus.
Annnnd Zoom kicked me out again. lol
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve in the ATL: I dunno, I didn’t go into a Burger King.
Jackie
@rikyrah:
I doubt any of us has forgotten 2016, and WE’RE BRACED and READY for 2024!
Chet Murthy
@Gvg: You made me think of Vito Corleone in the Godfather, advising Michael. Except that this time around, Joe will have better medical care, and will live to a much much riper old age.
suzanne
@mali muso: Elissa Slotkin is speaking now. I got bounced out but just got back in.
Steve in the ATL
@Omnes Omnibus: well played
schrodingers_cat
@Eyeroller: That’s Devnagari which I do read
Lotus is कमल
VP’s name is कमला
I don’t need Wikipedia to tell me that.
M31
I saw a list of the policies that Walz implemented as MN gov, and it is really impressive, with only a small majority in the legislature, I believe.
That’s what I like to see.
mali muso
@suzanne: Yeah, I made it back in for the end of her talk.
And we just went over $1.5 million!
Villago Delenda Est
Knock me over with a feather!
schrodingers_cat
@WaterGirl: I didn’t see that reply. Thanks for this comment.
BTW can the pie filter be made case sensitive.
Eolirin
@Omnes Omnibus: Also: He hired Tim Geithner and Larry Summers.
Martin
No, we need to turn them out.
Look, you need two things:
Calling young people lazy isn’t helpful. Giving up on them because some other group of people 50 years ago, who are now Biden’s age, didn’t show up isn’t helpful.
HumboldtBlue
You can’t distill couchfuckers misogyny and racism and anti-Semitism and all-around vicious nasty hateful rhetoric any more perfectly than the man telling you himself.
Omnes Omnibus
@Eolirin: If we’re going down that road, I’ll play the Arne Duncan card and win.
Trivia Man
@M31: Michigan and Minnesota give me hope for Wisconsin. Fix the legislature obstacles and the sky is the limit.
Torrey
@rikyrah:
Thanks for repeating this. I missed the earlier mention.
BTW, if she hasn’t already, she may want to check with Modest Needs. They often provide help in situations like this. (Note, if other jackals are reading this, you shouldn’t let the Modest Needs suggestion discourage you from donating at the GoFundMe. There are lots of Modest Needs needs, and not all of them get funded by any means.)
eemom
@karen gail:
?
I even tried googling “airlock blog meaning”.
Steve in the ATL
Question: why is Flava Flav being interviewed about Olympic water polo? I may have to turn on a telenovela instead.
schrodingers_cat
@Eyeroller: Yes Padma is also Laskmi’s other name. Padm also means Lotus. Rukmini and Rama are Lakshmi’s other names.
Padmakar is a name for Vishnu (which is literally Padma’s husband)
People are getting a quick education about Hindu mythology, slavery, the Carribean and so many other other things thanks to KH. Its pretty cool.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve in the ATL: He was on the Hungarian team in 1956 for the “Blood in the Water” match against the Soviets.
Jess
@Martin: You make excellent points here and in your earlier post. Based on what I’m seeing as a college professor, I agree. These kids need hope.
Steve in the ATL
@Omnes Omnibus: of course—and that explains the Yankees hat
Nelle
deleted
M31
oops, edit window closed on me — here is the Walz list of accomplishments I saw
https://bsky.app/profile/audrelawdamercy.bsky.social/post/3kxxu6qlcz22i
though there was some later pushback to this that he had a very large progressive wing pushing him, so don’t go all Great Man theory here, but that’s a nice list, and as we’ve seen (*cough* NY) there can be blue state governors that are shit
also, it’s been pointed out that he looks to be 30 years older than Harris but they’re actually the same age lol which is hysterical (he quips about his looks saying something like “hey I used to teach high school I earned this”)
Trivia Man
@Martin: I am not giving up on them at all. I bring up voter registration to every young person I have a chance to interact with. I do not blame them, I completely understand the despair and cynicism.
It is their world, and they can shape their future if they turn out. I am doing what I can to encourage and enable that and I implore everyone else to focus on that cohort.
HumboldtBlue
@Steve in the ATL:
I don’t know, but he has lectured at Harvard.
Leto
@eemom: he bans them. Same as Ripley airlocking the alien in the first Alien movie.
Gvg
@Chet Murthy: I agree. Unfortunately. And the democrats I know worry. That kind of worry is what undermined Biden. Hillary’s loss scared the heck out of them. Here in Florida the democratic candidate lost to DeSantis after the primary voters over confidently chose a more liberal black mayor over a white female daughter of a Florida politician who was not exciting but was very solid.
Add in the mean types helping attack trans kids in schools, when before we had been doing so well with anti bullying messages, and I am not feeling confident in voters down here.
I will say that reading BJ for years has made me sure that everywhere is different. All regions of the country are not alike and it’s just difficult to say what the overall trend is.
gwangung
@Martin: I think we as older voters tend to pooh-pooh needing to fall in love with Dem candidates.
But for young voters, that might not be a bad thing. Passion is a plus for them, and it’s sorta the thing that people do when they’re young.
Jackie
@Jess:
Every potential VP interviewing on the tubes has been great. MVP Harris has a deep, talented group to choose from. I can’t wait for her announcement – but, boy oh boy the awesome choices…!
WaterGirl
@Martin: I beg to differ! :-)
suzanne
@Martin:
It would help them for us olds to cede leadership to them. It’s not our world.
rikyrah
I love LarryO🤗
lamh47
@Steve in the ATL:
At a time when the water polo team was trying to get more folks to pay attention to other “out of the box” womens sports.
Flava Flav (hip hop greatest hype man some might say) got wind of it and became the women’s polo teams biggest hype man!
Here’s video: https://www.nbcchicago.com/paris-2024-summer-olympics/how-flavor-flav-became-hype-man-team-usa-womens-water-polo/3500550/
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: I agree.
Steve in the ATL
@HumboldtBlue: huh. Seems like Chuck D would have been better suited for that. Or KRS-One.
Eolirin
@Omnes Omnibus: Oof, I had totally forgotten about him.
I really wish Biden had been making the staffing decisions back then.
MagdaInBlack
@HumboldtBlue: JFC, the mans a lunatic.
Omnes Omnibus
@lamh47: Shit. That’s better than the story I made up.
waspuppet
@Omnes Omnibus: Correct. I usually use the phrase “Trump was elected (sort of).”
HumboldtBlue
Sweet Jesus beating coca leaves into paste, Failson #1 must have snorted an entire 8 ball of the best Peruvian flat leaf.
(Warning, it’s fucking hard to look at and listen to.)
Martin
@WaterGirl: Apologies. I don’t mean ‘we’ this blog – you’ve been absolutely amazing. I mean ‘we’ Democrats – the activity happening right now in these calls, in the volunteer numbers exploding.
Scout211
What? nooooo! The internet scrubbing begins?
I do wonder how that happened. And by that, I mean I think about how that happened with wonder.
Ksmiami
@MagdaInBlack: the GOP Motto: “Somebody somewhere is having a good time. We must put a stop to it!”
MagdaInBlack
@schrodingers_cat: It’s very cool and I thank you for the explanation.
Steve in the ATL
@lamh47: damn—I’m learning all kinds of things here tonight! And as we all know Knowledge Reigns Supreme.
prostratedragon
@Steve in the ATL: Water. After recovering drink what you want.
suzanne
@gwangung:
Worse than that…. we routinely push candidates toward them that older people love, and then we make some vaguely condescending noise about how voting is strategic, not an expression of self.
WaterGirl
@schrodingers_cat: If only! Not until we upgrade the site, and that won’t be until after November. I won’t even start the process until after November. No one needs the stress of a change.
lamh47
@Omnes Omnibus: yup yup…it’s a great story.
Here’s a CNN write-up
Check out this article: https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/06/sport/flavor-flav-paris-olympics-water-polo-spt-intl
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: Come on! Go for it. What’s the worst that can happen?
HumboldtBlue
@Steve in the ATL:
Chuck D has lectured at Harvard several times. First time back in the early 90s I think.
MagdaInBlack
@HumboldtBlue: Oh yeah ! I watched a lot more of that on Hal Sparks tonight. Jr was lit, much as he usually is on the video shorts he posts.
Hal finally shut it off because j.d is so gd boring (and full of himself)
Eta: i know its hard to listen to, but if you do, you can hear how nasally jr is. Nasal passages collapsing much?
Jackie
@MagdaInBlack:
Oh, geez… My kiddos and I lived in a small town for about four years while I was going to college… EVERYONE knew more about my business than I did! But, they always jumped to support me when needed.
A curse and a blessing.
Trivia Man
@suzanne: “You’ll understand when you are older, do it my way”
blech
Carolina Dave
@Mart: He has been great on MSNBC. Fox probably won’t book him. He would Buttigieg whoever conducts the interview. Secretary Pete would be a good choice as well. Great at media and breaking down complex issues into easy to understand sound bites.
Obviously, Im partial to Roy Cooper as VP. It could put NC in play. He also can also campaign in the south and also the midwest. Cooper is not an attack dog, but a moderate, effective and sensible governor. He won both his elections as Gov with Trump on the ballot here. Lots of good VP options as Cole pointed out.
lamh47
Chile…they are literally throwing everything at the wall to try to attack her before the wall to wall Olympic coverage starts…and each thing they do try just doesn’t have the flex they want it to…and in fact actually makes folks like her more.
Like the ONLY folks this work on is their own people…no expanding their voters at all…smh
KKKlannity throwing everything he can…smh
https://x.com/atrupar/status/1816641798636200420
Steve in the ATL
@Omnes Omnibus: I know, right? Good for him!
@lamh47:
I think that’s a fair assessment, though Omnes will probably disagree because his preferred rap group is Third Bass. Which is why Omnes gets the gas face. Pop goes the weasel!
WaterGirl
@prostratedragon: @Steve in the ATL:
I hate to disagree, but I’m pretty sure that Steve in the ATL still wants wine. Red, I imagine, but that’s only a guess.
Omnes Omnibus
@lamh47: Cool!
Martin
@suzanne: Yeah, been arguing that the age of qualification for running for Pres/VP is 35. AOC turns 35 in October. Mayor Pete is 42. What even are we doing looking at Roy Cooper.
Bill Arnold
@sab:
Have him read this new glorious and optimistic Cat Valente rant. The piece sprawls a bit, and is only partly reflective of the title.
If You Think You Know How This Ends, You Haven’t Been Paying Attention – The only thing we can predict about this election is that we cannot predict goddamned thing about this election–and we cannot forget that now (Catherynne M. Valente, Jul 24, 2024)
Steve in the ATL
@suzanne: Matlock/Murder She Wrote 2024!
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: Aren’t you frisky tonight!
Trying to get me in trouble, I see. :-)
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve in the ATL: I am old enough to be a Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five guy.
Jackie
@2liberal: AllisonRose? I know I still miss her😢
MagdaInBlack
@Jackie: Yes! They were always there to help when things got tough.
Lyrebird
@Geminid: Awesome!
Omnes Omnibus
@Martin: You still need the old people to vote.
gwangung
@suzanne: You can always overcompensate one way or another (sez I, who is definitely an old egg).
Nothing wrong with having both.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Jackie:
Haley’s butt hurt is a glorious sight to behold.
Steve in the ATL
@HumboldtBlue: I may have to rethink my low opinion of Harvard!
Now let’s settle the east coast/west coast feud—which rappers have lectured at Stanford?
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: Anyone I can and in any way I can.
eemom
@Leto:
oooooh. Thanks. I thought it meant something other than time-outing or banning. Sounds cooler, anyway.
Gvg
I like Walz the best so far.
That reminds me, Biden has been amazing at picking staff. I wonder what the job is that runs the vetting of judge nominations and other jobs that need Congressional approval? If he was in charge of just that, could he increase the pace even more and figure out more ways to get past republicans?
NotMax
@Steve in the ATL
Did someone say Pepsi?
(Kids, don’t try this at home.)
Martin
@Scout211: I have been trying to make the point that the AP has no idea whether JD has had sex with a couch or not. They can correct that he didn’t write about it in his book, but they can’t assert that he didn’t have sex with a couch. That’s potentially libel.
I think it’s noteworthy that the reason this meme works so well is that almost nobody read that damn book. They bought it as part of the usual GOP author welfare program, and stuck it on a shelf.
MagdaInBlack
@lamh47: Oh for god sake. Have they no idea the cross section of society and ages that one sees in ANY dispensary. Who the f cares anymore??
They truly are loser weirdos.
rikyrah
@M31:
Walz has been fabulous as Governor. I mean – top tier,policy-wise
suzanne
@Martin: I have agreed with almost everything you’ve said over the last few weeks. Including AOC or Secretary Pete for VP. This election is about the future. We’re not going back. Lean into that.
The olds need to learn to follow.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Eolirin:
And school choice grifter Arne Duncan.
Obama: Best (R) president since Clinton.
Summers is #1 on my list of residences to visit when The Revolution Commences.
Steve in the ATL
@prostratedragon: water? What is wrong with you?!
@WaterGirl: blush Zinfandel spritzer. Of course red! What kind of savage drinks [shudders] white or [double shudders] rosé?
rikyrah
@Trivia Man:
This is the first election in WI with the newly drawn legislative districts✌✌✌
MagdaInBlack
The other reason I like pumping the weirdo angle is I remember how relieved we were to see a normal family in the White House, doing normal family things. Everyone has had their fill of the weird.
rikyrah
@Torrey:
Thank you so much for the suggestion. I will pass it on
lamh47
Chile…the Tik Tok generation is NOT letting up on JD Vance and that damn couch…LOL
BHWHAHAHAHAHA
https://x.com/NikkiBarnesFL/status/1816655082672288220
suzanne
@Omnes Omnibus:
Sure, but then the old people can suck it up and vote for candidates they feel un-great about.
Omnes Omnibus
rikyrah
@Steve in the ATL:
He is the sponsor for the Ladies Water Polo team.
Crazy, but true story🤗
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Voting is strategic…once you’ve spent some time holding your nose and voting early on…as a lot of “old” people have spent a large chunk of their lives doing well after the ‘yoot’ phase. This is absolutely *nothing* new to us and trying to portray it otherwise is disingenuous at best.
It’s something the yoots need to learn instead of a generation of helicopter/bulldozer parenting practices trying to make it otherwise.
And this is nothing about holding our nose to vote for Harris, far from it. It’s a larger, strategic view of voting and what it means borne out by decades of experience.
Chet Murthy
@Bill Arnold: OK, I’m right at the point where Biden resigns and Harris gets endorsed. And …. yeah, you’re right, it’s worth the read. I must say, she captures very, very well my mood of last week and weekend. Hooboy, she nails it. Right down to the … um, ok, not the parking my mouth under a bar tap, b/c I don’t drink that much anymore, but everything else. Everything. Else.
I’ll keep reading now. Thank you for this!
Omnes Omnibus
@suzanne: Is this a revenge of the youngs tour or an idea on how to win an election?
Martin
@Leto: I’ve seen at least one implementation where instead of banning posters, they’re put in a state where they can post and see the posts, but nobody else can, so they don’t realize they’ve been banned.
rikyrah
@lamh47: 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
HumboldtBlue
@Steve in the ATL:
Martin
@Omnes Omnibus: Biden added 19 million voters in 2020 over Clinton in 2016. He didn’t win by swinging voters, he won by adding them. Even so, 80 million registered voters in 2020 didn’t vote. That’s more registered voters than voted for Trump.
The largest opportunity for victory is in non-voters, and among non-voters it’s among young voters. Did you read the report I linked to yesterday?
suzanne
@Omnes Omnibus: We don’t win elections without the kids (who are actually up to age 34). The late Boomers and early GenX vote for Republicans. Ergo, they are an integral part of the coalition. Expecting that they will just get on board has not borne success.
Geminid
@Eyeroller: Ulysses Grant was like that. He could only eat meat well-done. Grant did not like the sight of blood and would not hunt animals. He was very much a dedicated professional soldier though, and his experiences in the war against Mexico taught him that bloodshed was part of a soldier’s life.
In his Personal Memoirs, Grant wrote that he believed the Mexican War was unjust, and that the Civil War was his nation’s punishment for that injustice. This was not without truth.
Eolirin
@Martin: How would it be libel to say he didn’t have sex with a couch? Would he suffer material harm from his supposed lack of couch sex being passed around?
Ealbert
@Geminid:
My mother was a teacher: so I learned a much longer phrase.
I before E except after C, or when sounding like A as in neighbor or weigh, and weird words like weird.
Omnes Omnibus
@Martin: I have no problem with winning over young voters. We do want to keep the ones we have already. And don’t worry about me, I’ll vote for Harris/Anyfuckingone and be happy to do it.
Trollhattan
Excellent thoughts. HST used to close his writings with “selah.”
Selah
HumboldtBlue
@lamh47:
That’s fucking hilarious.
Eolirin
@rikyrah: That by itself may help win the state for Harris. WI Dems have a huge incentive to turn out right now.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@schrodingers_cat:
The main issue is that it’s basically an ignore, not a block function, thus the same troll-in-name-only types (we call it the “reply guy” type on housing twitter) can still see and respond (cuz they always gotta get the last word in).
Martin
@Eolirin: What if he actually did have sex with the couch and was relying on these memes to help capture the objectum-sexual community? You’re assuming these memes hurt him, but maybe there’s a bigger community of couch fuckers out there just waiting for their candidate. The AP asserting this event never happened would be a lie.
Martin
@Omnes Omnibus: But in the report I linked, swing voters are largely young voters, and are largely to the left of the party.
So most of the things to chase young voters, also chase swing voters. There are almost no reachable votes to the right of Democrats. They either love or hate Trump, and we either have or don’t have them.
Ruckus
@sab:
No one with as public and important a job as president is ever going to be free from both sides of the like/hate point of view. Because many humans are INSANE. I know, I used to be a mental health counselor long ago. And I believe that it has gotten worse. For proof I give you politics, national and otherwise.
Eolirin
@Martin: This analysis does not examine the extent to which chasing those younger voters activates or deactivates voters in other cohorts for or against our candidate. Without doing that you’re not able to do a proper cost benefit. This isn’t about winning over voters as much as whether you’re incentivizing or disincentivizing them showing up at all. More uneducated white men who tend to vote Republican will turn out to vote against Harris than they did against Biden, for instance.
If you were able to hold the entire rest of the electorate exactly the same, you would be completely correct. But you can’t do that, and we can’t evaluate whether any particular action taken to try to go after those voters is a net positive or a net negative without doing so.
Sally
@Jeffro: Walz is same age as MVP. I know he doesn’t look it.
Trivia Man
@eemom: Reddit has a shadow ban which is kind of funny. You can still see everything and comment away, but nobody else can see what you write.
Steve in the ATL
@rikyrah: crazy awesome story!
@NotMax: omg
@Martin: sounds like a John Scalzi book
karen marie
@sab: Show him pools of Republican tears? That cheered me right up. I agree with the commenter above whose name I apologize for not remembering that not having a bruising primary puts us in a much better position.
schrodingers_cat
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: Hmm. I have devised a workaround but it is tedious,
TS
@Jeffro:
Trump removed so many norms by sitting in the bedroom, chewing his cud, watching his favorite TV and refusing to do his job. The US President used to be the most important politician in the world – bar none – and trump turned the office and administration into a comic strip.
That Biden brought the US back from that place was an amazing task & it did age him, probably even moreso than Obama who had to cope with what Kamala will face while thinking his election signaled a new world of equality.
Trivia Man
@rikyrah: And how!! Barely a peep about it in normal day to day news, I expect to see a lot more noise after August. Wish us well, this could be a game changer. Pretty sure new faces get seated before the US pres votes get counted in DC, that could be critical.
suzanne
@Eolirin: Your point is valid. I would note, though, that if some part of the coalition needs to hold their nose….. others can do it just as well as the youngs.
It’s so important to establish that party alignment and that voter behavior early. It often lasts a lifetime.
Sally
@Eyeroller: That’s a great line! Love it. Deep bench.
Maxim
@rikyrah: Thanks, missed it in the other thread.
Eolirin
@suzanne: I’m not in broad disagreement, I’m just of the opinion that excessively focusing on a single cohort to the exclusion of everyone else is probably suboptimal to our electoral outcomes.
NotMax
@Sally
Us: Deep bench.
Them: Derp bench.
Eolirin
@NotMax: As long as we keep our deep bench away from JD Vance.
Trivia Man
@HumboldtBlue: this song legit changed my life. Heavy radio play in Detroit, it jarred my social conscience and gave it an edge that I had never had. Great link to post. I quoted it last week to my son to try and inspire him in these times of trouble and unrest.
Bill Arnold
@Scout211:
He looks like a couch-fucker in the AP photo:
AP FACT CHECK – No, JD Vance did not have sex
with a couch (MELISSA GOLDIN, July 24, 2024, archive.ph link)
Sally
@Dorothy A. Winsor: We will never know his grades because, as I recall, he sent some heavies in to remove all his files from the University.
(You should see what autoincorrect did to this post ha)
NotMax
@Eolirin
AP has pulled their “fact check” article about the Vance escapade.
Rachel in Portland
Mostly a lurker — I think I have commented 4 times in 20 years — but just here to say that John Cole, you are a really good person and blog site owner. Thank you for your service.
gwangung
@Eolirin: Yeah, but there are certainly things that’ll energize the young/swing voters that will definitely not hurt us with other segments. The Dems have already done one (and did it in such a way that it gave them substantial political capital to do other gambles).
There have to be other ways. We may not know them (because we’re posters on a sub 10,000 blog), but they should exist (or ways exist to cast seemingly moderate moves as more forward looking at first glance).
Eolirin
@NotMax: All the more reason to keep him away from it!
Suzanne
@Eolirin: So I have been thinking about this a lot because this is Spawn the Elder’s first election — hot damn, I am old enough to have a kid who can vote, therefore, I am old. When I talk with him and his friends, I feel like everything they want in their politics is really reasonable, honestly. The real difference is aesthetic/vibes, and of course, they want to be spoken to directly with an agenda. Treated as if their concerns — climate change, housing, insane cost of college are the ones I hear about the most — are of paramount urgency. I feel like we can find someone who inspires them and keeps others on board.
I am hopeful that KH I that person this year. They are thrilled for her.
3Sice
@HumboldtBlue:
The two idiots are trying to do damage control. The old man must have really laid into Jr. for saddling him with couch-fucker.
Bill Arnold
@Martin:
Wonkette covered the (now deleted) AP piece:
Guess News Organizations Shouldn’t Have Fired All Their Fact-Checkers, Huh? – Media really fucked the couch on this one. (Wonkete, BROOKE BINKOWSKI, JUL 25, 2024)
[1] AP FACT CHECK – No, JD Vance did not have sex with a couch (MELISSA GOLDIN, July 24, 2024, archive.ph link)
Eolirin
@gwangung: Sure. We should do all of those.
It’s not so easy to figure that shit out though, and any strategy that fundamentally regards the rest of the coalition, which still includes old people, as unimportant to also cater to is likely to lead us to the kinds of margin fall off in the places we lose that’s put Ohio out of play.
Eolirin
@Suzanne: Biden was definitely trying to make progress on all three of those issues so it’s absoluty vibes and media coverage problems here.
But I wasn’t really talking about Harris here.
Martin is advocating an all in on the young approach. I think that’s resting on an assumption that energizing the youth vote, which is as much about messaging and secondary choices as the actual candidate, will not hurt with other parts of the coalition or won’t activate parts of the opposition that might sit things out.
I don’t think that’s true. I do not think you can take for granted that the older cohort just comes along and because the younger voters are swingier and less consistent that chasing only them matters. And I don’t think you can take for granted that your actions won’t increase turnout for the other side in excess of what you get.
I think there are large risks to doing something like putting AOC in the VP slot, for instance.
But again, I broadly agree that it’s an important part of the coalition. And that we need to do more to help boost turnout and engagement with that group.
karen marie
@Bill Arnold: I don’t know how I missed that post! Thanks!
Kayla Rudbek
@David_C: yeah, there’s good weird and there’s creepy weird, and the orange menace and the shillbilly are creepy weird.
Kayla Rudbek
@lamh47: yeah, as I said earlier this week, I took the California Bar exam at the same time as the incoming dean of Stanford Law School, and she didn’t even pass the first time. Personally I think that bar exams are more of a test of “do you have the time and money to take a bar review course” than of what was actually taught in law school. The dean obviously had a lot more demands on her time than I did as a newly hired associate.
Kayla Rudbek
@Steve in the ATL: margarita with a salted rim, of course. Have to replace the electrolytes .
sralloway
@Redshift: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/watch-trumps-boast-draws-laughter-at-united-nations
Citizen Alan
@Gvg: My recollection is that Andrew Gillum got dragged across the primary finish line by Bernie Bros who thought he would be more “progressive” than Gwen. And then he lost to pudding boots and florida has never recovered.
Gretchen
@WaterGirl: I worked for an old Navy guy who didn’t really think women had good ideas. The other supervisor in my department was a man who was a good friend. We often agreed that he would push forward ideas that we both agreed needed to happen, but would be better received by this particular audience from a man. It wasn’t fair, it wasn’t right, but we got done what we needed to get done by going for what would pass. I’m fine with Kamala having an old white guy help her get things by people who aren’t quite ready for her yet.
She proposes, he gives the old white guy nod of approval, it passes. We all win.
Ruckus
@zhena gogolia:
This old white man will be very glad to vote for Kamala Harris.
206inKY
@Martin: Texas could the linchpin. Non-Hispanic whites were already only 39% in the 2020 census, and the under-18 numbers are even more dramatic.
People forget just how close Beto came to knocking out Cruz in 2018, only 2% margin, and now it’s been 6 more years of demographic change. A few inches more and Beto would be firmly in the VP discussion, with Dems fighting for Texas this year.
The Running with Beto HBO documentary is still a thing of beauty.
Martin
@Eolirin: Right, but the argument presented is that there is an innate predisposition to voting that correlates with age, and that older voters vote more reliably than younger voters. If so, then use that. If older voters always vote, then shift your attention off of trying to win them over and put that attention on younger voters that you have more opportunity to win over.
That’s what we do with electoral decision – we move energy out of reliably states (be it reliably red or blue) into unreliable states.
I can’t help but take this whole line of pushback as old people disliking attention coming off of them, and not a reasoned objective electoral argument. I see the same thing coming from a lot of people cheerleading their own governors.
David_C
@Splitting Image: I woke up this morning with the same thought.
Martin
@Kayla Rudbek: Oof. Having an incoming dean not pass should never happen, regardless of the demands on their time. Especially the top law school in the state.
Lavocat
One of the new rules should be that all front pagers eat an edible before posting so we can all vicariously enjoy the high through the stream-of-consciousness piece.
I loved your trip, dude.
OzarkHillbilly
John, you don’t have to explain anything to anybody. Whether I understand or not is really beside the point. Your house, your rules.
Thank you for sharing it with this crusty old bastard.
There go two miscreants
Very late catching up on this thread, but there are lots of good thoughts here. WRT age cohorts, I am more stoked to see my grandchildren (two of whom are voting in their first presidential election) and young nieces and nephews getting out and voting for Democrats than I would be by anything catering to my presumed old-guy concerns.