Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

Petty moves from a petty man.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

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

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Second rate reporter says what?

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

We will not go back.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. do not touch it.”

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

You are here: Home / Elections 2024 / TGIFriday Morning Open Thread: What A Week!

TGIFriday Morning Open Thread: What A Week!

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Our Very Serious Major Media has to accept the change, but they haven’t yet decided to like it…

… In only a few days since taking over the campaign, Harris has put her distinctive stamp on the election operation. She’s raising excitement and drawing an outpouring of donations from Democrats who had feared they were sliding toward disaster with Biden at the top of the ticket.

Now, her challenge will be transforming that enthusiasm into a durable movement at hyperspeed. She still has to make hard choices about how to maximize her time on the trail, choose a running mate and develop a policy platform independent of Biden, while her opponents are eager to define her as unfit for the White House.

“This is the easiest week of the campaign for Harris,” warns Alex Conant, a Republican strategist. “It will not get better.”

Harris insists she’s ready.

On Thursday in Houston, she told Republicans to “bring it on” in “a fight for our most fundamental freedoms.”

As she hits the road, Harris’ most dependable applause line has been “we’re not going back.” She might be referring to Republican candidate Donald Trump, but it doubles as a pitch for the generational change that she’s offering….

Consumer note: Kamala Harris merch is all over Etsy, of course, and I’m pleased to report there are multiple versions of tshirts with the Fairey-style HOPE – HEAL – GROW triptych. Found me one that I’m looking forward to wearing, plus another with a nice subtle MEOWMALA line drawing. (I’m also looking at official merch, but none of what I’m interested in will be available much before the convention.)
 

Reader Interactions

269Comments

  1. 1.

    Belafon

    develop a policy platform independent of Biden

    Maybe she likes Biden’s platform?

  2. 2.

    Suzanne

    The video of the Obamas’ endorsement is adorable. This campaign is fun and uplifting.

  3. 3.

    japa21

    Good morning, and is a great morning.
    For those that are still angry, like I was, I just want to say, Joe is going out on his own terms.
    And although I still believe he would have won, I think we may be looking at a blowout victory up and down the ballot.

  4. 4.

    RepubAnon

    Once Kamala Harris gets well ahead in the polls, I expect the MSM rats to start deserting Team Trump in droves. Let the media finding out that accurate articles describing Trump’s failings will generate lots of clicks begin!

  5. 5.

    Mousebumples

    @Belafon: she may like his platform, overall, but probably has at least minor differences to note.

    For example, she’s probably more left on abortion rights.

  6. 6.

    FreeThinkingRedneck

    I hate how they did Biden, but I believe that Kamila can and will win it.

  12. 12.

    Skippy-san

    I question Jaimie Harrison’s “all 50 states” statement. If true, they would be better able to field competitive candidates in those states.

  13. 13.

    rikyrah

    Reminder

    White women don’t have to vote like Black women

     

    If they just vote like Asian or Latino women…

     

    That’s the entire ballgame.

  15. 15.

    TS

    “This is the easiest week of the campaign for Harris,” warns Alex Conant, a Republican strategist. “It will not get better.”

    Never seem to be any democratic strategists commenting in the MSM – guess they keep their strategy quiet

  16. 16.

    sab

    I love Hillary and I worked hard on her campaign, but it was very serious and earnest and no fun at all. And the young men coming in from outside to run the local campaigns didn’t even seem to like her. They just disliked Trump.

    This is so very different. And I give Joe Biden a lot of credit for letting us move forward joyfully without guilt. And Kamala Harris

    ETA The ting I always liked best about Biden is that he is a great team leader. And I feel like  the team is still intact and working together.

  17. 17.

    NotMax

    Open thread guilty admission.

    Enjoying the non-stop silliness of the select few seasons of Benidorm currently available on Prime.

    Switching gears, wind down the week cute alert.
    ;)

  18. 18.

    Bupalos

    @japa21: We’ll, this assessment reminds me that one of the reasons for all the emotion over the party’s decision is that people are coming with wildly different perspectives on where we are.

  19. 19.

    Mousebumples

    @rikyrah: yeah, not great. 😔

    Semi – related, is anyone else excited for the Olympics to start?

    I’m hoping to catch a little of the Opening Ceremonies – Giannis Antetokoumpo (Milwaukee Bucks basketball) is one of the flag bearers for Greece. This is the first Olympics he’s qualified for, and I think the first time Greece is playing for men’s basketball since 2008?

    And now I’m also wondering how many other Antetokoum-bros are on the Greek national team. (Thanasis is injured, but maybe Kostas or Alex?)

    Eta – Kostas is also hurt and not on the national team at the Olympics

    Eta x2 – apparently Giannis is the first Black flagbearer for Greece at the Olympics. ❗

  20. 20.

    sixthdoctor

    This way the Joe/Kamala switch worked out reminds me of that scene in Braveheart where Mel is yelling HOLLLLD until the last possible second and them when it happens the enemy is suddenly “Oh, shit…”

  21. 21.

    Eyeroller

    @rikyrah: What angered me was the Democrats amplifying the media’s hot takes about Biden’s mental capabilities instead of fighting back on those. They could have argued that we needed a younger candidate to contrast with Trump and that would be a strong argument, but too many piled on the bogus “diagnoses.” Now at least some of the media are questioning Biden’s ability to carry out his duties and Harris is going to be asked “what did she know and when did she know it” so I hope she’s prepared for that.

  22. 22.

    Central Planning

    Kamalot? I’m not a big King Arthur-phile, but wasn’t that storyline a relatively good time in England?

    Just searched for Camelot and got this response:

    In fiction, Camelot is a place where Arthur rules Scotland and holds feasts at his round table. The round table symbolizes the idea of a good king because every knight who sits at it has an equal place.

    I hope everyone goes all-in on Kamalot.

  23. 23.

    Suzanne

    @sab:

    I love Hillary and I worked hard on her campaign, but it was very serious and earnest and no fun at all. 

    Agree. So far, Harris seems to be hitting what feels to me to be the right balance. Taking the job seriously without taking herself seriously, and letting herself be personable and humorous and happy.

    I feel like humor is an underrated political gift. Also, the outpouring of fun and energy on social media is a thing I really did not expect.

  25. 25.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Eyeroller: We have 101 days till the election so I’m expecting 101 days of anti-Kamala headlines, especially in the NYT. I do expect the Democratic Party knows how to circumvent that and get the message out, but it’s my main remaining source of anxiety.

  27. 27.

    Eyeroller

    @rikyrah: ​ Pardon me for continuing to lack faith in my demographic (older white women). 100,000 or 200,000 or whatever white women on a Zoom call indicates enthusiasm in probably the same subset that vote D anyway, and also selects for the more educated and tech-capable. That enthusiasm is good but I’m going to bet that white women will vote majority for Trump. But perhaps we can peel off enough.

  29. 29.

    Bupalos

    @Belafon: There isn’t really time to mess around with the platform a lot. She has to be ready to answer and give detailed policy positions from the get-go, on everything from anti-trust to Ukraine to the border to housing policy. Can’t have moving targets there.

    Be nice if she’d just signal a stronger commitment to Ukraine though.

  30. 30.

    Eyeroller

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: The very first FTFNYT headline about her suggested she was out of her depth.

    If the Democratic Party really knew how to circumvent the Narratives we would be in a much better place overall than we are, even now.  It’s a long-term problem.  For now they will probably have too little time to arrive on some Narrative, but assuming she wins they will work very hard to find something.

  31. 31.

    Starfish

    @sab: I think this was the crux of it. There were A LOT of young people coming from the outside telling people what to do in running Clinton’s campaign. It was like “Oh, we have tested this and are going to do it our way” instead of doing anything to keep the volunteers engaged and enthusiastic. The whole speech where she was talking about foreign policy in this “I know better than you” way where everyone was like “YIKES” had that same type of feel to it.

  33. 33.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Starfish: ​
    Recreational marijuana is legal in half the states now, including in five of the top 10 population-wise. That ship has sailed.

  34. 34.

    Nina

    I figured out why Trump actually chose Vance for veep candidate.  Trump is a cheap-ass bastard.  Old Trump-Pence merch can be changed to Trump-Vance by changing two letters.  No need to hire another graphic designer, heck they can just print a bunch of ‘Va’ stickers and send them out.  Cheap, cheap, cheap.

  35. 35.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    Did anyone sign up for a Men For Harris National Kickoff Call yesterday? I did but then wasn’t free at the specified time. The supposed recording is just 6 seconds of silence. I’m wondering whether it was tech issues or a scam.

  36. 36.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Skippy-san: If true, they would be better able to field competitive candidates in those states.

    Sisyphus’ curse was nothing compared to trying to recruit credible DEM candidates in a red state like Misery. Who wants to sacrifice 6 months of their lives, have one’s part turned inside out, lose one’s family life for that entire time, make less money (if any), get insulted and badgered at every turn, just for the privilege of losing badly.

  38. 38.

    Geminid

    @Mousebumples: Look out for Turkiye’s women’s volleyball team. The “Sultans of the Net” are among the favorites to take gold, and are hugely popular in Turkiye. If they make it to the finals the whole country will shut down to watch.

  39. 39.

    JML

    I just want Kamala to decline an interview with the NY Times editorial board. A clear eff you to them for their Bee Ess.

    “Oh, I just don’t really have time with all of my campaign responsibilities…”

  40. 40.

    Starfish

    @Bupalos: I think that “foreign policy” is an area where Harris is getting attacked for not having deep experience, but a lot of people who become President don’t have deep foreign policy experience. They probably said that about Obama too.

  41. 41.

    Kay

    I would like to see the next Harris call be a little more inclusive of “normies” or center or Right leaning Democrats. I think we have to resist the urge to see this as a “teachable moment” for women who perhaps have not been liberal or politically active. The “teacher/student” role is just not the way to approach adult women – it’s patronizing. Please don’t kill this excitement with Rachel Maddow type over explaining and “leading” people in one direction or another – let them get there themselves, or not! They could just be in this for this campaign and not committed to an entire liberal policy/cultural agenda- that is FINE. Hopefully there wil be lots and lots of new people who have not spent the last decade pondering liberalism – there needs to be a place for them.

  42. 42.

    Belafon

    @Eyeroller: if every Democrat votes, we win big. If we can get some more conservative women who care about abortion and a couple of other things, all the better.

  43. 43.

    TBone

    @Gin & Tonic: here in PA we need a doctor’s note (prescription) or we have to risk arrest going black market.  I’d like to see that change.

    A friend living in Delaware was busted in PA and charged with DUI in DE (some very strict laws in DE).  It was costly and invasive (they force everyone to get a breathalyzer).

  45. 45.

    Kay

    I think we should also have some working class speakers next time – people with ordinary jobs – employees.

    Bigger. Addition, not subtraction.

  46. 46.

    Mousebumples

    @NotMax: very cool!

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: enjoy! I’ll be at work but might try to time my lunch break to watch some.

    @Geminid: awesome! We have some Badgers on the women’s indoor team, but I’m always excited to watch so many great athletes.

  50. 50.

    Butch

    So I let the dogs out about 4 this morning and they immediately got sprayed by a skunk.  At least columns like this one make the day seem brighter, the quote by the Republican strategist notwithstanding.

  51. 51.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Starfish: I suspect a not insignificant number of women in red marriages will tell their husbands they are voting trump all the way but once they get in the voting booth do otherwise.

  52. 52.

    Ken

    The one downside of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson swearing-in President Harris would be all the nutters claiming she hadn’t been legally sworn in and wasn’t really President. OTOH, that same group would find some other reason, possibly involving flag tassels, so go for it.

    (The Constitution has the oath, but doesn’t require it be administered by the Chief Justice. And since Roberts is clearly not interested in doing his job — he bobbled when swearing-in Obama, and didn’t bother showing up for the second Trump impeachment which is required by the Constitution — by all means let Judge Jackson have the honor.)

  53. 53.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Butch: Oh man. That happened to our dog early one morning, and Mr DAW let her back in the house without realizing it. I was in bed and the smell of her woke me up. Someone had told me that Massengil douche would take the smell away, so I sent Mr DAW off to buy some after we corraled the dog in the bathtub.

  54. 54.

    Geminid

    @Starfish: I watched Harris represent the U.S. at the February, 2022 Munich Security Conference. This was on the eve of Russiai’s invasion of Ukraine and was attended by numerous government leaders. I was impressed by Harris and I have never doubted her abilities in this area since.

    But as is the case with her other foreign journeys, this was not reported on like it should have been by US media. Harris has been a bigger story in the countries she visits and she gets the respect she deserves.

  58. 58.

    TBone

    “When it hits you that Taylor Swift is childless and has cats… The armageddon is coming for him,” one X user posted Tuesday night.
    Another user posted:

    “Vance attacked childless women who love cats. Taylor Swift would probably like a word. Release the kraken (meowww).”

    https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2024/07/24/taylor-swift-jd-vance-childless-cat-ladies/74525531007/

    Taylor gonna blow some shit UP at just the right moment, methinks.  I know she heard the white women call.

  59. 59.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Ken: They’re going to insist that the election was invalid anyway, unless their guy wins–that’s a given.

  60. 60.

    Ken

    @TBone: here in PA we need a doctor’s note (prescription) or we have to risk arrest going black market.

    Illinois has both prescription and recreational marijuana, and the recreational stuff is heavily taxed. So there are lots of radio ads for dubious-sounding services that will hook you up with a doctor (or possibly “doctor”) who will write a prescription. Do you have any of those?

  61. 61.

    oldgold

    In the past the summer Olympics has served as a refreshing respite from politics.

    This having been such an unusual and intense political  year, will politics revert to the back burner now through August 11?

    I hope we have high quality, uplifting and defining Harris tv ads ready to roll during the games.

  62. 62.

    TBone

    @OzarkHillbilly: he is missed!  I know he checked in, but it’s not the same.  We’ll be celebrating his return soon…sans pants is how I live most of the time, being female has serious advantages sometimes 😆

  64. 64.

    Suzanne

    @Eyeroller:

    Pardon me for continuing to lack faith in my demographic (older white women).

    Interesting that you say that. Mr. Suzanne and I were talking about this just this morning. He is a bilingual SLP and has worked in public schools, mainly Title One schools, for his whole career. It has always been frustrating to him how many teachers are GOP. He estimated that it’s around 40%, in his experience. And yep, it’s older white women. He observes that most of them would take similar positions as the left on issues relating to public education…..but they’re conservative in every other way. Fucken breaks my brain, but it’s a type.

  65. 65.

    Butch

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I found a formula on line that’s hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and dish detergent that I’m going to try.  There was definitely no going back to bed after!

  66. 66.

    TBone

    @Ken: not that I’ve ever heard of (they may fear prosecution like the pill mill doctors and thus don’t advertise).  I don’t like going anywhere near quacks.  Pain Management clinics here in PA similarly do not advocate marijuana use.

    We are stuck in the Dark Ages here in this regard and many others.

  68. 68.

    Suzanne

    @Ken:

    So there are lots of radio ads for dubious-sounding services that will hook you up with a doctor (or possibly “doctor”) who will write a prescription. Do you have any of those?

    Absolutely, OMG. Every-freakin-where here in PA!

  69. 69.

    Suzanne

    @TBone: Oh, man. Here in PGH, you probably couldn’t walk two blocks without seeing some sort of advertisement for a weed doctor. LOL.

  70. 70.

    TBone

    @Suzanne: not in my central PA location.  I’ve never seen or heard any such thing.

    Doctor blood tests my hubby on the regular and any cannabis detected is reported to the authorities.  I have to smoke outside or locked in my bathroom with the fan on as a result.

    She got me once too via blood test but I insisted it must have been contact at a Christmas party.

    ETA it’s the rural/urban divide monster again, raising its ugly head!

  71. 71.

    NotMax

    @oldgold

    Champion swimmer, but a quick check reveals the memorably named Diggory Dillingham did not make the U.S. Olympic team.

    Still, the team includes both a Fink and a Finke.
    ;)

  73. 73.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @sab:

    The thing I always liked best about Biden is that he is a great team leader. And I feel like the team is still intact and working together.

    That’s a great way of putting it.  Leadership at the top, and leadership style, matters and Biden’s shown during his term that not only has he been a master of putting together a top notch team, but getting it to work like a well-oiled machine.

    As much as I criticize Obama for his tepid politics and many, many of the people he had on his team over two terms, it too showed what it means to have a well-oiled machine with effective leadership skills at the top.

    The incredible, outwardly-facing seamlessness in this transition, an unprecedented transition in modern ‘Murkin politics, is not only amazing but reflects incredibly well on Biden and Harris.

  74. 74.

    Geminid

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: Turkish strikers Ebrar Karakurt and Melissa Vargas are awesome. Vargas is from Cuba and might be the world’s top player.

    There is a substory here. Both women are more or less openly gay, and a few conservative politicians complain about them, saying they are a disgrace to Turkiye. Most other Turks say, THIS IS OUR NATION’S VOLLEYBALL TEAM AND STFU!!!

    My impression is that Turkiye is 30-40  years behind us in when it comes LGBTQ rights and recognition, but Turks are very nationalistic and they are wild about their Sultans of the Net.

  76. 76.

    Suzanne

    @TBone: We got SuzMom hooked up with a medical marijuana card last year, when she was having all the pain from her busted hip. Super-easy. We either did it via telehealth or house visit, I can’t remember now.

  77. 77.

    Chris Johnson

    @Butch: I’m a Mythbusters fan, and they found that hydrogen peroxide and baking soda worked very well! Good luck! :)

    My understanding is that chemically it’s more effective at breaking up the stench compounds than tomato juice, because it oxidizes like mad, like a sort of stench-removal rocket fuel.

  79. 79.

    NotMax

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Thank you. Just about to mention that as well. Dad Coolidge was a Justice of the Peace.

    The swearing in is a cosmetic exercise anyway. Powers of the office adhere to the successor immediately upon the demise of the principal.

  80. 80.

    Bupalos

    @Eyeroller: She does indeed need to have a good answer for that. I was a little surprised that Biden didn’t really create any cues there in his retirement speech. He spent a lot of time with the warning about authoritarianism stuff and not much on why he was handing off or how this made us stronger.

    It’s actually a good chance to pivot into the excellent record. Now that “the next 4 years” is off the table she can pretty much take the tack Joe was taking when he was trying to hang in there. Talking solely about the past to answer a question about the future didn’t make enough sense then. She can talk about the past to answer questions about the past…it can be an adequate defense now. If she’s pushed harder with “why won’t he take a cognitive test now” it’s worse but Joe’s pretty weak answer might be more or less acceptable: “He takes a cognitive test everyday by being president.” Might be a good time to pivot to her own current importance too, and that of their team.

  81. 81.

    Starfish

    @sab: The context that I saw criticism here was that people were trying to get her to select a VP with foreign policy experience. I think she is going to have to run some ads about her trips to other countries because the media did a poor job of covering them.

  82. 82.

    Hoodie

    @Eyeroller: That’s the reasonable goal.  It’s what Fetterman did in PA, i.e., reduce the GOP margins in their own areas.  That’s why I’m leery of people proposing “revolutionary” campaign ideas (including some out of the box VP choices) that fantasize about some sort of blowout.  That likely ain’t happening.   I’m mildly (and pleasantly) surprised at the outpouring of support from the base of the party and the lack of infighting.  Some of that is Harris’ appeal, but some of it is just clear eyed understanding that the ultimate goal is keeping Trump from returning to the White House.  A lot of people now think we have the energy to fight that particular monster.  That enthusiasm is essential and one thing that was somewhat missing from Joe’s campaign.  But don’t get  too carried away.  The fundamentals of partisanship and built in biases have not changed that much.

  83. 83.

    Geminid

    @TBone: Baud said he’d be back after the weekend. I figure he’s participating in the Olympics’ opening ceremonies, as part of a Sanscullote contingent celebrating Revolutionary France. A heritage thing.

  84. 84.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Sisyphus’ curse was nothing compared to trying to recruit credible DEM candidates in a red state like Misery. Who wants to sacrifice 6 months of their lives, have one’s part turned inside out, lose one’s family life for that entire time, make less money (if any), get insulted and badgered at every turn, just for the privilege of losing badly.

    We both know this far too well having observed the migration of Misery politics over the decades.

    Sure, Dean’s 50-state strategy was a long-overdue look and revamp of a moribund strategic outlook amongst the Democratic Party nationally.  But the reality of making that happen is exactly as you describe.

    What’s funny is that in the recent Dem primary to get a candidate to run against MTG in that heavily gerrymandered district, they had *four* people trying.  Two made it to the run off (I know one of them, he lost).  They were all itching to take her on knowing they had no chance.

    Now, one reason for that enthusiasm (I guess) is that she’s a national clown, not some backbench, Misery nutjob.

    I’ve yet to see political strategists, or party builders or wtf they should be called, came out with plans to address exactly what you’ve described in a place like Misery.  Hell, I could have run, campaigned incessantly in our district and still only get 30% of the vote.

  86. 86.

    TBone

    @Suzanne: the health care system here has designated me a “problem” patient because they do not believe in either chronic Lyme OR long Covid.  I’ve been gaslit to hell and back and every time I try for a new doctor, once they see the old electronic record, I don’t get a call back because, despite my sobriety, they think I’m doctor shopping for opioids.  No one ever updated my chart to reflect my almost decade-long status as opiod-free.

  88. 88.

    Soprano2

    @Eyeroller: *sigh* The undecided voter in this story from Morning Edition is the kind of woman voter you’re talking about. She says she has doubts about the ability of a woman to lead in a world that’s in such turmoil (when is the world ever not in turmoil of some kind?!). She’s waiting to see who Kamala picks as a VP; if it’s a strong, capable man, then she might vote for her. This is the kind of thing I was worried would hurt her. In reading what Martin said in Cole’s thread last night, I have more hope that if Kamala makes Democrats more appealing to the much more diverse younger voter group, they might counteract older voters like this woman.

    I have to say I’m not afraid to admit I was wrong about some of this. I didn’t know there was going to be such an outpouring of joy and enthusiasm around Kamala becoming the nominee. I feel a lot better about the decision today than I did on Sunday, that’s for sure.

  91. 91.

    Suzanne

    @TBone:

    ETA it’s the rural/urban divide monster again, raising its ugly head! 

    Yanno, there are some things I don’t love about city living. Don’t love the dude who cooks meth down the street, don’t love the dude who invaded our home while high, don’t love the neighbors who let their garage decay and get infested with animals while the City did no enforcement….. but then I remember that there are serious advantages.

  92. 92.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Starfish:

    I think that “foreign policy” is an area where Harris is getting attacked for not having deep experience, but a lot of people who become President don’t have deep foreign policy experience. They probably said that about Obama too.

    It’s a constant media “greatest hits” to always fall back on the “Dem candidate doesn’t have foreign policy experience” trope.  It’s always highlighted/pounded by the media in Dem candidates but, golly gee, never to that extent on the (R) side.

    Despite the fact that outside of Bush I, no (R) president since Ike had any *meaningful* (or any) foreign policy experience.  Nixon possibly if you count the Kitchen Debate but that’s peanuts compared to what Harris has been doing as part of a modern VP’s portfolio.

  96. 96.

    Ken

    @NotMax: The swearing in is a cosmetic exercise anyway.

    Article VI requires all members of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, both federal and state, to “be bound by oath or affirmation” to support the Constitution. The President is unique in that the words of the oath are specified.

    Some historians have noted that at the time the Constitution was written, the only model for executive authority was a king, Westminster-style parliamentarianism not having developed. Maybe the Presidential oath is similarly patterned on the coronation oath.

  97. 97.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Soprano2: the “what if there’s a Cuban Missile Crisis while she’s on her period?” vote I remember from when they were freaking out about Geraldine Ferraro still exists.

  100. 100.

    Suzanne

    @TBone: I have to say…..as someone who, like, doesn’t work in the healthcare industry…..but is kind of healthcare-industry-adjacent…. And even from the perspective I get from my clients and researching their business….. rural healthcare in this country is never going to be good. It just isn’t. There’s too many forces at work. An older and poorer population, a healthcare worker shortage, a construction worker shortage, population decline….. and that’s to say nothing of the politics.

    I think lack of good, modern healthcare in rural areas is going to be one of the primary factors in ongoing urbanization in this country, seriously.

    Fun fact: the American population is, on average, the oldest it has ever been right now. And a huge generation is entering their prime healthcare-consuming years, with a smaller generation behind them. It’s a structural problem.

  101. 101.

    Bupalos

    @Eyeroller: I think you’re more wrong than right on that. Except to the extent that just “clicks” or whatever doesn’t really get into the full “money and power” bias that makes virtually every industry tilt further towards to GOP than seems natural to that industry.

    But it’s definitely money and power, not ideology per se. The vast majority of people working content in the kind of large media corporations (the entities to which folks refer when they say “The Media”) lean left. That’s generally overpowered by the reality that the news is now 75% politainment and ownership is dominated run by ultra wealthy individuals.

  102. 102.

    Ken

    @Geminid: Baud said he’d be back after the weekend. I figure he’s participating in the Olympics’ opening ceremonies

    So not being vetted for the VP shortlist?

  103. 103.

    Hoodie

    @Soprano2: If you recall, that was what Biden contributed to the Obama/Biden ticket.  He had decades of foreign policy experience. There probably are a lot of people like that woman and they’re more likely to vote if they’re more comfortable.  I’m not into relying on a hope that more young people will turn out to carry the day. Having Harris succeed Biden is already a big step in that direction, but don’t overstep.  They may turn out, but that’s more to help pad your margins and give you more room for error, e.g., Obama winning in states like NC in 2008.  But they disappeared in 2010.

  104. 104.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Hoodie:

    Booman for years always preached the campaign everywhere to reduce their margins.  Back in Misery, McCaskill’s first meaningful statewide campaign where she *didn’t* do that was a case study in screw ups.  Rurl Dem voters want to be asked for their vote.  They’ll gladly give it if the candidate lets them know they’re not ignored.

    That basic strategy started to fray last decade as the impacts of demographic shifts started to take hold.  As more yoots left as part of this massive white move back to cities, they people left behind trend much older and reachable potential Dem voters are harder to find.

    My old county, Osage, is a poster child for that.  In the late 90s, the R/D split was roughly 60/40.  When I left in 2018, it was 80/20 and that wasn’t cuz Dems weren’t campaigning.  The yoots were finally leaving (for the longest time they didn’t).

    It’s a tough conundrum.

  105. 105.

    sab

    @Soprano2: Yes to this. A couple of weeks ago I posted a counter comment to Kay saying no way did I want to go into this Fall with a woman at the top of the ballot.

    I have changed my mind. Or Biden-Harris have changed my mind.

  106. 106.

    Ken

    @Suzanne: If it’s any consolation, my sisters who live in rural Missouri have all the same problems, just more spread out. And for some of them, like the decaying buildings, there can be no county enforcement because it’s not against the laws.

  107. 107.

    TBone

    @Suzanne: I moved here from DelCo (the County between Philly and the Delaware state line) and I miss my urban lifestyle almost every day!   I am a former lifelong DelCo girl who regrets the lack of culture, food, ease of getting good drugs 😆 (jk I’m too old now) medical care choice, and so many other things I can barely stand it!  But there are days when I love this area so much because of its beauty and nature…

    Those in love days here never outweigh my homesickness though.  I miss bread every GD day!  They sell barely baked dough here, and call it bread!

  109. 109.

    TBone

    @Suzanne: 1,000% hard agree.

    I’ve been looking at real estate in Chester County for the last five years.  It’s gonna happen, I’m just waiting for the right time to make my move back to civilization.

  110. 110.

    Ken

    @Suzanne: And a huge generation is entering their prime healthcare-consuming years, with a smaller generation behind them.

    That’s why I was so excited to hear of President Trump’s 2020 plan to handle this. When Trump’s own nephew Fred told him about the problems of Fred’s disabled son, Trump cut right to the solution: “Maybe he should just die”.

  111. 111.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Soprano2: She says she has doubts about the ability of a woman to lead in a world that’s in such turmoil

    Misogyny, it’s not just for men anymore. (as if it ever was)

  113. 113.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Soprano2:

    “Undecided” voter on Totebagger Radio and they hit every stereotype.

    “Might” vote for Harris if she picks yada, yada, yada.  “Undecided” voters usually means “We want to vote for the fascist but can’t actually publicize the fact that we are hollow shells of people.”

    So-called “Undecided Voters” are actually the main component in The Great Excusening. It’s a quadrennial exercise where millions of mostly white voters who do not consider themselves RWNJs search for excuses why they cannot join Democrats in opposing fascism. Or they are Embarrassed Republicans hiding behind the “undecided” moniker.

    JFC, I don’t even need to listen to Totebagger Radio to get pissed off at them.

  114. 114.

    Belafon

    @Eyeroller: Because “we need a younger candidate” totally ignores that Biden has always been older than Trump, even in 2020, and he won the race then and has been an effective president. That argument by itself would have been ageism.

  115. 115.

    TBone

    @Ken: the ability of these fucks to invade my heart with not-love is so unwelcome!

    That’s TBone trying like hell to keep it classy.

  116. 116.

    billcoop4

    @Suzanne:

     I have to say…..as someone who, like, doesn’t work in the healthcare industry…..but is kind of healthcare-industry-adjacent…. And even from the perspective I get from my clients and researching their business….. rural healthcare in this country is never going to be good. It just isn’t. There’s too many forces at work. An older and poorer population, a healthcare worker shortage, a construction worker shortage, population decline….. and that’s to say nothing of the politics.

    With some exceptions, such as the Health Network I use, the Hudson Headwaters Health Network, here in the eastern Adirondacks.  Top quality care from excellent people who seem to want to be here.

     

    BC

  117. 117.

    hueyplong

    @Soprano2: The foreign policy “concern” some voters might have is a false one. The biggest real world policy concern right now is Ukraine, and we know Harris has it right and Putin stooge Trump has it wrong. Most voters agree. Even the Turtle agrees.

    The other is Palestine, which no male leader has effectively ameliorated in 100+ years of sad history. And, again, we know from experience Trump’s go-to response is to support a horrific person’s genocidal desires (here, Netanyahu instead of Putin).

    So there are specifics in addition to getting out front about how Harris has been doing Biden’s legwork repairing Trump’s damage to our alliances and strengthening them. The problem voters who decided Biden is too feeble are well primed to believe “Kamala did that.”

    We can get to the point where lots of people consider an attack on Harris’ foreign policy experience to be so blatantly false that it’s really clumsy racism and/or misogyny.

     

    These might be easy ads to produce.

  118. 118.

    Bupalos

    @Starfish: I don’t think Clinton was a natural politician. She was a policy expert trying to force herself into the shape of a politician. And that’s the political Achilles heel of a policy expert, that they frequently can’t hide their impatience with the need to explain things to people who they think (mostly correctly) aren’t going to understand. That can ultimately lead to seeming dismissive, patronizing, aloof.

    Harris is a much more natural politician and well as having an incredibly sharp eye for policy. I’m reading her book and am really surprised at how Clintonesque it feels in that she’s more interested in talking about crime and rehabilitation policy than she is talking about herself. Which is not what these “I’m a politician, here’s my book” things usually are.

  119. 119.

    Eolirin

    @rikyrah: They just need to vote for Dems like white men vote for Republicans and the Republican party would cease to exist.

  120. 120.

    Suzanne

    @Ken: Agreed. I have done suburban living, too, and there are problems there, too.

    The house with the decaying garage was the one that caught on fire a couple of years ago! It was a hoarder house. The family got out okay, and they relocated, but they were absolutely delusional about how much they could sell the burned-out shell for. They were asking for $300K for a ruin. So of course, it lingered and lingered for over two years. Finally, they sold it for under $20K. Someone on the next block bought it, finally tore down the garage, and has been completely redoing the property. They’re not done yet, but it’s really nice to no longer have that mess just a couple of doors away.

  121. 121.

    sab

    @TBone: Boy, that opioid label sticks.

    One of my stepson’s has been battling depression and anxiety his whole life. He was mentionning suicide at age eight. In his teens he turned to self-medication with alcohol then cocaine then heroin.

    Every time he tried to get help, a new doctor would look at that opioid thing and just say nope.

    He finally found a doctor competent and interested in treating the underlying anxiety, and he has been clean and happy for five years. How different things would be if the same care had been available when he first needed it.

    I realize that your underlying health issues are different, but I agree on taint of a long past opioid issue.

  122. 122.

    Scout211

    (NBC)   WASHINGTON — The gun safety group Giffords is rolling out a $15 million campaign to help de facto Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris defeat Republican rival Donald Trump, as well as help House candidates in battleground districts who favor tougher gun laws.

    The new spending blitz, first reported by NBC News, will cover paid TV and digital ads, direct mail (in English and Spanish), new polls to help allies hone their messages and the deployment of staffers and surrogates, including a co-founder of the group, former Rep. Gabby Giffords, D-Ariz., to persuade and turn out voters. The group is focusing those resources on swing states like Michigan and Arizona, as well as California and New York, where a series of competitive races could decide control of the House.

  125. 125.

    Suzanne

    @billcoop4: Glad you’re happy with them! That all looks like outpatient care, though? I don’t see any info about integration or partnership with any hospital network. How are the hospitals in your area?

  128. 128.

    TBone

    @sab: I’m so glad he found help!!!!

    I have simply given up until I move.  Then I will be in a position to outrun the stigmas of both chronic illness AND previous opioid use.  I had wonderful doctors in DelCo and at the Chester County Hospital Tick-Borne Disease Center.  Where they know about both!  Where they’ll still see me in an emergency (a 3 hour drive but better than nothing).

  129. 129.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Ken: I remember when Republicans were so intent on being “the party of life” on these issues that they tried to intervene federally to keep a woman with no functioning cerebrum on life support indefinitely. It made John Cole switch parties!

    As nuts as that was, it was far better than a President who thinks we should wipe out the useless eaters.

  132. 132.

    Hoodie

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: Misery is more like West Virginia; it’s already a lost cause.   I’m talking about reducing GOP margins in states Dems can actually win, like NC and GA.   Those states still have a ton of rural voters because a lot of rural/exurban areas are not in their death throes.  Sure, some areas are dying (we have some in eastern NC), but some have new manufacturing facilities going in and are on the upswing.  The base in those areas also includes a lot of black voters who tend to be kind of conservative. They’re generally excited about Harris, but don’t screw it up with some out the box, revolutionary vanguard bullshit that presumes that youth will make up the difference with no evidence to support that belief.

  133. 133.

    sab

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: NPR is only totebagger radio during the prime commute hours ( Morning Edition and afternoon All Things Considered.)  Those two shows are every bit as bad as CNN at its worst.

    The rest of the day and night they have some excellent programs. Don’t blame the whole outfit for two bad shows.

  134. 134.

    BR

    Also it was relief seeing the New Hampshire polling this morning with Harris ahead well outside the margin of error. NH is not a diverse state and is quite rural. It’s good that there isn’t any erosion there.

  135. 135.

    Gvg

    @Eyeroller: The pandemic stuck a lot of older people at home. My liberal church loving social mom learned zooming to run church committees and master gardener events. A lot of the olds picked up zooming  for sanity and the middle olds had to for work. I don’t think zoom had the capacity back when so Hillary couldn’t have used it. Maybe she could have shown her humor if it had been an option….especially if she could have done it before 30 years of right wing smears. This is new territory. There are quiet polite nice white women who are horrified by the un Christ like “Christians” screaming hate the poor and immigrants and worship money and guns. I think a lot of them have felt isolated and not able to connect. Roe may unite them on political campaigns, so they find more local friends. Zoom calls like this may be helpful to link them to organizations. Action makes people feel less powerless, right?

  136. 136.

    TBone

    @WereBear: yup AND when I drove 2 hours north to see a specialist in a different, much vaunted health system, the guy was my GP’s neighbor so I couldn’t outrun her kibosh there either. Infuriating small town BULLSHIT.

  137. 137.

    Matt McIrvin

    @BR: Honestly I was expecting us to lose New Hampshire this cycle. It’s a weird state, votes Democratic in recent presidential elections but still has spasms of hard-right politics on the state level.

  138. 138.

    Bupalos

     

    @Soprano2: The foreign policy “concern” some voters might have is a false one. The biggest real world policy concern right now is Ukraine, and we know Harris has it right and Putin stooge Trump has it wrong. Most voters agree. Even the Turtle agrees.

    Well, let’s go with “more right than Trump.” The Biden policy on Ukraine, which began forcefully, mission driven, and values-first, has pretty well drifted off in the face of Russian intransigence and escalation, and nuclear saber-rattling into a kind of vague commitment that Ukraine survive… and not much more. Practically speaking, that can’t really work. It’s a kind of marking time and hoping the Putin regime somehow collapses on its own. For all the obvious and immediate risk of a Trump administration, I don’t think Zelensky is being completely disingenuous or strategically defensive when he says neutral things about the U.S. election. This slow grind where the west ties Ukraine’s hands and maybe even supports a “peace” agreement may ultimately prove just as friendly to Putin’s long-term goals as the quick negative conflict destabilization Trump would threaten.

  139. 139.

    WereBear

    @Suzanne: We can do things for the whole population that will keep them healthier, too.

    Tax the junk foods to support healthy, whole, ones. We started the milk/lunch program in schools because so many Great War recruits were too malnourished to serve.

    Real conservatives would understand that not starving children saves them money.

  141. 141.

    TBone

    @NotMax: thank you again and again!  I was not good at baking during my former life as a full time employed person.

    I took up baking during the pandemic and have finally begun to excel.  It is time to try my hand at bread!

  143. 143.

    WereBear

    @Ken: These towns appeared as support for farms. Now agri-farming has removed that source of income, which used to be something like 80%. That’s not easy to make up.

  144. 144.

    hueyplong

    @Belafon: That propaganda campaign is over and we lost it. It’s starting to look like objective indicia that the Biden is Feeble campaign’s damage to polling was irreversible reached people who matter in the party and that, more than anything else, produced the withdrawal.

    Whether a different fight against the campaign would have worked is something we’ll never know. At the debate Joe picked a really bad time to give the smear campaign extra oxygen.

    A positive might be Dems shedding any hesitation to play rough in light of the obvious smears to come against Harris. She can stay above the fray, but I’d like her to make an exception and be really aggressive at any debate with Trump.

  145. 145.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @billcoop4: Same here, BJC. It works very well for us, mainly due to the fact that STL is just 80 miles away so we have visiting specialists one day every week. It mostly works pretty well, the one thing I have noticed where it doesn’t is mental health care. A whole lot of folks out here are desperate for help and having but one psychiatrist one day a week just ain’t enough.

  147. 147.

    hueyplong

    @Bupalos: You’re almost certainly correct, but not one word of your criticism of Biden’s shift will matter in this election. To voters, Trump wants Putin to win and Harris does not.

  149. 149.

    WereBear

    @billcoop4: The Adirondacks have visitors to drive the economy, which is highly restricted in what can be done (Thank you, Teddy Roosevelt.)

    But you know that scene in The Big Lebowski where the private eye shows The Dude the family farm that is supposed to lure the runaway back home?

    We cannot sell that ride.

  150. 150.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Hoodie:

    I’m talking about reducing GOP margins in states Dems can actually win, like NC and GA.

    Gotcha.  I need to get in my strategic, political strategist, Swing States Uber Alles campaign head space.

    It’ll all come down to NV, AZ, WI, MI, PA, NC and GA.

    Yeah, Harris in central PA, aka Pennsyltucky (and to think we considered moving there instead of Misery back in the 90s, would have been the same experience over the subsequent decades), will go over like a lead balloon for the bulk of the population.

    But, every extra vote she pulls there will count given it’s a swing state.

    Didn’t work for McCaskill in her last Senate campaign and she aggressively campaigned everywhere but the demographic shifts in Misery have most likely been more pronounced than in PA…I hope.

  151. 151.

    Anyway

    The foreign policy experience excuse is BS – Harris has had 3+ years as VP to a president who took FP seriously unlike Dotard.

    She has more experience than Obama when he was elected.

  152. 152.

    danielx

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    In the Bujold novel A Civil Campaign, a character undergoes a sex change from female to male in order to become a Count of Barrayar. The character describes the amazing mood swings attributable to testosterone, which sounds amazingly plausible. Too much testosterone in too small an area for too long causes volatile reactions; to that I can testify. I graduated from an all male Jesuit high school, and one of my cohorts said the place was like having 400 Dobermans in the back yard with their dicks all tied to the same post.

  153. 153.

    Anyway

    @Ken:

    That’s why I was so excited to hear of President Trump’s 2020 plan to handle this. When Trump’s own nephew Fred told him about the problems of Fred’s disabled son, Trump cut right to the solution: “Maybe he should just die”.

    This is another point that should be repeated and amplified and memefied. RThugs think liberals are all into euthanasia and stuff like that. Older R voters should be confronted with what their hero thinks.

  154. 154.

    zhena gogolia

    @Eyeroller: Yeah. I’m hoping people keep their enthusiasm up when the euphoria passes and the MSM start doing their thing.

    Don’t amplify them, FIGHT THEM! I don’t have a whole lot of confidence.

  157. 157.

    Bupalos

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: If you wanted to look analytically in the election data for the folks you’re talking about demographically, the biggest group of “swing” voters from 2016 to 2020 was white men, breaking from Trump to Biden (8-9%.) White women broke marginally from Clinton to Trump (about 5%), while hispanic voters broke hardest of all from Clinton to Trump, something in the mid double-digits I think.

    It’s interesting to overlap these demographics with theories about who wants an excuse to vote fash.

  158. 158.

    TBone

    @danielx: that school sounds like my old neighborhood.  Girls were usually only seen and not heard from again if they dared to be uppity.  That all changed during the 80s to 90s in most locations.

  159. 159.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    One reason we left Central Misery was health care considerations.

    That being said, both Jeff City and Columbia saw a massive expansion of health care facilities, etc. over the last 10 years.  It was clear they were looking to fill the geographic void in the state.

    And as best we could tell, the quality of health care there wasn’t piss poor as we see described in really rurl parts of ‘Murka.

    We simply didn’t want to be 30-60 minutes away from anything.  Again, it was one consideration and we were fortunate we weren’t stuck somewhere forever where a declining availability of good health care would become an issue.

  160. 160.

    Suzanne

    @WereBear: I am not sure what my thoughts are about taxing junk food. But I absolutely agree about nutritious school meals.

    The thing that blows my mind about junk food is that it is already expensive. There’s a narrative about healthy food being more expensive than junk food, and it just doesn’t universally bear out from what I can see. (I was at a convenience store the other day to get gas, and I went inside to get a snack. I looked at a small bag of pretzels and it was almost $6. What the fuck. I did not get the snack.) I am floored by how much soda costs.

    But my daughter’s school provides free lunch and breakfast to all kids, and the quality is terrible. Shameful, really. We should be doing better for our kids.

    One thing that also blows my mind….. Aldi has kind of taken over this area, and it’s pretty good. Good prices and the quality is not bad. But they route you through the fucken snack food right as you enter the store. DA HELL.

  161. 161.

    Bupalos

    @Anyway: Very true, but worth remembering that Obama brought on Biden specifically to address this weakness.

    Also worth remembering (not electorally, but in reality) that the Obama administration’s foreign policy outcomes ended up being…not great.

  163. 163.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @TBone:

    It is an incredibly affecting film.

    We watched it when it was released and recorded it when TCM broadcast it.

    Haven’t watched it again yet because, you really do need to be in the right head space going into it.

  164. 164.

    MomSense

    @Kay:

    Yeah I was really bored on that call. I kept thinking that I wish they had some of the young people I follow on social media instead of some of the speakers.

  165. 165.

    Starfish

    @Suzanne: I think a lot of prices of consumer package goods went really high during the pandemic. Some people are buying less of that crap so the people who run those businesses are reconsidering what they did to sop up all the extra dollars towards food people were getting in pandemic time.

  166. 166.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Comparisons of 2024 energy to 2016 are not particularly useful, imo.  A lot of normie Dems assumed Hillary would win and didn’t take the election seriously enough and were overconfident from the success Obama had had.  Additionally, Bernie Bros, MAGA were still making life absolute hell for anyone openly supporting Clinton online and the media was relentlessly attacking Hillary in a way I haven’t seen until this past month, with Biden.  The vast majority of people I know did absolutely nothing for the election except vote in November.  There was no Zoom and no Postcards-To-Voters etc., and it really wasn’t until the horror of Trump winning that people on our side realized we needed to actually do something for elections.  Now, people are donating, writing postcards and much more engaged types are going even deeper by canvassing etc.  But 2016 is really when everything shifted.

    Also, while White Women deservedly get shit for voting majority for Trump (47% compared to 45% for Hillary) in 2016, I gotta say that I was already hanging out in some heavily-Black spaces online in 2016 and there wasn’t big enthusiasm for Hillary there either.  There was a lot of joking about “Hillary, I guess…” and stuff like that while also constantly bringing up the Crime Bill, “Superpredators” etc.  Black People obviously showed up for her much better on Election Day, but it’s not like the lack of enthusiasm was only a problem among white Dems.  Bernie Bros, Russia, The Media, Jim Comey etc., effectively stifled the energy all across our coalition.  The good news is pretty much every group has been much better since and have more consistently stepped up and got involved.  What we’re seeing now is a great sign.  With an exciting candidate and all the stuff we’ve learned and tools we’ve gained for organizing, we are gonna be a formidable team for this election.  If White Women show up the way they did in 2018 and the way that Zoom meeting suggests they might, this could be huge.  Fingers crossed.  And if we ever manage to get even 40% of White Men voting Dem (don’t hold your breath) we will be in truly Game-Changing territory.  But with the GOP left with nowhere else to go but even more openly racist, full-Nazi and demographic change making White Men a smaller and smaller slice of our electorate, who knows.  But as of now, I like where we stand and I’d much rather be in our position than the GOP’s.

    #Harris/whoever 2024

  168. 168.

    Suzanne

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage:

    That being said, both Jeff City and Columbia saw a massive expansion of health care facilities, etc. over the last 10 years.  It was clear they were looking to fill the geographic void in the state. 

    This is the big pattern in most of the country. The urban areas cannot throw hospitals and specialty clinics and cancer centers and imaging centers up fast enough. Rural areas lose tertiary care, so it ends up creating these long travel distances.

    FYI, if you are ever interested in learning about healthcare as a business, including all of its ugliness, Becker’s Hospital Review is where to look. Note that I am not endorsing their viewpoint. But it is widely read in that industry and reflects much reality on the ground.

  170. 170.

    Matt McIrvin

    @hueyplong: Biden was trying to put it to bed, but evidently he couldn’t.

    Right before the debate, I saw someone on Mastodon speculating that it would be a Jonbar Point (an old science-fiction term, from time-travel stories, for a critical moment when the course of history shifts). It sure was, but not in the way they expected.

    The weird thing was that it ultimately worked out in our favor anyway. There had been this series of utterly grim and dismaying news stories–the debate, the Supreme Court’s immunity decision, then the assassination attempt on Trump that a lot of people seemed to assume was going to sweep him into office with a landslide, an Enabling Act from SCOTUS and a Reichstag Fire-type mandate to exert dictatorial power. It sure seemed like it was all over. And then Harris flips the script. We’re not obviously ahead but it’s amazing how much juice can come out of just winning one news cycle.

  172. 172.

    Bupalos

    @hueyplong: I’m afraid voters are not particularly engaged in the Ukraine question anymore, which is the nature of allowing something to become a depressing, defensive slog. And the difference between parties on this issue electorally is shrinking for this reason- reasons of reality. The administration is simply fairly complacent about the idea that Russia is going to just lob missiles all over Ukraine in perpetuity. It hasn’t even committed to air defense. It’s a moral as well as political mistake, because the R’s can be split on this question and the D’s seize “defense of freedom” territory that the GOP’s nihilist -populist turn wants to cede us.

  173. 173.

    Suzanne

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    the one thing I have noticed where it doesn’t is mental health care. A whole lot of folks out here are desperate for help and having but one psychiatrist one day a week just ain’t enough. 

    Huge shortage of mental health providers in every part of the country. Massive shortage of behavioral health facilities. It’s partly a pipeline problem.

  175. 175.

    catclub

    @RepubAnon: Once Kamala Harris gets well ahead in the polls, I expect the MSM rats to start deserting Team Trump in droves.

     

    Dinna hold your breath. They did not exactly do that for Hillary.

  176. 176.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @zhena gogolia: I’m already seeing much better and greater pushback on anti-Kamala shit than during 2020 when Russian bots and Bernie-Bros were smearing her.  I don’t think the attacks are gonna land so well this time around.  I think many of us are also better at knowing how to pivot to something positive or just respond essentially “Whatever, she’s still the best candidate” and move on, instead of getting sucked into trolling attempts to argue about her record/stances.

  177. 177.

    TBone

    @NotMax: 👍

    It should be required viewing IMO but I say that as the child of a stepdad who exposed us at a very young age to as much of this history as possible without any guardrails. He wanted us to know everything.

  178. 178.

    catclub

    @TBone: private equity snatching up everything medical in sight here in my neck o’ the woods.

     

    Is anybody forcing those doctors to sell their practices? The PE folks see  bargains they can make money on. Why don’t the doctors selling see it that way?

  179. 179.

    sdhays

    I think the first black woman elected President should be sworn in by the Chief Justice of the United States, just as is custom nowadays. Make John Roberts vomit in his mouth with the words.

    And then Chief Justice Ketanji Jackson Brown can swear her in for her second term in 2028.

  180. 180.

    Suzanne

    @TBone: Yup. Which means it’s gonna close soon. Sorry.

    I remember back when there was that mass shooting in Las Vegas, I learned that the entire state of Nevada had one Level 1 trauma center at the time, with two trauma bays.

  181. 181.

    Eolirin

    @Suzanne: That pipeline problem is driven by the lack of adequate insurance reimbursement rates and other funding supports. You make more going into any other specialty and it’s a harder job with higher burnout rates than a lot of those (other than maybe oncology).

    More difficult work for less pay? You have to be really dedicated to choose that.

  183. 183.

    eclare

    @TBone:

    God I hate that song.  A bunch of girlfriends and I went to Daytona after graduating high school.  We were all into Janet Jackson’s album Control.  We especially loved the title track and wanted to hear it everywhere.  But no, it was ALL “Sledgehammer.”  Hate, hate, hate that song.

  184. 184.

    Bupalos

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    And if we ever manage to get even 40% of White Men voting Dem

    We got 40% of white men voting Democratic in 2020. It was that swing that powered Biden to office as virtually every other demographic slid slightly towards Trump. People are so in to amplifying their (well supported) priors on Trump demographics that we fail to see how things are changing.

  188. 188.

    Suzanne

    @catclub: It makes a lot of financial sense for doctors close to retirement to sell their practices to a larger health system. A few specialties make shit-tons of money and that kind of covers the rest. And most young doctors come out of medical school with like a half-million in debt and are in no position to buy a practice or run one.

  189. 189.

    hueyplong

    @Bupalos: Definitely agree about it being a moral as well as a political mistake not to be more substantively supportive. I just think it is an easy decision to make and that Dems should be motivated to make it on a subject that is a political winner.  This is campaigning time, so the fact that the current Congress wouldn’t pass it carries zero weight.

  190. 190.

    Soprano2

    @TBone: I am so glad it’s legal here, I use it on hubby to goose his appetite and it seems to work fairly well.

  194. 194.

    TBone

    @catclub: hmmm, maybe that “first do no harm” thingy is not taken very seriously when there are profits to be made and shareholders to fluff!

  195. 195.

    Matt McIrvin

    @TBone: At some point there’s gonna be a true “emails” of this cycle–some story about Harris that is so dry, vague and shifting that it’s hard to counter with any logical argument, but suggests something sinister going on, and becomes an object of media fascination beyond its inherent interest because of that. We need to be prepared at least mentally.

  196. 196.

    sdhays

    @Suzanne: It blows my mind how much people spend on soda. It’s expensive and just…destructive. It has no positive value, which is fine for a treat, but not for a lifestyle. It’s acid, so it rots your teeth and your digestive system, it’s high-fructose corn syrup so “hello, diabetes” OR a huge dose of whatever not-sugar hasn’t YET been completely proven to cause cancer or something else, it’s wasteful, and it’s expensive.

  197. 197.

    Eolirin

    @Bupalos: We’re definitely not going to get that for Harris, so we better hope she pulls up all of the other demos by enough to offset the loss. I expect we’ll see a slide with white women in the swing states too, though we might not nationally.

  198. 198.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @eclare: Sorry not you are objectively wrong on this one, lol.  Sledgehammer is not only one of the best songs of the 80’s, it’s also one of the funkiest pop tunes ever written.  It was a regular opener for one of my cover bands a few years ago because it always got people excited and moving.

  199. 199.

    TBone

    @Matt McIrvin: 🎯

    That fucking guy thinks he can dictate to Kamala.  His attempt will go over like a fart in a courtroom, but it’s merely a first attempt.  More and better is coming.

  200. 200.

    Suzanne

    @Eolirin: Oh, absolutely agreed. The ACA brought parity to reimbursement for mental health care to a lot of people for the first time, so there has been significant growth in building in that sector in the last decade….. but we underbuilt facilities and undertrained people for so long that we still have a long way to go.

    It’s like houses….. we almost stopped building after the 2008 crash, and we’re finally back at a good pace now. But we were behind for so long that the effects of that shortage endure today, and the construction workforce is still too small.

  202. 202.

    Eolirin

    @hueyplong: All the Biden administration needs to do right now is give Ukraine the go ahead to use the long range missiles they’re providing on targets inside Russian territory. They can do that without an act of congress.

  203. 203.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Omnes Omnibus: Okay, I’m moving you onto my Biden-Backstabber list, solely based on the ridiculousness of this comment   😂

    Don’t make me pie you for this musical ignorance and insolence.

  206. 206.

    Gvg

    @Suzanne: The mental healthcare shortage is IMO because we were slow to see the need, and then suddenly almost everyone did all at once. A stigma almost died seemingly overnight. Not really, it just had that effect. Everywhere is short of personnel, including the schools teaching them. I work for a big University. The degree requires clinical experience too of course, and there is a national shortage of spaces. All the programs have been trying to produce more for 20 years and not satisfying the demand. So if rural areas are short, well, that is effecting fewer people, but cities are short too. And cops don’t have anyplace to put people who are suicidal….

  207. 207.

    Bupalos

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: In the late dustup to get to a different candidate than Biden, where the defense he seemed to choose was “I’m the only one who can win” instead of pivoting to “I’ve put together a great team and am great at my role in that team…” I had to hold my tongue not to deploy the term “toxic masculinity.”

  209. 209.

    Eyeroller

    @UncleEbeneezer: I think part of this is that the MSM just hasn’t had enough time, and may not get enough time, to settle on some damaging Narrative about Kamala that is not grotesquely racist and/or sexist (they like something more subtle, Fox and the further right outlets can do the more overt racism/sexism).

    I landed on looking at Will Stancil’s Xitter for a while and he pointed out the relentless media campaigns against Hillary and Biden and wrote (the shouty all-caps was his) THEY CAN DO THIS TO ANY DEMOCRAT.  All they have to do is find some flaw and hammer on it mercilessly.

    But maybe we’ll learn something and finally start fighting back.

  210. 210.

    Eolirin

    @Bupalos: I never saw Biden say only I can win. I did see him say I’m the best person to take him out. I may have missed something but those aren’t the same things.

  211. 211.

    Michael Bersin

    @Skippy-san:

    An observation on the organizing in Missouri:

    In previous cycles republican incumbents and republican candidates in a significant number of General Assembly districts faced no Democratic Party opponent.

    In this cycle in Missouri:

    100% of Statewide and Congressional seats filled with candidates

    88% (15 of 17) of State Senate seats filled with candidates

    83% (135 of 163) of State House seats filled with candidates, an increase from 97 candidates in 2022.

     

    You can’t vote for the Democrat if they’re not there.

  214. 214.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Omnes Omnibus: I know a lot of professional musicians and I can’t think of a single one of them that feels like you do about it.  Also it was a huge hit.  If you look up any list of Gabriel’s biggest hits it is never outside of the top three.  Most people love it.

  215. 215.

    Matt McIrvin

    @UncleEbeneezer: The lyrics of “Sledgehammer” are kind of gross–just a series of unsubtle metaphors for his penis. But musically it was incredibly catchy and it had an inventive, groundbreaking video.

    I preferred “Big Time”, which was a clever lampoon of the kind of Master of the Universe megalomania that Donald Trump was already a leading symbol of. And it had an even crazier video.

  218. 218.

    schrodingers_cat

    @zhena gogolia: I don’t trust them either. I have adopted a wait and watch attitude.

    The mostly white women on this blog who were the loudest voices for  pushing Biden out because they didn’t like the optics of an older man who had aged 4 years since 2020. Will they stand by KH after 4 years because you know she won’t OMG gorgeous enough for them in 2028?

  219. 219.

    billcoop4

    @Suzanne:

    Glad you’re happy with them! That all looks like outpatient care, though? I don’t see any info about integration or partnership with any hospital network. How are the hospitals in your area?

    I believe they are connected with Glens Falls and probably Plattsburgh at least.  Probably U Vermont network also.  I have not had to deal with the hospital side (yay!).

     

    BC

  221. 221.

    Hoodie

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: The presidential race is all about winning states, which does not necessarily entail winning particular demographics. Running up the youth vote in CA doesn’t necessarily deliver you NC. The attacks on Harris, while racist and misogynist on the edges, are going to be standard “Nancy Pelosi San Francisco liberal “ stuff. Don’t reinforce that meme by doing something like picking Buttagieg because you think he can out talk some dopey conservatives. I wish that wasn’t the case, but such a pick helps reinforce GOP narratives. You can split the difference with someone like Whitmer, who helps highlight women’s issues but reinforces that women are ready to govern given her experience as a state executive who has won multiple elections in a tossup state. Otherwise, go for balance and normie appeal.

  222. 222.

    Flanders Other Neighbor

    @Butch: My malamute got sprayed a couple of nights ago.  Gonna be a long couple of months – I can’t ever really get her clean with all that fur.

  225. 225.

    Soprano2

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: They also know they’ll be able to raise a lot of money. I imagine it’s especially miserable to campaign when you can’t raise money because no one thinks you can win. We had one race in the 7th district where the Republican was almost unseated. It was the year Gene Taylor retired, so a new person was running; Doug Harpool almost beat him. I think it was 52-48%, which is the closest a Democrat has come to winning that seat in my lifetime. Our representation is getting better in the statehouse, last year we sent 3 Democrats to the state House from Springfield. I’m hoping it can be 4 this year, although Crystal Quade is termed out and is running for governor.

  226. 226.

    Bupalos

    @Eolirin: I won’t say he used the exact Trumpian phrase “only I can do it.” But I’m going with the overall flavor, the amount of “I” and “me” and exclusion of the rest of the team, which made absolutely no sense strategic or otherwise at that point. The first interview I particularly remember him rattling off a list that included “expanding NATO” and saying “those things were because of me, all things that were done were my ideas individually…” and I was like WTF are you doing Joe?

    It was uncharacteristic if understandable given the nature of the questions and attacks. But I did think it was a particularly “male” way of fighting back, and ignored a much better and more flexible defense and pivot for him. In retrospect it makes me think the initial (private) response from Pelosi and the party might have made him feel instantly isolated and understandably just not able to reach to more cooperative, team oriented language. That discussion with the party might have been a lot more stark than we know.

  227. 227.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @UncleEbeneezer: Sledgehammer is not only one of the best songs of the 80’s, it’s also one of the funkiest pop tunes ever written.

    If you drink this much this early in the morning, you are going to die.

  228. 228.

    Suzanne

    @Gvg:

    The mental healthcare shortage is IMO because we were slow to see the need, and then suddenly almost everyone did all at once. 

    It’s really the same reason. There just wasn’t any way for behavioral healthcare to be financially solvent for a long time, because many insurance plans didn’t reimburse for it, or seriously limited their reimbursement. So it was bifurcated into largely two groups: expensive private self-pay facilities, or underfunded shoestring public facilities that have a lot of patients there by court order. A few years ago, I read that America only had 11% of the behavioral health facilities and providers needed for the population. We’ve gotten better at creating outpatient behavioral health infrastructure. But there is a long way to go.

    I remember a couple of years ago….. Spawn the Elder has bipolar disorder and his psych recommended TMS. Insurance covers it once one is an adult, but he was 17 at the time. I could only find one psychiatric practice that offered it, and the first appointment I could get for a consultation was six months away. I have spent untold hours on the phone and the computer trying to get him prompt quality mental health care and it is just so incredibly hard to access. And this is in large and relatively well-serviced urban areas. He has been seeing his psych via telehealth in the last year because it is faster.

  229. 229.

    TBone

    @Soprano2: good for you!  We tried to get my stepdad (former cop) to relent and eat some edibles while he was dying of colon cancer but he would not go there.  It was a bridge too far…

  230. 230.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Bupalos: The line was more “Biden is the only person who HAS beaten Trump.” I don’t remember if Biden said it in those exact terms, but I heard it a lot from surrogates.

    (My wife was always annoyed by that line–argued that it meant nearly nothing, since Trump had never held political office or made more than a brief abortive run before 2016.)

  232. 232.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @eclare: I’m sorry you have no funk in your blood.  It’s not hard.  Concentrate on the 2’s and 4’s not the 1’s and 3’s, lol.

  233. 233.

    sab

    @Suzanne: And drivers in Las Vegas are really bad and they still have rural speed limits in a million plus city. I was glad to leave there for urban Ohio.

    I had never seen a fatal car accident in my life before, and while I was there I saw probably one a month for four years.

  234. 234.

    Suzanne

    @sab: OMG. You totally just said something that I have been thinking about.

    When I lived in Phoenix and Tucson, I witnessed a staggering number of car accidents. Some fatal. I had to testify in court about one of them. One time, I witnessed two serious accidents at the same intersection an hour apart. Since moving to PGH, I drive less, and I’ve seen two car accidents in four years.

  235. 235.

    Bupalos

    @eclare: Sledgehammer has to be the un-sexiest song about sex there is. I’m firmly in the “for a hit, that’s a really bad song” camp.

    And now I realize I may have inadvertently open up “let’s talk about unsexy songs about sex.”

  236. 236.

    sab

    @catclub: Our whole biggest hospital chain is selling itself to a venture capital firm. It plans to go for-profit, so the younger doctors are all leaving because 9f the terms of their student loan forgiveness plans.

    I blame state government cutting funding so that they can run on cutting taxes.

    My husband is really screwed because he went with medicare advantage instead of medicare and supplemental because he thought its hospital system’s tie in to their insurance company would make it a safe bet. Now all his doctors have quit. And there is no longer a tie-in to the insurance company.

  237. 237.

    Ken

    @Bupalos: It’s purely an executive policy choice.

    Meaning, as the Supreme Court recently announced, that no one can prosecute Biden for making it, or access any of the documents that were involved in the decision.

    (I did love the post, I think on Bluesky, where someone asked “Do you think Kamala Harris is what Alito had in mind when arguing for a unitary executive with unchecked powers?”)

  238. 238.

    eclare

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    Hahaha…I’ve seen George Clinton live twice, James Brown a number of times, and my favorite bass player, besides my college bf, is Bootsy Collins.  But I have no funk.

    It’s just a bad song.

  239. 239.

    eclare

    @sab:

    That is so scary.  Memphis, where I live, was recently ranked the worst city in America for traffic accidents.  It’s scary out there.

  242. 242.

    Jess

    @Butch:

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    How de-skunk a dog (from a professional groomer):

    Before any water, apply a paste made with:

    1 part hyd.per.

    1 part baking soda

    1 teaspoon dish soap

    1 tbsp toothpaste (no xylitol)

    Apply, leave on 10 minutes, wash off

  243. 243.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Hoodie: ​
     

    Otherwise, go for balance and normie appeal.

    You’re preaching to the choir here. Sure, it’s great to think about the “RWNJ Exploding Head Experience” with some of the VP picks being speculated upon but the campaign needs to think about it strategically. Balance/normie = bring out more of the base in the swing states. And I don’t consider the base to be screaming old lefties like me but more like how many people here have described their now-somewhat-excited friends and how they view the campaign.

    Heh heh, the Horseshoe Left thinks that in order for Harris to win, she needs to pick “a more progressive running mate”.

    I just love hanging with the Horseshoe Left (while keeping all my thoughts to myself) because I typically not what *not* to do based on their comments.

  244. 244.

    hueyplong

    @eclare: Al Green is his own category. Any arguments about sexy songs might actually be “What’s the most sexy song not sung by Al Green?”

    I’d go with Joan Armatrading’s “Love and Affection,” but I’m getting kind of old.

  245. 245.

    bluefoot

    @TBone: ​  It continues to appall me how much power clinicians have and how difficult or impossible it is to correct mistakes of omissions in one’s medical record. And how much that affects care. Relatedly, prior to the ACA, a friend had a mistaken diagnosis in her medical record and couldn’t get insurance as a result. it still dogs her every time she goes to a new doctor.This will only get worse as payers apply ML/AI to medical care and decide what standard of care should be and what they will pay for. Payers already have too much power, IMO.
    My sister is a doctor and she ends up with all the atypical cases because she treats the individual, and doesn’t give up trying to help. This is to say: there are doctors out there that will pay attention.​
      I should say, the catchment area for her practice includes a lot of rural areas. She told me it was a challenge adjusting how she practices medicine for patients with limited resources and those who need to travel far to get care.

  247. 247.

    Soprano2

    @Matt McIrvin: I highly doubt a 59 year old woman is still having periods, but I know exactly what you’re talking about. Even when the interviewer pointed out that many countries in the world have had female leaders, this woman said that they weren’t as big as the U.S., it’s different. With many older voters it’s going to be a heavier lift to convince them that Harris is ready for the responsibilities of the presidency.

  248. 248.

    Soprano2

    @Ken: I’m sure that’s his view about the elderly who are in nursing homes, too. TCFG is one of those people who feels disgusted by anyone who isn’t 100% hale and complete. Remember how he didn’t want to be near any disabled veterans, either. IMHO Dems don’t talk about this part of him enough, because normal people will be repelled by it. I agree that he’s weird and repulsive, lean into that.

  250. 250.

    Peke Daddy

    @Central Planning: Comparing Harris to JFK is not the winning theme the GOP thinks it is. Harris should take that and run with it. From “The torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans…” to echoes of The New Frontier to “What can be, unburdened by what has been” is a short, metaphorical step.

  251. 251.

    Kay

    @MomSense:

    I kept thinking that I wish they had some of the young people I follow on social media instead of some of the speakers.

    Not me. I was wishing for someone who works for an hourly wage. We don’t have to make this complicated – don’t get wrapped around the axle on “class” – it isn’t an economics seminar and we’re not setting up a scholarly debate with race v class. Just make sure that for every leader of a non profit or poet or actor add a nurse or a nursing home aide or a retail worker. I know we don’t get the majority of white women who work for an hourly wage – it doesn’t matter – we absolutely need the 35% we get and we need them in certain states. My guests all had post graduate degrees and they’re either liberals or centrist Dems – they’re voting for the Democrat anyway.

    I think if they had invited someone from labor the omission would have been noticed immediately.
    But – I’m grateful the organizers did the work and they didn’t have much time to get it together – it’s understandable they invited women who are like themselves. It’s just next time we have to think about either non college women and/or hourly worker women. They don’t vote for us as a majority but there are more of them.

  252. 252.

    sab

    @Kay: Would that hourly wage worker still have a job after speaking up for Kamala?  I am much more intimadated than I was ten years ago and I am retired. I would caution my step-kids to shut the fuck up in or on any public forum.

  253. 253.

    sab

    @bluefoot: My husband’s opthamologist was just told she needed to do more and would have to give up her rural patients.  And have them drive into the city for appointments, care and surgery. Her point is they cannot. They are currently blind. New hospital management crew says too bad. So she retired.

    Then his CPN also quit.

  256. 256.

    MomSense

    @Kay:
    I follow a lot of young people who are local bartenders, brewers, and distillers at venues where my kids have played.  Most are not college graduates.

  257. 257.

    apocalipstick

    Given the way MAGAts hate Taylor Swift, Beyonce must really have them fudging the featherbed.

  259. 259.

    Ruckus

    @sab:

    I like/liked Hillary and I’m an old fart male. But then I look at the humans behind the names and faces.

    I remember near 50 yrs ago I was a mental health counselor at a mental health center. I worked the afternoon shift one day a week with a woman old enough to be my mom and while she of course had her own personality, Hillary Clinton reminds me of her, other than she was just a bit more soft spoken than Hillary. And that is pretty high praise, because this woman was a hoot and a half.

  263. 263.

    Citizen Alan

    @Hoodie:

    Don’t reinforce that meme by doing something like picking Buttagieg because you think he can out talk some dopey conservatives.

    That is not why I hope they pick pete. I hope they pick him so that a happily married gay man with two children can stand on a debate stage opposite jd vance and ask him point blank “Why does your party hate my family and want to destroy it?” The fact that he can casually and effortlessly out-talk conservatives is a bonus.

  264. 264.

    Citizen Alan

    @Jackie: Personally, I want roberts to have to give the oath and then sit there during kamala’s inaugural speech during which she talks about scotus to raptuous applause.

  265. 265.

    Citizen Alan

    @eclare: Yeah, every time I imagine myself dancing to sledgehammer, I see myself looking like elaine benes from seinfeld.

  267. 267.

    SomeRandomGuy

    @Matt McIrvin: “it was all sexual metaphors” is a long way from “it was all about his penis,” but I must confess, I can’t exactly say misogyny was absent from the era.

     

    @eclare: You do a slow-motion disco-point, to mock your friends who hear actual dance steps within the song. All in good fun, and you have to stop, and laugh, once your point is made. (Clown with this often enough, no one will suspect you can’t figure out why your body is unnaturally clumsy.)

  268. 268.

    SomeRandomGuy

    @Gvg: The country is also crazy.

    No, I mean, howling, barking, mad. The country itself will present two options, one sensible, one howling, barking mad, and act like that’s normal (“Don’t normalize him!” we said, but did they listen?).

    When the national news says “one side wants you to be vaccinated and to obey public health orders, and the other thinks, meh, whatever, and *we can’t tell you who is being sensible*” people get a little fucked up.

    I mean, people don’t *really* say “the chicken, or a ball of shit wrapped in broken glass”? but when it’s literally fecal matter, wrapped in broken glass, and they don’t say it, people’s brains break a bit.

    Then, add Covid-19, and all the hate, and all the emotional exhaustion around here, fuck yeah, there’s a spot-crisis individually, but part of the problem is the national insanity.

    Maybe with the “they’re so weird,” we can get people starting to talk about that a bit.

  269. 269.

    SomeRandomGuy

    @sab: and this is the result of thinking you can squeeze-squeeze-squeeze to prosperity.

    The squeeze-theory says, if everything is provided by a multinational, at the lowest possible dollar-per-unit, everyone prospers the most.”

    But sometimes, you need local businesses, and federal investment, to build up enough capital to have services even *exist* in rural areas.  I mean, geez, the Republicans want to gut the USPS, while getting lauded by rural America. They will still repeal Obamacare if they get the chance, shutting even more rural hospitals. They won’t think of universal childcare or preschool, because that would make rural America realize how good the government can be, or so I reckon.

    Republicans are viewed as better for the economy, because they know what to do when you have someone’s balls in your fist – squeeze. But we don’t need balls in fists – we need childcare, and health care, and easy delivery services, everywhere – even in rural America.

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