This is how I want Biden to hand off the nomination. https://t.co/QDEdkL0uRq
— Clean Observer (@Hammbear2024) July 25, 2024
So
All those "Pass the torch" dudes didn't have a plan
But Joe Biden loves to make plans
And he made a plan
And his plan worked
Bless ?? pic.twitter.com/3gmMkDr7ai— Sibylle (@AHaschi) July 24, 2024
The chyron from today + the story from 16 years ago make an excellent pairing. https://t.co/OtM7Gks9Wi pic.twitter.com/VGvOLKvwiV
— River_Tam (@RiverTamYDN) July 26, 2024
BREAKING: New reports show Vice President Kamala Harris has raised over $220 million since becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee for President. Let’s go.
— Kamala’s Wins (@harris_wins) July 26, 2024
Kamala Harris is the only candidate who will keep this going. https://t.co/u5ReNApr90
— Clean Observer (@Hammbear2024) July 26, 2024
The Democratic women in the House are all-in to elect the first woman President!@KamalaHarris is fighting to restore reproductive freedom, lower costs for hard-working Americans, & uplift families. I was proud to join so many of my colleagues & stand with her! @ElectDemWomen pic.twitter.com/hhmBFKRSyX
— Grace Meng (@Grace4NY) July 26, 2024
Bush / Rumsfeld speechwriter & AEI Fellow Marc Thiessen has a sad!
Pretty easy call really, Marc. Vote for the candidate who won't abandon Ukraine to Putin and Taiwan to Xi, and who won't send a mob to Congress to prevent the lawful certification of a national election. Thanks for your concern.
— Mark Salter (@MarkSalter55) July 25, 2024
Speaking of dangerous viewpoints, Mark:
The crazed ramblings from the Dictator on Day 1… he’s fixing it so “you won’t have to vote again.”
You like your freedom?! You sure as hell better be ready to protect
it! Get Registered and Vote! https://t.co/1yLK23qSbZ— Jaime Harrison (@harrisonjaime) July 27, 2024
I'd love for journalists and broadcasters to ask Donald Trump precisely what he means when he says he's going to fix it so noone will have to vote again in four years. Seems kind of important.
— Emma Kennedy (@EmmaKennedy) July 27, 2024
Holy shit, the Harris campaign is on fire! pic.twitter.com/cQRlFt54Bq
— Ricky Davila (@TheRickyDavila) July 27, 2024
Right now would be the right time for Mitt Romney and George W Bush and Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins and the rest to stop being cowards, find microphones, & do the necessary, hard thing. It’s getting late. No more excuses.https://t.co/fIMRchX1ZF https://t.co/eO571FK4Mi
— Mark Copelovitch (@mcopelov) July 27, 2024
OzarkHillbilly
That construction and manufacturing chart. Damn, I wish I was still working.
WereBear
People like progressive ideas. Which is why corporate media doesn’t want them to know.
H.E.Wolf
I’m reminded of 2015, when (in the parlance of that time) gay marriage became legal nationwide.
It was impossible until it was inevitable. :)
WereBear
@H.E.Wolf: They predicted NY and LA would be nonstop Gay Pride parades and instead they go on being centers of industry.
No prognostication abilities. Not even with a spreadsheet.
MomSense
I’d like to shout out Lynda Carter. So happy I woke up really fucking early every Saturday morning to watch Wonder Woman. You have turned out to be a real shero. I may have to wear some sparkly wrist cuffs for this campaign.
WereBear
I feel silly asking this, but… what oppo did the Democrats have on Vance?
Didn’t he come out of nowhere?
All his other possibilities having a much higher profile as politicians.
bbleh
Related to the previous thread as well, the Felon has completely lost control of The Narrative, for the first time in a LONG while, and it occurs to me that must really be shaking him, because he’s ALWAYS been able to control it — or at least capture it to a significant degree — INSTINCTIVELY. He himself has said he DOESN’T plan; he just “wings it” and then “things work out.”
And this time … they aren’t.
It COULD turn into a real spiral: inability to control –> confusion –> worse inability –> despair –> etc.
Barbara
Susan Collins should pull an Olympia Snowe, since, evidently, it’s easier to leave the Senate than it is to stand up to the Republican party, but by now it’s obvious she loves being a senator more than she lives her country so I doubt it’s going to happen.
Raven
My theory is that the Biden/Harris inner circle knew all along what they were going to do. They set those two assholes up and now are going to mow them down!! All this “knifed” stuff is bullshit.
p.a.
From well before donnie dollhands we’ve noted the conservaturd info bubble and the Star Trek TNG meme of a shrinking universe, and who do they go and sell what little soul that party had left to? donnie, whose info bubble is the smallest of the whole bunch!
Jeffro
That trump clip is certainly burning up social media. Let’s see if the
dyinglegacy‘mainstream’snooze media can be bothered to make at least a little hay out of it without engaging their ‘both sides’ tendencies.Here let me help you, snooze media – free sample questions!
– “What do you mean by ‘fix it’, Mr. Trump?”
– “Americans have voted in presidential elections every 4 years for the past 240 years. What would make them stop, or ‘not need to vote’, in 2028?”
– “If you are president in 2028, that would be the end of your second term and you would be ineligible to run again per the 22nd Amendment. What are your thoughts as to who should succeed you in 2028? Wouldn’t you want Americans to be able to vote for that person?” *
*of course these are multiple trick questions…but I want the whole country to hear his answers!
– “If Americans did want to vote in 2028, you wouldn’t have any problem with that, would you? You wouldn’t invoke the Insurrection Act on Americans who are peacefully protesting for the right to vote in 2028, would you?”
Suzanne
A lot of Never Trumpers are fine with Harris. Marc Thiessen is an idiot. #newsflash
MomSense
@Barbara:
Collins won’t. Snowe was a very different person. I disagreed with her on almost everything, but she was orphaned when she was young and she enjoys living her life. She and Jacques are actually very nice people. Again I disagree with her on most things but I like her. I know the Collins family. Her uncle was a lifelong, dear friend of my dad’s. He was a Justice and long term legislator. Collins is not like him at all. I can’t even believe they are the same family.
Kay
I’m fine with the couch thing with JD but the claim that he wants to tax people w/out children more is a deliberate misunderstanding. He’s saying he wants to expand the child tax credit, which of course Democrats did as a response to the pandemic, pulled tens of millions of kids out of poverty, and then Republicans killed the expansion.
I think it’s important we defend the expansion of the child tax credit. It was Biden’s policy and he was enormously proud of it. Also – JD is lying and saying he supports expansion and Harris doesn’t, which is a blatant lie.
Spanky
“Bitter, bizarre, and backward is no way to go through life, son.”
Betty Cracker
The Harris campaign is leaning heavily into the freedom theme. I hear it repeated by surrogates at every level. Good.
It’s about damn time we took that word back from the party that wants to ban books, muzzle teachers, shove LGBTQ citizens back into the closet, use the military to round up millions for deportation, restrict voting and track women’s menstrual cycles on a spreadsheet.
K-Mo
I’d like to see an Obi Wan Ke-Joe-bi meme get started. Kamala has got the force.
Shalimar
Was talking with a Trump supporter last night about his abysmal business record and how his image was a Mark Burnett creation. We agreed to disagree on that, but he said to me, “you at least have to agree he’s great at marketing.” No, I do not. What exactly has Trump marketed successfully? All of his dozens of products have been failures. He has used the money daddy left him and the profits he made from the tv show to buy property. That’s the source of whatever wealth he has left. He squandered most of the money on a lavish lifestyle.
What Trump is good at is attention-whoring. He’s great at “look at me.” And that skill along with media playing along got him 4 years as President. Good for him. But being a whore isn’t much of an accomplishment, even when the people paying are doing it willingly.
OzarkHillbilly
@K-Mo: “Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, Kid.”
eta: my favorite Star Wars quote.
lowtechcyclist
They’re coming out slugging, and I love it!
Keep the Trumpists so busy defending themselves and explaining (when you’re explaining, you’re losing!) that they’ll hardly have a chance to go on the attack.
RandomMonster
Actual whores at least provide a service.
WereBear
@Betty Cracker: Never go full squicky.
MagdaInBlack
@Kay: Then Democrats need to point out that he really is advocating for the child tax credit.
I agree with you. He just refuses to say those words
Eta: he lied so much in that interview I lost track.
WereBear
@Shalimar: “Good at marketing” doesn’t quality a person for the Presidency.
FFS
WereBear
@MagdaInBlack: He says a lot without saying anything.
Reminds me of when I tried to read David Brook’s famous book. And I could not. It was so vapid my brain was drained by the effort and I quit.
That’s their Brain Trust level.
Starfish
The social media for this campaign is so much fun. They got Lance Bass.
OzarkHillbilly
Gizmo the missing dog reunited with Las Vegas family after nearly a decade
sab
@WereBear: Maybe ask Tim Ryan why he chose to run as Republican Lite instead of running against that jerk.
AM in NC
@Kay: I thought people are attacking Vance on his statements that people with kid should have more voting power than people without kids. I hadn’t seen the taxation line.
And the Vance statements about people with children having more at stake in our nation’s future and so should have more say in governance are pretty clear, I thought.
But it is always good to remind people not to attack policies we actually want, in our rush to attack the asshole saying he (HA!) supports the policy.
MagdaInBlack
@WereBear: Oh yeah, that’s what I was thinking ” whole lotta words to say nothing.”
zhena gogolia
@Raven: well, it’s a consoling theory at least
MomSense
Questlove posted a video on insta called The crazy Bunch – a la Brady. It’s good!
OzarkHillbilly
@RandomMonster: Whores are unfairly maligned. I spent 35+ years selling my body and nobody ever thought less of me for it.
Kay
@MagdaInBlack:
I think his framing is sort of cunning, really. He’s using a culture war slam to tell lower income parents he’ll get them more money. Republicans know conservative policy isn’t popular – they’re trying to take ours and make it theirs. They’ll say their new position on the tax credit is a response to Dobbs and “pro family”, while Democrats are anti family.
Democrats felt really strongly about the expiration of the credit. It shouldn’t be hard to get them together to do a full court press in defense of expansion of the child tax credit. It was very successful when we tried it during the pandemic.
It’s true that working class people without children “pay more taxes” than those with children because they don’t get the tax credit – of course they also don’t have the expenses of having children. But it’s basically true and Democrats back it, enthusiastically.
sixthdoctor
Signed up for the White Dudes for Harris zoom on Monday, reposting link.
Did receive an email that one of our favorite white dudes, Pete Buttigieg, will be on the zoom, and that so far there are 12,000 signups.
NotMax
Open thread goodness.
It’s grilling season. Came across a recipe for a barbecue sauce with a slightly unusual combination of ingredients.
From the same source, watermelon and … beer? Color me skeptical.
Starfish
@MomSense: Was it this video?
MomSense
@Starfish:
That’s the one!
Kay
@AM in NC:
There’s a whole “pronatalist” policy set that we should look out for – some of it will be policy Democrats either invented or support. Vance is part of a very Right wing Catholic policy group. They don’t want to shrink government. They want to put government in service of Christian nationalist goals, so you get policy like Texas subsidizing anti abortion indoctrination “clinics”. There’s a whole set like that.
TBone
@MomSense: she is a true badass!
TBone
@Raven: after seeing President Biden’s Planning video, I have come to that speculative conclusion as well. Secret weapon, the joyful warrior princess of color!
TBone
@Starfish: 💙❤️😆
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: That rings a bell. IIRC, I saw a short video on twitter (long before it became xitter) of a guy who does weird cooking. It involved a water melon and beer but beyond that I don’t remember much other than laughing my ass off. He’s a mushroom.
Kay
But, JD is a charmless lump with a huge chip on his shoulder so he wasn’t able to present “pronatalist” policy in any kind of coherent or appealing way, so that’s comforting. But we have to watch for it.
I bet Trump picked him because Trump thinks he’s handsome. Donald Trump is the shallowest person imaginable. Also, JD substantially underperformed Trump in Ohio – there was a legit “Trump/Ryan” voter, split ticket, so JD isn’t a threat.
Nukular Biskits
Good morning, y’all!
Posting mobile, which I really hate. I don’t know how some of you folks do that on a regular basis.
Just cooling my heels going to head to the airport here in a couple of hours and fly back home.
I think it’s time for our supposedly liberal media and all our hometowns to start asking Republican elected officials why they aren’t speaking out against Trump’s dictatorial utterances.
MagdaInBlack
@Starfish: I love it!
WereBear
@TBone: It’s about seeing opportunity. And then how to go after it.
We were being frozen out of the press. That’s what was driving down the polls. Because look at all the speeches our MVP did.
How much was being covered? So much of this was undeniably a brilliant move because the King was in danger.
And then the Queen came out. And even the inventors of chess admitted women were the best in the end game.
We don’t have to break it down. I’m happy enough to know there was brilliance at work.
zhena gogolia
Yes, let’s theorize that he planned to be publicly humiliated and have all his accomplishments thrown in the toilet.
TBone
The FTFNYT has an article about JD and his former trans bestie. Not linking unless someone wants to see it – they were friends for a long time before JD changed his stripes. The former friend has released their email correspondence.
p.a.
My RW Cat’lic relatives are the same. Asked them “so you’re ok with Catholics in Utah being taxed to support the Mormon Church? In South Carolina to support Bob Jones U?”
“Well, no!”
Then I make my ‘you dumbass’ face/shoulder shrug.
Geminid
@Betty Cracker: Rep. Mary Peltola’s campaign slogan:
A very Alaskan take on the matter.
WereBear
@p.a.: AND
Where J.D. Vance Gets His Weird, Terrifying Techno-Authoritarian Ideas
TLDR:
J.D. Vance is deeply influenced by a San Francisco man who once suggested turning “unproductive people” into “biodiesel.”
TBone
No one is flushing any of President Biden’s anythings as far as I can see – we are looking forward to Dark Brandon being freed up to fight even more effectively now. At least I am. He’s not going anywhere for the next six months and I expect big things to continue! As well, I hope he’ll continue in an advisory capacity for years to come.
OzarkHillbilly
I hope he takes a nice long vacation, spends some quality time with his grandchildren. He’s earned it.
TBone
@WereBear: 👍🇺🇸
If anyone hasn’t seen this, I highly recommend it.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Queen's_Gambit_(miniseries)
Princess
“Strange speech…” “Weird…”
danielx
Arrrrrgh…..spousal unit saw three raccoons walking across the deck and then dive under it to proceed under the back porch about a half hour ago, poured a half gallon of ammonia down a hole through a funnel, didn’t drive them out. I’d try pouring down some bleach as well but I don’t feature mustard gas forming under the porch floor.
TBone
@OzarkHillbilly: advising via phone from his relaxing lounge chair on the beach isn’t too much to hope for though!
H.E.Wolf
Yes – it’s straight out of the fascist/authoritarian playbook. As is the reverse (one-child policies and the like), although forced-birth policies result in much higher maternal mortality… which I suspect is a feature, not a bug, to some folks.
It tends not to go well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decree_770
WereBear
This could lead to some coverage of the very weird world of Rocket Boy Venture Capitalism.
Remember the blood dot lady? Cons. All the way down.
Vance probably said a lot of weird things to people with more money than sense.
Starfish
@zhena gogolia: Hey, I know you are still upset, but no one is throwing Joe Biden’s accomplishments in the toilet.
No matter what, Joe Biden was the Vice President to the first Black President. As President, he led us out of an economic downturn caused by a global pandemic. He stepped aside to allow for the possibility of the first Black woman President because he loves the country more than he loves power, which is in stark contrast with the world view of his political opponent.
There is no question that they planned for the transition for at least several weeks because it all went so smoothly.
The theory that he planned for even longer is a pro-Biden conspiracy theory, that he knew when he declared his candidacy that he would step aside near the end of campaign season so at the precise right moment when the Republicans have not done their opposition research against the person they are actually running against. I agree with you that the theory is far-fetched, but the intent of the theory is to make Joe Biden seem larger than life.
WereBear
@TBone: So do I! I loved the original book, a classic.
OzarkHillbilly
@TBone: I have no doubt he will be involved in the politics of this nation, he’s been doing it all his life and quitting cold turkey just ain’t gonna happen. But I hope he only gets involved in things that give him joy and that leave time for him to do all the things he’s denied himself over the years.
Kay
This is Reason (libertarian) ranting about pro- natalism on the Right:
I think it was true to say that conservatives wouldn’t expand the welfare state because doing so would necessarily benefit groups they don’t like, but I think that has changed. They now recognize “groups they don’t like” are a minority and the vast bulk of an expansion of the welfare state like expanded child tax credits will go to white people, because there are many, many more white people.
They want more “native born” people, and they’re willing to help the 25% of the parents they don’t like to help the 75% of white parents.
This is a different Right wing. We have to adjust.
TBone
@WereBear: apparently the link is not good. I hope this one is:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Queen%27s_Gambit_(miniseries)
Kay
@H.E.Wolf:
I got to it thru the “brain trust” of the anti abortion movement. They’re all part of it – not the dopes in the cheap seats – the people who come out of universities and think tanks.
TBone
@OzarkHillbilly: yes! He’ll be even better equipped. Less stress, more joy is when my best ideas come from the muse.
MomSense
J.B. Pritzker was just on The Weekend show on MSNBC. Go watch it. The man is fantastic. He was flawless on every question and he’s a legit billionaire. So impressive. JB vs JD would be epic – in that JB would show Vance up for the pissant he is.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay:
Which is the real goal.
Princess
@Kay: And they want the 25% they don’t like to have lots of babies too because they want to have cheap servants again.
TBone
@Kay: we have a serious problem pronatalist sect here in PA. I posted warnings about here in the past, if anyone wants more info. They’re nationwide and international too.
H.E.Wolf
@TBone:
Joyful, yes; warrior; yes (although I’m not a huge fan of military metaphors, myself). Hubert Humphrey, back in the day, was known by the moniker “the happy warrior”.
“Princess”, to me, is a reminder of the type of government this country rejected in 1776. Which leads to some good news:
If enough of us turn out and vote Democratic in November, President (not princess) Harris will preside over the 250th anniversary of our saying “no” to government by monarchs.
Kay
I think JD Vance’s basic problem is he’s thoroughly marinated in online far Right politics and policy and normal people no longer understand them because they speak in kind of an insider code with terms of art and context no one outside the group has. There’s a companion group in liberal policy – very online!- but they haven’t taken over the Democratic Party so they’re somewhat marginalized, thank God.
It’s why he thinks this weird shit he says is mainstream. He’s in this little clique where they all understand one another.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: The same is happening in FL to the tune of millions of taxpayer dollars. Fake “crisis pregnancy clinics” are slapping up billboards everywhere to lure scared teens into their indoctrination centers. Diaper coupons in exchange for listening to some fanatic harangue them about Jesus.
Princess
@MomSense: I am completely on board with this. And Illinois would elect another Dem as governor so no loss there. Despite being a billionaire, JB somehow has the affect of a regular guy. I heard him speak when he was running for governor. He talked about his his mom instilled in him the duty to serve others. He was my last choice for governor and I was dead wrong.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊
Kay
@Princess:
Good point. Rings true.
TBone
@H.E.Wolf: it’s just a nickname, I don’t expect it to be a campaign slogan. I think “yass, queen!” when I see her and it is merely my way of highlighting her female attributes.
No one cuts a bitch like a fellow female.
ETA I agree we’re gonna win, baby! 😊
rikyrah
@WereBear:
Ryan was A bad candidate who didn’t reach out to the Democratic party base. The Democratic Congressional candidates outperformed Ryan in that election.
And , Vance was fully funded by Thiel ( which is why he was chosen for VP)
MomSense
@Princess:
He’s so underrated and maybe that’s in part because a no-drama Obama way of being that doesn’t grab attention. I listen to the professional left podcast and they are so happy to brag about how great he is. That may be why he’s on my radar. I just love him.
Kay
There’s a kind of interesting discussion among women re: using “Harris” or “Kamala” which seems to me to break along age lines (based on my IG readings so not science-y!)
Young women think “Kamala” is fine – like a brand that people obviously like – and older women think it should be “Harris” out of respect. I’m agnostic but I just thought it was interesting. I asked my daughter and she thinks Kamala is fine and we won’t be able to get people to stop using it anyway, because they like it.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Jessica Valenti writes how the GOP in Red States is funneling $$$$to the tune of millions to these fake azz clinics😠
eclare
@NotMax:
That is just bizarre enough to be really good!
Princess
@MomSense: He’s younger than Harris and wouldn’t look like her Dad (unlike Waltz, a point that Water Girl sensibly raised). And I didn’t realize both his parents died before he was 15. Wow.
lowtechcyclist
@Betty Cracker:
Yeah, they mean freedom more like this:
If any form of pleasure is exhibited
report to me and it will be prohibited
I’ll put my foot down, so shall it be
this is the land of the free
-Rufus T. Firefly, President of Freedonia
WereBear
@rikyrah: Thanks. Thiel apparently has Bond Villain aspirations.
But they had reliable henchpeople, at least at first. Vance is like a stealth genetic experiment.
danielx
@Kay:
Epistemic closure once again rears its ugly head.
rikyrah
@Kay:
I think it should be Harris out of respect. I won’t buy merch with just “Kamala” on it
Princess
@Kay: No interest in policing this at all but younger women will realize why calling her Harris is better when they are older women.
Kay
@rikyrah:
She’s a treasure, isn’t she? I know you read her. She’s been so valuable with just getting stuff out there. Daily. Pounding away. That’s what we need.
I emailed Chris Hayes’ show to ask them invite her on his program early on after I started reading her – he eventually did (not because I asked, obviously) and I think that helped promote her. I’m grateful to him. Plus she needs to make a living at this. I’m “pro” people getting paid for work :)
rikyrah
@Princess:
He has definitely turned out to be a great Governor.
I am leaning towards the Governor of Minnesota. He has an awe shucks quality to him , all the while spitting out truths. Very Midwestern nice.
eclare
@TBone:
That’s how I see it!
MomSense
@Princess:
There is a clip from a commencement address he gave a few years ago and it was shared by people of all ages. He calls out people who say racist, sexist things as not being intelligent enough to evolve only he somehow manages to say it in a way that is not mean and seems completely logical. He is very comfortable in his own skin and I love it.
Jeffg166
@Raven: I completely agree Joe planned the whole thing and executed it flawlessly.
rikyrah
@WereBear:
Bought and paid for by Thiel
Quinerly
@Raven:
I am beginning to think this too. Possibly Biden made his decision before the RNC and was waiting to see who Trump would pick for his running mate.
What still amazes me is the Trump campaign seems totally knocked off its game with Biden’s stepping aside. It really looks like the entire operation was caught off guard….no contingency plan.
RevRick
@Betty Cracker: Conservatives define freedom narrowly as meaning leave me alone to do whatever the hell I want. FDR’s version reminds us that you can never be free -truly free- if you’re in a constant state of economic precarity.
There are studies that show that being poor impacts your ability to think straight. I witnessed this firsthand when I read to classrooms of first graders in a school of predominantly Hispanic students with one of the highest poverty rates in the state. There was always one or two children who just couldn’t sit still and many who had a hard time grasping the stories I read to them (and I used books my wife amassed teaching her kindergarten class). Ninety four percent of the students received free or reduced price lunches. Many lived in overcrowded housing or had experienced evictions. That ever-present anxiety robbed them of the ability to regulate behavior or focus their attention. A childcare benefit would be immensely freeing for them.
rikyrah
@Jeffro:
The MSM actually asking serious questions about it? Surely, you jest😒😒
Trivia Man
Bush, Romney, Collins, Liz Cheney and the like don’t even have to endorse Kamala. If they had any dignity or patriotism they would all say loudly and repeatedly “Donald Trump needs to step aside. He does not represent my party or my country,”
MomSense
@rikyrah:
Not sure about aw shucks. I think we need to peel off indies and conservatives who are business people and/or concerned about economic issues. They will feel more comfortable with a billionaire. The people who are obsessed with and impressed by money will be impressed by his money. Plus Illinois is geographically very advantageous. The location is good for campaigning. It’s not talked about at all, but it was definitely helpful for the Obama campaign.
rikyrah
@Barbara:
Phony azz Little Suzie?😠😠😠
Jeffg166
@p.a.: Not the christian nationalist goals, the Catholic Churches goals. They are using Protestant evangelicals to push their agenda and take the blame
TBone
@eclare: ❤️
I’m off on a short road trip through the surrounding countryside to see what the farm stands are offering up today. I foresee some watermelon BBQ sauce in my future, as well as feta & watermelon cubes salad garnished with fresh mint leaves, mmmm
But, anything could happen when I see the variety of just-harvested fresh fruit and veggies. The beauty of being able to pivot!
Starfish
I am watching this MotherJones video comparing and contrasting how Clinton and Harris have been treated by rightwing media.
Betty Cracker
@Kay:
Agree. Another emerging development that many Dems are loathe to acknowledge is that the GOP is becoming more diverse. It’s undeniable in FL.
We should be ready for that too. Downscale white people aren’t the only ones who will vote against their own self interests if the hard right appeals to hot-button biases.
rikyrah
@MomSense:
But, he is from a Solid blue state. I think Governor Minnesota would campaign well in Wisconsin, and Michigan.
eclare
@Princess:
I am also agnostic about Harris vs Kamala. But since her campaign is “Harris for President,” I will refer to her as either Harris or Kamala Harris, not just Kamala.
Quinerly
@OzarkHillbilly:
I was reading this story yesterday. Tearjerker. Have to wonder where he has been all this time. I hope we get an update. It’s just an amazing story.
Trivia Man
@Jeffro: The simple answer is “after i get elected i can’t run again so i dont give a damn what you do next. You won’t need to vote because i won’t be running.”
WereBear
@rikyrah: I get that.
In our house we do refer to President Biden as “Joe” in political conversations but not outside of it.
While President Obama was always President Obama. How I was first “introduced” to him, but also in careful recognition of the odds he beat.
In this case, the nomenclature reminds me of how conservation President Theodore Roosevelt was known as “Teddy.”
If names help young people connect, I understand that, too.
MomSense
@Betty Cracker:
Everyone votes against their self interest. I think it became popular in a paternalistic way for Dems to opine on why poor white people would vote for Republicans. Identity is the biggest driver of voting behavior. Hell telling people to BE a voter is more effective than telling people to go vote. Rich Democrats have always voted against their self interest. Humans are not very rational. We are pack mammals.
rikyrah
@Betty Cracker:
Florida is a special case, BC.
Because, their attempts at Black diversity is a bunch of Coons defending White Supremacy , looking like fools😠😠
Ken
Don’t worry, after the Project 2025 plan deports all recent immigrants*, the construction industry will be desperate for workers. And when 2025 does away with Social Security and Medicare, you’ll have plenty of incentives to go back to work. A wonderful synergy and real win-win situation!
* We all know they wouldn’t stop with the undocumented.
Layer8Problem
@Raven: I guess we’ll know better after the memoirs are written. Whatever mysterious chess opening moves Politico, Axios, and the Times say took place, Biden and Harris’ endgame seems first rate so far.
Quinerly
@TBone: I really like that video. It did make me sad, though. It’s from the Obama era. The last few years have aged us all. I’ll leave it at that.
WereBear
@rikyrah: Of all the not-Pete choices, I like him the best.
Kamala Harris is so genuine, and he’s meshing with that quality, but in a contrasting, mellowed, way.
Percysowner
@Kay: I code switch on names. If someone is talking about Joe, or Donald or Bernie, etc., then I use Kamala. If only she is being talked about, I try to default to Harris although I don’t find using Kamala to be a problem. I suspect this will sort itself out in the next few weeks.
I admit one of my biggest trouble spots with last names was when Sarah Huckabee Sanders was spokesperson and headlines would say Sanders said [some crazy right wing thing] and I would think Wait! Did Bernie go off the rails? I really wanted them to use Huckabee-Sanders in headlines.
Trivia Man
@sixthdoctor: Make it a contest! whatever the White Women Zoom raised you have to raise at least 30% more to make up fir the gender gap!
(14.3% more, but who’s counting?)
Quinerly
@WereBear: 💚💙💛
eclare
@rikyrah:
Omnes Omnibus says that too. I am leaning toward Walz as well. Amazing policy achievements with (IIRC) a one vote margin in the legislature.
OzarkHillbilly
My wife will be next.
rikyrah
@Kay:
She absolutely should be doing a weekly segment on someone’s show. Nobody connects all the anti-woman dots like she does. While telling you about the micro policy of a state, she informs you of how it fits into the macro policies of the forced birth crowd.
Quinerly
@zhena gogolia: obviously, no one here is saying that.
rikyrah
@OzarkHillbilly:
😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
Ken
@OzarkHillbilly: Though as the movie shows, the best results are obtained with a really big blaster targeted using hokey religions.
Scout211
It’s no secret that many people who feel powerless are attracted to power. Republicans have been creating a party that looks and acts as though they will be in power permanently and many sign up to be a part of that when they feel powerless.
Democrats have a huge task to get the message out that those who feel powerless are better off with Democrats in power than Republicans. Joining the cult just feels better in the short run than waiting for policy changes that benefit them in the long run.
Let’s freaking go!
MomSense
@rikyrah:
I don’t think the data back up the idea that VPs from certain states bring those states. I think it’s better to look at what the concerns may be with swing voters about the candidate and which person shores up those concerns either by vouching for that person (like Biden did for Obama) or by having a skill set or experience that alleviates the concern. I think complimentary is what we need to look at. People have a lot of fears about the economy and prices which is frustrating and wrong but that’s the reality. Which candidate is most reassuring on the economy? That’s the one we need.
The Thin Black Duke
As I’ve said before, all of us are armchair QBs watching the Game and we’ll never know what went down behind the scenes.
Here’s what I do know: I hate the Wormtongues who didn’t have Joe Biden’s back when the MSM accelerated their carpet bombing campaign.
But, since I’m being honest, I love seeing the political ascension of Kamala Harris and the optics of seeing a growing coalition that is genuinely representative of what America looks like, not a B&W sitcom.
Life is Complicated. Anyone who says otherwise is selling you something.
What’s not complicated is this is the reality we’re living in now and it’s best for my emotional well being to not regurgitate old arguments that aren’t relevant anymore and think about what I need to do right now to ensure a better future for all of us.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
Agree. The denial of what is the plain truth in Florida is not good. I have heard every justification “it’s old people!” (not true) “it’s just certain groups of Latinos!” (true, but no longer limited to them). Everyone, always, has to ‘update their priors” as they say on the internet :)
Did you know Trump is relying on a 30% share of AA votes? I had no idea. 20% is probably realistic and has some data to back it up, but 30%? They have this targeting program where they hope to reach low propensity Black men – the Joe Rogan men, the divorced men, the angry-at-women men. If you just take “black men” out of it though and look at “low propensity voters in general” it seems unrealistic. Low propensity means exactly what it says. They’re hard as nails to turn out.
Quinerly
@TBone: 💜🩵💛💚🤎
Betty Cracker
@MomSense: Good points. After decades of observation, I’m forced to conclude there’s apparently no limit to the level of corruption and neglect my fellow rural whites will tolerate in exchange for the culture war junk food.
@rikyrah: I agree there are unique factors at play in FL, including that the state is home to Latino immigrant communities that tend to lean right. But they’ve made inroads with Dem-leaning populations too. I think it’s something we should keep an eye on.
Kay
@MomSense:
This is a good pitch you’re making. Americans do love rich people. We can deny it or say they shouldn’t but they do. Plus JB is fun and we’re making fun our brand this cycle.
Ken
@Kay: One of the most “pro-natalist” regimes ever was Ceaușescu’s Romania. Our homegrown crop might want to consider how that worked out for him, and for Romania.
rikyrah
@H.E.Wolf:
I want Harris to lean into all the so called negatives and Uno Reverse them.
The Prosecutor vs The Felon
Kamala is a cop?
Well, to felons, she is.
Saw yesterday, that the right-wing is trying to smear her with “Defund the Police”
The campaign needs to shoot back…ah ah ah, How can she be “Kamala the cop” and “defund the police”? Make it make sense.
The Prosecutor went after the felons
Uno Reverse that shyt😠
Chris Johnson
@Kay: Thing is, JD CAN’T present ‘natalist’ in an appealing way, because he doesn’t mean ‘make Americans breed more’, he means ‘make WHITE Americans breed more’.
It’s the Great Replacement stuff. He has to come up with some kind of way to push that stuff, have parents get extra votes for all their children, but only if they’re white! And that’s not only tricky, it takes all the warmth that MIGHT be there, out of the idea.
If you’re ‘natalist’ but as far as you’re concerned black children are made to pump up welfare checks and don’t count as people, then you’re just straight up a monster and not to be trusted. ‘Natalist’ stops being in any way an appropriate term for you.
So presumably the media’s gonna embrace ‘natalist’ like whoa. Let’s see how they do, and if any of them go ‘uh… black families?’
MomSense
@Kay:
I have a history of calling the tickets and election results early so my family members tease me about being a nostradumbass. This year is way outside my limited capabilities though.
Imagine if we actually win this thing? Books will be written. It will be the one of the most studied elections.
Kay
@Ken:
Oh, God, remember that? I took a child abuse CLE once (continuing legal education) and they had clips of those babies in cribs in some kind of holding facility crying and holding their arms up, then eventually just giving up and going silent- they were damaged by inattention. I will never forget it.
MomSense
@Kay:
Failure to thrive. Brutal.
Quinerly
@TBone:
I truly believe what the Repugs and the courts have put Hunter through….especially in the last few months….is what has aged our Pres Biden the most. As we all know, the stress of the offices ages the occupant. But this Hunter mess is another layer of stress that other presidents haven’t had. Plus, Pres Biden knows in his heart that his son would have never been publicly humiliated with dick pics, etc and prosecuted had he not been in the Oval Office and running for reelection. Like I have said, there are at least 2 more chapters to this to be written.
Trivia Man
@Chris Johnson: Easy! If you are on welfare (but not corporate welfare!!) your kids dint get a vote. Single women with kids, sorry the dad paying child support (even if he is 10 years in arrears) gets those votes. Legally immigrated? Sorry, MAYBE your native born kids can vote when THEY have kids. And on and on.
Scout211
In open thread news, CNN has a good summary of the western wildfires in the US and Canada burning now.
A few highlights:
ETA: If you live in the areas prone to wildfires, I highly recommend the free app Watch Duty
MomSense
@Quinerly:
I agree with you. I think the guilt he feels as a dad is devastating.
Ken
@MomSense: I might also note that electing Pritzker as VP wouldn’t promote a RWNJ to governor, unlike some states I could mention. Although Illinois does have one curiosity: the Attorney General, not the Lieutenant Governor, is the successor to the Governor.
Nelle
@Starfish: /
This plan could have been in the works long ago for any contingency. Unless one is deep in denial, most realize that circumstances can change abruptly, particularly as one ages. We write wills, we make trusts, and I can see Biden laying out a process, should it be needed, as a precaution. And when needed, there it is, needing a few changes to suit the exact circumstances. Becoming president at his age really was a call to save democracy soul, not a vanity project. Vanquished Trump and Trumpism was the goal. But the media and the Republicans refused to do their part, so the task remains. It is our charge (it always has been) now.
I wish him great joy with his beloved family and much wise counsel for us. I want the media to show us photos of his grand smile while eating ice cream. He is the one who has made many grand sacrifices for democracy, not the fool with a bone spurs and a nick in his ear.
eclare
@Quinerly:
That’s a very good point, thank you.
bbleh
@Betty Cracker: @lowtechcyclist: when Republicans say “freedom,” they mean freedom to violate laws and norms, and basically be a complete asshole, without any consequences. They mean “freedom” the way an angry, dimwitted adolescent means it. And then they wrap it in the flag and staple a cross to it, which they think makes it all patriotic and holy.
Hillary was right: a good half of them are truly deplorable.
Trivia Man
@MomSense: Reactive Attachment Disorder is terrifying. Many if the eastern European orphanages exported those by the boatload.
oldster
@Quinerly:
My exact reaction to the “Plan” video — it’s adorable, it’s the Joe I love, and it was eight years ago. The man has given enough of his life. He will be remembered as one of America’s greatest heroes.
Also — I don’t know when the planning started, but it’s worth considering that AOC may have been read in on it when she taped her late-night pro-Joe video. The plan — even if it came together only in the last week — required buying time before the announcement, and that meant pretending he was going to stay even after he had decided to step down. AOC has coordinated with Pelosi before this.
Chris Johnson
@eclare: Hang on, that’s the guy who got a one vote advantage and then ran wild doing good things and fixing broken stuff? Good for him.
It’s funny how there can be fake wealthy people like Trump, and then a whole lot of really wealthy people are hot garbage, and there can still be really wealthy people who are legit. I wonder if it’s 27% of them that are actually good. Reverse Crazification factor: class traitors, wealth traitors, just going ‘ha ha! Massive wealth tax! I’ll go out and make more and those who can’t, must just suck!’ and all manner of other good socially aware policy.
I’m reminded of Mark Cuban making medications available for wildly reduced cost, just because it pleases him to do so. I’m sure they’re not perfect but I love that there can be billionaire Crazification guys who just run wild doing good things because it pleases them.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@The Thin Black Duke:
Always like any LOTR reference.
Hey folks, it’s a new day and we should be asking FTFNYT how many articles they’ve done in the last 24 hours about Hair Furor’s age and mental capacity. When we get “None” as and answer, we get 100 people to cancel their subscriptions (by waving my magic wand or something).
And continue to ask that question every damned day all the while pushing out that narrative angle ourselves as well as we have with couches and VP candidates.
I’m glad we got a report on how much money Harris has raised since the switch. Good lord, $220m. The GQP is collectively shitting their pants at that I’m guessing.
MomSense
@Ken:
Shoot I don’t know anything about the AG in Illinois.
Bugboy
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: I have smelt the smoke from the mountain for many moons, but now Smaug has awakened! Let the burn begin!
Layer8Problem
@Nelle: I agree, for what we can know. There was a line out there that old Biden couldn’t let go and didn’t have the capacity to react, that he had become an ego-driven pol hanging on, enabled by a staff failing to deliver recent polls. We’ll know better eventually when people who were at the scene actually put their names on their recollections of events. However it came to be, with the unnamed sources and the “many people are saying”, we’re at a better place now.
WereBear
And we’ve got our Gollum.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I love the way the Harris campaign calls Trump’s speech “strange.” One again you hear the “weird” theme. I think it has a good change of sticking because it’s accurate and people might recognize what they, themselves, have been feeling
rikyrah
@MomSense:
Black Democrat named Kwame Raoul. Took the State Senate seat that was held by Barack Obama when he won for U.S. Senator.
Sally
@eclare: I am thinking of when Harris is President, she will need someone who can work the Hill. He seems very well prepared for that with all his legislative accomplishments on a one seat majority. Plus, I think he matches her happiness. He really seems like a happy man. With a quick wit and a sharp brain.
Quinerly
@Nelle: ❤️❤️❤️❤️
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Trivia Man:
Earlier in the year, Cheney wouldn’t endorse either candidate which is probably as far as she’ll be willing to go politically on that race. That being said, she has endorsed Dems in House races (Elissa Slotkin in MI and Abigail Spanberger in VA). I know in the case of the latter, the endorsement wasn’t about policies but about the fact Spanberger’s opponent was another election-denying, conspiracy-theorist, RWNJ. Hard to find any other member of the GOP with a national profile like Darth’s Daughter endorsing Dems.
The other three? Heh heh, Susie Furrorbrows probably thinks if she did that, she’d never get the GQP in Maine to nominate her again. Rmoney? Look up “gutless” in the dictionary and there’s his picture. Dubya? Too busy painting pictures of his feet in a bathtub.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
The Trump campaign are relying on the NYTimes polling operation description of the electorate. They must be because no one else is using 30% AA share. Everyone else is using 20, based on 2020 + growth.
That actually makes sense to me. Trump LOVES the NYTimes. He would think they were the “smartest”
But boy, that’s a big assumption!
Ken
What is that, like, three days of Trump’s legal bills?
Ha ha just kidding. Trump’s total was barely a hundred million, though that was back in March — I’m not finding anything more recent. He is paying it out of campaign funds, though.
rikyrah
@Quinerly:
They wanted Hunter to slip.
The complete hatred that I have for those evil, rotten muthaphuckas knows no bounds😠😠😠
Quinerly
@oldster: Excellent points.
bbleh
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: The Vichy Times is in it for the Felon — that seems pretty much set in stone at this point.
And most of the rest of the MSM are in it for clicks and access and ad revenue and fame and book deals, and the Felon is a walking talking entertainment-and-scandal factory that they don’t even have to leave their couches to cover.
So hell with ’em. We got 101 days folks, and there’s a lotta people to contact, register, get excited, and GOTV. Let’s SPEND some of that $220M. And leave the media to wallow in their own cesspits.
Chris Johnson
@The Thin Black Duke: You speak for me, Duke.
I’ve been able to dial back pie-ing a whole lot as things unfolded, but I’ve still got some people I just do not want to hear from, some ‘wormtongues’ that don’t sit well with me even as ‘differing voices’ with whom I don’t have to agree. And it speaks to what TTBD has brought up, now that he mentions it.
When Joe stepped down, I was shook, and I had to trust him because the point was that I trusted him. He was absolutely still with-it, had a lot of wisdom, and I was prepared to hear him out even if he wasn’t going to move quick and step lively.
Then, as everything unfolded, it became obvious that I was right. He had a hand in how Kamala Harris ascended: it could not possibly be chaos and intrigue and ‘wormtongues’, it was a bold pivot with everything at stake and it came off perfectly. Only bozos like my Senator Dumbass I mean Bernie, didn’t get the memo, and even that is him mouthing off at a townhall, on social media he’s refrained from pissing in the punchbowl.
And so, I still pie, but what I keep an eye out for is that same narrative (which still matters, Joe is President) that Joe Biden was senile and helpless and falling down and couldn’t do anything, and (insert whatever name you like) was conspiring to throw him away because he wasn’t capable. I particularly disliked the idea that what’s-his-name the actor had anything to do with it: if that were true it would be such a CATASTROPHIC level of dysfunction in the Democratic Party that we’d be in big trouble.
And all that talk was nonsense. We pivoted to Harris with amazing deftness, I’m even happy about it, it feels well planned, and it’s now the Republicans demonstrably in disarray, and we’re gonna keep them there until the fascists split off from the party, or whatever non-fascists they’ve still got, form a new party.
And I’m not interested in anything said by anybody who still has the cojones to suggest Joe wasn’t able to plan this, seeing the dangers and possibilities, and execute the plan. This was not a thing DONE TO Joe. This was him passing the torch and trusting his team and his VP.
And so do I <3
MomSense
@rikyrah:
Ooh, sounds like there is some poetry in this scenario. Got a little Chris Matthews tingle thinking about the future and what a political meet cute that would be.
Quinerly
@rikyrah: I am totally with you on this.
I truly believe they were trying to drive him to suicide.
Expletive Deleted
I don’t know if there was a capital P Plan, but I can’t imagine there were several roadmaps including what we saw.
My wholly uneducated guess is that plans were moved up after the press wouldn’t let go of the debate thing and the subsequent speeches gained no traction. Possibly the covid diagnosis also was a wakeup call, it can take a few weeks to recover fully and time wasn’t on their side. At which point if you are a very clever politician instead of a casual commenter on a blog you can look at the timeline and see how to get your ducks in a row and jujitsu the narrative away from the Republicans after their convention.
Hopefully one day we will get a real corker of a movie about what went on behind the scenes.
zhena gogolia
@Chris Johnson: Let’s just hope Harris’s polls don’t slip a little bit, or we’ll have to dump her for someone else.
WereBear
@Expletive Deleted: And we aren’t getting any gripping political journalism out of THIS era.
MomSense
@Quinerly:
Relapse and suicide. They are fucking evil. I’m sure they spent a ton of under the table money on all the bribes and bullshit they have been doing to smear Joe and his family. This is a big factor in why I want to obliterate all of them in this election.
NotMax
@Dorothy A. Winsor
“Donald Is Strange,” to the tune of The Doors’ “People Are Strange” crying out to be penned.
Four in the a.m. here, not something I’m about to tackle in the wee hours.
narya
@MomSense: he has a cousin who is a Buddhist lama and one who is a transgender woman (the two of them are siblings I think), so JB’s family contains multitudes. I also liked how JB handled Covid.
Layer8Problem
@oldster: Ocasio-Cortez’ support for Biden at that time was an odd counterpoint to the “he’s dragging us down” stuff. She never struck me as an idiot or wishful thinker and for more than a year has kept her head down and done her job instead of getting her face associated with smart comebacks. She had problems with her polling in her last election. I look forward to hearing her relation of the events of the last few months of this presidential campaign.
OzarkHillbilly
@rikyrah: What is it with IL and black men with unAmerican names? I’ll bet he was born in Nigeria.
s// in case somebody doesn’t get it
Quinerly
@zhena gogolia: want to bet on that? I’m not a gambler but I’ll take that bet to the tune of a stack of bills. You can name the amount.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@bbleh:
Yeah, I don’t expect them to change. Instead it’s all about continuing to highlight and keep in the forefront of everybody’s mind that they’re not an honest broker, etc.
It’s basically working the refs in the same manner the right has done with corporate media for the last 40 years. We gotta start somewhere and the events of the last several weeks have shown a light on the slantedness of media reporting we don’t typically see.
oldster
On “Kamala” vs “Harris” —
as an oldster, I prefer “Harris.” But I’m not surprised that young women like “Kamala,” because of the prevalence of mononyms for celebrities in that age group. When you refer to “Beyoncé” or “Rhianna”, you aren’t calling them by their first name, you are calling them by their celebrity-name. Just like “Prince” in an earlier generation or “Elvis” in mine.
So, I think the kids just don’t hear it as disrespectful.
Chris Johnson
I would also suggest, since I seem to have drawn some kind of response…
Trying to convince everyone around you that the Democrats are treacherous backbiters who have no principles is NOT in line with how most of us are perceiving things right now.
It doesn’t look like that to me. It simply doesn’t. All up and down the ticket I see excited Dems who get to vote for people who actually want to do good things! That happens. That’s how it’s supposed to work! That’s normal.
I’m on Team Normal, not Team Creepy and Weird and Unsettling.
note for downthread- not a judgement, people can be wrong. I can think a person is sad, upset, and very deeply wrong, and not be interested in debating their points if I think the points are too far from reality for me.
Quinerly
@Expletive Deleted: I think the Covid diagnosis set any contingency plan in motion.
Kay
I cant support Shapiro for VP because of vouchers. That’s just not mainstream in the Democratic Party – it’s to the Right in the GOP. Texas vetoed private school vouchers, for God’s sake. But he’s the only one off my list, not that Harris cares or will be consulting me.
MomSense
@narya:
He’s awesome. I mean we are just a small blog so nothing we say here makes a damned bit of difference except to us. I am just going to enjoy people getting to know him because he is in consideration. Everyone should go watch his appearance on The Weekend this morning. Every answer was just perfect framing and sincere.
zhena gogolia
@Chris Johnson: I’m not trying to convince anyone. It’s how I experienced the last few weeks. Am I not allowed to express that?
Quinerly
@oldster: I really like the t shirts with ” , la” on them.
EarthWindFire
Proving that the new improved professional Trump campaign hype was just hype as usual. I mean, Joe Biden is in his 80s. People in that age group have better odds than most of dying suddenly, no matter how capable and healthy they are. That would have made Harris the candidate. But they couldn’t even think that far.
I think Joe Biden and Kamala Harris did think that far, and they just pulled out that playbook for his dropping out.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Starfish: That’s a great video. Thanks for the link.
Quinerly
@Chris Johnson: 💜🩵💙💚🧡
oldster
@Layer8Problem:
Biden is a canny professional. Pelosi is a canny professional. AOC has the makings of a canny professional, and she studied under Pelosi for several years. I have high hopes for her.
UncleEbeneezer
@WereBear: Also, there’s a pretty good argument that it’s a measure of greatness when a first name is all you need to know exactly who it is. Think: Hillary, Serena, Lebron, Beyonce, Prince etc. If I ever meet her in person I would absolutely call her President Harris. But for the sake of referring to her here and on tee shirts etc., I don’t think it makes too much difference. I know several black women who refer to her as Kamala, all the time, in casual settings. I think it depends on the setting and who you are talking to.
Kay
@oldster:
I prefer Harris too but my daughter thinks people my age have to release our “white knuckled grip on culture” and I think there’s truth to that. She’s as blunt as her father, that one. I’m letting it go. They’re better at the internet than we are – they’ll beat us.
oldster
@Quinerly:
I haven’t seen those, but it’s a great guide to pronunciation!
SomeRandomGuy
Dude, it’s *long* past time for that. I mean, seriously, the first impeachment? *THAT* was the right time for Repubs to stop being cowards, find microphones, and do the necessary, hard, thing. I’m sorry, I know, I know, it’s unfair, and shrill, to point that out, but, hey, TRUMP! Right? FUCK YOUR FEELINGS, right?
Now, you’re saying “hey, whipped dog, stop cowering! STOP COWERING! Damn it, do I need to whip you to get your attention, you goddamned whipped dog? STOP COWERING!” It’s pretty pathetic.
But seriously: I want you to imagine someone swearing to see *impartial justice* done, okay? It’s like, if you can falsely swear you’ll at least *try* to be impartial, and on the side of justice, how can you ever be trusted for anything else? What more would you swear *to*? Your double extra special pinky swear, where both people spit on their pinkies first? Yeah, if impartial justice was something you’d wipe your rear with, why is your extra special pinky swear any better? And is that really just *spit*, is all I’m asking?
As an aside, I really don’t understand how you NTs survive day to day, seeing “up is down” and “black is white” all over your newspapers. Is it some long-standing convention, to have bullshit and corn flakes to have the same breakfast table real estate? That’s a bit more rural than I like to get, is all I’m saying – the bullshit belongs on the fields. Is that okay to say? I do so want to make sure I’m not being rude, you know, ignoring some social more that everyone knows about except we weirdos.
I mean, wouldn’t Bush, Murkowski, Romney – wouldn’t they all already be useless, cowardly, quislings who you wouldn’t trust to take a crap within 72 hours of swallowing four hundred doses of Metamucil, much less upholding the honor of the Republican Party and the Presidency itself? I’m just asking because I’d like to know.
Quinerly
@UncleEbeneezer:
Madonna and Cher
Dorothy A. Winsor
@oldster: Same here on being an oldster who will use Harris. I appreciated it when professional colleagues referred to me as Winsor, the same way they used the men’s last names.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Kay:
I’d said this earlier in the week and then somebody (I thought it was you but at this point, wtf knows) linked to a list of recent legislation signed into law that touted all kinds of funding for public education and that said nothing about friggin vouchers.
Ah but, there’s a slew of reporting from last year where he was all over the voucher scam and then this recent piece that put the lack of vouchers in the recently signed budget into context:
https://www.thecentersquare.com/pennsylvania/article_155b4402-c5d4-11ee-9ff0-f76befd5c26e.html
So while he’s not actually gotten anything related to the voucher scam passed into law, according to the piece, that’s been as much about the House not letting him. He helped draft the Senate legislation on friggin vouchers and in the piece, said that he still supports the scam and that from a legislative standpoint, it’s still “unfinished business”.
Quinerly
@oldster: Pretty sure not official merchandise. Google ” , la.”
Very fun.
Belafon
@Kay: Nope. Non-child people know they pay more in taxes, and most of them are find with it because they know that their lives will depend on other people’s children being educated. JD is playing to the libertarian angry people who don’t understand how the world works. We call it child tax credits, they call it theft. We don’t need to defend any part of Vance’s talk.
twbrandt
@The Thin Black Duke:
This.
Central Planning
@Quinerly: Hunter Biden would also not be prosecuted if he didn’t lie on the gun forms or his taxes. If Republicans had a shred of morality, we wouldn’t have seen his dick pics.
Let’s not pretend this is Joe Biden’s fault.
SatanicPanic
Guys, sometimes it’s a just a cigar. A lot more people than you think really wanted a different choice and Kamala Harris was the obvious one to everybody but some of the pundits and rich donors. Kamala Harris is doing amazing because she’s amazing. There’s no need to give Biden or anyone else credit for her accomplishments, you know?
Yes Biden put her in a place to succeed, but she’s also the obvious choice. Can we say that now? None of the other possibilities would be generating this level of excitement.
Also I agree it’s better to call her Harris but I do think her first name is really cool so I tend to say Kamala Harris. That’s probably what the kids are honing in on- Harris is a generic name, Kamala is not.
Quinerly
@UncleEbeneezer:
I thought it was interesting when Harris took the phone call from Pres Obama and Michelle, she said “Barack.” Yes, I know they have known each other for years. But it caught my attention.
Chris Johnson
Just so you know, I’ve got quite the case of autism, formally diagnosed and at one point I was homeless through not being able to manage things like neurotypicals usually can. (NTs means ‘neurotypicals’.) So I’m speaking as a fellow traveller, very much. I’m a fellow weirdo.
On the one hand I absolutely agree. To me it’s just as obvious that major media outlets are outright captured towards some nefarious end, most obvious in the stampede to discredit Joe Biden’s debate and ignore Trump’s debate and all the embarrassing shit he says. To me this is obvious, as obvious as it is to you.
I will gently suggest that you’d do better to soften your tone: as another fellow traveller who can get super rude when trying to zing somebody on a fault that’s obvious to me (but a fault where the implications are kind of huge), I’ve found it really important to hold off and not just vent. Anytime I’ve just vented, it’s been trouble. So I would encourage learning how to frame things less confrontationally. You can keep your perspective, I certainly keep mine! Think of it as playing politics. It’s possible to be good at that :)
catclub
And pretty assholish. Ask a young person in the military if they should have fewer voting rights than some trailer trash with kids.
Geminid
@Sally: Governor Walz certainly has the elements of a good VP candidate and I am starting to lean towards his selection. One thing I’ve noticed is that comments on him here are routinely favorable, with no one finding drawbacks they see in the others.
Walz doesn’t fit the type a few favor– a candidate substantially younger than Harris who would further energize younger voters– but I’m not sure I buy this proposition.
As for Walz’s role in a Harris administration, I suspect he would be the President’s liason with Democratic Governors, perhaps Republican Governors as well. I expect Harris will work directly with Schumer and Jeffries on critical legislation.
That is what President Biden did in the run-up to the Debt Ceiling “crisis.” He called Schumer and Jeffries in for a February meeting and they decided on a common strategy. Then the three leaders’ staffs set up a sort of joint task to coordinate the strategy’s execution.
It worked. By June, Squeaker McCarthy had thrown in the towel and the legislation was passed, albeit after months of general anxiety.
Quinerly
@Central Planning: I think you missed what I was saying, or I didn’t express it well. Wasn’t implying anything was Pres Biden’s fault. People feel stress and guilt even if not their faults.
I really should sit down and open my laptop someday and not post from the tiny keyboard of the smarty pants phone.
Omnes Omnibus
@The Thin Black Duke: Exactly. Biden has withdrawn, whether it was necessary or not, so it’s over. Harris is the candidate, and the other side is weird as fuck and twice as dangerous. She’s doing a great job, and we’ve has a great week as Democrats. Let’s build on this.
Llelldorin
@Chris Johnson: Just so. Behind JD Vance’s general weirdness is some genuinely frightening stuff. The fact that he immediately blamed Biden stepping aside on George Soros is one hell of a tell — in our reality that makes no sense, but Soros is the villain behind the scenes to a lot of the genuinely terrifying neo-Nazi types.
I suspect if Harris’s VP pick is good enough at needling Vance, he’s going to let loose with a whole lot of statements that will Freak Out the Normies.
sdhays
@The Thin Black Duke: Well said.
Sally
@Geminid: This is exactly the role I see President Harris requiring in her VP. And why I’m keen on Walz.
Wapiti
@SatanicPanic: Biden put her in a place to succeed, but she’s also the obvious choice.
She was also the obvious choice for VP for any of the 2020 Dem candidates, except for Warren (because of the two-female-candidates fear).
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Belafon:
Not directly related but one of my favorite, succinct descriptions of glibertarians:
And there’s always the good old glibertarian belief that you can get something for nothing. It underlies pretty much their entire philosophy. So much so that they weaselspeak about personal liberty and personal freedom to cover up for the fact that they want all the benefits of living in a developed nation without actually having to pay to have a developed nation.
Also known as IGMFU which does circle back to your point.
Kay
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
To me it’s just contrary to a basic tenet of the Democratic Party. We’re the public education people. And public schools are getting absolutely hammered by the Right at this moment! If they ever needed defending they do now.
Here’s the thing. If we let them get rid of public schools we will never get them back and we will deeply, deeply regret that. Charters are the furthest Right D’s go on public education. We need to hold that line.
SatanicPanic
@Wapiti: Good point, absolutely
Quinerly
@Geminid:
I have thrown over Mark Kelly for Walz. Love Kelly’s backstory but he seems to get a little tongue tied. Saw him yesterday and just wasn’t impressed as I had been. Walz is a natural. The thoughts, his points and quips just flow. Plus, I like his demeanor and looks.
H.E.Wolf
Amen to that! :)
Kay
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
I think it may be because he sends his own to private schools. But that’s not actually impossible to do and support public ed! No one wants to eradicate private schools. They just don’t want to publicly fund them.
Vouchers are unpopular too. They jammed them thru Right wing legislatures because they always fail on a referendum basis. This is a minority, far Right position he has.
Omnes Omnibus
Another pro-Walz tidbit: If he becomes VP, his Lt Gov, a Native American woman will become Gov of MN.
Layer8Problem
@The Thin Black Duke:
Harris is doing great. We knew all along she could do great and that she was doing great, in spite of the “Kamala who?” press she’s had over the course of this administration. The opposition, that is the MSM, the Republicans, conservative billionaires, and the big stupid orange git himself have no damned idea how to play this. Their “best” people are working on creative responses and we’ll see what “clouds and shadows” and October Surprise crap they can gin up. Their planning was against Biden and the presumption that no politician will do something selfless or self-sacrificing.
The Thin Black Duke
@zhena gogolia: You won’t get any tone policing from me. I understand where you’re coming from.
Having said that, I’m feeling cautiously optimistic because the Kamala Express is a phenomenon and I think even some of the fossilized Blue Dogs and big money donors in the Democratic Party know that their best choices are to hop on board or Get The Fuck out of the way.
P.S. However, the last thing I want to hear from people are smug “I told you so” bullshit. As William Goldman said about Hollywood, “Nobody knows anything.” I think that’s applicable to the ongoing political warfare in Washington right now.
Quinerly
@Omnes Omnibus: 💙💚💛
Kay
If there’s anything Democrats can do it’s defend the child tax credit. This is a job for our ladies in the Senate! Go out as a group and focus on shutting down this one lie from the charmless lump.
George
@The Thin Black Duke:
What we’ve witnessed from the Biden administration over the past month is, I think, an excellent example of wise planning.
No one is more aware of how age has limited Biden than Biden himself. My guess is that perhaps even before the inauguration in 2021, Biden and Harris and others in the inner circle began making contingency plans. I also think that Biden’s selection of Harris to be his running mate wasn’t just a decision made to win in 2020, but was a decision made as part of a longer term strategy.
And the coalescing around Harris as the standard bearer isn’t something that happened over the past week. It is a result of much planning that likely has been years in the making. Recall all the visits Harris made to college campuses to increase her visibility among younger voters. Recall the work she did related to border issues. Those things didn’t just happen, either. They were planned as a way of giving her the experience needed to be an excellent candidate.
My guess is that Biden knew what he was going to do and when he was going to do it.
Biden had, what, six terms in the Senate, two terms as the vice president for the first non-white President, selected a woman as his running mate, and how has passed the reins to her. In sane and stable times, he would be recognized for what he really is: One of the most savvy and transformative politicians in American history.
Harris winning in November, especially if she wins by a healthy margin, would solidify Biden’s legacy.
Starfish
@oldster: I grew up in the South so there were rules for this stuff.
Last name is fairly formal and for adults that you don’t know well. First names are for people that you have closer relationships with.
With both, you still have the Mr., Mrs, or Miss, to denote respect.
If the youngs think Kamala is their bestie, so be it.
The whole attempt to make Momala happen really annoys me for reasons that I cannot fully explain. Like, kids, please get your feet off the coffee table, and please quit acting like women in authority are your moms because it is disrespectful.
bluefoot
I’d rephrase that Emma Kennedy tweet to, “Journalists, do your jobs and ask Trump what he means when he says he’s going to fix it so noone will have to vote again in four years. Press him on specifics. Report on the potential consequences.”
Gentle and not so gentle shaming of the MSM isn’t getting us anywhere. Perhaps telling them what to do will move the needle? (I say that more in hope than in expectation.)
MomSense
I like whoever Kamala Harris picks. I would really like to hear your take o JB Pritzker after you watch his appearance on MSNBC this morning.
Also too I have a hypothesis that the three in contention are actually Pritzker, Beshear and Buttigieg. The reporting is that a group including Whitmer Shapiroand walz were sent vetting materials. I think this is a fake. Whitmer wanted top of the ticket in 2028. They didn’t say the other groups weren’t sent vetting materials they just said they were interested in them.
catclub
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I love the way the Harris campaign calls Trump’s speech “strange.”
They are mimicking the Trump campaign’s anodyne headline ( so the media will run it) combined with hard hitting message. “harris campaign repsonse to ..”
and “Trump campaign response to …”
hueyplong
@Layer8Problem: I’d be surprised to learn that GOPers have an October surprise any more severe than the smear campaign against Biden and his family.
In retrospect they may think it worked too well and too soon.
I’d keep an eye on Netanyahu, though.
zhena gogolia
@The Thin Black Duke: Exactly!
SomeRandomGuy
Thank you – that’s good advice. I’m learning to ignore that advice right now, because I’ve spent far too much of my life trying *not* to give offense, and I need to learn to do so. So right now, I *am* being a bit deliberately provocative, trying to find what I can say, and shouldn’t say, where I can be annoying, and where I should play it straight… and trying to learn not to be afraid of hurting feelings that can be mended (while trying to avoid hurting the ones that can’t be).
None of that means I don’t appreciate your reaching out – it was good advice, advice a younger me needed.
Fun fact for NTs: “Be yourself” is confusing advice when a person might be several different “selves”. I’ve learned to work with “don’t try to be something you’re not.”
By rights, I’m not a “people person,” but I can play “people person” in the short term. Sometimes, it’s easy; sometimes, it’s a boatload of work, and I don’t know if I’m pulling it off. It’s very hard to avoid giving inadvertent offense when your offense-o-meter is too sensitive.
You might think it’s weird and manipulative for me to flat out say “yeah, I’m working on being less pleasant to people, sometimes, in some ways,” but that’s what it means when your brain’s social computing sometimes shuts down. To most people, there are learned instincts that cover a lot of this; for folks like me, the learned instincts don’t cover, because they’re not always there. That means we need to build a much more conscious model of things (like, “being a social animal”), so it’s available, even when the brain is in shutdown mode.
It also *does* mean some of what I’ve been teasing about: a lot of stuff is broken, sometimes more so to those of us who need to dig more deeply. And I’m trying to learn to talk about it, so other people can and will respond productively. And yeah, I’m testing limits. The bit about the news was a bit racist, I suppose; no reason to think bovines are the only crap producers in rural areas. So, was complaining about bullshit on the kitchen table a sheep shot? I guess I’ll learn the herd way.
Princess
Here’s another plus for Pritzker: he chose a Black woman as LG and he seemed to coordinate well with the former Black mayor of Chicago Lori Lightfoot. I don’t want any VP who thinks he’s hit stuff and will condescend to our president. Some white men even on the left couldn’t take second place to a Black woman. No doubt Harris is even more sensitive to this question than I am and has it covered!
eclare
@Quinerly:
Either that or a relapse. But yes, they were trying to destroy Hunter to destroy Joe.
I wish I believed in hell.
eclare
@George:
Agree with all of your points. He saw future potential when he picked Harris as VP.
Eunicecycle
@WereBear: I had to stop reading that, it’s so crazy it was hurting my brain.
sab
@zhena gogolia: I appreciate hearing from you now because my husband is still very hurt and angry. He’s talking to me again and apologized for yesterday, but he still wants Joe.
ETA Best president of our lifetime only gets one term?
UncleEbeneezer
Yeah, it’s not a binary thing at all. We can be thrilled but still rightfully pissed. And it really drives me nuts that since the worst possible crisis imaginable was somehow averted, that everyone is now supposed to forgive, forget, or even worse, thank the Wormtongues for their treachery.
The reality is that there is a faction of our coalition that:
1.) wanted to primary Obama in 2012,
2.) wanted super-delegates to install Bernie even after he lost to Hillary in 2016 and
3.) wanted to push Biden out even though he won the Primary and succeeded in doing so in 2024.
These people seem to consistently believe that all of the rules should go right out the window, whenever they aren’t happy with our Dem candidate, and that it’s okay for them to constantly bash Dems to bring public opinion down to help make that happen so long as they “really believe it” and the media is willing to go along with it.
I fully expect that once the honeymoon is over and President Harris doesn’t magically solve the I/P conflict, erase all student loans or expand the Supreme Court these same people will be ready to Primary her in 2028. The fact that they were open to ditching Obama, Hillary and now Biden speaks volumes about their loyalty to our coalition and the Dem Party. I have very little faith that these people will rally for Harris when/if the press and the political landscape eventually decides to turn against her. And it’s hard not to notice the fact that each time these efforts to push aside a candidate (Obama in 2012, Hillary in 2016 and Biden in 2024), it’s White Media, Rich Donors, Podcasters and Commenters trying to do so against the wishes of the Black Dem Base. We are all uniting now for Harris and the goal of winning, but the obvious pattern is troublesome, to say the least.
UncleEbeneezer
@sab: Tell him to lean into all the excitement and greatness of Harris. It really will help him feel better. He doesn’t have to forgive/forget, but the Kamala Harris train is chugging along and it’s something he won’t wanna miss out on.
zhena gogolia
@sab: I sympathize. I am excited about Harris (she was my first candidate in 2020), but disgusted at how (very recent) history is being rewritten.
trollhattan
Tom Sullivan finds a couple of Republican salt-o-earth gems who, forced to choose between voting Biden and voting Putin, would. Well, you know.
https://digbysblog.net/2024/07/27/we-caste-you-out/
JML
Seriously. Besides, any opportunity to quote William Goldman…
I will admit to being terrified that we would get the pie-fight that the DC media was begging for, with 4-10 candidates all scrambling for support while calling people names and complaining that the “process” wasn’t fair. We stepped over a huge pit trap there with everyone uniting quickly behind Kamala Harris. The whining has been small and mostly from the media (screw them forever), a fragment of the purity left (who are professional losers when it comes to elections)…and republicans.
oldster
@Starfish:
Agree that I don’t love “Momala,” and hope it does not spread.
There is already too much tendency to make the Dems the mommy party and the Reps the daddy party, and it is not a healthy tendency.
moonbat
@Chris Johnson: Well said.
Bill Arnold
@WereBear:
See also Dark Enlightenment (wikipedia), which covers philosopher Nick Land’s formalization of it in an essay titled The Dark Enlightenment
It is seductive stuff, easily absorbed by minds not inoculated against fascism. As the WWII generation died of old age, fascism and fascism-adjacent ideologies gained more traction.
Juju.
@WereBear: If good marketing did qualify one for the presidency, I would choose a dead Ron Popeil over a live Donald Trump.
Omnes Omnibus
@Juju.: Go big or go home. Crazy Eddie!
Mr. Bemused Senior
@Omnes Omnibus:
Now You Can Get Every Record Ever Recorded
And don’t forget Don G. O’vanni.
SomeRandomGuy
@sab: People are allowed to be hurt and angry – lots of people *should* be hurt, and angry, by the actions of a lot of people.
There’s plenty of space for joyful distraction, in the public square, if, and when, that helps. No one has to start cheering today – we’re not Republicans, after all – but if an honorable man was going to be voluntarily shitcanned, because no one trusted him, or his staff, or senior members of the military, to report on whether Joe Biden was all there WHEN THE LAST RESIDENT NEEDED COMIC BOOKS INSTEAD OF THE PDB. AND WE KNEW IT.
Ahem. Anyway: no need to start cheering today, if the hurt and anger need to run their course. You’re emotionally injured when you’re hurt – you need to be gentle with injuries to avoid aggravating them. If RaRaKamaLA is going to hurt, maybe sit back and think of how history will remember Joe Biden as the man so determined to save democracy, he fell on his Excalibur, so Kamala could pick it up and carry on the fight.
Maybe a bit too British?
No one should forget their own emotional injuries, just because no one else seems to be talking about them. Friends should always understand _that_.
Anyway
WtF?
Chris Johnson
@SomeRandomGuy: We were counting on the simple fact that Joe IS (not was, IS) President, and so there is nobody who can make him do anything. It was his call, that’s what President is about. He has a team, and his team’s been great. We have every reason to trust them. We have no reason to think anybody is in a position to force him to do a damn thing he doesn’t want to do.
‘want to’ is doing some heavy lifting there. A lot of us would rather go on with Joe. But I say that, from where I was at before it was demonstrated to me, BY Joe and his team, that he was in fact fully capable and in control.
So in control that he could execute a hand-off to MVP and leave the Republicans sucking their own dicks, completely outmaneuvered.
I won’t sit still for an alternate history in which it’s actually about evil Dems wresting power from Joe, because to my way of thinking, if it was that, it would have turned into giant drama and a total debacle, because it would be ABOUT being giant drama and a total debacle and a dirty trick.
The fact that it’s worked this well is evidence to me that Joe Biden is not only in control, but the man we’re talking about, a statesman so dedicated to his country that he could pass the torch to one of his team and let her carry on his work and preside over the continuing healing of our nation. You don’t get more selfless than that.
That’s reality, and that’s how it gets written. Anything else would’ve blown up in our faces. Lord knows malefactors are trying their hardest to make any little thing blow up in our faces: this unity is too real to hide.
bluefoot
@The Thin Black Duke:
Well said. All of this.
SomeRandomGuy
Nonsense. They didn’t shit the bed, in doing the one and only sensible thing, that could have been done, given the unthinkable circumstances. That’s just plain competence, not evidence of several weeks of plans.
bluefoot
@UncleEbeneezer:
Definitely not a binary thing. I am excited about the energy shift in the campaign and that we all have our eyes on the prize. But I also share your concerns about the long term effects of how all this went down, even if right now the outcome has been good (so far…not sure how much I trust the American electorate to NOT vote for fascism).
SomeRandomGuy
@TBone: When I was growing up, I was in pain, and no one could tell
(except me – and after you get told you’re fine often enough, you stop paying attention, and yes, can forget you’re in pain)
Where was I? Whining, that’s right – no one could tell I was in pain, and you know, it really, really, sucked to have people tell me so-and-so wasn’t hurting me, when it clearly was.
If someone feels Biden’s accomplishments are being flushed, simply saying they aren’t is *exactly* how sucky it feels to be told I’m not in pain, when I know damn well I am.
Look, I’ll do a happy dance, but I’m dancing on the grave of Joe Biden’s political career. And I can stop, and say, “yes, I can see how you feel,” because I can. I do. To me, who has to constantly manage emotional states, this is nothing. To other people, it’s harder.
Me, I wouldn’t say “no one is doing X” because someone is. The fundamental theorem of assholes states: There’s no assholery an asshole won’t asshole, *especially* on the internet. Someone is writing Biden’s accomplishments on toilet paper, just to fulfill that fundamental theorem, even as we speak! Well, maybe not, but you were thinking of the odds, weren’t you?
I’d say “yeah, I get that,” because I do. Or I’d say “yuck. Yes, Biden deserves a second term, and I’ll never forget his sacrifice.” I’d say those, because when *I* had an off-kilter feeling, that’s most of what I wanted – to be heard, to know my feelings mattered.
I’ll also mention, lots of folks might be raw on emotions. That can be good and bad. It’s easy to get lost in joy that things seem to be going right, and the joy might burn more brightly; and it may be harder to see that someone doesn’t want to be a *buzzkill*, quite, but could use some affirmations of “we’re all friendly-ish here, and your feelings matter.”
kalakal
@The Thin Black Duke:
Well said
scav
@The Thin Black Duke: & @UncleEbeneezer: Yup and yup. Not quite ready to make nice. And however ensuing events work out doesn’t exonerate or justify some of the behavior / logic I observed.
SomeRandomGuy
I don’t want to speak for another, but, my guess is “If a popular, beloved, Democrat’s poll numbers drop, sometimes the whole world starts saying it’s time to take him out around back and shoot him,” is “WtF” and it’s just, some folks are still hurting.
I think I said in another response, if you asked me, I could do a happy dance. I could give you my marshwiggle frolic, and I don’t pull that out for *nothing*, let me tell you! But I’m doing it on the grave of Joe Biden’s political career, and, I, also, shed a few tears because of that.
Folks are still hurting, and that’s okay.
VFX Lurker
@The Thin Black Duke: Well said.
Quinerly
@Anyway:
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/can-kamala-harris-beat-donald-trump-polls-rcna163225
Citizen Alan
@Barbara: I genuinely laughed out loud at the suggestion of susan collins “doing the right thing.”
A Man for All Seasonings (formerly Geeno)
@oldster: Momala is what the Emhoff kids call her – it’s a family thing. Others shouldn’t try to appropriate it.
hueyplong
@Citizen Alan: She’ll eventually do the right thing, but it will be years from now, when she isn’t a senator anymore. And no one will care.
zhena gogolia
@SomeRandomGuy: Thanks!
Darkrose
@NotMax: Donald is strange; Vance even stranger
*something that rhymes with couch
Darkrose
@The Thin Black Duke: All of this.
LAC
@Chris Johnson: Bravo to everything you have said. I look forward to Joe Biden being given the love and respect at the convention. He was the decision maker on this and I doubt it was something planned around him months and months ago as he was dribbling into his apple sauce. It is insulting. When you have a competent and capable VP and staff, you can pivot. I am grateful that Kamala is on the case and maybe the focus can be on the issues at hand and the threat to democracy. The rest of it is speculation and continuing a narrative.
Onward and upward…