Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

This fight is for everything.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

Books are my comfort food!

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

A tremendous foreign policy asset… to all of our adversaries.

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

No one could have predicted…

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

The revolution will be supervised.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

“woke” is the new caravan.

Let me file that under fuck it.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

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Reader Interactions

145Comments

  6. 6.

    Torrey

    I love this ad. (Full disclosure: I did a lot of analysis of advertising in my younger days–it was my dissertation, in fact.) I particularly like the way “the woman thing” is dealt with straight up.
    And, of course, Sam Elliot. And that slow, deliberate pacing.​
     

    ETA: I think the ad also provides language for a response to people who are reluctant because Harris is a woman. That is, supporters have a line provided to them: “if it’s the woman thing, it’s time to get over that.” They don’t have to be creative–they can just use the line.
    Always good to provide a response to those on your side.

  9. 9.

    Belafon

    @TaMara: If my neighbors here in Texas were more like “I don’t agree with everything that candidate says, but they’re not trying to destroy the country” like the Lincoln Project people, the state would be more bearable.

  10. 10.

    Scout211

    This is welcome news.

    CLEVELAND, Ohio – Portage County election officials have banned sheriff’s deputies from providing security during in-person voting, the latest fallout from Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski’s statements involving Kamala Harris supporters.

    The board of elections voted 3-1 Friday to remove deputies from its office during early voting, which begins Oct. 8. The board’s office is at the county administration building, 449 S. Meridian St. in Ravenna.
    . . .

    ”As board members, we are charged with preventing violence and disorder at the polls and to conduct a safe and secure election process,” she wrote. “It is clear by public comments in the past week there is perceived intimidation by our sheriff against certain voters.”

  11. 11.

    jonas

    Whenever I hear Sam Elliot now I can’t help but chuckle thinking of his cameo on “Parks and Rec” where Ron Swanson is loving the other Ron’s laid-back attitude up to the point where he claims to be a “freegan vegan.”

  12. 12.

    Trivia Man

    @TaMara: 100% agree. This transaction is one way – we accept the help with no strings attached. My enemy’s enemy is not exactly my friend, but we do have a common goal.
    See also: Uncle Joe Stalin

  13. 13.

    laura

    I’m hard pressed to think of a more absolutely virile and masculine voice than that of Sam Elliott- and I can wait for SuzMom to confirm. This ad just dismantles the supposed manliness and strength of the orange churl and deposits him in the trash. Also, spicy language.

  16. 16.

    Hoodie

    One thing the LP does is research moderate Republicans and GOP-leaning independents.   My sense is that gender bias is probably the last major obstacle to Harris pulling away from Trump with these voters, which is why you see all this stuff about wanting to know more about her policies.  There is a default Daddy complex with this population, such that men get the benefit of the doubt regarding executive ability while women have to “prove” themselves.   This ad suggests that the LP research indicates that.

  17. 17.

    Falling Diphthong

    Having just watched Season 6 of Justified (in which Sam Elliott played the villain) my eyebrows are doing some things.

  18. 18.

    Chris

    “Sometimes, there’s a woman…  I won’t say a hero.  Cause what’s a hero?  But sometimes, there’s a woman.  And I’m talking about Madam Vice President here.  Sometimes, there’s a woman, well, she’s the woman for her time and place.  She fits right in there.  And that’s Madam Vice President, in Washington.  Aw, hell.  I done introduced her enough.”

  20. 20.

    Ken

    Wow, so in the Great Divorce we get Sam Elliot plus all that other cool stuff — baseball, beer, Taylor Swift, ….

  21. 21.

    Old School

    I don’t quite get how Kamala Harris is the change candidate, but if it gets people to vote for her, I’ll let it slide.

  22. 22.

    Falling Diphthong

    @TaMara: Agreed. Please can we all stay focused on the very important goal and work toward it with anyone willing to throw in a hand.

    Not “Well if you’re helping now, why didn’t you offer three days earlier?” or “Hey, our side is growing, we should do purity tests and purge anyone who doesn’t score 100.”

  23. 23.

    rikyrah

    Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) posted at 1:02 PM on Thu, Jul 04, 2024:
    In January, I began hearing similar stories from Democratic officials, activists, and donors who came away from interactions with Joe Biden disturbed by what they had seen. For @NYMag, I wrote about the conspiracy of silence to protect the president: t.co/clKmksK9D8
    (https://x.com/Olivianuzzi/status/1808924240529535352?t=IuC2JTnGul_4YG2LtNth7g&s=03)

    Ragnarok Lobster 🐺 (@eclecticbrotha) posted at 9:34 AM on Sun, Sep 22, 2024:
    Weird coincidence how Olivia Nuzzi claims she started hearing negative stories about Biden from “Democratic officials” around the same time she started her undisclosed nine month sexting relationship with Biden’s opponent RFK Jr.

    Investigative journos might wanna look into that.
    (https://x.com/eclecticbrotha/status/1837863045327933689?t=0UYnCwKF9F5GzxqI1PkIrQ&s=03)

  24. 24.

    Chris

    Favorite Sam Elliott role will probably always be General Buford in Gettysburg.  The 20th Maine crowd is better remembered, but Buford’s part of the movie (and actual battle) deserves it just as much.  There’s something nice about seeing his actor pop up to say his bit against the Confederacy again.

  27. 27.

    Matt McIrvin

    I am so not the target audience for these. But it takes all kinds to build a coalition. Well, it takes a lot of kinds.

  28. 28.

    lowtechcyclist

    Weird thing has been happening with me on MS Edge, which is the browser I use on my desktop PC.

    Used to be I’d open Edge, which would show just one window and tab, and there’d be a blue button in the upper right saying something like “Restore previous session.” I’d click on that, and I’d get all my old windows and tabs back.

    It stopped doing that over the past few days, but I figured at first that I’d taken too long after starting Edge up, and it had gone away while I was fooling around. Fortunately, in History, it would show my previous tabs grouped by browser window, and clicking on the History entry for each window would restore each window with all its tabs.

    This morning, there was no Restore Session button, and there was no grouping by window in History. And only those tabs I’d actually used in my last session were in the previous day’s history.  So I’m having to start from scratch in Edge, which of course raises the question, “why stay in Edge?” But in the meantime, I’m wondering what the hell happened.  If they decided not to support that blue button any longer, you’d think there’d have been some warning. But apparently not.

  32. 32.

    Soprano2

    So, update on my extremely shitty Monday morning – it seems my luck is turning a little bit. AAA said they were going to cancel my tow until I called them back, but right before 8 a.m. the tow truck driver called and said he was at my house, so I went there right away and he towed my car to the Hyundai dealership. I went to the doctor, and that went well. On the way back I stopped at hubby’s pharmacy to inquire whether they had the Dexcom sensors I need for him yet, and they do so that should be ready today (his current sensor runs out on Thursday and I don’t have any more!). When I got back to work, our database is back up, so that’s good. Now to see what’s wrong with the Emergency Braking System on my car…….*sigh

    OH, and yeah that ad is great. Can’t be on TV, though. LOL

  33. 33.

    Soprano2

    @lowtechcyclist: Well, you’d think your car would warn you that the EBS braking system needed service before it basically makes your car undrivable, but it doesn’t. Found that out the hard way this morning.

    Sorry your browser did that, I hate it when they change things without any notice.

  35. 35.

    Hungry Joe

    @Falling Diphthong: Re Sam Elliott/“Justified”: Hmmmm … might be time to watch the whole series again.

    ”I have been accused of many things, but being inarticulate is not one of them.” — Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins)

  36. 36.

    Chris

    @Falling Diphthong:

    Yes, with the caveat that they actually be on our side.  “Trust but verify.”

    I have nothing to say about all those Arizona Republicans who endorsed Kamala Harris, except “welcome to the fight.”  I don’t care if they were wrong yesterday (a hell of a lot of us were wrong once, including the owner of this very blog), so long as they found their way to the right side today.  I don’t even care what they call themselves; they’re welcome to keep saying they’re Republicans, so long as they vote Democrat and tell other people to vote Democrat.

    People like Larry Hogan, on the other hand, with their “I won’t vote for Trump but I won’t vote for Harris either, I’ll write in Dick Cheney, because I’m just too much of a great principled man of integritude to make a choice that actually matters?”  Can go fuck themselves.  They’re not helping.  If this were an actual war, they’d be one of those groups of marauding deserters who just view the whole thing as a marvelous opportunity to look out for number one.

    The Lincoln Project, to be clear, is very much in the first category, and I didn’t think you were saying otherwise.  But the distinction still feels important enough to be worth mentioning.

  37. 37.

    rikyrah

    New democrat….. unless dems act like wimps (@reesetheone1) posted at 7:45 AM on Mon, Sep 23, 2024:
    If y’all gonna fall apart everytime you see polls you don’t like, all I can say is MAGA is more mentally tough than dems.

    They ignored every poll they say in 16 and 20 and made it a race both times.

    WHITE NO COLLEGE IS TRUMP’S SUPERPOWER.

    That’s what makes him a tough out.
    (https://x.com/reesetheone1/status/1838198106845798632?t=_vJI_WZ8p1g0jspsH9hOYA&s=03)

  39. 39.

    Ken

    @rikyrah: editor Ben Smith arguing it’s ok for reporters to have sex with people they’re covering as long as they tell their editor.

    EDITOR: “No, I need more details. Tell me what he did with his tongue….  No wait, I need to turn off my audio and video first….”

  40. 40.

    lowtechcyclist

    @rikyrah:

    Here’s @semafor editor Ben Smith arguing it’s ok for reporters to have sex with people they’re covering as long as they tell their editor.  Imagine actually clicking “publish” on this.

    I guess it’s not important to them to tell their readers why their reporting might be heavily biased.  Will keep that in mind.

  43. 43.

    Hungry Joe

    POSTCARD UPDATE — Side Project

    While waiting for my next batch of 100 to arrive I’m helping Ms. Joe with hers. Yesterday: Neighborhood postcard-writing party. Fun, but so much talking — I did my share — that I only wrote 10, all to Arizona. Whole group wrote around 80, so not bad.

  45. 45.

    Jackie

    @twbrandt:

    “It’s time to be a man and vote for a woman” is perfect.

    Plus the salty language “real men” use to prove their manliness.

    I wonder where this ad will air? Certainly not ABC, CBS, NBC or regular Fox due to Elliott using *fuck* (grabs fainting salts)

  46. 46.

    laura

    @rikyrah: Well, you are correct- and Dennis Haysbert’s voice has a richness and warmth to boot. I’d be thrilled if all the Men of good will want to cut an ad for Madame Vice President. I’m in the mood for a pile on/beat down.

  49. 49.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @Chris: Hogan’s in a different category, though: he’s running for Senator as a 21st-century Republican. I don’t think there’s any overlap between “Republicans endorsing Harris/Walz” and “Republicans seeking election”, because any Republican who endorsed them would be toast in a general election this year.

    It’s not a good year to be an ambitious Republican with principles.

  50. 50.

    BR

    @Jackie: ​

    My guess is this “ad” isn’t an ad but a fundraising tool for the Lincoln Project. I still want to know if they are actually airing ads anywhere, because generally all I hear from them is these kinds of flashy promo videos. They’re well done, but I have no idea if they are effective.

  51. 51.

    Jackie

    @Old School:

    I don’t quite get how Kamala Harris is the change candidate, but if it gets people to vote for her, I’ll let it slide.

    I translate “Change candidate” as not TCFG.

    That works for me!

  53. 53.

    rikyrah

    @Hungry Joe:

    Neighborhood postcard-writing party. Fun, but so much talking — I did my share — that I only wrote 10, all to Arizona. Whole group wrote around 80, so not bad.

     

    That just sounds like so much fun :)

  58. 58.

    Gin & Tonic

    I’m seeing reports that TFG’s campaign is running an on-line ad in Georgia, featuring a very nice picture of a mountain range … in Georgia … yeah, the country. I hope that’s true. But since Georgia’s (the country’s) government is now run by Putin ass-kissers, maybe there’s some synergy here.

  61. 61.

    Chris

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR:

    There are plenty of Republicans doing this two-step that aren’t running for anything (I believe Bret Stephens was mentioned this morning).  And I’m not saying they don’t have their reasons; just that whatever those reasons are, they’re not on our side and I will definitely continue dunking on them accordingly.

  62. 62.

    schrodingers_cat

    @laura: I was on the road for 46 hours, it was awful. I am still jetlagged and a bit cranky. Neverthless it has been good to be with family and old friends.

    This afternoon my old neighbors had come to visit. We grew up together and had lost touch with them over the last decade. It was soo good to catch up. Yesterday I met with an old friend who was my classmate when I was taking exams equivalent to AP art. I did 2 of those and she was someone who artwork I loved. She is my SIL’s cousin. I was meeting her after decades.

    I have been away for so long. On brief visits back home there is never anytime to meet up with people who are not immediate family.

  65. 65.

    different-church-lady

    @rikyrah: ​

    If y’all gonna fall apart everytime you see polls you don’t like, all I can say is MAGA is more mentally tough than dems.

    MAGA: “BIDEN IS SENILE!”
    Democrats: “Oh, no, what if they’re right? Oh my god they must be right! He is senile! Oh god oh god oh god…”

    [Two months later…]

    Democrats: “Trump is senile.”
    MAGA: “FUCK YOU, VOTING FOR HIM EVEN HARDER!!!”

  67. 67.

    schrodingers_cat

    @rikyrah: Exactly! these same people who fall apart over one bad poll are going to stage a revolution or become immigrants after spending a lifetime in the US. Some of these same folks also find it onerous to vote.

    Yeah very believable.

  69. 69.

    Wapiti

    @Josie: Over breakfast my wife said – if the ad, based on the script, is to appeal to men, then why Sam Eliot? He appeals to women.

    Maybe the Lincoln Project is chipping away at Trump’s White women here.

  73. 73.

    Soprano2

    @schrodingers_cat: I have an old friend like that; she’s not nearly as far away from me as you are from your friends and family, but when she comes here I rarely get to see her because her family is so large that all her time is taken up with seeing them. I did get to have dinner with her this summer, it was really nice. I hope seeing your old friends is a comfort to you in such a stressful time, especially after the hellacious trip you had to make to get there. Forty-six hours travelling sounds like hell to me.

  82. 82.

    Falling Diphthong

    @SatanicPanic:  I never thought I’d align with Alberto Gonzales. But I really appreciated that his endorsement of Harris included criticizing the courts and legislatures, two institutions that have let us down. Voters did our job. We turned out. Republicans when refusing to impeach Trump openly said that while he was guilty, the matter must be decided in the courts like for any other citizen. Then of course psych! he’s a sociopathic narcissist with violent supporters, so our institutions must all bend around him. (To quote DougJ’s excellent breakdown on why Pitchbot resonates.)

  85. 85.

    tam1MI

    @schrodingers_cat: Their lack of ethics and professionalism is appalling.

    Worse, when confronted with evidence that they are losing the trust of the American people at an alarming rate, they make up stupid conspiracy theories to account for it instead of cleaning up their act.

  87. 87.

    trollhattan

    “Dude, I like your style.” [sips sarsaparilla]

    Sam Elliott can’t help but be Sam Elliott. Great ad.

  88. 88.

    Fair Economist

    @rikyrah:

    editor Ben Smith arguing it’s ok for reporters to have sex with people they’re covering as long as they tell their editor.  Imagine actually clicking “publish” on this.

    Brings a new meaning to the job of public “relations”.

  92. 92.

    Torrey

    @Wapiti: ​
     

    Maybe the Lincoln Project is chipping away at Trump’s White women here.

    I think that’s part of it as well. Women can be pretty negative about women in power, particularly conservative women.

  93. 93.

    Eolirin

    @Eolirin: You’re looking for something like on startup and there’ll be an option for something like ‘continue where I left off’ just make sure that’s selected.

  94. 94.

    TBone

    I watched the movie ‘Amsterdam’ the other day (mixed reviews but I really liked it). One of its themes is every day, regular “little people” changing/making history.

    Oops wrong thread!

  95. 95.

    Yarrow

    @schrodingers_cat:  You can’t make new old friends. Cherish those friendships.

    It’s hard when friends and family are far away. Glad you are getting the chance to reconnect, despite the sad reason for it.

  97. 97.

    Suzanne

    SuzMom pronounced the ad “delicious”.

    Actually, just Sam Elliott. But she heartily approves his message.

    ETA: I started playing it and she instantly said, “I know that voice!”. LMAO.

  98. 98.

    Old School

    @Matt McIrvin:

    You’re thinking in terms of policy analysis, which is not how voters actually behave.

    I guess.  Like I said, if it gets more votes, then please proceed.

  100. 100.

    different-church-lady

    @SatanicPanic: ​I’m not trying to reopen old wounds here, but my point is that many Democrats embraced the absolute worst enemy propaganda about their own candidate, while MAGA not only doesn’t budge an inch, they entrench even further. And I see no reason to believe this dynamic won’t play out again in the future.

    (So there is no misunderstanding of my position: yes, it’s turned out to be a good thing Biden stepped aside, but it wasn’t because MAGA was right about his mental acuity; it was because he didn’t have enough left in the tank to win the fight.)​
    ETA: re-reading your comment I now see you were coming at this from a different angle, and I don’t disagree with that angle.​

  102. 102.

    Soprano2

    @schrodingers_cat: I’m glad at least you had an agent to help you. Some circumstances can’t be handled by booking stuff online yourself, although these days most companies seem to think everything can be done that way.

  108. 108.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Chris:

    Well, the episode where Obadiah leads the band of deserters is also the episode where we get to see Liz Hurley’s bazoombas, so there’s that.

  109. 109.

    FDRLincoln

    Lincoln Project does run ads, on Fox News morning shows, Golf Channel, and ESPN golf coverage, stuff they think Trump will be watching. They also are known to buy ad time with the cable services that cover Mar-A-Lago in Florida and Bedminster in New Jersey, trying to get under Trump’s skin directly.

    It seems to work…Trump has threatened to sue them, and he bought Corey L. back onto his campaign staff after LP ran ads about how his current staff was betraying him.

    It’s psychological warfare designed to help push Trump into making more poor decisions.

    I wouldn’t give a dime to LP and don’t trust most of the people involved. At least some of their schtick is self-serving grift. But they are targeting Trump, trying to unnerve him, and every little bit helps.

  112. 112.

    different-church-lady

    @SatanicPanic: ​Republicans are in a cult, and Democrats cower in doubt at the first signs of trouble. Neither one is very healthy, but one is closer to healthy than the other.

  113. 113.

    K-Mo

    @zhena gogolia: I think the fundamental pitch is, Biden got Trump out of the Oval Office, but the country still hasn’t turned the page.  Electing Harris allows us to do that.

    But also, she’s never been President before.  It *would* be a palpable change IMO.

  114. 114.

    Montanareddog

    @Suzanne: My mother always had a soft spot for John Vernon, who was no Paul Newman in the looks department, but he, too, had “a voice”.

  116. 116.

    Belafon

    If you don’t see Harris as change, I think you might be too buried in the administration of politics and might be missing the social side of politics.

  117. 117.

    Baud

    @Belafon:

    Also, change always means moving really right or moving really left from the liberal Democratic position. It never means us. One reason people were disappointed in Obama is because he governed from the center of the party. Because he campaigned on “change,” people invented false expectations for him.

    I hope Harris wins, but we need to be ready for the same dynamic once she’s in office.

  118. 118.

    Geminid

    @SatanicPanic: We all have prejududices in different areas, and these can be very durable. I’ve noticed this in regard to American attitudes towards foreign countries and their peoples, but I think that it’s a general phenomenon.

  119. 119.

    rikyrah

    Ben Tribbett

    @notlarrysabato

    No matter the outcome of this election Democrats would be wise to figure out how to talk to a broader base of voters in the country. MAGA should not be able to get around half the votes so easily.

    8:08 AM · Sep 23, 2024
    x.com/notlarrysabato/status/1838203758607573034

     

     

    DFW Sports 4Life

    @Kennymack1971

    As a Black man in America do me a favor Ben. STFU. Democrats have no way to message around racism and white grievance to those who truly believe in it and I’m tired of clueless white people acting like there is. YOU talk to them gotdamnit.
    x.com/Kennymack1971/status/1838224645113221486

  121. 121.

    Geminid

    @schrodingers_cat: I am glad you have made it to your old home safe and sound, albeit a little worse for “wear and tear.”

    When you feel inclined, if you feel inclined,  I would be interested in your observations as to how people and things have changed since you lived there.

  122. 122.

    Chris

    @rikyrah:

    Quite honestly, Democrats also have no way to message around a mainstream media institution that’s as firmly in the tank for Republicans as our current one is (least of all when so many people even among our own voters somehow remain deluded that these people are either “liberally biased” or somehow a reliable and objective source).  At least not in any long-term and consistent way.  Sure, there are things that’ll work in the short term.  You can take advantage of a Republican incompetence that’s so hideous, as in 2008 or 2020, that the media couldn’t cover it up even if they wanted to.  You can switch candidates to a person they’ve mostly been too lazy, racist, and sexist to cover at all and therefore don’t have a ready-made playbook to use against.  Ideally, those things can even see you through an election cycle.  But in the long run, the media always returns the baseline to “both sides do it, but liberals are worse,” and then we’re back where we started.

    Not to minimize racism and white grievance or the gender equivalent.  (If only because those factor very heavily into why the media is so biased towards Republicans in the first place).  But the media’s also a massive obstacle in and of itself, and anybody who whines “Democrats need to do a better job of messaging” and whose next words aren’t immediately trying to figure out how to get around the media information barrage isn’t saying anything worth listening to.

  123. 123.

    Torrey

    @Jackie: ​

    I translate “Change candidate” as not TCFG.

    @zhena gogolia: ​
     

    But Trump hasn’t been president for almost 4 years.

    The thing is, though, that he hasn’t gone away. He’s been all over the news and basically invading all our mental space for the intervening four years. Granted, a lot of that is the result of holding him to account–the lawsuits and investigations, and that’s a good thing. But a lot of it is him grabbing the spotlight whenever he can. And Trump fatigue is a thing. He’s exhausting, and even many people who supported him seem to feel it.

    Part of Harris’ appeal is that electing her promises to turn the page. As Harding didn’t quite say, “a return to [something like] normalcy.”

  125. 125.

    Greebe

    I love this ad. Thinking of posting it with the following caveat:

    ***

    Contains some strong language and powerful ideas. For adults only.

  129. 129.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Chris: I was thinking just yesterday that it’s time for Dems to start point-blank calling the media out to it’s face.  Like in interviews, ask them why they are so clearly in the tank for Republicans.  Start treating it as an obvious fact-of-life that the Media always puts their thumbs on the scale to help Republicans with double-standards, selective outrage etc.  Make it a part of the story in every interview.

  130. 130.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Geminid: I can write a book about it. Its not only them that has changed. I have changed too.  I have little if any patience with excessive formality and beating around the bush style of conversations with people I barely know.

  131. 131.

    Chris

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    I don’t know how to do it exactly, and it’s probably not something that can be started by a presidential campaign so close to the election – but yes.  They absolutely need to start hammering this in to their voters.  Right now the media has the same kind of unearned trust especially on our side that the courts did all the way until Dobbs, and it’s killing us.

  132. 132.

    DougL

    I couldn’t agree more with this sentiment you expressed so well:

    @Chris:

    But the media’s also a massive obstacle in and of itself, and anybody who whines “Democrats need to do a better job of messaging” and whose next words aren’t immediately trying to figure out how to get around the media information barrage isn’t saying anything worth listening to. 

  134. 134.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Chris: The press will obviously be very mad at the notion, but I think we have to start calling it out:

    Maggie Haberman says that there’s a “left wing” industry that collectively conspires to accuse journalists of conspiring to aid Trump. In fact, there are just thoughtful, experienced, and highly imformed, critics like James Fallows.

  136. 136.

    hells littlest angel

    Say what you will about some of the people behind the Lincoln Project, they’ve been doing some fine work for democracy.

  137. 137.

    Torrey

    @UncleEbeneezer: ​
     
    I think a good way to start is saying something like, “you’re using Republican/slanted framing. There’s another, more accurate way to look at this.” or “The language you’re using is based on a very limited framing of the issue, one that our Republican friends developed. Here’s what’s actually happening.”

    Buttigieg is excellent at doing this, by the way, although he doesn’t always start with a direct call-out. (Sometimes he does.)

  138. 138.

    Geminid

    @HumboldtBlue: I am a big fan of Bernard Cornwell’s work including his Saxon Chronicles, the Grail Quest series and of course his Sharpe novels. Sharpe’s Enemy stands out for its plot involving the renegade French cook/warlord Pot-a-Feur.

    When a friend gave me a collection of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Adventures of Brigadier Gerard, I recognized much the same plot in one of the stories, “How the Brigadier Took the Field Against Marshall Millefleurs.” The setting is Portugal in 1811, and the protagonist is a French cavalryman pitted against Marshall Millefleurs, a renegade French cook who set has up in mountain outpost with a small army of deserters. Gerard finds himself temporarily allied with a British office with the same mission: to take the bloody brigand down.

    The Strand magazine published Conan Doyle’s short story in 1895; the collected stories were published in book form in 1900 and remained popular through the 20th century. The author George McDonald Frazier cited Brigadier Gerrard as a major influence fot his fictional comic hero Harry Flashman.

    For all the similarity in plot, Cornwell’s novel and Conan Doyle’s short story are very different because of the main characters. Both protagonists are brave as lions, but Lieutenant Sharpe is smart as a whip whereas Brigadier Gerard is dumb as a post. Many of the Gerard stories feature Napoleon cleverly making the most of his fiercely loyal general’s disparate qualities.

  140. 140.

    K-Mo

    @Torrey: Well said.  It’s not enough to complain.  You have to tell them how to change.  I actually think the Harris team has been dramatically better at this than Biden’s was.  In addition, they have put their messages out on the airwaves without letting the usual suspects chop it up ahead of time.

    But to go back to the OP, they *did* have to do better at this stuff.  Biden has been terrific, but he’s done it by focusing on getting things done.  The communication program hasn’t been great.

  141. 141.

    Splitting Image

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    Maggie Haberman says that there’s a “left wing” industry that collectively conspires to accuse journalists of conspiring to aid Drumpf.

    On the plus side, Haberman is at least admitting here that the “journalists” she is referring to are not left wing. That’s a start as far as understanding the problem is concerned. They aren’t centrist either, of course, which is the second thing that needs understanding. But baby steps.

  142. 142.

    Princess

    @Wapiti: My first thought seeing that ad was that although it is ostensibly directed to men, it is in fact designed for Republican and independent women, so you’re not alone.

  145. 145.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: One small correction: in Conan Doyle’s story, the renegade leader is a disgraced British officer, unlike Cornwell’s French cook.

    And an addition: like Lieutenant Sharpe in Sharpe’s Enemy, Brigadier Gerard is sent to rescue a noblewoman from captivity.

    I can recommend Arther Conan Doyle’s “Brigadier Gerard” short stories to those who enjoy the author’s Holmes stories. They are diferent and lighter in tone, but Gerard is a funny character and Arthur Conan Doyle was good at his craft.

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