Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

We still have time to mess this up!

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Bark louder, little dog.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

American history and black history cannot be separated.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

You are here: Home / Politics / Political Action / If Wishes Were Fishes (Open Thread)

If Wishes Were Fishes (Open Thread)

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If wishes were fishes, we would have had pithy signs like this everywhere in the run-up to Nov 2024 elections.

If Wishes Were Fishes

Not just on social media.  But everywhere in real life.

Bathrooms.  Bulletin boards, taped to lamp posts.  Did I say everywhere?

So let’s come up with some ideas for printed signs now.  Can we do that?

We talk about campaigning year-round, all the time, let’s do some of it old school.

Reader Interactions

98Comments

  2. 2.

    Old School

    We talk about campaigning year-round, all the time, let’s do some of it old school.

    All right, let’s do it!

    Oh, you didn’t mean me specifically,

  7. 7.

    WaterGirl

    Seriously, though, I think we should come up with some ideas, design them, and share the files so everyone can print the ones they want.

  8. 8.

    Baud

    @WaterGirl:

    There are posts on Blue sky that circulate memes. Some are better than others.

    I feel like things that would appeal to me wouldn’t be very good messaging for the people who need to be reached.  But if I think of anything, I’ll share.

  10. 10.

    WaterGirl

    We are smart people. We should be able to break things down to their simplest point – to plant a seed in someone’s mind.

  11. 11.

    strange visitor (from another planet)

    @WaterGirl: just sent you another one that would be easier on the ink.

    i just figure the similarities to the classic hope poster would really irritate just the right people on that pedo one.

  12. 12.

    hueyplong

    I guess it would be too esoteric to have a picture of Cuomo with VICHY TRUMP at the bottom.

  18. 18.

    Lapassionara

    @Baud: I like that idea. Or what about some grocery price comparisons.

    Like price of eggs on Jan. 20, 2025 and now. Or gasoline, or whatever else has gone up in price.

  29. 29.

    WTFGhost

    @Baud: I got to use a mimeograph machine, and a dot matrix printer, to make up for my atrocious handwriting. (In fact, some people called it “multi-trocious” and not simply *a* trocious.)

    I was pretty impressed with the output, except for the obvious mimeograph blue look and feel/smell.

     

    @strange visitor (from another planet): I do think that’s perfect, especially because it plants the barb – whether it’s fury they would dare call him that, or the understated fear that he sure is acting guilty about Epstein

  36. 36.

    strange visitor (from another planet)

    @WTFGhost: oh, he’s SO acting guilty. like, “holy telltale heart, batman!” edgar allan poe levels of acting guilty.

  39. 39.

    Trollhattan

    Deep breaths.

    A new CNBC poll finds there was a modest rise in the public’s preference for the Democrats to control Congress, rising to a 49% to 44% advantage from 48% to 46% in April.

    It was the largest lead for Democrats since 2021.

  43. 43.

    bbleh

    I could see some just to tarnish the brand.

    TRUMP CHEATED ON ALL 3 WIVES.
    REPUBLICANS THINK THAT’S FINE.
    WHAT’S WRONG WITH REPUBLICANS?

    EPSTEIN ABUSED TEENAGERS AND CHILDREN.
    TRUMP CALLED HIM A “GREAT GUY.”
    HE WON’T RELEASE THE FILES.
    WHAT’S WRONG WITH REPUBLICANS?

    EPSTEIN ABUSED TEENAGERS AND CHILDREN.
    SPEAKER MIKE WON’T ALLOW HEARINGS.
    WHAT’S WRONG WITH REPUBLICANS?

    Could probably put some AI app to work on this …

  45. 45.

    Sure Lurkalot

    I’m totally on board with the sticker idea. I would be happy to pitch in with printing and distribution.

  49. 49.

    HinTN

    We always want to jump into details and long form shit. NA GA WORK. Keeping it simple and direct is the key. That PEDO graphic meets that need.

  52. 52.

    Nancy

    @WaterGirl:

    Someone has painted “Trump is a pedo” on a railroad bridge over the expressway that I drive to work.

    Seeing that message warms my heart. Watergirl is right, but the ink might be worth the cost.

  55. 55.

    zhena gogolia

    @Nancy: Someone on my street has “NO ONE IS SAFE WITHOUT DUE PROCESS.” Maybe it’s too sophisticated, but it cheers me up to drive by.

  57. 57.

    Sure Lurkalot

    What could possibly go wrong with AI imbedded in everything we do?

    “GPT-5 is the first time that it feels like talking to an expert in any topic — a Ph.D.-level expert,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said.

    ChatGPT5 is asked “how many bs in blueberry?”

    Answer:

    The word blueberry has three “b” letters:

    B at the start
    b in the middle (blueberry)
    b right after that (bluebberry)

    Looks like blueberries don’t just double down on flavor, they double down on bs too.

    Do you want me to count uppercase and lower case separately or treat them the same?

    bsky.app/profile/jaspar.bsky.social/post/3lvtlof7fz22d

  60. 60.

    WaterGirl

    @raven:  We’ll do a post if you’re up for it.

    Send me a writeup about the trip and photos and if you put video on youtube, i can embed that.

  66. 66.

    Trollhattan

    @WaterGirl:

    You’re dating yourself (in the desired direction). From Dana Carvey’s HW Bush imitation.

    “Jeb, packing heat; Bar, ready to die.”

  67. 67.

    coin operated

    @rikyrah: I don’t do tiktok…what’s the story on women deleting instagram? My wife and daughters are frequent users.

  69. 69.

    WaterGirl

    @coin operated: The linked video says that not only does instagram share your general location, but it links to the exact location, right down to the street.

  71. 71.

    zhena gogolia

    @WaterGirl: I think it’s a takeoff on Dana Carvey’s impression of George H. W. Bush — “Na ga do it, wouldn’t be prudent.”

  73. 73.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @WaterGirl: Not gonna work.

    Back in graphic design school, the rule of thumb for designing a  billboard is you needed get the main message across for a driver 30 yards away, driving 30 mph.

    Key message on a poster (e.g. name of the venue for a band poster) should be understood by someone walking by three yards away at 3 mph.

    Any additional details (e.g. ticket prices, door/show times) readable at 3 feet away.

    In other words, for the short of things you’re suggesting, think bumper sticker length not treatises.

  74. 74.

    WaterGirl

    @Sister Golden Bear: I’m thinking exactly that.  Like the sign in the image up top.

    Not thinking bumper stickers, but 8 x 11 or stickers that could be placed all sorts of places.

    EVERYTHING IS MORE EXPENSIVE NOW.

    TRUMP DID THAT.

    .

    CITIZENS BEING GRABBED OFF THE STREET.

    THAT COULD BE ME.  OR YOU.

    .

    TRUMP SIDED WITH THE CHILD TRAFFICKERS.

    IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT YOUR KIDS TO LEARN?

  75. 75.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Sister Golden Bear: Example, there’s a billboard near me that has a big image of a cat, with the following text:

    Cats have nine 9 lives
    You only have one
    Something, something about not driving recklessly

    Not effective because there’s too much to read, especially when you’re on the freeway. Should be more like:

    Cats: 9 lives
    You: 1
    Drive safely

    Or if you wanted to be fancy add: “Drive like your one life depends on it” as secondary text.

  78. 78.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @WaterGirl: A simple strong image definitely helps. It’s what makes the “pedo poster” effectively.

    The trick is that the image can’t overpower the text, and a striking image often requires minimal text, so that the text and image don’t compete with each other.

    So for your examples, one approach would be to use an image that communicates the first sentence. E.g.

     

    • “Everything is too damn expensive”
      Image: Grocery basket filled with items, or a hamburger, other whatever items have hot button price increases etc.
      “Trump did that”
    • Image: ICE goons grabbing someone off the street
      “That could be me. Or you.”
    • Image: Photo of Trump, Epstein and Maxwell with young girls
      “Protecting sex traffickers, not victims”
  79. 79.

    Geminid

    @WaterGirl: I’m not sure if this would make a suitable poster but Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate for New York Mayor, got off a good zinger in a recent interview.

    Beside the harrassment issue, another line of attack on Cuomo are his Covid policies regarding moving hospital patients to nursing homes. Some say they resulted in unnecessary deaths.

    So Sliwa says::

         And then there’s Andrew Cuomo, slapping fannies and killing grannies.

    This made me think that Sliwa won’t drop like the stop-Mamdani forces want him to. He’s having too much fun.

  81. 81.

    strange visitor (from another planet)

    @zhena gogolia: it was me, but i borrowed it from colbert. the fat orange fascist doesn’t respect anyone, i don’t respect him enough to use his real name.

  83. 83.

    hueyplong

    @Baud: He would if he could find it nowadays.

    bbleh’s thought about AI might work.  Maybe AI can dumb down “our” message to the point that we can get a majority.

  85. 85.

    hueyplong

    @Sister Golden Bear:

    Image: Photo of Trump, Epstein and Maxwell with young girls
    “Protecting sex traffickers, not victims”  “Guess which people in the picture Republicans are protecting.”

  87. 87.

    RC

    Dear Watergirl and by extension- commentator, Stinger.

    I wanted to let you know that I shared Stinger’s comment on Dem messaging from Aug 4 post on Simon Rosenberg’s Hopium substack chat today.  I gave Stinger credit and linked back to the Aug 4 Balloon Juice post.

    [edited because I wasn’t sure how much of this you wanted to be public.]

  98. 98.

    Nick

    We Told You So!
     
    Some (calling out Dearborn, MI and other locales) believed that Kamala Harris was not “pure enough” on Gaza.  Other so-called “Independents” thoughtlessly believed Fat Donnie would be better for the economy.  To those and many others, not only do I say “We Told You So!” but I made t-shirts and sell them on Etsy.  (Please note I am not trying to sell my shirts.  There are others on Etsy who offer “Resistance” shirts and hats should you be interested).
     
    I believe pushing memes is a way to have messages sink in over time.  Simple messages that will change the narrative.

    “If You Can Be Convinced of Absurdities, You Can Be Convinced To Commit Atrocities”  Voltaire

    Gulf of Mexico!  (with map)

    The Road To Authoritarianism Is Littered With People Telling You You’re Overreacting

    Republicans–Pro-Life Until Birth

    It takes time for messages to resonate so I agree with the sentiment that the time to push is NOW!

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