Everybody’s talking about the cat in this article “The Loneliest Democrat In America”:
The Democratic candidate for Congress in the most Republican congressional district in America does not stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Ever. Nor does he wear an American flag lapel pin. Ever. He prefers a small golden pin of the Constitution, etched with the phrase “We The People.” “I don’t have to pledge my allegiance. I’m a Vietnam vet. I’ve already demonstrated it,” he says. “None of these symbols of America mean anything to me any more.”
Greg Sagan is 70 years old. He has the swept-back gray hair and assured, learned manner of a former corporate consultant, which he is. When he campaigns he wears a navy blue suit jacket and a blue name tag that reads: “Greg Sagan. Democrat for U.S. House. District 13.” Even though he had a column in the local newspaper for 14 years, he needs the name tag, because he hasn’t run any television ads. He hasn’t put up any billboards. His opponent, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry, has raised $1.1 million, and Sagan has raised a little over $20,000. He’s spent most of that money driving around the district for the past year, holding town halls, asking people what they want. His driver is his wife Dianne, who is also his campaign manager. The fact that he is, statistically, the Democrat with the biggest uphill battle in the nation does not appear to bother him a bit.
I just added him to our More More More list. Let’s show Greg Sagan and 46 other Democratic candidates some love. (You can select which candidates get the money you give when you click through.)
debbie
The link seems to be broken.
Doug!
@debbie:
Thanks. That was weird. Just copying the link didn’t work. I had to click on “generate link”
debbie
Sagan has got to be the longest shot in the country. Pretty appropriate for Texas.
Ohio Mom
I just hope that there are enough other Sagans out there — people who never thought of themselves as progressive or liberal, who see that the lines have been drawn.
WaterGirl
Doug, it never gave me the list of people to choose from. That sucks because now the $25 I intended to give to him won’t go to him. What’s up with the list not showing up?
edit: I see now that you have to click a tiny little link to see the list of candidates. Fuck.
Baud
For the next time some asshole asks why the Dems lost working class white voters. The answer has always been because we moved to the left.
Nicole
I saw John Mellencamp in concert last summer. He was really good, but the highlight for me was Emmylou Harris singing a cover of “Abraham Martin and John” which left me weeping like a baby.
Doug!
@WaterGirl:
Sorry!
Kay
Doug!
@Nicole:
I always hated that song but Emmylou could probably pull it off
debbie
@Kay:
Oh, please, please, please, let Kamala and Adam tag team Kelly to hell and back.
debbie
@Doug!:
No probably about it. Emmylou makes every song better!
Sister Golden Bear
Since Trump’s election I’ve found myself empathetically agreeing with juggalos and Taylor Swift. That’s how upside down this world is.
Barbara
@Kay: What’d they do? Order a bunch of super duper extra durable shredders?
Kay
This is a funny piece.
The Democratic base who supported Manchin no longer support him because he voted for Kavanaugh and the Trump worshippers he was courting don’t support him either because they say he just voted for Kavanaugh for political expediency.
They’re really better off when they vote their conscience. This bullshit they do never works.
dr. bloor
@Kay: Manchin’s problem is that in all likelihood, he voted his conscience.
Chyron HR
@Kay:
I don’t mean to defend Manchin, but I’ve suspected that when Democrats pull moves like this it’s not because they’re thinking, “Durrr, me make Repubbycans love me!” and more that the money boys are telling them to roll over on this vote or get buried under $X0 million more in ad buys.
piratedan
@Kay: makes you wonder just who in the hell did Manchin and Bredesen talk to, in order to come to the position of supporting Kavanaugh, because of everything that we witnessed, saw being disseminated thru various media outlets and even the basic public opinion polling meant that if they had a shred of an iota of doubt, supporting THIS candidate for SCOTUS was a really shitty idea. I’m coming around to the thought that all of these guys must be genetic mutations because not only are they thinking with their dicks, those members must be reading and listening for them as well.
Wapiti
@dr. bloor: Manchin’s problem might be that political expediency is his conscience.
Waldo
Am I the only one who clicked on the article hoping to see a picture of a cat?
That’s about all I have the stomach for at the moment.
Hungry Joe
Sagan sounds like a good guy, but he’s down 80.1 – 16.5. Contributions — unless you’re thinking long, LONG game — will have a lot more punch in swing districts.
@Nicole: One of the most cloying and annoying songs ever. I’d damn near break my index finger jabbing at the car radio buttons to change the station whenever it came on. (But Emmylou Heals All.)
Kay
@Chyron HR:
Maybe you’re right because it’s a funny calculus. Even if his base is 30% of his vote he’s not going to get to 51 unless he starts at 30.
I love how they just JETTISON them without a backward glance. Idiot. Now he has to cobble together whatever he can beg borrow or steal from assorted low information voters :)
He also cleverly told the women in his base that they were “emotional” and he was using “facts”. Always a real good argument to use with women. They love that.
Collins seems to be relying on the fact that eye witness testimony is often flawed. While that is true, it doesn’t apply when the victim knows the perp! That’s not the kind of eye witness testimony at issue here. he didn’t come on her in an alley. She knew him.
Adam L Silverman
@Kay: That planning should have started at least six months ago.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@dr. bloor:
@Wapiti:
From Kay’s article:
A woman, Walker, running for the state leg in WV, told Manchin her story and thought he had listened to her. She said she felt raped all over again.
Adam L Silverman
The most important part of the article about Sagan is the final paragraph:
Elizabelle
@Kay: Money only goes so far.
I suspect Manchin demoralized a ton of West Virginia Democratic voters. Which might be exactly what his $$$$ men actually had in mind.
I would respect Manchin so much more for going down on principle and conscience. Instead, he is a political whore and Daddy EpiPen.
All that said, I still hope West Virginia sends him back to the Senate, because the GOP candidate is so much worse. I’d even be good with writing some postcards for him: “I’d be holding my nose, but voting for Joe Manchin because he votes with the Democrats 80% of the time and chooses a Democrat for Majority Leader.”
Kind of like that great blog a few years back — John Kerry is a Douchebag but I am voting for him anyway. That one was genius. Sorry the college student who put it up took it down.
Adam L Silverman
@debbie: I’m game, but I’ve never met Senator Harris.
Adam L Silverman
@Sister Golden Bear: Just wait till she does that cross over album!
trollhattan
Arrgh, why is Tucker Carlson squinting at me with his concern face all over the page? Why?!?
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Adam L Silverman:
I thought Kelly was supposed to be on top of this shit? Probably thought they could change public opinion in the intervening time
MazeDancer
Also, on the underdog can win note, Mike Espy is NARROWLY LEADING IN MISSIPPi!
That would be an amazing Senate pick-up.
Hope DCCC is down there with all the money.
Here is his website: https://espyforsenate.com/
Major Major Major Major
@Sister Golden Bear: further evidence for my theory that David Bowie was singlehandedly holding consensus reality together.
debit
@trollhattan: He only has one expression, a mix of confused and constipated. I call it: I’m Pooping?
Kay
@Elizabelle:
This is my own opinion but Kavanaugh courted Manchin and I think Manchin was flattered and impressed that such a fancy person kissed his ass. Which is gross. He’s so easily impressed. One would hope to have more of a center at his age- core beliefs.
Mnemosyne
@Kay:
That’s why they kept trying to claim that Kavanaugh was in a different social circle, so she wouldn’t have known who he was … except that it turned out he was a friend of her then-boyfriend Chris Garrett, so they were in the same social circle.
I’ve also been seeing your favorite (cough) claim, namely that her testimony alone doesn’t count as evidence and we need “real” evidence to prove it happened. Apparently we’re going back to the bad old days where a woman’s assault had to be witnessed by other people or it didn’t count. ?
Adam L Silverman
@trollhattan: You know what you did to deserve this!//
Elizabelle
@MazeDancer: So proud of you with the postcards!
Got my colored pens into order, and will order up some names from you later this week. We have beautiful canvassing weather this week; no rain until Thursday at the earliest.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@debit:
No kidding. He always has that same expression. I guess he must think he looks serious when he makes it. He probably practiced in the mirror when he was a bow-tie wearing College Republican
Adam L Silverman
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: Like with much else, a lot of stuff that should be done isn’t because the President goes ballistic when he finds out it’s being done. The problem that Kelly faces is that what has to be done because of actual reality is often not doable because it negatively effects the President’s version of reality.
Kay
@MazeDancer:
That’s interesting. Doesn’t it seem like something is happening in the south? Not from “cross over voters” but from the AA Dem base?
If it’s true it’s the most interesting story out there, in terms of a big bloc of voters who have not had the clout their numbers indicate they should have. The political media should move en masse from the diner in Erie PA and get themselves to Georgia. Something’s up.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Major Major Major Major:
But who was holding reality together before Bowie was born, huh? Were you there?
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@WaterGirl I will add 25$ for you to the 25 I plan to give to him tonight, I am going to look at his positions on things on his campaign website, before I do but as a fellow Navy vet(and married to a Navy vet) I like what I have read so far. He doesn’t share some of my lefty liberal views on some things like gun control, but he does believe in gun control at least. We can not win in any districts that we don’t even run Dems in, maybe he loses and tries again. But some one has to try.
Kay
@Mnemosyne:
Testimony is evidence! You weigh the credibility of the testimonial evidence, which is exactly what people did. That’s why douchebags incessant lying mattered. This isn’t like splitting atoms. A lot of it is common sense.
JPL
@Kay: I think Manchin’s pharma buddies wanted Kavanaugh.
Corner Stone
@Kay:
Kay, there is no story more interesting than how the Kavanaugh confirmation fight energized the R base and the D’s overplayed their mobbish hand. There has never been a more interesting story than that, and there never will be a more interesting story than how Kavanaugh is good for R’s in the Senate and doomed many D House candidates who might have otherwise won.
Major Major Major Major
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: he was born in 1947, so he was obviously instrumental in building postwar consensus reality.
ETA for example, “punching Nazis is good” wasn’t controversial between his birth and death.
Corner Stone
If only that screaming whirling dervish of mobby lady parts had not felt angry over being attacked and silenced again…
Ken
@Adam L Silverman: I imagine one of the worst things about working for the administration is threading that fine line between actual and Presidential reality. I wonder if they use double-think to cope?
Adam L Silverman
@Kay: Could’ve just gone to a diner in the right parts of Philadelphia, PA and they’d get a good sample of African American voters.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Mnemosyne:
A lot of RWers can’t seem to grasp the difference between confirmation hearings and criminal trials.
Major Major Major Major
@Ken: It’s amazing how easy even the doubliest doublethink is when it gets you money and power.
Kay
@Mnemosyne:
It makes me so sad when my juvenile clients say “it’s just me saying it” or “it’s hearsay”. It isn’t hearsay but what they mean is “no one more important will back me up”. They’re important. No judge should just dismiss what they say- “yeah, right- is there someone I respect and value you can bring in?”
Adam L Silverman
@Ken: I can imagine it can’t be fun. But this is why, based on the reporting, they don’t include anything on Russia in the briefed portion of the Presidential Daily Brief, just in the written materials, which they know he won’t read. Apparently, every time they’ve briefed him on what Russia is doing he gets very angry and screams at the people in the room. So they just stopped doing it.
Ken
@Adam L Silverman:
The PDB as EULA. Weirdest CYA method I’ve ever heard of.
zhena gogolia
@Waldo:
Me too, “Everybody’s talking about this cat” got my hopes up.
Adam L Silverman
@Ken: Pretty much.
MazeDancer
@Kay:
Espy would be the first African-American to represent Mississippi in the Senate since 1881. Yes, since Reconstruction..
If there is a rising up of Black voters in the South, would certainly be welcome. And now would be a bery good time for it.
Hannah
That’s my hometown. I’ll take a look at his webpage. thanks
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Major Major Major Major:
We’ve gotten too soft. We as a nation have forgotten what real hardship is; that evil exists and it wears a “Pinochet Did Nothing Wrong” shirt
dww44
@Kay: I can’t endorse this enough.
Here’s another example to prove your maxim. My sister, who lives in Memphis, emailed last evening that a new CBS poll had Marsha Blackburn surging 8 points ahead of Phil Bredeson the Dem. I believe that he came out in support of the Kavanaugh nomination. You’d think by now that any Democrat worthy of the name should know that a Dem never gets credit for endorsing a Republican or a Republican policy.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Adam L Silverman:
I’m shocked nothing super catastrophic has happened yet given that environment
dww44
@Kay: Perhaps the blog owner could speak in more detail as to the depth of or lack of Manchin’s character.
Baud
@dww44: You sure that’s not just a reaction to Taylor Swift.
Have there been any snap W.Va. polls? Frankly, you need about a week to figure out how the pollls have moved.
Amir Khalid
@Adam L Silverman:
What exactly does Trump get angry about when his aides mention Russia in the PDB?
Elizabelle
@dww44: So disgusted with Phil B. I hope he pulls it out. That was an own goal, and he should not be stupid.
Yes, a lot of his voters live in a rightwing bubble. That does not mean that he has to. He is the alternative.
Men just don’t get the Christine Blasey Ford deal, do they? They do not understand when they are making these pinheaded “decisions”.
LuciaMia
Trump actually reads the Daily Brief?
Adam L Silverman
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: I’m shocked that you think nothing super catastrophic has happened yet given that environment.
dww44
@Kay: As a resident of one of these states, I would also add in to the African American mix white women. 2008 and 2012 saw tremendous turnout from Black voters, particularly the female ones. I know as I worked in both campaigns locally. In order to win here we have to make inroads into the white middle class women who normally vote for the GOP and turned out to vote for Trump.
Adam L Silverman
@Amir Khalid: I don’t know. The reporting about a year ago regarding how he was getting his briefings and how they were formatted indicated that material pertaining to Russia was in the written PDB, but not being briefed to him because it made him angry when he heard it.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Amir Khalid:
“Sir, the Russian Federation is actively trying undermine the US and it’s allies in order to to create a new autocratic global order it can lead.”
“Fake news! You’re a Soros plant and a traitor! You’ve just won a lifetime’s stay at Guantanamo Bay, cuck!”
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Adam L Silverman:
I’m talking WW3-level shit. “Iran War” stuff.
Adam L Silverman
@LuciaMia: No, which is why, according to the news reporting from last year, that they don’t brief him, and by brief him I mean verbally brief him, on the material in the written briefing materials that upsets him/makes him angry.
Marcopolo
Espy is tied for the lead in a jungle primary with two other Rs as the major competition (a D with 4% is in 4th place–undecided is 27% ). If no one gets 50% there is a runoff a few weeks later. So, while Espy is likely to make it to the runnoff his chances of winning said runoff are slim. Not saying it cannot happen but keep your expectations way way low.
I have been busy writing GOtV postcards. So far 120 between yesterday & today. I need to decide in the next couple of hours which MO state house & US house red to blue campaigns to donate to.
Everyone keep keeping on–four more weeks!
dww44
@Baud: Don’t know, but here’s the link to the story my sister shared with me. I reassured her that I hoped this was our October surprise (the GOP created backlash to the Kavnaugh mess) and that we would have time to regain the leads that have apparently been lost because of it.
Hopefully there are no more James Comey type announcements. It’s time the gods laid a couple of October Surprises on the GOP.
Amir Khalid
@Adam L Silverman:
It would be interesting to know what it is about mentioning Russia that tees him off.
Marcopolo
@Elizabelle: Total own goal. There was no reason for him to have a position on the issue. He isn’t in the Senate. He wasn’t even answering a question from a reporter, right? His campaign just sent out a press release to announce to the world that he would have voted for K. Makes one wonder about how much common sense some politicians have. And by the way, the correct response if asked by a reporter would have been, “As I am not a Senator and haven’t seen all the material that they are provided, there is no way for me to be able to make an informed decision on this matter.”
Elizabelle
@Marcopolo: Yes. How hard would that be? Ugggh.
janesays
While I love the idea of sharing the love… what is the actual point of contributing money to a campaign for a candidate who has absolutely no shot in hell of winning? Campaign contributions are a finite resource for most people. While Mr. Sagan seems like a swell guy, I think most people would probably rather their limited funds be directed towards races that Democrats actually have a chance of winning. This just seems like throwing money away to… I don’t know, make oneself feel good?
Nelle
@Nicole: When we drove to my grandmother’s funeral in Winnipeg in 1962, three of her sons sat in the front seat of our ’56 Ford station wagon. It took me a long time to put it together that they were Abraham, Martin, and John.
PJ
@dww44: I don’t understand the support of Republican policies by Democrats either, but it was conventional wisdom during the Clinton/Third Way years. Was it Truman who said, “When given a choice between a real Republican and a fake Republican, people will choose the real Republican every time”?
janesays
@piratedan: The national polling would obviously lead any rational person to that conclusion, but senate candidates don’t really make decisions based on national polling so much as they do based on state-level polling. Unfortunately, most likely voters in West Virginia and Tennessee probably think Kavanaugh’s a great guy and they’re probably happy he’s going to be ruining the lives of marginalized people for decades to come.
That said, I don’t think the people who are thrilled about this outcome would vote for a Democrat even if their lives depended on it, so I don’t really see the utility in red-state Democrats pandering to people who are never gonna support them.
dww44
@PJ: It was Truman, and indeed he was wise. So much so, that my older Republican friend freely asserts that Truman is one of her heroes. Mind you, she’s 91 and she regularly makes contributions to Newt Gingrich (her hero) and other GOP causes of the day.
debit
@janesays: To encourage others to run in every election? Plus, if we challenge every single one of these fuckers than that’s money they have to spend to defend.
Barb 2
@Sister Golden Bear:
Taylor Swift – never heard her songs that I am aware.
Now I will listen! Good for her.
Remember that the Vietnam gets were largely responsible for ending that was – when many returned they told the truth about what they saw! Also, Mueller is a Vietnam Vet. My dad a 25+ year vet returned completely disillusion with that war.
Clinton also did a “listening” style Senate campaign.
rsginsf
I read the whole article to find out about the cat.
(sips coffee)
Oh!
And for my efforts, I get ads about dog t-shirts.
Barb 2
@Kay:
Peak experiences — there is massive research into how the brain captures that moment in time. when the victim knows the rapist she does not make a misidentification!!!! Dr Jones is a psychologist and that’s what my degrees are in as well. This research is covered in the intro to psychology all the way to grad school. The anti science GOP jerks spreading junk science crap makes me extremely angry. Then there is the issue of global warming and the flat out denial of the loyal God-nut viewers – that is a whole other rant.
WaterGirl
@Doug!: Not your fault!
lahke
@rsginsf: Me too. And checked all the pictures in case there was a cat on the bookshelf.
Gravenstone
@Kay: Gotta get that intent to obstruct down just right ….
Mnemosyne
@Barb 2:
IIRC, it’s not even junk science —it’s deliberately misrepresenting what the science actually shows to try and gain partisan points. ?
WaterGirl
@EmbraceYourInnerCrone: Thank you so much for that. I just returned from voting, and there were 3 races for judges where the only choice was a Republican. Fuck that. We have to run someone in every race.
Even a shitty, unknown candidate on the ballot would provide an idea of where bottom is — how many Democratic votes can you get in this district even without a stellar candidate. I respect this fellow for putting his money where my mouth is.
Kay
@janesays:
It’s an investment. No matter where you are there are some percentage of voters who are Democrats and they want someone to support and vote for- also you want people to run and if they have no money they won’t or you get crank candidates- people who just run for election for kicks. It’s party building.
janesays
@debit: Republicans aren’t going to have to spend a single extra dime to defend the most Republican-leaning seat in the House. They’re not going to lose it.
I’m all for trying to support a few long-shot candidates who have maybe a ~10-20% chance of winning. I don’t see any real utility in throwing money into a race that is 99.9% certain to be a loss. TX-13 is an R+33 district in which no Democrat has come within 50 points of the Republican in nearly 20 years. Sagan is going to get absolutely crushed, probably by at least a 2:1 margin. If I’ve got $100 that I can afford to spend on campaign contributions, I think it would be better for me to direct that money to races where the Democrat has at least an outside chance of competing. Or one in which a cash infusion will at least force the Republicans to spend money defending it. TX-13 ain’t it.
WaterGirl
In a year like this one, every race should have a Democratic candidate. This man may inspire other people to run, and if we can provide some encouragement, I’m all for it.
13 people have donated for Greg Sagan so far. Thanks to all who have donated.
edit: Plus, i posted the BJ act blue site on BooMan since he’s the one who highlighted this fellow to begin with. We may end up with far more donations to all these candidates than we may have had otherwise.
ruemara
@WaterGirl: Thanks! I’ve been trying to scare up more people to work elections at least via postcards or phonebanks.
Nicole
@Doug!: Emmylou did. Just her and an acoustic guitar. It’s not a song that normally moves me, either, but I was sobbing.
Although I love the story that Dion also thought it was manipulative schmaltz, but his wife talked him into recording it. A case where they were both right.
Mnemosyne
@janesays:
You’re not going to want to make a big investment in that candidate, but even $10 can probably make a difference if he gets multiple people do to that and, as Elizabelle said, it may help the Democrats figure out the floor in that district.
Nicole
@Nelle: That’s really funny!
debit
@janesays: Then don’t contribute?
debit
In the face of @janesays: pessimism, I kicked in $25.00 for Mr Sagan.
eemom
@Nicole:
I heard that Dion wanted to show he had a sensitive side and wasn’t just a Runaround Sue kind of guy.
Wiki, fwiw.
eemom
@Nicole:
Found the Emmylou version. You’re right, it’s gorgeous. Thanks for pointing it out!
gene108
@PJ:
The national Democratic Party was to the Left of what people were willing to tolerate in places like TN or NC and probably WVa. Local Democrats kept themselves competitive by distancing themselves from the national Party.
“Oh, Bill Clinton wants to let gays in the military, but Sen. Nunn understands Georgia and is standing up for decency”.
I think for a generation of older politicians, like Manchin and Bresdesen, old habits die hard. They survived by being more conservative than where the center of the Democratic Party is and this has meant to take up some policies Republicans would want.
And for several decades this strategy did work.
But I think, with politics being as polarized as it is, you are not going to be able to manage as much cross over appeal, as you could have in the 1980’s and 1990’s and early 00’s.
MoxieM
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: I think the word smarm was coined just for him. Or it could have been.
Also…got my postcard names! have pre-stamped cards from the PO. Now I just need a decent movie to watch.
Steeplejack
Dion did a nice “alternate” take on “Abraham, Martin and John” on the Smothers Brothers’ TV show.
J R in WV
@dww44:
I’m not the blog owner,