Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

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

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

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

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

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

Sometimes the world just tells you your cat is here.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

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

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

So fucking stupid, and still doing a tremendous amount of damage.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

You are here: Home / Justice / Women's Rights / A Woman's Place Is In The House / Election Year Open Thread: Elizabeth Warren in the Arena

Election Year Open Thread: Elizabeth Warren in the Arena

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Finish the old proverb for me: For a woman to succeed, she must work twice as hard to do half as well…


(Shout-out to Senator Jeanne Shaheen! Who is another gifted politician who’s shattered glass ceilings in New Hampshire… and also a woman who defeated Scott Brown.)


After the NH Debate:

Speaking of women working twice as hard…

Reader Interactions

73Comments

  1. 1.

    joel hanes

    Backward and in sensible shoes.

    Senator Professor Warren has intelligence and class, and is tougher than any of the other candidates.

  2. 2.

    marv

    The only way the news media will report on a bump for Warren, or Klobuchar for that matter, is if they stick a pillow under their shirts.

  3. 3.

    Another Scott

    Thanks for this.

    She hasn’t given up on us.  People shouldn’t give up on her – not this early in the process.

    Democracy takes time.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  7. 7.

    Miss Bianca

    I plan to vote for Liz in our primary (Colorado just switched to a presidential primary. Yay! Kept the caucuses for every other office! Uh…WTF?!). It’s on Super Tuesday. Canvassing, as some jackals have suggested, is problematic where I live (frontier county, over 75% registered Republican), so maybe I’ll start writing postcards, as some other jackals have suggested.

  12. 12.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Elizabeth and Amy are my top two candidates. I’m not giving up on either one until and unless they tell me to.

  13. 13.

    Jeffro

    Didn’t we see the 2016 GOP version of David Walsh’s “arrangement” get offered by trumpov & Co to Kasich…and mock it endlessly?

    What’s Bernie going to do?  Be the ‘titular’ head of state and run around somehow ‘making America er er um um really good again’?  PASS

    I’m good with Warren or Klobuchar as prez, VP TBD (almost certainly Castro, Harris, or Abrams)

  16. 16.

    H.E.Wolf

    @Miss Bianca:

    Yes! Join the Seattle-area jackals (in spirit) and write a postcard on Sun. Feb 16th! Sign-up info for Postcards To Voters is here (they have a great FAQ page):

    http://PostcardsToVoters.org

    Once you’re signed up, you can request as few or as many addresses as you wish, on your own schedule, via smartphone text, email, or the request form on their website.

    This week I’m writing to the northeastern corner of Florida. Last week, I wrote to southern CA.

    My favorite so far has been the batch for small East Kentucky towns. They flipped their Governor’s mansion to blue last November!

  19. 19.

    H.E.Wolf

    @anarchoRex:

    what’s this postcard thing people keep mentioning?

    See my reply to Miss Bianca. Postcards To Voters is one of a large number of volunteer postcard-writing efforts to increase voter turnout. I like P.to V. because their system is very methodical, common-sense, organized, and specific.

    CaseyL has brilliantly orchestrated a BJ postcard-writing – and convivial socializing, as per usual – meetup in north Seattle for the afternoon of Sun. Feb. 16th. (WaterGirl has brilliantly created a meetups page elsewhere on the blog.)

    Non-local folks are welcome to use the meetup as an excuse to write a postcard!

  21. 21.

    Ken

    @anarchoRex: It’s a GOTV effort, usually for one candidate but sometimes for a party.  You contact an organization, they send you a list of names and addresses, and you write postcards to them.  You say that you really like candidate/party X and hope that the recipient will consider voting for them in the election on MM/DD.

    Sorry, I don’t have any contacts.

  22. 22.

    Ohio Mom

    Warren is my favorite, and I hope that when Ohio’s primary comes around it still makes sense to vote for her.

    I think she’d be a terrific president. I like to imagine her paling around with all the other Western heads of state, like Obama used to.

    I’d be all in the “vote your heart in the primary, and Blue in the general” camp but I worry about Bernie benefiting from all the sensible people’s being split among the plausible candidates.

    So it depends if there is someone who has broken out of the pack. Maybe we’ll all get lucky and it will be Warren?

    The very first debate, when there were two nights because there were too many to fit on one stage, I had a flashback to the Republican field of the last election.

    It too was extremely crowded. I’m not saying I liked any of them but it’s clear that the absolute worst of them snagged the nomination. And I could see that happening to us.

  23. 23.

    Miss Bianca

    @H.E.Wolf: Hmm, sounds intriguing. So, would we be getting together as a virtual meet-up at the same time as the one IRL to write voter postcards?

    Sounds like I ought to go and register in any case!

  24. 24.

    H.E.Wolf

    @Ken:

    Ken’s description is a good one.

    http://PostcardsToVoters.org

    is a huge favorite with me, as a non-creative* writer, because they provide the exact 3 sentences to include on the postcard. (Plus a long list of optional items, for those who want more variety.)

    *My big creative splash with postcards is to underline the zip code in a contrasting color of ink. OMG!1!1!

  25. 25.

    H.E.Wolf

    @Miss Bianca:

    Hmm, sounds intriguing. So, would we be getting together as a virtual meet-up at the same time as the one IRL to write voter postcards?

    Sounds like I ought to go and register in any case!

    Sure, why not! It would be fun to have a geographically diverse group of writers that day… somewhat akin to the 2017 Women’s March in camaraderie, if not in size or scope.

  26. 26.

    H.E.Wolf

    @H.E.Wolf:

    I’m off-grid for the next several hours, so anyone who’s interested, please talk yourselves and each other into writing a GOTV postcard sometime soon! It has been a reliable mood-improver for me, in these parlous times….

  27. 27.

    CaseyL

    I’m not sure we have the tech to hold a Virtual Meetup with non-local Juicers.  We had one where Yutsano attempted to attend via cell phone, but no one could hear him (what can I say; we’re a loud bunch).

    But yes: you can do postcards the same day and time, and think kindly of us while you do :)

  32. 32.

    anarchoRex

    @Ken, @H.E.Wolf:

    Is there any data backing this up as effective voter turnout? It wouldn’t be better to be calling/texting? I worry this is like holding signs on street corners or yard signs: they make volunteers feel good but there’s very little evidence they help turnout.

  33. 33.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Off-topic and rhetorical question:

    Is there anything in the world quite so vapid as red-carpet commentary?

  34. 34.

    gene108

    American Cornhole League championship is on ESPN.

    This is a professional sport I am physically fit enough to play in.

  35. 35.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    The theater in my building is rerunning the old movie Moonstruck at 7. I think I’ll go. I need a break. I survived the Impeachment votes, though I was depressed. But the brazen retaliatory firings broke me, at least for a while.

  44. 44.

    BBA

    I’ve been commenting less, partly because you all hate me and think I’m some kind of Russian bot, and partly because things seem so goddamn hopeless that anything I post will be endless doom-and-gloom, which, ah, makes you all hate me and think I’m some kind of Russian bot.

    I just figured I’d chime in and let you know I’m not dead.

  46. 46.

    Sister Golden Bear

    Doing a lot better now, after getting laid off from a long-time job a week-and-half ago. Thursday we had a team lunch, which was effectively the going-away for the half the folks on team who are getting let go. Since I’ve wrapped up my project, I’m effectively on paid leave for another 7 weeks (since they had to give us 60 days notice).

     

    Woke up Saturday and realized that the job was in a way one of the last anchors holding me back to my prior life. Since I’m really lucky to have a bit of a financial cushion with the terms of the layoff (there’s also a severance package, although I need to negotiate that one upwards), I’m using it to do a reset on my life.

     

    Plus I’d really wanted a break to take care of things that have piled over over the past years — such as finally Marie Kondo’ing my house. Spent the weekend starting that process and beginning to deep-clean the house. Normally, I hate house-cleaning, but this time around I’m actually kind of enjoying it — feels like I’m striping away the accumulated cruft and grime from my life.

     

    My focus will be on that for the next couple weeks (as well as obviously feeling out the job market), plus just giving a lot of thought to a lot of things about what kind of life I want to have in the time that I’ve got left.

  52. 52.

    CaseyL

    @Sister Golden Bear: Sorry to hear you’ve been laid off, and glad to hear the layoff came with a bit of a $$ cushion.  It is a great time to evaluate and see where you want to go next, and I look forward to hearing what you come up with!

  55. 55.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Miss Bianca: I’ve been saying I wanted to do it for at least five years, so it’s now or never.

    Admittedly I’m just on Day Two, but my mindset is that it this is my full-time job for the next 2-3 weeks. It also necessary to clear out the clutter to take care of the home improvements I want to do, so that incentive. I am definitely planning to pace myself and give myself breaks so that I don’t burn out doing it.

  57. 57.

    Bruuuuce

    @Ohio Mom: I’m not saying I liked any of [the 2016 Republican field] but it’s clear that the absolute worst of them snagged the nomination. And I could see that happening to us.

    I am not worried about the absolute worst of the Dem field winning the nomination. Tulsi’s polling at what, 2%. But the guy who could lose 40+ states (and whose Presidential skills are somewhere in the minuscule to nonexistent range) is in the top two.

  58. 58.

    Bruuuuce

    @BBA:  This is by Dan Rather, and may help a bit:

    They are counting on despair. That’s how they win.

    Those who seek to undermine our democracy, to normalize corruption and hate and division… They are counting on despair.

    Those who say our votes don’t matter, that facts don’t matter, that the truth doesn’t matter… They are counting on despair.

    Those who say there are “real Americans,” that we need to go back to a mythic past, that we should close ourselves to the world… They are counting on despair.

    Those who would despoil our environment and undermine science… They are counting on despair.

    Those who would gaslight, lie, and revel in propaganda… They are counting on despair.

    Those who look the other way, make excuses, and normalize autocracy… They are counting on despair.

    There is a tendency to feel the despair well up from within, and not recognize it as a weapon being wielded with precision and purpose from without. They are counting on despair.

    The greatest leaders in our history knew that despair is toxic to progress. Washington at Valley Forge. Lincoln at Gettysburg. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Birmingham. But more than the famous names are the countless women and men who have fought back against despair in the service of hope, and progress. I have seen it in foxholes, on picket lines, in classrooms, and in midst of natural disasters. I have seen it in the marches, movements, and moments where people rose up and said our world can be better, and we will do the hard work to make it so.

    Despair these days is an understandable feeling. Our world seems in many ways upside down. To fight against the odds, against the powerful, against the morally bankrupt, is exhausting. But just remember, they are counting on despair. Will you let them have it?

  59. 59.

    Geminid

    I heard an interesting and encouraging fact this week. Although there is a prevalent idea that Trump was carried in by a conservative populist wave, of the 10 major party candidates in the 5 presidential elections since 2000, Trump had the second lowest popular vote total, barely ahead of John McCain’s in 2008.

  60. 60.

    Suzanne

    @SiubhanDuinne: They’re my top two, as well.

    Aside from their considerable skill, values, and experience…. I am just ready for the polar opposite of BDE.

    Bitches get stuff done, indeed.

  63. 63.

    piratedan

    @Geminid: i still believe that Liz has the approach that will provide the most good for the most people. The misogynistic media is gonna fucking hate her because if elected they’re going to have to do their jobs

  64. 64.

    Ohio Mom

    Bruuuuce@57: I can’t take Gabbard seriously (I didn’t take a lot of them seriously, looking at you Williamson and a bunch of others whose names I never learned), so I agree with you about the worse likely possibility.

    If he did prevail, he’d make an awful president, nothing would get done and he’d be out four years later on a backlash as mighty as the one that installed him.

  65. 65.

    jc

    I love Warren and think she’d be a great president. What disturbs me is, are there really that many people who wouldn’t vote for her just because she’s a woman? How can anyone not see, how can anyone refuse to see that she’d be ten times better as president than Trump?

  66. 66.

    Bruuuuce

    @WaterGirl: De nada. It’s for exactly these reasons that I’ve chosen anger and action, because despair is too easy, and too much the target of the destroyers of the Republic and the Constitution.

  67. 67.

    Another Scott

    @Bruuuuce: +1

    We’ve done very well in elections since 2017.  There’s no reason to think that trend won’t continue if we keep putting in the work to win.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  68. 68.

    Bruuuuce

    @Ohio Mom:  I agree with you completely, though as a part-time pedant, it was irresistible to point out the other DINO as even worse than the one who’s running in front.

  69. 69.

    Gvg

    @anarchoRex: people on this blog have been doing it for 3 years now, I think,so the original persuasive data and statistics are way back, and no one has asked about it in a long time. As best as I recall, there were stats that said personally hand written postcards worked better than form letters from politicians. If you got them, you would think someone else cared enough to write this, maybe I am not alone after all….

    After some of us started doing it, those volunteers said it helped them to be actually doing something active to fight the GOP and despair. That is what those who used it to health themselves by taking active steps. Something helped in most of the recent actual elections…

    i haven’t done it myself. Just explaining what I can recall.

  71. 71.

    H.E.Wolf

    @phdesmond: what are the pictures on the postcards like?

    Volunteers provide their own postcards, so it can be anything that meets the specifications set by PostcardsToVoters.org (details are in the FAQ page on their website). They also have downloadable templates, and a link to order some pre-printed GOTV designs.

    I found an image online, got an official OK re: copyright permission, and used a low-cost printing company which had a discount special (30% off).

    Secondhand bookstores and junk shops are good places to look. Also the stationery drawer or travel-memorabilia box in your own house or your parents/grandparents’.

  72. 72.

    H.E.Wolf

    @CaseyL:

    I’m not sure we have the tech to hold a Virtual Meetup with non-local Juicers. […]

    But yes: you can do postcards the same day and time, and think kindly of us while you do :)

     

    Yes! CaseyL’s description is much clearer than mine. (Thank you CaseyL!) Low-tech virtual meetup, i.e., write along at home. And then tell about it on the blog…

  73. 73.

    TriassicSands

    @jc:

    …are there really that many people who wouldn’t vote for her just because she’s a woman?

    Warren is by far my first choice, but I’m afraid she faces a double “whammy.” First, she’s a woman. I’ve voted for more women than men at this point, but I’ve lived in states that nominate and elect women. But there are lots of people in this country, including women, who won’t vote for her because she’s a woman. But HRC was a much less appealing candidate (I think) than Warren and she won the popular vote, so even with people who won’t vote for a woman, a woman can still win.

    The second whammy is that she’s getting tied politically to Sanders, whose “socialism” will almost certainly keep him from beating Trump. I’d guess there are probably more people who won’t vote for a socialist than there are people who won’t vote for a woman. To some extent, I think that is Warren’s fault, because she didn’t make distinctions early on that she should have made. No, she’s not going to (be able to) take away private or employer-provided insurance in her first term. She should have made it clear that there is no threat of that happening and simultaneously explained why in the long run everyone will be better off if everyone is insured by a universal public system.

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