While we wait for Vice President and President-Elect presumptive Biden and Senator and Vice President-elect presumptive Harris to begin their event, I wanted to point out Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s absolutely excellent visual communication capabilities. Take a look at the picture below and notice what is on the shelf behind and a little bit above his left shoulder:
In the center, in front of the clock is a USPS mail truck. To the right of the truck is Count Von Count from Sesame Street. To the truck’s left, at the extreme left of the shelf, is Sam the Eagle at the presidential podium from The Muppet Show. And between Sam the Eagle and the USPS mail truck, to the left of the clock and above everything else is a Notorious RBG action figure.
Regardless of what AG Shapiro was saying, what he’s communicating here is that under his watch Pennsylvania will count all the mail in ballots in the 2020 election and for president under the watchful eye of the late Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. This is excellent visual communication!
And here’s the video of the media hit. Wait for it… Wait for it…
this teen wins election night 4.0 pic.twitter.com/wzzoyXwMU0
— Justin Sink (@justinsink) November 7, 2020
Well played young Shapiro, well played!
Open thread!
Baud
I saw the kid happen live. So 2020.
Adam L Silverman
@Baud: I was on a minute delay because I paused and rewound to confirm what I’d seen on the shelf and take a picture.
themann1086
Speculation is that he and Federman, who is also great, will run for Governor and Senator in 2022. Not sure who will run for what but they’re both great guys and I’m hoping they win!
Mike E
I’m calling it for Schmidt(s beer)!
There go two miscreants
Seeing The Count always brings pleasant memories of watching Sesame Street with my son (who is now in his 40s). I used to be able to do a passable imitation of The Count.
Adam L Silverman
@Mike E: BURP!
Benw
@Baud: Same here. That’s a good kid.
Calmly backs away while texts friends: “dude I was just on TV did u see me dude!!!”
TaMara (HFG)
I missed the teenager because I was feeding the critters. So glad twitter was on top of it so I was able to go back and rewind to watch.
Wyatt Salamanca
Whenever I see David Plouffe on tv, he also has a USPS mail truck behind him.
rikyrah
I love it when folks catch the little things that mean so much
Wag
Reminds me of the British scientist a couple of years ago whose young child came is during an interview and his wife tried to sneak in behind his desk and grab the kid. This kid handled it well.
Kent
I just love this stuff. I’m ordinary so rational that I miss these fun cues.
Kent
Biden is 15 minutes out per MSNBC. Leaving his home to drive to the stage.
The Fat Kate Middleton
Just got a text message from my (very political) son revealing that the UK newspaper The Independent had just learned that Fat Bastard was. planning to hold “victory rally” this weekend. I thought this had to be the Onion or disinformation-but it looks legit. Anybody else know anything about this?
Kent
Meme my kids are passing around right now to their friends:
Remember to lower your truck flag to half mast!
Keith P.
@Kent: I guess it’s too much to ask for him to drive to the speech in his ‘Vette, top down.
Kent
That would be a boss move. But too much is at stake and those days are over I’m afraid.
Jerzy Russian
No naturally he had a Count von Count action figure handy…
patrick II
I hope that when covid is over they keep doing these interviews at home. More interesting than the studio versions and now they know how to do it.
Jerzy Russian
@The Fat Kate Middleton: Possibly a victory rally for Biden & Harrison? At this stage anything is possible.
Adam L Silverman
@Keith P.: @Kent: Yep. They plussed up his Secret Service detail on Wednesday. Midmorning they issued a nationals security NOTAMS and put up a TFR over his house and most of Delaware. And by that evening the additional Secret Service personnel had arrived.
Jerzy Russian
It looks like Batman himself (aka Adam West) is a guest star in the Perry Mason episode I am watching now (The Case of the Barefaced Witness). I assume at some point someone will get killed. I hope it is not him!
Dan B
Thank you Adam, smotch, smootchie, hugs and kisses,
Oops, sorry . Did I go too far?
I love when anybody points out brilliant communication – crossing all the ‘eyes’ and crossing all the ‘tease’. There are so many layers to this onion of effective and strategic communication. It gets increasingly empowering and exhilarating the farther you go. Who doesn’t want that?
Posts like this, and similar, will be so essential the closer we get to 1/21/21.
Empowerment. Need I say more? You are an expert guide. And I feel glad to recognize that.
Redshift
@patrick II:
A friend does freelance video tech work, and they all expect their industry to be decimated post-covid, because so many video productions (not just broadcast, but business), they’ve now accepted that zoom and such are “good enough” and are of course way cheaper than professional video production.
mrmoshpotato
@Wag: You mean this?
Adam L Silverman
@Dan B: We’re supposed to be socially distancing, but other than that, thanks.
EmanG
Oh my God cubed. (third power y’all). That is the most 2020 moment yet. A reluctant star is born.
Kent
Biden and Harris are in the House. Expected on stage momentarily
And here they are
waratah
I agree I wish we had him in Texas.
I had a crush on the guy in Georgia today that was explaining their vote counting. I loved how he gave the news media and those watching how to pronounce Dekalb and Houston they Georgian way.
Sally
Hi y’all. What a lovely day! I have spent ages trying to find the link to a cartoon that I found very poignant. I can’t find an original location , please excuse the clumsiness of this. I hope you’ll click and enjoy it too.
https://nativescience.blog/2020/07/19/john-lewis-and-the-portland-connection/
Wag
@mrmoshpotato: Yes! I knew someone here would have stronger Google-fu than I do and would quickly find it! Thanks.
piratedan
i guess none of us should be surprised by this chain of events because it appears that the only thing that moves the media is when a white supremacist liar is calling the shots that they can’t find their balls. Hell, the sonofabitch has been lying non-stop for the last 5 years and they haven’t been able to call him a liar… committing treason becomes “unusual foreign policy”, unbridled corruption ends up being “unsubstantiated financing”, I swear if they spent less time coming up with creative euphemisms for all of the shit Trump does, the public would be much better informed.
I get the distinct impression that while the outside temp is 120 without any shade, the pool looks mightily inviting but no one wants to go first because all the networks are busy playing political double dare to stay out of sight of the bully; who really doesn’t care because he’s gonna try and abuse them all anyway.
That leads me to my other issue with the MSM, they continually act as if they are above this all, that they are simply observers, that they do not frame the events, they simply “report them” without recognizing that the very schtick that they pull does its own kind of damage, it’s like they want to be the judges, but they get really pissed off when you point out that not only are the scales seriously out of balance, but maybe they shouldn’t have left the chocolate fingerprints on everything that they got from the very people their supposed to be reporting fairly upon…
PsiFighter37
Fairly standard speech for Biden. I sure hope he can give a victory speech tomorrow. Media outlets are fucking assholes for trying to milk eyeballs for advertising dollars.
patrick II
Thank you Adam. You have a sharp eye.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@mrmoshpotato: @Wag: the way that little girl marches into the room just cracks me up, then the baby rolling in like some star wars droid
Kent
Drip drip drip. The numbers keep creeping up. Since this thread started the PA lead has gone up by 1700 to 28,833. And the GA number keeps creeping up bit by bit and now sits at 4,395
Earlier Andrea Mitchell let slip that if the PA lead his 35,000 they are going to have to call it at NBC and MSNBC. I’m not sure if that is some actual threshold or just her opinion. They are 6200 away from that.
Ksmiami
@piratedan: Villago Delenda Est. They aren’t reporters they are mediocre entertainers with delusions of their own grandeur
JoyceH
The crucial quote from the Biden speech that I texted to a friend was that the voters “have given us a mandate for change.” I was all YES YES YES!
But I thought he sounded a little hoarse. He needs to pamper his throat for a few days.
Oklahomo
@PsiFighter37: I’m so goddamned tired of hearing about the breakdowns of the returns clean into the quantum levels.
Adam L Silverman
@patrick II: Do not try this at home, Ay arz eh perfeshunahl!
Curtis
They should have called this election hours ago. I guess because of covid and mail-in ballots, their normal predictive models are out of whack, but it’s getting silly at this point.
Adam L Silverman
@PsiFighter37: My guess is they’ll give it through the weekend and if the news media can’t/won’t get the stick out, Biden’ll do a speech explaining why there is no way the president can make the deficits up and there is no legal remedies to him and that they’re formally beginning the transition and the President and his administration can be part of moving the Nation forward by performing their final acts of public service or not, but either way, that business is going to begin.
dmsilev
@Kent: 35,000 is 0.5 percent, which I believe is the recount threshold in PA. If you’re going to draw a ‘will make the call here’ line, that seems like a reasonable choice.
Mary G
@patrick II: I love seeing their home offices. This is one of the best.
oldgold
Bloomberg News is reporting Mark Meadows has Covid.
guachi
I think 35000 puts Biden’s lead at about 0.5% and that is some kind of magic threshold for calling it.
frosty
I saw the kid too. Not quite as funny as the toddler and the wife with the British guy several months ago, but yeah, Dad’s on camera, I’d better back out of here.
ETA: Sharp eye, Adam, I can’t believe you noticed enough of that to get a screen shot!
dmsilev
@oldgold: Send thoughts and prayers.
Adam L Silverman
Dan B
@Wyatt Salamanca: All the nonverbal cues add up. I had hundreds of people tell me that the non- verbal cues mattered whenever I was on radio or TV, or telling my story about being a gay kid who didn’t find anyone like him for years moved them. We took down or blindsided so many bigots by telling stories instead of arguing facts.
I got on TV, radio, and the papers when I went to an anti-gay “conversion therapy” event at a local mega-church. The organizer cruised 40 year old me. The young presenters looked downtrodden. I ended up on TV, not by my choice. I said they felt sad and that my life was happy because I knew where I could find and spread love. The next day I was on a local right winger show. He couldn’t take me down the road he wanted because I didn’t attack him. I told my feelings and my history.
Near the end I said I had to get back to work. That was the truth. My Mike guy was stunned. Not long after the anti-gay forces lost.
I failed at all the professional gay communication spokesman trainings. They are better but you don’t have to be perfect to change the world.
different-church-lady
I’m drunk as skunk, but I’m getting the feeling things are breaking in a a way that even the 3-6 supremos are not going to be able to steal this away.
Adam L Silverman
@frosty: I first noticed the Count. Then I hit pause, backed it up a frame or two and hit pause again, realized all the other items he had, and decided to take a picture with my iPad.
randy khan
@oldgold:
The only surprise is that he didn’t get it sooner.
OGLiberal
Great eye on the shelf. That kid reacted exactly like my son would have.
We’ve have the kids watching the PBS News Hour. (or, sometimes, the Beeb, which is on right before on our local public broadcasting station) It ain’t perfect but it’s an hour, they have some good in-depth stuff, and they are mostly doing their stuff from home. What my kids always notice are the pets in the background since most of them are broadcasting from home. My daughter just found this vid from earlier this year featuring the pets:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1133120410398347
My kids love Lisa Desjardins’ cat because he’s almost always there and all he does is sleep or groom on the couch in the back. I will note – and I’m sure this is not unique – that one of our cats love being in whatever room it is where her people are talking. I’m sure that’s why these pets wander on to cam so frequently. The teen in the vid featured in this post? He had no idea.
Adam L Silverman
@Dan B: Clear, genuine, and forthright gets one a long way to hitting the strategic communication target.
Melusine
Thanks for pointing out those details, Adam! It’s reassuring to see officials signaling a commitment to democracy.
Keith P.
@oldgold: It was only a matter of time.
zhena gogolia
@Jeffro:
You should see my students’ eyes bug out when I bring a boombox to class (back when there was such a thing as a class). Some things I want to play for them I have only on cassette tape or CD.
Mike in NC
@different-church-lady: Well, you have another round on all of us and charge it to Mr. Cole.
Adam L Silverman
@different-church-lady: There is not enough out in NV, AZ, or PA for Trump to overcome the deficits he’s got. This also appears to be the case in GA. As for the legal stuff, all the things they’ve tried to litigate have gone nowhere because they don’t have anything. When you spend 35 years smoking your own stash of “voter fraud is rampant, the Democrats are always stealing elections so we have to do all these security things that just by complete happenstance disenfranchise everyone who doesn’t vote for us” despite there being no evidence whatsoever, when you get into court and you don’t have any evidence not even partisan judges can help you very much.
different-church-lady
No, seriously, “Here’s a Triscut” should be a rotating tag line…
clay
My wife literally teared up during Biden’s speech. “We finally have a President again,” she said.
different-church-lady
@Adam L Silverman: I was thinking the supremos could ratfuck us if it was close, but not if we’re dealing with over twenty electoral votes.
frosty
@different-church-lady: You’re right, this election can’t be flipped by the Supremos. Hope you survive the morning!!!!
zhena gogolia
I just realized I haven’t gotten an e-mail all evening. I thought — is there a malfunction? Then I realized: the election is over (sort of).
Redshift
@JoyceH:
Me, too! I’m so glad that Joe gets that he needs to claim a mandate right from the beginning. And unlike the GOP, he doesn’t have to lie to do it, because he actually got a sizeable majority of the votes!
Suzanne
Hah. Mark Meadows got The Rona.
WaterGirl
@Suzanne: Is your baby’s rash better?
Another Scott
@Dan B: Thanks for that.
You’ve got a lot of great stories and an important history. I hope that you think about writing a memoir.
Cheers,
Scott.
frosty
@different-church-lady: Nominated. You’re welcome.
different-church-lady
I mean honestly, I’m thinking this is what it was like when Sese Seko got expelled. Dictators dictate utterly until the moment enough pepole sense they’re weak and vulnerable, and then they get ditched in a heartbeat.
David ?Booooooo!? Koch
Act Blue raised $13 million dollars today.
On to Georgia.
different-church-lady
@frosty: FUCK MORNINGS!!!!
Adam L Silverman
@Dan B:
We’re good.
frosty
@different-church-lady: Seconded!!!
Suzanne
@WaterGirl: It looks to be mostly resolved. She has a little bit of peeling on her cheeks but it’s almost gone. I have super-sensitive skin, and I get rashes frequently. I still don’t know what triggered this one.
Mai Naem mobile
@Adam L Silverman: the a-hole who refused to speak to the journalist who asked him to mask up at the Capitol. Also the one who had the 300 person wedding for the daughter over the summer. Zero empathy.
My favorite person of the day was the Philly official(Mayor?) I was listening on the radio. Anyway he asked Orange Dbag to put his big boy pants on and concede like Jimmy Carter, Al Gore and George HW Bush did.
Kattails
I would like to have an actual celebratory drink, rather than a “damp down the anxiety” drink.
guachi
Since Steve Bullock lost in Montana he should be Secretary of the Interior. One of his campaign slogans was “public lands in public hands”. It’s a really big deal in Montana.
To give you an idea how important it is to Montanans, the 1972 Montana Constitution states that all waterways in Montana are property of the state.
Another Scott
DC will be 51.
Puerto Rico wants to be 52.
Route 50:
Success breeds success. More, please.
Cheers,
Scott.
Yutsano
@Adam L Silverman: Okay Mr. Run-on. :P
I know exactly why no one is calling the race. No one wants to be “first”. No one wants to bring the wrath of his supporters on them. So they’re all hemming and hawing, waiting for the other guy to jump off that cliff first. I mean, they actually had Steve Kornacki give some massive bullpuckey about how the provisional votes were starting to drag towards Drumpf. It’s getting ridiculous.
Adam L Silverman
@Mai Naem mobile: Mark Meadows is what happens when the guy who owns the sandwich shop in the semi-rural bedroom community outside the university town decides he’s a history changing figure who knows more about anything and everything than the actual subject matter experts.
patrick II
@Adam L Silverman:
Trump is not used to using the courts for a legal outcome, but a bullying one. He’s stepped up in weight class this time.
divF
@Mai Naem mobile: Philly’s come a long way from the 70s when Frank Rizzo, a vicious and bigoted ex-cop, was Mayor.
Gravenstone
@oldgold: So the White House superspreader environment continues apace.
Adam L Silverman
@Yutsano: It is ridiculous. But as I said last night:
Adam L Silverman
@patrick II: Yep.
WaterGirl
@Suzanne: Yeah, I have sensitive skin, too. Got it from my dad. I call it my “princess and the pea skin” because it’s so fussy.
Glad to hear it’s clearing up so you don’t need to worry!
divF
@Adam L Silverman: Do they keep him in a glass coffin, like Lenin ?
ETA: I’m old enough to have used keypunched cards to program computers…
Kristine
@Adam L Silverman: They’re like bookcase emojis.
different-church-lady
So…
Nothing in the world can ever make the fact that Trump became president in the first place right.
But…
Consider this: once you’ve been president of the United States… there’s nowhere else to go. Trump will be chasing this dragon for the rest of his miserable existence.
Suzanne
@WaterGirl: I still worry. I’m a fretter.
WaterGirl
@Gravenstone: Wonder how many people got it at the election night party at the white house? You know the chief of staff had to have been there.
different-church-lady
@Adam L Silverman: “
AshKornacki is a robot!”WaterGirl
@Suzanne: I always figured having multiple kids would cure someone of that – because there’s always something, isn’t there?
Keith P.
@Yutsano: Naa, this is about dragging out the ratings for as many days as possible. Well, not Fox News….I *highly* doubt they’ll call the race first, given how much of a headache that’s been for the re: Team Trump
@different-church-lady: Trump’s gonna be having dragons chasing him for the next couple of years.
Dan B
@Adam L Silverman: Hugs!
6 feet, of course. But your knowledge and intellect should enice some fantastic military / security (yes, they’re different) to your, and our, benefit.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Adam L Silverman: hehehe want to bet that Medows doesn’t, but is faking it just to get out of coming to work for the next month? lol
Kristine
@Yutsano:
The AZ-based reporter also discussed how Trump was closing the gap in AZ and is therefore not out of it yet. This despite the fact that he’s still losing PA, his must-win state. I gave up and switched to Ant-Man.
different-church-lady
Seriously, it feel more like he’s been deposed than defeated.
Scott the Lurker
I’m pretty sure that’s actually an RBG I Dissent menorah!
Lyrebird-on-tablet
@themann1086: Yeah, l wonder if he and Fetterman have shared strategy tips, just look at how he keeps that great picture of his wife and kids right over his shoulder for the camera.
Gravenstone
@WaterGirl: Likely too recent to have developed it yet if he was exposed there. But I’m willing to bet he was absolutely passing it around there.
Adam L Silverman
@divF: They use the system Hydra used to keep the Winter Soldier on ice between missions.
Horatius
@oldgold: I do have some bleach lying around.
Adam L Silverman
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: I neither know nor care to be honest. If he was just some stupid goober like Gohmert who wound up well above where he should’ve been and was relatively harmless, other than the occasional stunt rooted in his being stupid and unaware of that fact, it would be one thing. But he’s malevolently stupid and he’s ambitious and found a way to combine those into being exceedingly harmful to the Republic. I have no empathy or sympathy for him because, frankly, he has none for anyone else.
Adam L Silverman
@Scott the Lurker: It may be. I thought that it might be an RBG figure perched on a menorah or Hanukiah, but couldn’t tell either way.
dww44
@zhena gogolia: Well I’m getting almost as many as before Tuesday. Guess where I live!
WaterGirl
@Gravenstone: After I read your first sentence, that’s what I was going to day. The timing would have been right for him to have been contagious. All these people deserve each other.
WaterGirl
@dww44: GA?
NotMax
@different-church-lady
A little something for your quaffing wish list?
Pretty much all the major food groups in one bottle.
;)
oldgold
@JenniferJJacobs
NEWS: Along with Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, at least FOUR other White House aides currently have coronavirus, per sources. Pains were taken to keep Meadows’ illness a secret, I’m told. And people around him who knew were told to keep quiet.
?BillinGlendaleCA
OMG! It’s raining.
Mary G
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I know!
different-church-lady
@NotMax: Look, people do all kinds of things…
Adam L Silverman
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Congratulations?
Aleta
@NotMax: Probably good in mincemeat pie if you like that kind of pie. (If not it would probably improve it a lot.)
different-church-lady
@Adam L Silverman: I was in Montana during the 2003 fires. I saw firsthand that it only takes a little bit rain to help with the fires a lot.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman: First time since early May.
frosty
@divF: I think most of us here are old enough to have used a keypunch for data entry.
dww44
@WaterGirl: Yep. I was looking forward a bit to having not so many emails in my inbox. But this result is just so worth it. The Democratic party here has not held a state wide office since 2002 when Sonny Perdue became the first GOP Governor. Like most GOP’ers of his era he, too, was once a Democrat. He’s a far better politician than his cousin David. Neither of them win any plaudits in other arena. Both of them, though, hail from the same county just below here that Sam Nunn is from. A very strong Republican stronghold it is now. And highly dependent, economically, on defense spending.
Mary G
I love this Pete Souza photo; it illustrates past and future America the way Norman Rockwell might paint it if he was alive:
The woman is so furious and the young man is just standing there with a twinkle in his eye and probably a smile beneath his mask.
Adam L Silverman
@different-church-lady: I’m very aware. I’ve lived in Colorado and up in the mountains of New Mexico.
Adam L Silverman
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I knew you’d had little rain, but I didn’t realize it had been that long since the last rainfall.
frosty
@different-church-lady: Taft went to the Supreme Court. And I expect Obama still has things to do. But Trump? Nah.
Oklahomo
@Adam L Silverman: He projects such a self-righteous smugness (and he’s a lying sack of shit) that it’s impossible to sympathize with him.
Adam L Silverman
@Oklahomo: Yep.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman: We sometimes get some monsoonal flow, but not much rain out of it. We didn’t really get the monsoonal flow this year. It’s usually pretty dry from mid-Spring to mid-Fall.
different-church-lady
What, your freude is not Schaden enough yet? Regarde!
Another Scott
Yay! It’s finally over!!11
Cheers,
Scott.
hotshoe
@oldgold:
Every one of them who was told and then agreed to keep the secret in spite of the danger of infection for innocent other people, should be chained in stocks in downtown NY from now until January.
Merciful, they can remain clothed.
Eljai
@Kattails: You get me!
frosty
@Lyrebird-on-tablet: I lurve Fetterman. He would have beaten Toomey if the PA Dems had gotten behind him. That being said, I think he’s a better match for an executive position than legislative. The guy wants to get stuff done.
Another Scott
Let a million memes bloom.
Cheers,
Scott.
Amir Khalid
@different-church-lady:
Tsk, tsk. Your question should be “What, his Schade has not brought you enough Freude yet?” (Schade = misfortune, Freude = joy)
Yes, I’m such a pedant that I learned German just so I could pedant in that language as well.
different-church-lady
@Amir Khalid: KISS MY SAUERBRATEN!!!
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Adam L Silverman: All good points so then let consider the kind of abuse Trump must be lobbing at Medows right now for failing to steal the election for Trump. That and COVID couldn’t happen to nicer guy than Medows.
mrmoshpotato
@different-church-lady: So…you have sauerbraten? :)
mrmoshpotato
@Amir Khalid: Grammar rules aren’t really on Americans’ minds these days. :)
mrmoshpotato
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Dump is opening fire on everyone but his family. (for now)
“WWWAAHHHHH!!!!! Why didn’t everyone kiss my fat, orange, fascist ass the past four years!??? I’m tremendous bigly!!!!”
States’ AG’s are gunning for the Soviet shitpile mobster conman.
Oklahomo
@mrmoshpotato: I blame Betsy DeVoss for that.
Elizabelle
@Lyrebird-on-tablet: Love that article, and the links within about John Fetterman. What a cool guy, with a wonderful wife and family.
Knew a little bit about him, and will now follow him more closely.
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@Amir Khalid: Both admirable and charming. A polyglottal pedant!
TMC
@Scott the Lurker: yes , it is. I have one, too.
mrmoshpotato
@Oklahomo: Dude. Social distancing (and a few state lines) keeps me from smacking you in the bones.
mrmoshpotato
GBBOtb – Great British Bake Off then bed.
Good night. (We’ll see what the morning brings us (aside from more Biden votes))
trnc
@guachi:
It’s the automatic recount threshold. Since recounts don’t generally change outcomes, the news orgs would probably call it at that point. I would expect DT will demand a recount anyway, but the campaign would have to pay for it and it’s unclear whether they have maxed out their credit cards on hookers and blow.