when we were kids and played football you just had the guy with the best arm play all time quarterback and i understand we have term limits and all that but i would just run this guy as all time quarterback https://t.co/0WsgY2CZdk
— world famous art thief (@CalmSporting) October 29, 2022
Sound like Our Former Actual President is, at the very least, enjoying his time on the hustings right now…
"That's how our democracy is supposed to work" — Obama points out that he didn't try to incite an insurrection when he lost a congressional primary pic.twitter.com/CtnPlrIba3
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 29, 2022
Just a handful of Democrats made it out tonight to see @BarackObama. pic.twitter.com/egw8K1MUyI
— Josh McLaurin (@JoshforGeorgia) October 28, 2022
Former President @BarackObama’s message for Wisconsin voters on Saturday was simple: “I’m here to ask you to vote.”@jessieopie and I recap the former president’s event in Milwaukee, for @CapTimes: https://t.co/GKoZ8xbL0A
— Jack Kelly (@byjackkelly) October 30, 2022
Candidates like @StaceyAbrams, @SanfordBishop, @BeeForGeorgia, and @ReverendWarnock care about the issues you care about.
They’ll protect our basic rights, strengthen our democracy, and build an economy that works for everyone – not just those at the top.
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) October 29, 2022
Obama: Some of them said, they will impeach Joe Biden. When you ask them what for, they’re not sure yet. You’re laughing but it’s true. Now here’s the question, how is that going to help you? pic.twitter.com/dYnZqYTP1U
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 29, 2022
Obama campaigning for Whitmer: "Imagine if you hire your plumber … he comes in and says, 'Have you heard about the latest conspiracy of the Wizard People?' … you'd be like, no no no, I just want you to fix my toilet … when you've got a good plumber, you keep your plumber." pic.twitter.com/AWWnfYIt43
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 29, 2022
Obama: But I have to speak the truth. Which is these days it is just about every Republican politician seems obsessed with just two things, own the libs, hey, let's own the libs. And getting Donald Trump's approval. That is their agenda. pic.twitter.com/iDZrmBDIFQ
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 29, 2022
I do believe in the American Dream — because President @BarackObama proved that it was possible. Honored to share the stage with him tonight. pic.twitter.com/nWmHxAcDXn
— Mandela Barnes (@TheOtherMandela) October 29, 2022
Tragic, but… not false:
People keep talking about his margins with working-class voters, but he did worse in much of Appalachia than John Kerry and tanked with these voters in his first term, bleeding them through his entire presidency. THIS was a major reason why.
— Nicky Frank (@NickyFrank30) October 30, 2022
We’ll never get the Deplorables; our job (especially those of us who are melanistically challenged) is to reduce their impact by turning out the Decent Voters. Or just convincing our Deplorable kinfolk & neighbors to stay home!
My favorite responses to this are the ones who are like “you’re talking about racism!”
Umm, yes, exactly lol. https://t.co/EgaEXY5Fg2
— Nicky Frank (@NickyFrank30) October 30, 2022
Baud
A lot of red states became red states during Clinton. Look at the states he won. It’s like a different country.
Old white man plain speaking Joe Biden hasn’t won those voters back either.
It doesn’t matter who we have at the top. The racists know the people who make up the Democratic Party, and that’s what they hate.
Kristine
All these clips of Obama are just bracing. Like a cool, fresh breeze blowing smoke and stink out of a house.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
It’s a damned shame Obama is termed out, because I suspect this would be just about the perfect time for him to run for President.
suzanne
It’s not JUST racism. They also hate Obama because he’s smarter than them, more educated than them, better-looking than them, thinner than them, has a more successful family life than they do, and, in short, he’s cool as hell and they know it and they know that we do not think they are cool.
These are people who are small and miserable and they have that shitty, simplistic, high-school-popularity-contest mind that turns everything into a petty competition. And they are losing that competition.
cain
@Bruce K in ATH-GR:
Michelle would kill him. She has more than enough of DC and I can’t say she ain’t wrong. The DC beltway people are nasty people.
suzanne
@cain: Agreed. And BHO is a lot smarter than Tom Brady and he knows when to listen to his wife.
OzarkHillbilly
Fragile White Syndrome, there’s no cure for it. Well, other than death.
cain
@suzanne:
I’m more than happy to hang with my wife ☺️
Ken
The twenty-second amendment only prohibits him from being elected to the office of President. We can thus fall back on either of two wingnut legal “theories”:
Obama cheated and was never really elected the first two times. He thus remains eligible to run again.
In January 2024, we
stage a couptour the capitol in large, heavily-armed numbers and force Congress to name him President.EDIT: How obnoxious, I had those paragraphs as bullet points, but after editing to fix spelling, it’s lost the bullet points and won’t take them again. Let’s see if it takes now that I’ve added more text… EDIT AGAIN: Sadly, no.
OzarkHillbilly
cain
@OzarkHillbilly:
When he said fired up and ready to go.. I thought he had Obama as a passenger!
suzanne
@OzarkHillbilly:
I was not there in the civil rights era, so maybe I don’t perceive accurately. So I go forth with this caveat.
Right now, it doesn’t feel like just a fight to save a social order, nothing that abstract. The Trash MAGAts are reacting more like a person does when they get dumped, right?! Like, I see all the stages of grief. It’s so personal. They are acting the way people do when they get personally rejected.
Cameron
And just to add some happiness from the other side of the aisle, Donald Trump is holding a rally supposedly in support of Marco Rubio in Miami next Sunday. Ron DeSantis is not invited. Republicans in disarray? Not possible!
Princess
@suzanne: Yeah but it’s the fact that he’s all those things plus Black that they can never ever forgive him for. That’s the part that upsets everything they believe about the world and they’re place in it.
OzarkHillbilly
Yep, tho I see it as a reaction to all the people who they use to be able to look down on, insult and beat up on, now being elevated to an equal status. They can’t handle the loss of their self superiority.
Spanky
@suzanne: Well, when they let their maga freak flag fly they are getting rejected, and it is personal rejection. It should be.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Spanky: Yeah. I do think I’m better than them
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊
Princess
@Cameron: can you imagine what the press would say if Obama went to Milwaukee to support Mandela Barnes but disinvited Tony Evers?
Cacti
It’s not just the trash ones. This drips from everything Sam Alito says or writes. He’s so pissed at the growth of irreligiousness in the country.
eclare
Good grief, if Obama talking about watching Tiger King in his sweatpants makes working class white people feel stupid, the problem is not Obama.
We will never get their votes, got to focus on GOTV.
rikyrah
@suzanne:
44 being Black was only part of the problem.
The real problem was that he was Black and excellent.
It is the Black Excellence that drove them crazy.
lowtechcyclist
I wouldn’t go near the place myself, but someone ought to post that to Truth Social just to piss off you-know-who.
rikyrah
@Baud:
Truth👏🏾👏🏾
japa21
@rikyrah: I still believe that a lot of the whites who voted for Obama in 2008 but didn’t in 2012, voted for him because they felt he would show the world that a black man could never be a good President. He lost them when he proved them wrong.
OzarkHillbilly
@lowtechcyclist: You first.
Princess
@rikyrah: yes, this exactly. It’s a phenomenon Jews know well. They hate us when we’re poor and “dirty” and live in crowded tenements and shtetls. But boy howdee, it’s when we’re successful doctors and lawyers and bankers that they need to destroy us.
lowtechcyclist
@OzarkHillbilly:
I’m skeptical of this. Obama spoke clearly and directly – certainly with intelligence but not in any way that flaunted it or rubbed it in.
My assumption, absent evidence to the contrary, is that Fox News and other right-wing media told their audiences that Obama was talking down to them, and they of course believed it.
indycat32
@rikyrah: Also, a lot of white women found him exceedingly sexy!
Lyrebird
Thanks to Anne Laurie for bringing the inspiration.
@Baud: You are a good satirist. Did you write that prescient Onion article about the GOP running a white-hot ball of rage as their nominee for president?
@OzarkHillbilly: and thank you for truth and for that clipping about Elevated Access!
suzanne
@Princess: Oh, I agree. I’m just pointing out that racism is, like, the ice cream in their sundae of resentments, and then he comes along and puts the hot fudge and the nuts and the whipped cream and the cherry on top…..by being better in every possible way.
I am enjoying this metaphor.
I will also note that they resent smart and attractive white women like Gretchen Whitmer, too, because she’s not submitting to her husband, damnit.
To extend the sundae metaphor, racism is one scoop of ice cream, misogyny is another.
eclare
@suzanne: And we all know TFG insisted that he got two scoops of ice cream while everyone else at the dinner just got one.
Cameron
@lowtechcyclist: They already knew, deep down inside, that their lives weren’t going anywhere. They resented the fact that Obama could make that obvious without doing a damn thing other than being himself.
Baud
@suzanne: Yes, I feel the same way. They’re dedicated to controlling government because they think it’s their only way to change the culture to make them likable again (kind of the mirror image of how civil rights laws helped change the culture in the 60s and 70s.). It’s why some of them feign hating corporations — when it comes to mouthing words of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” big corporations are often on our side (even if they are opposed to us on most policy planks).
lowtechcyclist
@Ken:
Biden could choose Obama as his 2024 running mate (reversing the 2008/2012 ticket!) and if Biden resigned in 2025, Obama would be President again. No wingnuttery needed!
(And yes I know about the 12th Amendment. It doesn’t use the word ‘elected.’)
JR
The red shift began in the 2008 primaries, which were really vicious. Remember PUMAs? Hilary Clinton, to her eternal discredit, fanned those flames. But the fire was going to burn anyways, once the myths underpinning racism were dispelled.
AJ of the Mustard Search and Rescue Team
Nicky Frank doesn’t seem remotely in the same league as the other people whose tweet we typically see here.
Am I missing something? Based on his feed I thought he came across as kind of a schmuck.
AJ of the Mustard Search and Rescue Team
Nicky Frank doesn’t seem remotely in the same league as the other people whose tweets we typically see here.
Who is this guy? Am I missing something? Based off his feed I thought he came across as kind of a schmuck.
YY_Sima Qian
There has been a mass casualty event in Seoul, South Korea, overnight, due to stampeding during a Halloween celebration. Sigh…
Sorry to start your morning w/ a downer.
Baud
@JR: PUMAs are largely irrelevant to our political history.
TS
@lowtechcyclist:
I can’t get past the idea that they thought he was uppity.
@suzanne:
I’m sure most of them would like to be their own person – but if they can’t be, why should any other woman have the right.
NotMax
Election day in Brazil today.
Cameron
@TS: “Uppity?” We don’t talk like that anymore – now it’s “aggressive,” said with a wink and a smirk.
Baud
@NotMax:
Bolsonaro recently upped direct payments to poor people to win their votes. We’ll see if it worked.
Baud
@YY_Sima Qian: I already depressed people with that story in the early morning thread. You’re good.
RaflW
Ehh, that Nicky Frank thread can suck it. It wasn’t Obama’s intelligence that drove away Appalachian voters. Maybe his ‘uppity’-ness, but even that is a post-hoc explainer tacked on to make it seem like Obama failed to ‘connect’ with blue collar workers the way other Dems do.
That failure to connect was baked in, I think.
Cacti
@Baud: I think Lula will win the vote. What I’m not sure of is if Bolsonaro will go peacefully on January 1, 2023 if he loses.
Soprano2
@OzarkHillbilly: Well, you see what some of them did with their new “freedom” on Twitter – ran to post nasty racist slurs, hateful anti-Semetic memes, and awful misogynistic and anti-gay stuff. That’s why they’re mad about PC and “wokeness” – because they think it prevents them from doing that.
I actually saw John Goodman in person last night at the big fundraising announcement for MSU, but didn’t get to actually meet him. He kept popping backstage during the event, though – some of the sopranos on the end of the risers were taking selfies with him. 🤣 We were jealous!
Soprano2
Deleted dreaded double post.
NotMax
@Baud
FYI.
RaflW
@suzanne: They know how they want to treat Black people, gays, women not related to them, trans folk. And they’re petrified (because of a decades long effort to instill this fear) that the above ‘coalition’ is in fact going to do all that to them. Even though of course we aren’t going to.*
*Illegal acts of discrimination will be dealt with. But by HR departments, or in a court of law, not with hammers or guns.
gene108
@suzanne:
I think these are reasons Herschel Walker has such strong support. Outside of being fitter than the average voter, Walker is the polar opposite of everything they disliked about Obama.
He’s not smarter than them, his family (families?) isn’t better than theirs, or more successful. He’s the perfect caricature of all the negative stereotypes they have of black people, while spouting enough right-wing talking points to reassure them he’ll faithfully vote for their agenda, if elected.
NotMax
@Cacti
One place (in English) to follow the results.
eclare
@YY_Sima Qian: Yeah, that has been all over the news here. I saw photos of an alley, it was so narrow, if you got trapped there was no escape.
Soprano2
@Cacti: They’re reacting to how the new way people are is uncomfortable to them. They want to force the world back to what they’re comfortable with, and they don’t care how many people they hurt to do it. Shoot, I didn’t know what gay people were until I was a senior in high school, and even then I only had vague notions about it until I was in college, and they don’t even want that. They don’t want most people to even know gay people exist, or could live next door to them. Remember when you couldn’t even acknowledge gay people on TV except to make fun of them? That’s the world they want.
suzanne
@rikyrah: Agreed.
Excellence in others reminds them that they do not have excellence in themselves.
eclare
@Soprano2: Oh wow! I always liked John Goodman, especially him in Raising Arizona.
rikyrah
@gene108:
The Pure-D racism in running that unqualified clown as a Senatorial Candidate😠😠😠
An absolute and utter insult to Black people.
OzarkHillbilly
@Soprano2: I’ve always heard that Goodman is indeed just that: A good man.
Soprano2
@rikyrah: I think it’s an in-your-face insult to black people. They are “proving” that they aren’t prejudiced while elevating a person who embodies all the worst things they say about black people.
suzanne
@rikyrah: Agreed. It’s fucking offensive.
Soprano2
@OzarkHillbilly: He was making funny faces with them! I’ve heard that when he’s here he sometimes just shows up at places, and people here mostly treat him like a regular person. Must be exhausting being a celebrity.
suzanne
@Soprano2: And the reaction to his terrible personal life is even more disgusting:
“I don’t care as long as he does what I tell him to.”
Geminid
@NotMax: Israel holds its 5th election since 2019 on Tuesday, November 1. Their election laws prohibit the release of polls within 3 days of the election. The last polls projected the four-party coalition of former PM Netanyahu winning 60 Knesset seats, one short of the 61 needed to form a government.
EarthWindFire
@indycat32: Raises hand. Still do. Most relatable part of those clips, “you fine.”
IMO, that’s another large part of the racist Obama hate. He’s not only better looking than them; he’s mixed race better looking than them. A white woman voluntarily crossed the color line and gave birth to our first Black president. That’s they’re stealing our women writ large to these people.
Elizabelle
@YY_Sima Qian: I am glad you mentioned it. I’d missed the morning thread, but it bears addressing.
Thinking on some of the narrow alleys in Barcelona. That could happen in a lot of cities. Maybe this tragedy will get safety officials to take crowd size more seriously.
Hear that a lot of vics were young women. They’re all so glad to be out, after a few years of pandemic restrictions.
Tenar Arha
@Cacti: What’s funny is it’s people like him forcing everyone to follow a cramped interpretation of a particular sect of Christianity, along with his clearly self-serving interpretation of the law, that’s all part of what’s guaranteeing that driving people away. 🤔 I suppose it shouldn’t surprise us, they willingly drove their own children, any of the different ones, out & away from their communities.
Princess
Gov Brian Kemp in GA is open to criminalizing contraception in his next term. Contraception. And if he’s saying it, all the GOP governors are. If we had an actual press, they’d be asked about it. “Do you agree with Gov Kemp that legislatures should look at criminalizing contraception?”
https://heartlandsignal.com/2022/09/15/hot-mic-brian-kemp-open-to-banning-contraception/
Princess
@suzanne: For sure. It’s not just white supremacy; it’s white patriarchy.
p.a.
Think of the these people as cells with assorted receptors for access, and the ads, news, tweets etc. of the Rethug power brokers as viruses designed to bind with the receptors. Race is certainly one, but the “they think they’re smarter than me” port might be an even more common access point for generating anger and involvement; goes back at least to ‘pointy-headed’ Adlai Stevenson, and is activated no matter race, religion, status at birth, etc. It’s like the foundation all the rest is piled on.
Was it Asimov who said something like “democracy’s weakness is people thinking “my ignorance is equal to your knowledge.”
The Thin Black Duke
Nicky Frank sounds like a patronizing bigoted white asshole.
mvr
@japa21:
I’m not sure they voted for him in order to see him fail, but I do think that having voted for him once they felt it gave them permission to act on their racism since there vote was “proof” they weren’t racist.
MagdaInBlack
@Princess: Since you’re reading “Heartland Signal” should I assume you’re a WCPT listener too? ( Like me)
Elizabelle
@mvr: It actually could be as simplistic as “he didn’t fix the economy in 4 years. Let’s give it to Romney.”
Don’t overthink it. I know someone who thought that.
Princess
@MagdaInBlack: No — I saw it in a tweet and then clicked through.
OzarkHillbilly
Hence my avoiding it.
RaflW
@rikyrah: Obama fit exactly the narrative that you could ‘bootstrap’ yourself to his position. Something the GOP always said while working like mad to take away the straps. And the boots, if possible.
That he fit their fictional story meant that they could either say “See, we told you it works” and then keep cutting straps, or do what they did, which was loose their utter, racist minds.
kalakal
@NotMax: Thanks for that link
Dorothy A. Winsor
The US cult of celebrity has given us incompetent leaders.
There’s data to show that people mistake confidence for competence. Maybe we mistake celebrity for competence too, thinking someone wouldn’t be famous if they weren’t good at what they already did and maybe at anything else they decide to do too
Miss Bianca
‘BREAKING NEWS: DEMOCRATS HAVE A PLAN” on those chryons might just be the entire sum-up of our broken media machine. That’s not “breaking news”, guys…that’s business as usual for Democrats.
Matt McIrvin
And then the exact same people say Joe Biden is senile because he stutters. I’m not sure you can trust their explanations for why they believe what they do.
Miss Bianca
@rikyrah: Yes. Precisely. Black Excellence makes the White Wing crazy. I didn’t realize just HOW crazy until we had Obama in the White House.
Eunicecycle
@p.a.: Didn’t Adlai have someone say “Smart people are voting for you” and he replied ” Yes but I need a majority?” Maybe it’s apocryphal.
Baud
@Miss Bianca:
In the Baud! administration, the use of “Breaking” for information that is over 12 hours old will be outlawed.
UncleEbeneezer
@lowtechcyclist: Everything sounds condescending to people who are insecure, jealous and resentful. We just saw this dynamic with my wife’s Dad who keeps getting upset because he thinks she’s being condescending when she corrects him on what the doctor’s told them about her Mom’s situation. I know my wife and she is not condescending at all when she corrects me (all the time). He just hates the fact that he can’t remember things great at 80+ years old and doesn’t like a smart woman (who happened to be his daughter) being more mentally and physically competent than he does. She’s supposed to know her place, you know. That’s the sentiment of people who thought Obama was condescending. They believe Black people can only be 1.) ignorant stereotypes or, 2.) condescending jerks who live to make white people feel bad about ourselves.
Al Rennick
While it’s great that Obama is out there, the downside of his public appearances is that it only underscores what an awful and profoundly uninspiring public speaker Biden is.
Biden should be on his knees every day thanking God that Obama chose him to be his running mate because there’s no way in Hell that he could have won the Democratic nomination if he hadn’t been Vice President. Listening to Biden speak is like watching grass grow or paint dry only it’s a million times more boring.
After Election Day, the best thing that Obama can do for the nation is to convince Biden not to seek re-election because Uncle Joe definitely won’t become charismatic in the next two years.
Obviously, rock star politicians like Obama don’t grow on trees, but surely in a nation of over 300 million, Democrats can find someone who can speak more clearly than Biden and effectively prosecute the case against Republicans.
trnc
It’s not because Obama spoke “too” intelligently. It’s because republicans laid the groundwork long before that intelligence is overrated. “Common sense” was by far the most used phrase by republicans for a while, as if they believed that no idea or task should require more than 15 seconds of thought. IOW, willful stupidity.
frosty
@Eunicecycle: I was looking this up and ran across another quote from Adlai: “In America anyone can be President. That’s one of the risks you take.”
If he only knew!!!
UncleEbeneezer
@suzanne: They hate all Dems for the things we support (voting rights, equality etc.) and need to desperately believe that nobody good/smart/cool likes these things. So they focus on how Democrats are the nerdy, wonks or the ugly, Feminists etc. When Dems like Bill Clinton, John Edwards, Obama, Kamala Harris, even to some extent Biden, who are likeable and have some level of coolness, it really breaks their brains. The cool kids at school are supposed to be conservatives, in their fantasy-world. So they desperately try to pretend that is the case with shit like those ridiculous paintings of Trump and pretending that DeSantis has any charisma whatsoever.
MagdaInBlack
@Al Rennick: Oh for fuck sake.
OldDave
@MagdaInBlack: Your response is much more polite than the one I had in mind.
Baud
@MagdaInBlack:
@OldDave:
Elon Musk must have bought Balloon Juice too.
Marmot
@RaflW:
Yes. Absolutely they are, and I don’t think we fully appreciate this, on our side.
The Thin Black Duke
No feeding the troll, please.
WaterGirl
I got to this part of a comment above
and after that all I heard was blah blah blah. oh, and images of CatCake came to mind.
UncleEbeneezer
Just contributed a warm slice of pie to Al :). I would encourage others do so as well.
Al Rennick
@MagdaInBlack:
@OldDave:
Biden’s lack of charisma and inability to inspire, motivate, or energize voters is an inconvenient truth, but if you think we can just trot him out there again in two years and beat Trump or any other Republican, then both of you are out of your fucking minds.
MagdaInBlack
@OldDave: Obama did not speak like this when he was President. If he had he would have been an “angry black man.”
It was Joe that spoke the zingers, as I recall.
Kropacetic
Be that as it may, Biden’s actual work product is excellent. We sometimes forget because the way we most commonly interact with our politicians is consuming speeches, but giving speeches is a very tiny portion of the work they do and ought to be the least consequential.
For the record, I personally find him warm and engaging. Not the smoothest speechifier but he demonstrates command of the subjects he discusses and shows compassion.
MagdaInBlack
@WaterGirl: Ya me too. Don’t want to ruin my Sunday wake’n’bake.
gene108
In response to why people voted for Obama in 2008, and then switched votes in 2012 and 2016, I think y’all need to remember that after the nominating conventions in September McCain and Obama were roughly tied in most polls.
Then Lehman Brothers collapse happened, and by November the economy was spiraling out of control. It became really clear Obama was the level headed adult in the room.
Thats when Obama really started to separate from McCain.
As for why people didn’t vote for him again in 2012, probably covers a lot of reasons from the slow pace of the recovery* (I know a couple of regular Democratic voters who thought about not voting in 2012 because of this), to having their white racial grievances flamed by Fox News.
*(1) Romney was unlikable enough they decided they had to vote against him, and (2) without discovering Balloon-Juice early in Obama’s first term, I have no idea how I would have mentally faired against the right-wing agitprop and MSM’s slanted news coverage framing everything in a pro-Republican manner, which wasn’t something many people had to counter the “narrative” at the time.
Jackie
Watching President Obama’s rally speeches yesterday compelled me to watch The Way I See It for probably the fourth time!
It’s the documentary by Pete Souza, who was the Chief Official White House Photographer to both President Obama and President Reagan. It’s SOOO GOOD! There’s a little bit about his photos of Reagan at the beginning – all staged photo ops like TFG insisted his photos be – but Sousa’s photos of the Obamas were 90% candid and spontaneous.
I have it recorded, but I think it can be found on YouTube. You will laugh, cry, and laugh some more – and then be saddened by what happened to America afterwards.
Baud
@gene108:
Balloon Juice saves souls.
I sometimes wonder how close I came to ending up …. differently.
WaterGirl
@MagdaInBlack: As someone said here about the Obama clip yesterday… no anger translator needed!
patrick II
It is all variations on a theme. Every Democrat I have Sen sp
Alison Rose
My stupid internet went out a little after 6 last night and decided to finally start working again at some random point in the night.
In other words, good morning, all.
I love Obama.
Baud
@Alison Rose:
Good morning.
espierce
@Al Rennick: Elmo, that you?
gene108
@Al Rennick:
Biden’s likable.
Biden’s lack of polish and personal problems, in some ways, make him more approachable for many people than Obama can be.
Friends and families of addicts know he personally knows something of their problems. Parents who lost young children or adult children know he’s been where they are. Kids who stutter see a President who was once like them.
Plus, Republican politicians no longer try to be likable. They are humorless mean spirited people. This does not have a broad national appeal.
oatler
ABC: Raddatz interviews Rick Scott today, who reacts to the Pelosi assault by saying we need to come together, then Martha changes the subject. When asked about the quantity of election-deniers currently running, Rick responded with election-denier folderol.
Frank Wilhoit
My memory of 2008 — 2016 is that Obama sat in his office and never said a split word to anybody. I remember thinking that no President had ever made less use of the “bully pulpit”. I don’t ever remember seeing anything like this Obama before. I wish I had.
Citizen Alan
@lowtechcyclist: He would not have needed to flaunt it or rub it in. Merely using a few big words that they don’t understand is enough to trigger feelings of deep seated insecurity and anger in a certain class of white person.
zhena gogolia
@Frank Wilhoit: Allowing for the fact that I don’t know what a “split word” is, I think you have some memory problems.
Cough . . . ACA . . . cough
Omnes Omnibus
@suzanne:
Look at photos of the segregationists’ faces back then and tell me it wasn’t personal to them.
MagdaInBlack
@Citizen Alan: Yes. It goes something like ” Look at you showin’ off yer fancy college education. I didn’t go to college, I had to work.” Blah blah etc.
Omnes Omnibus
@Cacti: I agree with you on both points.
Josie
@Omnes Omnibus:
I was around for all that, and I can testify that it was very personal and very hateful.
Another Scott
@lowtechcyclist: +1
Obama won twice.
2016 was much more about Hillary and misogyny than Obama, IMO. My best friend from high school was with TFG and even went out to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge – he went insane politically. It was “ABC” for him – “Anybody But Clinton”.
☹️
YMMV.
Cheers,
Scott.
Omnes Omnibus
Frank and Al. Looks like the Nader/Sanders/Stein voters arrived.
Suzanne
@UncleEbeneezer:
Yes this. There is no political solution for their psychodrama. Even if they succeeded in restoring Trump to the presidency and controlling the House and Senate, they will still be insecure, jealous, and resentful.
The Thin Black Duke
Unfortunately, too many of our alleged “allies” on the dirtbag Left think that being an eloquent and passionate speaker is all a politician needs to do to Get Things Done. For example, how many times has St. Bernie’s mouth wrote checks that his performative ass never cashed?
cain
@suzanne: let’s go with the original – Hillary Clinton.. they have hated her since the beginning
eclare
@Jackie: That looks really good, thanks!
gwangung
@The Thin Black Duke: Too many folks on the left think having good policy is all a politician needs, totally ignoring the admin chops, the ability to pick good people and the orientation towards details they also need.
Aussie Sheila
@Al Rennick: You’re kidding!
He is a proven election winner and has delivered very competent government and far better policies than I ever thought he would.
A little less ‘charisma’ seeking, and more attention to actual policies and governing chops might assist in avoiding trump type figures in future.
just saying.
moonbat
@OzarkHillbilly: This.
His argument, boiled down, is that a black man shouldn’t run for national office because white people’s fee-fees get hurt when they see a successful black man. I guess he’s trying to qualify as the soft, woke racist commentator. A very niche market.
Miss Bianca
@Al Rennick: Oh, fuck off with that anti-Biden bullshit.
@Aussie Sheila: My God, I actually feel like saying “Hear, hear” to a post of yours for a change. This is a white stone day indeed!
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@suzanne:
They are though. Rural America is dying. Their kids leave and don’t want to come back. Some of them absolutely reject the faith and culture of their parents. Those people may have the NY Times frequently safaring out to get their perspective, but late-night comics mock them constantly. Not that long ago it was perfectly fine to express racist, misogynist, and homophobic views. Now (if they commute to a city for work) it could get them fired and make it hard to find new employment. They are losing the culture war badly and are now going all in to force all the genies back in the bottles.
WaterGirl
Well, the trolls have done pretty well this morning, all things considered. Instead of talking about Barack Obama and the heat that he brought, we are re-litigating past elections and whether Biden is a great president or a loser.
When will we ever learn?
schrodingers_cat
@rikyrah: Accurate. Many white people even the ones who call themselves liberal are okay with non-white folks being their subordinates or even their equal but can’t stomach the idea of someone not white who is actually better than they are at a given endeavor. When they can’t condescend to you they don’t like you as much. True also about many insecure men (of any color) with respect to women.
Then the fangs come out.
Many people are invested in preserving existing hierarchies.
The Thin Black Duke
@WaterGirl: As I’ve said too many times before, “You’re not obligated to join an argument you’re invited to.” Remember the energy vampire in What We Do In The Shadows ?
Suzanne
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony:
Then they can use that as an occasion for self-reflection.
StringOnAStick
@UncleEbeneezer: The dynamic you describe between your wife and her dad is every year since I became an adult with my dad. He hates it that I’m more widely read and educated than he is, and yes, of course he’s a RW Bircher from way back. They asked me once 8 years ago to come over (I lived 4 hours away then) and help with their 1 acre yard; after 4 days at 12 hours per of extremely hard work, he threw me out of their house for telling them they needed to hire yard work help because my knees could no longer do it.
The real issue is he knows I’m a liberal and FOX keeps him in a constant state of rage. He’s pissed that he’s old and his body is failing but what he’s most pissed off about is he can’t order anyone around and force them to believe what he believes. Like every other RW asshole out there. You are so right about their core value of resentment.
Jackie
OT FYI: Kemp and Stacey final debate is tonight. The Libertarian candidate was disqualified due to lack of poll percentages.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Suzanne:
I think we both know how those moments go. They may briefly question the idea that they could be wrong about some things, then leap to ‘College and liberal America have brainwashed and destroyed my child despite my best efforts to raise them right.’
James E Powell
@RaflW:
Agreed. And I don’t get what Nicky Frank’s point is. Should Obama have spoken like a stupid person? George W Bush did that to be more “authentic” & Louisiana senator Kennedy speaks with a strong accent he didn’t use to have. But I don’t think that works for a Democrat.
Wyatt Salamanca
After buying Twitter, Elon Musk didn’t waste any time reminding everyone what a huge dick he is:
h/t https://www.mediaite.com/news/non-hellscape-owner-elon-musk-spreads-outrageous-conspiracy-theory-on-paul-pelosi-attack-in-response-to-hillary-clinton-tweet/
WaterGirl
@Jackie: Do you happen to know the start time for the debate?
UncleEbeneezer
@The Thin Black Duke: Also too, they think that voters: 1.) pay close attention to policy and 2.) credit/reward legislative achievements. None of these (along with giving fiery speeches) are One Weird Trick determinants of how people vote (or don’t vote), which sucks because if they were, Dems would dominate every election. The sad and frustrating truth is that people vote for a complex combination of: policy, values, emotion, environment and identity and sometimes for no clear reason at all.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@StringOnAStick: Wow. That sounds like my mother-in-law.
Jackie
@WaterGirl: 7:00 ET
https://www.savannahnow.com/story/news/politics/elections/2022/10/29/brian-kemp-stacey-abrams-race-how-watch-georgia-governor-debate/10622809002/
Suzanne
@StringOnAStick:
My FIL is not conservative at all, but he didn’t go to college and he has a bit of that tendency toward conspiracy stuff. Sits on the computer for hours and falls down rabbit holes. He was going on and on once to Mr. Suzanne about the etymology of the word “wheel”, in this tone like it would totally uncrack the whole code, man! Anyway, Mr. Suzanne, who has a degree in linguistics, told him that what he was saying wasn’t correct and told him the actual history. My FIL actually said, “I know what you think you know”. The resentment is real.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
This
Geminid
@Another Scott: I see that your state Senator Scott Surovell is campaigning with Abigail Spanberger in Woodbridge today. That’s at the opposite corner of the 7th CD from me, in the I-95 corridor where 60-70% of the voters live.
It’s good that Spanberger has Surovell campaigning with her; she’s new to those voters.
StringOnAStick
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: You have my sympathies!
Baud
@Wyatt Salamanca:
Musk is his own engagement algorithm.
Al Rennick
@Omnes Omnibus:
I supported Kirsten Gillibrand over Biden in the primary campaign, but don’t let facts get in your way.
If I think Biden is too old for the job, I’d never support Sanders who’s even older.
Why the Hell does every reader on this blog assume any critic of Biden is a Sanders supporter?
UncleEbeneezer
@StringOnAStick: Sounds like MY Dad, who is an old-school Buckley/Reaganite. Funny thing is, in some areas he would be totally willing to follow my lead on stuff (cooking, tennis techniques- I coach, music- I play multiple instruments) but when it comes to how we evaluate the world, he is incapable of admitting that I actually pay way more attention to politics and policy. The irony is that as an engineer, he always loved science and sparked my own interest in science, but his devotion to Conservatism and decades of listening to Rush Limbaugh etc., turned him into someone who (you’ll never guess this part………) denies Global Warming and now refuses to get vaccinated for Covid-19. We obviously can’t discuss politics in any way.
Geminid
@James E Powell: I’m not sure why people are even talking about Appalachian voters. These midterms will largely be won or lost in suburban districts.
And reporters who want to do post mortems would do well to talk to people at a Starbucks, not a small town diner.
Geminid
@Al Rennick: Are you making fun of our algorithms?
MomSense
@gene108:
I think that senate race is going to give us the new crazification factor and I think it has increased.
StringOnAStick
@UncleEbeneezer: Even innocent discussions of weather set off my dad the global warming denier, so we only communicate by email now. At least he has respect for some of your hobbies and skills; mine takes every thing where I am more skilled than he is as a personal insult. I’m widely read and better educated so he has lots to get pissy about. Once my husband and I performed some songs for him; he asked when I had voice lessons and when I told him I never have, he worked his way into being disgusted because it was one more thing where I developed a skill or competence that he could be resentful about.
My dad is an engineer too, incapable of reading a graph about global warming.
Another Scott
@Al Rennick: I remember seeing Gillibrand give a speech in person at a big rally at the Mall (don’t recall the occasion – maybe some anniversary of the March on Washington?). Let’s just say that she’s not great in such events, herself. I wouldn’t use that as a metric. Biden is fine.
As someone above said, speechifying is a tiny part of being a good politician.
I occasionally think back on my younger phase when I enjoyed reading Any Rand. I subsequently, finally, learned that politics isn’t about some ubermench picking “objective” solutions and giving inspiring speeches and leading us all to a glorious future of his choice (and those who oppose him are weak looters). Politics is about finding solutions to common problems that we can’t solve as individuals. It will always, always, always, involve compromise and less than half loafs and imperfect leaders when it’s done well. When it’s done badly, it can lead to decades of reversals…
Cheers,
Scott.
MisterDancer
@Wyatt Salamanca: I’m gonna be petty here.
People seriously looked at my post about Twitter yesterday, and in a couple of cases decided my detailed case on why I was leaving was me “over-reacting”.
And now, the owner of Twitter is — less than two days after purchase — pushing an ugly and false Conspiracy directly at a female politician on the platform he now owns. A platform that is “mainstream”.
A real boundary around this kind of crap, has been crossed. And we’re all going to pay for it.
bjacques
As an engineering graduate who regularly hangs out on an alumni Facebook group (something the Immp can look forward to in a few years), boy howdy, can I tell you that it’s got its fair share of Trumpers. (Most are my vintage *gulp*.) A college degree just gives you wider scope for stupidity. Look at Ted Cruz (Harvard Law) and Oath Keeper Grand Poobah Stewart Rhoades (Yale Law?).
Sadly, the EU has its red states too—Hungary being the worst. The best and brightest go west while the rest keep voting for charlatans like Orbán. I have nothing but admiration and sympathy for those who stay and try to change things. It’s a real uphill battle.
StringOnAStick
@Suzanne: The resentment about college education is something the RW really harps on. My dad was a top of his class engineering graduate, super high score on the PE exam that he barely had time to study for with 4 kids and a fulltime job, but resents anyone better educated or informed than he is if they dare not to agree with his RW Bircher POV on anything. As a RW Bircher, everything is political, down to the silliest thing.
At least he got his Covid vaccines and that’s because he’s feeling his mortality and is afraid of dying, likely because he spent so much time being all of the “holics” ( alco and work) that he never really lived, except he feels the most alive when dominating someone else. Classic authoritarian personality.
Eunicecycle
@frosty: that’s great, too!
Frank Wilhoit
@zhena gogolia: I didn’t say he didn’t accomplish anything. I said he wasn’t out beating the drum, every day. I would have liked for him to do [much more of] that. Maybe it would have made an actual difference, maybe not.
MomSense
@MisterDancer:
I missed your post yesterday, but I don’t think you were exaggerating. Twitter is going to get super ugly and then it is going to go under. Elon is going to lose a ton of 💰 Ultimately separating Elon from his money will be a good thing.
Suzanne
@StringOnAStick: My FIL is a total attention monster. Always had to be the center of attention, always wants someone to laugh at his jokes, always turns conversations to what he wants to talk about, which is almost always him trying to tell you something you don’t know (nor care about). He’ll just start talking louder than whomever is talking if he feels like it. It’s almost amazing to see it in action. It’s bizarre. He can have no relationship with someone unless he can have the upper hand in some way. Always wants to make sure you know that he is smarter, funnier, more experienced, whatever.
StringOnAStick
@Suzanne: Wow, sounds very, very familiar. My dad is sure he’s the most clever guy in the room, and when I worked at the same company as him (as a college student, so low risk) it was obvious he was roundly hated by all but a very few who were just like him. He expected everyone to put The JOB above everything else in their lives, including their families and most of them refused so he was a jerk to them because of it.
Another Scott
Meanwhile, Liz Truss shows true inspiring leadership. I’m sure we all agree that we could learn a lot from her…
(via dick_nixon)
Cheers,
Scott.
EarthWindFire
@Suzanne: We know they’ll be resentful in victory because they were. The 2016-18 GOP was the epitome of sore winner. Not only were we supposed to accept their win, we were supposed to like it, show them unearned respect, and thank them for saving us from ourselves.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
The Black guy lost support with southern, non-college white voters? Yes, it must have been his professorialness. I would like to see more keen insights from this person.
(I’m sure that point has been made, I just felt compelled to make it again, dead thread, et cetera)
Suzanne
@StringOnAStick: I think that desire for social hierarchy is, like, the promise of patriarchy. Men might not get to own a company or be a boss…..but they were at least promised that they would get to be the leaders of their families. And some men are just so pissed if women are better than they are at anything, or even if they aren’t impressed.
I am convinced that this is why the right wing can’t live and let live. Like, why do they care if I don’t like their town or their church or the same beer they like or I don’t care about their truck? Well, because the social order demands that they be the object of envy and admiration. If I don’t think they’re special or better, then what’s the point?
Baud
@Another Scott:
She might have been more popular if she had leaned into her anti-mayo stance.
MomSense
@EarthWindFire:
It’s a movement based on grievance. Think about the people you’ve interacted with who are trumpers. They’ve been telling the same bullshit stories for decades. Illegals are getting disability, welfare cheats, etc. Now they’ve added all their fears about “woke” which is code for Black Lives Matter, feminism and LGBTQ+ especially the T. All of these people and issues they are convinced threaten what they have and they think all of these people are helped unfairly. It’s all grievance fueled by their racism, misogyny, ignorance, and personal and professional challenges. They cannot take responsibility for their problems. It’s always someone else.
BenCisco 🇺🇸🎖️🖥️♦️
@The Thin Black Duke: I’ll say here what I did there:
Also:
These apologists and their “we should consider the feelings of people who want to burn the country down because they’re not running it” is SICKENING.
scav
Coming to this thread late, it sure reads like the beating core of incel culture hasn’t much really to do about the lack of sex, given how many old fathers are sporting all the behaviors.
AnonPhenom
@Bruce K in ATH-GR:
Hey! You guys wanna see Republicans come out in *favor* of SCOTUS reforms (term limits, mandatory retirement ages, etc..)?
Are you really gonna make me say it?
MomSense
@BenCisco 🇺🇸🎖️🖥️♦️:
Fuck em.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@Baud: yes, but replaced with what? For example, mustard. Isn’t there a danger of appearing Francophile? Ketchup? Too American. What then?
BenCisco 🇺🇸🎖️🖥️♦️
@MomSense: Damned straight!
StringOnAStick
@Suzanne: That’s an insightful assessment, well thought out.
Another Scott
@Geminid: Surovell is an amazing workhorse. I hope that his efforts pay off in her victory.
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
StringOnAStick
@scav: Good point. Toxic masculinity has always been toxic, and up until recently it was also normative. That’s the world my dad and Suzanne’s FIL miss, and for them it is combined with also experiencing losing personal power because they are getting old, which puts them lower on the pile thanks to toxic masculinity. Once again, their beliefs are hurting them.
brantl
@Al Rennick: You realky are an ass, if you can’t realize that Joe’s speech content way outweighs the delivery. Take a reading comprehension class, FFS.
Another Scott
Mission accomplished, I guess. It’s what they do.
“What do you want me to say? Stand down?? Ok Proud Boys, stand back and stand by. Happy now??”
It’s long been clear where they both stand, believe them the first time…
Grr…,
Scott.
rikyrah
Tim Wise (@timjacobwise) tweeted at 7:19 PM on Fri, Oct 28, 2022:
Right-wingers insisted that once Elon took over they’d be able to speak their mind. Finally, the MAGA message can be heard!
And then as soon as they were “freed” to do this, they started screaming the n-word and bashing Jews.
Lesson: hate IS the MAGA message. It always was.
(https://twitter.com/timjacobwise/status/1586150802946547712?s=02)
J R in WV
@MagdaInBlack:
I’ve got that guy in the pie safe, so when you replied to him you were a cute sack of sea-lion chow!
Jackie
This post started off with Hope and Positivity.
Uncle Cosmo
@p.a.: Just FTR the go-to anti-Adlai slur wasn’t “pointy-headed” but in fact almost the geometrical opposite: egghead.
Also FTR, the US WWC idealizes the 1950s (and dearly wants them back) because folks like them (specifically, their ancestors) were by & large able to put together quite a comfortable existence without having to make much use of their brains. Guys without even a HS diploma got factory jobs, bought houses and new cars, went on vacation every year, sent their kids to college, and retired on solid pensions. In fact it was a six-sigma outlier of an era, and only happened because unions were strong, businessmen were scared spitless of the Great Depression returning, every other industrial nation on the planet was digging itself out of the rubble, and the US economy functioned pretty much as a closed economic system. It could not possibly happen again – but that’s what they think they’re entitled to.
Uncle Cosmo
@Al Rennick: You are cordially invited to fuck the hell off, arsehole. Whoever the fuck you are, or think you are.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@StringOnAStick: And you mine.
Citizen Alan
@James E Powell: If Obama spoke like a stupid person, he would not have risen to be a viable presidential candidate. They hated him for being black, but more than that, they hated him for demonstrating that a black man could be better than them socially and intellectually.
WaterGirl
@Jackie: Thank you!
WaterGirl
@MomSense: it’s the crazification PLUS partisan divide.
Would I, at this point, vote for a crazy Democrat, or a mentally ill Democrat, over a republican?
Yes, I would. And then I’d assume we would deal with that problem after the election.
mvr
@Elizabelle:
Well, I’m actually speculating on the basis of people I know.