Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

You cannot shame the shameless.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

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

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Republicans do not pay their debts.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

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

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

“Squeaker” McCarthy

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

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

Americans barely caring about Afghanistan is so last month.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

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2024 Elections

Saturday Morning Open Thread: One Step At A Time

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Blessed are those who expect little, for they are seldom disappointed:

… As officials with a proven track-record — who also have considerable experience in communicating with each other — are in charge of setting the scene for the meeting, we can safely assume that there will be no annoying communication failures or emotional outbursts that could get in the way of a level-headed discussion in Geneva…

Even a cursory list of the problems facing the U.S.–Russia relations reveals just how overwhelming and difficult the agenda of the upcoming summit is likely to be. The conversation in Geneva will inevitably be extremely specific. At times, it will be tough and not necessarily pleasant for either side.

Both Biden and Putin knew this coming in and agreed to the meeting anyway, hoping it would be a success — and the two sides need it to be a success, for many reasons. Therefore, despite all the difficulties, there is every reason to wait for news from Geneva with hope and reasonable optimism.

And if you think that was an ugly convo…

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Late Night Easy Targets Open Thread

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The hard-working staff here at Spoiler Alerts has not been a fan of former secretary of state Mike Pompeo for quite some time. He was such a bad diplomat that he managed to dislodge Rex Tillerson for the title of Worst Secretary of State Ever. His displays of Tartuffery while in office were legion. He left Foggy Bottom with little to show for his nearly three years of service beyond leaving the State Department in pretty bad shape.

Despite all his bad behavior, however, I confess to feeling a small measure of pity for the man. Mike Pompeo is unloved by so many people. One U.S. ambassador described Pompeo to the New Yorker’s Susan Glasser as “like a heat-seeking missile for Trump’s ass.” Last year his hometown newspaper begged him to stop returning to Kansas during his time as secretary of state because his ambitious politicking was so unseemly. His 2021 efforts to go viral on social media have not worked out as planned. And after the latest inspector general report of Pompeo’s behavior as secretary of state, it is increasingly clear that this man has no real friends…

Here is the real tell: based on everything that has been reported, can anyone imagine Mike or Susan Pompeo going to a friend’s house on the weekend to help stuff and address envelopes? Take care of a friend’s pet? Pick someone up from the airport? I have had to read and write about Mike Pompeo for four years now. I have met him once. What comes through loud and clear is that he is someone who views public service primarily as a way to promote himself and live off the taxpayer’s largesse…

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Elections Have Consequences Open Thread: And There Was Much Rejoicing…

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… At least in this household:

… Senior party leaders and Democratic National Committee members are privately exploring the idea of pushing South Carolina and Nevada to the front of the primary election schedule, as well as the possibility of multiple states holding the first nominating contest on the same day…

“I don’t think it’s appropriate to have those two states to set the tone. It’s really a false premise that if you do well in Iowa and New Hampshire you’re going to do well across the country. That was proven wrong with Joe Biden,” Reid said in an interview. “There’s no diversity in Iowa. There’s certainly no diversity in New Hampshire.”

Interviews with more than a dozen Democratic leaders, DNC members and state party officials reveal that intense behind-the-scenes jockeying is already underway, with conversations ranging from reconfiguring the early state order to moving up Southern or Rust Belt states in the timeline…

The outline of the 2024 presidential nominating process is coming under scrutiny in part because of Iowa’s botched 2020 caucuses, which failed to deliver a clear winner at a time when the Democratic Party’s increasing diversity focused attention on the state’s predominantly white electorate. Elevating South Carolina’s role would pay homage to a changing electoral map, where Southern voters — including in Georgia — stepped up to support Biden in the general election.

Similar political and demographic considerations are at play in Nevada, where Reid has advocated ending caucuses altogether and the state Legislature is considering a proposal to do so…

Even if all that can be accomplished for the 2024 primaries is killing caucuses in favor of primaries, that’s a genuine win for representative democracy, IMO.

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2024 Open Thread: Primary Considerations

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Nope, sorry, not Too Soon:

… The Democratic-controlled Nevada Legislature took a step closer toward that goal this week, introducing a bill that would eliminate the state’s caucus process and replace it with a primary to be held in late January of presidential election years. The bill is likely to sail to approval and be signed by Gov. Steve Sisolak, a Democrat. But the Democratic National Committee will determine whether Iowa (which holds caucuses), New Hampshire (which holds primaries) or Nevada goes first (or another state!) — a decision that is not likely to come for another year and will surely need the approval of President Biden, who lost Nevada to Senator Bernie Sanders in 2020.

The Times recently spoke by phone to Mr. Reid about his desire to change the calendar and make Nevada the first in the nation to vote in the presidential election. The interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

Let’s start with the basic question: What is the case for Nevada going first?

Well, if you look at Iowa and New Hampshire and you look at how Joe Biden did in those two states — he took fourth and fifth in those two states. Iowa and New Hampshire are not representative of the country. There’s no diversity. So it’s unfair, in my opinion, to have those as the first two primary states because it really gives the wrong impression of what the country is all about.

I’m also convinced the caucus system is as close to worthless as anything can be. Caucuses are unfair. The Democratic Party should get rid of all of them. They’re just not fair…

Do you have any commitments from Democratic officials outside of Nevada or are you trying to get them?

Well, I’ve talked to Tom Perez lots of times when he was chairman, so he knows how I feel. But I have no commitments, that’s not anything that I’ve done. I’m just trying to spark a dialogue that I think is really important now rather than last minute…

Can you speak a bit about what difference it makes in general for who goes first? Like if you’re somebody who’s not paying attention to politics in January of an election year, why should you care who goes first?

I believe that it focuses attention on the election that’s upcoming. And I think it’s important that those states represent what’s happening within the Democratic Party around the country…

Both Harry Reid and (I presume) Chuck Grassley are well aware that they may not be around in 2024, but Reid hasn’t reduced himself to a placeholder for ambitious staffers:

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