Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

In my day, never was longer.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

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

“Alexa, change the president.”

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Be a wild strawberry.

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

The lights are all blinking red.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

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Seattle Peeps, Here’s a Post So You Can Get this Meetup Thing Figured Out

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And totally open thread.

I’ve worked 11.5 hours today and I’m going to bed.

update: I just noticed the fundraising thermometer has risen a bit.  If anyone has donated today for the match, please send me email so I can make sure you’re matched.

I’ll have another fundraising post up in the morning, so you can ‘fess up there, if you prefer.  I’d like to get this one finished off before the convention starts on Monday!

 

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War for Ukraine Day 905: As the Clock Strikes Twelve the Bombardments Resume

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Two quick housekeeping notes: First, Rosie is still doing amazing. Her next treatment is Monday. Sometime this week I’m going to be putting in a lower/shorter bed frame to make it easier for her to get on and off the bed. A year ago, as some of you may recall, I bought a new mattress, which I love. But it’s about three or four inches higher than the old one. So this will take the height back down to what it was a year ago.

Second, I’m still fried, though I did get a lovely four hour nap this afternoon. Minus the fifteen minutes where both legs cramped. That said, I’m going to keep this on the briefer side tonight as I want to go and crash.

As we’ve noted a couple of times, as soon as the clock strikes twelve in Ukraine each night, the bombardments commence.

Most nights these assaults use Iranian Shahed drones. But every few nights the Russians switch over to their cruise missiles and glide bombs. This is a strategy of terror. Specifically, to stress the Ukrainians out. To interrupt and disrupt sleep patterns. To create adrenaline overload. All in order to destroy their social resilience.

Absolutely THE WORST national security team that could be assembled by a Democratic president.

No, no they have not. It does not enter into their mental calculus at all. To quote former Shin Bet Director Avraham Shalom, “raq taktik, ayn strategik.” In English: “only tactics, no strategy.”

For want of a nail!!!!

Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.

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She is an Angel in a Polyester Uniform

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One of the fun things about the last couple of weeks is the absolute inability of the biggest shit talking mudslingers in politics to lay a hand on either Harris or Walz. Let’s start with Harris — do they have anything but the “is she really black?” racist nonsense? If they do, I haven’t seen it.

Also, she’s authentically middle class, and we know that because she worked at McDonald’s when she was young. Every middle-class kid of her generation can relate to a shitty high school fast food job (I certainly can). If you want to be humbled, do that job for a few days. (It’s also a good way to keep yourself from uttering the stupidest sentence that people who haven’t done a restaurant job will speak: “Wouldn’t it be great to open a restaurant?” No, it really wouldn’t. It’s hard, demanding work, and most restaurants fail in the first year.)

As for Walz, again, nonsense on stilts is all that we’ve heard. Let’s take this taco crisis. Here’s their massive gotcha: even though Walz said that black pepper is about as spicy as it gets for Minnesotans, and he mentioned making “white guy tacos,” Walz posted a taco recipe that actually had some spice.

First, tell me you’ve never been to rural Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota or Nebraska, without saying it. The native cuisine there is absolutely bland. Cream of mushroom features prominently in every hot dish. You’ll never walk into a regular restaurant and get anything that’s the least bit spicy. (Of course, nowadays there are Mexican restaurants everywhere, since Mexican laborers are indispensable to the ag economy, even though the Trump-voting rural folks are living in denial about that.)

Second, Here’s the recipe. It features ground turkey because Minnesota is the #1 turkey producer in the nation, and Walz is pushing that. And, yes, it calls for a jar of medium taco sauce, a can of diced chiles (mild) and an unspecified amount of chili powder. But it also calls for a pound of turkey, 16 oz of sour cream and a bag of tater tots. You could dump a quarter cup of chili powder into that mess and barely taste it. This is the epitome of a dish that a rural Minnesotan would say “has a little kick” and everyone else would say is quite bland. And, trust me, they’d put an infinitesimal amount of chili powder in it.

In closing, watching these Trumpist fuckers sputter has been just 100% entertainment, no notes. They’re careening between “let’s talk about the issues” whenever they’re called weird, and “you’re the real weirdos” whenever Project 2025 is mentioned. It’s been a great ride and I don’t see an end to it anytime soon.

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Foreign Affairs Open Thread: Putin on the Fritz

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Putin - STOCKPILE

(Walt Handelsman via GoComics.com)

 

But seriously… Russian immigrant Julia Ioffe, at Puck this Tuesday, on “Ukraine’s Guns of August“:

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What Does it Mean to Fight?

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What Does it Mean to Try? 1What Does it Mean to Try?

KamalaHQ is hammering Trump’s Medal of Honor comments yesterday at his New Jersey ex-wife burial ground and golf club, so I assume the Harris campaign thinks those remarks are pretty damaging.  Trump’s comments also clearly show that attacks on Walz’ military record have zero credibility from the Republican ticket, but I don’t think they were gaining much traction anyway, since they seem to have been replaced by false anguish over Kamala making fun of Walz’ white guy tacos.  (Again proving that the sensitivity of the white male to even the slightest of slights can never be overstated.)

Kamala’s comms team is very good, but Harris and Walz are also experiencing a moment where their excitement is feeding the public’s excitement, and the public excitement is feeding back into their excitement and energy.  This is where every campaign wants to be, a sweet spot where their momentum seems like it will never end.

Of course, this is rare:  a campaign can be doing everything right, yet they’re faced with an uninterested public.  Or, the campaign might have a message that would interest the public, but perhaps the candidate can’t deliver it for a number of reasons like age, poor retail political skills, etc.  That’s what I thought about when I saw this (from a Fake LBJ account that is written by some history profs at some university in Texas):

What Does it Mean to Try? 2What Does it Mean to Try? 3

What Does it Mean to Try? 4

I haven’t been paying close attention to Allred’s campaign, but let’s assume that fake LBJ is right:  Cruz is weaker than ever, and the Allred campaign is following a pretty worn out playbook.  The cause isn’t just money — they’ve raised $37 million to Cruz’ $57 million, and even though the concept of “enough” in political fundraising is hard to gauge, $37 mil is enough to run a decent campaign anywhere.  So if it isn’t money, is it candidate? Is it an unreceptive public?  Is it that Democrats often run very conservative campaigns in general?  I mean, whatever you want to say about Beto, the guy knew how to fight.

I’m wondering about this because the Harris campaign is doing something special and rare.  If Democrats are going to win in Texas, or Florida, or some of the other reddish-purple states that always seem to elude our grasp, we need to be able to replicate some of what’s led to this moment for the Harris/Walz campaign.

(Also, as usual, if there are Texans or people who know Texas politics reading this, tell me what I’ve missed about Allredl)

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UPDATE: Kamala Harris Live: Raleigh, NC Rally and Economic Proposals

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UPDATE: See I go for a walk and they change the times on me. It looks like the Harris video time was incorrect. So the PBS  feed is probably of the rally, too. Which is fun, btw, because, unlike the Harris feed, they show all the opening speakers and we get to hear the DJ

Hey, let me know if you guys want more of these. Watergirl and I’ve been talking about how best to keep posting these. I’m happy to do it when I’m around and I know she’s keeping an eye on events, too.

But if they’re of no interest or feel repetitive, no need to coordinate the posts.

This is scheduled to begin in 20 minutes.

 

PBS has the feed for her Economic speech later today (2:45 EDT, 11:45 PDT):

I’m off to walk the dogs, so hopefully this will go off without a hitch (bwhahahahaha)

Otherwise, totally open thread

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Populist Centrist What?

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The Harris campaign has released their policy proposals [gift link]:

The most striking proposals were for the elimination of medical debt for millions of Americans; the “first-ever” ban on price gouging for groceries and food; a cap on prescription drug costs; a $25,000 subsidy for first-time home buyers; and a child tax credit that would provide $6,000 per child to families for the first year of a baby’s life.

[…] Perhaps Harris’s most surprising policy announcement was her plan to ban “price gouging” in grocery and food prices. While details were sparse, the measure would include authorizing the Federal Trade Commission to impose large fines on grocery stores that impose “excessive” price hikes on customers, her campaign said.

When I was visiting family in the Dakotas last month, there were no end to the complaints that the small grocers in our small town were gouging, and they were.  (Those complaining the loudest were, of course, the ones that were going to vote for Trump the hardest.)

…Harris endorsed a slew of measures to expand housing supply — including an expansion of tax credits to incentivize housing construction — but also a new $25,000 in federal down-payment assistance to more than 1 million first-time home buyers…

…Harris also pledged to work with states to cancel medical debt for millions of Americans, building on one of her signature policy issues as vice president. That effort could involve using federal funds to buy and forgive outstanding medical debt from health providers….

…Other policies endorsed by Harris in her five-page policy document included expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit for lower-wage workers by up to $1,500, as well as extending subsidies for Americans on the Affordable Care Act exchanges.

Anyway, this is all good stuff, and I’m looking forward to the whole list after Harris’ speech in North Carolina today.  But god damn are the brains of the people writing this story broken:

Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday unveiled an aggressively populist economic agenda, providing the most detailed vision yet of her governing priorities since becoming the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee…

In the weeks leading up to this announcement, at least two outside advisers privately suggested to the Harris campaign that she signal a move to the center by backing income tax cuts for middle-class households or a tax break for small businesses, according to the people aware of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private conversations…

“The days of pivoting to the center to win on economics are over, even though there are good economic reasons to do so, especially on fiscal policy,” said Bill Galston, a former Clinton policy aide.

Why are tax cuts for the middle-class “centrist” while caps on prescription drugs, elimination of medical debt, and tax credits for children “populist”?  Middle-class folks pay for prescription drugs, often have medical debt, and they do have children.  Middle-class 20-30 somethings can’t afford housing, and their parents really care about this issue.  A policy is not “populist” simply because a poor person could benefit from it.

How the hell is this framing adding anything to our comprehension of Harris’ economic policies?  The simple fact is that it isn’t, that broken DC brains think it matters whether some specific policy is “centrist” or not, and nobody else actually cares.

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