I think Joe engineered this from Jump Street. The debate at the end of June was just a crazy thing to do and I suspect though we may never know, That Joe's debate performance was the best acting we'll ever see anybody do. Look at where we ended up. A week ago it was all gloom and doom and aren't we fucked we are so fucked. Now, Dems are all " It will be so much fun to watch Kamala kick ass - they treated Papaw like shit and now They. Must. Pay..
Joe leaves a hero. A talented, deserving black woman has a really good chance of becoming the president.
I don't think she'll need to kick him in the balls. A quick head fake in his direction and Donnie shits his pants.
I was thinking this morning, "It's the King's Gambit." I know--in chess, you can't sacrifice your King. But if politics ain't beanbag, it also ain't chess.
If this was a Dem rope-a-dope, with Biden playing up his failing faculties in his poor debate performance, waiting for Trump to pick another anti-woman politician for Veep, then springing this switch after the GOP convention, I am more impressed with Dems than I have been in a long, long while.
It's a nice fantasy, but I don't buy it. I think (per POLITICO, so sue me) Biden saw the writing on the wall on Saturday, when aides showed him sinking in swing state polling. Also, we know we don't know what Schumer, Nancy, and Jeffries told him. Nor do we know how debilitated he was off-stage, at parties (per Clooney), etc.
I was also thinking that the person who will write the mind-roasting, definitive bio of Trump, revealing things that even we, in our most cynical assumptions, couldn't have imagined, is currently like in third grade.
David Cay Johnston does pretty good on Trump in the here and now. But you're right, there's an underground volcano of slime we haven't even dreamed of.
My baseless theory is that his aides told him "The only way you can turn this around is to campaign hard every day from now until November with no slip ups." And he knew that wasn't going to happen.
All through his presidency it's come down to oh my god we are so fucked and then the next day we get the biggest infrastructure bill anybody's ever seen, The biggest climate bill that anybody ever dreamed of or genuine student loan relief in spite of extreme pushback from the supreme Court.
There is such an incredible record of accomplishment. I think it's pretty to think that that's all by chance or some kind of accident.
You know I would love to see Lucy and the football, Will Rogers, the word feckless , The phrases pretty to think so and sweet summer child put right in the middle of the circular firing squad where we can yell open fire maybe we can get rid of the oh my god we suck attitude and enjoy a victory every now and then. We're the good guys, it's harder for us. I can see the results and label Joe a masterful politician
Joe has been a great President and I have nothing but respect for him as a politician and a good man. But I don't buy this was orchestrated. I think we should send him off to a well-earned retirement with all the kudos we can muster.
fucking-A! we are instantly younger and more energetic, and with actual policies and a platform, two things the right has lacked for decades if you overlook tax cuts for the wealthy and ridding the overlords of regulations. I was 100% ridin' with Biden, and now I'm 100% on the Harris wagon. we are going to kick ass in November.
Another thing Harris nullifies is the GOP narrative of Crime Crime All The Time. Kind of hard to win on that when you're running a felon against a prosecutor.
Basically what she said yesterday. I loved that she came out first thing reminding everyone he's a felon. That's what I was hoping for leading up to the debate with Biden -- non-stop digs at his criminal record.
They should have to admit they were wrong about Obama being the Antichrist. After all, there can only be one. It's a pretty fucking important question. You wouldn't want people confused, would you? I know I wouldn't if I took this shit seriously.
... Hmm, they aren't going to declare her the Antichrist because she's a woman. She'll remain a witch. Is there an evil broad in Revelation? If so, that too.
ECKSHULLY, if you were so in your mind to do so, you could make a decent case for Trump being the Anti-Christ. As we learn in How to Profit From the Coming Rapture, the Anti-Christ:
Claims to be a God
Sits on a throne
Is married to a vile prostitute
Will come to do his own will
Is "the lawless one"
Is "the man of sin"
--and so on. Not to mention "will force men to take his Mark," which is Biblical for "will cause idiots to scotch-tape Maxi-Pads to their ears." QED, motherfuckers.
Funny, a recovered evangelical noted this same thing, and wondered how good his former churchfriends would be at discerning the antichrist. He concluded Not Good, despite the prophecies being very clear that it's Trump:
The question is how well do Pastor Corey's interpretations really apply to today without significant bending? I mean he used 7 heads to mean Trump Towers, then later one of them is actually Trump's head
Oh, my, James Lindsay, the asshole who thinks EVERYTHING tracks back to Marxism. Odd how in everything I've read from/about Marx, the whole Luciferian thing never got mentioned, and with all I've read on occultism, that phrase has never appeared. Sounds to me like he's just making shit up for his gullible followers - i.e. being James Lindsay.
So. Sulzberger and Kahn are still sad about Biden not giving them an interview, huh? I guess c*nts will be c*nts, if I might say.
I have faith that what we're seeing from the Republicans is what we'll be seeing all the way through. They won't get better or calmer or more polite or whatever because it's the Party of Trump. Scummy and worse is how he rolls and it's how his party rolls and will roll.
Bottom line is that Harris is the one for this time. No other candidate will be able to drive the Republicans crazier than she and (unfortunately) there's no better way to beat them than to let them beat themselves.
Because Substack doesn't enable embedding, gotta do this the hard way:
I'm a little buzzy from all the hopium from the sheer efficiency and elegance the Dems managed to display in the ~36 hours following Biden's stepping down -- so smooth that I tend to think the plan was designed first pending Biden's acquiescence as opposed to all this a response. You know; what's been happening's the horse, not the carriage.
Of course, all my reasons for pessimism remain with the sole caveat that maybe a woman of color at the top of the ticket will get out a shit ton of voters; god knows way too many choose not to vote. Between Harris and Prop 25 maybe some actual good can happen.
I've also been wondering whether there had a been some growing pressure on Sleepy Joe before the debate. Josh Marshall says he's heard that however it might appear and/or we delude ourselves, Biden had been getting much worse. I suppose there was some delusion on his part but then the debate (a/k/a self-own) and then the hysteria.
For reasons, I still think things will not end well. But at least Team Trump will have to work much harder against Harris compared to Biden And she drives them crazy just by being a woman of color who passed on motherhood. Right there 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 (I broke my new rule and tossed Harris some crumbs just for provoking the MAGAts and getting them all meshuga.)
Also 🙏🏻 that she might be better than good for the get out the vote thing.
It is certainly possible. The haven't made up their minds people are like 10-20% of the vote. I do not have a feeling for who these people are, but they likely don't pay much attention to politics or policy. There are certainly some who are mildly racist and/or misogynistic are there more of these than people glad to Harris as the nominee but weren't already in the Dem camp I have no idea
One of the things the well-executed polls make clear is that as hardcore as Rs are for Trump, likewise the blocs of voters for whom he's 1,000% repellant. So I think the odds that Harris is good for GOTV -- by which I mean better than Biden -- are much greater than the odds than she'll alienate voters.
I think Shillbilly is genius, it sums Jim Dave up to perfection.
I'm actually feeling hope, something I haven't for a little while now, and that hopeless feeling was probably more responsible for my tuning out of politics these last few weeks than being on vacation.
I don't think Harris is a shoo-in. There are a lot of disengaged, ignorant, downright stupid, and bigoted people in this country. But I agree it takes the "Biden is too old and has dementia" piece off the board while turbo-charging Dem enthusiasm. And frankly, I can't imagine too many people who were going to vote for Biden won't vote for Harris. When you're planning to vote for an 81 year old guy, you are aware of the significant possibility his second in command will finish his term. What this switch hopefully will do is make some people who were too disenchanted with Biden to vote decide to go to the polls now.
But yeah, the misogynoir will be appalling, and Black women across the country will unfortunately be girding their loins even more than usual over the next few months.
Harris being the candidate not only takes "Biden is old and senile" out of the equation, it shines a 10,000 watt spotlight on Trump's own incoherence and decline. He can ramble on about electric boats and sharks while Harris explains that all women have absolute autonomy over their own bodies and SHE will work to guarantee that essential right.
Most certainly. There's a reason Trump is trying to backpedal out of debates. One of the small joys of this switch is knowing they painted themselves into the "too old and incoherent" corner with their allegations against Biden. Oopsie, lol.
The sharks got all the attention, but part of his "argument" about why electric boats are TEH STOOPID is that batteries are, like, rilly rilly HEAVY. How can a boat carry something heavy? Unpossible, of course it's going to sink!
"President Donald Trump is ratcheting up the pressure on the Navy to return to the days of steam-powered catapults for launching jets from aircraft carriers [...]
Trump has spent two years criticizing the Navy’s decision to switch to an electromagnetic launch system [...] 'You have to be Albert Einstein to figure it out.' [...]
'We’re spending all that money on electric, and nobody knows what it’s going to be like in bad conditions.'"
It's the same shit without sharks and explicit mention of electrocution! (He seems to think it won't work in the rain, and/or might shock you.)
Also, bear in mind that the positive energy this brings to the Dems is matched by the negative energy it inflicts on Trump, whose own deterioration will now be accelerated. As Dominick Dunne said when OJ said he would spend the rest of his life searching for Nicole's killer, "Let's watch!"
I saw a brief clip of his convention speech, in the time it took me to find that Goddamn remote, and man he did not look good in close-up. Puffy, sweaty and tired.
Oh you must’ve missed one of yesterday’s Hot Takes — she’s LAZY, no one who has run for POTUS has ever been lazier. It runs head on into another sizzling Hot Take — she’s too ambitious so she didn’t have kids — but don’t worry they worked out the discrepancy with SHE SLEPT HER WAY TO THE TOP. Women voters are gonna love it.
Just as the party of voter suppression is suddenly concerned about Biden's primary voters being disenfranchised. Well, look, nobody said Republicans aren't hypocritical.
One might even say that Republicans have reached hypocritical mass. Or was it that they all just attended a hypocritical mass, AKA the RNC? Off to ponder...
Well, climate change is A) a Chinese hoax, B) a plot to destroy civilization, C) a Leftist plot to cripple our economy, D) actually a good thing because plants crave Braw- *ahem* carbon dioxide, or E) all of the above simultaneously.
And the former potus apparently spent most of his time in office NOT in office but definitely under par on his various money laundering faciliti – that is, golf courses...so, not lazy at all.
They have memory-holed "Executive Time," e.g. the majority of his presidency when Trump took his girdle off and sprawled on the sofa in the residence watching Fox.
Nah, they don't give a rat's ass if he does anything or not as long as he keeps spewing his bigotry and rage all over the airwaves, the great unwashed, that is. Evil people will use that power to do mean things. The great unwashed appear to be cool with that, too.
Ohhh... so that's how we know the Butler rally shooter was a secret Dem: he was attempting one of these "post-birth abortions" 74 years after the birth...
Even better is the emerging concept that if your children are adopted or stepchildren, then you're not a real parent. Chief Justice Roberts might disagree with that, along with tens of millions of divorced people.
Same here, but don’t you want to interrogate them to make them spell it out? For all we know, Peter Thiel could have umpteen dozen kids, but it’s unlikely they would have been begotten in the biblical way. What does that mean to them in terms of a “stake in the future”? And I know they don’t want IVF because there can be “leftover” human beings that might be deprived of their god-given right to life. But what if you use the turkey baster method, or its clinical equivalent? Is surrogacy allowed? Or egg donation? Who’s the mom? Who’s the dad? I suspect the rules will be kaleidoscopic depending on how much money you have.
Hey, isn't that a JD Vance original? We're being ruled over by people without kids, like AOC and Pete Buttigieg (didn't he adopt?) who have no stake in the future and are miserable and want us all to be miserable too. In short, she's a Cat Lady.
I found an essay from the Claremont Institute the other day spelling out how MEAN MEAN MEAN liberal women are and how they've "womanized" the Democratic Party. They tolerate the gays! They refuse to have CHILDREN ( "progressives are far less likely to be married, have children, or attend church—all traditional sources of comfort"), they're mean to MEN and yet they still claim they're oppressed!
And then the writer drops this gem:
"What should the party do? John Judis and Ruy Teixeira note that Democrats need to deemphasize their climate obsession, open borders, and gender issues and focus instead on “the number one issue – high prices.” The biggest issues for Latinos, and most voters, are inflation and the economy, which are well ahead of climate change or concern with the future of democracy."
"I found an essay from the Claremont Institute..."
Well, you put that right back where you found it.
And yes, the "Voters can only care about ONE thing" fallacy. Without that, many, many political consultants would not be able to afford their second beach house.
In all the surveys that measure happiness, women who never married and never had kids always score highest. Ah, but that's just data, who the fuck ever looks at that?
Pretty confident about their target, aren't they, and about what to use against her. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying bits of news like the Black sororities' Divine 9 "have entered the GOTV chat"
And frankly, I can't imagine too many people who were going to vote for Biden won't vote for Harris.
Well, the keys are likely old people, as Biden did quite a bit better than Clinton among those 45 and older, especially 45-64. Also, people that have yet to make up their mind will likely be huge
I envision the entire known universe (and perhaps some of the unknown) getting hoovered by the force of nature that is Douthat’s suckage. The universe's largest bla...er...white hole.
Coincidentally, I just hired Poleaxed & Flailing LLP for some tricky legal issues I've encountered with the 12,000 tenants of my soon-to-be-razed...uhm...rehabbed slum.
Whenever one of the former Claremont dolts starts pontificating about our nations’s glorious High Middle, I know they got nothing. Unfortunately, they always have something profoundly ugly for Plan B.
But you should see the clicks from "Hey, look at this piece of shit!" They're the professor in Der Blaue Engel, reduced to standing on stage being pelted with eggs.
The worst part about all this is there’s not a goddamn thing I can do about it, thanks to that Electoral College crap.
I live in Kansas. Our electoral votes haven’t gone to a Democrat since LBJ in 1964. Doesn’t matter who I vote for - Kansas’s (6, I think) electoral votes are going to Trump. The only thing I can do if I want my vote for president to count is move.
The Electoral College is an 18th Century relic that badly needs retiring. I would wholeheartedly support any party that moved for its abolition.
Been voting Green in the hope of getting their percentage of the vote up to where they can at least have their candidates printed on the ballot instead of write-in. Figured that way at least my vote stood SOME chance of making a difference.
But I’ll vote for Harris if the people who forced Biden out don’t manage to claim her scalp too - they didn’t go to all the trouble of pushing him out so she could run; they want a Romney/Manchin ticket. Still, it just wouldn’t do to have the first woman President elected without my vote.
The Green Party put Ralph Nader on the ballot (I get butterflies just thinking about it) in 2000 and Jill Stein in 2016. Those clowns between them, and the purity ponies who voted for them, would need to bathe lepers’ sores 24/7 from now until the entropic heat death of the universe before they’d get half the way to expiating those sins.
“at best the 4th biggest reason Gore lost?” When the Florida recount was halted, Bush the Lesser was ahead of Gore by about six hundred votes. Somewhere north of 97,000 deluded fuckwits marked their ballots for Nader, which strikes me as fairly consequential. You know, I don’t think I’ll be subscribing to your newsletter after all.
1. You shouldn't say that all of Nader's votes came from people that would have voted for Gore. That is really bad thinking. The prime reason they are voting 3rd Party is that they don't really care for the 2 main parties, thus about half wouldn't have voted at all. Of the other half, they split approximately evenly to the 2 main parties. They claimed about 60-40 to Gore. Thus ~100,000 votes becomes more like 10,000 votes. Which is still bigger than 548, so I DID NOT CLAIM INCONSEQUENTIAL. I claimed at most 4th biggest reason. Try to take a reading comprehension course.
Reasons Gore lost, by impact
1. SCOTUS stopping the recount -- a real recount under Florida rules would have found Gore won.
2. Katherine Harris and her voter roll purge -- hard to say how many were affected in the end, but I think many more than 100,000
3. Republican officials in one county sent back for correction Republican requests for absentee ballots that had mistakes but not similar Democratic ones. This was IIRC 12,000 to 15,000 absentee requests.
4. ~15% of Democrat-registered voters in Florida (this is about 150,000 votes in Florida) and New Hampshire voted for Bush and not Gore. Had Gore used Clinton in his campaign, it is likely that Gore wins both states. Either state is sufficient for Gore to win.
So that's 4 with more impact than Nader. I don't really get why so many supposed liberals want to blame Nader. If I had to guess I would go with A. hippy punching and B. similar to evangelicals and their hatred for Catholics, Jewish people and Muslims, they are very disappointed that the hated people came so close but "got it wrong". Republicans were responsible for the first 3 reasons, but few of the supposed liberal seem to blame Republicans. Scott Lemieux at LGM used to run about 10-1 in blog posts blaming Nader compared to blog posts blaming Republicans
She already has all the delegates she needs; Romney/Manchin is the Two Men Without A Party Party Ticket that only the FTFNYT Editorial Board thinks is viable.
Currently a very nice Democratic woman named Laura Kelly, who definitely has her hands full riding herd on the Legislature. The Kansas Legislature is firmly in Republican control, and gives House Republicans a run for their money on craziness.
No, this can't be true for a Governor's race, can it? In Wisco Republicans get an advantage in the legislature because they're spread out more (an advantage soon to be greatly reduced now that the maps are being replaced.) But for Governor or President it should just be a straight popular vote total, right?
Vote. Write postcards to voters in swing states. Donate some cash.
I'm in an opposite place. Deep blue Chicago in blue Illinois. I could stay home (of course I won't) and Illinois electoral votes will all go D. But I've decided to donate this year (to Act Blue) and I'll be doing some of the postcards. It can't hurt. The gigantic wave of money raised in the wake of the Harris announcement shaped the story.
I do not believe this was a long-term plan. But after that debate, I think Joe made the decision and did what he thought he should do for everyone's good. I hate to see him go, but I have seen elderly people in decline. It's not always a smooth curve downward. I'm not saying Joe couldn't have stayed in, or that he was in terrible shape, or that his collapse is imminent... but he has made the decision and I (at least) am more energized and positive.
I'm a terrible politics-predictor-prognosticator person. In 2020 I sincerely thought the nomination would go to Harris (and I had pretty big reservations about her, but thought she was easily qualified and competent... plus, I found her level of charisma to be really high) and I was extremely wrong. Plus, Joe Biden turned out to be a much better president than I thought he would be. Bottom line: I should stay out of the predictions-game and just do some work.
Warren was my first choice for 2020, but I remember catching an interview with Biden early in the 2008 season, and being impressed with him. As to Senator from MBNA—well, yeah, that’s Delaware. You carry water for them or they find another, more pliant senator. It speaks well for him that his net worth was consistently at or near the bottom of The World’s Greatest Deliberative Body of Millionaires.
Harris I regarded as a showboater when she was California AG, but I was pleasantly surprised with her performance in the Senate. Also…has anyone noticed the way she moves, how comfortable she is with her own body? Another contrast with TFG.
I try to resist comparisons to TFG - just seems like it’s setting the bar insultingly low for highly qualified types like Warren and Harris, not to mention senior statesmen like Biden.
I call her Laughing Kam (after Laughing Sal, the most frightening thing I ever encountered). If she has half that effect on the Goppers they'll run away in terror and never even get to the voting booth.
--which he will, regretfully, not be able to attend. I loved Roy's image of her kicking him in the balls. I was surprised when Trump agreed to debate Biden, but I'll eat everybody's hats (figuratively speaking) if he really does debate Harris.
"Our electoral votes haven’t gone to a Democrat since LBJ in 1964"
Quite coincidentally, after LBJ became a race traitor, all the Dixiecrats switched from being Democrats to being Republicans. The timing is remarkable...
John Kerry came very close to winning the electoral college while losing the popular vote; had that happened, the frothing rage of the right would have been something to see, and the electoral college would have instantly been repealed, and along bipartisan lines too.
But now, of course, it's the only way they can win (or "win") elections, so it's cool, I guess.
I was upset at first when I heard about Joe Biden withdrawing, but I'm choosing to remain positive. Kamala Harris is 1-year-older than I am, so if she's elected she'll be 60 when she's inaugurated. The Republicans instantly lost their "stupid-old-man" whipping boy, and now their 78-year-old candidate is the one who looks old, and certainly stupid. Biden has more class in his little finger than Trump has in his entire body. Does anybody think Trump would have bowed out gracefully! Hell to the fucking no.
The fact that almost $100 million has been raised in a 48 hour span says something to me. It says there are enough of us out here who arent going to watch our country get flushed down the toilet while the planet burns to the socket so that big business can have its way with us yet again.
Donnie had his chance to "bow out gracefully" 4 years ago. He instead managed to trip over his own tie, careen into the majority of DC institutions and damage their foundations, then blame that on his flunkies' inability to do it themselves...
Never. And give up all that attention? He lives for it. Sure I know he needs to win to stay out of prison, but I think it’s the attention that drives him more than anything. To wit: his acceptance speech. Big stage, lots of cameras — he couldn’t shut up. He loves it.
Yeah I am still angry over the way Joe was unceremoniously shoved off the cliff, but I’m putting that to the side for now. Plenty of time to address all of that after we win in November.
He deserved better of his party and, it may be, of his country. But his frailty, measured against the gibbering mania of the foe, would have been a liability, alas, with that segment of the voting public that craves “strength.” Harris will, I think, dance around the old bull and land some punches: “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.”
EDIT: Did I say “bull?” Leave him a steer, Kamala.
I, for one, was extremely relieved and happy that Biden passed the torch to Harris. I’m energized and hopeful, and all the Democrats I know are as well. Even if they weren’t necessarily Harris fans before, they are now.
Another reason I know it was the right move? The Republicans are all pitching toddler-level screaming, colicky fits about not being able to campaign against Biden like they wanted to. The old, incoherent guy? Yeah, that’s your guy, Repubs. Choke on that while we campaign on women’s rights and the other stuff the voters actually want.
(For the record, I don’t care what the Repubs think, and I don’t base my strategy on what they say; but when they start spluttering in outrage and filling their diapers, I believe them. We’re winning this.)
I'm taking inspiration from voices on social media who are new to me. Found this from Sunday, posted 3:08 p.m.:
Just spoke to my dad, and apparently the elderly Black group chat . . . who am I kidding? The elderly Black *phone tree* has been activated. And, they are all incredibly excited. My dad was practically squealing 😩😂
My concerns, which like I said can wait, are more about the ugly precedent this set behind the scenes, where a bunch of billionaires and their wholly owned subsidiaries in Congress shoved the actual winner of the primaries out the door. And I know: money talks in politics. But this took it to a whole new level. You might even call it a coup. In the end, it may work out to our benefit…this time. Next time, we’ll see.
I think it was less about a billionaire conspiracy, and more about experienced politicians like Pelosi seeing that our presidential candidate was a huge drag in swing states (and even some safe states!), not just in the presidential race but also down ticket. However! YMMV. The important thing is, we’re united and excited and we’re going to win.
Don't forget: Joe is nothing if not experienced politician. As horribly as things went amiss, there ultimately was some process by which Biden agreed he needed to concentrate on being prez, and pass the job of running for prez to a young, energetic person... Who will drive Convicted Felon to even greater levels of insanity (the *best* levels, like nobody has ever seen before!)
Polls don’t reflect changes instantly. Also, this discussion is becoming very unproductive, and I’d rather not continue it to the point where we annoy each other.
I think you missed my point about the polls, which I did not make very well or really at all. Current polling is only counting those who have made up their minds. About 10-20% of voters are still deciding. Biden, while many wanted him out, still did reasonably well in polling and about the same as Harris in similar polls because Dems were backing either of them. The question is can Harris bring in most of the undecideds or as many or more than Joe would have? I hope so, but she was very poor at getting many to support her in 2020, and I hope that can be remedied but that is no sure thing
Donations show that the Dems who wanted Joe gone are happy, but most of these were locked in Dem votes anyway, so not hugely of consequence to the final outcome, which is the 10-20% of voters that are undecided.
It was disgusting that billionaires had attacked Biden so publicly, and that they and TFNYT seemed to have won. But Harris's immediate fundraising results were a show of small donor support. Since the announcement, all signs point to significant turnaround on grassroots enthusiasm and GOTV effort. I've come to feel hopeful that Harris will be a popular vote winner. There sure are more of us than there are billionaires, and if we just get Kamala to the WH, I suspect she won't forget who gave her the votes.
If you haven't seen much of Shillbilly live, do watch a bit of his appearance yesterday. He has the energy of a frat boy at a comedy open mic on a dare, bombing badly and getting mad about it.
And seriously, how many people who are not fully made members of the cult even know who Soros is? This is like bragging that your dead Grandma had 19 loaded guns in the house, it's either deeply weird or completely baffling to normal people.
I get that, but to even know the code, don't you have to in on the whole thing? The fact that it's encoded just makes it even more obscure for the normies.
What else are you doing to help Harris win? I think every one that wanted Biden gone needs to pitch in and do more than hector and berate those that thought this was a bad move -- wait that is my prediction for the LGM front pagers. But you should still do something more
Fair. We should all get involved with the campaign. Though I’d note that right now I’m not stewing about Biden being “forced out” instead of moving forward, so hopefully that counts for something. Thanks for the homework assignment, though.
While that is better than hectoring and berating commenters that disagree with you, I am unsure that your feeling better, while good for you, is particularly helpful to Harris. Balloon Juice, while composed mostly of crappy, centrist commentators does a good job in getting people to pitch in. Their current ask is money for the NC Black Alliance (or something similar) to get out the vote in North Carolina
That round table was the biggest waste of digital ink since everything the Times has thrown at Biden since June. Regarding the fascists’ response to Harris, now in all but final voting the new Democratic candidate, I think the sludge won’t do much to counter her campaign’s focus on Trump’s criminality, including his upcoming sentencing in New York. The greater threat, in my opinion, lies in all the preparations for voter suppression and, when she wins, the lawsuits that will end up in the hands of the Supreme Court. Of course, she’ll be the VP in charge of the electoral college vote, which may be causing much distress among the fascists. Watch for the calls for her to resign from the vice presidency.
"Of course, she’ll be the VP in charge of the electoral college vote"
On the one hand, the role is straightforward. Regardless of what they may say. We can state with confidence whether she did it correctly. That will matter, as it did with Pence.
On the other hand, the right doesn't care. They did cook up pseudo-legalities and fake slates of electors. Not to make their case, really. Pence was supposed to go along regardless.
The Vice President performing the role ALWAYS has a stake in the outcome. Harris has a bigger stake than usual, sure. Honest people acting in good faith will have to admit that she did the job right. I don't think the fake slates and shit will be so credible as to cast her certification in real doubt.
There's going to be a pall cast over her presidency; the question is exactly how fake and ridiculous it will be. This will be one component. It's no reason to quail.
Those fuckers are going to try to cast a pall regardless. But if she win, and I am sure she will win the popular vote handily, she'll have evidence of all the ass kissing the NYT, NBC, CNN have done to appease Trump. Perhaps we can divest of some Corporate Media Crapshacks and slide that Overton window slide to our side for a change.
True dat. But remember, for all they stoke that Rage-O-Matic furnace, they're gonna piss off people as well. Pissed-off people vote, "I'll show that son of a bitch..." is a great votegetter. And Hell hath no fury like a pissed off Black woman.
The only thing they can do for voter suppression is have armed idiots show up at polling places in swing states, or alternately challenge a bunch of voters in swing states. Unlike 2020, they have lost the Governorships and Secretaries of State and AGs in most of the swing states
A friend, a Dem, had to be In Gatlinburg TN, the frequent winner of "Most Overrated uS Tourist Destination", and sent pictures of a TRUMP merch store. They hadn't put their Brandon hate stuff on sale yet, and had run out of vile anti Kamela stuff.
The planned campaign aint there any more: and racism and sexism are all they got...
If Trump can be a felon and a con man, Harris should show us her tits! Who are these morons with their announce your moderation talking to? Is there someone out there nodding at Douthat's statements?
"Tubby and the Shillbilly," performing covers of shitty Bro-country songs and selling Chinese-made tRump sneakers to the rubes at select Midwest Diners... yep, this could be big(ly).
How long until Tubby decides he hates the Shillbilly? Maybe he does already. He doesn’t like to share the spotlight, and his track record of playing well with others is abysmal. Really looking forward to a chilly ending to that unlikely couple.
And his wiseacre "wit" goes over like a lead balloon with the faithful. It reminds me of when ABC (I think it was) brought in Dennis Miller to crack wise during NFL games. Everybody and his brother was embarrassed.
Tradcath authoritarianism/social conservativism versus Libertarian individual "freedom" and market worship. Evidently you resolve the conflict by having an oligarchy of more or less philosopher kings, led by the Grand Poobah philosopher king.
Look, I would've voted for Biden if he had come out on the debate stage in nothing but a diaper filled with diarrhea. But this is a much, much better outcome. The Republicans will be constitutionally unable to mask their racism and weird misogyny (she laughs! she's a barren cat lady!) and I agree with Roy - this will help Harris. The problem will really be AFTER she wins. Who knows what nonsense and violence Trump will cause, and if SCOTUS gets involved we shouldn't be surprised if they figure out some way to call her candidacy "illegitimate." The Democrats better have a plan for that other than flipping over on their backs like they did with Gore.
I think Joe engineered this from Jump Street. The debate at the end of June was just a crazy thing to do and I suspect though we may never know, That Joe's debate performance was the best acting we'll ever see anybody do. Look at where we ended up. A week ago it was all gloom and doom and aren't we fucked we are so fucked. Now, Dems are all " It will be so much fun to watch Kamala kick ass - they treated Papaw like shit and now They. Must. Pay..
Joe leaves a hero. A talented, deserving black woman has a really good chance of becoming the president.
I don't think she'll need to kick him in the balls. A quick head fake in his direction and Donnie shits his pants.
I absolutely cosign this. 'he's a doddering old fool!' ' he's an international mastermind!'
I was thinking this morning, "It's the King's Gambit." I know--in chess, you can't sacrifice your King. But if politics ain't beanbag, it also ain't chess.
Checkers. Think checkers.
Only in the movies. This was not scripted. It was set up. The choice of Harris for a running mate and VP allowed this series of events to occur.
There is no free will or choice but change does occur. We set the conditions. Outcomes require course adjustment.
Oh, unless one is Inspector Clouseau. Then everything is carefully planned and often hilarious.
If this was a Dem rope-a-dope, with Biden playing up his failing faculties in his poor debate performance, waiting for Trump to pick another anti-woman politician for Veep, then springing this switch after the GOP convention, I am more impressed with Dems than I have been in a long, long while.
It's a nice fantasy, but I don't buy it. I think (per POLITICO, so sue me) Biden saw the writing on the wall on Saturday, when aides showed him sinking in swing state polling. Also, we know we don't know what Schumer, Nancy, and Jeffries told him. Nor do we know how debilitated he was off-stage, at parties (per Clooney), etc.
Co-sign.
In 10 years or so, somebody's gonna write a good book...
I was also thinking that the person who will write the mind-roasting, definitive bio of Trump, revealing things that even we, in our most cynical assumptions, couldn't have imagined, is currently like in third grade.
David Cay Johnston does pretty good on Trump in the here and now. But you're right, there's an underground volcano of slime we haven't even dreamed of.
May you live in time interesting enough to have a good book written about them.
My baseless theory is that his aides told him "The only way you can turn this around is to campaign hard every day from now until November with no slip ups." And he knew that wasn't going to happen.
I like this conspiracy theory so much I'll even pretend to believe it.
Wouldn't it be pretty to think so?
All through his presidency it's come down to oh my god we are so fucked and then the next day we get the biggest infrastructure bill anybody's ever seen, The biggest climate bill that anybody ever dreamed of or genuine student loan relief in spite of extreme pushback from the supreme Court.
There is such an incredible record of accomplishment. I think it's pretty to think that that's all by chance or some kind of accident.
You know I would love to see Lucy and the football, Will Rogers, the word feckless , The phrases pretty to think so and sweet summer child put right in the middle of the circular firing squad where we can yell open fire maybe we can get rid of the oh my god we suck attitude and enjoy a victory every now and then. We're the good guys, it's harder for us. I can see the results and label Joe a masterful politician
Joe has been a great President and I have nothing but respect for him as a politician and a good man. But I don't buy this was orchestrated. I think we should send him off to a well-earned retirement with all the kudos we can muster.
If he could do all that, why wouldn't he just stay in the race, rather than get a month of Dems in Disarray?
fucking-A! we are instantly younger and more energetic, and with actual policies and a platform, two things the right has lacked for decades if you overlook tax cuts for the wealthy and ridding the overlords of regulations. I was 100% ridin' with Biden, and now I'm 100% on the Harris wagon. we are going to kick ass in November.
Another thing Harris nullifies is the GOP narrative of Crime Crime All The Time. Kind of hard to win on that when you're running a felon against a prosecutor.
She waves a hand dismissively at him at the debate: "Eh, I've put guys like him away hundreds of times."
Basically what she said yesterday. I loved that she came out first thing reminding everyone he's a felon. That's what I was hoping for leading up to the debate with Biden -- non-stop digs at his criminal record.
"Felon says what?"
I am not sure how this works as it depends on the media to report aCCURATELY
sadly very few voters really care about policies and a platform
Absolutely!
Re the attacks on Kamala so far, you missed one Roy: SHE’S A WITCH!!!
https://digbysblog.net/2024/07/22/the-kamala-attack-book/
A Marxist Luciferisn incantatrix! I have no idea what that is but I’m definitely playing one at my next D&D session.
We bow to our clearly superior mutha.
And some weird reference I read of her being a “Hindu type Muslim”???
Talk about inclusive...!
That’s a heavy dose of DEI!
One spicy halal meatball, hold the beef!
I think that's authentic frontier gibberish for "non-Christian and brown."
“I think he said ‘the Vice President is near!’”
Hahaha! That's a good one.
Don’t threaten me with a good time.
Mel Brooks didn't corner the market on authentic frontier gibberish, I see.
RARET!
They should have to admit they were wrong about Obama being the Antichrist. After all, there can only be one. It's a pretty fucking important question. You wouldn't want people confused, would you? I know I wouldn't if I took this shit seriously.
... Hmm, they aren't going to declare her the Antichrist because she's a woman. She'll remain a witch. Is there an evil broad in Revelation? If so, that too.
ECKSHULLY, if you were so in your mind to do so, you could make a decent case for Trump being the Anti-Christ. As we learn in How to Profit From the Coming Rapture, the Anti-Christ:
Claims to be a God
Sits on a throne
Is married to a vile prostitute
Will come to do his own will
Is "the lawless one"
Is "the man of sin"
--and so on. Not to mention "will force men to take his Mark," which is Biblical for "will cause idiots to scotch-tape Maxi-Pads to their ears." QED, motherfuckers.
It's an open-and-shut case. I think their only counter is that the Devil is really tricky.
"The Lord sometimes uses bad people to get good things done." Really. I've heard that one.
The Lord uses the Antichrist, if you think about it. So why bother nailing him down. We can all agree he's the biggest tool.
Thus, admitting, for exactly one microsecond, that he's bad. Then they click the little "screen refresh" icon in their brains.
Funny, a recovered evangelical noted this same thing, and wondered how good his former churchfriends would be at discerning the antichrist. He concluded Not Good, despite the prophecies being very clear that it's Trump:
https://www.benjaminlcorey.com/could-american-evangelicals-spot-the-antichrist-heres-the-biblical-predictions/
This is amazing. Thanks.
Oh my gosh, I just realized that How to Profit From the Coming Rapture is your book! People should buy it!
YOU ARE EXACTLY RIGHT! (Thanks.)
The question is how well do Pastor Corey's interpretations really apply to today without significant bending? I mean he used 7 heads to mean Trump Towers, then later one of them is actually Trump's head
The World's Foremost Authority cannot be wrong...what's that? Oh. Sorry.
The Scarlet Woman who's riding The Beast as it strolls out of the ocean.
strolls
gads about
Indeed!
I'm thinking the kind of guy who pointedly crosses the street way too slow.
Looking neither left nor right. The Ultimate Centrist.
"Is there an evil broad in Revelation?"
Usually cited as the Whore of Babylon
I knew it! I just don't think about this shit very much.
I'm pretty certain we're not supposed to take Revelation literally, so I just go about my business.
Best not to, so I don't blame you.
The Book of Revelations is most blatant case of media illiteracy in history -- and it all started back in the early centuries of Christianity.
You probably shouldn't take any of the Bible very literally
Make a bridge out of her!
A bridge to the future
And... Harris wins the Harry Potter vote with one wave of her wand!
I saw "Marxist Lutheran" and immediately did the dog-with-his-head-to-one-side pose.
Oh, my, James Lindsay, the asshole who thinks EVERYTHING tracks back to Marxism. Odd how in everything I've read from/about Marx, the whole Luciferian thing never got mentioned, and with all I've read on occultism, that phrase has never appeared. Sounds to me like he's just making shit up for his gullible followers - i.e. being James Lindsay.
What little I've read never once made me think hmm, echoes of Marx here and here, but this part is pure Bakunin.
and Jezebel.
Soundtrack for this comment: https://youtu.be/14seBStPI_o
Addenda: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5ErvkbZ7GQ
So. Sulzberger and Kahn are still sad about Biden not giving them an interview, huh? I guess c*nts will be c*nts, if I might say.
I have faith that what we're seeing from the Republicans is what we'll be seeing all the way through. They won't get better or calmer or more polite or whatever because it's the Party of Trump. Scummy and worse is how he rolls and it's how his party rolls and will roll.
Bottom line is that Harris is the one for this time. No other candidate will be able to drive the Republicans crazier than she and (unfortunately) there's no better way to beat them than to let them beat themselves.
Because Substack doesn't enable embedding, gotta do this the hard way:
P7, panel 6 of https://forgottenawesome.blogspot.com/2017/07/superduperman.html
(Page 7 is profound. This may be EC's greatest story ever, putting "Master Race" into second place.)
At the least, Harris will drive the fuckers crazy. Like this:
https://digbysblog.net/2024/07/22/the-kamala-attack-book/
and
https://twitter.com/jsrailton/status/1815165472859418744
I'm a little buzzy from all the hopium from the sheer efficiency and elegance the Dems managed to display in the ~36 hours following Biden's stepping down -- so smooth that I tend to think the plan was designed first pending Biden's acquiescence as opposed to all this a response. You know; what's been happening's the horse, not the carriage.
Of course, all my reasons for pessimism remain with the sole caveat that maybe a woman of color at the top of the ticket will get out a shit ton of voters; god knows way too many choose not to vote. Between Harris and Prop 25 maybe some actual good can happen.
The timing also. This was central to the plan. No upcoming GOP Con Vention to take hacks at Harris in front of the worldwide press.
I've also been wondering whether there had a been some growing pressure on Sleepy Joe before the debate. Josh Marshall says he's heard that however it might appear and/or we delude ourselves, Biden had been getting much worse. I suppose there was some delusion on his part but then the debate (a/k/a self-own) and then the hysteria.
For reasons, I still think things will not end well. But at least Team Trump will have to work much harder against Harris compared to Biden And she drives them crazy just by being a woman of color who passed on motherhood. Right there 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 (I broke my new rule and tossed Harris some crumbs just for provoking the MAGAts and getting them all meshuga.)
Also 🙏🏻 that she might be better than good for the get out the vote thing.
I don't think the question is what she does to the Repubs, it's what does she do to the misogynoir centrists?
You think she’ll alienate more voters than she might inspire to vote for her?
It is certainly possible. The haven't made up their minds people are like 10-20% of the vote. I do not have a feeling for who these people are, but they likely don't pay much attention to politics or policy. There are certainly some who are mildly racist and/or misogynistic are there more of these than people glad to Harris as the nominee but weren't already in the Dem camp I have no idea
One of the things the well-executed polls make clear is that as hardcore as Rs are for Trump, likewise the blocs of voters for whom he's 1,000% repellant. So I think the odds that Harris is good for GOTV -- by which I mean better than Biden -- are much greater than the odds than she'll alienate voters.
Time will tell.
I think Shillbilly is genius, it sums Jim Dave up to perfection.
I'm actually feeling hope, something I haven't for a little while now, and that hopeless feeling was probably more responsible for my tuning out of politics these last few weeks than being on vacation.
I don't think Harris is a shoo-in. There are a lot of disengaged, ignorant, downright stupid, and bigoted people in this country. But I agree it takes the "Biden is too old and has dementia" piece off the board while turbo-charging Dem enthusiasm. And frankly, I can't imagine too many people who were going to vote for Biden won't vote for Harris. When you're planning to vote for an 81 year old guy, you are aware of the significant possibility his second in command will finish his term. What this switch hopefully will do is make some people who were too disenchanted with Biden to vote decide to go to the polls now.
But yeah, the misogynoir will be appalling, and Black women across the country will unfortunately be girding their loins even more than usual over the next few months.
Put your money in loin girdles, is all I'm sayin'.
Harris being the candidate not only takes "Biden is old and senile" out of the equation, it shines a 10,000 watt spotlight on Trump's own incoherence and decline. He can ramble on about electric boats and sharks while Harris explains that all women have absolute autonomy over their own bodies and SHE will work to guarantee that essential right.
Most certainly. There's a reason Trump is trying to backpedal out of debates. One of the small joys of this switch is knowing they painted themselves into the "too old and incoherent" corner with their allegations against Biden. Oopsie, lol.
Soooo many sunk costs there.
Like sunk battery boats.
The sharks got all the attention, but part of his "argument" about why electric boats are TEH STOOPID is that batteries are, like, rilly rilly HEAVY. How can a boat carry something heavy? Unpossible, of course it's going to sink!
He says so much stupid shit that I almost forgot ... https://tinyurl.com/bdev4fdz
"President Donald Trump is ratcheting up the pressure on the Navy to return to the days of steam-powered catapults for launching jets from aircraft carriers [...]
Trump has spent two years criticizing the Navy’s decision to switch to an electromagnetic launch system [...] 'You have to be Albert Einstein to figure it out.' [...]
'We’re spending all that money on electric, and nobody knows what it’s going to be like in bad conditions.'"
It's the same shit without sharks and explicit mention of electrocution! (He seems to think it won't work in the rain, and/or might shock you.)
Also, bear in mind that the positive energy this brings to the Dems is matched by the negative energy it inflicts on Trump, whose own deterioration will now be accelerated. As Dominick Dunne said when OJ said he would spend the rest of his life searching for Nicole's killer, "Let's watch!"
I saw a brief clip of his convention speech, in the time it took me to find that Goddamn remote, and man he did not look good in close-up. Puffy, sweaty and tired.
Trump will only agree to debate if he can have his lawyer present (one that he won't pay, of course).
Oh you must’ve missed one of yesterday’s Hot Takes — she’s LAZY, no one who has run for POTUS has ever been lazier. It runs head on into another sizzling Hot Take — she’s too ambitious so she didn’t have kids — but don’t worry they worked out the discrepancy with SHE SLEPT HER WAY TO THE TOP. Women voters are gonna love it.
And Roy, I think it’s worth an entire day’s post to examine “people who don’t have kids can’t possibly care about the future.” It makes me murdery.
Also kind of ballsy of the party of climate change denial to accuse us of not caring about future generations.
Just as the party of voter suppression is suddenly concerned about Biden's primary voters being disenfranchised. Well, look, nobody said Republicans aren't hypocritical.
One might even say that Republicans have reached hypocritical mass. Or was it that they all just attended a hypocritical mass, AKA the RNC? Off to ponder...
Well, climate change is A) a Chinese hoax, B) a plot to destroy civilization, C) a Leftist plot to cripple our economy, D) actually a good thing because plants crave Braw- *ahem* carbon dioxide, or E) all of the above simultaneously.
Can we do one of these '2 from column A & 1 from column c'?
"People who don't have their own kids CAN'T POSSIBLY have concerns for other people's kids"
"Everybody is as selfish as I am."
Do most Republicans even really care about their own kids?
And the former potus apparently spent most of his time in office NOT in office but definitely under par on his various money laundering faciliti – that is, golf courses...so, not lazy at all.
It’s different when you’re a White man who inherited a fortune. Surprised you didn’t know that.
They have memory-holed "Executive Time," e.g. the majority of his presidency when Trump took his girdle off and sprawled on the sofa in the residence watching Fox.
Nah, they don't give a rat's ass if he does anything or not as long as he keeps spewing his bigotry and rage all over the airwaves, the great unwashed, that is. Evil people will use that power to do mean things. The great unwashed appear to be cool with that, too.
He makes it okay for them to say the n-word. Worth more than healthcare!
Have some respect. Also sacred burial ground for the remains of ex-wives.
Trump sez "Honey, I'm going to visit her grave. Hope you understand..."
The Current Missus: [eyeroll]
The GOP en masse believe childless women are subhuman sluts. It's practically spelled out as a policy plank.
But if you do have children, you have business running for POTUS because then you don’t have time to be a Good Mother. See what I did there?
No business.
Like show business?
Damned if you do....oh, never mind, I'll just shut up and bake a casserole for the church supper. Maybe they'll leave me alone. Maybe.
Hurry up and clean! Darren is bringing Mr. Tate and the client home for supper!
One of those good Cheez-Whiz and Tator-Tot casseroles - that's good eatin'.
I have no doubt “evidence” will surface of Kamala’s multiple, possibly post-birth, abortions. Because that’s how we childless sluts roll.
Post-birth abortions are the WORST. Oh, wait...
Ohhh... so that's how we know the Butler rally shooter was a secret Dem: he was attempting one of these "post-birth abortions" 74 years after the birth...
Even better is the emerging concept that if your children are adopted or stepchildren, then you're not a real parent. Chief Justice Roberts might disagree with that, along with tens of millions of divorced people.
My own hot take: maybe we could mind our own business.
I can remember when minding your own business was a GOOD thing. It was a simpler time.
Sorry, there's no clicks in that.
Same here, but don’t you want to interrogate them to make them spell it out? For all we know, Peter Thiel could have umpteen dozen kids, but it’s unlikely they would have been begotten in the biblical way. What does that mean to them in terms of a “stake in the future”? And I know they don’t want IVF because there can be “leftover” human beings that might be deprived of their god-given right to life. But what if you use the turkey baster method, or its clinical equivalent? Is surrogacy allowed? Or egg donation? Who’s the mom? Who’s the dad? I suspect the rules will be kaleidoscopic depending on how much money you have.
Do you know any Republicans? Have you heard of Gladys Kravitz?
Hey, isn't that a JD Vance original? We're being ruled over by people without kids, like AOC and Pete Buttigieg (didn't he adopt?) who have no stake in the future and are miserable and want us all to be miserable too. In short, she's a Cat Lady.
I found an essay from the Claremont Institute the other day spelling out how MEAN MEAN MEAN liberal women are and how they've "womanized" the Democratic Party. They tolerate the gays! They refuse to have CHILDREN ( "progressives are far less likely to be married, have children, or attend church—all traditional sources of comfort"), they're mean to MEN and yet they still claim they're oppressed!
And then the writer drops this gem:
"What should the party do? John Judis and Ruy Teixeira note that Democrats need to deemphasize their climate obsession, open borders, and gender issues and focus instead on “the number one issue – high prices.” The biggest issues for Latinos, and most voters, are inflation and the economy, which are well ahead of climate change or concern with the future of democracy."
Sure, fascism - but cheap stuff! Gaaaaahhhh.
Sounds like husbands, children, and church are being supplanted by dollar stores as sources of comfort.
Happiness is a large can of off-brand chocolate pudding.
"I found an essay from the Claremont Institute..."
Well, you put that right back where you found it.
And yes, the "Voters can only care about ONE thing" fallacy. Without that, many, many political consultants would not be able to afford their second beach house.
That's where they fly their "Appeal to Heaven" flag.
"progressives are far less likely to be married, have children, or attend church—all traditional sources of comfort"
I feel so SEEEN! Boy does THAT make me feel uncomfortable...
In all the surveys that measure happiness, women who never married and never had kids always score highest. Ah, but that's just data, who the fuck ever looks at that?
As a progressive who has neither married, had children, nor gone to church in 40+ years, I saw f*** them
Pretty confident about their target, aren't they, and about what to use against her. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying bits of news like the Black sororities' Divine 9 "have entered the GOTV chat"
https://bsky.app/profile/rikibeth.bsky.social/post/3kxwampisam2y
And frankly, I can't imagine too many people who were going to vote for Biden won't vote for Harris.
Well, the keys are likely old people, as Biden did quite a bit better than Clinton among those 45 and older, especially 45-64. Also, people that have yet to make up their mind will likely be huge
"Douthat’s industrial-strength suckage"
I envision the entire known universe (and perhaps some of the unknown) getting hoovered by the force of nature that is Douthat’s suckage. The universe's largest bla...er...white hole.
Coincidentally, I just hired Poleaxed & Flailing LLP for some tricky legal issues I've encountered with the 12,000 tenants of my soon-to-be-razed...uhm...rehabbed slum.
Edroso, Effete & Superior was my second choice, but they seem pretty busy these days and I was concerned I would not get their undivided attention.
We'll open a branch office for the right sum.
How much for a brunch office?
$20 just like in town
Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe is the best because those are actual surnames. Three real lawyers could make it happen! What an exciting thought.
I've always enjoyed Saltieri, Poore, Nash, De Brutus, & Short from Gravity's Rainbow.
I feel sorry for Pierce, Fenner, and Smith. Practically erased from history.
Merrill: "Guys, the name is too long. Sorry."
Lynch nods.
Pierce: "This is bullshit! I've seen six names. Long ones. You know what, fuck you."
Ceder, Ceder, Ceder and Buddington
My dearest Bern -- u remain the waggiest wag that ever wagged as a wag.
Wag on, sirrah, shielded by the wags of angels....
Who's drivin' this wag on?!
Sheer dogged nerve is the driver, says I.
Whenever one of the former Claremont dolts starts pontificating about our nations’s glorious High Middle, I know they got nothing. Unfortunately, they always have something profoundly ugly for Plan B.
The NYT is bad, but I cannot believe they are not embarrassed by that tosser.
But you should see the clicks from "Hey, look at this piece of shit!" They're the professor in Der Blaue Engel, reduced to standing on stage being pelted with eggs.
Can somebody AI up a picture of a 55 gallon drum with that label? In the same fake-Victorian style used for the labels on artisanal pickles.
The worst part about all this is there’s not a goddamn thing I can do about it, thanks to that Electoral College crap.
I live in Kansas. Our electoral votes haven’t gone to a Democrat since LBJ in 1964. Doesn’t matter who I vote for - Kansas’s (6, I think) electoral votes are going to Trump. The only thing I can do if I want my vote for president to count is move.
The Electoral College is an 18th Century relic that badly needs retiring. I would wholeheartedly support any party that moved for its abolition.
Sure. But vote nonetheless. One grain of sand doesn't make a beach, but every grain of sand is vital to making that beach.
Been voting Green in the hope of getting their percentage of the vote up to where they can at least have their candidates printed on the ballot instead of write-in. Figured that way at least my vote stood SOME chance of making a difference.
But I’ll vote for Harris if the people who forced Biden out don’t manage to claim her scalp too - they didn’t go to all the trouble of pushing him out so she could run; they want a Romney/Manchin ticket. Still, it just wouldn’t do to have the first woman President elected without my vote.
The Green Party put Ralph Nader on the ballot (I get butterflies just thinking about it) in 2000 and Jill Stein in 2016. Those clowns between them, and the purity ponies who voted for them, would need to bathe lepers’ sores 24/7 from now until the entropic heat death of the universe before they’d get half the way to expiating those sins.
Sigh.
See, that’s how I feel about the people who voted FOR Trump. I understand your rage - I just think it’s better directed at the actual enemy.
My lifelong Republican father and staunch Democrat sister both voted for Nader in 2000 “to shake things up” and neither one wound up happy about it.
Except Stein made no difference and Nader was at best the 4th biggest reason Gore lost
“at best the 4th biggest reason Gore lost?” When the Florida recount was halted, Bush the Lesser was ahead of Gore by about six hundred votes. Somewhere north of 97,000 deluded fuckwits marked their ballots for Nader, which strikes me as fairly consequential. You know, I don’t think I’ll be subscribing to your newsletter after all.
My question is how I unsubscribe from yours?
1. You shouldn't say that all of Nader's votes came from people that would have voted for Gore. That is really bad thinking. The prime reason they are voting 3rd Party is that they don't really care for the 2 main parties, thus about half wouldn't have voted at all. Of the other half, they split approximately evenly to the 2 main parties. They claimed about 60-40 to Gore. Thus ~100,000 votes becomes more like 10,000 votes. Which is still bigger than 548, so I DID NOT CLAIM INCONSEQUENTIAL. I claimed at most 4th biggest reason. Try to take a reading comprehension course.
Reasons Gore lost, by impact
1. SCOTUS stopping the recount -- a real recount under Florida rules would have found Gore won.
2. Katherine Harris and her voter roll purge -- hard to say how many were affected in the end, but I think many more than 100,000
3. Republican officials in one county sent back for correction Republican requests for absentee ballots that had mistakes but not similar Democratic ones. This was IIRC 12,000 to 15,000 absentee requests.
4. ~15% of Democrat-registered voters in Florida (this is about 150,000 votes in Florida) and New Hampshire voted for Bush and not Gore. Had Gore used Clinton in his campaign, it is likely that Gore wins both states. Either state is sufficient for Gore to win.
So that's 4 with more impact than Nader. I don't really get why so many supposed liberals want to blame Nader. If I had to guess I would go with A. hippy punching and B. similar to evangelicals and their hatred for Catholics, Jewish people and Muslims, they are very disappointed that the hated people came so close but "got it wrong". Republicans were responsible for the first 3 reasons, but few of the supposed liberal seem to blame Republicans. Scott Lemieux at LGM used to run about 10-1 in blog posts blaming Nader compared to blog posts blaming Republicans
She already has all the delegates she needs; Romney/Manchin is the Two Men Without A Party Party Ticket that only the FTFNYT Editorial Board thinks is viable.
"The only solution for the Dems to unite the nation is to run a Republican."
Or how about TWO Republicans? You can't get more unified than that!
The only patriotic thing to do.
This was a bad idea when Lincoln did it in 1864 and we ended with Andrew Johnson as Pres
It's a shame that we're just the wrong country for Romney/Manchin. It's not them, it's us.
[Fred Astaire voice]: We'll go our way, by ourselves...
And somehow we'll get by.
Somewhere there must be a country full of coal-mining Mormons for them to rule over ?
I too live in a Red State that has only 4 times in its history voted for a non-Republican -- 1912 (progressive Party), 1932, 1936 and 1964 Dems.
Generally the 3rd Party candidates here are worse than the Repub nominee
Another Kansan here feeling the same. I’m puzzled that somehow we manage to elect Dem governors, but not Dem presidents. What gives?
Brownback, I thought. No?
Currently a very nice Democratic woman named Laura Kelly, who definitely has her hands full riding herd on the Legislature. The Kansas Legislature is firmly in Republican control, and gives House Republicans a run for their money on craziness.
The usual - Republicans own more land than we do. Representation favors land, not people.
No, this can't be true for a Governor's race, can it? In Wisco Republicans get an advantage in the legislature because they're spread out more (an advantage soon to be greatly reduced now that the maps are being replaced.) But for Governor or President it should just be a straight popular vote total, right?
Mr B? Is this gonna be on the test? 'Cause it seems a little, I dunno...speculative...?
Not for the Governor, but definitely for things like the Legislature (or Congress) that involve districts and can therefore be gerrymandered.
Vote. Write postcards to voters in swing states. Donate some cash.
I'm in an opposite place. Deep blue Chicago in blue Illinois. I could stay home (of course I won't) and Illinois electoral votes will all go D. But I've decided to donate this year (to Act Blue) and I'll be doing some of the postcards. It can't hurt. The gigantic wave of money raised in the wake of the Harris announcement shaped the story.
I do not believe this was a long-term plan. But after that debate, I think Joe made the decision and did what he thought he should do for everyone's good. I hate to see him go, but I have seen elderly people in decline. It's not always a smooth curve downward. I'm not saying Joe couldn't have stayed in, or that he was in terrible shape, or that his collapse is imminent... but he has made the decision and I (at least) am more energized and positive.
I'm a terrible politics-predictor-prognosticator person. In 2020 I sincerely thought the nomination would go to Harris (and I had pretty big reservations about her, but thought she was easily qualified and competent... plus, I found her level of charisma to be really high) and I was extremely wrong. Plus, Joe Biden turned out to be a much better president than I thought he would be. Bottom line: I should stay out of the predictions-game and just do some work.
Same here. He was the Senator from MBNA to me - took me a couple of years to warm up to him and appreciate the job he was doing.
Warren was my first choice for 2020, but I remember catching an interview with Biden early in the 2008 season, and being impressed with him. As to Senator from MBNA—well, yeah, that’s Delaware. You carry water for them or they find another, more pliant senator. It speaks well for him that his net worth was consistently at or near the bottom of The World’s Greatest Deliberative Body of Millionaires.
Harris I regarded as a showboater when she was California AG, but I was pleasantly surprised with her performance in the Senate. Also…has anyone noticed the way she moves, how comfortable she is with her own body? Another contrast with TFG.
I try to resist comparisons to TFG - just seems like it’s setting the bar insultingly low for highly qualified types like Warren and Harris, not to mention senior statesmen like Biden.
And her ready laugh. In sharp contrast to you-know-who.
So they're turning a strength against her.
Does Trump ever laugh? Not that I recall. Weird to be so discursive, "funny," and yet never laugh. Correct me if I'm wrong, folks.
Doesn't laugh, doesn't like to be touched, hates animals. . .how does someone that dysfunctional get national attention? Oh yeah, Republican.
I think he laughs, but only when punching down. Anyway, he makes comments that make the lumpen who attend his events laugh, and that's bad enough.
I call her Laughing Kam (after Laughing Sal, the most frightening thing I ever encountered). If she has half that effect on the Goppers they'll run away in terror and never even get to the voting booth.
I really loved her questioning style in the hearings. May she bring that energy to a debate with the Tubster.
--which he will, regretfully, not be able to attend. I loved Roy's image of her kicking him in the balls. I was surprised when Trump agreed to debate Biden, but I'll eat everybody's hats (figuratively speaking) if he really does debate Harris.
"Our electoral votes haven’t gone to a Democrat since LBJ in 1964"
Quite coincidentally, after LBJ became a race traitor, all the Dixiecrats switched from being Democrats to being Republicans. The timing is remarkable...
In South Dakota here. I feel your pain. And I too always vote, regardless.
Hey, I was approaching 3 the last time the Dem won SD. I am 62 and soon to be retiring
Hope springs eternal!
John Kerry came very close to winning the electoral college while losing the popular vote; had that happened, the frothing rage of the right would have been something to see, and the electoral college would have instantly been repealed, and along bipartisan lines too.
But now, of course, it's the only way they can win (or "win") elections, so it's cool, I guess.
The repubs had plans as it looked like Bush could win the popular vote and lose the electoral college. Sadly the Dems had no plans
Lol "there is no substitute for centrism" somebody should put that on a banner and match. Milquetoastitude in the defense of centrism is no vice!
Bothsides LLC can teach us all a thing or two about finding the center.
Nah, embroidered on throw pillows for these clowns.
There is nothing like hay when you're feeling faint
There's no substitute for Smallpox but I don't see anyone putting that in the paper.
Where's 3rd Way when they are needed?
I was upset at first when I heard about Joe Biden withdrawing, but I'm choosing to remain positive. Kamala Harris is 1-year-older than I am, so if she's elected she'll be 60 when she's inaugurated. The Republicans instantly lost their "stupid-old-man" whipping boy, and now their 78-year-old candidate is the one who looks old, and certainly stupid. Biden has more class in his little finger than Trump has in his entire body. Does anybody think Trump would have bowed out gracefully! Hell to the fucking no.
The fact that almost $100 million has been raised in a 48 hour span says something to me. It says there are enough of us out here who arent going to watch our country get flushed down the toilet while the planet burns to the socket so that big business can have its way with us yet again.
Donnie had his chance to "bow out gracefully" 4 years ago. He instead managed to trip over his own tie, careen into the majority of DC institutions and damage their foundations, then blame that on his flunkies' inability to do it themselves...
Never. And give up all that attention? He lives for it. Sure I know he needs to win to stay out of prison, but I think it’s the attention that drives him more than anything. To wit: his acceptance speech. Big stage, lots of cameras — he couldn’t shut up. He loves it.
Yeah I am still angry over the way Joe was unceremoniously shoved off the cliff, but I’m putting that to the side for now. Plenty of time to address all of that after we win in November.
He deserved better of his party and, it may be, of his country. But his frailty, measured against the gibbering mania of the foe, would have been a liability, alas, with that segment of the voting public that craves “strength.” Harris will, I think, dance around the old bull and land some punches: “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.”
EDIT: Did I say “bull?” Leave him a steer, Kamala.
I, for one, was extremely relieved and happy that Biden passed the torch to Harris. I’m energized and hopeful, and all the Democrats I know are as well. Even if they weren’t necessarily Harris fans before, they are now.
Another reason I know it was the right move? The Republicans are all pitching toddler-level screaming, colicky fits about not being able to campaign against Biden like they wanted to. The old, incoherent guy? Yeah, that’s your guy, Repubs. Choke on that while we campaign on women’s rights and the other stuff the voters actually want.
(For the record, I don’t care what the Repubs think, and I don’t base my strategy on what they say; but when they start spluttering in outrage and filling their diapers, I believe them. We’re winning this.)
And you know, sooner or later, probably before the end of the month, Trump's gonna use the n-word. Bwahahahaha.
And that will okay with his base, but suburban and exurban “swing voters” will (mostly) be repelled by open-sewer racism.
I'm counting on them alienating 51+% of the country. I speak of course of us lady folk.
I was pretty sure they already had, which was why Tubby could never climb out of the low forties no matter how badly Biden did.
End of the week. Fifty-fifty it's N-word or C-word.
C'mon, give the B-word a chance.
"All we are saaaaaying, is give B's a chance."
I'm thinking n-word b-word will be his phrase. Hey, good enough for Daddy Fred, good enough for Donnie.
Yes, but they do forget people can hear them.
I'm taking inspiration from voices on social media who are new to me. Found this from Sunday, posted 3:08 p.m.:
Just spoke to my dad, and apparently the elderly Black group chat . . . who am I kidding? The elderly Black *phone tree* has been activated. And, they are all incredibly excited. My dad was practically squealing 😩😂
https://bsky.app/profile/outerbororoyal.bsky.social/post/3kxsuoffudt2d
I think that is very unlikely
My concerns, which like I said can wait, are more about the ugly precedent this set behind the scenes, where a bunch of billionaires and their wholly owned subsidiaries in Congress shoved the actual winner of the primaries out the door. And I know: money talks in politics. But this took it to a whole new level. You might even call it a coup. In the end, it may work out to our benefit…this time. Next time, we’ll see.
I think it was less about a billionaire conspiracy, and more about experienced politicians like Pelosi seeing that our presidential candidate was a huge drag in swing states (and even some safe states!), not just in the presidential race but also down ticket. However! YMMV. The important thing is, we’re united and excited and we’re going to win.
Don't forget: Joe is nothing if not experienced politician. As horribly as things went amiss, there ultimately was some process by which Biden agreed he needed to concentrate on being prez, and pass the job of running for prez to a young, energetic person... Who will drive Convicted Felon to even greater levels of insanity (the *best* levels, like nobody has ever seen before!)
Yeah. And when Pelosi talks, people listen. But Give Uncle Joe his due for threading this needle.
I think this is wishful thinking on your part. The last time I checked Harris was doing basically as bad a Biden in similar polls
Polls don’t reflect changes instantly. Also, this discussion is becoming very unproductive, and I’d rather not continue it to the point where we annoy each other.
I think you missed my point about the polls, which I did not make very well or really at all. Current polling is only counting those who have made up their minds. About 10-20% of voters are still deciding. Biden, while many wanted him out, still did reasonably well in polling and about the same as Harris in similar polls because Dems were backing either of them. The question is can Harris bring in most of the undecideds or as many or more than Joe would have? I hope so, but she was very poor at getting many to support her in 2020, and I hope that can be remedied but that is no sure thing
I hate it when the Dakotas quarrel.
But can we expect credible polling in 3 days since the top of the ticket change? For now, I'd take donations as a better measure.
Donations show that the Dems who wanted Joe gone are happy, but most of these were locked in Dem votes anyway, so not hugely of consequence to the final outcome, which is the 10-20% of voters that are undecided.
Brace yourselves for NY Times: Democrats Disappointed Harris Not Farther Ahead
It was disgusting that billionaires had attacked Biden so publicly, and that they and TFNYT seemed to have won. But Harris's immediate fundraising results were a show of small donor support. Since the announcement, all signs point to significant turnaround on grassroots enthusiasm and GOTV effort. I've come to feel hopeful that Harris will be a popular vote winner. There sure are more of us than there are billionaires, and if we just get Kamala to the WH, I suspect she won't forget who gave her the votes.
I saw a clip of Jim Dave pretending to be FURIOUS that "Soros and Democrat elites" forced Biden out.
And that's why Trump picked him, the guy's willing to say literally anything.
ROFL! JimmyDave latching onto the BlueAnon conspiracy theories, while the rest of us are moving forward and, you know, beating his whiny loser ass.
If you haven't seen much of Shillbilly live, do watch a bit of his appearance yesterday. He has the energy of a frat boy at a comedy open mic on a dare, bombing badly and getting mad about it.
And then people laugh at him, and he gets madder, which just makes them laugh all the more.
Maybe the GOP should have diversified the ticket with a non thin-skinned white guy.
And seriously, how many people who are not fully made members of the cult even know who Soros is? This is like bragging that your dead Grandma had 19 loaded guns in the house, it's either deeply weird or completely baffling to normal people.
The name remains a signifier, but it's untied from the actual guy. It just signifies "rich jew pulling strings." Fewer syllables.
AKA Not From Around Here
I get that, but to even know the code, don't you have to in on the whole thing? The fact that it's encoded just makes it even more obscure for the normies.
Republicans care a lot about the counting of votes these days. That, and whether a person is authentically Black or not.
Someone like Ross Douthat is perfect for determining who is Black enough.
Hereafter known as "Whiter than a Klan hood" Ross Douthat
It's the Paper Bag Test where the bag is the one your prescription comes in at the pharmacy.
What else are you doing to help Harris win? I think every one that wanted Biden gone needs to pitch in and do more than hector and berate those that thought this was a bad move -- wait that is my prediction for the LGM front pagers. But you should still do something more
Fair. We should all get involved with the campaign. Though I’d note that right now I’m not stewing about Biden being “forced out” instead of moving forward, so hopefully that counts for something. Thanks for the homework assignment, though.
While that is better than hectoring and berating commenters that disagree with you, I am unsure that your feeling better, while good for you, is particularly helpful to Harris. Balloon Juice, while composed mostly of crappy, centrist commentators does a good job in getting people to pitch in. Their current ask is money for the NC Black Alliance (or something similar) to get out the vote in North Carolina
That round table was the biggest waste of digital ink since everything the Times has thrown at Biden since June. Regarding the fascists’ response to Harris, now in all but final voting the new Democratic candidate, I think the sludge won’t do much to counter her campaign’s focus on Trump’s criminality, including his upcoming sentencing in New York. The greater threat, in my opinion, lies in all the preparations for voter suppression and, when she wins, the lawsuits that will end up in the hands of the Supreme Court. Of course, she’ll be the VP in charge of the electoral college vote, which may be causing much distress among the fascists. Watch for the calls for her to resign from the vice presidency.
Agreed. Brace yourself for October Suprises, plural. It will be off the hook. And AI enabled.
OTOH Trump is yet to be sentenced. Currently scheduled for September.
Can the Supreme Court do something about that? Surely they owe him that much.
The Sucktastic Six pull up in front of the Manhattan courthouse in Clarence's Luxo RV, gavels at the ready.
RV??? Please. It's a Motor Coach.
PREVOST, BITCHES
"Of course, she’ll be the VP in charge of the electoral college vote"
On the one hand, the role is straightforward. Regardless of what they may say. We can state with confidence whether she did it correctly. That will matter, as it did with Pence.
On the other hand, the right doesn't care. They did cook up pseudo-legalities and fake slates of electors. Not to make their case, really. Pence was supposed to go along regardless.
The Vice President performing the role ALWAYS has a stake in the outcome. Harris has a bigger stake than usual, sure. Honest people acting in good faith will have to admit that she did the job right. I don't think the fake slates and shit will be so credible as to cast her certification in real doubt.
There's going to be a pall cast over her presidency; the question is exactly how fake and ridiculous it will be. This will be one component. It's no reason to quail.
Those fuckers are going to try to cast a pall regardless. But if she win, and I am sure she will win the popular vote handily, she'll have evidence of all the ass kissing the NYT, NBC, CNN have done to appease Trump. Perhaps we can divest of some Corporate Media Crapshacks and slide that Overton window slide to our side for a change.
Palls, plural. They will have 1001 reasons she's not legit.
True dat. But remember, for all they stoke that Rage-O-Matic furnace, they're gonna piss off people as well. Pissed-off people vote, "I'll show that son of a bitch..." is a great votegetter. And Hell hath no fury like a pissed off Black woman.
"Watch for the calls for her to resign from the vice presidency."
And she will, on Jan. 20, 2025.
The only thing they can do for voter suppression is have armed idiots show up at polling places in swing states, or alternately challenge a bunch of voters in swing states. Unlike 2020, they have lost the Governorships and Secretaries of State and AGs in most of the swing states
A friend, a Dem, had to be In Gatlinburg TN, the frequent winner of "Most Overrated uS Tourist Destination", and sent pictures of a TRUMP merch store. They hadn't put their Brandon hate stuff on sale yet, and had run out of vile anti Kamela stuff.
The planned campaign aint there any more: and racism and sexism are all they got...
Smart move on my part to buy a warehouse full of "Trump that Bitch" merch back in 2017. I hope the moths haven't got into it.
The candidate is moth-eaten, so if your merch windfall is the same it's totally feature WITH bugs. Winning!
If Trump can be a felon and a con man, Harris should show us her tits! Who are these morons with their announce your moderation talking to? Is there someone out there nodding at Douthat's statements?
Laffing, although in an ashamed-of-myself manner, of course.
"Is there someone out there nodding at Douthat's statements?"
Nodding before they collapse, unconscious, onto a plate of warm mashed potatoes.
"Tubby and the Shillbilly," performing covers of shitty Bro-country songs and selling Chinese-made tRump sneakers to the rubes at select Midwest Diners... yep, this could be big(ly).
I keep trying to make it work with "Willie and the Hand Jive". It's promising...
bring a nickel, tap your feet...
Huh. That mashup actually works.
Would also make a great sitcom, with canned laughter after every Shillbilly line.
How long until Tubby decides he hates the Shillbilly? Maybe he does already. He doesn’t like to share the spotlight, and his track record of playing well with others is abysmal. Really looking forward to a chilly ending to that unlikely couple.
I also notice a rise in folks making the observation that J.D. is duller than dishwater. "He makes Mike Pence look like a Chippendale's dancer".
And his wiseacre "wit" goes over like a lead balloon with the faithful. It reminds me of when ABC (I think it was) brought in Dennis Miller to crack wise during NFL games. Everybody and his brother was embarrassed.
What does Peter Thiel even see in him?
Compliance?
He's the missing link between Tradcath fascists and Libertarian venture capitalist fascists.
No conflict there between the Libertarians and the Catholics? Or is it that money papers over all differences?
Paper money does (to coin a phrase).
Tradcath authoritarianism/social conservativism versus Libertarian individual "freedom" and market worship. Evidently you resolve the conflict by having an oligarchy of more or less philosopher kings, led by the Grand Poobah philosopher king.
So Libertarian no longer means "Nobody better tell ME what to do!"?
Bingo
Look, I would've voted for Biden if he had come out on the debate stage in nothing but a diaper filled with diarrhea. But this is a much, much better outcome. The Republicans will be constitutionally unable to mask their racism and weird misogyny (she laughs! she's a barren cat lady!) and I agree with Roy - this will help Harris. The problem will really be AFTER she wins. Who knows what nonsense and violence Trump will cause, and if SCOTUS gets involved we shouldn't be surprised if they figure out some way to call her candidacy "illegitimate." The Democrats better have a plan for that other than flipping over on their backs like they did with Gore.