My problem is that I don't know how all that patriotism and "lethal" (please) stuff plays in Peoria and elsewhere. It certainly doesn't play for me. And from my eyrie in the Mountains of Cynicism, I see how little of what she promised has a chance of getting done. I don't even know how committed she is to any of it; after all, I lived through the Obama years, where we were promised change and got the single most establishment figure on the planet.
But giving her the benefit of the doubt for the moment, she outlined a genuinely progressive policy agenda and told it like it is about her opponent. (I was hoping for a dick joke, something like "He is the smallest man in America," but maybe this was the wrong spot.)
I envy Roy and anyone out there who can take any joy from the proceedings. I'm way way too hardened to be truly optimistic about the future, but I'm optimistic about the results of the election, and that's the best I can do. She did fine. And I'll happily cast my vote for her, in the state of--wait for it--Pennsylvania.
Obama got the ACA put through. And that single achievement puts him up there with LBJ as a generational great president.
He could have done more, but the large contingent of Blue Dogs and Republicans guaranteed nothing else of consequence was going to happen. And that's not Obama's fault.
I wish it hadn’t gotten abbreviated as the ACA, because the PP (Patient Protections) aspects were the most enduring and tangible parts of the PPACA, as opposed to the sometimes subjective Affordability parts. (This isn’t to quibble with anybody’s previous comments; I’m just kinda bemused at how its sub-acronym came about. Now that I think about it, I don’t often hear people saying Obamacare anymore either. It must’ve lost some of its value as a spittle-flecked conjuring word on Fox News.)
I feel like the Blue Dogs did a lot of damage, but so did the usual Dem gullibility. Y'know, where Reps say that they'd support the bill if the writers would just take this part out, and modify (weaken) this other part. Dems would do it, and when the bill would come up, those self same Reps would say "Are you kidding? I can't support this socialistic nonsense!", and the game would start again. Over and over. Still, the ACA is definitely a start!
I know it's wishful thinking, but I sincerely hope that Dems will get it through their heads that Larry Fucking Summers is a complete dumbass, and stop going to him. At least they can't go to Kissinger anymore.
As will I! Since I sold my house a couple of years ago, I've had dual residences in NYC and Pennsylvania and although I'm in the process of gradually shifting back home to NYC, I've been careful not to abandon my primary residence in PA before November 2024. My vote is meaningless in NY.
(Yesterday I turned aside a well-intentioned suggestion that I complete the spousette’s ballot and vote on her behalf, since the possibility now appears vanishingly remote that she will still be with us when California distributes the mail-in forms in October. Her being an “officer of the court,” and all that, I know without asking that she would not approve. I confess that if I lived in one of those knife-edge “battleground” states, or in one with a critical Senate race, I might nevertheless be tempted.)
Nah, votin' twice because you have two different homes in two different states (not that Sunday will do that) is totes OK. If they catch you, they make you take a citizenship class or something. Just be sure to do a skin-color check first.
Nope, I'm in the clear since I still spend slightly better than 50% of my time in PA as my job is in Philly. Very sorry about your approaching loss, btw.
In Washington state, if you have two residences, you get to pick which one you count as your home to vote from. It doesn’t matter how many nights you spend in one place or the other.
And it may very well be same in PA, I've never checked because PA has been my primary residence for 25 years, I've only started to spend nearly half my time elsewhere fairly recently.
Well, I'm white and of course I'm the best, but the wealthy part will prove a problem. The non-profit world is not where you go to earn coin. If my house hadn't tripled in value I'd be in a tight spot as I move closer to retirement.
On a brighter note, I could make my comment about having two residences on a conservative blog, then sit back and watch as they screamed VOTER FRAUD at me impotently. These people are likely hard pressed to read a book let alone look at actual voting laws.
"The non-profit world is not where you go to earn coin." Well, it *is* in the name, right? Honestly, every place I've worked but one has turned out to be a non-profit, even though they weren't started out that way. They all gone!
At the beginning of the month I reluctantly put in an appearance at a wedding in Huntsville-fucking-Alabama. The groom was an old friend of the frau’s; the bride a Republican judge. How Republican? She was one of the state party’s delegates to the GOP convention in Milwaukee last month, which strikes me as crossing the line between “Good German” and 𝘎𝘢𝘶𝘭𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳. As possibly the only atheist Democrat male at the reception dinner—four hundred guests, and nary a mask nor a dusky visage in sight—I had the sense that my range of potential conversational gambits was circumscribed, and accordingly confined my remarks to the weather (“Certainly is warm here. Did you know that in San Francisco much of August is typically cool and overcast?”).
Apparently it was the only large city in the state that went for Biden (by a couple of percentage points) in 2020, so yeah, but I don’t think those voters ran in the judge’s circles. For the rest, this was my second visit, after fourteen years, to H-ville, and both times it struck me as a notably pedestrian-unfriendly burg: you needed a car to get anywhere.
I had a nice, surprisingly un-cagey conversation with a MAGA acquaintance about how Trump's fucking up. He's been calling into podcasts regularly – they like to give him a little airtime – and it sounds like they're really worried.
Well, call me a softy, but I loved this. Even more than Wimbledon, and that’s sayin’ a LOT. I wept at the Chicks, I wept with Walz’s son, and I got pissed off right along with Oprah. And don’t get me started about Michelle! It felt really good to FEEL something politically again. I just wish I could vote twice.
I though that overall it was a fantastic show, and made all the bleats from the Ezra Kleins of the world for a “mini-primary” look even dumber than they were. Dems weren’t just in array, they were basically the Borg for the last four nights, and Tubby’s feeble attempts at counter programming were the icing on the cake. We’ll see if it makes a difference in the end, but Harris couldn’t have gotten a better launch.
I took special pleasure in Trump's post on Truth Social last night: "IS SHE TALKING ABOUT ME?"
It's like a cross between a jilted boyfriend who wants to know what his ex is saying, and a high school girl who wants to find out if someone in her clique is dissing her behind her back.
Did you think you were Travis Bickle saying that “Is she talking about me? She must be talking to me, because there’s no one else around.” Pumpkinhead, this is your daily reminder that DeNiro loathes you of old, and has your number and address.
So much has happened that I almost forgot! Now, normally I avoid the word "clusterfuck," on account of the visuals. Here you can practically taste the roiling blue panorama.
There was more than one weird idea, too. Seems like the common thread was how the party could show the world something. I'll hold back from describing the shining magical thing. It was gonna be many good things. Then the world was gonna interpret it like Klein or whomever preferred. They'd just take the happy ball and run in the right direction. Sure there'd be dangers, but aren't there always? Oh, what a contrast it would be to what Trump represents! We have a one-time chance to ...
As others have said, I think why Walz so inflames the Right is he shows it is possible to be a paunchy white guy in late middle age without feeling bitter resentment that “THEY” are stealing something from you. He likes football, hunting, table-top games, and bland food. He loves his family and America. He is happy-go-lucky and doesn’t pull out a magnifying glass at every opportunity to look for slights and insults. His speech at the convention demonstrated all of those qualities and showed his basic decency. He is the living, breathing embodiment of what the MAGA guys could be like if they just chilled the fuck out. And worst of all, he told MAGA they were wrong for being bitter rage monkeys. So of course they loathe him.
Harris did exactly what she needed to do, and did it extremely well. It was a very well-written speech, delivered with both dignity and gusto. I thought it was interesting we heard none of the “shattering the glass ceiling” talk we heard from Clinton in 2016. Although her presidency would be historic, Harris wisely kept the focus of her empathy on the American people, and her outrage laser-focused on what the Right wants to do to the country. She met the moment and exceeded it.
And most tellingly, she has already managed to absolutely wreck Trump. People have commented that Trump has completely lost it over the past month, and I believe it’s because Harris has taken up residence in his head to such an extent there is no longer any room for what little brains he previously had.
Creditors love nothing so much as average Joes and Janes who are as indebted as possible, but their peers? The entities, okay sure, but the people? I can only imagine it's unseemly, or gauche to acknowledge.
You have someone on the ground floor of opening Chinese-American relations, back when Deng Xiaoping was saying "Doesn't matter if the cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice." Go over, learn as much as teach. Go to Congress, then get elected Governor; part of your Governor's job is to get favorable business and trade concessions. You have a head start on 49 other governors who likely don't speak a word of Chinese.
Oh, you liberals, thinking that being Governor is about "doing work" like it's some kind of "job" or something. When, in fact, it's merely an IRL extension of the Meme Wars.
True story: he was on a Congressional committee on China. My cousin is a civilian advisor to the committee (China human rights expert). She says - shudder - he’s a very nice man. OF COURSE HE IS THATS WHY THEY RECRUITED HIM LIBS
I got through a couple paragraphs and ran into "at least [the GOP] doesn't consider 'man' a bad word" (or words to that effect) from Taibbi and decided to leave it for later. Christ. What a tool.
Jesus. It's a job. To run the government. Mostly to decide how much we spend on this or that. What should we do more of, what should we do less of. What it is is NOT is "deciding whether store clerks say Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas" or "Determining how men are viewed generally in our society."
This is a point on the Normie/Weirdo dividing line. Normies are hiring someone to do a job, Weirdos are always looking for their Weirdo Messiah. Weirdos want to be able to say to their candidate, "You complete me", which is not at all weird, right?
A vague sense of unease under the merriment, because joy makes me uneasy. I loved Trump and Trumpism being read the riot act, but I loved some of the little things. It cannot be easy for a woman to admit she was raped by her stepfather in front of a crowd of how ever many thousands. I adore Keenan Thompson, and the time honored game show host informing the players that they just lost their rights via Project 2025. Big Gretch brought it on, naturally.
The headliners: Kamala scored, and the scribbling wretches have lost their argument that she hasn’t identified herself. She is likely the next president, that’s who she is, and you’re a water carrier for country club parasites.
When my mother finally married a stockbroker and lifted us up out of poverty, I had the pleasure of being the unkempt addled turd in the country club swimming pool. The Coachella Valley boasts the highest number of pools per capita. Don't have one? Swing a dead cat! Sneak about!
And on the golf course – not that I golfed of an evening, or in the gloaming whilst a-roaming. Palm Springs nights can be low nineties in the summer. Pools in the eighties. Young person nocturnalism squared and cubed. Add some cars and meth (it was everywhere) and voila. Hot summer nights? THIS is a hot summer night!
My golf course experience consists of young me on my bmx jumping over a sandtrap or two on the way out of a county park that had a great fireroad to drop down.
Definitely loved seeing my governor Big Gretch smack that orange dickhead around. You know it is driving him absolutely INSANE watching these intelligent and beautiful women mock him.
I marvel at this sort of thing. I got seriously choked up just trying to comment to my wife.
It's true that I'm labile in general, and I've been hypomanic for a couple weeks. But even under more favorable conditions, I can't imagine. I have enough trouble hyperventilating my way through the telling of my own little traumas.
(Which on occasion I nonetheless do, for small-to-medium groups. My super power is shamelessness. That, and humor. Shamelessness and humor. Shamelessness, humor, and good looks. Among my super powers are ... have I mentioned I'm a narcissist?)
Enough about me. These people are amazing, and I thank them. The mass shooting victims, the lot of them. Thank you.
The Prestige Media (tm) has been pumping the angle of Tubby angry at the Unfair of it all that I quarter-expected the DNC —who’re usually reliable in fucking their own fortunes up— to pull a quick one & have Biden re-accept the nomination.
Let’s just say I’m relieved that the whole event is over.
Great visuals tho, from the bits I catch on the TikToks. My experience with medieval political stagecraft sours me a lot on its display in the modern era, yet there are great moments.
My favorite moment has to be when MyPillow dude Mike Lindell, assuming the same “undercover” drag that str8 married guys bring to adult book stores or Grindr hookups, losing an argument with a 12-year-old rizzed up in a 3-piece suit. As he’s sputtering in ineffective rage, Charlie Kirk walks by & shakes his head like, “No way I’m getting in THAT mess, grampaw.”
I'da paid $$$Grande for to see Uncle Joe, miked-up, shades and all, come storming out right at the end and claim it was all a show and that he, Uncle Joe, was coming for Trump. Deathly silence. Then he breaks into that big ol' grin and says "Nah, just joshin'" as the entire Democratic Party hierarchy joins him on stage, and he looks straight into the camera and says "But we ARE coming for you, Queens Man" as the rest of them join in shouting "And live from Chicago it's Thursday Night!"
Then Kamala comes out on roller skates and executes a perfect routine. (Tubby is apparently spreading the word that she’s not that good of a roller skater. WHICH IS IN THE CONSTITUTION YOU HAVE TO BE ABLE TO ROLLER SKATE.)
I crashed by 9: and watched recaps this AM: Harris and Walz were superb: Dem stalwarts like E. Warren and G. Whitmer were in pitch. I was happy my gov, R Cooper was there and hope to see him take on Idiot empty suit Thom Tillis for Senate
Sorry the Uncommitted didn't get a slot. And the only way I can understand L.Panetta's moment is as a slam at G.Greenwald, et. al.
I was the sort of weird kid with age 12 watch the 68 democratic convention, which was an unmitigated horror and disaster enough to take away from the awfulness of Nixon in Miami, where there was a race riot, just up the road ...this show, Which we have to remember, isn't exactly intended to entertain, was positive and fairly enjoyable, especially compared to the Darkness in Milwaukee..
The only other convention, speech, besides Obama, in 08, that I can recall much of was pat Buchanan's horrible culture war speech to the GOP in 92. We're still playing that shitbout.
I can remember bits of the last two nights, as seen the next morning.
Buchanan was an odd dude. One of the very few wild right-wingers with an actual, genuine, real-live sense of humor. That sort of thing is way, way beyond the MAGA crowd.
At sixteen I watched the 1968 convention with my old man (“old?” I have twenty-five years on him now), and date my political awakening, or at least uneasy stirring in my sleep, from that event. We were watching the police riot footage, and de Alte was offering up vigorous utterances of acclamation every time he saw a “hippie” skull cracked. I cringed, and might have cringed more violently had I been granted foreknowledge of my own beatdown by a trio of cops a few years later (cracking, in this instance, a rib rather than my skull).
The funny thing is watching Kamala, I not for a second thought I was looking at someone who couldn’t be elected: biracial woman of color, what’s the problem?
I liked the recital of her life ending at “Kamala Harris for the People” before going into policy stuff.
As for the Gaza issue, listening sideways there was a spin that I chose to take as feeble support for a two state solution. Palestinians can’t have independence under occupation. Of course, opinions about that can differ. Or maybe I’m having one of them hopium flashbacks.
Bonus point for Kamala’s anniversary wishes to her “Dougie”.
Special props to Roy Cooper for leaving NC potentially in the hands of Mark Robinson for a couple of hours.
"Special props to Roy Cooper for leaving NC potentially in the hands of Mark Robinson for a couple of hours."
Roy has done this once before: scuttlebutt is Robinson had no notice, and Roy back in Raleigh this am.
The last time Robinson was acting gov, he made some proclamations (about no Sanctuary Cities and sanctity of life, when he's said "Some people need killing...") he overreached and hurt his ratings..
Yeah, but Trump said Harris’ speech was just a lot of complaining and asked “Is she talking about me?” so total Dem disaster vs. Trump spiraling down into drool cup delusion? NYT and WaPo will have to fact check the shit out of this.
Oh, the Walz thing. He’s too good to be true, or is he? Those with rageball fathers watch him approximately like a beaten dog seeing someone coming in to path their head. Dare I? Can I believe that what I see is for real? Perennial weak links and pine-riders feel, I’m just gonna let him down, and that broadly smiling German face is going to curl into a scowl. But maybe that isn’t what happens. Great unrehearsed speech, rich with sports ball metaphors. I bet you a dollar that when Couchy gets in a debate with Coach, Vance is going to learn something he should have known: really smart people in the silage belt tend to mask their intelligence with warm hearted folksiness. Walz is going to skin him alive.
On a completely unrelated topic- I came across a letter from Bob and Ray to a young Keith Olbermann about baseball cards. Written on their company letterhead ( from " The Goulding - Elliot Greybar Productions Inc." Sole Makers of Bob and Ray stuff")
The company motto is in the upper left-hand corner-
PUISSANCE WITHOUT HAUTER.
Why, it's like they put their heads together and came up with a motto for Roy years before Roy was even born! That's an accomplishment! Being as Bob and Ray both dead and they won't need it anymore , I think Roy should start to use it as his motto.
He should also feel free to use the motto on the right side of the page -
PURVEYORS TO THE TRADE.
It's like they stole his letters and read each one out loud.
I've said this before, but I never tire of repeating it: speaking as someone who taught writing and English literature for 35 years, there is literally no one on the planet--no one at all--who writes better than Roy Edroso.
The best part of the convention was that everyone delivered (that I saw; I certainly didn't watch every second). People "knew the assignment" and hit the mark.
Kamala has given people optimism again. After 8 years of Obama, it seemed like we were primed to elect the first woman president. It felt like we really were in a new century. Instead, we got 8 years of ancient men (although I think Biden did a great job and is leaving an impressive record). Now that a biracial woman who grew up with Gen X cohorts (although she missed the arbitrary cutoff by a year) has a very good shot at winning, it feels like the future is ours again.
And if she does win, the GOP will have gobbled itself up into a worthless organism obsessed with things everyone else finds uncomfortably weird.
My problem is that I don't know how all that patriotism and "lethal" (please) stuff plays in Peoria and elsewhere. It certainly doesn't play for me. And from my eyrie in the Mountains of Cynicism, I see how little of what she promised has a chance of getting done. I don't even know how committed she is to any of it; after all, I lived through the Obama years, where we were promised change and got the single most establishment figure on the planet.
But giving her the benefit of the doubt for the moment, she outlined a genuinely progressive policy agenda and told it like it is about her opponent. (I was hoping for a dick joke, something like "He is the smallest man in America," but maybe this was the wrong spot.)
I envy Roy and anyone out there who can take any joy from the proceedings. I'm way way too hardened to be truly optimistic about the future, but I'm optimistic about the results of the election, and that's the best I can do. She did fine. And I'll happily cast my vote for her, in the state of--wait for it--Pennsylvania.
Obama got the ACA put through. And that single achievement puts him up there with LBJ as a generational great president.
He could have done more, but the large contingent of Blue Dogs and Republicans guaranteed nothing else of consequence was going to happen. And that's not Obama's fault.
I won't argue the point, since we're all friends here and I respect those who disagree with me.
I wish it hadn’t gotten abbreviated as the ACA, because the PP (Patient Protections) aspects were the most enduring and tangible parts of the PPACA, as opposed to the sometimes subjective Affordability parts. (This isn’t to quibble with anybody’s previous comments; I’m just kinda bemused at how its sub-acronym came about. Now that I think about it, I don’t often hear people saying Obamacare anymore either. It must’ve lost some of its value as a spittle-flecked conjuring word on Fox News.)
I feel like the Blue Dogs did a lot of damage, but so did the usual Dem gullibility. Y'know, where Reps say that they'd support the bill if the writers would just take this part out, and modify (weaken) this other part. Dems would do it, and when the bill would come up, those self same Reps would say "Are you kidding? I can't support this socialistic nonsense!", and the game would start again. Over and over. Still, the ACA is definitely a start!
Yeah, the stimulus had to be under a billion? dollars, because the Dems were chasing Republican votes and Larry Summers is an idiot
I know it's wishful thinking, but I sincerely hope that Dems will get it through their heads that Larry Fucking Summers is a complete dumbass, and stop going to him. At least they can't go to Kissinger anymore.
A rousing endorsement if ever there was one
As will I! Since I sold my house a couple of years ago, I've had dual residences in NYC and Pennsylvania and although I'm in the process of gradually shifting back home to NYC, I've been careful not to abandon my primary residence in PA before November 2024. My vote is meaningless in NY.
Aha! Fraud!
(Yesterday I turned aside a well-intentioned suggestion that I complete the spousette’s ballot and vote on her behalf, since the possibility now appears vanishingly remote that she will still be with us when California distributes the mail-in forms in October. Her being an “officer of the court,” and all that, I know without asking that she would not approve. I confess that if I lived in one of those knife-edge “battleground” states, or in one with a critical Senate race, I might nevertheless be tempted.)
Nah, votin' twice because you have two different homes in two different states (not that Sunday will do that) is totes OK. If they catch you, they make you take a citizenship class or something. Just be sure to do a skin-color check first.
Stop giving me ideas!
Mike the Chief O’staff Takin’ a Mulligan can show you how it’s done.
Do you really want to be like Ann Coulter?
If you're a republican you can get caught, shrug it off real quick, and get back to the business of destroying the franchise.
I think they have a post-election citizenship class scheduled in The Villages every four years for just this purpose.
Nope, I'm in the clear since I still spend slightly better than 50% of my time in PA as my job is in Philly. Very sorry about your approaching loss, btw.
In Washington state, if you have two residences, you get to pick which one you count as your home to vote from. It doesn’t matter how many nights you spend in one place or the other.
And it may very well be same in PA, I've never checked because PA has been my primary residence for 25 years, I've only started to spend nearly half my time elsewhere fairly recently.
I am sorry for what you are going through.
Be sure to fill out both census forms you receive, too. All the best wealthy, white people do it!
Well, I'm white and of course I'm the best, but the wealthy part will prove a problem. The non-profit world is not where you go to earn coin. If my house hadn't tripled in value I'd be in a tight spot as I move closer to retirement.
On a brighter note, I could make my comment about having two residences on a conservative blog, then sit back and watch as they screamed VOTER FRAUD at me impotently. These people are likely hard pressed to read a book let alone look at actual voting laws.
"The non-profit world is not where you go to earn coin." Well, it *is* in the name, right? Honestly, every place I've worked but one has turned out to be a non-profit, even though they weren't started out that way. They all gone!
Hey, Snarki, have you gone to the Runza's in town? I quite liked the sandwiches I have had there
I have not, no
I'm guessing you get insurance from your employer
I'm retired, so I get most of it from the US Government, and I wish everybody else did.
Currently staying with my MAGA sister, so didn't watch any of it. But I am ecstatic to have Harris and Walz to vote for!
Do you manage your relationship by avoiding anything political?
Pretty much.
I have two MAGA Brothers. The best we can do is make the occasional cautious joke about our differences.
At the beginning of the month I reluctantly put in an appearance at a wedding in Huntsville-fucking-Alabama. The groom was an old friend of the frau’s; the bride a Republican judge. How Republican? She was one of the state party’s delegates to the GOP convention in Milwaukee last month, which strikes me as crossing the line between “Good German” and 𝘎𝘢𝘶𝘭𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳. As possibly the only atheist Democrat male at the reception dinner—four hundred guests, and nary a mask nor a dusky visage in sight—I had the sense that my range of potential conversational gambits was circumscribed, and accordingly confined my remarks to the weather (“Certainly is warm here. Did you know that in San Francisco much of August is typically cool and overcast?”).
"In Hartford, Hereford and Hampshire, Hurricanes hardly ever happen."
And isn't Huntsville one of the comparatively liberal oases of Alabama?
Apparently it was the only large city in the state that went for Biden (by a couple of percentage points) in 2020, so yeah, but I don’t think those voters ran in the judge’s circles. For the rest, this was my second visit, after fourteen years, to H-ville, and both times it struck me as a notably pedestrian-unfriendly burg: you needed a car to get anywhere.
In SF and yes, foggy sunny. Was the same downcoast in Oceanside too. Come to California, then go home and tell everybody “Eh, it was middlin’…”
Huntsville is relatively liberal for Alabama
I had a nice, surprisingly un-cagey conversation with a MAGA acquaintance about how Trump's fucking up. He's been calling into podcasts regularly – they like to give him a little airtime – and it sounds like they're really worried.
... Imagine if the floodgates break and half of MAGA just starts dragging him.
People hate nothing so much as a weak loser.
John Thune criticized Trump's tariff plan
From your lips to the goddess's ears!
Open displays of lunacy reduce his chances of winning, maybe, and that's what worries them. Lunatic in the White House, not so much worry about that.
You know I understand your pain.
Well, call me a softy, but I loved this. Even more than Wimbledon, and that’s sayin’ a LOT. I wept at the Chicks, I wept with Walz’s son, and I got pissed off right along with Oprah. And don’t get me started about Michelle! It felt really good to FEEL something politically again. I just wish I could vote twice.
I though that overall it was a fantastic show, and made all the bleats from the Ezra Kleins of the world for a “mini-primary” look even dumber than they were. Dems weren’t just in array, they were basically the Borg for the last four nights, and Tubby’s feeble attempts at counter programming were the icing on the cake. We’ll see if it makes a difference in the end, but Harris couldn’t have gotten a better launch.
I took special pleasure in Trump's post on Truth Social last night: "IS SHE TALKING ABOUT ME?"
It's like a cross between a jilted boyfriend who wants to know what his ex is saying, and a high school girl who wants to find out if someone in her clique is dissing her behind her back.
Did you think you were Travis Bickle saying that “Is she talking about me? She must be talking to me, because there’s no one else around.” Pumpkinhead, this is your daily reminder that DeNiro loathes you of old, and has your number and address.
Mebbe, but the strength of SStyle's post is the phrasing of it. He's a jilted boy AND a high school girl! INCLUSIVE!
“Certs is a candy mint! Certs is a breath mint!” Certs is a suppository.
I s'pose.
And there is nothing that would upset him more than if the answer was NO
Every single one of these guys on the Right lives in perpetual fear he is Michael Ginsberg in the elevator with Don Draper.
The only thing worse than being talked about...
And the portions are so small!
Trump sitting at home by his ostentatious gold rococo princess phone, waiting for the prom date call that never comes.
Wow. 2 marks for the princess phone.
“mini-primary”
So much has happened that I almost forgot! Now, normally I avoid the word "clusterfuck," on account of the visuals. Here you can practically taste the roiling blue panorama.
There was more than one weird idea, too. Seems like the common thread was how the party could show the world something. I'll hold back from describing the shining magical thing. It was gonna be many good things. Then the world was gonna interpret it like Klein or whomever preferred. They'd just take the happy ball and run in the right direction. Sure there'd be dangers, but aren't there always? Oh, what a contrast it would be to what Trump represents! We have a one-time chance to ...
As others have said, I think why Walz so inflames the Right is he shows it is possible to be a paunchy white guy in late middle age without feeling bitter resentment that “THEY” are stealing something from you. He likes football, hunting, table-top games, and bland food. He loves his family and America. He is happy-go-lucky and doesn’t pull out a magnifying glass at every opportunity to look for slights and insults. His speech at the convention demonstrated all of those qualities and showed his basic decency. He is the living, breathing embodiment of what the MAGA guys could be like if they just chilled the fuck out. And worst of all, he told MAGA they were wrong for being bitter rage monkeys. So of course they loathe him.
Harris did exactly what she needed to do, and did it extremely well. It was a very well-written speech, delivered with both dignity and gusto. I thought it was interesting we heard none of the “shattering the glass ceiling” talk we heard from Clinton in 2016. Although her presidency would be historic, Harris wisely kept the focus of her empathy on the American people, and her outrage laser-focused on what the Right wants to do to the country. She met the moment and exceeded it.
And most tellingly, she has already managed to absolutely wreck Trump. People have commented that Trump has completely lost it over the past month, and I believe it’s because Harris has taken up residence in his head to such an extent there is no longer any room for what little brains he previously had.
Walz is not about accumulate-money-or-be-angry-because-you-didn’t. Quel horror.
He doesn't own any stocks! Or even a house! My hero.
How can he even sit down to caviar with the captains of industry? Also: he’s a Chi-com spy.
If I was going in to speak to a bunch of bankers, "No, I'm not mortgaged to the hilt" might be a good position to be in.
Creditors love nothing so much as average Joes and Janes who are as indebted as possible, but their peers? The entities, okay sure, but the people? I can only imagine it's unseemly, or gauche to acknowledge.
Trump sucks.
America demands to see his auto financing paperwork.
Ah, he bought the tru-coat! How can he stand up to CHY-NAH if he can't stand up to Jerry Lundergard?
As Ron Johnson so astutely pointed out, HE GOT MARRIED ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF TIANENMEN SQUARE! which definitely proves it.
We were married on the 40th anniversary of the date the Kingston Trio was the mystery guest on What’s My Line. True story.
Ron Johnson has moved on from astutely pointing out that climate change is caused by sunspots?
Did Ron go to Moscow for July 4th one year?
Nah. What with the time difference and all, different date…
He went to The Evil Land! MULTIPLE TIMES!!!
"Timothy Walz should be shown the front door
He went to China, he's not American anymore
Still, it's odd to hear Republicans say
'You are living in the free world, in the free world you must stay!' "
oops, forgot the YouTube
https://youtu.be/pmkZOHN9qvA
See, this is the part I don't get.
You have someone on the ground floor of opening Chinese-American relations, back when Deng Xiaoping was saying "Doesn't matter if the cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice." Go over, learn as much as teach. Go to Congress, then get elected Governor; part of your Governor's job is to get favorable business and trade concessions. You have a head start on 49 other governors who likely don't speak a word of Chinese.
And this is supposed to be *bad*?
Oh, you liberals, thinking that being Governor is about "doing work" like it's some kind of "job" or something. When, in fact, it's merely an IRL extension of the Meme Wars.
True story: he was on a Congressional committee on China. My cousin is a civilian advisor to the committee (China human rights expert). She says - shudder - he’s a very nice man. OF COURSE HE IS THATS WHY THEY RECRUITED HIM LIBS
He could be me. I even had a Runza for lunch today!
As an added bonus, Walz has utterly wrecked Matt Taibbi’s few remaining brain cells. https://coxkaren6.substack.com/p/matt-taibbi-continues-to-be-horrendous
I knew Taibbi was bad, but I had no idea he was such an aggressively vicious creep.
Will definitely be taking your word for this.
I got through a couple paragraphs and ran into "at least [the GOP] doesn't consider 'man' a bad word" (or words to that effect) from Taibbi and decided to leave it for later. Christ. What a tool.
Jesus. It's a job. To run the government. Mostly to decide how much we spend on this or that. What should we do more of, what should we do less of. What it is is NOT is "deciding whether store clerks say Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas" or "Determining how men are viewed generally in our society."
This is a point on the Normie/Weirdo dividing line. Normies are hiring someone to do a job, Weirdos are always looking for their Weirdo Messiah. Weirdos want to be able to say to their candidate, "You complete me", which is not at all weird, right?
Taibbi still exists?🧐
And if so, why?
Sadly, yes.
Thanks for the link!
I feel pretty good about things.
Weird.
I know, right?
Good weird though, right?
Yeah, the last time I felt this good was in 2008.
Real good weird.
Dude. Back off on the ingestibles a notch or two.
Going pro weird?
A vague sense of unease under the merriment, because joy makes me uneasy. I loved Trump and Trumpism being read the riot act, but I loved some of the little things. It cannot be easy for a woman to admit she was raped by her stepfather in front of a crowd of how ever many thousands. I adore Keenan Thompson, and the time honored game show host informing the players that they just lost their rights via Project 2025. Big Gretch brought it on, naturally.
The headliners: Kamala scored, and the scribbling wretches have lost their argument that she hasn’t identified herself. She is likely the next president, that’s who she is, and you’re a water carrier for country club parasites.
"A vague sense of unease" is the only right and proper attitude of humanity, so you're our paradigm.
As when watching old movies, a sense of unease is a conduit to the spirits of our forgotten ancestors. Pessimism is ancient wisdom.
“Country club parasites” is a phrase that should get more play.
I Was A Country Club Parasite.
Snuck onto golf courses at 4am to play a few holes before the grounds crews got wise...
When my mother finally married a stockbroker and lifted us up out of poverty, I had the pleasure of being the unkempt addled turd in the country club swimming pool. The Coachella Valley boasts the highest number of pools per capita. Don't have one? Swing a dead cat! Sneak about!
And on the golf course – not that I golfed of an evening, or in the gloaming whilst a-roaming. Palm Springs nights can be low nineties in the summer. Pools in the eighties. Young person nocturnalism squared and cubed. Add some cars and meth (it was everywhere) and voila. Hot summer nights? THIS is a hot summer night!
Our film club is covering 'A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night' in a couple weeks. Your second paragraph resonates, man. Now do it in Farsi.
I can barely do it in gibberish!
That movie is one of our favorites. Soooo good.
My golf course experience consists of young me on my bmx jumping over a sandtrap or two on the way out of a county park that had a great fireroad to drop down.
Spring Valley?
Santa Teresa County Park, on Bernal in south San José.
Definitely loved seeing my governor Big Gretch smack that orange dickhead around. You know it is driving him absolutely INSANE watching these intelligent and beautiful women mock him.
“She should be dating me.”
Hearted AND OOF.
It never occurred to me: he uses the term "date" very loosely.
Well, he did once say "If Ivanka wasn't my daughter I'd be dating her."
By which he means, of course, coffee; then dinner and a movie; etc.
At some point she introduces you to her parents. Oh wait!…
You know, he doesn't have to watch. Isn't he busy? Doesn't he have things to do?
Yes, but the machine doesn't work any more, if you catch my drift.
[ Pssst.... tell ya a secret........Roy has a crush on Big Gretch ]
Who doesn’t
"It cannot be easy for a woman to admit ..."
I marvel at this sort of thing. I got seriously choked up just trying to comment to my wife.
It's true that I'm labile in general, and I've been hypomanic for a couple weeks. But even under more favorable conditions, I can't imagine. I have enough trouble hyperventilating my way through the telling of my own little traumas.
(Which on occasion I nonetheless do, for small-to-medium groups. My super power is shamelessness. That, and humor. Shamelessness and humor. Shamelessness, humor, and good looks. Among my super powers are ... have I mentioned I'm a narcissist?)
Enough about me. These people are amazing, and I thank them. The mass shooting victims, the lot of them. Thank you.
Still, it must be a bit healing to feel 40,000 people emoting the feeling “It wasn’t your fault.”
I would, however, have said “disclose” rather than “admit,” since the latter word carries with it the slightest whiff of something like guilt.
Excellent point! And to transform grief into hope, purpose, and meaning. As opposed to what we've mostly got.
Your Substack is notably worry-free. Idyllic, even. A nosegay of titular poetry compliments the fragrance of the whole.
Good point.
Shouldn't you be worried?
My little takeaway for the week:
We had a sea of American flags.
The RNC had a sea of "MASS DEPORTATION NOW" signs.
More later, when I wake up.
The Prestige Media (tm) has been pumping the angle of Tubby angry at the Unfair of it all that I quarter-expected the DNC —who’re usually reliable in fucking their own fortunes up— to pull a quick one & have Biden re-accept the nomination.
Let’s just say I’m relieved that the whole event is over.
Great visuals tho, from the bits I catch on the TikToks. My experience with medieval political stagecraft sours me a lot on its display in the modern era, yet there are great moments.
My favorite moment has to be when MyPillow dude Mike Lindell, assuming the same “undercover” drag that str8 married guys bring to adult book stores or Grindr hookups, losing an argument with a 12-year-old rizzed up in a 3-piece suit. As he’s sputtering in ineffective rage, Charlie Kirk walks by & shakes his head like, “No way I’m getting in THAT mess, grampaw.”
(It seems to me we have all too many modern examples of the Field of the Cloth of Gold, although the media pretends they're not political.) ; )
I'da paid $$$Grande for to see Uncle Joe, miked-up, shades and all, come storming out right at the end and claim it was all a show and that he, Uncle Joe, was coming for Trump. Deathly silence. Then he breaks into that big ol' grin and says "Nah, just joshin'" as the entire Democratic Party hierarchy joins him on stage, and he looks straight into the camera and says "But we ARE coming for you, Queens Man" as the rest of them join in shouting "And live from Chicago it's Thursday Night!"
Then Kamala comes out on roller skates and executes a perfect routine. (Tubby is apparently spreading the word that she’s not that good of a roller skater. WHICH IS IN THE CONSTITUTION YOU HAVE TO BE ABLE TO ROLLER SKATE.)
"tubby is apparently spreading the word that she’s not that good of a roller skater"
Somewhere a roomful of Republican campaign consultants are looking at a TV and shouting WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING OLD MAN
One of the things the Dems are really succeeding at is poking the bear so he’ll spew angry nonsense.
Hearted, but stay away from the bear poke salad bar, especially without the sneeze guard.
These days, he doesn't even need poking.
He comes pre-poked.
What do you think Grover Cleveland was doing in his off hours?
Are you just trolling us for a euphemism award?
Well... u could never be sure we weren't... >:)
Ya got me there, pal.
According to the statue in the RC, throwing a baseball pitch
Wait, that's Taft
Like Donny can roller skate
Didn't "Chuckles" Kirk have his own run-in with a precocious youth?
Yep, and it went as well as you'd expect. I'm just bummed the kid didn't greet him with "Hey, it's Pouty McSmallface!"
I crashed by 9: and watched recaps this AM: Harris and Walz were superb: Dem stalwarts like E. Warren and G. Whitmer were in pitch. I was happy my gov, R Cooper was there and hope to see him take on Idiot empty suit Thom Tillis for Senate
Sorry the Uncommitted didn't get a slot. And the only way I can understand L.Panetta's moment is as a slam at G.Greenwald, et. al.
I was the sort of weird kid with age 12 watch the 68 democratic convention, which was an unmitigated horror and disaster enough to take away from the awfulness of Nixon in Miami, where there was a race riot, just up the road ...this show, Which we have to remember, isn't exactly intended to entertain, was positive and fairly enjoyable, especially compared to the Darkness in Milwaukee..
The only other convention, speech, besides Obama, in 08, that I can recall much of was pat Buchanan's horrible culture war speech to the GOP in 92. We're still playing that shitbout.
I can remember bits of the last two nights, as seen the next morning.
Buchanan was an odd dude. One of the very few wild right-wingers with an actual, genuine, real-live sense of humor. That sort of thing is way, way beyond the MAGA crowd.
Buchanan was 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 the closest thing we had to an actual Nazi in public life.
That 'at that time' phrase is doing alla the lift.
A joke current at that time was:
"Did you know that Pat Buchanan lost a relative in the Holocaust?"
"No, really?"
"Yeah, his uncle fell out of a guard tower at Auschwitz."
This along with "it sounded better in the original German" from Molly Ivins. . .
At sixteen I watched the 1968 convention with my old man (“old?” I have twenty-five years on him now), and date my political awakening, or at least uneasy stirring in my sleep, from that event. We were watching the police riot footage, and de Alte was offering up vigorous utterances of acclamation every time he saw a “hippie” skull cracked. I cringed, and might have cringed more violently had I been granted foreknowledge of my own beatdown by a trio of cops a few years later (cracking, in this instance, a rib rather than my skull).
YOICKS.
Whoa, got that bondage thing a day early IIRC…
The funny thing is watching Kamala, I not for a second thought I was looking at someone who couldn’t be elected: biracial woman of color, what’s the problem?
I liked the recital of her life ending at “Kamala Harris for the People” before going into policy stuff.
As for the Gaza issue, listening sideways there was a spin that I chose to take as feeble support for a two state solution. Palestinians can’t have independence under occupation. Of course, opinions about that can differ. Or maybe I’m having one of them hopium flashbacks.
Bonus point for Kamala’s anniversary wishes to her “Dougie”.
Special props to Roy Cooper for leaving NC potentially in the hands of Mark Robinson for a couple of hours.
"Special props to Roy Cooper for leaving NC potentially in the hands of Mark Robinson for a couple of hours."
Roy has done this once before: scuttlebutt is Robinson had no notice, and Roy back in Raleigh this am.
The last time Robinson was acting gov, he made some proclamations (about no Sanctuary Cities and sanctity of life, when he's said "Some people need killing...") he overreached and hurt his ratings..
Yeah, but Trump said Harris’ speech was just a lot of complaining and asked “Is she talking about me?” so total Dem disaster vs. Trump spiraling down into drool cup delusion? NYT and WaPo will have to fact check the shit out of this.
The New York Times is gravely concerned that Kamala’s rave reviews and popularity are not sustainable.
All she needs to do is sustain it for a few more weeks.
But... but.. what if she wins and then we all discover she's not as wonderful as she seems? WHAT WILL WE DO THEN HUH
Especially after I’ve gotten her name tattooed across my forehead.
She better come through because I spent my kids inheritance on Kamela-Koin and Kamela NFTs.
What, you missed out on the Kamala Keds? Silly SteveB...
Liberal Anxiety Machine functioning properly.
Oh, the Walz thing. He’s too good to be true, or is he? Those with rageball fathers watch him approximately like a beaten dog seeing someone coming in to path their head. Dare I? Can I believe that what I see is for real? Perennial weak links and pine-riders feel, I’m just gonna let him down, and that broadly smiling German face is going to curl into a scowl. But maybe that isn’t what happens. Great unrehearsed speech, rich with sports ball metaphors. I bet you a dollar that when Couchy gets in a debate with Coach, Vance is going to learn something he should have known: really smart people in the silage belt tend to mask their intelligence with warm hearted folksiness. Walz is going to skin him alive.
She picked the right veep. Bodes well.
Walz is a Goddamn miracle. And he's been just a coupla hundred miles away in Minnesota and I never knew.
2 marks for pine-riders.
By the by, if politics is theater, it’s some horrifying Living Theater variant where the actors die when the plot twists.
On a completely unrelated topic- I came across a letter from Bob and Ray to a young Keith Olbermann about baseball cards. Written on their company letterhead ( from " The Goulding - Elliot Greybar Productions Inc." Sole Makers of Bob and Ray stuff")
The company motto is in the upper left-hand corner-
PUISSANCE WITHOUT HAUTER.
Why, it's like they put their heads together and came up with a motto for Roy years before Roy was even born! That's an accomplishment! Being as Bob and Ray both dead and they won't need it anymore , I think Roy should start to use it as his motto.
He should also feel free to use the motto on the right side of the page -
PURVEYORS TO THE TRADE.
It's like they stole his letters and read each one out loud.
https://substack.com/profile/870651-worriedman/note/c-66452464?r=insr
“PUISSANCE WITHOUT HAUTER”
No hauter? Where’s the fun in that!?
Yeah, was gonna say...Roy could do one or the other, and sometimes both, but hmmm...
Maybe I should just sit this one out.
Forget I said anything, Boss.
It’s impossible to even say “puissance” without some degree of “hauter.” I mean, it’s one of THOSE words… :)
Whilst sipping your pousse-café.
You say everything with a degree of HAUTER.
Gary Gygax fell in love with it in one of his D&D books that I read
Well, puissance is fun. Kind of. Innit?
I've said this before, but I never tire of repeating it: speaking as someone who taught writing and English literature for 35 years, there is literally no one on the planet--no one at all--who writes better than Roy Edroso.
That's Roy, he grabs 'em by the puissance.
Careful now...
Puissance Galore
Never saw that one but Bob and Ray are a MAJOR influence.
This shouldbe common knowledge.
https://youtu.be/CLHo2O18_M4?si=MbckijK-fkVNK2w2
I,...............
....................can ....tell
Judge Michael Luttig endorses Harris (eventually, set it on 2x if you want)
Ha! Wanda Sykes! Yes!
Now I know what was missing! Larry David! Bald Assholes for Kamala!
Well, Bernie did speak…
That’s true! They’re cousins or something.
The best part of the convention was that everyone delivered (that I saw; I certainly didn't watch every second). People "knew the assignment" and hit the mark.
Kamala has given people optimism again. After 8 years of Obama, it seemed like we were primed to elect the first woman president. It felt like we really were in a new century. Instead, we got 8 years of ancient men (although I think Biden did a great job and is leaving an impressive record). Now that a biracial woman who grew up with Gen X cohorts (although she missed the arbitrary cutoff by a year) has a very good shot at winning, it feels like the future is ours again.
And if she does win, the GOP will have gobbled itself up into a worthless organism obsessed with things everyone else finds uncomfortably weird.