Focused, intelligent, strong and decisive…and a great sense of humor.
In which @KamalaHarris talks about @douglasemhoff's parents, and their reaction the first time they saw her! ??? #KHive #DougHive pic.twitter.com/FK0o3NXLak
— Sudaraka Ariyaratne (@SudarakaA) July 21, 2019
Hope everyone had a good day. Let’s face the week knowing we are not alone in our kindness, our determination, and our belief in what is decent. Every day seems to be a new fight, but each fight seems to reveal more and more good people fighting beside us. Take time off when needed (did me a world of good this past week and I’m repeating it this coming week), but don’t despair. Despair is what they want.
From the Penzys Spice email this morning: Kindness can’t sit down simply because anger has stood up….What the Republicans are doing right now isn’t just designed to rile up their base, it’s also there to demoralize those who would otherwise stand in their way. There was a time that rilling up their base was enough, but not anymore. As long as we stay standing, the next election will be in our hands.
Open thread
Mary G
Her husband is adorable and so supportive. I didn’t love the Big Dog’s behavior in 2016.
Ella in New Mexico
Thank you TaMara, for this inspiring post—your words—and Kamala’s And Penzy’s—are much needed right now. It’s getting harder and harder to maintain my faith that we’ll be ok. Thank God for places like BJ that give us a little bit of respite and community.
Emma
@Mary G: The Big Dog was considered a liability by Democrats. He kept well away from the spotlight. Stupid, because no matter what seeing a Clinton makes Republicans deranged.
White & Gold Purgatorian
Thank you. That Penzey’s quote is spot on. It is so tempting to let myself give in and give up to the constant drumbeat of crap — NO! Can’t do that! Kindness can’t sit down. That is the perfect way to resist the crap deluge coming at us. Let kindness remain standing, no matter what.
Quinerly
I just adore Kamala.
I reread her Wiki page right then. When I had perused it in the past, I missed the part that she “identifies Baptist.”. Hubby is Jewish.
SiubhanDuinne
Kamala has a great laugh. I love hearing it, and I love seeing her face when she cracks up.
Who’s the woman interviewing her in that clip, anyone know?
O. Felix Culpa
She does a good accent too. I love her laugh and story-telling ability.
O. Felix Culpa
@SiubhanDuinne: It looks like it was an event at the 92nd St. Y in NYC, but my google-fu hasn’t identified the interviewer yet.
ETA: Found it! Cleo Wade. The whole interview here: https://www.92y.org/archives/senator-kamala-harris-conversation
Quinerly
@SiubhanDuinne: I read in the Twitter thread that the interview was before she announced.
Uncle Omar
From today’s Doonesbury, from Uncle Duke, “Always bet on the cornered rat.” This time, I think, I’ll bet the other way.
SiubhanDuinne
@O. Felix Culpa:
I greatly admire your Google-fu. Many thanks!
Mike in NC
Fuck allowing fascism to take hold in America. Say that every day. My dad and my wife’s dad fought in WW2. Glad they’re not around.
BR
Just watched the AARP forum, and thought Bernie did better than I expected. Strangely he was a perfect complement to Warren and made me think a Warren/Sanders ticket would be nice (if not for the fact that it’s not balanced in any way).
Davebo
A Warren/Sanders ticket doesn’t sound at all like a good idea to me.
zhena gogolia
@Davebo:
Sounds like a disaster.
BR
@Davebo:
Eh, I think it would amplify the message. They both basically say the same thing but with different language. Ideologically they’re the most aligned — attacking corruption, greed, and division. But they’re both older, from the Northeast, and wouldn’t really broaden the voting base.
A crazy but interesting ticket would be Warren/Yang. Yang somehow has tapped into the disaffected youth vote.
Mike in NC
@BR: Asswipe Bernie will do everything he can do to reelect Fat Bastard next year. Get a clue, moron.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@zhena gogolia: Sounds Mondalish to me.
zhena gogolia
@BR:
You should be writing for the New York Times, it sounds like.
zhena gogolia
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
At least he won Minnesota (my husband tells me).
joel hanes
@Mary G:
Her husband is adorable and so supportive.
Her sister Maya is an amazing liberal political operative, as outstanding in her own way as Kamala. She’s Kamala’s campaign manager, and I suspect that some of the strength of the Harris candidacy derives therefrom.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhLpM-Qjy5E
TaMara (HFG)
@O. Felix Culpa: Oh, thank you for that!
Redshift
@BR:
If the disaffected youth vote is well below 1%, that would actually be encouraging…
hells littlest angel
I’d like to see the moderator of the Trump-Harris debate ask each of the candidates to tell a funny story.
plato
OT… or not.
HalfAssedHomesteader
@hells littlest angel: That is all kinds of awesome!
BR
@plato:
Seems like someone should take that Reagan news from that poll (that older Americans rate him the highest) and just plaster the airwaves in older GOP heavy districts with ads that are just straight Reagan (maybe with some West Wing style patriotic music quietly in the background) taking about the strength of immigration or science or any of the other things that the party is against now. Might not change any minds but might get some folks to not vote for the top of the ticket.
Ruckus
I like Harris best of the people running.
She seems the most professional person running – she has that same type of finish as President Obama. Smooth, honest. She’s not putting on airs, whatever the hell that means. She’s won a rather large public office election, twice – CA attorney general. And seemed to do a pretty good job. Not everyone was over joyed with her work but how could everyone be, everyone has an agenda to which they hold all politicians. President Obama certainly has had his detractors, of course most of them were racists, so they only count as 3/5 of a human. (good for the goose, good for the pasty white gander) I like Warren for senate majority leader. I think she can do more good there, what with her ideas about legislation we need moving forward.
jl
@plato: I think Obama will be remembered as one of the top 15 presidents. Above the ‘Grover Cleveland line”, with is my snarky way of dividing up presidents between those most people recognize and those they don’t. And that is based on his accomplishments, apart from his status as the first African-American president, but there will be that too.
I heard an encouraging poll that said Harris and Warren closing gap with Biden. I don’t care that Sanders is in the top four too. With Harris and Warren going against him in future debates, he’ll get challenged to prove he can do something beside shout slogans and be a tape loop of his 2016 campaign. Apparently the poll also indicated most Warren supporters are a distinct group from Sanders supporters, and Sanders is NOT often their second choice. So, if the Sanders campaign goes after Warren as his natural competition, they may be making a big mistake. But, I haven’t read a good analysis of what the flows of support are that have created the big swings between the candidates. Most of what I’ve read seems to be political operative and pundit BS pulled out of their asses.
I didn’t catch the name of the poll. Will look for it tomorrow, unless a kind commenter let’s me know.
Davebo
@BR: Creative but sadly I doubt most older Reagan admirers are going to be swayed by a Reagan/Trump comparison.
They knew who they were voting for.
jl
@Davebo: The real Ronald Reagan, with his very mixed record, does not exist in the GOP’s world view now. To the GOP, ‘Reagan’ is a magic word, a talisman, a symbol, a myth they can shape to whatever purpose they want at at the moment.
Edit: I forgot to add the phrase from an original Star Trek episode; worship word.
BR
@Davebo:
Yes, but imagine if Trump had to respond to such Regan ads — he would hate the idea of the media bringing up with him that Reagan was a far more popular president who said such things.
NotMax
@jl
And an E Pleb Nista to you.
:)
plato
@BR: More than enough pandering to ‘raygun democrats’ aka ‘wwc folks’ has been done with zero shift in their attitudes of voting patterns over decades.
Davebo
@jl: Absolutely.
Reagan wouldn’t have placed 5th in the 2016 GOP primary had he come out of nowhere. Well, 1980 Reagan at least. He was always nothing if not adaptable.
Steeplejack
@jl:
ABC News.
jl
@Steeplejack: Thanks, but I was asking about the new poll of support for Democratic presidential candidates. I only see the poll about Obama in that link.
jl
The Sunday news talkies seem to have been infested with Trumpsters whining about how partisan the liberals are, being mean and unfair to Trump, saying his tweets are racist, and the Democrats are playing the race card on everything they disagree with. That what Trump said was not racist.
OK. the problem with that is that other interpretations of Trumps disgusting tweets on the four House members are just as bad. For example, anyone not loyal to the Trump personality cut should leave, anyone who criticizes the US in any way that Trump doesn’t agree with should leave,
The blurbs I’ve heard on the news mostly are Trupmsters ranting their babble about the race card. Were any of them challenged on another little problem with Trump’s tweets and statements? Namely they were filled with bald faced lies, smears and slanders against against AOC, Omar, Pressley and Tlaib? I didn’t hear anything about that.
Citizen Alan
@Mary G:
It’s getting into “stepping on a butterfly territory,” but I think nearly every problem we face today as a nation could have been avoided if Bill Clinton had had enough god-damned sense to avoid having a private meeting on an airplane with Loretta Lynch just to show her pictures of his grand-kids while his wife was the subject of an FBI investigation.
Jay
Emily ripping a Nazi Appologist a new one using facts and figures.
11 million Amerikkans admit they are Nazis.
HRA
Death threats against Rep. Ilhan Omar have increased significantly after the president tweeted a video of the Muslim American congresswoman intercut with images of 9/11
I saw this a little earlier before I just saw it (the photo} being used in the corridor of the state assembly in WV. Both are in Now in Politics on FB.
Good night to all.
Chetan Murthy
@Citizen Alan: Sure, I get that Slick Willie is a loose cannon. But I don’t think we can really fault him. The GrOPers would have found some way to connect back to Hillary. And Comey would have found a way to sideline Lynch. It’s how they roll. Remember that at the time, it was all about weakening Hillary: they had no thought to the possibility that she might be defeated, so they felt free to try anything, literally *anything*.
Notwithstanding, yeah, Bill really didn’t do a good job of supporting his wife. Nothing like what his wife did during -his- campaigns. Shit, we all voted for Bill partially b/c we knew we were getting Hillary.
Feh. Just …. feh.
Jay
@Citizen Alan:
There were 40 other highly sucessful sabotage efforts going on long before then.
Wingnuts in their rants don’t even remember that one anymore.
TS (the original)
@HRA:
They are evil – no other word for it. I truly lose hope when I hear about such things – especially in those so called bastions of democracy and freedom.
Davebo
@Citizen Alan: No. It’s getting into post election rationalization territory.
Not useful at all. Might as well blame Seth Rich for dying.
Brachiator
@BR:
Might be fun.
Mandalay
@Citizen Alan:
Looking back, Bill Clinton’s behavior was no different to that of any random member of the Trump family, or his administration: an entitled asshole who didn’t think the rules should apply to him…
That never-apologize-and-also-play-the-victim routine has now become so familiar. Biden and Sanders do it. Trump does it. Plenty of Republicans in Congress do it.
But nobody throws a pity party for themself better than Bill Clinton.
Brachiator
@jl:
Didn’t watch any of the shows. If the hosts/moderators let any of the GOP guests get away with this bullshit, then fuck all of them.
Jay
Brachiator
Did any front pager comment on the recent vote to repeal the Obamacare “Cadillac tax?” From the Hill.
Both big business and unions hated this tax, and I can see the Democrats happily going along with repeal to get some presidential campaign support.
The tax had been repeatedly delayed. But I wonder whether the ACA would eventually be more effective had it been allowed to take effect. Of course we don’t know whether the Senate Republicans will take an easy win.
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/453603-house-votes-to-repeal-obamacares-cadillac-tax
Citizen Alan
@Davebo:
Well, I did describe it as “stepping on a butterfly territory.”
Jay
Jay
@Mandalay:
A crapload of former and current Wussolinni Minions are competeing for the title.
JWR
@Brachiator:
I watched “Big Dick” Cheney’s vile offspring Liz, Gish gallop all over CBS’s Margaret Brennan. It was truly pathetic. (By which I mean it was pathetic watching Brennan getting rolled.)
Jay
Mandalay
@Jay: A couple more tweets from the same person, sticking the boot in on Kamala Harris pretty viciously:
Ouch.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mandalay: This article from the LA Times paints a somewhat different picture. Bottom line, it comes down to competition for gaming dollars.
joel hanes
@Mandalay:
Bill Clinton’s behavior was no different to that of any random member of the Trump family
There is a difference. It’s spelled C-O-N-S-E-N-T.
Please make a note of it.
Jay
@Mandalay:
It’s tough. I’m a settler living on unceded Septewemec lands.
The best I can achieve is to be a cousin, which much of the time, 60/40 I am.
And that’s with a SWMBO who is full status Metis.
Addressing and rectifying ancient wrongs, eg. reparations, ain’t easy.
Still, it is something we should do.
Jay
@joel hanes:
????????
Jay
Jay
Aleta
@Jay: wtf they should be arrested and jailed for doing that.
trnc
@Davebo:
Reagan would gay marry DT today, just like every “reasonable republican” of the past 30 years has sought to do.
Another Scott
@trnc: Yup.
We shouldn’t forget that Ronnie was just reading words put in front of him in most cases (or repeating what Nancy whispered to him). Words that Peggy and others wrote. But she’s a Democrat now, right. Right???!!*!*!
If one wanted to throw Ronnie’s words back at them, one would have to have a plan for Peggy’s push-back.
Cheers,
Scott.
debbie
@Mary G:
Or in 2008.
PST
HRC would have done better in 2016 had she been a widow. I don’t say that out of any ill will toward her husband, just an opinion about whether turn-out would have been higher. It would have been harder to land Bill-based punches, not only the ones that were complete crap but some that were based on policies from the Clinton era. I heard plenty about the ‘94 crime bill while knocking on doors. In addition, Bill has relentlessly pursues contact with the wealthy and powerful. HRC herself deserves some blame for that and seemed much more remote from everyday American life in 2016 than she did in 2008, but it has always felt like more of a Bill obsession. Plus the Lynch business.
Matt McIrvin
@plato: This seems almost strange to me now since I’ve spent so much time reading Twitter progressives who have decided Obama was a terrible president. (Of course, they might still agree that he was the best on the grounds of all the others being even more shit, but they don’t like him at all.)
Matt McIrvin
@PST: Hillary-haters always hated Hillary more than they hate Bill, and they blame Bill’s misdeeds on her (e. g. he screwed around because she couldn’t please her man; everything he does is “The Clintons'” doing and somehow she gets most of the evil aura).
Matt McIrvin
@Another Scott: Some of the time he was reading Pat Buchanan’s words and then he sounded more like Trump.
germy
@PST:
They would have accused her of having him killed.
And Jake Tapper and Matt Lauer would have picked up on the “rumors” and probably even asked her something like “Isn’t it time for you to address those allegations?”
PST
@Matt McIrvin: Good point, and of course we can never know for sure. But I’m not thinking about the full bore Hillary haters. I’m thinking about the nominal Democrats who stayed home, having been persuaded, often with the help of exquisitely targeted social media, that “they’re all rotten.” I may be overly influenced by my own experience, which was knocking on the doors of registered Democrats in Toledo, Ohio, in what I would describe as working-class, mixed-race neighborhoods, but I heard way too much “Why should I vote?”