Walter says happy Monday to everyone but the goat next door, who has wronged him. pic.twitter.com/7lbUUxk3Hl
— Jessica Huseman (@JessicaHuseman) September 9, 2019
Some days you’re Walter, some days you’re the (confused) goat…
The goat mostly looked confused and my mother theorizes it’s because he thought Walter was a chicken who’d learned to bark which is obviously ridiculous as Walter is smaller than a chicken
— Jessica Huseman (@JessicaHuseman) September 9, 2019
Elsewhere…
Tomorrow, September 16th, I’ll be in New York City to tell the story of how working women organized to change the course of history after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. I hope to see you there: https://t.co/tVK8xMeNon #WarrenNYC pic.twitter.com/ShC9TC75i7
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) September 15, 2019
No.
I win.
You’re frivolous & catty. pic.twitter.com/tKs0JNLWeo
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) September 15, 2019
Read this section of Maureen Dowd’s latest and then realize that, in a poll average, the top three Democrats all beat Trump. Per RCP it’s Biden by 11.5, Sanders by 7, Warren by 5.2
Liberals have two emotions: “panic” and “panic with extra flop sweat.” pic.twitter.com/DhWQdT0vRJ
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) September 15, 2019
Taking back the Senate is tough but doable. There are enough pickup opportunities but no easy races, so Democrats need all hands on deck, writes @AJentleson https://t.co/uSU0AiFdm8
— GQ Magazine (@GQMagazine) September 11, 2019
.@TheDemCoalition Major focus on beating 10 GOP Senators in 2020:
Mitch McConnell (KY)
Susan Collins (ME)
John Cornyn (TX)
Joni Ernst (IA)
Cory Gardner (CO)
Lindsey Graham (SC)
Cindy Hyde-Smith (MS)
Martha McSally (AZ)
David Perdue (GA)
Thom Tillis (NC) https://t.co/MK6hWML9CL— Stephanie Kennedy (@WordswithSteph) September 2, 2019
sukabi
Dowd can take her 4 martinis and fuck right on off.
Good morning, and good night.?
cain
I agree.. 4 martinis is probably enough to get her started on writing whatever passes as drivel. That woman… sigh.
With the media assist, it seems that they might think that things will be more profitable for everyone with Trump around because liberal flop sweat tastes sweet to conservatives and the media.
Matt McIrvin
As someone pointed out in the Twitter thread, since when is Maureen Dowd a liberal? That’s not panic, it’s gloating.
Eljai
It would make me very happy if Maureen Dowd and David Axelrod would take their mediocre opinions and go the fuck away. What purpose do they serve? Maybe they could take up knitting.
Shalimar
Mississippi and South Carolina aren’t happening, even with the weakest incumbents of the 10. The other 8 races are possible.
If Democrats do pick up Texas and Georgia, it is because Trump loses both states. Which could make him a historic loser as far as popular vote margins go.
prostratedragon
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, Wikipedia.
Baud
There are two positive things I can say about Biden as the nominee. The first is this.
The second is that it would piss off the portions of the left who hated Hillary.
prostratedragon
@prostratedragon: Let’s try it again: The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, Wikipedia.
Mary G
These people can’t let go of the Democrats in disarray meme, even though the candidates are playing to packed houses wherever they go, except for Biden, who sticks with firefighters for his occasional appearances.
The latest Kavanaugh thing and the FTFNYT’s “harmless fun is getting a pen1s in your face” has me furious again, and I’m not alone.
rikyrah
Good Morning,Everyone ???
rikyrah
@Mary G:
We all knew that the FBI investigation was bullshyt. As it was happening, I know that I saw on Twitter folks talking about how they were trying to get in touch with the FBI, but has been ignored.????
rikyrah
Kavanaugh should be tied to Little Susie and Gardner in 2020??
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
JPL
@Baud: He knew Corn Pop so that’s pretty cool.
JPL
@rikyrah: I assume that he will be. Also, good morning.
Baud
@JPL:
Baud!/Corn Pop! 2020!
NotMax
Small morning grin – closed caption funnies from last evening.
Dialogue: “It look like it’s abandoned.”
CC: “It looks like it’s banana fun.”
@prostratedragon
They no longer teach about that to school kids? As I recall, our class spent a solid week on the situation and its ramifications, both political and regarding the labor movement.
NotMax
@Baud
(rushes to alter the template for the Baud!/Cornhole MMXX yard signs)
;)
Baud
@NotMax:
Baud!/Cornhole MMXX: Banana Fun!
Starfish
@Eljai: What did knitters ever do to you to deserve this?
Baud
rikyrah
@Baud:
No, Little Eddie….
Stay your azz in Moscow??
satby
@Baud: poor little traitor, has life in Russia ceased to entertain?
Baud
@rikyrah:
Or come home.
OzarkHillbilly
Recession Already Grips Corners of U.S., Menacing Trump’s 2020 Bid
Comrade Nimrod Humperdink
Doesn’t Alaska have a non-Murkowski Senate seat up in 2020? Seems like with all the craziness up there with the razing of the state university system that the right candidate could wring out a victory there, with a fraction of the resources someone might need to beat say, McConnell
OzarkHillbilly
Johnson’s ‘bonkers’ plan for £15bn bridge derided by engineers
More than once during my years of construction I was asked, “Can you build….?” To which I always answered, “I can build you anything. Can you pay?”
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
A six-pack (or prize of equivalent value) says Petras will pull a Collins when he enters the booth next November: “I am VERY disappointed, but I have his assurance that he will lead us out of this most recent Obama Recession.”
BlueDWarrior
@SFAW: listening to Republicans talk about how they are very disappointed in the Republican President but won’t ever go against him is like watching an android revert back to base programming when it encounters a logic fault.
For them, the Republican is never wrong, just momentarily led astray.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
BoJo Horses-Ass will get Finn McCool to build it, I expect.
debbie
I’m sorry Rob Portman isn’t included in that list of Senators to beat. He is quiet, but insidious: the perfect Rethuglican. Every bit as monstrous as Moscow Mitch; just more quiet about it.
SFAW
@BlueDWarrior:
“Moron, coordinate!”
BlueDWarrior
@debbie: he is a throwback to when Republicans writ large knew how to couch language to prevent anyone but liberal ideologues from getting mad at them.
Now we call basic tact a unique trait…
satby
@SFAW: I don’t know, seems the anger in farm country is real.
Whether they can overcome the knee-jerk tribalism fueled by almost 40 years of propaganda fed to them via right wing media is the question.
hueyplong
@SFAW: Totally agree, but if I’m going to be subjected to a trope story, I prefer “Angry Trump Voter In State That Should Have Gone For Clinton Feels Betrayed” to “Diner Denizens Still All In For Trump.”
debbie
@satby:
Oh, they’re plenty mad…at the USDA, who they believe is conspiring to damage Donald Trump.
Kay
@BlueDWarrior:
Trump only won WI by 20,000. He can’t lose any.
satby
@debbie: read that article, it’s by a local news reporter in Iowa. I hope the anger about tariffs and climate carries over with enough rural farmers to change the calculations, but the level of outright bullshit spewed by the news media (including NPR, which ceased being an honest news source more than a decade ago) is a hurdle.
Jinchi
That’s the title of the GQ article linked above.
This after a summer in which Trump seized $3 billion from the military to support his vanity project, ordered agents to break the law by seizing land along the border, kicked hundreds of hurricane disaster refugees off a ferry from the Bahamas, banned asylum for people from Central American nations, threatened to fire NOAA meteorogists for accurately reporting the weather, is aggressively trying to indict the former Deputy Director of the FBI, all while openly soliciting foreign help for his re-election campaign.
(This is a heavily abridged list of the scandals of the last few weeks.)
debbie
@satby:
Good. I hope they can convince their looney tunes neighbors. (I wish the article had raised the issue of the permanent loss of market share.)
JPL
@Jinchi: So that’s why my stomach has been in knots.
Baud
@Jinchi:
I obviously want is to win every contest, but let’s be clear that this headline is an outright lie.
Baud
@satby:
I hope it works out, but it’s not something we have control over or can worry about. At most, we make some minimal outreach efforts to remind them that we exist as an option for them.
Dorothy A. Winsor
It is possible I have Maureen Dowd confused with Peggy Noonan.
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Haha. That’s understandable.
Kay
My son’s electrician union isn’t crossing (what they will consider) a picket line in the stamping plant where they’re working. The plant makes parts for GM, Ford and Tesla. They run different lines in parts of the plant. He says Tesla just came in to the plant last year. I don’t think they can predict how big this will be because these parts plants supply different car makers from one location.
Baud
@Kay:
Teamsters are supporting the strike. Trump is blaming both sides.
rikyrah
Propane Jane™ (@docrocktex26) Tweeted:
Reading through the Kavanaugh headlines and smh at how much filth, chaos, abuse and corruption the White American majority is willing to tolerate as long as it keeps White Republican men in control of all 3 branches of government… https://t.co/WbyTPVnSCX https://twitter.com/docrocktex26/status/1173304351244410882?s=17
rikyrah
M’BlockU (@rodimusprime) Tweeted:
Stacey Abrams working on voter suppression. Obama working on gerrymandering.
Once again black people doing the work of trying to save this “democracy” from itself.
A story as old as time. https://twitter.com/rodimusprime/status/1167049471777214466?s=17
Baud
Link goes to WaPo.
Spanky
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
All those right-wing Irish-American Republican apologist opinion writers look the same.
OzarkHillbilly
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I thought they were the same person, one was the drunk columnist and the other was the sober columnist. Sometimes they switched roles.
Kay
@Baud:
He went in at 5:30 (AM) Sunday to work on the Tesla line (which is robotic) and they sent them home at 7:30 with this bizarre “explanation” that they hadn’t had “orientation” so couldn’t work. So they hired 9 electricians, sent a van to pick them up at their houses, paid them double time for 3 hours, and sent them all home. He thinks they’re freaking out.
mrmoshpotato
@sukabi:
Agreed. It’s not even 7AM here, and Maureen Died can already go fuck herself.
Also, good morning and good night. I’m going back to sleep.
Spanky
@OzarkHillbilly: Neither one has ever been known as “the sober columnist”.
Karen S.
@OzarkHillbilly: This Petras dude really doesn’t understand Trump. Took note of the bit where the article states how well Petras’ company was doing 4 years ago when someone named Obama was president and had been president for several years at the time. Hmmm… What could that possibly mean? I doubt Petras makes the connection between where his company was back then and where it is now. Or he will and will willfully ignore it.
Spanky
@mrmoshpotato: You misspelled Maureen Dood.
It’s a vertigo morning, so I’d prefer to be upright. Otherwise, I’d go back to bed too. And I’m on EDT.
Baud
@Spanky:
It’s more of a vodka vs. gin situation.
Kathleen
@debbie: Yes he is. He comes across as “reasonable”. Very insidious.
Betty Cracker
Did anyone see “Country Music” on PBS? I was particularly fascinated by details of the Carter Family’s music biz origin story — my husband dug up a documentary on the Carters on one of the streaming channels a while back (Netflix? Prime?), but Burns’ version provided new (to me) details. It was a well done intro, and we’re looking forward to the next episodes.
OzarkHillbilly
@Spanky: How’s about one is drunk and the other is hung over?
Another Scott
‘morning all.
Twitter:
(via nycsouthpaw)
Cheers,
Scott.
SiubhanDuinne
@debbie:
Portman’s Senate seat isn’t up until 2022.
satby
@Kay: my kid left his job at the Toyota factory in KY to take a job doing fleet maintenance for the city of Lexington. Toyota was dangling jobs to the long term temps for years but wasn’t converting them to permanent positions, I suspect because the company is planning for recession too.
SFAW
@Baud:
I’d say “Po-TAY-toe, po-TAH-toe,” but that might be pushing it.
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: That’s a good read. Skipped over it yesterday.
@Baud: It’s not just about winning those votes, it’s also about making Repubs work harder at keeping them.
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne:
That’s no excuse.
@OzarkHillbilly:
Excellent point.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
I don’t like country, but I saw a preview of that documentary, and it looked fascinating.
SFAW
@satby:
Perhaps. Might also be because they, like plenty of other companies, don’t want to add the workers to the “permanent employees” roster for tax and other financial reasons. Lots of companies seem to want to keep their payrolls “lean,” so that they don’t have to pay for things like healthcare, vacations, training, benefits in general.
Ken
A few months ago there was speculation that McConnell et al would persuade Clarence Thomas to retire next summer, and use the opening on the Court to rally support for Republicans in the Senate. (In future I will call this “pulling a Kennedy” to save time.)
I can’t help but wonder if McConnell et al have gamed out the scenario where they pull a Kennedy with Kavanaugh. Think of the advantages of a “liberals hounded this innocent man from his seat” campaign.
Baud
@Ken:
I think Thomas will retire on his own. Kavanaugh is young. He won’t give up his seat. And I don’t think it would help the Republicans to try to get him to resign. Their voters will see it as a betrayal.
Sab
@debbie: Yeah. Back in the day when I thought they were purging crooks out of the Ohio GOP it turns out they were only purging the mosty honest ones who had gone astray. The shameless crooks took over.
Matt McIrvin
@BlueDWarrior: The rank and file voter fallback is “both sides are equally bad; all politicians are corrupt.” Which sounds like worldly-wise cynicism but is actually an excuse for whatever open corruption is right there in front of them. I first heard it as a reaction to Watergate.
Ken
@Jinchi:
But think of the advantages of this precedent for future Democratic administrations!
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
Agreed. But if it affects turnout, that will be helpful.
Matt McIrvin
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I’ve had that problem too. If it’s talking about how Democratic men are women and Democratic women are men, it’s probably Dowd. If it spins into loopy mystical reveries about Reagan’s feet and magic dolphins, it’s probably Noonan.
Another Scott
@Baud: Yup. The GOP would never risk losing one of “their” seats.
McConnell kept Garland off the court because Scalia’s seat was “theirs”. If Justice McLefty suddenly left the court, then normally they wouldn’t care if a Democrats submitted a replacement – it wouldn’t change the “balance” of the court. They know that a Democrat isn’t going to submit a RWNJ so they probably wouldn’t fight too hard over even a lefty choice. Once Justice RWNJ is on the 5:4 court though, he’s there for life in McConnell’s book.
No way that Thomas will be pressured to resign unless Donnie and McConnell figure they have the votes to replace him with Justice RWNJ before the election – it’s just too risky. McConnell isn’t willing to give up a RWNJ court, even if it means they lose an election. Kavanaugh is safe (at the moment anyway).
Bird in the hand…
Cheers,
Scott.
Baud
@Another Scott:
They can easily replace anyone. Who’s going to vote no? Collins? Mitt?
Cheryl Rofer
Trump in Rio Rancho tonight.
rikyrah
@satby:
I have no sympathy for them.
None.??
Argiope
@debbie: He’s not up until 2022. We are stuck with him until then. Hoping that his family members need an abortion, or develop a preexisting condition, or any number of other things he won’t change his mind on until personally affected. Because that’s how Rob rolls.
Another Scott
@Baud: It really depends. I’m not willing to predict much of anything these days.
McConnell has been ramming judges through like there’s no tomorrow for the GOP and it’s starting to bite him. And Donnie will have more trouble going forward. Law360:
I can’t find it now, but there was some discussion recently about some RWNJ nominee (District Court? Court of Appeals?) that had some horrible anti-gay, etc., views publicized that he had to kinda-sorta try to walk back during the hearings. Eventually the system will rebel against McConnell’s tactics because Senators want to be re-elected too.
We’ll see.
Cheers,
Scott.
jonas
@SFAW: Yup. At some point, these folks have to decide whether or not the satisfaction of seeing poor, scared immigrant children cry in cages is worth having your company run into the ground by a massive own-goal of a trade war. Like you, however, I’m not entirely confident they’re willing to give up the daily lib pwning for their own livelihoods.
Kay
@satby:
Good for him. The eternal temp to hire nonsense shouldn’t be permitted. My son has to decide if he leaves the union in January. That’s when he goes from apprentice to journeymen, takes the state/city test and decides whether to stay with them or go out to non-union. I don’t think he’ll leave. They send him all over the place, which he likes. Ohio is reciprocal with Michigan in licensing so he’ll be licensed in both states.
JPL
@Baud: A lot of country music, until the last decade or so was misogynistic.
Baud
@rikyrah:
They don’t want your sympathy. They want your submissiveness.
Baud
@JPL:
Probably not just country. Rock and rap have that too.
Baud
@jonas:
The majority clearly won’t abandon Trump. The question is whether we can peel off enough to win a few more elections.
JPL
The president is upset that Congress isn’t investigating President Obama’s book deal and netflix deal. Didn’t someone just blow up Saudi refineries?
mrmoshpotato
@Spanky: Hahaha Oh autoincorrect. You crack me up at times.
I didn’t even notice that.
Kay
@Baud:
In certain states. Which is the reality for us, so I wish I would stop reading “fuck these people!” We don’t get a majority of them but we also can’t lose the 39% or whatever that we have.
Baud
@Kay:
If we can’t say fuck these people, then we can’t say fuck any group of people. And I don’t think any of us are willing to make that sacrifice.
Kay
@JPL:
The corruption narrative is getting to them though. GOP congress members are starting to call D’s corrupt. They’re not invincible, no matter what the political team at the NYTimes says. It matters. If it wasn’t starting to stick douchebag wouldn’t be responding. This idea that he’s untouchable is completely contradicted by how desperately reactive he is.
joel hanes
@Baud:
[nominating Biden] would piss off the portions of the left who hated Hillary.
You would think so.
But I’ve had commenters (on another site) tell me in no uncertain terms that Biden should be the nominee, because he would win, because voters who hated Sec. Clinton’s neoliberal corporatist thing would mos def vote for Biden.
Which, I wot, tells us something about that commenter’s actual objections to HRC, which they _pronounced_ neoliberalism and corporatism, but were spelled M.I.S.O.G.Y.N.Y and C.L.I.N.T.O.N.C.O.O.T.I.E.S
JPL
@Kay: The Obama investigation is just plain odd, since former presidents write books. His wife’s book was a best seller for months so why not investigate her. Maybe his base will think it okay, but to me he appears like a jealous old coot that he is.
Kay
@Baud:
You can certainly say fuck the Trump supporters but telling the 39% who have resisted this bullshit for 30 years and continued voting for us to fuck off is just stupid. IMO. We have to win PA and WI. We can’t do that with 3 urban counties. These people aren’t even that plugged in. Imagining they “hate us” is echo chamber. They don’t think about it enough to hate us. People have to be asked for their vote. Trump isn’t asking anyone outside his base. We can.
Baud
@Kay:
That’s fair. Then we need to be nice to everybody.
Gun owners, evangelicals, police, wall Street bankers, all have a minority of people who voted Dem. We can’t elevate certain groups of people above others when it comes to the respect we show in our rhetoric.
joel hanes
@OzarkHillbilly:
build a bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland
Many piers in water over 1000 feet deep, some of them sunk into a WWII ordnance dump with a million tons of undocumented unexploded ordnance. What fun!
Kay
@JPL:
Trump is really vulnerable on corruption. He ran on “drain the swamp”. It was CENTRAL to his appeal to non-lunatics. If he’s responding he’s worried. It IS starting to stick, too. They’re corrupt as hell. They have a sleazy pay to play scandal once a fucking week. No one is in charge. They’re all just plundering independently at this point. Trump gets his cut and then it just goes down the line.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: Bingo. And right on time [Vox]:
It’s smart politics, IMO.
joel hanes
@satby:
The Storm Lake Times (to which you linked) is a gem, a strong independent voice with original reporting.
(Once, The Des Moines Register was among the nation’s best newspapers, with its own DC bureau, and second only to the FTFNYT in Pulitzer Prizes. But first Gannett, and then USA Today gutted it so that today it’s an empty and useless husk of lifestyle and sports up-close-and-personal articles wrapped around a little advertising.)
Kay
@Baud:
I don’t agree. Why would we have to do that? Most people aren’t lunatics or single issue voters. Most people don’t pay that much attention. I think some of the antipathy comes from Bernie’s bullshit argument that he can convert Trump supporters. That’s Bernie. It’s not Democrats. They have to keep his margins down in R areas or we will not win these states. It’s always been true and nothing’s changed as far as that map. They could win some of these western states or southern states but that’s the future. There is no set of circumstances where they don’t need Pennsylvania.
OzarkHillbilly
@joel hanes: What could go wrong?
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
I’m a fan (obviously) but I think she’s been much more effective on corruption than Bernie’s “both sides” is. She hits them on corruption constantly. Uses their names.
joel hanes
I am gleeful that the Democratic Party is finally, _finally_ deciding to seriously challenge the re-election of the Republican leadership.
Suzanne
@OzarkHillbilly:
My version: “It’s all possible with money.”
My friend’s version: “All things are possible. Some things are expensive.”
Baud
@Kay:
The groups I mentioned aren’t single issue voters. They’re groups of people. And they are entitled to the same respect or disrespect that we show others.
I’m not playing favorites. That’s selling our soul. If Pennsylvania wants to support fascism, so be it.
Major Major Major Major
Remember the time Dowd took a pot edible four times stronger than was recommended and wrote an article about how being stoned is dumb and she doesn’t get it?
OzarkHillbilly
@Suzanne: “I want some new bookshelves. How much will they cost?”
“Oh, about $40,000.”
Kristine
Translation of Axelrod-speak: “No one hired me.”
joel hanes
@Matt McIrvin:
The rank and file voter fallback is “both sides are equally bad; all politicians are corrupt.”
The big advantage of this pose to the lazy/uninformed voter is that it absolves them of any responsibility for learning to distinguish and making choices, and thus absolves them of any responsibility for outcomes. Whatever happens, it’s not _their_ fault, and they can continue lecture the rest of us about the unacceptability of any particular candidate, in all weathers.
Wankers
Stein and Nader voters fall into this bin too, also.
Kay
@Baud:
That’s fine but I don’t think Democratic candidates are going to take that approach, so I just hope that isn’t considered a betrayal or somehow Bernie-tainted. The truth is they ran right down the middle in 2018 and they won. They’ll tend to do that again. It worked. You’ll see the shift the moment they have a candidate, with the exception of Bernie.
satby
@rikyrah: oh, hell, I certainly don’t either. I have to listen to the fools four days a week. If it didn’t hurt their innocent children and other people who don’t vote for Republicans, I’d happily watch their farms go right into bankruptcy.
Fuckem. Fucking pricks who think they’re the only patriotic Americans and ALL the rest of us are interlopers. Fuck them forever.
Matt McIrvin
@joel hanes: I remember more of that in 2016: “Hillary is such a corporate shill; I wish Biden were running.” Which made absolutely no sense to me: for any issues Hillary Clinton had here, Biden was worse.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
Trump certainly thinks it’s smart politics since he ran on it. What was his signature bellow? “Crooked Hillary”. Let’s take his word on it. He knows his voters better than anyone. I’m amused the whole “I pay for my campaign” he ran on has disappeared without a trace. He does high dollar fundraisers once a week, just like Jeb Bush would be doing. Same GOP donors. Another huge lie.
Matt McIrvin
@joel hanes: It’s remarkable how similar it sounds whether it comes from leftist purity ponies, Broderian centrists or never-Trump Republicans.
Another Scott
@JPL: Donnie’s afraid of Michelle and always has been.
Cheers,
Scott.
NotMax
Things that make me go “Huh?”: On the menu at the nice restaurant the other night was a Caesar salad made with kale in place of lettuce.
@OzarkHillbilly
Carved from a solid block of pink Himalayan salt.
joel hanes
@Matt McIrvin:
reiterating:
Sec. Clinton was unacceptably female.
mrmoshpotato
@joel hanes: BoJo obviously thinks he’s Mythbusters’ Jamie Hyneman.
“Jamie wants big boom.”
satby
@Baud: clearly, I’m not
Leto
@Major Major Major Major: I remember that. “So the marijuana salesperson recommended I start off with this baby dose of weed, but considering I’m not a baby, I bought the B-Real/Vanessa Lavorato “fun pack” and headed back to my hotel room.” It was the equivalent of a 16 year old getting their drivers license and their parents giving them a Formula 1 car as their first drive. Dingbat.
Kristine
I often wonder whether some Tr*mp voters who say they will vote for him again no matter how bad things get for them are saying that because otherwise they would have to admit they made a mistake in a national publication. No one likes to admit mistakes, and this admission would have your name attached and be read by millions, including neighbors/family/unhinged strangers who may get pissed off over your change of heart. Like the Clinton supporters who were afraid to admit to such on Facebook etc, maybe they’re afraid of the blowback they’ve seen others receive.
A lot of maybes, I know. But I think there will be at least a few secret D votes to be had.
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: Huh…. Clicking on my nym takes me to a Kay post. How’d you do dat?
Baud
@Kay:
Of course not. I don’t expect any candidate to act like me.
CliosFanboy
I LOVE that.
Betty Cracker
@joel hanes: I agree the “both sides are corrupt” take is lazy and inaccurate, but unfortunately, a huge portion of the electorate falls for that shit, the media reinforces it, and there is enough anecdotal evidence in people’s lived experience to keep the confirmation bias rolling along. For me, the question is what can we do to counter that narrative?
First, we’ve got to understand that the impression people have that everything is corrupt and voting is a waste of time wasn’t just formed by observing self-dealing and crooked pols; it’s the entire system, which really is rigged in favor of the wealthy and well-connected. Even the college admissions scandal feeds into the perception of unfairness, and the scumbag Sackler clan trying to shield its wealth as it liquidates its company to surrender those assets to victims of its plot to profit from pain.
IMO, the Trump administration offers Democrats an enormous opportunity to establish our party as the antidote to corruption and plutocracy, not just by preaching to the converted but by demonstrating that we’re different. It looks like the House will hold tons of hearings on Trump administration corruption this term, which is a great start. Warren has the right idea, IMO, but I hope whoever our nominee is will go all-in on fighting for regular people because they really are getting screwed.
NotMax
@OzarkHillbilly
Constructive chaos.
;)
mrmoshpotato
@Baud:
Hence Baud 2020.
Baud 2020 – No one else was crazy enough for me. So I ran myself!
:)
NotMax
@Betty Cracker
Lots of crossover with those who have nothing but the most strident of negatives to say of Congress while simultaneously gushing with love for their Congressperson.
Repatriated
@Betty Cracker:
For what it’s worth, I think a variant of that sentiment is what got us Trump: “They’re both bad but (due to decades of media/disinformation/propaganda) Hillary is worse”. And since Trump was a self-evident dumpster fire, Sec. Clinton must have been History’s Greatest Unindicted Monster.
It was a self-reinforcing meme, backed up by false-equivalency from the media.
joel hanes
@Betty Cracker:
demonstrating that we’re different
We’ve been demonstrating that we’re different since 1972 or so.
Gin & Tonic
@mrmoshpotato: In future, please make sure to use the correct orthography. It’s Baud! 2020!
SFAW
@Another Scott:
Right, because Moscow Mitch suddenly became something other than a power-grabbing, traitorous, lying fascist.
Repatriated
@Repatriated: On the other hand, none of our current candidates has been a national-level propaganda target (most due to not yet having a national profile, but in VP Biden’s case because Pres. Obama drew all the opposition fire). Meanwhile, Dumpster Fire has been Dumpster Fire all along.So this time around, we get the benefit of the doubt in the “both sides do it” conflict among low-information voters.
This is separate from the issue of mobilizing voters in the first place, though.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Licensed in two state..sounds like a good deal for him, Kay.
PS-how are he and the girlfriend doing?
NotMax
Is this a thing now? Friend bought a new car this week. Subaru Outback. Came with a feature which he was unaware of until he drove it, namely that if one comes to a complete stop for more than like a second, the engine shuts off and then turns back on when the brake pedal is released. Took me for a ride in it on the first day he had it – there is a definite small but noticeable lurch when the engine shuts itself off that way. That feature alone would drive me even more bonkers than am already.
Sitting in the front passenger seat I was developing a headache from the unignorable glare of the multiple video screens on the console.
rikyrah
@JPL:
Didn’t someone just blow up Saudi refineries?
1. Nobody gives a shyt.
2. Nobody definitely isn’t going to send American troops for that shyt.
rikyrah
@Kay:
I got to see the Chris Hayes show from Friday, when Joy Reid was guest hosting, that sent Dolt45 into a twitter rant about Joy.
It was all about his corruption…every single segment. No wonder he went nuts.
Gin & Tonic
@NotMax: Yes, it is now a thing.
Calouste
@OzarkHillbilly: There is a trench between Scotland and Northern Ireland where that bridge would go that is about 600 feet deep and which had about a million tons of excess ammunition dumped into it after WWI & II.
Another Scott
@SFAW: Mitch can block a Democratic president, but he can’t make him appoint a RWNJ.
Cheers,
Scott.
rikyrah
@Kay:
It’s the Scottish airport. Like, others, I thought it was a one-off deal…
Then, I find out that they’ve spent 11 MILLION there since 2017.
People understand that. In addition to making the Air Force people stay at his resort at inflated prices over their usual per diem. Joy Reid made a fabulous analogy – that the Air Force people were putting it on the corporate credit card -except this time, it’s the American taxpayer. I thought her talking about, if SHE had gone somewhere way more expensive, above the allotted per diem, she would be hauled into HR so fast to explain herself. Breaking it down like that was excellent, IMO. People get that.
Also, Congress asking for the proof of the so-called other properties that were researched before ‘deciding’ on the Doral for the next G7…..these things are accumulating.
NotMax
@Gin & Tonic
In that case it is time to invest in companies which manufacture starter motors. //
Repatriated
@Kay:
And “whatabout” doesn’t work when it comes from the wrong side of a credibility gap.
Betty Cracker
@joel hanes: Okay, perhaps we haven’t demonstrated that difference as effectively as we could have done? Maybe it’s the business I’m in, but I think we’ve failed to establish and reinforce our brand message as Democrats, and that has really harmed us with low-info voters (which is most of them) as well as non-voters. There are a lot of reasons for it, but IMO, the problem is real. I’m happy to see signs among some candidates and other players at the federal level that we’re about to change that.
Steeplejack
@Betty Cracker:
I watched it and thought it was pretty good. I don’t know much about that era of country music, and it was interesting to get all the detail. I knew a fair amount about Jimmie Rodgers, mostly from his songs, but I didn’t know the story of his illness and death.That was heartbreaking.
It was a great touch to have Dolly Parton singing “Muleskinner Blues” over the closing credits. That cracked me up.
One question I had is what the hell did A.P. Carter actually do? They said he sang—sometimes—but I didn’t hear him on any of the clips. And no mention of his playing an instrument. I guess he was more the manager/agent.
I liked the musical details, especially the explanation(s) of Maybelle Carter’s groundbreaking “Carter scratch” guitar technique. I didn’t realize that she was such an accomplished guitarist.
Peter Coyote’s narration sounded a little leaden at times, but I think that was the writing’s fault, not his. And I wonder if it would have been better to have a narrator with a bit of a “country” accent. Not Shelby Foote! Maybe somebody like Ron White or Walton Goggins. Or, OMG, a woman.
NotMax
@Betty Cracker
Yup. “We’re not them” may be easily remembered but it is not particularly inspirational.
Frankensteinbeck
@Ken:
No way. I watched the hearings. Republicans, especially Senate Republicans, are foaming-at-the-mouth furious that Democrats suggested that rape is something a rich white man should be punished for. Kavanaugh is now a symbol of that sacred privilege and the fight to maintain it.
@Kay:
That’s a dog whistle, Kay. When Republicans say ‘special interests’ they’re thinking about minorities. They think there’s a vast corrupt lobby infesting the federal government whose goal is to give blacks a leg up on whites. Still, the blatant corruption will pick off a few people, and Trump required a perfect storm to get him into office by a ridiculously tiny margin. It may also discourage Republican voters who would never vote for a Democrat but are deeply invested in their external image as adults in the room. The need for bigots to pretend their bigotry is tough love wisdom is strong.
mrmoshpotato
@Gin & Tonic: My apologies. But not as sorry as Matt and Tom.
Jinchi
@Ken:
They could have done that during his nomination. Instead they rushed him through, knowing there were credible allegations against him. They clearly couldn’t just tell him to withdraw. That would have brought up the obvious comparison with Trump who has 20 even more serious allegations against him.
There’s no way they do it before the 2020 election and no reason for them to do it after.
Yarrow
@Betty Cracker:
Completely agree. Been saying it for awhile here, but other commenters don’t agree. The Democratic brand is what? Do we have a five second pitch? I don’t think we do.
J R in WV
@Leto:
If I recall correctly, the package had directions “Take one first to see how you react. It may take several hours to take effect, so go slow!” or words to that effect. I think the rest of her piece was fiction, really. Most folks that would just put them to bed.
germy
@Steeplejack:
If Shelby were alive today, he’d be over a hundred years old.
Yarrow
Boris Johnson’s been empty-podium-ed by the Luxembourg PM. Hilarious. Click through for picture:
SFAW
@Another Scott:
Which is the point.
Unless I mis-read your scenario — which is certainly possible — you were suggesting that the Rethugs would let a non-RWMF replacement for Ginsburg or Sotomayor go through, because at least it wouldn’t flip the SCOTUS from a 5-4 RWMF majority to a “liberal” majority. I think that’s a pipe dream, while Traitor Turtle is still majority leader. His entire raison d’etre is doing whatever he can to secure a permanent RWMF majority, in as many places as he can, by whatever means he can.
Now, if he had an epiphany, and decided that maybe doing evil was something he should stop doing, then the above statement becomes “non-operative.” I think the likelihood of that happening, however, is on a par with me waking up tomorrow with a full head of my own hair.
James E Powell
@Steeplejack:
How ’bout Sissy Spacek?
Baud
@Yarrow:
Can we agree on a five second pitch? Doubt it.
Kay
@rikyrah:
They passed out 28 billion dollars for that farmer bribe with little or no oversight. They spent so much it may exceed their capacity to borrow from that program, which has its own lending entity. I’m sure that was on the up and up.
rikyrah
@Kay:
No more welfare for them.
Betty Cracker
@Steeplejack: Yep, I think ol’ A.P. was more of a lyrics/melody scavenger and manager than anything else. The Carter women seemed to have all the musical talent. Anyhoo, it was a fascinating program, and I’m looking forward to the next installment!
The Moar You Know
@NotMax: Yes, it’s a thing, every new car and rental I’ve driven in the last two years has it, and on the Subaru you can turn it off. Which I did to mine.
Kay
@Frankensteinbeck:
Okay, but I don’t want anger at the Trumpsters to turn into “don’t bother trying anything” – I think that’s counterproductive.
Trump DOESN’T think the corruption is good for him. If he did he wouldn’t be lying about it. You don’t need “Trump voters”. You need 50,000 people who do other things than follow politics to sporadically and unenthusiastically vote for the Democrat. They don’t have to love us.
Kay
@rikyrah:
I find it frustrating when Trump is as much as bellowing “THIS bothers and threatens me!” and there’s a whole host of Democrats who are like “it doesn’t matter- actually he LOVES to be called corrupt”. Take his word for it! It bothers him!
Because he’s not popular or considered a decent person does not mean he doesn’t want to be. It just means he failed.
chris
NC senator retires. With pics
rikyrah
@chris:
BWA HA AH AH AHA HA HA HA
scav
Quick OT HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!! because I have to walk the dog and Willow won’t understand (as she is a noce and kindly soul that just wants to waaalk,) Boris Johnson getting surgically stomped on by Luxembourg. Alley Xavier Bettel! Guard Live feed
Steeplejack
@germy:
Not dead Shelby Foote either!
prostratedragon
@NotMax: Good morning again. Wouldn’t know, as I was in school around your time if not before, and have no kids to provide reference. We did learn something about Triangle in the Chicago Public Schools, along with learning about a couple of this city’s own fires that affected national fire codes.
As this was the early 60s and blacklist snitches were still about, teachers kind of soft-pedalled the union angle, though they did mention it. My school was majority White in those days, mostly children or grandchildren of immigrants, whom they knew, and some were themselves immigrants. So the attitude toward that part of the story ran an interesting gamut from identification to shame and shame-casting.
Steeplejack
@James E Powell:
She might be good. I can hear, or almost hear, a voice in my head that would be perfect, but I can’t put a name or face to it. All I can see, God help me, is Rena Sofer, who I don’t think has a Southern accent at all.
Another Scott
@Kay: Dunno. Donnie lies about everything – even stuff that is good news for him. See ddale8 on Twitter.
Anything that muddies his story that he’s the greatest, smartest, most loved, richest, …, of all time he will fight. Or fight the people saying such things. He knows about the Big Lie. He’ll keep lying about The Swamp as he continues to try to steal everything that isn’t nailed down.
He knows if people stop believing him then he’s doomed. That’s why he’ll keep up the lying – so that people just throw up their hands “Eh, they’re all corrupt – what are you gonna do. But Donnie wants to make MAGA while Democrats are for Open Borders so I have to vote for him….”
Grrr…
Cheers,
Scott.
Betty Cracker
@Steeplejack: We enjoyed Rhiannon Giddens’ commentary in the first episode. I’ve been a fan of her music for a long time, so it’s cool to see her talk about its origins, etc. She’d be a good narrator, but she’s already a subject, so…
frosty
@Gin & Tonic: I’ve been shutting the engine off to avoid idling since the gas crunch in ‘74. My peeve now is that my 2014 Mazda3 (manual) has decided that I’m not allowed to shut the engine off coasting downhill. I pushed my Miata to 40mpg a couple of times hypermiling like that. It helped that it didn’t have power steering. :-)
Steeplejack (phone)
@Betty Cracker:
I like Giddens a lot. Her comments were good.
TenguPhule
@Baud:
Tasteless as opposed to terrible taste?
Anotherlurker.
@Steeplejack: Morgan Freeman would be the perfect choice to narrate a doc on country music.
Anotherlurker.
@Anotherlurker.: WTF is my comment awaiting moderation?
J R in WV
My 2019 Mazda doesn’t shut down when stopped, for which I am thankful… when wife and I and two friends went to Tuscany, IT we rented a BMW suv, which barely had room for 4 adults and luggage for 2 women. It shut off at stop lights after just a few seconds. I didn’t care for it.
I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a switch somewhere to turn on that behavior, perhaps dealer mechanic only allowed to fool with it. I guess if gas goes up to Euro prices, like 3Euro liter prices, I might reconsider that position…
Regarding the DeKalb statuary and new informational sign… there needs to be at least 4 signs on each side of every monument, so that the information can’t be avoided. Many years ago I attended my RWNJ brother’s wedding in Decatur. My best friend (and my bro’s best friend at the time) was best man, a big guy, V clean cut LT in law enforcement.
He was sitting during rehearsal work with members of the church who just dropped in to pass time with wedding party folks. As part of the conversation, they asked Jim (not his real name) “How do you all discourage the black folk from attending your church up North?” Jim, being not at all racist, was horrified and taken aback… He fell back on “I’m sure I don’t know, I’m not part of the church’s administration!” which was true, but irrelevant, as no one ‘Up North” would do such a thing, so far as I, non-religious as far as organized church-going would know.
Maybe the RWNJ patriarchal white evangelical churches would figure out a way if suddenly lots of black folks showed up. I can’t imagine a lot of black folks suddenly attending a RWNJ church, though…
This wedding was probably 30 years ago, and things have obviously changed a lot in DeKalb county, mostly for the better. So I’m not putting down DeKalb county of today, just DeKalb county of my SIL’s time there.
Steeplejack
@Anotherlurker.:
He would be good. The more I think about it, Peter Coyote is a bonehead choice. Nothing against him, just not a good fit.
Steeplejack
@Anotherlurker.:
Is it because you inadvertently added a period to your nym?
SWMBO
@Steeplejack: Holly Hunter? Emmy Lou Harris?
Steeplejack
@SWMBO:
Good choices. Although I think (hope) Harris will be in the doc at some point, so maybe that rules her out.
Richard Guhl
@rikyrah:
He should be tied to the lot of them.