I’m proud to be in this fight alongside @JulianCastro. Together, we’re going to build the movement for big, structural change. https://t.co/EMzh5vOMtP
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) January 16, 2020
Yes, I can hear you rolling your eyes so hard. But this is *my* happy place!
"Elizabeth Warren, in particular, seemed to have a breakout evening according to this metric. She not only received the highest marks for her debate performance, but her scores were high even relative to her pre-debate favorability rating."https://t.co/9gwg5iA6es
— Charlotte Clymer?️? (@cmclymer) January 15, 2020
10 out of 11 of these previously undecided Iowa voters think @ewarren did best at the #DemDebate.
Five of them will caucus for her, with one undecided.https://t.co/w7ZzWOG0Hv pic.twitter.com/IRhIIUNmnj
— Alexis #NoWarWithIran Goldstein ?????? (@alexisgoldstein) January 15, 2020
Really good @Bencjacobs piece on Warren and her more explicit electability argument in the final stretch. Interesting bit that speaks to her team planning for a long fight is that IA and NH staffers already know the next states they're being deployed to
https://t.co/lI1UnfXnSt— Alex Thompson (@AlxThomp) January 15, 2020
… Warren launched her campaign at a relative low point. She was polling in the single digits nationally and still trying to overcome recriminations over her decision to release a DNA test in attempt to rebut attacks over her claims of Native American heritage. Despite this, top operatives still flocked to join her campaign.
Her team was able to sort and sift through résumés, making a concerted effort to make hires based on finding candidates the team thought would be suited for the positive, ego-free workplace culture it was trying to build. One model for this approach was “The Cubs Way,” a book about how the Chicago Cubs finally won a World Series, as a guide for how to build an organization. The result is a staff devoted to its candidate, disinclined toward drama, and very disciplined.
The team has also built out its presence in the states holding primary contests in March and planned ahead to be able to take advantage of any momentum from early states. In contrast with past campaigns, in which staffers in states like Iowa and New Hampshire didn’t know their next assignment until after votes had been cast, these staffers have already been told their next destination. Further, Warren’s campaign has also consistently avoided issues with the nitty-gritty of qualifying for ballots in every state, which can often trip up campaigns. She was one of only two candidates to file a full delegate slate in Illinois…
Warren spent much of the race as the policy candidate, turning “I’ve got a plan for that” into an applause line on the stump to emphasize her intellectual bona fides.
Ian Sams, a Democratic strategist who was a top aide on Sen. Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, told Insider that Warren “successfully demonstrated proficiency, skill, and knowledge through her policy agenda, which blotted out ability for media to scrutinize anything but policy” and “forced her rivals to focus almost exclusively on policy.” He added, “The thing about her policy is that it’s all pretty popular.”…
There is no “safe” candidate, there is only the right candidate. And there is no question about who she is! I’m proud to be All In for @ewarren! pic.twitter.com/ou3cvDjnvg
— Sally Field (@sally_field) January 15, 2020
rikyrah
Good Morning,Everyone ???
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
danielx
Wow, first up? Must be my reward for being up all night with unremitting back pain.
I will get behind whomever the Dem candidate may be, but…..I like Elizabeth Warren the best. Because – in short – she seems to be most concerned with the issues of poor and middle income citizens. Which seem to be converging, little though “middle income” citizens may wish to admit it.
Baud
@danielx: Puh-lease. You can’t beat rikyrah and me.
danielx
@rikyrah:
@Baud:
And to you also.
Baud
That’s piss off the snake charmers. Heh.
danielx
@Baud:
Hey, you gotta have goals.
Betty Cracker
Sally Field! This thing ain’t over until it’s over. Warren has the platform and record of fighting corruption that matches up best with a grotesque wannabe oligarch like Trump in the general, IMO. Maybe the avalanche of corruption and self-dealing we’re seeing daily from that quarter will bolster Warren’s case.
But even if, as seems increasingly likely, we end up with Biden, if he knows what’s good for him (and he does!) he’ll pick a female VP. That’ll be a nice pat on the head for us womenfolk, infinitely preferable to the sharp stick in the eye that is the Trump presidency.
OzarkHillbilly
No comment on Warren but, Blech.
germy
SFAW
@Baud:
With a stick, I can. [Not rikyrah — never rikyrah — but you? Bes problem.]
Baud
@germy: But has the president abused the power of his office to manufacture dirt against her and her children That’s when you know she’s for real.
SFAW
OT: From my Boston Glob “headlines more important than life itself” e-mail: “Is Boston the nation’s cheating capital?”
Gives you Pats-haters something to talk about. Oh, wait — I hate them too. [Not a Sox hater, however.]
J-E-T-S! Jets, Jets, JETS!
Chyron HR
What part of ??????????? do you neoliberal shitlibs not UNDERSTAND?????
SFAW
@Baud:
You libtards and your quaint ideas of “law” and “abuse of power” and “trying to prevent the destruction of our country.” Drain the swamp! MAGA!
OzarkHillbilly
Ayanna Pressley has alopecia, tho she still appears to have eyebrows and lashes. My little bro has had it for 2 years now. It’s still kinda weird looking at his face with no eyebrows. No eyelashes either, something I hardly notice but bothers the fuck out of him because he’s constantly getting dust in his eyes, which I had never thought of as a function of eyelashes but makes complete sense.
Amir Khalid
@danielx:
I am not that keen to say much about the election of another nation’s leader, at least not before there are party nominees. But if I had a choice in this, I too would prefer Warren. She would make an excellent hands-on chief executive, something the US sorely needs to help repair the extensive damage done by Trump. (I think the same of Kamala Harris, and I am sad that Harris is out of the running.) I’m heartened that Warren seems to be picking up the political skills she needs to make it through this campaign and in office.
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW: Cheating in baseball is as American as apple pie. So is cheating in taxes, business, marriage, ad nauseum.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
Thank FSM that Rethug politicians don’t cheat. Then where would the country be, if they did?
danielx
@Chyron HR:
It’s all about the snakes.
Betty Cracker
@OzarkHillbilly: She could be wearing false eyelashes, and the brows could be makeup. Some women use makeup to shape their eyebrows. One of my ex-stepmothers used to pluck her eyebrows down to about 10 hairs and then fill in the gaps with makeup, which I always found puzzling…
JPL
I hate snakes.
SFAW
@danielx:
I thought it was all about the
bassbasebass?Eolirin
I think a lot is going to come down to where the delegates of people who drop out land. I’m not sure Biden can make it to 50.1%, but at this point I expect him to have a plurality of the delegates.
Warren’s ground game organization may help her perform better than her polling suggests too. I just hope Sanders doesn’t have too many delegates. The mess they’ll make of a brokered convention terrifies me given what happened last time.
sab
@OzarkHillbilly: Apple pie isn’t all that American. Apples were imported from Europe. Europeans make apple pies and tarts.
Blueberry pies, pecan pies are American.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud:
Patience, grasshopper. The Trump trash crime cartel is sure to have its “perfect call” with Antarctica. “Antarctica, if you’re listen…”
Cermet
Anyone but Sanders – if he wins, the orange fart cloud gets four more years, a get out of jail card, and destroys the government for a generation at the least – besides creating a depression (in any case, a recession will likely occur in the next five years but that ass wipe will make sure its a full blown depression.) The thugs are salivating at the thought Sanders becomes the nominee as is the dump.
Baud
@sab:
Same with moms.
SFAW
@mrmoshpotato:
I realize I am not aware of all Internet traditions, but I don’t get the Antarctica reference. [Yes, I know you’re riffing on the Traitor’s “Russia, if …” thing; I just don’t follow your geographical choice.]
Eolirin
@sab: I don’t know, taking credit for stuff other groups of people were responsible for, acting like the rest of the world doesn’t exist, and having a really bad sense of history is pretty American.
mrmoshpotato
@Chyron HR: Oh! PWNED with an emoji! So PWNED we may never recover, bro! Sad! Drink our corporate shill liberal tears!
danielx
@SFAW:
Depends on where you are. If you’re in an area of the country where pollution has affected the smallmouth bass population….
sab
@Baud: ?
Baud
@sab:
sab
@Baud: Thanks.
mrmoshpotato
@SFAW: Narrator: In this, the stupidest of timelines, the only continent with no native inhabitants had to be chosen. Also, buy Greenland.
sab
@Eolirin: True that.
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW: That’s why they are “real Amurikans” and us libtards are just expensive fakes.
mrmoshpotato
@JPL: Hi JPL. A song for you.
mrmoshpotato
@sab: Mmmmmm pecan pie!
MJS
@Baud: So basically, “motherhood” was replaced by “hot dogs”, at least in the Chevrolet commercials.
Kay
So thoroughly and completely corrupt. People assume they deny it, but half the time they don’t even bother. They defend it and insist it should be the norm.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
Toss in some predatory behavior, and you’ve got a true Patriot!
OzarkHillbilly
@Betty Cracker: Yeah I realize that, but not all people lose all their body hair too and if she hasn’t, she may yet. Little Bro did, and he looks rather alien to me. I just find it kind of strange that the absence of such a little thing as eyebrows can have such a strong affect on me.
SFAW
@mrmoshpotato:
OK. Thanks.
OzarkHillbilly
@JPL: Snakes are cool. Tho copperheads in the bedroom are not.
OzarkHillbilly
@sab:
So were white people.
Baud
@Kay:
Fixed for reflect the true subtext that supports Trump’s cult.
SFAW
@sab:
Cherry, too, according to H. Rap.
mrmoshpotato
@Kay: I see Pubic Rerinse is genuine Trump trash.
germy
Fox is covering the important news:
mrmoshpotato
@SFAW: Narrator: You’re welcome, SFAW. Glad to clarify. Have you bought Greenland yet?
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
Ah, I see. I thought I might have been missing something. Thanks for ‘Zarksplaining.
mrmoshpotato
@OzarkHillbilly: Cluddly copperheads.
SFAW
@mrmoshpotato:
Not Greenland, but I just got a great deal on a bridge in NYC. Runs from Brooklyn to Manhattan. The (now former) owner told me the toll revenues are amazing, so maybe I can retire.
Amir Khalid
@Kay:
As Priebus describes it, the “so what” defence amounts to daring the Democrats to impeach Trump over it. He seems unaware that this has already happened.
mrmoshpotato
@SFAW: Well done. Can I interest you in a bridge to Hawaii? Road trip to visit NotMax!
SFAW
@mrmoshpotato:
Cut the crap. Someone else — the REAL owner — has already sold me a 50 percent share in the toll revenues
ETA: In an example of how weirdly my “mind” works: your “road trip to Hawaii” comment led to me thinking about driving a VW Beetle there — bridge or no — which of course led me to the NatLamp ad.
Kay
Florida. Such a good idea. If they were smart they would announce it together. It would get a ton of media coverage and it would drive Trump fucking crazy.
This is what I mean about money not being the whole thing- these two have a ton of money and their campaigns are relentlessly conventional and boring. Do something interesting with it! Don’t just raise it differently- spend it differently. They’re supposed to be the bold free marketeers on the D side. Do something bold.
mrmoshpotato
@SFAW: You realize the tolls are platypus farts, right? I hope you make a stinking fortune.
debbie
@Kay:
On the other hand, Steyer and Bloomberg are both proving that money, even lots of it, does not buy an election. The country should take note.
Kay
What if all the D campaigns coordinated and set up a special fund to pay the fines. Democratic unity! If you’re donating to Warren, say, you can chip in a dollar to pay Florida’s poll tax.
They could make a joint announcement. Democrats would love it.
SFAW
@Kay:
I seem to remember — although I could be wrong — something about the FLA law being written to prevent felons from having someone else cover their costs/debts. I really hope I’m wrong, but given the corrupt nature of 99.44 percent of the Rethugs in this country, who knows?
mrmoshpotato
@Kay: What fines, fees and rhubarb?
ETA – Ah, the Floriduh poll tax. (It’s not a poll tax, libtard!)
SFAW
@mrmoshpotato:
Don’t quit your day job
Betty Cracker
@Kay: That would be fantastic. FL Governor DeSantis is getting roasted for expressing delight about the poll tax ruling and declaring that “voting is a privilege.” He really said that. If I were writing the Bloomberg-Steyer ad, I’d definitely work that in, along with references to the Republican Party’s well-documented fondness for restricting access. Why don’t they want you to vote? It’s a fair question!
mrmoshpotato
@SFAW: (farts in your general direction)
SFAW
@mrmoshpotato:
Careful, or I’ll toss the Holy Hand Grenade at youse.
mrmoshpotato
@Betty Cracker: Are they afraid they might then be losers?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@SFAW:
It’s all about a fish?
On another topic, Amazon is running a 99 cent sale on the e-book of Finders Keepers, my only true middle-grade novel (ie, the character is 12). But TaMara read it and liked it. Hm. That’s truly not a comment on TaMara!
Anyway, I knew the sale was coming but thought it was next week, so I have apparently keep it a deep, secret, judging from the sales. Sigh. I persevere.
mrmoshpotato
@SFAW: Oooooo! :P
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay: My checkbook is out.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
Go there! Go to the statehouse and hold a big splashy press conference. Shit, they could ALL go. Every political reporter in the country would follow them. I would like a huge novelty check for fun but no one ever accused me of being subtle :)
rikyrah
@Kay:
They can’t defend it. They just can’t
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW: HAhahahaha… Silly you, you actually think he has a day job.
Betty Cracker
@SFAW: As far as I know, there’s no provision barring ex-felons from accepting third-party funds to pay their fines and restitution. There are organizations here in Florida that have been raising money for that purpose for a while now.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@mrmoshpotato:
Your mentioning Hawaii reminds me, I follow Pete Sousa on Instagram and this morning he has a picture of the Obamas touring the USS Arizona. It took me a second and then I laughed. The guy can throw subtle shade.
OzarkHillbilly
@Betty Cracker: Can you give us some links? I wasn’t kidding when I said my checkbook was out.
rikyrah
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Thanks. I just bought it for Peanut.
mrmoshpotato
@OzarkHillbilly: Ouch.
rikyrah
@OzarkHillbilly:
Check Andrew Gillum’s Twitter feed
SFAW
@Betty Cracker:
I would hope Bloomberg and Steyer campaigns read this, or Stacey Abrams does, and they fund TV/Internet ad campaigns talking about it. Something like:
“Republicans are trying to keep Americans they don’t like from voting. They’ve already taken the vote away from millions of people. Please make sure that you are registered to vote. DO IT NOW! If you’re not registered, or not sure, please call or e-mail us at XYZ, and our people will help ensure that you’ll be able to vote this November. We’re serious! People who have voted for YEARS have had their rights stolen from them — don’t let that happen to YOU!”
Run that in FL, NC, WI, MI, PA, IA, and any other states where the Party of Traitors controls or controlled the legislature.
I’m serious. The fascists are always looking for ways to screw the “undesirables.” Having Bloomberg and Steyer found the resistance to that would be helpful.
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly:
I wish Raven was here to recount his toilet story. Which might also be called “Bernie in the Tank”
gvg
@Chyron HR: those look like green ducks to me.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@rikyrah: Thank you. I hope Peanut likes it.
SFAW
@Betty Cracker:
Good. Thanks for the reassurance.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
Just trying to let him keep up the brave facade. Or something.
Patricia Kayden
Facts.
Immanentize
@Betty Cracker: AND, Broward and Dade Counties at least, have created rocket dockets to waive everyone’s fines and fees where possible (but not restitution).
mrmoshpotato
@SFAW: Well this took a weird turn.
SFAW
@Patricia Kayden:
But I thought it was Obama who made racism worse. At least, that’s what Fux News kept saying.
ETA: And it’s not as if blacks are REAL Americans, ya know.
OzarkHillbilly
@mrmoshpotato: He opened the door, I just used it. ;-)
SFAW
@mrmoshpotato:
“Weird” is my middle name.
And I reach that state without benefit of pharmaceuticals.
Immanentize
@Patricia Kayden: oh boy. Next up — Hugh Hewitt explains how the real problem in America is black people pointing out racism.
ETA I see SFAW is in pre-agreement.
Baud
@Patricia Kayden:
“More than 8 in 10 black Americans say they believe that water is wet.”
OzarkHillbilly
@rikyrah: Thanx, looking now. Due to limited funds I’m sitting out the primary but I can stretch a little for this.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
I thought you framed it, then hung a six-panel. Or maybe a hollow-core?
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW: I don’t hang hollow core in my house.
Betty Cracker
@OzarkHillbilly: Here’s a link to the Amendment 4 Coalition site, which is the outfit that originally collected the signatures to put the rights restoration initiative on the ballot. They’re raising money to pay fees and fines now.
TS (the original)
@Baud: Waiting for trump to tell us water is dry – and watch fox news explain why this is so.
Betty Cracker
@Immanentize: I was reading about the Dade and Broward court waivers recently and hoping this comes back to bite Republicans on the ass in a big way. The red counties aren’t doing this, of course. In my red county, the vast majority of ex-felons are white rednecks who would almost certainly vote for Trump if they were allowed to vote.
JPL
@Patricia Kayden: Only 8 out of 10..
Mary G
@Kay: I would chip in for that!
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly: I put a flyer behind the flag and what I thought was cording was a copperhead. It was freezing so it didn’t react as quickly as it would have. I didn’t like that fang sticking out though
anywho that is what caused my hatred, although I understand their role in nature.
Gin & Tonic
@Patricia Kayden:
Kinda makes you wonder about the other two.
OzarkHillbilly
@Betty Cracker: Thanx.
Immanentize
@JPL: The other two percent reported: HELL TO THE YES THAT MOFO IS PLAIN. The researchers reported that as “other.”
Gin & Tonic
@SFAW:
Seems more likely that it’s your last name.
Immanentize
@Betty Cracker: That’s rich. And rural poor have as much difficulty as urban poor paying those marked up mandatory fees and fines.
hueyplong
@Gin & Tonic: Actually, a mere 20% not paying attention is really low for any polling topic, isn’t it?
Gin & Tonic
@TS (the original): Can we get a pedant here to point out that water is not, actually, wet, it just makes the things it’s in contact with wet? I’m kind of busy.
Immanentize
@JPL:
Your bedroom is not decorated like mine.
SFAW
@Betty Cracker:
Thanks, just went there.
Gin & Tonic
@hueyplong: Thanks for spoiling my attempt at humor.
Immanentize
@Gin & Tonic: Further pedantry. Nothing actually touches anything else, as there is always an atomic barrier between things, so water may be slippery, but not wet.
SFAW
@Gin & Tonic:
The other two were Diamond & Silk.
OzarkHillbilly
@JPL: Heh, that’ll wake you up. I find them in the darnedest places around here. When ever I pick up something I half expect to find one. Once while weeding my veggie garden (heavy weeds, it had been awhile as is my usual) I pulled a big clump out only to see the tail end of a copperhead disappearing into the weeds still standing. That was the end of weeding for that day. I’ll always wonder how close I came to actually grabbing him.
JPL
@Immanentize: lol forgot to add mailbox flag.
SFAW
@Immanentize:
Are you one of those persons who gets into spirited arguments re: which year is the first/last one of a decade/century/millennium?
Patricia Kayden
@SFAW: I’m just surprised that only 8 in 10 Blacks acknowledge that Trump is a racist. He hasn’t tried to hide his disdain for people of color, including before he ran for President.
Immanentize
@SFAW: I never argue about that because it is a settled question beyond peradventure
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly: Fortunately I only have seen rat snakes in my garden beds. I find a lot of snake skins near my steps though which I can’t identify. The oddest snake that I saw was an orange pencil snake. Google helped me identify that one.
Amir Khalid
@Patricia Kayden:
Those 2 out of 10 are of an ilk with Log Cabin Republicans and anyone else who votes for politicians who despise them — which, come to think of it, is much (maybe even most) of the Republicsn base.
OzarkHillbilly
@JPL: Garter and black rat snakes are my most common snakes with copperheads coming in 3rd. I love it when I find a king snake. I know that for the moment I don’t have to worry about copperheads or rattlers.
Mo MacArbie
Cubs?! Cubs?! She just lost my vote. Harrumph. \s
Elizabelle
@Amir Khalid: Yea! We are on the same wavelength. I am Team Warren too, and don’t understand why people fall for the “she is so far left.” Uh, no.
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Buying it.
mrmoshpotato
@SFAW: You mean Glass and Burlap?
Baud
@Elizabelle:
I like her too, but it’s a legitimate worry. Lefty candidates haven’t had a great track record outside of heavily Dem areas over the last 50 years.
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly:
Crawling King Snake?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Elizabelle:
Jackals are the best.
OzarkHillbilly
@mrmoshpotato: You mean cheap glass and rotten burlap?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Baud:
I also don’t read her affect as angry. She seems upbeat to me.
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I agree, but I don’t know how “anger” is relevant. The criticism I was responding to is that she is too far to the left to win. I would like to think she’s not, but I don’t have much real-world evidence that definitively proves that she’s not.
chopper
@Kay:
the norm for a republican at least. god willing we win the WH this fall, they’ll snap right back into demanding investigations over the democrat’s choice of footwear.
gene108
@Betty Cracker:
Voting is a privilege is a very common belief among conservatives.
Something about voting rights not being mentioned in the Constitution or Bill of Rights.
Never mind the four amendments that address voting rights, since the Civil War.
Mr. Mack
I thought it was a mistake for Warren to release her detailed health care plan. I felt she boxed herself in, and I wasn’t sure she’d recover. With the exception of one or two small stumbles, I think she’s run a first class campaign. Happy to work for her in the General. (Was I right to capitalize that?)
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Every DEM, especially those who want to attack income inequality, gets attacked as “too far left” and too many voters buy into it. It’s the same dynamic as saying Republicans are too far criminal. If we… Wait a minute, that is true. Hmmm, let me get back to you on this.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Baud:
I get what you’re saying and I agree. I mention the “anger” thing because I’ve seen people say “she’s just so angry.”
clay
@Betty Cracker: Don’t be silly, Betty. White people can’t be felons.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: I agree with everything you say. But until lefty politicians start winning elections in states and districts that aren’t already overwhelmingly Democratic, the argument against them will be remain.
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Ok, that I think is nothing more than misogynistic pretext for voting against her. ETA: Doubly so if that’s being used as a reason to prefer Sanders to Warren.
Anya
Biden is going hard in the last stretch of the campaign. He has a good personal television ad that uses words from President Obama’s Medal of Freedom speech. This ad will work very well in South Carolina. Not sure if it will work in Iowa though.
OzarkHillbilly
I wanted to give my state a slap on the back of congratulations because I read this yesterday: Missouri Supreme Court Kills a Catch-22 Voter ID Law
5-2, I like the sound of that. Made me feel good that our nonpartisan judicial syatem is still standing tall in the face of Republican attempts to rig the vote even more in their favor.
Then I read this this morning:
Missouri could jail librarians for lending ‘age-inappropriate’ books
Now I have to write more letters.
O. Felix Culpa
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
The operative word in your sentence is “she.” If a “she” is passionate about something, then OMG she’s an angry witch. (Sure I’d vote for a woman, but just not that angry woman, etc.) I know from anger and EW does not have an angry affect. But people see what they are inclined to see.
As for the “too far left” argument, ALL Dems are inevitably labeled as lefties. So we might as well own it, proudly. :)
Betty Cracker
@Anya: I’ve made no secret of my disdain for Biden, but I will say his campaign has super-effective ads. He released one the other day featuring clips of Trump bellowing his [Biden’s] name. The ad made the case that Trump’s obsession with Biden means Trump fears him as an opponent the most. The ad faded to an overlay of positive Biden vs. Trump polling in the Rust Belt states. He’s convincing the people he needs to convince. It’s good politics.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Not disagreeing, just trying to note how far behind the curve DEMs are in the information/propaganda wars.
GOP: Dems are all Commies!
DEM: Here we have yet another instance of blatant bribery/voter suppression/insider trading/emoluments violations/regulatory capture etc etc
It occurred to me this morning that getting the electorate to buy into the seriousness of the investigations into trump’s behavior is a Sisyphean task because of all the BS investigations the GOP ran during Obama’s tenure. It was obvious bullshit then and even if it isn’t now… Well, both sides.
People are tired.
FlipYrWhig
@O. Felix Culpa: Quite so. Speaking of which, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anyone describe Sanders as “angry,” even though he obviously is.
Anya
@Betty Cracker: Sometimes, I wake up in cold sweats thinking about about Biden or Sanders becoming our candidate. I am going to be honest with you, of the remaining candidates, Amy Klobuchar would be my choice . I just wish my fellow Democrats were not in love with yelly old men. Anyway, I thought the ad was great.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@FlipYrWhig:
The thing is, in the Age of Trump, we all have much to be angry about.
Quiltingfool
@OzarkHillbilly: I like king snakes, too – we have a lot of speckled king snakes in my Ozark area. I used to work for the Dept of Natural Resources as an naturalist/interpreter – I gave cave tours at Ozark Caverns and did some work at HaHa Tonka (lots of karst features in a small area!). Anyway, for the visitors, we kept a speckled king snake in a display container. I was afraid of snakes, but when another naturalist was handling the snake, I decided to overcome my fear and hold the snake. King snakes are fairly docile and tolerated being held. I liked the snake so much, I would take it out of its cage and let it hang out in the back office with me. He was a good snake to use at presentations because we knew he wouldn’t bite people (we were very careful not to alarm him, though.). Now copperheads? Yikes. I came across a few seeking shelter in the cave – one was stretched out across the path when I was guiding people out of the cave – had to get him to move over and then stand between him and the folks sidling out behind me! We didn’t kill them – they are a part of nature whether we like them or not. Now, in my yard, different story!
Ydobon
@OzarkHillbilly: Reason #2019918 for why I lurk in BJverse: pithy comments like this one!
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
As with you: not disagreeing, but I notice Rethugs have stopped using “Commie” and replaced it with “socialist.” I expect it’s because they don’t want people to turn it around and point out that the Rethugs are the ones sucking up to the commies. [Every accusation is a confession with them, of course.]
I’m of two minds re: whether the Dems should try to turn the tables by finding their own epithet to hurl at/about the Rethugs. On the one hand, it might get voters to start saying “Wait a minute … they’re right, the Rethugs ARE trying to destroy the country” (or whatever). On the other hand, the Rethugs would try to flip it to “those crazy libtards, always saying shit about us.” But since the Rethugs will try that anyway, I think the Dems should drop the gloves.
Betty Cracker
@Anya: I’d be thrilled with Klobuchar too, even though she wasn’t my first choice. I’d love to see a generational shift and an opportunity for a woman to take the presidency away from the scoundrel who stole it from the rightful first woman president. I like that Klobuchar has a proven track record in the Midwest and the prosecutorial chops to take on the biggest crook in US history. I think her level-headed “just get shit done without the drama” affect would be enormously appealing right about now.
SFAW
@Ydobon:
Yeah, Ozark is almost always pissy.
Betty Cracker
@Quiltingfool: Wish I could borrow a docile king snake to help me overcome my fear of the critters. I instantly go into screaming, fleeing panic mode at the sight of a snake.
Gin & Tonic
@SFAW: I’m thinking of an old joke about “You’re Thor?! I’m tho thore…”
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Betty Cracker:
Aren’t there snakes in the swamp where you live? You probably don’t have to borrow any.
ETA: It’s the gators you see that would freak me out.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Yeah, I’m in this weird situation where she could be my #1 choice if she were the #1 choice of enough other people. Unfortunately, I’m not privileged enough to be Iowan, so I don’t get a chance to decide who should pass through that screen.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Here’s a fun news item: Rumor says Ken Starr is joining Trump’s defense team.
None of these people ever goes away.
grubert
I’m voting Warren in MN primary. Expect the mrs. will too.
Warren has the optimism of Reagan, which is a winner in this country. Progressive but not radical. What’s not to like?
UncleEbeneezer
@OzarkHillbilly: Wegotthevote.org
OzarkHillbilly
@Quiltingfool: I’ve only found one speckled king snake on my place, in fact it was the first snake I found here. I was hoping it was sign that the environment here was particularly good for them. :-( Not so.
Funny you mention copperheads and caves, I’ve got a copperhead and cave story! (I know, a real shocker from a caver) We had come to this AR cave to survey it. It was vertical and a rigging nightmare, I watched them argue over the best way to rig it for awhile and decided that too many cooks spoil the stew and went outside to hang out with all the other folks. While sitting there this one young lady screamed and jumped up like she had been bitten by a snake.
Not quite. A copperhead had crawled into her lap* and she didn’t notice it until it reached her hand. Somebody picked it up and moved it out into the woods.
*if one is familiar with how much gear cavers wear it is easy to see how a snake could get so far and the person concerned not be aware of it.
I have other cave and snake stories too, but one is enough for today.
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW:
Yeah, I know, but I’m a child of the ’60s/’70s and socialist just doesn’t have the same bite in my ears. Maybe I need to listen to more RWNJ radio.
NOT.
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly: Holy shit…
Ruckus
@Kay:
Really, at this point there is no use denying it, the evidence is rather overwhelming. I call it bullshit and bluster, it’s a con man’s defense. When it’s all you’ve got left, you push it so hard people begin to believe it. Well some people do. Snake oil is real because people want to believe it’s real.
SFAW
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Over at Josh’s place, they’re saying that Ken “You Think Bill Barr is a Lying Shill? Hold My Beer” Starr and Alan “I Never Met an Underage Girl I Didn’t Like” Dershowitz are part of the “team.” I didn’t check to see if Jonathan “You Want Me to Write a Bullshit Legal Opinion? OK, How Much You Willing to Pay?” Turley is also on the “team.”
Ruckus
@mrmoshpotato:
You expected more?
Fair Economist
I’ve loved Warren long before she got into politics. Way back in the housing bubble, when she was one of the few voices calling for honest lending rules, both for justice and to rein in that catastrophe, I fantasized about how much better the country would be were she president. It would be, literally, a dream come true for her to win. She’s the only candidate who will do a lot of active good if we don’t take the Senate, because all her life she has been literally a world leader on controlling banks and corporations and having her in control of the CFPB and the SEC will prevent millions of bankruptcies and hundreds of billions in fraud.
Ruckus
@Amir Khalid:
Not unaware, in denial.
How could one of the great republicans of all time been impeached?
OzarkHillbilly
@Betty Cracker: I have a Big Old He Man Marine/Carpenter/Caver Pissy Pants Scared of Snakes story too.
Another day.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
Yeah, I know.
A few years ago, I was at a science fair at my kid’s school, and made a joking comment, something about “commies,” to the 15-or-so-year-old presenting one of the projects. The response: “Hunh? What’s that?”
I felt REALLY old after that.
Ruckus
@SFAW:
I’m beginning to see things I’m not sure I want to know…….
OzarkHillbilly
@JPL: That’s what she said.
Ruckus
@debbie:
Money is the grease, not the power in real government. Can’t work without the grease but the ideals, the rights, the necessary restrictions, IOW laws are the real power.
catclub
Eschaton pointed out that WAPO article where Trump calls senior DOD Brass Dopes and babies, he wouldn’t go to war with. I think every GOP politician should be asked repeatedly if they agree with Trump on this.
I was amazed by that article on a very stable genius.
Ruckus
@mrmoshpotato:
Not afraid, terrified.
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW: Good thing you didn’t say “Commie Pinko Fag…”
Gin & Tonic
@catclub: Right. He called them that two years ago, but the authors of the article didn’t choose to write it then, so they could hold that quote back and use it in the book they are selling now.
Paging Kay to the white courtesy phone…
Ruckus
@Elizabelle:
People fall for it because they hear that constantly. She is left. She’s not so far to the left that she’s out of the ball park but then we here are left as well. Various degrees for sure but left none the less.
We get so much bullshit parading around as news that it’s easy to loose sight of how much bullshit it is.
Left, liberal, BAD. The basis of all fox news commentary…… And a lot of the MSM as well.
Maybe we should start a new mime,
Left and proud of it….. or
Liberal and proud of it…..
OzarkHillbilly
@Ruckus: Gotta disagree to the extent that if you have enough money the laws don’t apply. Carlos Ghosn being the most recent example.
Ruckus
@OzarkHillbilly:
Damn, that’s some insanity right there. Books make you liberal, teach you stuff and possibly less religious. And we can’t have any of that in MO!
I guess the oldies never go out of style…..
Ruckus
@OzarkHillbilly:
I didn’t say that it worked that way all the time, just that’s the way it is supposed to be. Should have been clearer.
But in the end, good government always comes back to laws that keep money from overpowering and that allows ideas and ideals of equality. Bad government is what you are talking about, where money is the only thing. An example – trump and the republican party.
Tenar Arha
@OzarkHillbilly:
I bet it drives older GOPers furious that bc of the election maps from 2000 the color now associated with their party is now as red as the Soviet flag.
Searcher
@Betty Cracker: A good politician learns from their past losses and mistakes.
(And stupid pundits can’t see past them.)
One thing I liked about Clinton was that she wasn’t the cookie-cutter 90’s Democrat she was accused of being; she may have been that in the 90’s, but she wasn’t in ’16.
I still wish Biden wasn’t a million years old, but if he’s learned how to run a good campaign from his failures (and from Obama’s) and he isn’t going to be the same Democrat he was in the 80’s and 90’s, that is reassuring.
dww44
@Ruckus: I definitely agree that the FAR right has been able to co-opt the political conversation, and even in the MSM ( one of them being David Leonhardt of the NYT;I get his newsletter) to successfully paint us to the left of center as being “radical, extremist” lefties. This is why Trump is our President.
We need Steyer and Bloomberg to go out and buy a news outlet that begins to bend the curve back towards the left.
Speaking of radical extreme rightism, NewsMax TV just got added to our cable offerings. They’ve given a broadcast home to Mike Huckabee and others of his ilk. They make Fox look like sanity.
OzarkHillbilly
@Ruckus: From your keyboard to Dawg’s ears.
Citizen Alan
@Kay: Can they actually do that? I assume our wonderful Republican government would treat it as phantom income and hit the affected voters with a tax bill.
Betty Cracker
@Searcher: Good point about politicians learning and growing. That was definitely true of Clinton. I wish I thought the same of Biden, but I think he’s the same glad-handing, maudlin, self-regarding phony now that he was when he first ran for president in 1988. He’s got a better staff, as befits a former VP, but that’s it.
He’s not a bad person, and if elected, he probably won’t be a terrible president. But even if he’s as clueless and inept as possible, it will be a vast improvement over the malignant creep he’ll replace. So there’s that.
Citizen Alan
@gene108: Scalia was very direct about his belief that voting was a privilege that could be rescinded for all kinds of reasons.
PJ
@Betty Cracker: I would disagree that Biden is a phony – I think the glad-handing, self-regard (doesn’t every politician have this in bushels?), and maudlin sensibility is who he is. I don’t think he has any interest in interrogating those aspects of his personality, and he can lay the folksiness on thick (as even Obama did from time to time, but less naturally), but that is who he is. Do you think he’s somebody different behind closed doors? He was the least wealthy Senator when he was in the Senate – that’s after 36 years of holding office. If he were in it to make a buck, he would have figured out a way to do that. He’s not my first choice and gods know he’s got a lot of flaws and baggage, but they are transparent – you know what you are getting with Biden, which is reassuring, apparently, for the people who are putting him at the top of the polls.
laura
I’m staying at a hotel for a work conference and as such, have read USA Today – America’s shittiest newspaper. There’s a dueling OP ed with the USA Today urging you to vote and some tool from Goergetown suggesting that statistically your vote doesn’t make a difference so not voting is a smart choice to make.
This makes me very stabby.
Mary Ellen Sandahl
@Gin & Tonic:
i heard it thus:
Post-shag admission of Thunder God in mortal disguise: Darling,I’m Thor.
Girl: Tho am I, thweetie, but it wath fun!!