Wow. This is really good. pic.twitter.com/soVHgqXXMo
— John Aravosis ?????????????? (@aravosis) October 7, 2020
Readership capture — one week from today:
MSNBC to air ‘The Way I See It’ documentary about Pete Souza, October 16 at 10pm ET
Former White House photographer Pete Souza says new documentary "The Way I See It" is "not a partisan thing at all." pic.twitter.com/9dxWTu3ock
— AP Entertainment (@APEntertainment) October 8, 2020
Everyone remembers the clowns from the circus, not the tightrope walker unless he falls. https://t.co/vscnB4NWUS
— Schooley (@Rschooley) October 8, 2020
Or then again…
The debate between Joe Biden and President Trump, marred by frequent interruptions and name-calling, did little to enlighten the electorate. But it was enough to turn the consensus on Wall Street toward Biden https://t.co/YhBBvtbC43 pic.twitter.com/GzYV62AEUd
— Reuters Business (@ReutersBiz) October 9, 2020
Biden’s odds of winning have also inched up to 85 percent. https://t.co/0ylWNSnFFw
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) October 8, 2020
ICYMI somehow — #pattilupone revisited her Tony-Award-winning role as "Evita" — but with new lyrics.https://t.co/MdYmNePn3e
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) October 8, 2020
OzarkHillbilly
Blech.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Weigel needs to be dope slapped. He makes it sound like Biden is a gaffe machine.
The old gaffe-prone Uncle Joe Villager meme is about as tiresome and any of the labels Emperor Tang’s court tries to get to stick on Biden.
The fact that Biden is up the way he is and a blue tidal wave is in the offing is a testament to how pissed off the electorate is, how effective the Biden campaign has been and how utterly and transparently incompetent (and criminal) this (mal)administration is. Because it sure as shit ain’t because the media playing field is level.
Baud
The media won’t cover Biden except to knock him down. This is known.
JPL
Another day, another poll has Biden up by ten. This time it’s Pew Research Poll.
mrmoshpotato
Chris Wallace really needed to shut up. Why did he spend the whole time heckling these two fine public servants?
Oh! Wait!
OzarkHillbilly
Portland: officers targeted medics with teargas and projectiles, report finds
I know everybody here is just as shocked, shocked I tell you, as I am.
satby
Wait, the Lincoln Project got the real Broadway Evita to sing the Covita commercial? That’s awesome.
JPL
Trump’s “first on-camera interview” since falling ill with covid “will take place on ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’ at 8 p.m. ET. Dr. Marc Siegel will conduct a medical evaluation and interview during the program.” from Brian Stelter
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Baud:
I know this, you know this. I still bitch about it.
Plus, Weigel is generally a *little* bit better than this. I’d expect it from the usual Villager suspects (Mrs Greenspan, Chris Fucking Cilizza, et al).
MJS
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: I made the mistake of looking at Weigel’s twitter feed. He was trying to make an issue of Biden saying everyone would know his position on court-packing after the election. As if anyone is waiting to hear Joe’s answer on that before making up their mind. Weigel did get twitter slapped for that, but I learned I don’t need to see what he has to say on anything.
Bruuuuce
As pointed out in the replies to the Evita tweet, it’s actually Lisa Howard singing there, not Patti Lupone. On the other hand, as a different response notes, Lupone sang a duet with Randy Rainbow, and IMNSHO, it is hysterical.
Lapassionara
Good morning, everyone. Breaking news, Trump did not win the Nobel Peace Prize this year. An organization trying to eradicate hunger did.
Mary G
Patty LuPone also did a song with Randy Rainbow called “If Donald Got Fired” as a fundraiser for the ACLU. Link goes to YouTube with the usual five second ad in front. I originally saw it on the LA Times, but it’s probably paywalled. The lyrics are great.
Curses. @Bruuuuce: beat me to it while I was fiddling with links.
Mai Naem mobile
Don’t know if anybody has mentioned this yet. Sounds like Steve Scully the 2nd debate moderator was trying to DM Anthony Scaramucci on twitter and but tweeted instead. He was wondering if he should ‘respond to trump’ uh oh. He didn’t ‘gasp’ say ‘President Trump’ and, also, he was a 6 month intern for Biden in ’78 so RW Twitter thinks he biased. I used to watch Washington Journal semi regularly and always assumed Steve Scully was slightly right of center. This poor guy is going to be crucified by Tuesday and I think he’s pretty much a straight arrow.
rikyrah
@satby:
This is WWII, and we are allies.. once the orange Nazi is defeated, we can start the Cold War again
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
rikyrah
@MJS:
Stay in the basement Joe ?
Stay in the basement
mrmoshpotato
@JPL:
In person or will Siegel just look at the obese orange shitstain over the TV?
“Doc, I’m luxurious and very fit! I’m tremendous! Many Peoples says so!”
mrmoshpotato
@Lapassionara: S! A! D!
Mary G
@JPL: @mrmoshpotato: Oh, a totally independent and impartial doctor who just happens to be a Fox News contributor:
ETA: Siegal also just happens to have a book coming out:
COVID: The Politics of Fear and the Power of Science.
A total quack.
Fauci or GTFU.
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
mrmoshpotato
@Mary G: Of! Course!
Steeplejack (phone)
Chris Christie’s “precautionary measure” runs into sixth day.
Also, anyone seem Jared or Ivanka in public lately?
debbie
I hope the Lincoln Project has time to do an ad on these militias which neither Trump nor the GOP will condemn. These MI clowns had all kinds of plans, including establishing a territory where they would “govern by the Bill of Rights” and other nonsense.
If only that energy could have been redirected into finding fulfilling jobs!
Baud
@JPL:
The prostate check should be interesting.
John S.
@MJS: As opposed to Trump who tells you his position. And then changes his position. And then changes it again. And then changes the subject. All within the span of 3 hours.
Fuck Dave Weigel.
debbie
@Baud:
I hope the doc points out that Trump’s swollen eyes make him look very sleepy.
Baud
@Lapassionara:
I hope the Democrats get the Nobel next year for their work in eradicating fascism in America.
Baud
@MJS:
They’ll try to make court packing an EMAILS type story.
debbie
@Baud:
We need to call bullshit. Who are they to complain? The GOP has been packing the court since Merrick Garland.
Steeplejack (phone)
@rikyrah:
Good morning! ?
Mary G
Tweeting today will be batshit insane:
So many women have stood up to this administration, told the truth, and shamed the devil. Sally Yates, Marie Yovanovich, Fiona Hill; it’s a long list.
Lapassionara
@Baud: nice thought.
Mary G
@debbie: They packed the federal judiciary the entirety of Obama’s administration by blocking judges right and left for bullshit reasons. Then they had the gall to say he left Twitler so many openings because he’s lazy and shiftless.
debbie
@Mary G:
Huh, an attack of conscience? //
Baud
debbie
@Mary G:
I know, but the Supreme Court has to be the last stand.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: They should just say, “We will do just as the GOP did and abide by the constitution.”
JPL
@Mai Naem mobile: Scaramucci told him to ignore it, because he’s been having a hard time and some bad stuff is suppose to drop soon. hmm
Instead of soon, how about just letting everyone know now.
John S.
@Baud: That’s a great way to keep the topic on how Republicans are trying to ram through a nomination WEEKS before an election, and in the middle of people already voting, after claiming in 2016 that doing so was sacrilege (10 months before the election).
Only the most fervent Trump humpers can accept the cognitive dissonance required to be okay with that premise.
John S.
@OzarkHillbilly: Pitch perfect! Are you an adviser for the Baud campaign?
SFAW
@John S.:
Fixed
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Mary G:
Maybe they shouldn’t have whipped up the goobers with a bunch of fantasist bullshit.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@mrmoshpotato: I want a trigger warning if this medical exam involves Trump taking off any clothes
Baud
@John S.:
He said “abide by the constitution.”
SFAW
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Well, it’s not as if they’ve ever paid a political price for doing so.
Baud
@SFAW:
Hopefully that changes this year and it becomes a habit.
SFAW
@Baud:
As in “The Baud abides”?
ETA: Do we also get to refer to you as “Your Baudness”?
TS (the original)
@Mary G:
This reads to me that it will not be good news for the president* & the report may get lost after the election.
SFAW
@Baud:
Yeah, and hopefully all my hair will grow back this week. I mean, this is the ‘Murican electorate we’re talking about.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Thought experiment: Trump says he “is” the cure, meaning he has antibodies that could presumably be used to create antibody therapy for someone else. (Be merciful with me on the science here. I’m an English major.) If you knew the antibodies you were about to be given were Trump’s, how sick would you be at the idea of letting them be injected into your body?
Baud
@SFAW:
The electorate is getting less white. Hopefully that will help.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
I just thought about a great attack line:
Baud
@SFAW:
That works. Just remember to cast your eyes toward the ground when speaking to or about me.
Baud
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Heh.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Although I would wholeheartedly encourage the pharmaceutical industry to take as much of his blood as they need to work on this problem.
Oh, and since I believe in healthy market competition, they should all have access to his body for that blood.
Baud
Good. Normalize this. (NYT)
OzarkHillbilly
@John S.: No and for good reason. My political instincts are as subtle as a framing hammer.
SFAW
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I’m sorry, but I saw that, and my first thought was of Loudon Wainwright III.
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW: The “Bauderino” if one isn’t into that whole brevity thing.
Gin & Tonic
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I was crushed when I woke up and saw the news that “your favorite President” was not awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Again.
SFAW
@Baud:
Well, it’s nice to see you more hopeful these days. A refreshing change from your persistent Eeyore-ism.
Yes, I’m kidding. [About the Eeyore-ism, that is.]
Leto
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I’d sooner have a Clorox IV plugged directly into me than let anything from his body come near me.
OzarkHillbilly
@Gin & Tonic: It’s a liberal conspiracy.
SFAW
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
You do know that his mother originally wanted to name him “Renfield” because it sounded classier, right?
[Although I guess Renfield wasn’t actually one of Dracula’s victims, but just a nutcase who ate bugs.]
SiubhanDuinne
Speaking of Patti LuPone (as Laurie Garrett does in the OT), she also partners with Randy Rainbow in his latest video:
https://youtu.be/5AoY6RRfMZM
Baud
Ok by me, Hugh.
Punchy
Is Nate’s poll an aggregate of nationwide ones, or his own independent poll? Because if the former, what polls are so close such that his average is <10 pt spread? All the ones Ive seen are 12-15 pt spread. How can that produce an average less than 10 unless a bunch more are much, much closer?
SFAW
@Baud:
Does “speak” encompass writing/typing as well? Because if it does mu rtpyinig wil; suffr.
Amir Khalid
@satby:
It is awesome that Patti Lupone herself did the vocal. But Trump is toxic, in more ways than one, and he’s talking about what a big fan of hers he is. If it were me, I too would want to put some distance between myself and a fan like that.
And there is a precedent. Bruce Springsteen did the same thing to Chris Christie, in the wake of Bridgegate: he went on Jimmy Fallon and they did that parody of Born To Run.
Steeplejack
Okay, I’ve got Morning Joe cued up to watch the rerun of the 6:00 a.m. opening. Let’s see what they say about Trump’s unhinged Hannity call last night.
Amir Khalid
@Bruuuuce:
Oh poop. I haz a disappoint.
SiubhanDuinne
@SiubhanDuinne:
@Bruuuuce:
Oops, sorry. I started at the bottom and saw Bruuuuce’s comment just as my edit window closed. (And I had just assumed that was PLP on the Covita video, too, so glad to have that correction.)
ETA: @Mary G, also too
SFAW
@Amir Khalid:
Me too. I was thinking about how she still has great pipes. Then Bruuuuce crushed my hopes/dreams/whatever.
Betty Cracker
What’s the latest on the debates — happening or no? I hope Biden tells Trump to go pound sand. I don’t think Biden would get the blowback since Trump already publicly refused to debate. There’s no reason to throw that fucker a lifeline. Ditto Pelosi on the stimulus bill. If Republicans want to send out checks to everyone with Trump’s signature, pass the Dems’ entire bill and stop trying to ram through an extremist judge. Otherwise, fuck off.
There go two miscreants
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Please! I’m eating breakfast here! Don’t need to be nauseated this early in the day.
Bruuuuce
@SFAW:
@Amir Khalid: I am sorry. It IS a terrific rendition, FWIW
satby
@debbie: If only that energy could have been redirected into finding fulfilling jobs!
Oh sweetie, after having lived in the red part of MI I can tell you that most of them barely qualify for any jobs. This is not a demographic that embraces education, or diversity, or anything Rush Limpballs disapproves of.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
The Today Show this morning said Trump is back to insisting on in person debates, so still off, I assume.
satby
@Amir Khalid: me too.
SFAW
@Betty Cracker:
You needed an editor for this one.
[Kidding, I love reading you.]
Immanentize
@Punchy: Nate aggregates almost all polls (there are a few he has kicked out of his field of data). Go to 538 and you can see each and every poll. He also has a larger algorithm based on other factors (economy, historical precedent, etc.). All very interesting if you care to dig into it.
SFAW
@Bruuuuce:
Agreed. Just disappointed it wasn’t Patti, that would have been double-plus-awesome.
SiubhanDuinne
@Steeplejack (phone):
Wow. Trying to remember. I don’t think I’ve seen any photos/videos or even press mentions of them* since the night of the Biden-Trump debate 11 days ago. One does wonder.
*Except for showing up in one of those compilation pieces of how which WH staffers and close Trump associates have tested, and they’re always both on the Covid-negative list.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Thank you — it’s hard to keep up!
Bruuuuce
@SFAW: I was stoked to see her duet with Randy. And then I imagined how he must have felt, and wow, was it a rush.
Immanentize
I just saw Trump’s nutso attack on Whitmer from last night. Kiss Michigan goodbye, Mr. President.
Immanentize
@Betty Cracker:@Baud:
Do we think anyone really cares what Trump thinks about that particular debate anymore? There is still one more after it.
A Ghost to Most
@Steeplejack: Generally, the third hour is largely a rerun of the first.
Baud
@Immanentize:
I think the only people who care at this point are Trump dead enders who are looking for something to get excited about.
Kay
@Immanentize:
It’s funny because flip that and you have Trump’s polling in Michigan.
zhena gogolia
Fuck Dave Weigel. “When he has a gaffe-free day.” Fuck him.
Steeplejack
@SiubhanDuinne:
“Where’s Waldo?” has become my little corner of the current Kremlinology studies. Also MIA: Bill Barr. Rudy Giuliani did appear on Fox a few days ago, but he was coughing on and off through the whole thing. ?
Steven Mnuchin is on my “futures” list. And of course Lindsey Graham is bending himself into a pretzel to avoid a test before his debate with Jaime Harrison, because a positive result would scuttle the Barrett hearing.
Baud
Bruuuuce
Bugger. RIP Pulitzer Prize winner Jim Dwyer. whom I read in Newsday and the NY Daily News before he sunk to working for the FYFNYT
Kathleen
@comrade scotts agenda of rage : Weigel is no better than they are IMHO.
Amir Khalid
@SFAW:
I have a feeling that one reason Trump is flip-flopping on debate Round 2 is that he’s in a dilemma. He looks really ill right now; if he shows up looking like that, he’s finished. But if he doesn’t show up, The Lincoln Project (among others) will feel free to call him a name that rhymes with “Howard”.
Steeplejack
@A Ghost to Most:
I think around 8:30 or so they switch back to “new” but less “breaking” stuff. That’s my experience from times when I have watched the whole three hours.
Kay
@zhena gogolia:
I think he does a good job. It’s just shorthand to mean “nothing quotable”.
IMO he’s the best out there for covering actual Democrats instead of some caricature of Democrats. He’s been right a lot this cycle too- he knew the law n order theme was a loser when every other pundit and reporter was saying it was political death for Biden. Most people here like the Lincoln Project- no one did more handwringing over law n order than the Lincoln Project people.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Agreed. It’s clear at this point Trump broke the COVID-19 test rules for the first debate. There’s no other plausible explanation for the refusal to say when he last tested negative. I think the Biden people would be justified in saying no more debates period since Trump lied and endangered everyone.
SFAW
@Amir Khalid:
Sounds like a win-win scenario to me.
Soprano2
If I were Biden I’d tell the debate commission that I’m ready to show up and answer questions from the American people, and the virtual format works fine because all of us have had to get used to a new reality because of the pandemic. I hope they hold out against Trump on the decision to go virtual. I agree with Kay, one thing Trump suffers from is that no one will stand up and tell him “no” and make it stick.
Bruuuuce
@Amir Khalid: That may be one reason, but I heard about the reversal, combined with many prior instances of his about-faces (especially the recent one on stimulus), and it seems to me to be his basic self-identity as a marketer coming to the fore. Take your choice of cliche: he’s either running it up the flagpole to see who salutes, or throwing it against the wall to see what sticks, and, since he has no integrity, he moves with the breeze.
Kay
@Baud:
I know I keep saying this but in my experience people are genuinely interested in Kamala Harris. She’s the single person in this that they aren’t familiar with – they want to see her.
Kathleen
@MJS: Appears that “court packing” is the new Butter Emails. I guess they got bored with “We’re not gonna be IGNORED Joe”?
Immanentize
@Soprano2: I’m pretty sure the network has offered the debate time to Biden alone to do a town hall virtually.
SFAW
@Betty Cracker:
I would expect the Biden team to say “Negative test, or no in-person debate,” to which Trumpers would reply “here’s the results nyah nyah” to which Biden et al would/should reply “No, you liars — WE will do the tests,” at which point the Vector-in-Chief will whine “no fair,” and duck out.
Kay
@Soprano2:
Biden isn’t afraid of Trump. Biden treats Trump like an individual- a bad individual but an individual. He doesn’t ascribe magic powers to him- doesn’t make him bigger than he is. He treats Trump like Trump is small and petty, which he is of course. I wonder if it’s because Biden has been in an administration and worked with so many Presidents.
Kathleen
@Baud: Arg! I obvs didn’t read your comment before I posted mine!
NickM
@Baud: Great article. Thanks. The Dems would be smart to finally reward unions in a major way. It’s smart because supporting unions is good economics and helps so many people remain in or become middle class. But it’s also smart politically- if they support and grow unions in a way members can see, the Dems never have to worry about losing Michigan, PA, WI, MN again, and Ohio once more becomes a battleground.
Immanentize
I’m still smiling about the names of some of the Michigan Militia Maroons:
One named “Fox”
Two named “Null”
All well fed.
Shalimar
@MJS: Weigel is a good observer. He frequently notices things others do not. He usually keeps his actual politics out of his reporting, which is good, becuase he’s a libertarian twat.
Feathers
I have been told by reliable sources that the Leif Erikson statue on the Commonwealth Avenue Mall in Boston is going commando and fully anatomically accurate under his tunic. This cannot be confirmed from the ground. I no longer have the strength or agility to find out on my own. Boston Jackals? Jackals with college student acquaintances in the area?
JPL
@Immanentize: What a guy. Yesterday morning he attacked the unlikable, communist, monster Harris, and he ended the day attacking the Michigan Governor whose life was threatened by white supremacists.
I’m leaving in a few minutes to get my flu shot and run some errands. I wonder who he’ll attack while I’m gone. Probably Hillary.
germy
hueyplong
In a sane world Trump would be sedated and under 24/7 care in an undisclosed location after last night’s freak show on Hannity. Even in our current context, that was frightening, barking madness. For the good of everyone, you have to hope he was Dexed to the gills, because if that wasn’t chemically fueled…
We really, really need for him to enter the crash mode soon. Is it possible that someone thinks giving him Dex daily through the election is a good idea? Because it’s pretty clearly not.
Immanentize
@germy: This is one of those classic debate squabbles. But this one is landing blows on Graham. Why won’t he take a test? People want to take tests but can’t get one. But everyone knows he can just waive his hand and get whatever test he likes. Graham’s big come back is –“I’ll be there, nyah!”
I think Harrison might not win, but he is making it possible to win
Steeplejack
Today’s smoove groove: Jay Diggs, “Fly on You.”
germy
Jeffro
@Baud: YES! This column is just excellent. Bouie points out that a landslide loss of the WH isn’t enough of a price for Republicans to pay for their corrupt support of trumpov
Ken
It’s very rare that any individual gets a second Nobel, and no one has doubled up on the Peace prize. Giving a second one to Obama would be fantastic but, sorry to say, just isn’t going to happen.
Jeffro
@Kathleen: the Bouie column Baud linked to up above is really excellent…except for the title.
It’s “court EXPANDING”, NYT! It’s also the only just thing to do, since Republicans only stood by trumpov in order to gain judge seats…make them (effectively) lose those seats, not just the WH
Ken
In related news, the World Food Programme won the Peace prize this year.
Barbara
@Amir Khalid: A few thoughts. First, it’s just a continuation of the BS we have been subjected to since the pandemic began, which is utter failure to take it seriously combined with aggressive belittling of those who do. Second, he cannot or will not conceive that the only thing that matters is what he wants. He cannot imagine that the organizers, hotel staff, and so on genuinely object to the idea that they and their families might be at risk from the debate. Even if Trump seroconverts, what about the people around him? And last, their refusal to be transparent and play by the rules in the first debate means that no one trusts them any longer, and that’s the kind of thing that just does not compute in Trump’s mind: accountability, what’s that?
In other words, he’s just being who he is, trying to get maximum tactical advantage without an inkling of understanding that when a contagious dread disease is in the mix, at least a few people who might have capitulated have now found their spines.
Betty Cracker
I understand why people are pissed off about the media’s court-packing questions. It’s annoying that Trump and Republicans evade accountability for their countless scandals and hypocrisy by flooding the zone with outrageous bullshit. It’s unfair that they’re graded on a curve.
That said, it’s a legit question that is in the public interest, whether a Biden-Harris admin would expand the judiciary and the size of the SCOTUS. Excoriating reporters for asking it is probably the wrong response (from Biden supporters and surrogates, I mean).
It’s probably better to point out that the population has grown significantly since the last time the federal judiciary was expanded and that the SCOTUS is out of balance thanks to political shenanigans in the senate, which have undermined public confidence in the impartiality of the court. I think most reasonable people would agree this is true.
So, IF Biden and Harris win AND the Dems get a senate majority, say the admin will work with congressional leaders in a bipartisan way to study a number of possible reforms and move forward from there. That answer won’t satisfy any partisan constituency, but if you’re already doing the bipartisan dance, now is the time to use it.
A Ghost to Most
@Steeplejack: Yeah, especially on big news days, which is everyday now.
Ps. 9news.com poll for CO show Biden and Hick up double digits here. Cory is toast.
germy
Ken Bone, rugged individualist.
Steeplejack
@Immanentize:
Picture:
TS (the original)
@Punchy:
Nate has his magic formula that values every poll differently. It takes into account the value of the pollster (from A(best) to D and lots in between). He also looks at the age of the poll, whether it is RV LV or all adults etc etc. I don’t think he has ever released all the formula he uses.
All the more recent polls are rate B or less. His average is at 10.2 this morning.
Jeffro
Stopped clocks and all that: Brooksie does have some actual, truthful insights in today’s column!
Barbara
@Betty Cracker: I think the messaging should be as follows:
TS (the original)
@Soprano2: Biden’s already booked to do a town hall on ABC with questions from a studio audience (Biden won’t be in the studio) or some such thing. He will get millions of viewers.
Trump meanwhile will have his live rally in Florida (if he can book a venue) and those who are keen to catch covid will be there to listen. Don’t know how much of the media will show Trump (unless he collapses).
Kathleen
@Jeffro: I agree that column is very good and I’m glad to see those sentiments in NYT. I was directing my ire towards Weigel. Since 2016 I’ve become even more skittish about media than I was before 2016.
OzarkHillbilly
@germy: I saw quite a few signs for Lindsey the other day when I was in VH’s district. It was heartening.
Leto
@Betty Cracker: have to disagree with this. You’re correct that the judiciary needs expanding to keep up with cases/population, but this is a discussion to be had among sane adults. That’s not the media nor Republicans. This discussion requires nuance and detailed explanation. It can be had/given after Jan 20th.
Also no reason to give the media a free talking point to try to help their Republican masters in the last thirty days. They didn’t question Republican court packing for four years, and still won’t talk about/report that, so fuck’em.
Steeplejack
A belated thought on that Trump video that we were discussing yesterday as to whether it was green-screened. (MSNBC just used a snippet of it as Kelly O’Donnell was blabbing about something.)
I’m not an expert on the White House and environs, but I question whether the grounds are big enough for Trump to be as far from the White House itself as he appears to be in the video. It’s a long way. Also, I question whether the Secret Service would want/allow the president to be that exposed. Standing alone in a huge expanse of lawn far from shelter? Doesn’t seem likely.
PST
@Kay:
I couldn’t agree more. People sure weren’t watching because of curiosity about Mike Pence. It is so easy to forget how many people don’t follow politics and election news closely. As utterly familiar as Harris seems to us, she is still a novelty to many. Some are suspicious about her background, others merely curious, but they were all finally getting around to seeking a better impression of what she is really like. No one needed to do that for Tim Kaine. He was clearly a potential vice president of the most familiar kind, a middle-aged white male senator that they may have vaguely heard of. Harris’s real job was to lead a broad swath of uninformed America conclude, “She seem okay to me.”
Sab
@zhena gogolia: Lots of his gaffes aren’t even gaffes. I remember the late Cokie Roberts chortling when he called people from Bosnia “Bosniaks” instead of Bosnians. Then it turned out Bosniaks is indeed what they are called.
TS (the original)
@germy:
Half the senate is going to have covid by this weekend & they are so scared about not confirming their SCOTUS lady they refuse to be tested.
Like trump they don’t care who they infect with a deadly disease, as long as they get through their agenda. Is it any wonder the sycophants are out there refusing to wear masks when this is the example set by the leaders of the nation.
Gin & Tonic
@hueyplong:
Someone may think that, but any licensed professional who prescribed that should forfeit his/her license immediately. It’s a 10-day course of treatment, and has to be tapered off. Anything else is malpractice.
Kay
@PST:
I don’t think it was deliberate on the Biden campaign’s part- a combination of covid and media’s absolute obsession with covering every word out of Donald Trump’s mouth- but I DO think that interest in her benefits her. They get way, way too much Trump. They get hardly any Harris.
zhena gogolia
@Soprano2:
I’ve had two book presentations canceled because of Covid. Fuck him.
Steeplejack
@hueyplong:
Last weekend I put tomorrow as the day when Trump crashes, relapses or has some sort of COVID-related “event.” It would be approximately on the timeline from when he probably really got the virus (not when reported).
Leto
@PST: I want more Mindy Kaling cooking with Kamala YouTube videos, talking about their Indian heritage. That was still one of the best things I’d seen in years. Her laugh alone was so uplifting and a direct rejection of Trumpov/Dense.
zhena gogolia
@Kay:
Great comment! This is spot on.
Shalimar
@Kay: That is a good summary of Weigel’s reporting. He has a keen eye for seeing through bullshit.
Barbara
@PST: I read the NYT article on Harris’ time in Canada and I was not surprised to learn that she was part of a competitive dance team in high school. She is serious and smart, but there is also a bit of a cheerleader in her — that is, a strikingly positive demeanor — and I think many find that to be very appealing.
Gin & Tonic
@Sab: Sort of true. “Bosniak” refers to the Muslim residents/citizens of Bosnia. “Bosnian” would refer to a citizen of Bosnia of any ethnicity/faith. I don’t know the context in which Biden used the term, so can’t say if he was right or wrong, but I’ll assume he knew more about it than Cokie.
zhena gogolia
@Jeffro:
I keep going back in my mind to her flash of rhetorical brilliance when she referred to people in March wondering where they would get their next roll of toilet paper. Pence looked puzzled. They are so fucking out of touch they probably weren’t even aware that people were ready to sell their grandmothers for toilet paper last spring.
zhena gogolia
@Sab:
Yep.
MJS
@Leto: Agreed. The focus should be on what the Republicans are currently trying to do (hypocritically jam through a Supreme Court appointment), not what the Democrats may or may not do. Don’t let the media change the focus.
Gin & Tonic
OT, but the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has confirmed that Alexei Navalny was poisoned with Novichok.
Russia is silent. So is the US.
zhena gogolia
@Gin & Tonic:
He was using it correctly, as I recall. He was using it in a sentence that referred to what segment of the population Bosniaks are. They mocked him by spelling it “Bosniac,” as if he thought they were from the planet Melmac.
Sab
@Gin & Tonic: Thanks for the clarification. As I remember, I am pretty sure he meant Bosniak Bosnians.
Ken
@Barbara: You know who else dances, don’t you? Further evidence that Biden is in thrall to The Squad.
Kay
@Shalimar:
It’s knowledge versus bullshit narrative building. He knows a lot. So when the rest of them are like “The Left says…” or “rustbelt voters think….” he puts actual events and people in there. Useful, real context.
This is an extreme example but when Trump sneered to Biden “you just lost the Left” at the debate that’s the kind of political analysis I hate, and there’s a LOT of it, by professionals. Joe Biden has been an elected Democrat for 40 years. Donald Trump can’t tell him anything about Democrats he doesn’t know.
Jared Kushner believed that rank and file Democrats would reward Trump for firing Comey. He doesn’t know the first thing about this subject.
Betty Cracker
@Leto: The media already have a talking point: “Biden-Harris won’t answer questions about their plans for the judiciary.” I think Team Biden’s impulse is sound — don’t give the media a hypothetical to obsess over — but the execution of that strategy (basically stonewalling) might create its own blowback. I think we’d be better off giving a non-committal response that acknowledges that it’s a legit question and that there are many contingencies and parties involved with any action.
Leto
@MJS: It’s just so predictable. Tide goes in, tide goes out. Republicans commit serious political/governing/moral malfeasance, Dems are expected to compromise/govern in a bipartisan manner. Every serious Dem presidential nominee had a webpage with tons of policy solutions to most of our problems, whereas Trumpov/Republicans basically have, “you’ll see it in two weeks!” For the past four years. We’re not here to provide material for your horse race coverage. We’re also not here to help absolve your sins for your shit coverage from four years ago. Fuck’em.
Immanentize
@Steeplejack: love it! I now know if I want to go undercover in a militia, all I need to do is gain about 20 pounds and grow a goatee.
Ok, forty pounds.
hueyplong
I guess what worries me is that everything we see, hear and read leads you to believe that whether something is a very bad idea or whether it would be malpractice to permit it are not STOP signs for Trump. Presumably Dex is a lot more difficult for him to obtain on the down low than is Adderall. He has gone on TV and talked about Dex like he’s in those Frank Thomas ads, playing the part of Frank Thomas [pauses for brief, partial vomiting]. I’m surprised that they don’t cut to an attractive young woman who comments favorably on his physique.
Leto
@Betty Cracker: I think it’s along the same line as Trumpov/the media demanding to know Biden’s Supreme Court picks. Like you said, giving a non-committal answer is probably best but as others have observed this is something most “normies” aren’t even paying attention to. It’s insider baseball stuff. But I’ll trust his team to come up with that messaging, if needed, because they’ve been really good about all of this so far.
Leto
@Immanentize: Don’t forget the shit haircut. Either self done with $10 clippers, or just let it go all covid wild. Either way, shit.
Kay
None of these voters are mentioning “court packing”, or incredibly, The Durham Report:
Court packing may well be their number one concern but they seem to be quite shy about it if it is. I’m just grateful they’re not relitigating the emails.
SFAW
@Immanentize:
Well, I got a spare 40 (at least) that I can
loangive you. You’re in MA, right? Let’s figure out where we can meet to make the transfer.Kattails
@germy: that’s great, very well done ad. Thanks for posting it, would never have found it on my own. Maybe I can scrape up a few bucks for her. wish I could get my Trump mother to listen to anything, I’d send it.
Feathers
@Leto: The problem is that giving any indication that the court will be expanded provides extra justification for rushing the Barrett nomination. Not that they need it, but it makes her an extra martyr and gives endless talking points to the right.
artem1s
@Mary G:
sry Donnie, not exonerated. Barr obviously doesn’t trust Pence to save his bacon or he’d be pushing for 25 to be invoked. this report is a ticking time bomb and could give the GOP a way out of their Orange Mess and still be able to blame Hillery and Pelosi. These guys keep looking a gift horse in the mouth and it makes no sense unless they are hip deep in the collusion too.
StringOnAStick
James Corden is such a talented guy, that version off Maybe I’m Amazed is brilliant.
If you need some lighter fun with a bit of cloak and dagger, he and another young British actor wrote and starred in a two season series on Hulu called “The Wrong Mans” that we enjoyed so much that we watched it twice. It’s been a couple if years but hopefully it can still be summoned on streaming. Totally worth it!
Ken
Trump wants to skip the litigation step and go straight to the imprisonment of Clinton for treason (or lèse-majesté). Also everyone else who’s ever offended him.
Kay
Instead of court packing they could cover the Supreme Court nominee. She has a very thin record and no one has asked her anything. I’m a tad suspicious of people who launch a campaign to portray any questions about their work as an attack on their religion, and most ridiculously, an attack on their family. She’s an academic. She preemptively forbids questions? We all know they’re going to jam her on the court. Perhaps she could indulge us by allowing us the same questions anyone would get in a fucking job interview.
Kay
@Ken:
My husband is weirdly fascinated with Trump’s prosecution theories. He listened to clips of the Hannity interview last night and was replaying them, like you would a transcript. No idea what’s going on there. He’s more alarmed than I am about Trump’s efforts to interfere with the election, perhaps because he’s a former prosecutor – he sees Trump as a threat to individuals who will be politically prosecuted.
Ugh, I hate Trump’s voice. I hate that broad, braggy sound and all those bullshit filler words.
A Ghost to Most
@artem1s: When you’ve lost Billy Barr .. up the Dex dosage.
hueyplong
Durham = Steiner
He’s not coming.
Baud
Re: court packing: I say, keep ’em guessing.
A Ghost to Most
@Immanentize: I basically did that for 50 years. I don’t recommend it.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
My guess is that Biden doesn’t want court packing to become an issue in Senate races in purple and red states. That’s a greater risk than the issue is to the Biden ticket at this point.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: There’s an ad in heavy rotation here in Florida alleging that “Democrats” are attacking Barrett because she’s Catholic. It stars quasi-libertarian Bill Maher saying the word “Catholic” in a mocking tone. So stupid.
Also, there’s a Barrett bus tour. It’s a political campaign, and if judicial confirmations are political campaigns, maybe we should just straight-up elect the justices. If we did, I’m pretty sure an extremist like Barrett wouldn’t get within 100 miles of the SCOTUS.
Baud
@A Ghost to Most:
I hope Trump is made at Barr because it makes Trump less likely to issue copious pardons on his way out the door.
Immanentize
@Leto: idea — when a reporter asks Harris or Biden a question about a policy — “Do you favor ACA expansion?” — one could answer -. “Could you please remind me what the Trump administration position is on that?”
Kay
So let’s ignore the actual justice they’re jamming onto the court and focus on Joe Biden’s theoretical justices.
The Right cowed them again. They worked the refs and scared them out of asking any questions because they know any questions about this justice will be met with howls or outrage about how it’s an attack on religion. This justice has the thinnest record of any justice I can remember and they have successfully silenced any inquiry into her work at all.
Baud
@Kay:
He’ll answer. Right after he gives you access to go through his old Senate papers.
Immanentize
@SFAW: thank you for the kind offer. ?Covid has me sitting on my butt so much all day every day that although I am not gaining any, I am not losing any either.
debbie
@Lapassionara:
I live to hear Trump’s response. Usurped by a food relief agency! ?
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
I wouldn’t mind that she’s coordinating on a political campaign if I also wasn’t being scolded into treating her like the lady justice statue. I am sick of being lectured by the far Right on ethics. They have no fucking standing to lecture me. Unlike the new justice, when I’m in a city that requires certain public health restrictions for covid I COMPLY with them. NY is more stringent than OH. When I travel to NY I obey the state rules. DC is a majority AA city. AA have died of this virus at a disproportiate rate. WTF sashaying in there and sending their covid rate thru the roof?
She has a very thin written record because she has a very thin RECORD, period. She should be asked more questions than an experienced candidate, not fewer. I think that’s the reason they launched the silencing campaign- they don’t want us to know what she thinks.
Baud
I wonder if, at the next town hall, the media will find an 8 year old girl to pen a letter expressing deep concerning about court packing.
Immanentize
@Baud: People know the deal. If you want to preserve a nine member court?
A switch in time can save nine.
Kay
@Baud:
If we had to get an emails I’m glad it’s court packing, because no one has any idea what that is.
Immanentize
I actually think the rush to get the nomination pushed through before the election was so McConnell could keep Republican Senators in line. After the election, there will be not reason for three or four of them to continue showing up.
Steeplejack
@Immanentize:
Braggart!
germy
@Kay:
Maybe her record looks thin because she’s not disclosing much?
Kay
Oops. She forgot another one:
A really thin record and she left a quarter of it off the resume. I don’t think lawyers should be conflated with the people they represent but we know next to nothing about this person, and we’re being subjected to a deliberate campaign to suppress any inquiry. I object.
germy
Vote them out, please.
Baud
@Immanentize: The only one likely to switch is Kavanaugh (joining Roberts). The other GOP justices are conservative ideologues and/or haters of liberals.
Immanentize
@germy: She is not putting together her own record. She has outsourced that job to the Federalist Fucks. And they think leaving stuff out is cute and will own the libs
Leto
@Immanentize: I feel like Biden/Harris are basically doing that now, which I like. Point out the fact that the Emperor hasn’t had any clothes on for four years now. It’s a simple compare and contrast exercise. It won’t penetrate the wingnutosphere but for anyone outside of that it, it works.
Steeplejack
@StringOnAStick:
One of the PBS stations ran The Wrong Mans here a while back. Pretty good. Recommended.
Kay
@germy:
Oh, it’s fine. Her colleagues at the law schools and 15 ass-kissing lawyers who will practice in front of her rave about her. That’s good enough for me!
I read that she discussed her family with one of the D senators. They wouldn’t have jack shit other to talk about so that makes sense. I mean, what are we supposed to do? Examine her civil procedure lecture at Notre Dame?
Kay
@Immanentize:
Well, despite her incredibly narrow experience, surely she knows the rule for lawyers is if you submit it it’s YOURS. Hers. No one elses. She is 100% responsible for anything she submits with her name on it.
I insist we use the same rules for the far Right elite legal society that any storefront lawyer has to live with.
Amir Khalid
@Leto:
I saw the video where they made dhosas with store-bought, pre-mixed batter. There were shrieks of outrage in the comments.
brantl
@debbie: THey have been packing courts since they stopped allowing district court appointments 2 years into Obama’s last term……
Johnnybuck
I think Joe Biden should say “We’ll see” like dipshit Donnie would.
brantl
@Leto: Probably the only thing that would cure you from anything of his being put in you would be a Chlorox intervenous feed.
Baud
@Johnnybuck: “I’ll release my proposals in two weeks.”
Sab
@Betty Cracker: Jeez. They already have six Catholics out of eight.
Kay
This is what I mean by honest, accurate context. They all mention the Access Hollywood tape and some of them mention Comey. No one mentions the emails. You were all there watching it unfold. Where’d the wikileaks email go?
scav
@Kay: And I keep hearing this blahblah about her family. As though to underline, isn’t that the most important qualification of a woman?Her real achievement? Spare me.
Leto
@Amir Khalid: I have this master Italian cookbook with about a million old school recipes. At the intro of the polenta section she talks about how to make polenta, but at the end of the intro acknowledges that you can use premade stuff but basically poo poo’s it. I’ll take those comments with the same grain of salt ;)
Just One More Canuck
@Kay: It’s okay to leave stuff off your resume if it you were a part time driver for Uncle Fred’s Chicken on the Run while in university, but not if it’s relevant to the job you’re applying for. I know people who have been fired for lying on their resume. How is this any different?
germy
“If conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism, they will abandon democracy.”
(David Frum)
Kay
@scav:
It’s meant to put people off asking questions about her work. The truth is there isn’t enough of her work to tell anything but we aren’t permitted to mention that either, or we’re attacking her adopted children.
I don’t object to what is a coordinated, hardball campaign to jam a far Right justice on the court. I object to being scolded for pointing out that that’s what it is.
PST
@Leto: I love that video. Kamala has a million dollar smile and a billion dollar laugh.
Mai Naem mobile
Nobody gives a crap about court packing because guess what, most people don’t even understand what court packing means. Walk up to the average person on the street and ask them about court packing and you are going to get the human reaction version of the thinking/wondering emoji.
Kay
@Just One More Canuck:
Well, we’ll never find out because all questions are off limits under the doctrine of “hiding behind your religion”. Give me a break. They as much as ANNOUNCED that any questions about her work would be portrayed as “anti-Catholic” and we’re less than 30 days out from an election where Catholic voters play a crucial role. They are USING the fact that they’re jamming her in immediately prior to an election to jam her in!
That the people who spend all day moaning about “cancel culture” are now shutting down all inquiry and debate based upon portraying any questions as attacks on this person’s religious and personal identity is just the icing on the bullshit cake.
scav
@Kay: I was in no way complaining about your bringing it up, more that it keeps being reported on so you (and others) could mention it! The whole family as human shield game is such a specific game of conservative calvinball (see also family as acceptable dynasty goalpost switching). But I have noted that family keeps being shoehorned into the qualifications paragraph with this supposed handmaid of justice.
PST
@Barbara: I loved that NYT article on Harris’s Canadian girlhood too. The dance troupe part made me think back to the conservatives who tried to make a big deal of a doctored version of AOL’s exuberant dancing from her BU days. I never heard any but favorable reactions from real people. It may be that we should only elect officials who can dance like they think no one is watching. Can you imagine Trump or Pence? I certainly contrast Harris’s joyful youth with Trump’s tortured home situation as described by his niece. Horrible people are horrible people no matter how they got that way, but it is helpful in understanding what they are and what they might be capable of.
Miss Bianca
@Baud: Wouldn’t that be loverly.
I’ll also happily accept a raising of the minimum wage to $15/hr.
Miss Bianca
@Dorothy A. Winsor: For some reason, that reminds me of the ending of “True Blood”, where the evangelical anti-vampire bimbo ends up chained in a basement, feeding the very vampires she’s been trying to eradicate, because her blood contains the antidote to “Hep C”, the disease that’s killing them.
Trump’s bloated ass chained in a basement, being bled to provide antibodies to COVID-19 infected folks? That’s a scenario I wouldn’t mind seeing. Or, you know, I would – but merely because of aesthetic, not moral, objections.
Steeplejack
@PST:
Yes! Even in the debate with Pence, her demeanor was cheery a lot of the time, except when he was at his most dickish. I would have been 100% ?.
Uncle Cosmo
You meant “by the Bile of Whites,” dincha?
(Disclaimer: Despite being entirely of Italian ancestry, yerstruly is a couple of shades whiter than Ivory Flakes. #NotAllHonkies)
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Baud:
Calouste
@scav: Of course in a normal job interview, the interviewer shouldn’t ask any questions about the candidate’s family, in case they are perceived as discriminatory. At least that’s what my training at Very Big Corp taught me.
Kathleen
@hueyplong: I have a sneaky feeling that a “friend” or donor has a stake in the company that manufactures that drug he’s taking. Surprised a reporter hasn’t checked out that angle.
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
Belated: Here’s the Trump video that was discussed yesterday.
rjnerd
Its been noticed that most favored daughter hasn’t been in front of a camera all week. This was my first thought
One of those upcoming show spots that get run:
Miss Bianca
@Miss Bianca: Sorry, that’s “Hep V”. One has to be accurate about these things in fictional universes.
Kathleen
@Immanentize: The Perfect Aryan Specimens called. They’re demanding that white nationalist groups pay franchise fees and submit photos prior to espousing white supremacist beliefs.
Uncle Cosmo
@Kay: Concur. IMO the more the electorate sees of Kamala the more they’ll like her (equivalently, the less chance Agolf Twitler and the MSM have to paint her as a scary evil dark monster). Plus 7 in favorability after the debate is a good start – especially when the sub-50 number for the Pen(ce)is Flytrap didn’t move.
geg6
@Kay:
Seriously? He’s one of the biggest hacks in a plethora of hacks, IMHO. Just awful.