President Biden: The NEW one and only politics thread

JV Dunce in describing the incident called it "an argument at Abbey Road," raising the image of Fatfuck obnoxiously demanding the band play "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" at a solemn graveside memorial as he gleefully makes the thumb jerking motion as the drums hit the "bang bang" chorus line.

 

Easy for me to say, given that it's not my campaign budget, but I do wish candidates would try to hit some places out of their usual wheelhouse.

What if Kamala went to, say, Oklahoma? Pick out any conservative stronghold. Speak to people and listen. And really listen, even to bullshit criticism. Don't just speak to a friendly audience. When candidates do this, they almost always go to a bastion of their base deep inside "enemy" territory. Doesn't really do a Democrat any good to talk to a sympathetic group in Texas. People see right through that.

(It's why I was surprised that Trump, of all people, did a thing with Black journalists. He predictably stepped on his own dick, but I'm surprised he exposed himself in the first place.)

Do it maybe once a week, one event per day out of several, maybe in a state adjacent to a swing state. Going to Wisconsin? Do an event in Iowa. Going to Pennsylvania? Drop over to West Virginia. Headed to Nevada? Go talk to folks for an hour in Salt Lake City. You get the idea.

It wouldn't likely sway any individual state, but it might sway people to think you're at least trying to appeal to all Americans, which might sway enough voters in places where it really matters ... swing states.

 

Ha! But I'm curious ... is there any state where the tavern league has as much political clout as Wisconsin's?

When you're in the sticks, most of the time everybody is related, so it's hard to fit in if you aren't bred with the local population. Wisconsin is one of those states where a high percentage of the population was born there, as I'm sure you know.

I do like some of the smaller cities outstate -- Eau Claire, Stevens Point. LaCrosse is pretty but a little rough. Same with Wausau. Most of the Fox Cities are decent.

Dad was a Yooper. He grew up on the edge of the Hiawatha Forest halfway between Marquette and Escanaba.

 

I am suprised they havent made Missouri and Iowa frequeent stops. I feel like you've got some inroads there

 

Of course it does.

 

It sounds to me like your Dad grew up very close to where I did. I was near the former Air Force base, which based on your description could be anywhere from a 15-to-90 minute drive away.

Considering I believe Wisconsin is the only state where your first DUI is a civil infraction, I'd say no there's no one like the Tavern League.

Wisconsin has several gems, both in terms of cities and natural areas. The local representative is trying to get the Apostle Islands made a national park (it's already a national lakeshore) but nobody asked for it and nobody knows why he (a conservative Republican) is doing it. I've never been but Hayward has a ton of fun stuff, including the American Birkebeiner, a cross country ski marathon that thousands of people, including Jessie Diggins, do every year.

But if you're not in one or the other, there can be some pretty frustrating places to live. The thing is there's one big difference:

Wisconsin and Minnesota both have populations just short of 6 million. The difference is that 3.7 million Minnesota residents live in the Twin Cities metro. The Milwaukee metro (which probably includes the dark red WOW counties) plus Madison is less than 3M. Further, the Minnesota Republican Party is a dumpster fire that hasn't won a statewide election of any sort in 18 years, and after nominating Royce White, he of the four-minute NBA career and rampant untreated schizophrenia, for the US Senate, will be extending that streak. The Wisconsin Republicans have put together a devastatingly effective record of telling anyone to the left of Genghis Khan to go fuck themselves.

 

The headlines and stories never are specific or direct enough with regard to Trump. It really is amazing, and strange in a journalism sense.

 

It’s as if they’re terrified of being called biased, even though Trump and Co. will do that anyways with any negative story about them.