President Biden: The NEW one and only politics thread

I guess you can lump me in there. While sometimes back in the day I just liked to argue with Fenian and Zeke for the sport of it (the competition was tremendous), I leaned more that way. And when you were a little right of center, Fenian and Zeke and others were so far left you couldn't even see them. I liked Obama a great deal, though and had no issues voting for him. And then along came John Kasich, and his policies devastated my family from a financial standpoint and continue to do so. So I was mostly done with republicans and their policy making. I was always more left-leaning socially. And then came Trump and now I might as well be Fenian or Zeke from 2005. There is one place online that says I am a republican. I imagine that's due to registering so I could vote against both Trump and Kasich in the 2016 primary. I have no recollection of whom I voted for. Sadly, in this part of the world, there are far more who have gone the other direction.

 

The MAGAs in Arkansas - led by Sarah Huckabee Sanders - do NOT want this on the ballot. They have taken several steps since she took office to limit the ability of citizens to get measures on the ballot. They don't trust Arkansans to vote the way they want them to vote. They know better than the rubes they govern.

 

The New Yorker may be the only publication that has ever put an umlat over one of the 0's in coordinator.

Tim Walz and the Lessons of High-School Football

 

I assume there are a lot of people who watched the Harris acceptance speech who are just tuning in to meet the candidate and get an idea of what she wants to do.

They got a positive speech that was inclusive and uplifting. Patriotic. And it was politically centrist. Which is where a great deal of the country is. She’s not a scary radical.

All trump offers is negativity. Insulting people. Everything is dark and awful. America sucks. And he’s old and tired. And rambles. And none of those things are going to change. He’s going to get worse. Not better. He is a scary radical.

The Harris rollout has been exceptionally well done. There are a ton of tests to come. Particularly the first debate.

As always, anything can and will happen. But if you’re a democrat, it’s easy to feel good about the current trend and momentum.

 

Two thoughts on the "surprise guest":

1. If it was was indeed an intended fake-out, I don't love it, but it was a brilliant strategy to get young people to tune in to the convention and watch Kamala speak.

2. Any chance that Pink was originally the surprise but it just ended up on the agenda somehow? I say this because watching Wednesday on the plane, the CNN "coming up" graphic showed Oprah. Yet when I got to my car and listened on NPR they talked about Oprah as if she had been a surprise but news got out long before she was scheduled to appear.

 

Pink had been scheduled earlier in the week. From what I've heard, the Dems wanted Harris's speech to be the last word, aside from the formalities of closing the convention.

 

I get that they're railing against some policies she offers. I get the cultist factor.

But to listen to the woman and say you just can't stand her? No manner of twisting my brain around can get me there.

 

Ooh, just got my first "Dangerous Radical Liberal" piece of mail trash yesterday! Started humming a Supertramp song for no reason.

 

I think some of the “surprise star” buzz may have been people just expecting a huge finale after three straight days of bangers. If anything I thought they dulled the momentum a little last night with the national security emphasis that got a bit dense. But my guess is they figured fence sitters and squeamish Republicans trying to make themselves feel OK about crossing over would only watch the last night. And so things were a little more geared towards them.

 

The organizers were never ever going to upstage the candidate on what was her big night. The Beyonce thing was so silly I can't believe anyone who'd been around politics for more than a week fell for the rumor.

 

It's the usual stuff that comes with not being a white, male candidate. "I don't like her voice. I don't like her laugh. Too pushy."

The people saying that stuff were always going to find reason not to vote for her.