QOTD -- Questions For Voters

 

"The level of just plain crazy, violent, hate rhetoric coming out of Republicans ... I want voters to stop and ask themselves: Would we trust somebody who is stirring up these violent feelings?  Who is pointing fingers, scapegoating, making a joke about a violent attack on Paul Pelosi? Why would you trust that person to have power over you, your family, your business, your community?”-- Hillary Clinton, on MSNBC's "The ReidOut," making a point about the rotted out fascist party making its fearmongering election pitch about "crime," while downplaying, scapegoating and joking about the violent crime perpetrated against Speaker Pelosi's 82- year- old husband by a QAnon/MAGA nut (aren't they all?).  

Six days until the election.  If you can vote and haven't, please consider doing so now.  Otherwise, be sure to vote on Tuesday, November 8.

The Unconventional Convention -- Day 3

ICYMI last night featured speeches by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Hillary Clinton, Sen. Kamala Harris, and former President Barack Obama, a slew of videos on progressive issues -- and a message and musical performance by Billie Eilish.











Great night laying out the case for voting COVID Donnie out and for Democratic governance.

Quote Of The Day

"There is a tendency, when talking about these things, to wring our hands about “both sides.” But the truth is that this is not a symmetrical problem. We should be clear about this: The increasing radicalism and irresponsibility of the Republican Party, including decades of demeaning government, demonizing Democrats, and debasing norms, is what gave us Donald Trump. Whether it was abusing the filibuster and stealing a Supreme Court seat, gerrymandering congressional districts to disenfranchise African Americans, or muzzling government climate scientists, Republicans were undermining American democracy long before Trump made it to the Oval Office.

Now we must do all we can to save our democracy and heal our body politic." --  Hillary Clinton writing,"American Democracy Is In Crisis" in The Atlantic.

The Right: "No Principles... Just Enemies"

Seth Meyers takes "A Closer Look" at treasonous moron Donald "Rump" Trump, his fanboys at Fox "News," and their go- to shiny object to distract their loathing (and loathsome) base:

Voting For A President, And More

Just out:

Selected Sunday Reading

As a possible antidote to the ravings on the Sunday "news" shows, here's some suggested non- Comey reading to get us back to the real issues in the election. As always, the entire pieces are worth the time.

First, Susan Faludi has a great, illuminating read on the origins of and motivation for the blind hatred of Hillary Clinton by the frothing knuckle- draggers in the Republican base.  Here's a taste:

Donald J. Trump and his supporters posit their antipathy as a reaction to Mrs. Clinton’s accumulated record over “30 years in power.” It’s important to recall that she was deranging Republicans on Day 1. Understanding her demonization requires admitting her full significance in our political history, for she is not simply a pioneering woman fighting an Ur-misogyny. Mrs. Clinton faces a two-headed Cerberus, an artificial conjoining that occurred in the early 1990s, of wounded Republican invincibility and wounded male prerogative. Our current political crisis won’t be resolved until those forces are separated and the Cerberus slain.

Few current observers seem to recall the wrath that greeted Bill Clinton’s ascension. To the left, “Clintonism” implies accommodation and calculation. But to the right in 1992, it meant usurpation. Reaganism held almost religious significance, and its reign was supposed to be transformative and permanent. For the One True Way to be restored, Clintonism had to be delegitimized. 

That delegitimization ushered in the politics of party restoration at whatever cost, governance and country be damned. This led first to an attempted legislative coup in 1998 and then to a judicial coup in 2000. And to all the more recent outrages of birtherism, government shutdowns, delayed Supreme Court confirmations and, ultimately, the rise of a would-be autocrat as a party nominee. 

Next, Leonard Pitts explains why it's essential that the Republican Party go down to a crashing defeat:

I don’t want the Republican Party defeated next week. 

This is written, just so you know, following an email exchange with a reader who suggested a recent column had been penned in consultation with the White House to soften the ground for a new presidential directive. It is written in the wake of a conservative talk show host telling his audience that the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape that damaged Donald Trump’s candidacy was a setup by CIA agent Billy Bush. It is written as the Internet is in a state of mass arousal over a rumor that candidate Obama “flaunted his erection” to women reporters on his campaign plane in 2008. 

It is written, in other words, on an average day in the pest-ridden, plague-infected swamp of rumor, rancor, conspiracy and flat-out bollocks that now counts as Republican political discourse. More to the point, it is written out of concern over what and how the country will be after next week’s election.

Finally, Harold Meyerson on what distinguishes us from Republicans (and the fact that it all preceded neo- fascist demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump by decades):

It’s during the homestretch of campaigns that political parties often reveal their deepest identities, and that’s never been truer than it is this year. What really distinguishes the Democrats from the Republicans this fall isn’t their ideologies, their platforms, or even their candidates, though there’s contrast aplenty in each of those. What really distinguishes the two parties is what they’re actually doing in the campaign’s final weeks. 

The Democrats are trying to get out the vote. 

The Republicans are trying to suppress it.

If you're young, Latino or African American, the Republicans really don't want you showing up, standing in line, and voting.  The response to that collection of "deplorables" known as the Republican Party must be, borrowing from Leonard Pitts, "Nuke it."

"Example"

In a saner world, there wouldn't be any question about the right choice on November 8. This (which is apparently one of the campaign's first closing argument ads) boils it down nicely:

This Should Make You Proud To Be A Progressive And A Clinton Supporter

The next time someone says something "nasty" about Hillary Clinton or says that progressive programs aren't any good or haven't made a difference, please sit their uninformed ass down and have them watch this (thank you!):

Video Of The Day - "Beatific" (UPDATED)

Get out your tissues --

Ryan talks about living with a disability—and befriending Hillary back in 1994: "She looks at me the way I always wanted to be looked at." pic.twitter.com/vJ3E2Jzfaj

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 18, 2016

UPDATE:  Ryan Moore will be a guest of Secretary Clinton's at the last presidential debate on Wednesday.

(h/t Nancy LeTourneau, Washington Monthly)

Bombthrowing

We don't know what fool firebombed the Republican office in Hillsborough, NC, Saturday night, but we do have revealing reactions to it, first from a sane person:

The attack on the Orange County HQ @NCGOP office is horrific and unacceptable. Very grateful that everyone is safe.

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 16, 2016

Now let's hear from a bomb thrower:

Animals representing Hillary Clinton and Dems in North Carolina just firebombed our office in Orange County because we are winning @NCGOP

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 16, 2016

Presidential!  Also, unstable and deeply delusional!  Good qualities!

So, let's see who is actually doing something positive here:

In a display of solidarity, Democrats on Sunday raised some $13,117 to held rebuild a local North Carolina Republican Party office that was destroyed in a firebombing.

Organized by David Weinberger, a research fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School, the GoFundMe campaign surpassed the $10,000 fundraising goal in under 40 minutes. The effort was inspired by a tweet from University of North Carolina professor Zeynep Tufekci, who called on Hillary Clinton's campaign to lend office space to staffers at the Orange County GOP headquarters, which was left gutted and unusable.

It's called "good citizenship," a concept so foreign to neo- fascist sociopath Donald "Rump" Trump that he wouldn't recognize it if it bit him on his large ass.

Video Of The Week - Hillary's Dance Off With Ken Bone!

After all the toxic sludge we've been dealing with, this is wonderfully hilarious (Hillary-ous?) relief.  (Thanks to Ellen DeGeneres.)

Will "Saturday Night Live" Lauer The Bar?

Dave Weigel previews tonight's season debut of NBC's "Saturday Night Live" and it's "Clinton" (Kate McKinnon) vs. "Trump" (Alec Baldwin) showdown, and wonders how the show (typically watched by 6 or 7 million viewers) will treat the neo- fascist existential threat:

The season opens at a time when the comedy world is engulfed in an angry debate about how to make fun of Trump — and whether some practitioners have given him a pass on his more objectionable stances. For some, Donald Trump isn’t funny anymore. And that has prompted some writers, actors and producers behind SNL to ask this question: What if he wins? And will anyone blame them if he does? 

A better question they should ask themselves:  what's the sane and honorable thing to do right now, given the stakes?

Readers are reminded that last fall, Rump got the "normalizing," Fallonesque treatment by being invited to host SNL:

Trump’s SNL appearance last fall sparked a passionate backlash. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus confronted NBC executives over the show. The Onion AV Club rated the episode a “dreadful, toothless, dead-eyed slog.” Trump’s supporters credited the show with winning him votes. 

SNL's recent treatment of Clinton has been nothing short of trite, predictable, shallow stereotyping -- just abysmal:

McKinnon’s Clinton, a breakout character, was less of an obvious boon to the campaign. A typical sketch had her promising anything that voters wanted, with a rictus and wild eyes. “Aren’t we such a fun, approachable dynasty?” she asked in an early sketch about a “spontaneous”-looking campaign video. In last season’s finale, she and “Sanders” shared a drink at a bar over how the primary was “so rigged” — an impression that continues to cost Clinton votes from her left.  

So, how will this season's SNL cope with the looming disaster of the most unfit "thing" ever to run for the office of President?  Let's see what comes out of cast member and acute zeitgeist analyst Colin Jost's pie hole:

 “Trump and Clinton represent everything that the other side is afraid of,” Jost says. “They are cartoons for so many people on both sides. We’re looking for ways to come at them in a more human way—the humanity of them as people versus attacking them or making blanket statements about them.

“We’re not about Trump is the devil, Clinton is the corporate robot,” Jost says. “It’s something Che does well—that whenever everyone else is piling up the jokes like that, he’ll find a fair way to find something that undercuts some of it.” (our emphasis)

So now will we have to deal with more Trump normalizing, "both sides/ false equivalence" in this "comedy" show, too? Someone should get Jost a subscription to Trump- loving Daily Stormer or Breitbart, or have him hop onto Trump's Twitter feed and let him absorb the all the "humanity" there.  Better yet, watch Samantha Bee, Seth Meyers, John Oliver, or Steven Colbert instead.  Hell, we'll even throw in Jimmy Kimmel!

BONUS:  Of course "Lauer-ing the bar" for Trump has it's origins here.

The Obamas Continue Making The Case For Hillary Clinton (UPDATED)

Two of Hillary Clinton's most effective campaigners are starting to make their presences felt:



Then President Obama called into the "Steve Harvey Morning Show" to discuss various topics including unfit neo- fascist weaselheaded f*cknugget Donald "Rump" Trump's misogyny and the importance of voting for Secretary Clinton (you can hear the full radio interview here).  Here are a few choice takes:

 -- "You have somebody who basically insulted women," he said, "And then doubled down in terms of how he talks about them, and talks about their weight, and talks about how they look instead of the content of their character and their capabilities." 

-- "[He is] not somebody I want in the Oval Office that my daughters are listening to and that sons are listening to," Obama said. "And so, across the board you’ve got somebody who appears to only care about himself." 

-- "If there’s one message I want to deliver to everybody, if you don’t vote that’s a vote for Trump," he said. "If you don’t vote, that’s a vote for Trump."

Somehow, that message has got to get through to these folks in particular.  Anything other than a vote for Secretary Clinton is something you'll regret for the rest of your lives.

UPDATE:  And here's a clip of Michelle Obama speaking at La Salle University in Philadelphia today, specifically addressing the problem of millennials not voting or voting third party (full speech here):

YES!

Hillary Clinton gave neo- fascist toddler Donald "Rump" Trump a thorough beat-down in last night's debate -- and that's not just our opinion.   There's plenty of analysis around that confirms Rump had a gruesome night, and that pinpoints moments when his dark soul was revealed yet again.  For now (we'll have more to share later), here are some of our favorite reactions from the Twitter machine and elsewhere:

Donald Trump has given us the worst debate performance by any major-party nominee since the advent of television.

— Jonathan Allen (@jonallendc) September 27, 2016

GOP strategist Steve Schmidt:

"Clinton looked terrific. Donald Trump looked like a runner out of gas...exhaustion, incoherence."

— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) September 27, 2016

Trump's jab at 400-pound guys sitting online in bed may have lost him the alt-right

— Patrick Monahan (@pattymo) September 27, 2016

Clinton says Trump doesn't pay federal income tax. Trump responds: "That makes me smart."

— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) September 27, 2016

Why does Donald Trump need so much water? Real alphas don't get thirsty.

— Adam Smith (@asmith83) September 27, 2016

After making fun of Clinton for having pnuemonia & Rubio for drinking water, Trump has spent the first ten minutes sniffing & swigging.

— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) September 27, 2016

And then there's this comparison (h/t John Cole, Balloon Juice):



Also, this jab from Seth Meyers:  “Yeah, his head doesn’t have room for facts and figures because it has to hold seven words.”

Get Better. Fast.

Of course, we wish Secretary Clinton a fast recovery from the bout of pneumonia that was recently diagnosed and that has been the cause of much attention over the past 36 hours. It's something that, if caught in its early stages, can be knocked out quickly with antibiotics and rest.  With someone who's used to a schedule that would knock many of the rest of us out, Secretary Clinton has already proven during her State Department tenure, as well as during her runs for the Presidency in 2008 and this year, that she's able to handle the rigors of the toughest jobs.

We would also like to offer a wish from our peanut gallery that her closest campaign aides get better, fast.  What we mean by that is, frankly, it's not that hard to judge when a person is looking drawn/ under the weather/ tired due to illness.  (We're not doctors, but we can play one on this blog, and we thought she didn't look herself in televised appearances earlier in the week.)  If you're a campaign aide, what do you do?  You quickly make sure they get a medical professional to look at them, and maybe you have to cut down on or cancel appearances.  It's called "candidate management."  Her staff needs to get better at it... fast.

The price you pay when you don't manage is a 36- hour news cycle that runs a clip of your candidate stumbling 40 times in 10 minutes, or a national newspaper whose headlines this morning are: "Clinton Falls Ill at 9/11 Service," and "Nominee's Health Status Has Long Been Guarded" (both from the print edition of the once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle).  You've given anyone with malicious intent (i.e., much of the "mainstream media" and all of the right- wing wurlitzer) a story line that reinforces two messages the campaign of neo- fascist asswhistle Donald "Rump" Trump flogs constantly: Hillary's ill and lacks stamina, and she's hiding something.

Combined with the faux outrage by the same media over the "basket of deplorables" comment, the unforced error of having your candidate fall ill at a marquee event like the 9/11 memorial in New York City is bordering on political malpractice by her campaign staff.  This is a weekend that could've been all about any one of Rump's real scandals or latest outrages that were garnering attention -- his pay for play bribery scandal, his remarks about the "rubble" of the military command, his use of his "charitable" foundation to fund political attacks on opponents, etc.  (Or how about Rump's comment the day after 9/11 about the Twin Towers coming down?) Instead we get deflection and a drumbeat of asinine overreaction, to the extent that some are speculating about her dropping out of the campaign, including some unnamed pants- wetting Dems.

So, yes, please get better soon, Secretary Clinton.  But, as importantly, we hope her campaign staff gets better soon because, as she's said herself, she's all that stands between us and the Apocalypse. As Sen. Elizabeth Warren said to Clinton's staff back in June, "Don't screw this up."

Post Time! The Media's Horserace Narrative

With the hastily- arranged run down to Mexico by neo- fascist wall builder Donald "Rump" Trump, the amoral media has yet another opportunity to "normalize" the Rump candidacy.  As Charles Pierce points out, the trip isn't to garner Hispanic American votes, or the votes of squishy Republicans who want a veil of respectability in order to vote Rump.  No,

 ... it's primarily aimed at the suckers in the elite political press, some of whom, I guarantee you, will fall for this malarkey because…optics! He has a gift for dominating the news cycle! And all this on a day in which ABC and the Post are tootling the call to the post because of their new poll showing that Hillary Rodham Clinton is as unpopular as Trump is among likely voters. Whee, kids! As Fred Caposella used to say, the crowd is moving closer to the rail and that can mean only one thing—it is now post time!

Like the gleeful little nihilists they are, the "mainstream media," this time in the form of ABC News and the once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle, takes credit for their ability to damage the "sane, competent" person standing in the way of a Rump regime:

Clinton’s rise in unpopularity follows renewed attention on her use of a private email server and alleged conflicts of interest over her connections to the Clinton Foundation fundraising while she served as secretary of state.

Mainstreaming more of the halfwit email server nothingburger, in service to right- wing Clinton pursuer Judicial Watch, and the Clinton Foundation's "alleged conflicts of interest" (alleged by the same right- wing noise machine and some media watercarriers like the AP) will certainly pull those numbers down to horserace levels! You've done your jobs well, you useful idiot ratf*ckers!  Every poll point up or down will now be portrayed by the media as "Rump's comeback, race tightening!" (Enjoy the view from inside President Rump's enhanced, barbwire "press pen!")

All of which makes it easier to understand why there's one group that's far, far, far more unpopular than Clinton or even Rump:

Trust in the news media is being eroded by perceptions of inaccuracy and bias, fueled in part by Americans' skepticism about what they read on social media. 

Just 6 percent of people say they have a lot of confidence in the media, putting the news industry about equal to Congress and well below the public's view of other institutions.  (our emphasis)

Not trustworthy!  Sad!

BONUS: Now, the Rump fluffers in the media are whining that Rump didn't take them to Mexico for his "visit." Not to worry; he'll bring back some tequila for them and everything will be "Presidential."

Clinton Ads Tout Her Economic Plan, Hit Trump On Taxes

We're Hackwhackers, and we approve these messages.

Saw this during prime time coverage of the Olympics yesterday:

Making our economy work for everyone starts by making sure those at the top pay their fair share in taxes.https://t.co/uDdkrzKL9O

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) August 3, 2016

And here's her latest ad hitting neo- fascist con artist Donald "Rump" Trump's refusal to release his tax returns:



More, please!

Tweets Of The Day - The Long And Winding Narratives

Please enjoy two & a half decades of people asking HRC the same "question." "People hate you: please respond." https://t.co/AqlkUzPmfV

— Rebecca Traister (@rtraister) August 4, 2016

So interesting to see cable nets and print reporters using emails to try to create equivalence/"balance" between Trump and Clinton

— Norman Ornstein (@NormOrnstein) August 5, 2016

We're in an Armageddon election with a neo- fascist, existential threat to our country and the world representing the Republican Party.  This is how the feckless, insipid media respond.

See also post below.

Funny/ Not Funny

“In the last 24 hours, Donald Trump has refused to endorse Republican leaders up for re-election, accused John McCain of failing veterans, suggested Americans pull their 401(k)s out of the stock market, threw out a crying baby at a rally, fought with the father of a dead soldier, and suggested President Obama was responsible for the death of troops during George W. Bush’s time in office. Said voters: ‘Yeah, but I’m not sure I trust Hillary Clinton.’ ”  -- "Late Night with Seth Meyers" on the tired narrative about Clinton that won't die, a narrative that the corporate media is all too happy to keep alive.

President Obama Passes The Baton (After Whacking Trump With It)

President Obama was in full voice last night at the Democratic National Convention, contrasting the fear mongering,  dark vision of neo- fascist banana Republican and Siberian candidate Donald "Rump" Trump with the reality that most Americans live in:

"Ronald Reagan called America 'a shining city on a hill.' Donald Trump calls it 'a divided crime scene' that only he can fix.... He's just offering slogans, and he's offering fear. He's betting that if he scares enough people, he might score just enough votes to win this election.  

"And that's another bet that Donald Trump will lose. And the reason he'll lose it is because he's selling the American people short. We're not a fragile people. We're not a frightful people. Our power doesn't come from some self-declared savior promising that he alone can restore order as long as we do things his way. We don't look to be ruled. Our power comes from those immortal declarations first put to paper right here in Philadelphia all those years ago: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that We the People, can form a more perfect union. 

"That's who we are. That's our birthright -- the capacity to shape our own destiny."

He then wrapped up his speech, asking that "we reject cynicism and reject fear, and to summon what is best in us and show the world we still believe in the promise of this great nation."



Then, there was this:



One of our favorite lines from the speech: "This election isn't just about Donald Trump's judgment. It's about our own."

You can look at the full 45 minute speech here if you missed it last night.

BONUS:  Tom Sullivan at Hullabaloo has some of the highlights of some of the featured speeches last night.