The Commentariat -- March 3, 2020
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
All Girl Candidates Are Alike. Edward Moreno of the Hill: "Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg told a reporter Tuesday he 'didn't realize' that Sen. Elizabeth [Warren] (D-Mass.) was still in the primary race. His comments came in light of Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Peter Buttigieg dropping from the race and consolidating support behind former Vice President Joe Biden.... 'If there's only 3 candidates, you can't do worse than that,' said, when asked if he would accept a third-place finish. The reporter reminded him that Warren, who currently has eight delegates, is still in the race. 'I didn't realize she's still in, is she?' Bloomberg asked."
Do Not Upset Der Furor. Eric Schmitt & Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper has urged American military commanders overseas not to make any decisions related to the coronavirus that might surprise the White House or run afoul of President Trump's messaging on the growing health challenge, American officials said. Mr. Esper's directive, delivered last week during a video teleconference call with combatant commanders around the world, is the latest iteration of Mr. Trump's efforts to manage public fears over the disease, even as it continues to spread around the world.... Mr. Esper told commanders deployed overseas that they should check in before making decisions related to protecting their troops." ~~~
~~~ Ellen Mitchell of the Hill: "The Pentagon issued a sharp rebuttal Tuesday to a New York Times article saying Defense Secretary Mark Esper directed commanders to notify the Department of Defense (DOD) of their coronavirus responses to avoid surprising the White House, calling it a 'dangerous and inaccurate mischaracterization.'... The DOD disputed [the Times'] account, saying Esper instead directed commanders to take all force health protection measures and then notify their chain of command when actions are taken 'so that DOD leadership can inform the interagency -- including [Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Homeland Security], the State Department, and the White House -- and the American people,' top Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement."
The New York Times' liveblog of Super Tuesday developments is here. "In the Northern California county where a mysterious case of the coronavirus had been reported and dozens of people were quarantined, a top election official said the county bought gloves for poll workers and expanded curbside ballot drop-off points for Super Tuesday." ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates are here. Mike "Bloomberg struck a defiant tone Tuesday as polls opened in 14 states, saying he planned to stay in the race until the Democratic convention in July despite no expectation of winning any state in his first ballot test. 'I have shown that I have the management experience to do it,' Bloomberg said of the presidency during a stop at a campaign office in [Miami's] Little Havana neighborhood. 'And no other candidate in the race do I think could beat Donald Trump or could run the country.'"
Jeanna Smialek of the New York Times: "The Federal Reserve slashed interest rates on Tuesday as fears about the economic fallout of the coronavirus continued to mount, announcing its biggest single cut since the depths of the 2008 financial crisis.... The central bank said it would cut interest rates by half a percentage point.... 'As usual, Jay Powell and the Federal Reserve are slow to act,' [Donald Trump] wrote on Twitter Monday." CNBC's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Update. Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "President Trump on Tuesday criticized the Federal Reserve's decision to cut interest rates by half a percentage point as insufficient, demanding 'more easing and cutting' in a tweet."
Natasha Bertrand & Daniel Lippman of Politico: "A White House lawyer and former counsel to the House Intelligence Committee under Devin Nunes has been named senior director for intelligence on the National Security Council, the latest instance of ... Donald Trump elevating a trusted loyalist to control the intelligence community. Michael Ellis, a deputy to White House lawyer John Eisenberg, started in the role on Monday, according to a senior administration official and a former national security official. Ellis left the counsel's office so won't be dual-hatted with his new job." Mrs. McC: Lillis's primary job: Telling Trump those conspiracy theories he heard on Fox "News" are real. ~~~
~~~~~~~~~~
It's Super Thursday! (or Something Like That)
Jonathan Easley of the Hill: "Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is poised to win the most delegates when 14 states vote on this cycle's Super Tuesday, while former Vice President Joe Biden is looking to solidify his position as the centrist alternative. Sanders is headed for a top finish in California and Texas, the two largest states to vote. The progressive independent should win California in blowout fashion, and he's maintained a healthy lead in polls of Texas throughout the early voting period, when more than 1 million people cast ballots in the Democratic primary.... Sanders also appears headed for victories in Colorado, Utah, Maine and Vermont. With [Amy] Klobuchar out of the race, Sanders is the favorite to win Minnesota, and he’s pushing to win in Sen. Elizabeth Warren's home state of Massachusetts."
The youngest person still running for president is 70 years old. -- Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times, in a tweet
Unless you count Tulsi Gabbard. And let's not. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie
This Is Going to Be Painful. We Hold These Truths, Yada Yada Yada. Charlie Nash of Mediaite: "During his campaign rally speech in Houston, TX Monday, [Joe] Biden seemingly forgot the words to the Declaration of Independence. 'We hold these truths to be self-evident. All men and women created by the you know, you know the thing,' he said to a confused audience. In the same speech, Biden also mistakenly referred to Super Tuesday as Super Thursday. 'Look, tomorrow's Super Thurs... Tuesday,' he said, just catching himself in time...." Mrs. McC: Go Warren!~~~
~~~ Alexander Burns, et al., of the New York Times: "In a last-minute bid to unite the moderate wing of the Democratic Party, Senator Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg on Monday threw their support behind a presidential campaign rival, Joseph R. Biden Jr., giving him an extraordinary boost ahead of the Super Tuesday primaries that promised to test his strength against the liberal front-runner, Senator Bernie Sanders. Even by the standards of the tumultuous 2020 campaign, the endorsements from Ms. Klobuchar and Mr. Buttigieg -- and their plan to join Mr. Biden at a rally in Dallas on Monday night -- was remarkable. Rarely, if ever, have opponents joined forces so dramatically, as Ms. Klobuchar and Mr. Buttigieg went from campaigning at full tilt in the South Carolina primary on Saturday to teaming up on a political rescue mission for a former competitor, Mr. Biden, whom they had once regarded as a spent force." An AP report is here. ~~~
~~~ Jonathan Martin of the New York Times (in the Times' liveblog of campaign developments): "Former Representative Beto O'Rourke of Texas, who became a progressive star in his spirited race against Senator Ted Cruz before mounting a less-successful presidential campaign, will endorse Joseph R. Biden Jr. and appear with him in Dallas Monday night, according to two Democratic officials familiar with his plans. Mr. O'Rourke, who dropped out of the primary last fall, has returned to his native El Paso and largely stayed out of the campaign. But one night before the Texas primary, he will line up with his fellow former candidates, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar, in their effort to coalesce behind Mr. Biden and slow the momentum of Bernie Sanders." The Hill has a summary report here. ~~~
~~~ Reid Epstein & Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "Pete Buttigieg ... said Sunday night he was dropping out of the Democratic race, following a crushing loss in the South Carolina primary where his poor performance with black Democrats signaled an inability to build a broad coalition of voters.... Mr. Buttigieg talked with [Joe] Biden and former President Barack Obama on Sunday night, according to a Democratic official familiar with the conversations." (A different version of this story was linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Nick Corasaniti & Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who entered the Democratic presidential race with an appeal to moderate voters and offered herself as a candidate who could win in Midwestern swing states, has decided to quit the race and endorse ... Joseph R. Biden Jr., her campaign confirmed on Monday. Ms. Klobuchar will appear with Mr. Biden at his rally in Dallas Monday night." Politico's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Unless Warren can pull off a miracle, Trump just won four more years. If I were a bit younger, I'd buy a flat in Antibes & spend the last of my days staring out the window at the deep blue sea.
AND Away We Go! It's Benghaaazi! All Over Again. Felicia Sonmez & Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) is preparing to subpoena a witness tied to Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma, in an escalation of the GOP probe of the firm that comes as former vice president Joe Biden's fortunes are rising in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.... If approved [by the Homeland Security committee he chairs], Johnson's move would mark the first subpoena Senate Republicans have issued in their probe into Biden and Burisma. Two other GOP senators -- Charles E. Grassley (Iowa) and Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) -- have also launched investigations into Hunter Biden." Mrs. McC: And bear in mind, though he's had months to do so, Joe Biden has yet to come up with a coherent response to the false charges against him.
Jessica Silver-Greenberg & Natalie Kitroeff of the New York Times: "Every year, hundreds of departing employees at Bloomberg L.P. are presented with a choice: Either leave the company empty-handed or accept a generous financial package and agree to never speak ill of the company. Many take the money. The result is that some employees at Michael R. Bloomberg's company are barred from publicly describing misconduct and what they perceived as an entrenched culture of bullying, where women are often objectified and sometimes face discrimination, according to interviews with more than a dozen former employees, as well as lawsuits and internal corporate documents reviewed by The New York Times. Bloomberg is not unique. In corporate America, in order to receive severance payments, fired or laid-off employees generally must sign agreements that require them to keep quiet about their experiences."
Trump Impeachment Retribution, Ctd. Connor O'Brien of Politico: "The White House is withdrawing the nominee for a top Pentagon post, according to two Senate aides, following reports that she questioned the legality of the administration's efforts to freeze military aid to Ukraine. Elaine McCusker was nominated late last year to be the Pentagon's comptroller. She has been the acting comptroller since the summer and was the public face of the Pentagon's budget rollout last month, briefing reporters on the details of the Defense Department's $741 billion military spending request.... The move comes as Trump and his allies seek to root out members of his administration they view as disloyal following the president's acquittal.... McCusker featured prominently in emails, published by The New York Times and Just Security, that showed the acting Pentagon comptroller expressing concerns over the legality of White House moves on Ukraine aid."
Ken Dilanian of NBC News: "... Donald Trump appears to have boxed in the Senate on the crucial question of who will lead the intelligence community in the months leading up to the November election.... Through a series of moves, Trump has presented senators with what many see as an unpalatable choice, multiple congressional aides of both parties told NBC News: Either confirm a conservative Texas congressman [as director of national intelligence] who misrepresented his background [Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas)], or leave in place as acting director a political firebrand with no experience in the intelligence world [Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell].
Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "Shortly after health officials in Washington state confirmed the second U.S. death from the novel coronavirus in as many days, President Trump retweeted an animated video Sunday night in which he again bragged about his accomplishments, laughed at his political opponents and critics, and smiled as Mount Rushmore was reshaped to feature only his face.... The video, which had been viewed more than 1 million times as of early Monday, was retweeted late Sunday amid reports that the Trump administration has scrambled to gain control of an American response to the global crisis, a response that has been 'defined by bureaucratic infighting, confusion and misinformation,' The Washington Post reported." (Also linked yesterday.)
CDC Clams Up. Brianna Ehley & Lauren Morello of Politico: "The CDC [Monday] abruptly postponed a press briefing on the coronavirus response .... and did not provide an explanation as to why or when it would be rescheduled.... The postponement of the briefing comes after a number of states reported new cases over the weekend and federal officials confirmed the country's first and second deaths from the virus.... The CDC [Monday] also removed information on its website that detailed how many people in the country had been tested for the virus." Mrs. McC: My guess is that mike pence was unhappy with the CDC's "messaging": "People are dying" does not align with Trump's "They're all getting better."
Sarah Owermohle of Politico: "Anthony Fauci..., the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases..., is in the thick of the race to contain coronavirus when the nation is deeply polarized and misinformation can spread with one tweet -- sometimes, from the president himself. 'You should never destroy your own credibility. And you don't want to go to war with a president,' Fauci, who has been the country's top infectious diseases expert through a dozen outbreaks and six presidents, told Politico in an interview Friday. 'But you got to walk the fine balance of making sure you continue to tell the truth.'"
Carla Johnson of the AP: "An increase in testing for the coronavirus began shedding light Monday on how the illness has spread in the United States, including in Washington state, where four people died at a nursing home and some schools were closed for disinfection. New diagnoses in several states pushed the tally of COVID-19 cases past 100, and New Hampshire reported its first case, raising the total of affected states to 11. Seattle officials announced four more deaths, bringing the total in the U.S. to six.... The deaths at a nursing home in suburban Kirkland, Washington, were especially troubling to health care experts because of the vulnerability of sick and elderly people to the illness and existing problems in nursing facilities. 'It's going to be a disaster,' said Charlene Harrington, who studies nursing homes at the University of California, San Francisco. Infection is already a huge problem in U.S. nursing homes because of a lack of nurses and training. In Texas, tension between U.S. and local officials brewed over the planned release Monday of more than 120 ex-passengers of the Diamond Princess cruise ship in quarantine in San Antonio. Mayor Ron Nirenberg declared a public safety emergency in an attempt to continue the quarantine."
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Justin Baragona of the Daily Beast: "Fox News host Jesse Watters demanded a formal apology from China on Monday before pushing unproven rumors that the new coronavirus came from Chinese citizens 'eating raw bats and snakes.' With fears heightening around the virus as the death toll in the United States jumped to at least six on Monday, Watters began Monday's broadcast of Fox News chatfest The Five by lashing out at China, which has been the epicenter of the growing pandemic.... 'No, Jesse,' co-host Dana Perino pleaded as the other hosts could be seen face-palming."
Jason Leopold, et al., of BuzzFeed News: "The Justice Department and FBI have turned over to BuzzFeed News and CNN the latest cache of highly secretive interview summaries from ... Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election and ... Donald Trump's attempts to obstruct the inquiry. The documents include interview summaries from Trump adviser Jared Kushner, former campaign chair Paul Manafort, former deputy campaign manager Rick Gates, and former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon.... The summaries ... showed that senior advisers Stephen Miller and Kushner, along with former communications director Hope Hicks, sometimes drafted tweets for Trump, that Bannon didn't think the 'Putin stuff' was a big deal, and that former national security adviser Michael Flynn sought guidance from Obama administration officials Susan Rice and Ben Rhodes 'about how to do things.'" The article includes highlights & reproduces some of the heavily-redacted reports.
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a third major case on the Affordable Care Act ... granting petitions from Democratic state officials and the House of Representatives in a case with the potential to wipe out the entire law. The court did not say when it would hear the case, but, under its ordinary practices, arguments would be held in the fall and a decision would land in the spring or summer of 2021. Democrats, who consider health care a winning issue and worry about possible changes in the composition of the Supreme Court, had urged the justices to act quickly even though lower courts had not issued definitive rulings. They wanted to keep the fate of the Affordable Care Act, sometimes called Obamacare, in the public eye during the presidential campaign and to ensure that the appeal was decided while justices who had rejected earlier challenges remain the court." The NBC News report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Fred Imbert & Eustance Huang of CNBC: "Stocks rebounded sharply from their worst week since the financial crisis on Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average posting its best day in more than a decade. Expectations that the Federal Reserve would cut rates drove the gains, which accelerated aggressively into the close. The Dow closed 1,293.96 points higher, or 5.1%, at 26,703.32. The move on a percentage basis was the Dow's biggest since March 2009. It was the largest-ever points gain for the 30-stock average."
Hiroko Tabuchi of the New York Times: "An official at the Interior Department embarked on a campaign that has inserted misleading language about climate change -- including debunked claims that increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is beneficial -- into the agency's scientific reports, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times. The misleading language appears in at least nine reports, including environmental studies and impact statements on major watersheds in the American West that could be used to justify allocating increasingly scarce water farmers at the expense of wildlife conservation and fisheries. The effort was led by Indur M. Goklany, a longtime Interior Department employee who, in 2017 near the start of the Trump administration, was promoted to the office of the deputy secretary with responsibility for reviewing the agency's climate policies.... The wording, known internally as the 'Goks uncertainty language' based on Mr. Goklany's nickname, inaccurately claims that there is a lack of consensus among scientists that the earth is warming." (Also linked yesterday.)
** Ha! Jason Abbruzzese of NBC News: "Chris Matthews, one of the longest-tenured voices at MSNBC, announced his retirement during Monday's night's airing of his talk show, 'Hardball.' Matthews, 74, said he and MSNBC had mutually agreed to part ways. The decision followed a series of events that resulted in criticism of the host's statements about Bernie Sanders, African-American lawmakers, and comments he had made to female journalists and coworkers. 'I'm retiring,' Matthews said. 'This is the last "Hardball" on MSNBC.'" ~~~
~~~ Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: Matthews "also acknowledged giving 'compliments on a woman's appearance that some men, including me, might have once incorrectly thought were OK. For making such comments in the past, I'm sorry,' Mr. Matthews said. His sudden signoff, though negotiated with senior network executives, came as a shock to some of Mr. Matthews's most prominent on-air colleagues. Steve Kornacki, the anchor tasked with hosting the remainder of Monday's 'Hardball' episode, appeared stunned as the show returned from a commercial break. 'Um, that was a lot to take in,' Mr. Kornacki said, his eyes wide. 'I'm sure you're still absorbing that, and I am, too.' The anchor and correspondent Katy Tur posted a note on Twitter about Mr. Matthews's departure and added the caption: 'Wait. What?'" ~~~
AND King of the Nuisance Suit, Ctd. Kate Irby of the Fresno Bee: "California Republican Rep. Devin Nunes on Monday filed his seventh lawsuit in 12 months alleging that he was the victim of defamation or conspiracy, this time suing The Washington Post. Nunes, R-Tulare, in a complaint filed Monday in the U.S. District Court of Eastern Virginia alleges a Feb. 21 news story describing an intelligence briefing given to members of Congress regarding Russia's perceived preference for ... Donald Trump's re-election was part of a long-running effort at The Post to damage Nunes' reputation.... Nunes is seeking $250 million in damages from The Post."
Way Beyond the Beltway
Israel. Aron Heller of the AP: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party on Monday emerged as the largest party in the country's third election in under a year, according to exit polls, but it was unclear whether the embattled Israeli leader could secure a parliamentary majority as he prepares to go on trial for corruption charges later this month. Exit polls on Israeli TV stations indicated that Likud and its smaller ultra-religious and nationalist allies had captured 59 seats, two short of the majority required to declare victory." ~~~
~~~ Update. Gil Hoffman of the Jerusalem Post: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on track to win 59 seats for his bloc of right-wing and religious parties in Monday's election, down by one from the 60 predicted by the initial exit polls. The new prediction leaves him two short of a majority in the Knesset.... Netanyahu spoke to the heads of the parties in his camp immediately after the exit polls were announced and agreed to form a strong nationalist government as soon as possible."
News Lede
CBS News: "Tornadoes touched down across Tennessee Tuesday, killing at least 19 people and leaving an undetermined number missing, according to authorities. Tennessee is now under a state of emergency. The death toll was nine Tuesday morning but jumped to 19 by midday, as bodies were recovered from fallen buildings, according to Tennessee Emergency Management Spokeswoman Maggie Hannan, The Associated Press reports. There are a number of people still missing across the state, according to officials. They would not provide a number of the missing on Tuesday morning, as search and rescue crews are still working. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said at a press conference that the number of fatalities will likely increase by the end of the day."
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Reader Comments (18)
Joe Biden...OMG. You know for a lead pipe cinch that Trump won’t be held accountable for any crazy thing he says or does. He could replace the words of the Star Spangled Banner (which he doesn’t know anyway) with “Twinkle, twinkle, little star...” and no one would blink. But Democrats (especially Joe Biden) will be ripped for any mistakes or misstatements (and there’ll be a lot).
If Warren flames out on Tuesday (or is it Thursday?), we’ll be left with a choice between the president of the Fidel Castro fan club or Grandpa Malaprop.
It won’t matter what cuckoo crap Fatty spits out. Only Democrats will be expected to make sense.
Jesus, we’re screwed.
Joe Biden had better get crackin' and learn the 10 commandments
as written in sand (not stone) by He Who Would Be King and his
court:
1. Lie repeatedly
2. Blame others
3. Deny, deny, deny
4. Deflect & distort
5. Discredit
6. Manipulate
7. Con
8. Insult
9.Threaten
10. Play victim
"Jesus, we're screwed"––Yes, I think perhaps we are. Unless Warren suddenly is seen as Wonder Woman and people actually read her proposals and realize she'd be pretty darn good for what ails this country then...
The fear that the Beast will beat Bernie and that somehow Bernie is toxic has been bandied about and yet he has massive support from those who believe he can really change the system.
The "spent force" candidate, Mr. "Look folks, here's the deal" won the lottery and when opportunists see an opportunity they grab it––hence Pete and Amy suddenly swing over to Uncle Joe (maybe he'll give them cabinet posts?) My boy Beto's voice heard once again and Susan Rice and Ted Kennedy's wife both endorse Biden––wow! Even Rob Reiner, for gosh sakes!
So here we are––our huddled masses yearning to be free ––God bless America––We hold these truths to be self evident––equality for all–Yada Yada––you bet!
Meanwhile that nasty virus is making its rounds around the world. But don't worry––Fatty says come spring and warm weather we'll have a miracle and it will all be fine. Oh, happy day!
Forrest,
Good list. But you forgot “betray your country if it benefits you” and “surround yourself with obsequious, highly unqualified sycophants and liars”.
And what in the holy hell is this (latest) crap from Devin (My Cow!) Nunes about someone, the Washington Post, blah, blah, blah, damaging his reputation? His reputation? Oh, you mean as a half-cocked snitch and devious little putz of a Trumpy lapdog who couldn’t tell chalk from cheese if they were both marked with a presidential Sharpie? That reputation? Pretty hard to make it much worse, Dev, old boy.
Seriously, it’s like the illiterate village idiot complaining that the local college has damaged his reputation because it won’t put him in charge of the English Literature department. “Waaahhh...people will think I’m an idiot! Lawsuit!”
Um...but you ARE an idiot.
"“Look around,” said Marisa Franco, co-founder of the Latinx and Chicanx activist hub Mijente, during her powerful speech that introduced Sanders at the LA rally. “We are perched at the edge of history. There is so much at stake in the 2020 election. The world around us is bursting with problems and bursting with possibilities. And that’s making some people very very nervous. You know why? Because we’re winning.”
Franco added: “Bernie Sanders presents the clearest alternative to Trump. He is willing to name the problems, what’s causing them, and proposes the bold solutions that we need to solve them. . . . We want — and we demand — elected officials who are going to fight like hell for us.” Norman Solomon
by the by––when taking age into consideration I don't recall Bernie making the "memory gaffes" Biden does. Granted, anyone running for President gets picked on for the smallest of flubs but when memory is ill served so frequently it presents a problem.
In a pet this morning. The state of the presidential race on a day when the clarification I had sought from the voters, now that the Democratic field has suddenly shrunk to near the size of a Biden brain, is likely to tell me more I do not wish to hear, more deaths from Covfefe-19, all from one hospital, just down the road, Bea's less than sunny outlook on the nation's future, and yes, the fate of Chris Matthews, too, all weigh.
The Matthews thing sticks a little in this old craw. Didn't like his whine, his tone of voice, his penchant for interrupting and not listening to his interviewees, his preening about his glorious past when he was privileged to rub elbows with the great, all that and more. In short I didn't like him and often turned him off.
But I also don't like the deployment of the public shaming bomb brought to us by the internet. It seems too easy, the destruction wreaked often disproportionate, the issues involved too complicated to be reduced to a tweet, and I'm uneasy with it.
Should I be--or not?
Is it too simple-minded of me to think some complaints now being aired could have been short-circuited by a simple "Knock it off, Chris!"
Or is there a power relationship between an interviewer and an interviewee in TV world I'm unaware of similar to the Weinstein--aspiring actress relationship creepy Weinstein obviously abused?
Meanwhile, it seems the Pretender can do any damn thing he wants and by availing himself of Forrest's list, get away with it.
And, yes, that bothers "me too."
Fox News poll from February 28th has Sanders beating Trump nationally at 49% - 42%. Morning call poll of Pennsylvania released February 27th has Sanders up 3 points on Trump. Marquette poll the same day shows Sanders up 2 points in Wisconsin.
Bernie's up 9 in Virginia. He's up 7 in Michigan. He's tied in Florida.
Bernie can win this thing.
@Ken Winkes: I agree with everything you said about Matthews, except I doubt a simple "knock it off" would have had any effect. He's probably been told that before. I think the suits fired Matthews for a host of sins, and they know about more sins than we do. It's unlikely Laura Bassett was the first female guest Matthews "insulted with compliments" about her physical appearance. And it's not as if he had no idea such "compliments" are inappropriate. It's a milder form of "grab 'em by the pussy." This is a power thing. Like Trump, Matthews sees himself as "a star and can get away with it," whereas Bassett is "just" a HuffPost reporter Matthews was blessing with a moment of fame & fortune by letting her appear on his teevee show.
BTW, if you've been complimenting the female guests on your radio program by telling them they look good enough to be on the radio, you might want to knock that off!
Bea,
Yeah, there's much we don't know about Matthew's behavior, and judging from his on-air personality my guesses are similar to yours...but not knowing more, they're only guesses no matter how well founded they may be, which is what bothers me about trial and conviction by internet.
My persistent unease is with the method more than anything else. It seems to me that method is fraught with, even invites, too many opportunities for abuse.
Among many other things, not all bad, the internet has proven to be a rumor mill run riot.
Judging by my frequent inability to plumb my own depths successfully, relationships are often wondrously complicated even for those directly involved. Far more so for outsiders looking in. Hence my tiny bit of hesitation to judge long-distance.
That said, there are bigger fish being fried today. Among them presidential primaries and blueberries to prune.
BTW, feel free to picture me grappling with the temptation to respond to your final remark. Hint: I'm smiling.
Isn't there something fundamentally out of whack with a so-called civilization that meet threats by telling people to keep shopping (Bush II--9/11) or lowering interest rates to give an ailing market a boost?
When the only measure of societal health is its dollars and cents economy and the first answer to attacks from abroad, human or viral, is to be found in the Dow Industrial Average?
Reminds me of praying away the gay or thoughts and prayers as the preferred response to mass shootings.
Boy, are we good at missing the point.
Was it always so? Was our aim always this bad?
Now, to the blueberries.
@ Schlub...Polls; I watch them but gauge their importance based on several facts.
1) In 2016 Hillary's win was inevitable according to most polls.
2) Nobody seems to be writing about the difference between the predictions and the measured result after the fact, and presenting an analysis of the shortcoming.
3) Do we know how the poll was conducted? Was it self-administered? How was it randomized? What was the criteria for choosing sample size? What questions were the respondents being asked?
The whole "electability" issue seems to be fueled by polling, yet we don't know much of anything about how the numbers are generated. The electability notion is, indirectly, a measure of the extent voters will compromise their personal agreement with the vision of the candidate and the needs of the country - against the community's validation of a candidate and the need to win at all costs. [e.g. via Akhilleus' post yesterday: voting for a week-old ham sandwich (Sanders?) is better than staying home and letting the clown win again]. It always turns out this way; the compromise between personal ideals, candidate ideals, and practical political power. The burning question is whether it's better to stick to the concurrence of one's personal ideals and candidate ideals and forget the influence of poll-dictated 'electability on one's vote in the primary - letting the compromising happen at a potentially brokered convention, or to compromise before the convention and steam-roll a single candidate through the convention as an intimidating show of force. A sea of grey area to be sure, but I'm not putting much faith in the interpretation of polls.
Live in Texas and not a white MAGA voter? Fuggedabout voting.
This being a big voting day in the Super Tuesday states, I'll be curious to see how the plans hatched by the Party of Traitors to disenfranchise millions of voters in Texas are working ahead of the general.
I think we all agree that a huge turnout in November, especially by Black, Latino, and younger voters (the non-MAGA kind) and the millions of lazy bothsides-are-bad douchebags who stayed home last time, could easily kick the Fat Orange Monster out of office (whether he goes or not will be a different battle...). And it looks like we're not the only ones who have arrived at that conclusion.
The partial answer, for R's? Keep as many of those people from voting at all costs. In addition to the misinformation, misdirection, outright lies, vote stealing (see: Ohio, 2004), and help from Russia and Facebook, it will be necessary for those who can make this happen to, well, make it happen. And so they have, in Texas. Per the Guardian:
"Last year, Texas led the US south in an unenviable statistic: closing down the most polling stations, making it more difficult for people to vote and arguably benefiting Republicans.
A report by civil rights group The Leadership Conference Education Fund found that 750 polls had been closed statewide since 2012."
And guess where those closures predominate?
Saprise, saprise, saprise, as Gomer Pyle used to say.
"A Guardian analysis based on that report confirms what many activists have suspected: the places where the black and Latinx population is growing by the largest numbers have experienced the vast majority of the state’s poll site closures.
The analysis finds that the 50 counties that gained the most Black and Latinx residents between 2012 and 2018 closed 542 polling sites, compared to just 34 closures in the 50 counties that have gained the fewest black and Latinx residents. This is despite the fact that the population in the former group of counties has risen by 2.5 million people, whereas in the latter category the total population has fallen by over 13,000."
In other words, if you're a white MAGA voter living in rural Texas counties, you can hop in the pickup and be at your polling place in a trice, vote with no lines and be back in time for the next Fox lie-a-thon. But if you're Latinx (I had to look this up; it's a non-gender specific usage that encompasses both Latino and Latina members of a community), soooooo sorry. If you can find an open polling place within a day's bus ride, it may only be open for thirty or forty minutes. At five o'clock in the morning. Okay, a bit of an exaggeration, but only a very little bit.
Republicans, don't forget, have been pulling this shit for decades while Democrats were asleep at the switch. Of course the Trump controlled Rubber Stamp Supreme Court has helped immensely by declaring that racism no longer exists, killing the Voting Rights Act (see yesterday's comment on this horror show) and letting the real racists out of the box in southern states that have employed racially motivated voting trickery since Reconstruction. (Note the distinction of Texas' polling closures up in that first quote--the "US South", the exact place that Little Johnny and the Dwarfs claimed had learned its lesson about screwing non-white voters and would behave from now on...Yeah. They learned, alright...)
So it will be interesting to see how this latest ratfucking affects voter turnout today in Texas.
We may all recall that "inner city" voters (hint-hint) waited patiently in line for hours to vote for the last real president, but can we expect millions to a) find their way to an open polling place, trying to wend their way past the misinformation that R's typically spread about where to go and when polling places will be open-- typically baldfaced lies, and b) wait for even longer in huge lines to cast a vote.
Trumpers are praying that if a) don't get 'em, b) will.
Just a random silly hope as Fatty tries to pretend that Covfefe-19 is no more than a bad cold and besides, will disappear miraculously when he sez so.
The media. (sigh)
Can they, for fucking once, refrain from the typical bullshit "balance" that has helped put us in this horrible hole in the first place? Here's how it usually works. On this side, we'll talk to an expert, a reasonable, sane, informed, experienced person. Next, we'll talk to a moron. For balance.
Okay, that might be fine for unimportant things like, oh, um, I dunno, war, world peace, global warming, education, high levels of lead in drinking water...ya know, stuff like that.
But for a pandemic? Can we please, please, please, stick to people who know what the fuck they're talking about? I realize this means that no one who gets to lick Fatty's ass close up, or someone who dies to do this won't be allowed to spew their lies to millions, but who cares?
And for producers and network suits who balk at such a scary idea (better to let people die than to piss off the Traitors), I say that plenty of media outlets already do this. Right wing media platforms ONLY talk to morons. No experts need apply.
But here again, R's win the battle. And they'll win this one too.
Over plenty of dead bodies.
If Biden surrounds himself with an army of competent up and coming stars, launching a new generation of Democrats, and picks a (colored) woman to be VP, he could win for sure. I'd recommend a kaleidoscope administration with surrogates of every ethnic background and plenty of females front and center, to make the starkest difference between the Old White Guy party. That said, the Dems need to be careful to put lots of white dudes front and center too (probably won't be hard). I basically use my Facebook to observe what my fellow midwestern millennials say about politics and they are in full whine mode about the poor white man getting denigrated while "free stuff" is promised to everyone else. Poor guys...
Schlub and Periscope, you are in good company as you and other contributors address "the fog of politics" on this super important Tuesday
“If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it."
The opening line of Lincoln's “House Divided” speech, Springfield, Illinois, June 16, 1858
From a small farm on a small island, in a small country, my thanks to Bea and to all RC readers and contributors.
@ Periscope: My point is that all of this clutching at pearls about a Sanders candidacy is crazy. The narrative in the media is that a Sanders nomination guarantees a second term for the pumpkin.
That just ain't so. Bernie's as competitive vs. Trump as any of the other candidates; more so than most.
We also need to clear up a misconception of the polls from 2016. They did not tell us that a Hillary win was inevitable. They told us it was highly likely, but there was a significant likelihood (roughly one in five) that the Orange Menace could win; in other words, a little bit better odds than rolling the dice and coming up seven.
Sadly, we all crapped out.
@ Schlub
If by "competitive" you mean winning the hearts and minds of undecided and independent voters, I'm not so sure Sanders can do that unless he is the only choice on the democratic ticket. Right now the undecideds are leading. As I see it, there will be a large amount of inertia to overcome in November if he's the one. I'd vote for him over OM. It's still too early and dynamic. Tonight we will know more. Next Wednesday we'll know even more. VP picks will be key.