;)
The Conversation -- January 24, 2024
Monica Alba, et al., of NBC News: "The United Auto Workers union endorsed President Joe Biden Wednesday. 'If our endorsement must be earned, then Joe Biden has earned it!' UAW President Shawn Fain said in a lengthy speech before introducing the president at the union's conference in Washington.... Biden expressed enthusiasm in his remarks for UAW workers, saying, 'I've always believed that the union movement in America is important because it produces the best-skilled workers in the world. That's what happens. It's good for everybody. It's good for companies. It increases the quality of the job, the quality of the product. It's good for economic growth.... Tens of thousands of auto jobs were lost nationwide through Trump's presidency,' Biden said. 'During my presidency, we've opened 20 auto factories and more to come. We've created more than 250,000 auto jobs all across America.' In his speech, Biden alluded to his experience last fall when he became the first sitting president to join a picket line when he visited auto workers outside Detroit who were striking for higher wages and cost-of-living increases." ~~~
Alicia Menendez said on MSNBC that Trump lost in both Iowa and New Hampshire in the groups of GOP caucus-goers/voter who said (1) that Joe Biden won the 2020 election, and (2) that Trump would be disqualified if he were convicted of a felony. As Menendez said, one would hope that reality-conscious voters who don't think a felon should be the POTUS are the sort you would hope would participate in elections. MB: I couldn't find the polls on this, but I assume Menendez didn't invent them.
Today's New York Times liveblog on the presidential primaries is here. ~~~
Chris Cameron: "Nikki Haley was set to return home to South Carolina on Wednesday after her loss to Donald J. Trump in the New Hampshire primary, projecting optimism and determination to push on in what by all appearances will be an arduous road. She faces daunting and perhaps insurmountable challenges, lagging far behind Mr. Trump in polls in her home state and confronting growing calls from other Republicans to abandon the presidential race. Yet Ms. Haley, the former South Carolina governor, vowed to fight on, delivering a concession on Tuesday night in what sounded more like a victory speech.... Mr. Trump has also been lobbing increasingly bitter attacks against Ms. Haley in recent days, raising the possibility that the race could adopt a particularly noxious tone by the time votes are cast in South Carolina on Feb. 24.... On Tuesday night, he hinted that a new wave of vitriol could soon be trained in her direction, alluding vaguely to 'little stuff that she doesn't want to talk about.'"
Katie Glueck: "In a call with reporters this morning, [President Biden's] campaign officials sought to frame what they see as the choice in 2024: 'Donald Trump is running a campaign of revenge and retribution that threatens American democracy and our fundamental freedoms, while Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are running to move the country forward and make life better for working people,' said Julie Chavez Rodriguez, the campaign manager."
Maggie Astor: "Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s campaign sent volunteers to polling sites in New Hampshire yesterday to collect signatures to put his name on the general-election ballot there. The campaign says it collected the 3,000 signatures that the state requires; local officials will need to review their validity before the secretary of state's office determines whether to include Kennedy...."
Nick Corasaniti: "A record number of voters cast a ballot in New Hampshire's Republican primary on Tuesday, according to a New York Times analysis of election data.... The total of more than 300,000 votes as of early Wednesday surpassed the previous high-water mark for a Republican primary, when more than 287,000 voters turned out in 2016. The previous record for either party was the Democrats' 2020 contest, with more than 296,000 voters, many supporting Senator Bernie Sanders of neighboring Vermont."
The New York Times' full page of the results in New Hampshire's Republican primary is here.
Marie: Most of the news stories about Trump's win mention how pissed-off he was that Haley did fairly well in the primary, then delivered an upbeat speech in which she vowed not to quit. But over there in Right Wing World, the Fox "News" headline is "Trump 'honored' by New Hampshire win, says Republican party is 'very united.'" ~~~
~~~ The Unhappy Insurrectionist. Steve Benen of MSNBC: "For speechwriters, remarks after a primary victory are an easy lift.... Candidates thank their supporters..., they express their appreciation to their campaign staff, they congratulate their defeated rivals, and they say a few words about the road ahead.... But [Trump] ... went in a very different direction.... During relatively brief remarks, the likely GOP nominee not only slammed Haley for appearing pleased about the primary results, he also referenced unnamed Haley scandals that 'she doesn't want to talk about' and even took aim at her attire. 'You can't let people get away with bull----,' Trump added. 'And when I watched her in the fancy dress that probably wasn't so fancy, I said, "What's she doing? We won."' The former president concluded, 'I don't get too angry, I get even.' On his social media platform, he was every bit as agitated, condemning Haley as 'DELUSIONAL!!!' for sticking around after losing. He added, 'Could somebody please explain to Nikki Haley that she lost -- and lost really badly.' For good measure the former president wrote, 'NIKKI CAME IN LAST, NOT SECOND!'... The irony of the circumstances is staggering.... Why, Trump effectively asked, can't Haley simply accept defeat? Self-awareness isn't among the former president's strong suits." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Yes, if only Haley had had the grace to repeatedly complain Trump cheated, then complain there is a conspiracy against her (which apparently there is), then sue, then stage a coup. ~~~
~~~ The irony (and lack of self-awareness) doesn't end with Trump. In today's Comments, RAS writes, "When I hear Haley disingenuously attacking Biden by saying we can't have a Harris presidency I'm reminded that she is attacking and insinuating that a fellow Indian woman, Kamala Harris, is not fit for the job. But Haley is Republican so she has to signal to her people that she is as racist and misogynistic as they are. And Harris is a boogeyman the Right likes to attack because she is both puppet master pulling all of Biden's strings controlling everything and an incompetent affirmative active hire who is only in her position because of the color of her skin and because she is a woman."
Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: "More than 21 million people have signed up for health plans through the Affordable Care Act's health insurance marketplaces, the Biden administration announced Wednesday. The record level of enrollment comes as ... Donald Trump ... is again vowing to repeal the program if elected. Sign-ups in the health insurance marketplaces -- a jump of 5 million since last year and the third straight year of record enrollment -- were partly driven by states 'unwinding' pandemic-era protections in Medicaid, with millions of people culled from the safety net health program, said Biden officials and outside researchers. The enrollment figures reflect a roughly 80 percent surge in sign-ups for the ACA since President Biden took office in 2021 and expanded the subsidies available to consumers."
~~~~~~~~~~
Presidential Race
The New York Times has the results of the New Hampshire Democratic primary here. The AP called the race for Biden early on, but the results so far (at 10:00 pm ET) make it appear Dean Phillips (21.5%) is ahead of President Biden (14.3 %). However, 56.9 percent are listed as "Unprocessed Write-Ins." Presumably the vast majority of those unprocessed write-in votes will go to Biden. Update: At 4:00 am ET today, the tally is Biden (51.4%), Phillips (19.8%) & "Unprocessed" (14.2%). ~~~
~~~ NPR's report is here.
Here's the New York Times liveblog of developments in Tuesday's New Hampshire Republican primary. Results are here and on the NYT front page. Some entries & excerpts: ~~~
Shane Goldmacher & Reid Epstein: "Donald J. Trump defeated Nikki Haley in the New Hampshire primary election on Tuesday, continuing his momentum toward the Republican nomination and raising fresh questions about her viability going forward. Mr. Trump's victory [was] called by The Associated Press just as final polls closed at 8 p.m. Eastern.... On the Democratic side, President Biden triumphed in his party's presidential primary, carried by his supporters' write-in campaign after he declined to appear on the state's ballot following a dispute over the primary's timing.... Mr. Trump delivered a crude, bitter victory speech attacking Ms. Haley; her chief surrogate, Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire; and the state's primary process, which allows independent voters to participate in party primaries."
Katie Glueck: President Biden's "victory, called by The Associated Press, was good, if expected, news for Mr. Biden. But votes were still being counted, and the final margin of his win will be closely watched.... Before the vote on Tuesday, however, a memo from the Write-In Biden campaign emphasized the complex nature of the race and cautioned against drawing sweeping conclusions from the results. 'Write-in campaigns are very difficult, and Joe Biden's vote total on Jan. 23 will understate his actual support among New Hampshire Democrats and independents,' the memo warned.... The more consequential tests for Mr. Biden will come when he competes in the Democratic primary contests next month in South Carolina, Nevada and Michigan, and the Biden campaign will have to show it can mobilize its most loyal voters."
Maggie Haberman: "Haley is getting ahead of any Trump victory announcement by trying to frame her second-place finish as a victory."
Chris Cameron: "Haley has once again equated Trump and Biden as equally bad for the country: 'With Donald Trump you have one bout of chaos after another. This court case, that controversy, this tweet, that senior moment. You can't fix Joe Biden's chaos with Republican chaos.'"
Michael Gold: "Donald Trump is celebrating his win with a post on Truth Social: 'Haley said she had to WIN in New Hampshire. SHE DIDN'T!!!'"
Gold: "Trump does not seem to be pleased with Haley's speech, calling her 'delusional' on Truth Social and pointing out she came in third in Iowa. She trailed Ron DeSantis, who dropped out of the race on Sunday, by about 2,000 votes."
Gold: "Trump, in an exclusive interview with Fox News, said Haley 'should' suspend her campaign, saying 'if she doesn't drop out, we have to waste money instead of spending it on Biden, which is our focus.' Earlier today, he told reporters at a campaign stop that he would 'never ask anybody to pull out.'"
Glueck: "The Biden campaign has released a statement on the New Hampshire primary election, but it makes no mention of the president's write-in victory, turning the focus squarely on Trump and effectively declaring the general election underway. 'Tonight's results confirm Donald Trump has all but locked up the G.O.P. nomination, and the election-denying, anti-freedom MAGA movement has completed its takeover of the Republican Party,' read the statement from Julie Chávez Rodríguez, the Biden campaign manager."
Gold: At his victory party, "Trump is really knocking Haley. 'Who the hell was the impostor that went up on the stage that went before and claimed victory?' he said. 'She did very poorly actually.'"
Kellen Browning: "Trump is now taking shots at Gov. Chris Sununu, who backed Haley. He calls him 'very unpopular.'..." ~~~
[~~~ Marie: I don't like Sununu, but he is among the most popular governors in the U.S.]
Browning: "'You can never forget history,' says Trump, who has tried to paper over the history of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. In this case, he was referring to his debunked claims of fraud in the 2020 election." ~~~
[~~~ Marie: As Rachel Maddow noted on MSNBC, Trump falsely claimed he had won New Hampshire in the general elections of 2016 & 2020. (MSNBC carried about a minute of Trump's victory speech but cut it off after Trump started lying.)]
Glueck: "Biden has now released a statement.... 'It is now clear that Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee.... And my message to the country is the stakes could not be higher.' He thanked 'all those who wrote my name in this evening in New Hampshire,' and added, 'It was a historic demonstration of commitment to our democratic process.' Biden also extended a hand to independents and Republicans 'who share our commitment to core values of our nation.'"
~~~ Marie: Oh thank goodness; people voting in the Republican primary in my little town went for Haley over Trump, 57% to 42%. Still, more than 600 of my neighbors are blithering idiots. Yesterday, I remarked that I had voted in New Hampshire, and that as tempting as it was to vote for Vermin Supreme, I wrote in Joe Biden instead. Glad I did because a fellow I talked to after I voted told me that Vermin Supreme has been running for 20 years, and he hasn't won yet. I guess people just aren't turned on by the thought of rat-topped pizza pies. Update: Now, I find out that, like many a low-information voter, I made a terrible mistake. RAS points out that I coulda hadda a pony: ~~~
Eric Bradner of CNN extracts five takeaways from the New Hampshire primaries. Donald Trump is pissed off. Nikki Haley says he's a loser. And more.
Daniel Dale of CNN: "... Donald Trump made several false claims in a speech Tuesday night after CNN and other media outlets projected that he would win the Republican presidential primary in New Hampshire. CNN also watched rival candidate Nikki Haley's Tuesday night speech in New Hampshire; Haley's claims were either accurate or too general to fact check. Here is a fact check of some of Trump's assertions."
Say Whaaaa? Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: "President Joe Biden's campaign social media team pounced when ... Donald Trump slurred through an incoherent chunk of a rally speech and also appeared to commit a gaffe in which he quoted himself in the third person.... [In] a daffy chunk ... [of his speech in Laconia, New Hampshire, Monday night,] Trump describes the operation of the Iron Dome the way a fifth-grader would cut down cops and robbers on a playground.... During the already-bizarre chunk of Trump's speech where he waxes apocalyptic over a hypnotic cult musical score, he threw in a stray self-quote: 'How foolish, are we? How stupid are our leaders? We can be energy independent and even energy dominant. Yes. Oh, yes. And quickly, says President Trump. We will be there very quickly.' And minutes later, he took a tumble down a chunk about the death penalty, slurring as he told the crowd: 'We have become a drug-infested, crime-ridden nation which is incapable of solvin' even the swollest, smallest problem, the simplest of problems we can no longer solve. We can't do anything. We are an institute in a powerful death penalty! We will put this on!' Team Biden highlighted both moments on their Twitter/X feed[.]" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: You might think that Trump had made these incoherent remarks during a foaming-at-the-mouth tirade. But no. If you listen to the clips, you can hear him speaking quietly, slowly, listlessly and apparently trying to carefully read from a teleprompter. He isn't up to it. ~~~
~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: Donald Trump's recent campaign appearances "signal we're headed for a lengthy debate over the relative cognitive abilities of the candidates in the most geriatric election in modern history.... Plenty of people are noting [Trump's flubs], including Fox News, Haley, Ron DeSantis's campaign before he dropped out and increasingly the Biden campaign, which has taken to promoting Trump's flubs on social media. It has also launched an ad on the subject.... While the age issue was basically a wash in the 2020 election, [President] Biden's many senior moments as president have led to a sharp rise in reservations about his mental fitness.... Trump has reaped benefits from trying to attach his own liabilities to his opponents. Now the Biden campaign has clearly set about trying to do that, and Trump's unsteady return to a packed campaign schedule suggests he could deliver plenty of fodder." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "... New Hampshire showed us, beyond all doubt, that Donald Trump is very, very confused.... I went to Trump's rally on Saturday night in Manchester..., and noticed that, even though his text was fed to him through a teleprompter, he told many of the same stories over and over again, repeating some lines almost word for word in the same speech, with no apparent awareness that he had done so.... He mangles names and words -- a visiting foreign dignitary becomes a 'foreign dignity' -- and occasionally just talks nonsense.... In fairness, the Trump of four and eight years ago was also plenty erratic. But a closer look at his public performances -- his courtroom outbursts and on the stump -- suggests the very stable genius is off his game." Milbank also went to a Phillips rally & a Haley rally.
Marshall Cohen of CNN: “The Massachusetts State Ballot Law Commission has dismissed a challenge against Donald Trump's candidacy based on his role in the January 6, 2021, insurrection. The panel rejected the case on procedural grounds Monday, finding that the commission didn't have jurisdiction to address the matter. The outcome is a victory for the former president, but the panel avoided grappling with questions around his culpability for the deadly attack on the US Capitol.... Decisions made by the commission can be appealed in Massachusetts courts." (Also linked yesterday.)
Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "President Biden headlined a rally in support of abortion rights on Tuesday, trying to focus on an issue that has galvanized his supporters even as he was interrupted every few minutes by at least 10 people protesting the war in Gaza, an issue that has just as quickly divided Democrats. Mr. Biden, a practicing Catholic who has been a reluctant supporter of abortion rights, has leaned on Vice President Kamala Harris to be the most vocal activist in his administration. But on Tuesday, in front of a banner reading 'Restore Roe,' Mr. Biden raised his voice to a yell in support of Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed a constitutional right to abortion before the Supreme Court overturned it in 2022. His yelling also helped drown out the voices of people waving Palestinian flags, shouting 'Genocide Joe' and demanding a cease-fire. 'Please don't jump,' he said to one protester waving a sign in a balcony." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Too bad these nitwits don't seem to realize that President Biden is heavily engaged in realpolitik negotiations to effect a ceasefire, while Donald Trump's Middle East policy is First Kill All the Muslims. Biden is pushing against Netanhayu's war-mongering; Trump would be egging Bibi on.
Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "President Biden has approved a shake-up of the leadership of his campaign, and will dispatch two top White House aides to take over functional control of his re-election effort.... Jennifer O'Malley Dillon, who was the campaign manager for Mr. Biden's 2020 campaign and has served as a deputy chief of staff in the White House since he became president, will move to the Biden 2024 headquarters in Wilmington, Del., and direct the campaign's efforts, according to five people familiar with the discussions. Mike Donilon, a senior adviser who has worked for Mr. Biden for decades, will also move to Wilmington and become the campaign's chief strategist.... The moves formalize a setup in which Ms. O'Malley Dillon has for months overseen the campaign's direction from Washington and Mr. Donilon has helped shape its strategy."
Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The full federal appeals court in Washington on Tuesday rejected ... Donald J. Trump's bid to lift a gag order imposed on him in the criminal case in which he stands accused of trying to subvert the results of the 2020 election. The terse ruling, issued on behalf of the 11 judges on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, leaves Mr. Trump with only the option of appealing to the Supreme Court if he wants to keep fighting the gag order, which restricts his ability to publicly criticize certain people involved in the legal proceeding." (Also linked yesterday.)
Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times: "The trial of E. Jean Carroll's defamation lawsuit against Donald J. Trump has been postponed for another day and will resume Thursday, a federal court announced on Tuesday. The court did not offer a reason for the additional delay, but the trial was originally postponed for a day after Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said in court Monday that a juror had reported flulike symptoms and would be getting a Covid test." (Also linked yesterday.)
Rebecca Carballo of the New York Times: "Federal regulators have ruled that Intuit, the maker of the tax-filing software TurboTax, must stop marketing its services as free, unless they are free to everyone or exceptions are clearly disclosed. TurboTax had for years claimed customers could file their taxes online for free. The Federal Trade Commission said in an opinion and final order issued on Monday that its advertising was deceptive because two-thirds of taxpayers were not eligible to file with the free product. The commission also found that the company's attempts to disclose that not everybody qualified for free services were 'ineffective and often inconspicuous.'" ProPublica's story is here.
~~~~~~~~~~
New York. Jesse McKinley of the New York Times: "A man from upstate New York was found guilty on Tuesday of second-degree murder for fatally shooting a young woman who was riding in a car that had mistakenly driven up his driveway. On the night of April 15, the defendant, Kevin Monahan, fired two shots with a .20-gauge shotgun, one of which struck a car carrying Kaylin Gillis, 20, who was hit in the neck and died soon after. Ms. Gillis and a group of six friends had been trying to find a friend's house for a Saturday night party when they drove up Mr. Monahan's half-mile-long driveway in the rural town of Hebron, N.Y., about 55 miles north of Albany."
~~~~~~~~~~
Europe. Ben Hubbard & Lara Jakes of the New York Times: "Turkey's Parliament voted on Tuesday to allow Sweden to join NATO, putting the Nordic country one step closer to entering the military alliance and easing a diplomatic stalemate that has clouded Turkey's relations with the United States and hampered Western efforts to isolate Russia over its war in Ukraine. The measure passed after a vote of 287 to 55, with four abstentions in the 600-member body. It will go into effect once it is published in the country's official gazette, usually a swift formality. That would make Hungary the only NATO member that has not approved Sweden's accession, depriving the alliance of the unanimity required to add a new member.... On Tuesday before the vote, Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary invited Sweden's prime minister to Hungary to 'negotiate' Sweden's accession, suggesting that Hungary may seek concessions in exchange for its support." The AP's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Trump 
Orban.
CNN: "A Russian military plane has crashed in the Belgorod region of Russia, near the Ukrainian border, Russian state media has reported. The plane had 74 people on board, according to Russia's RAI Novosti news agency. State media reported that 65 Ukrainian servicemen were on board the plane, being flown to Belgorod ahead of a prisoner swap. CNN has not independently verified this claim." This is a liveblog.
Middle East
The Washington Post's live updates of developments Wednesday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "Doctors Without Borders says thousands of people are unable to evacuate from Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis despite an Israeli order to leave, as heavy bombing and fighting approach the facility's surroundings. It is one of two remaining hospitals in southern Gaza able to treat critically wounded patients, the medical group said. Fighting has intensified in the city in recent days, and Israel says its troops have encircled it.... Israel is trying to create a buffer zone on the Gaza side of the enclave's border with Israel, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari said Tuesday, after 21 Israeli soldiers were killed while placing explosives there. The IDF has been destroying buildings in Gaza as part of the buffer zone plan, he said.... U.S. strikes early Wednesday destroyed two anti-ship missiles in Yemen that were aimed at the Red Sea and 'prepared to launch,' U.S. Central Command said. They were the ninth this month." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Wednesday are here.
Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "The United States on Tuesday carried out military strikes against three facilities in western Iraq associated with Iran-linked militias that American officials say attacked a major base in Iraq on Saturday, according to the Pentagon's Central Command, injuring at least four U.S. service members. The American strikes near Iraq's border with Syria on Tuesday hit headquarters, training locations and storage areas for rockets, missiles and drones belonging to the Kataib Hezbollah militia and other Iran-affiliated groups in Iraq, according to Central Command. 'These precision strikes are in direct response to a series of escalatory attacks against U.S. and coalition personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-sponsored militias,' Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said in a statement."
News Ledes
New York Times: "The rare torrent of rain that slammed the San Diego area on Monday forced numerous residents to navigate life-threatening scenes that they had trouble believing even as they recounted them. The authorities would later call it a miracle that no one died and very few people were injured in a suddenly calamitous storm that prompted state and local leaders to declare a state of emergency.... The record pace of the rainfall -- a deluge of nearly three inches in three hours -- had quickly overwhelmed drainage systems."
New York Times: "A Boeing 757 plane operated by Delta Air Lines lost a nose wheel as it prepared to take off from Atlanta's main airport on Saturday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. It was the latest troubling episode involving one of the manufacturer's aircraft.... More than 170 passengers who were aboard had to deplane, but no one was hurt, the report said." ~~~
~~~ NBC News: "The CEO of Alaska Airlines said new, in-house inspections of the carrier's Boeing 737 Max 9 planes in the wake of a near-disaster earlier this month revealed that 'many' of the aircraft were found to have loose bolts."
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Reader Comments (23)
Poor Rhonda…
In the wake of his epic fail as a presidential candidate, DeSantolini does a post mortem and, with all the introspective power available to any world class narcissist (ie, little to none), he arrives at the true reason his campaign went over like solid lead go-go boots. And guess what. It was not his fault.
Nope.
The reason Rhonda face planted? Out of touch voters. Yup. Those stupid voters. Too dim to see what a glorious figure he’d make sitting on three telephone books at the desk in the Oval Office passing nationwide Don’t Say Gay, Don’t Say Black, Don’t Say Read, Don’t Say Actual History, Don’t Say Mickey Mouse bills.
Waaaaah. It’s all their fault. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid voters!
Another reason, I suppose, to hate democracy. They have so many of them.
Fatty wins in NH?
Hang on…
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz….
Huh? What?
Zzzzzzzzzzz…(rolls over) zzzzzzzzzzzz…
Marie, you could have gotten a pony!
It's official: Judge Judy announces support for Nikki Haley.
Now we have to wait for Minnie Mouse and Oprah to announce.
(sarchasm).
https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/news/election-nikki-haley-trump-
judge-judy-b2482950.jtml
Forget the pony. I want one-a them crazy hats. Is that a boot?
Also, Vermin Supreme sounds like something from the Trump Pizzeria. Fatty must order it with extra vermin.
Pretty good rant about PoT lying on the Alternet site this morning, written by a former managing editor of Stars and Stripes.
His primary target is the latest lie being spun on the right and, as usual, ingested wholesale by the MSM: Americans don’t want another Trump-Biden election! Waaaah.
Wrong. Republicans don’t want another Trump-Biden election. At least the ones not sucking down a quart of MAGA 100 proof every day (aged in toilets in a Marred a Lardo bathroom). The reasoning behind this latest scam is the fear that Fatty the Loser will lose again. What to do? Shit on Biden. Both Sides him to death. Make it look like they’re both the same. Two doddering old guys. Depress the Biden turnout as much as possible.
And like clockwork, this morning on NPR, they featured some PoT hack saying exactly that!
So we’ll be hearing a constant stream of Biden criticism: he’s too old, he’s got dementia, open borders, criminals from Mexico, the economy sucks, the LAPTOP!
The border is a problem because Republicans refuse to do anything about it. The economy is better than it has been in decades. But never mind. Fatty gets the pass he always gets. Biden will get the brickbats.
Oh, and something a little extra, the piece throws a few good jabs at Creampuff Casper Milquetoast Garland. Well deserved jabs, you ask me.
Akhilleus,
Yeah, it's not what TFG can do for you. It's how awful the other guy or the prospect of electing him is..
The big problem the R's have is that they have no accomplishments to point to and nothing to offer but more spite and fear. So they go with what they have.
Behind all the hammering on Biden's age, of course, is the implication that should he die or become debilitated in office, there's that colored woman to take his place. Blackish and a woman. Real scary prospect for the MAGA's....
We'll find out how scary it is for others.
Then there's all that real time evidence that TFG is already debilitated that is getting harder and harder to ignore. In that context, if for no other, his Veep pick will be interesting....
I know it is complicated with our military partnership and America still has huge influence around the world, but it feels as if many of the people protesting the war in Gaza forget that Biden is only in charge of the USA and Israel is not a subsidiary of the US. He can voice his views and exert some pressures, but at the end off the day he can't control what the Israeli government does in it's own country. Bibi and his government are the ones who are calling the shots in Gaza.
Texas State Rep James Talarico explains the 10 commandments don't belong in schools.
When I hear Haley disingenuously attacking Biden by saying we can't have a Harris presidency I'm reminded that she is attacking and insinuating that a fellow Indian woman, Kamala Harris, is not fit for the job. But Haley is Republican so she has to signal to her people that she is as racist and misogynistic as they are. And Harris is a boogeyman the Right likes to attack because she is both puppet master pulling all of Biden's strings controlling everything and an incompetent affirmative active hire who is only in her position because of the color of her skin and because she is a woman.
The Republican plan in a nutshell:
1. Create a problem
2. Loudly blame the problem on Democrats
3.Do everything possible to block Democrats from implementing
a solution to the problem
4. Loudly complain that Democrats haven't fixed the problem
5. Repeat until American democracy is destroyed
(oops, that last one is Vladimir's plan)
@RAS: Don't forget, Harris is also "not black enough." But also not white enough.
In a rational world, spelling more doom for the Pretender?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/01/24/obamacare-record-enrollment-biden/
"Rational" is, of course, the caveat...
RAS,
Maybe if we had gotten all of the commandments.
From the It Would Be Funny If…Department
Suggestions that undeserved and unearned prominence combined with incompetence ring the bell for MAGAts when directed at Kamala Harris, are hysterical, especially when there is zero indication that they understand that those exact same descriptors perfectly fit their Glorious Leader, a blowsy, narcissistic blowhard who has had everything handed to him, who time and again has proven woefully unable to manage even a basic level of honest competence. Likewise, that they foam at the mouth when it’s pointed out that Nikki Haley refuses to admit defeat. The idea!
But here’s the difference. Losing a single primary isn’t legally “game over”. A candidate can stay in as long as they want no matter how many primary contests they fail. Losing a presidential election IS game over. It’s game, set, and match. End of the road. Over, done, finito. Time to go home. And yet their hero refuses—still!—years later, to admit that he lost, had his fat ass kicked, got the giant middle finger from the American electorate, and was told see you later, goodbye, and fuck off.
Once again, it seems impossible for the MAGAts to understand that “I know you are, but what am I?” isn’t a supportable, sentient, responsible, mature adult response. It’s the whine of a surly six year old.
But to them, and the Fat Loser Fascist, it’s brilliant, genius repartee.
I guess “Your mother wears army boots” must strike them as the height of diamond studded dialectical debate.
I'll bet Not-President Trump is still harboring a grudge against the guy who came in FIFTH in the last New Hampshire Democratic primary (2020). That guy couldn't take even a very decisive "no" for an answer, and then he became President Biden, beating the big boy pants off of Loser Trump.
Wow, what I learn because of RC.
Too bad Vermin Supreme didn't give Trump the boot (see pic above).
Can we trust the polls? It can really affect where resources go during the election cycle.
"Has Polling Become Weaponized?
As fewer and fewer objective and reliable polls are conducted, Republicans have been weaponizing polling to skew narratives in their favor."
Drugs in the White House
"The White House has its own pharmacy—and, boy, was it shady under Trump
It wasted $750K during the Trump years and freely handed out Ambien and Provigil."
Republicans are trying to destroy everything from within.
"Oklahoma superintendent appoints Libs of TikTok creator to state library committee
Chaya Raichik and I have developed a strong working relationship to rid schools of liberal, woke indoctrinators, union smut peddlers, and Epstein Island advocates. Oklahoma is ground zero to take back our schools from the radical leftists. I am proud to have her as a fierce defender of conservative values," [Ryan] Walters said in a statement obtained by USA TODAY Tuesday afternoon."
One of the people most responsible for banning books in schools and criminalizing librarians will help overseeing Oklahoma's libraries. Though guy in charge clearly has Fox brain also as he takes back the state from his imagined radical left foes who have taken over...Oklahoma.
Time to cut off some Federal funding to the outlaw state? Funding that won't affect Texas' poor....
https://www.businessinsider.com/texas-supreme-court-border-fence-ruling-more-razor-wire-2024-1
In today's Hullabaloo, there is brief mention that DiJiT's father, Fred, suffered from Alzheimer's and that DiJiT must be staring into that abyss as he stumbles through names, thoughts and memories.
I had forgotten Fred's dementia, which at the time I don't believe was publicly identified as Alzheimer's. But Fred was clearly losing memory capacity rapidly eight years before he died, according to this WaPo story from two years ago about how DiJiT screwed his family to gain control of his father's wealth.
DiJiT's mental lapses (not "flubs") are getting more notice in more venues. Soon there will be a lot of recollection of his father's decline, and speculation about what mental disorders run in families. Almost everybody knows someone who went through dementia and what it looks like. The GOP will be faced with the problem of not only denial of DiJiT's crimes, but of his mental capacity. This is going to get seriously ugly.
Re: Fatty’s incipient dementia…
We can expect a ramping up of whataboutism as Trump defenders, enablers, and media protectors ramp up their howling about Biden’s cognition problems, and screech about how Democrats allowed Diane Feinstein to hang on too long. The MSM will fall in line, as they always do, wondering why Biden hasn’t released the results of his cognition test, very likely suggesting that he took one but failed it (unlike Trump, who was perfect) and the White House is obviously covering up for him. They’ll throw plenty of crap against the wall and the media will dutifully repeat their every lie to make sure a lot of it sticks.
Ought to make for interesting debates....with the Pretender visibly slipping his way into angry senescence.
Wonder if he will be willing to display his decline to the entire nation? I've thought he avoided the primary debates for more than one reason.
Wonder what his advisors will advise...Wonder if he'll listen.