This is republished from the Axios weekend newsletter. Yes, it’s not good news. Yes, it’s also not determinative. But it is what things are looking like right now. And yes, if true, the American people are far dumber than even I give them credit for - inflation inflation inflation is the issue and they want to hand that to the party that created it and has no plan or program to deal with it? Yeah, dumb, dumber and dumberer.
As with any political issues in ‘Murikkka, it’s the economy, stupid! As long as gas and groceries are cheap, that’s all the average American voter cares about, so like Esau in the Bible, they are willing to sell their birthright (democracy) for a bowl of pottage…
Welp, keep on keeping' on. Dems do need to explain the causes of inflation better and pounce on what the eradication of SS and Medicare would do "for" folks' parents and grandparents. In the meantime, text, postcard, letter, bonfire, whatever it takes 😈
No takers on the wager, he might not even wait that long.
The 'strategists' guiding the Democratic campaign effort are at least as stupid as you give voters credit for being as they re-emphasize the healthcare choice issue while voters are screaming about inflation. Codifying Roe is a great idea that should have been done long ago; raising taxes on people making over $400,000 annually was a campaign promise that Biden didn't keep and one that would come in handy right now as a way of showing concern over budgetary largess that the GOP will, as usual, beat into the ground until Nov. 9 when they will go back to not governing or worrying about a budget.
Memo for 2024, when a candidate has a serious medical condition they should drop out; I like Fetterman but Conor Lamb would already be picking curtains for his office against Oz. I still think he and Barnes will win but there were unforced errors that will make it much closer and more nerve-wracking than either race should have been. I also think the press is generating some of the uncertainty because, let's face it, controversy and doubt sell.
I'm doing what I can before going in at 5AM on the 8th to open up the polling place and hope everyone else is too. Mike Franken deserves a lot of support and might be the surprise of the season.
Seems that whenever people feel a pinch to their pocketbook, it triggers fight/flight/survival mode and for many all reason goes out the window, as it feels more personal and therefore threatening than any other issue. The timing of all this has been unfortunate.
It appears H.L. Mencken was right. Well, should the apocalypse hit and the Repubs take Congress, it is not too late to hope for another asteroid..... The bloodbath will be epic, and the people who will be most hurt by it are the fools voting for the Republicans. If they do take back both houses of Congress, nothing will be done because Biden can veto anything they pass and they cannot overturn his vetoes but they WILL use the debt limit to undo as much as they can of everything the Dems have passed to help the American people. The only way Biden and the lame duck Congress can stop that is to take the debt limit off the table in a reconciliation move to eliminate the debt ceiling (likely a non-starter) OR raise it so high (to $900 trillion) that we will never get there, so the debt limit will not be useful as a political cudgel. Look, we KNOW the Republicans no longer can govern - they do not have a platform, the economics they support are actually dying (thank God) and they instinctively want to take away the things the public actually wants. At some point, even the thickest rube will see that he and all his family and friends are going down the dumper, and they will look at the ruling party to blame. When the Republicans and their rich backers have run the country into the ground, then some hapless Republican president gets to channel his inner Herbert Hoover and we have a new landslide and a new 'New Deal'..... All the tumult and hurt will have been for nothing at all.....
Here in NY we're looking at an ever-closer race between Lee Zeldin and Kathy Hochul. Hochul has not been campaigning aggressively and has focused on abortion, while Zeldin has been blaming Democrats for inflation and Hochul for the high (up to 9 percent in Rochester and 11 percent) unemployment upstate, despite her being in office only one year and bringing over 50,000 jobs upstate. The GQP have told blatant lies about crime in the state, blaming New York bail reform (absurd because it affects mostly misdemeanor and nonviolent arrests). Like I always say, the Democrats are very good at screwing themselves over.
The Jan 6th hearings have had no effect, nor have Trump's many crimes that have come to light. Americans only care about their money and would put the devil himself in the WH if it means being able to buy all the crap they see in the TV commercials. Americans know nothing about suffering, however, and if the Republicans win, they'll finally find out.
There is no convincing left to do. All minds are made up. It's just a question of whether Americans are too lazy to defend democracy, the rule of law and the truth or not. Who and how many will show up. Then we get what we deserve.
thi is just after I forced myself to read today's NYT (I know, I know...don't yell), which featured a long piece on MTG, co-starring the truly astonishing--and I mean ASTONISHING--stupidity of Kevin McCarthy, who can't decide whether it's better to shun her or (gag!) fuck her (I meant metaphorically...or something). this was followed by one of their swell new "focus groups" on the back page of the Opinion section. the people who are doing the focusing have, since the very first time this (gag again) "feature" began, been uniformly extremely ill-informed when they haven't been downright stupid. this week it was Hispanic voters who said they might be "open" to voting for a Republican. I refuse to summarize...it's already depressing enough (obviously, anyone interested can find this crap online).
I've been saying for years that there was what felt like an actual conspiracy to create a generation that doesn't know any history, because for as long as I worked in the NYC public school system, any kind of actual knowledge (or the ability to critically take in such knowledge as there was) was eschewed in favor of the NCLB agenda (Tom has talked about this approximately as much as I have). well, the conspiracy has borne fruit. and this is it. the sequelae of these efforts include historical memory that sunsets at about three weeks.
on the on hand (the hand I usually rely on, at least thus far), I care about all of this profoundly, as everyone here does (or they--we--wouldn't be here, right?). the other hand is the more nihilistic one (remember Robert Mitchum's tattoos in "The Night of the Hunter" which is --alas!--the only movie Charles Laughton got to direct?), and sometimes, every now and then, I find myself thinking insupportable things. you know, like, "if they want to wreck it so badly and no one gives a fuck...." I won't go on.
What is a winning question? One that really directly concerns 85% of the population, or one that really directly concerns 15%? I wish it was not that simple.
For many years now Sweden has had a goal of reaching up to 2% inflation, continually failed and most people did not mind. Now, when inflation is soaring, and we would like it to stop, we are failing again. The conclusion should be that we, or anyone, is not really in control of this. Gas companies can push up prices in swing states for political reasons, but I guess only when there is an upgoing trend.
Is there an evolution within democracies to vote more against recent history, for imagined 'good old times', and forgetting about the future?
All I can say about this, if there is in fact a red wave and we lose both House and
Senate? All those who voted for it will
finally find out exactly how stupid they
really are.
I don’t want to listen or see any more of this doom and gloom.
As with any political issues in ‘Murikkka, it’s the economy, stupid! As long as gas and groceries are cheap, that’s all the average American voter cares about, so like Esau in the Bible, they are willing to sell their birthright (democracy) for a bowl of pottage…
Welp, keep on keeping' on. Dems do need to explain the causes of inflation better and pounce on what the eradication of SS and Medicare would do "for" folks' parents and grandparents. In the meantime, text, postcard, letter, bonfire, whatever it takes 😈
No takers on the wager, he might not even wait that long.
The 'strategists' guiding the Democratic campaign effort are at least as stupid as you give voters credit for being as they re-emphasize the healthcare choice issue while voters are screaming about inflation. Codifying Roe is a great idea that should have been done long ago; raising taxes on people making over $400,000 annually was a campaign promise that Biden didn't keep and one that would come in handy right now as a way of showing concern over budgetary largess that the GOP will, as usual, beat into the ground until Nov. 9 when they will go back to not governing or worrying about a budget.
Memo for 2024, when a candidate has a serious medical condition they should drop out; I like Fetterman but Conor Lamb would already be picking curtains for his office against Oz. I still think he and Barnes will win but there were unforced errors that will make it much closer and more nerve-wracking than either race should have been. I also think the press is generating some of the uncertainty because, let's face it, controversy and doubt sell.
I'm doing what I can before going in at 5AM on the 8th to open up the polling place and hope everyone else is too. Mike Franken deserves a lot of support and might be the surprise of the season.
Seems that whenever people feel a pinch to their pocketbook, it triggers fight/flight/survival mode and for many all reason goes out the window, as it feels more personal and therefore threatening than any other issue. The timing of all this has been unfortunate.
It appears H.L. Mencken was right. Well, should the apocalypse hit and the Repubs take Congress, it is not too late to hope for another asteroid..... The bloodbath will be epic, and the people who will be most hurt by it are the fools voting for the Republicans. If they do take back both houses of Congress, nothing will be done because Biden can veto anything they pass and they cannot overturn his vetoes but they WILL use the debt limit to undo as much as they can of everything the Dems have passed to help the American people. The only way Biden and the lame duck Congress can stop that is to take the debt limit off the table in a reconciliation move to eliminate the debt ceiling (likely a non-starter) OR raise it so high (to $900 trillion) that we will never get there, so the debt limit will not be useful as a political cudgel. Look, we KNOW the Republicans no longer can govern - they do not have a platform, the economics they support are actually dying (thank God) and they instinctively want to take away the things the public actually wants. At some point, even the thickest rube will see that he and all his family and friends are going down the dumper, and they will look at the ruling party to blame. When the Republicans and their rich backers have run the country into the ground, then some hapless Republican president gets to channel his inner Herbert Hoover and we have a new landslide and a new 'New Deal'..... All the tumult and hurt will have been for nothing at all.....
Let’s hope the young aren’t paying attention to the pundits.
I will also say, the Republican agenda will
NOT stand.
I hope that you’re wrong, TC, but fear that you’re not ...
Here in NY we're looking at an ever-closer race between Lee Zeldin and Kathy Hochul. Hochul has not been campaigning aggressively and has focused on abortion, while Zeldin has been blaming Democrats for inflation and Hochul for the high (up to 9 percent in Rochester and 11 percent) unemployment upstate, despite her being in office only one year and bringing over 50,000 jobs upstate. The GQP have told blatant lies about crime in the state, blaming New York bail reform (absurd because it affects mostly misdemeanor and nonviolent arrests). Like I always say, the Democrats are very good at screwing themselves over.
The Jan 6th hearings have had no effect, nor have Trump's many crimes that have come to light. Americans only care about their money and would put the devil himself in the WH if it means being able to buy all the crap they see in the TV commercials. Americans know nothing about suffering, however, and if the Republicans win, they'll finally find out.
There is no convincing left to do. All minds are made up. It's just a question of whether Americans are too lazy to defend democracy, the rule of law and the truth or not. Who and how many will show up. Then we get what we deserve.
If you don’t like “doom and gloom”….focus on TC’s message to “leave nothing on the field.”
thi is just after I forced myself to read today's NYT (I know, I know...don't yell), which featured a long piece on MTG, co-starring the truly astonishing--and I mean ASTONISHING--stupidity of Kevin McCarthy, who can't decide whether it's better to shun her or (gag!) fuck her (I meant metaphorically...or something). this was followed by one of their swell new "focus groups" on the back page of the Opinion section. the people who are doing the focusing have, since the very first time this (gag again) "feature" began, been uniformly extremely ill-informed when they haven't been downright stupid. this week it was Hispanic voters who said they might be "open" to voting for a Republican. I refuse to summarize...it's already depressing enough (obviously, anyone interested can find this crap online).
I've been saying for years that there was what felt like an actual conspiracy to create a generation that doesn't know any history, because for as long as I worked in the NYC public school system, any kind of actual knowledge (or the ability to critically take in such knowledge as there was) was eschewed in favor of the NCLB agenda (Tom has talked about this approximately as much as I have). well, the conspiracy has borne fruit. and this is it. the sequelae of these efforts include historical memory that sunsets at about three weeks.
on the on hand (the hand I usually rely on, at least thus far), I care about all of this profoundly, as everyone here does (or they--we--wouldn't be here, right?). the other hand is the more nihilistic one (remember Robert Mitchum's tattoos in "The Night of the Hunter" which is --alas!--the only movie Charles Laughton got to direct?), and sometimes, every now and then, I find myself thinking insupportable things. you know, like, "if they want to wreck it so badly and no one gives a fuck...." I won't go on.
and I have a sick dog....
I’ve been thinking a lot about what would happened if this scenario plays out.
The Republicans will skew the system so they will be guaranteed a trump win in 2024.
Then, all I can think is another civil war. I hope I’m wrong.
What is a winning question? One that really directly concerns 85% of the population, or one that really directly concerns 15%? I wish it was not that simple.
For many years now Sweden has had a goal of reaching up to 2% inflation, continually failed and most people did not mind. Now, when inflation is soaring, and we would like it to stop, we are failing again. The conclusion should be that we, or anyone, is not really in control of this. Gas companies can push up prices in swing states for political reasons, but I guess only when there is an upgoing trend.
Is there an evolution within democracies to vote more against recent history, for imagined 'good old times', and forgetting about the future?