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Both sideism actually seems to favor one side!

Friday, September 6, 2024

I haven’t posted much recently. One of the reasons is that it seems like everything going down is so obvious that anyone with an ounce of intelligence can figure it out for themselves. I could also argue that my duties as the treasurer of the Groton Democrats during this most important election since 1860 take up too much of my time, but that would be stretching the truth almost as much as a certain stable genius stretches it.

It has been particularly frustrating to watch as the media covers up for Trump’s senility, stupidity and incoherence. The latest example is reported here (not in the mainstream, of course, but at Hullabaloo). Trump was in front of a crowd of rich people (the only constituency he actually serves) and was asked a direct question about how he intends to help people pay for day care. There’s a video at the link. He makes no sense, but in true New York Times fashion the paper of record avoids calling it what it is. The New York Times:

After his speech, Donald Trump was asked how he might address rising child care costs. In a jumbled answer, he said he would prioritize legislation on the issue but offered no specifics and insisted that his other economic policies would “take care” of child care. “As much as child care is talked about as being expensive, it’s relatively speaking, not very expensive compared to the kind of numbers we’ll be taking in.”

Digby sums it up:

Does that accurately describe Trump’s incomprehensible babble? I don’t think so but it certainly was nice of the NY Times to “interpret” his comments to mean that he “insist[ed] that his other economic policies, including tariffs, would take care of child care.” It’s very generous of them to help him out that way otherwise people might think that Trump had absolutely no idea what he was talking about and clearly has no economic “policy” other than tariffs (which he doesn’t understand either) even after having spent four years in the White House. Why, they might even conclude that he doesn’t have the mental capacity to be president. I guess that would be rude.

He’s getting worse by the day. There’s a new term for what the media is doing when giving Trump’s mental impairments a pass: sanewashing. Even if he weren’t a fascist having him as president would be a clear and present danger. Nothing Biden ever did was this bad, but the Times couldn’t stop bringing up his cognitive functioning. But, in the interest of both sideism, it avoids doing that with Trump because both sideism consists of proving you are not the liberal media by attacking Democrats, and giving Republicans a pass.

So, nothing above is new, but I figure I have to post once in a while.

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Time to attack

Monday, August 26, 2024

It’s not often that I disagree with digby over at Hullabaloo, but this is one of those times. She has a post recounting the many times the New York Times has committed journalistic malpractice when it comes to Donald Trump. I don’t argue with the main thrust of the post, which is quite good, but I don’t agree with this closing paragraph:

I guess the Democrats have no choice but to simply accept the asymmetry of the press coverage which is made many times worse by the fact that the right already has an extremely effective partisan media dedicated to pushing Trump’s lies. We’ll just have to maintain a critical eye through the campaign and beyond.

I would suggest that the Democrats take a page from the Republican playbook of some years back, when the Republicans constantly attacked the “liberal media”, a media that wasn’t all that liberal but was more likely to call things what they were. I really don’t think, for instance, that the media of twenty years ago would have failed to point out that Trump’s mental health, never very good as he suffered from serious mental impairments such as narcissism, is now declining into senility, enhanced by his other mental impairments. The “liberal media” attacks worked, in that the media generally, with the possible exception of MSNBC, does its best to ignore or soft pedal Republican lies, corruption and hypocrisy.

It’s time the Democrats went on the attack, specifically calling out the media for failing to call Trump’s mental impairments what they are, particularly since they constantly questioned Biden’s mental competency, which far exceeds that of the very stable genius.

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RFJ Jr. drops out

Friday, August 23, 2024

This is a bit of a follow up to my post from a week ago, in which I made the not terribly difficult prediction that RFK Jr. would drop out and Trump would promise him a role in his administration.

It’s not good news for the Harris campaign, but I’m going to look on the bright side and suggest it’s not the great news that the Trumpers will make of it.

Let’s reflect a bit. Who were the RFK voters? At the very first, when he was really an unknown quantity, some of his backers may have been Democrats or Democrat leaning voters who wanted Biden to step aside. He is, after all, Bobby Kennedy’s son. Once those folks learned that he was in fact a total nutcase, most of them deserted him, and as the polls have shown, he has drawn from Trump.

So think about this. Why were those people ready to vote for someone other than Trump? There’s a host of possible reasons. They may think it’s not a good idea to put a criminal in the White House. They may think it’s not a good thing to try to overthrow the government. I’ll stop the list there as there are almost an infinite number of reasons why one would not want to vote for Trump, even if one were inclined to vote for a “conservative”.

So, now these folks have to make a decision. Do they vote for Trump just because the guy they were going to vote for because they didn’t want to vote for Trump tells them to vote for Trump? A guy for whom they never really felt much enthusiasm, but he wasn’t Trump or Biden. Or do they either not vote or vote for some third party candidate, assuming there are any left on the ballot.

Of course they won’t all do the same thing, but my guess is that a substantial number simply won’t vote, will write someone in, or vote for any available third party candidate. They were prepared to throw their vote away before he dropped out, so there’s no reason to think they won’t be willing to throw their votes away now.

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For sale to the highest bidder

Friday, August 16, 2024

I’m not sure how much attention this story is getting, but it should be featured in the media rather prominently. It appears that RFK Jr., has concluded that he is not, after all, going to win the presidency, so he is up for selling his endorsement to the highest bidder, the consideration being a cabinet post in the new administration of whatever party happens to win.

The Harris people have told him to shove it, or as he put it “We’ve been told that they have no interest in talking with me.”

The Trump folks have, of course, not said no, but they have not yet gotten to yes. If the current polling trend continues, I’m guessing they will get to yes, promising him the “public health leadership” post (Just where he could do the most harm) he’s asking for in return for him delivering his supporters to Trump. Months ago the thinking was that he’d draw supporters from Biden, but it has become clear over the last few months that he’s drawing votes from Trump. Trump is showing signs of panic already, and it’s practically a sure bet that he’ll grasp at any straw to try to win. After all, just because he’d have to promise Kennedy a cabinet post, he wouldn’t actually have to give it to him. Sort of like stiffing your contractors, etc.

I’m sure the Harris folks would prefer that Kennedy remain on the ballot in some of the swing states. He’s already off the ballot in New York, as they have this weird rule against fraud there, but New York is a lock. We want him on the ballot in places like Wisconsin, where all he has to do is draw one or two percent of the whackjobs to hand the state to Harris.

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Primary Day in Groton

Wednesday, August 14, 2024

As I wrote yesterday, I spent the entire day acting as a checker at my local polling place. As I did so, I documented the exciting events of the day. The reader can decide what conclusions to draw about the level of enthusiasm out there for whatever candidate wins this primary. Personally, I think Chris Murphy has very little to worry about. My notes follow. The numbers recited are absolutely authentic. As you will see it was an exciting day:

6:00 AM. The crush to get in is amazing. At least I think it is, though nobody has shown up yet. Sixteen people voted on an early basis iin the course of last week. That’s the entire town, so that’s a good predictor of what we have in store.

6:21 AM. I have finished my first Sudoku. We still await the entry of the first voter.

7:00 AM. The average hourly rate of enthusiastic Republican voters has now reached Zero!

7:25 AM. There is a crush in the other districts. So far FIVE people have voted in the town of Groton. Our district is obviously an outlier, as the others are so crowded.

7:40 AM. Our first voter! However, turns out she’s a Democrat who thought that there was a Democratic primary.

8:00 AM. First crossword completed and yet another Sudoku. We still await our first voter with eagerness. I’m sure there is some mysterious reason why the Republican enthusiasm for their candidates has not shown its face at this polling location. I’m willing to bet that town wide the number of voters has now swelled beyond 10!

8:30 AM. Our first voter arrives.

9:00 AM. The enthusiasm continue, in that we are enthusiastic about the possibility of getting another voter.

9:15 AM. The second voter arrives! Excitement abounds.

10:00 AM approaches. We are putting up a sign near the road so people driving by will know there’s an election today. Who knows, this may double the pace at which people come in to vote.

10:30 AM. The second Democrat arrives. She said that there was a sign that indicated there was a primary for both parties.

10:45 AM. Two voters, all at one time! Husband and wife.

11:30 AM. It is almost noon, and I last ate at 5:00 AM, so, as we said in German class, “Ich habe hunger”. Two more Democrats arrive and leave. The race is tied, 4 Republicans voted to 4 Democrats with nothing to vote for.

12:30 PM. I no longer habe hunger. While I took my brief lunch, we had no customers. The score is still tied.

1:30 PM. Score still tied. No one has voted since 10:45. Most Republicans appear to be fine with whichever non-entity ends up on the ballot. By the way, I haven’t mentioned their names. They are Gerry Smith and Matthew Corey. You’ve heard of them, haven’t you?

1:45 PM The Republicans pull ahead, 5-4.

2:00 PM Democrats tie the score yet again.

2:15 PM Republicans pull ahead 6-5.

2:25 PM Republicans expand their lead to 8-5. The Democrats are letting us down!

2:26 PM It’s a stampede! Yet another Republican.

3:00 PM We anxiously await another voter. However, we have reason to celebrate, as we are no longer the Groton district with the least number of voters. Also, we know that any minute hour we may ascend into double digits.

3:07 PM It was only minutes! 10 voters in a mere ..wait, here’s another! That makes 11. In a mere 9 hours and 10 minutes. More than one an hour. We are having trouble keeping up.

3:45 PM A Democrat and an Independent (who I’ll lump with the Dems), making the score 11-7.

3:55 PM 11-8.

5:05 PM 11-9

5:30 PM The commuters that usually start coming in after work have not yet arrived. It’s a mystery that will never be solved. How can the voters, Republicans though they be, fail to vote in this exciting election between…, oh, see above.

5:55 PM 11-10.

6:00 PM. We poll workers just figured out that so far we have had 1.95035460993% turnout in this district. One more voter, and we’re over 2%!

6:05 PM. The commuter rush has begun! Score is now 12-10. Over 2%!

6:15 PM. A discussion with the other poll workers. How do any of the folks who come in know how to vote, since chances are they’ve never heard of either candidate. Some are lured to the polling place by a sign on the street that says “Vote Here”. That’s why we’ve gotten so many Democrats. Theoretically you could sit here and google the candidates before you vote, but no one has done that. The only information available on the ballot is their names with an asterisk next to the name of the endorsed candidate.

6:20 PM. Another nut job Republican. There’s been a few of them spewing conspiracy garbage implying that the rules in place enable voter fraud. Score now 13-10.

6:40 PM 14-11.

6:50 PM The Republican who just voted is complaining that she wasn’t told about the primary and it’s someone’s fault.

7:40 PM The end approacheth. The score remains the same.

8:00 PM The day is over. There was 4/7th of a poll worker for each voter, meaning the cost to the town of each vote was about $100. (We do get paid) I stay until everything is wrapped up, but I don’t bother to look to see who got the most votes, because who really cares?

UPDATE OF SORTS: I guess I wasn’t thinking last night. (Not unusual) I meant to post this last night.

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There’s a primary tomorrow

Monday, August 12, 2024

I haven’t posted for a while. I can explain. We spent last week in Vermont and my time was filled with family events. Well, not completely, but enough to keep me away from blogging. Also, it’s getting harder and harder to come up with anything that hasn’t already been beaten to death by the blogs I frequent. I mean, guess what? Trump is declining into senility and every time he opens his mouth or vents on Lie (Oops, I mean “Truth”) Social he lies and the mainstream media ignores or downplays it. Latest I’ve seen, lying about the crowds for Kamala at the Detroit airport. Follow the link. Even some of his right wing followers are getting tired of the lies, but unlike if a Democrat did it, the Times will mention it once and then forget it.

Anyway, the purpose of this post is to announce that I will in fact post again tomorrow, though late in the evening with some Connecticut news.

Did you know there’s a primary in Connnecticut tomorrow? There are no local candidates on the ballot here in Groton. It’s a Republican primary only, and I haven’t the slightest idea who is running against who, though I think it’s two whackjobs running against each other for the privilege of getting wiped out by Chris Murphy. I’m sure if I DuckDuckGoed it (I don’t use the monopolist Google) I could find out who they are, but who really cares, and anyway I’ll see a sample ballot tomorrow, so I’ll let my readers know tomorrow.

For the past several years I’ve been a poll worker. On actual election days I’ve worked doing same day registration, but that isn’t available on primary days, so tomorrow I’ll be checking people in as they come to vote. So, it’s my guess that I’ll be spending most of the day reading, drinking tea, playing Sudoku, and doing crosswords, waiting for the very occasional voter to drop by. I will also be doing a play by play, so to speak, keeping track of the number of people who come in, and describing the day in a blog post. I wouldn’t mind posting on the hour, but I don’t think that would sit well with the registrars, so I’ll wait until I get home. It’s a long day. We report at 5:15 AM and leave around 9:00 PM, though we do get a break or two. My guess is that any given worker could take a four hour break tomorrow and no one would miss them. If the total number of voters in my district exceeds 100 I’ll be very surprised. My guess is that most of the folks coming in to vote will be members of the rapidly dwindling Republican Town Committee, since they’re probably the only people in town that know there’s a primary. Looking on the bright side, I do get paid for my time, and maybe I’ll donate my check to Kamala.

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It would be nice, but it ain’t going to happen

Friday, August 2, 2024

I came across this article at Lawyers, Guns & Money recently, and I have to admit that I fervently hope that this speculation turns out to be true. One of the bloggers there, Paul Campos, passed on a tweet from Anthony Scarmucci (of all people) who says we should not be surprised if Trump drops out of the race. Campos goes on to say that it’s unlikely, but possible. Since that would likely leave the Republicans with JD Vance as their candidate, it would be a great thing, but I’m here to tell you it won’t happen.

Trump is incapable of accepting the fact that he could or did lose. He’s proven that over the course of the last four years. But there’s another reason he won’t quit. If he loses, or withdraws, his chances of going to prison skyrocket, and if he’s yesterday’s news, the Supreme Court may very well decide to try to keep whatever shred of respect it has left.

After writing the above, but before posting it, I came across this, which makes some of the same points.

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The return of Friday Night Music

Friday, July 26, 2024

My wife suggested this as an appropriate musical share, given the events of the last week or so.

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So far, so good

Tuesday, July 23, 2024

My last post detailed my reservations about Biden dropping out and the possible media reaction given the likelihood that Kamala would be the candidate to replace him. He dropped out two days later, and so far it looks like most of my fears have not come to pass, and there’s a strong possibility that they won’t.

For one thing, it is quite clear that going forward the Democratic Party will be unified. The only candidate out there other than Kamala is Marianne Williamson, and if she has a single delegate willing to nominate her I’d be surprised. As an aside, we have a friend who’s a delegate, and he forwarded a voicemail he received prior to the withdrawal from the Williamson people asking him to support an open convention. She’s not a threat, and you have to wonder if she’s on some hallucinogenic drug. I also read that Joe Manchin briefly considered putting his name out there, but once again, you’d likely be hard pressed to find a delegate willing to nominate him. He is universally disliked among knowledgeable Democrats, and most delegates are fairly knowledgeable Democrats.

The Republicans, at least so far, appear to be flailing in their response. I really think that trying to play the birther card is unlikely to work. It didn’t work against Obama and it’s less likely to get traction with her. They’re also ramping up other coded racist slurs, but again, the ones I’ve heard about will only resonate with the racists already in their camp. It’s possible that they’ve become so focused on that base that they’re incapable of understanding how to appeal to the folks who aren’t watching Fox or the other right wing propagandists 24/7.

So far, too, the press seems to be okay, though that may soon change. Maybe they figure that they owe her a few days of relatively positive coverage, since they’ve been pushing for Biden to pull out so they’ll leave her alone while they take their victory lap.

I hope I’m not looking too much on the bright side. In any event, if my previous post turns out to be all wrong, I’ll be delighted.

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The present situation

Friday, July 19, 2024

I haven’t posted for several weeks, as I am in the sort of catatonic state in which so many non-fascists find themselves these days. Like so many, I’m stunned that the media has decided to do its best to get the genius re-elected. I won’t go into detail about the one sided coverage. I’ll only point out that if Biden, two weeks ago, had wondered aloud whether he’d rather die from being eaten by a shark or electrocution we would be reading and hearing about it still.

This post is about Biden, and the movement to have him drop his candidacy. Had such a movement begun 2 years ago led by top Democrats confidentially pressuring Biden to drop out, and had he done so before the primary season, I would have no problem.

At the moment, it doesn’t seem feasible for a number of reasons. I may be wrong, but it appears to me that none of the Democrats calling on Biden to withdraw have clearly delineated a path forward should he do so. If he drops out, presumably his delegates are free to back whomever they please. He cannot order them to back anyone in particular, and even if he could it’s not clear that it would be a good idea. If any of the politicians calling for him to withdraw have named a replacement, outlined a strategy to obtain a unanimous (or nearly unanimous) convention endorsement for that replacement, or dealt with the fact that said replacement, basically the result of a back room deal, might alienate large groups of Democratic voters.

So, if he drops out, we’re likely to have a battle at the convention.

Harris would be the obvious choice to succeed. After all she is vice president. But the media has had it in for her ever since she was put on Biden’s ticket. There’s no question in my mind but that they would jump at the chance to amplify whatever racist talking points (hedged in order to allow them to deny the racism sufficiently to satisfy the media) the Republicans trot out. Those talking points are likely to be more effective against her, a relatively unknown quantity, than the anti-Biden talking points have been against him. What would be needed would be the unthinkable from today’s politicians: a decision on Harris’s part to put the interests of the country over her own, and join in strongly endorsing a candidate who is as bullet proof as possible.

In any event, if Biden withdraws, there’s a good chance we’ll come out of the convention with a fractured party resulting in more stories about Democrats in disarray.

As with so many problems the Democrats run into, this one is somewhat self created. Sure, Biden did not do well in the debate. At the same time, Trump lied whenever he opened his mouth. Let’s reverse the situation and pretend that it was Trump that underperformed according to the media’s definition and Biden that lied with every word he spoke. The Republicans would, in unison, have 1) insisted that Trump won the debate no matter what the media or pollsters might say, and 2) attack the media for failing to concentrate on Biden’s lies. The Democrats, of course, did none of those things, nor are they engaging in a concentrated attack on the media for ignoring Trump’s clear signs of senility, such as those he showed last night during his acceptance speech.

There are a few Democrats attacking the media, but not nearly enough. The media is currently willing to give a pass to Trump and other Republicans in part because the Republicans spent years attacking the “liberal media” for telling the truth about Republicans. The media found it easier to stop telling the truth than to fight back. It’s one of the reasons we are now on the brink of fascism.

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