Just vile. referring to women as females, reducing a woman's entire purpose to taking care of children- and implying w/o that they have no purpose and thus no value.
My wife asked me yesterday if I had heard the latest dumb thing Vance had said, and she was referring to this.
But Vance fucks up so consistently, I thought she was talking about his recent appearance on Laura Ingrahm where he said he didn't think suburban women were concerned about abortion and were more concerned with "normal things."
I think he'll be surprised how many women - and men - have concerns about body autonomy.
This is how you know these guys never talk to anyone outside their own bubble. No one running for office who actually interacts with swing voters would be stupid enough to say this.
And yet, for a while there, Democrats were stuck in the never-ending cycle of having to deal with people who will never vote for them being interviewed in diners. Ugh.
CNN wrote a piece this week on how important it is for Kamala to appeal to Republican voters in PA. The media's need to platform suburban white people as the only votes that actually matter will never end.
Gonna gratuitously plug the Georgia Postcard Project!* I'm directly involved by writing postcards and attending events, and they're a very well-run organization with leaders who are active in the GA Dem community. I know there are tons of postcard groups around the country, but I am fond of this one because the cards aren't pretty but give specific, valuable information on voter registration and what to do if your lawful vote is challenged. Plus, sending postcards TO Georgia voters FROM other Georgia voters is a perk. (All postcards from everywhere are wonderful! The "neighbor" connection helps, though!)
Because of the second-to-last sentence, people from other states cannot write postcards, but donations of stamps and/or operating costs are very welcome! They also have some nifty shirts in the shop section of their site. And if you'd like to help elsewhere, GPP has sister groups in Michigan and North Carolina. :)
*Confession: I might be slightly biased because my affiliation with GPP is what got me up-close floor passes for Kamala Harris's rally in Atlanta two weeks ago. Ha.
I love GPP! I'm out of state so I can't write, but I donate, and do write for postcards to voters, which does campaigns all over. Right now they're still doing a lot in Florida, which up until a few weeks ago felt like a waste of time, but now...maybe...? But I'm looking forward to all the ones they have in the line up being activated to work on.
Swing Left / Vote Forward has a letter writing campaign too, really easy to do, and they have campaigns for all the swing states, plus those districts in CA and NY where those House seats are needed. https://votefwd.org/campaigns
Tester’s position has improved though. Sherrod Brown is also up. Basically, if Tester holds, we keep the Senate at this point.
Let that be a push for everyone reading this Substack to donate to Jon Tester’s campaign and to encourage everyone you know to do the same.
Recall that in 2020 we won the Senate in two run off elections in a deeply purple state. That was practically a miracle and it gave Biden the ability to do just about every piece of legislation he’s gotten through. We _need_ the Senate. Without it there will be no… anything, but in particular no SCOTUS reform and hoo wee do we need that…
As long as JV brought up grandmothers, are these the same grandmothers many in his party said should not be given COVID treatment "for the good of the economy"? Jesus, the vetting process for this guy might be worse than the vetting of Palin.
I want Biden and Harris and Walz to identify the price gougers by name. There's no way the costs of production and labor require raising the price of Coca-Cola from $5 to $10 for 12 cans, for example. I want to see shame heaped on all of the "we're going to get it while we can" companies that used "supply chain disruptions" to justify their shitty price hikes.
Along the same lines, the Democrats need to highlight how cutting taxes on the richest 10% and raising government spending precipitously without replacing that revenue during the last administration fed into the inflationary cycle. The government is not a business. Presidents don't run the economy. But they sure can fuck it up.
My understanding is that one of the areas they want to target is the price of meat. There are only a few meat packing companies in the US, and there is a huge concern that they have been driving up costs de to the lack of competitiopnm.
I saw a thread that said "I have 2008 hope but 2016 PTSD" and by God if that isn't the most accurate description of how I feel right now....
If we don't win the Senate we don't get SCOTUS reforms, and SCOTUS could feasibly hamstring a LOT of the good a Harris admin might try to do. I'm hoping that if Trump loses and we don't have the Senate, his paid for justices will read the wind and stop being quite as heinous.
Mind you, if he somehow wins, they'll hand him our democracy on a silver platter to bury at a golf course next to his ex-wife.
The Senate is impossible unless against all odds we can win against 2 or 3 of these seats: Rick Scott (FL), that Mel Blanc-voiced maroon Ted Cruz, bootlicker Josh Hawley, or Mitt Romney's Utah seat. The Democrats have to make this such a wave election that we flip a handful of states considered reliably red.
God, could dems put SOME effort into Florida races please? I promise we have plenty of people here who are sick of Ron and Rick and Marco, they just need to feel like the party gives a damn about them. It feels like a super frustrating self-fulfilling prophecy.
It made me really happy to see the Kamala supporters come out in force at the Villages retirement community in Florida. I'm so used to seeing the opposite sentiments in that state (I lived in Jacksonville for a time) so any vocal democratic support, especially among older (white) people is great to see.
There's a little chicken and egg problem there. Florida dem party is so bad at selecting and running candidates that donating to them is kind of pointless. I say this as someone who had donated to Fl campaigns again and again that just get housed.
Plus, I have no faith that the Fl electoral system isn't heavily rigged for Rs. At least in rural areas.
That's why I'm mostly relying on the hope that SCOTUS realizes that their king is no longer an option and starts making semi-reasonable decisions again. I'm not saying it's a realistic hope, but without reforms or some VERY convenient heart attacks, it's all we have.
I know the odds aren't great, but it would be amazing if Cruz and Scott were finally kicked to the curb. I saw yesterday that The Hill is giving the Republican candidate a 99% change of winning Utah. So, sounds like Utah continues to be Utah.
Oh, but surely you just left off the part where Vance and that host talked about the whole purpose of the low testosterone older man though too, right?? (It's golf, isn't it?)
He also said that suburban women don't care about abortion rights, they care about "normal things." Which kind of feels like a dog whistle about how supposedly only BIPOC and poor women get abortions.
I think it was a Slate article, but I recall reading something from a Planned Parenthood worker about how many Republican women told her she was going to burn in hell... as they received abortions from her.
I genuinely feel sorry for Biden. He fought his entire life to become president and by the time he does, the political landscape had changed so dramatically that his style of "work together to get stuff done" was out of date. That's not his fault but he had to give up something he fought for his entire career for the greater good because he couldn't adjust to the changing landscape.
Not to be brutal or a dick but I think you're romanticizing some. Biden is a politician, no question. He's made bad decisions and good decisions and helped his family and friends in ways mere mortals like us can never dream of. On top of that, Democrats across the board are yearning for the good old days of a nicer politics, and it's going to yearn us straight into fascism.
Debbie Downer done, Biden is one of the last true public servants, politician or not. At many points in his career has he done what's best for the country in ways only a minority of major federal politicians do. I will never stop thanking him for coming out of retirement to save us from fascism, and after that, for doing the unthinkable and giving up his power to continue saving us. Joe Biden deserves a national monument.
Democrats are doing pretty well in their Senate races given the map they have this year. But I continue to be disappointed in Sherrod Brown (who may yet win) and Colin Allred (who probably won't) for running away from the Harris/Walz ticket. Brown, in particular, would be well served to appear with them.
I think Allred would have a decent shot if he stopped acting like he's embarrassed to be a Democrat. Yes, Texas is conservative, but a big reason why it has stayed red is that a lot of Texans just don't bother to vote. This election is all about turn-out, and there's a chance this may be an all-timer thanks to the enthusiasm for Harris/Walz.
I was so (and still am a little) pissed when Kennedy announced he was running because he's a Roger Stone plant and a grifter. However, I am still on twatter and occasionally check his page. His commenters either largely support him or ask him to drop out and endorse trump. Now a chunk of the comments are begging him to deny the story and saying they'd be so disappointed if it's true. His non denial post esp ticked off his supports. He absolutely takes most of the votes from Trump. With that said, can any legal scholars here can explain why he's not allowed on the NY ballot for not really living here, but Harris and Trump can remain on?
The issue with RFK is that he claimed he was a resident and used a friends address in West Chester. Because he lied the judge has barred him from appearing on the ballot. He used that address for filings in 17 other states. So it will be interesting to see if those states act now.
It was so great to hear they also tried to attack the then-Biden campaign but were unsuccessful. Good job, campaign workers on not falling for a phishing scam.
Nevada continues to surprise me. Democrats have an elite operation there. Jacki Rosen is up like 10 points there, but Trump is up statewide. I don't understand how the gap is that large given the Reid machine that still dominates the state.
There are also a lot of non voters in Nevada. My brother is one of them. He's conservative, but did vote for Biden last election (first time voting in his life and he's in his 60s). But I think he's not going to vote again and lots of his friends there are the same. I'm trying to convince him, but he doesn't listen to me. Ugh.
They really think they can water down that news cycle by having JD lie about it later in the day. It's a fools errand, but the consultants will consider it a wasted opportunity to *not* try. If Walz doesn't fact-check his ass so hard Vance is blasted into an interstellar trajectory, I'll be disappointed.
"Trump held a rally . . where he called Harris “crazy” and “stupid” in a speech that was ostensibly about the economy."
It's notable only because he completely dumped the speech at the podium. He's known for going off-prompter, but he completely ignored it this time.
Peronally, I believe the real reason he goes off prompter is because he can't read from it because he can't see properly. He's too vain to wear glasses, and probably too chicken for contacts.
There's been wild speculation that he's suffering from a mental impairment (other than stupidity and narcissism). If he is suffering from dementia, it's not uncommon for visual distortions and mild visual hallucinations, like screens appearing to waver, to show up as symptoms.
I am not an Econ lady. Is there someone out there who can help me understand if it’s possible for recessions to not always be viewed as bad or scary things to happen. It seems like a natural cycle of things (like a plant that needs to be trimmed back in the fall so in the spring it grows back better). Is this a thing? Do recessions always have to be scary or can they ever be framed like “ok things were going too fast and furious and we need to slow down/scale back a bit.” I know this is a highly simplified question for a hugely complex economic event. Thank you in advance ♥️
This is just my not terribly educated opinion but I think in some cases, it should be obvious that we’re heading towards a recession so you should be able to prepare for it to some degree. For example, the economy can only “boom” for so long before there has to be a “bust”. You may not know exactly when it will happen, but you should know that it will happen. Now, whether that’s a “good” thing or not, I can really say. It’s not great for a lot of ordinary people, but it is a necessary reset.
Has anybody squandered a better hand dealt to them than RFJ Jr?
The name. The family legacy. The resources. The built-in goodwill. The pre-insanity reputation (deserved or not) for being a consumer advocate. The inside lane in one of the two major parties. The famous, telegenic wife. And objectively, looks right for high office - slightly crazy eyes but a strong build and jaw. The baton was his to pick up.
And you run a presidential campaign that looks worse than if you grabbed any random mentally ill homeless person off the street and made them the candidate.
One of my hottest takes is that I don't generally think that nepotism is bad, because sometimes people who have lived and breathed a certain atmosphere or lifestyle their whole lives actually IS better prepared to enter that world professionally, and also because few professions tolerate poor performance no matter who you're related to. But man, RFK Jr. took a gift-wrapped nepo-career and immolated it out of pure incompetency.
I know that covering Trumps press conferences isn't great, but I don't think it's all bad. I really do believe that the more people see and hear Trump (and Vance!) the less likely they are to vote for him. Not his base of course, they love his racist BS. But swing voters don't want that mess. And his pressers are messy af.
I just wish the press were treating them equal. Prime example. Harris headline I saw said Economic Plan to be unveiled at today's rally, will be light on details and content. No such headline when Trumps rally in TN was to roll out his economic plan and he said that he doesn't believe the economy is a concern to people. Not a word.
I love how the economy is suddenly not a concern when it's finally starting to click with people that the economy is not bad and what's hurting them at the grocery store is actually corporate greed.
Sweet Jesus, “the whole purpose of the postmenopausal female”?!?! What a couch-fucker.
Only a white man would speak those words into a microphone and think they should still have a political future.
Just vile. referring to women as females, reducing a woman's entire purpose to taking care of children- and implying w/o that they have no purpose and thus no value.
what a horrible little creature.
My wife asked me yesterday if I had heard the latest dumb thing Vance had said, and she was referring to this.
But Vance fucks up so consistently, I thought she was talking about his recent appearance on Laura Ingrahm where he said he didn't think suburban women were concerned about abortion and were more concerned with "normal things."
I think he'll be surprised how many women - and men - have concerns about body autonomy.
This is how you know these guys never talk to anyone outside their own bubble. No one running for office who actually interacts with swing voters would be stupid enough to say this.
And yet, for a while there, Democrats were stuck in the never-ending cycle of having to deal with people who will never vote for them being interviewed in diners. Ugh.
CNN wrote a piece this week on how important it is for Kamala to appeal to Republican voters in PA. The media's need to platform suburban white people as the only votes that actually matter will never end.
When I heard this clip I got so angry that I literally had to stand up, leave the house, and go take a walk. I am really, really tired of these guys.
The media really needs to stop covering Trump's "press conferences" uninterrupted. They are campaign speeches - full stop.
They seem more like Nazi propaganda than campaign speeches, lol.
Why not both?!
I can't remember if I picked this up in the comment section of Pajiba or Wonkette, but it's worth reposting.
https://youtu.be/ZD-oTJ49nls?si=4Q57KA1Q5OjjFLye
Gonna gratuitously plug the Georgia Postcard Project!* I'm directly involved by writing postcards and attending events, and they're a very well-run organization with leaders who are active in the GA Dem community. I know there are tons of postcard groups around the country, but I am fond of this one because the cards aren't pretty but give specific, valuable information on voter registration and what to do if your lawful vote is challenged. Plus, sending postcards TO Georgia voters FROM other Georgia voters is a perk. (All postcards from everywhere are wonderful! The "neighbor" connection helps, though!)
Because of the second-to-last sentence, people from other states cannot write postcards, but donations of stamps and/or operating costs are very welcome! They also have some nifty shirts in the shop section of their site. And if you'd like to help elsewhere, GPP has sister groups in Michigan and North Carolina. :)
https://www.gapostcard.org/
*Confession: I might be slightly biased because my affiliation with GPP is what got me up-close floor passes for Kamala Harris's rally in Atlanta two weeks ago. Ha.
I love GPP! I'm out of state so I can't write, but I donate, and do write for postcards to voters, which does campaigns all over. Right now they're still doing a lot in Florida, which up until a few weeks ago felt like a waste of time, but now...maybe...? But I'm looking forward to all the ones they have in the line up being activated to work on.
Swing Left / Vote Forward has a letter writing campaign too, really easy to do, and they have campaigns for all the swing states, plus those districts in CA and NY where those House seats are needed. https://votefwd.org/campaigns
Tester’s position has improved though. Sherrod Brown is also up. Basically, if Tester holds, we keep the Senate at this point.
Let that be a push for everyone reading this Substack to donate to Jon Tester’s campaign and to encourage everyone you know to do the same.
Recall that in 2020 we won the Senate in two run off elections in a deeply purple state. That was practically a miracle and it gave Biden the ability to do just about every piece of legislation he’s gotten through. We _need_ the Senate. Without it there will be no… anything, but in particular no SCOTUS reform and hoo wee do we need that…
Just donated!
As long as JV brought up grandmothers, are these the same grandmothers many in his party said should not be given COVID treatment "for the good of the economy"? Jesus, the vetting process for this guy might be worse than the vetting of Palin.
Love that point.
I want Biden and Harris and Walz to identify the price gougers by name. There's no way the costs of production and labor require raising the price of Coca-Cola from $5 to $10 for 12 cans, for example. I want to see shame heaped on all of the "we're going to get it while we can" companies that used "supply chain disruptions" to justify their shitty price hikes.
Along the same lines, the Democrats need to highlight how cutting taxes on the richest 10% and raising government spending precipitously without replacing that revenue during the last administration fed into the inflationary cycle. The government is not a business. Presidents don't run the economy. But they sure can fuck it up.
My understanding is that one of the areas they want to target is the price of meat. There are only a few meat packing companies in the US, and there is a huge concern that they have been driving up costs de to the lack of competitiopnm.
I saw a thread that said "I have 2008 hope but 2016 PTSD" and by God if that isn't the most accurate description of how I feel right now....
If we don't win the Senate we don't get SCOTUS reforms, and SCOTUS could feasibly hamstring a LOT of the good a Harris admin might try to do. I'm hoping that if Trump loses and we don't have the Senate, his paid for justices will read the wind and stop being quite as heinous.
Mind you, if he somehow wins, they'll hand him our democracy on a silver platter to bury at a golf course next to his ex-wife.
The Senate is impossible unless against all odds we can win against 2 or 3 of these seats: Rick Scott (FL), that Mel Blanc-voiced maroon Ted Cruz, bootlicker Josh Hawley, or Mitt Romney's Utah seat. The Democrats have to make this such a wave election that we flip a handful of states considered reliably red.
God, could dems put SOME effort into Florida races please? I promise we have plenty of people here who are sick of Ron and Rick and Marco, they just need to feel like the party gives a damn about them. It feels like a super frustrating self-fulfilling prophecy.
It made me really happy to see the Kamala supporters come out in force at the Villages retirement community in Florida. I'm so used to seeing the opposite sentiments in that state (I lived in Jacksonville for a time) so any vocal democratic support, especially among older (white) people is great to see.
There's a little chicken and egg problem there. Florida dem party is so bad at selecting and running candidates that donating to them is kind of pointless. I say this as someone who had donated to Fl campaigns again and again that just get housed.
Plus, I have no faith that the Fl electoral system isn't heavily rigged for Rs. At least in rural areas.
This, but Iowa. Can't guarantee it'd be as well spent as in Florida, but the feeling is exactly the same.
The Senate is not impossible. It was impossible in 2020 and we got it.
That's why I'm mostly relying on the hope that SCOTUS realizes that their king is no longer an option and starts making semi-reasonable decisions again. I'm not saying it's a realistic hope, but without reforms or some VERY convenient heart attacks, it's all we have.
Where's the Pelican Brief when you need it?
I know the odds aren't great, but it would be amazing if Cruz and Scott were finally kicked to the curb. I saw yesterday that The Hill is giving the Republican candidate a 99% change of winning Utah. So, sounds like Utah continues to be Utah.
Oh, but surely you just left off the part where Vance and that host talked about the whole purpose of the low testosterone older man though too, right?? (It's golf, isn't it?)
He also said that suburban women don't care about abortion rights, they care about "normal things." Which kind of feels like a dog whistle about how supposedly only BIPOC and poor women get abortions.
I think it was a Slate article, but I recall reading something from a Planned Parenthood worker about how many Republican women told her she was going to burn in hell... as they received abortions from her.
God it would be so tempting to just reply "if I am, so are you".
I genuinely feel sorry for Biden. He fought his entire life to become president and by the time he does, the political landscape had changed so dramatically that his style of "work together to get stuff done" was out of date. That's not his fault but he had to give up something he fought for his entire career for the greater good because he couldn't adjust to the changing landscape.
Not to be brutal or a dick but I think you're romanticizing some. Biden is a politician, no question. He's made bad decisions and good decisions and helped his family and friends in ways mere mortals like us can never dream of. On top of that, Democrats across the board are yearning for the good old days of a nicer politics, and it's going to yearn us straight into fascism.
Debbie Downer done, Biden is one of the last true public servants, politician or not. At many points in his career has he done what's best for the country in ways only a minority of major federal politicians do. I will never stop thanking him for coming out of retirement to save us from fascism, and after that, for doing the unthinkable and giving up his power to continue saving us. Joe Biden deserves a national monument.
Democrats are doing pretty well in their Senate races given the map they have this year. But I continue to be disappointed in Sherrod Brown (who may yet win) and Colin Allred (who probably won't) for running away from the Harris/Walz ticket. Brown, in particular, would be well served to appear with them.
I think Allred would have a decent shot if he stopped acting like he's embarrassed to be a Democrat. Yes, Texas is conservative, but a big reason why it has stayed red is that a lot of Texans just don't bother to vote. This election is all about turn-out, and there's a chance this may be an all-timer thanks to the enthusiasm for Harris/Walz.
I was so (and still am a little) pissed when Kennedy announced he was running because he's a Roger Stone plant and a grifter. However, I am still on twatter and occasionally check his page. His commenters either largely support him or ask him to drop out and endorse trump. Now a chunk of the comments are begging him to deny the story and saying they'd be so disappointed if it's true. His non denial post esp ticked off his supports. He absolutely takes most of the votes from Trump. With that said, can any legal scholars here can explain why he's not allowed on the NY ballot for not really living here, but Harris and Trump can remain on?
The issue with RFK is that he claimed he was a resident and used a friends address in West Chester. Because he lied the judge has barred him from appearing on the ballot. He used that address for filings in 17 other states. So it will be interesting to see if those states act now.
Roger Stone, the genius who clicked the phishing email that hacked Trump's campaign....
It was so great to hear they also tried to attack the then-Biden campaign but were unsuccessful. Good job, campaign workers on not falling for a phishing scam.
Hahahaha I hadn't heard it was him! Thank you for mentioning this!
Nevada continues to surprise me. Democrats have an elite operation there. Jacki Rosen is up like 10 points there, but Trump is up statewide. I don't understand how the gap is that large given the Reid machine that still dominates the state.
There are also a lot of non voters in Nevada. My brother is one of them. He's conservative, but did vote for Biden last election (first time voting in his life and he's in his 60s). But I think he's not going to vote again and lots of his friends there are the same. I'm trying to convince him, but he doesn't listen to me. Ugh.
Biden won Nevada by more than 2% in 2020, so I'm hoping those trump polls are skewed wrong or something.
"Why would he want to debate that day, I wonder?"
They really think they can water down that news cycle by having JD lie about it later in the day. It's a fools errand, but the consultants will consider it a wasted opportunity to *not* try. If Walz doesn't fact-check his ass so hard Vance is blasted into an interstellar trajectory, I'll be disappointed.
"Trump held a rally . . where he called Harris “crazy” and “stupid” in a speech that was ostensibly about the economy."
It's notable only because he completely dumped the speech at the podium. He's known for going off-prompter, but he completely ignored it this time.
Peronally, I believe the real reason he goes off prompter is because he can't read from it because he can't see properly. He's too vain to wear glasses, and probably too chicken for contacts.
There's been wild speculation that he's suffering from a mental impairment (other than stupidity and narcissism). If he is suffering from dementia, it's not uncommon for visual distortions and mild visual hallucinations, like screens appearing to waver, to show up as symptoms.
How long do we think before he publicly calls her a racial slur?
I am not an Econ lady. Is there someone out there who can help me understand if it’s possible for recessions to not always be viewed as bad or scary things to happen. It seems like a natural cycle of things (like a plant that needs to be trimmed back in the fall so in the spring it grows back better). Is this a thing? Do recessions always have to be scary or can they ever be framed like “ok things were going too fast and furious and we need to slow down/scale back a bit.” I know this is a highly simplified question for a hugely complex economic event. Thank you in advance ♥️
This is just my not terribly educated opinion but I think in some cases, it should be obvious that we’re heading towards a recession so you should be able to prepare for it to some degree. For example, the economy can only “boom” for so long before there has to be a “bust”. You may not know exactly when it will happen, but you should know that it will happen. Now, whether that’s a “good” thing or not, I can really say. It’s not great for a lot of ordinary people, but it is a necessary reset.
Has anybody squandered a better hand dealt to them than RFJ Jr?
The name. The family legacy. The resources. The built-in goodwill. The pre-insanity reputation (deserved or not) for being a consumer advocate. The inside lane in one of the two major parties. The famous, telegenic wife. And objectively, looks right for high office - slightly crazy eyes but a strong build and jaw. The baton was his to pick up.
And you run a presidential campaign that looks worse than if you grabbed any random mentally ill homeless person off the street and made them the candidate.
One of my hottest takes is that I don't generally think that nepotism is bad, because sometimes people who have lived and breathed a certain atmosphere or lifestyle their whole lives actually IS better prepared to enter that world professionally, and also because few professions tolerate poor performance no matter who you're related to. But man, RFK Jr. took a gift-wrapped nepo-career and immolated it out of pure incompetency.
I know that covering Trumps press conferences isn't great, but I don't think it's all bad. I really do believe that the more people see and hear Trump (and Vance!) the less likely they are to vote for him. Not his base of course, they love his racist BS. But swing voters don't want that mess. And his pressers are messy af.
I just wish the press were treating them equal. Prime example. Harris headline I saw said Economic Plan to be unveiled at today's rally, will be light on details and content. No such headline when Trumps rally in TN was to roll out his economic plan and he said that he doesn't believe the economy is a concern to people. Not a word.
I love how the economy is suddenly not a concern when it's finally starting to click with people that the economy is not bad and what's hurting them at the grocery store is actually corporate greed.
Oh, I agree!