A Deeply Fractured US

[Brad Sallows]

To an extent. Biden looked like a lost old man. Trump performed far better but rambled on with falsehoods and such.

At the end of the day though, only one of them is being pressured to step away…

Republicans held a wide open primary by their usual rules and the eligible voters selected Trump from among a pool of candidates that was more than a couple of token debate foils. Plenty of pressure was (and is) applied to Trump by various means, but he has the uncommon characteristic of not being beholden in any of the ways that party establishments can usually exploit to influence people to stand aside from something. He doesn't care about the opinions of Democrats and Never-Trump Republicans. He already knows he doesn't need to follow an established path of pilgrimage and pay homage at all the customary shrines.

In 2016 Democrats rigged the game a bit in Clinton's favour at Sanders's expense. That cost Clinton some Democratic votes then, and the obvious ill faith is costing Democrats now - they can't be seen to be making a habit of fiddling with candidate selection in back rooms.

 

[KevinB]

Republicans held a wide open primary by their usual rules and the eligible voters selected Trump from among a pool of candidates that was more than a couple of token debate foils. Plenty of pressure was (and is) applied to Trump by various means, but he has the uncommon characteristic of not being beholden in any of the ways that party establishments can usually exploit to influence people to stand aside from something. He doesn't care about the opinions of Democrats and Never-Trump Republicans. He already knows he doesn't need to follow an established path of pilgrimage and pay homage at all the customary shrines.

I’ll disagree, the issue was more that so many Republicans who scolded him and berated his conduct on 6 Jan and shortly after, later declared he was the new Messiah.

Which has split the right between those concerned about an another democratic administration being able to change the make up of the USSC, or those concerned what a second Trump term will/could do to the country.

In 2016 Democrats rigged the game a bit in Clinton's favour at Sanders's expense. That cost Clinton some Democratic votes then, and the obvious ill faith is costing Democrats now - they can't be seen to be making a habit of fiddling with candidate selection in back rooms.

In 2016 one has to wonder WTF the Dems where smoking in the backrooms, as the ABC vote was huge - and while I don’t think Sanders was electable either, going all in for HRC was clearly not a wise chose, and even worse because of the way it was done.


Which has left us with two awful candidates that neither party is willing to take out back and execute for the good of the country.

 

[mariomike]

At the end of the day though, only one of them is being pressured to step away…

Right...

Tom Brady knew when to hang up the cleats. Maybe Joe will take the hint.

Or, maybe not.

Which has left us with two awful candidates that neither party is willing to take out back and execute for the good of the country.

Reminds me when they took Old Yeller out back of the barn.

 

[Kirkhill]

Republicans held a wide open primary by their usual rules and the eligible voters selected Trump from among a pool of candidates that was more than a couple of token debate foils. Plenty of pressure was (and is) applied to Trump by various means, but he has the uncommon characteristic of not being beholden in any of the ways that party establishments can usually exploit to influence people to stand aside from something. He doesn't care about the opinions of Democrats and Never-Trump Republicans. He already knows he doesn't need to follow an established path of pilgrimage and pay homage at all the customary shrines.

In 2016 Democrats rigged the game a bit in Clinton's favour at Sanders's expense. That cost Clinton some Democratic votes then, and the obvious ill faith is costing Democrats now - they can't be seen to be making a habit of fiddling with candidate selection in back rooms.

they can't be seen to be making a habit of fiddling with candidate selection in back rooms.

And yet....

Tammany Hall - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Tammany Hall — Wikipédia

fr.wikipedia.org

Tammany Hall | History & Significance

Tammany Hall, the executive committee of the Democratic Party in New York City historically exercising political control through the typical ‘boss-ist’ blend of charity and patronage. It became synonymous with big-city government corruption during the period of its rule by ‘Boss’ William M. Tweed.

www.britannica.com

Wiki english sez Tammany Hall was an American political organization.
Wiki french sez Tammany Hall is a faction of the Democratic Party.
Britannica sez Tammany Hall is the executive committee of the Democratic Party in New York City

Personally I think the whole Trump issue is a personal beef between Trump and Tammany.

 

[FJAG]

Tom Brady knew when to hang up the cleats. Maybe Joe will take the hint.

Are you talking Brady's retirement on February 1, 2022 or that of February 1, 2023?

 

[dimsum]

Are you talking Brady's retirement on February 1, 2022 or that of February 1, 2023?

Yeah - I don’t know if Brady is the example to follow

 

[mariomike]

Are you talking Brady's retirement on February 1, 2022 or that of February 1, 2023?

Joe said, "The Lord Almighty's not coming down."

Maybe Brady didn't get the memo either.

Yeah - I don’t know if Brady is the example to follow

Maybe Ted Williams would have been a better example. Joe would remember him.

Ended his career with a home run in his last at-bat. He refused to salute the fans as he returned to the dugout after he crossed home plate. Served in WW2 and Korea.

 

[daftandbarmy]

oops...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1810076227832815982

 

[Navy_Pete]

If anyone is curious here is the list of who signed it, which conveniently includs how old they were when signing it;

Signers of the Declaration of Independence

Download this Information in PDF Format Name State Rep.

www.archives.gov

Average age is 44.5 years old, with the youngest being 26 and the oldest being 70. They were mostly lawyers and merchants, with a few oddballs being farmers, ministers, physicians and a military officer. Interestingly a few were plantation owners.

 

[Jarnhamar]

Everyone's favorite, Fox news.

Radio station 'parts ways' with host after admitting White House gave her questions before Biden interview​

 

[lenaitch]

If anyone is curious here is the list of who signed it, which conveniently includs how old they were when signing it;

Signers of the Declaration of Independence

Download this Information in PDF Format Name State Rep.

www.archives.gov

Average age is 44.5 years old, with the youngest being 26 and the oldest being 70. They were mostly lawyers and merchants, with a few oddballs being farmers, ministers, physicians and a military officer. Interestingly a few were plantation owners.

And the average life expectancy back then was reportedly as either 35 years or 38-44 depending on the source.

 

[Brad Sallows]

And the average life expectancy back then was reportedly as either 35 years or 38-44 depending on the source.

Life expectancy is an average that is always skewed by child deaths, especially looking back more than the past few decades. A person who made it out of childhood didn't have the same expectancy then that we do now, but had reasonable prospects of getting threescore and ten. What's more notable is that people were expected to take on the responsibilities of adults at a younger age, and consequently those who became accomplished/successful did so while relatively young.

 

[dimsum]

Video shows Trump cheering on Heritage Foundation 'plans' he claims he didn't know about

Former President Donald Trump has been caught on video praising a think tank whose plans he now says he didn't know existed. The right-wing Heritage Foundation brought together several MAGA thought leaders from Trump's orbit to craft their "Project 2025," a plan to radically expand the powers of...

www.rawstory.com

After the Project 2025 stuff coming out and this video from 2022, Trump either:

1. Lied about not knowing anything about it, or
2. Honestly couldn’t remember, even though a bunch of the folks involved in it are close associates

I’m not sure what’s worse.

The Project 2025 stuff is moustache-twirling-cartoon-levels-of-villainy so I’m willing to suggest that maybe it’s overblown, but some of the folks involved in the project also make me think it may not be overblown.

 

[dapaterson]

Life expectancy is an average that is always skewed by child deaths, especially looking back more than the past few decades. A person who made it out of childhood didn't have the same expectancy then that we do now, but had reasonable prospects of getting threescore and ten. What's more notable is that people were expected to take on the responsibilities of adults at a younger age, and consequently those who became accomplished/successful did so while relatively young.

Life expectancy is skewed by deaths... um... yes.

 

[daftandbarmy]

The crowd are getting antsy...

You could sense the embarrassment as Biden spoke, a sign of how low the presidency has sunk​

Things didn’t get off to the best of starts. Ninety minutes before he gave his solo press conference he hosted the Ukraine Compact in front of dozens of world leaders. Making the introductions he referred to Volodymyr Zelenskiy as President Putin. And this was off an autocue. He tried to brush it off as a slip of the tongue. A joke even. But the damage was already done. Do that sort of thing once and you can get away with it. Do it repeatedly and people aren’t so forgiving. Especially when most people are primarily listening out for the mistakes.

You could see the awkwardness on everyone’s face. Not long after, Keir Starmer was asked at his own press conference if this was yet another sign of Biden’s mental decline. The prime minister was a model of diplomacy. He had spent much of the conference telling the British media how on the ball the US president had been throughout and he insisted Biden be judged on his performance over the whole two days. He carefully avoided any reference to this latest mistake. But it’s not a good look when world leaders have to cover up.

You could sense the embarrassment: Biden’s press conference a sign of how low the presidency has sunk | John Crace

The post-Nato press conference was an opportunity for the world to see Biden unscripted, but there was no coming back from the Zelenskiy/Putin slip up

www.theguardian.com

 

[Remius]

At this point Democrats only have themselves to blame.

 

[QV]

Democrats and Republicans. The establishment class.

 

[Brad Sallows]

The crowd are getting antsy...

You could sense the embarrassment as Biden spoke, a sign of how low the presidency has sunk​

Just a little under four months to go.

If he continues about as well as he is doing now, his obvious lapses of incapacity sink him.

If handlers hide him away, people will infer the incapacity already witnessed is being concealed.

If they try another 2020 "basement" campaign, with "lids" being frequently called on his activities, people will assume incapacity is the reason. (Also, the "lid" business is a reminder that people knew at least that long ago about his difficulties.)

Biden is on track to become (temporarily) the most hated man in America, with his wife the most hated woman. When he loses, a lot of disappointed, frustrated, or angry people will be looking for a point of blame. His insistence on running, and the belief his wife is partly responsible for pushing him, will draw the criticism.

Democrats "can't" interrupt their march towards nominating Biden in the same way that countries "couldn't" interrupt their mobilizations in the run-up to WW I. They know they can lose the presidency; they know it might degrade their chances of winning the House; they know there's a high likelihood at least one USSC nomination is at stake. They claim all those things are really important, but right now they are failing to act as if those claims are true. It might be true that none of the three main scenarios - Biden nominated, Harris nominated, Someone Else nominated - has much of a chance, but only two of those have been polled in head-to-head matchups for months and consistently come up short.

The situation is the best fit to the "emperor's clothes" fable I have ever seen. People aren't merely embarrassed or dismayed as observers; a large number of the people speaking out were to varying degrees aware at some point prior to debate night and are trying to cover their own parts in the informal conspiracy to mask Biden's state of mental acuity. Again, for some this goes back at least four years.

 

[QV]

Just a little under four months to go.

If he continues about as well as he is doing now, his obvious lapses of incapacity sink him.

If handlers hide him away, people will infer the incapacity already witnessed is being concealed.

If they try another 2020 "basement" campaign, with "lids" being frequently called on his activities, people will assume incapacity is the reason. (Also, the "lid" business is a reminder that people knew at least that long ago about his difficulties.)

Biden is on track to become (temporarily) the most hated man in America, with his wife the most hated woman. When he loses, a lot of disappointed, frustrated, or angry people will be looking for a point of blame. His insistence on running, and the belief his wife is partly responsible for pushing him, will draw the criticism.

Democrats "can't" interrupt their march towards nominating Biden in the same way that countries "couldn't" interrupt their mobilizations in the run-up to WW I. They know they can lose the presidency; they know it might degrade their chances of winning the House; they know there's a high likelihood at least one USSC nomination is at stake. They claim all those things are really important, but right now they are failing to act as if those claims are true. It might be true that none of the three main scenarios - Biden nominated, Harris nominated, Someone Else nominated - has much of a chance, but only two of those have been polled in head-to-head matchups for months and consistently come up short.

The situation is the best fit to the "emperor's clothes" fable I have ever seen. People aren't merely embarrassed or dismayed as observers; a large number of the people speaking out were to varying degrees aware at some point prior to debate night and are trying to cover their own parts in the informal conspiracy to mask Biden's state of mental acuity. Again, for some this goes back at least four years.

Unless... there are plans to once again be a midnight stoppage of counting in several key swing districts, go dark, re-convene in the morning with some sort of miraculous/never before seen leap ahead in the vote counts propelling Biden to a "historic" more votes than any president in history win.

 

[Brad Sallows]

Unless... there are plans to once again be a midnight stoppage of counting in several key swing districts, go dark, re-convene in the morning with some sort of miraculous/never before seen leap ahead in the vote counts propelling Biden to a "historic" more votes than any president in history win.

There isn't much use clinging to oddball unproven theories about what happened during an election in which novel measures had to be taken to safeguard public health, particularly when most of the underlying evidence has plausible explanations rooted in mundane things like "how advance and mail-in votes are collected", and "these states count early votes last". Some of the jurisdictions did themselves no favours by making their vote-counting processes look opaque, but the bar for fraud has to be a provable claim. If the election comes down to one district in one swing state; sure, anything that doesn't look like customary practice has to be investigated to the roots.