"Will you shut up, man?" US Politics October 2020

We recently learned a tragically sad story of a veteran in the Rochester region.

When he stopped receiving increased unemployment assistance, he couldn't pay his mortgage and heartbreakingly committed suicide.

I just demanded we pass suicide prevention acts. pic.twitter.com/hD8LbEI96A

— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) October 24, 2020

Last line actually caught me by surprise.

fucking hell

if she goes to RGV or el paso you'll know they're serious and they think they can win. if she's in the dallas suburbs then they're doing it for the national coverage and donations.

Perhaps a sign?

FLASH: The Biden campaign is canceling TV ad schedules that had been booked in TEXAS (10/27-11/3 flight)

They are still staying up in El Paso and San Antonio markets

— Medium Buying (@MediumBuying) October 25, 2020

Holy fuck if that Schumer tweet ain’t the Democrats in a nutshell

that schumer statement is unreal

like for real on the level of "let them eat cake"

RE: Texas, is are they simply focusing the rest of their efforts on the areas with lowest turn out so far?

that schumer statement is unreal

a much longer video clip of Schumer is attached which puts the tweet into its proper context, but it is bizarre that whoever wrote the tweet (a staff member?) juxtaposes those sentences as the essence of what Schumer was saying. It comes across as grotesque, but it's not an accurate reflection of his much wordier statement or the context in which it was read.

The tweet is a powerful encouragement to never listen to Schumer speaking at all, but especially in the attached video.

RE: Texas, is are they simply focusing the rest of their efforts on the areas with lowest turn out so far?

― Darin, Sunday, October 25, 2020 4:13 PM (thirty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

if they do then that's how you know they're serious.

alternatively: if you see obama in texas at the end of the week then it's happening.

Small note that early vote now 59 million and more results will come in later in the day. I'll be interested in the initial total reported Monday morning with any overnight totals, allowing for the fact that there's less reporting on weekends. If it's 61 million that makes it 5 million over the weekend, which was my initial guess. If it's at/closer to 62 million, then the Friday pace continues and we'll see what goes next.

That said I half wonder if we might not see a little slowing if only because turnout has been so big already among energized voters; if it maintains or even increases, that will be striking -- then again, a lot of voters are still working through all the other races, local and statewide, regardless of their feelings on the presidency. Also, numbers will shift a bit after Friday since Texas's through-the-roof early vote wraps up on that day as noted earlier in the thread, though other voting options will increase elsewhere -- local example: up to now San Francisco has only had the Civic Center spot for ballot dropoff but that'll expand next weekend to a number of polling locations throughout the city.

And speaking of SF, my ballot dropoff yesterday was fully confirmed and accepted via the tracking site so that's a good feeling for sure.

Bold strategy Cotton, etc.

As we depart Maine for Washington, this was placed on every seat in the Air Force One press cabin pic.twitter.com/j8vkeiprP1

— Jonathan Lemire (@JonLemire) October 25, 2020

up to now San Francisco has only had the Civic Center spot for ballot dropoff

INDEPENDENTILXFACTCHECKER.org determines this claim by Ned Raggett FALSE.

Bill Graham was one of FOUR early ballot dropoff locations in San Francisco, which also included Linda Brooks-Burton Library, the Chase Center, as well as the Excelsior Library.

source: https://caearlyvoting.sos.ca.gov/

Is it true NY has no way to confirm your ballot has been received?

xpost Amazing!

More on Texas ponderings:

expect Kamala in the big Tex metros on what is the last day of early vote. Harris Co to keep polls open *all night* thurs, not closing till 7PM fri.

— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) October 25, 2020

A test of Biden‘s confidence/how haunted they are by 2016:

if the early vote does not pick up this week in the Rio Grande Valley, do they send Biden down on the final weekend to appeal to fellow Catholics?

— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) October 25, 2020

More black voters over the age of 65 have already voted in Georgia (201,889) than voted in total in the 2016 presidential election (193,993). There are still 9 days of voting remaining.

— Tom Bonier (@tbonier) October 25, 2020

Welp. https://t.co/nXOH1SNdLP pic.twitter.com/GKVAzZUWlG

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) October 25, 2020

Still giving Biden “only” 38% due to restrictive voting laws but still, wow

If Trump only wins TX by a point or two he’s pretty much screwed right?

I heard that Kamala Harris is so popular in Texas that they are renaming the county that includes Houston in her honor.

Henceforth it will be known as Harris County.

She's THAT influential, y'all.

If Trump only wins TX by a point or two he’s pretty much screwed right?

This is a delicious read, BTW.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/25/business/media/hunter-biden-wall-street-journal-trump.html

This episode of 60 Minutes is hilarious — because Trump wet himself and sloshed out of the interview, and Pence had absolutely nothing to say beyond canned lines he might as well have been reading off cards from his pocket, the Biden-Harris ticket is getting 3/4 of the hour.

Hilarious article, highly recommended xp

https://i.imgur.com/qT1KAUI.jpg

Where was all this serious gatekeeping when the NYT was slobbering over every latest Trump/Russia nugget?

jfc

This was Trump's epic meltdown on 60 Minutes and it was even worse than reported. Trump literally ran away because he didn't like the questions. pic.twitter.com/48Xu2TiI1o

— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) October 26, 2020

Note how he didn't deny saying that about why he says fake news

The permanent dumb rich kid sneer on his face makes my fists itchy

Trump's like when you were a kid, and your friends couldn't hang out, so you play basketball by yourself, and you start narrating.

"Neanderthal has the ball, he passes to...Neanderthal on the wing. Neanderthal dribbles left, then passes to Neanderthal who cuts through the lane. 10 seconds on the clock, and Neanderthal pump fakes, then kicks it out to Neanderthal behind the 3 point line. He shoots....and"...

...and then of course the ball soars over the hoop because you're fuckin terrible at basketball. so you uhhh....

"Neanderthal was FOULED! that is three free throws coming now, to possibly tie the game".

that's how Trump lives his Presidency, and to him, to question how well he is doing, is like in the scenario above, if you started hearing voices that said

"Bullshit, Neanderthal. You weren't fouled. in fact, the referees are conferring about it right now. in fact, you may even have traveled. you changed pivot feet before you passed".

This is a delicious read, BTW.

The tastiest bit: "Mr. Trump then did more or less the same thing as Mr. Reynolds, posting a video of his side of the interview to his own blog, Facebook."

Linked at the bottom is another even funnier blow from Benny, with this lede:

Did you catch Steve Harvey’s “Funderdome” on ABC? How about “The World’s Best” on CBS, “The Contender” on Epix, or “World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge” on Amazon Prime? Or the Christian-themed dramas “A.D. The Bible Continues” on NBC and “Messiah” on Netflix?

No? Well, you’re hardly alone. And the man behind the string of flops is Mark Burnett, the legendary TV producer who shaped Donald Trump’s image from “The Apprentice” through his 2017 inauguration. Like his greatest creation, Mr. Trump — who sought and then lost an idiotic television ratings war on Thursday night with Joe Biden — Mr. Burnett seems to be struggling to keep his grip on the cultural moment.

Wasserman is reaching his limit.

A few days out, the picture of this race is pretty clear:

1) Biden's lead (52%-43%) larger & more stable than Clinton's in '16
2) Far fewer undecided/third party voters than '16
3) District-level polls (which showed big problems for Clinton in '16) back up national/state polls

— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) October 26, 2020

If you're looking for a horse race narrative right now, you're not going to find it here. There was a time when it was easy to imagine this race going much differently. Eight days out, it's much, much harder. I've seen...almost enough.

— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) October 26, 2020

And good ol' Nate S too.

I've said this before, but while it's certainly possible that Trump could win, most theories of why he can win rely on dubious evidence and don't hold up well to scrutiny. 1/2

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) October 26, 2020

It's better to think of it this way: there are several theories for why Trump could win that very probably aren't true. But if you add up a lot of longshot possibilities, it's not that hard to get to a 10-15% chance, which is something worth taking seriously. 2/2

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) October 26, 2020

yeah but his emails

Well you know.

no i don't know because the LAMESTREAM MEDIA WON'T TELL ME

keep in mind one of those possibilities is a dramatic shift in the final week and I just cannot imagine what that would be

Let us fervently hope all this Biden-positive news boosts down ticket races and decisively erases the Republican Senate majority. They certainly deserve it.

Friday someone's going to mail a syringe to Fox News in an envelope that says "BIDEN'S BUTT SHOT"

NYT: Times Square Billboards With Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner Stir Skirmish, just for this quote from a NY state Trump campaign official:

Mr. Borelli said he has no insight into “polite society” but noted that Ms. Trump and Mr. Kushner “are always welcome on Staten Island.”.

How about a compromise and after the election they are just put on "an island."

Permanent exile to Jersey

Permanent exile to Jersey Nebraska.

Permanent exile to Jersey Nebraska.

fresh fish sold here today

My favorite thing in that Lesley Stahl clip is right at the beginning when he starts in about spying on his campaign and she just shakes her head and says "No," kind of softly but full of disappointment.

just like a movie theater owner that insists it's butter he's putting on the popcorn

Please somebody do a version where he’s saying “It’s butter, Lesley.”

“No.”

“It’s real butter, you can ask anyone on staff, they churn it themselves.”

“No.”

WHY COULDN'T 'JOURNALISTS' HAVE BEEN ASKING HIM TOUGH (and these questions aren't even that fucken tough, just too tough for President Pussy) QUESTIONS FOR THE PAST FOUR YEARS

Frankly, I'm happy to lump the bulk of the media in with the Lincoln Project yutzes at this point. Thank you for whatever little you're doing to help get us across the finish line at this particular time but once we're there I'm not gonna forget who you are or what you've done to enable this walking nightmare in the first place.

Six years ago, Angus King was calling press conferences to frame his caucusing with Dems as a way to have bipartisanship in Maine.

Now he’s signaling he may back expanding Court as a response to Barrett rush (vs Garland blockade).

The past 5 years summed up in one senator. pic.twitter.com/lrlP7abqBR

— Taniel (@Taniel) October 26, 2020

starting to think court packing is more likely than not

In the "even Fox News" category, this is a cogent take: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-hits-whatever-in-his-long-covid-retreat

Imagine talking to a Trump campaign official back in the spring when things seemed to be at their darkest on the pandemic front. What would he or she have told you if you described the condition of the economy and the spread of the coronavirus in mid-October?

What if you added in that the White House had seen a major infection outbreak after ignoring its own protocols? What if you said that Trump had been infected himself but still pooh-poohed mask wearing? What if you said he was holding rallies in swing states even as cases surged? What if you said Trump trashed his own public health team, with particular venom for Fauci? What if you said there had been no additional stimulus or bailouts?

Back then, they would have told you that Trump’s goose would be cooked if things were that bad and the candidate’s message was so undisciplined. But that, they would say, would never, ever happen because they are taking this all very seriously – vigilantly, even.