Where Are We Runnin’? - American Politics Thread, May 2022

Give baby food to illegals.

Dianne Feinstein gave birth in 1957 https://t.co/d0gnzuLeFy

— Nausicaa Renner 🪱 (@nausjcaa) May 12, 2022

i'm a shitposter not a logistics expert but this seems ... minimal

Here are the steps the White House just announced to help relieve the baby formula shortage: Increased flexibility for the WIC program, calling on the FTC and state AGs to crack down on price gouging and allowing more imports of baby formula --> pic.twitter.com/FLUOZAqK1s

— Kevin Robillard 🇺🇸 (@Robillard) May 12, 2022

Yikes, if one of the main responses includes “calling on state AGs”, that’s worse than nothing. Almost a third of those state AGs are aligned with the guy who hates immigrants so much that he wants their children to die first

Who hates immigrants so much that their children dying first is not only something he has thought about something he believes is common sense and a good political tactic to highlight

Just killing the children is the moderate position

Meanwhile Steve Schmidt has serious crazy-guy-with-a-sign-with-too-many-words-on-it energy.

I meant it pic.twitter.com/9MWlmDdXQz

— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) May 12, 2022

https://frinkiac.com/img/S05E09/889487.jpg

oops
https://frinkiac.com/img/S05E09/889487.jpg

tl,dr something about trade federations

In THIS household
We are NOT AFRAID of anyone
We HOLD THE LINE
We are not taking ONE FUCKING STEP backward
We are sick of the BULLSHIT
And we will beat your ass

Yikes, if one of the main responses includes “calling on state AGs”, that’s worse than nothing. Almost a third of those state AGs are aligned with the guy who hates immigrants so much that he wants their children to die first

― Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Thursday, May 12, 2022 3:27 PM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

the immigrant thing is a distraction intended to flood the zone with shit and i regret posting it here. the problem is not: do we give formula to one group of babies or another. it's: stores don't have enough formula to feed even a small fraction of babies.

In THIS household
We are NOT AFRAID of anyone
We HOLD THE LINE
We are not taking ONE FUCKING STEP backward
We are sick of the BULLSHIT
And we will beat your ass

And that's OK. And here's why.

Many XPs. FWIW, Troy Nehls was the corrupt & racist sheriff of my home county in Texas.

Fun Fact: my Mom had an encounter with him after he was brought in to deal with a multi-part pileup she was in heading to work one afternoon. Apparently the car that instigated the wreck had a Hispanic passenger with priors, and Nehls himself tried (and failed) to lean on my Mom and others to say they saw him throw drugs out of the car after their search turned up nothing.

Corporate greed is at the heart of the baby formula crisis America's parents are facing. Just five months ago one of the leading manufacturers of baby formula — Abbott — spent $5 billion on stock buybacks for wealthy shareholders, despite safety and production issues.

— Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) May 12, 2022

Mr. Choppy for the executives and board of Abbott IMO

Better: force them to eat baby food at bayonet point for the rest of their lives.

let's think outside of the box. inside the box, democrats are going to get absolutely destroyed in the mid-terms. that wasn't preordained, even though people have been saying it since Biden won the primary. but now, on their current path, having seen how they've responded to criticism and the experience of failing and are now doing....nothing? nothing at all??...it is time to get outside of the box.

here is my idea. they need to just start lying their asses off and reinventing the past. for example, BBB. that was a massive failure. the good news is that americans have NO idea what BBB is. i estimate that it's around 2-4%, tops. and those 2-4% definitely already know who they're voting for. the solution: don't worry about BBB! that didn't happen! if they get asked about it, just fucking lie. say you don't know what it is. better business bureau? but that's still there! why would we need to pass a law to create one? see? it's easy. just lie. THEN, try your do best to do ONE thing that is remotely fucking helpful for anyone, ever, and then if it happens, hold a parade and hire the blue angels to buzz the audience and then have little popsicles float down with tiny umbrellas. the kids will love, the adults will love it. just do stuff like that. forget about policy, forget about BBB, forget about saving lives or stopping fascism or any of that stuff, just ascend to the land of make believe and hold court there. "you take the earth -- we'll take the clouds" should be the slogan

THEN, try your do best to do ONE thing that is remotely fucking helpful for anyone, ever, and then if it happens, hold a parade and hire the blue angels to buzz the audience and then have little popsicles float down with tiny umbrellas.

and we should be iterating on the good ideas and expanding on them indefinitely. i look at my suggestion above and see that it's not going to work. it involves the democrats doing something remotely fucking helpful first, and then trumpeting that fact. so let's do away with the helpful part. let's just start with the parade and the popsicles with umbrellas. maybe THAT's the helpful thing that democrats can really do. and then tell the people about that, let them see what democrats do

remember when they stopped the eviction moratorium and jen psaki said it's ok because they were encouraging lawyers to represent tenants in eviction court? everything they do has that same energy of "we'll just ask people to follow the rules"

I get how Manchinema have blocked legislation, but it would help if the DNC and Senate/House reelection campaigns, with their considerable cash, would pay for vulgar mendacious attack ads aimed at the GOP.

as usual i've been following along with josh marshall as he tries to figure out what the hell is going on. lately he's been going on about the idea of running on the idea of getting 52 senators - explicitly telling voters that if they can get them to 52 votes (or 53, possibly, hopefully not more than that), then they "will" abolish the filibuster and codify Roe (too little too late, possibly, with that, but at least something concrete). on an abstract level i think this would be great. i would absolutely love to get a list of legislation that WILL be passed if the Democrats can gain a couple members to offset Manchin and Sinema (both of whom should wreck themselves before they wreck themselves). i think that really would be a powerful motivator in races across the country, to have that guarantee to Democratic voters that THIS time, they're pledging to do x y and z, that they know they'll need to abolish the filibuster and they have at least 2 members who choke on shit, so they need 2 more. it would be energizing to have some of reconnection between cause and effect.

however -- back in real life, which fucking blows, that's a terrible idea. it only makes sense to the 73,516 people in this country who even know how many senators there are, or how many votes are needed to pass something, or that it's technically 50 but in reality it's 60, or how many senators the democrats have right now, or who joe manchin or sinema are, or how long a senate term is, or how long a supreme court term is. even if you could somehow get that message out, "we need your help to get to 52, and that's what when we'll do these things", the natural response among the vast majority of people who don't know and are just guessing is "but if you already have 50, and you already have 50, why do you need 52?", and if you explain why well, because we actually need 60 because of this thing that sounds like it's a 1920's theme bar, but we need 50 votes to end that, and 2 of the votes are..." NOPE!! you already lost!!! it's too complicated!! lol

and that's before you even get to the gerrymandering in the house which forces Democrats to win several percentage points more than 50% in the national election in order to maintain a majority. good luck explaining that one.

I think republicans understand this. what is the most complicated issue they present to their base? what is the most complicated thing they ask them to understand?

xp

i'm on day two of zero meds (after tapering) and i am cranky as fuck, i'm sorry

honestly i think the most complicated issue they present to voters is stuff like "should i tolerate people who kneel during the national anthem?" people rightly criticize that as culture war bullshit, but that is an ethical dilemma that comes close to overloading the systems of their patriotic fascist base, one which can only be resolved by looking at each other and nodding along as they all listen to big daddy tell them "no, the people who kneel are bad americans and they are lying about racism"

explicitly telling voters that if they can get them to 52 votes (or 53, possibly, hopefully not more than that), then they "will" abolish the filibuster

Approximately five people would believe this.

cue film of Joe Biden promising people $2k if they elected Warnock and Panera Boy

this is definitely the party that just needs a little more help getting over the finish line

Pelosi continues backing Cuellar: "I’m supporting Henry Cuellar, he’s a valued member of our caucus. The FBI has said he’s not under investigation."

"He is not pro-choice, but we didn’t need him" to pass abortion-rights legislation in the House

— Natalie Andrews (@nataliewsj) May 12, 2022

this has to be the last 8 months with Pelosi at the helm, right? assuming Democrats even hold onto the house? if they lose, obviously she's done and hopefully she'll just move on to being an incredibly rich private citizen and living her dream life while everyone else gets fucked.

but if they somehow hold on, if there is anything resembling a god in this universe, if they vote for Pelosi again, they don't deserve a single vote for the rest of this century

Approximately five people would believe this.

― papal hotwife (milo z), Thursday, May 12, 2022 5:32 PM (seventeen minutes ago)

*raises hand *

Biden's a dying mephitic pustule, but putting the FDR bullshit aside I think he wants to believe he can be a great prez. His age and Senate-based insolence aren't helping on the other fronts though.

I have a long screed I might put up inspired by Karl.

*slow clap begins to build*

LONG! SCREED!
LONG! SCREED!
LONG! SCREED!
LONG! SCREED!

We need to stop thinking about these lying motherfuckers not doing anything or actively wanting to kill us and start forming more real networks of solidarity and mutual aid. I’m over it— there’s nothing that the politics of the US can offer except pain, so moving to the ground level (and I do NOT mean on political campaigns of any sort) of community work is the only thing that will possibly help others and make things more tolerable.

i do feel fatalistic (obviously, i know) about the midterms, though, and i did not feel that way last fall, even after BBB was obviously failing. last fall, i thought there was like a 85% chance of republicans taking the senate. i now see that as 99.999999999%, due to the total lack of a coherent response from democrats since then, and also because right now (again, i lean toward marshall's view on this) they are being handed the ultimate political wedge issue with abortion, something that 70% of the country disagrees with - and critically, i don't think many of those 70% people really understand how fucked up it really is and what it portends - and...what are they doing? they're doing some things, sure, but they're certainly not taking advantage of something that is not only a moral obligation to fight against but also a HUGE political advantage, one that they did nothing to deserve, one that happened despite of their inaction over the years, even.

xp

Biden might be desperate to protect his legacy no matter what it takes but that doesn't mean Coons, Tester, Shaheen and Kelly are.

All of them should get shot into the sun

Coons, Tester, Shaheen and Kelly

is that your list of silent filibuster-filibusterers, beyond manchin and sinema? i don't follow them closely enough to know that they think, but wouldn't surprise me. but i think it's more likely that they would throw their weight behind the "reform the filibuster" moderate position, bringing the indefinite jimmy stewart goes to washington-style talking filibuster back. which, yes, would have been a cool, good move back in the 2000s, but now is a pathetic half-step which would not stop what's happening from happening

Those are just the people I remember saying various forms of not being on board with abolishing the filibuster in the last couple of years. Maybe some have softened, maybe not, but the equation changes when it's something they'd actually have to go through instead of having Manchinema to hide behind.

Even if they did some kind of one-off reform to 'codify Roe,' it's not like the party can point to actions they've taken to make anyone believe it would have teeth when it's inevitably side-stepped by or completely demolished by the Supremes. The problem with Marshall's idea of explicitly saying they're going to do something as a sales pitch to voters is the long history of Ron Howard's narrator stepping in to say "they did not, in fact, do anything."

And they’re not going to.

The problem with Marshall's idea of explicitly saying they're going to do something as a sales pitch to voters is the long history of Ron Howard's narrator stepping in to say "they did not, in fact, do anything."

oh, for sure. they're not going to do that. i think he's offering it up as an alternative to what is really happening (nothing) and the criticism that surrounds it. from the TPM reader mail posts, it seems he gets a lot of stuff from people like me who are just completely fed up with democrats and ready to burn it the fuck down. he's obviously not going to agree with that, and i'm glad that there are people out there who actually retain some sense of optimism that we are not, as we appear to be, completely fucked. that's not a winning strategy either. i don't think it's a realistic idea, with this group of senators and this democratic party, to be open with voters about the situation and the numbers and what they need and pledges about what they "will" do if they get 52 senators. it's a great idea but they are way too cowardly, and you have fucking chuck schumer and nancy pelosi running the show and they're at the U2 show with bill gates this weekend, sorry. but i also don't see a lot of other good ideas that have a remote chance of actually happening, either

which is why we're 0.000000000001 seconds to 99.9999999999% midnight

also, i agree the immigrant "angle" on the baby formula stuff may well be flood the zone shit, or have that effect, but am i the only one who feels a _little_ bit weird that it's just commonplace and expected for republicans to dehumanize anyone who isn't a white christian and casually suggest that maybe their babies aren't as worthy of life? is the proper response to just ignore it?

INBOX: ⁦@GovAbbott⁩ slams ⁦@JoeBiden⁩ ⁦@POTUS⁩ for providing baby formula to undocumented immigrants during a national shortage #txlege #tx2022 pic.twitter.com/OGhLYVl1Q5

— Evan Smith (@evanasmith) May 12, 2022

Reading this thread, I have never been more firm about a decision than to skip Charlie Crist's speech to my crew of local young Dems.

I really hope Beto loses it during a debate and Tommy Udos Abbott off a high stage into the pit.

You should go there and boo him. What a complete fucking joke that a former republican is supposed to the guiding light for democrats, in this time, right now. And didn’t he lose to fucking Marco Rubio? Are the democrats in FL trying to lose?

I’m serious: are they trying to lose? It appears from the outside that they’re throwing the election. Someone put Oliver Stone on this one

maybe the thinking is there is no way anyone is going to beat DeSantis, so Charlie Crist and Nikki Fried and all of the other democratic candidates are irrelevant

Annette Taddeo, the candidate who flipped a red district in 2017, is my pick and will bow out because Crist has the $$. My local group was told we will get no more money because the national party has given up on Florida to concentrate on Arizona and Georgia.

When he last spoke to us in May 2021, I said to him, "Congressman, don't confuse my honesty with impoliteness, but what makes you think someone with your record can win in 2022?"

Nice! What did he say?

omigod

We met at a park on the Saturday before Mother's Day during the vaccine honeymoon. He wore a shirt and tie and the smallest buckle shoes I've ever seen -- they could've been keychains. He said, "Alfred, take your glasses off. Let me look you in the eye." Then he delivered a speech about his Greek mom: how she taught him to stand against injustice, etc., and as a former governor himself he understood how to handle bigots like DeSantis.

It was most unconvincing, and everyone left making fun of him not two minutes after his departure. We even had state rep candidates whom his staff hadn't told him were running for office. He couldn't name them!

Val Demings a few months ago, however, was far more impressive. The first Democratic woman elected to the Florida legislature 20 years ago grabbed her hands and said, "Don't abandon us. You can win with the Cuban vote."

I am really sorry. For all of us, but especially you, trying to decide whether or not to remove the glasses and look at him in the eye

President Biden will urge states and cities to use unspent money from last year’s $1.9T Covid relief package to fund crime prevention programs and hire police officers. https://t.co/aWLTOesHww

— NBC News (@NBCNews) May 13, 2022

Slap in the face in more than one way, to entirely different groups of people, some of whom overlap.

ffs