God Has Abandoned Us: U.S. Politics November 2023

Suzy, they’re here. https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4298890-22-democrats-censure-tlaib-over-israel-criticism/amp/

What’s the deal with Ken Buck

I think he cashed in his chips when he got death threats for not supporting Jim Jordan's bid for Speaker.

Face eating tigers, etc.

Dems maintain control and make small pick ups in the assembly and senate here in NJ.Moms for Liberty school board candidates for the most part lost their bids.

Sad that NJ ppl hate liberty and moms

Moms for Liberty school board candidates for the most part lost their bids.

Good.

I don't think people understand the massacre Republicans suffered down-ballot in PA tonight.

Obviously, PA SC was the focus and Allegheny had specific local factors, but Dems swept almost everything in winnable races from school boards, commissioners, etc. Especially in SEPA.

— Joshua Smithley (@blockedfreq) November 8, 2023

Shout out to my mom in SEPA

Josh’s mom OTM

I keep thinking about what is behind the concerns about Biden's age. Yes, all things being equal, I would prefer a president who was younger, and I think the elderliness of Congress is to blame for many of its failures. But as I've said before, in a general election, I'm usually voting for the policies of the Democratic Party vis a vis the policies of the Republican Party, so Biden's personal flaws don't play much of a role for me. So why does his age seem to be such a factor for so many?

I'm guessing a lot of people see all the problems facing the country and look at Biden and don't see someone who is dealing with them in a visibly energetic or forceful fashion. He's not angry, he's concerned. He doesn't yell, he whispers. He stumbles over his words. He can be charming at times but mostly in a leisurely, old-fashioned (grandfatherly?) way.

If you want as president someone who will project a strong image and inspire people, as Obama and Trump did for those who voted for them, then Biden is bound to disappoint. I get that. But it seems a mistake to put so much stock in personality over platform and policies.

Also, it annoys me that the conversation around Biden's age is so often framed around whether he is physically and mentally capable of doing the job. Not that those concerns are without merit, but it seems to me like that's not really what it's about.

First Somali-American mayor!

Nadia Mohamed elected in St Louis Park MN, a first-ring Minneapolis suburb which I am especially proud to call my home town on days like these.

If you look at the results, the American people love abortion, drugs, transpeople and, possibly, porn. It's a fundamental decent country despite a rancid elite.

— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) November 8, 2023

Josh's mom loves abortion, drugs, transpeople and, possibly, porn

Josh’s mom OTM

― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Wednesday, November 8, 2023 9:23 AM (twenty-nine minutes ago)

Most people I know who won’t vote for Biden have little to say about how old he is, but a lot to say that’s pretty in line with the Nolan piece that J0rdan posted above.

In 2020, I was going to vote early a few days after a young man in a mental health crisis was shot and killed by cops mere blocks from my house. There were police helicopters circling protests that entire week, and neither Biden nor Harris had anything to say except hedging bullshit, toothless comments about police accountability. I was going to vote for him, and then decided not to based on what I was seeing that day and what I had seen over the summer.

Images of dead children, of children who have pissed their pants and are covered in rubble dust and are shaking in fear involuntarily and are bleeding from their heads— these images stay with people. And Biden’s refusal to do anything to shift course and to simply “voice concern” about a second Nakba approaching genocidal proportions, will rightly keep many people I know from voting for him. Fuck him, and fuck all the politicians who are aiding and abetting this slaughter.

xpost Moms For Libertine

I keep thinking about what is behind the concerns about Biden's age. Yes, all things being equal, I would prefer a president who was younger, and I think the elderliness of Congress is to blame for many of its failures. But as I've said before, in a general election, I'm usually voting for the policies of the Democratic Party vis a vis the policies of the Republican Party, so Biden's personal flaws don't play much of a role for me. So why does his age seem to be such a factor for so many?

I am coming to the conclusion that the polls indicating that All Americans are Very Concerned about Joe Biden's age are a bunch of horseshit carefully crafted by news organizations in need of content. Election results are what matter, and last night's election results (sure, sure, "Biden wasn't on the ballot") make a much stronger argument than the New York Times or CNN calling a thousand people who still have — and pick up — land lines. Honestly, the HBO documentary Telemarketers should cause people to permanently discount any political poll. Because you know who's answering poll questions? The same idiots who sign their Social Security checks over to "Tony" from the PBA because he sounds so nice and honest on the phone.

Last night's results are def a shot in the arm after the polling misery, tho I guess those elections are harder to game than the general, and don't involve the skewed electoral college.

sorry, i know I'm harshing the mellow

ILX slogan

An interesting result from Montana; a 28-year-old was just elected mayor of Bozeman, though he won't take office till 2026 because of that city's bizarre rules. Bozeman is, I believe, the most expensive city in Montana to live in; it's about $2000 for a two-bedroom apartment in a faceless housing development.

Big takeaway from yesterday for the GOP is not a need for self-reflection but “we need to get better at cheating”. And I’m sure they will.

I saw a clip of Santorum on Newsmax saying a democracy is no way to run a country.

An all-time "quiet part out loud" moment in American politics

Rick Santorum is upset that Americans had an opportunity to vote on the things they actually care about. @atrupar.pic.twitter.com/3EiLJUNHtr

— The Intellectualist (@highbrow_nobrow) November 8, 2023

Moms For Libertine

lol

Sign me up!

Dems should find out how sexy universal healthcare is.

depends how you feel about latex

I don’t know about you lot but I’m pretty goddamn happy this morning. And I don’t even like weed all that much! I don’t even own a marijuana.

Republicans are way mad that Dems own the wedge issues now

I saw someone joke that the GOP was reduced to "at least we held on the governorship of Mississippi."

oh no, condolences WmC

I'm too sexy for my representative democracy.

xp oh well -- I didn't have any hopes up. I wonder what Brandon Presley is going to do for the next few years.

An interesting snippet from MSNBC this morning:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OZyCeFwkG8

Dems should find out how sexy universal healthcare is.

― il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Wednesday, November 8, 2023 9:44 AM (thirty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Oh God, I'm so hard (at work because I had access to free preventative healthcare and didn't need to go on disability)

knights731
22 minutes ago

What's more frightening is the idea that people are more concerned about terminating pregnancies than the sustainability of our country and freedom.

I am coming to the conclusion that the polls indicating that All Americans are Very Concerned about Joe Biden's age are a bunch of horseshit carefully crafted by news organizations in need of content.

OTM. NYT (which I subscribe to just to get access to their archives) has run a dozen articles about this, and I've seen only one article I can recall about Trump's age. And even that was an absurd soft-pedal: "How Trump’s Verbal Slips Could Weaken His Attacks on Biden’s Age". Verbal slips? He can't string four coherent sentences together. His nonsensical rambling is further downplayed in the piece as "his usual freewheeling style," "an unorthodox speaking style" and "his usual discursive nature". And for years, thanks to "editing for clarity", most accounts of his rallies and speeches simply select the more lucid quotes and exclude the bizarre ramblings, giving the reader the impression Trump is more sensical than he actually is.

And I say this as someone who definitely wishes Dem leaders were younger. It just rankles me that this is an issue when the other candidate is at about a fifth grade level, mentally. Democrats should just run some Vic Berger clips of Trump speaking as campaign ads to counter this age nonsense.

interesting snippet

The facts were all there and I love how encouraging the election results were, but the way the message was delivered was as homogenized as the canned music in a supermarket. Dems are still bad at cutting through people's "this is just more political bullshit" sensors, even when their accomplishments are real, not bullshit.

Rick Santorum calls abortion & marijuana "very sexy & secret sauce" for Democrats, as opposed to the not so secret sauce named after him.

Meantime, among the adults:

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-team-waging-gross-campaign-humiliate-desantis-1234872514/

We aren’t gonna be done with him until he’s fat again,” a crude reference to the Florida governor’s weight loss.

In the past month alone, the Trump campaign, or Trump himself, have also gone after DeSantis for his fashion sense (“Ron’s heels are high, his hopes have never been lower”); his manhood (“[Ron] is now a political eunuch. He’s the last person who should be talking about balls”); his brain (“completely fried and inoperable”); his allegedly bizarre eating habits (“stuffing your suit pockets with cold, stale chicken tenders”); and much else.

sick burns tbh

or just sick

Where else is he supposed to keep his chicken tenders? Pants pockets are too narrow.

Hm, Trump who wears lifts in his shoes, has been teased for the size of his hands, and subsists on McDonald's mocks DeSantis about his heels, his manhood, and his "bizarre eating habits."

I am coming to the conclusion that the polls indicating that All Americans are Very Concerned about Joe Biden's age are a bunch of horseshit carefully crafted by news organizations in need of content.

Eh don't get swept away by the moment. I'm super happy about yesterday's results too, and to me they point to a solid platform the Dems can and should run on next year, and that platform (plus Trump's despicability and the general loathesomeness and incompetence of the GOP at large) could help compensate for Biden's weaknesses.

But Biden's weaknesses are abundant. He's a very very weak incumbent. He is not popular. That's not one poll or a few polls, it's widespread and consistent. I do not know of another incumbent president with his combination of numbers who has been reelected. That doesn't mean it's not a winnable election, I think it's very winnable. But I think it's winnable more despite Biden than because of him, and that's just how it is.

The modern GOP, ladies and gentlemen