U.S. Politics, November 2022: “I don’t know, you hear the same things I do”

And this month is CRUCIAL!!

Think I wantcha!

Some reasonably good local news — they caught the guy who shot at and burned down our local Planned Parenthood office. He unfortunately died from a medical issue while in jail on other charges (shooting at a federal building) and hadn't even been charged with the Planned Parenthood crimes yet. 63 years old, was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, member of the Catholic group Church Militant Resistance. White guy, if that needs to be said.

A real loss to the world, sounds like.

He unfortunately died from a medical issue

His head was stuck all the way up his ass?

I'm guessing it was COVID and his family doesn't want to say so.

BREAKING: Supreme Court *rejects* Lindsey Graham’s request in the 2020 election-fraud case in Georgia. He must testify about Trump’s attempt to thwart Biden’s win.

— Steven Mazie (@stevenmazie) November 1, 2022

Too bad, so sad for the Paper Tiger of the Senate.

Huckleberry Lawyerup

I can't help but read the stories about Bolsonaro's supporters blocking roads as he refuses to concede and imagining this is just a preview of 2024 here.

Jan 6 types will def be taking notes about Brazil's election aftermath.

he is expected to concede shortly

wimp

You can't really say they're hiding it https://t.co/w9BhdYix8J via @patrickdmarley pic.twitter.com/HgpIQ0K6cB

— Astead (@AsteadWesley) November 1, 2022

Huckleberry Lawyerup

I am hearing this to the tune of "temporary layoffs" from the Good Times theme

probably just me tho

xxpost - we remember how lame/lackluster our trucker convoy was compared to the Canadians awhile back

Too many alternate routes in the U.S.

Dr. Oz, spending $27 million of his fortune on TV ads: https://t.co/mz3HbP4yr0 pic.twitter.com/a5bw7NBBFw

— John Fetterman (@JohnFetterman) November 1, 2022

What a loathsome toad.

Patriotism - Values - Integrity - Eats Occasional Vegetables

Oh look it's Gavin Newsom in Biden's rear-view.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is campaigning for embattled Democrats in an effort to bail out a party he says is being "destroyed on messaging.” He spoke exclusively with @MajorCBS addressing questions about whether his political ambitions extend beyond the Golden State. pic.twitter.com/CzVdOhz7kX

— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) November 1, 2022

And speaking of Biden, he's giving a speech tonight about democracy! This will definitely ensure democracy forever and ever, as the impassioned demos rises up as one in the wake of our leader's inspiring words.

If he's indeed the last democratically-elected president of the U.S., it'd kind of look weird for him not to give a speech about the importance of democracy

I'm all for a speech, I just lol at the mentality that thinks Joe Biden giving a speech is an answer to anything.

He could summon Merrick Garland to the Oval Office and punch him in the face.

Newsom notably says in that interview that he's not running for President in 2024 and in fact isn't interested in the role.

I'm all for a speech, I just lol at the mentality that thinks Joe Biden giving a speech is an answer to anything

Given that they refuse to do anything else, they pretty much just have signaling and symbology left. Plenty of Admin types still seem to be the kind of folks who think a rousing speech is all that’s necessary to close the deal

Newsom notably says in that interview that he's not running for President in 2024 and in fact isn't interested in the role.

If we assume the second isn't true (which I do) then there's no reason to think the first is true either. But obviously he's not going to declare unless/until Biden clears the way. Not that I think a Newsom run is a great idea or anything. Being firmly of the belief as I am that Biden should under no circumstances seek reelection, I'm still at a loss as to who should run.

lol

New: Monmouth U poll finds very little movement in PASen race post debate.
Fetterman: 48% "definitely" or "probably" support (same as early Oct)
Oz: 44% support (up 1 - though with more "definites" now)

4.5% MOE
All interviews done post debatehttps://t.co/BizaBpq8yf

— Jonathan Tamari (@JonathanTamari) November 2, 2022

The most misleading thing about that tweet is the Photoshopped graphic that makes Oz (6'1") and Fetterman (6'8") look like they're the same height.

same moral height if you were

Oz looking more like an aging muppet

I don't think Newsom can win the presidency, he'd have to be running against some extremely milquetoast republican, which is not the sort of person the GOP will ever nominate again. I more or less like Newsom, but the dude has a ton of negatives and has not ever been very good at optics.

Plus, Biden ain't budging unless he croaks.

the Democratic candidate for 2024 needs to be a wrestler. Biden will be primaried. the wrestler needs to be a new up and comer who arrives on the scene this year or early next.

and the wrestler will in exchange for his exposure promise to run on a progressive platform and also tape campaign ads in the middle of fights

because honestly I don't see how else we win, everything is backwards.

Newsom notably says in that interview that he's not running for President in 2024

politicians lie about their presidential intentions almost universally.

It's not completely up to Biden. Especially depending on the midterms, if they look as bad as they're likely to, he is vulnerable to a serious challenge. He's very primary-able already. But it would take somebody sufficiently threatening probably to make him seriously consider not running.

If the GOP does take the House, the rationale is even stronger for him to step down, because he would most likely be facing impeachment timed for early 2024. If the GOP has to try to impeach him AND fight off a different Democratic candidate for president, it at least opens up a second front.

Trump and Clinton proved impeachment is no impediment, though.

I dunno, Trump lost. Not because of the impeachment but I don't think it helped him. But it's more the divided time and energy between campaigning and defending. Plus also the impetus for the GOP to seriously pursue impeachment goes way up if they get to impeach the guy they're also campaigning against, it makes it seamless.

yeah, that's highly debatable for both Trump and Clinton. Let's not forget how much Clinton was seen as a liability in the 2000 election.

Let's not forget how much Clinton was seen painted as a liability by the press in the 2000 election.

Al Gore absolutely treated Clinton like a liability in his campaign.

otoh, what exactly would Biden be impeached for? I'm not sure that republicans can pull it off without it looking like an utter sham. Even the Clinton impeachment had some questionable acts that it could be built around.

hunter's laptop

presumably that would be the focus, but so far the actual evidence against Hunter is extremely thin, and none of it links back to Joe

Here's the angle:

Is a 25th Amendment removal in Joe Biden’s future?
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/3714038-is-a-25th-amendment-removal-in-joe-bidens-future/

(it's an op-ed)

Impeached for giving speeches about democracy

You can impeach a ham sandwich with the coming GOP majority. Most likely things are mental acuity, the Afghan withdrawal or something to do with Hunter. Or maybe the Russians will helpfully turn over some damning documents, who knows. Lots of things can go wrong between January and October of next year. Maybe they'll impeach him just for failure to comply with their blizzard of investigations.

Oh, the authoritarian vaccine mandates too.

So will this fucker ever be forced to resign? Sorry for linking to politio.

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/02/trump-lawyers-saw-justice-thomas-as-only-chance-to-stop-2020-election-certification-00064592

no

And they force Republicans to block it, blunting whatever appeal Rubio or whoever is making. (Cynical, sure.)

Was there another way to avoid this farrago? I'm asking seriously.

Is ms Pelosi still in post?

Do you mean the potential for a strike?

If that’s what you mean, the main issue is that rail companies have been consolidating and recording insane profits over the past decade or so, all while furloughing or downright firing workers. Many companies want (and some have gotten) one-person crews, who are then responsible for the amount of dangerous work that was done by three people only 25 years ago. This creates dangerous conditions for workers, but also dangerous conditions on our rail system and every community it goes through.

This is to say nothing of workers being on-call so that they don’t have guaranteed weekends, can’t ask for days off, and are often forced to work when hurt or tired.

The Biden administration is on the side of the rail companies and brokered a deal in the fall that didn’t actually get the approval of an enormous chunk of union membership, but the baddies believed that they would accept the deal eventually because what else is new, you don’t want to cause a nationwide logistics hell around Christmas, right? Well, now the union is calling their bluff, and Biden and many Dems are showing which side their bread is buttered on.

To avoid this would have been easy— agree to the union’s very reasonable terms.

As a former hobo and someone who knows a lot of rails, I cannot stress how dangerous this kind of work is, and how a bunch of suited assholes in Washington shouldn’t have any say over the safety and wellbeing of rail workers.

Was there another way to avoid this farrago? I'm asking seriously.

A pro-labour train enthusiast might nationalise the railways.

Yeah, that's gonna happen.

You'd think so given Amtrak's quasi-public corp status.

The outcome of these sorts of policies are disasters like the Lac-Megantic tragedy, among others too numerous to name.

yeah

It’s by the problem here that union leadership and membership disagree with each other as well as the railroads?

Pelosi's House speech:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday urged her colleagues to support both a bill to avert a national rail strike and a second piece of legislation that would give workers seven days of paid sick leave — addressing a concern from liberal lawmakers about the underlying deal brokered by the Biden administration.

“Today we are here to safeguard the financial security of America’s families, to protect American economy as it continues to recover and avert a devastating nationwide rail shutdown,” Pelosi said at the outset of the House floor debate on the measures.

Pelosi said the main bill, which reflects the deal brokered by the Biden administration, includes “important advances” for rail workers, including a sizable pay raise, from owners that had “made obscene profits on the backs of workers.”

But Pelosi said the second bill, mandating seven days of paid sick leave, is necessary to address a glaring deficiency in the first bill.

“It is outrageous that every developed country in the world has paid sick leave except the United States of America,” she said. “No one should be at risk of losing his or her job by staying home when sick, needing to see a doctor or getting lifesaving surgery.”

“Going to see a proctologist is not a reason why people would take a day off. They do that because they have to,” Pelosi added.

She closed by urging her colleagues to support both bills.

Bitcoin Bro was a 'both sides' kinda donor:

The fall of crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried has been painted as a big blow to the Democratic party, whose candidates were major beneficiaries of his largesse. But in a new interview, Bankman-Fried has claimed he gave equally large amounts of money to Republicans.

“I donated to both parties. I donated about the same amount to both parties..."

“All my Republican donations were dark,” he said, referring to political donations that are not publicly disclosed. “The reason was not for regulatory reasons, it’s because reporters freak the fuck out if you donate to Republicans. They’re all super liberal, and I didn’t want to have that fight.”

I assume that’s true but his proximity to the Democrats is the only thing that will get traction.

Also lol at Sean McElweenie for getting couped because of FTX.

Manchin not giving a firm answer on whether he’d support adding more sick leave to rail deal. Says he needs to review it more

Says he’ll vote for “Anything to prevent a strike that will enhance inflation and cause economic harm to our country.”

— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) November 30, 2022

Who could have seen this coming?!

Apologies if this has been discussed, but Kamala seems like the least visible VP of my lifetime. Quayle at least had a nice-sized gaffe. Am I missing something?

The standard excuse is that she was stuck in dc for the past two years breaking senate ties.

When she does go on camera she starts talking about Venn diagrams.

It's a combination of White House anxiety that they chose a woman who inspired turnout in 2020 but isn't a great improviser on the stump yet in the eyes of the right wing, as I know on Cuban radio, is the real power behind Joe Biden.

xp your collective hatred of Harris seems misogynistic to me

There's nothing to hate, she's a non-entity. VP is a dead-end job unless Joe keels over.

She's not a bad speaker, and she's been traveling the world and making positive connections with other world leaders, but maybe she's not visible to you, ok

Dan S, she’s literally an awful speaker. There are bits about it on left-leaning late night talk shows.

I know you don't like her, she's a cop, but come on

"in the eyes of the right wing, as I know on Cuban radio, is the real power behind Joe Biden" holy shit do they really think this? if anything she is being underutilized and has less power than she probably should. she is a terrible public speaker though.

She's on the spectrum of okay vice presidents. We overrate the administrative ability/damage of these people cuz (a) Cheney (b) Cheney. As a speaker she was fine on the Senate Judicial Committee and often way better than that.

But this thread is not the audience for Kamala Harris.

"in the eyes of the right wing, as I know on Cuban radio, is the real power behind Joe Biden" holy shit do they really think this? i

yes because #Blackwoman.

Because even in the cloacas of Cuban radio, no one hates Joe Biden. He's "el viejito," the Dems' Reagan but manipulated by la Pelosi y la Kamala

I am being totally serious: she is not a good speaker, and it’s not just right-wingers who believe this. Watch her address to Dems for 2022 on YouTube. Despite it being edited, it remains painful to watch.

I mean, fine? Biden, Cheney, Gore, Quayle, Poppy, Mondale, Ford -- how far ya want me to go back? All horrible speakers as veeps.

Mondale was a soporific that walked on two legs.

It’s never easy being the first, particularly when most of the people who voted you into office have an eye on the future and a hell of a lot of worry.

thank you

"I am being totally serious: she is not a good speaker, and it’s not just right-wingers who believe this"

I want to see your point of view but I still like her

US Politics December 2022: Get Sick on Your Own Time

She was tasked with stopping Hondurans from invading our borders, and she failed

I find her voice a little dreary but I don't think she's that awful a speaker

Her power over Hondurans was never sufficient to succeed in that task.

Fox making a dumb statement is funny enough, but considering Fox spent $1 billion on the World Cup TV rights makes this even funnier. https://t.co/m4noXAXMlx

— Aaron Grisham (@AGrisham247) November 30, 2022

"Soccer Needs To Be More Entertaining" for December Thread Title

She was tasked with stopping Hondurans from invading our borders, and she failed

Please don’t tell me you’re being serious.

“Excuse me?” is a quality December thread title but other possibilities are strong too

"US Politics needs to be more entertaining"

Or, "They're now the working class party, man."

Sherrod Brown dripping with sarcasm when asked if GOP senators will support paid leave for rail workers.

“They’re now the working class party, man. Marco Rubio’s a populist, they’re there man, they want help workers. They’re the Trotskyite party.”

— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) November 30, 2022

Maaaaaaaaaaaan

i could see post-trump republicans running into some of the same shoals as the tories in the uk, where you’ve got a new coalition of working class votes that you’ve purchased with xenophobia and culture wars, but eventually these voters will ask where’s the beef

December thread?

December 2022: Xenophobic working class warriors seek their beef

if that's the thread title, let's do it

US Politics, December 2022: "They're now the working class party, man."

I know Sherrod Brown is being sarcastic up there, but American political media and thus American political/electoral understanding is so deliberately terrible that even basic terminology doesn’t mean anything. They’re all words with various associated vibes that get tossed around, actual definition or context be damned