Sunday, July 21, 2024

Inviting Path


 

51 comments:

  1. Time for a Susan Screed. I watched Professor Lichtman on Meidas Touch on 7/20/24. He is the man who has correctly predicted every winner of the race for President since 1984. He verbally tore the /?Democratic Party into little shreds and then set the shreds on fire. He says their spineless self-destruction is causing Biden’s poll numbers to drop. He said polls are snapshots and it is dangerous to guide politics by polls. Further said polls always underestimate Democratic votes. Summed up both parties with “Republicans have no principles. Democrats have no spines”. I have always believed that. I remember how they left Al Gore, Howard Dean and Bernie Sanders out in the cold. Now they are stampeding for the exits over fear of losing and Biden is the victim of that. Prof. Lichtman said the Democrats would be foolish to push Biden out, and I agree. He also had harsh (and deserved) criticism of the media. The media has done us a tremendous disservice as they are *supposed* to be the “Guardians of Truth”. Instead they have both-sides us into a slide toward autocracy we will not escape. They magnify every Blip from Biden while totally ignoring Trumps in-your-face insanity. Sorry for the length and any typos and my eyes have gotten so bad I can’t see well. Glad I’m old, but fear for my children and grandchildren.

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    1. Susan, I saw the same program. Agree with the professor completely. Agree with you completely.

      They have done it. Between them, the corporate media and the jellyfish the Dems have as leaders have ousted the only candidate with a proven trackrecord of beating Trump. The only reason I haven't changed my party registration yet is that my state ID is downstairs and I'm too lazy to trek all the way down there to get it. I'll fetch it on my way back upstairs after supper. The change will still be there ready to process Monday morning.

      I have seldom been so angry in my entire sixty years. The guys on Shrinking Trump this week talked a lot about Biden being the victim of relentless and shzameless ageism, and it's true. In no other country would such a gratuitous, venal and downright STUPID thing have happened.

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    2. Susan, I liked your comment so well, that I quoted it "from my friend" on a group conversation on Facebook.

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  2. p.s. Now the "Democratic Elite" are telling us that being old if worse than being a psychopathic meglomaniac. As an old lady I resent the hell out of that. -Susan

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    1. Being old (as Biden is) is very different from being senile (as Trump has long been). I am honestly surprised by how many people seem unable to recognize senility. I have had three close relatives who became senile, and professionally encountered quite a few more.
      ----Alan

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  3. p.p.s. George Conway has formed a PAC to expose Trump's many negatives to the public in a way the media won't. The PAC is "PsychoPAC.org" I donated. -Susan again.

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    1. Thanks for the reminder, Susan. I'll zap on over and donate right now.

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  4. Well, it is what it is.
    -----Alan

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  5. {listener}

    President Biden deserved better than this. He earned deepest global respect, and got taken down by his own party members. “Et tu…?” I feel ashamed to be an American.

    It’s a mess of the Dems’ making.

    It had better not backfire!! 😡🌀

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  6. Speculation about possible Harris running mates. [Click] Not terribly impressive speculation.
    —Alan

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    1. Agree. Total unknowns until they get to Gretchen Whitmer and Gavin Newsom. --nordy

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    2. And Newsom would have to move out of California to be Harris's VP. And when he was running for Governor he was cheating on his wife, banging the wife of his campaign manager. And who can forget his big fancy dinner at The French Laundry during Covid "lockdown."
      -----Alan

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    3. Howard Dean mentioned recently both that he supported Biden staying in the race, but that if he stepped out Dean thought Josh Shapiro would make a great VP candidate. He's Gov of PA, the swing state with 19 electoral votes (the most of any swing state), and he is much revered for getting the highway collapse fixed in something like 12 days and livestreamed...!

      So either Josh Shapiro or Gretchen Whitmer are needed, as Michigan has 15 electoral votes.

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  7. Devastating news if true. Another Trump presidency was the last thing I wanted.

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  8. No, not by his own party members, by a handful of jellyfish who want to look like big, tough guys on CNN. The actual people want him. The actual people voted for him in the primaries. The actual people don't give a flying fuck what is best for cable news ratings or their web sites' click throughs and, I suspect, most actual people don't have a clue what this crap was all about and won't understand why he quit - won't understand that he didn't jump, he was kicked and shoved!

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  9. If the delegates had spines, they would hold firm. According to Meidas Touch, the Pres. has approx. 99% of them. All the delegations have to do is stand firm and cast their votes as they were elected to cast them. Then the hPres. would be the nominee and the jellyfish be damned. Of course, that's not going to happen, because people are cowards, er, jellyfish.

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  10. Bill, all is not yet lost. Harris is pretty spectacular when you see her in action. She has fine credentials and, a not inconsiderable thing, Pres. Biden has endorsed her. Moreover, Trump remains the monster today he was yesterday. We keep working, though our hearts are heavy. We can do this, because we must. A second Trump presidency is simply not an option.

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  11. Lichtman Live #58 two days ago: What Should Dems do if Biden Steps Aside? (PLAN B) [Click]
    ----Alan

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  12. A pox on Obama. The principal reason I did not vote for him was that based on his history as a Senator I had him pegged as a go-along-to-get-along politician rather than what I think of as a real Democrat. And here he goes again, campaigning against Biden. Together with HRC, who rose to political importance because of whom she married, which I do not consider a qualification for the Presidency. Will Harris have what it takes to assert control over this spineless lot? They probably think they can keep her under their thumb; after all, she was the director of HRC's California campaign. Maybe being Mr. Biden's understudy has taught her a lot, but at this point I wouldn't bet on it. If she should choose Whitmer as her running mate, that would impress me. A White Southern male? No.
    -----Alan

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  13. I simply cannot see any other Democratic candidate establishing a viable campaign presence this late in the game. of course there are huge numbers of anti-Trump voters, but can they be a majority?

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  14. Whitmer should give the Democrats Michigan, and could bring women voters out of the woodwork across the country. Couple that with an explicit campaign to finish what Biden started, and that could do the job. Well, interesting times.
    ----Alan

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  15. Fellow bloggers, I can hear your anger and frustration at Biden's treatment by the press and his own party. I hesitate to write anything that would make it worse. But I also need to say what I think, and I think Biden did the right thing by dropping out. Based on what I have seen, especially since the debate, I see no way Biden could serve until age 86. He finally yielded, not so much to pressure from the press, but to pressure from fellow
    Democrats and big party donors. It is unfair; Biden has accomlplished more on the domestic agenda that any president since LBJ. Yet the American people have demonstrated an inexplicable ability to all but totally ignore Biden's accomplishments. But regardless, I think Biden could only serve the country by stepping aside. --nordy

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    1. I will be 88 in a few weeks.

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    2. Oh, yes. And I'll turn 88 while attending the Wold Science Fiction Covention in Glasgow, Scotland. And the following week I will be a panelist at the European Science Fiction Convention in Rotterdam.

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    3. Good for you, Bill. People age at different rates. --nordy

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    4. What a great way to celebrate your birthday! that sounds so memorable. Have a great time!

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    5. nordy, if it's unfair, as you say, and the people have an inexplicable ability to ignore Biden's achievements, does it truly serve the country for him to step aside? Wouldn't it have served us better for the press to be taken to task and his achievements to be highlighted? I mean, do we really have to run the country like some public school classroom and dumb the whole class down to the level of the kid in the class who is falling behind? I'm sick and tired of the "C group" being in charge of the School Board

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    6. It's really that politics and achievements are deemed boring and the sensationalist stuff is what the people who own the media want pushed. Remember that the moguls who own the media are conservatives! Bernie has spoken about this again and again. What needs to happen is to break up the media conglomerates, stop gerrrymandering, SuperPACs and giving companies the same rights as citizens.

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    7. "If it bleeds, it leads." Consider how the newspapers published propaganda that led the US to declare war on Spain, as another example. Blaming Spain, either directly or indirectly, for the sinking of the Maine sells a lot more newspapers than a smoldering fire in its coal bunkers that eventually sets off the magazine.
      ---Alan

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    1. Yes; it doesn't need to be changed at all, and suggests a campaign of similar ones.
      ---Alan

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  17. Peter Wehner in the Atlantic: "Joe Biden made the right choice":
    In the end, and to his credit, Joe Biden got to where he needed to be, and not a moment too soon. Staying in the race would have been an act of monumental selfishness. As it is, what he did will be seen as an act of impressive selflessness. --nordy

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    1. I must admit that I am downcast by the fact that finally we had a President of my [the "Silent"] generation and after only four years it is over. I hope that Harris will explicitly carry on what he started.
      -----Alan

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    2. I also hope that Harris (assuming she is elected President) will ask (successfully) most or all of Biden's cabinet to stay on.
      -----Alan

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    3. I don't know who Peter Wehner is but we will have to agree to disagree.

      Heather Cox Richardson today held a half hour live talk, and she mentioned that Biden is known for his excellent timing. It is her opinion that he deliberately stayed in the race until after the GOP Convention so that the Repubs would choose their VP without realising what they were actually up against. I will add that he also made this announcement ahead of the DNC getting together to certify his nomination. He kept it to himself; didn't even tell his staff or Kamala Harris until today, just before the announcement. Doesn't sound very senile to me.

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    4. I can certainly accept HCR's interpretation of Biden's timing. Countering Vance with Whitmer as VP would be a nice move too! ZOT!
      ------Alan

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  18. I've put together some thoughts over at The Arty Blog [click].a

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    1. Oops Didn't have time to proofread that link, having been called for supper. Here it is corrected:

      President pushed out by Dem. leadership in bogus crisis - Click

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    2. Cat, a great summary of your pov. I signed up to follow. --nordy

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  19. Eldest commented on my basic comment above:
    "It will be impossible to know whether it backfires. Democrats could win or lose with any ticket and there isn't a perfect way to know how another ticket would have fared instead. I agree that Biden deserved better, but most of that came years ago when Obama came out of nowhere and then he was discouraged from running to make way for Clinton. I would have voted for Biden, but have real concerns about him being up to the job four years from now. I know he could resign along the way, but it isn't about what Biden deserves or could do or not do...it is about keeping Trump out of the White House. I am optimistic that the Republicans will be old news through the fall and there will be a lot of interest in the Democrats and a hopefully energetic younger ticket."

    My response to him was:
    Maybe. But it’s beyond the 11th hour.
    I can’t shake the feeling that there’s a hidden agenda here, and wish I could put my finger on it.

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  20. To clarify...I made the same comment on my Facebook page and Eldest (ever the philosopher) responded there.

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  21. Lichtman Live #59 [Click] No closed captions and the sound quality is very poor— I MIGHT be able to understand half of it, but my ears are defective.
    ——Alan

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    1. My ears aren't what they used to be either, Alan. I had difficulty following, but then his son and video partner mentioned near the end that the feed sound was bad; so, it wasn't just us.

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    1. I noticed that, but didn't watch it.
      ----Alan

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