I second, third, and fourth the suggestion that Democrats should be hammering the ever-living hell out of the birth control issue. Do to the Republicans what the Yankees did to the Pirates last night (sorry Bucs fans, but that was a bloodbath).
“I was humbled to be awarded an honorary degree by the London School of Economics earlier this week. Thank you so much for this prestigious honour!”
— Tweet from Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank
"Y'all I'm losing my shit!! " - Tim Miller
Borrowed the Lagarde quote form David Brooks's Atlantic piece mocking the humbled-by-my-own-greatness line. Tim Miller dispenses with the mummery, and hits exactly the right note.
Two things true simultaneously: Trump will be the GOP nominee in 2024 because he cannot accept or tolerate anyone else to have the limelight (and he loves grifting off his supporters, which the SCOTUS has now basically made legal) and if Biden isn't the nominee, whoever the Democrats run will be someone we won't see coming. In 2006, afterall, who would have thought the junior senator from Illinois with the funny name would soon be POTUS?
Thank you for your cold water on the "Presidential Parlor Game" that inevitably happens. It bugs the shit out of me that its over 2 years away, with an intervening midterm, and a rising pol will go on a Sunday show and they are ALWAYS asked if they are running for President. Dana Bash asked someone last weekend already! Jesus! It's no wonder the country is so messed up when there is no focus on CURRENT GOVERNMENT and there is such a focus on elections 2 1/2 YEARS AWAY.
I'll save the drama-- the horse race is going to have ups and downs but talking about it more than 4 months before the first primary is a fool's errand.
First, congrats to Tim on a well-deserved best-seller.
Second, a comment on the current Biden angst in my party.
Biden has always been better at governing than at politicking. And I believe that right now, he's refusing to light his hair on fire not because he's not worried about a GOP win, but because the US -- and the world -- needs a grown-up focused on governing. For example, not alienating Manchin until the opportunities for a mini-reconciliation bill have been exhausted. Focusing on trying to build international consensus to reduce oil prices and to free up grain. Working through weapons transfer issues and NATO membership issues. Enunciating a broad policy on responding to Dobbs without giving the GOP fuel for a "court packing" talking point. Taking half a loaf on gun control, and (I hope) following up with a "the bill we just passed will fix x, y, and z that contributed to Highland Park, but we still need to do a, b, and c" speech/policy statement in a couple of weeks. In other words, not feeding the "instant news" beast, but trying to do what he promised and not be in the news 24/7, but only when he has something to contribute. I think he got out over his skis last year because he acted more like a senator/VP than the big guy, and I actually believe that being forced to focus more on foreign policy by the Ukraine crisis has helped him find his footing as president.
so why are his poll ratings so bad? because he's not feeding the "instant news" beast. He still needs to figure out a message to explain why he's staying calm that cuts through the instant news din, and he also needs to sell the reality of a pretty good overall record. But that messaging challenge is a lot more addressable in my mind than the governing issues we would have had with Trump still in office, or the governing issues we will have if the crazies in the GOP and on the Supreme Court continue their ascendance.
Pelosi and Schumer need to put bills on the floor that mandate free neonatal care to all pregnant women and 180 days paid maternity leave. Make the GOP vote against the babies that they claim to love.
Does no one else find Mona's premise shocking? "This isn't like gang violence" (translated as urban minorities), she writes. There are PLENTY of collateral damage deaths in gang violence, even if you are A-OK with the deaths of the (mostly) boys and young men. But now that it's 4th of July parades, the grocery store and concerts and impacting (suburban, white) areas, it feels like terrorism. Doesn't she think that it has felt like terror to Black mothers for a very long time? And bear in mind, these are often people whose families fled the literal White terrorism of the South only a few generations ago. If anyone here hasn't read "The Warmth of Other Suns," it should be high on your to-read list, maybe after Tim's book.
I'm not disagreeing that if feels like terrorism. It is terrorism, and we are where we are because of the insane gun policies promoted by the GOP. Where I disagree is her apparent presumption that gun violence that impacts the poor urban population is something that we should accept as our baseline because that's just their condition.
Maybe I'm being too harsh? But I think that has basically been the non-insane GOP position for at least the last 50 years.
About contraception, great cartoon from the Baltimore Sun, a woman saying to a man in a car, pulled over by a cop: "Relax, I hid the contraceptive pills in the gun."
You're right about early front-runners, but another difficult reality that Democrats are going to have to deal with is that we need to actually consider politicians other than just the former VP and Senators.
Maybe VP Harris can win, but history, her previous primary campaign, and polling would suggest otherwise. Are there great candidates that we can draw from in the Senate? Yes, but that also means removing them from the US Senate, a chamber where Democrats need every seat they can possibly get.
So if Biden is too old and/or unpopular (he'd be 82 starting his 2nd term and calling his approval rating bad would be a kind way to put it) and VP Harris isn't viable, then who does that leave? Governors, Cabinet members, House members and perhaps blue state Senators?
I'm not sure who the 2024 nominee will be, but at this point, I think anyone who is a serious candidate is worth consideration and Gavin Newsom definitely qualifies as serious IMO.
The easiest and most effective way to get assault weapons out of the hands of kids like the Highland Park shooter and the Uvalde shooter is to move assault weapons into "NFA firearm" territory. This basically puts them into the same category and enhanced-background check system as sound suppressors, machine guns, and short-barreled rifles/shotguns. The system is already in place, we just need to roll assault weapons into that system. People still have access, but they need to pass a minimum 4-month background check before they can accept their purchased NFA firearm.
For anyone who isn't reading Tim's book, this former player of "the game" (I liked it better under the rules as we played it, rather than the rules Tim writes about) is really liking reading it (the same way I like eating my broccoli because it's good for me). His confessional honesty in the first half demonstrates that he really is the person I have come to really like over the past few years.
Congratulations to Tim Miller, I'm glad at least one deserving person is having a good day.
I second, third, and fourth the suggestion that Democrats should be hammering the ever-living hell out of the birth control issue. Do to the Republicans what the Yankees did to the Pirates last night (sorry Bucs fans, but that was a bloodbath).
“I was humbled to be awarded an honorary degree by the London School of Economics earlier this week. Thank you so much for this prestigious honour!”
— Tweet from Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank
"Y'all I'm losing my shit!! " - Tim Miller
Borrowed the Lagarde quote form David Brooks's Atlantic piece mocking the humbled-by-my-own-greatness line. Tim Miller dispenses with the mummery, and hits exactly the right note.
Two things true simultaneously: Trump will be the GOP nominee in 2024 because he cannot accept or tolerate anyone else to have the limelight (and he loves grifting off his supporters, which the SCOTUS has now basically made legal) and if Biden isn't the nominee, whoever the Democrats run will be someone we won't see coming. In 2006, afterall, who would have thought the junior senator from Illinois with the funny name would soon be POTUS?
Thank you for your cold water on the "Presidential Parlor Game" that inevitably happens. It bugs the shit out of me that its over 2 years away, with an intervening midterm, and a rising pol will go on a Sunday show and they are ALWAYS asked if they are running for President. Dana Bash asked someone last weekend already! Jesus! It's no wonder the country is so messed up when there is no focus on CURRENT GOVERNMENT and there is such a focus on elections 2 1/2 YEARS AWAY.
I'll save the drama-- the horse race is going to have ups and downs but talking about it more than 4 months before the first primary is a fool's errand.
First, congrats to Tim on a well-deserved best-seller.
Second, a comment on the current Biden angst in my party.
Biden has always been better at governing than at politicking. And I believe that right now, he's refusing to light his hair on fire not because he's not worried about a GOP win, but because the US -- and the world -- needs a grown-up focused on governing. For example, not alienating Manchin until the opportunities for a mini-reconciliation bill have been exhausted. Focusing on trying to build international consensus to reduce oil prices and to free up grain. Working through weapons transfer issues and NATO membership issues. Enunciating a broad policy on responding to Dobbs without giving the GOP fuel for a "court packing" talking point. Taking half a loaf on gun control, and (I hope) following up with a "the bill we just passed will fix x, y, and z that contributed to Highland Park, but we still need to do a, b, and c" speech/policy statement in a couple of weeks. In other words, not feeding the "instant news" beast, but trying to do what he promised and not be in the news 24/7, but only when he has something to contribute. I think he got out over his skis last year because he acted more like a senator/VP than the big guy, and I actually believe that being forced to focus more on foreign policy by the Ukraine crisis has helped him find his footing as president.
so why are his poll ratings so bad? because he's not feeding the "instant news" beast. He still needs to figure out a message to explain why he's staying calm that cuts through the instant news din, and he also needs to sell the reality of a pretty good overall record. But that messaging challenge is a lot more addressable in my mind than the governing issues we would have had with Trump still in office, or the governing issues we will have if the crazies in the GOP and on the Supreme Court continue their ascendance.
Pelosi and Schumer need to put bills on the floor that mandate free neonatal care to all pregnant women and 180 days paid maternity leave. Make the GOP vote against the babies that they claim to love.
As to potential candidates for the Democrats, Amy Klobuchar
Terrific book, which I read and enjoyed and profited from. Suggestion for next edition: glossary of hipster terms for geezers. Just a thought.
Does no one else find Mona's premise shocking? "This isn't like gang violence" (translated as urban minorities), she writes. There are PLENTY of collateral damage deaths in gang violence, even if you are A-OK with the deaths of the (mostly) boys and young men. But now that it's 4th of July parades, the grocery store and concerts and impacting (suburban, white) areas, it feels like terrorism. Doesn't she think that it has felt like terror to Black mothers for a very long time? And bear in mind, these are often people whose families fled the literal White terrorism of the South only a few generations ago. If anyone here hasn't read "The Warmth of Other Suns," it should be high on your to-read list, maybe after Tim's book.
I'm not disagreeing that if feels like terrorism. It is terrorism, and we are where we are because of the insane gun policies promoted by the GOP. Where I disagree is her apparent presumption that gun violence that impacts the poor urban population is something that we should accept as our baseline because that's just their condition.
Maybe I'm being too harsh? But I think that has basically been the non-insane GOP position for at least the last 50 years.
Great news about Tim's book. He deserves every bit of praise.
About contraception, great cartoon from the Baltimore Sun, a woman saying to a man in a car, pulled over by a cop: "Relax, I hid the contraceptive pills in the gun."
https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-0701-friday-editorial-cartoon-1-20220630-wcboym7qa5efflepi7zaixlolq-story.html
You're right about early front-runners, but another difficult reality that Democrats are going to have to deal with is that we need to actually consider politicians other than just the former VP and Senators.
Maybe VP Harris can win, but history, her previous primary campaign, and polling would suggest otherwise. Are there great candidates that we can draw from in the Senate? Yes, but that also means removing them from the US Senate, a chamber where Democrats need every seat they can possibly get.
So if Biden is too old and/or unpopular (he'd be 82 starting his 2nd term and calling his approval rating bad would be a kind way to put it) and VP Harris isn't viable, then who does that leave? Governors, Cabinet members, House members and perhaps blue state Senators?
I'm not sure who the 2024 nominee will be, but at this point, I think anyone who is a serious candidate is worth consideration and Gavin Newsom definitely qualifies as serious IMO.
The easiest and most effective way to get assault weapons out of the hands of kids like the Highland Park shooter and the Uvalde shooter is to move assault weapons into "NFA firearm" territory. This basically puts them into the same category and enhanced-background check system as sound suppressors, machine guns, and short-barreled rifles/shotguns. The system is already in place, we just need to roll assault weapons into that system. People still have access, but they need to pass a minimum 4-month background check before they can accept their purchased NFA firearm.
Good for Tim!
For anyone who isn't reading Tim's book, this former player of "the game" (I liked it better under the rules as we played it, rather than the rules Tim writes about) is really liking reading it (the same way I like eating my broccoli because it's good for me). His confessional honesty in the first half demonstrates that he really is the person I have come to really like over the past few years.