ABC News @ABC
JUST IN: The number of Americans seeing crime as an extremely serious problem in the United States is at a more than 20-year high, President Joe Biden is underwater in trust to handle it, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll.
[….] 5:13 AM · Jul 2, 2021
Someone should look for any correlation between the ABC News results and geographic vaccinations rates. You know, just for laughs.
“…’Hillary Clinton was at times, even, you could argue, overprepared,’ Chuck Todd, the moderator of NBC’s Meet the Press, commented in his analysis of the debate…” – September 2016
Over the years on the social media platforms I use I restrict who and what I follow to the point that I know the vast majority of people who I encounter (read) to a few degrees of separation and/or I am fairly certain they’re real people.
And, I post on Show Me Progress. When someone comments here it is held until I approve it. Since I hold the keys to the shop I see all of the background information not available to the casual user, which includes the posting IP address and the commenter’s e-mail address. Again, I can ascertain if a comment comes from a real person with a fair degree of certainty.
In 2016 (see below) I wrote about the disaster that was the Missouri State Democratic Convention. That drew interactions and comments from Bernie Sanders supporters that ranged from polite condescension to outright hostility. Nothing, really, about party unity.
Now in 2020, at this point in the presidential nominee selection process after the Nevada debate and the question about having a plurality of delegates, not a majority, posed by NBC’s Chuck Todd (I know, he’s useless), I started seeing posted material from Bernie Sanders supporters, contrary to the DNC 2020 rules which all the candidates and their campaigns know, that the candidate with a plurality (if no one has a majority on the first ballot) should feel entitled to the nomination on the second ballot.
The last multiple ballot nomination at a Democratic convention took place in 1952.
Back to 2020. In my comments on various discussions about the issue I have pointed out that if no candidate achieve 50% + 1 on the first ballot, that’s what the subsequent ballots are for (and those ballots include “uncommitted” PLEO delegates).
Nothing has changed from 2016. In these various venues I have encountered self-identified Bernie Sanders supporters who have responded with comments, again, that range from polite condescension to outright hostility. One accused me of possessing a “broken centrist brain.” Heh.
There was one prominent exception. One. This person wrote, after I invited them to read my 2016 account and the subsequent comments on Show Me Progress: “…thanks to the link to your report on the state convention in 2016. I don’t dispute anything in it. You did a good job of reporting. I will say that I have put considerable effort into figuring out what to do with the ‘car we caught’ that day…”
So, here we are, four years later, in two caucuses and one primary out of 57, and very few people have learned any lessons from 2016.
I have no confidence that enough people will do so in time so that we can save ourselves.
Senator Kamala Harris (D) [2019 file photo].
Vice President Joe Biden (D) [2013 file photo].
Former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper (D) [2019 file photo].
Former HUD Secretary Julián Castro (D) [2013 file photo].
Former Congressman John Delaney (D) [2019 file photo].
Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D) [2019 file photo].
Senator Amy Klobuchar (D) [2019 file photo].
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D) [2019 file photo].
Marianne Williamson (D) [2019 file photo].
Congressman Seth Moulton (D) [2019 file photo].
Senator Bernie Sanders [2016 file photo].
Congressman Tim Ryan (D) [2019 file photo].
Senator Cory Booker (D) [2019 file photo]
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D) [2019 file photo].
Three down. Fifty-four or so to go. Still.
Old media is ready to wrap up the Democratic Party presidential nomination.
I suppose in the 2020 November General Election I could attempt to write in “Jill Stein,” just for the irony of it.
Former Senator Claire McCaskill (D) [2018 file photo].
This morning, after their polling and reporting yesterday evening erased Elizabeth Warren (D):
Claire McCaskill @clairecmc
This is going to be interesting. Bloomberg on the debate stage tonight. Tune in and join us for pre debate and post debate analysis. @msnbc @BWilliams @NicolleDWallace 6:46 AM · Feb 19, 2020
I just had to respond:
Michael Bersin
So, is the pre debate analysis going to erase @ewarren? Is the debate coverage going to pixelate her face and mute any of her responses? Just curious. 6:50 AM · Feb 19, 2020
“…Mike Bloomberg’s campaign is the only presidential campaign to reach out to ours–and they’ve done it multiple times–to help amplify our message…But appearing at Bloomberg events. Speaking at Bloomberg events. Encouraging my supporters to attend Bloomberg events gives the appearance that I support Mike Bloomberg…And I do not…”
Lindsey Simmons (D) [2020 file photo].
Late last night:
Lindsey Simmons @LynzforCongress
I will not vote for Donald Trump in 2020. Full stop.
And I have no real interest in voting for Mike Bloomberg, either. That’s why it’s my job to advocate on behalf of the candidates I think would make a wonderful President.
I’m running for Congress in #MO04. We aren’t taking a dime of corporate PAC money and are 100% people funded.
Mike Bloomberg’s campaign is the only presidential campaign to reach out to ours–and they’ve done it multiple times–to help amplify our message.
2/
In some ways, this could be seen as a positive–additional exposure can be helpful.
But appearing at Bloomberg events. Speaking at Bloomberg events. Encouraging my supporters to attend Bloomberg events gives the appearance that I support Mike Bloomberg.
And I do not.
3/
Some staffers have pointed out that Bloomberg has offered to hire field staff and other full-time organizers salaries north of $5,000/month.
I cannot compete with that. Few campaigns can.
And it results in a buying up of talent in this rural area, where the bench is thin.
4/
Mike Bloomberg is not a Democrat. He is an authoritarian. And my single-issue in 2020 is preserving our Constitution.
That cannot be achieved by electing someone who systematically imposed racist policies against communities of color.
5/
It cannot be achieved by electing someone who buys name recognition and, in turn, votes during the primary.
It cannot be achieved by electing someone who boasts that he hasn’t taken in any donations from supporters–b/c that translates to not having real people behind him.
6/
It cannot be achieved by electing someone who refuses to answer questions during interviews and who has yet to appear on a debate stage.
It cannot be achieved by electing someone who dismisses families like mine–rural farmers who he sees as beneath him.
7/
It cannot be achieved by electing someone who refuses to invest in and support unions.
It cannot be achieved by electing someone who makes derogatory, disparaging remarks about women and then holds their voice prisoner with non-disclosure agreements.
8/
Around here, there’s a sense that if you are wealthy and if you are successful that you must have worked hard to get there.
And, hard workers are noble people.
Thus, there’s this implied notion that Bloomberg is a noble, admirable person–based solely upon his wealth.
9/
But selling financial products is not the same as working the fields from dusk til dawn.
As a farm girl turned Wall Street lawyer, I’m here to warn you–don’t be fooled. Don’t be distracted by the billions. Don’t give up your values in the blind pursuit of defeating Trump.
10/
We should not trade one New York (pseudo) billionaire who wishes to dominate the world for another New York (actual) billionaire who wishes to dominate the world.
There are better choices. There are more qualified choices. There are more honorable choices.
11/
Defeating Trump at all costs cannot be the goal.
Defeating Trump is not worth shredding the Constitution.
Defeating Trump is not worth embracing a misogynist.
Defeating Trump is not worth abandoning our morals.
Defeating Trump is not worth embracing an authoritarian.
12/
I realize the temptation.
I’m running for Congress against the most anti-woman + anti-LGBTQ+ member of Congress. She won a freaking award from a hate group last week.
We need money to beat her.
So I get the temptation. I understand.
13/
We are afraid. Afraid because we know how dangerous the President is. How dangerous a DOJ abdicating its responsibility is. How dangerous a Senate ignoring the separation of powers is.
But we mustn’t be so afraid that we forget who we are and what we stand for.
14/
We must be brave enough to believe that we can elect a new President.
Brave enough to believe we can retain our principles in the process.
Brave enough to believe we can defeat the divisiveness in our communities.
Brave enough to believe we deserve better.
15/
These tensions that exist between family members, friends and neighbors over whether they support the red or blue team–those tensions have led us to a Cold Civil War.
To get out of it–we must do more than win at any cost.
16/
Because the real victory isn’t in Trump’s defeat–it’s in the defeat of the anger, the depression, the disenfranchisement, the demonization that pervades our country.
17/
Real victory is families not fighting during the holidays.
Real victory is friends not blocking each other on Facebook.
Real victory is your neighbor not fearing what might happen to her property if she identifies as a Democrat in a red area, or a Republican in a blue one.
18/
A real, honest to God, victory means we all care less about which party the President belongs to and more about that person’s actions, beliefs, and policies.
Because until that’s the case–we’ll continue to back figures like Trump and Bloomberg.
We are an impatient people. We watch impatient old media. They create narratives because they are impatient. We listen to those tired narratives because we are so predictably impatient.
The old media hand wringing on the evening of the Iowa Caucus was a thing to behold. I spent my time watching their coverage screaming obscenities at the onscreen talking heads throughout the night. You’d have thought the cable networks had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on their brand new sets and on their ominous, yet vaguely patriotic, “Decide Something 2020” theme music. Instead, we got a really bad remake of the 1970 Mary Tyler Moore Show election night blizzard episode “The Snow Must Go On”. Watch the original, it’s hilarious.
Old media had to wait, what, seventy-two hours, for an approximation of the final results of a CAUCUS, the first voting event in a line of fifty-seven or so (states, commonwealths, territories). They wanted to declare an ultimate winner THAT VERY NIGHT. How dare the Iowa Democratic Party hold a caucus like that. You know, with (very public) formulas and arcane rules. Yawn.
If you’ve ever participated in a caucus they’re all like that. [Raises hand: Missouri, 1992.] Forget that it took months for an “official winner” of the Iowa republican caucus several cycles back.
The 2020 Iowa Caucus was the best thing to happen to presidential politics in America in a long time. Maybe 2020 will be a final stake in the heart of this money sucking, faux populist, abomination of true Democracy.
Caucuses are inherently undemocratic while simultaneously being small “d” democratic. You can’t “vote” at will over a period of your choosing in the hours between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. on the day of the caucus. You have to show up before they figuratively “lock the doors” at the appointed hour and then you have to stay for the duration to have your vote counted. Who does this cockamamie process exclude? I’ll wait.
Candidates spent tens of millions in Iowa. Several campaigns, with stellar candidates, ran out of resources and the approval of conventional wisdom long before the first vote was cast. That’s a tragedy for all of us. The candidates spent tens of millions of dollars in Iowa. Think about that.
It’s on us because we let this happen, election after election.
There’s a lot to be said for retail politics, the art and charm of presidential candidates getting out there and engaging voters one on one. Get over it. You don’t live there. There are a lot of Americans who don’t get that opportunity to engage with candidates who want to be their president, because somehow we’ve anointed two small states with a tiny percentage of voters (and low turnout) and with a minimal number of nominating delegates at stake to act as the final arbiters and gatekeepers of our viable and/or electable candidates for president.
Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Julián Castro, to name a few, are no longer candidates. Tulsi Gabbard hangs on, still. I rest my case.
Senator Kamala Harris (D) [2019 file photo].
Senator Cory Booker (D) [2019 file photo]
Former HUD Secretary Julián Castro (D) [2019 file photo].
So, here we are, with eight or so candidates remaining in the Democratic Party presidential nominating process and old media chomping at the bit to create winners and losers narratives. The next two components of the process include another arcane caucus and an honest to goodness primary. We’ll see what happens. Old media will lazily build on their previous narratives or gaslight us all if they change them. Then it’s fifty-three or so primaries or caucuses to go. Get my drift?
In the meantime, a trend on social media:
Adam Best @adamcbest
#PresidentWarren is trending because despite her being 3rd in delegates, 3rd in most national polls and 2nd in endorsements, the media acts as if she doesn’t exist. So her supporters are dealing with this blackout by making sure voters know she’s still here and still kicking ass. 3:40 PM · Feb 17, 2020
So, cable news talking heads were bored, and their producers spent a lot of money on their sets, and last night they all looked like they were channeling an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Heh.
Last night:
Sarah Kendzior @sarahkendzior
How is it that they make the campaign season 300 years long but demand the vote be counted so quickly that it requires an app? Count the voters and add up the results on paper, you ding-dongs! The media can wait. Accuracy is more important than speed! 10:35 PM · Feb 3, 2020
They have the data, they’ll have the results. Soon enough.
By the way, do you think each candidate’s precinct captains reported results in to their campaigns? They already know.
Notwithstanding all of the criticisms of a caucus, or of the representation of Iowa, or it’s placement as the first, not getting instant results fast enough to please old and new media should be the least of anyone’s worries.
Amanda Marcotte @AmandaMarcotte
I swear, pundits are literally the only people who think that paying a dollar in taxes is somehow more expensive than paying two dollars to an insurance company. 7:21 PM · Sep 12, 2019
And, it’s not like I love my health insurance company.
Jackson County Dems @jaxcodemocrats
Gentle reminder: everyone on the stage tonight would make a better, smarter, safer President than what we have now. 10:19 PM · Sep 12, 2019
Uh, yep.
Bad combover. Check. Too long red tie. Check. Orange spray tan. Check. Tiny hands. Check. Cluelessness. Check…
Kamala Harris @KamalaHarris
The #DemDebate was three hours long and not one question about abortion or reproductive rights. 9:49 PM · Sep 12, 2019
Beto O’Rourke @BetoORourke
Three hours, not one question on abortion—with women’s rights under attack across our country. 9:47 PM · Sep 12, 2019
Synchronicity.
Andrea González-Ramírez @andreagonram
So…. candidates got the beauty pageant question instead of being asked about:
– labor rights
– abortion
– child care
– paid family leave
– LGBTQ+ rights
– student debt
– sexual harassment
– minimum wage
– etc.
#DemDebate 9:34 PM · Sep 12, 2019
And the pundits, whining on morning infotainment television about not hearing enough detail from the candidates, ignore the fact that they couldn’t state their name and address in the time allotted for answers in this “debate” format.
Nioshii @Nartist
I think if there’s one thing we can all agree on this morning it’s that majority of pundits suck. 6:33 AM · Sep 13, 2019
