Saturday, July 27, 2024
Friday, July 26, 2024
Thursday, July 25, 2024
Bitter Clingers And Single Cat Women
When Barack Obama said:
"They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."
How was it different from J.D. Vance saying these things?
“a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they've made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable too.”
“Look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC—the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children.”
I think they're basically the same: They are appealing to their base. Obama knew he was never going to get the bitter clinger vote, just as Vance knows he isn't getting the single cat lady vote. Lot's of people acting all hurt over this, but let's face it, you were never going to vote for him, no matter what he said.
Added: Let's assume these quotes weren't mistakes in an unguarded moment, because then they mean nothing: Everybody says stupid things from time to time. Which of these could be more likely to appeal to swing voters? I think Vance's win by a lot, here's why. Married women with kids are the quintessential swing vote. They're slightly Republican, but only slightly. Their votes can be won or lost and they're a huge demographic. On the other side, is there a big swing demographic of people who are anti-religion and anti-gun? I don't think so. I think they're massively Democratic voters and not really winnable or losable.
Added: Two other major differences: Obama was the candidate for president and Vance is vying for VP. Obama made his comments on the campaign trail and Vance made his comments three years before being chosen as Trump's VP.
Wednesday, July 24, 2024
Tuesday, July 23, 2024
Resignation Thoughts
If Cheatle had aggressively pursued answers and fired a few people by last Wednesday, she could have come to Congress with answers instead of evasions. Her career could have been on the upswing, instead of over.
She fundamentally didn't have it in her to do her job, even when it would be obvious to any sensible person, that drastic action was needed.
I think she quit on her own after a bipartisan congressional coal raking. There's nobody in charge at the White House.
What makes it worse, with nobody running the White House, Cheatle would never have actually been fired.
Monday, July 22, 2024
Not Me
Not me, but there have got to be people thinking along these lines:
They tried to keep Trump off the ballot and lost in the Supreme Court.
They thought convicting him in a novel and far-fetched way would crater Trump in the polls. It didn't, he gained in the polls.
They didn't expect Biden to perform so badly in the debate.
Now it's an emergency!
You know what would be a really good plan? Let Trump get assassinated by having really lax security, combined with calling him Hitler 24/7, to encourage a few lunatics to take things into their own hands. Then Biden could bow-out by saying that he's old, wants to retire, but only stayed in to keep Trump from turning the US into a dictatorship.
The attempt on Trump's life failed--by pure blind luck. But Biden still needs to quit, since everyone knows he's a zombie.
What will they do next?
I wouldn't bet against something big and ugly--nothing more dangerous than a cornered beast.
