Thursday, March 06, 2025
It Is 2021 And Jeffries Is Complaining About The Extreme Left, It is 2025 And...
“The extreme left is obsessed with talking trash about mainstream Democrats on Twitter, when the majority of the electorate constitute mainstream Democrats at the polls,” Jeffries, the Democratic caucus chairman, told The New York Times on Wednesday. “In the post-Trump era, the anti-establishment line of attack is lame — when President Biden and Democratic legislators are delivering millions of good-paying jobs, the fastest-growing economy in 40 years and a massive child tax cut.”
My Focus Group
Dems always believe that people asking them to be basic Dems are THE EXTREME LEFT instead of just their voters. I don't think "people who follow politics on the internet" are representative of anything other than that, but there are a range of perspectives within that group, and "Dems are doing great!" isn't a common view at the moment.
Hey, so what, maybe they're playing the smart long game and panicky people who follow internet/cable news hour by hour are missing the forest. Maybe!
Checks and Balances
Still offering some hope that they are functioning, at least.
A federal judge ruled in favor of dozens of states Thursday by finding that President Donald Trump’s massive federal funding freeze in late January encroached upon Congress’s power of the purse.
District Chief Judge John McConnell said in his ruling Thursday the Trump administration, by issuing the freeze, “put itself above Congress.”
Social Security Cuts
You need functional field offices to serve an elderly population especially, which, unsurprisingly, Social Security recipients are (mostly).
Isn't This Where We Came In
I know this blog is giving off some 2002 vibes, but that's because The Democrats are giving off some 2002 vibes, and in 2002 they had a lot more genuine excuses to behave as they were behaving.
Then, too, they were dismissive of calls to provide an oppositional message to the actions of a rogue president, even if their ability to act was limited. Then, too, they infantalized their critics and marginalize them as being on the "extreme left" (remember bloggers in their basements, the extreme communism of Howard Dean, that kind of thing). Then, too, the more senior ones - and the consultants, and the journalists in their pockets - marginalized Dems who did try to act. Then, too, the answer was to Get More Centrist.
In 2006 they finally listened and became more oppositional. They won the midterms. The victors and their stenographers get to write history, and according to them it was because Rahm Emanuel, genius, recruited a bunch of centrist cops and troops and intelligence people, which I am quite sure had nothing to do with the win.
The era of "hysteria and hashtags—all the land acknowledgments and pronoun policing and intersectionality initiatives" led to 2018 midterm victories, INCLUDING SLOTKIN'S FIRST HOUSE RACE, and then Biden's 2020 win. Apparently that was a failure. I'm sure many Democrats see it that way, as they didn't want to win like that.
Whatever her other merits, making the face of the party a person who barely wants to be in the party - hi Claire McCaskill - is much more of a problem then any of the things she is complaining about.
She ran the campaign that wing of the party wanted and now they're pretending she ran as Bernie/AOC!
Then, too, they were dismissive of calls to provide an oppositional message to the actions of a rogue president, even if their ability to act was limited. Then, too, they infantalized their critics and marginalize them as being on the "extreme left" (remember bloggers in their basements, the extreme communism of Howard Dean, that kind of thing). Then, too, the more senior ones - and the consultants, and the journalists in their pockets - marginalized Dems who did try to act. Then, too, the answer was to Get More Centrist.
In 2006 they finally listened and became more oppositional. They won the midterms. The victors and their stenographers get to write history, and according to them it was because Rahm Emanuel, genius, recruited a bunch of centrist cops and troops and intelligence people, which I am quite sure had nothing to do with the win.
Slotkin viewed the stakes somewhat differently: This speech could, at least symbolically, commence a new chapter of Democratic Party opposition to a president whose success is inextricable from the tone-deaf ineptitude of Democratic Party opposition. If her team’s resistance to Trump’s first term was marked by hysteria and hashtags—all the land acknowledgments and pronoun policing and intersectionality initiatives—Slotkin saw last night the opportunity to set a different tone.
The era of "hysteria and hashtags—all the land acknowledgments and pronoun policing and intersectionality initiatives" led to 2018 midterm victories, INCLUDING SLOTKIN'S FIRST HOUSE RACE, and then Biden's 2020 win. Apparently that was a failure. I'm sure many Democrats see it that way, as they didn't want to win like that.
Whatever her other merits, making the face of the party a person who barely wants to be in the party - hi Claire McCaskill - is much more of a problem then any of the things she is complaining about.
I suspect that Slotkin might cringe at being lumped in with “Democrats in general.” In truth, I’ve noticed a certain unease she feels with her partisan identity.I am become Joker:
It doesn’t win elections to just speak to the base of the party,” Slotkin said. “If it did, Kamala Harris would be president.”We all watched the campaign. Sometimes it was even on teeveee or in the newspaper.
She ran the campaign that wing of the party wanted and now they're pretending she ran as Bernie/AOC!
Country over party was a nod to McCain! I am losing my mind!
Even if they are savvy (she is not), there are limits to how much should trust you should put in such obviously dishonest people.
Going to Tim Alberta was a choice, also, too, and if she feels misrepresented she can say so.
Wednesday, March 05, 2025
Mister We Could Use A Man Like Ronald Reagan Again
The thing is, even the current Republicans don't like Reagan, or care. The people who like when Democrats invoke Reagan are older MSNBC junkies who love a network filled with Republicans saying nice things abouut Democrats. You know, PEOPLE WHO ALREADY VOTE FOR DEMOCRATS.
If you praise Reagan in a high profile speech, you should know there will be a backlash from assholes like me. If that's what you want, great, then we all play our roles. Slotkin praises Reagan, Atrios gets annoyed, Democrats say, "See, we annoyed the lefties, so we are doing something right."
If you praise Reagan in a high profile speech, you should know there will be a backlash from assholes like me. If that's what you want, great, then we all play our roles. Slotkin praises Reagan, Atrios gets annoyed, Democrats say, "See, we annoyed the lefties, so we are doing something right."
At some point, Professional Democrats stopped understanding that, and decided that they were going to annoy lefties. Now they get genuinely annoyed that lefties were annoyed. It's weird!
One dumb speech doesn't matter, of course, but it does show that they really don't know what they are doing.
Cold War kid Slotkin was 12 when he left office, so she really was a kid. I imagine she has fond memories of her childhood, as many do.
No one under 45 has any real memories of Reagan at all.
There is the Trump party and the Democratic party. What the fuck are voters supposed to understand are "shared values." Please vote for us or also Republicans, but good ones. You know, such as, um, zombie Reagan
One dumb speech doesn't matter, of course, but it does show that they really don't know what they are doing.
Cold War kid Slotkin was 12 when he left office, so she really was a kid. I imagine she has fond memories of her childhood, as many do.
No one under 45 has any real memories of Reagan at all.
There is the Trump party and the Democratic party. What the fuck are voters supposed to understand are "shared values." Please vote for us or also Republicans, but good ones. You know, such as, um, zombie Reagan
Smart
If I were Canada, I'd go further, and say "every time you do this there's a minimum 90 days of retaliation."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is not open to lifting Canada’s full package of retaliatory tariffs if US President Donald Trump leaves any tariffs on Canada in place, according to a senior Canadian government official.
Hanging Curveballs
You gotta at least nudge the press on this stuff if you want them to cover it.
I know it's not as bad "stood on a stage near Farrakhan once" or "a college student protested genocide" but maybe some journalists could find this troubling. You gotta prompt them though, maybe even do the full Lindsey hissy fit!Kingsley Wilson, the newly-appointed DoD Deputy Press Secretary, believes in a thoroughly-debunked antisemitic conspiracy theory. I've mostly only seen this theory promoted by mask-off neo-Nazis. archive.is/dPvse
— Tristan Lee (@tristanl.ee) March 5, 2025 at 2:05 AM
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Hanging Curveballs
One to swing at.
WASHINGTON — White House adviser Alina Habba said Tuesday that military veterans affected by the DOGE-led layoffs of federal workers may not be "fit to have a job at this moment."
Speaking to reporters on the White House lawn, Habba was asked about fired workers whom Democrats have invited to President Donald Trump's joint address to Congress on Tuesday night. Habba defended the cuts and said she had no sympathy for the thousands of people who have lost their jobs.
Morning
As a cold war kid, Reagan was a senile monster who did crimes and killed a generation of gay men.
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