It’s been over a week since President Joe Biden withdrew from reelection and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. And what a week it has been! The Harris campaign has snowballed into a formidable challenge to the felonious former guy.
I couldn’t be more pleased. You see, in 2020, during the Democratic primary season, I engaged in debates with my friends at Drinking Liberally about who the Democrats should nominate. My first choice was Joe Biden. I felt he had the best chance of defeating an incumbent old guy. Joe Biden was a highly experienced, stable, thoughtful, elder statesman, who was best equipped to defeat an incompetent, sociopathic, narcissistic, sexist, racist, agent of chaos.
My second choice was Kamala Harris. I thought she had both excellent policy positions and great charisma. I was pretty pleased when the ticket was Biden—Harris.
Now, having Harris at the top of the ticket is like a breath of fresh air. It has an energy not unlike Obama’s 2008 campaign. The response has been overwhelming:
A week since announcing her bid for president, Vice President Kamala Harris has raised more than $200 million dollars, according to her campaign.
…
The Harris campaign said 66% of the donations came from first-time donors. Along with fresh dollars, the campaign has signed up over 170,000 new volunteers since president Biden announced he would step down and endorsed her to be the Democratic nominee last Sunday.
I’ve got a good feeling about this…
The Washington Democratic delegation is totally on board and ready to roll in support of Harris at the Democratic National Convention.
Every four years we hear it: “this is the most important election of our lives.” But sometimes that trite expression is reality! A second Трамп term will be about 2025 times worse than the first Трамп term….
Wanna keep the Harris momentum going? Activate yourself and do something! Donate to the Harris campaign. It’s easy. Even if you can only donate a few buck, your contribution adds to the snowballing movement in the best way—as another small donor. Volunteer for the Harris campaign. Make a plan to vote, and help other’s prepare to vote. Get involved.
Don’t just live history…help make it!
(Note: THIS IS NOT AN OPEN THREAD. If you comment on anything unrelated to this post IT WILL BE DELETED. So go to an open thread with unrelated comments.)
Did not join the ‘White Dudes for Kamala’. I don’t need to give yet another organization my contact info to bug me for money that I’m already giving to the campaign.
I’m still a little bitter Biden was sold as the ‘They can’t call him a Socialist’ Candidate because as expected they went ahead and did it anyway. So rather than Warren my #1 hitting the ground hard going after stock buybacks, predatory banking and other ‘money in working pockets’ issues we got, “I know they stole another Supreme Court seat but that’s too radical, expanding the court.”
Harris was probably my 2nd or 3rd with Hickenlooper and Bernie in the mix.
It all seems to have worked out.
Will Rogers famously said, “I belong to no organized political party; I’m a Democrat.” Yes, Democrats historically are famous for disunity, and for rolling over and playing possum when Republicans attack.
We’re witnessing something liberals have waited a lifetime to see. This isn’t a snowball in July, it’s hell freezing over. And hell is coming to breakfast for Republicans. It’s about time.
I wanted Warren more in 2020. Part of what I feared then about Vice President Harris was electability. I was afraid that too many voters wouldn’t vote for a woman or a minority after their racist and misogynist reactions to President Obama and Hillary Clinton.
This time around, when given a choice between her and an senile elderly criminal with dictator revenge fantasies and Project 2025 that would abolish our Democracy and establish a fascist state, she is very electable. As a bonus, I’m hoping her prosecutor background will help her more aggressively thwart traitorous republicans.
I was listening to a Ben Shapiro’s podcast; it addressed Kamala as nominee. As of that taping, they had only had the tired tropes they always trot out. “She’s shrill. She has a bad laugh. She’s DEI. She slept her way to the top. She’s not worthy because she’s a liberal black woman. It doesn’t matter that she’s saying all the right things, she doesn’t mean it. She lies.” It was all feels, all innuendo that showed how scared they were, because they had nothing real. The rest of it was plea to not give up on trump.
Vote Blue.
America won’t be struggling its way through its prejudices and bigotries in one or two election cycles. It seems to me it will have to be a process of pendulum swings across time, with generational change ratcheting the progress. Voters obviously reacted to having a Black family living in the White House. And thanks to Steve Bannon, Trump saw how to take advantage of that.
But there’s been meaningful generational change in voter demographics since 2016 (thanks, Ivermectin ). And under Trump’s dominating influence MAGA has lost its ability to say the quiet part quietly . So maybe some of this outpouring of support is American voters recoiling once again from the ugly fears and hatreds that drive racism and misogyny.
Those things have never been more openly on display and on offer by a major political party in modern history than they are right now. And as long as MAGA doesn’t figure out how to course correct their messaging it’s my hope that, joined by record numbers of newly activated Millennials, enough Boomers and GenX voters will be ready to implement some more progress. And it can’t hurt much that the MAGA nominee is the living embodiment of the need for progress.
I couldn’t be more pleased. You see, in 2020, during the Democratic primary season, I engaged in debates with my friends at Drinking Liberally about who the Democrats should nominate.
…
My second choice was Kamala Harris.
Harris withdrew in 2019.
My first choice this year is Chris Christie, but since he’s not in the race …
@ 2
I’m still a little bitter Biden was sold as the ‘They can’t call him a Socialist’ Candidate because as expected they went ahead and did it anyway.
I’d think you would feel bitter about being lied to regarding his rapidly accelerating cognitive decline, such that by the time it could no longer be denied it was too late to replace him with a candidate with more spine than Harris. Too late to replace him with a candidate who did not wither when being battle-tested fewer than five years ago.
But no matter. You’ll taste that bitterness in early November. Soon enough.
A truly “confident” MAGA would rely on voting results instead of refusing to certify results.
And a truly “confident” and less cowardly MAGA candidate would not be afraid to debate “a DEI hire“.
[DELETED. Warning 1]
While Darryl pines for the
20202019 Kamala Harris, perhaps it would be useful to point out some notable differences between the Momala of 2019 and the Momala remaking herself in 2024:Imagine how she’ll remake herself in late October when she’s down 5 and sinking fast.
The Washington Democratic delegation is totally on board and ready to roll in support of Harris at the Democratic National Convention.
Not quite. The vote to support was 79-17. Close to 20% of the WA Dem delegates declined to swallow the crap sandwich that is Kamala Harris.
California’s Democrat delegates know her even better, and this piece from Politico touches on some of their concerns:
By claiming falsely that WA Dem delegates are “totally” on board with Harris, is someone trying to squelch Harris skepticism, one wonders.
One recalls McCain in 2000 being dragged by his ballsack to the microphone in order to endorse GWB43.
Oh, there’s a point. Those overly eager to get “on board” with Darryl forfeit the opportunity to say “I fucking told you so!” on the first Tuesday evening in November.
[Deleted. Warning #2]
9,
Behold the pathetic, mewling, disembowled Village Idiot tumbling down from the soaring heights of triumphant authoritarian doom threats to concern troll all us panicky lefites about “what if she isn’t Kenough“.
We’ll manage somehow.
10,
I’m honestly unwilling to fact check the pathetic lying of a fascist worried about the risks that America might actually continue democratic elections.
But if I’m not completely mistaken the numbers of delegates who are not already assigned to Vice President Harris in both of these cases (Washington and California) are pretty nearly identical to the number of delegates who were previously elected as “uncommitted” before President Biden stepped aside.
It’s a little bit too inside baseball to bother worrying about the outcome in any practical sense. But our system allows delegates to the national convention to be elected as “uncommitted” in exactly the same way delegates are elected to vote at the convention for a particular candidate to become the nominee. This is intended to express the will of those voters from those counties and states who do not yet wish to decide. Which is fine. Like any of the Biden delegates at this point, with Joe Biden having declined, these uncommitted delegates are free to decide at the convention or first role call. Very often, by conventional practice, they choose to retain their uncommitted status as a sign of adherence to the will of those voters who elected them.
Dumbfuck dreams of floor fights and lesbian hippie fist fights that never, ever come. Dumbfuck lives in a perpetual state of slowly, agonizingly built anticipation of triumph followed by crushing disappointment and humiliation.
This is my favorite concern troll angle.
The 78-year-old convicted felon MAGA candidate is a failed reality television celebrity who made his fame with his catch phrase “Your Fired®”, who drove away more than 75% of his senior cabinet appointments in his miserable four years as president, and who attempted to have his second-in-command assasinated.
In 2024 the record is not MAGA’s friend.
Harris takes 4-point lead in Pennsylvania; Casey up 5 on McCormick: poll
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4800420-harris-lead-pennsylvania-casey-mccormick-poll/
Harris, who entered the race just over a week ago, earns 47 percent support among Pennsylvania voters. The creepy old criminal is at 43 percent. It doesn’t say how the weird JD Vance polls.
More voters say Harris has right temperament compared with Trump: Poll
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4800406-harris-trump-poll-temperament/
A Harvard CAPS/Harris poll found 45 percent of respondents said Harris has the right temperament for the job, while only 35 percent said the same about the elderly creepy criminal running for office to avoid jail.
15,
Still a tie in a practical sense.
But quite a lot of poll movement for only one week.
It suggests to me that there is a statistically meaningful percentage of the modeled electorate (and models can be wrong) that are less rigid in their survey responses than we would have previously thought.
I’d love to see some deeper analysis of these results in longitudinal and panel suveys to see who these “likely voters” are who are changing from Trump to Harris since mid-July. Older white females I suspect. But that’s just pure speculation. If it is older white females that’s a big opportunity. Because these are very targetable voters. They watch more broadcast and cable television. They use socials that allow political advertising. They have high turnout. And there are a helluva lot of them.
@ 17
Still a tie in a practical sense.
Still a tie in a statistical sense, too.
But quite a lot of poll movement for only one week.
Consistent with some of the Harvard-Harris (national) data just released. With leaners, she’s down 3 to Trump, while a month ago Biden was down 7.
I think it’s honeymoon, but I also think it’s real for now.
Hey Bob
After all these year, you still have massive reading comprehension problems.
Harris withdrew in 2019.
Totally irrelevant. The post clearly states my preferences in 2020, which were (1) Biden and (2) Harris. The point being that the Biden/Harris ticket was, for me, the perfect ticket for the 2020 general election. That’s all.
If you had actually read all the words, paying careful attention to punctuation, word order, syntax, and context this should have been quite obvious.
By claiming falsely that WA Dem delegates are “totally” on board with Harris
But, Bob, I did NOT say this! I said the delegation is totally on board. And they are…they’ve voted and Harris is the only candidate supported by the delegation.
Quibble if you wish, but try to eliminate such inaccuracies. I know, that is a lot to ask of you, but you need to learn these basic skills of careful, accurate reading if you want any chance at all of being taken the least bit seriously.
Now go change your diapers and ear bandage and try to be a little bit better when you come back here….
This doesn’t mean anything.
Poll movement is poll movement. It can be explained sometimes by terrible survey design. But again the numbers here suggest that there is some statistically meaningful number of survey respondents who previously indicated an intention to vote for 78-year-old convicted felon Trump, who are now indicating an intention to vote for Vice President Harris.
These might be some of the lowest information voters in these surveys. Previous work has indicated that significant percentages of decided voters have very little information about the candidates. The same work has indicated that many of these same low information voters are “pro-change” voters. So with nothing more to go on it may be that these are voters who have switched because Harris is “new” to them, and so she may better represent the “change” they have decided they are in favor of.
That might be one way of describing a “honeymoon” I suppose. But it’s a tortured one. If for no other reason than the obvious fact that Trump was previously an incumbent with a record and runs his campaign very much like an incumbent using base motivation tactics. He might have represented more “change” to a very low information voter when compared to President Biden. But that would imply more of a preference for turnover and disruption consistent with a high level of dissatisfaction with government. And those voters have demonstrated a strong preference for Trump. These are the builders of pipe-bombs who fly banners and harass middle schoolers and public health officials. I don’t see many of them switching to support Vice President Harris now or ever.
One reason I suspect these switch voters may be older white females is something most older white males will be largely blind to in our culture.
Since before the modern civil rights movement in America there has been a slowly established cultural stereotype and myth-making directed at Black women and their roles. Black women have been consistently portrayed in the culture occupying roles working outside the family (an IRL norm for Black families long before the 1970s) in which they provide a stabilizing influence in addition to the stabilizing influences they provide in their own homes and communities. Like most myths there may be more than a little truth behind this. But the point is that many of the uglier stereotypes directed at Black men are not as easily directed at Black women.
Like a lot of cultural myths this one centers itself around some not-so-subtle portrayals of sacrifice and long-suffering. And it turns out older white women lean into this mythology and sympathize with it quite a bit more than men in general and particularly white men.
Generations of white women who entered the workforce in numbers beginning in the 1970s were nonetheless still burdened with all the responsibilities of managing and stabilizing their family’s home life, caring for children, cooking, cleaning, nurturing, etc. while trad fathers continued to golf and sleep in on the weekends. These older white women see these stereotypes of Black women and they see “unsung heroes”. The culture has been catering to this hero worship now for decades. It’s a trope style in Hollywood. And it’s quite a successful one.
I doubt that many of the switch voters are the typical “burn it all down” dumbshits that have previously gravitated to Trump.
If a lot of these switch voters from Trump to Harris are older white females then Trump is fucked.
President Calpurnia 2024
Darryl @ 19
By claiming falsely that WA Dem delegates are “totally” on board with Harris
But, Bob, I did NOT say this! I said the delegation is totally on board. And they are…they’ve voted and Harris is the only candidate supported by the delegation.
The delegation is not “totally on board”. The delegation is 82.3% on board. From your KUOW link:
If “nearly a fifth of the state’s delegation” did not vote in her favor the delegation does not “totally” support her. When at the convention some of the dissenting delegates vote for a candidate other than Harris it will be proof that the delegation is not totally on board with Harris.
In the latter part of last week the DNC gave potential contesting candidates fewer than 72 hours to organize and come up with at list of at least 300 supporting delegates with no fewer than six states coming up with 50 supporting delegates each, before the DNC would consider changing its plan for the convention. Tell me, when did the DNC ever require a minimum critical mass of delegates from a minimum number of states before it would accept a tally as sufficient? And how many states had their voices muffled by the DNC because fewer than 50 delegates represent each of those states?
The last time the DNC tipped the scale in favor of one candidate over others it turned out badly for that candidate. The same risk exists in 2024. More scrutiny and less cheerleading would be good here. Called for, even.
There’s already one cheerleading commenter on HA.
@19 Darryl,
My bet is that he didn’t misread things, it’s what he does best, twists and misstates.
Is the Senate Democratic caucus “totally on board” with Kamala’s nomination?
Would Senator Tester agree that the Senate Democratic caucus is “totally on board” with the nomination of Kamala Harris?
Bob,
If “nearly a fifth of the state’s delegation” did not vote in her favor the delegation does not “totally” support her.
You are mistaken. I wasn’t referring to the votes of delegates. I was referring to the delegation switching from support of Biden to support of Harris.
The last time the DNC tipped the scale in favor of one candidate over others it turned out badly for that candidate. The same risk exists in 2024. More scrutiny and less cheerleading would be good here. Called for, even.
Your concern trolling is adorable! 😂
@ 24
Your concern trolling is adorable! 😂
So are your saddle oxfords and megaphone.
24,
His palpable sense of anguished disappointment is even more adorable.
The level of party base support for Vice President Harris far surpasses Obama’s in 2008, at least at this point in the year, IMHO. Even at this late stage people are quitting jobs and uprooting their lives to move to swings and knock doors. Most of these are people with absolutely zero prospects of any paid positions now or later. And beyond their sacrifices are hundreds of thousands of newly minted vols in just one week who are training up to text and post card new registrations in the final weeks.
I certainly don’t worry about Democrats facing a divided base. My bigger worry is whether Democrat’s margins in swings will be large enough to moot the MAGA plans to interfere with counting and certification. That’s where I expect the struggle to land this year. And it’s another reason flipping the House is vital.
@25. You should be thanking them profusely for letting you post your… views.
I have started listening to Ben Shapiro as a counterpoint to the thoroughly entertaining Keith Olbermann. I included the Youtube link, Keith is in all the PodCast apps as well.
https://www.youtube.com/@CountdownWithKO
It’s fascinating to listen to Ben. He’s living a Earth 2 Bizarro World where empathy is bad, women’s only purpose are baby generating machines so “others” can’t replace his tribe and Christianity is the only institution that protects us from the non straight, non white, non christian barbarian hordes. As of yet, he’s got nothing he can pin on Kamala Harris besides she is a lying radical leftist. but that’s tired, since every liberal in power for the last 40 has been a lying radial leftist. He sounded low energy, he knows republicans are in trouble with an old criminal in mental decline for president who is only running to stay out of prison and Project 2025 is wildly unpopular outside of the base.
And that’s a big problem.
Because the alternative Ben has to offer is universally understood to be incapable of putting more than two words together without lying, and he launched an armed and violent pipe-bomb assault on our nation’s capital. Nobody surpasses Trump’s radicalism or his lying. To successfully make the opposition appear frightening you must be able to present yourselves as the “normal” option. And Trump has made extremism his tribal brand.
I can’t help thinking back on the 2020 Democrat presidential hopefuls and wondering why in the world Darryl chose Kamala Harris as his # 2 fave. For some reason, he found the following people less desirable than Biden and Harris:
• Elizabeth Warren
Her vicious takedown of Mike Bloomberg was a thing of beauty. Her experience was far greater than Harris’, she was a Harvard law professor when Harris was failing the bar exam, and she could have been considered the consumers’ best friend as the architect of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Why not her? Is it because
she lied about that second boxcheck?
she got the Harvard job based on that lie?
she tried to claim that the blood test results proved she was telling the truth?
made sharing a beer with your spouse seem unpalatable?
• Mayor Pete
OK, South Bend is a pretty small city and he only had that one mayorship to tout. But he was a Rhodes scholar, with Harvard and Oxford education before that. He was deployed to Afghanistan so had military cred. And he’s unquestionably intelligent and debates well. So why not Mayor Pete? Was it his
height?
homosexuality?
hatred of black people?
I looked back on the list of 20 (!) candidates, and laughed at some of them. In particular, Beto! I had forgotten that skateboarding fellow Robert even existed. What a fucking joke he was. But there was Tim Ryan and Jay Inslee. Not big names but no slouches there, either.
Last on this list but my 2020 fave, there was
• Amy Klobuchar
Smart lady, experienced and accomplished (she had passed more laws than any of her Senate colleagues) senator, prosecutor before that. Very popular with the public – third most popular senator right before she announced. So what was it about her? Was it her
dimunitive (Kamala-esque) height?
tendency to bitch-slap each and every staff member who rubbed her the wrong way?
Seriously, look at the 20 candidates who gave it a shot, almost all of whom had a stiffer spine (and a better resume) than 2019 Harris. Ask yourselves why the fuck Darryl would pick her over 18 others.
It’s gotta be the double boxcheck.
[Deleted. Strike 3. Now you have to take a few days of vacation]
@ 29
Elizabeth Warren was at Penn, not Harvard, when Kamala Harris became one of the 18% in her law school class to fail the California bar exam.
She left Penn for Harvard several years later. I regret the error.
@4 “Those things have never been more openly on display and on offer by a major political party in modern history than they are right now. ”
The only thing missing is the bedsheets with eye holes.
@14 “who attempted to have his second-in-command assasinated”
You know, it just occurred to me, has anyone looked into whether Pence put Crooks up to it? He had a motive to do it.
I mean, if a godfather-like figure nearly got bumped off, I’d be looking for the last guy he tried to bump off.
@16 Any childless woman’s cat has a better temperament than Trump. And way better than Vance.
@21 I respectfully and calmly submit that the WA Dem delegation is totally on board for Harris. By which I mean not one of them, not a single one, will vote for your candidate this November.
“… tried to claim that the blood test results proved…”
I think it came out to something like 0.00977% Cherokee DNA on that test.