U.S. Politiks: The Manchin-ian Candidate

[IheartIheartTesla]

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/mar/11/matthew-mcconaughey-texas-governor

Quote

Matthew McConaughey has announced he is “seriously considering” a run for Texas governor, a year before the state election.

He would be a centrist (albeit not too bad from a Democratic perspective) - as the article points out, gun control and 'defund the police' would be two areas you wouldnt expect much progressive politics from him.

Quote

In the same interview, he touched on the possible message of a hypothetical campaign – not the “Make America all right, all right, all right again” many of his fans joked about, but a more serious “meet me in the middle – I dare you”.

 

[Ormond]

17 hours ago, DMC said:

The bill overall is likely to be polarized as the midterms approach.  Certain aspects, like the child tax credits, will remain popular of course - and GOP incumbents will shamelessly take credit for them (e.g. Wicker) - but constant attacks will eventually get GOP voters to align in opposition.

 

17 hours ago, Karlbear said:

Probably? But only some. I think a lot of people are going to associate Biden with the pandemic ending (if that happens) and the money in their pockets, and even polarization is hard to beat that sort of thing entirely. 

I would like to point out that the experience of having Karlbear more optimistic about the electoral benefit of something for the Democrats than DMC is, even at a mild level, momentarily made me feel like I had been transported to an alternate dimensional reality.

[Zorral]

At one wakeful point last night I found myself going through the president's address, recalling the points, the order in which he presented them, and the style of his delivery.  I. Have. Never. Done. This. With. A. Political. Address. Before.  Even while watching the address last night, I was thinking, "This must be how the nation felt on the nights of FDR's Fireside Addresses."  Not that I want to push the image -- at least at this point -- of Biden as the second coming of the FDR administrations, as the media, in its predictable lemming rush to label something something any something blahblahblah instead of actually, you know working, thinking, and writing, weighing and balancing.  But still, at least for me, this is a completely novel reaction to a national address out of D.C.  I was actually positively affected on several planes.

One of the elements that particularly leaped out for me, along with the attention to the losses that were not covid-19 caused and how those too didn't receive the attention their families and friends wanted to provide, before and after death, was the chiding of anti-Chinese American racist behaviors.  Earlier yesterday I saw two young Asian women, I mean really young, like maybe 18 - 20, looking for something on their phones, dressed so spring-pretty in just the perfect shades of pale pink and pale blue light coats.  I wanted to tell them they added to the beauty of the day, but didn't, due to 1) intrusion; 2) the thought that a tall white person coming into their space out of nowhere would be at best uncomfortable, particularly in light of what is going on -- particularly with monster previous's whine on presidential seal stationary that he's being kept out of any credit for the state of fighting the "Chinese Virus" -- and even from being part of the past presidents' video about it."

Jerk.  You don't get to be part of unity calls to a nation whose government you actively labored for years to destroy.  Especially when those efforts include actively abetting as many voters as possible die / be incapacitated from voting.

 

[Fez]

Cuomo seems to be trying to do the Northam playbook of just riding out the scandal. But I don't see it working. Unlike Northam, Cuomo does not have much support of state party leaders. Also, Northam's scandal popped up at the same time that the Lt. Gov had a worse scandal, and the AG had a similar scandal. If Northam went down, probably all 3 would, and then the Republican state house speaker at the time would've taken over. But New York has a perfectly acceptable Democratic Lt. Gov ready to take over. Lastly, Cuomo's scandal is worse. It's more recent, and it's potentially criminal. Northam could plausibly say it was decades ago and he's a better person now; and there was no crime.

I don't know if the state legislature would really take the step of impeaching him if he doesn't step down. But the pressure is still building, and I could see it. The big question mark is Schumer. So far he's mostly side-stepped the issue, but if he called on Cuomo to step down too that'd probably end things. Any New York Democrat that actually likes/supports Cuomo likes Schumer more.

[Zorral]

Since he's so bungled the vaccination effort along with the covid-19 elderly patients sent to LTC facilities last winter, he's been screwed, meaning he screwed himself.  If he continued to have the covid-19 heroic profile of earlier months, there would be more than enough support to survive the sexual harassment charges.  But he doesn't have it.  Plus so many NY officials -- long term, long serving ones -- were more than fed up with his personal power base keeping them from doing things would be helpful for NYC -- or at least helpful in their perception.

This morning a long-experienced theater professional told the mayor of NYC he's neglected a vast resource he has that nobody else does: their community, who have the most long term and LOCAL experience in handling large numbers of people efficiently and effectively, to the satisfaction of all -- that he should be using all these unemployed theater people to organize and facilitate large vaccination sites.  This person was struck by this during the very painful and bewildering and lengthy! process he went through yesterday at Javits, getting his 80+ mother's first dose.

You could hear de Blasio's voice hit all the notes of "What a brilliant idea!  Why didn't anybody on my staff, why didn't I, think of this before????????" Another frackin' nail in Cuomo's political coffin.  So far has he fallen as of today, when just about a year ago the frackin' media was howling he should be president.

And my own contrasting experience yesterday, with the theater professional's, and my Partner's, says this is a really good resource.  Because I was at a large place, but the organizers have made that work positively for us all, in terms of movement and rapidity.  It's like nothing I've ever quite experienced before, though it did seem niggling  familiar in some way, which I didn't recognize until hearing the theater professional.

 

 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Been saying for weeks now there's no way he can survive this.

[Zorral]

That horrible current digital media objective to get EVERYBODY'S EYEBALLS -- I'm talking the big new media like the WaPo and the NYT -- means these outlets insist on captioning articles and running articles that are intentional jabs at Biden, because they then get the adds directed to those sorts of folks that ended up attacking the Capitol.

So I'm going to draw attention to another positive perception of President Biden.  He needs all the support and encouragement we can give him now.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/12/opinion/biden-covid-plan.html?

Quote

 

"The advent of Covid-19 changed his conception of the presidency for the better." by Jamelle Bouie.

Last year, as he steamrolled his way to victory in the Democratic presidential primaries, Joe Biden told CNN that the pandemic was “probably the biggest challenge in modern history, quite frankly.”

“I think it may not dwarf but eclipse what F.D.R. faced,” he added.

 

 

[DanteGabriel]

Cuomo is a nice illustration of how the two parties handle predators in their midst. Cautious, wind-tested responses that bloom into full denunciation when evidence is solidified, versus "locker room talk" gaslighting and doubling down to curry favor with a monster. But I guess for the party of Dennis Hastert, we shouldn't be too surprised.

[Kalbear]

2 hours ago, Ormond said:

I would like to point out that the experience of having Karlbear more optimistic about the electoral benefit of something for the Democrats than DMC is, even at a mild level, momentarily made me feel like I had been transported to an alternate dimensional reality.

Karlbear, he's so hot right now

[Fez]

4 minutes ago, DanteGabriel said:

Cuomo is a nice illustration of how the two parties handle predators in their midst. Cautious, wind-tested responses that bloom into full denunciation when evidence is solidified, versus "locker room talk" gaslighting and doubling down to curry favor with a monster. But I guess for the party of Dennis Hastert, we shouldn't be too surprised.

It makes it all the more interesting that Missouri Republicans did actually turn on Eric Greitens and force him to resign just 3 years ago. I don't know enough about the backstory there to know if he'd made a ton of enemies too. But he had to step down even though the felony indictments against him were dropped.

Of course, now there's talk that he'll run for Roy Blunt's senate seat, so we'll see if he's actually still non grata in the party or if it was just a temporary bout of sanity.

[DanteGabriel]

11 minutes ago, Fez said:

It makes it all the more interesting that Missouri Republicans did actually turn on Eric Greitens and force him to resign just 3 years ago. I don't know enough about the backstory there to know if he'd made a ton of enemies too. But he had to step down even though the felony indictments against him were dropped.

Of course, now there's talk that he'll run for Roy Blunt's senate seat, so we'll see if he's actually still non grata in the party or if it was just a temporary bout of sanity.

That's a good case to look at. From the stuff I've read, Greitens was a relative newcomer to Missouri politics, hadn't spent time in the legislature prior to his gubernatorial campaign, but he had a ton of money behind him. He was also apparently a notorious asshole in person. So maybe personal and political factors in why the rest of the party didn't support him.

Sounds kinda like Josh Hawley actually.

[DMC]

2 hours ago, Fez said:

I don't know if the state legislature would really take the step of impeaching him if he doesn't step down.

59 Dem state legislators calling for his resignation certainly suggests they will.  I'd assume his resignation is forthcoming.

44 minutes ago, Fez said:

But he had to step down even though the felony indictments against him were dropped.

Well, his resignation was in exchange for prosecutors not pursuing further felony charges.  Anyway, it's been a whole three years!  I can totally see a Greitens comeback with Blunt's open seat - in fact I suspect him to be the standard bearer of the battiest batshit wing in the primary.  We'll see if he wins the primary, but I definitely expect him to be competitive.

[Larry of the Lawn]

1 hour ago, Karlbear said:

Karlbear, he's so hot right now

Do not Google "hot karl" unless you want your day ruined.  Also the results will likely be NSFW.

[Larry of the Lawn]

Wow, who would have guessed that a rich white powerful dude, when accused of multiple instances of sexual harassment and more, would claim to be a victim of "cancel culture."

[Martell Spy]

10 minutes ago, larrytheimp said:

Wow, who would have guessed that a rich white powerful dude, when accused of multiple instances of sexual harassment and more, would claim to be a victim of "cancel culture."

He's also called some of his harassment joking. So we must carefully investigate what his intent was.

[Zorral]

We want to believe.  We need to believe, amahrite?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/03/12/after-half-century-politics-joe-biden-finally-has-perfect-timing/

Quote

 

...both failures [running for the Pres nom] wound up preparing him for where he is now. After the 1988 campaign, he returned to the Senate to keep accumulating the relationships and knowledge of Congress that now give him at least the opportunity to shepherd his legislative agenda. The 2008 campaign convinced Obama that Biden could be the right partner — and Biden spent the next eight years navigating every corner of the federal government he now oversees.

In particular, one of his first duties — managing implementation of the 2009 Recovery Act — was a largely unnoticed success. That bill was too small and should have been sold better, but largely because of Biden’s efforts, the government rapidly distributed nearly $800 billion with a minimum of waste or scandal. That experience now makes him uniquely capable of managing the $1.9 trillion rescue act to maximize its impact.

All of which means that Biden, who felt to many Democrats like a compromise candidate chosen only because he’d be the least offensive to the general electorate, may have been the best choice all along.

He never had the talent of Bill Clinton or Obama, but his presidency could wind up being more consequential than either of theirs.

It’s something every president wants: to not just do a lot of good, but to alter how politics and government work, in ways that reach beyond their four or eight years in office....

 

 

[Mudguard]

Cuomo has been exposed as a piece of shit and needs to go.  Went from hero to zero in about 12 months.

[A Horse Named Stranger]

22 hours ago, DMC said:

The important thing is we stop stigmatizing basements.  My childhood home had the most awesome basement ever.  I still genuinely miss it when I visit my parents' new house.  Stupid Florida not having any basements.

Isn't Florida like America's basement. You raise alligators and/or snakes, while cooking up meth in the same space.

21 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

The basement in my childhood home looked like it was built for a serial killer.

Hum, nah, too easy. 

And yes, goodbye to Cuomo. He should have stuck with lockerroom talk.

[Zorral]

The more I'm looking at this, with both Schumer and Gillebrand also just now calling for him to resign, and after last night's presidential address, Cuomo has all the sign of having missed the current Dem / political boat. That he's actually put his hands on a woman as late as 2020, and then try to say 'joke,' 'didn't mean,' etc. it has the feel that Cuomo dinosaured. 

Put that together with his cozy relationship with the pretty much right wing run multi-tentacled financial behemoth of General Greater New York Hospital Association -- who rule just all this and have billions at their disposal -- who were very involved with the covid-19 sick being put into LCF and numbers fudged -- the new Dem party sees him as a drag for the agenda, not an asset.

Good description / run-down here:

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/cuomo-nursing-homes-campaign/

 

[Mindwalker]

5 hours ago, DMC said:

59 Dem state legislators calling for his resignation certainly suggests they will.  I'd assume his resignation is forthcoming.

Well, his resignation was in exchange for prosecutors not pursuing further felony charges.  Anyway, it's been a whole three years!  I can totally see a Greitens comeback with Blunt's open seat - in fact I suspect him to be the standard bearer of the battiest batshit wing in the primary.  We'll see if he wins the primary, but I definitely expect him to be competitive.

I was going to ask: If Cuomo resigns, does that mean no investigation(s)? Because that sucks. Plus, you just know he'll be back. He's old, but still. "Oh, those allegations way back? Wasn't prosecuted, nothing to see here."