Kamala scored big in FOX News debate

[Moses]

49 minutes ago, stevenkesslar said:

Almost half of global strategists think Russia could become a failed state within the next 10 years

Well and that means what more than half don't think so.

[Suckrates]

 

Trump is a desperate man fighting for his life..And desperate men do desperate things. 

 9 Days to go....

The nightmare will either be OVER....OR JUST BEGINNING !

[Suckrates]

 

Hey @EmmetK, Just got back from casting the winning vote for Cackles...    Pack your Clown car and hit the road !  

See ya in 4 years when you'll be schilling for D.J Trump Jr....and you can try to normalize and  get a CRACKHEAD elected. 

[stevenkesslar]

I thought this chart was interesting:

Quote

The monthly index assesses whether families can get ahead financially or if they may fall behind based on the affordability of everyday necessities needed to manage their homes and changes in their earned income.

This is probably THE strategic question out there now:  should Harris focus on the economy, stupid? Or should she focus on how Trump is an unhinged threat to our future as a nation?  Or some of both?  It's being debated on this thread and other ones here.

One Clinton political hack, Doug Sosnik, weighed in on this early this year, long before the Biden drama played out.  He said if the election is about the economy, Trump wins.  If the election is about whether people want more crazy, Trump loses.  Asked what he thought the election is more likely to be about, he said he thinks it will be about how people don't want more crazy.  I don't think any of that has changed.  Which is probably why the poll numbers have not changed.

But the economy numbers have changed.   That chart above uses 2019 as a baseline, for whatever reason.  So basically in Obama's second term and Trump's term, household budgets became more affordable.  The plateau, as you can see, was right around Fall 2020.  Since then we have basically gone sideways.  The good news, or bad news, is we are basically right back where we started.  

So the good news is we actually are better off than we have ever been, if we are measuring how much a household budget can afford.  The bad news is that we're also no better off than four years ago.  There's all kinds of other charts out there that measure the same thing different ways.  They all say incomes have now caught back up to prices.  Some argue that things are actually a little less expensive, adjusted for higher incomes, since Biden took office.  But there is no question that most people ain't feelin it.

The bizarre thing with Trump is that he was fired in 2020 largely due to COVID, I think.  And now people are tempted to rehire him due to COVID.  With memories of "the good old days" that are clearly disconnected from the realities of why Trump was fired in the first place.  Groceries may have been cheap in Fall 2020.  If you could get them.  But that was NOT "the good old days".  There was not even toilet paper that was easy to get.

Quote

...nobody who has governed through Covid, politically, has survived. Covid is not really good for your body physically, and it’s not really good on the body politic either.

Rahm Emanuel, as always, summed it up nicely.  The line that is even more succinct is the headline:  "Everybody is just in a pissed off mood".  

When Harris wins, as always right Lichtman predicts, I think it will be thanks in part to deft jujitsu.   There is a wall of lava coming at every leader who governed during COVID +inflation.  Trump was taken out early in 2020.  He is so old and unhinged and into ME ME ME that he can't be nimble.  So we got Biden out of the way.  Thanks, Nancy.  And Harris is dancing around the fact that people are still in a pissed off mood and kind of want to fire her. 

It's a good thing for Democrats, and America, and the world - I think - that Harris is younger, and fast on her feet.

 

 

 

[Pete1111]

12 hours ago, stevenkesslar said:

I love them, too.   Tim is a little over the top.  But he's Gay. So whadaya gonna do?

The one I like the most there is Charlie Sykes.   Very thoughtful, and very down to earth.  And he reeks of integrity.

At best, what we see happening here has been labelled "the new centrism".  I think it is true that people are just sick of this shit.  And they want to meet in the middle and move beyond it.

In some theoretical world, Trump actually would be the perfect agent for a "new centrism".  There was a period of time between Nov. 2016 and Jan.2017 when a lot of liberals were worried about that.  That Trump, who wrote checks to Harris as a candidate years ago and was kind of a right of center Democrat, would move to the center and build a lasting moderate Republican coalition. 

By Jan. 2017 I think we knew this guy was a narcissistic dolt, and it was gonna be "American carnage".  And that was Trump on a good day  By Jan. 2021 we had the Jubilant Patriotic Cop Beating.  If there is a new centrism, it will not be about picking up flag poles and really just showing how much we love cops and the rule of law by smashing their fucking heads open.  And do not be confused.  It is the fucking cops' fault.  This way as a day of love, which they fucked up by carrying guns.  And being rude to patriots who just wanted to break their bones.

So that is just a no go.  If there is a new centrism, these folks like Sykes and Longwell will help build it.  Arguably, there already are.

 

Longwell is also family. 

She is so practical and helps reign in Tim and others from driving into the ditch.  I love Longwell's podcasts with George Conway.   

And speaking of cute (Sam Stein) I just ran across a vlog with Lichtman's son.  😍   

But back to being serious, I'm glad you haven't drunk the koolaide!