It’s almost impossible to put enough lipstick on the porcine Biden administration. All the polls are in the crapper and the only numbers that are going up are in the grocery aisles. Meanwhile, as Joel Kotkin notes, Biden and the rest of the party are doing their best Thelma and Louise imitation, especially where the environment is concerned:
The cave-in to the greens has increased the Democrats’ economic vulnerability, particularly in the wake of Russian aggression and the continued role of China as the world’s dominant greenhouse-gas emitter. The well-funded American environmental elite lack the grudging sense of realism of their German counterparts, who have been forced to reconsider some of their energy policies in light of the invasion. But in resource-rich America, the green grandees still oppose boosting fossil-fuel energy supplies, despite 80 per cent of voters, and an equal percentage of Democrats, favouring the use of both fossil fuels and renewables. Public support for Net Zero / the Green New Deal hovers around 20 per cent.
You don’t want to get crosswise of the ol’ 80/20 rule, but somehow the Donks have pulled it off. And it’s got the old Clinton hands up in arms. Back to Kotkin:
Cultural issues represent another fault line between the bulk of the electorate and the tin-eared elites of the party. Democrats’ have embraced what former Bill Clinton strategist James Carville scathingly labels ‘the politics of the faculty lounge’, such as support for the increasingly discredited Black Lives Matter movement and its calls to ‘defund the police’. This idea may be beloved at places like Harvard, but among the less elevated mortals it is widely unpopular, even among minorities, including two of the nation’s Democratic African-American mayors, Houston mayor Sylvester Turner and New York City’s Eric Adams.
Voters view crime as the second-most pressing issue, after the economy and inflation. Here again the survey results are equally distressing for the progressive agenda. Voters, according to one recent survey, blame the Democrats for the current crime wave by a margin of two to one. Moderate Democrats, like retiring Florida congresswoman Stephanie Murphy, herself a refugee from Vietnam, found her support for legislation that would penalise undocumented criminals got her labeled as ‘anti-immigrant’ by the party’s dominant progressive mob.
Now it may surprise those of us in Minnesota that Black Lives Matter is increasingly discredited; Esme Murphy and the KARE Bears haven’t mentioned it much. But it should surprise no one that someone like Stephanie Murphy would lose support of the party apparat; on the bright side, she has thus far avoided being called a Russian operative, but it’s early and she might still get the full Tulsi if she’s not careful. Closer to home, it will be interesting to see how self-styled moderates like Dean “Everyone’s Invited” Phillips navigate the electorate.
There’s a long time between now and November, but it’s difficult to envision a reversal of the trends. One should never underestimate the ability of the Republican Party to blow it. Still, the Donks find events in the saddle and all the narrative engineers at their disposal can’t change the prices at Hy-Vee or Holiday. For nearly half a century, Joe Biden has wanted to be president in the worst way. And he’s getting his wish.
The problem with American politics, and the Democrats in particular, is that the parties are dominated by donors and activists. To put more of a spin on it, the donors control the activists.
In short, where the money goes, the candidates and policies follow.
Greg;
In fairness, many Republicans are engaged in the same behavior, ala Ryan, Romney, Cheney and McConnell.
It’s hard for me to get too worked up about polls showing Democrats are going to crash and burn this Fall. I spent too many years living in Minnesota, the only state that didn’t vote for Reagan, and too many years in St. Paul being represented by The Invisible Woman (seriously, is Betty McCollum still alive? Has anyone seen her in person during the last, say, five years?)
Do you have any sensible alternatives to Trump?
Best I can think is possibly DeSantis who is also a guy who thinks the election was stolen and that January 6th was an inside job.
boss, not exactly.
Ryan, Romney, Cheney and McConnell are money people who are extremely uncomfortable with their uncouth loud-mouthed working and middle-class activist base.
On the Democrat side, the money people are the loud-mouthed base. Case in point: Hollywood, Silicon Valley and Wall Street. Hell, look at what happened with Disney last week.
Ya think that might of had something to do with Laurene Powell Jobs owning 8% of the company?
Another element of the liberal activist base is the media. You can howl all you want about defunding the police, social justice and queer theory – but if you touch the third rail of corporate power, the press will crucify you – or maybe just turn you into a non-person.
And no one illustrates this better than StarTrib owner (Romney Republican) Glen Taylor. Hint, which activist base is he promoting?
Do you have any sensible alternatives to Trump?
Is he running for office in 2022?
This after four years of media banshees shrieking that the 2016 election was stolen by Vladimir Putin.
(seriously, is Betty McCollum still alive? Has anyone seen her in person during the last, say, five years?)
I live north of Larpenteur Avenue. Of course I haven’t seen her in person. However, I have seen her running campaign ads on televised sporting events. I have never seen those before this cycle. She’s gonna win, but I suspect some of her colleagues may be vulnerable.
If we live in a meritocracy, will someone explain to me what Laurene Powell Jobs did to earn her $21 billion?
Maybe the same person can explain to me where Bill Gates learned to become an expert on human thriving?
Rumor has it that Betty McCollum is alive but has to be reminded several times a minute to breathe. But don’t worry, Education Minnesota is monitoring his vitals.
I don’t think the Democrats are reining back on their excesses of the past couple, three years. I mean, the polls look awful and all, but I can’t quite get past what they did in the last election. And seeing as how they got away with that, why not just take it to then next level? Widespread fraud x 10? Or maybe, just maybe they’ll take the ultimate step and get us into a hot war with Russia, bring back the virus, start arresting everyone with MAGA tendencies, and just cancel the elections. To “lower the curve”.
Greg;
Fair points.
There is evidence that Romney’s son, was also involved in with Burisma and with even the left wing propaganda pushers finally acknowledging that Hunter’s laptop is real, he’s probably worried that he and his son will be exposed.
McConnell’s father in law, set up a Chinese based shipping company as a wedding gift. McConnell has been generally soft on China.
I get a migraine at this level of naïveté of woolly. Extremists are the point. US Conservatives are ethno religious ultranationalists and they are backed by the biggest money in the US (Koch and friends). These are all dedicated neo fascists.
Judge Clarance Thomas’ wife was involved in organizing Jan 6 as was the bulk of the GOP leadership and staff. Conservatives have infiltrated authoritarians into the very fabric of the nation’s governing bodies so that checks and balances are useless.
At best this is a tactical retreat because their ideology is not going to be in question. These are authoritarians. Let’s remember they turn on each other in a NY second. Putin is disposable, but the direction they take is not subject to change.
The level of credulity displayed by woolly remains depressing. Oligarchy selected Putin to destroy the elected choices of the Russian people, which were leaning away the from laissez faire orgy of wealth concentration the Washington Consensus unleashed upon the people of Russia. That same consensus has been withering the US for decades. Russia and Putin are our future.
Extremists are the point.
Not of this thread. The rest is blather.
“Extremists are the point. US Conservatives are ethno religious ultranationalists and they are backed by the biggest money in the US (Koch and friends).”
I’m conservative. I treasure my ethnic group. I’m religious. I believe in friendship and honest commerce for all, entangling alliances with none. I’m backed by . . . wait a minute, no I’m not. How come I’m not getting any of that sweet Koch and Friends money? How come I have to work for a living, as do all my friends and relatives and pretty much everybody else I know, including the other 80 million people who voted against Lesko Brandon?
Something wrong with that analysis, E. Progressives’ failure to understand what’s wrong with it is why their poll numbers are cratering, which was the actual point of this column.
Emery’s blather dial turned up to 11 again today.
Invisible Betty did emerge last week, long enough to call for Clarence Thomas to resign from the Supreme Court over comments his wife made.
And anyone who questions who the Republicans have besides Trump really needs to consider the bench strength of a party that put Biden forward for President.
rAT’s delusions are melding, creating a perfect storm of confused yammering and mind numbing stupidity.
So McCollum emerged from years of obscurity to harass a mixed-race couple?
Scandalous!
After a supporter said to Adlai Stevenson “every thinking person in America will be voting for you.” — Stevenson replied, “I’m afraid that won’t do — I need a majority.”
I am confused by the Republican candidates platforms — it seems like their only play is trying to convince us who likes Trump more. The GOP candidate for MN governor Jensen claims he’ll audit the 2020 MN election.
I suspect that even doing every day activities, like brushing your teeth and putting your pants on right side out also confuses Emery.
No human being has less understanding of American politics than Emery has.
“Ryan, Romney, Cheney and McConnell are money people who are extremely uncomfortable with their uncouth loud-mouthed working and middle-class activist base.”
“I don’t think Vladimir Putin ought to be one of the people we go to for favors right now. He’s one of the worst people on the planet, and America shouldn’t be asking for favors.” ~ Sen. Mitt Romney on Trump’s new Putin request
Headline: “Trump is America, says Romney!”
America isn’t asking Putin favors. Trump’s doing the asking — let’s not conflate Trump with America.
Emery is going to have a meltdown when he finds out that Nutjob Nancy and the DemoCommie’s henchmen in the FBI, the DOJ and CIA are all culpable for setting up the January 6 visit to the capitol by concerned citizens. Too many videos of capitol police beating defenseless women to death, opening normally locked doors and removing barriers to let people in. Further, his handlers have him spewing crap that he has no clue about. It’s obvious, because his hero, the black messiah, made the biggest concession ever, when he laughed at Romney for saying Russia was our biggest threat. Pedo Joe is proving daily that both Putin and Xi have him by his cahones.
“Russian forces have almost completely destroyed the Ukrainian defense industry and are “finishing off” the civilian one, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Alexey Arestovich, said”
Well that sucks. Now they’ll be dependent on capturing more shitty Russian tanks and APC’s.
Platoons of Ukrainian soldiers standing along roads with gas cans and spare tires….
^ Looking forward to mr d citing a thread jacket 😂
The woes of the Democratic Party are largely self inflicted. They have veered way too far left of center. The country did not elect Biden to enact the agenda of Bernie Sanders.
Biden was elected as a not-Trump unifier with crossover appeal to disaffected Republicans. Once in office, rather than recognizing his narrow mandate to unify and bring back no-nonsense normalcy, he shunned the middle and allowed progressives to dictate his agenda.
Rather than cozy up to Progressives, he should have cast them to the wind, with a few Sister Souljah moments on “defunding the police,” immigration and identity politics. He could have loudly defended Manchin for his survival as a Democrat in ruby red West Virginia.
Progressives would have been furious. He could have welcomed their disdain. Because for each Progressive who hated him, he’d have gained two moderate Republicans and independents. Hatred of Progressives would be the best calling card he could have had.
Biden could have rebuilt the Democratic Party as the party of all Americans, including the white working class.
And now it’s predicted that Democrats are going to get their clocks cleaned in 2022 and 2024. My hope for the country now lies with Liz Cheney, Mitt Romney and Adam Kinzinger. But more important to me than the values I share, is a belief in the importance of American democracy and a devotion to the ideas of equality of opportunity and equality under law.
^ Looking forward to mr d citing a thread jacket 😂
I might have, but your briefly on-point 9:40 cavalcade of obsessions (skirting the edge of a threadjack itself) opened the door. Hoist on your own petard, as always.
Biden was elected as a not-Trump unifier with crossover appeal to disaffected Republicans. Once in office, rather than recognizing his narrow mandate to unify and bring back no-nonsense normalcy, he shunned the middle and allowed progressives to dictate his agenda.
Rather than cozy up to Progressives, he should have cast them to the wind, with a few Sister Souljah moments on “defunding the police,” immigration and identity politics. He could have loudly defended Manchin for his survival as a Democrat in ruby red West Virginia.
Cool story, bro. Biden has been on the scene for half a century and he has never behaved in the manner you describe.
My hope for the country now lies with Liz Cheney, Mitt Romney and Adam Kinzinger.
God help us if that’s true!
Seriously, Emery, while I am known to pray for some crazy things, there is also a point where we have to understand that Comrade Biden is now firmly in the hands of the left, and never has been known to do a terrible lot of thinking for himself. And at this point, he’s got a choice between the votes he has (the progressive left) and the votes he needs (moderate voters). I don’t think he can do both, especially because he’s royally ticked off people who work for a living already.
bike;
Based on what I’m seeing and hearing, almost daily, is Biden voters that got sucked in because Trump, are having serious buyer’s remorse. In fact, many have been red pilled and are seeing what lying sacks hard left DemoCommies are. Contrary to the San Francisco ho’s comment the “their voters are getting what they voted for”, a fair number have said that despite Trump’s brashness, they might even vote for him if he runs in 2024.
^ I think the Republican assault on education is working very well if voters can’t judge between actual governance and empty slogans.
@mr d
Trump did gain among Republicans in 2020. However, exit polls show Biden had huge gains from independents and moderates and White men and Catholics in 2020 over Trump. Meanwhile, in 2020, Trump saw gains from Black men and Asians.
If Biden had made a hard move to the center, he (and Democrats) would have retained the gains with independents and White men and Catholics and would have surely shifted moderate Republicans who had more confidence in him. But he’s now lost all of that.
If Biden had made a hard move to the center, he (and Democrats) would have retained the gains with independents and White men and Catholics and would have surely shifted moderate Republicans who had more confidence in him. But he’s now lost all of that.
Dems had similar opportunities to consolidate their electoral gains in 1978, 1994 and 2010. It didn’t happen then and it’s not happening in this cycle either, for largely similar reasons. The biggest difference this time is the incumbent president is clearly enfeebled.
E’s analysis is predicated on the assumptions that Joseph Biden is capable of making the sorts of strategic political plans E believes are wise, and is also capable of carrying out those plans in the face of vicious opposition from his own party base.
I’ve seen nothing in the past year or two which would lead me to believe those assumptions are correct. On the contrary, the Basement Campaign hid his infirmities and the Scripted Press Conferences do their best to hide the decline, but nobody believes Lesko Brandon is in charge. He’s a meat puppet, speaking words somebody else wrote for him.
To analyze Democrat political strategy, one must discover who wrote those words, must discover who is pulling the strings, must discover who is the puppet master. Sadly, I’m not sure that question has a one-name answer. Bill O’Reilly says it’s Susan Rice and Ron Klain. What’s your guess?
For the life of me I don’t get how Biden and so many on the left thought and acted like they had a mandate for “transformative change ” following the 2020 election. It was moderate/centrists that handed Biden an unearned primary win (his campaign was near DOA before the surprises in South Carolina) out of fear of the Sander’s wing. Considering then Democrats actually lost votes in the House and needed A Republican “own goal” via Trump to take the Senate what were these guys thinking ?
As the old saying goes “The squeaky wheel gets the grease”. In politics that means that the loudest, best organized and best funded groups are the ones which get the attention even if their agenda is far from what the majority would consider good or reasonable or practical.
The problem with the Democrats is that they’ve allowed these activist groups to drive the discussion for fear of offending their members and getting pilloried on twitter. The “progressive” wing of the Democratic Party is out of touch with most Americans. And as a 54 year Independent it’s frustrating to us to see the party self-destruct.
NYT
LMAO
“Faced with foreign pressure, Russians rally around Putin, poll shows.”
“ President Vladimir V. Putin’s approval ratings have reached levels unseen in years, according to an independent poll released on Thursday, as many Russians rally around the flag in the face of mounting international pressure.
Eighty-three percent of Russians said they approved of Mr. Putin’s actions, up from 69 percent in January”
Pedo Joe’s approval ratings have reached levels never seen for an American president. He’s at 36% according to Quinnipiac.
This just keeps getting better and better.
Polling in Russia: — Are you in favor or against the “special military operation” in Ukraine (and btw in the latter case you are facing 15 years in jail)?
I keep hearing quasi-intelligent people citing those numbers like they had any real meaning. 😂 How hard can it be to get it right?
Strange how a greater terror — loss of life, hasn’t worked on Ukrainian people?
Biden getting his 2nd booster:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP8q9ZonlH4
It’s just sad. My stepfather is four years older than Biden and has been diagnosed with alzheimers, and he looks and sounds years younger than Biden. Jesus, this is just sad.
Biden is like the decrepit old man character Tim Conway used to play on the Carol Burnett Show .
Ivermectin: the largest randomized, double-blind trial yet conducted, with early treatment, indicates there is no difference compared with placebo. It doesn’t work. Period.
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2115869
Ivermectin has been studied a lot for Covid-19. You know what hasn’t been studied at all? The long term effects of ingesting ivermectin at high doses for months when it’s normally taken once or twice a year.
^^
More gibberish from the gibbermeister.
Ivermectin has been studied a lot for Covid-19. You know what hasn’t been studied at all? The long term effects of ingesting ivermectin at high doses for months when it’s normally taken once or twice a year.
Two things:
For the record, this is a threadjack, but the thread is mostly over and it’s difficult to muster much outrage over it. And as I noted before, your previous posting obviated any efforts to steer the conversation back to the intended topic.
We need to get to long term before we can analyze the long term effects of Ivermectin use. We also need to look at long term vaccine effects and the long term effects of policy making decisions. We’ll learn a lot, but haven’t reached the medium term yet.
^ These test results need to be adjusted to factor the gravity delta on flat earth where it showed some effective results vs. Covid-19.
To all those who took ivermectin:You’re covered for worms, and not Covid-19.
^ These test results need to be adjusted to factor the gravity delta on flat earth where it showed some effective results vs. Covid-19
Of course, I said nothing challenging the study results you linked. But your non-sequitur snarking is noted and found wanting.
Probably should wait for Joe Rogan to weigh in…