THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2024
Palm Beach is forever: Is there any possible chance the latest poll is "right?"
We refer to the latest poll from Fox News. Yesterday, results of that survey were reported, including on the Fox News Channel itself.
Those new results seem very odd. Online, the news report at the Fox news site starts off exactly like this:
Fox News Poll: Trump ahead of Harris by 2 points nationally
Former President Trump is ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential contest 50%-48%, according to a new Fox News national survey. That’s a reversal from last month, when Harris had a narrow advantage.
Harris, however, is ahead by 6 points among voters from the seven key battleground states...
That raises the question of whether the Democrat could win the Electoral College while losing the national popular vote. In 2000 and 2016, it was the GOP candidate who lost the popular vote but won the Electoral College.
Is anything like that possible? Given recent electoral history, is it even imaginable that Candidate Trump could win the nationwide vote by two points, with Candidate Harris sweeping to substantial wins in the battleground states?
In theory, everything's possible! That said, some polling results may seem to come to us from a far distant land.
Yesterday, (we believe) we saw Bret Baier announce the two-point nationwide lead for Candidate Trump. After Baier proceeded to "interview" Candidate Harris, we did see Martha MacCallum come on the air and announce that Harris was ahead by six points across the battleground states.
Given recent history, those numbers seem to come from a distant land. For the vast majority of American citizens, so do the basic facts about Brett Baier's Florida mansion.
Last evening, the interruptions came thick and fast as Baier "interviewed" Harris. If it's dark comedy you enjoy, the dark comedy arrived quite quickly, during the session's first two minutes.
Below, you see Baier's first question for Harris, along with what immediately followed. Also, you see his first array of interruptions, the second or third or fourth of which includes an unintentionally comical twist.
That's the only statement we'll highlight in this ridiculous mess:
BAIER (10/16/24): You know, voters tell pollsters all over the country and here in Pennsylvania that immigration is one of the key issues that they're looking at this election, and specifically the influx of illegal immigrants from more than 150 countries. How many illegal immigrants would you estimate your administration has released into the country over the last three and a half years?
HARRIS: Well, I'm glad you raised the issue of immigration because I agree with you. It is a topic of discussion that people want to rightly have, and you know what I'm going to talk about right now, which is—
BAIER: Yeah, but just a number. Do you think it's one million, three million?
HARRIS: Brett, let's just get to the point, okay? The point is that we have a broken immigration system that needs to be repaired. And—
BAIER: So your Homeland Security Secretary said that 85 percent of apprehensions—
HARRIS: But I'm not finished. I'm not finished. We have an immigration system—
BAIER: It's a rough estimate of six million people—
HARRIS: —that needs to be—
BAIER: —have been released into the country. Let me just finish, and I'll get to the question. I promise you.
HARRIS: I was beginning to answer you.
At that point, Baier added a mini filibuster. We'll post that text below. To watch the entire "interview," you can just click here.
At any rate, there you see the first two or three or four interruptions, depending on how you're counting. Imaginably, the first interruption could even perhaps be defended, although the sheer volume of insistent interruption became absurd and indefensible as the auto-da-fe adjacent "interview" rolled along.
Just that quickly, though, the dark comedy arrived on the scene! "Let me just finish," the major star of cable news said at one point to Harris.
"Let me just finish, and I'll get to the question." He even included a promise!
Too funny! "Ler me just finish," the newsman said, as if he was the person running for office and she was the querulous journalist who wouldn't let the public hear what the candidate had to say!
"I was beginning to answer you," the actual candidate said. From there, Baier continued along with the aforementioned filibuster as the nominee finally realized that, at least for the moment, she would just have to sit and watch.
For our money, Baier staged an inexcusable gong-show in those opening moments, and the behavior continued from there. We'll guess that a mansion which exists in a distant land may have been part of the calculation which lay behind this procedure.
Despite what Lawrence O'Donnell would later angrily claim, Baier is not typically part of the extensive propaganda wing of the Fox News Channel. Yesterday, for whatever reason, another side of Bret Baier seemed to arrive on the scene.
Was that mansion in Palm Beach some part of Baier's calculation? Long ago and far away, the Washingtonian's Mimi Montgomery had perhaps pre-explained last evening's inexcusable performance by Baier.
Montgomery's report appeared in October 2023. Headline included, her report started like this, with plenty of photos to follow:
Fox News’s Bret Baier Lists DC Home for $32 Million—a Potential Record
A potentially record-setting DC home has just gone on the market: Fox News’s Bret Baier and his wife, Amy, are listing their French chateau-style [upscale Washington DC] home for $31.9 million, reports The Wall Street Journal. If it goes for asking price, it’ll be the most expensive residential sale in DC history...
The 16,250-square-foot estate was completed last year and sits on 1.47 acres, with five bedrooms, seven bathrooms, and two half-baths. Other touches include a custom bar in the living room with a floor-to-ceiling wine display; a primary suite with two primary baths and heated floors; a home gym; a cinema; a spa; a two-story, indoor sports court; and a golf simulator. Throughout the gated property, you’ll also find a paved motor court with a fountain, tiered gardens, a 56-foot-long heated pool, a chipping and putting green, and two three-car garages.
This isn’t the Baiers only recent real-estate news: They purchased a $37 million Palm Beach mansion earlier this year. They sold their previous DC property, an over 10,000-square-foot home in Phillips Park, for $6.5 million in 2021, according to DC property records.
For the record, it was almost surely the "floor-to-ceiling wine display" which drove up the asking price on the newsman's otherwise modest 16,250-square-foot D.C. estate. The background to the proposed sale of that mansion might seem to go like this:
When Baier acquired the $37 million Palm Beach crib, he apparently had to let his French chateau-style Washington D.C. estate go! That said, according to Montgomery's report, the Baiers have been movin' on up in the real estate world over past four years:
The heartwarming story might be titled, Up from The Middle Class! By dint of hard work and coupon-clipping, the Baiers have come all the way up from the relative poverty of their previous 10,000-square-foot shack—all the way up to the Palm Beach cottage they'd already managed to acquire.
Just a guess! For most American citizens—for those who live in Red America and for those who live in Blue—knowledge of Baier's Palm Beach mansion exists in some unexplored distant land.
As we've noted many times in the past, information like this about media figures is almost never mentioned or discussed by other media figures. We'll guess that it wouldn't occur to many voters that a figure like Baier is moving and shaking in the distant land described in Montgomery's report.
That said, is it possible that the gentleman's Palm Beach mansion played a role in the way he conducted yesterday's "interview" of Candidate Harris? In this case, we're going to say that some such thing is extremely possible!
In our view, Lawrence O'Donnell went over the top in various ways as he ranted about Baier's journalism on last evening's Last Word. O'Donnell has many strengths as a journalist, but this is a less helpful impulse to which he's strongly inclined.
He tends to get his Boston Irish up, at which point he starts referring to everything as a "lie." So it went last night, though there were other problems with his angry, 12-minute opening statement, which you can watch by clicking here.
At one point, like almost everyone on CNN and MSNBC, O'Donnell played a lightly doctored piece of videotape from Trump's appearance on Fox last Sunday morning with Maria Bartiromo.
(Is that edited bit of videotape better described as "doctored-adjacent?" We'll leave that up to you!)
However you want to score it, we regard that edited videotape as basically misleading. It's not as bad as what Baier did throughout the course of last evening's "interview," but it reminds us of a basic point:
If somewhere there does exists a discourse run by fully competent journalists, that discourse is taking place in a far distant land from here.
In our view, Bret Baier adopted a new role last night:
Normally, he isn't part of the extensive propaganda wing of the Fox News Channel. He isn't Hannity and he isn't Gutfeld. He isn't even Judge Jeanine, and he isn't Laura Ingraham.
In his normal performance, he isn't like the nine (9!) regular co-hosts who patrol the Approved Tribal Landscape as part of the Fox & Friends franchise. We refer to the nine (9!) co-hosts who appear on Fox & Friends, on Fox & Friends Weekend or on Fox & Friends First.
He certainly isn't Mark Levin, also known as The Man Who Screams. He isn't like the rotating panelists who all agree with each other about every point on The Big Weekend Show.
Normally, Baier actually doesn't function as part of that well-equipped army, but last night, he plainly did. Just a guess:
People sometimes get released by Fox, and Baier may have a note on that Palm Beach mansion he has to keep up.
Baier's performance was awful. Four hours later, O'Donnell came on and ranted in a familiar way.
For ourselves, we were disappointed—almost dismayed—by at least two parts of the candidate's performance. Here's what will happen next:
On Fox, voters will be told about those parts of her performance all day long today and then on into the night. On CNN and MSNBC, those non-answer answers by Candidate Harris will be disappeared—will be swept far away.
Does a competent national discourse exist somewhere, monitored and moderated by a fully competent press corps?
If so, that discourse is underway in a land far distant from here. We'll try to get to that doctored videotape in the next few days. We'll definitely look at two non-answers by Candidate Harris in tomorrow's installment.
Did someone gain from last night's event? We have no idea! Candidate Harris may have gained a bit of support, or it could be that she lost some.
Meanwhile, could that new Fox News poll possibly be "right?" Is it possible that Trump could win the nationwide popular vote, but get swept away in the battleground states?
Our answer to your question is this:
Polling comes and polling goes—but Palm Beach may be forever.
Tomorrow: Once again, Harris is asked about the southern border during the first three years
Saturday: At long last, our emerging theory about southern border policy during those first three years
He blustered ahead from there: "Let me just finish," the newsman implored, and then he blustered ahead.
The candidate was getting in very few words. Continuing our transcript from above, here's what the newsman said next:
BAIER: Let me just finish, and I'll get to the question. I promise you.
HARRIS: I was beginning to answer you.
BAIER: And when you came into office, your administration immediately reversed a number of Trump border policies, most significantly the policy that required illegal immigrants to be detained through deportation, either in the U.S. or in Mexico, and you switched that policy. They were released from custody awaiting trial. So instead included in those were a large number of single men, adult men, who went on to commit heinous crimes.
So looking back, do you regret the decision to terminate Remain in Mexico at the beginning of your administration?
Today we know who Angelina is:
ReplyDelete"MeidasTouch has been able to identify two of these four constituents, Angelina Banks and Yanni Lambros, as being former MAGA Republican political candidates. In other words, Trump's campaign had MAGA Republican operatives posing as regular voters asking questions as his Pennsylvania town hall event, a move that mitigates his risk of holding a town hall.
One thing striking about all four individuals, often reading from notecards, was that the questions they asked were written in a way that were very favorable to Trump, allowing him to hit on his favorite topics like the economy, inflation, and immigration. Two of the four individuals used their questions to attack the Biden / Harris administration, and the two others mentioned leaving the Democratic Party. "
https://meidasnews.com/news/busted-former-republican-candidates-posed-as-constituents-at-trumps-town-hall
Even if true, I am sure that Dems have never done anything like this.
DeleteDems probably have done something like this. However, Dems have never had a candidate who in response to the question would sway to music for 39min.
DeleteWe knew already yesterday that Angelina was a staged plant, it was indicated right in the article that Somerby referenced, right in one of the quotes Somerby lifted from the article.
DeleteFor Republicans, being disingenuous is a feature, not a bug.
Dems have most likely NOT ever packed an event with attendees who were party operatives and enthusiastic supporters, then called them undecideds or constituents of some district they do not live in. Trump has been blatantly dishonest in repeatedly representing people as locals when they are recruited and paid party operatives.
DeleteProbability can not credibly rely on a person’s feelings, it needs some degree of evidence.
DeleteThere’s plenty of evidence that Trump and corporate media outlets routinely try to pass off Republican operatives as regular folk, but there’s virtually no evidence that Dems have done the same.
"Did someone gain from last night's event? We have no idea! Candidate Harris may have gained a bit of support, or it could be that she lost some. "
ReplyDeleteShe will not have lost any support because Harris supporters don't watch Fox News. She may have gained support among those questioning Trump's competence, simply by appearing normal, sane, and capable of standing up to interviewer bullying (even if she didn't mirror Baier's rudeness to Somerby's satisfaction). Somerby doesn't understand the tightrope women must walk between appearing effective but not self-presenting like a harridan. We all saw what Baier did but most of us won't consider that Harris's fault, the way Somerby apparently does.
How in God's name could you possibly read Somerby as suggesting that "what Baier did" was somehow "Harris's fault"? What Somerby actually suggested was that "what Baier did" was a hit job paid for by Murdoch. Duh.
DeleteAgain today Somerby damns Harris with no praise, saying:
Delete"For ourselves, we were disappointed—almost dismayed—by at least two parts of the candidate's performance."
Again, he doesn't give any detail about what exactly he thinks Harris did wrong.
Why is it that you seem to never notice the way Somerby uses every day to diss Harris in some non-specific way?
Focus. Where, exactly, does Somerby suggest that "what Baier did" was "Harris's fault"?
DeleteOh, you want to play your excessively literal game in which I am not permitted to paraphrase Somerby? No thank you. I quoted the part where Somerby disses Harris. Acknowledge it or fuck off.
DeleteYour paraphrase is false. If you were a mensch you would simply admit it. Instead you deflect and insult.
DeletePP has to be feigning, with his inability to incorporate implication and context; I mean there’s being excessively literal, and then there’s just being dumb as a rock (no offense to rocks).
DeleteHaving said that, PP’s undying and gushing adoration for Somerby makes me blush.
PP, you and Somerby, just get a room, instead of trying to stifle discourse.
Blaming the victim is de rigueur for right wingers.
DeleteIt’s one of the ways of how they cope with their emotional discomfort from not being able to dominate others.
Again, just more insults and deflection. Boring.
DeleteRight, I showed you where Somerby dissed Harris and you deflected.
DeleteAs referee of this match I declare the anonymouse pinned to the mat at 12:37.
DeletePP, you sensitive snowflake, I gather you felt it important to express that you think you receiving criticism is boring and insulting.
DeleteGood to know!
Sorry you are so easily triggered.
PP's a moody bloke.
Delete"Sorry you are so easily triggered"
DeleteGaslighting.
It's actually quite simple. Somerby did not blame Harris for Baier's interruptions. If you think he did, you have a reading comprehension problem, and spouting insults will not cure it.
DeleteI said Somerby dissed Harris.
Delete"We all saw what Baier did but most of us won't consider that Harris's fault, the way Somerby apparently does."
DeleteSomerby did consider Baier's interruptions to be Harris's fault, whether he "dissed" her or not.
"did not"
DeleteHow do you know what Somerby thinks when he doesn't say it himself? Something was Harris's fault because Somerby said he was dismayed etc., but he doesn't say what. If I pick the most obvious fault that others are talking about and say that Somerby thought so too, how is that wrong when Somerby hasn't stated his own disappointments with her? It could be exactly that or it could be something else (remember he said there were several).
DeleteYou are not a Somerby whisperer. You don't have any more access to Somerby's thoughts than I do. If Somerby fails to clearly state his thoughts but leaves them vague (but indicated, as here), then anything goes. He could be blaming her for not being a giraffe, for all anyone knows. Somerby likes that vagueness -- he uses it all the time. But it isn't my fault when he does.
And Vance has said that I don't have to prove anything to you -- I can say whatever I want.
And if you were to say that Somerby blamed Harris for not being a giraffe, I'd be saying that you are misreading Somerby.
Delete(Your defenses are getting wilder by the second.)
PP,
DeleteWhy do you think it is that Somerby won’t come right out and say all Republican voters are bigots.
Do your u think if he tells
The truth about them, the violent pieces of shit will try to kill him?
DeleteSeems like a smart reason, to me.
PP, the point is that Somerby doesn't say, when he easily could. Why do you suppose that is?
Delete“Baier is not typically part of the extensive propaganda wing of the Fox News Channel.”
ReplyDeleteThat was precisely O’Donnell’s point. That Baier is part of the “club” of DC journalists because he seems so reasonable on air. But, for example, as O’Donnell pointed out, Baier demanded on election night 2020 that Fox slow walk its calls of Arizona and Nevada to appease its viewers. In other words, O’Donnell was pointing out that Baier is just as much a partisan as anyone else at Fox, despite his purported reasonableness.
Arizona was decided by a very small number of votes 3 days after the election. It was a mistake for Fox News to call Arizona for Biden early on election night. No other outlet did it that early. But please, listen to ranting O'Donnel.
DeleteThose "calls" are projections based on current returns and the leanings of the places whose ballots are still uncounted. The stations compete to see who can project the results faster (while still being accurate, as Fox was). The other stations were not far behind Fox. Asking a numbers nerd not to do his job is aking to sitting on a scoop for a journalist. The call was accurate and should have been made, so insisting that it be suppressed for political reasons made no sense. Those suggesting it was wrong to call that state are saying that Fox should have abetted and participated in Trump's attempted coup, just like the plotters said Pence should have refused to certify the voting results in Congress. It was wrong because the call wasn't "early" but rather was contrary to Trump's plot to stay in office.
DeleteThis is how corrupt people on the right put pressure on non-corrupt people to go along with their illegal acts.
Fox News called Arizona accurately, Baier’s stance was not to wait for all the votes to be counted, but was to ease the news to their viewers since he knew it would upset their delicate sensitivities, he expressed this directly in texts exposed by the lawsuit that Fox eventually lost out on, settling to pay hundreds of millions of dollars.
DeleteSo Baier is part of the loony right wing cohort that dance a jig at Trump’s behest.
12:18.
DeleteExactly. Lawrence O'Donnell addressed this last night on his show. Bret Baier has no journalistic integrity.
Somerby's goal today is not to attack Baier but to attack O'Donnell and to undermine whatever praise Harris has been receiving for her efforts.
DeleteAgree.
Delete"to undermine whatever praise Harris has been receiving for her efforts."
DeleteI imagine in North Korea any criticism of the Dear Leader is also termed 'undermining'.
No, you dolt. It's termed "treason punishable by death."
DeleteHector,
DeleteNothing to worry about. I rightfully called Trump a gigantic piece of shit when he was President, and all I got in return was a bunch of snowflake Roger -wingers crying like babies about me being honest.
Right-winger’s don’t call the Left “snowflakes” for nothing.
DeleteThe call the Left “snowflakes” because every Right Wing accusation is really a confession.
Trump also packed the audience with MAGA supporters at his supposed Town Hall on women's issues. But not at the Univision Town Hall, where he was asked a real question:
ReplyDelete"Velázquez (via an interpreter): “I’ve worked with these hands, hunched over, picking strawberries and cutting broccoli all of my life. this tough labor is mainly done by undocumented people. if you deport these people, who would do that labor and what price would we pay for food?”
Donny gives a long, rambling non-answer full of lies and self-praise — but Donny also includes this stunning line: “we have a lot of people coming into our country, we just want to have them coming in legally.”
again with the gaslighting, because nothing could be further from the truth. Donny doesn’t want any non-European coming into America.
at hate-rally after hate-rally, Donny practically wets himself with glee as he promises to deport legal immigrants."
https://www.jefftiedrich.com/p/elderly-golfer-shits-two-beds-in
https://newrepublic.com/post/186693/donald-trump-threatening-deport-legal-immigrants
As long as we are talking about a reporter’s finances, how is it that Kamala Harris, who has been a Government employee all her life, now has a net worth of $8 million? Cackling Airhead must pay well as a side job.
ReplyDeleteShe has a husband, idiot.
DeleteImplying that Harris is corrupt when Trump is the biggest grifter of all time is surely a joke.
DeleteIf Trump is a billionaire, why hasn't he paid the court-ordered judgments against him, even the ones where he has lost his appeals? Why hasn't he paid the expenses for his rallies, where he has stiffed so many small towns that they refuse to allow him to come back during this campaign?
Why are the Swiss watches Trump is selling actually coming from a stripmall in Montana?
Trump stiffed Rudy Giuliani on the legal expenses for the last Stop the Steal. Now poor Rudy is bankrupt. Trump doesn't care.
Delete12:02: So Kamala married up with her nanny-humping, girlfriend-beating husband?
DeleteYou sound jealous.
DeleteWhy would he be jealous?
DeleteOn his side, he has a candidate that raped his wife and also raped a 13yo girl because she reminded him of his daughter, about whom he frequently expresses a sexual interest in.
Why shouldn't Kamala Harris receive the same courtesy as any male, white presidential candidate, without having to arm-wrestle Baier to get a word in edgewise? It sounds to me like Somerby is applying an unfair double-standard to her appearance that no one would seriously have suggested if the Democratic candidate were male.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how much Harris's interview with Baier matters. Her successful debate with Trump was watched by tens of millions of viewers. OTOH, the Harris-Baier interview was probably watched by around 2 or 3 million. And, most of them were probably conservatives who were never going to vote for Harris.
ReplyDeleteThe effect of the interview depends more on what the large mass of people HEAR about the interview. And, the media are so partisan that what we hear barely depends on what actually happened. Conservatives are told that she was terrible. Liberals are told that she did well, but Baier was unfair
Why is there no focus on the content of the answers she gave?
DeleteHere's how it works: WhinerinCal & cohort whine about Harris not cooperating with the press demand she be interviewed; when she does interviews, they whine that the interviews are too friendly; when she does an ambush interview on Fox, WhinerinCal pooh-poohs it as a waste of time.
DeleteIf WhinerinCal & his cohort demanded that Harris kill herself and she slits her wrists, they'd complain that she's bleeding too slowly.
1:46: The goal today for the fever swamp people is to make people forget that Harris went to the belly of the beast and handled herself admirably.
DeleteMeanwhile Donald J Chickenshit has chickened out of the 60 Minutes interview and CNBC interview just in the past week and they would like everyone to kindly forget about that.
Dickhead in Cal, the great WhinerinCal, insists all the mainstream media is too friendly to Harris, yet at the same time has been whining that she doesn't do interviews with mainstream media. Why would he want her to if he thinks they are just going to be softball interviews? Because Dickhead in Cal is not logical.
He also chickened out on an NRA appearance.
DeleteBret asked “George Clooney said in a few minutes with Biden, he knew Biden was mentally gone. You met Biden f2f every week. Why couldn’t you?”. This seems like a very fair question.
ReplyDelete"Mentally gone" is not only an offensive term to apply to our sitting president, but not a medical term. When people are "mentally gone," they are in a coma in a hospital bed and their relatives are debating whether to pull the plug. If Baier said that, others are right to object to it.
DeleteAh yes, Clooney, that well known world famous expert on mental states.
DeleteIn the last month Biden has participated in multiple interviews/discussions with the media, and it’s clear that he has no cognitive issue, in stark contrast with Trump, who increasingly seems lost, falling deeper into a state of dementia spiced with his pre existing condition of being filled with hate and bitterness.
Since Biden has no cognitive issues, why did his party replace him as the candidate?
DeleteI've explained this before. The wealthy Democratic donors were worried about Biden's promise to tax their wealth at 28%. They colluded with the mainstream press and some other Democrats (Clooney for example) to push him aside on the grounds that he was too old, when there was no evidence he was performing poorly or could not beat Trump (Harris was polling worse than Biden against Trump, at that time). Note that it wasn't "his party," the DNC or a lack of enthusiasm for Biden during the primaries that caused him to be pressured to resign the nomination. I am ashamed that my party allowed this to happen. Harris has promised to reduce the wealth tax to 23.5%. Despite that, I will still vote for Harris over Trump. I doubt it was Harris who engineered Biden's removal. She pointedly said nothing bad about him and refused to talk him out of running, just as Gavin Newsom and other prominent Democrats refused to participate in changing the nominee.
DeleteI think we really need to deal with the unwarranted influence of billionaires and millionaires on our election process, in both parties. But now isn't the time. For now, we need to make sure that Trump isn't reelected and that means voting for Harris.
Biden is probably our best president since FDR, but likely Harris will be a strong and effective president (hopefully she keeps people like Lina Khan and gets rid of the Blinken types and develops a better policy towards Netanyahu and his genocide), I look forward to voting for Harris/Walz, I just got my mail in ballot.
DeleteDavid has cognitive issues.
Delete"I've explained this before."
DeleteYou have, and it made as little sense then as it does now.
Maybe you have to be a billionaire to understand why you don't want to be taxed, fairly or not.
Delete1:58 has cognitive issues.
Delete@12:53
Delete"Harris has promised to reduce the wealth tax to 23.5%."
What are you even talking about here? There is no "wealth tax." There have been proposals to implement one for families with very large bank accounts, but so far those proposals are only that--proposals.
Right, talking about their proposals.
DeleteOK. Then whether the proposed rate is 28% or 23.5% isn't really relevant at this point. The current rate is 0% on unrealized capital gains. Before the first dollar of tax is collected, there will be many, many negotiations and several miracles will have to occur. It seems like a triviality to be concerned with right now.
Delete"George Clooney said in a few minutes with Biden, he knew Biden was mentally gone."
DeleteOf course, Baier was just kidding around. Clooney didn't say anything even close to that. He did say that 82-year-old Biden "wasn't the Joe Biden of 2010 or even 2020."
Not "mentally gone," but not the same. Many who watched or listened to the first debate could have come to the same conclusion.
Similarly, we can watch the performance of another elderly candidate and see that he is also not the same man he was even a few short years ago. Now that Biden has removed himself from consideration, the other candidate's condition might bear the same scrutiny.
Let's give the media the benefit of the doubt, for why they aren't hammering on Trump's cognitive decline. After all, it's not like they have been reporting that both sides are the same, since George W. Bush ran the economy into the ground to the point the (icky) government had to bail it out.
DeleteLOL.
Yesterday VP Harris took time out of her schedule to interview Bret Baier, but then weirdly she kept interrupting him when he would try to express his opinions.
ReplyDeleteThom Hartmann outlines the steps Trump has said he will take if elected again:
ReplyDeletehttps://hartmannreport.com/p/americas-descent-into-darkness-trumps-76d?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=302288&post_id=150330572&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=brgvh&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
These are things that have already been done by other dictators (on day 1), includuing those Trump admires, such as Viktor Orban and of course Vladimir Putin.
Next to these considerations, obsessing over whether Harris did well enough on Fox News seems trivial and frustratingly beyond the point. We do not want America to be ruled by a wannabe dictator, whether he would be successful in abusing our freedom or just cause massive chaos by trying to throw his weight around. There is no reason to go down that road. Just vote for Harris. We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that she does not admire Hitler or Orban or Putin and would take office with respect for the American people and our system of government.
Maybe Trump will go off into lalaland and spend his term playing golf while billionaires loot our resources, but why take a chance? There is no beed to wonder because we don't need to give him that opportunity. Just vote for Kamala Harris and peace of mind.
A vote for Trump is a vote for Putin.
DeleteTrump is Putin’s puppet.
Somerby should be praising Harris because she echoed concerns Somerby himself has stated here, about respecting those with differing opinions:
ReplyDelete"Showing up is the message
Perhaps the most telling exchange of the interview, though, occurred when Baier tried to push Harris toward a “deplorables” moment by encouraging her to insult Trump supporters.
“So are they misguided, the 50 percent [who are Trump supporters]?” Baier asked. “Are they stupid?”
Harris didn’t take the bait.
“Oh, God. I would never say that about the American people,” she said. “And, in fact, if you listen to Donald Trump, if you watch any of his rallies, he’s the one who tends to demean and belittle and diminish the American people.” (Watch below.)
Harris also — unlike Trump — refused to insult the interviewer she was talking to. Instead, she told him (or perhaps tried to remind him) that he is supposedly a serious journalist.
This was an impressive example of taking the high road. Harris is running for president. And as she says, the president is supposed to treat voters with respect because presidents work for the voters. Presidents are supposed to treat journalists with respect because they’re a vital means of democratic accountability.
Agreeing to talk to Bret Baier and Fox viewers is a way for Harris to say that she sees Baier and Fox viewers as neighbors and fellow Americans. Trump treats his partisan opponents as enemies to destroy and belittle. Harris, by contrast, is coming into the living rooms of Fox viewers to tell them they are part of her community.
Harris’s message was what she said. But her message was also that she showed up. And maybe that will give some people on the fence the excuse they need to choose a better path."
Noah Berlatsky on Public Notice substack
https://www.publicnotice.co/p/kamala-harris-fox-news-bret-baier
Lost boy, Bret Baier, has been successful, but he also has earned money the old fashioned way. He married into it.
ReplyDeleteAlmost as good as earning money the American way: being born into it.
DeleteSomerby and the Republicans have yet to express a coherent, credible issue with undocumented immigrants.
ReplyDeleteThe Repubs at least have tried, and failed; Somerby hasn’t even bothered trying.
Repubs said that Americans would lose jobs or have lower wages - nope, those things happen but it’s primarily due to corporate malfeasance, not immigration
Repubs said it would disrupt communities - nope, immigrants enhance communities, even Republican local officials tout how immigrants are a boon
Repubs said it would drain revenues - nope, immigrants add about $12 billion each year and are predicted to add significantly more in the future
Repubs said it would lead to crime waves - nope, immigrants have a much lower crime rate than native citizens, in fact there’s evidence that immigrants actually lower crime rates in communities where they settle, this is unsurprising since immigrants tend to be industrious compared to “native” Whites who expect privileges handed to them, and get angrily violent when they don’t get their way
Repubs said they would eat our cats and dogs - nope, this is just racist rhetoric
Illegal immigrant crossings starting spiking under Trump (these waves are typically spawned by the US malignantly meddling in other countries’ business), but was halted due to the pandemic. Biden has had to deal with the spike that started under Trump, in no small part due to corporate media misrepresenting the impact of immigrants, so now the levels are the lowest since 2020.
America’s backbone/lifeblood is immigration, and we have benefitted greatly from the various waves of immigrants throughout our history.
None of this has anything to do with Palm Beach.
ReplyDeleteIt has everything to do with Palm Beach. He's nailing it.
DeleteHe’s mailing it in.
DeleteTake a nap, Somerby.
Wake up from yours.
DeleteAll it takes is to be a fan of consensual sexual relations to be "woke".
DeleteIt's no wonder no one calls Right-wingers "woke".
J.D. Vance today defended the right of racists to say any racist thing they want. That should appeal to Republican voters.
ReplyDeleteIn his defense, he was high off of eyeliner fumes and Trump’s boot polish at the time.
Delete@1:51 -- It should appeal to all Americans. People should have the right to say whatever they want. That's what the First Amendment says. Why have Democrats abandoned Freedom of Speech?
DeleteDavid in Cal,
DeleteEven better if what they say is true.
Like there is no such thing as a Republican voter who cares about something other than bigotry and white supremacy.
We live in a society among people. No one says whatever they want.
DeleteAnon 1:51, I can't find a news story about Vance saying this. Perhaps my Google-fu is weak today.
DeleteGot a link?
David in Cal is using his guaranteed First Amendment right to say ridiculous nonsense, like there’s a Republican voter somewhere who cares about something other than bigotry and white supremacy.
DeleteBad on him.
https://www.rawstory.com/jd-vance-free-speech-racist/
DeleteAnon,
DeleteThank you.
@DiC
Vance said: "Stop calling us racist for saying that we've got to close down that southern border!"
So Vance isn't actually standing up for anyone's rights here. He's demanding that some people shut up about their opinions.
3:43,
DeleteIt’s an epic waste of David’s time, since only morons would buy what he’s selling.
QiB, stop writing specious bullshite.
DeleteAnd here is Cecelia, mimicking Vance's demand that other people shut up about their opinions.
DeleteOh, I'm only getting started, Cece. And don't try to "censor" me. JD wouldn't approve.
DeleteVance is really twisting the truth here. He claims he's tired of Harris calling American citizens racist for questioning her about the border.
It took some digging, but I think I finally figured out what he's talking about--it's something that several Republican Senators have been trotting out recently.
Back in 2019, Trump nominated Ronald Vitiello to be the director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. When Harris got a turn to question Viteillo, she asked him about a 2015 tweet in which Vitiello called the Democratic Party a "neo-Klanist entity."
(Note here that it isn't Harris who brings up the Klan or compares anyone else to the Klan, it's Trump's nominee.)
Vitiello apologized for the tweet and explained that the KKK would be labeled as a domestic terrorist group by today’s standards and was motivated by race and ethnicity and tried to use "fear and force."
At this point Vitiello asked directly whether she was asking him if the two (ICE and the KKK) were in the same category.
Harris said she was not saying they were in the same category and asked again: "Are you aware that there is a perception that ICE is administering its power in a way that is causing fear and intimidation, particularly among immigrants and specifically among immigrants coming from Mexico and Central America?"
So no, Harris did not "compare ICE to the Klan. She asked a question of a Trump nominee who had posted a tweet that compared Democrats to the Klan.
She called no one a racist, and especially not for questioning the Biden approach to the border as Trump was still in the White House at the time.
So spare me the First Amendment histrionics. Vance is "creating stories" again.
I’ve noticed Right-wingers get just as mad at being called “racist” as they do being reminded that Right Wing snowflakes threw a giant temper tantrum at the U.S. Capitol, because black people’s votes were counted in the 2020 Presidential election.
DeleteDoes anyone else notice that?
QiB, oh, but I am censoring you. Don’t tell me I’m not censoring you! Stop!
DeleteI'm so old, I remember when "cancel culture" was called "criticism".
DeleteOK, Cece. I'm tellin' JD!
Delete... "during those first three years."
ReplyDeleteGOP framing to avoid "discourse" on immigration to include Trump torpedoing the bipartisan immigration bill to improve his re-election chances.
This is hilarious:
ReplyDeletehttps://digbysblog.net/2024/10/17/up-against-the-wall-in-trump-2-0/
But it is a valid point that we need to vote for Harris in order to protect Kimmel and Colbert from persecution by Trump, who appears to have no sense of humor.
Ha, awesome!
Delete“garbage bag of buttermilk”
I look forward to Our Host's explanation of why the clip O'Donnell showed was deceptive or misleading or "doctored adjacent" whatever that might be. I watched. Whatever the complaint is, I'm not seeing it yet.
ReplyDeleteAt any rate, MSNBC and O'Donnell did the very thing Our Host regularly urges media outlets to do--to examine the behavior at Fox and report on it rather than "averting their gaze." Did O'Donnell do the job exactly the way Our Host would have liked?
Of course not. But as we are remined here daily, people have different ideas and opinions, varying abilities, and a wide range of motivations. It's virtually impossible that anyone on any news show would make a presentation exactly the way Our Host would prefer. If we expect the press to report on Fox, this is what we're going to get.
Oh, OK. NOW I get it.
Delete"At one point, like almost everyone on CNN and MSNBC, O'Donnell played a lightly doctored piece of videotape from Trump's appearance on Fox last Sunday morning with Maria Bartiromo."
But it wasn't O'Donnell or MSNBC or CNN that did the "light doctoring." That was done by Baier and Fox before they showed the clip during the Harris interview.
The GOP is the "America First", if you don't count Russia and Israel party.
ReplyDeleteHere are two things I would like to get from Kamala
ReplyDelete1. Biden undermined dozens of programs used by Trup to control illegal immigration. How will President Harris deal with this challenge?
2. She has changed her position on a number of issues. Why should I believe that the change is real -- that it's no just something she's saying to get elected.
IMO Harris should be actively working to answer these questions. She didn't provide clear answers while being interviewed by Baier.
Does any commenter know the answer to these two questions? I sure don't.
1. Since your premise is bullshit, so's your question.
Delete2. See answer above.
IMO, get help.
Dozens? Really?
DeleteI think you exaggerate. Name two.
They stopped building the wall, they stopped the requirement for asylum seekers to stay in Mexico while their immigration cases were processed, Trump had a rule that made it harder for immigrants to get visas if they were likely to rely on Medicaid or food stamps and Biden rolled it back, Trump had a number of policies limited who could apply and fast-track deportations and Biden undid many of them an reinstated protections for asylum seekers, Trump tried to end Temporary Protected Status and Biden expanded it. Etc. There are more than a dozen in total.
DeleteBiden was trying to make a statement about Trump's border policies by making so many sweeping changes right away, a move that was flopped spectacularly and disastrously.
Quaker - The Wall and Remain in Mexico
DeleteThe wall? Really?
DeleteAnd Remain in Mexico was a disaster. When Biden finally decided to end it, Texas and Missouri took him to court--and eventually lost.
I suppose it's possible the Orwellian-named "Migrant Protection Protocols" could be reinstated, but only with cooperation from the Mexican government. I'm not sure they'll sign up for it again.
"Trump had a rule that made it harder for immigrants to get visas if they were likely to rely on Medicaid or food stamps"
DeleteVisas? No, that rule applied to people seeking permanent residence.
Sorry, visas and green cards. You can add "Trump had a rule that made it harder for immigrants to get visas and green cards if they were likely to rely on Medicaid or food stamps" to the list of over a dozen of programs used by Trump to control illegal immigration that Biden disastrously undermined and of which you, being a low-IQ silo dweller, were blissfully unaware.
DeleteThanks for the correction.