THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2026
The latest "Deplorables moment?" The president's meltdown seems to be picking up speed. As it does, our journalists still refuse to discuss what seems to be taking place right before everyone's eyes.
If he attacked someone on Fifth Avenue, would even one journalist be willing to go there?
We'll guess that the answer is no. And even as that silence pervades, Blue America can't seem to stop shooting itself in the foot in the manner described below.
Here's CNN's Dana Bash on Inside Politics, introducing Dan Osborn, the Senate candidate Democrats are backing in Nebraska:
BASH (9/16/26): Democrats' hopes of capturing the Senate could come down to independents, like Dan Osborn in Nebraska. The mechanic and union leader is not running as a Democrat, though the Democratic Party is behind his campaign and certainly against Republican Senator Pete Ricketts. Here's why.
When Kamala Harris lost Nebraska by 21 points in 2024, Dan Osborn was on the ballot, and he came within seven points of defeating Senator Deb Fischer. So he decided to run again.
In a sign the race could be even closer this time, a Senate Republican Super PAC just put over $3 million into an ad campaign targeting Osborn. Dan Osborn joins me now.
Osborn could win in Nebraska. If he wins, he'll caucus with the Democrats as an Independent, the way Senators Sanders and King do now.
He was (and is) the Great Democratic Party Hope. But then, along came this unfortunate moment, originally reported by the Omaha World Herald:
BASH (continuing directly): Thank you so much for being here.
I do want to start with news out today in your state, and that is the Omaha World Herald reported on a leaked recording from a private event where you reportedly said this about some of President Trump's voters in Nebraska. Let's listen.
OSBORN (audiotape): Billy Bob in f***** Red Cloud, Nebraska, who lives next door to the f****** Trump store as you pull into town and is waving the Trump flag. He's just, he just— all he knows is he's like on the winning team. It's, it's really that simple. It is.
And, and Trump, and that is why he's been so effective. He's been so effective at taking Billy Bob and his wife Mary Jane or Mary Jo at telling them, "Look, we're winning. You're on the winning team," and that's all they care about because their lives probably suck so f***** bad.
BASH: First of all, just to confirm, is that you saying that?
OSBORN: It sure sounds like me.
Ocborn goes on to explain. It sounds a bit shaky to us:
BASH (continuing directly): Is that what you think of Trump voters?
OSBORN: No, I've talked to—I've talked to Trump voters all across the state. I'm on a 93-county tour right now. I've got 55 counties under my belt. I did over 200 public events in 2024 when Trump was on top of the ticket, and I talked to a lot of Trump voters. And no, that's not it.
What I'm talking about, I'm talking about people are pissed off. People are disenfranchised...
The exchange continues from there. Eventually, Bash says this:
BASH: In this audio, which you said sounds like you, though you use names like Billy Bob and Mary Jane or Mary Jo, you say that they just really want to be on a winning team because their lives suck so much. But the way that you talk here doesn't sound like you—doesn't sound very respectful.
[...]
I mean, there's a lot of talk about this as your "Deplorables" moment.
Or as his "little boxes on the hillside" moment?
(We're assuming that really is him. He never says or suggests that it isn't.)
We still hope Osborn will win and will help Democrats take control of the Senate. But we Blues sometimes have a hard time understanding this part of the way we sometimes tend to see the world. It's one of the ways we lose votes and with those votes, elections.
To listen to the audiotape, you can click here for its inclusion in a CNN report. For the Washington Post's report, click this.
Hillary was right about the deplorables.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete"We still hope Osborn will win"
Hey, as long as unlimited mail in ballots are allowed, why worry?
Only Republicans have been caught casting more than one ballot per voter. Perhaps they will take Trump's exhortation to cheat early and cheat often seriously.
DeleteWhen someone whispers in Mitch McConnell's ear and tells him how to vote, isn't that two people casting the same vote? Is that legal?
DeleteOsborn is not a Democrat. He is an Independent who says he may caucus with the Democrats if elected. There is a Democrat running in that race, way behind the Republican leader and Osborn, so Osborn can only win by gaining either Republican or Democratic votes in this three-way race. Who does Somerby think Osborn is trying to appeal to, with this anti-Republican statement?
ReplyDeleteBut Somerby uses Osborn's statement as a chance to bash we blue voters today. To what end? Are we blues not supposed to vote for Osborn but stubbornly insist on voting for a candidate with about 7% of the vote in that red state? Or is Somerby urging us to take the high road and be repelled by Osborn's characterization of Republicans as deplorables, shunning him for attacking Republicans in a harsh manner? We would be fools to do that, in my opinion.
But Somerby thinks that by portraying Osborn as mean to red voters, we blues will avoid Osborn and stick with our losing Democrat who has no chance of winning. That is exactly what Republicans would like to see us do -- Democrats stay home, so they can continue beating Osborn.
Osborn is attacking Republicans aggressively because that is the best way for him to peel off some of the remorseful red voters popping up in red states nationwide. He is distinguishing himself from MAGA Trump voters and showing that he will be different, help correct the wrong path Trump has set us on. That is Osborn's path to victory.
Osborn is not blue, not part of blue America. He is also not MAGA, not a Trump supporter. He is an independent who may or may not caucus with blue senators. Look at Fetterman before assuming he will be a Democrat if elected.
Somerby is wrong about Osborn's best path to victory. We blues need to support Osborn and not our blue candidate if we want to keep another red senator out of Congress. It is that simple and it has nothing to do with how we look to red America, since WE are not Osborn and we are not responsible for what Osborn said.
A minor quibble: the democratic candidate for senator filed withdrawal paperwork last July.
DeleteThen there's this from Ballotpedia: "Although the Nebraska Democratic Party endorsed Osborn, he said he will not caucus with either party if elected. His campaign website states, 'Running as an Independent, I'm unbeholden to party bosses and can take positions no right or left wing politician could. I will champion ideas that our citizens agree with and will fight for ideas and policies that help turn down the political temperature in this country.'"
We Blues, huh Bob? You keep on conflating though. That and cutting-and-pasting are what you do best.
Thank you for the correction.
DeleteBob was cognitive long ago, but he isn’t now and never will be again.
DeleteAnd yet Somerby has written an essay that works against Osborn while pretending to scold blue America. That is right in line with his right wing agenda here, pretty much what he does every day. So he is obviously cognitive enough to understand his marching orders.
DeleteAdvance the complaints about Osborn, which are pretty empty, while calling blue America bad. All while pretending to support Osborn and be a lib. And since there is no such thing as truth and no way to know reality, this deception is A-OK because if nothing is real then nothing is fake either. Nihilist asshole.
above anon (I assume all anon except2:08) - a "minor quibble." TDH doesn't bash Osborn or blues here. Apparently in a private conversation Osborn candidly talked about Trump supporters in an arguably disrespectful way - and apparently the GOP is using this against Osborn. Bringing this out isn't "bashing" Osborn or dems - you are twisting what TDH says, just as you do on a daily basis, god knows why. Osborn is just as much a democrat and King or Sanders, and in effect will act as a democratic senator if he wins.
DeleteBringing this out hurts Osborn and helps Repubs, so Somerby is advancing a right wing talking point. Osborn is not a Democrat.
DeleteAC: “we Blues sometimes have a hard time understanding this part of the way we sometimes tend to see the world.”
DeleteSomerby is clearly lashing out at liberals, even though Osborne is neither liberal nor has he said he will even caucus with the Democrats, which Somerby simply asserts, falsely. His message is always that liberals are smug, condescending, arrogant elitists. Republicans constantly vilify liberals in the most vile, hurtful and cruel ways, and it gets not a mention from anybody in the mainstream media, or Somerby. But if one person (who’s not even a democrat or a liberal) says something that can be taken as demeaning of MAGA voters, then those voters apparently fly off the handle and act like immature, childish snowflakes preparing for Armageddon.
The Left thinks they are so great just because they think black people should have political representation.
Delete"Bringing this out hurts Osborn and helps Repubs"
DeleteThis is precisely Bob's point.
No. His point is that Osborn is further proof that liberals are smug and condescending. How do I know? He says so: “we Blues sometimes have a hard time understanding this part of the way we sometimes tend to see the world.”
DeleteOsborn is an Independent, not liberal or Democrat.
DeleteI’m smug and condescending.
DeleteI am finding Kash Patel's testimony about removing bestiality as a disqualification for FBI employment humorous in the context of Hillary's deplorable remark. I wasn't sure what bestiality was so I looked it up on the internet (Wikipedia and other places). There is apparently a porn trade in bestiality video, illegal to own and manufacture. If the FBI is pursuing the makers of such porn, that is a legitimate law enforcement activity. But what about the young men with records of animal abuse (bestiality) who cannot get jobs with the FBI? The Kinsey Report said that bestiability is done primarily by men in rural areas, and largely by uneducated men (7% nationwide with 50% in rural areas). Figures have decreased as access to animals has decreased.
ReplyDeleteThat means that there is likely a lot of overlap between the largely rural male voters in red states with lots of agriculture, especially ranching, and red voting Trump enthusiasts who line their ranch fences with Trump signs, wear guns everywhere and elect people like Lauren Boebert.
If Republican voters are upset about how we blues see them, perhaps they should encourage Kash Patel not to enact special regulations to help their wayward sons get into the FBI after sexually abusing animals. Hillary was too kind to include that part of the stereotype in her description of redneck deplorables, but there it is, from Patel's own mouth during his hearing.
No wonder Republican men want to turn women back into tradwives who cannot get a divorce, even after finding out their sons chase anything that moves and their hubbies have been cheating on them with goats.
Democrat Cindy Ricketts dropped out of the race to clear the way for Osborn. So, Osborn's task is to attract Republicans who do not resemble the negative stereotype he supposedly presented.
ReplyDeleteBut what was that negative stereotype? It was people with two first names who think Trump is winning and who proudly wear Trump gear. How is that bad or anything like Hillary calling SOME red voters deplorable? Is Billy Bob or Mary Jo supposed to be bad?
Somerby cuts off the interview just as Bash invites Osborn to explain why his remark was not a Hillary deplorable complaint. What did he say? How did he respond?
Somerby also leaves out the headline to the cited report which says the audio of Osborn was leaked, not a public statement for which he can be chastised as insensitive. LEAKED and thus not intentional.
Here is what Osborn said about that:
"“I don’t remember the context of this one particular conversation, but it certainly does sound out of character for myself,” he said, adding, “I would apologize to those people that might be offended, but I gotta tell them, I feel their pain. I absolutely feel their pain. We’re all angry right now and sometimes when you’re angry you say some things.”
Why does Somerby omit that part, making it appear that Osborn said something during an interview that was comparable to Hillary's comment about deplorables (which remains accurate).
This is majorly dishonest on Somerby's part. Is this his new tone and new attitude? Doubling down on deceptive right wing propaganda to try to tarnish Osborn in a tight race, while ostensibly blaming blue America yet again?
"Or as his "little boxes on the hillside" moment?"
ReplyDeleteSomerby continues to warp this song into a shape it did not have back when it was written and popular. It was about middle class conformity, not about blues disparaging reds or smart people disparaging less educated or working class people (who liberals generally supported, especially Pete Seeger, who sang the song with Reynolds). Liberals were for poor, disadvantaged, union workers, immigrants, and minorities in the 1950s-60s. Conservatives were for professional classes (accountants, lawyers, corporate executives, doctors) who were middle class and bought those homes in Daly City (the little boxes on the hillside made of ticky tacky and looking all alike). The counter-culture opposed the middle class conformity described in that song, not poor people in Appalachia or farmers in the midwest or ranchers or small town America, or even dust bowl refugees who Woody Guthrie sang about.
Somerby won't read his comments, so he is free to keep lying about this song, misusing it the way he does his other quotes from people who are no longer around to object.
He’s not lying, he just isn’t cognitive.
DeleteNo, he is lying. He was around in the 60s when that song was popular and he knows what it meant then.
DeleteHe was cognitive in the 60s but he isn’t cognitive now.
DeleteSomerby has chosen an odd moment to assert that blue America should lay off criticizing all of its political opposition, from Trump doesn to the most enthusiastic MAGA in Nebraska. Who preaches "be nice to the others" in the middle of a hugely important midterm election that will determine whether Trump gets to keep robbing our country blind while starting more foreign wars and sellling Don Jr. to Putin?
ReplyDeleteBill Clinton thought it was fine when others called him Bubba (a frequent men's nickname in the South, where Clinton grew up). How then can referring to a Mary Jo be equivalent to calling a red voter deplorable? It merely refers to naming patterns in red America, short-hand for Republican. It was not any better than referring to a black man as a Deon or Jamal, but it isn't like calling them racist or sexist or misogynist, and if Somerby is going to be that sensitive, how will Billy Bob Thornton or Tommy Lee Jones be able to carry on their careers with pride? Somerby, who was born in Boston, grew up in San Mateo, but decided his heart belongs to the South, helping rebuild the Confederacy one slippery brick at a time.
From Trump doesn?
Delete??
DeleteMaybe “doesn” is supposed to be “down”.
Deletedown makes sense
Delete"Somerby has chosen an odd moment to assert that blue America should lay off criticizing all of its political opposition."
DeleteOf course, Somerby doesn't assert this at all. Just a couple of days ago, for example, he was hailing Ossoff for calling Trump a "crook."
But Somerby suggests that disrepecting voters (rather than politicians) may be politically counterproductive.
At least 75% of GOP messaging is that liberals (that includes you and me DG) are evil communist perverts. Meanwhile, Somerby serves up one candidate (in this case, not even a Democrat or liberal) to make some broad assertion about how “we blues” see the world. Osborn is a single politician, and yet, Somerby infers from his private statements something about ALL of us liberals.
Delete4:53 - I think if you spend any time reading Somerby's comments you will see that there is a large number of commenters who constantly tell us that Republican voters are all racist, sexist Neanderthals. I think this habitual disrespect of the Others is widespread among us Blues.
DeleteThe comments say that? I’ve only read a few tens of thousands of them but maybe I missed something. Well, anyway if that’s the case I have to agree with them about the sexism and racism. But every Neanderthal I know is a Libertarian.
DeleteA few days ago Somerby was criticizing Ossof for saying Trump wanted to travel with her, a true statement.
DeletePerhaps I shouldn't have said "Neanderthals"; instead, perhaps I should have said "toothless hillbillies."
DeleteOsborn didn’t make a public statement. His private statement was leaked.
DeleteToothless hillbillies are a rhetorical fiction since they tend not to vote at all.
DeleteHer = Natalie Harp
Delete6:26 - Don't be coy; it's the implication of an affair that Somerby felt was a low blow.
DeleteHere's an example from MG written below, to them, apparently Republicans are "the kind of people who don't see gays and brown people as being quite human". This is the kind of condescending , brain dead caricature you will see in these comments.
DeleteIt happens every day here. A few of the main commenters, like MG, are just not that smart or cool.
Just look at Cecelia for an example of a right winger who finds trans people someone she cannot empathize with as fully human.
DeleteThe implication of an affair was in Somerby’s mind. The rest of us libs assume she is Trump’s diaper nurse. No one living in reality thinks he is sexually active.
DeleteMG may as well donate $200 to the RNC instead of making that comment. The net effect is basically the same. These are really, really dumb commenters here, like MG for example.
DeleteThey are constantly proving Somerby's point and acting like asses.
It's ironic.
Maybe Somerby is the ass.
Delete"“I have a big decision coming up. Do I want to go in and annihilate them [the Iranian regime] or do I not? It’s a big decision. Anything could happen with me,” Trump told Ravid.
ReplyDeleteTrump has long used bombastic rhetoric when threatening Iran, including saying in April the “whole civilization will die tonight.” [Mediaite]
ReplyDeleteWhat an ass Somerby is. What an ass.
What an aaa.....
And I sniff my fingers...
And I type a word salad...
I am Corby.
No, I think you said your name was Cecelia...
DeleteSounds just like her.
DeleteNo, she doesn’t sniff her fingers. You don’t like to admit it, but she’s a living American woman.
DeleteNo, Cecelia doesn’t sniff her fingers. Aside from her MAGA politics, she’s a normal American woman.
Deleteprove it
DeleteCorby is a pedantic bore. Cecelia is a glitchy random word generator. FIFY
DeleteThere is no Corby here.
DeleteCecelia is real, and she does not sniff her fingers.
ReplyDeleteCecelia doth protest too much.
DeleteShe hathn’t been protesting much at all lately.
DeleteKamala will be elected president in 2028 and all our troubles will be over..
ReplyDeleteSomerby's addiction to finger-wagging is just too strong to overcome. It's a freakin' disease, but there are no addiction recovery centers to help him. His "tonal shift" has already failed.
ReplyDelete"I mean, there's a lot of talk about this as your 'Deplorables' moment."
ReplyDeleteIt would have gone unnoticed if he said they were making the country poorer and dirtier or accused them of eating cats.
Or called them commies, or losers, or America-haters, or ayatollah-lovers, or on and on and on. The right insults the left as part of their everyday rhetoric, and no one -- sure as hell not Somerby -- holds them accountable for it. In fact, Osborn's alleged comment is EXACTLY the kind of thing missing from the discourse for decades, which is why toothless hillbillyism is so entrenched in the country.
DeleteShouldn't even REPUBLICANS be ashamed of some of the members of their own party? The ones who actually enjoy watching immigrants being abused, liberals being beaten and shot by zealots, and even by the police? The kind of people who don't see gays and brown people as being quite human? The kind of people whose actions show they despise democracy, even while waving the flag? These are the kinds of people to whom Osborn (and Hillary) was referring, and yet, the media -- and Somerby -- act as if he were talking about the entire GOP -- which ought to tell you something about what they actually think of the GOP, but never say themselves.
So, while "toothless hillbillyism" is "entrenched in the country," not every single GOPer is such a deplorable. Do I have that right?
DeleteBut -- even those GOPers who have teeth should be ashamed of those who don't, right?
"...not every single GOPer is such a deplorable. Do I have that right?"
DeleteLet's put it this way: the average GOPer is a LOT closer to toothless hillbillyism than the average Democrat is to being a socialist or a communist. Now, which one is perfectly acceptable to say in public, even by allegedly "respectable" Republicans?
There are poor people in both parties but more likely to be non-voters. JD Vance is not a typical hillbilly. Today someone toothless is likely to be a meth user not a hillbilly (especially in Nebraska which has few hills). Certain Republicans are deplorable for being bigots (sexist, racist, homophobic, xenophobic) as Hillary made clear. Given her advocacy for the poor and downtrodden, accusing her of being anti-hillbilly is a slander.
Delete"JD Vance is not a typical hillbilly."
DeleteJD ticks EVERY hillbillyism box -- by design. There is not a single GOP position, no matter how crudely, mean-spiritedly atavistic it is, that he doesn't aggressively champion. Because toothless hillbillyism pays off in today's Republican Party.*
But I'm sure calling him, and the people he panders to, anything other than "good and decent" is the same thing as when they strip abortion rights from millions of people, start a disastrous war that is lowering the living standards of billions of people in the world and killing thousands of others, destabilize democracies -- especially our own -- and so on. We have to keep our perspective here!
*Once upon a time, most recently with Hillary Clinton, the media rotely attacked the hell out of Democrats for "pandering." Look at the absolute pandering fucking circus that is the Republican Party: Ivy League graduates taking positions they must know, and in many cases have actually said in the past, were stupid and destructive because that's what the hillbillies believed. But nobody calls the Republicans panderers.
“we Blues sometimes have a hard time understanding this part of the way we sometimes tend to see the world.”
ReplyDeleteI will find a purportedly smug condescending liberal or two and judge all liberals to be smug and condescending. Just don’t follow my lead by judging all republicans based on the public statements of most of them.
Signed, Bob Somerby and his New Tone
Amen.
DeleteAnd seriously, hoping the new tone thing hasn’t started yet.
How can someone who wrote today’s post adopt a new tone without being dishonest?
Delete"We still hope Osborn will win and will help Democrats take control of the Senate."
ReplyDeleteIsn't that just the kind of thing a Trump supporter would say? Some commenters here really have Bob figured out.
Somerby went to a lot of trouble repeating Osborns mistake (out if context, omitting his apology), extending the right wing hit on Osborn. No one who wants Dems to win helps the Republicans that way.
DeleteI don’t see what was disrespectful in what Osborn said about Trump voters. Democrats in Nebraska are also named Mary Jo and Dems certainly want to win.
ReplyDelete