@GottaLaff Thank you, Laffy. I’m with you. This panic helps no one. Especially on top of the debate freak out last week.
What we need in this election is citizenship work. People willing to commit time to stop scrolling and have productive conversations with neighbors in their community.
Our communities are our strength. They can protect in fascist overreach but they can also beat fascism. There are more of us than there are of them. That’s the reason for this extremism. Fear.
@GottaLaff I think this decision may be a wakeup call. Combined with the unhinged performance from the other guy last Thursday, I think the momentum is going to shift drastically and quickly. I hope it is. I pray it is.
@powersoffour@GottaLaff “would you rather have a doddering old guy as unaccountable king, or the raving, revenge-seeking felon?” seems like a decent argument if people are worrying about Biden’s performance at the debate.
@GottaLaff I agree. Decent people want to stay decent, and that may feel rotten under the circumstances. But decent people NOT staying decent is far, far worse. Because that means we'll soon all be shooting each other on 5th Ave.
Voting is the only acceptable way out.
(Even then, I'm allowing myself the odd wicked fantasy.)
@Eetschrijver@GottaLaff 🚨🚨🚨What happens if we lose the right to vote? It’s not such a far fetched idea given that Trump openly admits to wanting to be a dictator and what’s been coming down from the right wing treasonous SCOTUS lately. To preserve the illusion of democracy will we end up with “for show” elections with predetermined outcomes like in Russia?
@GottaLaff
Respectfully, I think "should" here is really "can."
The point (which I know you know) being that the grand interpreter of the constitution just made that document effectively meaningless.
There is now a person of great power effectively above the law.
Biden won't do any of the things suggested. Trump will, and without hesitation. Everyone knows this, but especially those fine Supreme Court Justices, a half-dozen of them traitors.
@GottaLaff why shouldn’t Biden order IRS audits for every extremist on the Supreme Court, every Republican in Congress and billionaire donors like Leonard Leo? Seriously.
@GottaLaff 4 of the 5 states with less than 1 mlion people have republican senators. You need a million progressive people who can work from home to move to Wyoming, Alaska, North Dakota & South Dakota & vote.
Also West Virginia (Joe Manchin), Maine, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska.
@GottaLaff It seems that Jack Smith can still charge Trump for the Georgia SoS call. That wasn't an official act, it was a defeated candidate trying to reverse a state election with threats, and he did it personally, didn't direct someone in DoJ to do it. He should salvage any charges he can and try to get the trial started before the election, with the argument that Trump can appeal after the trial and not before.
@GottaLaff Laffy: I totally agree!! And this BS about the president finding another VP is complete nonsense. I mean, one of the reasons I was excited about Biden was because he picked Kamala Harris to be VP... But that's just me going off topic. We just have one thing to do. and that's to vote like our lives depend on it... Because it does...
@GottaLaff I never understood the argument that Biden should have wasted political capital on something he didn’t have the votes for. Or trying to strong-arm Manchin on things Manchin didn’t want to do versus seeking his support for things he was willing to do.
@GottaLaff
I am heart sick and discouraged, but now I dig down and get back to the business of making sure we win the election in numbers that are too big to dismiss. Failure is not an option.
@GottaLaff
I am here to support you.
People strike out when scared and angry. I am both, but can keep my own counsel. Guess that is an advantage of being OLD.
@GottaLaff@MichelleRNCHPN
Huzzah for us olds!
I took a nap and now am going to make a little pizza.
Then figure out what I can do to make sure Biden & dems up and down the ballots win big.
@GottaLaff 20/20 hindsight. Where were all these keyboard know it alls when Dems were supposedly taking the wrong actions or allegedly not taking action at all?
They show a total ignorance of history, and/or a goal of creating disunion and chaos. #VoteBlue2024
@GottaLaff now that's just insane, blaming the dems. That's like blaming Ukraine for Russia invading them. Dems have done well enough that the MAGA have to keep getting more extreme to beat them. So now MAGA couldn't win by the rules, so they have thrown out the rules. It's a new ball game, but only because MAGA can't stand losing to the dems.
@GottaLaff@Burnt_Veggies Anyone engaging "Biden should..." should commit to go do something to help with local election, whether it's chipping a few $$ or one hour of phone / text banking.
@GottaLaff@Burnt_Veggies Fun fact: I'm binational (France / US) so I get to be filled with dread about TWO countries' election.
Fun fact 2: my birthday is on US election day, so, ruined. ☹️
@GottaLaff@Burnt_Veggies You know who I feel bad for? Sotomayor, Kagan, and KBJ. Imagine spending your working days with these 🤬 🤬 🤬 and having to listen to them and not get stabby.
@GottaLaff Democrats started dropping the ball when we failed to vote in 2010, giving the House to the GOP and allowing Republicans to control the 2010 census. Cue gerrymandering. We did it again in 2020 when we allowed the same thing to happen and barely kept Trump away from a 2nd term. We have a massive inability to educate and motivate a huge number of “undecided” voters, who then vote on whatever catchy meme they saw last or fail to vote entirely. Sorry, I’m cranky.
@GottaLaff I didn’t say I didnt have anyone’s back, not that I was laying down and giving up. But we could have prevented so much of this misery if we could have persuaded a few more people to vote, and vote in their own self interest. I too am old, and I keep watching history rhyme, if not repeat.
@GottaLaff@MarkAB There's a fine line between blame and just understanding how we got here. But even the latter ought to be in service of how we solve the problems we now have, not whining or breast-beating.
@oclsc@MarkAB I just don't see the point right now in saying, "Well if Dems had just... in 2010..."
We're here now with immediate crises, now. We can dissect how we got here once we win. It ends up looking like a circular firing squad, feeding into the fears and blame games.
@GottaLaff@oclsc@MarkAB Partially agree (and to be clear, I'm all in for Dem candidates), but then when is the time? We're ALWAYS in an election cycle. Volunteers are spread too thin for some of us to do the deep canvasses and the long, hard work, and others to do the electoral organizing. Every time I hear this it sounds more and more like "we're dealing with tragedy, it isn't the time to talk about gun violence."
@GottaLaff Murc’s Law: “the widespread assumption that only Democrats have any agency or causal influence over American politics”. The eternal and infuriating posture that anything bad that happens is either the Dem's fault for provoking it, or the Dem's fault for not stopping it.
@GottaLaff Yeah ever since I became aware of Murc's Law I've found it to be a great magnifying glass for scrutinizing political opinions (especially from news media) and once you start you see it everywhere. Maddening but clarifying.
@GottaLaff without saying what biden should or shouldn't do... it is a problem that the GOP have no fear that the Dems would abuse the power they're given the way their side will. the whole way both sides want constraints on power depends on imagining what your opponents would do with having the fetters removed. they imagine the dems will do nothing, and they're probably right, so they feel they can just go ahead.
@GottaLaff Not only is Biden not going to do wild things but the US supreme court only means for its immunity to apply to Trump. There is no chance they would allow Biden to do anything he wants and would find a way to rule against him even if it required going back on everything they said today.
Impeachment needs 67 votes. Until you have 17 GOP senators on record it's just theater.
What doesn't take 67 votes is abolishing the filibuster and adding SCOTUS justices.
Call your Senators and Reps and demand they go on record as to their intentions.
in VA
Sen. Warner is not on board with expansion
Sen Kaine flatly won't answer the question.