I have been thinking about the idea of AZ not having a Lt Governor for some time. I live here and it has never made sense to me as we had a string of governors "removed" from office in the not to distant past to be replaced by the Secretary of State from the opposing party. I have really thought about the consequences of Lake and Fontes (PLEASE not Finchem!!) wins. Lake doesn't give a crap about Arizona-- it is all about her, the spotlight, and her political climbing. She would dump the Governor job in a NY minute to be a running mate with trump. That would be a great victory for AZ as her MAGA hold on the state would take an exit, stage left, and leave the job to Fontes who is an amazingly level-headed person who has actually held public office before, conducts himself in a civil manner, and would do what is best for AZ as opposed to himself. I know, that is a novel idea in AZ politics, but I believe he has read, grasped the intent, and would follow both the US and AZ Constitutions. And, let's face it... anything would be better than Trump in drag, the Emperess of Trollism, the Krazy Kari who sees herself as the Queen. Even Fox News (local Channel 10) was happy when she left!
One Democratic candidate I have seen and heard in Arizona who is very strong, powerful and stunningly charismatic is Adrian Fontes who ran for AZ secretary of state - the office that has overall responsibility for elections in Arizona - an un-glamorous but important office. Fontes is an antidote to the moral nihilism of the "Republican" party and the lack of energy and vision that now plagues the Democratic party. I hope we see him again as a candidate for a higher office. Having him as the keynote speaker at the next DNC would be a smart move.
Fun is what fun does and it varies. Kari Lake and Trump's rallies are all about fun-- the fun of fantasizing about smashing people in the mouth, kicking their rib cages in, tearing out their eyeballs, and inflicting suffering which the victim is helpless to avoid and cannot reciprocate. And unless interrupted at some point leads to the fun of dressing up in uniforms, building concentration camps, imprisoning victims, and even implementing final solutions.
Yes, lots of fun. So much fun, I'm just going to die laughing.
DeSantis announced in his acceptance speech that "Florida is where "woke" goes to die!" This, as well as his assuming the mantel of God's anointed savior (Messiah) I think we can see the outlines and shape of things to come.
Apparently he only read the first half of Barry Goldwater's convention speech. "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice!" That sentence was joined with the idea that "Moderation in the pursuit of Justice is no virtue!".
And what is "woke" but a search for justice and the recognition that justice must be pursued and that pursuit recognizes and "sees" the barriers to that pursuit? Obviously "wokeness" is an offense to those with no conscience, for whom cruelty to "the out group" is the greatest demonstration of their will to power. The future of Florida will be, to paraphrase Orwell, If you want a picture of the future, imagine a CHRISTIAN boot stamping on a human face—for ever.'
So far the 2024 DeSantis campaign slogan is "Make America Florida!"
Well, Tim may very well be right. Am I being a "buzzkill" to see this as a sign of America's decadence? Ultimately someone has to entertain us if we're to get really motivated to put them in office?
Then again, throw this onto the pile of armchair QB criticisms of what the Democrats do wrong. They don't have fun. But then they don't pay attention to the Very Serious Concerns of the long suffering people who vote for Republicans for some other reason than sticking it to the libs. They need to start addressing the complaints of blue collar Americans, like Tim Ryan has been doing in his race that he's probably going to lose to a pudgy, disingenuous Ivy Leaguer who won his nomination by taking back everything he ever said about Glorious Leader.
They need to start talking like normal people - forget all this stuff about abortion and democracy and the environment and meet the people where they are on matters like about how inspirational the Unabomber is or how China take all our good air and their bad air got to go somewhere. Oh, or how the 2020 election was stolen! That's a big hit — just don't go talking people's ears off about how it *wasn't* stolen, because voters are so much more focused on kitchen table issues, like whatever mean names Mean Joe Malarkey calls the MAGA base.
Also, make sure not to support any policies that might have arguably contributed to a random act of crime or two; the obvious exception being the semi-quarterly mass slaughter of schoolchildren, churchgoers, or recreational gatherers, which — fun fact — is all about the very serious (not too serious of course!) issue of mental health care, and has nothing to do with the availability of AR-15s at Wal-Mart.
Oh, and also, stop telling voters about the things you've done for them in the past to address their Very Serious Concerns — they'd totally rather hear you talk about what the other guys haven't done but you are for sure gonna do, like "vote against inflation". And definitely be careful not to give voters the impression you care about people who aren't them, like their kids out of college, or that you want to make anyone's life better than that of the people who came before them 20 years ago. Americans want change, not progress. Also, we have to learn to relate to people different than us, as long as those people aren't whiny coastal Social Justice types.
Look I know I'm being reductionist here and conflating Trump's base with the allegedly gettable moderate Independents. There's a lot of wisdom that I'm eliding here to make a point. Because goddamn if it doesn't feel like Democrats are the ones constantly having to navigate a dizzying array of conflicting criticism about the imperfections in their "message" while Republicans get to win elections by having fun.
Tim: You write: "it’s hard to imagine her leaving the governorship to Democrat Adrian Fontes, should Fontes win and become the sitting Secretary of State." Is it really so hard to imagine? She wouldn't have to give up her position if she's the VP nominee. She would only leave the Governor's position if she's the VP nominee and Trump wins. Since she is so much like Trump, why would she give a fuck about anything other than herself? Trump certainly wouldn't. I think she would abandon Arizona to a Democrat governor in a heartbeat if it meant her personal advancement to be the VP and next in line for the presidency after Trump. I don't think you are being cynical enough! LOL
Today, Tuesday November 8, 2022, we woke up to the news that the $2 Billion Powerball lottery was not drawn as scheduled due to some alleged state technology issue. Later in the day, the problem was fixed, the drawing was held, albeit several hours late, and a winning ticket was announced.
12 Hours later on this same day, despite being told well in advance that vote counts will delayed 2-3 days due to democratically passed and challenged state laws, the Maga jackholes will become incensed-- ready to riot and take up arms claiming voter fraud and end of days conspiracies. Not one of them will even think to question the legitimacy of the $2 Billion Powerball drawing. They'll just say, "Oh well, better luck next time."
I'm just kind of struggling with the disconnect between the steady stream of pessimism that comes out of the Bulwark (which I agree with because I think it's true) and the criticism that Dems should be more "fun."
If I may make an observation: the modern american voter sees politics as bloodsport. It is not simply a place to advance careers or talk about big issues. Politics is entertainment. But Americans like their entertainers in this arena to be fighters; they want people who are aggressive and go after their opponents. How they do this varies. But the right and left voter want leaders who will fight for their issues, or just fight at all, really. Nothing is worse than a leader who seems passive.
Post 9/11, all our presidents have been fighters for something. Bush claimed he was a fighter against John Kerry, a man with purple hearts. Obama fought for change. Trump fought for resentment. Biden fought against Trump's seeming madness. But they fought for SOMETHING. This plays out in races we see where Democrats are the furthest ahead: Fetterman fights directly, after all. He makes no bones about being aggressive towards Oz and makes his barbs clear and obvious. There's no apology from him.
To use a historical analogy, in Byzantium, the chariot races were divided into teams, and those teams were extremely political. The two biggest, the blues and greens, each represented political factions, to the point that they had violent enforcers to go after each other in the streets. The emperors often were members of the various teams and gave them patronage. The political arena was as much fought in the chariot arena as it was the emperor's throne room.
Humans have not changed much. We want leaders that fight for something. We want to see them fight each other, to see candidates bloody each other's noses. Most of this is not physical; but we like to see arguments. Some say this is the reality tv-ification of everything, and maybe they're right. But we like to see our politicians express passion and anger and act as lightning rods for our issues.
The media in the center and on the left doesn't like this, but the right wing media grasps this innately. They are always stoking their base, always being aggressive, always making their leaders out as warriors fighting the fight of the base. Now, that might not be the case. But that doesn't really matter, because it's about making the people who vote think you're performing in your role as gladiator in chief.
The democrats need to learn that they need to be fighters; they need to stop apologizing and worrying about civility and instead focus on being passionate and direct. They need to take the fight to the GOP, and they need to not apologize for it.
Especially because, with all the attempts to not seem radical, people still think that they are the same as the GOP. So obviously, the attempts to be demure and non-threatening aren't working. It can't, in an age when people want their leaders to fight.
To put it another way, if you care about lowering inflation, fight the other candidate! If you care about healthcare, fight for it! If you care about democracy, fight for it! Trade barbs! Bloody the other candidate in ads and debates! You can't simply keep your head down and expect to win, because voters want to see candidates draw blood from each other.
People, in general, hate weakness. Even perceived weakness. When Katie Hobbs refused to debate Lake, I knew it was over. The only person who could have beat Lake was someone who was as pugnacious as her
I think the better term for what is needed is ‘passion’ rather than ‘fun.’
Passion is infectious, thereby getting more people on board, and can result in fun, which obviously everyone likes, but in the long run is much more substantive and productive than ‘fun’.
And hate is a form of passion, hence the energy on the right.
I have been thinking about the idea of AZ not having a Lt Governor for some time. I live here and it has never made sense to me as we had a string of governors "removed" from office in the not to distant past to be replaced by the Secretary of State from the opposing party. I have really thought about the consequences of Lake and Fontes (PLEASE not Finchem!!) wins. Lake doesn't give a crap about Arizona-- it is all about her, the spotlight, and her political climbing. She would dump the Governor job in a NY minute to be a running mate with trump. That would be a great victory for AZ as her MAGA hold on the state would take an exit, stage left, and leave the job to Fontes who is an amazingly level-headed person who has actually held public office before, conducts himself in a civil manner, and would do what is best for AZ as opposed to himself. I know, that is a novel idea in AZ politics, but I believe he has read, grasped the intent, and would follow both the US and AZ Constitutions. And, let's face it... anything would be better than Trump in drag, the Emperess of Trollism, the Krazy Kari who sees herself as the Queen. Even Fox News (local Channel 10) was happy when she left!
I don't know about Kari Lake but I'm having one helluva lot of fun this morning! Suck it, MAGA.
One Democratic candidate I have seen and heard in Arizona who is very strong, powerful and stunningly charismatic is Adrian Fontes who ran for AZ secretary of state - the office that has overall responsibility for elections in Arizona - an un-glamorous but important office. Fontes is an antidote to the moral nihilism of the "Republican" party and the lack of energy and vision that now plagues the Democratic party. I hope we see him again as a candidate for a higher office. Having him as the keynote speaker at the next DNC would be a smart move.
Fun is what fun does and it varies. Kari Lake and Trump's rallies are all about fun-- the fun of fantasizing about smashing people in the mouth, kicking their rib cages in, tearing out their eyeballs, and inflicting suffering which the victim is helpless to avoid and cannot reciprocate. And unless interrupted at some point leads to the fun of dressing up in uniforms, building concentration camps, imprisoning victims, and even implementing final solutions.
Yes, lots of fun. So much fun, I'm just going to die laughing.
DeSantis announced in his acceptance speech that "Florida is where "woke" goes to die!" This, as well as his assuming the mantel of God's anointed savior (Messiah) I think we can see the outlines and shape of things to come.
Apparently he only read the first half of Barry Goldwater's convention speech. "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice!" That sentence was joined with the idea that "Moderation in the pursuit of Justice is no virtue!".
And what is "woke" but a search for justice and the recognition that justice must be pursued and that pursuit recognizes and "sees" the barriers to that pursuit? Obviously "wokeness" is an offense to those with no conscience, for whom cruelty to "the out group" is the greatest demonstration of their will to power. The future of Florida will be, to paraphrase Orwell, If you want a picture of the future, imagine a CHRISTIAN boot stamping on a human face—for ever.'
So far the 2024 DeSantis campaign slogan is "Make America Florida!"
But Florida is where justice goes to die.
Wonder if Kari is celebrating now.
"basking in the serotonin rush that comes from voicing their shared resentments and loathings. "
That is such a good and depressingly accurate line, Tim.
I can't get over the visual of the Comet Ping Pong shooter at this event. I don't want to know how many guns there were.
Well, Tim may very well be right. Am I being a "buzzkill" to see this as a sign of America's decadence? Ultimately someone has to entertain us if we're to get really motivated to put them in office?
Then again, throw this onto the pile of armchair QB criticisms of what the Democrats do wrong. They don't have fun. But then they don't pay attention to the Very Serious Concerns of the long suffering people who vote for Republicans for some other reason than sticking it to the libs. They need to start addressing the complaints of blue collar Americans, like Tim Ryan has been doing in his race that he's probably going to lose to a pudgy, disingenuous Ivy Leaguer who won his nomination by taking back everything he ever said about Glorious Leader.
They need to start talking like normal people - forget all this stuff about abortion and democracy and the environment and meet the people where they are on matters like about how inspirational the Unabomber is or how China take all our good air and their bad air got to go somewhere. Oh, or how the 2020 election was stolen! That's a big hit — just don't go talking people's ears off about how it *wasn't* stolen, because voters are so much more focused on kitchen table issues, like whatever mean names Mean Joe Malarkey calls the MAGA base.
Also, make sure not to support any policies that might have arguably contributed to a random act of crime or two; the obvious exception being the semi-quarterly mass slaughter of schoolchildren, churchgoers, or recreational gatherers, which — fun fact — is all about the very serious (not too serious of course!) issue of mental health care, and has nothing to do with the availability of AR-15s at Wal-Mart.
Oh, and also, stop telling voters about the things you've done for them in the past to address their Very Serious Concerns — they'd totally rather hear you talk about what the other guys haven't done but you are for sure gonna do, like "vote against inflation". And definitely be careful not to give voters the impression you care about people who aren't them, like their kids out of college, or that you want to make anyone's life better than that of the people who came before them 20 years ago. Americans want change, not progress. Also, we have to learn to relate to people different than us, as long as those people aren't whiny coastal Social Justice types.
Look I know I'm being reductionist here and conflating Trump's base with the allegedly gettable moderate Independents. There's a lot of wisdom that I'm eliding here to make a point. Because goddamn if it doesn't feel like Democrats are the ones constantly having to navigate a dizzying array of conflicting criticism about the imperfections in their "message" while Republicans get to win elections by having fun.
Tim: You write: "it’s hard to imagine her leaving the governorship to Democrat Adrian Fontes, should Fontes win and become the sitting Secretary of State." Is it really so hard to imagine? She wouldn't have to give up her position if she's the VP nominee. She would only leave the Governor's position if she's the VP nominee and Trump wins. Since she is so much like Trump, why would she give a fuck about anything other than herself? Trump certainly wouldn't. I think she would abandon Arizona to a Democrat governor in a heartbeat if it meant her personal advancement to be the VP and next in line for the presidency after Trump. I don't think you are being cynical enough! LOL
Today, Tuesday November 8, 2022, we woke up to the news that the $2 Billion Powerball lottery was not drawn as scheduled due to some alleged state technology issue. Later in the day, the problem was fixed, the drawing was held, albeit several hours late, and a winning ticket was announced.
12 Hours later on this same day, despite being told well in advance that vote counts will delayed 2-3 days due to democratically passed and challenged state laws, the Maga jackholes will become incensed-- ready to riot and take up arms claiming voter fraud and end of days conspiracies. Not one of them will even think to question the legitimacy of the $2 Billion Powerball drawing. They'll just say, "Oh well, better luck next time."
I'm just kind of struggling with the disconnect between the steady stream of pessimism that comes out of the Bulwark (which I agree with because I think it's true) and the criticism that Dems should be more "fun."
Also MORE fun when it is LOL vs OMG
If I may make an observation: the modern american voter sees politics as bloodsport. It is not simply a place to advance careers or talk about big issues. Politics is entertainment. But Americans like their entertainers in this arena to be fighters; they want people who are aggressive and go after their opponents. How they do this varies. But the right and left voter want leaders who will fight for their issues, or just fight at all, really. Nothing is worse than a leader who seems passive.
Post 9/11, all our presidents have been fighters for something. Bush claimed he was a fighter against John Kerry, a man with purple hearts. Obama fought for change. Trump fought for resentment. Biden fought against Trump's seeming madness. But they fought for SOMETHING. This plays out in races we see where Democrats are the furthest ahead: Fetterman fights directly, after all. He makes no bones about being aggressive towards Oz and makes his barbs clear and obvious. There's no apology from him.
To use a historical analogy, in Byzantium, the chariot races were divided into teams, and those teams were extremely political. The two biggest, the blues and greens, each represented political factions, to the point that they had violent enforcers to go after each other in the streets. The emperors often were members of the various teams and gave them patronage. The political arena was as much fought in the chariot arena as it was the emperor's throne room.
Humans have not changed much. We want leaders that fight for something. We want to see them fight each other, to see candidates bloody each other's noses. Most of this is not physical; but we like to see arguments. Some say this is the reality tv-ification of everything, and maybe they're right. But we like to see our politicians express passion and anger and act as lightning rods for our issues.
The media in the center and on the left doesn't like this, but the right wing media grasps this innately. They are always stoking their base, always being aggressive, always making their leaders out as warriors fighting the fight of the base. Now, that might not be the case. But that doesn't really matter, because it's about making the people who vote think you're performing in your role as gladiator in chief.
The democrats need to learn that they need to be fighters; they need to stop apologizing and worrying about civility and instead focus on being passionate and direct. They need to take the fight to the GOP, and they need to not apologize for it.
Especially because, with all the attempts to not seem radical, people still think that they are the same as the GOP. So obviously, the attempts to be demure and non-threatening aren't working. It can't, in an age when people want their leaders to fight.
To put it another way, if you care about lowering inflation, fight the other candidate! If you care about healthcare, fight for it! If you care about democracy, fight for it! Trade barbs! Bloody the other candidate in ads and debates! You can't simply keep your head down and expect to win, because voters want to see candidates draw blood from each other.
People, in general, hate weakness. Even perceived weakness. When Katie Hobbs refused to debate Lake, I knew it was over. The only person who could have beat Lake was someone who was as pugnacious as her
I think the better term for what is needed is ‘passion’ rather than ‘fun.’
Passion is infectious, thereby getting more people on board, and can result in fun, which obviously everyone likes, but in the long run is much more substantive and productive than ‘fun’.
And hate is a form of passion, hence the energy on the right.