Wednesday Open Thread

7 thoughts on “Wednesday Open Thread”

1. If Democrats are so dam smart, how come they lose so dam often?

    

    

   "campaigning far longer"

   But not even mentioned in the poll, in the media, by anyone, anywhere.

    

   Yeah.

   There's no bonus points for longevity. Campaign, don't campaign. It's about name recognition and affection.

   If voters don't know you, they better hate your opponents. Hate takes energy, and yet still builds name rec.

    

    

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   1. Madco, clearly, you're talking about the candidates for the US Senate race. They're "not mentioned in the polls" because the only poll so far was done by Romanoff's campaign organization. They get plenty of media attention – see links on their names. 

      Romanoff's campaign organization, "Onsight" put out a so-called "public poll" that happens to show him as the front runner, but did not mention most of the other candidates.  Onsight/ Keating also does not mention that Romanoff is their firm's client.

      Maybe Romanoff is the front runner, at least in name recognition; but the poll was dishonest in that it did not acknowledge that it was an in-house poll, not a public poll. It  also did not poll about or acknowledge most of the female candidates, nor any of the candidates of color. Instead, the Onsight/Keating poll chose to feature only white males with even less name recognition than Lorena Garcia or Trish Zornio. Or are you a big booster of Dan Baer (who?) or John Walsh (Eric Holder likes him)?

      Stephany Spaulding, Lorena Garcia, Trish Zornio, and Alice Madden do have name recognition at least equivalent to Baer and Walsh. Yet only Madden was mentioned.

      Stephany Spaulding has name rec in the El Paso County area, where she got 39% of the vote against Doug Lamborn. She is also well known in the evangelical community. And she's the best public speaker of all of the candidates, including Andrew Romanoff.

      Lorena Garcia is well known in Denver in the Latina, non-profit, reproductive rights, and LGBT communities, among others. She has raised $14,000 November to March of 2019.

      Alice Madden has the same or better legislative experience as Andrew Romanoff; she was Speaker of the House after he was termed out.

      Jena Griswold was featured prominently in the poll, although she isn't running for Senate, because the poll's funder was a Griswold booster.

      What I want: Be honest. Acknowledge that the poll that looks so good for you is an in-house poll. Mention the names of all the declared candidates. Don't hide the women and people of color because you're afraid they might compete with you for votes from those constituencies.  Show up to the rural forums, since you're supposed to be such a big booster of rural issues. Don't avoid being on the same stage with your rivals.

       

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      1. Madden was never speaker of the house. She was majority leader, when Romanoff was speaker.  She was superb at the job, a brilliant woman.

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2. Trump’s July 4 event and related protests have bankrupted D.C. security fund, mayor says

   President Trump’s July 4 celebration cost the District $1.7 million, an amount that — combined with police expenses for related protests — has bankrupted a city fund used to protect the nation’s capital from terrorist threats and secure rallies and state funerals.

   Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) says the White House still owes the city another $7.3 million from Trump’s 2017 inauguration.

   Hopefully, the city will file a lien against *rump's hotel in D.C. to satisfy the debt, because we know the deadbeat never willingly pays his obligations.

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3. Or maybe we could something slightly-less radical, like Postal Banking????

   Jerome Powell: Facebook's Libra poses potential risk to financial system

   "While the project's sponsors hold out the possibility of public benefits, including improved financial access for consumers, Libra raises many serious concerns regarding privacy, money laundering, consumer protection and financial stability," he said. "These are concerns that should be thoroughly and publicly addressed before proceeding."

   Powell's comments illustrate the growing concern in Washington about Facebook's sweeping plans to become a force in the financial system. The company will face questions about Libra in back-to-back House Financial Services and Senate Banking Committee hearings next week.

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4. For dotards like our favorite troll who thinks the government shouldn't pick winners and losers.  Maybe they can merge with a Kentucky coal plant Drump saved and salvage their balance sheet?  Are there any dollars left in the farmer bail-out fund? Has any of his advisors broke it to him that US Steel is headquartered in Pennsylvania? 

   The Trump Tariff Twist That Has Cost U.S. Steel $5.7 Billion

    “Since Trump announced the tariffs 16 months ago, U.S. Steel has lost almost 70% of its market value, or $5.5 billion, and idled two American furnaces in mid-June that couldn’t be run profitably at the lowest prices since 2016. Meanwhile, Nucor, down around 20%, has touted $2.5 billion in expansion projects.”

    

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5. Serious rehashing of 2016 on my Facebook feed, stoked by trolls who masquerade as either "Bernie Bros" or Hillary PUMAs out to beat down the impertinent newcomers who dare to question the party line.

   People, please don't feed the trolls. They are not on our side. They are not Democrats. Possibly, they aren't even Americans.

   If someone sends you a meme that that darn Sanders * said or did something despicable, don't just pass it on. At least go to the original  source and see if it's taken out of context, which it probably is.

   By the same token, if you get a meme or a strangely sourced article quoting a Clinton (or Obama, or Biden, or ______) saying something disgusting and un-American, check the original source, and don't just hit "share".

   *(or AOC, or Warren, or Harris – those are the main targets of Russian disinformation campaigns these days)

   Anyway, here's an Intelligencer article about the Democratic Unity Pledge, sponsored by Indivisible, which by now almost all of the candidates have signed. (Michael Bennet is a holdout – why?)

   The pledge simply asks candidates to commit to 1) make the primary constructive, 2) rally behind the winner of the primary and 3) do the work to beat Trump.

   Sanders was the first candidate to sign the pledge. It's more than a year old, but worth revisiting, since the forces that want to divide us are often echoed and amplified on this very blog. It's always easy to believe the worst about people we have minor disagreements with.

    

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