Category: Vote / Voting

I love this it is everything I feel and more.

No Bark Off My Shin …

As a College Student, I Hope the Presidential Election Is a Wake-Up Call for Our Country

JUL 25, 2024, 10:00AM

LORIEN TYNE

As a College Student, I Hope the Presidential Election Is a Wake-Up Call for Our Country

I’ve become cynical in the last decade, but I am holding out hope that Vice President Kamala Harris can lead the country into a new chapter.

This piece first appeared in our weekly newsletter, The Fallout.

By now you’ve heard President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race on Sunday and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, which either puts the nation on a path to more progressive reform and the first woman president or catapults Donald Trump back into the White House.

As a college student, I am excited for the possibility of Harris winning the nomination at the Democratic National Convention, and I’m eager to see who she chooses as her running mate. However, I am also terrified by the chaos because it has made the results of this presidential election so unclear, and the impact of the outcome will last longer than a four-year term.

This turn of events has to be a resounding wake-up call for our country. I was worried that choosing Biden to beat Trump in 2020 was putting a placeholder president in the White House, and one that wouldn’t offer much change. But I was wrong. And with Harris as the presumptive nominee, the country gets an even stronger advocate for reproductive rights.

Just look at her recent record:

By Monday evening, Harris had already amassed the endorsements of enough delegates to clinch the nomination. Delegates from more than half the states—including California, Florida, New Hampshire, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas—have already pledged their support. The rest are expected by the end of the week.

I’ve become very cynical in the past decade, but I am holding out hope that Harris can lead us into a new chapter. I am tired of choosing the best of the worst options when I stare down a ballot, and if she wins, a little of my faith in our country will be restored.

Harris would not only be the first woman president and the first Black and Asian woman president, but would open doors for more radical change. I’ve decided that we cannot be complacent with blind trust in the Democratic Party, nor paralyzed with fear of what another four years under Trump would bring. For the first time in my lifetime, the Harris nomination presents a real choice to move forward, and I hope the country takes it.

Replying to Donald Trump Jr’s Nonsense

Let’s talk about voter registration and numbers….

Let’s talk about shifting opinions on Project 2025….

Let’s talk about Trump’s nephew and healthcare….

This is beautiful.

Great Memes, Cont.

The President’s Speech, We Choose Freedom, My Interview W/Will Rollins, The Economy Is Strong

“There’s also a time and a place for new voices, fresh voices, yes, younger voices. And that time and place is now”

(I haven’t posted a Hopium in a couple of days. Enjoy!)

SIMON ROSENBERG JUL 25, 2024

Happy Thursday all. It sure is a new day. Got a few things for you today:

The Biden Boom Keeps Booming – We just got the 2nd quarter GDP number and it was a very good one – 2.8%. The economy has grown by an average of about 3% in each year of the Biden Presidency – remarkable stuff, and certainly much faster than any other advanced economy in the world. Right now growth is strong, the job market the best since the 1960s, the stock market keeps breaking records, inflation fell last month and is at the Fed target of 2% over the last six months, the uninsured rate is at historic lows and new business formation keeps running at record highs. Under Joe Biden America has prospered, and as the Wall Street Journal wrote recently, our economy today is “the envy of the world.” Importantly, contrary to the media rabble, Americans know things are better where they are:

Joe Biden has been a consequential and successful President. The country is far better off today. We need to be loud and proud about all this economic success, my friends, for it is true and it is really going to matter in the months to come.

President Biden’s Historic Oval Office Speech – In my Tuesday night talk and in posts this week we’ve discussed how President Biden’s decision not to run was a powerful affirmation of American democracy in a time when democracy here and everywhere is under threat. An “American Cincinnatus” I’ve been calling him, something we will be discussing more in the days ahead. I watched the speech. Have it read it over several times. I’ve included the transcript of the speech at the end of this post for you to spend time with today and in the coming days. Here’s my favorite passage:

We are a great nation because we are a good people. When you elected me to this office, I promised to always level with you, to tell you the truth. And the truth, the sacred cause of this country, is larger than any one of us. Those of us who cherry that cause cherish it so much. The cause of American democracy itself. We must unite to protect it.

In recent weeks, it has become clear to me that I need to unite my party in this critical endeavor. I believe my record as president, my leadership in the world, my vision for America’s future, all merited a second term. But nothing, nothing can come in the way of saving our democracy. That includes personal ambition.

So I’ve decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. It’s the best way to unite our nation. I know there was a time and a place for long years of experience in public life. There’s also a time and a place for new voices, fresh voices, yes, younger voices. And that time and place is now.

One of those fresh voices released her first campaign video this morning. It is clearly a new campaign, with a new candidate, a new vibe, a new argument:

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/sHky_Xopyrw?rel=0&autoplay=0&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=0

Here’s the text from the ad. Many of you ask for talking points to help make your arguments better, more compelling. Well, here they are:

In this election, we each face a question.

What kind of country do we want to live in?

There are some people who think we should be a country of chaos. Of fear. Of hate.

But us. We choose something different.

We choose freedom.

The freedom not just to get by, but get ahead. The freedom to be safe from gun violence. The freedom to make decisions about your own body.

We choose a future where no child lives in poverty. Where we all can afford health care, where no one is above the law.

We believe in the promise of America and we are ready to fight for it.

Because when we fight, we win. So join us.

Go to kamalaharris.com and let’s get to work.

I like this new language, this new narrative, this new argument. It’s very good stuff coming this early in the transition, and we should expect it to evolve as the campaign matures and road tests all this stuff. I particularly like the way the Vice President talks about the economy and opportunity. It’s simple, smart and effective:

the freedom to not just to get by, but get ahead

Here we go people. The torch has been passed.

So I’ve decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. It’s the best way to unite our nation. I know there was a time and a place for long years of experience in public life. There’s also a time and a place for new voices, fresh voices, yes, younger voices. And that time and place is now.

And yes it’s time to get to work, and go out and win this thing, together.

Donate and volunteer for our next President, Kamala Harris, today!

Fired Up, Ready To Go/My Interview With Will Rollins (CA-41) – I am excited to share a new interview with Will Rollins, one of our Hopium 12, who is running to flip a very competitive seat in Southern California. Will is a very impressive candidate. He’s smart, experienced, determined. I think you will enjoy our discussion, above, and here are ways you can help Will win – Donate to Will | Volunteer | Learn more.

This is the fifth candidate interview in our Winning The House campaign. Perhaps watch some of the others this weekend – Janelle Bynum (OR-5), George Whitesides (CA-27), Kirsten Engel (AZ-06) and Andrei Cherny (AZ-01). We have a great set of candidates running this cycle and if we do the work we can flip the House, sending the extremist, insurrectionist Mike Johnson packing. You can donate to all 12 here in a single donation, or visit our Winning The House page to donate to the candidates individually. Together, we’ve already raised over $630,000 for these intrepid twelve. Many of you are already working hard on their elections. Your response to this campaign has been incredible and inspiring.

Let’s keep working for the Hopium-endorsed candidates and state parties:

  • Harris For President – $730,000 raised today, $1m goal – Donate | Volunteer | Learn More. The $730,000 raised is both Biden-Harris and the $130,000 we’ve already raised for Harris for President. Note the new campaign released its first Harris for President merch this week. Stuff looks good!
  • Winning The House – $583,000 raised today, $600,000 goal – Donate | Volunteer | Learn More. We’ve also raised more then $50,000 into the individual House campaigns (you can either give to all 12 or each one individually)
  • North Carolina – $334,000 raised today, $400,000 goal – Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Watch my interview with NC Dem Chair Anderson Clayton
  • Arizona/Ruben Gallego – $300,000 raised today, $350,000 goal – Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Watch my interview with Ruben Gallego
  • Nebraska/Blue Dot – $124,000 raised today, $150,000 goal- Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Watch my interview with NE Dem Chair Jane Kleeb

Here’s how you can do even more:

Finally help me spread Hopium and grow this plucky community. Sign others up to be a Hopium subscriber at this link. Note that options for group and gift subscriptions are available to those who want to bring friends and colleagues into the Hopium community. Click on the group and gift tabs here to learn more. To update your payment information or check your renewal status follow these instructions from Substack. We are now over 95,000 strong – let’s keep the community growing and the Hopium flowing!

Keep working hard all. Proud to be in this fight with all of you – Simon

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/the-presidents-speechwe-choose-freedom?r=1pk2l&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Nothing more American than that

Refuse to Shut Up …

THE BROS THINK WE NEED THEIR HELP TO UNDERSTAND WHAT WE WANT

https://nomoremister.blogspot.com/2024/07/the-bros-think-we-need-their-help-to.html

I want to thank Ten Bears for the link, his link will be below because WordPress messed up blogging like I do to the max.  But for those who do not follow Ten Bears he posts grand links that you can choose to follow or not, and he labels them well enough that some of them get my interest, like the one below.  In this one it is about how the die hard center  / lean right democrats are not giving up just because the entire public seems to want Kamal a more progressive candidate.  No they insist the public really wants a center  / leans right one like Old Joe used to be in the old days.  Maybe a split ticket of Kamal and a Joe Manchin type is what they are hinting.  What they say is right wingers don’t lose hope at the convention a centrist will rise up to challenge her and win over whelming support.  These guys just don’t get the 1980 – 1990s are gone.  The right had it last brief gasp of power, but the country is moving forward, not backward to the 1950s.  Hugs.  Scottie

Page Tue: Time is Short …
Many pundits are sad today because the Democratic Party won’t have a mini-primary to choose Joe Biden’s replacement on the presidential ticket. But how do Democrats feel? Morning Consult has done some polling:
A Morning Consult survey conducted after President Joe Biden ended his re-election campaign found that 65% of Democratic voters support Harris to lead the party’s ticket, more than double the level of support she had in a hypothetical look at the same question late last month following the first presidential debate.
As has Quinnipiac:
Democrats and Democratic leaning voters were given a list of 10 names of possible Democratic candidates for president instead of Joe Biden and asked who they would most like to see win the Democratic nomination for president.

Vice President Kamala Harris tops the list with 45 percent support, California Governor Gavin Newsom receives 12 percent support, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg receives 11 percent support, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer receives 7 percent support, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear each receive 4 percent support, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly receives 3 percent support, and Maryland Governor Wes Moore, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, and Colorado Governor Jared Polis each receive 1 percent support.
Those are blowout numbers, as is this:
Vice President Kamala Harris raised $81 million in the first 24 hours since announcing her bid for president, her campaign said, a record-breaking showing as Democrats welcomed her candidacy with one of the greatest gushers of cash of all time.
See also this:
Future Forward, the flagship super PAC blessed by President JOE BIDEN, received $150 million in new commitments from major Democratic donors in the 24 hours since the president announced he would step aside from the race, Elena Schneider reports.

The fundraising boon … gives VP KAMALA HARRIS, Biden’s endorsed successor, an enormous boost as the Democratic Party reorients to a new nominee.
Sounds as if Democrats are very satisfied with Harris as the candidate. And that should be no surprise. Go to FiveThirtyEight’s collection of 2024 Democratic primary polls. When you get to the bottom of the list, keep clicking “Show more polls.” Long before Biden dropped out, in every national poll that asked respondents about a field without Joe Biden, Kamala Harris won, usually by double digits. When Harris’s lead was only in single digits, it was because her closest rival was Michelle Obama, who has made it clear she’ll never run for office.

Here are three typical polls, all posted on one day late last month (click to enlarge):


Survey USA: Harris by 27 over a field including Newsom, Buttigieg, Whitmer, Shapiro, and Wes Moore. Morning Consult: Harris by 10 over a field including Newsom, Buttigieg, Whitmer, Moore, Beshear, Cooper, Pritzker, and Moore. Data for Progress: Harris by 21 over a field including Newsom, Buttigieg, Whitmer, Pritzker, Shapiro, Cory Booker, and Amy Klobuchar.

In a field without Biden, Kamala Harris is the Democrats’ consensus choice. Kamala Harris has always been the Democrats’ consensus choice.

But bros like Ezra Klein aren’t satisfied. They still think we Democrats don’t know what we want, and need to have a bro-devised process to help focus our tiny minds:
I think there’s a middle path here that Democrats should consider. None of the top-tier candidates are going to challenge Harris for the nomination. But what about some second- or third-tier candidates? Let a few up-and-comers make their case against Donald Trump. Let’s see some CNN town halls, some multicandidate forums. Nobody is going to go negative on each other here. Give the country a reason to watch a lineup of young Democrats, most of all Harris, make their cases against Trump day after day for the next few weeks.

Think of it not as a contest. Think of it as an exhibition. Maybe the people who’ve endorsed Harris can participate, too. She’s going to need a vice president. So maybe Gretchen Whitmer and Shapiro and Kelly and Beshear should be up there, too…. Maybe a little strategic ambiguity about what these candidate forums and voter town halls are would be good.
Harris vs. “some second- or third-tier candidates”? You mean the way Joe Biden ran against Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson? We all derived a great deal of civic nourishment from that process, didn’t we?

And what does Klein mean when he writes, “Think of it not as a contest. Think of it as an exhibition,” and then “Maybe a little strategic ambiguity about what these candidate forums and voter town halls are would be good”? Beyond the obvious (We can’t allow you simple folk to know what your big-brained betters are doing), is Klein arguing that this will be described as an exhibition but will actually be a contest, because donors who want another candidate will urge writers like Klein to magnify any Harris slip-ups and promote a donor-friendly alternative?

Klein goes on to say nice things about Harris, and says she’d almost certainly emerge from his process as the nominee. (Though you never know — he writes, “If she really isn’t up to it, [Democrats] need to know that now.”) He describes this as good publicity for the party (though I’d remind him that a few excellent speeches by the presumptive nominee would also be good for the party, especially if other party stars show up in support of her).

But it’s clear that if you’re happy about the party’s consolidation around Harris, Ezra Klein thinks you’re uninformed and need educating. I worry that patronizing bros like this — and not just the ones in the media — will choose not to vote for Harris, ‘cuz she’s a girl and a bunch of girls and girlymen decided to make her the nominee by acclamation, without contests and brackets and March Madness and a Final Four. We need to outvote Republicans, but we may also need to outvote America’s Ezra Kleins.
 
Posted by Steve M. at 10:44 AM