Showing posts with label democrats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label democrats. Show all posts

Primarily Speaking

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Tuesday, July 16, 2019
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image of a cartoon version of me wearing a large foam finger pointed upward at 'Let's do this thing,' pictured in front of a patriotic stars-and-stripes graphic, to which I've added text reading: 'The Democratic Primary 2020: Let's do this thing.'

Welcome to another edition of Primarily Speaking, because presidential primaries now begin fully one million years before the election!

I'm going to start off with some cute stuff today, because who doesn't need some cute stuff, right?!

1. Outtakes of Senator Cory Booker recording messages to his supporters:


[Video Description: Various clips of Booker looking into the camera and stumbling over his words, stammering and making funny expressions and laughing.]

I especially like that big belly laugh at 0:30!

2. Senator Elizabeth Warren had some fun in Philly, and the really cute part is that photo of her shaking hands with a little girl who is looking very serious about the opportunity to speak to a presidential candidate! OMG my heart.

3. Former HUD Secretary Julián Castro melted my heart by refusing to hold a baby. Yes, you read that right! He didn't want to get the baby sick after he'd been shaking hands all day. COME ON. That's too sweet!


I hope he's as good a dad as that makes me think he must be!

* * *

And now to the decidedly less cute news...

[Content Note: Nativism; racism] I probably haven't read all 200 candidates' responses to Donald Trump's reprehensible racism directed at sitting members of Congress, but the best of the ones I've seen was Julian Castro's, for its needed and deserved bluntness: "Everybody knows that the president acts like a white supremacist. He is a racist; he's made that clear on so many different occasions. ...The question is: What are we as Americans going to do about this?"

Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders tied for the worst responses.

Although Biden at least did say plainly that Trump's statements were "a flat, racist attack," he then suggested that Trump "should go home." How helpful! I bet he'll definitely do that!

Sanders meanwhile just decided to use it as a fundraising opportunity, because of course he did. His tweet contains a donation link and text reading: "I've said all along that Trump is a racist. He is proving that point yet again by attacking Reps. @IlhanMN, @RashidaTlaib, @AyannaPressley, and @AOC. Split a contribution between their campaigns and ours to send a message that his racism will not stand."

Split a contribution between their campaigns and ours. JFC.

* * *

Senator Kamala Harris is making the case that issues affecting women of color are universal issues about which we should all care:
When Kamala Harris thinks about the range of issues that impact women of color — the gender pay gap, the lack of access to affordable housing, and America's high maternal mortality rate for black mothers, among other things — the California senator says she sees universal concerns over the economy, home ownership, and healthcare.

It's a point Harris plans to make Tuesday in Davenport when she joins several women of color at a round-table co-hosted by a local chapter of LULAC, the nation's oldest Latino civil rights organization.

"These are issues that we should all care about," the Democratic presidential candidate told the Des Moines Register. "Where we, as a nation, stand on these issues is a reflection of our collective identity."

..."I really credit the leaders of Iowa for understanding that regardless of what might be the majority population or demographics of the state, that anything that impacts anyone impacts all of us," she said.
[CN: Nativism] Senator Elizabeth Warren is tweeting about Trump's move to end asylum for Central Americans: "This is another targeted, xenophobic attack from the Trump administration. As president, I'll reinstate TPS designations and Deferred Enforced Departure to protect those at risk back in their home countries, including migrants from Central America."

Senator Cory Booker is also tweeting about that move, noting: "This is as illegal as it is immoral." [CN: Violence] He's also remembering Sadie Roberts-Joseph, the Baton Rouge civil rights leader who was found murdered: "Sadie Roberts-Joseph was a pillar of the Baton Rouge community as a civil rights leader and activist who will be missed by so many. I hope and pray for swift justice. As we mourn her loss we must honor her life by continuing her work."

Joe Biden says he'll challenge Trump to some push-ups: "'If [Donald] Trump makes of fun of his age or questions his mental state during a debate, Joe Biden has a response at the ready: He'll challenge him to do push-ups on stage,' the Washington Post reports. Said Biden: 'I'd say, 'C'mon Donald, c'mon man. How many push-ups do you want to do here, pal?' I mean, jokingly. ...C'mon, run with me, man.'" NOPE.


Biden also says of Nancy Pelosi, who inexplicably believes that a meaningless resolution condemning Trump's racism is enough while he's torturing children in concentration camps: "I think she's doing a masterful job. I have great respect for her." Noted.

[CN: Racism; police brutality] The white police officer who fatally shot a Black man last month in Mayor Pete Buttigieg's town of South Bend, Indiana, has quit his job, with the police union president attributing the resignation to "job-related stress, a lawsuit, and national media attention. He said 'hateful things said on social media have been difficult' for the officer and his family. Mills said the 'fights' over the killing are 'just too much for Sgt. O'Neill and his family to undertake right now,' and added: 'Resigning will allow him to focus on these challenges, as well as assist his wife with their three children.'" I would like to know if Buttigieg had any role in orchestrating O'Neill's resignation.

In fundraising news, Beto O'Rourke's fundraising is falling off, and Castro "had the highest rate of donations under $200 of any 2020 candidate. No PAC money, no corporate PAC or lobbyist money — this campaign is driven by grassroots support."

John Delaney is still definitely running for president.

Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.

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Primarily Speaking

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Monday, July 15, 2019
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image of a cartoon version of me looking unenthusiastic, standing next to a giant purple F, pictured in front of a patriotic stars-and-stripes graphic, to which I've added text reading: 'The Democratic Primary 2020: Let's do this thing.'

Welcome to another edition of Primarily Speaking, because presidential primaries now begin fully one million years before the election!

[Content Note: Nativism; racism; misogyny; othering] Former HUD Secretary and immigration reform leader Julián Castro came for Donald Trump over his racist tweets about congresswomen of color:

...four Congresswomen should go back home, he said. [crowd boos] You know, this isn't the first time that we've seen this in our country. "Go back to Mexico," they said. "Go back to Africa," they said. "No Irish need apply," they said. "The Chinese are excluded," they said. Throughout the generations, there have been people who build their political careers on hate and division and fear and paranoia and making people "the other." We are not gonna do that; we're gonna be about everybody in this country, and America for all people that believe in basic compassion and humanity and respect. [crowd cheers] That's the kind of America that we're gonna build.
I'm so glad he's in this presidential race.

* * *

[CN: Homophobia] Over the weekend, the liberal magazine The New Republic, which has been absolute garbage for years, published a profoundly homophobia piece about Mayor Pete Buttigeg. It was penned by a gay man, but nonetheless used grossly homophobic language to talk about what the author views as Buttigieg's unfitness for the presidency.


After massive pushback, the piece was eventually taken down with a brief note from the editor reading: "Dale Peck’s post 'My Mayor Pete Problem' has been removed from the site, in response to criticism of the piece's inappropriate and invasive content. We regret its publication." Invasive content? Okay. What meaningless drivel.

Lots of people have made the case in good faith that Buttigieg is not yet qualified for the presidency without engaging in homophobic trash. It's not even a particularly controversial position, given Buttigieg's relative inexperience. Indeed, it's so commonplace that one imagines some avaristic desire to make a pretty banal case "sexier" is the answer to the widely asked question of how TNR's editors ever let that hateful codswallop reach publication. Revolting.

* * *

Joe Biden is rolling out his healthcare plan, which is basically Obamacare 2.0: "Biden today will unveil a health plan that's intended to preserve the most popular parts of Obamacare — from Medicaid expansion to protections for patients with preexisting conditions — and build on them with a new government-run public insurance option." Meanwhile, Biden's presidential run means his cancer initiative is closing down, due to the potential of conflicts of interest if he wins the presidency. Well shit.

Senator Cory Booker has introduced a new plan "to expand access to high-quality, affordable long-term care, and to empower the workers who provide it." His complete plan for "Bringing Dignity and Choice to Long-Term Care" would: 1. Expand eligibility for long-term services and supports to every low and middle-income American and give everyone the choice to live at home; 2. Pay, train, and empower care workers as the essential workforce that they are; 3. Support family caregivers; and 4. Finance the new costs associated with the expansion of Medicaid LTSS eligibility and workforce standards for care workers entirely by the federal government.

Senator Kamala Harris will be introducing a National Domestic Workers Bill of Rights: "It's time we changed the way we value domestic work in America. Today I'm introducing the first ever National Domestic Workers Bill of Rights to guarantee domestic workers across our country the dignity, benefits, and legal protections they deserve." (The text was not yet available at the time of publishing this post.)

Harris is also the focus of a lengthy profile in the New Yorker, which I found in turn fascinating and infuriating (because of how it's written): "Kamala Harris Makes Her Case."

Senator Elizabeth Warren is profiled by McClatchy, through the eyes of her supporters: "Now, [Joanna Berens, a 57-year-old event planner] isn't just convinced Warren would make a strong general election nominee — she's thrilled about the prospect of her confronting [Donald] Trump on the debate stage. 'Oh my god,' she said. 'She will flatten him.'" May it be as you say, Joanna!

Senator Bernie Sanders' campaign is again complaining about how the press doesn't like him: "'This isn't intended to be a sweeping generalization of all journalists,' [campaign manager Faiz Shakir] told Politico, 'but there are a healthy number who just find Bernie annoying, discount his seriousness, and wish his supporters and movement would just go away.'" I mean, it probably isn't helping their case that any reporter who says anything even vaguely critical of Bernie Sanders is immediately subjected to days of relentless abuse by some number of his most fervent supporters.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is talking about white privilege and how she's benefited from it. She's also giving very fucking good responses about what white privilege actually means.


[CN: Slavery] In sort of related news, Beto O'Rourke is writing about what it means to him that both his and his wife's ancestors were slave owners. I dunno. It's hard for me not to see this as just another reason that O'Rourke should step aside. I would be more impressed with him if he just dropped out already and said he's going to put all his energies toward getting any one of Harris, Booker, Castro, Warren, Gillibrand, or Klobuchar elected.

There was a major blackout in New York City over the weekend, and the editors of the New York Daily News are not happy that Mayor Bill de Blasio was campaigning out of town during it: "It's not just that Bill de Blasio, currently polling at 0% nationally and 0% in the key early states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, was out of town on a campaign jaunt when a blackout struck Manhattan, trapping thousands on steamy trains underground and cramped elevators on upper floors unknown. Any mayor of the largest city in the country is a national figure. They go out of town sometimes; it's inevitable. ...It's that just Wednesday, de Blasio appeared so eager to use the city as a national stage, photo-bombing on the main parade float as he tried to bask in the U.S. women's soccer team's reflected glory. That's what bugs us." Ouch.

Joe Sestak is still definitely running for president.

Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.

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Primarily Speaking

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Thursday, July 11, 2019
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image of a cartoon version of me making a grimace face in front of giant typewriter keys labeled CTRL and Z, pictured in front of a patriotic stars-and-stripes graphic, to which I've added text reading: 'The Democratic Primary 2020: Let's do this thing.'

Welcome to another edition of Primarily Speaking, because presidential primaries now begin fully one million years before the election!

[Content Note: Misogyny] This is so fucking infuriating and depressing: "New polling shows how much sexism is hurting the Democratic women running for president."
When we combine six hostile sexism items into a single scale, we get a picture of how sexist Democratic primary voters are compared to other Americans.

...Perhaps unsurprisingly, most Democratic primary voters score lower on hostile sexism than other Americans. But among Democratic primary voters, there's quite a wide range in sexist attitudes. In fact, more than one-fourth of Democratic primary voters score higher than the average American adult on the hostile sexism scale.
Emphasis mine. I'm sure that won't shock anyone who has spent more than 30 seconds paying attention to the misogyny I'm obliged to navigate on the regular. As Aphra_Behn noted: "It's nice to have science, I guess, but they could have just read your mentions for the last 5 years." Lolsob foreverrrrrrr.

Despite misogyny (which will definitely be the title of my memoir), the female senators running for president continue to kick ass.

Senator Amy Klobuchar, a former prosecutor, lays down some facts in response to Labor Secretary Alex Acosta's lies about his involvement in the Epstein case: "The Secretary claims he had to make the deal so the locals wouldn't mess it up. But in the words of the former Palm Beach DA, he is 'rewriting history.' News alert: The feds have a lot of power and can give really long sentences in sex trafficking cases."

Senator Kamala Harris responds to the news that, "for the first time in history, women of color lead 10 of America’s 100 largest cities": "Women and women of color deserve to have a seat at the table where decisions are made — and finally, that's a reality in major cities across our nation."

Senator Elizabeth Warren is telling her own story — "from falling in love and dropping out of college, to chasing my dream of being a public school teacher." She's definitely had an interesting path to being a presidential candidate. I imagine a lot of women can really relate to it.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand answers 20 questions at Shondaland, and gives not one but two shout-outs to whiskey (hell yeah):
What do you do to take care of yourself? How do you unwind?

I like to exercise as much as possible. Ideally, I like to join my girlfriends for an early morning pilates or yoga class, and when I'm on the road I try to start the day with a 6 a.m. spin class if we can find one, or I just go to whatever hotel gym I'm staying at to lift weights. A good whiskey at the end of the day is always a great way to unwind.

...What is your comfort food?

I stand by whiskey. But will add French fries.
Forget the candidate everyone wants to have a beer with. I want to have whiskey and french fries with Senator Gillibrand!

* * *

In other news...

Senator Cory Booker is once again talking gun violence and reiterating his call for gun licensing: "This is horrifying — and one of the many reasons why we need federal gun safety policies like comprehensive background checks and gun licensing. If you need a license to drive a car then you should need a license to own and operate a firearm."

Former HUD Secretary Julián Castro is talking housing and immigration.

Joe Biden reportedly said in a closed-door meeting with lawmakers that he would "not to hold migrant children in detention centers if elected president," which is a relief, but also: "Biden did not offer any further details on what he exactly he would do with the thousands of young migrants currently housed in facilities run by the federal government and private contractors. The specific changes he would make to the current system of migrant detention also remain unclear." Oh.

Instead of spending $100 million of his personal money on a vanity presidential run, Tom Steyer could spend that money to "restore the voting rights of about 70,000 people in Florida if he wanted to." But wasting it on a bullshit candidacy in a race he'll certainly lose is definitely an option, too.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg has introduced his racial justice plan, which he calls the Douglass Plan, after Frederick Douglass and in a nod to the Marshall Plan, and he is whitemansplaining it very thoroughly:
I think we'll know we're getting somewhere when this is not regarded as some specialty issue that candidates of color talk about or that we only talk about when addressing voters of color. This is a conversation that, frankly, white America needs to have too, because white America needs to face the roots of these inequities and the fact of systemic racism all around us.

I had a challenging conversation with our own police department where, when I talked about systemic racism in addressing officers, many of them felt that it was a personal attack. I need them to understand, especially white officers, the ways in which, no matter how good their intentions might be, that systemic racism is something they in particular need to be conscious of and need to understand how to be part of the solution on. So this is not something that only candidates of color should be talking about — very much to the contrary.
Oh lord. It's not that Buttigieg is necessarily wrong about a lot of stuff, so much as that he is just unprepared, especially to talk about it in sensitive ways.

(And part of it, too, is just my total exhaustion with listening to white men talking about gender and race issues, especially when there are multiple women, including women of color, and men of color running for president who can speak to these issues from a place of authority conferred by lived experience. In the same vein, I respect that Buttigieg has more expertise when speaking to the lives and needs of gay men.)

Like, this tweet in his thread introducing the Douglass Plan is just so weird to me: "If we don't tackle racial injustice in my lifetime, it will upend the American Project in my lifetime. If the Marshall Plan could rebuild Europe, I believe the Douglass Plan could renew America. Text DOUGLASS to 25859 to learn more and join our call for restorative justice." In my lifetime. Twice. What does Pete Buttigieg's lifetime have to do with racial justice? It's so bizarrely self-centered. Which is a chronic problem with his campaign messaging.

Senator Bernie Sanders, meanwhile, is on a real promotional blitz, appearing on Rachel Maddow's show to give a doozy of an interview; penning quite the op-ed for the Washington Post with quite the headline ("The straightest path to racial equality is through the one percent"); and announcing his enemies I MEAN ANTI-ENDORSEMENTS list.

screenshot from Bernie Sanders' website featuring a photo of Bernie speaking outdoors with his finger pointing up in the air, accompanied by a donation button and text reading: 'Anti-Endorsements | 'I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made.' – President Franklin Roosevelt'
Full Disclosure: I am not on it.

Oh, and he will also be skipping Netroots Nation, because his team thinks that Daily Kos' Markos Moulitsas won't be an unbiased moderator. I don't know if you should be running for president if you can't handle questions from Markos Moulitsas, but okay.

Bill de Blasio is still definitely running for president.

Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.

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Primarily Speaking

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Wednesday, July 10, 2019
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image of a cartoon version of me standing on the side of a road hitchhiking while holding a sign reading 'I need a hug,' pictured in front of a patriotic stars-and-stripes graphic, to which I've added text reading: 'The Democratic Primary 2020: Let's do this thing.'

Welcome to another edition of Primarily Speaking, because presidential primaries now begin fully one million years before the election!

[Content Note: White supremacy] Yesterday, villainous turd Mitch McConnell actually said these actual words: "I find myself once again in the same position as President Obama. We both oppose reparations and we both are the descendants of slaveholders." This fucking guy and the shit that comes out of his mouth.

Last night, CNN's Don Lemon played the clip for Senator Cory Booker to get his response:

Lemon: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was asked today about an NBC report that said that his relatives were slaveholders and whether that would change his view against reparations. Listen to his response.

[video clip of McConnell smugly saying: "You know, I find myself once again in the same position as President Obama. We both oppose reparations and we both are the descendants of slaveholders."]

Lemon: How do you respond to that?

Booker: You know, I — I — I mean, Mitch McConnell doesn't seem to even in any way there express an understanding of, of these issues or, you know— The bill that I have in the Senate which would call people together to study this issue, the legacy of slavery—

Lemon: Let me just ask you there before you go, 'cause I know — and I'm going to let you talk about that — I rarely have seen you at a loss for words? Why are you at a loss for words over this, over that response?

Booker: I mean, first of all, I — I didn't hear this earlier today, so this is the first time I'm responding, and, and, dear god, there's— [stammers] This has been a couple of years of my life, for Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump where things come out of their mouth that I just sometimes have to — just sometimes have to, you know, ah, have to just take a step back for a second and gather myself.
Fucking hell. I hate Mitch McConnell so much. And I admire Cory Booker a great deal.

In other Booker news, he also denounced Trump's attempt "to get a citizenship question on the 2020 census, calling it "a 'cynical attempt' to undercount 'particular Americans' such as immigrants and minorities and an attempt to divide us against each other."

And after talking the talk, today Booker will walk the walk: "The Democratic presidential hopeful from New Jersey is introducing a Senate bill on Wednesday that would ban the U.S. Census Bureau from including citizenship information among the data the bureau is required to provide to redistricting officials after a national head count." Excellent.

Joe Biden's backers want him to get aggressive as he campaigns:
"There are people that are all over Joe to get more aggressive," according to a source who spoke with Biden in recent days. "People are very nervous."

The source added that the debate will be Biden's next big test. "If he doesn't come out strong and swinging, you're going to see a lot of people leaving him."
I have news for this source: If Biden gets more aggressive at the next debate, a lot of people will leave him for that reason, because many progressive voters — including folks who are tentatively supporting Biden as the best-known frontrunner at the moment but are using the debates to get to know the other candidates — have had enough of aggressive old white men for the rest of our damn lives.

Jill Biden, meanwhile, is still defending her husband's performance in the first debate: "Jill Biden said [Senator Kamala Harris' criticism of former Vice President Joe Biden during the debate was 'the biggest surprise' to her during the race so far but that voters 'didn't buy it.' 'I mean, the one thing you cannot say about Joe is that he's a racist,' Jill Biden said. 'I mean, he got into politics because of his commitment to civil rights. And then to be elected with Barack Obama, and then someone is saying, you know, you're a racist?'" Yikes.

Harris has no time for that garbage. She is too busy tweeting about the need to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (which just happens to be one of Biden's signature issues): "It's July 9 and the Violence Against Women Act still has yet to be reauthorized. No more political games. Let's ensure survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence have access to the care they need."

[CN: Nativism; child abuse] She's also busy calling attention to the child abuse at the southern border:


As is Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who tweeted: "This administration's family separation policy has caused trauma that will last these families a lifetime, but it's not enough just to end that policy. We need real immigration reform with a path to citizenship and a humane asylum process." Absolutely right.

Senator Elizabeth Warren has another plan for another thing!
I've got a new plan to accelerate the transition to clean energy and combat climate change. I'm proud it has the support of former Vice President @algore, and @EdMarkey and @AOC — the original authors of the Green New Deal.

Publicly traded companies have an obligation to share important information about their business. But right now they don't share much about how climate change might affect them, their customers, and their investors.

My Climate Risk Disclosure plan requires companies to publicly disclose both environmental & financial climate-related risks to their business. Investors are already divesting from fossil fuel companies, and this will push more investors to divest and transition to clean energy.

We need to take bold action to attack climate change. I'm proud to support the #GreenNewDeal. I've also got plans to invest in clean energy tech and to stop drilling and promote renewables on public lands. This plan is another tool we can use to attack climate change.
Right on.

In good news for the Castro-heads among us, Julián Castro "has boosted his chances to take his 2020 presidential campaign to the debate stage this fall by snaring contributions from 130,000 unique donors. Castro announced Monday that he had reached the milestone putting him closer to qualifying for the September and October Democratic debates, although he still has not yet polled well enough to seal his place." Huzzah!

John Hickenlooper is still definitely running for president.

Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.

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Primarily Speaking

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Tuesday, July 09, 2019
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image of a cartoon version of me sitting in front of and waving my hands over a crystal ball, to which I've added text reading: 'The Democratic Primary 2020: Let's do this thing.'

Welcome to another edition of Primarily Speaking, because presidential primaries now begin fully one million years before the election!

It's official: Billionaire Democratic donor Tom Steyer, who said earlier this year that he wouldn't be running for president, is running for president. [Content Note: Video autoplays at link.] Here is his very boring announcement video, where you can see him sitting in a barn talking about being a generous billionaire and also see him rolling up the sleeves of his blue button-down shirts to talk to peasants.

According to the New York Times, he is fixing to spend $100 Million on his presidential bid, and that is reason #1 why I would never support his vanity candidacy. Give that money directly to people who need it, who would put it to far better use than paying already-wealthy political consultants to make boring-ass videos for a losing candidate.

Meanwhile, Rep. Eric Swalwell has officially dropped out of the race. Unfortunately, he did not take Michael Bennet, Steve Bullock, Bill de Blasio, John Delaney, Tulsi Gabbard, Mike Gravel, John Hickenlooper, Jay Inslee, Wayne Messam, Seth Moulton, Beto O'Rourke, Tim Ryan, Joe Sestak, Tom Steyer, Marianne Williamson, and Andrew Yang with him.

He is going out in style, with a great tweet supporting Amy McGrath's senate run: "A lot of Dem presidential candidates were asked how they'd work with @senatemajldr McConnell. Lots of different approaches. But the right answer is, 'He won't be in the Senate. @AmyMcGrathKY will beat him.' #DitchMitch2020."

And, reminding us once again how every candidate on the Democratic side is at least one million times better a human being than the current White House occupant, Senator Cory Booker wished Swalwell well with a kind tweet: "Thank you, @EricSwalwell. Grateful for your public service and your leadership on working to end gun violence in our communities — I look forward to continuing to work together on this urgent issue and more."

Such a good dude. Booker also gave a typically strong interview earlier today where he talked about lots of cool stuff, including his "baby bonds" proposal.

[CN: Sexual violence] Senator Amy Klobuchar is tweeting about the Jeffrey Epstein case and Labor Secretary Alex Acosta's deplorable role in it: "Since when do underage girl sex ring traffickers get to go to their office every day while they serve their time? The victims should have had a say. That's what the law says. I didn't vote for former Florida U.S. Attorney Acosta to begin with and he should step down." Right on.

Senator Kamala Harris is tweeting about the Trump Regime's renewed attack on the Affordable Healthcare Act: "As California Attorney General, I fought to protect the ACA in court. As Senator, I've fought its repeal at every turn. And to the millions of people who depend on the ACA's protections: As President, I will stop these attacks and fight to expand your care. We won't go back."

Jesus fucking Jones this entire article. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is boring? Well, that's news to me!

I guess it's just because I'm boring myself that I find it interesting when a senator and presidential candidate tweets stuff like this: "A year ago today, I visited a Brownsville, TX detention facility housing over 1,400 migrant children in prison-like conditions. Since then, the crisis created by Trump's inhumane policy has gotten worse — and his administration still has no plan to reunite many of these families. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: [Donald] Trump, and every member of his administration responsible for the abuses committed against immigrant families, must be held accountable. I refuse to accept another year-plus of children traumatized at our government's hands."

Senator Elizabeth Warren is running an "unconventional" campaign, and she's doing very well by shunning "the consultant-heavy model of campaigns." Less money in consultants' pockets means more money to spend actually campaigning. Imagine that! And she's raising lots of money for the spending, too! Despite holding no fundraisers, even!

Warren is also tweeting about the executive action she would take on day one of her presidency to boost wages for women of color.

In spite of everyone else's hard work, Joe Biden continues to maintain his lead in national polling. We'll see about that after the second debate.

Bernie Sanders is still definitely running for president.

Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.

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Primarily Speaking

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Monday, July 08, 2019
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image of a cartoon version of me sliding across a patriotic stars-and-stripes graphic, to which I've added text reading: 'The Democratic Primary 2020: Let's do this thing.'

Welcome to another edition of Primarily Speaking, because presidential primaries now begin fully one million years before the election!

In case this primary wasn't already enough of a circus for you, CNN, which is hosting the second Democratic debate over two nights later this month (July 30-31), has decided it will "conduct a live draw to determine which night each candidate will appear."
The draw to determine the lineup for each night will air live on July 18 in the 8 p.m. ET hour on CNN, said the network spokesperson, who noted additional details of the draw will be released in the coming days.
I can only presume those "additional details" will include how big the pyrotechnics show will be, how many live tigers will be onstage, and to which ancient god Wolf Blitzer will be ritualistically sacrificed. STAY TUNED! #democracy

Rep. Eric Swalwell may be dropping out of the race today. Which would be the biggest headlines he's made in the race, so.

John Hickenlooper, on the other hand, says that he's not going ANYWHERE, bub. And don't even ASK him to consider running for the Senate, because "I don't think that's my calling." Yikes.

Meanwhile, billionaire Democratic donor Tom Steyer, who said earlier this year that he wouldn't be running for president, is reportedly reconsidering his decision and is now telling allies he's running for president. JFC.

And if the eventual Democratic nominee weren't already facing a steep-enough uphill battle, that fucking dipshit Justin Amash, the only Republican in Congress to criticize Donald Trump, is now contemplating an independent run — as I predicted he would when he announced he was leaving the GOP to become an independent.


So much for his allegedly principled stand against Trump. Polling clearly shows that, if Amash runs as an independent, he will only "give independent voters who don't want to support Trump an outlet to not vote for the Democrat. If you look at who would be moving toward Amash, it is particularly independent men." So, he would almost certainly help reelect Trump. Terrific.

This election is going to kill me.

* * *

Wow, Joe Biden is just absolutely terrible at this:
Joe Biden apologized Saturday for his remarks about working with segregationists during his time in the Senate but again stopped short of saying that it was wrong to work with them amid a defense of his broader civil rights record.

"Now was I wrong a few weeks ago, to somehow give the impression to people that I was praising those men who I successfully opposed time and again? Yes, I was. I regret it. I'm sorry for any of the pain or misconception that I caused anybody," the former vice president and Democratic presidential candidate said to cheers during a speech to a mostly black audience in Sumter, S.C.

"But did that misstep define 50 years of my record for fighting for civil rights, racial justice in this country? I hope not. I don't think so. That just isn't an honest assessment of my record," Biden continued. "I'm going to let my record and character stand for itself and not be distorted or smeared."

...Biden also pushed back at critics in the Democratic presidential field who have been picking at his long tenure in the Senate, saying they are ignoring his record as vice president and invoking former President Barack Obama's vetting of him as testament to his civil rights record.

"If you look at the issues I've been attacked on, nearly every one of them is for something well before 2008. It's as if my opponents want you to believe I served from 1972 until 2008 — and then took the next eight years off," Biden said in his prepared remarks.

"They don't want to talk much about my time as vice president," he said. "It was the honor of a lifetime to serve with a man who was a great president, an historic figure, and most important to me, a friend. I was vetted by him and selected by him. I will take his judgment of my record, my character, and my ability to handle the job over anyone else's."
Joe Biden has a Black friend, everyone. Maybe you've heard of him? His name is BARACK OBAMA.

Listen, this is just bad. And it's bad because Biden doesn't get it. Any of it. All of it.

And if people are acting as if he "took the next eight years off" while veep, it's because his disconnection from modern politics suggests that he did.

I mean, if he doesn't want people to think he slept-walk through the Obama administration, he could start by tossing in the trash his stupid refrain about how Republicans are going to start working with Democrats again once Trump leaves office.

That is honestly the most arrogantly daft thing I've heard so far in this campaign.

* * *

You know how I keep saying that people should really scrutinize Mayor Pete Buttigieg's record on race before going all in on this guy? Welp: "As Mayor Pete Buttigieg contends with the fallout from the shooting of a black man by a white police officer in his city, a Politico analysis of data from his earlier mayoral elections shows he struggled to win the confidence of the city's black voters following a series of controversies in his first term. ...[H]is support plunged by more than 20 points in some precincts."

Senator Kamala Harris talks being a Black woman running for president: "When you break things, you get hurt, you bleed, you get cut. When I made the decision to run, I fully appreciated that it will not be easy. But I know if I'm not on the stage, there's a certain voice that will not be present on that stage. Knowing that there is a perspective, there is a life experience, there is a vision that must be heard and seen and present on that stage, and that I have an ability to do that." RIGHT ON.

She's also tweeting about reproductive justice: "Right now, access to reproductive health is under attack in states across America. It is not alarmist to say that women will die because of these restrictive policies — because we've seen it happen before. As president, I will work to stop these policies before they become law."

Senator Elizabeth Warren is talking about what animates her: "I spent a big chunk of my adult life studying why families are going broke in this country, studying why America's middle class has been hollowed out, working on why it is that people who work hard, who play to the rules, find the path so steep and so rocky, and, for people of color, even steeper and even rockier. The principle answer: It's about a government that just doesn't work for them... That's the thing that we could change come 2020. We get enough people in this, we can take our government back and we can make it work not just for a thinner and thinner slice at the top. We make it work for everyone."

She's also tweeting about the U.S. Women's National Team: "They bring home the ratings, the revenue, and the wins. But even if they didn't, the players of the USWNT deserve equal pay." Heck yeah they do.

Senator Amy Klobuchar is tweeting about them, too — in her inimitable style:


Former HUD Secretary Julián Castro is clapping back at Jane Lynch for mocking his saying that iced tea is his comfort food:


Oh snap!

Senator Cory Booker is still dating Rosario Dawson. Which is something that matters to some voters, I guess. I personally would have zero reservation about voting for a "bachelor president," but I'm a deliberately childless heathen feminist, so.

Bernie Sanders is still definitely running for president.

Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.

Open Wide...
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Primarily Speaking

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Wednesday, July 03, 2019
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image of a cartoon version of me yelling through a bullhorn, pictured in front of a patriotic stars-and-stripes graphic, to which I've added text reading: 'The Democratic Primary 2020: Let's do this thing.'

Welcome to another edition of Primarily Speaking, because presidential primaries now begin fully one million years before the election!

This article in the New York Times is so fucking ridiculous I'm not even going to link to it, but here is the lede: "Some people whisper it, some apologize for it, and some are very careful to mention their neighbors — their neighbors would be the ones to ask. 'Do you really think a woman could be elected president?'"

For fuck's sake, a woman was elected president in the last election, and if the racist antiquity known as the Electoral College hadn't rendered moot her 3 million additional votes and the current occupant of the White House hadn't colluded with a foreign adversary to steal the election from her, she'd be sitting in the Oval Office right now and no one would be asking that goddamn infuriating question anymore, and the editors of any publication that continues to ask it without making the points I just made about Hillary Clinton's stolen victory can go eat shit.


In polling news, the new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds that Joe Biden still leads the pack, although the new Reuters/Ipsos poll finds that Black voters' support for Biden has been cut in half.

Good job, Senator Kamala Harris! In other Harris news, she's reminding everyone that, just because Pride month is over, it "doesn't mean we stop speaking out about the abuses being committed against the LGBTQ+ community by this Administration." Indeed!

Beto O'Rourke is marking the 55th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act: "55 years after the signing of the Civil Rights Act, we're reminded that it's never enlightened members of Congress who've secured change and progress. It's the people who've applied the pressure that has forced them to get it done. In Iowa, we committed to keeping that pressure on." That's...a weird message for someone who is running to be head of government. (Not the acknowledging activists part, but the trashing Congress part. "Never"? Okayyyyy.)

Bernie Sanders is also marking the anniversary: "Today marks 55 years since the Civil Rights Act was signed. This is a moment for us to remember that the struggle for civil rights and human dignity is a struggle not of a single year or decade, but of a lifetime, which must be fought by every generation." And that's a weird message for someone who doesn't believe in "identity politics." ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

In other Sanders news, CNN's Harry Enten says: "You in danger, girl." (I'm paraphrasing.) (Barely.)

Mayor Pete Buttigieg has introduced a national service plan, which he hopes will unify the country: "National service can help us to form connections between very different kinds of Americans, as was my experience in the military. I served alongside and trusted my life to people who held totally different political views. You shouldn't have to go to war in order to have that kind of experience, which is why I am proposing a plan to create more opportunities for national service." All righty!

At Bloomberg: Senator Elizabeth Warren "Starts Winning Begrudging Respect on Wall Street." As well she should. Nevertheless, countdown to the dirtbag left using this news as PROOF!!!1! that Warren is a neoliberal capitalist establishment monster in 3...2...

Warren also continues to call attention to the crisis at the southern border, referring to the images from the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General's report: "Sickening. Human beings are being herded like animals right now in our country. This goes against our American values. It's cruel and it must end — now."

I mean, it goes against what our American values ought to be, and what we often claim they are, but I wish that she would be more careful in her language with stuff like this. We don't want to concede that Trump's values are the entire nation's values, but we also can't pretend that there isn't a huge portion of the population for whom sadism toward people in need and/or oppressed people is essentially their primary animating value. Pretending they don't exist is part of what got us to this point, so I want more sophisticated rhetoric from Warren (and all the candidates) on that subject.

Senator Cory Booker, for instance, says "our values," rather than "American values," and it's a subtle but meaningful difference. This whole clip is very good:

My immigration policies will reflect our values, that, when people come here escaping terror, and they come to our border, they don't find more terror; that we have the facilities, the resources, to honor their human dignity and evaluate their asylum claims.

Number two is: Family separations are not just going on at the border; they're going on all over the United States [audience murmurs in agreement; a woman says, "That's right."] where you see people afraid now to go to school to drop their kids off, afraid to go to businesses, afraid even to report crimes.

They could be victims — survivors of sexual abuse, or being victimized by their spouse, and they're afraid to go forward for help, or to report about other crimes.

My police department in Newark was complaining to me about a climate, a fear, that's coming over, that is separating — remember, separation is bad — separating immigrant communities from the resources that they could use that would actually help for the safety of everybody.

If I am President of the United States, we're going to stop the practices that we're seeing now, [someone in the audience says, "When you're president!"] where people are being — I should thank you, when, I appreciate that! — where we see people being, families being separated, where a grandfather is being deported when his children are American citizens. We're going to see an end to children who know no other country — the Dreamers — but this one, don't live in fear and anxiety.

We need to have an immigration system that reflects our values and our economic well-being, because immigrants are a positive economic force in our country. [cheers and applause]
And, of course, Julián Castro continues to be a leader on this issue. He is doing the rounds on the various news shows, laying out his vision for this country and levying his beautifully unyielding criticism of this administration.

We already contribute some aid [to Central American countries] now, but this president has said that he's gonna revoke that aid. The thing is, there's a reason that these folks are coming — a hundred and forty-four thousand last month — because they can't find safety and opportunity in their home country. We need to partner with those countries so that people can find safety and opportunity at home instead of having to come to this country.
Note how Castro expertly makes the point that people should have the chance to be safe and thrive in their home countries without, even a little bit, sounding like he doesn't also welcome immigrants who want to come here.

Male anchor asks: You're in favor of decriminalizing border crossings. If you do that, how do you still have a secure border?

Castro: Well, two things: Number one, decriminalizing but there's still part of a court process; it's just a civil process. That's the way that we used to do it, from the late 1920s until about 2004. So this is not something radical; this is the way that we used to handle it.

Secondly, we have six hundred and fifty-four miles of fencing; we have thousands of border personnel; we have planes; we have helicopters; we have guns; we have security cameras; we have boats — we have a border that is being secured and we can maintain security.

But, what we oughta do is use compassion and common sense, and not cruelty. And what you see there, those images that you see, that's not who we should be. That is evidence of a dark heart of cruelty of this administration that I think is unbecoming of this country.
That is not who we should be.


Rachel Maddow: How much do you worry about playing on [Trump's] turf and playing to an image that he likes for his base?

Castro: Number one, I don't think we have any choice. He has a huge bullhorn, and so he's gonna make this an issue, so I believe that we have to offer a compelling, strong alternative. Now, I've said that we can maintain border security, but, what I'm betting, is that there are enough people out there that know that we can do this a better way — and, if he's gonna proceed with a dark heart of cruelty, then I wanna proceed with a heart of compassion and common sense.

And, I'll tell you, about a year ago, I was at the Ursula Processing Center down in McAllen, Texas, on the border. I was there to join activists that were protesting the family separation policy. And, as sad as the situation was, with the little children that were inside that facility, what gave me hope was that the activists that were there, they were white, they were Black, they were Asian-American, they were Latino.

In other words, it was people of all different backgrounds, from throughout the country, who were united with their compassion and their values, their belief in humanity and a common respect for these human beings, no matter the color of their skin or the fact that they're not American.

I'm betting on that, even as he bets on cruelty.
I'm betting on that, too. Sob.


Anyone who still says Castro isn't ready to be president either isn't paying attention to Castro, or isn't paying attention to the crisis at the southern border, or both.

John Hickenlooper is still definitely running for president.

Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.

Open Wide...
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Primarily Speaking

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Tuesday, July 02, 2019
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image of a cartoon version of me wearing a tuxedo and standing on the bow of a sinking ship playing the violin, pictured in front of a patriotic stars-and-stripes graphic, to which I've added text reading: 'The Democratic Primary 2020: Let's do this thing.'

Welcome to another edition of Primarily Speaking, because presidential primaries now begin fully one million years before the election!

Once again, I feel obliged to start with the admission that I have real complicated feelings about this series, because I am constitutionally averse to pretending like everything is fine when it isn't. And sometimes it feels like this series implicitly suggests we're going to have a normal election, even though I don't believe that. But I don't know how to proceed except with the desperate hope that something seismic will happen and meaningful changes are made swiftly to ensure a legitimate election.

I expect more, and prepare myself for the worst.

If the ship of state really is going down, I am going to keep playing my violin about these Democratic candidates, many of whom I believe in and admire, for as long as I can.

Anyway!

So, if you have been considering donating to a candidate, or multiple candidates that you want to see stay in the race, here is the best argument for going ahead and making that donation(s): "Donald Trump's campaign and the Republican National Committee raised a combined $105 million in the second quarter of 2019, the campaign announced Tuesday." Fucking hell.

The DNC is finally considering a climate change debate. I hope they also consider a dedicated immigration debate, because, although climate change is certainly urgent, so are the concentration camps at the border, and, unlike climate change, the Democratic candidates need to be leveraging the visibility that the presidential election provides to raise awareness about this profound humanitarian crisis.

The new CNN/SRSS poll, "which was released on Monday and conducted entirely after the first two Democratic presidential primary debates last week, has [Senator Kamala Harris] in second place, among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents who are registered to vote, at 17 percent." Meanwhile: "Joe Biden's once double-digit lead has crumbled in a national poll taken after last week's debate." Sad trombone!

With Harris surging, it's the women who are "grabbing momentum as Democratic race catches fire." Nice! "Recent shifts in the Democratic primary are raising the prospect that a new political glass ceiling may shatter in 2020 — a duel for a presidential ticket between two women." Can you even imagine?! (I CAN.)

On that note, Harris tweeted a video about a little girl running for student council who asked her for political advice, and I am a puddle!

And Senator Amy Klobuchar tweeted this:


I can't get over all those women running and I don't even want to!

* * *

Former HUD Secretary Julián Castro says that the first debate showed "I can stand up to Donald Trump" and makes the case for being bold and fearless and uncompromising on immigration: "The worst mistake that we can make is to squirm and fear what Donald Trump is doing on the issue of immigration." Fucking right.

Senator Cory Booker says, if elected, he would take immediate executive action on immigration (which is one of the only issues on which I support the candidates promising unilateral action):
Cory Booker vowed to use executive authority as president to end detention for asylum seekers, shut down "inhumane" holding facilities, and de-emphasize prosecutions of those in the country illegally unless they pose a safety risk.

The New Jersey senator and Democratic presidential hopeful said that if elected he'd reverse most of [Donald] Trump's border policies on his first day in office without waiting for Congress to take action.

"When kids are being stripped away from their parents and held in cages, I will not wait for Congress to solve this crisis," Booker said in a statement outlining his immigration plan. "On day one of my presidency, I will take immediate steps to end this administration's moral vandalism."

...Booker also said he would expand protections for undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children, known as dreamers, as well as those granted Temporary Protected Status, who can't return to their homeland because of armed conflicts, natural disaster, or other extraordinary situations.

Under Booker's proposal, immigrant detention centers would have to meet standards outlined by the American Bar Association or face closure. Facilities that host children would further have to meet the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Booker in the release also called for an end to government contracting of for-profit private prisons.

To aid immigrants through the court system, Booker said he would expand access to legal counsel, first focusing on children's access, and create "a presumption of liberty" by changing the bond process. The Department of Homeland Security would have to provide a probable cause for the arrest of immigrants within 48 hours.

Booker's plan also calls for a reinvestment in areas such as Central America, Africa, and the Middle East. This is a direct response to the Trump administration's recent decision to cut aid aimed at improving conditions in migrants' home countries.

"This action, like [Donald] Trump's entire approach to immigration, is based on a faulty notion that force and threats are what is needed to control migration," according to a statement from Booker's campaign. "That approach hasn't worked, and has contributed to a humanitarian crisis at our border and the inhumane treatment and abuse of immigrants within our country."
I just want this so badly. I just want a president who will stop this cruelty. Sob.

Senator Elizabeth Warren is also talking about the humanitarian crisis at the border, urging us to "Watch Rep. Judy Chu's story and #DontLookAway. What's happening at DHS border detention facilities is inhumane."

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is refreshingly blunt about "conscience clauses" as a court delays implementation of the Trump Regime rule that would allow healthcare workers to refuse to perform medical procedures with which they disagree: "Here's an idea: Cancel this rule altogether, and don't give health care providers the ability to discriminate at all." A+

Rep. Eric Swalwell is still hammering Biden about his 32-year-old "pass the torch" comments. Wow. LOL.

John Hickenlooper's finance director just quit to go work for Beto O'Rourke (ouch) which has prompted him to "shake up his campaign." My advice would be that his shake his ass right out of the campaign altogether, because his candidacy is dead in the water.

Bernie Sanders is still definitely running for president.

Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.

Open Wide...
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Primarily Speaking

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Monday, July 01, 2019
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image of a cartoon version of me running inside a hamster wheel, pictured in front of a patriotic stars-and-stripes graphic, to which I've added text reading: 'The Democratic Primary 2020: Let's do this thing.'

Welcome to another edition of Primarily Speaking, because presidential primaries now begin fully one million years before the election!

Well, this is very good news in which I have zero faith but I sure hope it's right! "Rachel Bitecofer's Negative Partisanship Model — which nailed the 2018 midterm elections — predicts Democrats will win the presidency in 2020." Terrific!

The only problem that I can see is that there was far less election interference in the midterms than the last presidential election, and less than what I'm already seeing in this one. Which was probably by design, so we would have faith that our democracy still works, ahead of foreign interference that Senator Ron Wyden says will "make 2016 look like small potatoes."

So I'm not sure the same model will work in 2020 that worked in 2018. But here's hoping!

* * *

Candidates are scrambling to meet the ludicrous rules for debate qualifications for the fall debates, which of course were established a million years ago and have fuck-all to do with what is actually happening now in the Democratic primary, including ratfucking to elevate spoiler candidates:
Of the 20 candidates who qualified for the first round of debates in June and July, just six are sure to appear in the September-October round, when the Democratic National Committee requires participants to hit 2% in multiple polls and 130,000 individual donors. Though many campaigns are worried, DNC Chairman Tom Perez has resisted pressure to relax the requirements.

"We put our rules out for debate participation months earlier because we wanted to give people time," Perez said in an interview. "We want to be fair to everyone."

There's still time for struggling candidates to recover. All 20 contenders who appeared on the debate stage last week will return for the late July debates. And, for now, only a fraction of voters are paying close attention to the unfolding Democratic contest.

But failing to qualify for the September-October debates could be lethal to any candidate, regardless of whether they formally drop out of the race.
I swear to the fates if Tom Perez's garbage rules mean FOR EXAMPLE that a certain former HUD Secretary who is one of the Democratic Party's greatest assets does not make the fall debate but a certain dipshit witch does, I will lose my fucking mind.

* * *

Politico declares: "The 2020 Democratic Primary Is Suddenly Wide Open." Why? Because, as Democratic strategist Colin Strother explains, people have realized that old white dudes aren't the only game in town, and "Bernie and Biden were largely living off of inertia." LOL ouch! Harsh but true.

That the content is opening up is a testament to the quality of many of the other candidates — and to the fact that Joe Biden is a terrible candidate. He was a terrible candidate twice before, and he's a terrible candidate now.

[Content Note: Racism and homophobia.]

Following his dire performance during the first debate, Biden gave a speech in Chicago about his civil rights record, during which he actually said the following words: "We've got to recognize that kid wearing a hoodie may very well be the next poet laureate and not a gang-banger." Because you know how those are the only two options for Black kids? JFC.

If that weren't enough, he then gave a speech in Seattle on Pride weekend, during which he said that gay rights have come a long way and, only five years ago, if someone "made fun of a gay waiter" at a business lunch, everyone would have just let it go. The audience did not appreciate that assertion. Nor did most of the adult human beings who heard that garbage.

On Twitter, Ashton Pittman noted: "Exactly 5 years ago, ABC's What Would You Do? planted a hidden cam in a Mississippi restaurant to see how diners would react to blatant, homophobic attacks on a gay couple. They repeated the experiment. Each time, Mississippi diners got up and came to the gay couple's defense."

And if that weren't yet enough, CNN's Andrew Kaczynski located video of Biden in 1981 defending his support of "legislation at the time — that was being filibustered by liberals — which would stop courts' ability to order busing."

Naturally, Biden fans are OUTRAGED by all of this, because apparently they didn't realize they are supporting a dude who, had he not gotten rich pretending to be liberal, would be just another old white dude sitting at home in a recliner watching Fox News right now.


Senator Cory Booker continued to make the case that Biden isn't the nominee we need at this moment in time: "[Booker] questioned Sunday whether [Biden] could be a uniter on race if he wins the Democratic presidential nomination, accusing Biden of having an 'inability to talk candidly about the mistakes he made.' ...'Whoever our nominee is going to be, whoever our next president is going to be, really needs to be someone who can talk openly and honestly about race,' Booker said during an appearance on Meet the Press. 'I'm not sure if Joe Biden is up to that task given the way the last three weeks have played out.'"

🔥 🔥 🔥

Meanwhile, of course Senator Kamala Harris is facing a "backlash" after calling out Biden's shitty record on busing. And it's not necessarily from the people you'd expect. I was truly disappointed to see, for instance, that among the vocal critics of Harris is former Senator Carol Moseley Braun, the first Black female senator: "We can be proud of her nonetheless, but her ambition got it wrong about Joe. He is about the best there is; for her to take that tack is sad." Honestly, that Moseley Braun thinks that Biden is the best there is or could be is what's sad.

Harris stands by her decision to question Biden, because she has integrity and gumption: "'It may make people uncomfortable to speak the truth about the history of our country but we must speak the truth,' the California senator told reporters Sunday outside San Francisco's city hall after marching in the city's gay pride parade. 'We must agree that there not only is fact that is the basis for these truths but that we should recommit ourselves to also agreeing that these things should never happen again,' Harris said." Yes.

[CN: Racism] I mentioned on Friday that Harris is now the target of a gross birther campaign that questions her authenticity, and in some cases her citizenship, because her parents are Jamaican and Indian. Senator Elizabeth Warren is taking up space in solidarity with her opponent: "The attacks against Kamala Harris are racist and ugly. We all have an obligation to speak out and say so. And it's within the power and obligation of tech companies to stop these vile lies dead in their tracks."

As is Senator Michael Bennet: "These attacks on Kamala Harris are racist and disgusting. I'm proud to call her my friend and colleague, and I'll continue to stand with her against these vile comments. They have no place in our political discourse."

And Senator Kirsten Gillibrand notes that "we ladies have to stick together."


Very sweet.

In other news, Harris celebrated PrideA with a glittering rainbow jacket! Yay!

And Julián Castro celebrated Pride with lots of friends!


[CN: Nativism] Beto O'Rourke headed south of the border "to meet with kids and families who came to our country seeking asylum but who have been turned back by this administration's unlawful and inhumane policies," and did a good thread about the human beings he met and spoke to, people to whom we refuse to grant refuge.

Rep. Tim Ryan went off on one about Trump going to North Korea to kiss dictator ass: "I have no idea why he is shaking hands with a dictator who just in May was sending missiles into the Sea of Japan. You don't reward that kind of behavior with a visit to your country from the president of the United States. ...This is historic — him going to North Korea is like Chamberlain going to talk to Hitler." I don't think that's quite the right analogy, cough, but Ryan's outrage is well-directed.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg continues to be a fundraising juggernaut, having raised $24 million in the second quarter from more than 230,000 new donors, which makes over 400,000 total individual donors. That is a lot to keep track of, especially for a new campaign, and I hope they are staying on top of making sure each of those donations is legal. That is not, to be abundantly clear, a commentary on Buttigieg; it is a commentary on the fact that foreign interlopers will be trying to discredit surging candidates any way they can.

Senator Bernie Sanders doesn't believe that the age of a candidate should be an issue. I'm sure he doesn't! Also, he says: "I think we've got a good chance to win this thing. But if, perchance, it is not me, I will do everything I can to support the winner and make sure we defeat Donald Trump." I've heard that before.

John Hickenlooper is still definitely running for president.

Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.

Open Wide...
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