Early in the morning on June 17, 1972, Frank Wills, a 24-year-old security guard at the Watergate Office Building in Washington, D.C., noticed that a door lock had been taped open.
I surely did not want to remember this date as I recall the happenings vividly. My boyfriend (now husband) and I voted for McGovern. I remember registering to vote at the Hecht Company in Silver Spring, MD and immediately taking the oath. Needless to say, when Nixon won by a landslide, I was completely devastated. It was in February of 1974 that we moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and when the Watergate prosecutors proved Nixon’s guilt, we rejoiced. But then…Gerald Ford went and did an outrageous thing by pardoning Tricky Dick. I hit the roof! See, this is exactly why we cannot let Trump off of the hook. We must come out with our dukes up, ready to take on these thugs who support him! I am so ready for a battle! You?
I voted for Shirley Chisholm for President and my wife for V-P. I was in Cambridge, Mass. at the time. I knew that McGovern had zero chance of winning. Fast forward to today: the "fox' is inside the henhouse (co-conspiring Senators and Congress-men and -women,) a fact that we need to realize, that we are on the precipice of losing it all to Fascist white bigots and Christian nationalists.
Your vote for Shirley was a vote for Nixon. Until we have rank choice voting in this country, no one can afford to vote for a third party when one of the candidates is as horrible as DT.
Susan, on the west coast in the 1980's, I got to have lots of throw away votes; the races were called before I was able to cast my ballot. I voted independent in a majority of elections up until about the mid 1990's since races were called early, and the votes of the west coast did not matter. Jimmy Carter was the first winning president I voted for. Barack Obama was the second.
Ally House -- I remember the days of "early calling", and how relieved everyone was when that ended. Now TV reporting (I'm thinking specifically of MSNBC and cannot remember the person's name!!) and percentages of votes being reported is keeping it more honest.
We were in Charleston during election night in 2008. Early on we were having dinner in the hotel bar and an all-white table was trying to ignore the early results. We had to wait until midnight for the election to be called. We were at the Francis Marion Hotel near the College of Charleston and could hear the celebrations begin. No matter where I was, i always voted for the D for president although long ago I could vote for a few Oregon Rs. As for Nixon, one of my friends was lamenting what was happening in our country and I asked who she had voted for. Dead silence.
Carter killed himself in 1980 when he conceded the election at 4:45pm on the west coast. People didn't go vote, and in California, several Republicans took over Democratic congressional seats due to lack of Democratic turnout, and it took 20 years to dislodge them (in fact there's one still there). Carter was a great ex-president, but as to being president, we should have nominated Ted Kennedy, or just about anyone else who understood how things work, which Carter didn't.
True, I knew that McGovern would carry Massachusetts in any case. If it had been a close call, as in 2000 with Nader and Gore, I definitely would not have thrown away the vote.
In early '72, my father-in-law told me he was voting for McGovern, but, he added, "The American people will never vote for an honest man." I silently vowed to prove him wrong and volunteered for the McGovern campaign here in Milwaukee. Working 18 hour days, I cold called hundreds of people, distributed stacks of literature at plant gates and door-to-door, and organized a rally for McGovern after which our Senator, Bill Proxmire, stated, "...I cast my absentee ballot for George McGovern". Workers leaving their manufacturing plants no longer took our offered literature saying, "He's good enough for Bill, he's good enough for me." The campaign was newly energized and continued to be until, after the Convention and McGovern's reversal from his "1,000 support" of Eagleton, his vice presidential pick, to Sergeant Shriver, his new pick for his running mate. I very literally felt the campaign deflate after that and knew it was lost. I found out later that McGovern felt he had had no choice because his large donors stopped their contributions. Since I wasn't in the room at the time, I'm not 1,000% sure this is accurate, but it strikes me as plausible. I'm praying Biden is not making the same mistake.
That moment over Eagleton, you could see the balloon that was the campaign deflate like it had been slashed with a knife.
I would have flown 50 missions with McGovern in World War II (the tour in 15th AF), and he was a good senator, but there's a reason why very few presidents ever come from the Senate. It's a different set of job specs from the executive. From the convention on, if you looked up the word "hapless" in a dictionary, there was a photo of McGovern,.
I stood on a concrete surface for four hours to see him in San Francisco and spent the next three weeks seeing a chiropractor twice a week to deal with the inflammation of my back injuries (courtesy of Mommie Dearest long before then).
Integrity counts.i just started a book by Rushworth M. Kidder called How Good People Make Tough Choices. He was the founder and president of the Institute for Global Ethics. It’s thought provoking.
another good book right now is called " Kindness" by Rutger Bergman, argues that in crisis humans ARE intrinsically kind and rally together. Debunks the theory driven by media and capitalists that humans only fend for themselves. He gives lots of examples through history how we pull together. A book of hope IMO, that we need to flip the narrative!
Thank you for this. I will look for the book and I agree, we have to flip the narrative. There are a lot of folks around the world who'd like to help us do this.
There are some amazing ideas and organizations out there, but we keep getting blasted with the MAGA crap and it is depressing and frustrating. Finding a book like this is refreshing. I'm just about to take my last Zoom class on Civilian Non-Violent Resistance with Rivera Sun. It's been six weeks well spent with yet another group that hardly anybody has heard of. Exciting to learn that there have been wars stopped by non-violent resistance and civil wars prevented by the same.
Speaking of good reads, I received Liz Chaney's "Oath and Honor" as a Father's Day gift. Though not finished yet, it appears to be a crisp, unadorned, and persuasive narrative of the January 6th events told from the vantage point of someone at the inner circle of GOP Congressional politics and the House Investigating Committee (and without too much self-congratulatory back slapping). You will learn, if you were not already aware, that at least one third of the current GOP members of the House and Senate are traitors to their oaths, to their country, and to their constituents willing to directly support or enable political mendacity, cheating, and violence in order to perpetuate their own power and that of the Orange Lump.
Knowing the possibility of the improbable is the model we desperately need. Especially since our MSM (article about WaPo hiring a Rupert-trained CEO about did me in) has been such a horror.
George McGovern was the first person I ever voted for. I just looked him up on Wikipedia. Of course I knew about the Thomas Eagleton thing, which was a political disaster but I think that would be taken with a grain of salt today. I had never heard the Robert Novak story before. Very interesting.
And the ironic thing is that of all the Republican presidents since Eisenhower, Ford is the last Republican who could be considered decent and moral, which led him to underestimate the situation and the man he was dealing with. The pardon should have been challenged in court because there is no such thing as a "pre-emptive" pardon. Pardons are only supposed to be granted after conviction and are taken as the person pardoned admitting their guilt.
The American electorate didn't seem to have such high moral standards. Jimmy Carter got himself crucified mainly on the PR disaster in Iran, and Reagan, of all people, give a gullible America a whole new shiny Republican Party to play with. The Democrats had lost their long standing hold on national political power and Great Society message after Nixon. Some revival under the charisma of Obama. Now, Dems have to struggle against a widespread Trumpian Orwell. Twisted fate.
Reagan stabbed President Carter in the back by negotiating with Iran /Contra deal before he took office.Once in office Iran got what they wanted and the money went to the terrorists in Latin America!
I wish Carter would have brought this out into the open. So Lyndon Johnson should have done the same to Nixon when he learned that Nixon told South Vietnam that if they waited until after the election, he would make them a better deal. Thom Hartmann played a tape of Johnson's talking with Everitt Dirksen about that. Johnson called it treason. Dirksen said "I know".
And the ironic thing is that after four more years of floundering through every country in SE Asia, creating the majority of American casualties for the war, Kissinger the war criminal didn't get as good a deal in December 1972 as LBJ had negotiated in November 1968.
Louis, and no one was ever held accountable for the Reagan cheat or Iran-Contra. So many Americans think Nixon's problem was just Watergate; well, that is not it by a long shot. There were the McCarthy HUAC hearings that Nixon was totally on board with, and Nixon actually sabotaged the Vietnam peace talks so he would get elected as the guy who would end the war, which he only sort of did after many thousands of Americans, Vietnamese, and others died. By the way, Reagan was sold to the American people as kindly grandpa who was going to bring "Morning in America." Few realized that in the late 1960s, he had released troops on unarmed college students at Berkely during Vietnam protests. A whole lot of people were OK with Governor Reagan's troops gasing kids, trapping them in enclosed areas, setting off gas bombs where there were no actual protesters, and beating protesters. The "riots" were blamed on the students when it was they who protested, but the CA National Guard and various police departments that were the rioters for the most part. Trump has been an appalling figure before ever running for president but people loved the idea of that guy from "The Apprentice" being president despite little to no truth in the program, the way he had treated his employees and that he employed the immigrant workers he claimed to hate so much. Hypocrisy is/was strong with all of these guys.
Perhaps some day investigators will find that McGovern and Dukakis actually won their elections but votes were suppressed by repub operatives in a massive dirty tricks operation. John Kerry too. If anyone is unfit for command, it’s Donald Ugly Crook. 💙🤡💩🎃💙lock. him. up!💙
Gigi, be careful of even thinking about going down the Stolen Election Trump et al push. The GOP push more paranoia than is already good for American politics.
That’s right. I am of a certain age that I was a witness to the dirty tricks and maybe you were too. Lee Atwater, so proud of himself and chuckles Colson. It’s not just dirty tricks. It’s crime. They were criminals, liars and completely dishonest. But they were only a small minority. The Repub party at that time had more members who knew right from wrong and honesty from deception. The clapping clowns at the Club in DC are pathetic and spineless. They are politicians playing games with an conman and not public servants representing their districts. 💩
Answer: Someone who jumps to a conclusion, and then refuses to exclude relevant evidence when challenging the assumptions underlying their jumped-to conclusion.
Question: Who is cynical and gullible?
Answer: Someone who jumps to a conclusion, looks for confirming evidence, and ignores relevant disconfirming evidence.
Skeptical and open minded are the two sides of the same "wisdom" coin. Cynical and gullible are the two sides of the same "unconstrained ignorance" coin. Is it possible to be cynical about one thing without being gullible about something else, and vice versa? I don't think it is.
Re “cynical and gullible”voters, I wonder if those traits might also be partly attributed to laziness. When voters choose their news media to match their own biases and then fail to “vet” those news sources, it is lazy at best and dishonest at worst. I am beginning to feel that —in a country where we no longer have a shared reality — that it is now true patriotism to think critically and choose responsible news sources. …like Courtney Gore in Texas, who really put in a lot of work to learn that she had been duped by propaganda.
In my way of thinking, laziness and dishonesty are symptoms with a common cause, and that cause is immaturity. Everyone has a circle of influence and a circle of concern. An immature person's circle of influence extends beyond their circle of concern, like the child who has a temper tantrum because "it's all about me and I didn't get my way."
To expand one's circle of concern is to trust. To trust is to become vulnerable to betrayal. To be a victim of betrayal is to regret the decision to expand one's circle of concern.
And yet, there is one thing we can all trust, and that is our humanity. For me, that means being open minded without being gullible, and being skeptical without being cynical. To a real scientist, I just described the scientific principle. To a real Christian, I just described "the narrow gate that leads to life, and only a few find it." To me, it's wisdom, and Homo sapiens is Latin for the wise hominid.
Why does it have to be so hard? Because it is, and because that's what makes it great. If you want easy, be a flat worm. ;o)
Yes, I must say that once again, democrats are more afraid of the republicans than vice versa. Democrats want to move on and have allowed the conservatives to continue to degrade the rule of law. Gingrich did a masterful job with the help of Frank Luntz in creating the narrative of how unethical the liberal democrats in Congress were while doing the very things he accused them of doing.
I must differ. Democrats rightly fear what would happen if Republicans win this year. But Republicans, the Felon-in-Chief in particular, are absolutely terrified of Democrats, and democracy,. They scream and plot and make stuff up because they know that defeat this year will mean the collapse of their authoritarian grift, and they know they are losing.
I’m with Ally and MaryPat! R’s are fearful of what our society looks like: LGBTQ, Black and Brown co-mingling with White. They are trying desperately to bring up the past, like from the 1800’s. We aren’t tolerating that. We have the most corrupt Supreme Court we have ever had. Their way is to destroy our minds, our rights. Our way is to squash them like roaches.
The thing to remember, as Heather often reminds us, is that the bigots are carrying water (or is it gasoline?) for the reactionary plutocrats and others who want to destroy democracy for ideological reasons, often based in economics. The fight against enslavement has not ended; in many ways it has just been transmogrified.
Rickey, yep, hypocrites, all of them and they claim to be soooo "christian"; they're not. I have no idea what they really are except members of the Trump cult and Trump is their deity and they want him to be that for all of us. Well, we can stop that by pointing out the Republican fake religion they are making up as we speak. People who claim to read their bible are missing what Jesus said about hypocrites and that love is the greatest commandment. I am seeing love nowhere in their message except that the unthinking Trumpers and Trumpettes just love their Baby Donnie no matter what he says or does. They might love their family if those members believe in the Trump Myth, but otherwise no. That is not unconditional love, a "christian" concept.
WOW…. Thank YOU!!! Had no idea…. And I too voted for McGovern…. And I will be voting for President Biden…. He does have the “Chops” and KNOWS to delegate. He also has SERIOUS experience!!!!!!!
That's one of those things that - if you know how the system really works (the lesson I didn't particularly like learning during my professional Democratic operative days, though it was necessary), it's obvious that such a deal was made. Never written down, the Code Omerta to the end. I saw deals like that (not as meaningful, but still illustrative).
trump: we have all the votes we need. Read Project 2025 and ties these 2 things together. Democrats can win at every level and in every race. Everyone of them will be challenged. Will the courts hold? Some will, but with all the purges underway and the legal framework for challenges, I am not so sure. LISTEN, when a candidate claims BEFORE an election they have all the votes they need, the fix may be in.
It’s been a warning for years, but the majority weren’t educated , didn’t listen, were duped. Every time a Dem came in and straightened out a mess within 2 cycles ‘people wanted change’ in Obama’s term we saw the racist engagement doubled down and women’s rights quickly descend…I want to scream 🗣️HELLO? Is anyone home? The Republican Party continued getting smarter with every defeat . Emboldened by a con artist of epic failures who fit the ‘puppet needed bill’ ..they couldn’t have advertised for it better. Books have been written , films made, people lived through it and told their stories…it’s happened over and over.
Will we ever learn? 11/5/24 will tell…got to be a blue tsunami…
David Pepper writes about how the conservative /libertarians have been working the system to gain the system. Jane Mayer provides a lot of names that finance the slow moving coup that is now upon us.
it's a scary book. The Heritage Foundation, Leonard Leo, Koch have been patiently funding their Christo fascist movement since the Ro V Wade in '72. They knew they needed time and the right puppet. It's so ugly.
The Republicans are clearly working on a fix. It is well under way with voter suppression, gerrymandering, and filling election officials positions with Trumpist flunkies. And mire!
The public knows little aboftut Project 2025 (an initiatitxtve of the Heritage Foundation). It is6 absolutely essential to spread the word about this anti-democratic, anti-Constitutional, white christian nationalist evil atrocity. Trump is not the genius behind it because he lacks all brain power, he couldn't possibly read or understand its hundreds of pages and has no interest in it. He just craves the faux adoration of the masses that he, not so secretly, despises. Go to the Heritage Foundation website and familiarize yourself and your circle of friends, acquaintances, business associates with the Project 2025 initiative. Learn who is behind it - millionaires, billionaires, would be autocrats - and then help register voters, walk precincts, back Democratic candidates up and down the entire ticket. This is the challenge of our lifetime.
Rickey, your comment weighs heavy on my heart but also scares the sh__ out of me. I pray and hope to God that the 💙 steps up to the demand to save our country/freedom.
To sweep we need to add the millions of unregistered folk who heavily trend Democratic. That "unlikely trifecta" can become more likely. FT6 uses data mining to identify them. Register Democrats to save the world.
My "sweep" definition is a Democratic President, a House majority, and a Senate supermajority. Then you've got the "all for one and one for all" three musketeers. The "God forbid" sweep is a MAGA Republican President, House, and Senate, aka the "all for one, which happens to be me, myself, and I" three stooges.
The rub - I do not like, at all, the recommended messages for the postcards. "Who you vote for is private, but whether you vote is public record" Creepy and Orwellian.
I want to write somethig short and direct without onus. Cheerfuland positive- any redommendations?
Rachel, I highly recommend what Daniel Solomon said above. If you TEXT with Field Team 6, you can reach about 110 unregistered voters per day in 15 min. You can choose the state and campaign you want to support. The messages are always positive and include a link for online voter registration. I have reached more than 12,000 people since December. There is also a paid option that allows you to reach an additional 220/day (at least 330 total). I receive very few return STOP messages. I can do this even if I'm holding a sleeping baby.
Yeah, when I saw the recommended messages at the post card session I went to three weeks ago, I said loudly, "Who is it who thinks this is a winning message?" To which I got glared at by the apparatchik of the organization organizing the event. Democrats are always ready with a 60 page position paper and a nice cheeseplate when the gunfight happens.
Rachel Simon, I agree with your characterization of the message. The people running these postcard campaigns conduct in-depth market research to determine which messages are most effective. For some reason the creepier messages result in more voters voting. Go figure. I write postcard messages exactly as the organization designs it.
Corruption runs in these higher circles like water out of a faucet. Our TRUST is gone when it comes to the GOP, most news sources, and most upper level corporate controlling hierarchy .
How long has this been going on?
‘Getting rich’ since the begin most frequently reveal systems of shoddy practices and usually collusion not just for politicians . Watergating has become a verb. Pardoning a criminal act making both persons ‘above the law’.
SMH , accepting such practices, so defeats the word fair it is a joke!
Scams, hacking, cheating, lying, conspiracy , even the term ‘Trust Me’…🤦♀️
I volunteered at the McGovern campaign office in NYC and was devastated and confused when Nixon won. Every time Nixon opened his mouth, you knew it was a lie especially about the war.
Like most neighborhoods, ours was personally impacted with the Vietnam war. There were some who followed the obeyed the law and sign up and went off to fight. Unfortunately they came home either in a coffin or with severe mental health issues which still haunt them to this day. Then there was a group of 3 who fled to Canada. There was so much turmoil and resentment from the families who lost their sons/brothers to the war towards these 3 guys who left. And then you have Donny Boy (as he was referred to in the neighborhood) shooting his mouth off about how his dad got him a doctor’s note and he didn’t even have to meet the doctor so now he gets to skip the draft. Yep, you read that right, he would tell anyone who would listen about how is dad got him a letter from the doctor and he didn’t even have to meet the doctor to get the letter. Of course other families desperate to save their sons/brothers tried to get the same letter and the doctor refused = 3 draft dodgers.
I also remember how angry I was when Ford pardoned Nixon. That one action drove home the message the rich and well connected were above the law and don’t trust the President.
I cast my first vote for president in Worcester, Massachusetts, for George McGovern. A proud moment. I've been an active liberal Democrat ever since. Vote Blue!
Me too, Nancy. I turned 21 a few weeks after Nixon was first elected in '68. During his administration I couldn't imagine he'd be re-elected. Surprise! I don't know what's wrong with us, although I have my suspicions. Apart from the judiciary's swing right, thanks to McConnell et al, it appears to me that the goal of the right is to return to a feudal system, complete with an ignorant serf class. I say we get medieval on their ass, as Ving Rhames did in Pulp Fiction, and show them no mercy. I think the ballot box is preferable to Ving's associates with lead pipes and blow torches, but one way or another we have to flush this sickness out and recover our dignity, our ethics, not to mention our rights.
Thank you for voting for McGovern who survived piloting 35 bomber missions over Europe in WWII only to be successfully swift-boated as a peacenik sissy and defeated by chicken hawk Richard Nixon in 1972.
Not a point of contention, but since I am a professional military aviation historian and right now deep in working on a book about the 15th Air Force (where McGovern served), the tour there was 50 missions (because flying from Italy "wasn't as dangerous" as the 8th AF in England, where the tour was 35 - Hah! And again, HAH!). Anyway, George McGovern flew a full tour - just looked a Ambrose's "Wild Blue" to be sure. And those 15 extra missions were just as hard as 8th AF.
I find it so frustrating that the people who don't fight wars are the most likely to start them and hold them up as heroic. There certainly are heroic people who fight wars, but often they have had more than enough blood and guts to last them for a lifetime if they survive. We have to fight as hard for peace as we do for war. I was delighted to learn this afternoon that there is a group called "Veterans for Peace."
I once met a journalist who thought that Nixon had "missing parts." Why do we put people with "missing parts" in high office? My dad, a moderate Republican, always referred to Ronald Reagan as "an amiable dolt." He hated what Regan did to public health in California.
Marlene, I wish my memory was as vivid as yours, though I do remember registering Democrat in the wake of "Tricky Dick." I also remember the Hecht Company in Silver Spring as it was the go-to spot for us kids getting our start in the mid-sixties!
Marlene On the Nixon White House Enemies List, living in Greenwich it was lonely to meet with Gary Hart, campaign manager for McGovern, in the fall of 1972. I was not popular in Greenwich at that time and my daughter, at school, was often shunned because of the McGovern sticker on her notebook.
Surprisingly, two years later it appeared that virtually none of the Greenwich elite had voted for Nixon. Had it all been an illusion? No. How swiftly the political tides shift. Now my hunch is that a number of the wealthy elite in Greenwich favor Trump’s re-election, since they consider it best for their pocketbooks. Hopefully, they will be disappointed on November 5th.
And wouldn’t it just be sad and pathetic if that’s true, Keith? I imagine the R’s are preparing something nefarious for the defeat of their lord and savior. I plan on dancing in the streets, possibly naked, so they better have blinders on! 😳🤩
I am fighting the battle that I can at the moment: postcards to a Democratic candidate in Colorado, remembering the voice of Sam Erwin on the radio, loud in the window as I worked in the back yard. His daughter and I were at UNC-CH at the same time and respect for her father was widespread. Nixon was always a horror; child Trump and his infantile followers are worse. My hope is that enough Americans who understand that our entire world is threatened (world and planet, equally) will vote for our wise president, producing the blue tsunami that may save US from our own stupidity and greed.
Thank you, Marlene. We couldn’t have asked for a better story than yours. If I had better tech skills would put this at the top of mine.
I was out the US from Feb 10, '73 until Aug 3, '74. I had voted for McGovern and was completely shocked by Nixon's landslide win. That's not why I left the country, though, and when I got back just in time to see Nixon's televised resignation I was pleased, but having missed all of Watergate-on-TV, I wasn't jubilant. I thought Ford was a tool, and his pardon absurd, but again not earthshaking. Just politics as usual. I left the country again in June of '21. This time I'm not coming back.
I'm happy where I am in Mexico, Marlene, and I have figured out how to vote remote. We (they, really... I'm not eligible to vote here yet) just elected a Jewish female PhD (environmental science) to the presidency, which I think puts us way ahead of US politics. The previous president was well on the way to getting fiber optic internet available everywhere, also ahead of U.S. efforts. I hope you can retire someplace with a lot more hope than even California can offer. I lived in the Bay Area for 25 years and loved CA. Also took many road trips in my hybrid and love most of my native land - just not the political landscape.
Yes Marlene! And looking at those 'people' ...along with their traitor-ist "thugs".., all spinless, they will fold when confronted with enforcement of the laws currently on -the-books. Meaning, our local law enforcement, our sheriffs & deputies, our state police all need to behave as they were hired to do when called into action. Action being the enforcement of law and order. What occurred on the 6th of Jan was due to internal subversion within the Whitehouse folks aligned with #45. And those tentacles extended into the pentagon and other places too. But, "law and order" has followed and a bunch of 'people' along with the thugs ($$ paid), are in jail or facing jail-time. For many, their lives have been permanently changed, having been 'thrown-under-the-bus, victims of dis-information, the feal form of "fake news", thanks to #45, the POS. So, it was the price-to-be-paid, for them. Tough shit!
But obviously bad men surface and do what they can to abuse the system. I haven't seen a rush to tighten things in Washington; seems everyone likes to have all their options open to commit fraud, not be held accountable, and maximize power and fund-raising. It will happen again. The foxes ruling the chicken coop. I blame Citizens United for giving this tendency more financial steam.
"Citizens United" (how's that for Orwellian labeling?) was certainly a travesty, effectively legalizing corruption while claiming a mandate from the Constitution. Government, like infectious disease, never goes away completely, but it got a big boost from Nixon. Nixon's excesses were almost caught in time. but Ford let them out the back door. By the time Reagan launched his presidential bid, the lesson learned from the Nixon affair was NEVER admit wrong doing, shred all evidence against you, buy off all the refs, and jettison decency for good. Seek and hold ABSOLUTE POWER.
Former President Carter was correct to call Citizens United “legalized political bribery.” It may very well destroy what is left of the concept of government, of, for and by the people.
Bernie is advocating a greater public financing of political competition. The current 40m allotted isn't remotely close to the real cost of running national elections. But at the same time the PAC spigots have to be severely curtailed. "corporate personalities" indeed!
This was predicted back in 2000, even before that election was stolen by the then sitting supremes. It was likely that the next president would have several supreme court vacancies to fill. The importance of that did not get through to the voters.
We have been suffering the consequences of that election in so many ways.
When the decision came down from the court in December 2000, Gore graciously accepted the outcome and stepped aside for the (supposed at the time) good of the nation. Republicans don't play that.
The George Bush vs Al Gore election was also stolen by FUTURE Supreme Court members, Kavanaugh and Coney Barrett, who were sent down to Florida by the Heritage Society to "help count the ballots."
We.. "We The People", have been served notice of what the "thugs" and alex-joneses convince dupes to do. I hope this administration has communicated this "Notice" thoroughly to all our law enforcement agencies, regarding prompt and firm response to any behavior which jeopardizes civil election activities. We don't need a contingent of white-supremacists guarding ballot boxes, or Kyle-shithouses threatening crowd control. Nip that crap in the bud! We only have one chance.. make it count this time.
The best dinner party I’ve attended all year took place at a conference held at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge, overlooking the San Francisco Bay. It was a family-style meal, arranged to make you ask the person sitting next to you to please pass the kale salad, at which point you might realize that to your left is a celebrated economist, and to your right, a top government official. Our host, Jennifer Harris, gave a speech about how economic ideas change to meet the needs of a new era.
Everyone listened. In a room full of V.I.P.s, she was the Queen Bee.
I’d wanted to interview Ms. Harris for years. She has been the quiet intellectual force behind the Biden administration’s economic policies, and she seemed key to understanding why both parties in Washington had walked away from free trade and neoliberalism — the belief that free markets will bring prosperity and democracy around the world.
These matters felt personal to me. I spent much of the Trump administration following steelworkers in Indiana who lost their jobs when their factory moved to Mexico. They felt betrayed by elites — and they weren’t wrong. I was thrilled when the Biden administration came in with a plan for big federal investments in the American industrial base, tariffs, support for labor unions and actions against monopolies. No one knew what to call it — Post-neoliberalism? Democratic capitalism? Neopopulism? — but for the first time in generations a U.S. administration was saying that people should control the market, not the other way around. I believed in it. But if it was the right path, why didn’t more voters trust President Biden on the economy?
To understand who Ms. Harris is, you have to know who she used to be. As a young State Department policy planner in the 2000s, she was a lonely voice in Washington raising the alarm about the rise of China. She pushed for tariffs and against trade agreements before it was cool, and was an author of a book called “War by Other Means” about how blind faith in free markets put the United States at a geopolitical disadvantage. For years, she felt like an oddball in Washington, where both parties were still in thrall to neoliberalism.
Thank you for this article and introducing me to Jennifer Harris. It is an example of President Joe Biden's ability to recognize excellence and respect for the work of a gifted brilliant, female patriot! He loves this country and wants the best for all of us!!!
AND....."for the first time in generations a US administration was saying that people should control the market, NOT the other way around." (Gary Loft).
Let's be reminded that we are BLESSED to live within a DEMOCRACY...no matter the imperfections. I am personally grateful......thank you Joe Biden..... I do NOT want our country led by a dictator....especially by a "Putin" OOPS!!! I mean "PUPPET" dictator.
Good and bad old days. A lot has continued to progress since then, such as gay rights, but a lot went wrong as well. I think government corruption has increased overall, both in scope and intensity.
Back then you didn’t social media being used by foreign entities sowing discord. Also way too much money is being spent in campaigns. Fox News plays a huge role in helping one side but also forces them further right.
Biased is biased. AF is a modifier that means extremely or very and it typically comes after the word it modifies instead of before. It's not a term used in polite company; my mother would wash my mouth out with soap if she heard me use it. You'll find it in the Urban Dictionary if you google it.
Back in 1973 and 1974, I watched the Senate hearings, transfixed by the revelations of the corruption and the lies that little by little became overwhelmingly apparent. If I'm remembering correctly, Nixon stepped down when a delegation of Republican lawmakers made it clear to him that that was a better option than impeachment, a process he would surely lose. Who among today's Republicans has the integrity and the guts to tell the truth to Trump and to his base? What a difficult place those who are committed to keeping our democracy find ourselves in today. It is up to all of us to help provide a climate where telling truth to power, however challenging, is what we agree to do in order to help our country resist autocracy and move forward toward the "more perfect union" the Founders envisioned.
It seems that Trump is both an Emperor and the Queen of Hearts - if anyone dares tell him how it really is (no clothes for example) - he will off with their head. No one can even whisper the truth. The man is in full blown fantasy and denial, with his trail of parasites following him to the Cuckoo's Nest.
Parasites! Bonnie, I think you are the first one amongst-us to use that most appropriate description. I always thought of them as 'leeches'. But, leeches is rather an honorable word. They, after-all do have a purpose. MAGA-sites - Useless.
Thank you for telling that! I knew she committed suicide. How can he hold his head up after all of that? Then again, how could any decent human hold their head up after what trumpie boy has done?
When you were in law enforcement, weren’t most of your fellow workers Republicans? And wasn’t it trying to be left leaning as you seem to be in that environment?
John, do the math. Every vote for RFK, Jr. is not a vote for Joe Biden. RFK, Jr. has no chance of winning. Whether or not you're a Trump supporter in your heart, and that's none of my business, if you plan to vote for RFK, Jr., or if you urge others to do so, you are, in effect, supporting Trump.
Betsy please understand, in my heart I’m a Kennedy supporter.I can’t stand Trump.i’m not afraid of him getting re-elected either. The future is not a sure thing like the math you say I should do is.In fact, many say Kennedy will take more votes from Trump than President Biden. I don’t let any of that influence my vote. It’s for RFKJR because I relate to his ideas and want him , not Trump to win.
She may want to do a lot more research into his cock a mamie ideas. He’s running on name recognition. And, can you imagine him on the world stage? Yeesh!
He is anti-abortion rights. They may have now changed his policy page, but it was in black and white a few months ago.
As a woman, mother, granddmother and human being I will NEVER support anyone who wants to limit Family Planning, womens healthcare and our choice for our bodies. PERIOD.
AND - his entire Kennedy Family have said - DONT VOTE FOR HIM.
He is for the same abortion rights proclaimed in the R v W decision, please accept this. But yes , it does bother me that family members aren’t with him, especially Rory. I wonder if she would switch her support if Bobby keeps getting stronger in the poles.
True—he sent 1000 advisors. But JFK escalated that to 23,000, plus sending materiel and encouraging the assassination of the South Vietnamese leader Diem, which completely destabilized the country.
Nope. It was rumbling around w France. US sent advisors in 1959. The rest is history. RFK will be lost in international affairs. That is not child’s play.
Johnson escalated it beyond Kennedy’s escalation, openly sending in ground troops after the (faked) “attack” by a Vietnamese boat on a U.S. destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin a few months after Kennedy’s assassination. I think Kennedy snuck in the Green Berets, but his idea was to work it more the way Biden is managing Ukraine, with heavy duty materiel, training, intelligence etc. I have heard (from James Galbraith, at a conference) that he was considering resisting further escalation, just days before he was shot. But I’m not a Kennedy expert.
Politically-illiterate morons are found everywhere. Vote for a meth head and a Trophy Bimbo who slept her way to her riches. That sure sounds like the way to solve our problems.
You have no idea, TC, how delusional the Bobby team is. I suggested to a friend that having him as president would be like casting someone who can carry a tune, but has no vocal training, as the lead in an opera. Her reply? "Unless you want to produce a new musical experience." I blocked that friend on WhatsApp and Facebook this morning. I'm sorry to end a 32-year friendship, but my friend has drunk the Kool Aid and isn't with us any more. She's become a soul-less zombie who wants brain worm boy to lead us. She'd also like to lynch Dr. Fauci. Feh!
Yeah, I lost a lot of friends in 2016-17 when they decided to become Trumpers. I felt like the Michael York character in Cabaret when his good German friend shows up in a Nazi uniform.
It is weird to me how celebrities seem to become projection screens for other to identify with. I recall doing some of that in my youth probably in some ways, I likely still do, but it's different. A lot of people are sure seeing what they want to see in Trump. In Japan, the lore of foxes includes that they will serve a traveler what seems to be a delicious meal, that is actually manure
Shades of "The Help." In the upcoming election, though, there's nothing clandestine about the shit sandwich MAGA wants to feed us. Their motto may as well be "Eat our shit or die."
At 70 (as I can tell you from experience) he is not young! He was once handsome but not any longer—he’s showing his age pretty badly. But your post has got me wondering whether he’s circulating photos of himself as a young man in social media? Or ChatGPT altered images?
His manager$ purpo$e, in my opinion, is to cause Biden to lose the election. Simple. His VP woman will get exposure for an upcoming career with Only Fans. She'll make millions. She'll be follow-able. The whole RFK thing makes Big Media money. That he has a pulpit is almost a given. Advertisers luv it. For Big Media, he's a free-bee-almost because he's a Kennedy. Sick. And, for his managers, he's the cheapest form of distraction they could create. If only he would've chosen Mace, who's much better built.
According to an analysis (I think by 538) he takes more from Biden. So if you don’t want the horrors laid out in Project 2025 to be realized, volunteer to help get out the vote however you can.
You have an interesting definition of "truth," John. Vaccines have nothing to do with autism. No one can recover from brain damage - brain cells do not reproduce. It is impossible to bio-engineer a virus to attack or avoid any ethnicity, because there are no genetic markers for it. Sure, there are genes that cause different shaped ocular structure and skin pigmentation, but none that cause being Jewish or Chinese, specifically. I really want to talk about these things respectfully, John, and I agree that some of RFK Jr's ideas are good, especially about the environment. However, he is only telling his very fluid truth, and not THE truth, 'frinstance about where he lives.
If you watch the Shawn Ryan show episode 117 on June 17 with RFKJR you will hear that there is a connection between the hepatitis b vaccine and autism. The CDC tried to hide it. Many other lies about him are being spread by people like you!
That's a little rude, John. I'm not lying. At worst I disagree that RFK Jr. is a reliable authority on the subject; at best I'm wrong.
I googled "link between autism and any vaccine." I chose to read this particular article because SARRC is a non-profit org, which tends to be less in the pocket of big pharma. Here's their summary: "At SARRC, we believe the ultimate decision to vaccinate a child is a personal choice. If asked, we would recommend vaccinations because dozens of reputable scientific studies have failed to show a link between vaccines and autism, while numerous other studies demonstrate that the risks from the diseases the vaccines are meant to prevent are dangerous to a child’s health and well-being. Our research focuses on early identification of autism because it leads to early intensive intervention, which is the most important support we can provide for a child diagnosed with autism at this time. Read more about autism and vaccines in a Q&A with SARRC’s Vice President and Research Director Christopher J. Smith, PhD, at https://autismcenter.org/discussing-autism-and-vaccines-dr-chris-smith/"
Betsy, I agree. I read with interest and nostalgia the Supreme Court ruling in U.S. v. Nixon. "The twofold aim (of criminal justice) is that GUILT SHALL NOT ESCAPE or innocence suffer." ( My caps)
I took for granted that the esteemed members of the Supreme Court had the utmost integrity and wouldn't hesitate to rule the right way. Ha!! Have I suffered from disillusionment.
Betsy..., the Founders had yet to stumble upon the thick-witted expression: alternative facts. Today, we are burdened with 'alternative politicians'. Don't waste your time "fact"-checking those bastards or Bleach-Blonde-Badbuilt-Butches or equivalents.
I think Jasmine Crockett shortened her burn of MTG to B6ers, Mad. I agree that it's useless to fact-check any MAGA utterance. Anyone who can conceive of an alternative fact is de facto nuts.
Betsy, the only candidate not beholden to the lobbyists but to the American people is RFKJR. You know he is conducting an experiment in telling the truth , if only you would hear it!
"Kennedy has come under fire for false medical claims, particularly that vaccines are linked to autism. He received backlash, even being banned on Instagram, for criticizing governmental COVID-19 restrictions and spreading misinformation about the virus. He started the Children’s Health Defense, a nonprofit organization that focuses on anti-vaccine messaging."
What are the lies? Lots of doctors are questioning Fauci and the safety of the Covid vaccines. Did you see the Chris Cuomo interview with Dr. Robert Redfield?
Frightening times. I am most concerned for my children and grandchildren. What kind of existence will we leave for those whom we love and cherish most of all?
something of a "history line up" Peter! Dazzle them with bullshit, deal with trouble with prisons and bullets. I do hope that "Civil War" hit on streaming is just that - a fantasy.
No interest in dazzling anyone. And frankly, no idea of how to awaken people from their drugged complacent sleep.
Nothing has yet worked, not even 9/11.
The reality is that the 45th occupant of the White House has the same gift as Hitler and Mussolini: the ability to give voice to the repressed hatreds and resentments in the collective unconscious of millions, so that the combination of himself and the masses he has hypnotized could hardly be more dangerous.
You know of Jim Jones, I have seen for myself the damage that one man can do through mental manipulation...
But have we really forgotten the Second World War, the Shoah, the innumerable millions who died so horribly?
The power in the hands of the prewar dictators was great, yet nothing, compared with that of the USA.
The danger is incalculable, and I -- who was born one month into WW2, have seen nothing like it. Nothing.
Peter, I suspect that the answer to your last question is "both". I hope that in time (and by the grace of what is good in the world) it will be seen as the abomination that it was (and is).
I like your expression "by the grace of what is good in the world". And there really is so much "good" when dealing with a number like 8.1 billion. Even among those countries which have succumbed to some religion, "good" exists among ordinary people, though they literally have no way out, the only good they can do exists between them. Their air is permanently polluted. Here, among the 350 million of us, there are plenty "good" people who haven't been bought out. We're lucky. However, we have to suffer the Evangelicals who have prostituted themselves...? Huh? What? I'm hearing readers having heartburn with what I just typed..? Sorry Ally... geeeze., I didn't mean to hi-jack you peaceful comment. Never-the-less,try this: this "Oxford definition then. I'm sure you'll agree: Prostitute..to "put (oneself or one's talents) to an unworthy or corrupt use or purpose for the sake of personal or financial gain. (there's more) esample: "his (or her Ms Katie) willingness to prostitute himself to the worst instincts of the electorate"..! Whewwww! Yup.. they've sold themselves to the devil hisseff.. #45., the pen-ultimate POS. Yupperrr, Take it away.
I think one could compile a pretty hefty list of significant courageous individuals, Alexander VIndman for example. And I doubt any era was free of sleazy politicians; but it seems like sleazy is on a roll, especially in the "Republican" Party power structure.
...Nixon..., another POS, amongst a whole cadre which existed before him, to include pretty-boy JFK who never had to earn a nickle in his life. So nice looking.., and Jackie, no money worries there, such a sweetheart with a trend-setting hairdresser. Nixon...? He filled the image of a creep, not presidential like some others. Just a friggen bloviating creep.., like Adolph.
Being of an age that clearly remembers Nixon and his criminal breaking of the law I'm still sorry Gerry Ford let his off the hook. He was so obviously guilty. Now instead of the precedence which would have been well deserved of a President having been found guilty and dismissed from office; we are faced with trump, at least as guilty of even more heinous crimes screaming innocence because Nixon was innocent. The untreated truth has come back - not just to justify but to bite us in the ass for undeserved clemency.
Ford may have told himself he was helping to heal the county, but he was just avoiding the due process that was needed to to heal the rupture in the integrity of the office. What he actually establish is the notion that presidents are above the law, a notion the right wing picked up and ran with. Up to that point, the Republican party, faced with Nixon's objective guilt, had done the right thing.
Seems to be getting clearer, much clearer, that the Republican Party is based on saving autocracy in many ways especially through excessive capitalism on the corporate level etc. so if that's their mission however unstated apparently Ford was hamstrung by it. Just looking at the actual character of great numbers of them running or already elected there is an appalling lack of honesty, of judgment, of responsibility, even of intelligence. They are a prop team for a bunch of bad old ideas. Aristocracy, elite rule, largely male rule, just playing low down meanness in order to get what they want, bullying as an okay thing, add in the rest...
"On May 30, 2024, when a jury of twelve ordinary Americans found a former president guilty on 34 criminal counts, it reasserted the principle that no one is above the law."
We can only hope that justice manages to prevail against the subhuman tffg, with the scales seemingly tipped in his favor by the likes of SCOTUS, Cannon, and the Rethugs still supporting his bid to become the future dictator of our country.
I can't, for my life, understand the Republican approval of TFFG, to say nothing of his minions. How inhumane and bizarre he is. If ever there were lemmings...It's like watching a zombie movie, except the zombies are real.
There has always been a seductive lure to absolute power. Most of use were taught it was evil, but here is Trump saying it's OK to indulge the proclivity, and that's all the permission some people need, especially if assured that's "Christianity". Gott mit uns!
The lifetime losers from Flyover Loserville who are his true believers are all of the opinion they would have been millionares (if not billionaires), but for all those who looked down on them and blocked them all their worthless lives (most of them won't be remembered 5 minutes after they're gone).
Boy, talk about a sweeping demonization and dismissal of millions of fellow Americans who live in our rural areas, of which millions do not support Trump! Coastal elites, "Winners" like Apple CEO Tim Cook and the CEOs of JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Bank of America met with Trump recently, They seem to have forgotten how they chastised Trump after Jan. 6. But Trump's agenda to cut business taxes and regulations appeals to these coastal elites. Warren Buffett lives in Omaha, Nebraska, "flyover loserville," and he's not in the Trump camp.
Judy, you are 100% right. There are plenty of people out here in Flyover Loserville who are fighting hard against the travesty that is MAGA. What is to be gained by this kind of rhetoric? In fact, if you follow Simon Rosenberg you know that Nebraska CD-2, which could be Biden's 270th electoral college vote in the event that he carries MI, WI, and PA, but loses the other swing states, is Omaha. Much better to support the Democrats and never-Trump Republicans and Independents there, than to just insult them.
"What is to be gained by this kind of rhetoric?" Part of the problem or part of the solution, I wonder? The reminiscing is important and informative to the degree it allows updating of our guidance systems for today. Today I got more from HCR's summary than I did living through Watergate (and all) when disgust was my justification for no TV, no newspapers or magazines -- living a VT life of daily guidance by land, farming, and building practices that enabled living with a small income. How can we do it better? Imagine, articulate, and moreso, say it as you see it in respectful conversations while facing each other head-on.
Did you ever live there? I did. Got out the first day the opportunity to do so presented itself. I'm pretty sure I know those people better than you. They were morons in high school and the last time I checked, they're now dumber than that.
As a junior high student in north Boulder in 1978, I was at the breakfast table eating my Cheerios listening to our houseguest named Dan -- a friend of the family and fellow activist with my parents and sister engaging in nonviolent direct action at the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant 16 miles upwind of Denver -- talk about first strike nuclear strategy and how he once had a security clearance higher than the president's on nuclear matters.
I soon learned who this visitor was -- he was Daniel Ellsberg. The following years brought many chapters of our friendship and activism, with quite a few of the 75 nonviolent direct action arrests in our family of four having been done with Dan. He inspired, informed and empowered us and many, many others!
Fast forward to 2008, and our son Brian had done a school project that was a poster about a famous American: Daniel Ellsberg. (He first thought of Lincoln, and I suggested Dan.) Brian and Dan sat down to review and refine the poster. One of the places to fill in on the poster asked, "What did you learn from this person?" Our 9 YO son had written: "Don't trust the government."
Ahead of our meeting up with Dan in 2018, he emailed me:
"I presume that the last ten years have confirmed what Brian knew at 9--in spades (i.e., trumps).
"It will be interesting to see how this handsome lad looks at 19!
Here's what I've learned. It's not hard to tell the difference between a politician who intends to engage in political practice and a politician who intends to commit political malpractice. The former will say they intend to serve the whole at the short term expense of its parts. If they do what they say, then the parts will benefit from the strength of the whole in the long term, whereas the latter will say they intend to serve the parts at the expense of the whole, and when they do the parts will suffer in the long term due to the weakness of the whole.
Here's some advice from another Daniel who did what he said he would do: "If you have contempt for government, you will get contemptable government." —Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
This from another: "What if the beloved community is already real, and all we need to do is live as if it is?" —John Lewis.
This quote is also applicable: "Trust, but verify." —Russian proverb.
Maybe no one is above the law most of the time, but it remains to be seen if there will be any consequences. Nixon didn't really face any, and Trump seems to be following Nixon's playbook, including Trump using executive privilege and claiming *full* immunity. Still holding my breath as to what the outcome may be in Trump's cases and whether he faces any punishment at all.
Rupert Murdock is Convicted Felon Donald Trump's new David Pecker. Two weeks ago is was recycled Kevin McCarthy material about Biden's mental state and yesterday it was the New York Post publishing a hit piece about Biden at the Saturday night fund raiser.
I'm 69 and I meed an afternoon nap. How the heck does Biden have the energy to work the hours he works. Campaigning is a full time job and he has multiple daily crises to deal with as well.
He's juicing, Gary, if the right wing propaganda machine is to be believed. I'd kinda love to have publicly released drug tests of B & T the day of the first debate. Wouldn't it be wonderful if B's showed up with nothing but caffeine and maybe some vitamin B while T's is laden with tranqs and anti-psychotics?
President Biden doesn’t have the stamina to properly govern for another 4 years. He should step down like President Washington did , has the power corrupted him?
If President Biden's choice to run is wrong, then it's for a reason I'm not aware of. What I would have done in his shoes is image a scenario in which, on November 6, I'm listening to all the so-called pundits proclaim that "Biden is responsible for Trump's win because Biden would have won if he hadn't stepped down."
This election will choose the most powerful person on Earth, and the choice is between a person who knows he has to care about everyone who who will be influenced by his decisions, and a person who thinks he only has to care about three things, which are "me, myself, and I."
IMHO, Obama in his two terms, and Biden in his first term, made America better whereas Bush 43 and Trump took the country in the opposite direction. I think RFK Sr. would have been a great president. What I hear (antisemitic and racist remarks, etc.) makes me think his son is heading in the opposite direction.
To me, there's two choices. Either intentionally support Biden, or effectively support the guy who wants to end hope, positive change, and the American experiment by splitting up the world between authoritarian dictators.
I have never identified with a candidate to so fully support him as I do RFKJR. He has good plans to restore our nation and good standing with the world.So much better than your two choices.
Biden has said that he would step aside if he was assured that trumpie would not get the presidency. That is not the case yet.
About his stamina: he will be chugging along in 2028 getting the job done. He already has done things that neither Clinton or Obama would have attempted. I never thought he would do those things. Had he had a democratic House, he would have done much more: including doing things that would have shut up the orange orangutan.
DT sabotaged himself during the E Jean Carrol civil trial by behaving like the a-hole that he is. H took the hook every time he was baited by the prosecution, and afterward (to the tune of an extra $71M) by continuing to slander her. He sabotaged himself multiple times during the election interference case to the tune of 34 felony convictions and being found in contempt multiple times - which will certainly affect his sentencing. Before all that, he sabotaged himself by hoarding classified documents, creating a situation where, given a fair judge, he may already have been found guilty of very serious breaches of national security.
DT will continue to sabotage himself. He can't seem to help it. The pressure must be kept on him on all legal, political, and moral fronts. He will swell and pop like an infected zit.
Yas, Steve. Robbie Kaplan is suiting up for another defamation case. The convicted felon continues to shoot himself in the bone spurs with remarks like he doesn't care about voters, just wants their vote. Rumor has it that Jack Smith now has what he needs from Loose Cannon to go the the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Keep up the good work, and get out the vote.
"CREEP" was a resoundingly appropriate acronym. Nixon's presidency was truly conducted "in a manner contrary to his trust as President and subversive of constitutional government, to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States."
It's also not surprising to note that among Nixon's coterie of saboteurs (and even calling what they did "ratf***ing" normalizes the magnitude of their malignant intent) was a young Roger Stone. He was just setting forth on his career at the time. That he'd continue and enthusiastically join the Trimp Gang comes as no surprise. He fit right in.
Justice needs to be pursued or the price to be paid only becomes greater and more painful to pay. We've only begun to turn the wheels of justice on Guilty Donald, but to relent at this point as happened with Nixon would be doing a great disservice to the nation and future generations. We MUST hold those like Trimp or Nixon strictly accountable every time they cross the line. Every time without fail.
True, trompy was found guilty in NY State court of 34 felonies, but the country eagerly awaits a decision from SCOTUS about claims of presidential immunity, as it will hopefully allow the rest of his federal criminal charges to be heard in court.
Why is SCOTUS dragging its feet before announcing its decision? This should have been dispensed with by now.
Because they are going to drag it out for as long as they possibly can, then deliver the Get Out of Jail Free card in the dark of night, or when we're preoccupied with some other Republican Misdeed of the Moment.
Because it's not going to be the decision that would be made after referral to the Constitution as written, and all the legal precedent before. I hate saying that, but plan to be disappointed, so it doesn't knock you for a loop. Hopefully I'm wrong, but 59 years of participation in American politics tells me the books have been "cooked." The books are now the consistency of overcooked pasta.
The country went from fresh out of the box (two centuries ago) to al dente to Ramen noodles. It’s what happens when Justice is left on the stove for too long.
What is going on behind the scenes regarding the delays this SCOTUS and lower courts have allowed, dare I say facilitated, in keeping three trials in which Trump has been indicted from taking place Before the November election?! The documents case was the simplest, straight ahead case and should have gone to trial long ago.
It seems they (right wing Christian extemists in the courts, in state legislatures, in Congress, in the Senate ) have something up their sleeve, some cockamamie scheme which will guarantee Trump wins regardless of the vote tallies. I have no illusion this sounds like just another “conspiracy theory” but with the delays something seems to be deeply amiss.
Yes vote! Support others to vote. Send Postcards etc. But what if Trump has been guaranteed a win by the legislatures in states with GOP majorities? What if there is some scheme in the courts in these states? What if these schemes will progress past any appeals and/ or lawsuits filed in federal courts to the SCOTUS? We all know something is deeply wrong, but what exactly is it……?
Thank goodness DT was convicted and we don't want a convicted person in the White House!
Your telling of the Watergate story brought back memories. I too, worked for George McGovern in 1972! I am ready for the fight this year and will do what I can to prevent a convicted felon in the White House! He is a sociopath!
Where have all the McGovernites gone? Turns out, they’re here. I can’t lay claim to being right about too many things when I was 18 years old but I got that one right. If winning is Trump, I’d rather lose again.
I well remember the summer of 1973, when my 12 year old self watched over the ironing board wherein my mother was ironing clothes with my on again off again help, in the den of our family home, as the old Packard Bell broadcast Senators Ervin and Baker co-chairing the Watergate Committee. I can still hear Sam Ervin's charming Piedmont brogue in my mind's ear, along with Howard Baker's piercing question, "What did the President know, and when did he know it?!"
The parallels with the Seditionist Sociopath are eerie, but certainly Trump was and remains far, far worse than Nixon by leaps and bounds.
I disagree with Heather about Ford's pardon of Nixon. The healing that was so necessary in the immediate wake of Watergate would not have occurred without the pardon, and in the political culture of the time that was far more mature and enlightened than today's, there was no need to bring Nixon to a more penal form of justice, as history had already adjudged him guilty. To fall from the most popularly re-elected President in modern history to the first and only to resign in disgrace was punishment enough. Further, all elected officials knew it, and took the lesson accordingly. The post Watergate Congress was one of the most productive in our history, and the election of Jimmy Carter a mere two years later moved the Country even further forward.
Of course, four years after our Nation's bicentennial, then came the deluge.
Somewhere in the ancient Persian desert, Carter's failed hostage rescue attempt crashed along with---unbeknownst to him and us at the time---the very concept of forward progress, as America, awash in patriotic diversion and nostalgia for the never was, chose Reagan and regress.
I would add one point that is oft missed in the Watergate saga. The unanimous opinion in U.S. v. Nixon was 8-0, not 9-0. That was because then Associate Justice William Rehnquist having previously worked in the Nixon Justice Department, had readily and unquestionably recused himself from the proceedings.
Today, Justices No Clearance Clarence and Sullen, Sanctimonious Sam Alito are so disdainful of basic democratic decency and their own professional responsibilities that they refuse to do so.
And we are now left, as Fitzgerald so famously stated, to "beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past".
Eloquently stated, Daniel. At the time, I shared your opinion of the pardon, but seeing the consequences of that act over the course of the succeeding decades, I have revised it.
I too shared your opinion, although I was only 16 at the time. Apparently, I'm not the only one who has had a change of mind.
Don't forget Nixon's "when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal" statement to David Frost. Do I hear an echo?
Another thought from a hindsight perspective is that, although I didn't associate the word "justice" with the concept at the time, I'm now convinced my understanding of justice when I was an 11-year-old in grade 5, as compared to six SCOTUS justices, was better. They're more like I was as a 9-year-old when my older sister wanted to tell me something I didn't want to hear, and I'd cover my ears singing "na, na, na, na, na, na, NA." The tactics are different, but the strategy is the same.
On the Sunday morning after the "Saturday Night Massacre," I had this experience. I was a minister serving a congregation in Alexandria VA. At the conclusion of the Sunday service, I was preparing to announce the Benediction. A young man interrupted me and whispered in my ear, " I work for the Department of Justice in D.C. When I attempted to go to my office this morning, the building had been secured and I was not allowed entry. I am fearful but I remembered the advice of a mentor in Law School. He advised his students to seek refuge in the Sanctuary of a church. After my experience this morning, I am seeking refuge. I am fearful for the stability of the government of the United States of America." After pronouncing the Benediction I escorted the young man to my church office and listened to his story. At the same time, I asked three members of our congregation to join us. We contacted local and national law enforcement agencies.
Back when the "rule of law" actually meant something in America! Let's hope Heather's future colleagues don't describe Watergate as "the beginning of the end".
Imagine for a moment how different the “Watergate Mess” likely would have been resolved if only Nixon and AG Mitchell had tasked the FBI with breaking into DNC HQ and pilfering records.
The GOP isn’t going to degrade the FBI’s professional reputation if DJT defeats President Biden in November: it will destroy it.
I surely did not want to remember this date as I recall the happenings vividly. My boyfriend (now husband) and I voted for McGovern. I remember registering to vote at the Hecht Company in Silver Spring, MD and immediately taking the oath. Needless to say, when Nixon won by a landslide, I was completely devastated. It was in February of 1974 that we moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and when the Watergate prosecutors proved Nixon’s guilt, we rejoiced. But then…Gerald Ford went and did an outrageous thing by pardoning Tricky Dick. I hit the roof! See, this is exactly why we cannot let Trump off of the hook. We must come out with our dukes up, ready to take on these thugs who support him! I am so ready for a battle! You?
I voted for Shirley Chisholm for President and my wife for V-P. I was in Cambridge, Mass. at the time. I knew that McGovern had zero chance of winning. Fast forward to today: the "fox' is inside the henhouse (co-conspiring Senators and Congress-men and -women,) a fact that we need to realize, that we are on the precipice of losing it all to Fascist white bigots and Christian nationalists.
Your vote for Shirley was a vote for Nixon. Until we have rank choice voting in this country, no one can afford to vote for a third party when one of the candidates is as horrible as DT.
Susan, on the west coast in the 1980's, I got to have lots of throw away votes; the races were called before I was able to cast my ballot. I voted independent in a majority of elections up until about the mid 1990's since races were called early, and the votes of the west coast did not matter. Jimmy Carter was the first winning president I voted for. Barack Obama was the second.
Ally House -- I remember the days of "early calling", and how relieved everyone was when that ended. Now TV reporting (I'm thinking specifically of MSNBC and cannot remember the person's name!!) and percentages of votes being reported is keeping it more honest.
We were in Charleston during election night in 2008. Early on we were having dinner in the hotel bar and an all-white table was trying to ignore the early results. We had to wait until midnight for the election to be called. We were at the Francis Marion Hotel near the College of Charleston and could hear the celebrations begin. No matter where I was, i always voted for the D for president although long ago I could vote for a few Oregon Rs. As for Nixon, one of my friends was lamenting what was happening in our country and I asked who she had voted for. Dead silence.
Hatfield and Packwood were two I voted for, consistently.
Steve Kornacki.
THANK YOU, Ally House!
GMTA :-)
Steve Kornacki
Carter killed himself in 1980 when he conceded the election at 4:45pm on the west coast. People didn't go vote, and in California, several Republicans took over Democratic congressional seats due to lack of Democratic turnout, and it took 20 years to dislodge them (in fact there's one still there). Carter was a great ex-president, but as to being president, we should have nominated Ted Kennedy, or just about anyone else who understood how things work, which Carter didn't.
Agreed
😊
True, I knew that McGovern would carry Massachusetts in any case. If it had been a close call, as in 2000 with Nader and Gore, I definitely would not have thrown away the vote.
Nader…😡😡 threw us all under the bus!
I still resent his ego.
And dumbassery of the lefties who voted for him.
Just like Bernie.
This is the year we get behind Biden/Harris and vote. There is a wonderful tube of Lady Gaga urging her fans to vote democratic.
In early '72, my father-in-law told me he was voting for McGovern, but, he added, "The American people will never vote for an honest man." I silently vowed to prove him wrong and volunteered for the McGovern campaign here in Milwaukee. Working 18 hour days, I cold called hundreds of people, distributed stacks of literature at plant gates and door-to-door, and organized a rally for McGovern after which our Senator, Bill Proxmire, stated, "...I cast my absentee ballot for George McGovern". Workers leaving their manufacturing plants no longer took our offered literature saying, "He's good enough for Bill, he's good enough for me." The campaign was newly energized and continued to be until, after the Convention and McGovern's reversal from his "1,000 support" of Eagleton, his vice presidential pick, to Sergeant Shriver, his new pick for his running mate. I very literally felt the campaign deflate after that and knew it was lost. I found out later that McGovern felt he had had no choice because his large donors stopped their contributions. Since I wasn't in the room at the time, I'm not 1,000% sure this is accurate, but it strikes me as plausible. I'm praying Biden is not making the same mistake.
That moment over Eagleton, you could see the balloon that was the campaign deflate like it had been slashed with a knife.
I would have flown 50 missions with McGovern in World War II (the tour in 15th AF), and he was a good senator, but there's a reason why very few presidents ever come from the Senate. It's a different set of job specs from the executive. From the convention on, if you looked up the word "hapless" in a dictionary, there was a photo of McGovern,.
I clearly remember driving to Atlanta from Macon to see McGovern speak. Shook his hand too in a rope line. Exciting but ultimately depressing times.
I stood on a concrete surface for four hours to see him in San Francisco and spent the next three weeks seeing a chiropractor twice a week to deal with the inflammation of my back injuries (courtesy of Mommie Dearest long before then).
Lordy.
Googled McGovern recently. He was a man with integrity the whole of his long life.
Integrity counts.i just started a book by Rushworth M. Kidder called How Good People Make Tough Choices. He was the founder and president of the Institute for Global Ethics. It’s thought provoking.
another good book right now is called " Kindness" by Rutger Bergman, argues that in crisis humans ARE intrinsically kind and rally together. Debunks the theory driven by media and capitalists that humans only fend for themselves. He gives lots of examples through history how we pull together. A book of hope IMO, that we need to flip the narrative!
Thank you for this. I will look for the book and I agree, we have to flip the narrative. There are a lot of folks around the world who'd like to help us do this.
That sounds like the perfect book for reading now!
Sometime the right book just happens at the right time.
“Global Ethics,” it’s an idea that stirs the mind
There are some amazing ideas and organizations out there, but we keep getting blasted with the MAGA crap and it is depressing and frustrating. Finding a book like this is refreshing. I'm just about to take my last Zoom class on Civilian Non-Violent Resistance with Rivera Sun. It's been six weeks well spent with yet another group that hardly anybody has heard of. Exciting to learn that there have been wars stopped by non-violent resistance and civil wars prevented by the same.
Speaking of good reads, I received Liz Chaney's "Oath and Honor" as a Father's Day gift. Though not finished yet, it appears to be a crisp, unadorned, and persuasive narrative of the January 6th events told from the vantage point of someone at the inner circle of GOP Congressional politics and the House Investigating Committee (and without too much self-congratulatory back slapping). You will learn, if you were not already aware, that at least one third of the current GOP members of the House and Senate are traitors to their oaths, to their country, and to their constituents willing to directly support or enable political mendacity, cheating, and violence in order to perpetuate their own power and that of the Orange Lump.
Knowing the possibility of the improbable is the model we desperately need. Especially since our MSM (article about WaPo hiring a Rupert-trained CEO about did me in) has been such a horror.
Would that we had more with integrity in Congress, in the Courts, commerce, at thre rallies, in the militias, well, everywhere, Jeri!
Extinct in Repub circles
Yes, he was.
George McGovern was the first person I ever voted for. I just looked him up on Wikipedia. Of course I knew about the Thomas Eagleton thing, which was a political disaster but I think that would be taken with a grain of salt today. I had never heard the Robert Novak story before. Very interesting.
Eagleton was a mental giant compared to our current degenerate
At that point, I said I would never vote for Gerald Ford, and I didn’t
And the ironic thing is that of all the Republican presidents since Eisenhower, Ford is the last Republican who could be considered decent and moral, which led him to underestimate the situation and the man he was dealing with. The pardon should have been challenged in court because there is no such thing as a "pre-emptive" pardon. Pardons are only supposed to be granted after conviction and are taken as the person pardoned admitting their guilt.
The American electorate didn't seem to have such high moral standards. Jimmy Carter got himself crucified mainly on the PR disaster in Iran, and Reagan, of all people, give a gullible America a whole new shiny Republican Party to play with. The Democrats had lost their long standing hold on national political power and Great Society message after Nixon. Some revival under the charisma of Obama. Now, Dems have to struggle against a widespread Trumpian Orwell. Twisted fate.
Reagan stabbed President Carter in the back by negotiating with Iran /Contra deal before he took office.Once in office Iran got what they wanted and the money went to the terrorists in Latin America!
I wish Carter would have brought this out into the open. So Lyndon Johnson should have done the same to Nixon when he learned that Nixon told South Vietnam that if they waited until after the election, he would make them a better deal. Thom Hartmann played a tape of Johnson's talking with Everitt Dirksen about that. Johnson called it treason. Dirksen said "I know".
And the ironic thing is that after four more years of floundering through every country in SE Asia, creating the majority of American casualties for the war, Kissinger the war criminal didn't get as good a deal in December 1972 as LBJ had negotiated in November 1968.
Ah yes, Louis, awful from the beginning and we are still reaping what Reagan sowed.
Louis, and no one was ever held accountable for the Reagan cheat or Iran-Contra. So many Americans think Nixon's problem was just Watergate; well, that is not it by a long shot. There were the McCarthy HUAC hearings that Nixon was totally on board with, and Nixon actually sabotaged the Vietnam peace talks so he would get elected as the guy who would end the war, which he only sort of did after many thousands of Americans, Vietnamese, and others died. By the way, Reagan was sold to the American people as kindly grandpa who was going to bring "Morning in America." Few realized that in the late 1960s, he had released troops on unarmed college students at Berkely during Vietnam protests. A whole lot of people were OK with Governor Reagan's troops gasing kids, trapping them in enclosed areas, setting off gas bombs where there were no actual protesters, and beating protesters. The "riots" were blamed on the students when it was they who protested, but the CA National Guard and various police departments that were the rioters for the most part. Trump has been an appalling figure before ever running for president but people loved the idea of that guy from "The Apprentice" being president despite little to no truth in the program, the way he had treated his employees and that he employed the immigrant workers he claimed to hate so much. Hypocrisy is/was strong with all of these guys.
just as trump was negotiating with Putin before he took office
Perhaps some day investigators will find that McGovern and Dukakis actually won their elections but votes were suppressed by repub operatives in a massive dirty tricks operation. John Kerry too. If anyone is unfit for command, it’s Donald Ugly Crook. 💙🤡💩🎃💙lock. him. up!💙
Gigi, be careful of even thinking about going down the Stolen Election Trump et al push. The GOP push more paranoia than is already good for American politics.
Kerry was cheated. Rove pulled out all the evil stops for W
Kerry was definitely cheated in Ohio.
I wouldn’t be shocked. I have watched and learned and I’m not a conspiracy nut.
That’s right. I am of a certain age that I was a witness to the dirty tricks and maybe you were too. Lee Atwater, so proud of himself and chuckles Colson. It’s not just dirty tricks. It’s crime. They were criminals, liars and completely dishonest. But they were only a small minority. The Repub party at that time had more members who knew right from wrong and honesty from deception. The clapping clowns at the Club in DC are pathetic and spineless. They are politicians playing games with an conman and not public servants representing their districts. 💩
Question: Who is skeptical and open minded?
Answer: Someone who jumps to a conclusion, and then refuses to exclude relevant evidence when challenging the assumptions underlying their jumped-to conclusion.
Question: Who is cynical and gullible?
Answer: Someone who jumps to a conclusion, looks for confirming evidence, and ignores relevant disconfirming evidence.
Skeptical and open minded are the two sides of the same "wisdom" coin. Cynical and gullible are the two sides of the same "unconstrained ignorance" coin. Is it possible to be cynical about one thing without being gullible about something else, and vice versa? I don't think it is.
Re “cynical and gullible”voters, I wonder if those traits might also be partly attributed to laziness. When voters choose their news media to match their own biases and then fail to “vet” those news sources, it is lazy at best and dishonest at worst. I am beginning to feel that —in a country where we no longer have a shared reality — that it is now true patriotism to think critically and choose responsible news sources. …like Courtney Gore in Texas, who really put in a lot of work to learn that she had been duped by propaganda.
In my way of thinking, laziness and dishonesty are symptoms with a common cause, and that cause is immaturity. Everyone has a circle of influence and a circle of concern. An immature person's circle of influence extends beyond their circle of concern, like the child who has a temper tantrum because "it's all about me and I didn't get my way."
To expand one's circle of concern is to trust. To trust is to become vulnerable to betrayal. To be a victim of betrayal is to regret the decision to expand one's circle of concern.
And yet, there is one thing we can all trust, and that is our humanity. For me, that means being open minded without being gullible, and being skeptical without being cynical. To a real scientist, I just described the scientific principle. To a real Christian, I just described "the narrow gate that leads to life, and only a few find it." To me, it's wisdom, and Homo sapiens is Latin for the wise hominid.
Why does it have to be so hard? Because it is, and because that's what makes it great. If you want easy, be a flat worm. ;o)
I have watched it with trepidation. Hard to grasp the extent of the evil. Ford had no clue. Bet his Chief of Staff did…
Yes, I must say that once again, democrats are more afraid of the republicans than vice versa. Democrats want to move on and have allowed the conservatives to continue to degrade the rule of law. Gingrich did a masterful job with the help of Frank Luntz in creating the narrative of how unethical the liberal democrats in Congress were while doing the very things he accused them of doing.
I must differ. Democrats rightly fear what would happen if Republicans win this year. But Republicans, the Felon-in-Chief in particular, are absolutely terrified of Democrats, and democracy,. They scream and plot and make stuff up because they know that defeat this year will mean the collapse of their authoritarian grift, and they know they are losing.
I like your counter here, Jon.
Me, too! Thanks, Jon.
I’m with Ally and MaryPat! R’s are fearful of what our society looks like: LGBTQ, Black and Brown co-mingling with White. They are trying desperately to bring up the past, like from the 1800’s. We aren’t tolerating that. We have the most corrupt Supreme Court we have ever had. Their way is to destroy our minds, our rights. Our way is to squash them like roaches.
The thing to remember, as Heather often reminds us, is that the bigots are carrying water (or is it gasoline?) for the reactionary plutocrats and others who want to destroy democracy for ideological reasons, often based in economics. The fight against enslavement has not ended; in many ways it has just been transmogrified.
Uh-oh, Jon and Tom are on the same page again. :-)
I guess that means I should re-think my position.
the GOP / MAGA are fearful of losing their white male PowerBar,hence why they're doubling down and it'll get worse as we get closer to the
election. I agree that Dems are responding but IMO it always takes them far too long too long to react. Far too cautious
Rickey, yep, hypocrites, all of them and they claim to be soooo "christian"; they're not. I have no idea what they really are except members of the Trump cult and Trump is their deity and they want him to be that for all of us. Well, we can stop that by pointing out the Republican fake religion they are making up as we speak. People who claim to read their bible are missing what Jesus said about hypocrites and that love is the greatest commandment. I am seeing love nowhere in their message except that the unthinking Trumpers and Trumpettes just love their Baby Donnie no matter what he says or does. They might love their family if those members believe in the Trump Myth, but otherwise no. That is not unconditional love, a "christian" concept.
they are Christo fascists
WOW…. Thank YOU!!! Had no idea…. And I too voted for McGovern…. And I will be voting for President Biden…. He does have the “Chops” and KNOWS to delegate. He also has SERIOUS experience!!!!!!!
Ford was merely completing the deal Republicans made with Nixon. You resign, Ford will preemptively pardon you.
Is there any actual evidence for that assertion?
That's one of those things that - if you know how the system really works (the lesson I didn't particularly like learning during my professional Democratic operative days, though it was necessary), it's obvious that such a deal was made. Never written down, the Code Omerta to the end. I saw deals like that (not as meaningful, but still illustrative).
Are you kidding?
Nope. Is there?
I think he had decent motives, but very few had a clue what was happening with the Repub powers
However, since it has not been challenged in court,,there is currently such a thing.
Thank you!! Pre-emptive what??
He had a nice wife.
Betty Ford was an outgoing lady who was forthright about her breast cancer and chemical dependency, and she encouraged others to deal with both.
Maybe, maybe not. She never swore on a Bible.
DITTO. Progressives need a big win. A no doubt rout of Dirty Don
When people tell you what they plan- LISTEN.
trump: we have all the votes we need. Read Project 2025 and ties these 2 things together. Democrats can win at every level and in every race. Everyone of them will be challenged. Will the courts hold? Some will, but with all the purges underway and the legal framework for challenges, I am not so sure. LISTEN, when a candidate claims BEFORE an election they have all the votes they need, the fix may be in.
It’s been a warning for years, but the majority weren’t educated , didn’t listen, were duped. Every time a Dem came in and straightened out a mess within 2 cycles ‘people wanted change’ in Obama’s term we saw the racist engagement doubled down and women’s rights quickly descend…I want to scream 🗣️HELLO? Is anyone home? The Republican Party continued getting smarter with every defeat . Emboldened by a con artist of epic failures who fit the ‘puppet needed bill’ ..they couldn’t have advertised for it better. Books have been written , films made, people lived through it and told their stories…it’s happened over and over.
Will we ever learn? 11/5/24 will tell…got to be a blue tsunami…
💙💙VOTE ALL THE COMPLICIT OUT💙💙
David Pepper writes about how the conservative /libertarians have been working the system to gain the system. Jane Mayer provides a lot of names that finance the slow moving coup that is now upon us.
Thanks, will read. All the more needed to inform who’s who?😉
Dark Money is the name of Jane Mayer's book.
it's a scary book. The Heritage Foundation, Leonard Leo, Koch have been patiently funding their Christo fascist movement since the Ro V Wade in '72. They knew they needed time and the right puppet. It's so ugly.
The Republicans are clearly working on a fix. It is well under way with voter suppression, gerrymandering, and filling election officials positions with Trumpist flunkies. And mire!
The public knows little aboftut Project 2025 (an initiatitxtve of the Heritage Foundation). It is6 absolutely essential to spread the word about this anti-democratic, anti-Constitutional, white christian nationalist evil atrocity. Trump is not the genius behind it because he lacks all brain power, he couldn't possibly read or understand its hundreds of pages and has no interest in it. He just craves the faux adoration of the masses that he, not so secretly, despises. Go to the Heritage Foundation website and familiarize yourself and your circle of friends, acquaintances, business associates with the Project 2025 initiative. Learn who is behind it - millionaires, billionaires, would be autocrats - and then help register voters, walk precincts, back Democratic candidates up and down the entire ticket. This is the challenge of our lifetime.
Rickey, your comment weighs heavy on my heart but also scares the sh__ out of me. I pray and hope to God that the 💙 steps up to the demand to save our country/freedom.
Sadly, given history, God will not step in. God really let's human suffer, good or bad, with our choices.
Listen critically at that. Thanks, Rickey.
To sweep we need to add the millions of unregistered folk who heavily trend Democratic. That "unlikely trifecta" can become more likely. FT6 uses data mining to identify them. Register Democrats to save the world.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/
My "sweep" definition is a Democratic President, a House majority, and a Senate supermajority. Then you've got the "all for one and one for all" three musketeers. The "God forbid" sweep is a MAGA Republican President, House, and Senate, aka the "all for one, which happens to be me, myself, and I" three stooges.
Doing it - 500 postcards for OHIO.
The rub - I do not like, at all, the recommended messages for the postcards. "Who you vote for is private, but whether you vote is public record" Creepy and Orwellian.
I want to write somethig short and direct without onus. Cheerfuland positive- any redommendations?
Rachel, I highly recommend what Daniel Solomon said above. If you TEXT with Field Team 6, you can reach about 110 unregistered voters per day in 15 min. You can choose the state and campaign you want to support. The messages are always positive and include a link for online voter registration. I have reached more than 12,000 people since December. There is also a paid option that allows you to reach an additional 220/day (at least 330 total). I receive very few return STOP messages. I can do this even if I'm holding a sleeping baby.
I send my own messages and attach Voterizer.com.
https://voterizer.org/
Yeah, when I saw the recommended messages at the post card session I went to three weeks ago, I said loudly, "Who is it who thinks this is a winning message?" To which I got glared at by the apparatchik of the organization organizing the event. Democrats are always ready with a 60 page position paper and a nice cheeseplate when the gunfight happens.
Rachel Simon, I agree with your characterization of the message. The people running these postcard campaigns conduct in-depth market research to determine which messages are most effective. For some reason the creepier messages result in more voters voting. Go figure. I write postcard messages exactly as the organization designs it.
Corruption runs in these higher circles like water out of a faucet. Our TRUST is gone when it comes to the GOP, most news sources, and most upper level corporate controlling hierarchy .
How long has this been going on?
‘Getting rich’ since the begin most frequently reveal systems of shoddy practices and usually collusion not just for politicians . Watergating has become a verb. Pardoning a criminal act making both persons ‘above the law’.
SMH , accepting such practices, so defeats the word fair it is a joke!
Scams, hacking, cheating, lying, conspiracy , even the term ‘Trust Me’…🤦♀️
What ever happened to honesty and equality?
Same here Marlene. I remember those days well.
I volunteered at the McGovern campaign office in NYC and was devastated and confused when Nixon won. Every time Nixon opened his mouth, you knew it was a lie especially about the war.
Like most neighborhoods, ours was personally impacted with the Vietnam war. There were some who followed the obeyed the law and sign up and went off to fight. Unfortunately they came home either in a coffin or with severe mental health issues which still haunt them to this day. Then there was a group of 3 who fled to Canada. There was so much turmoil and resentment from the families who lost their sons/brothers to the war towards these 3 guys who left. And then you have Donny Boy (as he was referred to in the neighborhood) shooting his mouth off about how his dad got him a doctor’s note and he didn’t even have to meet the doctor so now he gets to skip the draft. Yep, you read that right, he would tell anyone who would listen about how is dad got him a letter from the doctor and he didn’t even have to meet the doctor to get the letter. Of course other families desperate to save their sons/brothers tried to get the same letter and the doctor refused = 3 draft dodgers.
I also remember how angry I was when Ford pardoned Nixon. That one action drove home the message the rich and well connected were above the law and don’t trust the President.
And here we are…..history repeating itself!
I cast my first vote for president in Worcester, Massachusetts, for George McGovern. A proud moment. I've been an active liberal Democrat ever since. Vote Blue!
Me too, Nancy. I turned 21 a few weeks after Nixon was first elected in '68. During his administration I couldn't imagine he'd be re-elected. Surprise! I don't know what's wrong with us, although I have my suspicions. Apart from the judiciary's swing right, thanks to McConnell et al, it appears to me that the goal of the right is to return to a feudal system, complete with an ignorant serf class. I say we get medieval on their ass, as Ving Rhames did in Pulp Fiction, and show them no mercy. I think the ballot box is preferable to Ving's associates with lead pipes and blow torches, but one way or another we have to flush this sickness out and recover our dignity, our ethics, not to mention our rights.
Thank you for voting for McGovern who survived piloting 35 bomber missions over Europe in WWII only to be successfully swift-boated as a peacenik sissy and defeated by chicken hawk Richard Nixon in 1972.
https://www.bookpage.com/reviews/2009-stephen-e-ambrose-journey-into-wild-blue-yonder-with-wwii-pilot-george-mcgovern-history/#:~:text=Thousands%20of%20young%2C%20eager%20volunteers,George%20McGovern%20and%20its%20crew.
Not a point of contention, but since I am a professional military aviation historian and right now deep in working on a book about the 15th Air Force (where McGovern served), the tour there was 50 missions (because flying from Italy "wasn't as dangerous" as the 8th AF in England, where the tour was 35 - Hah! And again, HAH!). Anyway, George McGovern flew a full tour - just looked a Ambrose's "Wild Blue" to be sure. And those 15 extra missions were just as hard as 8th AF.
I find it so frustrating that the people who don't fight wars are the most likely to start them and hold them up as heroic. There certainly are heroic people who fight wars, but often they have had more than enough blood and guts to last them for a lifetime if they survive. We have to fight as hard for peace as we do for war. I was delighted to learn this afternoon that there is a group called "Veterans for Peace."
Yes. I also remember Watergate and Tricky Dick. Trump and his thugs need to be defeated by all of us.
My father always said from the "Checkers Speech" in 1952 on, that Nixon was a crook.
I once met a journalist who thought that Nixon had "missing parts." Why do we put people with "missing parts" in high office? My dad, a moderate Republican, always referred to Ronald Reagan as "an amiable dolt." He hated what Regan did to public health in California.
Marlene, I wish my memory was as vivid as yours, though I do remember registering Democrat in the wake of "Tricky Dick." I also remember the Hecht Company in Silver Spring as it was the go-to spot for us kids getting our start in the mid-sixties!
Yep! I turned 19 and vowed I was going to cast my vote. Hecht Co. Was a great store for its time, Lynell.
Marlene On the Nixon White House Enemies List, living in Greenwich it was lonely to meet with Gary Hart, campaign manager for McGovern, in the fall of 1972. I was not popular in Greenwich at that time and my daughter, at school, was often shunned because of the McGovern sticker on her notebook.
Surprisingly, two years later it appeared that virtually none of the Greenwich elite had voted for Nixon. Had it all been an illusion? No. How swiftly the political tides shift. Now my hunch is that a number of the wealthy elite in Greenwich favor Trump’s re-election, since they consider it best for their pocketbooks. Hopefully, they will be disappointed on November 5th.
Oh yes, they do think exactly that, Keith.
And wouldn’t it just be sad and pathetic if that’s true, Keith? I imagine the R’s are preparing something nefarious for the defeat of their lord and savior. I plan on dancing in the streets, possibly naked, so they better have blinders on! 😳🤩
I am fighting the battle that I can at the moment: postcards to a Democratic candidate in Colorado, remembering the voice of Sam Erwin on the radio, loud in the window as I worked in the back yard. His daughter and I were at UNC-CH at the same time and respect for her father was widespread. Nixon was always a horror; child Trump and his infantile followers are worse. My hope is that enough Americans who understand that our entire world is threatened (world and planet, equally) will vote for our wise president, producing the blue tsunami that may save US from our own stupidity and greed.
Thank you, Marlene. We couldn’t have asked for a better story than yours. If I had better tech skills would put this at the top of mine.
Virginia, I am originally from NC and my household loved Sam Erwin! Talk about a voice of reason…
I was out the US from Feb 10, '73 until Aug 3, '74. I had voted for McGovern and was completely shocked by Nixon's landslide win. That's not why I left the country, though, and when I got back just in time to see Nixon's televised resignation I was pleased, but having missed all of Watergate-on-TV, I wasn't jubilant. I thought Ford was a tool, and his pardon absurd, but again not earthshaking. Just politics as usual. I left the country again in June of '21. This time I'm not coming back.
I am sorry to hear that, Lauren.
I'm happy where I am in Mexico, Marlene, and I have figured out how to vote remote. We (they, really... I'm not eligible to vote here yet) just elected a Jewish female PhD (environmental science) to the presidency, which I think puts us way ahead of US politics. The previous president was well on the way to getting fiber optic internet available everywhere, also ahead of U.S. efforts. I hope you can retire someplace with a lot more hope than even California can offer. I lived in the Bay Area for 25 years and loved CA. Also took many road trips in my hybrid and love most of my native land - just not the political landscape.
Yes Marlene! And looking at those 'people' ...along with their traitor-ist "thugs".., all spinless, they will fold when confronted with enforcement of the laws currently on -the-books. Meaning, our local law enforcement, our sheriffs & deputies, our state police all need to behave as they were hired to do when called into action. Action being the enforcement of law and order. What occurred on the 6th of Jan was due to internal subversion within the Whitehouse folks aligned with #45. And those tentacles extended into the pentagon and other places too. But, "law and order" has followed and a bunch of 'people' along with the thugs ($$ paid), are in jail or facing jail-time. For many, their lives have been permanently changed, having been 'thrown-under-the-bus, victims of dis-information, the feal form of "fake news", thanks to #45, the POS. So, it was the price-to-be-paid, for them. Tough shit!
♥️
VOTE BLUE💙🇺🇸🌍
The good old days when GOP legislators didn't blindly support a corrupt (former) president and the SCOTUS wasn't biased AF. :(
But obviously bad men surface and do what they can to abuse the system. I haven't seen a rush to tighten things in Washington; seems everyone likes to have all their options open to commit fraud, not be held accountable, and maximize power and fund-raising. It will happen again. The foxes ruling the chicken coop. I blame Citizens United for giving this tendency more financial steam.
"Citizens United" (how's that for Orwellian labeling?) was certainly a travesty, effectively legalizing corruption while claiming a mandate from the Constitution. Government, like infectious disease, never goes away completely, but it got a big boost from Nixon. Nixon's excesses were almost caught in time. but Ford let them out the back door. By the time Reagan launched his presidential bid, the lesson learned from the Nixon affair was NEVER admit wrong doing, shred all evidence against you, buy off all the refs, and jettison decency for good. Seek and hold ABSOLUTE POWER.
Former President Carter was correct to call Citizens United “legalized political bribery.” It may very well destroy what is left of the concept of government, of, for and by the people.
Bernie is advocating a greater public financing of political competition. The current 40m allotted isn't remotely close to the real cost of running national elections. But at the same time the PAC spigots have to be severely curtailed. "corporate personalities" indeed!
Citizens United. "[Expletive deleted]"
🤣
Nicely articulated, JL.
Just shows the power of a stacked SC, how far reaching that outlook has become.
This was predicted back in 2000, even before that election was stolen by the then sitting supremes. It was likely that the next president would have several supreme court vacancies to fill. The importance of that did not get through to the voters.
We have been suffering the consequences of that election in so many ways.
When the decision came down from the court in December 2000, Gore graciously accepted the outcome and stepped aside for the (supposed at the time) good of the nation. Republicans don't play that.
The George Bush vs Al Gore election was also stolen by FUTURE Supreme Court members, Kavanaugh and Coney Barrett, who were sent down to Florida by the Heritage Society to "help count the ballots."
Yeah.. that was some sickening to listen to.. hanging chads.. GMAB!
Bonnie...it's all Biden has done...trying to turn around the nation. He's hamstrung by the Republican held House.
We.. "We The People", have been served notice of what the "thugs" and alex-joneses convince dupes to do. I hope this administration has communicated this "Notice" thoroughly to all our law enforcement agencies, regarding prompt and firm response to any behavior which jeopardizes civil election activities. We don't need a contingent of white-supremacists guarding ballot boxes, or Kyle-shithouses threatening crowd control. Nip that crap in the bud! We only have one chance.. make it count this time.
Completely agree.
Very good article in The NY Times today about the person behind Bidenomics -Ms. Harris.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/17/opinion/jennifer-harris-bidenomics.html?unlocked_article_code=1.0U0.2N75._EVr57SE0BhG&smid=url-share
Here is a little bit of the article -
The best dinner party I’ve attended all year took place at a conference held at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge, overlooking the San Francisco Bay. It was a family-style meal, arranged to make you ask the person sitting next to you to please pass the kale salad, at which point you might realize that to your left is a celebrated economist, and to your right, a top government official. Our host, Jennifer Harris, gave a speech about how economic ideas change to meet the needs of a new era.
Everyone listened. In a room full of V.I.P.s, she was the Queen Bee.
I’d wanted to interview Ms. Harris for years. She has been the quiet intellectual force behind the Biden administration’s economic policies, and she seemed key to understanding why both parties in Washington had walked away from free trade and neoliberalism — the belief that free markets will bring prosperity and democracy around the world.
These matters felt personal to me. I spent much of the Trump administration following steelworkers in Indiana who lost their jobs when their factory moved to Mexico. They felt betrayed by elites — and they weren’t wrong. I was thrilled when the Biden administration came in with a plan for big federal investments in the American industrial base, tariffs, support for labor unions and actions against monopolies. No one knew what to call it — Post-neoliberalism? Democratic capitalism? Neopopulism? — but for the first time in generations a U.S. administration was saying that people should control the market, not the other way around. I believed in it. But if it was the right path, why didn’t more voters trust President Biden on the economy?
To understand who Ms. Harris is, you have to know who she used to be. As a young State Department policy planner in the 2000s, she was a lonely voice in Washington raising the alarm about the rise of China. She pushed for tariffs and against trade agreements before it was cool, and was an author of a book called “War by Other Means” about how blind faith in free markets put the United States at a geopolitical disadvantage. For years, she felt like an oddball in Washington, where both parties were still in thrall to neoliberalism.
Gary Loft,
Thank you for this article and introducing me to Jennifer Harris. It is an example of President Joe Biden's ability to recognize excellence and respect for the work of a gifted brilliant, female patriot! He loves this country and wants the best for all of us!!!
AND....."for the first time in generations a US administration was saying that people should control the market, NOT the other way around." (Gary Loft).
Let's be reminded that we are BLESSED to live within a DEMOCRACY...no matter the imperfections. I am personally grateful......thank you Joe Biden..... I do NOT want our country led by a dictator....especially by a "Putin" OOPS!!! I mean "PUPPET" dictator.
No.. you mean led by "a POS".., #45 is the epitome of a Piece Of S--t. There's your akronum for the day. Howzat?
Thanks so much for sharing this very illuminating article!
Thank you Gary.
Thank You, Gary!! The clarification I needed on Building Back Better IN THE USA!
Shared
An inspiring article.
Good and bad old days. A lot has continued to progress since then, such as gay rights, but a lot went wrong as well. I think government corruption has increased overall, both in scope and intensity.
Back then you didn’t social media being used by foreign entities sowing discord. Also way too much money is being spent in campaigns. Fox News plays a huge role in helping one side but also forces them further right.
Please tell me what "biased AF" might be.
Biased is biased. AF is a modifier that means extremely or very and it typically comes after the word it modifies instead of before. It's not a term used in polite company; my mother would wash my mouth out with soap if she heard me use it. You'll find it in the Urban Dictionary if you google it.
Back in 1973 and 1974, I watched the Senate hearings, transfixed by the revelations of the corruption and the lies that little by little became overwhelmingly apparent. If I'm remembering correctly, Nixon stepped down when a delegation of Republican lawmakers made it clear to him that that was a better option than impeachment, a process he would surely lose. Who among today's Republicans has the integrity and the guts to tell the truth to Trump and to his base? What a difficult place those who are committed to keeping our democracy find ourselves in today. It is up to all of us to help provide a climate where telling truth to power, however challenging, is what we agree to do in order to help our country resist autocracy and move forward toward the "more perfect union" the Founders envisioned.
It seems that Trump is both an Emperor and the Queen of Hearts - if anyone dares tell him how it really is (no clothes for example) - he will off with their head. No one can even whisper the truth. The man is in full blown fantasy and denial, with his trail of parasites following him to the Cuckoo's Nest.
Parasites! Bonnie, I think you are the first one amongst-us to use that most appropriate description. I always thought of them as 'leeches'. But, leeches is rather an honorable word. They, after-all do have a purpose. MAGA-sites - Useless.
Someone in another group of mine who lives in Georgia, is voting for RFK Jr. She thinks he is the best and is volunteering for him. Not good!
Tell her about the detailed diary RFK Jr. kept about affairs with dozens of women. His wife found and read it. She ultimately committed suicide.
Thank you for telling that! I knew she committed suicide. How can he hold his head up after all of that? Then again, how could any decent human hold their head up after what trumpie boy has done?
Just another "average modern republican" dude screwing the pooch... Why do they get a break, or a freaking vote from anybody?
WOW!
BARF!
Yes he made lots of mistakes and has come clean and is now a mature transformed leader. Have you learned from your mistakes?
Sarcasm?
Nope. Mr. Daigle is a "true believer" in RFK.
When you were in law enforcement, weren’t most of your fellow workers Republicans? And wasn’t it trying to be left leaning as you seem to be in that environment?
Thanks Ally, did you see the new film about our addiction crisis RFKJR just put out?He really wants to help those people
John, do the math. Every vote for RFK, Jr. is not a vote for Joe Biden. RFK, Jr. has no chance of winning. Whether or not you're a Trump supporter in your heart, and that's none of my business, if you plan to vote for RFK, Jr., or if you urge others to do so, you are, in effect, supporting Trump.
Betsy please understand, in my heart I’m a Kennedy supporter.I can’t stand Trump.i’m not afraid of him getting re-elected either. The future is not a sure thing like the math you say I should do is.In fact, many say Kennedy will take more votes from Trump than President Biden. I don’t let any of that influence my vote. It’s for RFKJR because I relate to his ideas and want him , not Trump to win.
She may want to do a lot more research into his cock a mamie ideas. He’s running on name recognition. And, can you imagine him on the world stage? Yeesh!
Yes I can, a lot better than President Biden- he will keep the peace like uncle Jack did
He is anti-abortion rights. They may have now changed his policy page, but it was in black and white a few months ago.
As a woman, mother, granddmother and human being I will NEVER support anyone who wants to limit Family Planning, womens healthcare and our choice for our bodies. PERIOD.
AND - his entire Kennedy Family have said - DONT VOTE FOR HIM.
He is for the same abortion rights proclaimed in the R v W decision, please accept this. But yes , it does bother me that family members aren’t with him, especially Rory. I wonder if she would switch her support if Bobby keeps getting stronger in the poles.
His Uncle Jack, of fond memory, got us involved in Vietnam, at the cost of 56,000 young people’s lives, and more done in by PTSD once they got home.
Eisenhower started the process.
True—he sent 1000 advisors. But JFK escalated that to 23,000, plus sending materiel and encouraging the assassination of the South Vietnamese leader Diem, which completely destabilized the country.
Are you sure about that, I thought Johnson is the one responsible for getting us in Vietnam?
Nope. It was rumbling around w France. US sent advisors in 1959. The rest is history. RFK will be lost in international affairs. That is not child’s play.
Johnson escalated it beyond Kennedy’s escalation, openly sending in ground troops after the (faked) “attack” by a Vietnamese boat on a U.S. destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin a few months after Kennedy’s assassination. I think Kennedy snuck in the Green Berets, but his idea was to work it more the way Biden is managing Ukraine, with heavy duty materiel, training, intelligence etc. I have heard (from James Galbraith, at a conference) that he was considering resisting further escalation, just days before he was shot. But I’m not a Kennedy expert.
What experience & knowledge will he bring to meetings w Bebe & Putin & McConnell/Ted Cruz/Marco
None.
He will negotiate a peace based on removing nato threats against Russia. I think the Biden sanctions have failed miserably
A vote for RFK Jr is a vote for tRump. Don’t kid yourself - but enjoy voting!
I’ve explained so many times that my vote isn’t for Trump. That belief is Democratic fear mongering.
My Mom, bless her, used to ask if it was possible to do brain transplants.
Enjoy YOUR VOTE.
Politically-illiterate morons are found everywhere. Vote for a meth head and a Trophy Bimbo who slept her way to her riches. That sure sounds like the way to solve our problems.
You have no idea, TC, how delusional the Bobby team is. I suggested to a friend that having him as president would be like casting someone who can carry a tune, but has no vocal training, as the lead in an opera. Her reply? "Unless you want to produce a new musical experience." I blocked that friend on WhatsApp and Facebook this morning. I'm sorry to end a 32-year friendship, but my friend has drunk the Kool Aid and isn't with us any more. She's become a soul-less zombie who wants brain worm boy to lead us. She'd also like to lynch Dr. Fauci. Feh!
Yeah, I lost a lot of friends in 2016-17 when they decided to become Trumpers. I felt like the Michael York character in Cabaret when his good German friend shows up in a Nazi uniform.
It is weird to me how celebrities seem to become projection screens for other to identify with. I recall doing some of that in my youth probably in some ways, I likely still do, but it's different. A lot of people are sure seeing what they want to see in Trump. In Japan, the lore of foxes includes that they will serve a traveler what seems to be a delicious meal, that is actually manure
That’s an apt description of what Trump and the GQP are feeding their followers. What they don’t realize is that they’re on the menu as well.
Shades of "The Help." In the upcoming election, though, there's nothing clandestine about the shit sandwich MAGA wants to feed us. Their motto may as well be "Eat our shit or die."
Did she hate masks?
Best at what? Tall, young, handsome. It is a problem.
At 70 (as I can tell you from experience) he is not young! He was once handsome but not any longer—he’s showing his age pretty badly. But your post has got me wondering whether he’s circulating photos of himself as a young man in social media? Or ChatGPT altered images?
That's probably it.
His manager$ purpo$e, in my opinion, is to cause Biden to lose the election. Simple. His VP woman will get exposure for an upcoming career with Only Fans. She'll make millions. She'll be follow-able. The whole RFK thing makes Big Media money. That he has a pulpit is almost a given. Advertisers luv it. For Big Media, he's a free-bee-almost because he's a Kennedy. Sick. And, for his managers, he's the cheapest form of distraction they could create. If only he would've chosen Mace, who's much better built.
if only he steals mainly Republican votes....
According to an analysis (I think by 538) he takes more from Biden. So if you don’t want the horrors laid out in Project 2025 to be realized, volunteer to help get out the vote however you can.
Sad- have her watch the latest CNN interview.
Me too, he is experimenting in telling us the truth
You have an interesting definition of "truth," John. Vaccines have nothing to do with autism. No one can recover from brain damage - brain cells do not reproduce. It is impossible to bio-engineer a virus to attack or avoid any ethnicity, because there are no genetic markers for it. Sure, there are genes that cause different shaped ocular structure and skin pigmentation, but none that cause being Jewish or Chinese, specifically. I really want to talk about these things respectfully, John, and I agree that some of RFK Jr's ideas are good, especially about the environment. However, he is only telling his very fluid truth, and not THE truth, 'frinstance about where he lives.
If you watch the Shawn Ryan show episode 117 on June 17 with RFKJR you will hear that there is a connection between the hepatitis b vaccine and autism. The CDC tried to hide it. Many other lies about him are being spread by people like you!
That's a little rude, John. I'm not lying. At worst I disagree that RFK Jr. is a reliable authority on the subject; at best I'm wrong.
I googled "link between autism and any vaccine." I chose to read this particular article because SARRC is a non-profit org, which tends to be less in the pocket of big pharma. Here's their summary: "At SARRC, we believe the ultimate decision to vaccinate a child is a personal choice. If asked, we would recommend vaccinations because dozens of reputable scientific studies have failed to show a link between vaccines and autism, while numerous other studies demonstrate that the risks from the diseases the vaccines are meant to prevent are dangerous to a child’s health and well-being. Our research focuses on early identification of autism because it leads to early intensive intervention, which is the most important support we can provide for a child diagnosed with autism at this time. Read more about autism and vaccines in a Q&A with SARRC’s Vice President and Research Director Christopher J. Smith, PhD, at https://autismcenter.org/discussing-autism-and-vaccines-dr-chris-smith/"
No expletives deleted nowadays. Cassidy didn't suffer an 18.5 gap in her testimony, either.
Betsy, I agree. I read with interest and nostalgia the Supreme Court ruling in U.S. v. Nixon. "The twofold aim (of criminal justice) is that GUILT SHALL NOT ESCAPE or innocence suffer." ( My caps)
I took for granted that the esteemed members of the Supreme Court had the utmost integrity and wouldn't hesitate to rule the right way. Ha!! Have I suffered from disillusionment.
Betsy..., the Founders had yet to stumble upon the thick-witted expression: alternative facts. Today, we are burdened with 'alternative politicians'. Don't waste your time "fact"-checking those bastards or Bleach-Blonde-Badbuilt-Butches or equivalents.
I think Jasmine Crockett shortened her burn of MTG to B6ers, Mad. I agree that it's useless to fact-check any MAGA utterance. Anyone who can conceive of an alternative fact is de facto nuts.
Betsy, the only candidate not beholden to the lobbyists but to the American people is RFKJR. You know he is conducting an experiment in telling the truth , if only you would hear it!
RFK jr is way too dangerous:
"Kennedy has come under fire for false medical claims, particularly that vaccines are linked to autism. He received backlash, even being banned on Instagram, for criticizing governmental COVID-19 restrictions and spreading misinformation about the virus. He started the Children’s Health Defense, a nonprofit organization that focuses on anti-vaccine messaging."
I just retired after 50 years as an RN, MSN, in Community Health. RFK Jr lies, and people die.
What are the lies? Lots of doctors are questioning Fauci and the safety of the Covid vaccines. Did you see the Chris Cuomo interview with Dr. Robert Redfield?
C'mon John. If he had a credible VP choice it might help your case. But....
nothing like Nixon could replay with the current GOP
What a difference between the GOP then and now!
I was thinking the same thing…no “profiles in courage” these days
Crime normalized.
Consciences anesthetized.
Machine gun equivalents enabled and blessed with holy water.
Insurrectionists waiting for their pardon, some no doubt dreaming of the Medal of Honor.
Mussolini's Fascist regime celebrated its inaugural insurrection, the March on Rome, re-enacted every year.
Every year, the Nazis paraded in Munich, celebrating Hitler's 1923 Beer Hall Putsch.
Will January 6th continue as a day of shame or be celebrated with a parade by the self-anointed "heroes" who planned it?
Peter Burnett,
Frightening times. I am most concerned for my children and grandchildren. What kind of existence will we leave for those whom we love and cherish most of all?
something of a "history line up" Peter! Dazzle them with bullshit, deal with trouble with prisons and bullets. I do hope that "Civil War" hit on streaming is just that - a fantasy.
No interest in dazzling anyone. And frankly, no idea of how to awaken people from their drugged complacent sleep.
Nothing has yet worked, not even 9/11.
The reality is that the 45th occupant of the White House has the same gift as Hitler and Mussolini: the ability to give voice to the repressed hatreds and resentments in the collective unconscious of millions, so that the combination of himself and the masses he has hypnotized could hardly be more dangerous.
You know of Jim Jones, I have seen for myself the damage that one man can do through mental manipulation...
But have we really forgotten the Second World War, the Shoah, the innumerable millions who died so horribly?
The power in the hands of the prewar dictators was great, yet nothing, compared with that of the USA.
The danger is incalculable, and I -- who was born one month into WW2, have seen nothing like it. Nothing.
Fran Loomer,
The evil forces are planning....they do not realize all the money and time and energy they are investing in their own demise.
Peter, I suspect that the answer to your last question is "both". I hope that in time (and by the grace of what is good in the world) it will be seen as the abomination that it was (and is).
I like your expression "by the grace of what is good in the world". And there really is so much "good" when dealing with a number like 8.1 billion. Even among those countries which have succumbed to some religion, "good" exists among ordinary people, though they literally have no way out, the only good they can do exists between them. Their air is permanently polluted. Here, among the 350 million of us, there are plenty "good" people who haven't been bought out. We're lucky. However, we have to suffer the Evangelicals who have prostituted themselves...? Huh? What? I'm hearing readers having heartburn with what I just typed..? Sorry Ally... geeeze., I didn't mean to hi-jack you peaceful comment. Never-the-less,try this: this "Oxford definition then. I'm sure you'll agree: Prostitute..to "put (oneself or one's talents) to an unworthy or corrupt use or purpose for the sake of personal or financial gain. (there's more) esample: "his (or her Ms Katie) willingness to prostitute himself to the worst instincts of the electorate"..! Whewwww! Yup.. they've sold themselves to the devil hisseff.. #45., the pen-ultimate POS. Yupperrr, Take it away.
I think one could compile a pretty hefty list of significant courageous individuals, Alexander VIndman for example. And I doubt any era was free of sleazy politicians; but it seems like sleazy is on a roll, especially in the "Republican" Party power structure.
Republicans weren't always the ones flying Confederate flags.
No, they weren't, but that's what they became after Nixon allowed the Southernist parasite to enter the party by the back door.
...Nixon..., another POS, amongst a whole cadre which existed before him, to include pretty-boy JFK who never had to earn a nickle in his life. So nice looking.., and Jackie, no money worries there, such a sweetheart with a trend-setting hairdresser. Nixon...? He filled the image of a creep, not presidential like some others. Just a friggen bloviating creep.., like Adolph.
Since the Democratic Party represented the South until Nixon took it over.
And the Ds turned on their Dixiecrat wing.
Democrats did that starting in 1948, and Strom Thurmond was one of the first Southern Democrats to turn Republican.
like I say - conservatives.
drop the party name and use conservatives
What a difference betray makes....
Being of an age that clearly remembers Nixon and his criminal breaking of the law I'm still sorry Gerry Ford let his off the hook. He was so obviously guilty. Now instead of the precedence which would have been well deserved of a President having been found guilty and dismissed from office; we are faced with trump, at least as guilty of even more heinous crimes screaming innocence because Nixon was innocent. The untreated truth has come back - not just to justify but to bite us in the ass for undeserved clemency.
Ford may have told himself he was helping to heal the county, but he was just avoiding the due process that was needed to to heal the rupture in the integrity of the office. What he actually establish is the notion that presidents are above the law, a notion the right wing picked up and ran with. Up to that point, the Republican party, faced with Nixon's objective guilt, had done the right thing.
Seems to be getting clearer, much clearer, that the Republican Party is based on saving autocracy in many ways especially through excessive capitalism on the corporate level etc. so if that's their mission however unstated apparently Ford was hamstrung by it. Just looking at the actual character of great numbers of them running or already elected there is an appalling lack of honesty, of judgment, of responsibility, even of intelligence. They are a prop team for a bunch of bad old ideas. Aristocracy, elite rule, largely male rule, just playing low down meanness in order to get what they want, bullying as an okay thing, add in the rest...
The choice has never been more clear
Exactly JL, this is precisely what happened, good intentions gone astray - or in the words of "Wicked" No good deed goes unpunished."
I think Judge Mechan probably remembers.
"On May 30, 2024, when a jury of twelve ordinary Americans found a former president guilty on 34 criminal counts, it reasserted the principle that no one is above the law."
We can only hope that justice manages to prevail against the subhuman tffg, with the scales seemingly tipped in his favor by the likes of SCOTUS, Cannon, and the Rethugs still supporting his bid to become the future dictator of our country.
I can't, for my life, understand the Republican approval of TFFG, to say nothing of his minions. How inhumane and bizarre he is. If ever there were lemmings...It's like watching a zombie movie, except the zombies are real.
There has always been a seductive lure to absolute power. Most of use were taught it was evil, but here is Trump saying it's OK to indulge the proclivity, and that's all the permission some people need, especially if assured that's "Christianity". Gott mit uns!
The lifetime losers from Flyover Loserville who are his true believers are all of the opinion they would have been millionares (if not billionaires), but for all those who looked down on them and blocked them all their worthless lives (most of them won't be remembered 5 minutes after they're gone).
Boy, talk about a sweeping demonization and dismissal of millions of fellow Americans who live in our rural areas, of which millions do not support Trump! Coastal elites, "Winners" like Apple CEO Tim Cook and the CEOs of JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Bank of America met with Trump recently, They seem to have forgotten how they chastised Trump after Jan. 6. But Trump's agenda to cut business taxes and regulations appeals to these coastal elites. Warren Buffett lives in Omaha, Nebraska, "flyover loserville," and he's not in the Trump camp.
Judy, you are 100% right. There are plenty of people out here in Flyover Loserville who are fighting hard against the travesty that is MAGA. What is to be gained by this kind of rhetoric? In fact, if you follow Simon Rosenberg you know that Nebraska CD-2, which could be Biden's 270th electoral college vote in the event that he carries MI, WI, and PA, but loses the other swing states, is Omaha. Much better to support the Democrats and never-Trump Republicans and Independents there, than to just insult them.
"What is to be gained by this kind of rhetoric?" Part of the problem or part of the solution, I wonder? The reminiscing is important and informative to the degree it allows updating of our guidance systems for today. Today I got more from HCR's summary than I did living through Watergate (and all) when disgust was my justification for no TV, no newspapers or magazines -- living a VT life of daily guidance by land, farming, and building practices that enabled living with a small income. How can we do it better? Imagine, articulate, and moreso, say it as you see it in respectful conversations while facing each other head-on.
Reading The Deficit Myth - the history of how conservatives screw the pooch.
Did you ever live there? I did. Got out the first day the opportunity to do so presented itself. I'm pretty sure I know those people better than you. They were morons in high school and the last time I checked, they're now dumber than that.
I do now, and I know plenty of people who don't fit your narrative.
Where the f*** did you live, anyway? Asking for a friend.
C'mon, TC, don't be a jackhole.
In the meantime, "Vote for Joe, not the psycho".
Hope is all we have. There is no judge with enough spine to put Trump in jail.
Trump is exploiting the good-will and respect earned by most of the presidents before him.
Where's Greasy Steve? He laughs and says there's no jail that can hold him.
Well, so far he’s in the pokey.
Not quite. Has to present himself there 1 July. Gee, I'd like to see him being frogmarched by two sturdy agents, his hands cuffed behind his back.
That means they have to touch him--ewwww!
Trust me, those folks have touched far worse. And they do get gloves, and haz-mat suits if needed.
I thought he’d already surrendered, but I was probably thinking of how he lost his appeal. I thought he deserved to lose his appeal.
So did the judge.
On the one hand, hope is not a strategy. On the other hand, a strategy without hope is hopeless.
Translation: Hope is not all we have, aka hope is essential but not sufficient, aka God helps those who help themselves.
Dunno.
As a junior high student in north Boulder in 1978, I was at the breakfast table eating my Cheerios listening to our houseguest named Dan -- a friend of the family and fellow activist with my parents and sister engaging in nonviolent direct action at the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant 16 miles upwind of Denver -- talk about first strike nuclear strategy and how he once had a security clearance higher than the president's on nuclear matters.
I soon learned who this visitor was -- he was Daniel Ellsberg. The following years brought many chapters of our friendship and activism, with quite a few of the 75 nonviolent direct action arrests in our family of four having been done with Dan. He inspired, informed and empowered us and many, many others!
Fast forward to 2008, and our son Brian had done a school project that was a poster about a famous American: Daniel Ellsberg. (He first thought of Lincoln, and I suggested Dan.) Brian and Dan sat down to review and refine the poster. One of the places to fill in on the poster asked, "What did you learn from this person?" Our 9 YO son had written: "Don't trust the government."
Ahead of our meeting up with Dan in 2018, he emailed me:
"I presume that the last ten years have confirmed what Brian knew at 9--in spades (i.e., trumps).
"It will be interesting to see how this handsome lad looks at 19!
"Love, Dan"
"Don't trust the government."
“Power must never be trusted without a check.”
- John Adams
Eric, what a wonderful wonderful story! Thanks for sharing it.
Here's what I've learned. It's not hard to tell the difference between a politician who intends to engage in political practice and a politician who intends to commit political malpractice. The former will say they intend to serve the whole at the short term expense of its parts. If they do what they say, then the parts will benefit from the strength of the whole in the long term, whereas the latter will say they intend to serve the parts at the expense of the whole, and when they do the parts will suffer in the long term due to the weakness of the whole.
Here's some advice from another Daniel who did what he said he would do: "If you have contempt for government, you will get contemptable government." —Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
This from another: "What if the beloved community is already real, and all we need to do is live as if it is?" —John Lewis.
This quote is also applicable: "Trust, but verify." —Russian proverb.
Wow! 👍
Eric, that is a wonderful story.
I was hitch-hiking across Canada when he resigned, almost 50 years ago. The Canadians I encountered rejoiced.
I was on a photographic assignment in southern France and the local French paper headline was:
'Nixon Est Finis! '
Deep in California backcountry - didn't hear about it for 5 days...
I was 11 when Mom had us watch Nixon’s resignation. I haven’t forgotten it.
Maybe no one is above the law most of the time, but it remains to be seen if there will be any consequences. Nixon didn't really face any, and Trump seems to be following Nixon's playbook, including Trump using executive privilege and claiming *full* immunity. Still holding my breath as to what the outcome may be in Trump's cases and whether he faces any punishment at all.
Trump needs to get jail sentence for the convictions to have the 'full meaning' that 'no one is above the law'.
Rupert Murdock is Convicted Felon Donald Trump's new David Pecker. Two weeks ago is was recycled Kevin McCarthy material about Biden's mental state and yesterday it was the New York Post publishing a hit piece about Biden at the Saturday night fund raiser.
I'm 69 and I meed an afternoon nap. How the heck does Biden have the energy to work the hours he works. Campaigning is a full time job and he has multiple daily crises to deal with as well.
Good thing he is an excellent delagator.
He's juicing, Gary, if the right wing propaganda machine is to be believed. I'd kinda love to have publicly released drug tests of B & T the day of the first debate. Wouldn't it be wonderful if B's showed up with nothing but caffeine and maybe some vitamin B while T's is laden with tranqs and anti-psychotics?
President Biden doesn’t have the stamina to properly govern for another 4 years. He should step down like President Washington did , has the power corrupted him?
If President Biden's choice to run is wrong, then it's for a reason I'm not aware of. What I would have done in his shoes is image a scenario in which, on November 6, I'm listening to all the so-called pundits proclaim that "Biden is responsible for Trump's win because Biden would have won if he hadn't stepped down."
This election will choose the most powerful person on Earth, and the choice is between a person who knows he has to care about everyone who who will be influenced by his decisions, and a person who thinks he only has to care about three things, which are "me, myself, and I."
I’m voting for hope and change like Obama said but this time it’s with RFKJR.
IMHO, Obama in his two terms, and Biden in his first term, made America better whereas Bush 43 and Trump took the country in the opposite direction. I think RFK Sr. would have been a great president. What I hear (antisemitic and racist remarks, etc.) makes me think his son is heading in the opposite direction.
To me, there's two choices. Either intentionally support Biden, or effectively support the guy who wants to end hope, positive change, and the American experiment by splitting up the world between authoritarian dictators.
I have never identified with a candidate to so fully support him as I do RFKJR. He has good plans to restore our nation and good standing with the world.So much better than your two choices.
Biden has said that he would step aside if he was assured that trumpie would not get the presidency. That is not the case yet.
About his stamina: he will be chugging along in 2028 getting the job done. He already has done things that neither Clinton or Obama would have attempted. I never thought he would do those things. Had he had a democratic House, he would have done much more: including doing things that would have shut up the orange orangutan.
I wonder how you could be sure Trump will lose, best chance of that is vote RFKJR
DT sabotaged himself during the E Jean Carrol civil trial by behaving like the a-hole that he is. H took the hook every time he was baited by the prosecution, and afterward (to the tune of an extra $71M) by continuing to slander her. He sabotaged himself multiple times during the election interference case to the tune of 34 felony convictions and being found in contempt multiple times - which will certainly affect his sentencing. Before all that, he sabotaged himself by hoarding classified documents, creating a situation where, given a fair judge, he may already have been found guilty of very serious breaches of national security.
DT will continue to sabotage himself. He can't seem to help it. The pressure must be kept on him on all legal, political, and moral fronts. He will swell and pop like an infected zit.
Yas, Steve. Robbie Kaplan is suiting up for another defamation case. The convicted felon continues to shoot himself in the bone spurs with remarks like he doesn't care about voters, just wants their vote. Rumor has it that Jack Smith now has what he needs from Loose Cannon to go the the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Keep up the good work, and get out the vote.
!
Excellent letter tonight, Dr. Heather.
"CREEP" was a resoundingly appropriate acronym. Nixon's presidency was truly conducted "in a manner contrary to his trust as President and subversive of constitutional government, to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States."
It's also not surprising to note that among Nixon's coterie of saboteurs (and even calling what they did "ratf***ing" normalizes the magnitude of their malignant intent) was a young Roger Stone. He was just setting forth on his career at the time. That he'd continue and enthusiastically join the Trimp Gang comes as no surprise. He fit right in.
Justice needs to be pursued or the price to be paid only becomes greater and more painful to pay. We've only begun to turn the wheels of justice on Guilty Donald, but to relent at this point as happened with Nixon would be doing a great disservice to the nation and future generations. We MUST hold those like Trimp or Nixon strictly accountable every time they cross the line. Every time without fail.
Don’t forget that Stone absolutely worshipped Nixon. So much so, that he had his image tattooed on his back!
Roger Stone is the exemplar of "A Fine Piece of Work". (A TURD)
All the gargoyles in the contemporary GOP get their start with Nixon, the fount of all evil.
Karl Rove first "made his bones" as a 19-year old "ratfucker" in the 1972 campaign.
Today’s Rove is Bannon. What an evil person!
Don't forget Stephen (Goebbels) Miller!
Exactly right.
Who ever thought we'd look back on Watergate as having happened in "the good old days"
Yeah, those were the days and it was nothing compared to what's happening now!
Had the Waterbunglers been caught on Trumps watch, it would have topped the news for about a day.
Of at least not as bad.
True, trompy was found guilty in NY State court of 34 felonies, but the country eagerly awaits a decision from SCOTUS about claims of presidential immunity, as it will hopefully allow the rest of his federal criminal charges to be heard in court.
Why is SCOTUS dragging its feet before announcing its decision? This should have been dispensed with by now.
And Trump should have been arrested and jailed by the summer of 2021, but the rot in the SCOTUS was already too far along.
Because they are going to drag it out for as long as they possibly can, then deliver the Get Out of Jail Free card in the dark of night, or when we're preoccupied with some other Republican Misdeed of the Moment.
Because it's not going to be the decision that would be made after referral to the Constitution as written, and all the legal precedent before. I hate saying that, but plan to be disappointed, so it doesn't knock you for a loop. Hopefully I'm wrong, but 59 years of participation in American politics tells me the books have been "cooked." The books are now the consistency of overcooked pasta.
The country went from fresh out of the box (two centuries ago) to al dente to Ramen noodles. It’s what happens when Justice is left on the stove for too long.
Yes.
I posted this comment a few days back:
———-
What is going on behind the scenes regarding the delays this SCOTUS and lower courts have allowed, dare I say facilitated, in keeping three trials in which Trump has been indicted from taking place Before the November election?! The documents case was the simplest, straight ahead case and should have gone to trial long ago.
It seems they (right wing Christian extemists in the courts, in state legislatures, in Congress, in the Senate ) have something up their sleeve, some cockamamie scheme which will guarantee Trump wins regardless of the vote tallies. I have no illusion this sounds like just another “conspiracy theory” but with the delays something seems to be deeply amiss.
Yes vote! Support others to vote. Send Postcards etc. But what if Trump has been guaranteed a win by the legislatures in states with GOP majorities? What if there is some scheme in the courts in these states? What if these schemes will progress past any appeals and/ or lawsuits filed in federal courts to the SCOTUS? We all know something is deeply wrong, but what exactly is it……?
Yuck! Ptuee!
Dare you ask? Of course its decision should have been dispensed with by now.
Thank goodness DT was convicted and we don't want a convicted person in the White House!
Your telling of the Watergate story brought back memories. I too, worked for George McGovern in 1972! I am ready for the fight this year and will do what I can to prevent a convicted felon in the White House! He is a sociopath!
Where have all the McGovernites gone? Turns out, they’re here. I can’t lay claim to being right about too many things when I was 18 years old but I got that one right. If winning is Trump, I’d rather lose again.
Evening to All!
I well remember the summer of 1973, when my 12 year old self watched over the ironing board wherein my mother was ironing clothes with my on again off again help, in the den of our family home, as the old Packard Bell broadcast Senators Ervin and Baker co-chairing the Watergate Committee. I can still hear Sam Ervin's charming Piedmont brogue in my mind's ear, along with Howard Baker's piercing question, "What did the President know, and when did he know it?!"
The parallels with the Seditionist Sociopath are eerie, but certainly Trump was and remains far, far worse than Nixon by leaps and bounds.
I disagree with Heather about Ford's pardon of Nixon. The healing that was so necessary in the immediate wake of Watergate would not have occurred without the pardon, and in the political culture of the time that was far more mature and enlightened than today's, there was no need to bring Nixon to a more penal form of justice, as history had already adjudged him guilty. To fall from the most popularly re-elected President in modern history to the first and only to resign in disgrace was punishment enough. Further, all elected officials knew it, and took the lesson accordingly. The post Watergate Congress was one of the most productive in our history, and the election of Jimmy Carter a mere two years later moved the Country even further forward.
Of course, four years after our Nation's bicentennial, then came the deluge.
Somewhere in the ancient Persian desert, Carter's failed hostage rescue attempt crashed along with---unbeknownst to him and us at the time---the very concept of forward progress, as America, awash in patriotic diversion and nostalgia for the never was, chose Reagan and regress.
I would add one point that is oft missed in the Watergate saga. The unanimous opinion in U.S. v. Nixon was 8-0, not 9-0. That was because then Associate Justice William Rehnquist having previously worked in the Nixon Justice Department, had readily and unquestionably recused himself from the proceedings.
Today, Justices No Clearance Clarence and Sullen, Sanctimonious Sam Alito are so disdainful of basic democratic decency and their own professional responsibilities that they refuse to do so.
And we are now left, as Fitzgerald so famously stated, to "beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past".
Eloquently stated, Daniel. At the time, I shared your opinion of the pardon, but seeing the consequences of that act over the course of the succeeding decades, I have revised it.
I too shared your opinion, although I was only 16 at the time. Apparently, I'm not the only one who has had a change of mind.
Don't forget Nixon's "when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal" statement to David Frost. Do I hear an echo?
Another thought from a hindsight perspective is that, although I didn't associate the word "justice" with the concept at the time, I'm now convinced my understanding of justice when I was an 11-year-old in grade 5, as compared to six SCOTUS justices, was better. They're more like I was as a 9-year-old when my older sister wanted to tell me something I didn't want to hear, and I'd cover my ears singing "na, na, na, na, na, na, NA." The tactics are different, but the strategy is the same.
Ha! I like the "na, na, na, na, na, na, NA" analogy, James. Spot on.
Daniel Streeter,
Thank you for every word!
You're very sweet, Emily. Thank you!
On the Sunday morning after the "Saturday Night Massacre," I had this experience. I was a minister serving a congregation in Alexandria VA. At the conclusion of the Sunday service, I was preparing to announce the Benediction. A young man interrupted me and whispered in my ear, " I work for the Department of Justice in D.C. When I attempted to go to my office this morning, the building had been secured and I was not allowed entry. I am fearful but I remembered the advice of a mentor in Law School. He advised his students to seek refuge in the Sanctuary of a church. After my experience this morning, I am seeking refuge. I am fearful for the stability of the government of the United States of America." After pronouncing the Benediction I escorted the young man to my church office and listened to his story. At the same time, I asked three members of our congregation to join us. We contacted local and national law enforcement agencies.
Back when the "rule of law" actually meant something in America! Let's hope Heather's future colleagues don't describe Watergate as "the beginning of the end".
If Trump is reelected there may not be any "Heather's future colleagues". The teaching of history will be banned if these GOP traitors regain power.
Imagine for a moment how different the “Watergate Mess” likely would have been resolved if only Nixon and AG Mitchell had tasked the FBI with breaking into DNC HQ and pilfering records.
The GOP isn’t going to degrade the FBI’s professional reputation if DJT defeats President Biden in November: it will destroy it.
Rig for strong winds and heavy seas.
Along with the IRS and some Cabinet-level departments, EPA and Education among them.
Believe me, Nixon weaponized the IRS starting back in 1969, to harass the antiwar movement. I write from first-hand experience.