Today, Nate Cohn noted in the New York Times that the policies President Joe Biden and the Democrats are putting in place are hugely popular, and yet Biden’s own popularity numbers have dropped into the low 40s.
And don’t forget to include other widely-read news outlets: Washington Post, The Guardian, LA Times. Maybe even the WallStreetJournal could be convinced to widen their view with Heather’s Letter.
I agree. This letter provides so much positive that we never hear from MSM. We are drowned out by negative reporting on everything Biden and the Democrats.
I firmly believe the reason Biden’s numbers dropped from Afghanistan is because he rescued ally’s, not just any ally, “terrorists” in the peoples minds because this is what the Republicans fed the public. My own Rep. Darrell Issa put out multiple negative tweets every day and did endless interviews. He still says Americans are left behind. Then he sneaks in the fear mongering ever so carefully because he has a big community of Afghan constituents. Some of them were ones “left behind”. They went in the Spring, ignoring all the warnings. Plus, as I replied many times to Issa, the U.S. doesn’t track people, they were free to go.
Jim, you are correct. As I've written here and on the Washington Post: If you want to get supporters, you need to go to the hollers and the hoods to listen to the people and do what they want. This is what the Rev. William Barber has been telling people for some time. And if the Democrats really want to gather power and remain so, they need to do this, rather than going to places like The Hamptons to raise money from wealthy Democratic elite supporters.
Yes, Chaplain Terry, but votes are more important. And if you listen to the those folks in the hollers and the hoods and actually do things from what you heard, you might actually receive small amounts of cash from those people in addition the votes you would need to win in the next election. If the Democrats don't, it's very likely they will lose both houses of Congress. They must get off their elite asses and get out there!
How about somebody start some cheap rags that openly cheer the Dems (and us !) to crowd out "The Mirror" and the "Sun" that stare at you as you wait for the food to go down the conveyer belt and you brainlessly absorb what you see? Be blatant in celebration! F' them if they can't take a joke.
Jim—I disagree. The “choir,” so to speak, is increasingly checking out because, despite some accomplishments, they understandably are discouraged by the degree of polarization and disfunction that, for example, blocks their own party, without Republican support, from passing voter protection legislation, even while GOP controlled state legislatures unilaterally pass bill after bill that restricts voting and nullifies votes.
I contend that those among us, who are becoming increasingly disheartened, need to hear from HCR. Even as our partners in this struggle call optimism into question, we all need fortification to remain hopeful, if for no other reason than to stay in the fight.
I agree. that matters and needs to happen. Still, let's not imagine that the words we read, and the forums we visit to comfort ourselves and maintain our strength are the same ones that will reach the people who aren't checked out from discouragement, but simply because they haven't checked in since last November.
Subscribers don't imagine that our roles on the forum of LFAA is to solely soothe our 'savage' breasts and minds as we're here to learn, share with one another, support social justice, economic fairness and Democracy. I'm a tad annoyed if being talked down to.
Thank you, Barbara. Subscribers on the forum expressed appreciation for this Letter and some were sharing it with people they know as well as posting it on Facebook/Meta. My question to Jim is why do you remain in this choir? Is to preach a different sort of sermon? That's okay, Jim has a before him the choir that HCR built.
In early 2016 when I expressed fear that Trump could win, someone tried to persuade me that it could not happen because our country was not that angry. Since its become clear that many are that angry and others were clever enough to harness the anger to gain support and win votes where they mattered. The Republican leaders, using disinformation, are conducting a very well orchestrated campaign of anger and fear — much of it is nonsensical, but it worked — it is working.
Democrats have been countering that campaign with uncoordinated expressions of outrage among their loyal and often disparate constituents. Editorials in MSM function as internal communications. The Party’s policies are sound; the messaging and execution are not.
Instead of talking just to one another, Democrats need a means to reach outsiders via their favored media and in their own voices. Messages about Biden’s accomplishments need to reach patrons of right wing media in voices that resonate to that audience. The challenge is to impact the narrative from within not from outside. Foreign actors found a way to control such conversations, why can’t the Democrats do the same but with facts and truth?
Nonetheless, every American needs to read this Letter. Bravo and thank you Heather Cox Richardson.
Sorry, this reads like a press release from the DNC rather than a piece of objective reporting or even an Op-Ed that makes well reasoned arguments. To pick just one item as example, prior to the Afghanistan withdrawal Biden made numerous false statements. For example, downplaying the risk of a Taliban takeover (see July 8 WH Q&A) or saying that troops would remain until 100% of Americans were evacuated. And, on Syria, Trump WAS absolutely killed for the Syrian withdrawal - even by Republicans. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/disaster-betrayal-mistake-republicans-slam-trump-s-syria-pull-out-n1063251
Boo! So you’d point out Biden’s accomplishments differently? How? Remember, readers here are recommending this letter as an op-ed piece. An op-ed piece!
I think you can still do that with some objectivity. (See for example the David Brooks piece 'Joe Biden is Succeeding" in NYT - although I think he's too optimistic.) I thought people read HCR to learn something - and this seems to be all about cheerleading. There are a thousand sources I can get cheerleading from - on both the left and right. BTW, in answer to the commenter below, I voted for Biden in 2020 and would do so again.
I think there are some of Heather’s pieces that certainly speak to this audience. This may be one of them. However, if you are writing a column regarding Biden’s accomplishments, I imagine it’s going to read very optimistically unless it’s balanced by decisions that either didn’t work or haven’t gone over well with both parties. I don’t even consider Republican criticism of Biden because, let’s face it, they’re out to skewer him any way they can. They are shameful, hateful hypocrites who don’t care about bipartisanship, the Constitution or democracy, or any American who they consider “left,” which is basically all Democrats. I understand there are some good Republicans, but unfortunately the overwhelming majority of them are cowards who follow Trump only because they don’t have the guts to stand up against his incessant intimidation. Biden has done a lot for the country already but he’s simply not given enough credit. The media seems far more interested in what jerks like Trump, Bobert, Greene, Gaetz, Godard, etc. ad infinitum, do and think. Hate seems to sell ad space and get more reads than decency and good stewardship of the country. I think Heather did a good job of compiling Biden’s efforts to be a good steward. For God sakes, look at the scale of hate he’s up against. Every time I see my brother-in-law, a nice guy but a Republican conspiracy theorist, he makes unnecessary wise cracks about Biden, from his age and supposed senility to his son Hunter’s involvement with whatever he’s supposedly involved with. I don’t reply for my wife’s sake, but I’d really just like to treat him like a bad child, which to me he is. Imagine being Biden and putting up with a whole country of these idiots. I know I’m digressing. Biden will only get his due when history examines his actions weighed against the hateful environment that stifles his presidency. Good for Heather to list them, even for an audience that is largely pro-Biden.
Yet you’re here with zero objectivity. It seems you’re looking for Biden to fail. Do you want HCR to preach doom and gloom? Is that the only acceptable form of writing you’re open to? There are no lies is what HCR said. Why do you insist on denigrating her? I don’t care who you voted for, it sounds like you’re the cheerleader for Trump here and only want to hear the Biden is failing. Maybe you should read what you wrote from the perspective of your audience.
If you don’t respect the honesty that HCR employs to write her newsletters and provide information why do you read them? After all it appears you are out here to criticize Biden and support the actions of Republicans. They could have stopped the slaughter of the Kurds, but they didn’t. They could have been proactive in the transition so the Biden Administration was prepared. Even today Ted Cruz is doing everything he can to keep posts from being filled and putting the security of the country at risk just so they can make Biden look bad. And you seem to have fallen for it hook, line and sinker.
Thank you for this account of Biden’s accomplishments. They are many, starting with the simple fact that he had the resume for the job of US President, unlike his predecessor who purposely left our country in disaray in part to cover his incompetence. Second, Biden truly believes in this country, it’s founding ideals, and democracy. By both action & inaction, the Republicans of today are proving they do not.
Finally, Biden knows how our political system works and understands the rule of law. His fierce commitment to negotiation & compromise is evidence that he walks the talk of a true American President, one who sees his leadership as a service to the country, not a personal power grab.
We must all do a better job supporting this man. Our goal must be to talk about his accomplishments until his strengths & positive impact for regular Americans reach critical mass and are undeniable in the minds of America and inescapable for the media.
Take a look a this by Oliver Willis. I am frustrated the link won't work. Anyway. Type in Oliver Willis Tracking what Joe Biden has accomplished since becoming the 46th president of the United States on January 20, 2021.
As of November 2021 there are 110 verified accomplishments for Biden on the comprehensive list.
These accomplishments will not light a fire under Democratic voters in 2022 and 2024. They will, however, open the door to Republican lies, casting doubt about them. The only path to Democratic victories in 2022 and 2024 is to lock in the votes of persons of color and women by repeatedly pointing out that Republicans, at all levels, vote against what benefits them, and that any person of color or woman who votes Republican is out of their mind.
"The only path to Democratic victories in 2022 and 2024 is to lock in the votes of persons of color and women."
I am sorry, but to me that borders on sexist, racist - and defeatist.
For the past 15 years, I've volunteered for local Democratic committees and on various campaigns getting out the vote - sometimes almost full time in weeks leading up to elections. In some cycles, I've made tens of thousands of phone calls and knocked on thousands of doors. Every person whose told me their opinions is an education. Every potential voter is a potential ally.
The only path to Democratic victories is for each of us to do as much GOTV outreach during the months leading up to an election as we can. It's not about the money donations, it's about our volunteer labor.
I agree. And it would really help if Democrats gave messages that were easier to understand for less informed and engaged voters, and if they were better at painting the villains on the other side as the villains they are.
I so agree about the messaging!!! I've been sending suggestions to DNC, Lincoln Project, etc. but I don't know what else to do. I want to scream, "It's the MESSAGING, stupid!!!!
This is problem. . . they never respond. It is so frustrating. The same applies to groups like Indivisible and Move-On (groups that I financially support and am an active member). I'm a fan of Robert Hubble's - Today's Edition. I often think he should run the Democratic Party! (https://substack.com/profile/3956425-robert-b-hubbell)
Maybe it's a fine line, or maybe not. Sure, it's technically racist or sexist to target a specific group of voters, but it's also demographics and messaging mechanics, which is what modern politics (and advertising) is built on.
I agree with you, Lin. I will add that we need to convince non-party affiliated independent voters that it is in their personal best interest and the interest of our Democratic system of government to vote for Democrats both in Congress and in State Houses.
How??? I think one of the answers is better story telling ... "How (a particular accomplishment) changed my life" from ordinary people in lots of media. But I don't know whom to tell that to!!!
I call it as I see it. GOTV efforts have to be more specifically targeted. I've worked on GOTV efforts targeting Democratic-leaning precincts, as I am sure you have, and gotten DeSantis, Rubio and Scott as a result. That's just not enough. There's another side of the coin to racism and sexism, a positive one, and it should be targetted.
I now live in a predominantly White state. Many voters identify as Independent. My call/turf lists reach out to a wide range of voters.
We have 2 congressional districts. I am in the more red rural district and yet we have been able to elect a moderate Democratic representative to Congress - who helps give us the majority.
By listening and speaking politely with anyone willing, we gain interest and even support for Democratic goals and candidates. Even from Republicans intrigued by our goodwill and commitment. We have Ranked Choice Voting - so even getting someone interested in ranking our candidates second can contribute to a win.
My call or postcard lists (I'm too old to canvass any longer) consist of registered Democrats first, who, when we get them to vote, we know what we are getting. But that's not enough. When we get an "NPA" to vote, we don't know what we are getting. Usually, my CD votes Democratic by about 70 -30, but in 2020, with a Trump-loving Republican running, the margin dropped to 60-40. GOTV activities must be targeted toward those groups which are specifically hurt by Republican "no" votes .
My hope is that when the direct benefits of both the hard and soft infrastructure bills are seen in a voter’s pocketbook they will recognize the source of the benefits and support more Democrats.
Part #2 infrastructure must be put in place soon. Very soon.
Hope is a slender read to lean on when democracy is in peril. We can not and should not rely on people making any connections that we fail to make it for them in easy, relatable terms. Rest assured, the Republicans are busy cooking up a fresh batch of lies and distractions to keep us on the defensive.
click the little box with three lines in it that is in the URL box. That will eliminate all the junk and leave the content. Wishing I could post a photo...
Yes. I think packing articles with ads, particularly the same political ad repetitively, interrupts the reader and, for me is irritating. Not unique to this article or site by any means.
Biden has done a superlative job in my opinion, and I've been singing his praises for months. I suspect he's going to go down as the best president since Roosevelt. I voted enthusiastically, and I will do so again.
That said, he's making a huge mistake on one particular policy. I hasten to say that despite that mistake I think he's doing a terrific job, and that as I've gotten older, I've ceased hoping that any politician would do everything I want. But the approval rating on this policy—immigration--is the lowest Biden gets on any policy, at 35 percent.
The border is a mess, and the GOP has been making a big deal of that.
There is a new book out--which anyone who wants to understand what mass immigration has been about for the last 200 years should buy: Back of the Hiring Line: A 200 Year History of Immigration surges, Employer Bias, and Depression of Black Wealth, by Roy Beck.
It's a brilliant, easily digestible presentation that gives a succinct overview within the intro and first chapter of how from the early 1800s to the present, time after time, mass immigration has resulted in African Americans seeing their wages reduced, and losing jobs to immigrants.
When immigration has been low, Black fortunes have risen. But surges, the latest of which has been going on for 50 years, and getting worse as the years have gone by, always push their fortunes back down. And as the author makes clear, in this latest surge, each wave of immigrants also suffers along with Blacks as a new wave breaks, and poor whites suffer as well.
Think of that, and remember how 45 gained a greater share of Hispanic voters in '20 than he had had in '16. And when you think of all those whites listening to the nonsense of Fox News, and believing it, realize that the surges of immigrants--a million annually for the most part since the mid-90s--has been taking their jobs, and giving us a country where nearly half the population can't afford to deal with a $400 dollar emergency, whether a car repair or a medical emergency.
Remember also, in the ’16 election, the popularity of the populist policies of Bernie Sanders and 45 (who of course was not the populist president he’d promised to be).
The book is a slam dunk, backing the thesis with a thorough survey of the relevant academic economic history, along with statements from Black leaders beginning with Frederick Douglass, articles from the Black press going way way back, and the results of government commissions on immigration reform, including the Rockefeller Commission in '72, the Hesburgh Commission (1979), and the Barbara Jordan commission, mid-90s, and others, all of which recommended reducing immigration. (Jordan was a very impressive character worth googling.)
The author, who now runs NumbersUSA, but was a journalist until the late '90s, also draws on his own reporting, to great effect.
A major source of lobbying for more immigration was the companies that used low-skilled labor. They wanted an oversupply, so that they could reduce wages, and speed up the lines (resulting in loads of repetitive injuries among workers). Absent the oversupply, the Black workers had some bargaining power, and could take a recuperation break if they were injured, knowing they'd be hired anew when they were healed.
But in the "poultry crescent", "a half-continent arc of processing plants that extends from Maryland, down through Georgia, over to Mississippi, and back up to northern Arkansas," with the threat of "the corporation bringing buses of foreign workers to fill their jobs if they kept complaining, it was getting more difficult [for Blacks] to stand up for themselves."
Plant managers claimed the immigrant workers had a superior work ethic to American workers of either color, but Beck reported that "the foreign workers often didn't last a year on the job. Many employers didn't seem to hold that against them because there always was a fresh supply of new foreign workers to take their place at the same wages and working conditions, or lower."
in 2019 , the employment rate for Black men and women starting out, at ages 18-29, without a high school degree, was 32%. For similarly situated Whites, it was 39%. At 56%, the rate for immigrants was nearly twice that of African Americans.
Beck emphasizes over and over that Congress, not immigrants, is to blame for these conditions, and that it has always been thus.
Beck’s book is available through Amazon for $9 in hard copy, and less for kindle and audio. To my knowledge, it is unfortunately not available at local bookstores, but may come to them eventually.
Excellent point, which speaks directly toward the crying need to understand and respond to the problems of the vast middle of our population. The book by Roy Beck you cite sounds very worthwhile. I will at least add it to my reading list (which, sadly, is already insurmountably long).
Thanks Syd. It is an incredibly worthwhile book, one that I think will change a lot of minds. He makes an ironclad case, and it's well written. I view it as the most important book I've read probably since the turn of the millennium. Despite the fact that Matthew Walker's Why We Sleep will probably result in my prolonging my life some by getting better sleep.
" ... there always was a fresh supply of new foreign workers to take their place at the same wages and working conditions, or lower."
I witnessed some of this. As an adolescent in central Florida in 1962, a buddy and I decided to go down to Miami that summer and work for six weeks before we had to be back at school. At that time, the Cuban refugees were flowing into Miami to escape the Castro revolution. Minimum wage at the time was $1.25/hour. The refugees got jobs paying 1/2 the minimum wage and thus took jobs away from the local Black population who mostly held those jobs. (Also, the refugees might have been receiving supplemental income from the U.S. government at the time due to their being "political refugees.") This caused a lot of resentment in the Black community and understandably so. (My friend and I got jobs selling magazine subscriptions door to door as no one else wanted those jobs.)
Carole: You use the word "until" in your third paragraph. Will "until" come in time for 2022 and 2024? Democrats cannot play softball while Republicans play hardball.
You are so right. “Until” must come in time for 2022. Democrats cannot play softball, or simply “hope” that Biden’s obvious successes are indeed obvious to others in spite of constant media takedown.
Carole—Notwithstanding HCR’s flawless account of Biden’s mighty impressive accomplishments, I prevail upon all of us also to remain steadfastly focused on the faltering ratings both for the Biden Administration and for Democrats overall, despite policies shown repeatedly to have broad appeal. Though I imagine some Democrats are growing increasingly discouraged by the polarization and disfunction that daily infects our politics, I believe more of us are rightfully concerned that neither Biden nor Democratic lawmakers overall are doing nearly enough to shape their party’s story. I am eager to receive more guidance from this community regarding how best to direct my activism.
Looking for guidance? Join groups actively working to get out the vote of women and persons of color, groups which continue to be hurt by Republican obstructionism. Put the policies and issues aside and concentrate on getting out that vote. That's the way to win elections. Don't waste time defending against Republican lies.
Have you ever tried to have an exchange of ideas with a Republican lately? Or someone carrying an AR-15? Time and energy thusly spent would be better directed toward registering voters, mailing postcards, making phone calls and getting out the vote.
To clarify, by “activism” I meant a refusal on my part merely to watch and wait to see what the politicians and experts will do. Instead, I train myself, I acquire the knowledge I need to at least have a shot at not merely having to look through the window but, rather, to come through the door. HCR’s LFAA followed by this group’s discussions have been enormously valuable. As for the actions listed in your missive, I do that too.
In February 1952 President Truman has a 22% positive rating in a national poll. Historians and political scientists, in the highly credible CSpan poll ranking American presidents have ranked Truman 6th greatest in their most recent polls in 2017 and 2021.
I am appalled, though not surprised, that President Biden is polling so low these days. Asking present-day Americans what they think of President Biden is akin to asking them to rate an excellent teacher who is pulling them out of their educational and sloppy work habit funks.
President Biden inherited a country in the worst shape of an incoming president in my 88 years. The pandemic had been dreadfully handled by Trump and his unscientific sycophants. Our economy was in a tail spin. The phrase ‘climate change’ had been banned from all government documents. The outgoing president, refusing to accept the electorate’s vote, triggered a Capitol Building insurrection in an effort to block the constitutional vote in favor of if incoming President Biden. FALSE FACTS was the staccato chant by a president who had the first ongoing tally of his lies and false facts (over 40,000 according to the documented Washington Post scorecard. The corruption and mismanagement of Trump and his minions made President Harding look rather admirable by comparison.
As a Foreign Service Officer, I am appalled by how Trump dissed American strategic interests internationally. His bromance with Putin I found treasonous. His withdrawal from international climate-change agreements, his high-handed withdrawal from the 6-power Iranian nuclear monitoring agreement endangered the Middle East, his egotistical ‘love affair’ with North Korea’s Kim was revolting and ineffective, his bromance with Mohamed bin Salman, Netanyahu and others undermined America’s core national interests. As for China, Trump got into an escalating tariff fight that damaged our economy and prompted him to shovel out tens of billions of dollars to farmers who were hurt by his barnyard bully tantrums.
In less than a year President Biden, with a razor-thin majority in the House and a 50/50 split in the senate (with two fence-sitting Democratic senators) has steered Trump’s Titanic deftly away from the ice berg and on a positive course nationally and internationally. Despite his heroic efforts to vax and mask the nation, the Delta virus and and scurrilous, Republican-hailed effort to sabotage such policies have seriously impeded science-backed efforts to render America more healthy.
With his passed-and pending physical and social infrastructure legislation (both widely favored in public polls), President Biden is providing for much-needed investments of a New Deal and Great Society magnitude designed to equip America and the great majority of American people to flourish in the 21st century. He has restored professionalism, integrity and humanity to American government.
Internationally, President Biden has restored our relationships with our traditional allies and is treating authoritarian governments with professional firmness. NATO has welcomed back an American president who respects and supports NATO’s core mission. Climate-change policies have once again become a national American policy. In Afghanistan, after a failing 20-year-war, President Biden had the guts to withdraw our troops. No such end-of-a-failing-war goes smoothly, as we learned in Vietnam. Despite ‘precipitous collapse, the United States was able to evacuate over 120,000 human beings, including about 7,000 Americans, during a frenetic six weeks.
Thanks in good part to President Biden and his professional team, our economy has rebounded considerably during less-than-year in office. All this despite worldwide disruptions caused by the pandemic, with the exacerbation by the Delta virus, global supply disruptions, and the affect all of this has had on daily life. The media feeds on daily screaming headlines. Republicans are bleating naysayers, despite leaving such a mess for President Biden. Many Americans are distressed that the pandemic has disrupted their normal lives and seek someone to blame for the most deadly global pandemic since, perhaps, the Great Plague of the 14th century.
The American public is far more self-centered than what I experienced during World War II. Then shortages were related to a concerted war effort. Today, side efforts of President Biden’s massive rescue initiatives—including a temporary rise in inflation sparked, in part, by the massive financial assistance that the Biden administration has provided to citizens and corporations—that cannot avoid the massive global impacts of the pandemic on our daily life.
I doubt, over the coming weeks and months, that President Biden can avoid being the target of an American public ‘blame game.’ Many are being ‘discomforted’ by the broad and sustained impact of this multiple pandemic. Instead of applauding the accomplishments of their new quarterback, who already has racked up some impressive wins, they are in a bitchy mood. My hope (and expectation) is that quarterback Biden will have a good to-excellent 2022 season. The pandemic will be under control, despite the anti-vaxers and anti-maskers, the economy will rebound robustly as will the economy, the impacts of President Biden’s game-changing legislation will begin to reach the American people, and Americans will once again have reason to be proud of America’s role in the international community.
I look forward to when the current presidential booing of President Biden turns increasingly into cheers, no thanks to the media or the Trumpites.
I continue to be amazed and disappointed that the media just hypes any downturn or discord , while it treats poll numbers as gospel . Polls have been poor guides. But it appears talk of discord is popular.
Cathy- But I think a good journalist could make it so. The “bleed and lead” headlines are easy work. Crafting excitement around the mundane takes more skill. I think that’s evident right here in Heather's daily letters.
Daria Some years ago there was a weekly titled GOOD NEWS. I found it uplifting—and it soon failed. You’re right—good news seldom sells, unless its a major sporting event or, for oldies like me, when we win a World War.
Keith, I remember Good News. You're right, it failed fairly quickly. You know, its always interesting to read the comment section following an uplifting/good news story; the comments are almost always very positive and supportive. In the long run, though, it just doesn't sell.🌷
Daria The Week weekly magazine has at least one page of ‘good news’ which I find uplifting. It also has a section that lists candidates for the Darwinian prize (those whose gene extinction would better the human race.)
Keith, a follow up: The Week is available through many libraries via Overdrive. I just downloaded the new issue and look forward to reading it. Thanks for the recommendation. (I'm deleting my prior response to your comment.)
News: newly received or noteworthy information, especially about recent or important events.
If it ain’t new and noteworthy, it ain’t news. And that’s a fact.
Oh, and that also provides opportunities to make news by doing something new and noteworthy in an observable and reportable way. In other words, making a difference on something important.
Bruce, I don't want to sound contentious but I'm curious why you're defining the word news for me. I know what news is. My comment was: Good news doesn't sell.
Please don't jump on me for making an accurate statement. I don't need to have things "explained" to me.
A comprehensive study published in the International Journal of Press/Politics in 2014 called, "Consumer Demand for Cynical and Negative News Frames", focused on the why of this phenomenon. It makes for very interesting reading. The study is pay walled so I can't share it but I will share the link so if you're interested you can read it. There is a very long list of references supporting the " bad news sells" theory.
Sigh … unfortunately the format of the forum does not distinguish comments attached to another’s comment that are meant to reinforce the comment rather than attempt to correct it. If my intention to support your point and not refute or refine it was misinterpreted I apologize. If my remark had been directed specifically to you I would have tried to make that clear.
I will go stand in the corner for a well deserved five minute timeout for my discourtesy.
It is important to remember - the President and Congress’ job is not to be “Popular.” Their job, collectively I might add, is to get “stuff” done. I agree on the need for attention to messaging but only to extent it helps in getting stuff done. Other than that the time to pay greater attention to messaging is after accomplishment not before. If you want to be featured at the Hall of Presidents in Disney World you better have accomplished something worth talking about. There are many reasons Lincoln gets a featured speaking role rather than Warren Harding, and none of those are based on either President’s poll ratings.
Bruce Anyone who has been a good leader knows that you should do what’s best rather than what’s popular. Unfortunately, President Biden is facing mid-term elections in 2022 where his squeaky hold on Congress is at risk. Being applauded two decades hence might be called by some a Pyrrhic victory. (Lincoln, in the summer of 1864, seemed quite certain that he would lose the November election. Fortuitously, several decisive military victories and the troops strongly favoring Lincoln over their previous general McClellan rendered Lincoln ‘a man for the ages.)
I agree. However, I subscribe to the view I would prefer being remembered for meaningful Pyrrhic victories making a real difference in people’s lives than meaningless cheers of a Tя☭mp Train procession. The cheers fade but the differences in lives are lasting even if Pyrrhic due to unfortunate gerrymandered elections.
We are perhaps now victims of that ancient Chines curse of living in interesting times. As such we must make the best of whatever opportunities are presented and continue our efforts to create more opportunities while solving whatever challenges we are able.
Excellent summary. " Instead of applauding the accomplishments of their new quarterback, who already has racked up some impressive wins, they are in a bitchy mood."
I remember as you do. I’m old, but not bat-shit crazy as I think many fox-watching oldsters have become. They, like me, probably had a family member who died or was maimed in WW2. Sadly, the world-class propaganda that worked prior to WW2 is with us today. So hope I can look forward to “truth in packaging” but Democrats will need a 90-decibel bull horn and I don’t see one. PS. The Japanese attack United a divided country, what will it take now?
Jeri You are ‘mature’ or, as I liked to call myself, ‘late middle age,’and are crazy like a fox, Not Fox. Your family and mine were saddened by WW II losses, as were our neighbors.
Indeed, my cult brother was named for my nephew who was killed in Italy the year bro was born. My Mom would be stunned, she and her sister never got over his loss. Are we really the children of the greatest generation, or just so disconnected from reality that propaganda is enticing.
It will take some re-education of the slave-master mentality and since it is peppered all over the USA, we will all have to stand up to them instead of drawing a Mason Dixon line somewhere. We will have to draw the line in our sense of morality.
Very well said, Keith, although I would caution against your optimism for the coming year. The effects of climate breakdown and other over-extractions of our resources are driving all the symptoms we face in our culture, the ineffable propaganda, the dis-ease that plagues our media. Fair-weather projections are just too risky in this environment; we need to steel ourselves for a fight for survival.
Agree. But it is far more important to the press to grab a headline. And for an individual reporter, to ask Jen Psaki what Biden will do about the price of gas. (Even as crude oil is already falling in price).
The realist and the magician reign together in this symphony of thought, Keith. Will it require a divine intervention to bring these two eloquently described acts together?
Fern ‘Divine and eloquent?’ At 3:15 a. M., without a cup of coffee, at times I feel inspired to spew forth more from the heart than the head, then not even read the sucker before rushing back to bed. My high-tech buddies would call this a ‘data dump.’ Somethings, in the morning when I read my ‘kitten-on-the-keys,’ I am tempted to sell my soul (‘divine’) for an eloquent editor.
Keith: I couldn’t agree more with Keith Kulper’s assessment of your text. You brilliantly have reconciled HCR’s flawless account of Biden’s accomplishments with the regrettably faltering ratings both for the Biden Administration and for Democratic lawmakers overall, despite policies shown repeatedly to have broad appeal. If I may, I merely would note that, in my view, neither Biden nor our Democratic representatives are doing nearly enough to shape the party’s story.
Barbara, With a somewhat different view, although I agree with you about the Democratic Party, Joe Biden, no orator, nonetheless, turns the United States of America towards goodness.
Fern, Though I fully share your perception of Biden, still, I continue to write letters prevailing upon Biden, as he did with the American Rescue Plan, to get the two coalitions in his Party together and united. Whether it be the Freedom to Vote Act, the Social and Climate Action package, or some other legislation, in my view, Biden must be mindful that the fate of the Democratic Party, ultimately, does not rest solely with individual Senators or with different coalitions within the Party. Rather, it’s the Party leadership that must lead, come up with the deal, and get the job done. I suppose you can tell I’m passionate, hopefully not offensively so, about Party leadership.
Do you passionately look for a 'god' to cast a spell on individual politicians who serve themselves and not the state? Do you not think that Biden, Schumer, Sanders (I-Vt.), Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and other determined Democrats as well as citizens, such as yourself, have not tried and tried? Failure or success in this has not yet been determined. Now is not a time like FDR's or LBJ's. The citizens are different, so is the media and the balance of power with the minority so much in charge. All recognizing the need for the state to represent the people must continue to keep trying, organizing and raising the voice of the people. Why aren't citizens more involved? Where is the pro-democracy movement? Are grassroots organizations working together? Why isn't there a mass movement?
As someone who mainly responds to daily requests from various grassroots civic organizations by trying to lend her voice in ways she deems most productive, I have no idea what triggered your insulting opening remark nor the expressed outrage that followed.
Barbara, I understand your anger at my response, it was not intended to be as personal as it was rightly read. Our fears about the current state of affairs are warranted. My concern has been that so much of the disappointment has been leveled against Biden. I tried to identify factors working against him. The Democratic party as a whole has been failing for more than 40 years, part of that is it weaknesses in combating the power that the Republicans have assumed and its failure to support the working class and middle class as Reaganomics and racism pressed the gas pedal. I do not know exactly how much the stress and uncertainty as a result of the pandemic has effected the public's attitude toward political engagement. Perhaps, even now, as the Biden administration has delivered on some of his promises with more to go, the government may still thought of in a negative way. That a new variant has emerged and the pandemic rages on, it is impossible to get a break. Barbara, I am sorry to have offended you and did not express myself well. My own passion overwhelmed the message that I tried to share.
They still think the media will spread the word, Frank Luntz, word master for fox and repubs before Fox, should have taught them that propaganda works. The spin machine started out with a trickle (Willie Horton first time I was gobsmacked) and was so grateful to Bill in late 90’s, and by W/Dickie time was the preferred mode for republicans. Dems still haven’t caught on…
Didn't you just sign on with Mel Brooks to ridicule and mock them. I think that is a much smarter and truer way than going their false, dirty and lethal way = no way.
The Light or the Dark coming from top leadership always trickles down. It’s slow. Trump’s darkness is still smothering us. Biden’s light is still finding the path that will lift us up.
MSM harp on Biden’s approval numbers in the polls. They never remind us of what Trump’s were, nor those of other presidents nor foreign leaders currently. MSM can be trusted not to provide context on most things other than sports and celebrity doings.
For quite a while now, I've been wondering why the Democrats have been so inept at getting their message across, while the distortions and outright lies from the GOP seem to hit home every single time. As I was reading this piece, the reason suddenly jumped into clear focus for me.
Memes, sound bites and slogans are the Doritos, candy, cake and ice cream of our society; actual governance is the broccoli and peas.
While the Republicans have been serving up massive helpings of Doritos, candy, cake and ice cream (Sleepy Joe, "own the libs," "my freedoms!," "socialism!," etc.), the Democrats have been all about the broccoli and peas of actually governing.
And unfortunately for the Democrats, the lure of those junk food items is extremely strong, so the ignorant among us, led by the far right, will continue to gorge on them -- until finally, like a kindergartner after a birthday party, they get the inevitable tummyache (or worse).
Also unfortunately, a country-level "tummyache" is likely to have far-reaching and deadly consequences.
Charlie, you're right. It all comes down to $$$. The MSM needs to survive and without advertising revenue, the unbiased media will be eaten up by the Fox News/Sinclair monster. We all know bad news sells. The question is, how do we provide greater support to the MSM so they can promote the GOOD news vs the bad news. A couple of thoughts:
- First and foremost, GOTV to increase control over both houses of Congress. This means time, effort and $$$.
- Provided we can control Congress, reinstate the "Fairness Doctrine" and,
- In the meantime, as many suggested yesterday, we need Jeffrey Bezos (like his better-half, MacKenzie Scott) to support local media to prevent the Sinclair empire from spreading.
I shared this letter everyday for almost a year. Many started reading for awhile, but after Biden took office, no one wants to READ anymore. Share all you want, but people have to actually read. Being spoon fed lies is so much easier.
I have shared LFAA on Facebook since the first impeachment hearings, and find that sharing is really most effective when I preface the daily letter with a little précis of it, or a respectful observation about what’s in it — people are most apt to read a piece if I flash a quick peek into it first.
Horses and people analogy: reminds me of the wild Mustangs being terrorized by helicopters and driven off public lands so greedy cattlemen can make a buck. It’s comparable to the Nazi robbery and roundup of Jews in Germany. They are then penned up, families separated into groups, makes from females, mistreated so badly that they die or just sent off to slaughter…does thst make them unthinking? Or does it reflect on the lack of morals of the men who hire the helicopters and make money from the sllaughter ?
Thank you for supporting quality journalism, but please understand a “tweet” has never solved a problem, not ever, not a single one. Instead, when you see a problem do something to fix it. No single person alone will resolve it, so find others who care about it and are working on it and join with them to make a difference.
I understand and at 74 and with limited financial resources also, I vote, volunteer, participate with others in both advocacy and activism, march and rally with others, write, train others - particularly our next generation of activists - and continue to look for ways to do more. I presume you are or could do some of those as well. I try to spend as little time as possible whining about what I can’t fix and look for ways to make a difference where I can - even in small ways. Find a group supporting a local food pantry and volunteer with them. Volunteer to read to/with children at a local elementary school or public library. Write letters to the editor of a local paper. Support a quality candidate for a city council or seat on a local school board by writing post cards to voters, texting or phone banking. Become a local voter registrar and help get voters registered. There are literally hundreds of opportunities to make a difference more effectively than “tweeting.”
Please understand I say this not to be critical of anything or anyone. I am only encouraging all to think about how they really can make a real difference in the world no matter their age or circumstances.
Find others who care about something you are passionate about and join with them in working together on what you truly care about. There is strength in numbers and you will enjoy the company and passion of others who care about the same issues and challenges you do. Remember to celebrate with them as well both for your collective efforts and every small difference you make.
Not Kidding. Not looking for appreciation. Looking for votes. I will include it on my blog and send it to about fifty contacts with whom I regularly communicate. Every little bit helps.
I've been regularly sharing the Letters on Facebook with a quote from the Letter that I think captures one of the topics, in hopes that people will then read the whole Letter. I know that doesn't meet some people's standards for "activism," but I feel that information itself has value, and maybe it arms someone for a difficult discussion for someone in their life who has been suckered into the Fox/Qanon bubble.
Twenty years ago I had some older friends who used to do that with every piece of garbage email they received and believed as gospel truth. I persisted in pointing out it was garbage and after a while, they dropped me off their distribution list.
I beg of you, please get over this counterproductive notion that the MSM is ever going to change. If earnest policy discussions got ratings, they would feature those. But they don't, so they don't. Stop wishing and hoping like Dusty Springfield and start learning to craft simple messages that connect with ordinary people.
I beg of you, don't write off human beings. ALL institutions can be changed. Especially now. We had to push hard for metoo and BLM, we also push for real news. We keep pushing.
We can be humans and not idiots.
They are running headlong into a world THEY don't want. Chaos and despot rulers do corporations no good.
Speaking personally, I think we all are a bit of both.
I don't write off all human beings, but ever since the Greeks told the legends of Cassandra and Laocoön, history has been full of looming catastrophes that a few saw too clearly but most ignored or dismissed. We are looking at one now.
The MSM can change--evenutally, but it won't change in time enough to avert the catastrophe that's coming if we don't face reality and change our messaging accordingy.
Not meaninglessness, at all but not sufficient to reach those we need to reach, either. So yes. Keep hem up, but consider that the best strategy might be the one we haven’t tried yet.
Agree, Andrew, about the “broccoli and peas” but also Pres Biden and the Dems have had the task of being the cure for the tummy ache, the “Pepto Bismol” of it all. And that is simply not easy. People want it. But they still want the “spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down”.
This is such a great simile. And we know all too well that chips, candy, cake, and ice cream are much easy to grab and satiate whereas broccoli and peas require some prep and more often cooking before you get to enjoy them.
As The Atlantic’s Anne Applebaum put it, the bad guys are winning.
Mussolini rides again. Hitler’s ghost is smiling. It’s Trump. It’s Orban. It’s Putin. It’s Erdogan, it’s vicious dictators running China, the Philippines, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Pakistan.
Evil racist Black hating Fox and other goons in MSM feast on evil, love the ratings Trump evil generates, they ignore the golden goose, Trump obesity, his orange painted face, squinty eyes, his hugely popular racial prejudice and criminal behavior, his three marriages, misuse of women, obscene minute to minute lying miscegenation, and Mr. 538 says we seek normalcy. He’s nuts.
We are leading the world in emotional dysfunction, addiction and drugs. We are without leadership that hammers evil and sells the good.
Blacks are among our nicest and we kill them and the white punk in Wisconsin walks.
Dear Heather spells out EVIL but fears the word.
The Republican fascists are EVIL. We are losing our democracy. We are still trashing Blacks.
We are a lazy entitled bunch of mixed up obese narcissistic softies and MSM has long lost the anchors to windward in its thrust for ratings.
Yes. The Bad Guys Are Winning. And the oligarchs are rising in every field of endeavor.
The callings are shot. Journalism is dying. Democracy is failing.
President Biden is trapped in his new found decency and Clarence Thomas is Biden’s legacy.
My mother was British and we followed WW II from September, 1939. The string of military defeats was horrific—-Europe to Hitler, Great Britain on the cusp of defeat, then Pearl Harbor and disaster in Asia. Eventually Mussolini was strung by his heels, Hitler committed suicide, and the allies triumphed. I greatly admire Anne Applebaum and find her December Atlantic article sobering. Nevertheless, I still have hope for an eventual turnaround—-think of Lincoln during the worst days of the Civil War. Jon Meacham’s THE SOUL OF AMERICA describes the ups, downs, and then ups in American history. Though these are discouraging times for America’s ‘soul,’ the American people have the potential character for another ‘up.’
There’s plenty of good stuff happening, the media just saturates us in the the 💩💩💩. We desperately need to make sure everyone’s vote counts though. All the lives and body parts lost to lift up democracy demands this of us!
Hitler was defeated because he attacked another dictatorship which was nearly as bad in its way. It was the forces of that dictatorship, and not plucky England or righteous America, which did the most to bring down Hitler. And because Stalin's armies triumphed, Eastern Europe paid the price for the next 50 years.
Let's not turn the result of that war into a 'just so' story about the triumph of democracy because for many people who lived in the aftermath, it was anything but. Let's lose our sentimental stories about the ultimate triumph of decency in America. It's an infinite game-- a battle we must fight every day or eventually lose.
Jim Hitler made two deadly mistakes—invading the Soviet Union when he did and declaring war on the US 4 days after Pearl Harbor. Russia lost at least 14 million men which the Americans/British lost far less than one million. We like to focus on the fact that Churchill kept England in the war and, thus, there was a launching pad for D-Day. The Russian version differs sharply.
I hope Applebaum also produces a history of thriving democracies and how they maintain those systems. It's easy to point out the flawed polity, but also helpful to explore what works. Describe the state of democracy by rating electoral processes and pluralism, the state of civil liberties, the functioning of government, political participation and political culture. Norway, Iceland, Sweden, New Zealand, Denmark, Canada, Ireland, Switzerland, Finland, Australia, for example.
a form or process of civil government or constitution.
How i wish I had enough education to think and communicate with such succinctness, to think in concepts. Instead I waste effort and space using definitions. This is what separates us. This is why we need free universal education like other civil societies, so we can think more efficiently in concepts and make informed decisions. So we dont have to resort to violence. Please use more concepts; so I can expand my understanding.
Susan, you write very clearly and what you write shows an unusual quality, willingness to admit to your limitations -- a willingness that makes those handicaps far less limiting. But I just want to say that we also need to be aware that concepts, which are precious tools enabling us to think through difficult issues, are abstractions, they help us to understand something ABOUT reality but they are not reality.
Why say this? It's just that we all fall so easily into the same trap, confusing ideas with what they represent. We easily take images for what they represent, maps for the real ground.
That helps explain how uneducated people on the margins of society can sometimes be more in touch with the world's realities than intellectuals and so-called experts, let alone most politicians... all blinded by their "science" -- technical knowhow and prejudices...
As Seneca noted, "Wisdom does not require much instruction".
Bingo. We have so many earnest, intelligent people who think the bare knuckle combat and dumbed-down messaging they need to succeed in the political arena are somehow beneath them. So they only reach other people who feel the same way and concede the field to the Republicans. One reason the R's hate AOC so much is that she treats them like the drunken frat boys she met on her bartender job and leaves them feeling very diminished. She takes zero guff from them and they hate it. All Democrats should learn from her.
Not a "good" communicator, or just not dramatic enough? Not a week goes by that he doesn't have at least one live appearance to talk about Build Back Better, or vaccine data, or Covid data, or other good news.
He does, and sometimes seems strong and forthright, but on other occasions his voice is soft and he comes across as lacking energy. That said, it doesn't excuse the media from doing what should be it job of focusing on positives as well as negatives. More of the former and less of the latter, please.
We ELECTED a very old man as our president. He won because more people liked him than his opponents (more or less, I'm a Bernie fan myself, no spring chicken either). But one side wants to ignore his age, while the other wants to highlight any perceived slip as reason to label him unfit. I would love it if, as a country, we could accept that we chose him because of his wisdom and experience. Hard won qualities not bestowed on the young! And with that accept that he may not have the sparkle and pep of a twenty year old. It's a package deal, lets get over it.
As The Atlantic’s Anne Applebaum put it, the bad guys are winning.
Mussolini rides again. Hitler’s ghost is smiling. It’s Trump. It’s Orban. It’s Putin. It’s Erdogan, it’s vicious dictators running China, the Philippines, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Pakistan.
Evil racist Black hating Fox and other goons in MSM feast on evil, love the ratings Trump evil generates, they ignore the golden goose, Trump obesity, his orange painted face, squinty eyes, his hugely popular racial prejudice and criminal behavior, his three marriages, misuse of women, obscene minute to minute lying miscegenation, and Mr. 538 says we seek normalcy. He’s nuts.
We are leading the world in emotional dysfunction, addiction and drugs. We are without leadership that hammers evil and sells the good.
Blacks are among our nicest and we kill them and the white punk in Wisconsin walks.
Dear Heather spells out EVIL but fears the word.
The Republican fascists are EVIL. We are losing our democracy. We are still trashing Blacks.
We are a lazy entitled bunch of mixed up obese narcissistic softies and MSM has long lost the anchors to windward in its thrust for ratings.
Yes. The Bad Guys Are Winning. And the oligarchs are rising in every field of endeavor.
The callings are shot. Journalism is dying. Democracy is failing.
President Biden is trapped in his new found decency and Clarence Thomas is Biden’s legacy.
Go Sandy, you said everything that scares the hell out of me. I am retired USN and flew hundreds of hours doing intel missions during cold war and 4 tours in Nam so I don't get scared easily. I am afraid it may be too late.
Too late? Never again? Yes, Bill Schnautz, the intelligent are frightened. Numb. The GOP live delusional lives, some in abject denial, others delighted with neo/fascism in dozens of nations, and here, led by Trump et al. President Obama’s victories, Joe Knows Us and November 3rd fomented One Six, the Mussolini/Hitler redux / Trump et al give us today’s the GOP fascist push and The Big Lie. We can cause some Good Trouble, said Prophet John Robert Lewis. A brother.
John Lewis got the 💩💩💩 beat out of him over and over and he still loved the world and got up and kept trying. We can absolutely do this. No matter how bad it is they(Lewis and brothers and sisters) have seen and lived thru worse. Sandy wears dark shades on this forum almost always and struggles to let the light shine through. Attitudes are infectious. Let’s all be like John. 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
When you think of what the Biden Admn. has accomplished while facing so many head winds, it is pretty amazing. This letter and the positives it summarizes should be read out loud on every media outlet every day! And, what have the republicans accomplished . . . negativity, chaos, hatred, domestic and international instability, and not a single goddamned policy that has benefitted anyone other than a few who are hell bent to line their own pockets while they tear down everything around them.
So... You have uneducated, maybe uneducable, voters and they aren't remotely up to the task incumbent on them as the world's most powerful, most influential electorate. Add to that media whose sole conception of their role is to make the most money possible by selling entertainment -- and everybody knows that good news doesn't sell, nothing sells like bad news and scandal, so bad news and scandal are what's sold to the world's most influential electorate, keeping them ignorant and stupid, able only to answer the question: "Are you happy/unhappy with what you see on TV?"
Answer: "Of course we're not happy, people are still sick and dying, there's a migrant infestation at our southern border, God isn't in Washington where He's meant to be, doing His job making rain and shining us our Great American Dream. 'Cos Joe Biden's President that means he's Gawd and he's failing to control the Universe like he's supposed to America can't get things wrong Waaaaaaaaiiiihhhh!!!!! Mom Pass the Popcorn..."
Then, how do you compete with a system in which one man DOES play God, going with chaos, stirring it, stirring it? Consider this:
And yes, how do you compete with this? No one's asking the people if they're happy with God or His Tsar, they're not supposed to be happy, they're supposed to fear and adore them.
Unfortunately, HCR can't make up for this, she can't educate the American people single-handed.
But Drumpf and the Drumpfista Party know very well how to keep the American people in their place, ignorant, stupid, powerless, how to keep screwing the people and wrecking the world while making trillions out of the Game...
I "like" what you write with a bloody great HEART, but sure that heart's bleeding, bleeding as the reality's so damned disheartening. People don't know what they have or what they could do with it.
Only lobbies and lobbyists count in the Augean Stables of Congress.
Are "We the People" still alive?
What tasers have we besides those long, too long awaited perp walks?
The problem is the polling. They should just stop doing it. They keep coming out with all these polls that reinforce negative thinking instead of just focusing on the actual progress, a negative feedback loop.
Boy do I ever hear you, Gwen. I still fill out the polls though, just in case numbers are of use to the upholders of the values I cherish. I could wish the polls were themselves less simplistic.
Tamara, Gwen and JJ. I've never received a poll/survey about anything other than "how did my dentist do?" Fine with me. And look at how accurate the polls were for the 2016 election. Wasn't Hilary supposed to win that?
Your discussion of media responsibility for Biden’s popularity is spot on. The withdrawal from Afghanistan was certainly a low point for fair news coverage. And for me, I remember the fall of Saigon (I was in my 20s). So what will surely be seen as a success over time was portrayed as a nightmare - which it surely was not. After all the US forces had to rely on “good will” such as it was from the Taliban. And the only solution posed by “experts” would have been to rebuild our numbers and assets - but this would have created more of the same dilemma, which is how to get the folks out of Afghanistan who helped up. An expansion of US forces would have caused us to engage more Afghans from translators to common laborers - and so we would have made our problem larger. To get out would always get us to a point where a small number of Americans were defending our last bastion.
Similar press coverage holds for inflation. An international problem and one that seems to all authorities to be at least partly related to mismatches between supply and demand due to COVID is greeted by laments nearly every day about what is Biden going to do about inflation. Yet the crude oil is dropping, and plywood (key to construction and to building furniture) is dropping as well. The president was nagged into releasing oil from the strategic reserves - a move that may accomplish something but may not. But even when Biden acts, we are seeing Right Wing Media talk about having to replace the cheaper oil in the reserve with high priced oil.
Biden is hardly a man without flaws but if we looks at the challenges, we see a man whose administration is being honest with the American people and is dedicated to upholding the rule of law and reestablishing norms gleefully abandoned under Trump.
As The Atlantic’s Anne Applebaum put it, the bad guys are winning.
Mussolini rides again. Hitler’s ghost is smiling. It’s Trump. It’s Orban. It’s Putin. It’s Erdogan, it’s vicious dictators running China, the Philippines, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Pakistan.
Evil racist Black hating Fox and other goons in MSM feast on evil, love the ratings Trump evil generates, they ignore the golden goose, Trump obesity, his orange painted face, squinty eyes, his hugely popular racial prejudice and criminal behavior, his three marriages, misuse of women, obscene minute to minute lying miscegenation, and Mr. 538 says we seek normalcy. He’s nuts.
We are leading the world in emotional dysfunction, addiction and drugs. We are without leadership that hammers evil and sells the good.
Blacks are among our nicest and we kill them and the white punk in Wisconsin walks.
Dear Heather spells out EVIL but fears the word.
The Republican fascists are EVIL. We are losing our democracy. We are still trashing Blacks.
We are a lazy entitled bunch of mixed up obese narcissistic softies and MSM has long lost the anchors to windward in its thrust for ratings.
Yes. The Bad Guys Are Winning. And the oligarchs are rising in every field of endeavor.
The callings are shot. Journalism is dying. Democracy is failing.
President Biden is trapped in his new found decency and Clarence Thomas is Biden’s legacy.
Unfortunately, Sandy, I feel much as you do. I applaud Biden’s efforts and successes but have little hope where half the country worships the insane blivet of Maralago. The republican “leadership” is focussed on the destruction of all that is good. I say f**k em all.
Thanks for the new word, Hale! Aptly describes tfg to a t. Noun. blivet (plural blivets) Anything overfull. An item of unknown purpose, often unnecessary or useless or annoying. But I would add that despite his vacuous, narcissistic love for himself and money/power, we all know a lot more about our country, our history, and the unfilled cracks in our democracy when an entire party becomes traitors. Then there are the revelations of other patriarchal pox's on our people such as misogyny, the maintenance of the ancient caste system where whites are always on the top around money, power and greed. They are a dying breed (literally, as they brainwash their own white followers to disavow masks and vaccines). Thanks to the anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers we now have extremely high rates of Covid again. Why do the newspeople not thank the party of traitors for this strange and twisted genocide on their own followers? It is mind-boggling.
As The Atlantic’s Anne Applebaum put it, the bad guys are winning.
Mussolini rides again. Hitler’s ghost is smiling. It’s Trump. It’s Orban. It’s Putin. It’s Erdogan, it’s vicious dictators running China, the Philippines, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Pakistan.
Evil racist Black hating Fox and other goons in MSM feast on evil, love the ratings Trump evil generates, they ignore the golden goose, Trump obesity, his orange painted face, squinty eyes, his hugely popular racial prejudice and criminal behavior, his three marriages, misuse of women, obscene minute to minute lying miscegenation, and Mr. 538 says we seek normalcy. He’s nuts.
We are leading the world in emotional dysfunction, addiction and drugs. We are without leadership that hammers evil and sells the good.
Blacks are among our nicest and we kill them and the white punk in Wisconsin walks.
Dear Heather spells out EVIL but fears the word.
The Republican fascists are EVIL. We are losing our democracy. We are still trashing Blacks.
We are a lazy entitled bunch of mixed up obese narcissistic softies and MSM has long lost the anchors to windward in its thrust for ratings.
Yes. The Bad Guys Are Winning. And the oligarchs are rising in every field of endeavor.
The callings are shot. Journalism is dying. Democracy is failing.
President Biden is trapped in his new found decency and Clarence Thomas is Biden’s legacy.
Looks like you bonked your readership over the head too darned hard with that Big Stick of yours and knocked the poor things out instead of waking them up for roll-call in the Konzentrationslager.
EXCUSE ME PEOPLE, BUT ISN'T SANDY PUTTING UP A HUGE SIGN POINTING OUT WHERE THE ROAD LEADS TO?
This is one of the best letters you've done Heather... And, one of the most needed to be read by everyone to show what President Biden has been able to do despite the Republican obstructionism.
Totally Agree Cathy!! This Letter IS one of her best, as well as one of the most important. It does need to be read by everyone! So how do we best spread it far and wide and effectively? I have posted it to facebook, with Heather's last paragraph as the heading (in quotations), and I will text the link to colleagues. But, for all my non-political friends, and for my very political elected officials, I am thinking we need a concise "Reader's Digest version" for impact. Clean, powerful bullet points. After another cup of hot tea.
And I disagree Cathy. Pedal to the Medal spending and debt policies in the face of huge deficits, a pandemic and generational inflation is impudent to be kind. 61% of America payed no Federal income tax last year and Joe tells them they won’t again as he plays Santa. Debt to GDP is 126%. Greater than it ever was in WW2 and modern history. That alone should alarm us and maybe embolden are adversaries. Reagan raised taxes 7 times when debt grew too fast and kept the economy growing such that D/GDP never got above 56%. If Joe is channeling FDR note D/GDP never got over 60% in the Depression. Citizens voted for Joe for stability and normalcy. They have gotten neither. I do not like to be the bearer of bad news but what I am saying is now actually occurring. It is part of daily life and voters of all stripes have noticed. A couple of Trillion, which is actually a lot more, in spending right now is way out there on the curve when inflation and debt expansion are both on fire. Hey I hope Joe gives me a million bucks. To me that is popular. Even better, make the other guy pay. It doesn’t make it the right thing to do.
Hi David, Good to hear from you. Here's an article on the 61% of Americans paying no Federal income tax which I found interesting. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/18/61percent-of-americans-paid-no-federal-income-taxes-in-2020-tax-policy-center-says.html The pandemic has certainly had an impact on the economy. I'll agree with you on that. Yes, the stimulus checks lowered the number of people paying income tax during this economic and health catastrophe. Because of income disparity and wages not increasing over decades, it isn't surprising that a stimulus check could erase the income tax on low wages that barely support feeding a family while the top 1% pay no taxes either. If you paid even a dollar in taxes, you paid more tax than sixty of the largest corporations put together who paid NOTHING in taxes. I see President Biden as working toward making sure people have jobs which pay decent wages which will create a good tax base. And get corporations to pay a minimum tax of 15% so that we start getting the debt under control. President Biden is making sure his infrastructure package which creates jobs is also paying for itself so not creating debt. Makes a lot of sense to me.
The government handing out money is not the solution. It may sound great, but somebody has to pay for it and right now we are way over our skis in debt. Corporations are charged taxes but investors pay them. Joe for all that he has done, has never made payroll. Growth and payroll is what will build this country not virtue signaling hand outs at a time we can literally least afford them. In 2019 49% essentially paid no tax. None. We are no longer in this thing together. The President is doing, in my opinion, too much, too fast and at the absolute wrong moment.
In normal times I would agree with you. However, we are dealing with a hundred year global pandemic which calls for extraordinary measures. The US economy is recovering faster than any other country. I'm tired of the where you sit is where you stand arguments about the debt. When a party is in power they ignore the debt, then when the other party is in power the debt becomes their highest priority.
Here's how I was quoted in the Wall Street Journal in July, 2017:
“Where you sit is where you stand. I’m tired of the childish accusations between the two major parties when if roles were reversed they would both be saying just the opposite…and do all the time.”
I wish we had some statesmen and stateswomen rather than politicians with no goal other than to stay in power and keep their donors happy. Here in Texas we are now living in an autocracy. It is no longer a democratic republic where the representatives would be working for the People. I do see President Biden as old fashioned in the sense he is working for the People.
Sorry. It sure is. Republican super majorities supporting the whims of a power crazy governor. Gerrymandering that guarantees Republicans stay in the majority. A party that represents the now minority white population. So minority rule. A super majority that ignores the majority of the People and passes anti-abortion vigilante injustice law that circumvents the U.S. Constitution taking away Constitutional rights from half the citizens who don't have a Y chromosome. Voter suppression laws that take away the right to vote from thousands. Policies popular with the majority of the population totally ignored. The population growth in Texas the past 10 years is 95% Hispanic, yet the extreme gerrymandered districts actually increase the likelihood of Republicans winning almost all districts. Democrats are forced to complete against another Democrat in redrawn districts. No one even needs a permit to carry a gun. Vigilantees can come after anyone. Beto in running for Governor, a state wide office, may win but that will be fruitless without a legislature that supports him. Texas is definitely no longer a democracy (small d). Perhaps Beto is being an optimist in thinking he can restore democracy to the Republic of Texas.
Actually it is one of the only ways to restore democracy. This period will be called the Great Resignation because the pandemic has made it clear the People have had it with the oligarchic kleptocracy.
When the great ship is floundering and off course, now is not the time for small course corrections, but time to harden the rudder and bring the ship to course and bring all home to safety.
Too many Americans are suffering from the heartless greed of the few. They are vulnerable to extremists who have no morals. It is time to MEND the furniture. Dont destroy what you cant create. You have no new furniture to replace the old. You only offer chaos, which harms the most innocent and vulnerable.
Yes Yes Yes and then some. I have been astonished at Biden's low approval ratings and the amnesia that prevents Americans from appreciating the difference between a presidency based on service to the public from one based on self-aggrandizement, self enrichment, and mendacity. On Joe Biden's shoulders rest the tasks of restoring faith in American democracy, ending the pandemic after his predecessor's abysmal failure, and helping the millions of disadvantaged Americans ignored by Trump and his minions. Biden doesn't have a major network devoted to spinning lies on his behalf- nor is he willing to use the shock tactics of the Republicans to terrify their members into submission. Thanks so much Heather for trying to set the record straight.
As The Atlantic’s Anne Applebaum put it, the bad guys are winning.
Mussolini rides again. Hitler’s ghost is smiling. It’s Trump. It’s Orban. It’s Putin. It’s Erdogan, it’s vicious dictators running China, the Philippines, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Pakistan.
Evil racist Black hating Fox and other goons in MSM feast on evil, love the ratings Trump evil generates, they ignore the golden goose, Trump obesity, his orange painted face, squinty eyes, his hugely popular racial prejudice and criminal behavior, his three marriages, misuse of women, obscene minute to minute lying miscegenation, and Mr. 538 says we seek normalcy. He’s nuts.
We are leading the world in emotional dysfunction, addiction and drugs. We are without leadership that hammers evil and sells the good.
Blacks are among our nicest and we kill them and the white punk in Wisconsin walks.
Dear Heather spells out EVIL but fears the word.
The Republican fascists are EVIL. We are losing our democracy. We are still trashing Blacks.
We are a lazy entitled bunch of mixed up obese narcissistic softies and MSM has long lost the anchors to windward in its thrust for ratings.
Yes. The Bad Guys Are Winning. And the oligarchs are rising in every field of endeavor.
The callings are shot. Journalism is dying. Democracy is failing.
President Biden is trapped in his new found decency and Clarence Thomas is Biden’s legacy.
Agreed on every point. But we can wallow in this despair and/or we can do something. If you haven't read Robert Hubbell's newsletter on substack, I highly recommend it. He's Monday through Friday writer who presents the news, comments and offers his legal expertise to clarify facts. He is a wonderful compliment to HCR and her historical presentations. I start my coffee with Heather and end it with Robert.
It seems Americans believe a fantasy in which we elect a new president means the problems left by past administrations are waved away with a magic wand. It always has been this way yet stunning during this presidency. The media is to blame for one, but goodness, the doom I feel lays in believing our fellow citizens are too entitled and lazy to find accurate information and form opinions using critical thinking which may turn the tide of dismal polling results. I wonder if my expectation is unrealistic given the stress of everyday life in our work to death American culture…we’re a worn out community.
With the over-educated, under-intelligent, otherwise-unemployable "gems" of the American media around, you don't need an enemy. They'll push anything that gets them clicks. The media wears running sneakers with velcro snaps; the truth wears high-top lace-up combat boondockers. By the time truth gets its boots on, the media is around the world 60 times. And trust me, it's nothing new. If you're an historian doing research, the one thing you will discover is that 90% of the time, whatever period you want to look at, the press got it wrong - and very rarely issued a retraction and correction.
What a great analogy. My version of this is that by the time I see a meme that has generated grunts of Republiscum approval, research the meme, reply, provide the counter, articulate the position, and present it to the poster, it is met with the velcro running shoe community with a well reasoned, articulated counter of "nu-uh, check Prager U; it's real" or I am called a "sheeple".
“focused on negative information (negotiations are portrayed as “disarray,” for example), and ignored that Republicans have refused to participate in any lawmaking, choosing instead simply to be obstructionist”
I would like to help chip away at some of the GOP BS. Those that “negotiate” unfaithfully, never intending to come to a compromise are in fact doing more damage than just “obstructing”. They are helping to reinforce their narrative that “Governent is the problem”. It is not. Their obstruction to compromise is the problem.
Economically it is true that here in the US, consumers are spending a lot more on hard goods, not services. This has put a huge strain on factories to grow production, only made worse by the pandemic. How can any human resource manager and production manager grow inventories, hire new and train the workforce to increase factory output during a pandemic, amidst shut downs, while moroging production lines with social distancing, during continuing sequential outbreaks, as demand continues surging, and everyone’s supply chain has tightened and disruption rules? That is complexity people.
This can not be blamed on one President of the United States! It is way to far a complex and presents a set and series of global problems here and in far off supplier countries. Many of the supply chains involve multiple countries for a single product. Multiply that by many products per brand or company, and you can begin to understand complexity at hand.
This complexity was made far worse by TFG’s tariffs, that caused less buying by China, and a surplus of containers here piled up at US ports ( this has been under reported). Surplus containers here equals a shortage of containers in Asia. US manufactures are having to PAY for the shipping of empty containers back to China. If not, the shippers can jack up shipping prices anyway. Thanks former guy.
I’ve heard and read the right wing nut pundits blame the current President for the above, and for the Port delays and shipping bottle necks as well. As if Biden both moved all the factories and production off shore in the first place starting 40 years ago. Really? And then it’s the Presidents fault for how inadequate the Port capacity is in dealing with bottlenecks, how few deep water ports there are, how few docks there are for ships to unload, how few cranes there are per dock, and that there are not enough port workers and truck drivers? Really?
Now if you follow that logic… if bigger Government and government interference is the problem, and all the problems can be solved by the private sector alone (even in foreign supplier countries)… then shouldn’t the blame for these current problems be on the private sector too and not government? And certainly not on one person in one office of government?
These are all complex multi faceted problems with no easy answers. The answers are well beyond the scope of just the private sector. Apple, Ford, intel, etc can not independently negotiate alone, by themselves, with the worlds largest supplier country that owns the Majority of US debt, that happens to be a one party authoritarian communist state. There is no way that the private sector can alone build more ports where no more deep water port locations exist. Even if the private sector could manage all the surging demand at the ports, they can not add capacity to ports that are constrained by mega cities that have crowded them in.
These right wing nut critics are both ignorant, misinformed, and delusional of global supply chains, shipping complexity, and basic coastal geography. Leaving the problems to the private sector only leaves them unresolved, and only makes a bad situation worse.
Gas prices high? Cut down on your driving. Slowdowns at the post office or Amazon? Walk downtown and find local crafters where you can shop for gifts or donate to a cause, or make something yourself or give an IOU coupon booklet. What does a pair of mittens from China really say about Christmas, Chanukkah, Kwanzaa or whatever else we are so pressured to buy?
The empty container issue is not new, however, China's ban on solid waste for recycling is one of the factors that has exacerbated the empty container dilemma. It makes sense that China doesn't want our trash but their ban has increased the number of empty containers being shipped back to Asia. From a 2018 article in Supply Chain Dive:
"China's recycling ban worsens imbalance
One of the few bright spots in the empty container imbalance dimmed when China banned importation of many common waste products for recycling. In 2016, China imported some 45 million metric tons of scrap metal waste paper and plastic, according to The Economist.
That trade essentially stopped when Beijing banned imports of 24 types of solid waste, and with bans on additional products going into effect in 2018 and 2019. The current prohibitions include paper and plastic waste steel and used auto parts. Pulp and waste paper were the single largest category of exports from the U.S. to Asia. Losing that trade has made it even more challenging to fill Asia-bound containers, particularly from the U.S."
Spot on Ted. It's systemic dysfunction and until we deal with that truth it won't change. How do you do that? Not simple, but a lot of current PTB are going to lose thier shit. Here's my analysis of the US healthcare system = FWIW. https://media.awakeningtowholeness.net/newusa-part-3/
Under tfg Fox-informed Americans were daily doused with great claims from the TV guy about how HE created the greatest economy and are now starved by JB for more candy he won't deliver. Of course they are unhappy , you think?
No argument with any of this -- but at root, people are pissy because the pandemic isn't over. GOPers are doing their best to keep it that way by coddling anti-vaxxers and opposing public health measures. You've given a fair summary of the Biden administration's accomplishments here -- and we need to keep reminding folks. But it's hard to break through when everyday life is constrained and people keep getting sick. We can but keep repeating ourselves.
I wish the Democrats could spread this message more widely. It feels Orwellian at times to read all the negative media coverage (and Republican attacks, of course) when so much of what Biden has done is positive, especially given what he inherited. Thank you for this reminder of what we should be thankful for this Thanksgiving.
The propaganda machine at Fox works 24/7. That is the problem. No, the real problem is that the Fox clones and the MSM follow Rupert down the rabbit hole of selective information - ignoring tfg’s disasterous set up, focusing on every glitch, and ignoring the fact that republicans are no longer a political party but obstructionists, propagandists, liars, and active destroyers of democracy. Even MSNBC falls into this trap. Democrats should read Frank Luntz’ “Words That Work.” It’s on sale at Thriftbooks….
It's not just Fox. The New York Times and the Washington Post do it, too, with sensational headlines. The story itself may have grains of truth in paragraph 5 or 10, but people don't read that far. Many people don't read past the headlines.
Heather! Thankfully you have the skill to share the FACT of the sea change the Biden administration has brought. Done with grace and skill and courage.
I ask you. Can you speak to why, why, why the Democratic Party is so hobbled and unable to get your clear message out to Americans?
How this Administration combat the media?
What is the missing link has Dems constantly cleaning up the mess of the right and then lose to the right.
Would you please consider a commentary on this?
Ever grateful for you voice, your brilliantly applied skills and your dedication to America.
From Derek DelGaudio on Twitter. “I used to rig card games for a living. I’d watch people sit down and lose everything, again and again. But they didn’t lose because they “played by the rules” and we didn’t. They lost because it wasn’t a game. It just looked like one. The Democrats think it is a game.”
Such has been the case for the longest time. Republicans offer slogans and “voodoo economics”. All lies. The R’s have talked endlessly about “tax & spend Democrats”. The D’s had to raise taxes to fix all the things R’s broke. People have bought into the “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” jargon, which is physically impossible given the location of bootstraps. It’s hard to message complicated, nuanced situations like the infrastructure bill. R’s pull out a tiny nugget of the situation, create a sound bite, and blast it all over the place. Here’s my thought, “What had the Republicans done for you lately? Have they ? and list Democrat accomplishments.”
Why not submit this piece as a letter to the Editor or Opinion Piece in the NYT? You have a wide following and we need to make it ever WIDER!
And don’t forget to include other widely-read news outlets: Washington Post, The Guardian, LA Times. Maybe even the WallStreetJournal could be convinced to widen their view with Heather’s Letter.
I agree. This letter provides so much positive that we never hear from MSM. We are drowned out by negative reporting on everything Biden and the Democrats.
I firmly believe the reason Biden’s numbers dropped from Afghanistan is because he rescued ally’s, not just any ally, “terrorists” in the peoples minds because this is what the Republicans fed the public. My own Rep. Darrell Issa put out multiple negative tweets every day and did endless interviews. He still says Americans are left behind. Then he sneaks in the fear mongering ever so carefully because he has a big community of Afghan constituents. Some of them were ones “left behind”. They went in the Spring, ignoring all the warnings. Plus, as I replied many times to Issa, the U.S. doesn’t track people, they were free to go.
Yes, yes, yes! Even the Lincoln Project referred recently to Heather Cox Richardson's excellent newsletters.
Their ads are placed in all the right places on cable TV.
More preaching to the choir. The people we need to reach don't read those worthy publications.
How might we meet them where they are in a way they understand?
PS-- The first person to throw up their hands and say it's hopeless because of the Fox News bubble will get a Bronx cheer.
Jim, you are correct. As I've written here and on the Washington Post: If you want to get supporters, you need to go to the hollers and the hoods to listen to the people and do what they want. This is what the Rev. William Barber has been telling people for some time. And if the Democrats really want to gather power and remain so, they need to do this, rather than going to places like The Hamptons to raise money from wealthy Democratic elite supporters.
Well maybe they need to do both...the money still matters!
Yes, Chaplain Terry, but votes are more important. And if you listen to the those folks in the hollers and the hoods and actually do things from what you heard, you might actually receive small amounts of cash from those people in addition the votes you would need to win in the next election. If the Democrats don't, it's very likely they will lose both houses of Congress. They must get off their elite asses and get out there!
Yes, Democrats need to show up in rural areas and urban neighborhoods. Be there.
Agreed! Got to get to hometown newspapers. In the middle of America.
And how might we reach the people who don’t read newspapers?
How about somebody start some cheap rags that openly cheer the Dems (and us !) to crowd out "The Mirror" and the "Sun" that stare at you as you wait for the food to go down the conveyer belt and you brainlessly absorb what you see? Be blatant in celebration! F' them if they can't take a joke.
That is a great idea. And we could get it up and running quickly
Yellow journalism can change hue and flow another direction.
Jim, The Bronx is much better than that
Especially the Italian food on Arthur Avenue!
Jim—I disagree. The “choir,” so to speak, is increasingly checking out because, despite some accomplishments, they understandably are discouraged by the degree of polarization and disfunction that, for example, blocks their own party, without Republican support, from passing voter protection legislation, even while GOP controlled state legislatures unilaterally pass bill after bill that restricts voting and nullifies votes.
I contend that those among us, who are becoming increasingly disheartened, need to hear from HCR. Even as our partners in this struggle call optimism into question, we all need fortification to remain hopeful, if for no other reason than to stay in the fight.
I agree. that matters and needs to happen. Still, let's not imagine that the words we read, and the forums we visit to comfort ourselves and maintain our strength are the same ones that will reach the people who aren't checked out from discouragement, but simply because they haven't checked in since last November.
Subscribers don't imagine that our roles on the forum of LFAA is to solely soothe our 'savage' breasts and minds as we're here to learn, share with one another, support social justice, economic fairness and Democracy. I'm a tad annoyed if being talked down to.
Sorry for doing that. I don't want you as an enemy. We are both on the same side.
I wasn't approaching as an 'enemy' Ryan. Your tone sounded more like a lecture than a conversation.
100% concur
Thank you, Barbara. Subscribers on the forum expressed appreciation for this Letter and some were sharing it with people they know as well as posting it on Facebook/Meta. My question to Jim is why do you remain in this choir? Is to preach a different sort of sermon? That's okay, Jim has a before him the choir that HCR built.
I love this choir. But I don't mistake it for the congregation.
In early 2016 when I expressed fear that Trump could win, someone tried to persuade me that it could not happen because our country was not that angry. Since its become clear that many are that angry and others were clever enough to harness the anger to gain support and win votes where they mattered. The Republican leaders, using disinformation, are conducting a very well orchestrated campaign of anger and fear — much of it is nonsensical, but it worked — it is working.
Democrats have been countering that campaign with uncoordinated expressions of outrage among their loyal and often disparate constituents. Editorials in MSM function as internal communications. The Party’s policies are sound; the messaging and execution are not.
Instead of talking just to one another, Democrats need a means to reach outsiders via their favored media and in their own voices. Messages about Biden’s accomplishments need to reach patrons of right wing media in voices that resonate to that audience. The challenge is to impact the narrative from within not from outside. Foreign actors found a way to control such conversations, why can’t the Democrats do the same but with facts and truth?
Nonetheless, every American needs to read this Letter. Bravo and thank you Heather Cox Richardson.
You are absolutely right
That’s a great idea!
Yes! Great idea!
Totally agree! Spread this well-contextualized truth to combat disinformation, misinformation, partial information, and wrong information.
Sorry, this reads like a press release from the DNC rather than a piece of objective reporting or even an Op-Ed that makes well reasoned arguments. To pick just one item as example, prior to the Afghanistan withdrawal Biden made numerous false statements. For example, downplaying the risk of a Taliban takeover (see July 8 WH Q&A) or saying that troops would remain until 100% of Americans were evacuated. And, on Syria, Trump WAS absolutely killed for the Syrian withdrawal - even by Republicans. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/disaster-betrayal-mistake-republicans-slam-trump-s-syria-pull-out-n1063251
Boo! So you’d point out Biden’s accomplishments differently? How? Remember, readers here are recommending this letter as an op-ed piece. An op-ed piece!
I think you can still do that with some objectivity. (See for example the David Brooks piece 'Joe Biden is Succeeding" in NYT - although I think he's too optimistic.) I thought people read HCR to learn something - and this seems to be all about cheerleading. There are a thousand sources I can get cheerleading from - on both the left and right. BTW, in answer to the commenter below, I voted for Biden in 2020 and would do so again.
I think there are some of Heather’s pieces that certainly speak to this audience. This may be one of them. However, if you are writing a column regarding Biden’s accomplishments, I imagine it’s going to read very optimistically unless it’s balanced by decisions that either didn’t work or haven’t gone over well with both parties. I don’t even consider Republican criticism of Biden because, let’s face it, they’re out to skewer him any way they can. They are shameful, hateful hypocrites who don’t care about bipartisanship, the Constitution or democracy, or any American who they consider “left,” which is basically all Democrats. I understand there are some good Republicans, but unfortunately the overwhelming majority of them are cowards who follow Trump only because they don’t have the guts to stand up against his incessant intimidation. Biden has done a lot for the country already but he’s simply not given enough credit. The media seems far more interested in what jerks like Trump, Bobert, Greene, Gaetz, Godard, etc. ad infinitum, do and think. Hate seems to sell ad space and get more reads than decency and good stewardship of the country. I think Heather did a good job of compiling Biden’s efforts to be a good steward. For God sakes, look at the scale of hate he’s up against. Every time I see my brother-in-law, a nice guy but a Republican conspiracy theorist, he makes unnecessary wise cracks about Biden, from his age and supposed senility to his son Hunter’s involvement with whatever he’s supposedly involved with. I don’t reply for my wife’s sake, but I’d really just like to treat him like a bad child, which to me he is. Imagine being Biden and putting up with a whole country of these idiots. I know I’m digressing. Biden will only get his due when history examines his actions weighed against the hateful environment that stifles his presidency. Good for Heather to list them, even for an audience that is largely pro-Biden.
Yet you’re here with zero objectivity. It seems you’re looking for Biden to fail. Do you want HCR to preach doom and gloom? Is that the only acceptable form of writing you’re open to? There are no lies is what HCR said. Why do you insist on denigrating her? I don’t care who you voted for, it sounds like you’re the cheerleader for Trump here and only want to hear the Biden is failing. Maybe you should read what you wrote from the perspective of your audience.
If you don’t respect the honesty that HCR employs to write her newsletters and provide information why do you read them? After all it appears you are out here to criticize Biden and support the actions of Republicans. They could have stopped the slaughter of the Kurds, but they didn’t. They could have been proactive in the transition so the Biden Administration was prepared. Even today Ted Cruz is doing everything he can to keep posts from being filled and putting the security of the country at risk just so they can make Biden look bad. And you seem to have fallen for it hook, line and sinker.
Thank you for this account of Biden’s accomplishments. They are many, starting with the simple fact that he had the resume for the job of US President, unlike his predecessor who purposely left our country in disaray in part to cover his incompetence. Second, Biden truly believes in this country, it’s founding ideals, and democracy. By both action & inaction, the Republicans of today are proving they do not.
Finally, Biden knows how our political system works and understands the rule of law. His fierce commitment to negotiation & compromise is evidence that he walks the talk of a true American President, one who sees his leadership as a service to the country, not a personal power grab.
We must all do a better job supporting this man. Our goal must be to talk about his accomplishments until his strengths & positive impact for regular Americans reach critical mass and are undeniable in the minds of America and inescapable for the media.
Take a look a this by Oliver Willis. I am frustrated the link won't work. Anyway. Type in Oliver Willis Tracking what Joe Biden has accomplished since becoming the 46th president of the United States on January 20, 2021.
As of November 2021 there are 110 verified accomplishments for Biden on the comprehensive list.
Table of Contents
Domestic Policy
Immigration/Border
Climate Change
Human Rights
COVID-19
National Security
Judiciary
Environment
Foreign Policy
These accomplishments will not light a fire under Democratic voters in 2022 and 2024. They will, however, open the door to Republican lies, casting doubt about them. The only path to Democratic victories in 2022 and 2024 is to lock in the votes of persons of color and women by repeatedly pointing out that Republicans, at all levels, vote against what benefits them, and that any person of color or woman who votes Republican is out of their mind.
"The only path to Democratic victories in 2022 and 2024 is to lock in the votes of persons of color and women."
I am sorry, but to me that borders on sexist, racist - and defeatist.
For the past 15 years, I've volunteered for local Democratic committees and on various campaigns getting out the vote - sometimes almost full time in weeks leading up to elections. In some cycles, I've made tens of thousands of phone calls and knocked on thousands of doors. Every person whose told me their opinions is an education. Every potential voter is a potential ally.
The only path to Democratic victories is for each of us to do as much GOTV outreach during the months leading up to an election as we can. It's not about the money donations, it's about our volunteer labor.
I agree. And it would really help if Democrats gave messages that were easier to understand for less informed and engaged voters, and if they were better at painting the villains on the other side as the villains they are.
I so agree about the messaging!!! I've been sending suggestions to DNC, Lincoln Project, etc. but I don't know what else to do. I want to scream, "It's the MESSAGING, stupid!!!!
This is problem. . . they never respond. It is so frustrating. The same applies to groups like Indivisible and Move-On (groups that I financially support and am an active member). I'm a fan of Robert Hubble's - Today's Edition. I often think he should run the Democratic Party! (https://substack.com/profile/3956425-robert-b-hubbell)
Lincoln Project held a member survey last month on what they should focus on. If you are a member you should have gotten the survey and the results.
Maybe it's a fine line, or maybe not. Sure, it's technically racist or sexist to target a specific group of voters, but it's also demographics and messaging mechanics, which is what modern politics (and advertising) is built on.
…and the electoral college.
You got it!
I agree with you, Lin. I will add that we need to convince non-party affiliated independent voters that it is in their personal best interest and the interest of our Democratic system of government to vote for Democrats both in Congress and in State Houses.
How??? I think one of the answers is better story telling ... "How (a particular accomplishment) changed my life" from ordinary people in lots of media. But I don't know whom to tell that to!!!
I call it as I see it. GOTV efforts have to be more specifically targeted. I've worked on GOTV efforts targeting Democratic-leaning precincts, as I am sure you have, and gotten DeSantis, Rubio and Scott as a result. That's just not enough. There's another side of the coin to racism and sexism, a positive one, and it should be targetted.
No, I don't think so. Not in those terms.
I now live in a predominantly White state. Many voters identify as Independent. My call/turf lists reach out to a wide range of voters.
We have 2 congressional districts. I am in the more red rural district and yet we have been able to elect a moderate Democratic representative to Congress - who helps give us the majority.
By listening and speaking politely with anyone willing, we gain interest and even support for Democratic goals and candidates. Even from Republicans intrigued by our goodwill and commitment. We have Ranked Choice Voting - so even getting someone interested in ranking our candidates second can contribute to a win.
My call or postcard lists (I'm too old to canvass any longer) consist of registered Democrats first, who, when we get them to vote, we know what we are getting. But that's not enough. When we get an "NPA" to vote, we don't know what we are getting. Usually, my CD votes Democratic by about 70 -30, but in 2020, with a Trump-loving Republican running, the margin dropped to 60-40. GOTV activities must be targeted toward those groups which are specifically hurt by Republican "no" votes .
My hope is that when the direct benefits of both the hard and soft infrastructure bills are seen in a voter’s pocketbook they will recognize the source of the benefits and support more Democrats.
Part #2 infrastructure must be put in place soon. Very soon.
Hope is a slender read to lean on when democracy is in peril. We can not and should not rely on people making any connections that we fail to make it for them in easy, relatable terms. Rest assured, the Republicans are busy cooking up a fresh batch of lies and distractions to keep us on the defensive.
Benefits won't be seen in time for the 2022 campaign which is NOW! "Hope springs eternal in the human breast, Man never IS but always TO BE blessed."
I think they will need real stories in a lot of media for folks to "recognize the source of the benefits."
Being aware of what this Administration is doing helps us as politically active people speak intelligently to voters.
Here's the link, thanks for suggesting
https://oliverwillis.com/joe-biden-accomplishments-the-full-list/
Thank you
Thx
Did you have as many ads interrupting the accomplishments as I did?
click the little box with three lines in it that is in the URL box. That will eliminate all the junk and leave the content. Wishing I could post a photo...
Yes. I think packing articles with ads, particularly the same political ad repetitively, interrupts the reader and, for me is irritating. Not unique to this article or site by any means.
Try this link:
https://oliverwillis.com/joe-biden-accomplishments-the-full-list/
Amazing. Thank you, Karen.
Biden has done a superlative job in my opinion, and I've been singing his praises for months. I suspect he's going to go down as the best president since Roosevelt. I voted enthusiastically, and I will do so again.
That said, he's making a huge mistake on one particular policy. I hasten to say that despite that mistake I think he's doing a terrific job, and that as I've gotten older, I've ceased hoping that any politician would do everything I want. But the approval rating on this policy—immigration--is the lowest Biden gets on any policy, at 35 percent.
The border is a mess, and the GOP has been making a big deal of that.
There is a new book out--which anyone who wants to understand what mass immigration has been about for the last 200 years should buy: Back of the Hiring Line: A 200 Year History of Immigration surges, Employer Bias, and Depression of Black Wealth, by Roy Beck.
It's a brilliant, easily digestible presentation that gives a succinct overview within the intro and first chapter of how from the early 1800s to the present, time after time, mass immigration has resulted in African Americans seeing their wages reduced, and losing jobs to immigrants.
When immigration has been low, Black fortunes have risen. But surges, the latest of which has been going on for 50 years, and getting worse as the years have gone by, always push their fortunes back down. And as the author makes clear, in this latest surge, each wave of immigrants also suffers along with Blacks as a new wave breaks, and poor whites suffer as well.
Think of that, and remember how 45 gained a greater share of Hispanic voters in '20 than he had had in '16. And when you think of all those whites listening to the nonsense of Fox News, and believing it, realize that the surges of immigrants--a million annually for the most part since the mid-90s--has been taking their jobs, and giving us a country where nearly half the population can't afford to deal with a $400 dollar emergency, whether a car repair or a medical emergency.
Remember also, in the ’16 election, the popularity of the populist policies of Bernie Sanders and 45 (who of course was not the populist president he’d promised to be).
The book is a slam dunk, backing the thesis with a thorough survey of the relevant academic economic history, along with statements from Black leaders beginning with Frederick Douglass, articles from the Black press going way way back, and the results of government commissions on immigration reform, including the Rockefeller Commission in '72, the Hesburgh Commission (1979), and the Barbara Jordan commission, mid-90s, and others, all of which recommended reducing immigration. (Jordan was a very impressive character worth googling.)
The author, who now runs NumbersUSA, but was a journalist until the late '90s, also draws on his own reporting, to great effect.
A major source of lobbying for more immigration was the companies that used low-skilled labor. They wanted an oversupply, so that they could reduce wages, and speed up the lines (resulting in loads of repetitive injuries among workers). Absent the oversupply, the Black workers had some bargaining power, and could take a recuperation break if they were injured, knowing they'd be hired anew when they were healed.
But in the "poultry crescent", "a half-continent arc of processing plants that extends from Maryland, down through Georgia, over to Mississippi, and back up to northern Arkansas," with the threat of "the corporation bringing buses of foreign workers to fill their jobs if they kept complaining, it was getting more difficult [for Blacks] to stand up for themselves."
Plant managers claimed the immigrant workers had a superior work ethic to American workers of either color, but Beck reported that "the foreign workers often didn't last a year on the job. Many employers didn't seem to hold that against them because there always was a fresh supply of new foreign workers to take their place at the same wages and working conditions, or lower."
in 2019 , the employment rate for Black men and women starting out, at ages 18-29, without a high school degree, was 32%. For similarly situated Whites, it was 39%. At 56%, the rate for immigrants was nearly twice that of African Americans.
Beck emphasizes over and over that Congress, not immigrants, is to blame for these conditions, and that it has always been thus.
Beck’s book is available through Amazon for $9 in hard copy, and less for kindle and audio. To my knowledge, it is unfortunately not available at local bookstores, but may come to them eventually.
Excellent point, which speaks directly toward the crying need to understand and respond to the problems of the vast middle of our population. The book by Roy Beck you cite sounds very worthwhile. I will at least add it to my reading list (which, sadly, is already insurmountably long).
Thanks Syd. It is an incredibly worthwhile book, one that I think will change a lot of minds. He makes an ironclad case, and it's well written. I view it as the most important book I've read probably since the turn of the millennium. Despite the fact that Matthew Walker's Why We Sleep will probably result in my prolonging my life some by getting better sleep.
" ... there always was a fresh supply of new foreign workers to take their place at the same wages and working conditions, or lower."
I witnessed some of this. As an adolescent in central Florida in 1962, a buddy and I decided to go down to Miami that summer and work for six weeks before we had to be back at school. At that time, the Cuban refugees were flowing into Miami to escape the Castro revolution. Minimum wage at the time was $1.25/hour. The refugees got jobs paying 1/2 the minimum wage and thus took jobs away from the local Black population who mostly held those jobs. (Also, the refugees might have been receiving supplemental income from the U.S. government at the time due to their being "political refugees.") This caused a lot of resentment in the Black community and understandably so. (My friend and I got jobs selling magazine subscriptions door to door as no one else wanted those jobs.)
And on and on. Quite fabulous. Thank you, Barbara.
Carole: You use the word "until" in your third paragraph. Will "until" come in time for 2022 and 2024? Democrats cannot play softball while Republicans play hardball.
You are so right. “Until” must come in time for 2022. Democrats cannot play softball, or simply “hope” that Biden’s obvious successes are indeed obvious to others in spite of constant media takedown.
Carole—Notwithstanding HCR’s flawless account of Biden’s mighty impressive accomplishments, I prevail upon all of us also to remain steadfastly focused on the faltering ratings both for the Biden Administration and for Democrats overall, despite policies shown repeatedly to have broad appeal. Though I imagine some Democrats are growing increasingly discouraged by the polarization and disfunction that daily infects our politics, I believe more of us are rightfully concerned that neither Biden nor Democratic lawmakers overall are doing nearly enough to shape their party’s story. I am eager to receive more guidance from this community regarding how best to direct my activism.
Looking for guidance? Join groups actively working to get out the vote of women and persons of color, groups which continue to be hurt by Republican obstructionism. Put the policies and issues aside and concentrate on getting out that vote. That's the way to win elections. Don't waste time defending against Republican lies.
Jack: How shortsighted to presume that activism can’t be guided by a provocative exchange of ideas.
Have you ever tried to have an exchange of ideas with a Republican lately? Or someone carrying an AR-15? Time and energy thusly spent would be better directed toward registering voters, mailing postcards, making phone calls and getting out the vote.
To clarify, by “activism” I meant a refusal on my part merely to watch and wait to see what the politicians and experts will do. Instead, I train myself, I acquire the knowledge I need to at least have a shot at not merely having to look through the window but, rather, to come through the door. HCR’s LFAA followed by this group’s discussions have been enormously valuable. As for the actions listed in your missive, I do that too.
Teach literacy.
In time for the 2022 elections?
Susan: As I said to Jack, I find it quite shortsighted to presume that activism can’t be guided by a provocative exchange of ideas.
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
In February 1952 President Truman has a 22% positive rating in a national poll. Historians and political scientists, in the highly credible CSpan poll ranking American presidents have ranked Truman 6th greatest in their most recent polls in 2017 and 2021.
I am appalled, though not surprised, that President Biden is polling so low these days. Asking present-day Americans what they think of President Biden is akin to asking them to rate an excellent teacher who is pulling them out of their educational and sloppy work habit funks.
President Biden inherited a country in the worst shape of an incoming president in my 88 years. The pandemic had been dreadfully handled by Trump and his unscientific sycophants. Our economy was in a tail spin. The phrase ‘climate change’ had been banned from all government documents. The outgoing president, refusing to accept the electorate’s vote, triggered a Capitol Building insurrection in an effort to block the constitutional vote in favor of if incoming President Biden. FALSE FACTS was the staccato chant by a president who had the first ongoing tally of his lies and false facts (over 40,000 according to the documented Washington Post scorecard. The corruption and mismanagement of Trump and his minions made President Harding look rather admirable by comparison.
As a Foreign Service Officer, I am appalled by how Trump dissed American strategic interests internationally. His bromance with Putin I found treasonous. His withdrawal from international climate-change agreements, his high-handed withdrawal from the 6-power Iranian nuclear monitoring agreement endangered the Middle East, his egotistical ‘love affair’ with North Korea’s Kim was revolting and ineffective, his bromance with Mohamed bin Salman, Netanyahu and others undermined America’s core national interests. As for China, Trump got into an escalating tariff fight that damaged our economy and prompted him to shovel out tens of billions of dollars to farmers who were hurt by his barnyard bully tantrums.
In less than a year President Biden, with a razor-thin majority in the House and a 50/50 split in the senate (with two fence-sitting Democratic senators) has steered Trump’s Titanic deftly away from the ice berg and on a positive course nationally and internationally. Despite his heroic efforts to vax and mask the nation, the Delta virus and and scurrilous, Republican-hailed effort to sabotage such policies have seriously impeded science-backed efforts to render America more healthy.
With his passed-and pending physical and social infrastructure legislation (both widely favored in public polls), President Biden is providing for much-needed investments of a New Deal and Great Society magnitude designed to equip America and the great majority of American people to flourish in the 21st century. He has restored professionalism, integrity and humanity to American government.
Internationally, President Biden has restored our relationships with our traditional allies and is treating authoritarian governments with professional firmness. NATO has welcomed back an American president who respects and supports NATO’s core mission. Climate-change policies have once again become a national American policy. In Afghanistan, after a failing 20-year-war, President Biden had the guts to withdraw our troops. No such end-of-a-failing-war goes smoothly, as we learned in Vietnam. Despite ‘precipitous collapse, the United States was able to evacuate over 120,000 human beings, including about 7,000 Americans, during a frenetic six weeks.
Thanks in good part to President Biden and his professional team, our economy has rebounded considerably during less-than-year in office. All this despite worldwide disruptions caused by the pandemic, with the exacerbation by the Delta virus, global supply disruptions, and the affect all of this has had on daily life. The media feeds on daily screaming headlines. Republicans are bleating naysayers, despite leaving such a mess for President Biden. Many Americans are distressed that the pandemic has disrupted their normal lives and seek someone to blame for the most deadly global pandemic since, perhaps, the Great Plague of the 14th century.
The American public is far more self-centered than what I experienced during World War II. Then shortages were related to a concerted war effort. Today, side efforts of President Biden’s massive rescue initiatives—including a temporary rise in inflation sparked, in part, by the massive financial assistance that the Biden administration has provided to citizens and corporations—that cannot avoid the massive global impacts of the pandemic on our daily life.
I doubt, over the coming weeks and months, that President Biden can avoid being the target of an American public ‘blame game.’ Many are being ‘discomforted’ by the broad and sustained impact of this multiple pandemic. Instead of applauding the accomplishments of their new quarterback, who already has racked up some impressive wins, they are in a bitchy mood. My hope (and expectation) is that quarterback Biden will have a good to-excellent 2022 season. The pandemic will be under control, despite the anti-vaxers and anti-maskers, the economy will rebound robustly as will the economy, the impacts of President Biden’s game-changing legislation will begin to reach the American people, and Americans will once again have reason to be proud of America’s role in the international community.
I look forward to when the current presidential booing of President Biden turns increasingly into cheers, no thanks to the media or the Trumpites.
This deserves to be NYT Op-Ed …thanks Keith, for your service to our country.
I continue to be amazed and disappointed that the media just hypes any downturn or discord , while it treats poll numbers as gospel . Polls have been poor guides. But it appears talk of discord is popular.
Good news doesn't sell. It's as simply as that.
Shouts of “the weather is great and all the trains are on time” never got any attention.
Cathy- But I think a good journalist could make it so. The “bleed and lead” headlines are easy work. Crafting excitement around the mundane takes more skill. I think that’s evident right here in Heather's daily letters.
Truer than true
Amen.🌷
Daria Some years ago there was a weekly titled GOOD NEWS. I found it uplifting—and it soon failed. You’re right—good news seldom sells, unless its a major sporting event or, for oldies like me, when we win a World War.
Keith, I remember Good News. You're right, it failed fairly quickly. You know, its always interesting to read the comment section following an uplifting/good news story; the comments are almost always very positive and supportive. In the long run, though, it just doesn't sell.🌷
Daria The Week weekly magazine has at least one page of ‘good news’ which I find uplifting. It also has a section that lists candidates for the Darwinian prize (those whose gene extinction would better the human race.)
Keith, a follow up: The Week is available through many libraries via Overdrive. I just downloaded the new issue and look forward to reading it. Thanks for the recommendation. (I'm deleting my prior response to your comment.)
Definition:
News: newly received or noteworthy information, especially about recent or important events.
If it ain’t new and noteworthy, it ain’t news. And that’s a fact.
Oh, and that also provides opportunities to make news by doing something new and noteworthy in an observable and reportable way. In other words, making a difference on something important.
Bruce, I don't want to sound contentious but I'm curious why you're defining the word news for me. I know what news is. My comment was: Good news doesn't sell.
Please don't jump on me for making an accurate statement. I don't need to have things "explained" to me.
A comprehensive study published in the International Journal of Press/Politics in 2014 called, "Consumer Demand for Cynical and Negative News Frames", focused on the why of this phenomenon. It makes for very interesting reading. The study is pay walled so I can't share it but I will share the link so if you're interested you can read it. There is a very long list of references supporting the " bad news sells" theory.
I hope you enjoy your Sunday.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1940161214524832?etoc=
Sigh … unfortunately the format of the forum does not distinguish comments attached to another’s comment that are meant to reinforce the comment rather than attempt to correct it. If my intention to support your point and not refute or refine it was misinterpreted I apologize. If my remark had been directed specifically to you I would have tried to make that clear.
I will go stand in the corner for a well deserved five minute timeout for my discourtesy.
Just look at FOX
Truth. It is a toxic waste site of misery and despair.
It is important to remember - the President and Congress’ job is not to be “Popular.” Their job, collectively I might add, is to get “stuff” done. I agree on the need for attention to messaging but only to extent it helps in getting stuff done. Other than that the time to pay greater attention to messaging is after accomplishment not before. If you want to be featured at the Hall of Presidents in Disney World you better have accomplished something worth talking about. There are many reasons Lincoln gets a featured speaking role rather than Warren Harding, and none of those are based on either President’s poll ratings.
Bruce Anyone who has been a good leader knows that you should do what’s best rather than what’s popular. Unfortunately, President Biden is facing mid-term elections in 2022 where his squeaky hold on Congress is at risk. Being applauded two decades hence might be called by some a Pyrrhic victory. (Lincoln, in the summer of 1864, seemed quite certain that he would lose the November election. Fortuitously, several decisive military victories and the troops strongly favoring Lincoln over their previous general McClellan rendered Lincoln ‘a man for the ages.)
Keith,
I agree. However, I subscribe to the view I would prefer being remembered for meaningful Pyrrhic victories making a real difference in people’s lives than meaningless cheers of a Tя☭mp Train procession. The cheers fade but the differences in lives are lasting even if Pyrrhic due to unfortunate gerrymandered elections.
We are perhaps now victims of that ancient Chines curse of living in interesting times. As such we must make the best of whatever opportunities are presented and continue our efforts to create more opportunities while solving whatever challenges we are able.
It reminds me of everyone who was against Obamacare but liked the Affordable Care Act policies.
Excellent summary. " Instead of applauding the accomplishments of their new quarterback, who already has racked up some impressive wins, they are in a bitchy mood."
I remember as you do. I’m old, but not bat-shit crazy as I think many fox-watching oldsters have become. They, like me, probably had a family member who died or was maimed in WW2. Sadly, the world-class propaganda that worked prior to WW2 is with us today. So hope I can look forward to “truth in packaging” but Democrats will need a 90-decibel bull horn and I don’t see one. PS. The Japanese attack United a divided country, what will it take now?
Jeri You are ‘mature’ or, as I liked to call myself, ‘late middle age,’and are crazy like a fox, Not Fox. Your family and mine were saddened by WW II losses, as were our neighbors.
Indeed, my cult brother was named for my nephew who was killed in Italy the year bro was born. My Mom would be stunned, she and her sister never got over his loss. Are we really the children of the greatest generation, or just so disconnected from reality that propaganda is enticing.
It will take some re-education of the slave-master mentality and since it is peppered all over the USA, we will all have to stand up to them instead of drawing a Mason Dixon line somewhere. We will have to draw the line in our sense of morality.
Very well said, Keith, although I would caution against your optimism for the coming year. The effects of climate breakdown and other over-extractions of our resources are driving all the symptoms we face in our culture, the ineffable propaganda, the dis-ease that plagues our media. Fair-weather projections are just too risky in this environment; we need to steel ourselves for a fight for survival.
Agree. But it is far more important to the press to grab a headline. And for an individual reporter, to ask Jen Psaki what Biden will do about the price of gas. (Even as crude oil is already falling in price).
The realist and the magician reign together in this symphony of thought, Keith. Will it require a divine intervention to bring these two eloquently described acts together?
Fern ‘Divine and eloquent?’ At 3:15 a. M., without a cup of coffee, at times I feel inspired to spew forth more from the heart than the head, then not even read the sucker before rushing back to bed. My high-tech buddies would call this a ‘data dump.’ Somethings, in the morning when I read my ‘kitten-on-the-keys,’ I am tempted to sell my soul (‘divine’) for an eloquent editor.
Keith, You and too funny too cute and too divinely devilish.
Oh, Keith, you're being deluged with 'likes'. BruceC even brought Disney World to your party.
Keith: I couldn’t agree more with Keith Kulper’s assessment of your text. You brilliantly have reconciled HCR’s flawless account of Biden’s accomplishments with the regrettably faltering ratings both for the Biden Administration and for Democratic lawmakers overall, despite policies shown repeatedly to have broad appeal. If I may, I merely would note that, in my view, neither Biden nor our Democratic representatives are doing nearly enough to shape the party’s story.
Barbara, With a somewhat different view, although I agree with you about the Democratic Party, Joe Biden, no orator, nonetheless, turns the United States of America towards goodness.
Fern, Though I fully share your perception of Biden, still, I continue to write letters prevailing upon Biden, as he did with the American Rescue Plan, to get the two coalitions in his Party together and united. Whether it be the Freedom to Vote Act, the Social and Climate Action package, or some other legislation, in my view, Biden must be mindful that the fate of the Democratic Party, ultimately, does not rest solely with individual Senators or with different coalitions within the Party. Rather, it’s the Party leadership that must lead, come up with the deal, and get the job done. I suppose you can tell I’m passionate, hopefully not offensively so, about Party leadership.
Do you passionately look for a 'god' to cast a spell on individual politicians who serve themselves and not the state? Do you not think that Biden, Schumer, Sanders (I-Vt.), Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and other determined Democrats as well as citizens, such as yourself, have not tried and tried? Failure or success in this has not yet been determined. Now is not a time like FDR's or LBJ's. The citizens are different, so is the media and the balance of power with the minority so much in charge. All recognizing the need for the state to represent the people must continue to keep trying, organizing and raising the voice of the people. Why aren't citizens more involved? Where is the pro-democracy movement? Are grassroots organizations working together? Why isn't there a mass movement?
As someone who mainly responds to daily requests from various grassroots civic organizations by trying to lend her voice in ways she deems most productive, I have no idea what triggered your insulting opening remark nor the expressed outrage that followed.
Thank you, Barbara. I am grateful and heartened by your forgiveness.
Barbara, I understand your anger at my response, it was not intended to be as personal as it was rightly read. Our fears about the current state of affairs are warranted. My concern has been that so much of the disappointment has been leveled against Biden. I tried to identify factors working against him. The Democratic party as a whole has been failing for more than 40 years, part of that is it weaknesses in combating the power that the Republicans have assumed and its failure to support the working class and middle class as Reaganomics and racism pressed the gas pedal. I do not know exactly how much the stress and uncertainty as a result of the pandemic has effected the public's attitude toward political engagement. Perhaps, even now, as the Biden administration has delivered on some of his promises with more to go, the government may still thought of in a negative way. That a new variant has emerged and the pandemic rages on, it is impossible to get a break. Barbara, I am sorry to have offended you and did not express myself well. My own passion overwhelmed the message that I tried to share.
They still think the media will spread the word, Frank Luntz, word master for fox and repubs before Fox, should have taught them that propaganda works. The spin machine started out with a trickle (Willie Horton first time I was gobsmacked) and was so grateful to Bill in late 90’s, and by W/Dickie time was the preferred mode for republicans. Dems still haven’t caught on…
Didn't you just sign on with Mel Brooks to ridicule and mock them. I think that is a much smarter and truer way than going their false, dirty and lethal way = no way.
The Light or the Dark coming from top leadership always trickles down. It’s slow. Trump’s darkness is still smothering us. Biden’s light is still finding the path that will lift us up.
Your sense of transformation was poetically expressed and caused me to reflect. Thank you, Christy.
MSM harp on Biden’s approval numbers in the polls. They never remind us of what Trump’s were, nor those of other presidents nor foreign leaders currently. MSM can be trusted not to provide context on most things other than sports and celebrity doings.
Lord, I'm sick of the blather about sports and celebrities, where are the journalists...
'Good news' works when you're selling it, at least on the forum.
For quite a while now, I've been wondering why the Democrats have been so inept at getting their message across, while the distortions and outright lies from the GOP seem to hit home every single time. As I was reading this piece, the reason suddenly jumped into clear focus for me.
Memes, sound bites and slogans are the Doritos, candy, cake and ice cream of our society; actual governance is the broccoli and peas.
While the Republicans have been serving up massive helpings of Doritos, candy, cake and ice cream (Sleepy Joe, "own the libs," "my freedoms!," "socialism!," etc.), the Democrats have been all about the broccoli and peas of actually governing.
And unfortunately for the Democrats, the lure of those junk food items is extremely strong, so the ignorant among us, led by the far right, will continue to gorge on them -- until finally, like a kindergartner after a birthday party, they get the inevitable tummyache (or worse).
Also unfortunately, a country-level "tummyache" is likely to have far-reaching and deadly consequences.
The mainstream media is responsible for sorting out the difference between junk food and real nutrition, and they have failed miserably.
MSM has failed....period. Wish there was a way to publish this letter in every newspaper, on every social media in the country. Truth.
Emotion sells, critical thinking does not. MSM = "clicks R Us"
Charlie, you're right. It all comes down to $$$. The MSM needs to survive and without advertising revenue, the unbiased media will be eaten up by the Fox News/Sinclair monster. We all know bad news sells. The question is, how do we provide greater support to the MSM so they can promote the GOOD news vs the bad news. A couple of thoughts:
- First and foremost, GOTV to increase control over both houses of Congress. This means time, effort and $$$.
- Provided we can control Congress, reinstate the "Fairness Doctrine" and,
- In the meantime, as many suggested yesterday, we need Jeffrey Bezos (like his better-half, MacKenzie Scott) to support local media to prevent the Sinclair empire from spreading.
😡
I shared this letter everyday for almost a year. Many started reading for awhile, but after Biden took office, no one wants to READ anymore. Share all you want, but people have to actually read. Being spoon fed lies is so much easier.
If people need to be spoon-fed, it's up to each of us to grab a spoon.
I have shared LFAA on Facebook since the first impeachment hearings, and find that sharing is really most effective when I preface the daily letter with a little précis of it, or a respectful observation about what’s in it — people are most apt to read a piece if I flash a quick peek into it first.
I started that last month on FB and Twitter and that's a start.
Buying into blaming MainStreamMedia is swallowing right wing extremist swill.
Look at HCR's references. We all rely on professional journalism and journalists in many forms of media. And then there is CSpan.
Before you blame the media, please look into the mirror. We are each and all responsible for sorting our news consumption.
Yes, WE, however, as I said before, the masses are not searching for the truth, but happy to be fed lies.
You can lead a horse to slaughter, but you can't make him think. Or something like that...
Horses and people analogy: reminds me of the wild Mustangs being terrorized by helicopters and driven off public lands so greedy cattlemen can make a buck. It’s comparable to the Nazi robbery and roundup of Jews in Germany. They are then penned up, families separated into groups, makes from females, mistreated so badly that they die or just sent off to slaughter…does thst make them unthinking? Or does it reflect on the lack of morals of the men who hire the helicopters and make money from the sllaughter ?
I tweeted a link to the NYT and WaPo, but I don't know who, if anyone, will see it.
Thank you for supporting quality journalism, but please understand a “tweet” has never solved a problem, not ever, not a single one. Instead, when you see a problem do something to fix it. No single person alone will resolve it, so find others who care about it and are working on it and join with them to make a difference.
I never presumed to think my tweet would "solve" anything. I'm 71. What would you like me to do with my limited financial resources?
I understand and at 74 and with limited financial resources also, I vote, volunteer, participate with others in both advocacy and activism, march and rally with others, write, train others - particularly our next generation of activists - and continue to look for ways to do more. I presume you are or could do some of those as well. I try to spend as little time as possible whining about what I can’t fix and look for ways to make a difference where I can - even in small ways. Find a group supporting a local food pantry and volunteer with them. Volunteer to read to/with children at a local elementary school or public library. Write letters to the editor of a local paper. Support a quality candidate for a city council or seat on a local school board by writing post cards to voters, texting or phone banking. Become a local voter registrar and help get voters registered. There are literally hundreds of opportunities to make a difference more effectively than “tweeting.”
Please understand I say this not to be critical of anything or anyone. I am only encouraging all to think about how they really can make a real difference in the world no matter their age or circumstances.
Find others who care about something you are passionate about and join with them in working together on what you truly care about. There is strength in numbers and you will enjoy the company and passion of others who care about the same issues and challenges you do. Remember to celebrate with them as well both for your collective efforts and every small difference you make.
https://terikanefield.com/things-to-do/
A “tweet” is called a “tweet” for a reason, I suppose what I just wrote is a “tweet” and maybe I should delete it……..
Start by copying it and forwarding it to everyone on your computer's contact list ... and suggesting that they pass it on!.
I'm not sure if you're kidding or not, but my point is that people don't appreciate that usually, even the good stuff.
Not Kidding. Not looking for appreciation. Looking for votes. I will include it on my blog and send it to about fifty contacts with whom I regularly communicate. Every little bit helps.
I've been regularly sharing the Letters on Facebook with a quote from the Letter that I think captures one of the topics, in hopes that people will then read the whole Letter. I know that doesn't meet some people's standards for "activism," but I feel that information itself has value, and maybe it arms someone for a difficult discussion for someone in their life who has been suckered into the Fox/Qanon bubble.
Twenty years ago I had some older friends who used to do that with every piece of garbage email they received and believed as gospel truth. I persisted in pointing out it was garbage and after a while, they dropped me off their distribution list.
Exactly so.
I beg of you, please get over this counterproductive notion that the MSM is ever going to change. If earnest policy discussions got ratings, they would feature those. But they don't, so they don't. Stop wishing and hoping like Dusty Springfield and start learning to craft simple messages that connect with ordinary people.
I beg of you, don't write off human beings. ALL institutions can be changed. Especially now. We had to push hard for metoo and BLM, we also push for real news. We keep pushing.
We can be humans and not idiots.
They are running headlong into a world THEY don't want. Chaos and despot rulers do corporations no good.
We can be humans and not idiots
Speaking personally, I think we all are a bit of both.
I don't write off all human beings, but ever since the Greeks told the legends of Cassandra and Laocoön, history has been full of looming catastrophes that a few saw too clearly but most ignored or dismissed. We are looking at one now.
The MSM can change--evenutally, but it won't change in time enough to avert the catastrophe that's coming if we don't face reality and change our messaging accordingy.
So you're telling us that letters to the editor are meaningless, whether in the form of tweets or as letters in pen on paper.
Not meaninglessness, at all but not sufficient to reach those we need to reach, either. So yes. Keep hem up, but consider that the best strategy might be the one we haven’t tried yet.
Agree, Andrew, about the “broccoli and peas” but also Pres Biden and the Dems have had the task of being the cure for the tummy ache, the “Pepto Bismol” of it all. And that is simply not easy. People want it. But they still want the “spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down”.
This is such a great simile. And we know all too well that chips, candy, cake, and ice cream are much easy to grab and satiate whereas broccoli and peas require some prep and more often cooking before you get to enjoy them.
Very apt metaphor!
Sandy Lewis2 hr ago
As The Atlantic’s Anne Applebaum put it, the bad guys are winning.
Mussolini rides again. Hitler’s ghost is smiling. It’s Trump. It’s Orban. It’s Putin. It’s Erdogan, it’s vicious dictators running China, the Philippines, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Pakistan.
Evil racist Black hating Fox and other goons in MSM feast on evil, love the ratings Trump evil generates, they ignore the golden goose, Trump obesity, his orange painted face, squinty eyes, his hugely popular racial prejudice and criminal behavior, his three marriages, misuse of women, obscene minute to minute lying miscegenation, and Mr. 538 says we seek normalcy. He’s nuts.
We are leading the world in emotional dysfunction, addiction and drugs. We are without leadership that hammers evil and sells the good.
Blacks are among our nicest and we kill them and the white punk in Wisconsin walks.
Dear Heather spells out EVIL but fears the word.
The Republican fascists are EVIL. We are losing our democracy. We are still trashing Blacks.
We are a lazy entitled bunch of mixed up obese narcissistic softies and MSM has long lost the anchors to windward in its thrust for ratings.
Yes. The Bad Guys Are Winning. And the oligarchs are rising in every field of endeavor.
The callings are shot. Journalism is dying. Democracy is failing.
President Biden is trapped in his new found decency and Clarence Thomas is Biden’s legacy.
We deserve the government we have.
We have met the enemy - in the cracked mirror.
Good morning Vietnam.
11ReplyDelete
My mother was British and we followed WW II from September, 1939. The string of military defeats was horrific—-Europe to Hitler, Great Britain on the cusp of defeat, then Pearl Harbor and disaster in Asia. Eventually Mussolini was strung by his heels, Hitler committed suicide, and the allies triumphed. I greatly admire Anne Applebaum and find her December Atlantic article sobering. Nevertheless, I still have hope for an eventual turnaround—-think of Lincoln during the worst days of the Civil War. Jon Meacham’s THE SOUL OF AMERICA describes the ups, downs, and then ups in American history. Though these are discouraging times for America’s ‘soul,’ the American people have the potential character for another ‘up.’
There’s plenty of good stuff happening, the media just saturates us in the the 💩💩💩. We desperately need to make sure everyone’s vote counts though. All the lives and body parts lost to lift up democracy demands this of us!
Hitler was defeated because he attacked another dictatorship which was nearly as bad in its way. It was the forces of that dictatorship, and not plucky England or righteous America, which did the most to bring down Hitler. And because Stalin's armies triumphed, Eastern Europe paid the price for the next 50 years.
Let's not turn the result of that war into a 'just so' story about the triumph of democracy because for many people who lived in the aftermath, it was anything but. Let's lose our sentimental stories about the ultimate triumph of decency in America. It's an infinite game-- a battle we must fight every day or eventually lose.
Jim Hitler made two deadly mistakes—invading the Soviet Union when he did and declaring war on the US 4 days after Pearl Harbor. Russia lost at least 14 million men which the Americans/British lost far less than one million. We like to focus on the fact that Churchill kept England in the war and, thus, there was a launching pad for D-Day. The Russian version differs sharply.
I hope Applebaum also produces a history of thriving democracies and how they maintain those systems. It's easy to point out the flawed polity, but also helpful to explore what works. Describe the state of democracy by rating electoral processes and pluralism, the state of civil liberties, the functioning of government, political participation and political culture. Norway, Iceland, Sweden, New Zealand, Denmark, Canada, Ireland, Switzerland, Finland, Australia, for example.
From the chorus:
I had to look up the word Polity:
a form or process of civil government or constitution.
How i wish I had enough education to think and communicate with such succinctness, to think in concepts. Instead I waste effort and space using definitions. This is what separates us. This is why we need free universal education like other civil societies, so we can think more efficiently in concepts and make informed decisions. So we dont have to resort to violence. Please use more concepts; so I can expand my understanding.
It's often not the vocabulary that justifies the comment. But, rather, the authenticity of the thought. You have mastered that.
How well you've put it, Janjamm: authentic thought, authentic voice.
Susan, you write very clearly and what you write shows an unusual quality, willingness to admit to your limitations -- a willingness that makes those handicaps far less limiting. But I just want to say that we also need to be aware that concepts, which are precious tools enabling us to think through difficult issues, are abstractions, they help us to understand something ABOUT reality but they are not reality.
Why say this? It's just that we all fall so easily into the same trap, confusing ideas with what they represent. We easily take images for what they represent, maps for the real ground.
That helps explain how uneducated people on the margins of society can sometimes be more in touch with the world's realities than intellectuals and so-called experts, let alone most politicians... all blinded by their "science" -- technical knowhow and prejudices...
As Seneca noted, "Wisdom does not require much instruction".
Yes!!! 👏🏼👏🏼
Not all of us deserve the government we have. Certainly not the young. I would say instead that we should not be surprised by the state of things.
Yes, yes, yes.
You are spot on.
Bingo. We have so many earnest, intelligent people who think the bare knuckle combat and dumbed-down messaging they need to succeed in the political arena are somehow beneath them. So they only reach other people who feel the same way and concede the field to the Republicans. One reason the R's hate AOC so much is that she treats them like the drunken frat boys she met on her bartender job and leaves them feeling very diminished. She takes zero guff from them and they hate it. All Democrats should learn from her.
Such great analogies!!
Brilliant analogy!
And people get addicted to junk food!
Please don't discount the fact that Biden is not a good communicator for his administration
Not a "good" communicator, or just not dramatic enough? Not a week goes by that he doesn't have at least one live appearance to talk about Build Back Better, or vaccine data, or Covid data, or other good news.
He does, and sometimes seems strong and forthright, but on other occasions his voice is soft and he comes across as lacking energy. That said, it doesn't excuse the media from doing what should be it job of focusing on positives as well as negatives. More of the former and less of the latter, please.
We ELECTED a very old man as our president. He won because more people liked him than his opponents (more or less, I'm a Bernie fan myself, no spring chicken either). But one side wants to ignore his age, while the other wants to highlight any perceived slip as reason to label him unfit. I would love it if, as a country, we could accept that we chose him because of his wisdom and experience. Hard won qualities not bestowed on the young! And with that accept that he may not have the sparkle and pep of a twenty year old. It's a package deal, lets get over it.
My comment was directed toward the media, which doesn't seem to be able to "get over it."
Sandy Lewis42 min ago
Sandy Lewis4 min ago
Sandy Lewis2 hr ago
As The Atlantic’s Anne Applebaum put it, the bad guys are winning.
Mussolini rides again. Hitler’s ghost is smiling. It’s Trump. It’s Orban. It’s Putin. It’s Erdogan, it’s vicious dictators running China, the Philippines, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Pakistan.
Evil racist Black hating Fox and other goons in MSM feast on evil, love the ratings Trump evil generates, they ignore the golden goose, Trump obesity, his orange painted face, squinty eyes, his hugely popular racial prejudice and criminal behavior, his three marriages, misuse of women, obscene minute to minute lying miscegenation, and Mr. 538 says we seek normalcy. He’s nuts.
We are leading the world in emotional dysfunction, addiction and drugs. We are without leadership that hammers evil and sells the good.
Blacks are among our nicest and we kill them and the white punk in Wisconsin walks.
Dear Heather spells out EVIL but fears the word.
The Republican fascists are EVIL. We are losing our democracy. We are still trashing Blacks.
We are a lazy entitled bunch of mixed up obese narcissistic softies and MSM has long lost the anchors to windward in its thrust for ratings.
Yes. The Bad Guys Are Winning. And the oligarchs are rising in every field of endeavor.
The callings are shot. Journalism is dying. Democracy is failing.
President Biden is trapped in his new found decency and Clarence Thomas is Biden’s legacy.
We deserve the government we have.
We have met the enemy - in the cracked mirror.
Good morning Vietnam.
Go Sandy, you said everything that scares the hell out of me. I am retired USN and flew hundreds of hours doing intel missions during cold war and 4 tours in Nam so I don't get scared easily. I am afraid it may be too late.
Too late? Never again? Yes, Bill Schnautz, the intelligent are frightened. Numb. The GOP live delusional lives, some in abject denial, others delighted with neo/fascism in dozens of nations, and here, led by Trump et al. President Obama’s victories, Joe Knows Us and November 3rd fomented One Six, the Mussolini/Hitler redux / Trump et al give us today’s the GOP fascist push and The Big Lie. We can cause some Good Trouble, said Prophet John Robert Lewis. A brother.
John Lewis got the 💩💩💩 beat out of him over and over and he still loved the world and got up and kept trying. We can absolutely do this. No matter how bad it is they(Lewis and brothers and sisters) have seen and lived thru worse. Sandy wears dark shades on this forum almost always and struggles to let the light shine through. Attitudes are infectious. Let’s all be like John. 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Are you following any of his social media? Have you been tuning into his speeches?
Well SAID!!! Just what the republicans Can and Do UNDERSTAND!!!!!!🤔 JUNK!!!
When you think of what the Biden Admn. has accomplished while facing so many head winds, it is pretty amazing. This letter and the positives it summarizes should be read out loud on every media outlet every day! And, what have the republicans accomplished . . . negativity, chaos, hatred, domestic and international instability, and not a single goddamned policy that has benefitted anyone other than a few who are hell bent to line their own pockets while they tear down everything around them.
Where does one live after the R’s have burned it all down? People can’t live in a smoldering ruin.
A single goddamn policy that benefitted those who control our "news" outlets. TV, newspapers, Facebook, you name it.
So... You have uneducated, maybe uneducable, voters and they aren't remotely up to the task incumbent on them as the world's most powerful, most influential electorate. Add to that media whose sole conception of their role is to make the most money possible by selling entertainment -- and everybody knows that good news doesn't sell, nothing sells like bad news and scandal, so bad news and scandal are what's sold to the world's most influential electorate, keeping them ignorant and stupid, able only to answer the question: "Are you happy/unhappy with what you see on TV?"
Answer: "Of course we're not happy, people are still sick and dying, there's a migrant infestation at our southern border, God isn't in Washington where He's meant to be, doing His job making rain and shining us our Great American Dream. 'Cos Joe Biden's President that means he's Gawd and he's failing to control the Universe like he's supposed to America can't get things wrong Waaaaaaaaiiiihhhh!!!!! Mom Pass the Popcorn..."
Then, how do you compete with a system in which one man DOES play God, going with chaos, stirring it, stirring it? Consider this:
https://www.newstatesman.com/world/asia/2021/11/is-vladimir-putin-preparing-for-war
And yes, how do you compete with this? No one's asking the people if they're happy with God or His Tsar, they're not supposed to be happy, they're supposed to fear and adore them.
Unfortunately, HCR can't make up for this, she can't educate the American people single-handed.
But Drumpf and the Drumpfista Party know very well how to keep the American people in their place, ignorant, stupid, powerless, how to keep screwing the people and wrecking the world while making trillions out of the Game...
Hear! Hear!
Lots of hate filled facts
Now, where’s the hope filled suggestions?
I "like" what you write with a bloody great HEART, but sure that heart's bleeding, bleeding as the reality's so damned disheartening. People don't know what they have or what they could do with it.
Only lobbies and lobbyists count in the Augean Stables of Congress.
Are "We the People" still alive?
What tasers have we besides those long, too long awaited perp walks?
The problem is the polling. They should just stop doing it. They keep coming out with all these polls that reinforce negative thinking instead of just focusing on the actual progress, a negative feedback loop.
So true. I stopped filling out polls when every one of the many that I was ‘selected’ to receive seemed to conclude with a plea for money.
Boy do I ever hear you, Gwen. I still fill out the polls though, just in case numbers are of use to the upholders of the values I cherish. I could wish the polls were themselves less simplistic.
Tamara, Gwen and JJ. I've never received a poll/survey about anything other than "how did my dentist do?" Fine with me. And look at how accurate the polls were for the 2016 election. Wasn't Hilary supposed to win that?
Your discussion of media responsibility for Biden’s popularity is spot on. The withdrawal from Afghanistan was certainly a low point for fair news coverage. And for me, I remember the fall of Saigon (I was in my 20s). So what will surely be seen as a success over time was portrayed as a nightmare - which it surely was not. After all the US forces had to rely on “good will” such as it was from the Taliban. And the only solution posed by “experts” would have been to rebuild our numbers and assets - but this would have created more of the same dilemma, which is how to get the folks out of Afghanistan who helped up. An expansion of US forces would have caused us to engage more Afghans from translators to common laborers - and so we would have made our problem larger. To get out would always get us to a point where a small number of Americans were defending our last bastion.
Similar press coverage holds for inflation. An international problem and one that seems to all authorities to be at least partly related to mismatches between supply and demand due to COVID is greeted by laments nearly every day about what is Biden going to do about inflation. Yet the crude oil is dropping, and plywood (key to construction and to building furniture) is dropping as well. The president was nagged into releasing oil from the strategic reserves - a move that may accomplish something but may not. But even when Biden acts, we are seeing Right Wing Media talk about having to replace the cheaper oil in the reserve with high priced oil.
Biden is hardly a man without flaws but if we looks at the challenges, we see a man whose administration is being honest with the American people and is dedicated to upholding the rule of law and reestablishing norms gleefully abandoned under Trump.
Sandy Lewis2 hr ago
As The Atlantic’s Anne Applebaum put it, the bad guys are winning.
Mussolini rides again. Hitler’s ghost is smiling. It’s Trump. It’s Orban. It’s Putin. It’s Erdogan, it’s vicious dictators running China, the Philippines, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Pakistan.
Evil racist Black hating Fox and other goons in MSM feast on evil, love the ratings Trump evil generates, they ignore the golden goose, Trump obesity, his orange painted face, squinty eyes, his hugely popular racial prejudice and criminal behavior, his three marriages, misuse of women, obscene minute to minute lying miscegenation, and Mr. 538 says we seek normalcy. He’s nuts.
We are leading the world in emotional dysfunction, addiction and drugs. We are without leadership that hammers evil and sells the good.
Blacks are among our nicest and we kill them and the white punk in Wisconsin walks.
Dear Heather spells out EVIL but fears the word.
The Republican fascists are EVIL. We are losing our democracy. We are still trashing Blacks.
We are a lazy entitled bunch of mixed up obese narcissistic softies and MSM has long lost the anchors to windward in its thrust for ratings.
Yes. The Bad Guys Are Winning. And the oligarchs are rising in every field of endeavor.
The callings are shot. Journalism is dying. Democracy is failing.
President Biden is trapped in his new found decency and Clarence Thomas is Biden’s legacy.
We deserve the government we have.
We have met the enemy - in the cracked mirror.
Good morning Vietnam.
11ReplyDelete
Unfortunately, Sandy, I feel much as you do. I applaud Biden’s efforts and successes but have little hope where half the country worships the insane blivet of Maralago. The republican “leadership” is focussed on the destruction of all that is good. I say f**k em all.
Thanks for the new word, Hale! Aptly describes tfg to a t. Noun. blivet (plural blivets) Anything overfull. An item of unknown purpose, often unnecessary or useless or annoying. But I would add that despite his vacuous, narcissistic love for himself and money/power, we all know a lot more about our country, our history, and the unfilled cracks in our democracy when an entire party becomes traitors. Then there are the revelations of other patriarchal pox's on our people such as misogyny, the maintenance of the ancient caste system where whites are always on the top around money, power and greed. They are a dying breed (literally, as they brainwash their own white followers to disavow masks and vaccines). Thanks to the anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers we now have extremely high rates of Covid again. Why do the newspeople not thank the party of traitors for this strange and twisted genocide on their own followers? It is mind-boggling.
Sandy Lewis42 min ago
Sandy Lewis4 min ago
Sandy Lewis2 hr ago
As The Atlantic’s Anne Applebaum put it, the bad guys are winning.
Mussolini rides again. Hitler’s ghost is smiling. It’s Trump. It’s Orban. It’s Putin. It’s Erdogan, it’s vicious dictators running China, the Philippines, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Pakistan.
Evil racist Black hating Fox and other goons in MSM feast on evil, love the ratings Trump evil generates, they ignore the golden goose, Trump obesity, his orange painted face, squinty eyes, his hugely popular racial prejudice and criminal behavior, his three marriages, misuse of women, obscene minute to minute lying miscegenation, and Mr. 538 says we seek normalcy. He’s nuts.
We are leading the world in emotional dysfunction, addiction and drugs. We are without leadership that hammers evil and sells the good.
Blacks are among our nicest and we kill them and the white punk in Wisconsin walks.
Dear Heather spells out EVIL but fears the word.
The Republican fascists are EVIL. We are losing our democracy. We are still trashing Blacks.
We are a lazy entitled bunch of mixed up obese narcissistic softies and MSM has long lost the anchors to windward in its thrust for ratings.
Yes. The Bad Guys Are Winning. And the oligarchs are rising in every field of endeavor.
The callings are shot. Journalism is dying. Democracy is failing.
President Biden is trapped in his new found decency and Clarence Thomas is Biden’s legacy.
We deserve the government we have.
We have met the enemy - in the cracked mirror.
Good morning Vietnam.
What an extraordinary piece of writing, Sandy!
How come there's almost no reaction?
Looks like you bonked your readership over the head too darned hard with that Big Stick of yours and knocked the poor things out instead of waking them up for roll-call in the Konzentrationslager.
EXCUSE ME PEOPLE, BUT ISN'T SANDY PUTTING UP A HUGE SIGN POINTING OUT WHERE THE ROAD LEADS TO?
Indeed.
This is one of the best letters you've done Heather... And, one of the most needed to be read by everyone to show what President Biden has been able to do despite the Republican obstructionism.
Totally Agree Cathy!! This Letter IS one of her best, as well as one of the most important. It does need to be read by everyone! So how do we best spread it far and wide and effectively? I have posted it to facebook, with Heather's last paragraph as the heading (in quotations), and I will text the link to colleagues. But, for all my non-political friends, and for my very political elected officials, I am thinking we need a concise "Reader's Digest version" for impact. Clean, powerful bullet points. After another cup of hot tea.
I also agree and have shared it to my FB groups.
And I disagree Cathy. Pedal to the Medal spending and debt policies in the face of huge deficits, a pandemic and generational inflation is impudent to be kind. 61% of America payed no Federal income tax last year and Joe tells them they won’t again as he plays Santa. Debt to GDP is 126%. Greater than it ever was in WW2 and modern history. That alone should alarm us and maybe embolden are adversaries. Reagan raised taxes 7 times when debt grew too fast and kept the economy growing such that D/GDP never got above 56%. If Joe is channeling FDR note D/GDP never got over 60% in the Depression. Citizens voted for Joe for stability and normalcy. They have gotten neither. I do not like to be the bearer of bad news but what I am saying is now actually occurring. It is part of daily life and voters of all stripes have noticed. A couple of Trillion, which is actually a lot more, in spending right now is way out there on the curve when inflation and debt expansion are both on fire. Hey I hope Joe gives me a million bucks. To me that is popular. Even better, make the other guy pay. It doesn’t make it the right thing to do.
Hi David, Good to hear from you. Here's an article on the 61% of Americans paying no Federal income tax which I found interesting. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/18/61percent-of-americans-paid-no-federal-income-taxes-in-2020-tax-policy-center-says.html The pandemic has certainly had an impact on the economy. I'll agree with you on that. Yes, the stimulus checks lowered the number of people paying income tax during this economic and health catastrophe. Because of income disparity and wages not increasing over decades, it isn't surprising that a stimulus check could erase the income tax on low wages that barely support feeding a family while the top 1% pay no taxes either. If you paid even a dollar in taxes, you paid more tax than sixty of the largest corporations put together who paid NOTHING in taxes. I see President Biden as working toward making sure people have jobs which pay decent wages which will create a good tax base. And get corporations to pay a minimum tax of 15% so that we start getting the debt under control. President Biden is making sure his infrastructure package which creates jobs is also paying for itself so not creating debt. Makes a lot of sense to me.
Brava, Kathy !!!
The government handing out money is not the solution. It may sound great, but somebody has to pay for it and right now we are way over our skis in debt. Corporations are charged taxes but investors pay them. Joe for all that he has done, has never made payroll. Growth and payroll is what will build this country not virtue signaling hand outs at a time we can literally least afford them. In 2019 49% essentially paid no tax. None. We are no longer in this thing together. The President is doing, in my opinion, too much, too fast and at the absolute wrong moment.
In normal times I would agree with you. However, we are dealing with a hundred year global pandemic which calls for extraordinary measures. The US economy is recovering faster than any other country. I'm tired of the where you sit is where you stand arguments about the debt. When a party is in power they ignore the debt, then when the other party is in power the debt becomes their highest priority.
Here's how I was quoted in the Wall Street Journal in July, 2017:
“Where you sit is where you stand. I’m tired of the childish accusations between the two major parties when if roles were reversed they would both be saying just the opposite…and do all the time.”
I wish we had some statesmen and stateswomen rather than politicians with no goal other than to stay in power and keep their donors happy. Here in Texas we are now living in an autocracy. It is no longer a democratic republic where the representatives would be working for the People. I do see President Biden as old fashioned in the sense he is working for the People.
Extraordinary times take extraordinary measures.
Texas is not an autocracy. Ask Beto. And at a time after extraordinary expenditures is not a great time for a New New Deal. We shall see in 22.
Sorry. It sure is. Republican super majorities supporting the whims of a power crazy governor. Gerrymandering that guarantees Republicans stay in the majority. A party that represents the now minority white population. So minority rule. A super majority that ignores the majority of the People and passes anti-abortion vigilante injustice law that circumvents the U.S. Constitution taking away Constitutional rights from half the citizens who don't have a Y chromosome. Voter suppression laws that take away the right to vote from thousands. Policies popular with the majority of the population totally ignored. The population growth in Texas the past 10 years is 95% Hispanic, yet the extreme gerrymandered districts actually increase the likelihood of Republicans winning almost all districts. Democrats are forced to complete against another Democrat in redrawn districts. No one even needs a permit to carry a gun. Vigilantees can come after anyone. Beto in running for Governor, a state wide office, may win but that will be fruitless without a legislature that supports him. Texas is definitely no longer a democracy (small d). Perhaps Beto is being an optimist in thinking he can restore democracy to the Republic of Texas.
Actually it is one of the only ways to restore democracy. This period will be called the Great Resignation because the pandemic has made it clear the People have had it with the oligarchic kleptocracy.
When the great ship is floundering and off course, now is not the time for small course corrections, but time to harden the rudder and bring the ship to course and bring all home to safety.
Got it. Go big or don’t go at all. Don’t waste a crisis. Burn the furniture. Last I have to say about it but something is not right.
Too many Americans are suffering from the heartless greed of the few. They are vulnerable to extremists who have no morals. It is time to MEND the furniture. Dont destroy what you cant create. You have no new furniture to replace the old. You only offer chaos, which harms the most innocent and vulnerable.
What did tRump give us? And how have the repubs helped? Just askin'
Yes Yes Yes and then some. I have been astonished at Biden's low approval ratings and the amnesia that prevents Americans from appreciating the difference between a presidency based on service to the public from one based on self-aggrandizement, self enrichment, and mendacity. On Joe Biden's shoulders rest the tasks of restoring faith in American democracy, ending the pandemic after his predecessor's abysmal failure, and helping the millions of disadvantaged Americans ignored by Trump and his minions. Biden doesn't have a major network devoted to spinning lies on his behalf- nor is he willing to use the shock tactics of the Republicans to terrify their members into submission. Thanks so much Heather for trying to set the record straight.
Sandy Lewis2 hr ago
As The Atlantic’s Anne Applebaum put it, the bad guys are winning.
Mussolini rides again. Hitler’s ghost is smiling. It’s Trump. It’s Orban. It’s Putin. It’s Erdogan, it’s vicious dictators running China, the Philippines, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Pakistan.
Evil racist Black hating Fox and other goons in MSM feast on evil, love the ratings Trump evil generates, they ignore the golden goose, Trump obesity, his orange painted face, squinty eyes, his hugely popular racial prejudice and criminal behavior, his three marriages, misuse of women, obscene minute to minute lying miscegenation, and Mr. 538 says we seek normalcy. He’s nuts.
We are leading the world in emotional dysfunction, addiction and drugs. We are without leadership that hammers evil and sells the good.
Blacks are among our nicest and we kill them and the white punk in Wisconsin walks.
Dear Heather spells out EVIL but fears the word.
The Republican fascists are EVIL. We are losing our democracy. We are still trashing Blacks.
We are a lazy entitled bunch of mixed up obese narcissistic softies and MSM has long lost the anchors to windward in its thrust for ratings.
Yes. The Bad Guys Are Winning. And the oligarchs are rising in every field of endeavor.
The callings are shot. Journalism is dying. Democracy is failing.
President Biden is trapped in his new found decency and Clarence Thomas is Biden’s legacy.
We deserve the government we have.
We have met the enemy - in the cracked mirror.
Good morning Vietnam.
11ReplyDelete
Agreed on every point. But we can wallow in this despair and/or we can do something. If you haven't read Robert Hubbell's newsletter on substack, I highly recommend it. He's Monday through Friday writer who presents the news, comments and offers his legal expertise to clarify facts. He is a wonderful compliment to HCR and her historical presentations. I start my coffee with Heather and end it with Robert.
"Today's Edition": https://roberthubbell.substack.com/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=substack_profile
While all your points are true, there is something else to consider:
When we allow the enemy to ruin our day, we give them even more power.
THANKS! Good advice.
"I'm not blinded by the violence and suffering. I see it and I see something 'other' sustaining us."
[ Horrigan, Bonnie. (1997, January) Jim Jealous, DO - Healing and The Natural World. Alternative Therapies, Vol.3, No. 1. Cfr. https://rolfingcenter.com/for-students/jealous-article.pdf ]
I want to remind myself and everyone else of these words of great wisdom every time that I've just pointed out the darkness where we're headed.
Subscribed. Thank you!
Snoopy said it best, as did you. "We have met the enemy and they is us"
That was Pogo.
It seems Americans believe a fantasy in which we elect a new president means the problems left by past administrations are waved away with a magic wand. It always has been this way yet stunning during this presidency. The media is to blame for one, but goodness, the doom I feel lays in believing our fellow citizens are too entitled and lazy to find accurate information and form opinions using critical thinking which may turn the tide of dismal polling results. I wonder if my expectation is unrealistic given the stress of everyday life in our work to death American culture…we’re a worn out community.
With the over-educated, under-intelligent, otherwise-unemployable "gems" of the American media around, you don't need an enemy. They'll push anything that gets them clicks. The media wears running sneakers with velcro snaps; the truth wears high-top lace-up combat boondockers. By the time truth gets its boots on, the media is around the world 60 times. And trust me, it's nothing new. If you're an historian doing research, the one thing you will discover is that 90% of the time, whatever period you want to look at, the press got it wrong - and very rarely issued a retraction and correction.
What a great analogy. My version of this is that by the time I see a meme that has generated grunts of Republiscum approval, research the meme, reply, provide the counter, articulate the position, and present it to the poster, it is met with the velcro running shoe community with a well reasoned, articulated counter of "nu-uh, check Prager U; it's real" or I am called a "sheeple".
So true.
“focused on negative information (negotiations are portrayed as “disarray,” for example), and ignored that Republicans have refused to participate in any lawmaking, choosing instead simply to be obstructionist”
I would like to help chip away at some of the GOP BS. Those that “negotiate” unfaithfully, never intending to come to a compromise are in fact doing more damage than just “obstructing”. They are helping to reinforce their narrative that “Governent is the problem”. It is not. Their obstruction to compromise is the problem.
Economically it is true that here in the US, consumers are spending a lot more on hard goods, not services. This has put a huge strain on factories to grow production, only made worse by the pandemic. How can any human resource manager and production manager grow inventories, hire new and train the workforce to increase factory output during a pandemic, amidst shut downs, while moroging production lines with social distancing, during continuing sequential outbreaks, as demand continues surging, and everyone’s supply chain has tightened and disruption rules? That is complexity people.
This can not be blamed on one President of the United States! It is way to far a complex and presents a set and series of global problems here and in far off supplier countries. Many of the supply chains involve multiple countries for a single product. Multiply that by many products per brand or company, and you can begin to understand complexity at hand.
This complexity was made far worse by TFG’s tariffs, that caused less buying by China, and a surplus of containers here piled up at US ports ( this has been under reported). Surplus containers here equals a shortage of containers in Asia. US manufactures are having to PAY for the shipping of empty containers back to China. If not, the shippers can jack up shipping prices anyway. Thanks former guy.
I’ve heard and read the right wing nut pundits blame the current President for the above, and for the Port delays and shipping bottle necks as well. As if Biden both moved all the factories and production off shore in the first place starting 40 years ago. Really? And then it’s the Presidents fault for how inadequate the Port capacity is in dealing with bottlenecks, how few deep water ports there are, how few docks there are for ships to unload, how few cranes there are per dock, and that there are not enough port workers and truck drivers? Really?
Now if you follow that logic… if bigger Government and government interference is the problem, and all the problems can be solved by the private sector alone (even in foreign supplier countries)… then shouldn’t the blame for these current problems be on the private sector too and not government? And certainly not on one person in one office of government?
These are all complex multi faceted problems with no easy answers. The answers are well beyond the scope of just the private sector. Apple, Ford, intel, etc can not independently negotiate alone, by themselves, with the worlds largest supplier country that owns the Majority of US debt, that happens to be a one party authoritarian communist state. There is no way that the private sector can alone build more ports where no more deep water port locations exist. Even if the private sector could manage all the surging demand at the ports, they can not add capacity to ports that are constrained by mega cities that have crowded them in.
These right wing nut critics are both ignorant, misinformed, and delusional of global supply chains, shipping complexity, and basic coastal geography. Leaving the problems to the private sector only leaves them unresolved, and only makes a bad situation worse.
Gas prices high? Cut down on your driving. Slowdowns at the post office or Amazon? Walk downtown and find local crafters where you can shop for gifts or donate to a cause, or make something yourself or give an IOU coupon booklet. What does a pair of mittens from China really say about Christmas, Chanukkah, Kwanzaa or whatever else we are so pressured to buy?
Soc Media free days. “Put down your phone and go hiking”
The empty container issue is not new, however, China's ban on solid waste for recycling is one of the factors that has exacerbated the empty container dilemma. It makes sense that China doesn't want our trash but their ban has increased the number of empty containers being shipped back to Asia. From a 2018 article in Supply Chain Dive:
"China's recycling ban worsens imbalance
One of the few bright spots in the empty container imbalance dimmed when China banned importation of many common waste products for recycling. In 2016, China imported some 45 million metric tons of scrap metal waste paper and plastic, according to The Economist.
That trade essentially stopped when Beijing banned imports of 24 types of solid waste, and with bans on additional products going into effect in 2018 and 2019. The current prohibitions include paper and plastic waste steel and used auto parts. Pulp and waste paper were the single largest category of exports from the U.S. to Asia. Losing that trade has made it even more challenging to fill Asia-bound containers, particularly from the U.S."
https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/empty-container-imbalance-transparency-startup/540949/
https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/empty-containers-volumes-west-coast-ports-trade-war/544533/
Spot on Ted. It's systemic dysfunction and until we deal with that truth it won't change. How do you do that? Not simple, but a lot of current PTB are going to lose thier shit. Here's my analysis of the US healthcare system = FWIW. https://media.awakeningtowholeness.net/newusa-part-3/
Under tfg Fox-informed Americans were daily doused with great claims from the TV guy about how HE created the greatest economy and are now starved by JB for more candy he won't deliver. Of course they are unhappy , you think?
No argument with any of this -- but at root, people are pissy because the pandemic isn't over. GOPers are doing their best to keep it that way by coddling anti-vaxxers and opposing public health measures. You've given a fair summary of the Biden administration's accomplishments here -- and we need to keep reminding folks. But it's hard to break through when everyday life is constrained and people keep getting sick. We can but keep repeating ourselves.
I wish the Democrats could spread this message more widely. It feels Orwellian at times to read all the negative media coverage (and Republican attacks, of course) when so much of what Biden has done is positive, especially given what he inherited. Thank you for this reminder of what we should be thankful for this Thanksgiving.
The propaganda machine at Fox works 24/7. That is the problem. No, the real problem is that the Fox clones and the MSM follow Rupert down the rabbit hole of selective information - ignoring tfg’s disasterous set up, focusing on every glitch, and ignoring the fact that republicans are no longer a political party but obstructionists, propagandists, liars, and active destroyers of democracy. Even MSNBC falls into this trap. Democrats should read Frank Luntz’ “Words That Work.” It’s on sale at Thriftbooks….
It's not just Fox. The New York Times and the Washington Post do it, too, with sensational headlines. The story itself may have grains of truth in paragraph 5 or 10, but people don't read that far. Many people don't read past the headlines.
Heather! Thankfully you have the skill to share the FACT of the sea change the Biden administration has brought. Done with grace and skill and courage.
I ask you. Can you speak to why, why, why the Democratic Party is so hobbled and unable to get your clear message out to Americans?
How this Administration combat the media?
What is the missing link has Dems constantly cleaning up the mess of the right and then lose to the right.
Would you please consider a commentary on this?
Ever grateful for you voice, your brilliantly applied skills and your dedication to America.
From Derek DelGaudio on Twitter. “I used to rig card games for a living. I’d watch people sit down and lose everything, again and again. But they didn’t lose because they “played by the rules” and we didn’t. They lost because it wasn’t a game. It just looked like one. The Democrats think it is a game.”
Such has been the case for the longest time. Republicans offer slogans and “voodoo economics”. All lies. The R’s have talked endlessly about “tax & spend Democrats”. The D’s had to raise taxes to fix all the things R’s broke. People have bought into the “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” jargon, which is physically impossible given the location of bootstraps. It’s hard to message complicated, nuanced situations like the infrastructure bill. R’s pull out a tiny nugget of the situation, create a sound bite, and blast it all over the place. Here’s my thought, “What had the Republicans done for you lately? Have they ? and list Democrat accomplishments.”