You get baseball, I don’t. So be it. But what was “electric” about the birthday wishes? I was sure I’d see the 100 year old on the field. Did I miss that part? That wasn’t baseball, that was a courteous gesture. What am I missing about baseball?
I'd say your coxonium ad is slightly off. The ads in question are giving straight facts that should be damning without saying explicitly that they are damning facts. I agree with you that what we see in them should not be construed as Dems promoting dangerous people, but here's what I think the poison ad might be a bit more like, if it was targeted to lifetime San Diego/LA Chargers fans:
"Coxonium is product that you can certainty buy over the counter without a prescription. In the last year of his life, Junior Seau took coxonium daily to treat his severe headaches. Seau took it because he and the inventor of coxonium believed that CTE was a hoax and that Seau had never had a concussion. Junior Seau took a double dose of coxonium an hour before he committed suicide."
For years, we in the general public have been saying how foul & repellent persons such as MTG, Matt Gaetz, Paul Gosar, Jim Jordan, etc are...but there is something we are leaving out of the discussion.
These people did not magically snap themselves into office. They were elected.
The true ogres/villains/nightmares under the bed are the people who decided in the voting booth that these individuals are perfectly fine & qualified to serve as their elected member of Congress. People in the general public talk about how these politicians are kooks/freaks/thugs/racists/bigots...news flash--they are direct reflections of their electorates. The large chunk of their VOTERS are kooks/freaks/thugs/racists/bigots.
The old adage in politics is "Never criticize the voters". Guess what--that is over. For many many years, I personally thought the stereotype Democrats put out about Republicans was unfair and distorted. That is over. By their own words & deeds, Republican & Republican leaning voters are showing that in the end, Democratic spin was ultimately right about them to a pretty fair degree. A majority of them *now* ARE truly horrible human beings advocating for horrid policies & making vile public statements. Some apologists for years have said "they're scared and frightened, so they act out by electing people like Trump. We need to understand".
What is there left to understand? "Fear" is never a justification for being sh*tty people...and if you are *still* on Train Trump (and down with everything for which that stands), you Ma'am or Sir, are a sh*tty person...period
Per SCOTUS, any $$$ used anywhere in any campaign is perfectly free, if not righteous, speech.
Re picking one's opponents, sometimes the leopard eats your face, other times the leopard eats the other guy's face. If one's willing to accept the risks, all's fair. Only remains to be seen in November whose face gets eaten.
To play devil's advocate, haven't we learned over the last 6 years the line between Good Republicans and MAGA Republicans is very thin to nonexistent in nearly all cases. Another Republican in office puts us one step closer to a branch of Congress led by McConnell or McCarthy, two very fine people indeed. So yes, if a Republican is going to hold office, better for the wannabe Nazi or Election Truther to lose in the primary. But, if there's little functional difference why not do everything possible to give the Democratic candidate the best shot at winning? (This calculus is a bit different for a governor vs. a member of Congress)
WRT Libraries... aesthetically I do not care for most of the "modern" ones pictured in the thread. They are probably more functional, but I find them oddly repellent (as a library).
Personally, I always preferred a little desk/cubby in the back stacks when I was spending a lot of time in the library. Generally nice and quiet and no one around to bug you.
The physical book isn't all that important to me (it is what is inside that counts) and the physical library is also not really important, either, in the digital age.
It WILL be interesting to see how much stuff we loose because it never makes it to digital or the digital format it is in never gets updated. Bet it will be a LOT.
Okay you’ve won me over to your side of this argument. If the GOP primary electorate was sane these would have been seen as negative ads in both Pennsylvania and Maryland not as boosting ads. If anything it’s clever of the Democrats to highlight the craziness of GOP base voters. I still don’t agree with it but no one should use these ads as an excuse to either vote for or excuse another persons voting for these candidates. JVL is right on this.
In the case of PA, the one thing that bolstered the argument that these were ads designed to boost Mastriano was the claim that they were being aired in Republican districts. But this was hardly an ironclad indictment.
After all, it isn't as if you need to tell people in Philadelphia not to vote for Adolph Von Schtöpderschteel. Granted, it may help boost turnout in those areas, but I'd imagine that's more effective once the general campaign goes into full swing. In the meantime, the fact that Mastriano virtually had the nomination wrapped up gave Shapiro's ads at least the plausible pretense of getting an early jump on Mastriano-bashing in the areas where they arguably had the most to gain - among otherwise loyal Republicans who might not be able to get behind an authoritarian loon.
As to perhaps understanding the vexation of "so...many people who have the Republican party and / or Conservatism deeply entrenched in their personal identity" in making the simple binary choice between a personal accommodation with illiberalism or supporting Democrats:
Actually, no. I can't understand that, on anything more than a superficial intellectual level at best. I suppose because the only thing entrenched in my personal identity beyond husband, father, and hardworking, self-reliant human being is being *American*, and believing that that personal identity trait is superior to party loyalty or some kind of ideological purity or adherence. All day, every day.
You get baseball, I don’t. So be it. But what was “electric” about the birthday wishes? I was sure I’d see the 100 year old on the field. Did I miss that part? That wasn’t baseball, that was a courteous gesture. What am I missing about baseball?
Those libraries gave me the chills....sigh, would love to visit any of them, and all those books...lol
I'd say your coxonium ad is slightly off. The ads in question are giving straight facts that should be damning without saying explicitly that they are damning facts. I agree with you that what we see in them should not be construed as Dems promoting dangerous people, but here's what I think the poison ad might be a bit more like, if it was targeted to lifetime San Diego/LA Chargers fans:
"Coxonium is product that you can certainty buy over the counter without a prescription. In the last year of his life, Junior Seau took coxonium daily to treat his severe headaches. Seau took it because he and the inventor of coxonium believed that CTE was a hoax and that Seau had never had a concussion. Junior Seau took a double dose of coxonium an hour before he committed suicide."
Sorry if that's a bit dark.
For years, we in the general public have been saying how foul & repellent persons such as MTG, Matt Gaetz, Paul Gosar, Jim Jordan, etc are...but there is something we are leaving out of the discussion.
These people did not magically snap themselves into office. They were elected.
The true ogres/villains/nightmares under the bed are the people who decided in the voting booth that these individuals are perfectly fine & qualified to serve as their elected member of Congress. People in the general public talk about how these politicians are kooks/freaks/thugs/racists/bigots...news flash--they are direct reflections of their electorates. The large chunk of their VOTERS are kooks/freaks/thugs/racists/bigots.
The old adage in politics is "Never criticize the voters". Guess what--that is over. For many many years, I personally thought the stereotype Democrats put out about Republicans was unfair and distorted. That is over. By their own words & deeds, Republican & Republican leaning voters are showing that in the end, Democratic spin was ultimately right about them to a pretty fair degree. A majority of them *now* ARE truly horrible human beings advocating for horrid policies & making vile public statements. Some apologists for years have said "they're scared and frightened, so they act out by electing people like Trump. We need to understand".
What is there left to understand? "Fear" is never a justification for being sh*tty people...and if you are *still* on Train Trump (and down with everything for which that stands), you Ma'am or Sir, are a sh*tty person...period
Funny, intelligent commentary - wonderful! And if you're really trade-marking Good Republicans, I hope you're planning to manufacture a bunch of them.
Is Lurleen related to Cletus Von Ivermectin?
Per SCOTUS, any $$$ used anywhere in any campaign is perfectly free, if not righteous, speech.
Re picking one's opponents, sometimes the leopard eats your face, other times the leopard eats the other guy's face. If one's willing to accept the risks, all's fair. Only remains to be seen in November whose face gets eaten.
To play devil's advocate, haven't we learned over the last 6 years the line between Good Republicans and MAGA Republicans is very thin to nonexistent in nearly all cases. Another Republican in office puts us one step closer to a branch of Congress led by McConnell or McCarthy, two very fine people indeed. So yes, if a Republican is going to hold office, better for the wannabe Nazi or Election Truther to lose in the primary. But, if there's little functional difference why not do everything possible to give the Democratic candidate the best shot at winning? (This calculus is a bit different for a governor vs. a member of Congress)
WRT Libraries... aesthetically I do not care for most of the "modern" ones pictured in the thread. They are probably more functional, but I find them oddly repellent (as a library).
Personally, I always preferred a little desk/cubby in the back stacks when I was spending a lot of time in the library. Generally nice and quiet and no one around to bug you.
The physical book isn't all that important to me (it is what is inside that counts) and the physical library is also not really important, either, in the digital age.
It WILL be interesting to see how much stuff we loose because it never makes it to digital or the digital format it is in never gets updated. Bet it will be a LOT.
This may be the best Triad ever!
Okay you’ve won me over to your side of this argument. If the GOP primary electorate was sane these would have been seen as negative ads in both Pennsylvania and Maryland not as boosting ads. If anything it’s clever of the Democrats to highlight the craziness of GOP base voters. I still don’t agree with it but no one should use these ads as an excuse to either vote for or excuse another persons voting for these candidates. JVL is right on this.
In the case of PA, the one thing that bolstered the argument that these were ads designed to boost Mastriano was the claim that they were being aired in Republican districts. But this was hardly an ironclad indictment.
After all, it isn't as if you need to tell people in Philadelphia not to vote for Adolph Von Schtöpderschteel. Granted, it may help boost turnout in those areas, but I'd imagine that's more effective once the general campaign goes into full swing. In the meantime, the fact that Mastriano virtually had the nomination wrapped up gave Shapiro's ads at least the plausible pretense of getting an early jump on Mastriano-bashing in the areas where they arguably had the most to gain - among otherwise loyal Republicans who might not be able to get behind an authoritarian loon.
I'm a Dem from MA and totally annoyed about losing Charlie Baker. Great piece as always - thx!
Is there any way to access the library piece without going through Twitter?
As to perhaps understanding the vexation of "so...many people who have the Republican party and / or Conservatism deeply entrenched in their personal identity" in making the simple binary choice between a personal accommodation with illiberalism or supporting Democrats:
Actually, no. I can't understand that, on anything more than a superficial intellectual level at best. I suppose because the only thing entrenched in my personal identity beyond husband, father, and hardworking, self-reliant human being is being *American*, and believing that that personal identity trait is superior to party loyalty or some kind of ideological purity or adherence. All day, every day.
Feel like Riggs Library was unfairly excluded