RUSH: So, Mr. Snerdley walked in here, looks at me, and says, “You’re gonna catch hell today, buddy.” I said, “Why? What did…? What did I do?” He said, “You gotta get that Nike shirt off, man! You can’t show up on the Dittocam…” “Oh, my God. I forgot. I didn’t even think about it.” So I made a mad dash into the dressing room in there that we use about twice a year when I do television. Thankfully, I had a shirt not made by Nike in there. It’s a Steelers coach’s shirt. So I slapped it on there. It’s a good catch by Mr. Snerdley. I didn’t even think of it. It didn’t even occur to me.
Who makes the shirt doesn’t matter to me when I go grab ’em and put ’em on. It’s not why I bought ’em. Anyway, greetings, folks. Here we are set, ready, and loaded to unload on another day in the United States of America. We’re coming up on Independence Day, which is Thursday, a couple days from now. Oh, by the way, have you heard? Mike Pence was scheduled to do an event in New Hampshire and his plane has been called back. The event, whatever it was in New Hampshire, has been canceled.
Pence is on the way back now to D.C. (he may be back by now) for an unspecified emergency. I haven’t seen any more on it than that. If there is something, it has escaped me. But whatever. When we learn more, we’ll pass it on. I wonder what it is. You know, then you realize Trump is gonna be front and center in Washington on Thursday. He’s asked for there to be tanks and a flyby on The Mall as part of the celebration of America. That is gonna… (chuckles) If that happens, can you imagine the provocative nature? I mean, putting tanks on the street!
The Democrat Party, the American left is gonna go bonkers. By the way, folks, is there any doubt that what we’re dealing with here — flat-out, now — is straight-up anti-Americanism? When I have mentioned casually and pointedly over the recent past that the American left has now become a political group that does not believe America could be fixed. America needs to be disbanded. America needs to be ripped up, torn apart, and rebuilt. We are forever flawed because of our founding.
Even though all of the grievances that they have about the founding have been addressed, have been fixed, such as women being able to vote, slavery and any number of things. That’s not good enough — and this Nike situation with Colin Kaepernick proves it! Colin Kaepernick is objecting to today’s flag, not the flag that flew before slavery. He’s objecting to today’s flag, and here’s Nike (because one of their paid athletes objects to the flag) pulling the shoe made with the American flag on it! I mean, there isn’t any question here that what we’re dealing with is not people who are aligned with us on things in common.
It used to be said of the two political parties that we all want what’s best for America. That can’t be said anymore. And it has not been the case for a long time, if you ask me. These people are not interested in what’s best for America. They want to tear it down, folks. They’re not even hiding it anymore. They’re not trying to even camouflage it. They aren’t trying to mask it. They aren’t trying to deceive us. They’re flat-out in our faces. They don’t like this country, and it’s not about fixing it. It’s about tearing it down. It’s about ripping apart the fabric of this country and destroying the people who are the descendants of those who founded it.
I don’t mean in a genetic sense. But people who believe in the founding, they’ve gotta go. Make no mistake about it. Colin Kaepernick and his behavior and Nike going along with him, in my estimation, is flat-out un-American. It’s anti-America, let’s put it that way. We don’t have any overlap here where it used to be said (impression), “Yeah, well, we’re all… We all want the best for America. We just have different, uh, theories about how to get there.” They’re not looking at the best! They want to rip this country apart. They want to tear up the concepts of the American founding.
Here we are two days before the Fourth of July, and I wouldn’t blame any of you if you’re out there kind of pulling your hair out, saying, “Can we not just have one day to celebrate this country? Can’t we just have one day between us?” This little AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and this gaggle of hysterical women that she takes down there with her to the border, lying their way through that border visit. You know, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has had happen to her what a bunch of shock-jock type people on the radio always have happen.
After a while, your gig gets old, your schtick no longer shocks, and so you have to keep crossing new lines. And that’s all she’s doing. She’s addicted to getting noticed. She’s out there, a former bartender, saying that Ivanka Trump has no business being a diplomat. “She’s got no experience being a diplomat! She doesn’t know what being a diplomat is,” from a former bartender who’s been elected to Congress with one of the lowest vote it turns out in the history of the congressional district.
Now she runs down there and starts trashing and lying about conditions at the border and the people who administer the people who come into this country illegally. She flat-out lies that the detainees are being forced to drink out of toilets! The Border Patrol and ICE people are denying this. Even this gaggle of lunatics with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez admit they haven’t seen it. There aren’t any witnesses have actually seen people being forced to drink water out of a toilet.
But, my friends, based on what we’re told about the circumstances where these people are fleeing, maybe toilet water’s a step up for some of them. Based on what the left is telling us their homelands are like. So we’ve got that to deal with. Now we have Nike canceling the rollout of a flag shoe — a new flag shoe — at the behest of a triggered anti-American ex-jock, Colin Kaepernick. But in a way, you can’t blame Nike because Kaepernick and that ad campaign they ran sold a heck of a lot of shoes. You couldn’t blame Nike for thinking that Kaepernick’s audience and the people that buy tennis shoes or whatever are indeed themselves anti-American. Not un-American, anti-American...
Wednesday, July 3, 2019
The Boldly Public Anti-Americanism of the American Left
'Mini-AOC' Doxxed, Death Threats
Unfortunately, the lesson now is "shut up or you'll be dead."
BREAKING: @MiniAOCofficial has deleted her account after her family was doxxed and received death threats pic.twitter.com/fz4TzYD13Y— Jack Posobiec πΊπΈ (@JackPosobiec) July 3, 2019
There's video of her still up here, "Mini AOC gets better every time!! Now with with her official Twitter handle: @miniAOCofficial."
And at Fox News, "Mini-AOC releases 're-election video' mocking the New York congresswoman.
Michael Eric Dyson Compares Betsy Ross Flag to Swastika, Burning Cross
At Free Beacon:
Michael Eric Dyson compares Betsy Ross Flag to a swastika or burning cross during MSNBC hit. https://t.co/q0RAY4dqtW pic.twitter.com/EDoA7DgcZa
— David Rutz (@DavidRutz) July 3, 2019
Weird that no one had a problem with The Betsy Ross Flag when it flew over Obama’s inauguration. Now it’s not patriotic... ok got it. π #morons https://t.co/wkxDRZs6bM
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 3, 2019
Tuesday, July 2, 2019
Andy Ngo on 'The Story with Martha MacCallum' (VIDEO)
Ngo appeared earlier with Martha MacCallum, and you can see that he's impaired, obviously in the very earliest stage of recovery. What a guy.
U.S. Women Beat England in World Cup Semifinal
Frankly, that was the most enjoyable part of the game. π€·♂️⚽️π€πΊπΈπ #USWNT #MeganRapinoe #WorldCup https://t.co/3dw4nfQ0Nm
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) July 3, 2019
No. 13 on her birthday. In honor of those 13 colonies.
— U.S. Soccer WNT (@USWNT) July 2, 2019
That’s. The. Tea πΊπΈπΊπΈπΊπΈ
Go on, @alexmorgan13, what a birthday! pic.twitter.com/Rge0HMMrCk
Niall Ferguson Becomes an American (VIDEO)
Watch, at Prager University:
Today's Shopping
See especially, Apple MacBook (2017) 12" Laptop, Retina Display, Intel M3-7Y32 Dual-Core, 256GB PCI-E SSD, 8GB DDR3, 802.11ac, macOS 10.12, Gold (Renewed).
And, Leather Travel Duffle Bag Gym Overnight Weekend Luggage Carry on Airplane Underseat Bag.
More, Smith & Wesson SWMP4LBS 8.6in Stainless Steel Assisted Folding Knife with 3.6in Clip Point Blade and Aluminum Handle for Outdoor Tactical Survival and Everyday Carry.
Plus, Barnett Whitetail Pro STR Crossbow, 400 Feet Per Second.
Here, Samsung QN65Q6F Flat 65” QLED 4K UHD 6 Series Smart TV 2018.
BONUS: Victor Sebestyen, Lenin: The Man, the Dictator, and the Master of Terror.
Alexandra Stan
And the Fappening, "Alexandra Stan Sexy & Topless (46 Photos + Video)."
Monday, July 1, 2019
Angels Pitcher Tyler Skaggs Has Died
.@lamblock #Angels Pitcher #TylerSkaggs Has Died: https://t.co/tIIcMxUN3N π’
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) July 1, 2019
How awful. Just 27 years old. https://t.co/JTO2Zx0QFP
— Nathan Fenno (@nathanfenno) July 1, 2019
Latest on @Angels LH Tyler Skaggs vs. Southlake Police Dept. (and @nathanfenno):
— mike hiserman (@MikeHiserman) July 1, 2019
The police were called to the team hotel and found him "unresponsive" in his room. "No foul play is suspected. This investigation is ongoing ..."
More from police regarding Skaggs: "At this time no foul play is suspected, and the investigation is ongoing."
— Mike DiGiovanna (@MikeDiGiovanna) July 1, 2019
Southlake Police Department Press Release 7/1/19 pic.twitter.com/vgZTUBIc40
— Southlake DPS (@SouthlakeDPS) July 1, 2019
Angels statement on the passing of Tyler Skaggs. pic.twitter.com/6XA2Vu1uWV
— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) July 1, 2019
Emily Ratajkowski Twerking
BONUS: "Emily Ratajkowski Hacked Nude Photos."
— Emily Ratajkowski (@emrata) June 29, 2019
π pic.twitter.com/DzxWfDmdzp
— Emily Ratajkowski (@emrata) June 12, 2019
ππ½ pic.twitter.com/XUhzcPZEGO
— Emily Ratajkowski (@emrata) May 20, 2019
Madison Gesiotto
Plus, she's stacked!
Today was a great day! pic.twitter.com/2uPbLh3IkU
— Madison Gesiotto (@madisongesiotto) June 21, 2019
Never mind what haters say, ignore them til’ they fade away π€ pic.twitter.com/9Y0acu0L3h
— Madison Gesiotto (@madisongesiotto) June 29, 2019
Do you approve of the President’s unconventional foreign policy strategy with North Korea, China and others? pic.twitter.com/n8qGlQcGvm
— Madison Gesiotto (@madisongesiotto) July 1, 2019
Kamala Harris Wants to Bring Back Forced Busing
She's on record as supporting a return to the failed desegregation polices of the 1970s.
And at the Los Angeles Times, "School busing in Berkeley during Kamala Harris’ childhood was both voluntary and volatile":
Kamala Harris, Berkeley and busing >>> "Even in a city that had become a worldwide symbol of 1960s counterculture revolt, systemic racial prejudice in education and housing remained deeply entrenched." https://t.co/3sBXbF6yHe Excellent @LATSeema @melmason @finneganLAT— Shelby Grad (@shelbygrad) July 1, 2019
.@KamalaHarris: “I support busing. Listen, the schools of America are as segregated, if not more segregated, today than when I was in [school]...need to put every effort, including busing, into play to de-segregate the schools...fed govt has a role & a responsibility to step up." pic.twitter.com/a7ujueP0Bu— Vaughn Hillyard (@VaughnHillyard) June 30, 2019
The school bus ride was less than three miles from one side of Berkeley to the other, but from 1969 to 1973 it transported Carole Porter to an entirely different world.
Like her neighbor and friend Kamala Harris, Porter was one of thousands of black children bused into predominantly white neighborhoods to learn. It was part of Berkeley’s bold experiment in desegregation.
But even in a city that had become a worldwide symbol of 1960s counterculture revolt, systemic racial prejudice in education and housing remained deeply entrenched.
“That’s a really hard thing to reconcile,” said Porter, 55. “Berkeley was an oxymoron. It was a contradiction in many ways.”
Harris’ three years of busing from her family’s mainly black working-class neighborhood to a prosperous white enclave in the hills overlooking San Francisco Bay was at once universal and uniquely Berkeley.
As in many American cities, the discriminatory housing policy known as redlining kept blacks from moving into white neighborhoods in Berkeley and busing fueled some white flight to the suburbs.
But unlike other sizable cities, Berkeley undertook its busing program voluntarily and required both white and black families to travel into unfamiliar neighborhoods. Rapid demographic and political changes shielded the community from the most extreme pushback, including violence, that hobbled busing efforts nationwide.
More than 50 years after Berkeley launched its busing program, Harris, one of its most famous participants, thrust it back into the spotlight in last week’s Democratic presidential debate.
As California’s first black senator chastised her rival Joe Biden for his fight against forced busing in the ’70s, she leaned on her personal history in Berkeley, portraying herself as a beneficiary of the charged battle for educational equality.
“There was a little girl in California who was a part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day,” Harris said. “And that little girl was me.”
Contrary to its enduring reputation as a progressive mecca, the Berkeley of Harris’ childhood was more politically muddled. The conservative John Birch Society operated two bookstores in the area. It wasn’t until the early 1960s that Democrats cracked a Republican stronghold on the city council. Black residents were restricted to living to the southern and western flats, while whites resided in the northern hills.
Thelette A. Bennett, 71, a retired vice principal of Berkeley High School, grew up in the same neighborhood as Harris.
Bennett’s father, a black World War II Navy veteran, was an airplane mechanic at a local naval air station in 1945, when redlining blocked him and his wife from buying a house in a white neighborhood. Even in the black neighborhood where they settled, she said, they needed to get a white real estate agent to buy a home and transfer it to them.
“There were only certain areas where they could buy a home,” Bennett said. “We lived where they allowed us to live.”
But a large influx of African Americans during and after World War II and whites affiliated with UC Berkeley were pulling the local politics to the left, paving the way for desegregation. Black leaders raised concerns about segregation in the city starting in the late 1950s.
In response, the school board studied the matter, concluding that all but three of the district’s 17 elementary schools and two of the three junior high schools were segregated. (Berkeley High, the city’s only high school, was integrated by default.) In 1964, the school board voted to desegregate its junior high schools.
Residents’ reactions were not as extreme as the segregation battles elsewhere in the country, such as the South, but “it wasn’t as far from that as you might assume,” said Natalie Orenstein, a reporter for local news site Berkeleyside. “There were definitely really angry parents and hours-long school meetings.”
Desegregation opponents launched recall campaigns of multiple school board members over the junior high busing program, but lost by a wide margin.
Jennifer Delacruz Sunday (Monday) Forecast
Social Media Isn't Substitute for Real-Life Interaction
This is good, from Arthur Brooks, at WaPo:
Questions to ask yourself this Monday: Do I have fewer in-person interactions because of social media? Am I using social media to pass the time? Has Twitter displaced any of my productive work? If my answer is yes to any of these, it’s time for a reset. https://t.co/7lpSKfZPYE
— Arthur Brooks (@arthurbrooks) June 17, 2019
Andy Ngo
It was totally viral over the weekend, and Michelle Malkin put up a GoFundMe page.
— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) June 29, 2019
Attacked by antifa. Bleeding. They stole my camera equipment. No police until after. waiting for ambulance . If you have evidence Of attack please help— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) June 29, 2019
On way to hospital. Was beat on face and head multiple times in downtown in middle of street with fists and weapons. Suspects at large.— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) June 29, 2019
In the ER. pic.twitter.com/spe5N4nzVl— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) June 29, 2019
BREAKING: New Angle Shows Antifa Thugs Who Battered Reporter Andy Ngo Were PREPARED FOR BATTLE -- WORE ASSAULT GLOVES during Beating @MichelleMalkin @MrAndyNgo @Jimryan015 @pnjaban— Jim Hoft (@gatewaypundit) June 30, 2019
https://t.co/n1Olm5D4wd via @gatewaypundit
SICK. CAIR Portland Leader Attacks Michelle Malkin and Mocks Andy Ngo after he is Beaten and Robbed by Violent Antifa Thugs @MichelleMalkin @MrAndyNgo https://t.co/65lp01Uphl via @gatewaypundit— Jim Hoft (@gatewaypundit) June 30, 2019
Help #PROTECTANDYNGO - Donate here ======> https://t.co/Cw5IwMY04U— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) June 29, 2019
Reporters and activists pile on to either mock or attempt to explain away the Antifa attack on journalist @MrAndyNgo in Portland. https://t.co/pWTsmOBpOB— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) July 1, 2019
Where were y’all? https://t.co/KU2QG284ZI— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) June 30, 2019
Thanks to all for the outpouring of support for our @Quillette colleague @MrAndyNgo. What happened was horrible, but at least it's caused a moment of reckoning for the journalists who've acted as pro-Antifa mouthpieces till now. Here's our @Quillette editorial about Andy's ordeal https://t.co/xCn2lqd2ZC— Jonathan Kay (@jonkay) June 30, 2019
'Midway' (VIDEO TRAILER)
Now here comes a new version, and I'm here for it lol.
At the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, "Watch first trailer for ‘Midway,’ a new World War II movie filmed in Hawaii."
Selena Gomez Red Bathing Suit
And Taxi Driver:
Selena Gomez Soaking Wet in a Red Bathing Suit - https://t.co/oLu1XgvUDt - pic.twitter.com/AMqhWUGUSc
— Taxi Driver (@TaxiDriverMovie) July 1, 2019
Friday, June 28, 2019
Democrats Offering a Great Deal to People Who Aren't Americans
And read the whole, outstanding thing, from Andrew Sullivan:
"Every single Democratic candidate supports amnesty for every non-criminal undocumented alien, while actually seeking to decriminalize crossing the border. This is political suicide." https://t.co/JpNrrEaXeO
— Andrew Sullivan (@sullydish) June 28, 2019
Peter Caddick-Adams, Snow and Steel
This guy is a phenomenal historian.
At Amazon, Peter Caddick-Adams, Snow and Steel: The Battle of the Bulge, 1944-45.
Victoria Justice
And at Celeb Jihad, "VICTORIA JUSTICE SHOWS OFF HER NUDE ASS CHEEKS."
Intimate Raine Michaels
Democrats Move Left --- Frankly, It's Just All Out in the Open Now
At LAT, "This is not your father’s Democratic Party: Debate shows how leftward it has moved":
The Democratic Party opened its 2020 presidential debates with a remarkably policy-focused exchange that illustrated how consistently to the left they have moved. For the night, at least, this was Elizabeth Warren’s party.
The Democratic senator from Massachusetts, who entered the debate with momentum behind her campaign, set the tone and dominated the early part of the debate, which focused on economic policy.
“When you've got a government, when you've got an economy that does great for those with money and isn't doing great for everyone else, that is corruption, pure and simple,” she said. “We need to make structural change in our government, in our economy and in our country.”
Even those of her rivals who don’t fully share that assessment declined chances to put themselves at odds with Warren. Instead, they sang from the same hymnal of left-wing economic populism declaring the need for broad reforms of the political and economic system.
“It is time we have an economy that works for everybody,” said Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, after minimizing his differences with Warren’s plan to break up big tech companies.
The shift in the party goes beyond economics. As the debate made clear, it includes gun control, abortion, climate change and immigration, among other issues. On each of those, candidates took positions to the left of those embraced by either of the last two Democratic presidents, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, who was barely mentioned by any of the candidates.
Rather than Clinton’s call for abortion to be “safe, legal and rare,” for example, the debate featured candidates stressing that the universal healthcare plans they backed would include public funds to pay for abortions for poor women.
On healthcare, only two candidates — Warren and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio — raised their hands when asked who would favor fully abolishing private health insurance plans in favor of instituting “Medicare for all.” But even those who favored a more moderate approach, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, for example, said they preferred a new government health insurance option for all — an idea that was considered too radical to pass when Congress enacted the Affordable Care Act less than a decade ago.
On immigration, former Obama Cabinet official JuliΓ‘n Castro pressed for decriminalizing illegal border crossings, making that a civil rather than a criminal offense. While Castro was correct in saying that the Trump administration had used the criminal law in a far more aggressive way than its predecessors, the law that makes unauthorized border crossings a criminal offense has been on the books for decades. Eliminating it is a move popular with some activists.
At least three of the candidates — Warren, Booker and Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio — share Castro’s view. Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke disagreed, and the clash between the two Texans over decriminalizing the border made for one of the night’s most intense moments, but it was notable that the disagreement came on a proposal that went far beyond anything that the Obama administration, in which Castro served, ever talked about.
And there was broad party consensus on gun control, an issue that Democrats for years shied from. Booker’s proposal to require gun licensing goes significantly further than what gun-safety advocates have dreamed of proposing.
The leftward tilt of the party did give some candidates pause.
“We have a perception problem with the Democratic Party that we are not connecting to the working class,” said Ryan, who represents the Youngstown, Ohio, area. “We have to change the center of gravity from being coastal elites and Ivy League.”
Klobuchar took a veiled swipe at Warren’s promises to enact broad changes in the political and economic system.
“I don’t make all the promises others up here make,” Klobuchar said. “I’m going to govern.”
But others argued for going further left, notably De Blasio, struggling for a breakout moment and calling the primary a “battle for the heart and soul of our party.”
“This Democratic Party has to be strong and bold and progressive,” he said.
Joe Biden 'Dated Himself', 'Underperformed' — and 'Was Eaten Alive'
At Politico, "Biden ‘Dated Himself,’ ‘Underperformed’—and ‘Was Eaten Alive’."
And, "Joe Biden's rivals pummel him after shaky debate performance: The Democratic contenders question whether the former vice president is ‘up to this challenge'":
Joe Biden’s Democratic rivals delivered blow after blow on Friday morning, seeking to further diminish the presidential front-runner’s prospects after he delivered a shaky performance on Thursday night’s debate stage.
“I think that we have to have a nominee that’s up to this challenge, and I think that we’re going to see whether or not Joe Biden is,” Cory Booker warned Friday morning in an interview on CNN’s “New Day.”
“And I don't think you can fault folks like me for calling him out if he fails to live up to the standard our next nominee should have and speak to the real pain and real hurt that I think Kamala spoke to last night,” the New Jersey senator said.
In the most vivid scene from Thursday’s forum of 10 Democratic presidential candidates, Kamala Harris launched a raw onslaught against Biden, the primary field’s leader, for his opposition to federally mandated school busing in the 1970s.
The California senator revealed during the confrontation that she was bused during her childhood as part of the second class to integrate public schools in Berkeley, Calif., and also described as “hurtful” comments Biden made earlier this month about working with segregationist Mississippi Sen. James Eastland during his time in the Senate.
Asked Friday whether the comments and Biden’s busing record disqualify him as a candidate, Harris said that was “a decision for the voters to make.” She also brushed off accusations that raising those controversies Thursday amounted to a “low blow” against Biden.
“It was about just speaking truth,” Harris said on “CBS This Morning.”
“As I’ve said many times, I have a great deal of respect for Joe Biden. He has served our country over many years in a very noble way, but he and I disagree on that,” she said. “And it is a debate, this is a campaign where we should be discussing issues, and there will be contrast. And on this issue … there is a contrast of opinion on the significance of people who have served in the United States Senate and what they have done in terms of their policies.”
Speaking Friday at the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow PUSH Coalition convention in Chicago, Biden asserted that he “never, ever opposed voluntary busing” and instead supported “federal action to address root causes of segregation in our schools and our communities” — insisting that he has “always been in favor of using federal authority to overcome state initiated segregation.”
Joe Biden Damage Control (VIDEO)
Watch the full thing, at Bloomberg Tic Toc, "Biden Defends Civil Rights Record In First Remarks Since Harris Debate Attack."
And on Twitter:
Joe Biden defends his civil rights record after debate: “I heard and I listened to and I respect Sen. Harris. But, you know, we all know that 30 seconds to 60 seconds on a campaign debate exchange can’t do justice to a lifetime committed to civil rights" https://t.co/aGy3S7MpAG pic.twitter.com/sOgPdJf1vt
— CNN (@CNN) June 28, 2019
I am still thinking about six minutes ago. Harris directly confronting Biden on busing/segregationists was historic, powerful, and unimaginable on a presidential stage until very recently, which is itself symptomatic of a world Biden is struggling to defend.
— Rebecca Traister (@rtraister) June 28, 2019
Kamala Harris Breaks Out (VIDEO)
At LAT, "Kamala Harris, known for caution, finds a risky move pays off against Joe Biden":
There was a little girl in California who was bussed to school. That little girl was me. #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/XKm2xP1MDH
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) June 28, 2019
For weeks, supporters of Sen. Kamala Harris had pointed to the first Democratic debate as the opportunity to break out of her campaign doldrums.Risky or not, it worked.
What no one said — and few would have predicted — was that she would do so by taking on the candidate at center stage, former Vice President Joe Biden, upbraiding him for his opposition to busing for school integration and his nostalgic reminiscences about his relationships with segregationist senators early in his career.
“I do not believe you are a racist,” Harris began, turning to face Biden. But, she added, “it was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country.
“And it was not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose busing. And, you know, there was a little girl in California who was a part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day. And that little girl was me.”
Biden, sputtering in response, declared Harris’ accusation “a mischaracterization of my position across the board.” He rattled off civil rights measures he had supported in his long career as a senator and tried to defend his opposition to busing during the 1970s and 1980s.
“I did not oppose busing in America. What I opposed is busing ordered by the Department of Education,” he said, reprising the states’-rights position that he, as a senator from a border state with a history of segregation, had taken decades earlier.
Harris shot back: “That’s where the federal government must step in, that’s why we have the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act … because there are moments in history where states fail to preserve the civil rights of all people.”
The ambush seemed carefully planned. Harris’ campaign aides were armed with photos of the candidate as a little girl, which they tweeted out moments after the clash. It was a surprising risk for Harris, a candidate often described as cautious to a fault...
Ms. Harris got her breakout moment. Let's see if it lasts.
Joe Biden Hammered at Second Democrat Party Debate (VIDEO)
She had that attack all cued up and ready for firing. And she blasted Biden, and he struggled and stammered, and he's in damage control now.
She won the debate, but damn, what a nightmare if she were to secure the Democrat nomination. Terrible.
At LAT, "Democratic debate: Joe Biden pushed on the defensive by Kamala Harris and others":
.@hookjan and @evanhalper wrap tonight's second presidential debate: Biden on the defensive, Harris on the upswing https://t.co/96JNwSQ30Z
— Mark Z. Barabak (@markzbarabak) June 28, 2019
Joe Biden, after months of trying to stay above the campaign fray, joined his 2020 rivals in debate Thursday and immediately faced challenges on issues of race, his relationship with Republicans, his support for the Iraq war and the need for generational change in the party.
The former vice president, who has been the front-runner in early polls, was thrown on the defensive by California Sen. Kamala Harris over recent remarks in which he sounded nostalgic about an era in the Senate when he could work civilly with segregationists.
In an intense flash of anger, Biden defended his record on civil rights, including his opposition in the 1970s to federally ordered school busing for desegregation — one of several occasions when he hunkered down to defend his record over 40 years in Washington and the reputation of the Obama administration.
“If you want to have this campaign litigated on who supports civil rights … I am ready to do that,” he said.
It was a dramatic, personal challenge that overshadowed the expected clash between Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the democratic socialist who is his ideological foil and is running second among Democratic primary voters in most polls.
It was the second of two evenings of debates on MSNBC, under rules set by the Democratic National Committee, marking the beginning of a new phase of the 2020 campaign that reached beyond the party’s most politically active members to a broader electorate.
The debate also exposed divisions among the 10 candidates onstage Thursday — over healthcare, immigration and what it will take to beat President Trump in 2020. It was something of a free-for-all of cross-talk and interruptions, as candidates — especially the lesser-known ones — struggled to be heard.
At one point, Harris interjected, “America does not want to witness a food fight. They want to know how we are going to put food on their table.”
The raucous debate may unsettle some of the dynamics of the race.
Harris’ confrontation with Biden was a signal moment for the senator, whose campaign had been stalled below the top tier in polling. She took the high-profile opportunity to stake out ground as a fresh and compelling voice on race — an issue Democrats continue to struggle with, at a time when African American voters will be crucial to the party’s success. And Harris, unafraid to confront Biden directly on this uncomfortable issue, was the only rival who truly knocked him off his game.
Sanders, by contrast, staked out no new ground, even as his chief rival for voters on the left wing of the party, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, dominated the Wednesday debate.
Sanders offered his trademark call for dramatic change, including the expansion of Medicare for all Americans and free public college.
Eight takeaways from Night 1 of the Democratic debate »
“We have a new vision for America,” said Sanders. “We think it is time for change. Real change.”
He acknowledged he would impose higher taxes on the middle class but said that would be offset by the dramatically lower costs of healthcare. It was a statement that Republicans immediately seized on as ammunition.
“Bernie Sanders boasted that middle class Americans are going to have to pay more in taxes if his socialist policies are enacted,” Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said on Twitter. “The contrast could not be clearer - @realDonaldTrump cut taxes for the middle class, and Democrats want to tax middle class Americans into oblivion.”
Sanders made no apologies for his agenda, saying it would not doom the party’s chances to beat Trump...
Wednesday, June 26, 2019
Joe Biden Vulnerable on His Support for the 1994 Crime Bill
At LAT, "As Democrats debate, Biden’s crime bill likely to provoke attacks":
As Democrats debate, one flashpoint will likely be the 1994 crime bill Joe Biden helped pass. At the time, the party was ecstatic. But times--and attitudes--have changed.https://t.co/8ZvcwXG8fS— Mark Z. Barabak (@markzbarabak) June 26, 2019
Twenty-five years ago, after passing the most sweeping anti-crime bill in history, Democrats were ecstatic, convinced they’d not only addressed a top concern of voters but finally shed the party’s soft-on-crime label.Still more.
That was then.
A quarter century after Joe Biden helped shepherd it into law, the legislation has become a point of fierce contention among Democrats and emerged as a likely flash point in the series of presidential debates that begin Wednesday night in Miami.
Some consider the law too tough and many, including President Trump, blame it for a wave of mass incarceration that has filled prisons with a flood of black and brown inmates.
“It destroyed entire neighborhoods, destroyed entire communities and we’re still paying the price and suffering from it,” said Patrisse Cullors, a Los Angeles activist who co-founded the Black Lives Matter movement. “What people need to say is, we made a mistake. A very big one.”
Majority Whip James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, a veteran of the civil rights movement and the highest-ranking black member of Congress, is among the strongest defenders.
“The fact of the matter is we on the Democratic side did a yeoman’s job in putting in the kind of prevention programs, the preventive funding in the bill,” Clyburn, the No. 3 leader in the House, said on CNN.
The passions surrounding the bill and its legacy reflect a dramatic shift in the public mood — due in no small part to a significant drop in crime — as well as changes in a Democratic Party that has moved dramatically leftward as young people and minorities gain political strength.
It also underscores the generation gap between the 76-year-old Biden and younger rivals focused on the racial and social injustices that grew from the push for stiffer punishment.
“Awful,” New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker told the Huffington Post.
“A huge mistake,” said New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Trump, eliding his history of racially inflammatory words and deeds, has echoed the attacks. “Anyone associated with the 1994 Crime Bill will not have a chance of being elected,” he taunted Biden on Twitter. “In particular, African Americans will not be able to vote for you.”
Biden, who led the Senate Judiciary Committee and has referred to the law as the “1994 Biden crime bill,” says there were parts he opposed in the all-or-nothing package, including mandatory sentencing under a “three strikes, you’re out” provision for repeat offenders.
(The Democratic front-runner will take the stage Thursday night, in the second of two debates)
Overall, Biden insists the good far outweighed the bad.
“It’s the one that had the assault weapons ban,” he told voters in New Hampshire. “It limited the number of bullets in a clip. It made sure that cop-killer bullets, Teflon bullets, weren’t available any longer. It opened up the whole effort to make sure there is background checks for the first time in American history.”
The legislative package also included the Violence Against Women Act, landmark legislation that capped years of efforts to toughen laws against rape, stalking and domestic abuse.
“Anyone who says it was a terrible bill doesn’t know what else was in the bill,” said former California Sen. Barbara Boxer, a liberal who joined all her fellow Democrats, save one, in support. (Seven Republican senators also backed the legislation, which passed 61-38.)
The legislation came at a time when crime, fueled by street gangs and the crack cocaine epidemic, was seen as spiraling out of control — including in Washington, D.C., under the very noses of congressional lawmakers.
Democrats were acutely sensitive to the issue. Bill Clinton ended the party’s exile from the White House by running in 1992 as a “different kind of Democrat,” with a tougher approach to law enforcement — the Arkansas governor even briefly dropped off the campaign trail to preside over the execution of a cop-killer with severely diminished mental capacity.
When the bill finally passed, after several close calls, Democrats exulted...
Daisy Ridley Photos
And, "DAISY RIDLEY NUDE ON HER WEBCAM."
NRATV Shuts Down
At the New York Times, via Memeorandum, "N.R.A. Shuts Down Production of NRATV."
Leftists are cheering, at HuffPo, "Twitter Users Celebrate NRATV’s Demise With ‘Thoughts And Prayers’ For Dana Loesch."
It's all political warfare. Dana gets their goat and she can take the flak.
N.R.A. Shuts Down Production of NRATV: https://t.co/Od8PRrsr50
— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) June 26, 2019
Oh and Dana Loesch is out too.
Sending my #ThoughtsAndPrayers
Danielle Gersh's Wednesday Weather Forecast
Here's the lovely Ms. Danielle, for CBS News 2 Los Angeles:
Rhian Sugden in White Bikini
Look at those knockers!
Rhian Sugden Caught in a White Bikini in the River - https://t.co/0JFxKw1aDL - pic.twitter.com/jnO4SSTBKD
— Taxi Driver (@TaxiDriverMovie) June 24, 2019
New Britney Spears Bikini Photos
At Drunken Stepfather, "BRITNEY SPEARS BIKINI OF THE DAY."
And at London's Daily Mail and People Magazine:
Britney Spears shows off her fit and toned physique in a bikini https://t.co/vhypxA01oT
— Daily Mail Celebrity (@DailyMailCeleb) June 24, 2019
Britney Spears Relaxes in Yellow Bikini on Caribbean Beach During Vacation with Mom Lynne https://t.co/yjVNjYPHTq
— People (@people) June 21, 2019
A 'Grim' Border Drowning is Perfect for Leftists Demonizing the President as Hitler
Stop this madness, I say. Build the freakin' wall already.
At AP, "A grim border drowning underlines peril facing many migrants."
A searing photo of a man and his 23-month-old daughter who drowned in the Rio Grande underscores the perils of the migration crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border. https://t.co/y8GmQRth4L— The Associated Press (@AP) June 25, 2019
And the reaction, at Twitchy:
Andy Ngo questions CNN's standards over photo of drowned father and daughter from El Salvador https://t.co/h0ms5nrRHm
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) June 26, 2019
Relatives say father and daughter in that heartbreaking photo were not fleeing from violence in El Salvador, via the NY Times https://t.co/7nSQUhFPvy
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) June 26, 2019
Media outlets aren’t holding back on publishing this photo of a drowned father and daughter https://t.co/41OBrA0QJQ
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) June 26, 2019
Tuesday, June 25, 2019
The Red Decade
In The Red Decade, Eugene Lyons was documenting not just a historical moment but also a species of historical illiteracy as unchanging as it is poisonous, its utopianism able to flourish only at the expense of independent thought. https://t.co/dr0DOYcGgE
— City Journal (@CityJournal) June 25, 2019
It may be that the best book that will ever be written about today’s progressive mind-set was published in 1941. That in The Red Decade author Eugene Lyons was, in fact, describing the Communist-dominated American Left of the Depression-wracked 1930s and 1940s makes his observations even more meaningful, for it is sobering to be confronted with how little has been gained by hard experience. The celebration of feelings over reason? The certainty of moral virtue? The disdain for tradition and the revising of history for ideological ends? The embrace of the latest definition of correct thought? Lyons was one of the most gifted reporters of his time, and among the bravest, and his story of the spell cast by Stalinist-tinged social-justice activism over that day’s purported best and brightest—literary titans, Hollywood celebrities, leading academics, religious leaders, media heavies—would be jaw-dropping if it weren’t so eerily familiar...
Honkin' Kelly Brook
Kelly Brook WOW! π₯°π₯°ππ @buquet1000 @WCBeauty_ @viczokas @Wildcard095 @Stacey_poolefan @jameskwan007 @curvyonly @HottestHunnies @JamesGlamfan @duljc @exxxcitement @IrinnaMoris_Fan @nuffinbutgirls @ds_161_4 @65000silver @HotGirlsPicsNow @FernandoPH73 @Coach0302 @b0obs28 pic.twitter.com/5VJONuUiW6
— Lucky Dragon π¦π¦π¦π¦π¬π§ (@LuckyDragon99) June 25, 2019
Herman Wouk, The Winds of War
At Amazon, Herman Wouk, The Winds of War.
E. Jean Carroll: Rape is 'Sexy' (VIDEO)
And at Althouse, "'Dean Baquet, [the NYT] executive editor, says 'we were overly cautious' in our handling of [E. Jean Carroll’s] allegations against the president'."
Plus, at the Washington Examiner, "Anderson Cooper cuts to commercial after Trump accuser E. Jean Carroll calls rape 'sexy'."
And the cringe-worthy interview on CNN:
“ I think most people think of rape as being sexy…” - E. Jean Carroll to Anderson Cooper
— John Cardillo (@johncardillo) June 25, 2019
Cooper immediately cut to breakpic.twitter.com/OwN2QLFc6q
Too Many Freakin' Democrats in the Race
At Hot Air, "Democrats Now Say They Have Too Many Democrats Running."
And at LAT, "What time is the Democratic presidential debate? Who gets to be on stage?"
And, "Democrats’ presidential hopefuls jockey to outdo one another with pre-debate promises":
Everyone has a plan for everything: 2020 Democratic candidates roll out policy proposals in advance of the presidential debates. w @evanhalper https://t.co/uvSboYV13N— Janet Hook (@hookjan) June 24, 2019
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders burnished his socialist bona fides – and sought to one-up progressive rival Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts — with a $1.6-trillion plan to pay off all the country’s college debt, an idea that could be more of a boon to the rich than the poor. Joe Biden, the former vice president and leader in current polls, rolled out an immigration plan.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee built out his framework for a future free of fossil fuels. Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke set out a multipart plan to improve services, including healthcare, job training and mental health support, for veterans, financed with savings from ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And several candidates took fresh aim at the criminal justice system.
The collective policy plans of the 2020 presidential hopefuls were already so voluminous, aggressive and, in many cases, expensive that it’s been tough for some candidates in this crowded field to muscle their vision into the spotlight.
But in these days leading up to the first Democratic debates in Miami, they’re trying extra hard.
They’re following the pattern set by Warren, who has distinguished herself with her policy prowess and has been rewarded in recent weeks by a notable rise in polls. Warren has so many detailed plans for so many issues that the logo emblazoned on her campaign merch is “Warren Has a Plan for That.” As those plans gained traction with voters, pundits stopped mocking her professorial obsession with policy details, and other candidates began trying to emulate it.
The media have been put on notice that Warren will unveil yet another new plan on Tuesday.
In some cases — forgiving college debt being the clearest example — the flurry of policy proposals has taken on the feel of an arms race.
Warren offered the race’s first detailed proposal on college debt, saying she would forgive as much as $50,000 for up to 42 million Americans. Sanders loyalists were eager to remind voters that it was the Vermonter who first carried college affordability from a fringe issue to a central focus of American politics, when he began promoting the topic as a presidential candidate in 2016.
On Monday, Sanders promised to go beyond Warren’s plan by canceling all $1.6 trillion in outstanding college debt held by Americans, regardless of income. He acknowledged the plan could benefit some people who do not need the help but said he and the lawmakers who co-sponsored the plan with him believed in “universality” — that higher education should be a guaranteed entitlement for all Americans, along with Social Security and Medicare.
“Our response to making sure this does not benefit the wealthy is in other areas,” Sanders said, “where we are going to demand the wealthy and large corporations start paying their fair share of taxes.”
The debt forgiveness would be bankrolled by a transaction tax on Wall Street, under his proposal. That tax aims to discourage speculation by traders, and Sanders notes it has been endorsed by scores of economists, although some of them have proposed using the money for other purposes.
Many liberal economists had already critiqued Warren’s version of debt forgiveness on the grounds that it would make income inequality worse. Sanders’ plan, which would give even more of a benefit to upper-income families, would rank even more poorly on that scale.
Families with incomes under $68,000 would receive only a third of the subsidy under the Warren plan — despite the plan’s provisions that exclude people with top incomes — according to an analysis by Brookings Institution economist Adam Looney.
The Sanders plan would benefit the economically better-off even more, as it has no income caps. A 2015 study by the progressive think tank Demos and the Institute on Assets and Social Policy at Brandeis University concluded such an approach would widen the racial wealth gap by 9% because so much of the gain would go to wealthy white Americans.
Sanders’ proposal nonetheless drew applause from many on the party’s left. And the criticism that moderates in the party have directed his way — on college debt and other issues — has been good fodder for firing up Sanders’ supporters.
Being called an “existential threat” to Democrats by the leaders of Third Way, the center-left think tank — which has no such harsh words for Warren — has proved a potent talking point for Sanders. And also a fundraising pitch...
Camila Cabello
And at Celebs Unmasked, "CAMILA CABELLO NUDE *LEAKED* PHOTOS":
Everyone’s dirty minds are on the Camila Cabello nude photos and for good reason. The Cuban-American singer departed from her girl group Fifth Harmony in December of 2016 and ever since then she has been in the spotlight. Yes, she’s got sexy vocals, but it’s her EVEN SEXIER body that has put this girl on the map.
“I must be a mermaid, Rango. I have no fear of depths and a great fear of shallow living.” pic.twitter.com/tYkmO1yxwN
— camila (@Camila_Cabello) June 22, 2019
Project Veritas: Insider Blows Whistle on Google's Far-Left Political Bias (VIDEO) -- UPDATED!
Google-owned YouTube took down the Project Veritas video. I tweeted:
Boy, nothing like proving political bias with blatantly biased political censorship. Who could’ve seen this coming? ππ€·♂️ #Google #ProjectVeritas https://t.co/rhmSGSY62q
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) June 25, 2019
Monday, June 24, 2019
Herman Wouk's True Subject Was Moral Weakness
Wouk anatomized the psychological mechanisms and sociopolitical rationalizations that enabled intelligent, well-meaning people to justify or ignore what was right in front of them https://t.co/fXX7Y9HZz9
— New York Times Books (@nytimesbooks) June 23, 2019
At the beginning of Herman Wouk’s novel “The Winds of War” (1971), the book’s hero, Victor “Pug” Henry, is offered a post as the United States Navy’s attachΓ© in Berlin. The year is 1939.Keep reading.
Pug discusses the job with a fellow naval officer, a man named Tollever who previously held the position. “Hitler’s a damned remarkable man,” Tollever says over drinks in Pug’s elegant Washington, D.C., living room. “The Germans do things in politics that we wouldn’t — like this stuff with the Jews — but that’s just a passing phase, and anyway, it’s not your business.”
Tollever tells Pug that the worst of it was Kristallnacht, “when Nazi toughs had smashed department store windows and set fire to some synagogues.” But, he says, “even that the Jews had brought on themselves, by murdering a German embassy official in Paris.” Besides, the whole thing was exaggerated by the press; as far as Tollever knew, “not one” Jew “had really been physically harmed.” In sum, Tollever had enjoyed the post immensely: “I haven’t drunk a decent glass of Moselle since I left Berlin.”
When I read this, I wanted to throw the book at the wall.
That an American, a person of some authority, could be so cavalier about the Nazis in a story set after the Nuremberg Laws stripped Jews of equal rights, not to mention after Hitler had imprisoned his political opposition and eliminated the free press — was both mind-boggling and infuriating.
Of course, this was the point. A canny novelist, Wouk — who died on Friday, just shy of his 104th birthday — had the good sense to let his characters hang themselves with their own words.
Wouk’s best books have aged surprisingly little. Among these are his impeccably researched World War II novels, “The Winds of War” and its sequel, “War and Remembrance” (1978). Even decades after they were published, these novels continue to have something to teach us.
Wouk is often grouped with middlebrow writers of popular historical fiction — James Michener and Leon Uris, say — but his novels are better understood as pointillistic character studies in historical settings. The World War II books follow the Henry family — Pug, his wife, Rhoda, and their three grown children — through the war years, providing a framework in which the era’s most prominent figures, from F.D.R. and Churchill to Stalin and Hitler, plausibly make cameos. Although sweeping, the novels aren’t melodramas. They are the kinds of books in which an attractive young woman in a doomed love affair comes down with a cold — and doesn’t die. She doesn’t even become seriously ill. She takes some aspirin and goes to bed early.
These are also novels in which you can’t immediately tell whether a character will turn out to be mostly admirable or mostly not. With Wouk, it takes hundreds of pages of seeing the character in action before you can decide — and even then, your verdict is liable to remain uncertain and subject to change. Even in literary fiction, this kind of authorial restraint and fidelity to human complexity is surprising.
But the main reason the novels still feel urgent has to do with the nature of Wouk’s ambition. He didn’t set out merely to write a family saga or to smuggle a history lesson into a story. Wouk wanted to know how so many people in Europe and America allowed the Holocaust to happen. He uses the tools of the novel to anatomize the various psychological mechanisms and sociopolitical rationalizations that enabled intelligent, generally well-meaning and well-informed individuals to justify or ignore what was right in front of them.
As a novelist, Wouk could do things a historian couldn’t: enter not only the living rooms but the minds of a diverse range of characters. Take Rhoda, for instance. She is a little frivolous, easily distracted, occupied more by her private life than by politics. In other words, she is a lot like many of us. When she and Pug arrive in Berlin, she at first refuses to walk in the Tiergarten: “It was far more clean, pretty and charming than any American public park, she admitted, but the signs on the benches, juden verboten, were nauseating.” But with time, her resistance wears down: “Day by day, she reacted less to such things, seeing how commonplace they were in Berlin, and how much taken for granted. … It seemed silly to protest … she insisted that anti-Semitism was a blot on an otherwise exciting, lovely land.” As such, her resistance primarily took the form of playfully chastising high-ranking Nazis at booze-filled dinner parties.
This feels sadly right to me, the way someone with good intentions, someone not consciously monstrous, becomes nonetheless inured to cruelty and injustice in a context in which these evils are normalized. This is also the way we tend to feed our self-esteem but accomplish nothing, by railing against an injustice from a position of personal safety...
Mikayla Demaiter, World's Sexiest Hockey Goalie (PHOTOS)
Talented, ahem.
At the Sun U.K., "WHAT THE PUCK? Meet world’s sexiest hockey goalie Mikayla Demaiter who has sent pulses racing on the ice and stunned Instagram with skimpy selfies."
Meet the world's sexiest hockey goalie who has sent pulses racing on the ice and stunned Instagram with skimpy selfies https://t.co/UCRl9ED0GF
— Sun Sport (@SunSport) June 21, 2019
And at Drunken Stepfather, "MIKAYLA DEMAITER APPRECIATION OF THE DAY."
Feminist Extremist Sophie Lewis Defends Murdering Unborn Children (VIDEO)
At the Illinois Family Institute, "Torturing Language to Kill Humans."
— IL Family Institute (@ProFamilyIFI) June 21, 2019
Also at Life Site, "Feminist author: Abortion ‘is a form of killing that we need to be able to defend’."
Nice Lady
This is some Democrat’s Memaw. pic.twitter.com/Vlpa2gnUXr
— Nick Searcy, EXTREMELY STABLE FILM & TV GENIUS (@yesnicksearcy) June 23, 2019
Jennifer Delacruz's Monday Forecast
The fabulous Ms. Jennifer, for ABC News 10 San Diego:
Statement: United States Holocaust Museum Rejects AOC's 'Concentration Camps' Analogy
It's all despicable.
At the U.S. Holocaust Museum's page, "Statement Regarding the Museum's Position on Holocaust Analogies" (via Memeorandum).
And linked at the center's page, "Why Holocaust Analogies Are Dangerous."
Video here, "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Calls Out U.S. ‘Concentration Camps’."
And her pathetic defense after coming under vociferous criticism:
Democrat Debates Shaping Up as Epic Clown Show
At the Los Angeles Times, "The stakes are high as Democratic presidential hopefuls prepare to debate":
Read to the bottom to find out what mindfulness tells you about debate prep. https://t.co/RqGuG5VeWE— Janet Hook (@hookjan) June 21, 2019
With so many candidates onstage, the Democratic presidential debates risk becoming a stilted, parallel-play affair, with candidates trying to squeeze scripted messages into tiny scraps of airtime.More.
But the prospects of an unruly political feeding frenzy, particularly on the second night of the two-day extravaganza, have soared as former Vice President Joe Biden has thrown chum in the water: His provocative comments about race will tempt candidates to abandon restraint and go on the attack.
The back-to-back debates on Wednesday and Thursday nights could be a pivot point in the Democrats’ primary campaign, which for months has seen candidates refraining from criticizing one another — or doing so only in veiled terms.
It will be a high-stakes test for the biggest primary campaign field ever, which includes three black candidates, one Latino, six women, two Asian Americans and an openly gay man.
The lineup includes Oprah Winfrey’s spiritual advisor and a congressman who meditates; the mayor of the nation’s largest city and the mayor of South Bend, Ind. The oldest candidate was born before Pearl Harbor; the youngest when Ronald Reagan was president.
Some are well-known figures; more are obscure and thirsty for national attention.
They will all come together for the first time in a scramble to make an impression, avoid gaffes, draw contrasts and send a message. All in seven minutes or less, the estimated amount of airtime each candidate will get in the two-hour sessions. The debates will be televised on NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo starting at 6 p.m. PDT each night.
Only half the field will have a direct shot at Biden: With so many running for the nomination, the Democratic National Committee capped debate participants at 20 — three others didn’t meet the fundraising and polling criteria to make the stage — and split them between the two nights, with 10 for each session.
As the clear front-runner in early polls, Biden already had a target on his back. That bull’s-eye got bigger on Tuesday after he spoke nostalgically of his “civil” relationships with segregationists in the 1970s Senate and made a joke about not being called “boy” by one of them.
So far, Biden has pursued a strategy of trying to stay above the fray, looking past his primary rivals to focus on President Trump. The Thursday night debate, in which he’ll be at center stage, flanked by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, will test that approach.
Sanders, who is running second in many polls behind Biden but has appeared to lose some support in recent weeks, is preparing to draw a strong contrast between his democratic socialist vision and what he calls Biden’s “middle ground” approach on issues like healthcare and trade.
“Biden wants to skate on the suggestion that we are all shades of the same gray,” said Faiz Shakir, Sanders’ campaign manager. “Bernie wants to make clear that you have fundamentally different choices to make between governing vision, philosophy and how we are going to shape the agenda. That choice has to be drawn out.”
Biden backers think blunt attacks on him will backfire.
“The front-runner position always puts you as a target,” said Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.). “People don’t want the personal attacks. We’ve seen enough with our current president.”
When almost all the candidates appeared at South Carolina Democratic party events last weekend, none of them brought up the segregationists controversy.
Sanders has also been studying up on other rivals, where they stand on key issues like Medicare for all, and what they have said about him. He will be sharing a stage with former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, for example, who has criticized Sanders’ brand of democratic socialism...