An e-mail asked what I think of the Gaza coverage? I cry over it. I also laugh.
Let's deal with the laughter first. I laugh at what the Gaza Freaks do. Gaza Freaks are the idiots who are backing Donald Trump or Jill Stein. Backing either will put Donald Trump into the White House and that will harm the Palestinians.
I laugh at it because they erode support for the Palestinian people.
The Gaza Freaks made a decision and the sane people had to make a decision. The sane people -- and I'm in that group -- have to focus on the United States where there will be a presidential election in a matter of days.
Without the sane people, the Palestinians are being destroyed in the world of public opinion. Because Gaza Freaks are freaks. They don't know to persuade anyone. They don't know how to communicate. Without the voices of sanity, you're left with scary Medea Benjamin and her kind -- the same embarrassing con artists that pick up causes and drop them repeatedly. Medea didn't help Palestinians in the summer of 2006 and she's not helping them today.
The sane voices? We know how to structure an argument. We know how to emphasize and how to choose what to emphasize to make an effective argument. Our attention is elsewhere currently -- as it should be. And without us, there's no movement on this issue. More people are not coming to support the cause and, in fact, a fatigue has set in.
That's because Gaza Freaks don't know how to talk to others.
CBS does a bad report on the Palestinians? I can get on the phone with a producer there and make an argument about what was wrong and misguided and unfair. Gaza Freaks can't.
So they write their poorly thought out columns and make their asinine statements and the American people tune them out. Over and over.
Two idiots at COMMON DREAMS prove their stupidity yet again. I'll be kind and not name one of them because he clearly thinks he's helping. He's not. I have no problem naming Ralph Nader.
I'm not anti-Ralph.
We noted every press release his campaign sent to the public e-mail account in 2008, for example. I've noted him at other times as well. And he has his strengths. He's not a bad person.
But electoral politics? That's not a strength for Ralph. Yes, he remains the most successful presidential nominee the Green Party has ever had but, again, we're talking about the Green Party.
Ralph's fired off another missive and COMMON DREAMS has posted it.
Why?
If we're going to hear from Ralph, in 2024, ahead of a presidential election, the only thing we need to hear from him is: I was wrong to run in 2000.
Because he was.
He had no plans. He had nothing to offer. In a ROLLING STONE interview, he attacked feminists for not joining him in his war on high-heels.
I'm not joking. He dismissed the issue of reproductive rights but wanted women to get behind him because he was opposed to high heels.
First off, Ralph, Cybill Shepherd beat you to that cause by many, many years. Second of all, some women want to wear high heels. But then you don't respect women's choices which is why, third of all, you would dismiss concerns about abortion rights.
Ralph is one of the reasons we got the Iraq War. He is not the only reason. And Al Gore could have run a better campaign. Equally true, left media -- THE NATION, DEMOCRACY NOW!, et al -- could've stopped whoring for Ralph Nader and trashing Al Gore.
Ralph was not prepared to be president and had nothing to offer.
He still doesn't.
He's an activist. So am I. I'm not stupid enough -- or vain enough -- to think I could be president. I know my strengths and I know my weaknesses.
Ralph still won't admit to his. Over a million Iraqis are dead as result of Ralph Nader's nonsense.
And COMMON DREAMS thinks we need to hear from him right now ahead of an election?
Again, the only thing we need to hear from him is an apology to the American people and especially to the Iraqi people.
Now there is another column he could write. The one that he believes in which is that he should have run and that he has no regrets.
That's a column people need to read and should be reading ahead of an election.
Because over one million Iraqis are dead.
And Ralph won't take responsibility.
Over one million Iraqis are dead because Ralph didn't know what the f**k he was doing and still doesn't.
By him announcing his continued pride in his vanity campaign of 2000, he'd be making clear just what an idiot Jill Stein is right now with her vanity campaign.
Ralph's a great activist. And in 1996 people started telling him he should be president. In 2000, he agreed with them and officially ran a campaign for president.
He won votes. I'm not attacking the people who voted for him. But it's 24 years later and he still can't get honest about the effect his failed run had. It's 24 years later and he still can't grasp that he lacks the skills to be a president. Or, for that matter, Congressional support to rule.
Were the hideous JD Vance or Ron DeSantis or whomever the GOP's presidential candidate, I don't know that this election would be as important as it is. I'm being honest. But I knew last year that whomever the Democratic Party nominee was, I would have to vote for that person. Because this isn't 2016. Or even 2020. We saw what Donald did after he lost. We saw what he would stoop to. We know what he has done via testimony. We know now how bad it was when he was in the White House. We know he is a danger and a threat to democracy.
This isn't, "Oh, he's a bad candiate, I'm gong to vote for John Kerry instead."
This is: He's a despot who was barely kept in check when he was in the White House before and now, thanks to a corrupt Supreme Court, if he goes back into the White House, he does so with no limits.
This is not minor.
Unless you're a Gaza Freak.
I'm just not in the mood for you idiots and crazies who are willing to tank the United States.
You Gaza Freaks don't care enough to go over there, Rachel Corrie cared about the Palestinians. She gave her life for them. All you Gaza Freaks do is whine and gripe and fail to realize the world around you.
You loathe the Israeli government. It's an apartheid government, so it is loathsome.
But you don't realize the environment you are in.
The Israeli government and the US government have been allies for years. Should they be?
I don't think so. I don't think a democracy supports a government that enforces apartheid. But, again, I was actively calling out the US government for recognizing and partnering with apartheid South Africa. And that took years and years. Now it could move quicker here, things do move quicker these days. But we still aren't at a place in this country where enough people can press Congress on this. We're not at the tipping point on this issue. We could be. If it weren't Gaza Freaks and their trashing Kamala, we could all be working on this. Butinstead, you've made those of us trying to save the country have to focus even more on that because of your uneducated, foolish and stupid actions and statements.
We're not a place, in this country, with the elections days away, where someone can be elected president by saying all the things you demand Kamala say.
You haven't done the work, you haven't put in the time. But you're like the idiots on the left (I'm on the left) who are forever looking for some rich sugar daddy to save them.
Remember those idiots?
One of them is Ralph Nader.
In 2009, what book did he release? ONLY THE SUPER-RICH CAN SAVE US!
You want short cuts, you don't want to do the work required.
To change US policy with regards to Israel takes a lot more work than the Gaza Freaks are willing to do.
They just know they can rally behind one person who can do all the work for them. Yes, they are that stupid. Con artist Jill Stein pretends to be that person.
Not only can she not deliver on that, if her votes cost Kamala the election, you can be sure there will be a backlash to the Palestinian issue. When Ralph's nonsense campaign helped put Bully Boy Bush in the White House, his various causes were no longer concerns of the American people and various organizations he had been part of -- and even organizations he himself had started -- had to distance themselves from Ralph publicly in order to survive.
So grifter Jill is playing a very dangerous game -- one she cannot win but wants to play for her own vanity even though it could serious destroy the Palestinian people.
And that's why I cry. Because lives are at stake.
And the Palestinian people matter.
The current slaughter is only the latest slaughter. Kamala in the White House and all of us doing the work required? That could result in actual freedom for the Palestinians, not just a cease-fire.
Donald in the White House?
If you think those of us trying to save democracy right now aren't helping the Gaza Freaks, grasp how Trump back in the White House means we're going to have to work that much harder protecting the American people. We're not going to be able to help the Gaza freaks. We'll be too busy trying to protect journalists and Donald's political rivals, and people of color, and people of color who are immigrants, and women who need real healthcare, and the LGBTQ+ community, and our schools, and our doctors, and . . .
And while we're doing all of that work? Donald's going to be destroying the Palestinian people.
Gaza Freaks are destroying the future for Palestinians.
That's reality. And that's why I cry.
And if you think about, if you really think about it, and you look around and think how there's no rallying right now around the Palestinian cause, you'll grasp what happens when those of us who are sane are forced to put the issue aside because we have to deal with a local pressing issue.
Gaza Freaks aren't helping build support for the Palestinians. And they can't even be honest about that. I read a story about another attack in Gaza or hear about one and I want to cry. But even though things have gotten even worse since we've had to focus on this election, the Gaza Freaks just toss this stuff out there, throw it on the wall, have no idea how to shape the content or build an argument.
Because they don't know how to do anything. You want their bodies at a protest but you never want to put them in charge of a protest because they're not smart enough, they lack the skills.
That's the same reality when it comes to Jill Stein.
If you care about the Palestinians, you're voting for Kamala.
You can lie and pretend otherwise but if Donald gets back in the White House, you better expect all the hate scorn you're going to get. Because there is no chance for the Palestinian people with a Trump presidency.
You're having a hissy fit that there's no cease-fire. But you're not adult enough or smart enough to grasp that Donald and War Criminal Netanyahu are speaking regularly on the phone.
That's just how stupid the Gaza Freaks are.
On COMMON DREAMS, I actually was going to praise them and note some of their recent articles on Kamala. I don't have time now. I'll pull what I can over to THIRD. But I'm tired. I'm damn tired. I'm tired of having to make the argument for Kamala every day here -- seven days a week -- because idiots want to pretend that they can waste their vote on Jill Stein as they pretend that it will make no difference whether Donald Trump is in the White House again or not.
I'm tired because I'm on the road speaking to a minimum of seven groups each day about the need to vote for Kamala.
I'm tired because I'm doing the work that we all should be doing to save our country.
I'm tired because I can't believe that the left -- THE NATION, DEMOCRACY NOW!, IN THESE TIMES, et al -- can't get over their racism and get behind Kamala.
I guess, for example, Katrina vanden Heuvel of THE NATION is comfortable seeing a Black woman as her mammy or a maid but not as a president. Oops, did I go there? Read Rebecca's "how we're going to win this election" because I might really go there here. Rebecca's right it will probably go up in a community newsletter instead. The reason being, I am calmer since Friday when I wrote the unpublished post -- and left the comments for Katrina -- and I realize that punishing THE NATION for what they've done means I should use those e-mails privately. Wait until the days after the election where we big donors discuss what worked and what didn't, and, as I advocate for us to cut off all funding to the Katrina owned NATION magazine, work those e-mails into my presentation to really seal the deal.
Everybody's updated -- most of us not only wrote but we also posted the videos of Michelle Obama and Beyonce and Kelly Rowland speaking with Kamala on Friday and Saturday. And Tina! Tina Knowles did a great job as well.
Michelle was so amazing and so from the heart, let me include this.
My point being I'm tired and I'm just noting this from the community sites -- it may not be the post that they wrote, you might have to go to the previous post. Again, I'm tired. I'm doing everything I can to see that our democracy is saved by electing Kamala Harris.
These are the most recent posts by community sites:
Friday, October 25, 2024. Don't just get mad, get even.
Early voting is taking place, mail-in voting is taking place and the last day of voting will be November 5th, ten days from now.
And it can be discouraging. In a normal election, it can be discouraging. In this one, it especially is. I hear comments as we go around speaking where people feel the biggest opponent Kamala Harris has is not Convicted Felon Donald Trump but the media. And it's true. The media's done an awful job -- All Things Media Big and Small. Others cover the corporate media. Here's OCCUPY DEMOCRATS doing that.
And people have rightly called out THE NEW YORK TIMES and others. To me, those are the rivers. I prefer to focus on the tributaries. Our so-called independent media. The beggar media. You can't watch or listen or go to their page without them constantly begging you for money. Money that then waste -- PACIFICA RADIO has accomplished nothing in over a decade -- let's be honest. Or is mere survival -- on some of the worst snake oil programming -- supposed to count as something worth praising?
Amy Goodman constantly says -- forever sticking her hands into your pockets -- 'We couldn't do this without you.' And she's right. She'd have to get a real job and, considering what she's done to Kamala, we should stop enabling her by giving her money.
'Al Gore is the world's worst liar.'
I don't believe that. I don't think he lied any more than anyone else and he might have lied less. But that's something that stuck and it didn't come from the right wing. It didn't come from the corporate media. It came from a distant relative of Al's (Gore Vidal) writing in THE NATION.
Can someone ask THE NATION if they think that witty column was really worth the over one million dead Iraqis that resulted from their amplification of Ralph Nader as a savior and their trashing of Al Gore.
I don't blame Ralph Nader voters. Some were going to vote for him regardless. But I do blame our left 'independent' media and their ho-hum coverage of Al Gore. I think you should as well. We have the Iraq War because of the beggar media. Certainly, if Al were running today, they would take him a little more seriously and cover him better because of climate change. But back in 2000, they just wanted to have their fun.
And they're pulling the same crap again.
Reality: PACIFICA would have gone under. THE NATION would have struggled but would have survived on a very limited circulation. THE PROGRESSIVE would have gone under. Amy Goodman might not have been able to hijack ownership of DEMOCRACY NOW! (thanks, Leslie Cagen, you always were repulsive) from PACIFICA. So many would not be standing today had they not trashed Al Gore.
Because trashing Al Gore and putting Bully Boy Bush in the White House led to the Iraq War. And that's the only thing that saved our beggar media. They used it to fund raise off. They pretended they cared.
Ivan Brobeck. If you were watching and listening and reading in 2008, you might remember him.
You might not.
He was a US service member who checked out and went to Canada where he tried to get recognition of some form of status that would allow him to stay in Canada. It didn't come to be. So he returned to the US as the 2008 presidential election was taking place.
And everyone . . . looked the other way. We called it "The Full Brobeck." The beggar media had used the Iraq War to make money. Pretended to care. But they didn't care. And Ivan's story didn't matter to them which was telling those of us on the left that we didn't matter either.
We matter. If we didn't, they wouldn't always be begging us for money in pledge drive after pledge drive, pop up after pop up.
Kamala Harris matters.
She could be a great president. We know that. We know damn sure she'd be a better one than Donald Trump. But she could be a great president.
So it's very frustrating to watch DEMOCRACY NOW! and THE PROGRESSIVE and IN THESE TIMES do everything that they can to derail her campaign. An e-mail to the public account came in last night about Donald Trump's worship of Hitler and how offensive that is (agreed) and the e-mailer was glad that Kamala had spoken and so had her running mate Tim Walz. The e-mailer said he was glad I had noted Tim's reaction as well because I don't usually note Tim.
Tim's the running mate.
For that reason, he'll always be noted less. Kamala wasn't noted much when she was Joe's running mate.
But the other reason he's been noted less and reason why I've actively made decisions not to note him sometimes is because he's already got a fan club. COMMON DREAMS -- even when attacking Kamala -- was happy to publish praise Tim articles. THE PROGRESSIVE, as we noted yesterday, has Kamala on the cover of their latest little read magazine -- it was once a monthly, let's see if we can't ensure it stops publication completely -- but they've never published an article praising Kamala or applauding her. They attack her. They did publish two rah-rahs for Tim this week. But they've done that before.
They like him. Beggar media likes him. He's a he. He's White.
They like Tim.
They identify with Tim because they're all White or people of color who've learned what to do to fit into the office mindset.
And that's not meant as an insult to Tim.
It is meant to make you think about the content beggar media has produced.
And to think about how they've treated a Black woman. Day after day after day.
2016 had some sexism in the media. It was nothing compared to 2008. That's when Matthew Rothschild, then in charge of THE PROGRESSIVE, wrote things like the column where he was tickled by right wingers calling Hillary the c-word. It wasn't just FOX "NEWS." It was the media. Non-stop sexism.
FAIR? Every week they seemed to find, during the Democratic Party primaries, evidence of racism to weigh in on in their radio program COUNTERSPIN. And Ava and I noted at THIRD, in real time, how they repeatedly avoided noting any sexism. As we noted, it took until May for them to finally note an example of sexism. Hillary being called a bitch on CNN.
Peter Hart: One of the most disturbing features of the media
coverage of the Democratic presidential race is the way racism and
sexism have been expressed. CNN viewers were treated to one pundit
explanation that people might call Hillary Clinton a bitch because well
isn't that just what some women are. Not everyone's so out in the open.
MSNBC host Chris Matthews opened his May 18th show wondering how Barack
Obama would connect with regular Democrats? Obviously code for working
class Whites. This would seem to make the millions of Obama voters so
far irregular. But then consider the May 14th op-ed by Washington Post
Writers Group Kathleen Parker. She wrote about 'full bloodness' and the
patriot divide between Obama and John McCain offering that there is
"different sense of America among those who trace their bloodlines
through generations of sacrifice." This makes Obama less American than
his likely Republican rival and his success part of a larger threat
"There is a very real sense that once upon a time America is getting
lost in the dash to diversity." Well thanks to The Washington Post,
Parker's rant appeared in newspapers around the country including the
Baltimore Sun and Chicago Tribune. We're not sure what those papers used
for a headline but one blogger suggest [nonsense] would do. Parker's
attack wasn't even new. Before in the pages of The Wall Street Journal,
Peggy Noonan wondered if Obama had ever gotten misty thinking about his
country's rich heritage. John McCain by contrast "carries it in his
bones." There's an appetite in corporate media for such repellent ideas
as Editor & Publisher's Greg Mitchell recalled, Noonan's column was
praised by NBC's anchor Brian Williams as Pulitzer worthy.
Now they didn't tell us who said it. And they didn't think it was worth more than a single sentence -- after detailing multiple examples of racism. It's not either you call out racism or your call out sexism. You call out both and you call out other examples of discrimination. Unless you're beggar media.
Kamala is at the intersection of race and gender. And apparently defending a Black woman is much more difficult for the largely White beggar media than defending a Black man.
But reading it, you should wonder, "What kind of difference would we see in the coverage if, for example, Patricia J. Williamson was still writing for THE NATION?" And, if she was writing for the magazine still, this Black woman would have been -- as she was in 2008 -- on DEMOCRACY NOW! and every PACFICA RADIO program explaining not just the issues of racism targeting the candidate (Barack) but racism and sexism with regards to the coverage of Kamala.
A woman, a Black woman, in Pennsylvania this week, shared her outrage in one of the groups we spoke with and asked, "How many drone strikes has Kamala carried out? Oh, right, NONE!" And she's exactly right. Kamala's covered as though she's a criminal -- covered that way by our beggar media.
Tabitha had a video yesterday that so captured what Ava and I are hearing in group after group that we speak to as we try to get out the vote.
She concludes with, "From this point forward, those people will be treated just as I treat the MAGA nuts in this society." And she recommends a TIKTOK video by a woman who is sharing her disappointment with all the attacks not just on Kamala but on herself for supporting Kamala.
These attacks and insults that both women speak of? They're not coming from the right-wing, they're coming from supposed leftists.
And it's very frustrating when you grasp how many elections have been won due to the votes of Black women and yet here we have a Black woman running for president and we're not supposed to feel joy, we're not supposed to be excited -- this is coming from the left.
And Amy Goodman and all her other creepy inbred freaks can hope we're not seeing it. But we are seeing it and it's opened our eyes to just how hard and difficult equality still is -- on the left -- in 2024.
Tabitha made me cry in her video because I don't think you can watch the coverage of Kamala and not see what Tabitha's talking about unless you're just lying to yourself.
And these reactions are real and widespread but beggar media thinks they can trick us.
Reality: Beggar media does not control the votes.
All they do, in the best of times, is shine a light on something that causes corporate media to follow. That's it.
And if all the people we're speaking to -- again, we've spoken in all the states except for Hawaii and Alaska -- show up and vote, Kamala's got it. So I understand if you're sad or angry, but we vote.
And then we forgive these losers in beggar media because . . .
Oh, honey, no. You got the wrong one. I'm a bitch and I've never pretended otherwise. We make them pay. After the election, we work on taking our pound of flesh. We make sure everyone we know grasps what beggar media did and how they worked overtime to dampen enthusiasm for Kamala, how they belittled her and attacked her, how they ran puff pieces on Tim Walz but not the head of the ticket. We make sure that their reputations are destroyed.
So when you're feeling dejected right now because yet another idiot has attacked Kamala as the election looms, stand up a little straighter and go about your business knowing we're going to vote and we're going to do everything we can to get her elected. And when the elections over, we're going to work on accountability for every piece of beggar media that worked overtime to elect Convicted Felon Donald Trump back into the White House. And we're not going to go to say, "Oh, Kamala won so we'll just let it go." Oh, hell no. There's going to be another Kamala, that's the thing. Win or lose, there will be another Kamala. And we need to make such noise that they never again think they can treat the next Kamala the way they did the woman who is I hope our next president.
One of the reasons 2016 was less sexist in its coverage was because these same fools attacking Kamala had attacked Hillary in 2008 and they finally got called out for it. We can go into Amy Goodman's history there because it's a long one. But the pushback and the call out after Hillary dropped out of the primaries resulted in sending a message to all media. We need to be sure the same message is sent again because that is the only way change will happen.
We've already dealt this week with the idiots and whiners -- the Gaza Freaks (purity pests who don't care about the Palestinians or they wouldn't be working so hard to re-elect Donald) -- that Kamala's 'ignoring' the base -- maybe Ralph Nader's base. As I already stated, nothing she does is ever good enough for them so if I were running her campaign, I would've told her to avoid them as well.
The goal is people who might vote for you, people you might be able to reach. And it is working -- I don't know to what degree -- but saving our nation appeals to people of all political stripes. REASON is a Libertarian magazine. Here's the opening of Ilya Somin's piece:
In this post I am going to explain why Kamala Harris is a far lesser
evil than Donald Trump, and therefore, I plan to vote for her. Both
candidates have serious flaws. But Trump's record of trying to overthrow
constitutional democracy after he lost the 2020 election creates a
strong presumption against him. In addition, he is worse on key policy
issues, most notably, trade, immigration, federal spending, and
maintaining the Western alliance in the face of threats from
authoritarian powers.
This outweighs Kamala Harris's significant
weaknesses on some other issues, especially because Trump is more likely
to be able to implement his worst policies through unilateral executive
action, while Harris's worst ideas require hard-to-secure new
legislation. Arguments that Trump is superior on deregulation and issues
related to the judiciary are greatly overblown, and nowhere near enough
to offset his awfulness elsewhere.
It would be foolish to expect this piece to have any meaningful impact on the outcome of the election. I am no Taylor Swift,
and my endorsement has little, if any, political value. But I hope
readers might find it of value as an exercise in how to assess issues
and weigh them against each other.
First,
the Harris campaign is actually just the Biden campaign infrastructure
with a different (and better) candidate. But that infrastructure was not
built to scale a mass mobilization campaign. Prior to Biden’s dropping
out, his field operation was handling a trickle of volunteers. Now it
has struggled to manage the flood unleashed by Harris. Many pop-up
entities flowered after Biden bowed out, starting with Win With Black Women and spreading to dozens of similar “Xers for Harris”
groups who attracted hundreds of thousands of participants to mass Zoom
meetings in early August. But leaders of those groups tell me they have
had little success figuring out how to best funnel the people they’ve
attracted into the Harris campaign machinery.
Of
course, no one has ever built a full-blown presidential campaign in
such a short time. By necessity, the Harris campaign is partially
relying on the Democratic National Committee’s organizing
infrastructure. But that means it has also inherited the DNC approach,
which is very top-down and media-centric. Sri Kulkarni is a former Texas
congressional candidate who was an early developer of the concept of
relational organizing, where voters are encouraged to match their
contact lists against the Democratic voter file and then try to
personally engage with voters they actually know. This is called
“friendbanking.” He is now working triple time to help scale up the
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s relational effort to help
candidates across the country, including in Pennsylvania.
Kulkarni
tells me that more than 50,000 people have signed up for the DNC’s
relational campaign, which, like the DCCC, uses the Reach app to help
people activate their personal networks. Among those are at least 7,000
in Pennsylvania, he says. But so far the Harris campaign is primarily
using the DNC’s Reach tool to prompt its users to share social media
content, rather than to actually friendbank. This seems unwise. In
theory, when Democrats hit the final weekend before Election Day and
everyone is scrambling to move voters who still haven’t cast their
ballots, a robust friendbanking operation could give campaigners access
to a list of activists who actually know these missing potential voters.
Each of those 7,000 Pennsylvanians on Reach could also potentially
activate another voter or two on their own. Such a strategy worked for
Jon Ossoff in the special runoff election in Georgia in 2020—helping his Senate campaign identify
40,000 people who had actually skipped the general election. While many
independent groups are trying relational organizing this year,
including the WFP in Pennsylvania, where it has roughly 20,000
supporters on Reach, it appears it has yet to be adopted by the top of
the Democratic hierarchy.
"The flood
unleashed by Harris." At last, someone at THE NATION besides Joan Walsh
can note that, yes, there is enthusiasm for Kamala. I guess the lesson
in 2024 is that Black women are invisible. As candidates and as voters
because you don't find these left outlets crediting Kamala with one
damn thing. They slam her. They go on and on about the supposed base
being outraged by her -- even though there's no stronger base for the
Democratic Party than Black women and Black women are backing her all
the way.
I'm glad the reality got in there. It's a shame it took so long and it's a shame that others aren't following suit.
A crackpot in every home? Is that what DEMOCRACY NOW! is going for.
There
was some Chicago crackpot what was his name? Let's not name him. He
was trash and let's not help him be remembered. He was a blogger for a
few years before he died. Jesse Jackson was a bad guy, he'd write. Everyone in
Chicago was a bad guy, he'd insist. He'd write posts like that over and over, day
after day. That's what DEMOCRACY NOW! has turned into. I don't know
what it is that makes the show go ape s**t crazy at presidential
election time but it does. Amy brings on her friends and lets them lie
and lets them attack people. And this isn't a right or left thing. Ava
and I have documented it for years at THIRD. She decides who she likes
and then recruits those who also like her candidate. They might, in
fact, be working for the campaign of her candidate or be a pledged
delegate for the campaign she favors but she won't tell her audience
that. She'll lie to them, while lecturing everyone else about
journalistic ethics. She brought Lie Face on in 2008 because Lie Face
was working for Barack's campaign. Amy knew that because a little bit
before she'd been on Rev Jesse Jackson's radio show with Lie Face and
Jesse doesn't play. He has ethics. And he identified Lie Face for what
she was. A little bit later Amy brings her on DEMOCRACY NOW! and Lie
Face is just a college professor who took some students to New Hampshire
and she's just sharing neutral observations as a college professor and .
. . No, she was for Barack which was why she trashed John Edwards and
why she ignored Hillary. Amy thought people wouldn't notice or ever
catch on. But they did notice. Now that wasn't the end of Lie Face for
Amy. She continued to bring her on.
We
have PBS friends. Lie Face pulled that stung once on PBS -- and
attacked the wife of a Congress member -- and we let PBS friends know
that Lie Face was not just a political observer and college professor,
she was campaigning for Barack. That made PBS look like fools. They
refused to ever let her back on.
But again, Amy wants to play you for a fool every presidential election.
I
really wished she'd learn to grow. I was hoping she would. But she
didn't. So she'll probably die Goody Whore as well. And probably
pretty soon. What's up with that right eye? She needs to have it looked
at.
So Goody brought on the crackpot that the Secret Service wouldn't let into Kamala's rally.
Another anti-Kamala segment. Well, again, the Iraq War saved them. It's good business for these beggars when a Republican is in the White House. People are outraged and the Goody Whores can show up and pretend to care and steal your money.
CNN host Anderson Cooper faced backlash on social media Wednesday night following his sharp questioning of Democratic nominee Kamala Harris during
a town hall with undecided voters in Pennsylvania, with his
confrontational approach leaving some viewers scratching their heads.
During
the event in Delaware County, Cooper repeatedly pressed Harris on the
Biden administration’s weak handling of illegal immigration and her
shifting stance on fracking, questioning why she hadn’t accomplished in
four years what she was now pledging to do as president.
The hardline questions drew swift criticism from viewers who accused Cooper of applying a double standard that worked in Donald Trump’s favor.
Numerous
online voices blasted Cooper for repeatedly interrupting Vice President
Harris and holding her to a higher standard than Trump, whose vague
“concepts of a plan” on health care and other key issues have faced
little to no scrutiny from the network.
Critics
argued that while Harris faced overwhelming dissection by the media,
Trump was getting a free pass by choosing to skip the event altogether.
“CNN
brought every GOP candidate on for a #CNNTownHall and let them lie up
and down. Fact-checked nothing and stood by while they made things up
the whole time,” wrote one
X user. “Tonight @andersoncooper is picking apart every single tiny
little thing Kamala says. CNN is trash and so is Anderson.”
Another user echoed the sentiment, stating,
“I wish @andersoncooper would concentrate on questions that need to be
answered and not on gotcha questions. The audience has much better
questions than Anderson.”
At
times, it seemed as if Cooper was trying to put Harris on the spot,
especially when it came to her fluctuating positions on key issues such
as the border. Harris even had to cut Anderson off as he talked over her
response to a question from the audience about immigration.
We see them. We see all of them. Let's wind down with this from Philadelphia yesterday:
Warwick Hotel Rittenhouse Square Philadelphia Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1:27 P.M. EDT
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Oh, hi, guys.
Q Hello.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Okay. Good morning — or af- —
Q Good afternoon.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: — afternoon. Good afternoon. Good afternoon.
Well, let me start by saying I’m really very proud to announce that
we’ve had some endorsements this morning, as we’ve been rolling out
endorsements, by two leaders in the Republican Party: the mayor of
Waukesha and then, of course, former Representative Fred Upton.
And this continues to be, I think, evidence of the fact that people
who have been leaders in our country, regardless of their political
party, understand what’s at stake. And they are weighing in —
courageously, in many cases — in support of what we need to have, which
is a president of the United States who understands the obligation to
uphold the Constitution of the United States and our democracy.
As for last night, yet again, Trump not showing up, refused to be a
part of a CNN debate. And clearly, his staff has been saying he’s
exhausted. And the sad part about that is he’s trying to be president
of the United States, probably the toughest job in the world, and he’s
exhausted.
I said last night what I mean, which is the American people are being
presented with a very serious decision, and it includes what we must
understand will happen, starting on January 20th, in this choice.
Either you have the choice of a Donald Trump, who will sit in the
Oval Office stewing, plotting revenge, retribution, writing out his
enemies list, or what I will be doing, which is responding to folks like
the folks last night with a to-do list, understanding the need to work
on lifting up the American people, whether it be through the issue of
grocery prices and bringing them down or investing in our economy,
investing in our small businesses, investing in our families.
Happy to take any questions.
Q Madam Vice President, you will be back in Philadelphia with
members of your team on Monday, former President Barack Obama, as well
as Bruce Springsteen.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Yes.
Q Do you — can you tell us where you — that may be?
And secondly, any other, as we would say, heavy hitters in your
campaign planning to come to Philadelphia in the lead-up to Election
Day?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I’m very honored to have the support of
former President Obama. As you know, he’s been on the campaign trail
and has been really wonderful and extraordinary in terms of the time and
effort that he’s putting into our campaign. And people like Bruce
Springsteen, to have their support — and, of course, he is an American
icon — I think it just shows the breadth and depth of the support that
we have and also the enthusiasm that a lot of people are bringing to the
campaign and feel about our campaign.
Q Any other big names we can share?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: I have nothing to report at this moment. (Laughs.)
Q (Inaudible.)
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Stay tuned, however.
Q Vice President, what do you make of the gender gap in this
election? Why do you think you have stronger support among women than
the former president?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I have to be honest with you, it’s not
what I see in terms of my rallies, in terms of the interactions I’m
having with people in communities and — and on the ground. What I am
seeing is e- — in equal measure, men and women talking about their
concerns about the future of our democracy; talking about the fact that
they want a president who leads with optimism and takes on the
challenges that we face, whether it be grocery prices or investing in
small businesses or homeownership.
So, I’m not actually seeing that kind of disparity, and I intend to
be a president for all Americans. And that includes paying attention,
yes, to a fundamental freedom that has been taken away because of Donald
Trump — the freedom of a woman to make decisions about her own body —
and, in equal measure, to prioritize the economic needs of individuals
and families in America and what we also must do in terms of upholding
our strength and standing on the global stage.
Q Madam Vice President —
Q Madam Vice President —
THE VICE PRESIDENT: You all sort that out, okay? (Laughter.)
Q How are you going to vote on Prop 36 in California? You are a
California voter. Do California and other states need to punish drug
and theft crimes more harshly?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: So, I have not yet voted, and I have not yet had
the chance to read through the ballot. I will keep you posted on that.
AIDE: We have time for one more question.
Q Madam Vice President, this topic was brought up last night, but
will construction of a southern border wall continue in your
administration?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: I will tell you that my highest priority is to
put the resources into ensuring that our border is secure, which is why
I’ve been very clear: I’m going to bring back up, as president, that
bipartisan border security bill and make sure that it is brought to my
desk so I can sign it into law.
The biggest issue that we have right now is that Donald Trump has
stood in the way of what would have been a proven part of the solution
to the bigger problem, which is that we have a broken immigration system
in America, and we need to fix it. And we have the tools at hand, but
we have on the other side of this election, Donald Trump, who would
prefer to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem.
I intend to fix the problem in a way that is just about practical
solutions that are within our arms reach if we have the commitment to do
it.
THE FELON HAD ORDERED THE CHILI SOUP WITH EXTRA ONIONS AND EXTRA CHEESE DESPITE THE FACT THAT ONIONS GIVE HIM THE RUNS AND DESPITE THE FACT THAT HE KNOWS ONIONS GIVE HIM THE RUNS.
BRAVING THE WORST ODOR WE'D EVER SMELT IN OUR LIVES, WE INTERROGATED HIM WHILE HE SAT HIDDEN BEHIND A STALL DOOR MOANING, GROANING AND GRUNTING.
WHAT DID YOU DO TO STACY WILLIAMS?
"WHO!" HE HOLLERED.
WE EXPLAINED WHO WHILE HE CONTINUED GRUNTING BETWEEN THE SOUNDS OF SQUIRTY LIQUID HITTING THE TOILET.
"LEAVE ME ALONE! LEAVE ME ALONE! WHY DID I EAT THE ONIONS! THIS ISN'T A CRAP! IT'S A BIRTH! GET ME A MID-WIFE!"
AS HE STRUGGLED TO BREATHE THROUGHT PAIN, THE FELON TOLD US THAT HE DIDN'T REMEMBER HER OR MOST OF THE WOMEN HE ASSAULTED AND THAT IT DIDN'T MATTER ANYWAY.
WHY IS THAT? -- WE ASKED HIM.
"OW! OW! MY CHILI HOLE! STUFF IS STILL COMING OUT AND IT BURNS! IT BURNS! MOMMY! MOMMY! IT BURNS!" GET ME A DOCTOR! GO FIND THE SECRET SERVICE AND TELL THEM TO GET ME A DOCTOR!"
WHY DOESN'T IT MATTER -- WE PRESSED.
"GET ME A DOCTOR!"
ANSWER THE QUESTION -- WE DEMANDED.
"BECAUSE -- OW! -- BECAUSE I CAN'T ASSAULT ANY WOMAN ANYMORE! IT'S NOT JUST THAT MY BIG GUT MEANS I CAN'T SEE MY TINY DICK! OW! OW! IT'S ALSO BECAUSE -- OW! I CAN'T GET IT UP ANYMORE!"
WHAT?
"OW! I CAN'T GET A BONER! I'M 78 YEARS OLD! IT SHOULDN'T BE THAT SURPRISING! I'M AN ELDERLY FAT GUTTED MAN! OW! GET ME A DOCTOR! GET ME A DOCTOR!"
PROMISING TO GET RIGHT ON THAT, WE LAUGHED AS WE WALKED OUT OF THE BATHROOM AND LEFT AN OUT-OF-ORDER SIGN ON THE DOOR.
She was on DEMOCRACY NOW! yesterday and I have no idea why.
I do not need her discussing US elections.
I think with her especially that she's crossing a line.
Years ago, during the days of AIR AMERICA RADIO, she appeared on Al Franken's show. And Al, as usual, didn't know what he was talking about. The issue turned to travel -- specifically entering the US. And had that ever been a problem for Canadian Naomi Klein?
Her answer would have had great importance if she'd answered it -- if she'd answered it honestly. But she didn't. She avoided the issue.
Now the Iraq War was raging and some US service members were self-checking out. Jeremy Hinzman, Darrell Anderson, Joshua Key, Ivan Brobeck and many more.
And they needed support.
And, in Canada where they went, Naomi did support them. She'd sign a petition. She donated to a group.
And for some people that might be enough.
Excuse me for not being satisfied.
Naomi's father left the US due to Vietnam. He was a War Resister. And if Naomi had shared that -- especially on Al Franken's neoliberal show -- it could have made a difference in the way some saw the War Resisters.
Naomi had Canadian citizenship, yes, but being born to parents from the US, she also had US citizenship. So, no, Al Franken, Naomi didn't have trouble entering the United States.
That's the answer and that is why. But she wouldn't say that. She just dodged the question.
This was early 2005 and it would have made a difference.
But she didn't want to tell the truth. So we did here.
And I have never cared for her championing US politicians when elections rolled around.
I'm all for War Resisters and have helped many over the years. But you leave the country, then you leave the country. I've forever noted here that the US should not allow Cuban exiles into the US if the whole point is for them to use our country as a base to attack Cuba.
You're Cuban and you want to live here? Great. Welcome. You're an American now. Let's all get along.
But that's not happening if you're here feeding your resentment against Cuba. And that's true, for me, for any exile. Don't come to this country in order to plot against your country of origin.
Now on Naomi, should she be a US citizen?
I don't believe in dual citizenship. I've made that clear here for two decades. But her mother and her father elected to leave the United States. Why are we now, as a country, saying she's a citizen of the United States? I'm not trying to be rude or mean.
She didn't grow up here. (Her father can't return unless he wants to go to prison.)
I think Naomi is often exceptional. But I also believe in Ellen Goodman. In fact, I believe in the former BOSTON GLOBE columnist even more. She's smarter than so many and has a lot more common sense. She'd started out on the chat and chews -- those public affairs programs where they bring you and you end up weighing on everything.
But no one can weigh in on everything.
And she grasped that and stopped doing the chat and chews as a result.
No one can speak in an informed manner on every topic. When Texas Governor Greg Asshole went after Latino citizens, I noted here that I really wanted to avoid the topic and that I wanted to do that because I knew nothing about it. But then I'm looking around and left media -- independent media -- is avoiding the topic completely. My plan had been to just highlight reports on the topic. I was not qualified to comment on it. But to get qualified -- because no one, not even Juan Gonzalez, was weighing in -- I had to ask Texas community members to do a conference call with me, I had to talk to a member of the US Congress from Texas that I personally knew, I had to speak to one of the women targeted -- her home raided -- and then I still wanted another conference with community members in Texas and bothered poor Sabina with non-stop questions even after that.
So Naomi Klein appears on DEMOCRACY NOW! and she was there to talk about Gaza. And she's informed on that.
But then Amy wanted her to weigh in on the US presidential election.
Why?
She's not an expert on that. She doesn't live in the US. There are Americans who would argue she shouldn't have citizenship (including those who would make the argument -- I did not -- that the minute her father refused US military service and left the country, he should not have been able to pass on citizenship -- Naomi was born long, long after Vietnam). She's not qualified to speak on US electoral politics. She has no knowledge base. She has nothing worth sharing -- her 'tears of joy' on election night piece for THE PROGRESSIVE back in 2008 was nothing but political porn at its worst as she watched from a distance people that she could not hear speaking and people that she had never met became people that she just knew what they were thinking -- just knew it, really, really, really knew it! That's political porn -- the sort that James Wolcott rightly took Peggy Noonan to task for years ago.
Naomi made some general statement before sharing her concern: Kamala had abandoned her base!!!
STFU. Not since your bad book -- now out in soft cover -- where you didn't understand the concepts of twinship even though it went to the heart of your book's argument -- have you looked so stupid.
Kamala abandoned the base!!!!
Just f**k the hell off.
That is not what happened.
I tore Kamala apart over the wording of an answer she gave on Gaza to the media and I got a call from a friend in the administration stating I was attacking the only one defending Gaza. I noted that in a roundtable and I backed off from attacking Kamala. I didn't write about it here. I believed my friend but I didn't make the case for it here -- this was long before the Biden-Trump debate. And I went back and forth on the topic. Talk about it here in a snapshot and maybe risk outing the friend? Didn't want to do that. Nor did it really matter. Kamala was going to advocate in private but it wasn't going to have any real impact because that's all she could do. She was not the president. Nor is she today.
But what ended up happening is that she became the nominee. I'm glad she did. I think she'd be a great president. And I'm willing to hold her feet to the fire the same way I've done every other politician -- and journalist -- in the two decades this site has been up. If she becomes president, I'll hit hard. I don't pull punches. I like Naomi Klein but I don't pull punches on her.
So the Abandon Biden movement already existed. And then he stepped aside. And without taking a breath, it became Abandon Harris. And it became more and more nonsense and bulls**t -- to the point that these Gaza Freaks are now harming Palestinians because Americans are recoiling from the Gaza Freaks. So they trashed her in public and they attacked her for this and that. Including the nonsense of a speaker they wanted at the DNC convention.
Naomi may not know all this happened, she doesn't live in the US. But it happened. And electoral politics not being an area of expertise for her (campaign politics was a field of emphasis for me both as an undergraduate and as a graduate student), she may not understand how political conventions work in the US. I have no idea how they work in Canada. I wouldn't pretend to.
But the reality is that a spot to speak at a convention is a big deal and everyone wants it. An unknown would-be-US-Senator from Illinois got to speak at the 2004 convention -- Barack Obama -- but a sitting US senator, Hillary Clinton, who was not just a former First Lady but someone who repeatedly raised a lot of money for the Democratic Party was initially denied. No female politician or female activist was going to be allowed to speak in prime time. For those too young to remember, this was back in the day when Simon Rosenberg was advocating for Democrats to abandon support for abortion rights and for LGBTQ+ rights. Those of us who did believe in reproductive rights had to demand Hillary get to speak. This was a months long process.
And Hillary was a nationally known Democrat. She had star power.
So you idiots who thought you were going to elevate some woman who held a local office? You're idiots. You could have had six months to attempt that -- you didn't, you had about two weeks -- and it wouldn't have worked. You would been better off getting behind an activist for Palestinian rights -- an activist with a name which means Bella Hadid, for example. Even then, in two to three weeks, you wouldn't have achieved anything most likely. But you would have had a better shot with someone like Bella.
And it wasn't just that your local politician was an unknown on the national stage so she wouldn't have helped get viewers tuned it, it's also the jostling that takes place among the politicians who all want to be on stage and speaking in prime time. They would never had let your local politician onstage for that reason. They wouldn't want Bella on as well but they would have surrendered to the notion because Bella is news and attracts an audience.
But instead of grasping that they were pursuing a losing strategy, they trashed Kamala.
That's all they ever did.
Kamala doesn't have months, you idiots and assholes on the left. She had to assemble a team and get a campaign going in an instant. And she did that.
And she doesn't have time to woo people who say they won't vote for her.
Equally true, for all the lies from Amy Goodman and others, Gaza Freaks are not the base of the Democratic Party. They're not the base of anybody's party. I suspected that in July but we've spoken to groups in every state now except Alaska and Hawaii. And Gaza Freaks are on their own. (Gaza Freaks are not supporters of Palestinians. Supporters of Palestinians would be doing anything to keep Trump out of the White House. Gaza Freaks are purity freaks with infantile yet sterile minds.)
A lot of Republicans do not want Trump. That was clear in the primaries. That's an audience Kamala could pick some voters from. How many? I have no idea.
But if I were managing her campaign, I would've told her to forget the Gaza Freaks. No matter what she did, it was not enough for them. Acknowledging the suffering in Gaza in her convention speech and the need for a cease-fire didn't make the Gaza Freaks stop attacking her.
In a normal campaign, you'd be wasting your time trying to court those crybabies. In a much more limited campaign? She doesn't have the time. She'd be wasting her time based on the reality that nothing she has said has been good enough for these Gaza Freaks.
You have cut yourselves out of the conversation. That is on you.
A campaign is about winning votes. When all you did was attack the candidate, there's no reason for the candidate to try to woo you. Donald Trump's not going before LGBTQ+ audiences, seeking their votes. (Melania will speak to them provided they pay her at least $200,000 -- for her, that's campaigning).
You screwed yourselves out of a seat at the table.
Naomi's yammering away like an idiot because, on this topic, she is one. She doesn't understand electoral politics, she doesn't understand US politics, she doesn't live in the US and she's looking down from a cloud at those of us working our asses off to try to save our democracy and protect our citizens. Guess what, Naomi, we can't exit the US for Canada because we don't have dual citizenship, we don't have your privilege.
I'm not here to let reproductive rights suffer again. Every woman in the US should have the same medical options in every state. That's healthcare. My healthcare is not a 'state's right.' That's bulls**t. Every same-sex couple should have the same rights and that includes full citizenship. That awful case built on lies found the Supreme Court creating two kinds of citizenship -- full citizenship and second class citizenship. If you're straight, you can shop where you want and expect to be treated fairly. If you're gay or lesbian, you can be refused service. I'm not here to let our public education -- the thing that binds us together as citizens (it certainly isn't home schooling) -- fall apart because Trump wants to destroy the Dept of Education. I'm not here to let some racist rewrite history by refusing to allow future generations know about slavery and what a scar it left on our country and how much damage it did to people living under it. I'm not here so that Sabina, in Dallas, TX, a US citizen, has to worry that the police are going to come up to her when she goes to the Mercado on Jefferson and demand proof of citizenship and, if she doesn't have it on her, be pulled off the street.
I'm not here to watch Donald Trump achieve his goal of dismantling our Constitution.
I don't have the luxury of sitting this election out or the stupidity of voting for a con artist like Jill Stein.
I also am fully aware that the Palestinians are screwed if Trump gets back in the White House. 100% screwed.
