Eternal vigilance, etc., et al., and so on and so forth.
After the briefest of discussions …
“You wanna watch the debate?”
“Nah. You?”
“Nah.”
… we decided against encouraging further silliness from NBC and the Democratic National Committee.
Finding some way to watch would have been a pain in the ass — we don’t have cable, and can’t get much of anything over the air without a rooftop antenna — and then there would have been the actual watching, which, ick.
Charlie Pierce found Tim Ryan full of the bafflegab, Elizabeth Warren on her game, Beto O’Rourke so light of weight that he “spent the evening looking as though he had to be tied down to keep from floating out the door,” and Julián Castro “the one Texan who knew what he was talking about.”
Kevin Drum found Beto “talking in platitudes,” Castro “clear and well-briefed,” Warren “OK for now,” and John Delaney “very annoying.” He also found the general unwillingness to discuss climate change an indication that the candidates “were afraid of saying something that will be interpreted as asking people to make an actual sacrifice.”
Mother Times and the WaPo (that would be a great band name, no?) are awash in the usual morning-after hooey about “divisions among Democrats,” and who “won” and who “lost,” if that’s your idea of a good time.
Meanwhile, Field Marshal Turkish von Turkenstein (commander, 1st Feline Home Defense Regiment) remains on the alert. He remains convinced that the Revolution will not be televised.
Tags: 2020 Democratic debates, Charles P. Pierce, Field Marshal Turkish von Turkenstein, Kevin Drum
Mad Blog Media 
June 27, 2019 at 7:02 am |
One should respect Turk’s wisdom, even if he is a military type. And Charlie and Kevin are preaching to the choir, as are we.
June 27, 2019 at 7:35 am |
love me some gil scott heron
June 27, 2019 at 8:10 am |
Regretfully, I think this is another take on: “The process is more important than the product.” Or, “It’s all about the journey; not the destination.”
Yoda: “There is no trying; you either do or you don’t.”
I hope I’m wrong! 🙂
But then again, hope is not a good strategy most times.
June 27, 2019 at 8:19 am |
IMO, Warren, Castro, and Booker showed up best! Why couldn’t NBC Put this on without commercials. Very cheap & tacky!
June 27, 2019 at 9:31 am |
Restricting the audience perhaps? Why wasn’t it live streamed and broadcast on every network and internet outlet? Would that be the civic minded thing to do? Shit, no money doing that.
Just like a country singer will tell you Patrick, no money past the fifth fret. So, don’t worry about those barre chords. All you need is three chords and a good song according to Emylou Harris. Who can argue with that. Now, if I could sing like her then……..
June 27, 2019 at 11:55 am |
I understand that these dog-and-pony shows are moneymakers for the networks’ news divisions, which ordinarily eat shit, revenue-wise.
As regards the barre chords, man, I’m hopeless. Woeful. But I can handle some simple stuff, enough to play a little John Prine, Commander Cody, Jerry Jeff, Tom Waits, Steve Earle, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, and Flying Burrito Brothers.
And yeah, Emmylou. What a voice. Those trios she did with Linda Ronstadt and Dolly Parton … now that there is some singin’, Bubba.
Here’s one that’s fun to play, even for those of us who are weak on the barre chords:
June 27, 2019 at 3:13 pm |
Emmylou … what a life, ammiright?
June 27, 2019 at 8:35 am |
I found the debate on one web site that promptly crashed the computer twice. Then found the NBC link in time to have Cory Booker spouting loudly into my face. We had a house guest present who needed help badly with understanding how to use Outlook, and that took precedence over having Cory scream at me about gun control. So I killed the NBC link and concentrated on our friend’s dilemma.
So our friend, who recently gay-married, has a spouse with serious health issues. Given our nation’s fucked up health care situation, friend went back to work in mid-seventies so to have health insurance for significant other. Sure enough, The Boss expects everything in the office to be done electronically. So the question is, how does one handle electronic attachments, save, and manage them after being out of the work force for a long time. I do a lot of that moving of e-crap around from one side of my desk to the other so I was press ganged into a quick tutorial. That was a far more important way to spend my evening and I couldn’t concentrate on it while listening to partisan bullshit, even from my own party (although I’ll probably drum myself out of it).
Several of those candidates, including ones that O’G dismissed, I wouldn’t elect to dog catcher. I like Liz Warren but turned the NBC back on just in time to see her stridently lecturing into the screen. Jeziz, if I were one of her law students, I’d probably flee the lecture hall in terror. Way smart lady with lots of ideas, some of which need to play in Michigan rather than to the Coastal Blue Base. Tone down the style or she may scare people off?
Maybe I’ll try tonight’s version and see what Statler and Waldorf and company have to say. Or, as Dickens said, I’ll just retire to Bedlam.
June 27, 2019 at 9:41 am |
Any of them on the debate last night would bring a knife to the Trump gun fight. Now, Harris has prosecuted child molester, child neglecters, mother stabbers, father rapers, and all those other folks on the “Group W” bench. Maybe she has the stink for the upcoming alley fight.
June 27, 2019 at 8:46 am |
First comment! yes… Mother Times and the WaPo would be a great band name.
June 27, 2019 at 3:11 pm |
I saw Mother Times and the Whappo open for RadioHead in ‘93, Merriweather Post Pavilion.
June 27, 2019 at 3:23 pm |
In 2016, around 20 million mid-west, blue collar types looked at a real estate scam artist and the democratic offering and concluded that the Manhattan /Hollywood guy better represented their values.
That is a problem that will not go away with offers of free college, green new deals, and anything else currently on the democratic platform
There are maybe three candidates who are trying to address this, and none of them are doing it well.
The good news is that they have 500 days to figure this out. The bad news is, we have to listen to another 500 days of them trying to figure it out
June 27, 2019 at 3:47 pm |
Here’s an interesting Times piece from February on the Donks’ path to victory. Rust Belt or Sun Belt? White, rural blue collar, or dazzling young urbanites of color? Serve your customers or seek new markets?
Of course, the Supremes just carpet-bombed the road forward. The Repugs are free to continue M.C. Eschering the mortal shit out of their districts to thwart the will of the voters, if any.
June 28, 2019 at 6:52 am |
Supremes were between a rock and a hard place on that one. The middle of the road D district just north of mine was ratfucked by the Donks to get a Santa Fe Lackey onto the Legislature. Its an ugly system but I think the guys on the court who voted to allow it couldn’t find a section of Original Intent(tm) to strike it. Even Roberts said it sucked. And it does.
June 28, 2019 at 6:53 am |
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/06/27/ratfcked-the-influence-of-redistricting
June 28, 2019 at 3:44 am |
I agree 100% I look at this as a referendum on Don the Con. His performance as president is pretty easy to review and if enough ‘Murican voters like it or those who don’t are too lazy or stupid to vote him out he’ll get a 2nd term. When you ask about the “won’t get fooled again” angle, just look at the UK’s Brexit fiasco and who is likely to end up PM there in a few weeks.
You know what my wife says…
June 28, 2019 at 6:20 am |
And the professor hasn’t been proven wrong, yet.