How It Feels Wading Into Any Uspol Related Tag These Days,,

how it feels wading into any uspol related tag these days,,

As someone who lost their father to cancer I feel this is very important to share. Please vote in 2024, and vote for those who care more about the people rather than bullshit politics.

(I don’t typically talk politics or world affairs but this hit me hard.)

David Roberts on Twitter:

One thing's already clear: Harris's Happy Warrior persona a) is incredibly appealing to meme-happy young people, and b) drives the right craaaaaazy. It infuriates them on such a deep level. The best thing she can do is: stay happy, stay laughing, mock these clowns, have fun.

It's going to be difficult. The harumphing jackasses on the right will be joined by harumphing centrist columnists and harumphing cable news anchors, all of whom will harumph about how this is Serious Business and she needs more gravitas & etc. Ignore them.

One thing conservatives (and lots of conservative Dems) feel in their gut is that a black woman in public life shouldn't be happy, or joyful, or silly. She should be grateful that we let her in the door, right? She should be genuflecting & making us feel magnanimous, right?

There will be *enormous* pressure along these lines, explicit & implicit, even from people who swear there are no racist bones in their body. The very best way Harris can respond is with a serene smile. Stay confident, stay self-possessed, stay happy.

The more she stays openly confident & happy, the more it will drive the worst people crazy and the more they will drop the mask and get vicious. Let them. She's smiling & vivacious, they are grimacing & pinched.

She's young & hopeful; they're old & bitter.

She's brat, they suck.

Of course, this is asking for a level of self-control & equanimity that most people -- very much including myself -- do not possess. I would crumble under that pressure! I am not a happy warrior! But I think Harris can pull it off.

So, I really love the selection of Tim Walz for VP and it’s taken me a moment to articulate why. I mean, obviously, Dem bonafides, he’s sharp, he’s funny, etc etc. But everyone in the Veepstakes fits that bill, Harris was spoiled for good choices.

But Walz offers something that the other men in contention don’t that I think will be incredibly useful in combating Trumpism.

He offers an example and an off ramp to the section of men who felt like they were Republicans by default, and so support Trump by default. There are a lot of Trump voters who are full on obsessive, but that’s not who we’re talking to. We’re talking to folks who grew up in Republican areas, or felt their hobbies didn’t line up with who a Democrat was, or didn’t feel represented by their image of a Democrat. You want to see it so you can be it, you know? Which is why Harris is so inspirational to a lot of segments of folks, but Walz is too.

He served in the military. He went to a state college. He’s your favorite teacher from your public high school. He’s your football coach who actually cared if you were passing your math class. He’s the guy you looked up to at school when your family sucked but this guy cared, and he helped you get out and make something of yourself.

He’s the neighbor who helps you jump your car. He’s your uncle who takes you hunting. He’s your Dad who loves teasing you at the Stare Fair. He’s you when he makes a mistake like his DUI and takes responsibility for it, and when he has the chance makes sure other can come back from similar mistakes. He’s you when you and your wife want so badly to be parents and IVF gives you the family you wanted. He’s you when he says ‘it had to be me’ and used his standing and power to protect vulnerable kids sponsoring the GSA at his school.

He gives the real life example to these men that they can be that football, fishing, hunting family man who wants to provide for his family, be that powerful, respected member of the community and use that power to feed kids in school. That it’s normal to enthusiastically work for a boss like Harris. That yeah those other guys are fucking weirdos, and you’re not a weirdo, are you?

That there’s a place in the Democratic Party for them. That they don’t have to default to being fucking weird.

I hope those guys see this example of masculinity and go… yeah, that’s me. That’s who I’m gonna be.

Hi unsolicited opinion from a British person incoming. If you live in the US and you don’t vote for Kamala you’re fucking stupid and basically the entire rest of the world will want to give you a slap for passing up the opportunity to bring in one of the least dogshit front-running leftist politicians in recent history just because you don’t agree with absolutely every single little tiny thing she believes.

Here in the UK we would give almost fucking ANYTHING to have a politician who openly shows care for their country’s people even an eighth as much as Kamala does. Do NOT fuck this up.

Trying to mostly stay away from politics on this blog, but today there’s something I just need to say.

Kamala Harris just defied DECADES of inside-the-Beltway “wisdom” by picking Walz as her running mate instead of Shapiro. The gray-hairs were probably all telling her she had to go with Shapiro to court the independents. Instead of picking the moderate, staunchly pro-Israel guy, she went with a full-on progressive with a strong LGBTQ+, pro-choice, pro-union record.

She’s making a leap of faith here. She’s betting that progressives, young people, and marginalized people will show up for her if she shows that she’s listening. As someone who lived through several decades when progressives didn’t have a voice even in the Democratic party, I can’t begin to tell you how huge this is.

In the coming months, you will no doubt read/hear things about Harris or Walz that you won’t like. Some of it may even be true. There may well already be things you don’t like about her.

Unfortunately, the choice isn’t between a perfect candidate and an imperfect candidate. The choice is between an imperfect candidate and possibly the most disgusting man on the planet, a guy who isn’t even trying to hide his plans to destroy the US. If Palestine is your #1 issue, know that he will do everything he can to pour gas on the flames until there’s nothing left.

Harris made the choice to listen to progressive voices. If she loses because we didn’t show up for her in huge numbers, we’ll likely be wandering in the wilderness for decades more while the planet burns around us.

(Oh, and we’ll need to show up again in ‘26. Let’s not make the same mistake we made in 2010, when the left stayed home after electing Obama and Republicans won big everywhere, which led to the extreme gerrymandering we’re still dealing with in many states.)