Establishment Democrats Do Nothing; They Are Passive-- But Other Forces Are Standing Up To Trump For Real

Tweeter by Nancy Ohanian

"Trump," wrote Tony Romm and Allyson Chiu at the Washington Post yesterday, "took to Twitter early Friday to condemn Minneapolis demonstrators as 'THUGS,' threaten military intervention and suggest it could lead to 'shooting,' prompting the social-media company to take the unprecedented step of limiting the public’s ability to view his tweet. The label appended-- which Twitter also appended later to a tweet from the White House-- marks the second time in a week the tech giant has taken action in response to Trump’s controversial remarks. Trump and his allies again decried the move as censorship, promising to regulate the company a day after he signed an executive order that could open the door for the U.S. government to punish social-media sites for their handling of political speech online.

Critics immediately condemned Trump’s tweet, asserting that he was promoting violent retaliation against protesters, and Twitter took swift action. “This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence,” read a gray box that now hides Trump’s tweet from public view unless a user clicks to see it. In doing so, Twitter also prevented other users from liking the president’s tweet or sharing it without appending comment.

“We’ve taken action in the interest of preventing others from being inspired to commit violent acts, but have kept the tweet on Twitter because it is important that the public still be able to see the Tweet given its relevance to ongoing matters of public importance,” said Trenton Kennedy, a spokesman for the company.

...In an act of defiance, the White House hours later reposted a quotation of the president’s controversial comment about shootings on its account. That, too, received a label from Twitter indicating it broke company rules around glorifying violence.

...The dispute immediately exacerbated tensions between the Silicon Valley company and Trump, who tweeted later Friday morning that he had been unfairly targeted. For years, the president has maintained Twitter and other tech companies exhibit bias against conservatives, systematically limiting their posts and quietly banning right-leaning users-- a charge for which Trump has provided little evidence, and one that the industry strongly denies.

But their dispute took on greater significance on Tuesday, after Twitter bowed to years of public pressure and sought to fact check one of the presidents remarks for the first time. The company appended a link to news articles to two of Trump’s tweets about alleged election fraud, sparking fierce blowback that later led Trump to sign an executive order targeting Section 230, a portion of federal law that shields Twitter and other tech firms from most liability for the content they allow or take down. Critics say the order threatens free expression on the web, running afoul of the Constitution.

“Twitter is doing nothing about all of the lies & propaganda being put out by China or the Radical Left Democrat Party,” Trump said in a later tweet. “They have targeted Republicans, Conservatives & the President of the United States. Section 230 should be revoked by Congress. Until then, it will be regulated!"

Trump often brags his regime has thrown out more regulations than any presidential administration in history. That he has found an industry that he wants to regulate wouldn't surprise anyone who understands the way his mind works. One person who does, is Bob Lefsetz, who publishes a crucial music industry newsletter-- a must-read for everyone in the music biz. So what's Trump got to do with the music business? Nothing... but there is that free speech thing he abhors for everyone but himself. Yesterday, Lefsetz wrote that "Jack Dorsey is standing up for all of us. In other words, Trump fucked with the wrong asshole."

What was the Facebook motto? “Move fast and break things.”? The history of the internet is the techies do what they want and legacy entities challenge said change and in the middle of the argument, they lose all standing.

Happened in the music business. The record companies shut down Napster and lost half their revenue. You see the labels thought it was all about stealing, whereas it was about their flawed business model. Fans didn’t want to pay fifteen bucks for a CD with one good track. They wanted live cuts and rarities, a whole smorgasbord of music. So, Napster was shut down and KaZaA and lockers replaced it and the labels kept fighting the past, and losing all the while. Too much credit is given to the iTunes Store, that was a stopgap measure, it just allowed non-techies to pay for tracks, whereas the enlightened continued to file trade. It wasn’t until Spotify that pirates gave up (10% will never pay, Michael Eisner said that, and he was right) and revenues did a U-turn and started to climb.

You see you’ve got to give the people what they want.

So, the techies have all the power. Look at Google and Amazon, between them they own search, even Microsoft could not make inroads with Bing!

And conversation takes place and news is gathered on Twitter and Facebook and…the oldsters would prefer people consume at the trough of legacy media, i.e. print (and its apps) and TV. But youngsters have no need for physical, it’s old news, and they’re cutting the cord, they don’t even get Fox and MSNBC, never mind ABC or CBS, and if they do they don’t pay attention to them.

So, many say Trump got elected because of attention, and that to defeat him this has to be addressed. But Trump is good for legacy media businesses. Cable ratings have gone up, as have subscriptions to the New York Times. They’re not gonna crack down. They too are part of the elite and they cannot change their model. As a matter of fact, The Times bends over backwards to criticize Democrats, fearful of criticism from the right. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal op-ed pages are all right wing all the time and Fox believes there’s only one true view, fact-based or not.

So Jack Dorsey takes a stand when no one else with any power is willing to. And he’s not backing down, he’s leaning in, adding notices to more tweets, not afraid of the president.

I mean why should you be afraid of the president, he’s a paper tiger built on hype, there’s no there there.

But Pelosi and the news outlets just play the game as usual, say their hands are tied, that there’s nothing they can do.

But Jack Dorsey had enough.

Now few had a problem when Alex Jones was shut out of social media. Sure, some continued to defend his inane theories, but sympathy with the Newtown parents and…it was hard to look the other way.

But now that Twitter wants to shut down Trump…actually, not even shut him down, just establish a counterbalance…the attackers are crying foul.

This is like a cheater bitching that they’re no longer able to cheat. Even worse, they want the rules changed so they can continue to cheat.

Democrats are passive. They believe their hearts are in the right place so they don’t have to be educated on all the issues and they don’t have to play hard. But when someone challenges the whole game… That is what this is about folks. Even Trump said it himself! The fear is if everybody gets to vote, there’s no way in hell he, or any Republican, will get elected.

Meanwhile, the Democrats do nothing. They win the battle of votes, but lose the Electoral College. Meanwhile, Trump says he won the popular vote…and he’s got the biggest megaphone of them all, so his words have influence.

Zuckerberg wants out. He’s preparing for a future decades down the road. Without Instagram and WhatsApp he’d be up shit’s creek. He got caught in the crossfire hurricane of D.C. and the duplicitous little fuck is playing all nice with the establishment so he can continue to rape and pillage and hide under the pretense that he’s doing good. Come on, he’s got some secret algorithm that establishes what you can see on his site. And he charges people to be seen. And this is Mr. Neutrality who refuses to draw a line in the sand? He’s drawing lines all the time, just not in public.

Google is in a search war with Amazon, and Europe is always knocking on its door charging monopoly, its days of “Do no evil” are not only long behind it, it’s afraid of doing anything that gains more attention, for fear of being Microsofted. As for Microsoft… The browser wars were no match for the cloud storage wars. Microsoft pivoted and profited. As did the Republicans. The Democrats, they’re living in the past, telling everybody they’re enlightened as they get richer and richer and that you’ve got to support them when they’ve got no plan for rectifying the inequities pushed upon the public.

The DNC’s position is it’s a game of insiders. Only old people vote, so let’s concentrate on them and forget those who don’t cast a ballot. But the problem with this is eventually everybody gets old, and the younger generation and minorities have been screwed in a way they’ll never get over. So, when you don’t fight the big bad corporations that underpay them for gig work, when you don’t provide them health care, it’s gonna catch up with you eventually.

In politics they never throw the long ball.

In tech, if you’re not, you’re history.

So we can parse it however we want. We can add up the offenses on both sides. We can analyze the law. But not only is that irrelevant, that’s not how they do it in tech. In tech…they do what’s in their gut.

But tech is a game of musical chairs, and they’ve run out of extra seats. These are relatively mature companies without challengers. They’re their own establishment, albeit with different precepts.

So, Jack Dorsey decides to do what is right.

It’s just that simple folks. Forget the analysis. He had enough. His platform was being used to spread lies and to change our country and he decided to put his finger in the dike, he decided to take a stand when everybody else was afraid to. Furthermore, what he thinks and does matters, and the truth is in today’s world almost nobody’s opinion and action matters. You’ve got the right to say it, that does not mean anybody is listening.

So Jack Dorsey was mad as hell and wasn’t gonna take it anymore.

Trump bungled the Covid-19 response, and all the media and elected officials did was bitch, when they weren’t saying they had to be nice to Trump to get benefits. This is like an abused wife. You take it and take it and take it and…take it some more?

I don’t expect a revolution. Because people love their flat screens and smartphones too much.

Then again, the Supreme Court and the right wing said we live in a post-racial society where no voting protections are necessary and then innocent African-Americans are killed willy-nilly. Take that Tucker Carlson!

So, Fox can go off the rails because of the end of the fairness doctrine.

But now, in some bizarre twist, Trump wants reintroduction of a facsimile by fiat. Saying the left is inherently biased so he should be able to say whatever he wants whenever he wants.

Tell me where in the world this works.

And Dorsey has all the power, we’ve learned this over the past two decades, that government never understands tech and its wheels grind so slowly that by time D.C. acts, the cheese has been moved.

Sure, we can debate whether the changes Trump wants will hold up to legal scrutiny, but meanwhile, probably at least through the election, Jack Dorsey is in control of his platform, he can do what he wants, there’s nothing Donald Trump can do about it.

How does it feel to have the shoe on the other foot?

America is the story of the power of the individual. One person can move mountains, one person can make change. They’re always acting on the right side, everybody knows the truth, even Trump, but almost everybody is afraid to stand up for it. But then you’ve got Martin Luther King. And you’ve got the techies.

You hate ’em. Because they changed your life.

The media hates Dorsey and Twitter because on the platform everybody gets a voice. And you don’t need the imprimatur of the New York media business to gain a following.

Meanwhile, as per usual, the masses are clueless. They believe Twitter is a cesspool filled with bots where irrelevant people go to argue.

That’s what they want you to believe. But if it was true, why would Trump be so pissed?

And you can’t teach most oldsters to do new tricks. As in Twitter is just too complicated for them. They finally figured out Facebook, even though everybody on the other side of the hourglass has abandoned the platform.

So, for four years we heard about bad actors interfering with the 2016 election. They even made TV shows about it, the woman from Cambridge Analytica came clean. But…after all that info, there can be no change, it must be business as usual. Huh? Jack Dorsey stands up to disinformation and now Trump calls foul? Especially after disinformation helped him get elected to begin with?

Jack Dorsey is a billionaire. But he’s acting like a kid in high school, who has been picked on too often. You remember high school, where you’re all in it together. No one’s in it together anymore in America. There are the rich and powerful and the poor and weak. And there’s the smoke screen saying if you’re poor it’s your fault, there’s a job for everybody and you’re just too lazy to do it.

But that job doesn’t pay the bills and…

Who is standing up for you and me?

Certainly not Joe Biden. He’s lacking in fundraising and internet traction, he can tweet but it’s like a tree falling in the forest, no one hears it. Which is why he needs to pick the right VP. Did you see Rachel Bitecofer’s piece on this:

Why a Biden Victory Hinges on Picking the Right Running Mate.

Bitecofer called 2018 right, but she’s not part of the establishment, she hasn’t paid her dues, so the DNC ignores her.

That whole “meritocracy,” that whole business construct has been blown apart by tech.

The Republicans decided to throw over all their values and line up behind Trump, who appealed to the rich and the left out, you can’t let the Dems gain any yardage.

And the Democrats keep crying foul as the game is played, furthermore, it’s one in which there are no umpires or referees.

And then Jack Dorsey comes along and says he owns the game and this is the way it’s gonna be. Dorsey is playing Trump’s game and Trump doesn’t like it.

But I do. Because for once someone with money and power is doing what’s right as opposed to what’s expedient.

We need more of this. It’s the only way out of this mess.

Republican Oligarch Bloomberg Explains Why He Would Never Win A Presidential Race

Yesterday, in his often excoriating music business newsletter, Bob Lefsetz set his sites on... oligarchs in politics. "You’ve got to be rich," he wrote. "And it always comes down to who you know." That could've easily been the opening lines about a music business post. But not when he turned to the powerful dons who run the Nevada Culinary Union who "bargained for a blue chip health care plan" and have basically said SCREW YOU to anyone who doesn't have a plan as good. (NOTE: Medicare-for-All is better than any union-negotiated healthcare plan and for that matter, better than any healthcare plan offered to corporate presidents in any U.S. company.) Anyway, Lefsetz was quickly on to two detestable targets: Trump and Bloomberg, two beneficiaries of skillful marketing. "Trump," he wrote "won by being a renegade. By talking about how the government does not work and the game is rigged. The government has issues, but one thing’s for sure, the game is rigged. Let’s see, all the people Trump pardoned/commuted today… It’s not like they had public defenders, it’s not like they didn’t have the right to appeal, they were convicted, fair and square, there’s a system, based on laws, and if you sacrifice the law…you’ve got chaos. Which is what we’ve got today... [O]ne thing is for certain, if you’re not rich, you don’t count, you have no voice. Because they don’t want to let you have one. Oh, they’ll let you call in to talk shows, they’ll get you fighting about secondary issues, but they won’t let you challenge the system, which is imperfect but works just fine for them. Which brings me to last night’s John Oliver show, wherein he makes the case for Medicare for all:

Oliver goes through all the negative talking points, blows them away, and if you’re not for Medicare for all after you watch this, you’re greedy or, like members of the Culinary Union, have a blue chip policy.

But there can be no change.

But change happens. The last twenty years have been all about change. Digital disruption. It’s always outsiders with a creaky new way that is cheap and pooh-poohed that ultimately triumphs and kills what came before. Why can’t this happen in politics?

BECAUSE THOSE IN POWER DON’T WANT IT TO!

I’ll vote for any Democrat against Trump. But I must say, the DNC and the media are bending over backward to hand it to Michael Bloomberg. Today the polls came out and the stories were all about Bloomberg’s surge, when Sanders surged way ahead of the field.

Selective reporting.

It used to be different. There was the Fairness Doctrine, making sure the limited news outlets presented both sides.

And if you owned a megaphone, a newspaper, TV or radio station, you were powerful.

You’re less powerful today.

Those in power, the elite, hate technology, even though they selectively use it. I listened to NPR tonight wherein they sang the virtues of the independent bookstore, saying the digital book was neutered. But the sycophantic host even admitted he showroomed the Ron Chernow book on Ulysses S. Grant and bought the digital copy, because the physical book was just too heavy.

This is the establishment, they like it how it was, even though it’s no longer this way.

I get it if you’re a member of the Republican elite. The money and perks have always flowed upward. But the Democratic elite? They have contempt for those below them, believe they know better, spread their own disinformation in pursuit of their goals. There can be change, just as long as they don’t lose out.

And you wonder why the rank and file voted for Trump.

So it all comes down to hope. If Bloomberg is elected, we’ll get rid of the orange menace. But will the fundamental problems of this country be addressed? Of course not, because Bloomberg doesn’t even know how the hoi polloi live.

So Blagojevich broke the law. We don’t want our elected officials selling Senate seats. But we live in a country where our President can lean on Ukraine to neuter the campaign of Joe Biden, which he successfully did!

Mitt Romney did the right thing, and he was excoriated by the right, but…they still love him in Utah, because their society is built on the family and helping one another, morality.

Bernard Kerik was caught red-handed, as was Eddie DeBartolo, Jr. Commit a blue collar crime and you’re screwed, there’s a camera everywhere, you’re going up the river. But white collar crime is seen as less bad, these are good people, we don’t want to ruin their lives, like the judge said in the Stanford rape case. SO WHY DID THEY DO THIS?

That’s what you’ve got to ask. These people thought they were invulnerable, they’d been getting away with bending the rules for years, it’s just that this time they got caught. Whereas you’re lucky if you can get probation on the first offense.

So there’s a different legal system for the rich and poor. And unlike in the old days, the rich no longer worry about the optics. Trump doesn’t care how it looks, Kerik working with the Donald’s henchman Giuliani, Blagojevich appearing on The Apprentice, he just does what he feels like, with a vengeance, vindictively.

Susan Collins told us Trump learned a lesson…yeah, that he can do whatever he wants!

As for those who support him, it’s less about him than the tribe on the other side. They hate Democrats so much, they’ll endorse the behavior of any Republican, just ask the evangelicals.

So if you live online, you see contrary opinions.

But big media has told us it’s all cranks and their opinions don’t count. Meanwhile, Breitbart and the Daily Caller got Trump elected. Who cares about veracity, that demonstrates power.

And although the right decries authoritarianism in China, it refuses to publicize any story it doesn’t agree with, that doesn’t reinforce its position.

So, you can be an outsider, you can have the illusion of power, because you vote.

But for the first time in my life I’m starting to wonder if it matters. If we organize and come up with a contrary candidate, our own opinion, they shut us right down. Bernie Sanders is a socialist who loves Russia and will ruin the economy, after eliminating Democratic coattails.

Meanwhile, Trump is a guy who really loves Putin, and endorses/enables socialism for the rich, with low taxes, the carried interest rule, government handouts, but somehow that’s different.

It isn’t about Bernie Sanders the man, it’s about what he’s saying, telling the truth in a world where that is abhorred. The everyday person got screwed, and the playing field must be leveled, while everybody is taken care of while they get back on their feet.

But those on both the right and left say this can’t be so. Change must be gradual, and you know there can’t be change because the government is gridlocked, and you’re asking the impossible anyway.

Meanwhile, let’s hand the nomination to a billionaire who just recently was a Republican, who changed the law so he could serve a third term as mayor, who made the elites feel safe while his police force threw those less privileged up against the wall.

But that’s overlooked. Even the sexism. Because this is the guy the elites want, because he’ll just be the anti-Trump, who cares if he gets anything done.

And their plan is working. I was with three twentysomethings just now, all were Bernie fans, now they’re behind Bloomberg, the media has convinced them, they’re defeated. Even though it’s their future at risk.

So what we’ve found is despite our numbers, we ain’t got much power. Even if Bernie Sanders wins a primary, he loses. The owners of this country want it this way.

As for Michael Milken… Wasn’t he the first guy to make so much money on Wall Street? Isn’t he evidence of the basic problem? By pardoning him aren’t we endorsing this kind of behavior, especially if you employ your riches that remain for good causes?

It’s depressing. And everybody is telling us we know nothing and should do what they say. And however it plays out, they’re not gonna lose, but we are.

Meanwhile, we’re fighting each other for scraps and most have no idea how the game is really played anyway. Everybody believes they’re gonna be a successful entrepreneur, become a billionaire. Someone else did it, so why can’t they?

Because that other person had wealthy parents who gave them the best education at institutions where you can make relationships that pay dividends down the road. You never had a chance. And today, both parties are doing their best to snuff whatever light, whatever hope remains, out.

And you wonder why there’s a rash of suicides.

"I'm not a dictionary, but I know what words mean. And I'm not a clock, but I know what time it is." That was from Richard Eskow in his post for Common Dreams earlier this month, Of Course Bloomberg's an Oligarch-- and He's Coming For Your Social Security. "By any common definition," he wrote, "Bloomberg’s an oligarch. He wants to buy your vote. Based on his record, he’s also coming for your Social Security.

An “oligarch,” according to the Cambridge American Dictionary, is “one of a small group of powerful people who control a country or an industry.”

Is Michael Bloomberg such a person? Maybe he’s just really rich and doesn’t control that much. But let's have some background.

With an estimated net worth of more than $60 billion, Bloomberg is the twelfth-richest person on the planet and the ninth-richest person in the United States. That’s a pretty small group of people. But do they control the country? Ferguson et al. found that campaign cash drives election outcomes. That means campaign donors largely control the process.

Gilens and Page found that wealthy people and interests usually get what they want. The rest of us usually don’t, unless what we want is also what they want. The fact that progressives like some of Bloomberg’s positions doesn’t undermine these findings. In fact, it reinforces them.

Bloomberg hasn’t just given money to a number of campaigns. He also controls a media empire. In true oligarchical fashion, he decreed years ago that his news outlets would not cover his political career. He said recently that it would not cover his rivals’ campaigns, either-- a move that drew criticism from journalists and an ethics professor. Less than a month later, however, Bloomberg News violated that edict by running a hit piece against Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

That’s oligarchical behavior.

Bloomberg’s own political history is an exercise in the use of oligarchical wealth to change electoral outcomes. He was unpopular when he first ran for mayor of New York-- a situation he rectified by dramatically outspending his rivals. Even so, Bloomberg only eked out a two-point victory against Democrat Mark Green in his first mayoral race, after outspending him five to one.

The argument between Turner and Johnson involved another compelling example of Bloomberg-as-oligarch. The DNC’s rules said each candidate had to have a minimum number of donors to quality for the debate stage. That rule wasn’t overruled for Cory Booker or Julian Castro, despite calls for greater diversity in the race. But it was overturned for Bloomberg, who had donated more than $1 million to the DNC and a related organization a few short weeks before.

Will Michael Bloomberg Cut Your Social Security?

If you thought there were problems with Joe Biden’s Social Security record, wait until you see Bloomberg’s. His record of espousing austerity economics has including a special enthusiasm for cutting Medicare and Social Security.

As he told Face the Nation in 2013:

No program to reduce the deficit makes any sense whatsoever unless you address the issue of entitlements, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, interest payment on the debt, which you can't touch, and defense spending. Everything else is tiny compared to that.

Bloomberg has called for raising the retirement age, a move that would cut Social Security benefits for all retirees and create physical hardship for many older workers.

These are bad ideas. They make for even worse politics. Voters love Social Security. A Pew study released in March 2019 found that “74 percent of Americans say Social Security benefits should not be reduced in any way.”

And voters don’t like entitlement cuts, or the Bloomberg-endorsed thinking behind them. That can be seen in a GBAO/Center for American Progress survey conducted in October 2019. Less than half of Republicans, one-third of Democrats, and roughly one-third of independents agreed with the Bloomberg-like statement that “our national debt is way too high, and we need to cut government spending on the biggest programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.”

Trump has given Democrats an opening on Social Security. His administration is currently engaged in a de factor program to cut Social Security disability benefits, by forcing millions of disabled people to endure the punishing process of eligibility screening as often as every six months. Newsweek reports that the Social Security Administration concluded that this would lead to $2.6 billion in benefit cuts and an additional 2.6 million case reviews between 2020 and 2029. It’s a brutal assault on the health and security of a vulnerable population.

Trump also said he intends to pursue additional cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid after the upcoming election, when he no longer has to worry about public opinion. Worse, he did so at the annual gathering of billionaires in Davos. That reinforces the perception that he’s imposing hardship on the majority to help a privileged few.

Most leading Democrats understand that there is wide support for protecting and expanding Social Security. Most leading candidates-- including Joe Biden-- have offered some form of Social Security expansion. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has embraced the idea in principle. There’s an opportunity here-- if Bloomberg doesn’t stop them from taking it.

...Given his virtually unlimited resources, Bloomberg could theoretically win both the nomination and the presidency. By my calculation, Bloomberg could pay the same “unit price” he paid to make himself mayor of New York-- $88 per voter-- and make himself president for $12 billion. He’d even have $50 billion set aside for a rainy day.

The nomination would presumably cost less than the presidency, so he has a better shot at that. But it would be a bad look for the Democrats to become the first party in modern history whose candidate openly bought the nomination. But then, Bloomberg’s used to getting the rules changed just for him. When he wanted to run for a third term as mayor, Bloomberg used all the tools at his disposal (one of which led to an ethics complaint) to change the city’s rules. Once he got what he wanted, Bloomberg then pushed to change the rules back. It seems that some privileges should be labeled, “for oligarchs only.”

Am I saying that all the members of Congress who have endorsed Bloomberg are corrupt and should be defeated in primaries? Pretty much. YES! Right now there are a dozen of them, 10 Blue Dogs and New Dems and one-- Bobby Rush-- an outright criminal who takes bribes from everyone, not just Bloomberg. All these members should have the guts to withdraw their endorsements of Bloomberg today after his disqualifying performance last night. Instead, this morning, 3 other money-hungry Democrats endorsed him-- Blue Dog walking cesspool Josh Gottheimer (NJ), Pete Aguilar (New Dem-CA) and Nita Lowey, who is retiring from Congress and knows she'll never have to face the voters again.

• Harley Rouda (New Dem-CA)- F
• Juan Vargas (New Dem)- D
• Scott Peters (New Dem-CA)- F
• Stephanie Murphy (Blue Dog-FL)- F
• Ted Deutch (FL)- C
• Lucy McBath (New Dem-GA)- F
• Bobby Rush (IL)- B
• Haley Stevens (New Dem-MI)- F
• Mikie Sherrill (Blue Dog-NJ)- F
• Gregory Meeks (New Dem-NY)- F
• Max Rose (Blue Dog-NY)- F
• Ben McAdams (Blue Dog-UT)- F

Biden Campaign Proves That Endorsements From The Wrong Sources Can Hurt A Campaign-- Meet Abby Finkenauer (IA-02)

Worthless careerists, Abby and Joe, have nothing to offer voters

Did conservative Democrat Abby Finkenauer's endorsement of Biden ruin his Iowa campaign? Iowa's first district used to be very blue. Obama beat McCain there, 58.5% to 40.4%, Obama's biggest win in the state. It was also the scene of his biggest victory against Romney in 2012-- 56.2% to 42.5% Then the Democratic Party shoved centrist status quo candidate Hillary Clinton down the party's throat and Iowans looking for fundamental change turned to Trump. A strong Democratic district turned red, or, at best, purple. Trump beat Hillary in IA-01. In 2014 when Democrat Bruce Braley gave up the congressional seat for an ill-fated Senate run, multimillionaire Republican wing nut Rod Blum won the seat and kept it in 2016 thanks to DCCC interference. It took the anti-red wave of 2018 to dislodge him-- despite another worthless DCCC/EMILY's List candidate, state Rep. Abby Finkenauer (an unaccomplished joke in the state legislature).

Finkenauer immediately established herself as a waste of a seat--worthless in the House as she had been in Iowa's state legislature, a pointless backbencher happy to do nothing at all. She quickly ran up an "F"-graded voting record, worse than the records of many Blue Dogs and New Dems. Stephanie Murphy is the chief Blue Dog and even her record is slightly better than Finkenauer's!

No one noticed her until she endorsed Status Quo Joe a couple of months ago. His pathetic and clueless campaign aggressively promoted the anti-charismatic Finkenauer as "Biden's AOC." Laughably, while AOC was helping to draw hundreds and even thousands to Bernie rallies, Finkenauer rarely brought in more than a dozen people to Biden events. She was as colossal a failure in her own district as she was in DC.

That became more than obvious on caucus day, when Biden was gutted like a fish across her district. There are 20 counties in the district, although most of the voters live in the 3 bluest counties-- Linn (Cedar Rapids), Dubuque and Black Hawk (Waterloo). Below are all the counties in descending order of voting population and how the candidates with 15% of more of the vote fared (SDE-wise) in each county.

Linn

• Bernie- 5,274 (28.4%)
• Mayo- 4,571 (24.6%)
• Elizabeth- 3,912 (21.0%)
• Biden- 2,813 (15.1%)

Blackhawk

• Bernie- 3,070 (31.5%)
• Mayo- 2,182 (22.4%)
• Biden- 1,697 (17.4)
• Elizabeth- 1,677 (17.2%)

Dubuque

• Mayo- 2,160 (29.9%)
• Bernie- 1,680 (23.2%)
• Biden- 1,653 (22.9%)
• Elizabeth- 1,093 (15.1%)

Marshall

• Bernie- 816 (34.0%)
• Mayo- 672 (28.0%)
• Biden- 512 (21.3%)

Benton

• Biden- 465 (31.0%)
• Mayo- 435 (29.0%)
• Bernie- 353 (23.5%)

Bremer

• Mayo- 567 (33.3%)
• Elizabeth- 363 (21.3%)
• Biden- 317 (18.6%)
• Klobuchar- 272 (16.0%)

Winneshiek

• Mayo- 486 (30.4%)
• Klobuchar- 397 (24.8%)
• Bernie- 333 (20.8%)
• Elizabeth- 269 (16.8%)

Jones

• Mayo- 368 (30.7%)
• Biden- 256 (21.3%)
• Bernie- 256 (21.3%)
• Klobuchar- 208 (17.3%)

Jackson

• Mayo- 377 (31.4%)
• Biden- 309 (25.8%)
• Klobuchar- 189 (15.8)

Buchanan

• Biden- 383 (29.8%)
• Mayo- 342 (26.6%)
• Klobuchar- 219 (17.0%)

Poweshiek

• Bernie- 504 (36.0%)
• Elizabeth- 392 (28.0%)
• Klobuchar- 210 (15.0%)

Fayette

• Mayo- 432 (36.0%)
• Biden- 264 (22.0%)
• Bernie- 180 (15.0%)

Clayton

• Mayo- 367 (38.0%)
• Klobuchar- 217 (22.4%)
• Bernie- 183 (18.9%)
• Biden- 167 (17.3%)

Iowa

• Mayo- 260 (26.0%)
• Elizabeth- 260 (26.0%)
• Bernie- 240 (24.0%)
• Biden- 200 (20.0%)

Delaware

• Mayo- 248 (27.5%)
• Klobuchar- 218 (24.2%)
• Elizabeth- 195 (21.6%)
• Biden- 188 (20.8%)

Tama

• Bernie- 298 (28.4%)
• Mayo- 285 (27.2%)
• Biden- 220 (21.0%)

Allamakee

• Mayo- 233 (36.1%)
• Klobuchar- 140 (21.7%)
• Bernie- 101 (15.6%)

Mitchell

• Klobuchar- 180 (35.2%)
• Mayo- 113 (22.1%)
• Biden- 90 (17.6%)

Howard

• Mayo- 171 (34.2%)
• Biden- 100 (20.0%)
• Bernie- 86 (17.2%)

Worth

• Klobuchar- 120 (27.3%)
• Mayo- 87 (19.8%)
• Bernie- 73 (16.6%)

And district-wide, what did Finkenauer do for Biden? Not much if anything, the SDEs for all the top candidates:

• Mayo- 14,356
• Bernie- 13,447
• Biden- 9,634
• Elizabeth- 8,361
• Klobuchar- 2,190

These calculations are based on the official party reports accounting for 96.43% of caucus goers. Status quo Joe and Elizabeth are battling it out to see who will be in third place and who will be in fourth place. He probably would have done better without Finkenauer's kiss of death endorsement.

Just wait 'til he gets to the suburbs east of Sacramento, where he was endorsed by spineless and despised lesser-of-two evils incumbent Ami Bera, whose elderly father in rotting in prison for taking the rap for one of Bera's fund-raising frauds. Or to Massachusetts, where two collossally unpopular members of Congress, conservatives Stephen Lynch and Seth Moulton have both endorsed him. Worse yet, in Oregon he has been endorsed by political pariah right-wing Blue Dog Kurt Schrader-- the only House Democrat opposing the pro-labor legislation pending before the House this week. Fun weeks ahead for Team Biden!

Kurt Schrader: The face of Biden's Oregon efforts

Bob Lefsetz is probably the most incisive critic of the American music business. This week he also took a swing at Status Quo Joe's crumbling campaign. "One thing’s for sure," he wrote; "Biden’s toast. But how could this be? For months we’ve endured polls, talking heads, telling us he was the leader and the people’s choice, the man with experience shooting right up the middle. But it turns out that’s not what people wanted at all."

So, the pollsters got it wrong. Oh, there was that Des Moines Register poll that was canceled that was supposedly more accurate, and I’m sure Nate Silver and the rest of the experts will weasel once again and tell us how they really got it right, but they didn’t. Turns out it’s not only government that is out of touch with the public, but the pollsters and the media too.

It all comes down to if you’re winning. If the present environment is working for you, you want no change.

But it turns out the present environment isn’t working for most of America.

Let’s start with Trump. The same media outlets and pollsters failed to see the disharmony that led to the Donald’s election, they convinced us, even him, that his campaign was a sideshow, a way for Trump to burnish his brand, to start a TV network, to get richer. Little did we expect that he would use the Presidency to get richer.

And on the other side you’ve got Bernie. According to Hillary Clinton, an evil hatemonger who refuses to play well with others. Meanwhile, Bernie almost deposed the anointed Hillary in 2016 and it appears he’s gonna run to the roses this year. Turns out most of the populace is not happy with business as usual.

Let’s talk about the Clintons. Sure, they were eviscerated by the right, but they also used their position to get rich, even Chelsea has gotten rich, she’s even wealthier than Hunter Biden! But sucking up to Wall Street and the rest of the billionaires was de rigueur, because everybody else did it. You needed their money to win. But Bernie didn’t take a dime from the usual suspects and this time around he’s raised more money than anybody!

... [T]he Democrats have no center. It’s a big party under a big tent but a self-serving cabal runs it and they don’t want any change. Now that Bernie Sanders is a distinct possibility the truth has finally come out, those in power, at the DNC, don’t want any change, no different from the Grammys. You see a new guy is gonna come in, who gets to choose the head of the party and…a lot of people are gonna lose their influence, if not their jobs.

So, America doesn’t appear that different from Afghanistan, some other tribal country.

... [E]ssentially no one is alive who remembers when America was a second-class nation. Everybody thinks the U.S. of A. is the greatest country in the world, it cannot be defeated.

As for Vietnam and Iraq, the belief is the agitators undermined us and if we just gave the armed forces and Dick Cheney and the other rulers carte blanche, we would have won again.

Only that doesn’t take into account hearts and minds. The North Vietnamese were willing to sacrifice everything for the cause. And the truth is so many of the losers in today’s society feel the same way. They’re sick of billionaires, sick of kowtowing to the rich, they want some power.

Which is how Trump got elected. He represented change.

Hillary was damaged goods offering business as usual.

Just like Joe Biden.

But the insiders tell us we must nominate someone safe in order to win in November, we must sacrifice all our beliefs, all our interests, for a greater good…which would only benefit the entrenched. Which brings up the question why bother to vote at all?

A huge slice of the public never does. Many because they believe there will be no difference. And after living through twenty five years of tech innovation they know that change can happen overnight, if people choose to make it happen. They also know that techies run circles around D.C., elected officials don’t understand tech, never mind regulate tech.

But all we hear from insiders is how dumb the populace is.

But that’s because they don’t understand it’s not about issues so much as emotions.

Oh, the Republicans always focus on a divisive issue, but the Democrats…Hillary Clinton fake smiled, just like old Joe, and no one bought it, they didn’t speak to your soul, they were controlled by those with the cash.

Globalization is here to stay. What’s your answer to that?

Trump’s is to promise impossibilities as he engages in trade wars. No, manufacturing is not coming back to America, and coal mining won’t boom. Instead of providing false hope, why don’t you give the disenfranchised a roadmap as well as a safety net as opposed to service jobs that don’t put food on the table, never mind a roof over your head.

This is why Bernie is resonating, because it’s crooked and you’re screwed. Everybody knows this, it’s just the winners don’t want to admit they’ve bent the system to their satisfaction, they just tell others to pull up their bootstraps, it’s easy, everyone can be a millionaire, even though you can’t get into a good college because they’ve paid for slots, with either bribes or buildings, and have had their kids tutored and… It would be like trying to become a coder in a school without computers, it can’t be done.

I’m not saying a whole hell of a lot new here, I’m just wondering when the powers-that-be are gonna wake up and admit what’s going on.

Add up the numbers. Put Sanders and Warren together and…

It appears the public wants radical change.

But what does the media do? Concoct a phony war between them.

Meanwhile, Nancy Pelosi steals Trump’s thunder by ripping up his speech. He wouldn’t shake her hand and she took revenge. And owns the news cycle.

Sometimes you’ve got to test the limits, sometimes you have to push the envelope, sometimes you have to throw decorum out the window, sometimes you have to fight fire with fire.

But all the left can do is respond to the talking points of the right, as opposed to leading.

Which is one reason Mayor Pete can’t win. Do you think people are gonna buy his phony smile? He appears devious, and he’s selling nothing other than himself. It’s like he constructed his campaign on a computer. Let’s see, where’s the best slot, somewhere between Bernie and Biden, if you can believe in this guy, you probably went to Harvard and worked at McKinsey yourself.

Meanwhile, if you didn’t go to an Ivy, good luck getting that gig at McKinsey. As for the funds, they load your employer up with debt, take their investment and profits out first and you’re left holding the bag.

But you’re supposed to laud them because they’re rich.

The old America is dead. The internet proved that those telling us what was going on had no clue. Meanwhile, the rich on the left and right, the elites, rigged the game to their advantage, telling the less fortunate that it was just luck they lost out, that there was nothing they could do about it.

So, the public wants its revenge.

Any Democrat can beat Trump if the party just gets behind the nominee. Instead, the DNC keeps going on about who’s electable.

You know who is electable?

THE ONE THAT WINS!

Mayo P.-- Through A Music Industry Screen

Want to get the pulse of the music business? That's what Bob Lefsetz's newsletter does. Tonight's guest post is one he did for his blog over the weekend: Buttigieg, which is the alternative name many people call Mayo Pete. He began with a link to a New York Times piece: Buttigieg Struggles to Square Transparency With Lack of Disclosure on Consulting.

Raise your hand if you know what McKinsey is… It might as well be Blackwater!

This is what it’s come down to folks, whether you want business as usual, rule by the monied elite, or a revolution.

The Republicans had a revolution. The RNC lost control of the party. Trump won the nomination, and except for a few Never Trumpers, who don’t hold elected office, the whole party has gathered together under King Donald.

You see the rich wanted more and the poor wanted change, they were sick and tired of paying for everybody else when they couldn’t make ends meet.

Meanwhile, the Democrats argue amongst themselves, paying attention to identity politics more than big issues. That’s how Elizabeth Warren got traction, by issuing policies, by being for the little guy. Sure, she used to be a Republican, she grew up in Oklahoma for godssakes, isn’t it a badge of honor to change your mind? She saw how medical bills and bankruptcy ruptured families and she wanted change.

And the Republicans and many Democrats hate her for it. You see the ruling party, the elite, the rich, forget whether they’re on the left or the right, don’t want to lose control.

But they should.

As for Elizabeth Warren, she lost all credibility during the second debate, when she wouldn’t answer the question about how her medical plan would be paid for, suddenly she looked like every other political weasel.

So now we’ve got Mayor Pete and Bloomberg.

Last I checked, Bloomberg was a Republican, changed the law so he could serve another term as mayor and supported stop and frisk. Is this the guy you really want in charge? If he weren’t rich, would you support him? And where in his platform does it say he supports the little guy.

And make no mistake, this election is about the little guy, because he or she has no future.

Come on, did you read the story in the The Guardian about the two Ivy League graduates who don’t have health insurance?

“We’re broke, not poor: how I became downwardly mobile-- We have educations, credit cards, were raised with privilege and access-- but our lives are filled with financial uncertainty”

But the papers in the U.S. don’t print these stories, because they too are part of the establishment. Believe me, the writers would rather hang with the billionaires, the powerbrokers, than the hoi polloi. The owners and publishers too!

So Buttigieg ran to the center. Did Trump run to the center? No, he ran to the edge, he was all about excitement, change, whereas the Bush anointed by the RNC barely left the starting line.

So what is happening in America today?

Most people have no idea. Because so much news has an agenda and they don’t know where to go for information anyway. And it’s worse, they’re too uneducated to understand the concepts.

But the elite, those who come from “good families,” like that rapist at Stanford who got off with barely more than a slap on the wrist, go to prep schools, go to elite universities, their parents get them jobs and we have a self-perpetuating elite that the Trumpers hate, but so many of the Democrats do too!

Who is paying for your education? Who is paying for your college applications? Does your guidance counselor even know about anything other than the state school?

So this is what the Democrats want to preserve, and this is why they’re in trouble.

We don’t want to go back to normal, we don’t want to go back to the Obama years, they weren’t that good to begin with! Yup, under Obama the Democrats lost a ton of statehouses, and allowed the Republicans to make inroads against abortion. Did you read the New York Times cover story about this? Absolutely horrifying.

How a Divided Left Is Losing the Battle on Abortion

Unless a Democrat proposes serious change, focusing foremost on income inequality and work opportunity, they’re just gonna kick the ball down the field. They’re just gonna be further behind in the next election cycle. We need change NOW!

So stop being afraid of someone moving your cheese. You went to streaming after physical, right? You gave up your landline? And if you didn’t, you’re probably supporting old Joe and his malarkey, someone most people make fun of.

So Mayor Pete can’t run his own city, the Republicans are gonna have a field day with this if he’s the nominee, never mind the issue of exciting African-Americans. But the truth is, despite being gay, despite being young, he’s truly one of them, yup, the privileged elite, who went to Harvard and became a consultant for McKinsey, which has been caught self-dealing.

It can’t be a personality choice folks. Now, more than ever, this election is one of ideas. 2016 was about pushback, now we want to move forward.

As for these vaunted centrists... Does anybody want new material by the classic rockers? Doesn’t Post Malone have his finger on the pulse more than Gene Simmons, never mind Mick Jagger?

Stop living in a fantasy. Look at your life, look at your privilege. Don’t deny it, just ask whether others should be able to become members of the club, or whether you might be able to stomach being slightly less rich.

But no, that’s anathema, you can’t sacrifice. You studied hard, you worked hard to make it, screw the opioid-addicted. But now the opioid-addicted have contempt for the elite, and the Sackler family…no one will even accept their charitable donations, that’s how fast the screw turns, and most people are pissed the bankers did not pay for breaking the economy back in 2008.

So ask what the country needs, what you truly want. If it’s business as usual, you’re part of the problem. If you believe there can be mutual agreement, you haven’t paid attention to the Republicans’ squealing about impeachment.

The times have changed. Either you’re part of the solution or get out of the way.

Sure, everybody has the chance to be on reality TV, to be a rapper, but that’s not where the money or the power is anymore.

This is war. We’re on the precipice of a changed society. Either we tackle the big issues now, or forget it, hope that your money will carry you through.

Meanwhile, better have a wall around your property.

It takes only one match to start a conflagration. Look at the Arab Spring, started by a fruit vendor!

It can happen here. You want to get ahead of the people, or else you’ll have a disaster, like the record labels disrupted by Napster.

So the media said there can be no Medicare For All, that Warren is too out there, never mind Bernie. And just like fake ads on Facebook, this message has impact. I was out with family and they supported Biden, because Warren was too extreme. Did they want cheaper and better health care, did they think the rich should pay more taxes? OF COURSE! Welcome to 2019, where not only Republicans vote against their own interests.

Just like Trump, the Democrats have to turn over the table, think about the rank and file.

Otherwise?

They’re history.