Plan D

Dug in.
Dedication, determination and doing democracy with a big and little “D.”

“I’m not in this for my legacy. I’m here to complete the job I started.”

Joe Biden, President of the United States

Doing right.

Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!

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71 thoughts on “Plan D”

  1. in case you missed it or want to revisit it, here’s the entire presser courtesy of Bloomberg Television

    US President Joe Biden addressed a wide range of issues during his press conference at the end of the NATO Summit in Washington on Thursday. Biden reiterated his commitment to running in the 2024 election, saying he wanted “to complete the job.” He also discussed NATO’s achievements, international efforts to support Ukraine, policies towards China, and the Israel-Hamas war.

  2. BTW, at 53:20  in Joe spoke about and committed to taking a cognitive test if told by his neurologists to do so and to release all the documents therefrom.

    a few minutes later at 54:33 in answer to the last question (if his pledged convention delegates were free to vote their conscience if they have 2nd tho’ts about him) he said his delegates are “free to do what they want”

  4. 50 percent of voters now associate Project 2025 with Trump. Dems have had surprising success in making Project 2025 break into the broader popular culture. No wonder Trump desperately trying to run away from it .

  6. for how many years have we heard about joe and his gaffes?

    last night what I heard was someone who really knew his stuff and who delivered it despite his lifelong speech impediment.  how many of the political naysayers, pundits and even professional actors out there do you think could get through 50+ minutes answering complex, highly sensitive questions from a super critical gaggle of reporters televised live across the nation without a few garbled phrases, pauses to think and misspeaks?

    could you do it any better? 

    even the big dawg and obama had their stumbles at that podium.

  7. I repeat my previous warning:

    if joe is forced to withdraw from the race due to alleged dementia, he will be hounded by the House and Senate GOPers to step down from the presidency NOW.  they are on the verge as it is to start hearings in preparation for some sort of 25th amendment move.  their motive is ramping up the chaos dems already began.  most think drumpf can defeat kamala and in the process weaken the dem field.

    and don’t forget they’ll have a little bit of disinformation help courtesy of their russian puppet master to do it.

  9. There’s no flub or misspeak Joe can make that makes Donald Trump the Felon a decent alternative. 

  10. Bink.  Thanks for the link to the CBS YT tour coverage yesterday.  Maybe the best way to watch the tour.
    Anyone who thinks MSNBC s in the tank for Biden better watch a bit of it and think again.  They are doing a bunch to undermine Joe – focusing more on little misspeaks than on the fact that he’s able to deal with complex global subjects and the US’ interests in them being asked by a hostile press corps looking to chum the waters.
     
     

  11. The evening news never airs the crazy stuff Orange Adolf says, and the words he can’t complete that trail off into gibberish.  
    I mentioned his shark v electrocution rant to a MAGAt and it was brushed off with an “I don’t even know what that means.”  Not sure if they heard and were lying or didn’t hear it and thought I was making it up.   In either case, it’s not getting back to them in a manner that tells them this guy has many problems, and one might be neurological.   Why couldn’t he walk down a ramp?  Why did he need two hands to hold a glass of water?  Why does he drink water in such an odd way that it looks like he’d be more comfy with a toddler’s sippy cup? 

  13. Donald Trump the Felon is the problem, not the solution. 

    Which would you rather have, a problem or a solution?

  14. Lawrence O’Donnell is fully behind Joe Biden.  He’s been taking full aim at the Orange Moron.  If one needs an MSNBC fix…  the show starts at 10:00pm on the east.
     
    I was impressed with Biden’s foreign policy chops yesterday.

  16. “I am all in,” Rep. Jim Clyburn said on NBC’s “Today Show.” “I’m riding with Biden no matter which direction he goes, no matter what method he takes. I’m with Joe Biden.”

    He added that if the president “decides to change his mind later on, then we will respond to that. We have until the 19th of August to open our convention.” Clyburn also expressed full confidence in Vice President Kamala Harris.

     

  17. Renee, yes, Lawrence is full bore in for Joe.  And when Steve Ratner is on MoJo he makes a compelling case for Joe’s economic successes versus Dumbass’, but the economy doesn’t feel like what Ratner describes.  And in fairness, when Joe S is on the show it has a decidedly more pro-Biden  and definite anti-Drumpf slant.  When JoeS isn’t on the gaff nitpicking runs amok. And Andrea – save me. 
     
    Jim, yes, you have until then to open the convention, but Ohio.

  18. This really isn’t a contest between who supports Biden personally and who doesn’t. It’s about whether he can beat Trump. I don’t think so, and I love the guy. Are the odds better with Kamala? I think so, and that is testament to his wisdom in choosing her.

  20. Kamala Harris is on the ticket in either of your scenarios, Craig, and should Biden retire a year or two after the election, Harris is still at the helm.

    However, if you listen to the Dems who are trying to undermine Biden, they don’t seem to put Harris at the top of the ticket. 
    Biden is electable, and by larger margins than the polls show if the media does its damned job and tells the truth about tRUMPsky, Putin, NATO, Project 2025, tax cuts for billionaires, and all the rest. 

    The choice is clear: Dems for democracy and personal freedom, or the smoldering ruins of the Republican Party (now MAGAts) for fascism so the oligarchs can finish bleeding the USA dry.

    Biden/Harris 2024
    ROEvember/NOVember/JOEvember

    tRUMP/Project 2025 Never!

  22. There’s new merchandise: Team Biden/Harris
    and  an I Love Milwaukee tee (since Orange Adolf said he hates it)
     
     

  25. Somehow I don’t think this is why voters gave Republicans control of the House…

    GOP bills re: Trump
    1) Rename Dulles Airport after Trump
    2) Prevent judges from issuing Trump gag orders
    3) Issues Trump a Congressional Gold Medal
    4) Issue $500 bills w/ Trump’s picture
    5) Name US coastal waters after Trump
    6) Expunge Trump impeachments

  26. Jamie – The “angry feminist movement”?  What a weak willie!  It’s impossible to emasculate them any further.  That’s why they are following the weakest willie of them all, Orange Adolf. 

    If the MAGAt/Russo-Republicans think it’s enough to promise (pinky swear) to not impose a federal abortion ban, they truly don’t understand the issue nor how much we distrust them.

    If they thought that abortion and birth control drugs would be out of mind by now…there are monthly reminders. 

    ROEvemver/NOVember/JOEvemver

    Biden/Harris 2024

    tRUMP/Gilead Never!
     
     

  27. https://religiondispatches.org/pro-born-a-former-evangelical-on-the-single-issue-politics-of-white-christians/

    “Evangelicals carry their guns with them more often than other Americans, and most don’t think gun-control measures are constitutional or biblical. When I measure these components against the willingness to stake political support for Trump (or any other politician), I’m reminded that there’s another component to evangelical care for “the unborn,” one I know firsthand. It provides an escape from the messy responsibility of being embodied.”
     
    “…the abstract compassion for “the unborn” is easier than the fleshy, bodily, messy love for those annihilated at the hands of an AR-15 (or a drone). Evangelical love for the innocent is ad hoc; it doesn’t apply to everyone. It’s selective outrage masked as holy indignation.”
     
    “But it serves a key function. First, you get to deny the messy stakes of loving the born and bodied—those with melanin in their skin, different kinds of hair, genderqueer expressions, immigrant parents, and non-Christian faiths.”

    “Second, you get to deny the messiness of the social contract—of the political realm and all its irreducible details and multiple voices. You are absolved of responsibility for the brown skin of Dreamers, the unwashed hair of refugees, the cry of bullied trans teenagers, the mourning songs from families of Black men and women killed by police.”
     
    “Myopic and unwavering focus on abortion is the way to avoid the carnality of living, breathing beings. The way to get away from bodies. Away from the bodies of murdered children. Away from the body politic.”

    “It’s a way to render love for angels, while pretending you are one.”

    (mic drop)

  28. Q. Hey Joe, what happened to “bridge presidency”?
     
    A. What happened was simple:
    Donald Trump has to be beaten again.

  29. https://religiondispatches.org/putins-year-of-the-family-declaration-blends-russian-nationalism-with-the-far-right-rhetoric-of-the-global-pro-family-movement/
    According to Russian sociologists, the “demographic crisis” that has haunted Russia since its colossal losses in World War II[6] reached the level of a “demographic Chernobyl” after the Soviet Union’s collapse.[7] From 1993 to 2023, Russia’s population has, in fact, declined by over 4,000,000 people.[8] Exacerbated by emigration trends, war efforts, and declining birth rates, Russia’s current population decline indicates, from the Kremlin’s standpoint, a crisis of the nation and threatens Russia’s position as a global superpower.[9] In this context, Putin’s rallying cry of traditional family values is not surprising at all. In fact, it’s so familiar and self-explanatory to most Russian audiences that it doesn’t have to be stated explicitly.”

     “In a scaled-back speech that lasted only 3 minutes and 44 seconds—his shortest New Year’s Eve address in recent years—Putin declared 2024 the Year of the Family in Russia. He mentioned Russia’s war on Ukraine only in passing. While many publications, including the BBC, Daily Mail, and The New York Times[3] noted the conspicuous absence of more explicit references to the ongoing bloody conflict, none commented on the main subject of Putin’s address: the advancement of traditional family values.”

    “Using a strategically vague and slippery framing of “tradition” allows Putin’s administration to appeal to domestic and transnational conservative movements alike. During the All-Russian Family Forum’s Year of the Family launch in January 2024, for example, Putin defined “traditional family values” as “strong and reliable ties between generations, respect for parents, care for elders, and our grandparents’ love” and the continuation of “simply normal human values.”[10] In his New Year’s Eve speech a few weeks earlier, Putin spoke of “a true big family,” “faith of our fathers,” and “one big family” as a metaphor for “the Motherland” and its “national interests…freedom and security.”[11] Analyzing these rhetorical shifts in context reveals that Putin’s “traditional family values,” at its core, refers to an ethnically pure, heteronormative family structure defined by a strict division of labor, an alignment with Christian views on marriage, and a focus on childbearing. As such, it “does not simply refresh [Russian] pre-revolutionary values,”[12] but rather strategically blends the state’s ideological discourse with contemporary teachings of the Russian Orthodox Church and the far-right rhetoric of the global pro-family movement,[13] while evoking and reversing an American Cold War rhetoric of containment culture.”

  31. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/26/allan-lichtman-prediction-presidential-election
    “ Allan Lichtman has correctly predicted the result of nine of the past 10 (and even the one that got away, in 2000, he insists was stolen from Al Gore).”
     
    “Based on the actual votes, Al Gore should have won going away, except for the discarding of ballots cast by Black voters who were 95% for Gore. I proved this in my reportto the United States Commission on Civil Rights. One out of every nine to 10 ballots cast by a Black voter was thrown out, as opposed to one out of 50 cast by a white voter.”
    “Most of those were not so-called hanging chads. They were over-votes because Black people were told punch in Gore and then write in Gore, just to be sure, and those ballots were all discarded. Political scientists have since looked at the election and proved I was right. Al Gore, based on the intent of the voters, should have won by tens of thousands of votes.”
     
    “They looked at every presidential election since Abraham Lincoln’s victory in 1860, combining Keilis-Borok’s method recognising patterns associated with stability and earthquakes withLichtman’s theory that elections are basically votes up or down on the strength and performance of the party that holds the White House.”
     
    “They came up with 13 true/false questions and a decision rule: if six or more keys went against the White House party, it would lose. If fewer than six went against it, it would win. These are the 13 keys, as summarised by AU’s website:
    1. Party mandate: After the midterm elections, the incumbent party holds more seats in the US House of Representatives than after the previous midterm elections.
    2. Contest: There is no serious contest for the incumbent party nomination.
    3. Incumbency: The incumbent party candidate is the sitting president.
    4. Third party: There is no significant third party or independent campaign.
    5. Short-term economy: The economy is not in recession during the election campaign.
    6. Long-term economy: Real per capita economic growth during the term equals or exceeds mean growth during the previous two terms.
    7. Policy change: The incumbent administration effects major changes in national policy.
    8. Social unrest: There is no sustained social unrest during the term.
     
    9. Scandal: The incumbent administration is untainted by major scandal.
    10. Foreign/military failure: The incumbent administration suffers no major failure in foreign or military affairs.
    11. Foreign/military success: The incumbent administration achieves a major success in foreign or military affairs.
    12. Incumbent charisma: The incumbent party candidate is charismatic or a national hero.
     
    13. Challenger charisma: The challenging party candidate is not charismatic or a national hero.

    “They’re mesmerised by the wrong things, which is the polls. First of all, polls six, seven months before an election have zero predictive value. They would have predicted President Michael Dukakis. They would have predicted President Jimmy Carter would have defeated Ronald Reagan, who won in a landslide; Carter was way ahead in some of the early polls.”
     
    “Not only are polls a snapshot but they are not predictors. They don’t predict anything and there’s no such thing as, ‘if the election were held today’. That’s a meaningless statement.”
    “Lichtman gives no weight to running mate picks and has never changed his forecast in the wake of a so-called “October surprise” But no predictive model is entirely immune to a black swan event.”
     
     
    “A lot would have to go wrong for Biden to lose.”

  32. Bombard Orange Lurch with a barrage of Abortion, Russia, Project 2025., and THE LIES.    Sink the Bismarck. 

  33. Flood the zone.  Crank it up and let it run, like that sunken shipboard salt machine. 

    Drumbeat: Abortion, Russia, Project 2025, The Lies.

    Apparently it has to drown out CNN and the NYT too these days.

  34. stuartpstevens
    I worked in campaigns for 30 years. I am hardwired to respond one way when your guy is in trouble: fight harder. Don’t start looking for exit ramps or magic bullets. Play the next play. Do your job. Ignore the scoreboard. It’s supposed to be hard

  35. ChrisDJackson

    CNN is in shock as their senior focus group overwhelmingly praised Biden’s performance, with all but one member agreeing that he did very well and should run again.

  37. @FiveThirtyEight Keeps Race TIght
     Presidential Election Forecast (updated July 12)
    Chance of winning
    🟦 Biden: 51%
    🟥 Trump: 49%
    Electoral College
    🟦 Biden: 271 🏆
    🟥 Trump: 267
    ——
    Swing States Projected margin
    • Michigan – 🔵 Biden +1.8
    • Wisconsin – 🔵 Biden +1.1
    • Pennsylvania – 🔵 Biden +0.6
    • Nevada – 🔴 Trump +1.1
    • Arizona – 🔴 Trump +1.7
    • Georgia – 🔴 Trump +1.8
    • North Carolina – 🔴 Trump +2.4

    https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2024-election-forecast/

  39. https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/12/business/meta-lifting-restrictions-trump/index.html

    “Meta announced Friday that it would remove restrictions placed on former President Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts ahead of the Republican National Convention next week.”

    “The company said the decision was made to ensure that Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, would have equal standing with DemocratPresident Joe Biden.”

    Boycott Meta platforms next week?
    Become a troll for a week?
    Try to deprogram the cult members?

    Biden/Harris 2024

  43. Ooh, Denzel is making a movie about Hannibal (of Carthage)!
     
    in for doomed elephant invasion 👍 
     

  45. So, if we are indeed ridin’ with Biden, it’s not a bad thing to get all the wrinkles ironed out now, rather than in September.  The team that wins it all is the one that finishes strong, not the one that starts strong
     
    My heart will not be able to handle a 271-267 electoral college final tabulation

    …and look at y’all crafting talking points as if your resolve has been steeled 💪

  49. I think some Dems have been wanting to oust Biden for a while.   He gave them no reason at the SOTU address, but they were probably ready to pounce then. 

    Yep, you can’t put the toothpaste back into the tube.  Now, President Biden also has to undo the harm Dems have done by being dumbasses. Dumbasses!

  50. A case that puzzled many of us for even going to court was the manslaughter case against Alec Baldwin.  For many solid reasons it made no sense at all.  This afternoon the judge dismissed the case, with prejudice, against him as the prosecutors withheld evidence that could have exonerated Baldwin.

    The big question is why was he hounded? What did he do beside supporting Dems?

      As Dems or supporters of the liberal side of the aisle this is something that we may not have picked up on, but the far right magats have, Alec Baldwin is considered a Dem leader, similar to former speaker Pelosi, but without being a politician or elected.   He is a top official of the Dem Party, according to some of the magats, the Dems have a different idea about that though.  He is also the leader of the anti-amendment two whatever that is.

     So? Could prosecutors in New Mexico have a political issue with Baldwin?  I would not go that far, at least not as far as what happened to President Biden’s son.

  51. The polls have been wrong enough for long enough that they have become like some kind of white noise.  

  52. What I’ve seen of Dem disarray in the wake of Biden’s debate fuck-up has convinced me that if Biden steps down the democrats will go slap fool. 
    History is history and it’s all I have to go by.
    And the gops will get MUCH more mileage out of the dem disarray than they will get out of Joe’s age.

    But…..Que Sarah Sarah.

  53. We still have a landline for various reasons.  It’s been ringing like crazy the past couple of weeks.  Do we pick it up if we don’t see a number we know,…..     HELL NO!
     
    I’d bet some of those calls are pollsters…

  54. RR – it is a bit late for this year, but you can call your local Dem headquarters and ask them to check the “do not contact” box in the database.  It will work with your local politicians and maybe supporters who get a new voter database from the Dems.  The issue is so many supporters do not have a current voter data base.  They will continue to call.

  56. Not at this Detroit Biden rally: MI Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Sen. Gary Peters, Rep. Elissa Slotkin, and UAW President Shawn Fain. He’s running very late but about to take the stage.

  59. n Detroit, Biden pitches his 100-day plan for 2025:

    Restore Roe v. Wade. Pass the John Lewis voting rights bill and Freedom To Vote Act. Eliminate medical debt. Raise minimum wage. Pass the PRO Act. Ban assault weapons. “Keep leading the world” on climate change & clean energy.

  60. President Biden in Michigan:

    “You may have noticed that since the debate the press — and they’re good guys and women up there — they’ve been hammering me.”

    He stops the crowd from booing and continues: “They’ve been hammering me because I sometimes confuse names. I say, that’s Charlie instead of Bill. But guess what? Donald Trump has gotten a free pass.”

  62. CNN carried entire Biden rally speech live. Of course it’s because they were expecting a big gaffe, but he did fine and got his message out to a bigger audience than he would have gotten without this mess.

  63. capehart gave a pretty good pro-joe argument tonight. love it when he gets so exasperated with the dems.

    New York Times columnist David Brooks and Washington Post associate editor Jonathan Capehart join Geoff Bennett to discuss the week in politics, including President Biden’s struggles within the Democratic Party and who Trump may announce as his running mate at the Republican National Convention.

  65. How many times did Orange Adolf mention Pelosi in error?

    How many times has tRUMPsky trailed off topic to talk about golf or a made up story where everyone in it calls him “Sir,” and always thinks he’s brilliant?

    I’ve know folks who have a lot of kids who’ve gone down the list before they got to the one they meant. 

    NOVember/ROEvember/JOEvember
    Biden/Harris 2024
    tRUMP/Project 2025 Never!
     
     

  66. https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2024/6/26/16-nobel-prize-winning-economists-warn-trump-would-reignite-inflation

    “16 Nobel Prize-winning economists warn Trump would ‘reignite’ inflation”

    “In the letter released on Tuesday, the economists said that the Republican candidate would stoke instability and revive high inflation with his “fiscally irresponsible budgets”.

    “The signatories also praised President Joe Biden’s record on the economy, including a “remarkably strong and equitable” recovery in the labour market since the COVID-19 pandemic.”

    “While each of us has different views on the particulars of various economic policies, we all agree that Joe Biden’s economic agenda is vastly superior to Donald Trump’s,” the economists said.

  67. https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/12/politics/judge-dismisses-giuliani-bankruptcy-case/index.html

    “Rudy Giuliani is no longer entitled to bankruptcy protection, a judge decided Friday, making it possible for creditors to immediately pursue his assets within days.”

    “Lane highlighted in his 22-page opinion that Giuliani hadn’t provided any insight whatsoever into the books of companies he solely owns, and that have taken in thousands of dollars in wire transfers in recent weeks. The judge also said Giuliani hasn’t been fully transparent with his creditors – such as by not fully explaining on time an upcoming book contract he has, or keeping his personal earnings from a radio show and podcast coming into one of the corporate accounts.”
     
     
     
    “Giuliani’s attorneys have indicated he plans to appeal the defamation jury verdict in favor of Moss and Freeman and that he may fight them in state court on any liens they seek.”

    “In addition to the $6 million, three-bedroom co-op apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and the $3.5 million condo on the Intracoastal Waterway in Florida, Giuliani’s creditors will also be able to try to seize his bank accounts, a Mercedes-Benz sports car, his collection of 26 luxury watches, three World Series championship rings for the New York Yankees, and other baseball memorabilia, like a signed Joe DiMaggio shirt he claims to own.”

    “Giuliani also says in bankruptcy filings that the state of California owes him more than $10,000 related to overpaid taxes from his appearance on the TV singing game show “The Masked Singer,” according to bankruptcy filings.”

    “Giuliani also said in filings in recent weeks that he expects to be paid tens of thousands of dollars from various ventures: coffee beans being marketed with his name and image, and a documentary that’s been in the works for years.”

  68. https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/12/politics/first-lady-dr-jill-biden-to-lead-us-delegation-to-the-paris-olympics/index.html
    “First lady Dr. Jill Biden will lead the US delegation to the Olympic Games opening ceremony in Paris later this month, the White House announced Friday, cheering on America’s athletes on behalf of the Biden administration.”
    “The opening ceremony is on July 26. Second gentleman Doug Emhoff will lead the delegation to the closing ceremony on August 11, the White House said in a statement. Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra will lead delegations to the Paralympic Games opening and closing ceremonies, respectively, later in August.”

  69. https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/12/climate/texas-power-outages-grid-storms/index.html
    “Texas’s electrical infrastructure can’t keep up.”
    “But rather than shuttling money into strengthening its grid to make sure the lights and A/C stay on during increasingly extreme weather, Texas is pouring billions of taxpayer dollars into new natural gas-fired power plants.”
    “Adding more electricity to the grid isn’t necessarily a bad thing because the state is facing higher demand, said Texas energy expert Doug Lewin, founder of consulting firm Stoic Energy. But flooding the energy grid with more planet-warming fossil fuels won’t make power lines resilient to stronger storms.”

     

    “Large-scale gas generation doesn’t do anything for you in a situation like a hurricane,” Lewin told CNN. “The problem is transmission lines can’t carry that power. You could have all the power in the world; if you can’t get it to where it’s needed, it’s not going to do anybody any good.”
    “The move to build more natural gas plants came in the wake of another massive power outage: the deadly deep freeze in February 2021 killed more than 200 people and left millions of customers without power and heat for days. Despite Texas Republicans’ anti-wind energy rhetoric, natural gas plants going offline accounted for the bulk of the outages.”

    “The weak point is the wires and poles, and basically always has been,” Michael Webber, an energy expert and professor at the University of Texas at Austin, told CNN. “But it’s not a priority for the state. The state prioritizes natural gas power plants or backup natural gas generator systems. It is not focused on hardening the grid.”
     
    I feel homesick until I read stuff like this.

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