Patterico's Pontifications

10/30/2019

Can This Really Be?

Filed under: General — JVW @ 8:21 pm



[guest post by JVW]

The new Suffolk University/USA Today national poll of 2020 Democrat candidates has My Little Aloha Sweetie pulling ahead of Intersectionality Bingo.

She’s also gaining in New Hampshire, according to the latest CNN/University of New Hampshire poll. One more poll showing her above the 3% threshold will earn her a place in the November debate. Meanwhile, Senator Kamala Harris is cutting staff at her Baltimore headquarters and pinning all of her hopes on a strong showing in Iowa. Good riddance to her (let’s hope).

Thanks for the assist, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

– JVW

Twitter to End Paid Political Advertising [Updated]

Filed under: General — JVW @ 1:24 pm



[guest post by JVW]

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced moments ago that his company will no longer accept paid political advertisements. The link takes you to his announcement on Twitter. For those who don’t want to go there, and because his announcement comes in a multi-part Tweet stream, I’ll attach screen-shots of his Tweets.

Dorsey 1

Dorsey 2

Dorsey 3

I can’t wait to hear what those “few exceptions” are. Start the countdown until progressives start complaining that this is an unfair advantage for our Twitter-obsessed President. This new policy seems to indicate that the bipartisan carping at social media outlets is starting to have an effect.

UPDATE: Naturally Team Trump is starting to kvetch, even though this probably works to their advantage.

– JVW

On Republicans Who Say They Are “Forced” to Defend Trump

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:54 am



Washington Post:

Trump dismissed Vindman as a ā€œNever Trumper,ā€ while some of his allies questioned the patriotism of the Army combat veteran because his family emigrated from the Soviet Union when he was 3.

Trumpā€™s attack on the Purple Heart recipient unnerved Republicans in Congress, with several pushing back, albeit without naming the president. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) called the offensive ā€œmisplaced and very unfortunate,ā€ and said he had ā€œfull confidenceā€ in Vindman ā€œas an individual and his patriotism.ā€

The response from Trumpā€™s party created an unusual dynamic in which Republicans were defending a man who was simultaneously accusing the president of undermining national security for his own political purposes. Privately, several Republicans found Vindmanā€™s testimony to be damaging and lamented that once again they were forced to defend the president.

The GOP reaction to Vindman comes as the party faces frontal attacks on two of its major talking points in Trumpā€™s defense. Vindmanā€™s account of the phone call deprives Republicans of the complaint that the witnesses called by Democrats have relied on hearsay when discussing the presidentā€™s interactions with Zelensky. And as Democrats moved to vote on a resolution to hold open hearings on impeachment, Republicans faced the prospect of losing their complaint that the inquiry is being conducted in secret.

Read that sentence in bold again: “Privately, several Republicans found Vindmanā€™s testimony to be damaging and lamented that once again they were forced to defend the president.”

“Forced.”

Ain’t nobody forcing you guys to do anything. You could just speak up and say what you actually think, in front of God and everyone.

We’re watching, in real time, the same dynamic that has allowed far worse things to happen in history: people refuse to speak up because they are scared. It sounds easy to speak up, of course — until you realize that everyone you know who has spoken up … is gone. Gone from the party, gone from Washington D.C., gone from political life and everything they worked a lifetime for.

So, yeah. This takes more than a bit of courage.

Still, all you’re really being asked to do is to say what you think is true. If you can’t remotely begin to think about doing that, why are you even there?

[Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.]


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