Today's Reddit

Social media is chock-full of good news tonight.

George Santos ends comeback bid for Congress after raising no money
byu/Original_Dogmeat innottheonion

C'mon Ladies

 By Karen Attiah - WaPo (pay wall)

Opinion - White Southern women are holding us back

Pour one out for us in Texas. We’re really hurting this week. So this newsletter is a little on the short side. …

The state voted overwhelmingly Republican during Tuesday’s midterm elections, even more so than in 2020. Incumbent GOP Gov. Greg Abbott soundly defeated his Democratic challenger, former congressman Beto O’Rourke. Republicans also retained all of the major statewide positions, including Attorney General Ken Paxton — who has long been under legal indictment. Sigh.

Before I begin, I know what many of you think. That Texas should be given back to Mexico. Or at the very least that none of y’all would miss us if we seceded. Yeah, I read your comments on my pieces!

It’s true that Texas’s statewide outcomes seem even more hopeless for Democrats here, considering that a “red wave” slaughter of Democrats did not materialize nationally, as many pundits predicted. But to be honest, it’s hard to feel happy about a smaller-than-predicted national tide, when Texas’s red ocean levels only seem to be rising.

The question a lot of non-Texans are asking is: “Why?” Why would the state reelect the same leadership after our deadly power-grid failure, after the Uvalde school shooting, after the criminalization of reproductive rights?

I don’t have all the answers. Voter suppression is a factor, and there’s the sheer size of the Republicans’ war chest. Voter polarization is a powerful force. It’s tough to overcome all of that.

White men vote Republican; we all know that. But there is another group that consistently supports the GOP’s anti-woman, do-nothing-about-dead-kids stance, and that is White women. Seriously, what gives?

White women (64 percent) voted for Abbott in about the same numbers that White men did (69 percent).

Black women, on the other hand, went 90 percent for O’Rourke. We held it down. As usual.

A similar story played out in Georgia’s gubernatorial race, in which White women overwhelmingly voted for Republican incumbent Brian Kemp and Black women voted for his challenger, Democrat Stacey Abrams:

And, of course, we all remember that a majority of White women voted for President Donald Trump in 2020.

There is a lot of focus in media circles on how Latinos will vote. There has long been an assumption that an increase in the number of non-White voters could dislodge the GOP’s stranglehold on my home state. But the reality is, Southern White women are the lady foot soldiers of the GOP’s agenda. We will not get free until that changes.

There is, of course, a long history of White women serving the conservative agenda of the Southern patriarchy. I mean, the United Daughters of the Confederacy and their funding are a large part of why many Confederate monuments still stand in the United States.

If there was ever a time for White women to mobilize at the ballot box, it should have been the year that Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned abortion rights. I’ve seen and reported on Black women who are fighting for all women’s rights, children’s rights and better education. And yet those favors and efforts are not returned to us. And the polls consistently show that.

White women’s political behavior, especially in the South, makes it difficult, if not damn near impossible for meaningful change to occur. The racists, misogynists and anti-LGBTQ forces in the GOP have been banking on this for a long time — and they are clearly still reaping the rewards.

On The Other Hand

Here's an Op/Ed piece at NYTimes put up by a couple of brainy guys, saying the Carbon Capture part of The Inflation Reduction Act is not the good thing we all thought it was.

I'll stop a little short of agreeing the whole thing is a boondoggle for the Dirty Fuels Gang, because its inclusion may well be the reason we got Joe Manchin to sign on to it.

Also, we have to start somewhere, and it should be pretty obvious that starting "way over there" where the lefties want us to be wasn't working, so let's get something going and see what happens. If we can keep Dems in place, we could get a chance to fix it down the road a ways - assuming we do get started, and that "down the road a ways" isn't too far.

NYT: (pay wall)

Every Dollar Spent on This Climate Technology Is a Waste

Dr. Harvey is a professor of environmental engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. House is the chief executive officer of KoBold Metals, a metals exploration company.

The technology called carbon capture and storage is aptly named. It is supposed to capture carbon dioxide emissions from industrial sources and pump them deep underground. It was a big winner in the climate provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act passed by Congress last week.

What the technology, known as C.C.S., also does is allow for the continued production of oil and natural gas at a time when the world should be ending its dependence on fossil fuels.

The Inflation Reduction Act, which President Biden said he will sign this week, does more to cut fossil fuel use and fight climate change than any previous legislation by expanding renewable energy, electric cars, heat pumps and more. But the law also contains a counterproductive waste of money, backed by the fossil fuel industry, to subsidize C.C.S.

Fifteen years ago, before the cost of renewable energy plummeted, carbon capture seemed like a good idea. We should know: When we launched a start-up 14 years ago — the first privately funded company to make use of the technology in the United States — the idea was that the technology could compete as a way to produce carbon-free electricity by capturing the carbon dioxide emissions emitted by power plants and burying them. But now it’s clear that we were wrong, and that every dollar invested in renewable energy — instead of C.C.S. power — will eliminate far more carbon emissions.

Even so, this technology has broad political support, including from Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, an ally of the coal industry, because it enables the continued extraction and burning of fossil fuels while also preventing the resulting carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere. Industry campaigns such as “Clean Coal” have also promoted the technology as something that could ramp up quickly to bridge the gap to the deployment of large-scale renewable energy. But by promoting C.C.S., the fossil fuel industry is slowing the transition away from fossil fuels.

Under the Inflation Reduction Act, facilities using this technology will be eligible for generous tax credits provided they break ground by the end of 2032 — an extension of the current deadline of 2025. Those benefits come on top of $12 billion in government investments in C.C.S., as well as technology that would pull carbon dioxide directly from the air, which were included in the infrastructure bill signed by President Biden last fall.

C.C.S. is seen as a solution to the emissions problem for a range of industries, from fossil-fuel-fired electricity generating plants to industrial facilities that produce cement, steel, iron, chemicals and fertilizer.

Where C.C.S. has been most widely used in the United States and elsewhere, however, is in the production of oil and natural gas. Here’s how: Natural gas processing facilities separate carbon dioxide from methane to purify the methane for sale. These facilities then sometimes pipe the “captured” carbon dioxide to what are known as enhanced oil recovery projects, where the carbon dioxide is injected into oil fields to extract additional oil that would otherwise be trapped underground.

Of the 12 commercial C.C.S. projects in operation in 2021, more than 90 percent are engaged in enhanced oil recovery, using carbon dioxide emitted from natural gas processing facilities or from fertilizer, hydrogen or ethanol plants, according to an industry report. That is why we consider these ventures oil or natural gas projects, or both, masquerading as climate change solutions.

The projects are responsible for most of the carbon dioxide now being sequestered underground in the United States. Four projects that do both enhanced oil recovery and natural gas processing account for two-thirds to three-quarters of all estimated carbon sequestered in the United States, with two plants storing the most. But the net effect is hardly climate friendly. This process produces more natural gas and oil, increases carbon dioxide emissions and transfers carbon dioxide that was naturally locked away underground in one place to another one elsewhere.

In an effort to capture and store carbon dioxide from fossil-fuel-burning power plants, the Department of Energy has allocated billions for failed C.C.S. demonstration projects. The bankruptcy of many of these hugely subsidized undertakings makes plain the failure of C.C.S. to reduce emissions economically.

The Kemper Power Project in Mississippi spent $7.5 billion on a coal C.C.S. plant before giving up on C.C.S. in 2017 and shifting to a gas-powered plant without C.C.S. The plant was partially demolished in October 2021, less than six weeks before President Biden signed the infrastructure bill with its billions of taxpayer money for C.C.S.: good money thrown after bad. The FutureGen project in Illinois started as a low-emission coal-fired power plant in 2003 with federal funds, but ultimately failed as a result of rising costs.

The Texas Clean Energy and Hydrogen Energy California C.C.S. projects were allocated over half a billion dollars collectively, then dissolved. The list goes on, with at least 15 projects burning billions of dollars of public money without sequestering any meaningful amount of carbon dioxide. Petro Nova, apparently the only recent commercial-scale power project to inject carbon dioxide underground in the United States (for enhanced oil recovery), shut down in 2020 despite hundreds of millions of dollars in tax credits.

These projects failed because renewable electricity generation outcompetes C.C.S. Renewable power now is cheaper than coal-fired power without C.C.S. Add the cost of the energy required to couple C.C.S. with fossil fuel power and it becomes hopelessly uncompetitive. We can only guess how much more the full costs of C.C.S. would exceed renewable power because, after decades of promotion and many billions of dollars spent, we still have next to no real-world data about the costs of running, maintaining and monitoring large C.C.S. projects.

These C.C.S. projects are subsidized by Section 45Q of the federal tax code, which now offers companies a tax credit for each metric ton of carbon dioxide injected into the ground. Those enhanced oil recovery subsidies would rise under the new law, from $35 to $60 per ton. The legislation also significantly broadens the number of facilities eligible for tax credits. And those facilities will be able to claim the tax credit through a tax refund. The 45Q program is nominally a program to fight climate change. But since nearly all carbon dioxide injections subsidized by 45Q are for enhanced oil recovery, the 45Q program is actually an oil production subsidy.

The Internal Revenue Service does not provide information about who gets the credits. But we do know that it issued more than $1 billion of these credits as of 2020.

These subsidies create a perverse incentive, because for companies to qualify for the subsidies, carbon dioxide must be produced, then captured and buried. This incentive handicaps technologies that reduce carbon dioxide production in the first place, tilting the playing field against promising innovations that avoid fossil fuels in the steel, fertilizer and cement industries while locking in long-term oil and gas use.

Industry campaigns for C.C.S. also have shifted their decades-long disinformation fight: Instead of spreading doubt about climate science, the industry now spreads false confidence about how we can continue to burn fossil fuels while efficiently cutting emissions. For example, Exxon Mobil advertises that it has “cumulatively captured more carbon dioxide than any other company — 120 million metric tons.”

What Exxon Mobil doesn’t say is that this carbon dioxide was already sequestered underground before it “captured” it while producing natural gas and then injected it back into the ground to produce more oil. These advertising campaigns lend support to government programs to directly subsidize C.C.S.

Solving climate change requires resources; misappropriating these resources makes solving the problem harder. We have no time to waste. We need to stop subsidizing oil extraction and carbon dioxide production in the name of fighting climate change and stop burning billions in taxpayer money on white elephant projects. Clean power from carbon capture and sequestration died with the success of renewable energy; it’s time to bury this technology deep underground.

Remembering A Good Man Today

1996 was the last time I seriously considered voting Republican. But by then, even Bob Dole was manifesting the negative influence of a right wing that's now so poisonous as to pose an existential threat to American democracy.

Funny how I feel a deeply sad nostalgia just thinking about how I used to be able to respect a Republican.

Tom Daschle in WaPo: (pay wall)

I have always believed that life has no blessing like that of a good friend. To know Bob Dole, who died Sunday at age 98, was to know the truth of that statement.

Bob’s friendship was a blessing that enriched my life beyond measure. His dedication to public service, his determination to keep Washington and Congress places of civility, and his kindness to me and my wife, Linda, made our friendship a blessing as rich as life offers.

When I arrived in the Senate in 1987, Bob was one of the first senators to make me feel welcome. We served together on the Finance and Agriculture committees, and almost from the beginning seemed to have many similar views, especially in agriculture and nutrition.

Obituary: Robert J. Dole, longtime GOP leader who sought presidency 3 times, dies at 98

Bob faced the world — both its cruelties and its kindnesses — with humility, humanity and, of course, humor. I remember my first appearance with Bob after we were both elected leaders of our parties in the Senate in 1995 (our tenures briefly overlapped before he stepped down to run for president in 1996). It was at a reception where he noted that my election was received with great enthusiasm in farm country because for the first time in history, both party leaders in the Senate were from farm states. “Every farmer in America that very week had ordered a new tractor,” he said.

Bob liked to share a story from when he was first elected to Congress and a reporter asked what his agenda would be. He said, “I’m going to sit and watch for a couple of days, and then I’ll stand up for what’s right.”

That’s exactly what he did. He stood up for minorities early in his career when he broke party ranks and supported the landmark Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act. He stood up for the elderly and worked with Democratic Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (N.Y.) to save Social Security. He stood up for the young and worked with my fellow Democratic South Dakotan Sen. George McGovern on nutrition assistance. He stood up for the disabled and worked with Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) on the Americans With Disabilities Act. And he stood up for his fellow veterans as chairman of the World War II Memorial Campaign.

I know that last accomplishment in particular meant a lot to him. He once even wondered if he could be buried at the memorial. He may not receive his final rest there, but I think of Bob every time I see that monument.

Of course, these are all the things that made Bob Dole great, but, as comedic actor Will Rogers once put it (in one of Bob’s favorite sayings): “It’s great to be great, but it’s greater to be human.”

Most people have heard about the Bob Dole who heroically served and recovered from injury in World War II. But few know the Bob Dole who called up a Florida dentist in 1993 to encourage him after losing his right arm and help find him a specialist for a prosthetic arm.

Or the Bob Dole who took a detour from his 1996 presidential campaign to attend the graduation party of a young girl in Indianapolis who had been partially paralyzed by a car accident.

Or the Bob Dole who waited at airport gates for honor flights to greet veterans with a salute and a thank you.

He touched many people through his small acts of great kindness, including me. He taught me so much when I became majority leader, and the teaching didn’t stop when I left the Senate. When I lost my election in 2004, Bob was one of the first friends to offer me guidance and support. He helped me find a speakers bureau and encouraged me to join him at his law firm. It’s a decision I’ve never regretted, in part because it gave me the opportunity to spend more time with my dear friend.

I can’t help but think of the first time I said farewell to Bob — when he left the Senate in 1996. I remember he quoted a poem by Carl Sandburg in his final speech on the Senate floor: “I tell you the past is a bucket of ashes. I tell you yesterday is a wind gone down, a sun dropped in the west. I tell you there is nothing in the world, only an ocean of tomorrows, a sky of tomorrows.”

Bob didn’t always have an easy life. He faced some hard yesterdays. He endured losses — physical, political and personal. But for all he did lose, Bob never lost himself. He never lost his sense of humor. He never lost his sense of integrity. He never lost his love for his hometown of Russell, Kan., or his love for his wife, Elizabeth. And he never lost his hope for tomorrow.

His life was a testament to Will Rogers’s truth: that the things that make us human — the laughs we share and the burdens we bear — can make us great.

Quick Note

We're still getting an awful lot of purity shit from (largely) the Bernie maniacs because "we just can't go on voting against the GOP - we have to have someone we can vote for..."

Hard to argue with it, especially when there seems to be a pretty good case behind it.

But if it's not to be, then it's not to be, and I'm going to stay with the basics: When presented a candidate whom I identify as the lesser of two evils, I'm going to take the opportunity to vote for that lesser of two evils because I know "the other side" will jump at the chance to vote for the greater of the two evils.

Because my preference is for - and will always be for - less evil.

I'll continue to be frustrated and I'll go on bitchin' about it, but I feel I have a duty to resist the best I can, and that resistance manifests itself in voting for a Joe Biden because he's what I've got.

And also too - Frederick Douglass once referred to Abe Lincoln as a "craven, capitulating compromiser...".

Douglass would break with the Abolitionist Party in 1860 to support the Republican nominee because he knew an ally when he saw one, and he thought Lincoln had a real chance to win.

As she was packing to leave Washington in the spring of 1965, Mary Todd came across her husband's favorite walking stick, and told her dressmaker to make a gift of it for Mr Douglass - because she was sure Mr Lincoln would want a truly great friend to have it, and she couldn't think of anyone who would appreciate it more.

A Divided America

...that isn't really.

1. Legalize weed
2. Corruption in politics
3. Family leave
4. Predatory lending
5. Red Flag gun laws
6. Ending wars
7. Regulating Pharma
8. Keep abortion legal

Weirdly, the constant pimping of Both Sides is a manifestation of the Divide-n-Conquer approach of the would-be plutocrats.

They throw the contradiction shit at us all the time, and it's no wonder we're all a little - or a lot - confused.

"You citizens are divided. You can't agree on anything because your politicians are all alike and they agree on everything."

What seems even weirder (but isn't) is that there's a grain of truth in that. Which is what good little propagandists can do.

If people are at the point where they start to get hip to your tricks, you don't just stop trying to trick them - your paycheck depends on keeping your benefactors in power, so you fucking well better come up with some better tricks.

And the best tricks have to be aimed at people who're suspicious that you've been tricking them, so you can get another shot at convincing them it wasn't you at all, but those other guys, or that they're not being as smart and sophisticated as they should be, or whatever.

Or (and this has been the basic pitch for quite a while)  "Hey, that's how the game is played - they all do it - you're too nice a person to get mixed up in such a dirty thing - you should just stay out of it... ... ..."

In case you're tempted to fall back into it, just remember that the GOP are the ones who want to:

• Eliminate your healthcare coverage and protections for pre-existing conditions
• Make cuts in Medicare and Social Security
• Privatize public schools and make education the exclusive province of a ruling class
• Criminalize abortion
• Bomb Iran
• Block climate change action
• Continue stripping away EPA regulations
• and
• and
• and

Everything that benefits us - everything that empowers people to do more than subsist, suffer and then die - all of it is supported by the Dems and opposed by the GOP.

What's The Goal Here?

The point is to feed yourself. You need a good meal.

But if you're thinking you'll have to fuck somebody over so you can grab a bite - when there's actually enough for both of you - then you're raising the probability that you both go hungry instead.

I want my favorite (right now that's Elizabeth Warren) to get the Democratic nomination, and I'm going to talk her up when I get the chance. But I'm not gonna shit on any other Democrat in the process.

The GOP jumped off the cliff and mashed itself into this weird amalgam of TheoCons and Radical Libertarians and Mindless Robotic Cheerleader Rubes - right 'round the fuckin' bend.

And for the last 25 or 30 years it's meant the Dems have had to do the work for both major parties. "Progressives" vs "Lefties" vs "ConservaDems" vs "Limousine Liberals" etc etc etc.

If we get hung up on any kind of purity tests or we shit on each other for backing "the wrong Democrat", then sure as fuck, we're going to be standing there with our dicks in our hands watching the impala run away. Again. Don't bring the DINO shit in here.

There are plenty of factions that make up the Democratic Voter Cohort. Every one of those factions is important if not absolutely vital in every election. But not one of them is more vital than all the others.

What I'm thoroughly sick of hearing is the contest between factions to lay claim to the title of "Single Most Important blah blah blah".

Yes, your issues are important, because your votes are important, and everybody - EVERY-FUCKING-BODY - gets that. Congratulations. Whoopty-fuckin'-doo for you. 

Now chop the wood and carry the water. Cuz y'know what? If the Dem doesn't win, then your issues don't mean shit. Your chances of even getting a hearing on your issues are less than shit.

And can you guess why? Because you wouldn't work together last time, and they're at it again.

So even when you know Putin and the Mercers and Steve Bannon (et al) are still doing everything they can do to get us to fight with each other, you can't figure out how to ignore all that divisive shit and do what it takes to send the Republicans straight to political hell?

C'mon.

GET TOGETHER

GET TO WORK

GET SHIT DONE

Roosts And Roosters

Bob Cesca at Salon:

One of the many long term side effects of the Watergate fiasco was the sudden demystification of the American presidency. Not only did this spark the idea that the office can be held by anyone, regardless of expertise or accomplishment, but it also helped to manufacture the ill-conceived notion that presidents should be just like us. From there, cable news kingpins like Roger Ailes and political operatives like Karl Rove sold politicians to voters by packaging them for “the folks” — as “guys we’d like to have a beer with.” We’ve been instructed for too many years that plain-spoken leaders are better than well-educated, well-qualified ones. It’s a shallow, comfort-food selling point that never should’ve existed. Our priority shouldn’t be to elect someone just like you or me. We should demand, if not utterly fight for leaders who are far superior and exponentially more disciplined than we are.

Trump has done serious damage to our presidential ideals.

 

Wait - What?

In what may be a clear signal that at least one of the Seven Seals has been broken, here's Charlie Sheen making a thoughtful and cogent observation.

Today's Podcast

Lessons:

• Don't get hung up with the Sunk Cost Fallacy
• They're outa my favorite beer, so I'll start drinking bleach
• Republican Detachment Syndrome

Buy stuff at Amazon and support The Professional Left

The Lady Kills Me

Can you say 'high dudgeon'?  I knew you could.

About Last Nite

SNL may finally be all the way back in the game.

Today's Tweet

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Today's Best Rant

Reprinted here in its original form:

JESUS CHRIST THE SYRIAN REFUGEES AREN'T COMING TO WHATEVER GLORIFIED TRAILER PARK / FEMA CAMP / OPEN AIR METH LAB OR DYSTOPIAN INNER RING TRACT HOUSING AND STRIP MALL FART-FUCK OF A SUBURB YOU CALL HOME, THEY WOULD TAKE ONE LOOK AT YOUR SAD EXCUSE FOR A LIFE AND THINK "I'LL GO BACK AND TAKE MY CHANCES, DID YOU SEE THAT WOMAN WITH THE 'BAD BITCH' TATTOO HER TORSO LOOKED LIKE SOMEONE WAS BAKING BREAD IN A HALTER TOP." THE FACT THAT YOU GOT A SECOND HARDEES (NEXT TO THE PELLAGRA CLINIC) DOES NOT MAKE PIGSKNUCKLE COUNTY AN APPEALING TERRORIST TARGET, IF ISIS ATTACKS THEY WILL ATTACK A CITY BECAUSE CITIES HAVE LANDMARKS AND PEOPLE WHO WALK PLACES. WHY WOULD ANYONE EVEN BOTHER TRYING TO KILL YOU WHEN THEY COULD SIT BACK AND LET CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE DO THE JOB, BE SURE TO BUY MORE GUNS THOUGH THEY'RE REALLY KEEPING YOUR VINYL SIDED RANCH HOUSE SAFE. YES THERE ARE PEOPLE OUT TO GET YOU BUT THEY'RE NOT CALLED "ISIS" THEY'RE CALLED THE COLLECTION AGENCY AND YOUR GUNS WILL ONLY IMPRESS THEM TO THE EXTENT THAT THEY WILL FETCH SOMETHING AT AUCTION WHEN YOUR PROPERTY IS SEIZED TO PAY THE MEDICAL BILLS FOR YOUR LAST SIX ANGIOPLASTIES BUT YOU REALLY SHOWED OBUMMER BY NOT SIGNING UP FOR INSURANCE YOU DANIEL FUCKIN' BOONE RUGGED INDIVIDUALIST YOU.

hat tips = bluegal and Crooks & Liars 

Colbert Arrives

Stephen premiered last night, and I had to watch the open, and it was pretty awful.  First night jitters, or maybe it was supposed to manage the expectations down or whatever.  It got a lot better - at least for this bit, which was classic awesomely awesome Colbert.

Messy And Uncomfortable

“No campaign, and no movement has ever prevailed by trying to stay comfortable. You’re supposed to have messy, awkward, painful moments, and get stronger by working past them. That’s what the work requires, and that’s how you get strong enough to do the work, together.” --Jay Smooth

My Guy

This is from a few weeks ago on one of the Security State Advertising Platforms the networks run on "our public airwaves" every Sunday morning (ie: the shit that nobody with any real sense watches for any reason other than giggles and /or a morbid curiosity about what the death of democracy actually looks like).

So anyway, there's some obviously clunky scripted prattle in what O'Malley has to say, but once he gets past the obligatory pablum that helps the Press Poodles pay for their groomers, the guy gets more real more often than anybody I've seen in a while.

Not disappointed yet - which is high praise from me right now.

Found My Guy

If Hillary wins the nomination, I'll shove a coupla pounds of Limburger in each nostril and vote for the Queen of Triangulated Favor Trading, but then again, I may hafta write in Martin O'Malley.

Starting at about 4:00, he gets to the heart of the problems with the GOP's "economic policy", and the payoff is right at 4:30.

This guy'd best be more careful with that whole truth-telling shit.  That's not the kinda thing these Press Poodles are equipped to handle.

(from the NPR website)

hat tip = JR

And one last thing, NPR - that headline you guys put up on the piece - O'Malley: America's Economy Needs 'Sensible Rebalancing,' Not 'Pitchforks' - that's a lie, fellas.  That's not what he said, and that's not what he meant.  And now ya know one more reason so many thousands of us stopped sending in our nickels and dimes.

Today's Yeah But

Jim Webb seems like such a straight-shooter-no-nonsense kinda guy, it's a little difficult for me to buy in.  And since being honest is such a complete political liability, I just don't give him much of a chance - 'course, nobody tho't he could beat George (Macaca) Allen either.

But here he is anyway:



It starts out with pretty much the usual zero-content platitudes about "good leadership" and "solving problems", but the thing gets a lot more specific than most intro speeches I've heard.  

And so, here we go again - Hillary's the default Democrat again, and so I gotta look at alternatives again.  Yeah, but - the Repubs are still fingers-in-the-mouth-jumpin'-up-and-down-crazy, and they're likely gonna nominate somebody who lets 'em think they could pass for normal by making Ronnie Raygun look like Eugene Debs.

Full text and some discussion at Blue Virginia.

No more Clintons

No more Bushes

No more Rockefellers

No more Kennedys

No more legacies

No more dynasties

Buh Bye

We'll hear a lot about the Midterm Massacre of 2014 - about how the Dems just didn't get the message quite right, and about how the Repubs got their ground game going again, and how angry voters rose up and begged the GOP to beat them all a bit harder because apparently we need to get our minds right and beatin' us is exactly the kind of incentive we need.  Yassa boss.

But here's the difference as I see it:  Repubs got real busy making it harder for people to vote, while the Dems were busy doing absolutely nothing to make their voters willing to fight thru it to get their votes counted.

Obama has put together a pretty decent record in spite of constant Repub obstruction.  So maybe a message like, "Things got better.  Imagine how much more we could do if we didn't have to fight The Recession and the GOP and DumFux News and the Press Poodles..."  instead of, "Vote for me because I'm not quite the asshole that other guy is".

And if you tho't the Obama Hate was bad before?
If you tho't the fuck-off-and-die economic policies were bad?
If you tho't shit can't really get a lot worse?
You ain't seen nuthin' yet.

I'm kinda done beating my head against this wall.  Y'all're on yer own.  I got shit to do.