About Michigan

 

Just to get this out of my system even though everybody else has taken their swing at it--I can't help but note that if President Biden got about 80% in Michigan, and Donald Trump got 69%, then it translates to Biden having a better hold on his party. It just does. Biden's one competitor lost to literally "Nobody" and "Someone Who Dropped Out". Biden is overperforming polling and Trump is underperforming. 

A lot got made of the Democratic "Uncommitted" votes, and I've got one good thing and one bad thing to say about that. First, I get that 13% isn't far off from previous Michigan primaries, and you can't really tease out the extent to which this is a protest vote for the primary only, having no bearing on whether these voters will commit in the general election--that that's the good part. But on the other hand, the fact of an organized protest vote bothers me in ways even disingenuous or "op" candidates do but more so--

A "put-up" candidate can, in the flesh, be disappointing. A vote for an ideal, or what a voter has been convinced is a cause? That's different. Now, I think using voting this way is just absurd and nonstrategic, and if voters are being given the impression that voting for absolutely nothing is getting them their goals--as in, they think a ceasefire specifically will result from this sort of thing, yikes. 

CPAC and Dean Phillips--a Blogger's Dilemma

 

NEW: Dean Phillips told The Daily Beast that he doesn't remember receiving a max campaign donation from conservative financier Harlan Crow, but allowed that it was possible he solicited it personally. Me w/@JakeLahut https://t.co/7TTweHRhPR

— Roger Sollenberger (@SollenbergerRC) October 27, 2023

It used to be, I would enjoy (for my obviously not-healthy form of enjoyment) posting about CPAC, which is a thing that for me, culminated with this post here about how AFPAC and CPAC were like twinsies, and calcified with the realization that CPAC had gotten freaky as fuck all on its own. This little rightwing shindig is no longer what it was. And that's why instead of blogging about it at all, I'm blogging about Dean Phillips, because his candidacy is weirder, and therefore, more interesting to me. 

CPAC just has open Nazis running about, now. Matt Schlapp is a multiply-accused homosexual sex pest. People associated with CPAC just flat out say democracy is dead. It is now what they always played at--fascism for Chiclet heads. 

The candidacy of Dean Phillips is also weird, but in a different way: I don't know that Dean Phillips was always an op, but the robocall thing in New Hampshire is serious op energy. 

Does Dean Phillips Have a Path?

 

Andrew Yang tantalizes us with this question: Does Dean Phillips have a path to the Democratic nomination?  The answer is something like, Dean Phillips plays hockey and will feel familiar to people in Michigan. I don't know what that has to do with politics. Andrew Yang doesn't know what that has to do with politics. Andrew Yang doesn't get politics, and I don't think Dean Phillips does either. Dean Phillips is carbon-based and bilaterally symmetrical. It feels familiar. Is that something? 

Being 51 years old doesn't qualify you for president. I mean, it's older than the requirement to be at least 35 years of age. I'm 51. Dean Phillips, Andrew Yang, Nikki Haley, Beto O'Rourke, and all the members of Green Day are around the same age. So's Elon Musk. The idea that politics is about demographics and branding feels really business school and dumb. So are the packaging ideas:  I do a sport, so I'm relatable. I wear a vest. I have a haircut. I look presidential. 

The lesson of New Hampshire should be--Dean Phillips doesn't have a path, because there were no delegates to be awarded there but 1) $5 million got spent on him and 2) a mostly grassroots write-in campaign said "drop out Dean" and he got hammered and he isn't dropping out. Clue-having he isn't.

Here She Goes, Again!

 

I suppose I could have used a more flattering picture of Jill Stein, who has decided to enter the 2024 presidential race as the Green party candidate, but if you know me by now, you know why I'm not going to. She knows her candidacy in 2016 was used by Russia to leach votes away from Hillary Clinton helping set up a Donald Trump win. She raised money for a recount campaign that got used for other things. 

But here she goes! Whither the Cornel West campaign, though? Terrible story, that. First, he abandoned the lush, deep infrastructure provided by the Green party (yes, I'm being snarky), and then he got caught getting a maximum donation from his good friend, Brother Harlan Crow and had to return it. 

Sometimes, if you want good "progressive" third party fuckery, you just have to see to it yourself. So, she's seeing to it. But why? (Could it be because the other supposed "progressive" lane, RFK, Jr., is more likely to take votes away from Trump? One may well wonder.) 

If someone actually wanted a progressive movement, they could build on the progressive wing of the existing Democratic party and mount a serious opposition. Or we could have Marianne Williamson.

Heck, if you wanted an "exactly the same but younger and awkward" movement you could have Dean Phillips, who demonstrates that one of the things you learn when you are older and wiser is, don't fuck with Jim Clyburn. Anyway, his campaign just picked up Jeff Weaver and Zach Graumann, which is exactly what a campaign would do if the Democratic establishment machine was like BRRRRR against it--probably according to their respecting hiring pitches.  

Or if you wanted to go more conservative, I guess there could be Joe Manchin? I'm not saying he's likely to run, but I'm sure conservative billionaire-funded "No Labels" is ringing him up.

All I know is, I'm having some 2015-2016 flashbacks, and I am not liking them. History people--let's be learning from it!

I like Talenti Gelato, I guess?

As U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips launches a Democratic primary challenge against President Biden, Black political experts warn it will be a distraction they fear could hand Donald Trump the White House for another four years.

Read More 👇🏿https://t.co/lpMaGgHz3v

— theGrio.com (@theGrio) October 30, 2023

The first thing I ever heard about Dean Phillips at all was that he was challenging our current president right here, right now, when foreign policy (Biden's wheelhouse) is crucial and the argument this dude is bringing is: Biden is old and I'm chronologically younger. 

My Democratic bona fides are impeccable and I'm even younger than Dean Phillips. I don't look like someone ordered David Duchovny from Wish. I also too, have had jobs that don't have a thing to do with electoral politics--except I have twenty-five years of civil service. I sort of qualify too for running for president? (Hell naw! Let's don't be ridiculous about what it takes! You have to get set apart and be at least a little famous and capable of 1) raising money and 2) getting elected )

I like some of what Dean Phillips has done--he's not a bad guy, I just don't know what he thinks he's doing now since it isn't necessary, and I don't think there's a really great call for it. I know what Steve Schmidt thinks he's doing--making bank.  He likes the sound of his own voice once he gets jumped-up enough, and here's his thing:

He thinks Biden ish but younger takes away the argument that Biden is old. Whev. I think the fun thing to fuck around with is Trump is old and out of his fucking mind. Doesn't know where he is and is legally fucked round the bend anyways. We don't need a better man to beat Trump--we just need every outlet to get more scrupulous about who Trump really is. 

So, I don't care for this Dean Phillips thing. But I do have an out-sized craving for gelato. 

That opinion isn't really a money-maker. But I would rather eat gelato and stand with Biden than try some other guy just because we got all wobbly about the age thing. And I say that with the likelihood of earning nothing from it at all.