Re: Warren
 

When I said you were right, I meant that you were right. Not trolling. I don't think a VP choice can help. You point to Palin as an example that it can hurt. I don't think the magnitude was huge, but you're right.

Re: Warren
 

I don't live in Marin or SF. In my county, Trump got >20%.

Re: Warren
 

A one in a lifetime moderate/centrist like Obama.

He won with a big tent. He collected white farmers in Iowa who'd previously voted GOP.

He capitalized on voter exhaustion with the Hobbesian darkness that was the Cheney/Bush years. "Hope." It's unifiying. It sells. It sold twice, quite well.

The identity politics of Trump is mathematical. The identity politics competing with Trump is mathematical. I can't predict which math wins, but a unifying message beats Trump's math. And unifying the varying identities demanding their interests be elevated to primary importance is tough. Where all the progressives squabble and some stay home as a result of not getting what they want, Trump Nation is probably going to stay rather unified, and vote as a monolith.

Biden is a unifying message. Warren is a unifying message (she alienates Wall Street, true, but the voters connected to Wall Street are a rounding error mostly in a hardcore blue state). Even Bernie is a unifying message, but he's tired iron at this point.

I think Warren could unify people in a much more significant and resonant manner than Biden. But that's prediction, and I suck at predictions. But one needn't have a crystal ball to see that fucking with Biden, rather than supporting him, is really dumb strategy. Harris and Warren should be jockeying for VP slot. And Warren should get it. (Because as much as Harris is better for my bottom line, No More Fucking Corporatists. And for God's sake -- No Prosecutors.)

Re: Warren
 

Maslow's hierachy applied differently to rural whites than it does now. In years past, they'd the luxury of taking a chance. If Trump teaches us anything, it's that they're now desperate.

It's hard to determine Trump's impact on rural economies as the data is sketchy. We hear about farmers getting killed because of tariffs, but we don't know how many are small farmers and how many are medium to big ag. (And I wouldn't trust anyone offering me a breakout, as we're too close in time for reliable data to be available.)

But let's assume Trump has had between no impact and a negative impact on rural white communities. If that's the case, these communities have just wasted another four years on a bet that didn't pan out. They could barely afford that bet. They won't make another. I suspect that, backed against the wall even further, they'll default to the lizard brain logic, "Biden's a Democrat. I've got to be able to get more from him than Trump." I don't think they have a choice but to vote for whoever they think will give them more.

So I suspect they're uniquely permeable this time around.

Re: Warren
 

Buttfuck? 20%. Damn son, you do seem situated to speak to how the average American thinks! mi dispiace

Re: Warren
 

I don't see why Beto is in the race. (Or any race, really.) He's a whiffle candidate. He only gave Cruz a run for his money because Cruz is between #4 and #8 on the list of Most Loathed Human Beings on Planet Earth of every breathing American. And the residents of quite a few other countries. (bin Laden only makes #6 in some circles.)

When Vanity Fair did a spread on Beto a few months back, I was depressed. Not because they gave ten pages and Annie Leibowitz to this McCandidate. Because I knew Graydon Carter's influence had been erased. A Spy veteran who coined "short fingered vulgarian" as a Trump descriptive would never countenance that tripe.

I still have the New Yorker and the Atlantic. The former remains, however, in desperate need of an editor who can rein in the writers. No one needs five pages of background. Faulkner would find the magazine indulgent.

Re: Warren
 

I was a finalist in the caption contest a few years back!

Re: Warren
 

Thanks. When i troll people know it. I would worry when I was trying to be sincere if people thought I was trolling. Maybe your primary sock needs to take a step back and look inward about why we all assumed you were trolling? I mean, there is only one sock here that loves you enough to actually eat over a sewer to indulge whatever fetish you might have been exercising- don't dismiss my tough love- listen to it?

Re: Warren
 

I've a coffee table book of those somebody gave me. I used to open it. The hit rate on it staying open for more than 5 minutes is .05%.

Some say droll done right died with Plimpton. I don't agree. But I don't argue with that sentiment either.

Re: Warren
 

I thought he was trolling. And I thought it was a bit pissy, but pretty well done.

This might be instructive... a new rule: It's impossible to be effectively earnest toward anyone you've been corresponding with for over a decade.

Re: Warren
 

What's the reddest place you've ever lived?

Also, f*ck you for suggesting that Trump voters are average Americans. You're like the New York Times.

Re: Warren
 

I think you were the only person who suggesting I was trolling, and I also think that's it's easy to impute bad faith when you are arguing with someone on the internet.

eta: stp

Re: Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same
 

Can someone explain why people are tweeting about feral hogs?

eta: Never mind, GQ has me covered.

Re: Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same
 

It's good we have RT, a resident expert on feral hogs.

Re: Warren
 

He's certainly salviating about the racist things he can say. But I think inviting her to talk about growing up poor in Oklahoma has the potential to backfire (as long as she handles it better than she did with the dna test).