P. Kirby’s Reviews > What Happened > Status Update

This chapter, in a nutshell: Stupidly using a private server for work emails disqualified HRC from the presidency, but....sexually assaulting multiple women does not disqualify Kavanaugh from the highest court in the land. This country is so fucked.

...coal miners were symbols of something larger: a vision of hardworking, God-fearing, flag-waving, blue-collar white American that felt like it was slipping away. This chapter annoyed the shit out of me. It plays to the fallacy that there is a definable "American," and that's "white" and "male," and "Christian." It also pushes the stupid narrative that Dems will win elections if they win back these morons.

Later, Chuck Todd of NBC's Meet the Press actually criticized me for being too prepared.

Chuck Todd needs to be kicked in the head, repeatedly.

...Bernie deserves credit for understanding the political poer of big, bold ideas. His call for single-payer health care, free college, and aggressive Wall Street reform inspired millions of Americans, especially young people. Exactly! Dems aren't going to win elections by playing at moderates and trying to appease tRump voters. They'll win by loudly and proudly embracing progressive ideals.

I nonetheless found campaigning against him [Bernie] to be profoundly frustrating. He didn't seem to mind if his math didn't add up of if his plans had no prayer of passing Congress and becoming law. That's because Bernie understands that A) You have to promise the moon to get elected in today's ADD culture, and B) You don't negotiate from a "reasonable" position. You aim sky high and then compromise.

...balanced doesn't mean strictly equal. It means reasonable. It means asking smart question backed by solid reporting and making decisions about coverage that will help people get the information they need to make sound decisions. Picking the midpoint between two sides, no matter how extreme one of them is, isn't balanced--it's false equivalence.

Lauer promised the forum would be an opportunity to "talk about national security and the complex global issues that face our nation."

And you believed him? You believed a serial sexual harasser? This is the problem with establishment Dems. They are fucking naive.

But Republican in Congress were determined to rip up the social safety net. They wanted to lash funding and guarantees, for welfare, Medicaid, school lunches, and food stamps; deny all benefits even to documented immigrants; and send children born out of wedlock to teen mothers to orphanages. While tRump is evil, he is the monster come to fruition from decades of GOP policy.

Bernie Sanders,...had long bowed to the political reality of his rural state of Vermont and supported the NRA's key priorities, including voting against the Brady Bill five time in the 1990s. In 2005, he voted for that special immunity law that protects gun maker and sellers from being sued when their weapons are used in deadly attacks. This definitely tarnishes the esteemed in which I held Sanders.

Reading this today, with the travesty that is Supreme Court appointment process going on...is so...relevant? Depressing? I don't know...