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James A. Natesmith@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social |
56 followers 200 following 576 posts
Utah Utes, Chicago Bears, the American West, sometimes a stray Shakespeare take.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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I mean, what has he done about it? I think fighting fascism is going to require more than standing around screaming “what do you want me to do? Something hard? That’s too hard.”
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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Also, fucking LOL at you acting like electing an 81-year-old president is in the same realm as a female or black president. The wealthy, white and elderly have been oppressed for too long in this country!
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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Uh because the feeble old man has ceded the powers of the presidency to a reactionary Supreme Court, is extremely unpopular and unable to do the campaigning necessary to change that image, is engaging in destabilizing war making, and has shown clear signs of cognitive decline since last elected.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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They genuinely believe that elites should be judged on intent more than effort or effect.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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Tens of millions of Americans who can count and have never seen a President this feeble before. Even in the after events he sounds like shit, he’s just successfully lowered the expectations of the diehards. There is a reason we have never elected a President in his 80s before.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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Also, he’s the President and he’s doing a really bad job! The Supreme Court just seized control of regulation and okayed executive crimes! We’re at the brink of another regional war breaking out. Biden’s weakness is causing instability right now.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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And that starts with putting an able candidate at the top of the ticket.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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You know what? This is what Vice Presidents are for. Fuck it. Biden announce that he’ll retire in a two months, transition to Kamala who will choose her own Vice President.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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There’s not a single candidate for President that gives a shit about what the world will look like in 2035. I think that really indicates that we’re nearing come kind of breaking point
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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I do think it’s unproductive to excoriate a Democratic electorate that has lined up behind Barack Obama twice and his preferred candidate twice more. You are putting words into your nominal allies mouths about downplaying racism to win an argument. I don’t think that’s productive, but ymmv.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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I read OP as criticizing people who want someone that isn’t JB or KH. I suppose I was wrong about that? You’re lashing out at people who agree with you about KH for the same reasons AS YOU. Racism is a def factor but pretty far down the list of why Dems aren’t sold on her as a candidate.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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It’s not airtight, but if you refuse to engage in counterfactual as a rule, then you are doomed to never learn from history. If we had done this, it seems likely that it would have had this result. I can’t know that, but I can still stack up strengths and weaknesses and have a thesis.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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So what’s the point of arguing that an imagined mass of people oppose her for the wrong reasons? The reasons you’ve described are disqualifying in themselves.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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How dare you not accept my straw man argument!
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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Yes, but in no small part because the party elite were able to consolidate against them for their preferred candidate. They should do that again.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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No, but we can look at Hillary’s weaknesses and the reasons she appears to have lost, which are, I will concede, unknowable. She lost in areas damaged by the policies of Bill which the other two opposed. She also had a bad relationship with the press which sorry, was part of the job back then.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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I meant to say desiccated, but auto correct. I know the difference and since the pro-Biden side basically can only make nitpicky arguments, I must stress that I know the difference.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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Also, 2016 Dems at least had some reason to think the emails thing might die out. Biden’s aging like fucking milk and that’s not going to get turned around by the passing of more time.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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I think this exactly right. It’s a part of the reason that Biden isn’t winning right now. He’s not promising us a better world. He’s promising us one that gets worse at a slower pace.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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So who the fuck is being a fatalist here? These guys do well in the states that lost Hillary the election. That feels about as airtight as a counterfactual can be.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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Behold, the argument that will deliver us from fascism!
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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Those accusations have never amounted to anything. Sanders in 2016 would have been a lot more efficient in the electoral college.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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No you see, they too would have been laid low by their lucrative speaking deals with the architects of the 2008 collapse and their husband’s dedication to sexpestery.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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It’s striking all you people have is “where is your ‘I don’t have donkey brains’ certificate” You keep losing because you can’t look yourself or your party in the mirror and actually address any of the issues. Sadly, it is the constituents and not the leaders who pay the price.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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Clearly 34 is too young to weigh in on politics. I too will wait my turn when my dedicated corpse can be rolled out to run for reelection in 2072.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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Help us! The evil Republicans keep pulling the wool over eyes of the electorate. There is nothing we can do to stop it. We cannot ask for better leaders. The ones we have are the best one could ask for.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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Yeah, I was 14. But also, I’m not invested in the idea that the Democrats have run brilliant campaigns only to be thwarted by evil electorate.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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I mean you’re being pretty dishonest if you don’t also acknowledge that Kerry couldn’t take on Bush’s biggest weakness because he voted for the Iraq War and his explanation was shitty. I am confident that many people understand America better than the political consultant class who lords above it.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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It seems to me you are the one saying that everything is destined by fate.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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No, they should have nominated someone who had a clear vision for improving an America in decline instead of someone who “deserved” the presidency. Kerry made a decision to not address the swiftboats. I absolutely think he could have parried that by demanding Bush denounce the attack on a troop.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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The fundamental flaw in the non-ideological Democratic Party is that it has super high expectations for its constituents and demands no expectations of its leaders. It’s a corporate ladder, and it’s failing for the same reason that Google Search sucks.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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A better candidate would have won in 2016. Everything else is cope.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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I would say the opposite. Fox News attacks don’t always work. In fact, sometimes they really flail around. You could argue they didn’t have much on Biden until he declined past the point where Americans could feel confident in his day to day abilities.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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It’s not shocking that the cozy with Wall Street candidate started to lose popularity when more people were made aware of it. It’s not shocking that she couldn’t pull the coup-de-grace post Access Hollywood because she had spent decades defending her famously sexually inappropriate husband.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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Happily. Some people are good at running for president and run good campaigns. Some people are bad at running for president and run bad campaigns. Those people are powerless to parlay attacks especially when the attacks have a grain of truth to them that the candidate cannot admit.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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One of us takes Trump seriously. The other does not. Have a great day.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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That would explain why Republicans have won every presidential election since 1992z
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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I don’t get what this is supposed to prove other than that polls aren’t static, particularly if you’re under a spotlight. Some people do well under the spotlight, we should try nominating some of those.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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Yeah, Hillary had a lot of liabilities that made people dislike her the more they remembered them. This doesn’t happen to every candidate. It happened to one candidate who was not a very good candidate and was surrounded by an insular circle of well-heeled nonces.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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Kamala>Biden But Kamala<a lot of other people in the D stable, including a half dozen Black politicians who didn’t have the profile to be considered in 2020. So who knows? The real thing is that Biden’s gotta go.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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Show me an example of a president with approval ratings in the 30s getting re-elected. Show me an example of a President in his eighties win re-election. You are demanded a level of evidence from me that you refuse to hold yourself to.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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President which has seen the Supreme Court seize massive power unchecked, red state governors seize massive power unchecked, an unpopular economy, a chaotic foreign policy and renewed and uncontested violence toward trans people. And no promise to improve anything in the next four years.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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Just to be clear: my evidence has been Biden’s consistent bad polling, a vast majority of Americans saying they want a different choice of candidates, successful brokered conventions within living memory, Biden’s age, Biden’s abysmal debate performance, Trump’s high floor and Biden’s performance as
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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Ok, I’m done with this. I don’t think there is any evidence that could convince you, so I’m gonna do some grilling and thinking about the best way to escape the country in December.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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They haven’t been nominated yet. There are infinite tickets. Unless you were saying that there is no ticket other than a multi-racial, multi-gender one, in which case I agree.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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Ideological faction within the party. The Willie Brown issue. The putting parents of truant kids in jail. Four years of very little visibility. The ticket has to have a black person on it for sure. I just don’t think Kamala would be the best bet there.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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That’s possibly true. I think there’s a world where Kamala should be the nominee, but she should get it from a brokered convention. Otherwise, she’s basically Gerald Ford. I think she has real problems though. She’s a bad campaigner, her beliefs are kind of murky (she doesn’t seem to belong to any
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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And I should add that the death mechanism really could happen and that should scare us all. What if dies two weeks before the election like RBG did?
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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There is no real world! That’s what the Trump era has taught us. There are no rules that can’t be broken. And the problem is that in all of this with Obama, Hillary, RBG, Biden, the personal fulfillment of the individual politician matters more the party than the lives of the constituents.
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James A. Natesmith
@jamesanatesmith.bsky.social
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He’s been down to Trump for years, been slaughtering Muslims gleefully for six months, insulted young voters and activists at every opportunity. You are in absolute denial. As is the Democratic Party and it’s going to get a lot of people killed when Trump makes his return.
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