The Power Of Positive Pessimism

As Dems prep for 2020 Joe Biden is optimistic about their opportunity as the Party of Pessimism:

MANCHESTER, N.H. — A vast array of Democratic leaders, divided by generations but uniformly emboldened by President Trump’s perceived vulnerability, have begun taking palpable steps toward seeking the White House in an election that is still three and a half years away.

A prominent member of that group, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., may have sounded a starting gun for the 2020 race on Sunday night as he delivered a tough-love manifesto for the party’s future to a crowd of Democrats here.

Mr. Biden called on Democrats to deliver an optimistic message aimed at the needs of struggling Americans and to emphasize issues like health care and education, which he described as largely sidelined in the last election. “I’m absolutely positive they want to be with us,” he said of people in economic distress. “We have to prove, again, we understand that hopelessness.”

Go, go Joe! When I think of hopeless I think of Biden, as do we all. I also notice that [Insert honorific here] Biden has even cleaned up his language a bit - could he be warming up for 2020 himself?

Mr. Biden said he was prepared to storm the country to help revive the party, and boasted of his comfort in wooing areas that voted for Mr. Trump. “Wherever you want, just let me know, because it’s important,” he said.

"It's important"?!? I would say it is a big effing deal.

Comments

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/may/4/fbi-report-officers-de-policing-anti-cop-hostility/

[Davod]

Just how did former usher Angela Reid make no secret of the fact that she was a die-hard Hillary supporter. I would have assumed it would have been difficult to assess the allegiances of such a consummate professional.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Davod,

I assume the Easter egg thing was a clue.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

https://www.firstthings.com/article/2016/05/a-church-that-was

[Thomas Collins]

Uh-oh. Cinqo de Drinko party gets Baylor frat into trouble.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/national/2017/05/baylor_university_frat_suspended_for_hosting_racist_mexican_themed_party

[Janet 🚬]

But it is okay if Beyonce wears a sombrero - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4479368/Heavily-pregnant-Beyonce-celebrates-Cinco-Mayo.html

"Heavily pregnant Beyonce celebrates Cinco de Mayo as she emerges from restaurant in giant sombrero and maraca in-hand"

[Marlene]

Good Morning! MM,re: the wooden Easter eggs,recall that they are made in Maine. The owner of the company reminded the White House about the deadline to manufacture the eggs. The company owner wasn't trying to make a big deal about the situation. You are correct that the usher should have been aware of preparing for the Easter Egg roll. Of course,the media made a story about the poor planning,blah,blah. Did Michelle personally order the Easter eggs in previous years? I doubt it. Geez. If the usher was an Obama loyalist,it was probably deliberate.

[JimNorCal]

Frau Brötchen | May 05, 2017 at 11:00 PM
A "Semmel" is Austrian for roll.

Funny on a couple of different levels.

[JimNorCal]

For all those native Austrian speakers...

[Cecil Turner]

Sundance: the threat from North Korea is national security issue number one.

Fox News Poll: 53 percent favor military action to stop North Korea nukes program

Across the board, voters think North Korea poses the greatest danger to the country today. ISIS comes in second among Republicans and independents, while Democrats put Russia above ISIS on the threat list.

Dunno whether to roll my eyes, or start my own ledge.

For all those native Austrian speakers...

That's just how I semmel.

[henry]

I prefer Chinese military action re the Norks.

[Porchlight]

"Semmel" probably comes from the Latin "simila," meaning fine wheat flour, from which we also get "semolina" and the English simnel cake.

[Texas Liberty Gal]

Gus- thx for explanation of Hamrod Shadoobie. Gave me an early morning laugh and I now have RS's 'Shattered' running through my mind all morning. Love that song...

[Benjamin Franklin]

Isn't Ignatz Austrian for 'wannabe' imbecile?

His excuse is 'dumbing down for my friends'.

[Winchester House is Home.]

No. They don't know what accountability or ownership is.

Powell told them they'd own Iraq and Denialism still dominates their 'thought' process.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/06/health-care-republicans-trumpcare-gopcare-blame-238058

[Winchester House is Home.]

Worse than that, it's 13 WHITE MEN.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/05/05/worst-bill-women-could-get-worse-13-men-tackle-trumpcare-senate

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--Ignatz, that is amazing. Did you see my post about Gus Jr's. 1956 Browning O/U SUPER-POSED, and it's value??--

No I did not, Gus.

[narcisol]

Carlos slims puts out the kibble

http://althouse.blogspot.com/2017/05/after-months-of-trying-to-move.html

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

The Week in Pictures

[REAL FAKE LIES]

Politico

"But three months after Trump moved into the White House, at least nine people who worked on his transition have registered as lobbyists, highlighting holes in the president’s pledge to keep people from cashing in on government service.

Many are registered to lobby the same agencies or on the same issues they worked on during the transition, a POLITICO review of lobbying disclosures found."

[REAL FAKE LIES]

Lol.

Trump is the fault of Democrats for not putting a better candidate out. Bwaaaaaaaaa. Now THAT'S accountability

http://www.redstate.com/joesquire/2017/05/06/no-one-happy-week-trumps-fault/

[narciso]

Re Hitchens i"m gathering the Anglican church's foundation, having been founded by a capricious war Lord, weren't that solid to begin with. If a single season of a laugh in type show could dissolve it.

[Threadkiller]

White House's Office of Digital Strategy, a department that — it must be noted — did not exist until the Obama administration.

Also of note, strategic digital 9 layer online identifications weren't accepted as proof of anything other than fraud until the Obama Administration as well.*

*with the exception of Harvard's best and Meerkat videographers. They accept anything.

[narciso]

Venezuela's desintegration into the hermit state of the Andes is indeed maddenimg.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-05/fed-up-advertisers-stop-paying-more-for-declining-tv-audiences

More good news!

[Old Lurker]

Thanks Iggy.

:-)

[I drink your milkshake.]

The plot gets thickerer.

Breitbart links?

Leakyweaks?

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/05/06/world/europe/emmanuel-macron-hack-french-election-marine-le-pen.html?referer=http://www.memeorandum.com/?full=t">http://www.memeorandum.com/?full=t">https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/05/06/world/europe/emmanuel-macron-hack-french-election-marine-le-pen.html?referer=http://www.memeorandum.com/?full=t
Wiener?

[narciso]

This a slightly less nut root blog I used to frequent

http://ordinary-gentlemen.com/2017/05/03/sixty-five-million-cracks/

[narciso]

Making my point, this minor bonsai slipping and the democrats and not a few republicans are daunting like the opener to Quincy. (I realize now why they cutaway at the opening)

[He drank your milkshake.]

But, but, but, but..

OBA-A-A-A-MAAA!!

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/05/donald-trump-weekend-trips-bedminster-238045

[narciso]

Venezuela illustrates that line from krokoxil, if Egypt adopted communism, if fifty years they'd run out of sand, it took less than 20

[Get your ass to church!]

'Christian' activists probaby won't cut your head off, but the do favor forcing their values on everyone else.

It's a softer, kinder ISIS with a mild Sharia. Isn't that nice of them?

https://projects.jsonline.com/news/2017/5/5/hacked-records-show-bradley-foundation-taking-wisconsin-model-national.html

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

narciso,

I think that after the war, Britain was so much changed that it was rather easy to lure people away from the church.

In our country this happened about 20 years later, around the time of Vietnam.

Part of the problem (and this goes back to that Codevilla article Clarice posted the other day) is that all of the social movers and shakers (Hollywood and recording industry, news organizations, universities) are ALL either anti-religion or ignorant of it.

When I was a kid I remember watching Perry Como's Christmas special, which would always end with a recreation of the Nativity complete with Perry singing Ave Maria. The biggest movies were things like Ben-Hur and The Ten Commandments.

EWTN used to run old shows, produced in the 1950's, which starred Catholic stars like Raymond Burr and Loretta Young, who donated their appearances to the priest who produced the program. (It was the priest who coined the phrase "The family that prays together stays together.")

My grade school principal opened our day with the Pledge of Allegiance and the Lord's Prayer which we recited as he said it over the intercom. Every year the school system put on the Easter Sunrise Service for the township, which included a recreation of the Passion complete with crosses and a tomb.

None of this happens any more, and it is the pressure of the social influence types and legal challenges which have ended it. I consider it a form of soft persecution.

Most mainline churches, rather than standing firm, have been infiltrated by left-leaning people so that the doctrine has been watered down and people are preached to about the environment and other such clap trap.

Oh, one other reason the secularization was delayed in the US was the popularity of Billy Graham. His crusades delayed the secularization for a generation.

Along with Hitchens, I miss hearing the Christmas story from the King James version, which like Linus I can recite from memory.

[Get your ass to church!]

I just love the 'saved' with their superior attitude of holiness and righteousness.

When they hawk their wares, I just smile inwardly.

[Captain Hate]

White House's Office of Digital Strategy, a department that — it must be noted — did not exist until the Obama administration.

That just means that somebody the Ferret hired, since Zippy was too fucking dumb to concentrate on anything more strategic than SportCenter, recognized the importance of the medium in an only slightly behind the curve manner. I remember having a good laugh when Romney Fangurrrlll #1 pointed out how his sons were really really smart about social media along with the rest of the latter day hepcats. That worked out as well as expected.

[Get your ass to church!]

The NYT IS SHOCKED, to find that Obama is giving expensive speeches to Wall Street, just like Hillary Clinton, except, of course, he gets paid more.
These guys will just never get it. In fact, all over the Internet, Obama “liberals” are having mini meltdowns over Obama’s $400K speaking fee with Cantor Fitzgerald.
They think he has sold out. That he has eschewed the anti-materialism of his community organizer days. It’s just… unseemly.
Oh, please. He is the same Barack Obama he always was. He wasn’t a particularly good politician, his policies were tone deaf and he was the guy who presided over the devastation of the R&D industry. It happened during his tenure and he said nary a peep about it. Weren’t there rumors several months ago about how he was going to become a venture capitalist and prey on the hard work and patents of my friends and former colleagues trying to keep their heads above water in biotech startups? It wouldn’t surprise me a bit.
The guy who said he stood between the bankers and the pitchforks is going to reap the rewards of the inadequate Wall Street reform bill. I told you he is a shmoozer who thought of the White House as just another rung in his climb to the top of the corporate ladder.
Anyone who bought the incorruptibility of Obama should be scratching their heads right now. Truthfully, they should have scratched their heads before this. They should have asked, why the meteoric rise for a guy who had very little experience and no record of controversial votes? He was as much a blank slate as Neil Gorsuch.
The ultimate tofu president finally has revealed that he’s got a flavor after all. He had to wait eight years to show it but it has been there all along.
Time to stop clutching pearls. He’s flesh and blood and greedy like everyone else.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Latter day hepcats.

That's funny.

[narciso]

Et tu Hawaii 5.0, they jumped the shark last night. Not as agregioisly as taken did early in the season but still.

[Janet 🚬]

narciso's Althouse link at 9:42 is very good.

"I read this as the NYT agonizing over how MSM isn't filtering everything these days,..."

[Captain Hate]

Yes, the kinder gentler Steve McGarrett was like a bad dream. Also blowing a guy away with a rocket launcher could have bad consequences if it misses.

[Swampnado!!]

NOT the Onion, lol

Trump's Army secretary nominee withdraws after leftists use his own quotes to smear his good name

[Swampnado!!]

It's funny how the confident barbs cease when I show up.

I really despise passive aggression.

[narciso]

Yes one must affirm the lie about mutilation it seems to be a thing,

[WOOOOT!]

But on a Thursday afternoon that will live in infamy, nothing could stop the illogical momentum in the U.S. House of Representatives of a bill labelled the AHCA, which I'm pretty sure stands for the Unaffordable I-Don't-Care Act, and which is arguably the worst piece of legislation to win passage in Congress -- albeit by the narrowest 217-213 margin -- since the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

[narciso]

Yes king James is powerful nourishment this is why perfidious Albion subsist on weak gruel.

[narciso]

Islamic state and the democrats are on the same page, re tactics of not ends.

[WOOOOT!]

I want to thank Trump and his intransigent supporters for the richest vein of satire since Fox and Friends.

Laughter, truly is the best medicine.

[WOOOOT!]

Although it does seem more like nose-mining, but glad to hear boogers aren't empty calories.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/my-son-has-a-preexisting-condition-hes-one-of-the-reasons-i-voted-for-the-ahca/2017/05/04/26c234b2-30fd-11e7-9534-00e4656c22aa_story.html?utm_term=.f02eadb07076

[StaPuft]

Whoa happened to the greatest Beast evah?

Can't face the music. Trump might be the end of JOM.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

https://www.axios.com/why-the-wh-fired-the-first-woman-usher-2395498034.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=twsocialshare&utm_campaign=organic

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Well, lookie here. In case you doubt there's a Uniparty:

Matthew Dowd‏Verified account @matthewjdowd

It is time in our country that leaders on both sides consider a single payer fix to healthcare. The system we have now is a mess.

[StaPuft]

Bull on that WaPo.

Republicans fought every jot and tittle of Obamacare, even denying us the right to negotiate drug prices like VA.

They designed it to fail, but still couldn't kill it, but they could hobble progress. And that they did with sadistic glee.

[narciso]

Like clockwork, miss marple, they want the end of choice except in one area, but anonamom observes what Obama stated as his goal 10 years ago.

[StaPuft]

This speechifyin' beats debate any day.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/may/05/experience-my-dog-rescues-cats

[narciso]

Why has Islam grown in the former redoubts of Christendom it's because the faith offered there is a thin stew whereas the rising is resolute and uncompromising.

[StaPuft]

I count two dozen or more deserters over Trumpism or related.

That's about half the regulars.

Lurkers pop up or maybe socks,but I think attrition, like white people going exstink, might do the job.

[BE HERE NOW]

Islam is the bastard son of Judaism, and today's Jews are the former In-laws of Christianity.

Islam grew like other exotic religions because of disaffection with traditional modes of worship which did not enlighten society as intended.

[narciso]

There's a huge cat that seems to be wandering in our neighborhood yogi has not run into him yet.

[BE HERE NOW]

It's like the latest diet.

Marketing is key.

[narciso]

Scimitars are very persuasive ask the people of khaybar and yathrib

[BE HERE NOW]

Being interrogated and judged for not falling for the saved meme is torture enough.

I welcome the scimitar after that ordeal

[Momto2]

MM - Love the cocker spaniel that rescues cats story!

Most cats are probably larger than yogi, narciso! That's the case at our house but puppy doesn't seem fearful of them. My cats are so used to new foster dogs coming and going that they just yawn at the puppy and probably don't realize she's a permanent family member now.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Janet had the most astute comment on the problem that I have seen.

She pointed out there is no salvation in Islam, unless you are a perfect believer (very difficult, especially for the poor) or you enter into jihad.

Islam needs reform or conversion of their people.

[henry]

New thread. I will see if the trolling level indicates more Trump winning ahead (it will). until then, taxes are too high.

[Clear the Bench!!!]

Politico

"Republicans are most concerned about growing signs of Democratic intensity. Over the past few weeks, a series of formidable Democratic candidates have announced bids against Republican incumbents. The group includes Jennifer Wexton of Virginia, Jason Crow of Colorado, and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania. All are running in suburban districts, the kind of areas where Trump’s falling political fortunes could be a weight on GOP incumbents."

Heh

[narciso]

Btw I meant to ask how old is Darby and about how much did she cost.

[JimNorCal]

"Formidable Dem candidates"
Hahahahahahaha! :wipes tears from eyes:

Reflecting on Jon Ossoff, I wonder if any of these killer candidates live in the districts they're running in.
Oh my. That really made my day, terrific off the charts snark!
Formidable Dems indeed!

[JimNorCal]

I love how the Dem sheep fall for it! Every. Single. Time.
Back in Nov they were told Hillary was a "formidable" candidate. They all fell for that one too. Hey, all you Dems! Be sure to get in on the ground floor for the Chelsea tsunami! I assure you, she is going to be a fomidable candidate! Especially after she boosts her street cred by undergoing fem gen mutilation. Since it's such a hep, cool procedure and all.

Formidable! I can personally guarantee it.