Commenter Archive

Comments by Jaybird

On “So Let’s Put Together a Democratic Party Ad Campaign

Off the top of my head, I'd have to say "People who would vote for Trump no matter what".

Though I admit some mild interest as to what discovery is going to dig up.

On “Open Mic for the week of 3/10/25

The article is basically cranks with pet theories have an advocate in the WH now.

We’re getting ever closer to saying “maybe we should have done something else” without opening with “what we did was perfectly justifiable, given the information we had at the time”.

On “So Let’s Put Together a Democratic Party Ad Campaign

The Republicans under Mittler might have been a party worthy of winning compared to Obummer but it wasn't until the Orangefarbener Korporal pulled off a win against arguably the weakest Democratic candidate since Mondale (and he only SQUEAKED a W out).

2020 was weird. BLM, Covid, Impeachment Numero Uno...

And now 2024 had him win against the weakest Democratic candidate since Mondale.

I'm not seeing "worthy of winning" anywhere.

On “Open Mic for the week of 3/10/25

In that vein, Scott Alexander asks: What Happened To NAEP Scores?

He looks at the data and thinks it's weird in general:

I predict that what we’re seeing here is not each individual child’s learning loss multiplied across all children, but a systemic effect where something about the pandemic made schools worse - in a way that would set back even some hypothetical child who stayed in school throughout the pandemic and suffered no learning loss.

We’ll know more when we get the 2026 test results, and see scores for kids who hadn’t even started school during COVID.

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The Boston Globe is running a story on the whole "lockdown" thing: ‘The lockdowns were never really effective’: New research shows COVID stay-at-home orders did more harm than good

We're getting ever closer to saying "maybe we should have done something else" without opening with "what we did was perfectly justifiable, given the information we had at the time".

On “So Let’s Put Together a Democratic Party Ad Campaign

Well, one of my fundamental assumptions is that there are three groups of voters.

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It seems silly to go back and relitigate 2016 every time the left loses an election but one thing that strikes me as being a major mistake (with perfect hindsight) that I did not notice at the time was the branding of support for Bernie as being sexist.

The "Berniebros". Remember that? Supporting Bernie not because of Socialized Medicine or because of the millionaires and the billionaires but because they hated women.

And this messaging stuck with a bunch of people. Remember the picture of Bernie sitting outside at the Biden inauguration? Wearing those mittens? That picture was used as evidence that Bernie held Harris in disdain.

Ah, good times.

Anyway, to run with what you've said, I think that movement to the left might be a good play if it is done in such a way that it allows for, for example, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez to remain firmly in the "NOT ME!!! I'M A MODERATE!!!!" camp.

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Ezra Klein, of all people, has a campaign you should check out.

"You cannot be the party of working families when the places you govern are places that working families cannot afford to live."

And so he's arguing for "Abundance". He talks about the high speed rail debacle and how it's evidence that California-style ain't a style that other states will want... because it's incapable of achieving the goals it claims are important.

So maybe he has one.

On “Open Mic for the week of 3/10/25

How many people does it take to make a bill have bipartisan support?

Two?

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I guess the question is "is he affiliated with CUAD?"

Because, if he's not, no problem.
If he is, the question is whether "those posts are talking about Bangladesh, not Israel/Gaza!" is a good argument.

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This guy has a thread about the CUAD (Columbia University Apartheid Divest) and what it talked about online.

If Mahmoud Khalil was affiliated with the CUAD, he's going to have a rough time explaining this.

On “So Let’s Put Together a Democratic Party Ad Campaign

He's a hair aged at this point. Does he have an inheritor?

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I like Balko and his three suggestions strike me as fodder for the choir, not the heathen.

I see why the choir would like them... but we're trying to get people back. I'd give Koz a similar speech about how this isn't about people who voted for Trump either.

The one thing I might incorporate from his suggestion might be a little contrition "okay, we got over our skis... we understand why we were a less attractive choice and we've changed. Here's how."

"Look at how awful Donald Trump is!" might not work because I'm not sure that what you see as awful will resonate. Seriously, have Jamie Raskin come out and talk about DEI?!? Are you trying to get Vance elected?!?

But the town halls idea is good. Dems should do that.

On “Open Mic for the week of 3/10/25

Speaking of Video Games, it looks like Ubisoft's talks with Tencent have stalled.

The CFRA has downgraded it from "hold" to "sell". Assassin's Creed Shadows releases in a little over a week. If the game underperforms, it will be bad. They've had a good month but a bad 12 months and an atrocious 60 months.

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The Subterranean Border Defense Act just passed the house with a single "No" vote.

402-1.

Remember the black kid with brain cancer that the Republicans clapped for during Trump's speech and the Democrats didn't?

The online backlash has, apparently, started to get to some of the Dems on some of the 80-20 issues in the runup to the most important election of our lifetimes.

On “When the Friend Wife Leaves for a Week

Inside you are two wives and they are always fighting. One can handle you visiting Mister Kelly, one cannot. Which wife wins?

The one you feed.

On “Open Mic for the week of 3/10/25

He wasn't quoting me saying that.

He was quoting Chris saying that.

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If only she had removed "And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street" instead.

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Well, I've already seen one person give a clip of the one guy in response to the question "what did this guy say that was so bad?"

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There is a Mahmoud Khalil in Montreal as well, a student at Concordia.

He says some stuff that might be considered risible during the various protests celebrating justice and goodness and all that and I'm pretty sure that the two Mahmoud Khalils are being conflated.

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Where did you think "you can engage in free speech, just not *HATE* speech" would end up?

Expressions of support for Palestine have been huge on campus for decades and have managed to withstand attacks for decades.

What changed in the last few handfuls of years? Anything? Is all of this just coming out of nowhere for you?

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