Sending Good Thoughts

We cats PURR.

That Long National Nightmare

By Hubie and Bertie

We cats have been around for a while, which means that we vividly remember August 9, 1974, when Richard Nixon resigned the Presidency, gave that weird malignant-narcissist speech, and left the White House — after which Gerald Ford was sworn in as President. What a day.

Sadly, it must be pointed out that the thing that did Nixon in was his comment on the White House tapes about telling the CIA to keep the FBI from investigating Watergate. "Don't go any further into this case, period!" That smoking gun alone was able to torch Nixon's presidency — as it should have. It was clear obstruction of justice.

Now, 52 years later, we have a Watergate-and-beyond Trump scandal every single day. And nothing happens. The Trumpsters are very good at "flooding the zone" with a firehose of outrages. But if the Democrats take control of the House and/or the Senate — which is growing increasingly likely — there will be some hell to pay.

There has to be, actually. Back in 1974, Republicans had enough respect for the Constitution to march down to the White House and tell Nixon his goose was cooked. Today's Republicans wouldn't even bother. Which means that Barry Goldwater, John Rhodes, and Hugh Scott are all spinning in their graves. We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

Life, Larry, And The Pursuit Of Happiness

Everything is terrible. That's our cue to revisit The Tan Suit. (PS: Obama looks great in everything.) We cats love this, and we PURR.

Cracking Up

By Miss Kubelik

On top of all their other troubles, the Republicans' Senate contenders are suffering from the Bad Candidate-Bad Campaign Syndrome.

We already know that Mike Collins in Georgia and Michael Whatley in North Carolina are — because they're both getting their asses whooped in the polls by Jon Ossoff and Roy Cooper. (And they're getting wiped out by the Democrats money-raising-wise, too.) And certainly Ken Paxton, the most toxic and corrupt candidate the GOP could have ever nominated in Texas, has been driving Republicans to drink as he vacations in London with his mistress and stonewalls questions about his 15 zillion-dollar properties. (Man of the people, that.)

Aside from those guys, you could credibly add to the list Ashley Moody of Florida, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, and Ohio's Jon Husted. All have been running lackluster efforts, or have been surprised at the strength of their Democratic opponent, or both. In the case of Darline Graham Nordone in South Carolina, her late entry and name change are weird, and polls show she's not a lock for the GOP nomination in next Tuesday's primary. Nebraska's Pete Ricketts has his own problems, running against an Independent, Dan Osborn (Democrat Cindy Burbank dropped out of the race to give Osborn a clear shot).

So, yeah, not a good situation for them. And on the House side? Check out what district the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee just added to its "In Play" list: Elise "Elsie" Stefanik's own NY-21! The DCCC thinks that the bombastic and repugnant Anthony Constantino is volatile and silly enough to give a thoughtful listener like dairy farmer Blake Gendenbien a chance. We cats agree, and we PURR.

Kiss And Make Up

By Zamboni

Republicans must be so disappointed about the speed at which Democrats coalesced around their candidates in Michigan today. The winner in yesterday's Senate primary would not have been our first choice, but although Haley Stevens ended up making it a race, it was probably better for the sake of the party that Abdul El-Sayed pulled it out. As we learned to our dismay in 2016 and 2024, Bernie Bros (and Broettes) are not dependable in a general election.

Meanwhile, the so-called Democratic "establishment" prevailed in other races. US Rep. Wesley Bell beat former Rep. Cori Bush (again) in Missouri's first Congressional District. It wasn't close: 70.7 percent to 25.8 percent. Shannon Taylor won in Virginia's first CD with 53 percent of the vote, while former Rep. Elaine Luria waltzed to victory in the second CD with 80 percent. And Rep. Don Beyer defeated Mo Seifeldein in VA-08. We are noting these wins even if the media don't.

Back in Michigan, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson romped to victory in the Democratic gubernatorial primary with 84.6 percent of the vote. She will headline a party unity event on Friday in Detroit, with El-Sayed, Stevens, Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Mallory McMorrow, and special guest and famous Michigan resident Pete Buttigieg (above). We cats are looking forward to it, and we PURR.

Happy Birthday, Mr. President

"America has changed over the years. But these values my grandparents taught me — they haven't gone anywhere. They're as strong as ever, still cherished by people of every party, every race, every faith. 

"They live on in each of us. What makes us American, what makes us patriots, is what's in here.

"And that's why we can take the food and music and holidays and styles of other countries, and blend it into something uniquely our own. That's why we can attract strivers and entrepreneurs from around the globe to build new factories and create new industries here. That's why our military can look the way it does — every shade of humanity, forged into common service.

"That's why anyone who threatens our values, whether fascists or communists or jihadists or homegrown demagogues, will always fail in the end."

—Barack Obama, born August 4, 1961

Tidbits And Cat Treats: Republican Troubles Edition

By Baxter

We've had our usual firehose of news these last few days. Here are a few items to help us all sort through the chaos.

How many pundits smugly said not too long ago that the 2026 Senate map was way too big a climb for the Democrats? All of them, right? Well, now we're seeing language like this: "Senate Republicans say they see Trump as a growing political liability as they try to hang on to control of the Senate in the 2026 midterm elections" (emphasis ours). The list of seats the GOP is worried about is a fun read — it includes Alaska, Ohio, Maine, and even Nebraska. Wow! What a difference 18 months of Donald Disasters make.

Former Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX) has finally crossed the Rainbow Bridge. She's the House member who didn't show up for votes for ages and whose staff ultimately admitted was in an ALF memory care unit — presciently similar to Tom Kean Jr.'s and Mitch McConnell's recent disappearing acts. We know this is a broken record, but can you imagine if a Democrat tried to pull that off?

Looks like Congressman Max Miller isn't the only abusive personality on the Republican side of the aisle. The House Ethics Committee lowered the boom today on Chuck Edwards of North Carolina for creating a hostile and harassing work environment. "A member of Congress should not single out a staffer and isolate them from other staff, make frequent comments regarding that person’s appearance and weight, send messages in the middle of the night, text staff deeply personal and seemingly romantic thoughts, intrude on personal occasions without invitation, pay for personal vacations, and spend thousands of dollars on gifts," the committee said. Ew. (The good news is that Sabato's Crystal Ball has moved Edwards's race from "Leans Republican" to "Toss-Up.")

Finally, it's not clear why Jeanine Pirro left a White House meeting dragging a white box this afternoon. Joke of the day: That's a pretty big box of wine (but maybe not for her). We cats PURR.

Cat Fight! Miller Versus Moreno(s)

By Sniffles

Wow, Max Miller is such a creep. He launched a video on Twitter today after his former father-in-law, Republican Senator Bernie Moreno, said he should resign from Congress. But if Max thought the video would tamp down the allegations that he's a serial abuser, hoo-boy.

No way you can watch and not see a guy who throws boiling water at you, holds a gun to your head, and breaks your toddler's collarbone. (He also suffers from Michele Bachmann Syndrome — a baffling inability to look straight into the camera.) It's skin-crawl time.

But somebody said, "Great job, Max, let's post it." And the interwebs promptly blew up. "This is classic abuser tactic." "Was the point to make him look even more guilty? If so, mission accomplished." "All I heard was 'Why did you make me hurt you?'" "The video will be used in Social Work/Family Violence seminars to establish what a perpetrator of domestic violence looks and sounds like." And on and on.

Jeez. At least Ted Bundy was charming.

So here we are, with Miller and Bernie Moreno trading insults on social media, and Ohio Republicans caught in a bind. They have until Wednesday, August 5 to replace Miller on the ballot, but Miller vows to stay in. Good. We cats would like nothing more than to have this repulsive dude asking for Ohioans' votes in a district that Democrats are targeting — and for him to be publicly feuding with Bernie Moreno all the way to November 3. (When Moreno's not busy F-bombing Tony Fauci, that is.) We cats PURR.

Okay, Not That We Should Get More Freaked Out, But...

By Hubie and Bertie

We all know that the climate emergency is upon us, right? We don't need to link to any doomsday sites to drive the point home... correct?

Because, OMG — these headlines we're seeing are off-the-charts freaky. Yet we in the United States are consumed with constitutional violations to the extent that we won't be able to address the climate change issues until will after we get the White House back in 2029... right? Gosh, sounds awful.

Climate change is upon us. It's not something in the distant future, it's now. Just look at the high temperatures and the fires in Europe, and you know. Maybe you don't live in France, but you drink French wine, so — there you go. Consider yourself affected.

Many difficult decisions await us. Because the Trumpsters have insisted on indulging in denial, we can only assume that the next Democratic administration will need to address them — and get punished at the polls for doing so. OMG, is there no scenario under which we can solve these problems? We cats fear maybe not, and we HISS.

Down Days For Donald

By Miss Kubelik

Benedict Donald and his merry band of haters and traitors seem to be crumbling. Nothing is going right for them. The economy just slowed again in the second quarter. The pointlessly stupid war in Iran continues to get bigger. The egregious SAVE Act is stalled. And the Todd Blanche nomination is hitting Cornyn- and Tillis-sized speed bumps. Trump has burned too many bridges with Republicans who, unbelievably, have just recently figured out that he doesn't care about them.

If he did care, he wouldn't do stupid things like announce an early end to the Biden-era Medicare Part D subsidies. This is going to drive up medication costs for millions of seniors — but not until after the midterms. No problemo for the GOP, then, right? Wrong.

Insurers in most states will have to notify beneficiaries well before Election Day about their rate increases for next year, to give them time to shop for better plans, if they can find them. Open Enrollment begins on Thursday, October 15. 

Whoops! Sorry, Republicans. Your team in the White House just isn't very smart. (And Democrats, start messaging about this immediately.) We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.