We don't understand what's happened, and maybe we'll post with some insights later. But right now we are terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought. See you under the bed. We cats HISS.
It's Election Day, and turnout across the country appears to be high — especially in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Nevada. Harris-Walz supporters are by turns excited and nervous. We're on the brink of something, that's for sure. Even Benedict Donald doesn't sound too confident at the moment.
However, events are still unfolding. So let's pause to send some appreciation Joe Biden's way.
Today must be pretty bittersweet for Biden, who clearly wanted to bring the fight to Trump again. (Reminder: As of this moment, Joe is the only Democrat who's beaten him.) But if you stop and think about it, Biden is the one who really made these last incredible 107 days possible.
After all, back in 2020, he chose Kamala Harris to be his running mate — elevating her even after she challenged him in a primary-election debate that got the pundits' tongues wagging. Biden had the judgment and maturity to understand that that debate moment was ephemeral in comparison with the gifts, skills and constituencies she would eventually bring to the ticket. And during the entire Administration, they've worked together as true partners.
Then, this year, after he cratered against Benedict Donald in the June debate, the whole world jumped on his case, demanding he bow out. Biden waited three weeks, and now we understand why. It's obviously not a decision a world leader makes quickly — and he certainly wasn't going to make a move before the July NATO summit was over. Then he waited until the Republican National Convention wrapped up on July 18. Finally, on Sunday, July 21, he called Kamala. You know the rest.
This last move was Dark Brandon at his darkest best. He let the MAGAts spend their entire convention time and money trashing him. Trump still hasn't gotten over it — you could tell from the unhinged rants he always spewed at his increasingly ill-attended rallies. Donald hates it when he thinks (in this case, rightly) that someone has taken advantage of him.
Thanks, Joe. You're still our favorite badass. We cats PURR.
(IMAGE: Mike Luckovich, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
(UPDATE, Nov. 5: For additional voter assistance, Hillary Clinton tweeted this chart of National Voter Protection Hotlines in every state. And thanks to the Help America Vote Act of 2002, you can also request a provisional ballot if you to need to. We cats PURR.)
The shockwaves are still reverberating from last night's Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll that showed Vice President Harris with a three-point lead over Benedict Donald in Iowa. Conducted by Selzer & Co., this survey of likely voters has a well-deserved reputation for accuracy. "Selzer’s Iowa poll is considered a gold-standard survey and could have
implications in other Midwestern states that will help decide the
election," Fortune magazine reported.
Pollster Ann Selzer was mildly taken aback herself. "It's hard for anybody to say they saw this coming," she said. But she attributed Harris's current strong standing to voters age 65 and up, particularly women. Women over 65, y'all! Iowa has a six-week abortion ban, and Boomer women remember the freedoms they had before the Supreme Court scuttled them. And boy, are they mad.
So, if Harris has indeed jumped out to a three-point lead in Iowa, how can she and Trump be running within the margin of error in all seven of the battleground states? Seems pretty counterintuitive.
Our theory: Swing-state voters have been absolutely pummeled by campaigns and pollsters, for weeks if not months. Their TVs are filled with ads. Their smartphones ping with constant texts. Strange phone numbers pop up on their screens. Battleground voters can't escape, and they're burned out. So how do you get a valid sample when so many people aren't answering their phones, or — if they do answer — play games to spite the caller? This leads us to believe that pollsters in swing states are surveying the same small subset of voters.
While there's a lot of campaigning going on in places like, say, Iowa, Kansas, and Alaska, it's nowhere near the frenzy in the battlegrounds. Which means fewer jaded voters, which in turn makes it easier for pollsters to get an accurate read. Also, in places like Iowa, the Harris spots running nationally on TV have a greater chance of breaking through, so they're making an impact. (Harris has been way outspending Trump on national ads, like the ones you see during football games.)
Bottom line? We're not accusing polls like The New York Times/Siena of inherent bias. But a survey like the Iowa poll or one by the Kansas Policy Institute has a greater chance of being accurate. We cats PURR.
We cats welcome everyone to the cause of defending democracy against Benedict Donald and the MAGAts. We refuse to bicker about policy differences (because what will they matter if our democratic form of government is destroyed?), and we will not take converts to task on social media with messages of "What took you so long?" Sure, it's tempting. But this is an emergency.
Still and all, we have to make some observations about Nicolle Wallace's plea today to George W. Bush to publicly endorse Vice President Harris. What a reminder that before Trump, we used to call Bush the younger the Worst Person Who's Ever Lived. He sent thousands of Americans to die in a phony, trumped-up war, abandoned thousands of others during and after Hurricane Katrina, and plunged the country into an economic freefall in 2008 — all of which took us years to recover from.
In fact, with those three acts, George W. Bush paved the way for Trumpism. Matt Bai in The Washington Post (from which we unsubscribed, by the way) recently observed this.
Those facts alone make us cats want to hack up a hairball. But Wallace's reference to Bush's 2004 declaration that they should "leave everything on the field" as a justification for her argument really makes us sick. Do you remember what that entailed 20 years ago? Republicans demonizing gay people in battleground states, led by Karl Rove and (the, of course, very gay) Ken Mehlman — banking on voters' fear of "the other" to gain support in advance of terrifying concepts like marriage equality.
That said, why did Wallace do this?
Was it a public plea because her private entreaties weren't being heard, or were rejected outright? Did she do it because of Trump's recent comments on Liz Cheney? Did Barbara the daughter (who's endorsed Harris), or Laura, or someone else close to Smirky, tell her he would listen if she went public? Did she want to strengthen the platform for former Republicans on MSNBC during a Harris Administration? Or did she just want to give cover to other GOP late endorsers? We think the backstory on this is hugely complex — and maybe someday we'll find out the details. Meanwhile, we cats HISS and PURR at the same time.
Steve Bannon was released from federal prison this week. What a pity. It was such a comfort to know that he was behind bars and not out in the world, stirring up MAGA mischief. (Actually, it's more than mischief. It's sedition.) But from what we could tell, it didn't look like he'd skipped many meals in the prison cafeteria.
Bannon may be out, but there are plenty of other people whose current, well-deserved imprisonments are something to celebrate. Like:
Ghislaine Maxwell — Sentenced to 20 years in June 2022, Jeffrey Epstein's fellow sex trafficker is languishing in the Federal Correctional Institution in Tallahassee, Florida. Does she have any comment on the recently revealed tapes of Epstein, in which he spouts off about Trump? (In case you're wondering, everything Epstein says on the tapes sounds completely believable.)
Tina Peters — The former Colorado County Clerk was sentenced to nine years early last month for (OMG!) Trump-inspired election fraud. She was taken away to the Mesa County Detention Center, but not before she was forced to listen to the judge slam her for her crimes. "You are no hero," Judge Matthew Barrett said. "You abused your position, and you’re a charlatan."
Enrique Tarrio — The repugnant Proud Boy leader got 22 years for seditious conspiracy and terrorism back in 2023, and now is in residence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Manchester, Kentucky. His weeping and mewling did not move the judge, who turned away Tarrio's pleas for mercy and gave him one of the longest January 6-related sentences yet. (Funny, why has Benedict Donald suddenly started wearing MAGA caps with the Proud Boys' colors — black and gold? Perhaps some enterprising journalist could dig into this.)
Stewart Rhodes — Until Tarrio, the eyepatch-wearing Oath Keeper pooh-bah received that longest January 6 sentence (18 years). Is he the only Yale Law School grad locked up at the Federal Correctional Institution in Cumberland, Maryland?
Not only is justice being served, that's four fewer votes for Trump. Will Benedict Donald be next? Only if you vote to send him there — either early this weekend or on Tuesday. We cats PURR.
