Excellent idea. @hughhewitt https://t.co/S60iAETlpy
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) October 8, 2020
You can tell these assholes Cruz and Hewitt and consider the debates as absolutely crucial and strongly disagree with the decision, but are obviously too chickenshit to say that it’s a grave tactical error. So they do it in a roundabout way with a “great idea to bypass the commission”.
The likely voter sample numbers include 6% lean Biden and 1% lean Trump. 3% will vote for another candidate. Read more here.
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: “A Republican Party staffer who has gotten in trouble in the past for social media posts promoted a debate watch party Wednesday by alleging Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris used sex to advance her career. The post — which was taken down shortly after the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel asked about it — was the latest digital broadside from Keith Best, who left his job in the state Capitol last year a day after he made headlines for using a lawmaker’s Twitter account to criticize quarterback Colin Kaepernick.”
“‘If there are any questions on how to sleep your way to the top, Kamala will have an advantage,’ Best wrote. His post included a meme that said, ‘She will be an inspiration to young girls by showing that if you sleep with the right powerfully connected men then you too can play second fiddle to a man with dementia. It’s basically a Cinderella story.'”
“President Trump won the first debate despite a terrible and biased moderator in Chris Wallace, and everybody knows it. For the swamp creatures at the Presidential Debate Commission to now rush to Joe Biden’s defense by unilaterally canceling an in-person debate is pathetic. That’s not what debates are about or how they’re done. Here are the facts: President Trump will have posted multiple negative tests prior to the debate, so there is no need for this unilateral declaration. The safety of all involved can easily be achieved without canceling a chance for voters to see both candidates go head to head. We’ll pass on this sad excuse to bail out Joe Biden and do a rally instead” – Campaign manager Bill Stepien statement Thursday morning.
Arizona moved from “Toss-up” to “Leans Democratic”
Georgia moved from “Leans Republican” to “Toss-up”
New Hampshire moved from “Leans Democratic” to “Likely Democratic”
Read more at UVA Center for Politics.
AP: “Australia considered a rollout of a coronavirus vaccine no sooner than mid-2021 a best-case scenario in its pandemic planning that would save the economy tens of billions of dollars, the treasurer said on Wednesday. The Treasury and Health Departments developed economic modelling based on an assumption that a vaccine would be widely available in Australia toward the end of next year, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said.”
“‘These are very uncertain times and as a government, we have taken every step possible to give Australia the best possible chance of getting a vaccine,’ Frydenberg told the National Press Club. Treasury modelling doesn’t contemplate a vaccine becoming available in Australia early next year. An early vaccine is regarded as one that is rolled out from July 1, providing certainty to households and businesses while promoting consumption and investment.”
NBC News: “President Donald Trump required personnel at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to sign non-disclosure agreements last year before they could be involved with treating him, according to four people familiar with the process. During a surprise trip to Walter Reed on Nov. 16, 2019, Trump mandated signed NDAs from both physicians and nonmedical staff, most of whom are active-duty military service members, these people said.”
“At least two doctors at Walter Reed who refused to sign NDAs were subsequently not permitted to have any involvement in the president’s care, two of the people said. The reason for his trip last year remains shrouded in mystery. The four people familiar with the process did not know whether, during the president’s most recent visit over the weekend, he had the same requirement for Walter Reed staff members who had not previously been involved in his care.”
“In order to protect the health and safety of all involved with the second presidential debate, scheduled for October 15, 2020, The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) announced the following today: The second presidential debate will take the form of a town meeting, in which the candidates would participate from separate remote locations. The town meeting participants and the moderator, Steve Scully, Senior Executive Producer & Political Editor, C-SPAN Networks, will be located at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County in Miami, Florida. The White House Pool will provide coverage of the second presidential debate”
– Debate Commission statement via Wall Street Journal politics reporter Sabrina Siddiqui.
AP: “The Nobel Prize for literature was awarded to American poet Louise Glück on Thursday ‘for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal.’ The prize was announced in Stockholm by Mats Malm, the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy. New York-born Glück, 77, who is a professor of English at Yale University, made her debut in 1968 with ‘Firstborn,’ and ‘was soon acclaimed as one of the most prominent poets in American contemporary literature,’ the Nobel Academy said.”
“White House chief of staff Mark Meadows hosted a lavish wedding for his daughter in Atlanta this May, despite a statewide order and city of Atlanta guidelines that banned gatherings of more than 10 people to prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus. The wedding took place May 31 at the Biltmore Ballrooms in Midtown Atlanta.”
“The 70 or so guests, including U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, donned tuxedos and ball gowns for the indoor affair, but no masks, as Meadows walked his daughter, Haley, down the aisle through a path of soft white flower petals. With crystal chandeliers, marble floors and a frame of soaring Roman arches, the lush scene could have come from any wedding magazine — were it not taking place at the height of a global pandemic. Although the state of Georgia had loosened some restrictions by the end of May, Gov. Brian Kemp’s orders at the time expressly banned gatherings of more than 10 people” – Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Eric Levitz: “The vice-presidential debate was jarringly normal. The candidates spoke in complete sentences. They interrupted each other (though the Republican interrupted more), ignored the questions they were asked (though the Republican ignored them more), and misled viewers about inconvenient truths (though the Republican lied more) — but they did it all with passive-aggressive politesse, just like it was done in the olden days of 2014, when “President Donald Trump” was still just a twinkle in Satan’s eye. Pence struck me as more visibly comfortable and smooth in his sophistry. Or maybe he was just whiter and more male. (CNN’s instant poll of debate watchers found Harris winning handily.) Regardless, it’s clear that Pence failed to trick Harris into committing some viral “gaffe” that could compete for attention with our very bronze president’s latest hijinks. Given the present state of the race, that makes the evening a loss for Donald Trump.”
Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Kamala Harris came out on top of the CNN instant post-debate poll, with 59% saying she was the better candidate, while only 38% said incumbent republican nominee Mike Pence won the debate, CNN reports.
The outcome of the debate was largely as expected: before the event, 61% of those same voters said they expected Harris to win, 36% thought Pence would.
Harris, however, got a much bigger bump in favorability, rising from 56% to 63% favorability. Pence stayed stagnant at 41% both pre- and post-debate.
Voters view the candidates are equally as qualified to take over as president, with 65% say Pence could take over the office now and 63% saying so for Harris.
CNN did not rate favorability for the debates third participant, the fly.
(UPDATE 10:50 p.m. ET) Asked a question written by a student about division in the US, particularly relating to partisanship. Pence recalled the friendship of RGB and Scalia, and that Americans always come together, even after vigorous debate. Harris referenced the reason Joe Biden ran: the hate that was evident at Charlottesville, and how he saw the division striking the country. Harris noted Biden’s history of reaching across the aisle, and she encouraged people, particularly the future leaders like Brecklin, to get engaged in the political system.
(UPDATE 10:48 p.m. ET) Asked about Trump unwillingness to state he’d support a peaceful transition of power, Harris noted the bipartisan support as well as the support of former military. Harris said they’re supporting Biden because Biden supports the Constitution and the sanctity of the vote. She encouraged people to vote, and “not let anyone subvert our democracy,” noting that Trump openly tried to suppress the vote during the presidential debate.
When asked what he would personally do it Trump didn’t peacefully vacate office, Pence said that he’s confident Trump will win reelection. Pence said, falsely, that Democrats have been trying the last three years trying to overturn the results of the last election. (FACT CHECK: Even if the Senate had convicted Trump, it wouldn’t have thrown republicans out of the White House. Pence would have been sworn in as president.) Pence claimed that the Mueller report found “no evidence of collusion, no evidence of conspiracy. Case closed.” (FACT CHECK: The Mueller report did not address collusion, as it said in the report, because that’s not a legal term. The report said it found evidence–as did a Senate Intelligence Committee report–but insufficient to prosecute. And the case is not closed: the report outlined ten incidents of Trump allegedly committing obstruction of justice that Trump may be prosecuted for when he leaves office.)
Pence claimed that Hillary Clinton said “under no circumstances should [Joe Biden] concede the election.” (FACT CHECK: Clinton was talking about conceding on Election Night. She stated that Democrats should file suit in states where election irregularities look like republicans tilted the outcome.) Pence said that mail in voting would cause “massive voter fraud.” (FACT CHECK: This is untrue, according to numerous sources.)
• The Trump campaign is broke and pulling ads from states it can’t afford to lose, but still spending $154,000 in the DC metro area – which Trump has no hope of winning in the District, Maryland, or Virginia, so Donald can see them when he’s watching TV [1].
• Pizzagate started because John Podesta’s emails mentioned pizza, which 4chan users took to mean a code for pedophilia. Why did they? Because 4chan users themselves traded child pornography on the site for years using the abbreviation CP – which was then turned into “cheese pizza” as a code phrase. Those sick motherfuckers took their own slang and ascribed it to a normal guy who didn’t have anything to do with that shit [2].
• Mike Pence is still technically a Catholic who attends an Evangelical prod church, so he kind of plays both sides of the batshit hardcore Conservative Christian world [3].
• The Hill still sucks [4].
• National Zero got over 10,000 visitors last month and is actively seeking sponsors for some unobtrusive content placement that doesn’t fuck up the experience you know and love. In the meantime, if you’re feeling generous and don’t feel like donating any more money to politicians or real charities then check out this here link [5].
NPR: “A federal judge in California has ordered that Twitter reveal the identity of an anonymous user who allegedly fabricated an FBI document to spread a conspiracy theory about the killing of Seth Rich, the Democratic National Committee staffer who died in 2016.”
“The ruling could lead to the identification of the person behind the Twitter name @whyspertech. Through that account, the user allegedly provided forged FBI materials to Fox News. The documents falsely linked Rich’s killing to the Wikileaks hack of Democratic party emails in the lead up to the 2016 election. While Twitter fought to keep the user’s identity secret, U.S. Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu in Oakland ordered the tech company to turn over the information to lawyers representing Rich’s family in a defamation suit by Oct. 20.”
WATCH IT HERE: NatZero will be live streaming & blogging starting at 8:55 p.m.
Some things to remember:
Expectations for Pence are low. Even though Pence was a radio talk show host before entering politics, Pence is known for his stiff, unemotional delivery. It won’t change tonight. At times, Pence will try to act offended or outraged, but it will manifest itself simply in a raised voice, not real emotion.
Expectations for Harris are high. Harris, a college debater at the nationally-renowned Howard University and former prosecutor, made a reputation as a relentless interrogator during Senate Judiciary Committee hearings where she flustered and angered SCOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT! pic.twitter.com/uhLIcknAjT
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 7, 2020
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