Biden's low "polling numbers" are two things for me.
First, they are misleading. If you combine cultists with disappointed Democrats you get a lot of people. Biden is polling low, not so much because we are opposed to his positions, but because he hasn't performed a magic act with a Congress bought by the Oligarchs (talking to you Sinema and Manchin).
Second, they are a measure of just how short American memories are. That we don't celebrate every day that we NOW have a person in the Oval Office with high moral values is stunning to me. For four years we suffered with a corrupt and vile fool....SUFFERED! Now we have a President who accomplished more in one year than all the Presidents in recent history. And he "polls low"?
I am a Bernie/Warren sort of Democrat. Call me a Democratic Socialist. Or Social Democrat. Yet I am impressed with Joe Biden. Has anyone considered what Biden inherited? Obama only walked into a financial crisis. No big deal compared to what Joe jumped into. A pandemic! A Federal government kneecapped by a deranged con artist! An international relations debacle! Hundreds of executive orders designed to undercut environmental protections and cripple the IRS and the USPS. An exploding deficit caused by tax gifts to the rich! And we haven't talked about the lost four years of Climate Crisis denial....
All that with a tiny, tiny majority in Congress and a Supreme Court packed with Federalist Society Robots who rule as anarchists disabling the very government that pays them.
And President Biden's polling is low? Joe isn't failing. We are. As a nation of selfish souls staring at our phones demanding instant gratification and whining about the very same imperfect world that we are too lazy to fix. If you really consider how Biden has been steering the ship of state, we could be giving him a standing ovation. I'd do that just for ending a stupid horrific 20 war...or helping millions with the American Rescue Act...or the Infrastructure Bill (it's huge!)...or the new judges that are diverse...or the cabinet that reflects America and is well suited to reversing the disgusting mess left the likes of Perry, Ross, DeVos and company. The previous cabinet was filled with hacks and idiots!
Sorry, lot's of coffee and frustration here. But we have a lot to celebrate and what I hear is whining. I am out of patience for those who have no perspective about how devastating the previous four years were. We could be grateful. But we expect things to be fixed as if this was Netflix movie.
The Portland Press Herald here in Maine has been publishing a flurry of letters to the editor imploring Sen. Susan Collins to speak up in favor of the two voting rights bills. On Sunday, it published mine. Thank you for inspiring me to write one.
It is not accurate or helpful to refer to the voting rights bills before the Senate as defeated/dead. The debate, discussion and votes have yet to take place. Let’s allow the process to run its course.
Thank you for an inspiring MLK day message! The Civics Center project is so important. We have five colleges in Greensboro, and we have a hard time getting polling places on campuses because the GOP knows that youth supports change. I wish we could sue the news for misleading headlines, but we certainly can boycott belief in the content. It should come as no surprise to anyone that some Supremes have dumbed down to Fox News: at least two have questionable qualifications.
Over the past weekend I was I was in a discussion with a few people who were a combination of scared, frustrated and angry and wanted to get involved but did not know where to go or what to do. Your newsletter over the past several months has identified many options available to choose from. We decided that we were going to put together a Zoom call focused on several local organizations and projects and invite people to educate and engage them on what and how they can get involved. When I read the Civic Center web site suggested in todays Newsletter and found out what they do and because of the community I live in I knew this would be of interest to several people and felt we needed to do more than just give them a website to go to but give them an opportunity to get immediately involved.
Jan 17, 2022·edited Jan 17, 2022Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
Yesterday, one of two relatively sane voices among Republican candidates for Governor of Arizona this year, dropped out of the race-leaving one relatively sane Republican, three crazies and three very sane Democratic candidates in the race. Saturday, 15K individuals, coming from seven different states, filled a concert field to hear the insane rantings of the defeated former president. At the same time, 1000 earnest souls, most from the Phoenix area, marched along with members of the King family, in support of voting rights. Which event do you think will redound to posterity? Voting rights, by the way, are not a dead letter. Reports are the Chuck Schumer will bring a combined bill up for debate, tomorrow. It isn't over, even in the short term.
As for Youngkin, he will be subject to the same scrutiny as our whackjob late former governor, Evan Mecham, was in 1987. Mecham also said Arizona was open for business-and in short order, mismanaged the state into oblivion and was impeached, convicted and removed from the State Capitol. The same can happen to anyone who regards disenchantment with his predecessor (and many were exhausted by Ralph Northam) as carte blanche to take the affairs of state back to a bygone era.
Biden can improve his polling numbers and help save democracy in America by stop wasting his time on ONLY trying to get the Senate to break the filibuster and get a vote on the John Lewis act or stronger measures. He needs to turn his attention to all of the states and get us deeply inspired to register voters and later to get them to vote. The Senate will not save us...people at the grassroots level just might be able to do so if we have some national and state leadership!
Dr. King's words also remind me of words from an old boss, mentor and friend which have stayed with me for many years: "Prosperity conceals genius, adversity reveals it".
Robert, you wrote: "We can do so again—but only if we stop worrying about predictions of disaster and get to work, confident in the knowledge that our message is the more attractive one being offered to the American people."
I so agree, but I would carry this thought just one degree forward to observe that "our message" is possibly the ONLY "message" being offered to the American people. When the RNC opted not to even have a platform in 2020, it essentially offered NOTHING except a carnival barker to the American people. That same carnival barker has now "jumped the shark" (according to an article in The Daily Beast - or at least I think that was the publication. I read so many, I can't keep track of them all.) He has not only "lost his grip on reality" as you noted, but is trotting out the same old same old tiresome lies and complaints, which are now at a level such that he is not only making himself more the fool than ever, but is literally BORING the faithful. Can you imagine waiting in the cold for hours, huddled next to other maskless cultists, to endure hours of meaningless and repetitious harangues? I can't. I don't know what kind of "message" those people would be voting for if they decide to vote for him again. They're already tired of "Failed Prez 2.0" and appear to be looking for something more titillating in which to tune. I don't see any reality show out there in that party with enough "draw" to pull in the remaining suckers in that party. They might primary out as many as they want, but given what these folks are entertained by, I don't see any of those types making it on the national scene. They just don't have the numbers, and as you said, they certainly don't have much of a "message" to offer! Just my two cents.
Biden's low "polling numbers" are two things for me.
First, they are misleading. If you combine cultists with disappointed Democrats you get a lot of people. Biden is polling low, not so much because we are opposed to his positions, but because he hasn't performed a magic act with a Congress bought by the Oligarchs (talking to you Sinema and Manchin).
Second, they are a measure of just how short American memories are. That we don't celebrate every day that we NOW have a person in the Oval Office with high moral values is stunning to me. For four years we suffered with a corrupt and vile fool....SUFFERED! Now we have a President who accomplished more in one year than all the Presidents in recent history. And he "polls low"?
I am a Bernie/Warren sort of Democrat. Call me a Democratic Socialist. Or Social Democrat. Yet I am impressed with Joe Biden. Has anyone considered what Biden inherited? Obama only walked into a financial crisis. No big deal compared to what Joe jumped into. A pandemic! A Federal government kneecapped by a deranged con artist! An international relations debacle! Hundreds of executive orders designed to undercut environmental protections and cripple the IRS and the USPS. An exploding deficit caused by tax gifts to the rich! And we haven't talked about the lost four years of Climate Crisis denial....
All that with a tiny, tiny majority in Congress and a Supreme Court packed with Federalist Society Robots who rule as anarchists disabling the very government that pays them.
And President Biden's polling is low? Joe isn't failing. We are. As a nation of selfish souls staring at our phones demanding instant gratification and whining about the very same imperfect world that we are too lazy to fix. If you really consider how Biden has been steering the ship of state, we could be giving him a standing ovation. I'd do that just for ending a stupid horrific 20 war...or helping millions with the American Rescue Act...or the Infrastructure Bill (it's huge!)...or the new judges that are diverse...or the cabinet that reflects America and is well suited to reversing the disgusting mess left the likes of Perry, Ross, DeVos and company. The previous cabinet was filled with hacks and idiots!
Sorry, lot's of coffee and frustration here. But we have a lot to celebrate and what I hear is whining. I am out of patience for those who have no perspective about how devastating the previous four years were. We could be grateful. But we expect things to be fixed as if this was Netflix movie.
The Portland Press Herald here in Maine has been publishing a flurry of letters to the editor imploring Sen. Susan Collins to speak up in favor of the two voting rights bills. On Sunday, it published mine. Thank you for inspiring me to write one.
It is not accurate or helpful to refer to the voting rights bills before the Senate as defeated/dead. The debate, discussion and votes have yet to take place. Let’s allow the process to run its course.
Thank you for an inspiring MLK day message! The Civics Center project is so important. We have five colleges in Greensboro, and we have a hard time getting polling places on campuses because the GOP knows that youth supports change. I wish we could sue the news for misleading headlines, but we certainly can boycott belief in the content. It should come as no surprise to anyone that some Supremes have dumbed down to Fox News: at least two have questionable qualifications.
Over the past weekend I was I was in a discussion with a few people who were a combination of scared, frustrated and angry and wanted to get involved but did not know where to go or what to do. Your newsletter over the past several months has identified many options available to choose from. We decided that we were going to put together a Zoom call focused on several local organizations and projects and invite people to educate and engage them on what and how they can get involved. When I read the Civic Center web site suggested in todays Newsletter and found out what they do and because of the community I live in I knew this would be of interest to several people and felt we needed to do more than just give them a website to go to but give them an opportunity to get immediately involved.
WORD FOR THE DAY
We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
A Network for Grateful Living
Thank you for your calm, clear, long-view perspective, Robert.
Yesterday, one of two relatively sane voices among Republican candidates for Governor of Arizona this year, dropped out of the race-leaving one relatively sane Republican, three crazies and three very sane Democratic candidates in the race. Saturday, 15K individuals, coming from seven different states, filled a concert field to hear the insane rantings of the defeated former president. At the same time, 1000 earnest souls, most from the Phoenix area, marched along with members of the King family, in support of voting rights. Which event do you think will redound to posterity? Voting rights, by the way, are not a dead letter. Reports are the Chuck Schumer will bring a combined bill up for debate, tomorrow. It isn't over, even in the short term.
As for Youngkin, he will be subject to the same scrutiny as our whackjob late former governor, Evan Mecham, was in 1987. Mecham also said Arizona was open for business-and in short order, mismanaged the state into oblivion and was impeached, convicted and removed from the State Capitol. The same can happen to anyone who regards disenchantment with his predecessor (and many were exhausted by Ralph Northam) as carte blanche to take the affairs of state back to a bygone era.
Thank you Robert. Your hard work Carrie’s me through.
Biden can improve his polling numbers and help save democracy in America by stop wasting his time on ONLY trying to get the Senate to break the filibuster and get a vote on the John Lewis act or stronger measures. He needs to turn his attention to all of the states and get us deeply inspired to register voters and later to get them to vote. The Senate will not save us...people at the grassroots level just might be able to do so if we have some national and state leadership!
Exactly right.
As for Gov. Youngkin, his remarks were mis-reported. What he said was, “Virginia is open to the highest bidder.”
Dr. King's words also remind me of words from an old boss, mentor and friend which have stayed with me for many years: "Prosperity conceals genius, adversity reveals it".
Thank you, Robert.
Thanks I needed that!
Thank you! Perfect
For today!
Robert, you wrote: "We can do so again—but only if we stop worrying about predictions of disaster and get to work, confident in the knowledge that our message is the more attractive one being offered to the American people."
I so agree, but I would carry this thought just one degree forward to observe that "our message" is possibly the ONLY "message" being offered to the American people. When the RNC opted not to even have a platform in 2020, it essentially offered NOTHING except a carnival barker to the American people. That same carnival barker has now "jumped the shark" (according to an article in The Daily Beast - or at least I think that was the publication. I read so many, I can't keep track of them all.) He has not only "lost his grip on reality" as you noted, but is trotting out the same old same old tiresome lies and complaints, which are now at a level such that he is not only making himself more the fool than ever, but is literally BORING the faithful. Can you imagine waiting in the cold for hours, huddled next to other maskless cultists, to endure hours of meaningless and repetitious harangues? I can't. I don't know what kind of "message" those people would be voting for if they decide to vote for him again. They're already tired of "Failed Prez 2.0" and appear to be looking for something more titillating in which to tune. I don't see any reality show out there in that party with enough "draw" to pull in the remaining suckers in that party. They might primary out as many as they want, but given what these folks are entertained by, I don't see any of those types making it on the national scene. They just don't have the numbers, and as you said, they certainly don't have much of a "message" to offer! Just my two cents.