Simon’s take thus far is to address it head on and point out that with age comes wisdom and experience which has driven the extraordinary record if accomplishment he has amassed. And then remind that both Trump and Biden are old.....but one will be president.....which do you prefer?
At least that’s how I have interpreted Simon’s writings on this issue thus far
I listened to the interview with Reed Galen - everyone should listen to this. It is positive and realistic. If we just focus on the Trump news and what appears to be panic in the Democratic ranks, we are not going to have the energy we need for 2024. What I got out of this podcast that rings true from my experience .....
Simon said that our superpower is the millions out there working everyday. That is my experience. It is the untold story out there. It is the story of millions out there who immediately get on the story such as the one brewing in Wisconsin over Judge Janet - in a heartbeat - the organizing starts all over the country. It is the keyboard warriors who gear up for Virginia (who have been for months) with phones, postcards, markers and stamps to GOTV. It is the same ones who have done so for Special Elections in PA, WI and you name it. That is our superpower.
No we are not in the streets and nor should we be. I'm not confident it is safe to be and frankly - it isn't effective - this is the work that matters - the work that results in getting citizens to the ballot box.
Also, I am enraged to hear that the poll that everyone has been talking about with the terrible #s had 60% self-identified R's. Are you kidding me? Where is that in the reporting? It's out there - but there isn't enough of it.
Also, I just listened to Michael Moore's Self Help for Worried LIberals on his Substack. It's great!
Just remember these two things as we enter the the end of the legislative year and begin the election year:
1) The Republicans are going to get increasingly worse/crazy/egregious/brazen the closer we get to the election because nothing else has worked for them, and we need to see it as a sign of OUR success.....they only retreat further into the abyss of lunacy because they are losing and becoming increasingly desperate.....the Confederates did the same thing after we hit tipping points in the Civil War. Yes, it's when they are the most dangerous, but it's also when they become the most defeatable.
2) Where we do the work, we win. Period. End of Story. Look at the scoreboard. Every victory we've notched up since Dobbs has been in the environment of low Biden Approval ratings, higher than ideal inflation, collective PTSD from COVID and the whole ordeal of the 2020 election and its aftermath, and the presence of the Russian invasion into Ukraine. And guess what.....WE. KEEP. WINNING. The crazier they act, the more the drive away winnable votes....the more we quietly work, the more we build a firewall with our base and an infrastructure to welcome those winnable votes into our safe tent of normalcy....even if they don't join us with joy and enthusiasm, they still join us and their votes count the same.
***Note On Approval Rating***
I believe President Biden's low approval rating is the result of a bunch of people in OUR own voting coalition who are disgusted with politics in general (and who can blame them), and feel disappointed that getting rid of Trump didn't magically solve every problem in the world......but they sure as shit don't think that the answer going forward is to give Trump another go at it.....too much is being made of the approval rating because cable pundits and Op/Ed columnists have to fill their time talking about something.
We got this peeps.....may not be a sexy news story, just like "Normal Experienced President Implements Effective Policy Quietly Solving Big Problem Public Doesn't Fully Understand" doesn't grab the headlines very often.......so don't expect the media to talk about it until we shock the hell out of them in November of 2024 with the outcome we produce.....but "We. Got. This."
All of this. With an emphasis on “the more we quietly work, the more we build a firewall with our base and an infrastructure to welcome those winnable votes into our safe tent of normalcy....even if they don't join us with joy and enthusiasm, they still join us and their votes count the same.”
Deeply appreciate your info. It continues to provide me talking points just like Simons does. I don’t ever “panic” but Ill admit it does get wearying to have to listen to all the “bad news” over and over and over again and crowing GOP allies. Another round of calming friends and family! I keep my head down and keep working and remember all those Marchers after djt got elected. We coalesced and moved forward, under the radar in so many different ways. The work of local Democrats has come to me to feel like a force of nature now, a sort of slow moving tsunami 🌊 gaining momentum across our nation, one district at a time, one county at a time, one election at a time, one groups work at a time. Reading the projects so many are involved in on HC is proof ( to me) no one is giving up, all are keeping their oars in the water and more are joining everyday. And Hopium Chronicles has brought us a positive respite community where many of us can share ideas and take joy in accomplishments and just keep on working. And understanding now that there are thousands of groups out there with millions of passionate movers. The deep energy, force and resolve feels like a magnitude 10 strength to me now. You’re so right, not sexy news but basically that “sleeping giant” ( like after Pearl Harbor or after 9/11) stirred awake and fully determined. We just need to keep getting bigger and bolder.
Thanks Irene..... I think everything we can do to maintain morale among ourselves is pretty important. The country is understandably (and by the Republicans’ design) in a “bad mood”. We have to be mature and compassionate enough to accept that and do the work for the greater good without the need of praise and gratitude in return for a while. But what the data and results continue to show me is that voters know which of their two options can be trusted as long as we empower them to make a choice every time that they can.
Lincoln faced a situation very much like this where nobody was particularly happy with anything he did during his tenure in office.....too weak and sympathetic for the abolitionists, too bold and radical for the conservatives, and everyone in between was just pissed that the war kept dragging on and why the hell couldn’t he just win it or end it or whatever!! It’s only in retrospect that we’ve been able to appreciate his masterful management of an impossible & fragile situation and give him the praise and respect he deserves. But even with everyone’s constant disappointment and frustration with him for the troubled state of affairs at the time, he still won their votes because under it all they knew he was the best available choice.
Some day in the future I firmly believe those same words will be written of Joe Biden and the Democratic Party of today....and people like us here in the Hopium Community will have been instrumental in securing that legacy and surviving these rough waters in our national history. Keep your chin up...you’re part of something extraordinary and consequential, and you deserve to feel proud of it. 😊
Really enjoyed reading the Lincoln-Biden analogy. I’m going to revisit that information a few times! And yes, you’re right. Even though I still get annoyed with all the “worry calls” I get with every poll that comes out I AM deeply proud of all the work being done by so many to save our democracy! And I’ve especially loved learning about all the wonderful activist peeps and communities out there across our nation and all the incredible work they are doing.
I’m a lifelong Democrat who cast his first vote for president in 1976. Democratic panic is a self-fulfilling ogre that has as much connection to reality as a monster movie. There is nothing to be gained from being one’s own worst enemy.
“First, the polling field is broken. Or, if you listen to pollsters’ complaints, it is consistently misapplied and misinterpreted. Polls didn’t come within shouting distance of the right result in either 2016 or 2020. … polling seems designed to make a point. Asking voters whether they want an imaginary, younger Democratic candidate when the only candidate who will get the nomination is Joe Biden is effectively asking people to underscore the point that the president is old… it tells us nothing about what voters will do when presented with a choice between an 80-year-old, sane and accomplished incumbent running against an only slightly younger, unhinged, accused felon. Polling obsession might feed the desire, as media critic Jay Rosen said, to turn politics into ‘a savy analysis of who was up, who was down, who’s winning or likely to win, the horse race, the spin, the strategy – all of that,’ but it does not provide information with which voters can seriously, critically evaluate what is going on and what is at is at issue in the election. … We all would do far better to apply our energy to stemming the tide of disinformation and facing hard truths about a MAGA movement that manages to bamboozle millions of Americans – and remains the greatest domestic threat to democracy we’ve seen.” Jennifer Rubin, “I don’t write about polls. You shouldn’t bother with them, either.” New York Times, 9/10/2023 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/09/10/pollings-unrealistic-coverage/
Grateful as always for sharing your insightful wisdom and leadership with us, Simon. Loved seeing you last night on MSNBC and hope to see more media appearances ahead.
Re Biden’s low polling - I hope all of us will proudly acknowledge to everyone within earshot that Joe Biden has not just been a good President, he’s been an extraordinary President - one of the very best in modern times. We have the goods to support the description, and his historic achievements are all the more impressive knowing where we were when he took office. He’s done it with consistent grace and decency, all while facing MAGA’s relentless obstruction and ongoing desire to end our democracy.
I’d also encourage the Hopium family to reach out to our Democratic representatives in Congress and challenge each of them to get far louder in support of President Biden and his many accomplishments. It shouldn’t be a big ask since there’s an abundance of things to praise. Best of all, they’re true!
Simon’s take thus far is to address it head on and point out that with age comes wisdom and experience which has driven the extraordinary record if accomplishment he has amassed. And then remind that both Trump and Biden are old.....but one will be president.....which do you prefer?
At least that’s how I have interpreted Simon’s writings on this issue thus far
Two things:
I listened to the interview with Reed Galen - everyone should listen to this. It is positive and realistic. If we just focus on the Trump news and what appears to be panic in the Democratic ranks, we are not going to have the energy we need for 2024. What I got out of this podcast that rings true from my experience .....
Simon said that our superpower is the millions out there working everyday. That is my experience. It is the untold story out there. It is the story of millions out there who immediately get on the story such as the one brewing in Wisconsin over Judge Janet - in a heartbeat - the organizing starts all over the country. It is the keyboard warriors who gear up for Virginia (who have been for months) with phones, postcards, markers and stamps to GOTV. It is the same ones who have done so for Special Elections in PA, WI and you name it. That is our superpower.
No we are not in the streets and nor should we be. I'm not confident it is safe to be and frankly - it isn't effective - this is the work that matters - the work that results in getting citizens to the ballot box.
Also, I am enraged to hear that the poll that everyone has been talking about with the terrible #s had 60% self-identified R's. Are you kidding me? Where is that in the reporting? It's out there - but there isn't enough of it.
Also, I just listened to Michael Moore's Self Help for Worried LIberals on his Substack. It's great!
👆👆👆👆👆
This.....ALL of this. Great comment Theressa!
Just remember these two things as we enter the the end of the legislative year and begin the election year:
1) The Republicans are going to get increasingly worse/crazy/egregious/brazen the closer we get to the election because nothing else has worked for them, and we need to see it as a sign of OUR success.....they only retreat further into the abyss of lunacy because they are losing and becoming increasingly desperate.....the Confederates did the same thing after we hit tipping points in the Civil War. Yes, it's when they are the most dangerous, but it's also when they become the most defeatable.
2) Where we do the work, we win. Period. End of Story. Look at the scoreboard. Every victory we've notched up since Dobbs has been in the environment of low Biden Approval ratings, higher than ideal inflation, collective PTSD from COVID and the whole ordeal of the 2020 election and its aftermath, and the presence of the Russian invasion into Ukraine. And guess what.....WE. KEEP. WINNING. The crazier they act, the more the drive away winnable votes....the more we quietly work, the more we build a firewall with our base and an infrastructure to welcome those winnable votes into our safe tent of normalcy....even if they don't join us with joy and enthusiasm, they still join us and their votes count the same.
***Note On Approval Rating***
I believe President Biden's low approval rating is the result of a bunch of people in OUR own voting coalition who are disgusted with politics in general (and who can blame them), and feel disappointed that getting rid of Trump didn't magically solve every problem in the world......but they sure as shit don't think that the answer going forward is to give Trump another go at it.....too much is being made of the approval rating because cable pundits and Op/Ed columnists have to fill their time talking about something.
We got this peeps.....may not be a sexy news story, just like "Normal Experienced President Implements Effective Policy Quietly Solving Big Problem Public Doesn't Fully Understand" doesn't grab the headlines very often.......so don't expect the media to talk about it until we shock the hell out of them in November of 2024 with the outcome we produce.....but "We. Got. This."
All of this. With an emphasis on “the more we quietly work, the more we build a firewall with our base and an infrastructure to welcome those winnable votes into our safe tent of normalcy....even if they don't join us with joy and enthusiasm, they still join us and their votes count the same.”
Thank you PianoManSteve,
Deeply appreciate your info. It continues to provide me talking points just like Simons does. I don’t ever “panic” but Ill admit it does get wearying to have to listen to all the “bad news” over and over and over again and crowing GOP allies. Another round of calming friends and family! I keep my head down and keep working and remember all those Marchers after djt got elected. We coalesced and moved forward, under the radar in so many different ways. The work of local Democrats has come to me to feel like a force of nature now, a sort of slow moving tsunami 🌊 gaining momentum across our nation, one district at a time, one county at a time, one election at a time, one groups work at a time. Reading the projects so many are involved in on HC is proof ( to me) no one is giving up, all are keeping their oars in the water and more are joining everyday. And Hopium Chronicles has brought us a positive respite community where many of us can share ideas and take joy in accomplishments and just keep on working. And understanding now that there are thousands of groups out there with millions of passionate movers. The deep energy, force and resolve feels like a magnitude 10 strength to me now. You’re so right, not sexy news but basically that “sleeping giant” ( like after Pearl Harbor or after 9/11) stirred awake and fully determined. We just need to keep getting bigger and bolder.
Please keep reminding us like you do. 🙏🏻
Thanks Irene..... I think everything we can do to maintain morale among ourselves is pretty important. The country is understandably (and by the Republicans’ design) in a “bad mood”. We have to be mature and compassionate enough to accept that and do the work for the greater good without the need of praise and gratitude in return for a while. But what the data and results continue to show me is that voters know which of their two options can be trusted as long as we empower them to make a choice every time that they can.
Lincoln faced a situation very much like this where nobody was particularly happy with anything he did during his tenure in office.....too weak and sympathetic for the abolitionists, too bold and radical for the conservatives, and everyone in between was just pissed that the war kept dragging on and why the hell couldn’t he just win it or end it or whatever!! It’s only in retrospect that we’ve been able to appreciate his masterful management of an impossible & fragile situation and give him the praise and respect he deserves. But even with everyone’s constant disappointment and frustration with him for the troubled state of affairs at the time, he still won their votes because under it all they knew he was the best available choice.
Some day in the future I firmly believe those same words will be written of Joe Biden and the Democratic Party of today....and people like us here in the Hopium Community will have been instrumental in securing that legacy and surviving these rough waters in our national history. Keep your chin up...you’re part of something extraordinary and consequential, and you deserve to feel proud of it. 😊
Really enjoyed reading the Lincoln-Biden analogy. I’m going to revisit that information a few times! And yes, you’re right. Even though I still get annoyed with all the “worry calls” I get with every poll that comes out I AM deeply proud of all the work being done by so many to save our democracy! And I’ve especially loved learning about all the wonderful activist peeps and communities out there across our nation and all the incredible work they are doing.
A special time indeed.
I’m a lifelong Democrat who cast his first vote for president in 1976. Democratic panic is a self-fulfilling ogre that has as much connection to reality as a monster movie. There is nothing to be gained from being one’s own worst enemy.
The US remains in a 'heightened threat environment " per DHS - but media is not interested https://www.dhs.gov/national-terrorism-advisory-system
“First, the polling field is broken. Or, if you listen to pollsters’ complaints, it is consistently misapplied and misinterpreted. Polls didn’t come within shouting distance of the right result in either 2016 or 2020. … polling seems designed to make a point. Asking voters whether they want an imaginary, younger Democratic candidate when the only candidate who will get the nomination is Joe Biden is effectively asking people to underscore the point that the president is old… it tells us nothing about what voters will do when presented with a choice between an 80-year-old, sane and accomplished incumbent running against an only slightly younger, unhinged, accused felon. Polling obsession might feed the desire, as media critic Jay Rosen said, to turn politics into ‘a savy analysis of who was up, who was down, who’s winning or likely to win, the horse race, the spin, the strategy – all of that,’ but it does not provide information with which voters can seriously, critically evaluate what is going on and what is at is at issue in the election. … We all would do far better to apply our energy to stemming the tide of disinformation and facing hard truths about a MAGA movement that manages to bamboozle millions of Americans – and remains the greatest domestic threat to democracy we’ve seen.” Jennifer Rubin, “I don’t write about polls. You shouldn’t bother with them, either.” New York Times, 9/10/2023 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/09/10/pollings-unrealistic-coverage/
Grateful as always for sharing your insightful wisdom and leadership with us, Simon. Loved seeing you last night on MSNBC and hope to see more media appearances ahead.
Re Biden’s low polling - I hope all of us will proudly acknowledge to everyone within earshot that Joe Biden has not just been a good President, he’s been an extraordinary President - one of the very best in modern times. We have the goods to support the description, and his historic achievements are all the more impressive knowing where we were when he took office. He’s done it with consistent grace and decency, all while facing MAGA’s relentless obstruction and ongoing desire to end our democracy.
I’d also encourage the Hopium family to reach out to our Democratic representatives in Congress and challenge each of them to get far louder in support of President Biden and his many accomplishments. It shouldn’t be a big ask since there’s an abundance of things to praise. Best of all, they’re true!
What is the plan for Virginia to prevent REpublican takeover?