.jpg)
Future generations will look back — assuming they can, assuming history is allowed — and wonder what the appeal could possibly have been. And all I can do is keep repeating my mantra, "The duped are invested in the fraud." They've punched the ticket, gotten on the train to Crazyworld, and nothing, full stop, nothing is going to pry them out of their seat. Not when the scenery they tell themselves they must be seeing is so shiny and glittery. Golden, not orange. Thrilling. Not nauseating.
"The Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss,” one candidate said — I'll let you figure out who. My first thought: "Let's fucking hope so; I'm trying to do my part." But that's the bright spin. Already pre-emptively blaming the Jews. Which might come as a surprise to Jewish supporters but, as I've said many times, once you get in the habit of ignoring reality, the specific details of the reality being ignored hardly matters.
And in a sense the details don't matter. Hate is fungible. Mexicans, Muslims, Jews — who the fuck cares? The point is to demean somebody, lord yourself above somebody. The precise sort of person is of no consequence. Anyone will do.
Notice, I don't mention any names. Even on my own personal blog. I think that's months of trying to jump through the paper's 501(c)3 charity hoops wearing off on me. Or rather, grinding me down. We're not supposed to express a preference when it comes to candidates. A reminder to never forget the fiscal motive in all this. As Marge Gunderson says in "Fargo" — "And for what? For a little bit of money. There's more to life than a little money, you know. Don'tcha know that? And here ya are, and it's a beautiful day. Well. I just don't understand it."
Notice, I don't mention any names. Even on my own personal blog. I think that's months of trying to jump through the paper's 501(c)3 charity hoops wearing off on me. Or rather, grinding me down. We're not supposed to express a preference when it comes to candidates. A reminder to never forget the fiscal motive in all this. As Marge Gunderson says in "Fargo" — "And for what? For a little bit of money. There's more to life than a little money, you know. Don'tcha know that? And here ya are, and it's a beautiful day. Well. I just don't understand it."
How can the election be this close? In all likelihood, it probably isn't. But collectively, the national media pretends it is, and tries to make everybody think so, and believe so. A blowout is a snoozer, and people turn to football. But a close race means more hits, clicks, eyeballs, and ratings. And higher ratings mean more profit. It's all about the moolah. And the shareholders. Never mind the real numbers.
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't think 2024 is the first time this has happened. The same thing took place in 2016 and 2020, and in the early fall of 2008 and 2012, as well. Before Obama "surged ahead" and the outcome couldn't be lied about anymore.
Gene Lyons said the same thing two weeks ago, even before the debate debacle, and a lot better than I can:
"After months of stories devoted to Joe Biden’s age, cognition, supposed gaffes and fitness to serve, the national press now covers the race between Harris and Trump as if it were a normal presidential campaign with normal candidates. Bush vs. Gore, say."
"Horse-race coverage, it’s called, with updates about rallies, swing states, opinion polls and the like. The collective unwillingness of our esteemed national news media to cope with the reality of the Trump campaign constitutes a profound failure of responsibility — an elaborate game of 'let’s pretend.' ”
"We’re not supposed to notice that one of the horses has thrown its jockey and is running loose on the track."
So they're not only bullshitting about the race being "neck and neck"...they're ignoring the obvious...his...what? Mental illness? Delusional thinking? Cognitive decline? Mini-strokes? If you or I talked the crazy talk for as long as he has, Mr. S, we would have long since been strapped into a rubber truck, which would have delivered us to a rubber room.
Trump's trolley left the wire a few stops back. And if the crazy half of America refuses to notice, and then puts this meshuganer back in the Oval Orifice, we deserve whatever hell awaits us. If he loses, the mental patient will go on ranting about the Jews. Either way, boychik...will we get the tsouris...
I'm in 100% agreement.
DeleteIt's so obvious he is both totally demented & totally batshit crazy, but 99.9% of the media are ignoring this!
Why they're ignoring that is flat out criminal.
Sort of reminds of of what they say about the British. The poor there are crazy, but the rich are eccentric.
He prefers dictators over those leaders chosen by their people who also will leave if they lose the next election. The sole foreign leader he mentioned at the debate was Orban, who has turned Hungary into a one party state that he controls, totally. Orban even loves Russia & Putin, the successor to the people who crushed the Hungarians in 1956!
It's obvious that Trump has never been sane, he was a bully in school, he was such a terrible student at Wharton, he paid other students to take tests for him, his really rich father had to buy his degree. His father also paid off a two bit podiatrist to fake up bone spurs to keep him from getting drafted. Of course, had he been drafted, due to his degree, he would've been sent to Officer's Candidate School & then sent to Viet Nam where he would've been fragged by his own men, due to his utter incompetence at everything he does.
Just look at his track record: He inherited $400 million & then over the years managed to lose billions with his investments & construction projects.
Has anyone else ever gone broke six times running casinos? NO!
Just how do you lose money running casinos, when not only does the house have the edge at all times, but you also screw over all of your sub-contractors too & don't pay them what you owe them?
And look at what he thinks is classy living, garish, ridiculous interiors covered in fake gold paint. His homes look more like the main parlor of the Everleigh Sister's whorehouse than where any sane person would want to live!
The sole reason he has any money is due to loans guaranteed at Deutsche Banks by Putin.
If he had been smart, putting that $400 million into an S&P stock index fund would made him an actual billionaire without ever having to do any work & he could've spent his time chasing the cheap European whores he so loves!
Love THESE both. I get it though. Americans thrive on competitive entertainment and sport. Look how passionate they get when their stupid team wins a championship. Ii's men playing with balls, FFS. I remember what a yawn it was during Kerry / Bush (beige vs. ecru) and how hardly anyone showed up to vote at my poll in the city. Maybe voters only pay attention when their well-being is at stake?
DeleteThis seems like the English Reformation; people were devout Catholics until Henry VIII wanted to boink Anne Boleyn, then everything changed so he could get his divorce (and after, killed Anne anyway) Folks were cooked, quartered and racked until they conformed to the new regime, their traditions no longer mattered. We still have a choice, possibly our last.
If you think the race isn’t close, you’re probably delusional. And if you act like the race isn’t close, you’re helping to lose it. Doesn’t anyone remember that Trump WON in 2016?
DeleteThanks muchly. And for Clark, it's a BINGO. He's right on the money.
DeleteKissing the asses of Putin, and that Hungarian traitor, Orban. The bullying, the cheating and the conniving his way through school, the draft-dodging, the multiple business failures, the "European whores" (this latest one, though, is a native).
Especially loved the superb snark about the Everleigh sisters, and their lurid, brassy, gaudy whorehouse (the Everleigh Club). It operated near 22nd (now Cermak) and Dearborn, from 1900 to 1911. That's a keeper. They would have loved Sniffy, and they'd have polished his piccolo and taken him to the cleaners.
Clark definitely knows his Chicago history.
Maybe one of the best comments he's ever done.
Kudos to the man from East Roger Spark!
Not saying it isn't close...it just isn't THAT close. Not "a whisker" of a winning margin. Hell, I know the victor will not win by seven million votes, like Joe did. But I don't believe it will be the squeaker that many predict. Nothing like JFK in '60, or Nixon in '68, or Bush in 2000...or even like Carter in '76.
DeleteKamala will get a few million more votes than Orange Julius. Maybe quite a few. The real problem is the goddamned Electoral College. That's what gave us Mr. Tangerine Man, and the unholy mess we've been in ever since. It needs to go, along with the Farkokte Floridian, and the Jerusalem Jagoff. For starters.
It's disappointing to hear. Griz describe the work of mainstream media in terms of fake news that they're intentionally lying to us to up our interest in the election race. I just don't believe that even though Biden won by millions of votes and Hillary also won the popular vote by millions. The electoral college is what's close and certain States that will swing the electoral college one way or the other is close. So you can out pull your opponent. You can get more votes than your opponent and still lose the election.
DeleteI think the media makes this very clear. At least the ones I consume
Neil, Grizz, and Clark, all three of you outdid yourselves in clear, compelling (and might I add entertaining) communications about the current threats to our democracy, especially the part about the media acting like we have two viable candidates. Are they brain dead or so compromised in their integrity they’ve lost all sense of decency and truth? But wow! You three really nailed what’s wrong and what’s at stake. I feel like I’ve found my tribe, including all the other commenters who also responded.
DeleteMucho apreciado. if this is your new Tribe, you'd better hang on, Sloopy, and hang around...while you still can. Mr. S has talked about maybe turning off the comment feature (he gets several tons of shit from trolls,...every goddamn day...that never sees daylight). Or just pulling the plug entirely.
DeleteHell, Mr. S. is a busy man, and maybe becoming a weary one. Columns, obits, articles, books, EGD...they all take their toll, I'm sure. Said maybe three more years, tops. Hope it's longer. Whatever timespan it is, it'll go by like a day, at least for me. Hope I'm still here for the mad, sad finish, whenever it may be.
"How can the election be this close? In all likelihood, it probably isn't. But collectively, the national media pretends it is, and tries to make everybody think so, and believe so"
DeleteWell, how good to know another conspiracy theorist is alive and well. Your comment is below criticism, but I will try. There are so many surveys, most within a margin of error, but the vast majority show this is almost a dead heat. Surveys are taken by professional pollsters who use well known statistical models. There is nothing to suggest that some sort of conspiracy is underway. If you have proof of any please share your deep well researched knowledge with the rest of us. If you don't have any such data, how about keeping your piehole shut tight and spare thinking people your nonesense.
If polls were accurate, Hillary would be finishing her second term!
DeleteAre you that eighty-something Sherman Kaplan who started at Newsradio SSSSSeventy-eight when I was still in college? The Sheman Kaplan who reviewed countless eateries? The same Sherman Kaplan I listened to for decades, and whom I believed would therefore somehow be above being an obnoxious snark online?
DeleteSounds like you are focusing on the word "collectively" here, and smelling a whiff of "conspiracy theory"--here's a heads-up: I never, ever said, or even hinted, that it was any kind of conspiracy. Unless the idea that the MSM are all about the bottom line and the profit motive and the shareholders is a conspiracy.
You had a long and stellar career. I listened to you on the local airwaves for many years. Maybe you've got your panties in a bunch because you were a MSM personality, and I touched a nerve here. And yet you stoop...no...sink... to calling me a conspiracy theorist? And telling me to shut my piehole? That's the best you can do? Do better.
Deal with the message, pal...not the messenger. If that's all you've got, in what should be a much deeper ammo pouch...merely accusing me of being a crackpot conspiracy theorist... you're down to what the hippies labeled as stems and seeds..
So I will sink to your own level, even though I really shouldn't:
Just GFY, Sherm.
Hillary beat Trump by millions in the popular vote. Not sure the polls were wrong,
DeleteI didn't read the end of SK's remark, about the piehole, or I wouldn't of posted it. But now that it's up, and you don't seem shaken by it, might as well stay up. Sometimes I'm out and about and just post the ones that seem legitimate.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteShaken, as you were years ago by Royko? No...more like stirred. Annoyed by the possibility that someone with 47 years, at CBS Radio, and who began his broadcasting career when JFK was in office, would be so patronizing. Perhaps it's not really SK at all. Isn't it pretty to think so?.
DeleteThey've been duped, as you say.
ReplyDeleteThe dull-witted are easily mesmerized.
ReplyDeleteMost of the folks pundit-ing about this election are men. This woman is telling you that it's not going to be close in the end. Women are an electoral volcano ready to erupt. Early voting started yesterday in three states. Turnout in one county in Virginia was about TRIPLE what it was in 2020. Buckle up.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your observation and I hope you are right. If I could just ask one question, what is it with some women that they're mesmerized by Trump? I don't get it
DeleteTrump will never last 4 years. A vote for Trump is a vote for Vance, who will be controlled by the Steve, I mean, Stephen Miller Band. In other news of GOP dishonor, North Shore (!) Republicans are standing by Mark Robinson. (Reported in Sun-Times this morning)
ReplyDeleteAs much as I fear the idea of depending on the American people to save themselves it has in fact come down to just that.
ReplyDeleteWatch the women, indeed! I’m more worried about down ballot results. Vice-President Harris, if successful getting elected, will have trouble governing if the current cast of characters remain in control of a very gerrymandered Congress. Largely Southern supremicists are still trying to fight the Civil War.
ReplyDeleteWise words from Grizz and Clark St. I'll add that I also enjoy Gene Lyons' columns every Sat. in the paper.
ReplyDeleteIt's not that close. The RethugliKKKers will get their asses handed to them. Drimpf will be ridiculed and recognized as the electoral dead weight he is, and will most likely bail to yhw waiting arms of Russia. Our problems will still go on, but will be addressed by a competent administration. And if we're lucky, the Rethugs will splinter into a couple of useless factions, and cease to be the national nuisance they are. Good fucking riddance.
ReplyDeleteForget which election it was for, but several cycles ago David Sedaris wrote: "To put it in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendent comes down the aisle with the food cart and asks, 'Can I interest you in the chicken or would you prefer a platter of sh!it with bits of broken glass in it?' To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked."
ReplyDeleteIt's fun to read this blog post and the comments pointing out the Biggest Loser's glaring flaws and his obvious unsuitability to be president. Though it's not like the media don't report the crazy things he says and does. Uh, "They're eating the dogs. ... They're eating the cats." was pretty widely reported, along with having been said on live TV to 67 million people. But as our wise host has stated repeatedly: "once you get in the habit of ignoring reality, the specific details of the reality being ignored hardly matters." There's a reason that his supporters have been referred to as a cult for almost a decade now. That being said, it seems like the "eating the pets" routine may be one of the batshit crazy things he's said that actually costs him votes.
ReplyDeleteThere were points in 2016 where many were convinced that race was not close, as well. While Hillary won the popular vote by nearly 3 million, about 80,000 votes in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin were enough to cost her the election. That, followed by Biden's win, clearly demonstrated that sexism remains a potent force in this country, along with racism, of course. I don't like to think about it, but a big popular vote win accompanied by an electoral college loss could happen again, as Mr. Weiland and the 11:14 commenter pointed out.
Now we have a candidate who is of Black and Asian heritage, and is a woman. I've been very happy to see how quickly folks have rallied in supporting her once Biden stepped aside. And she's clearly far more competent and qualified than Dolt 45, who would be considered nothing more than a national joke in a more rational country. But I'll believe she'll win handily once the votes are counted, not before.
Much stranger things have happened than for the combination of sexism, racism, xenophobia and stupidity in this country to allow the orange charlatan to be elected again.
Do the pollsters ever ask the kids? I mean Generation X and Z, whoever they are?
ReplyDeleteI'm not religious but, Good God Almighty, I hope and pray Harris wins. Continued momentum for Trump and his ilk will not end well.
ReplyDeleteHow can the election be this close?
Trump isn't the first sociopath seize our attention nor the first bigot in the USA to win millions of votes. George Wallace got 13% of the popular voter and 45 on the Electoral College. As a third party candidate! I'd guess most of his demographic descendants then moved to the GOP and recently MAGA. What will the Republican party be after Trump?
The political parties have set up a duopoly. About half the elections are uncontested - only one candidate. It's a great business model. Regardless of who gets the most votes, consultants and media on every side make a huge amount of money. And that money fuels the front runners in the next race.
To a lot of voters, "democratic" elections are a simple contest between two teams. One winner and one loser. And a lot people choose their team by skin color.
I don't disagree with the characterizations of Trump and MAGA but I don't know how that gets any votes for Harris.
A future GOP led by Vance, Hawley, Cruz, et cetera is dangerous. The Democratic Party had better wake up. Stop with the manipulated primaries nominating disliked or overaged candidates. Pay more attention to the middle and less to either coast and every miniscule demographic group before things get worse.
Ok, I'm done ranting. Back to writing letters for Vote Forward. Thanks.
I forgot to mention that I also enjoy Gene Lyons. And of course Neil Steinberg. They're both great reality checks.
ReplyDeleteWe have to win by a LOT, because the GQP has already put into place individuals and state policies designed to STEAL the eleciton, and don't forget the SCOTUS is in the pocket for tRump. This is not a drill.
ReplyDelete