Good point about the broader diversity. Admittedly I was focused on racial diversity only because we were discussing about asian americans. Harvard is making ACT/SAT optional this cycle because of covid and will do away with ACT/SAT in 2025.

No real idea if eliminating ACT/SAT will help or hurt asian american % at Harvard.

Just saw this headline:

State auditor finds that UC Berkeley gave preferential admissions to the children of wealthy donors over low-income students with more competitive applications

Exactly. I got great grades in college!

He's telling us exactly what's going to happen.

"We need 9 justices. You need that. With the unsolicited millions of ballots that they're sending ... you're gonna need 9 justices." -- Trump suggests he's counting on SCOTUS to have his back when he makes claims of election fraud following November's election pic.twitter.com/Ju8ShMe8MN

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 22, 2020

I'm just here to vote for Moose Waffle

SI

Bloomberg pays fines for 32,000 felons in Florida so they can vote | TheHill


Bloomberg money being put to really good use (countering DeSantis's fuckery)

When I saw him say he was going to spend $100M in advertising in Florida, I thought it could be better used buying out felon poll taxes. I'm glad to see that was part of the plan.

SI

Smart move. Paying off the poll tax is a better use of money than some TV ads.

Why are they hiding Harris? She is a good talker. One of the good parts of bringing in a former prosecutor is they can make a good case for your ticket. Such an odd move.

Some really good polls for Trump out this morning in FL and AZ showing him with slight leads among likely voters. An A+ pollster, too, according to 538.

Not what I wanted to see.

Trump campaign definitely planning to steal the election.

This ⁦@bartongellman⁩ piece is the stuff of nightmares https://t.co/HKHihd9EwF pic.twitter.com/5aIIsfZDWN

— Yoni Appelbaum (@YAppelbaum) September 23, 2020

eit: More from that article. Shocking that a state party chair would say this on the record.

I cannot believe that the chairman of the Pennsylvania Republican Party said this on the record. It reveals either the GOP’s brazenness or stupidity. Or both. https://t.co/fBEv9TmHVD pic.twitter.com/N73tdshqug

— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) September 23, 2020

If you are a "source[] in the Republican Party at the state and national levels" and you are for this, then why would you talk to a journalist about it?

And if you are a "source[] in the Republican Party at the state and national levels," who is against this, then why are you speaking off the record? Why aren't you bringing recorders into these meetings and shouting it from the rooftops publicly?

This weird "I'm having trouble sleeping at night. But I won't do anything to make it right. I'll just talk off the record to assuage my guilt" thing is really starting to piss me off.

The debate, which will be held on Sept. 29 in Cleveland, will feature six 15-minute segments dedicated to the following topics: The Trump and Biden records, the Supreme Court, Covid-19, the economy, race and violence in American cities and the integrity of the election.

the Trump and Biden records- slight edge Biden
the Supreme Court- even (depends on which team you are on)
Covid-19, - Edge Biden
Economy- Advantage Trump
Race and violence in American cities - Edge Biden (Closer than it should be due to painting the protests as only Antifa anarchists by Trumpers)
Integrity of the election - Edge Biden

because taking away the power of the people to vote won't cause people to lose faith or anything

I also read this type of rumors or facts whichever has started to spook the stock market. If Trump was to actually go ahead with stealing the election I am betting the market drops bigtime.

Trump is running ads trying to double down on the Biden is senile stuff by saying he's nothing without a teleprompter. Didn't they try this with Obama and it backfired spectacularly?

I mean how can no one see when it turns out not only can Biden think on his feet, but do so well, in the debate next week, it's going to backfire massively on Trump.

Sure they have the 'he's hopped up on drugs' card, but that's even more desperate.

Chris Wallace will grill both of them. It should be a real train-wreck. We already know Trump will give disjointed rants and change the subject mid-sentence. Biden will not have the benefit of reading a scripted message from a teleprompter with multiple takes to get it just right, and he's not going to come across well either.

Sounds about right to me. I think you should also add "Presentation/Presence". I'd give it to Biden but Trump could surprise and/or Biden could stumble.

Why does Trump have the edge on economy? Are we just supposed to ignore the 8 months leading up to the election?

"yeah honey, I know I just slept with a tranny hooker, but I was faithful to you the first 8 years of our marriage."

It is stupid.

But if you had to put some "why might you do this?" thought into it, I think that

(1) You don't lie to be believed. You lie to be repeated.

(2) We are all thinking that people will see Biden not be senile and have this "OMG, Trump was lying?!" moment. But that won't happen. How many times in the last 12 years have we seen actual seen-it-with-your-own-eyes reality conflict with GOP spin and have people still believe the GOP spin? How many Americans think COVID isn't real (not just not a big deal, but an actual hoax)? How many think that Trump has built the wall and made Mexico pay for it? How many think that Obama is a Muslim?

It is really a stretch to think that a lot of people will totally ignore the evidence in front of them?

(3) You are priming the media to spin any ambiguity your way. If Biden gives a really coherent and complex two minute answer to a foreign policy question, but he slightly mispronounces "Uzbekistan" in the middle of it, then the takeaway will be "Grandpa needs his pills!"


As someone who wants Trump to lose the election, my best hope isn't that Biden does well. The "well of course, Biden did well. He's a great debater" turnaround by the GOP spin machine (which will be credibly reported by the media) will dull any effects of that.

My hope is that Trump, having been coddled by his handlers for the last 4 years, has lost the ability to do this well and actually manages to fuck up in a way that somehow penetrates through to people.

Honest question. Why do you think he will do worse in these debates than in the primary debates?

Of the 2, I think Trump needs a teleprompter more just to stay on track and not turn away voters. The whole Biden teleprompter thing is surreal. He made it through the debates while getting stronger in each one. He was great in the town hall. Trump was awful in the 2016 debates and awful in his town hall.

Biden's best debate was against Sanders! Sanders fans were giddy thinking that now it was one-on-one, Bernie would destroy old demented Joe Biden... and Biden won that debate!

It's really strange that Trump is trying to make this attack. It's not like Trump is Ted Cruz or something. Trump rambles and says bizarre answers when not tied to a teleprompter.

This and you know which one is going to be better prepared. Trumps short attention span is well documented and you know he will just spout general talking points, that will become more outrageous the further he deviates from anything his team prepares.

Biden, I would hope, will be armed with more actual facts to counter this nonsense and hopefully he stays on track, which I think he will based on his experience.

In the end, i really don't see the debates changing very many minds unless one or the other has either a once in lifetime performance, or flames out in spectacular fashion. And the best chance I see for that is Trump doing the latter, especially if Wallace holds his feet to the fire on some of his bullshit.

I don't think he did particularly well in the primary debates. He was somewhat insulated by sharing the stage with multiple opponents and the short time limit on responses. Regardless, he still provided a good amount of fodder for Steven Colbert and other comedians.

There's no question that the Joe Biden of the 1980's and 1990's was an excellent debater. Razor sharp, and he could think and respond on the fly. The Joe Biden of 2020, not so much. As he's aged, he's also developed a short fuse that periodically rears its ugly head at town hall meetings and interviews, where he lashes out at the questioner. Yes, Trump does the same thing, but it's expected, or "the norm" for him. With Biden, it's out of character. I think the Trump operatives are going to make a concerted effort to get Biden rattled, whether it succeeds or not remains to be seen.

I think Biden's age has significantly affected his memory and ability to articulate coherent responses. I know most folks on the forum do not agree with that assessment. I don't know if Biden will have a James Stockdale type moment (where the latter responded that he didn't have his hearing aid turned on in the 1992 debates), but I wouldn't rule that out either.

The dude is literally on tape saying he downplayed the virus. I don't think anything he says on a debate stage is going to move the needle.

This is such horseshit. There is ample evidence that none of this is true and also ample evidence that these charges are coordinated disinformation.

Just tell us why you think Trump is better and stop trying to convince us that you have no choice.

:bowdown:

What people though? Like, what kind of fuck up are you envisioning that makes a difference?

"We built the greatest lead in Super Bowl History..." ~Atlanta Falcons (2017)

I get it. Anyone who has bet on "LOL Nothing Matters!" over the last four years has made a killing.

So maybe nothing can move the needle.

I guess it my head it wasn't saying something outrageous. It was basically a real obvious and unmistakable moment of mental decline. He pretty much admitted that he had a series of mini-strokes (by denying he had them when no one had brought them up).

And he's a huge projector, and he keeps talking about Biden as a puppet of the people behind him and needing drugs to get through a debate.

So, if he is diminished. And he's up there for 90 minutes without his teleprompter. And his drugs start to wear off. And he can't walk off stage when the questions get tough. Maybe there comes a point where Toto pulls back the curtain and we see him for what he truly is.

Or maybe he'll get up there, shart himself and talk about how he gave Putin all of our nuclear launch codes and a week later he'll be leading by 5 points in Florida. LOL Nothing Matters!

He is running against a guy who was asking about injecting Lysol to kill the virus. I'm sure Biden is in mental decline but he is also running against a man who's brain is peanut butter.

Yeah I went back and forth on that one. He had the highest stock market until Feb 2020 and I agree that is not the true economy but along with unemployment are the common measures until now for the economy. I was taking into account what other people will say not my opinion exactly.

Trump played a businessman on TV and always talks about how rich he is, so he must be good at economy stuff.

Let's not overestimate the voter here.

I agree with Galaril that people see him as good with business and economy and stuff and that's probably baked into the pie at this point.

'the economy' is effectively a rigged topic. For most of my lifetime the Dems have been the only ones balanced budgets, so Dem administrations not only have to come in and figure out how to pay for previous GOP governance, they have to weaken their own campaign under a threat of raising everyone's taxes to pay for debts run up by the GOP. The better each Dem president does at balancing the various poles of the economy, the more slack the next GOP president has to play/campaign with.

This is not how elections work.

dola

The Florida AG is going to investigate Bloomberg for paying the fines. The GOP is all in on voter suppression.

Even with all the structural advantages the white rural party has in America right now, the GOP's policies are so unpopular that they still are on pace to lose the Electoral College, Senate majority, and House majority.

The natural response to that should be "hey, maybe we shouldn't support stupid policies." That's kind of how the system is designed to work.

Unfortunately, the response seems to be "let's just not have a real election."

FLORIDA: These people have to pay money to vote.

AMERICANS: You mean a poll tax?

FLORIDA: Of course not. This is simply getting people square with the state. It has nothing to do with payment in exchange for getting to vote.

AMERICANS: OK. Since it is just some court costs and fines, we'll help people pay them.

FLORIDA: You can't do that. That is paying people to vote.

AMERICANS: So it is a poll tax.

FLORIDA:

(paraphrased/stolen from something I saw last night)

There is a sizable portion of the GOP that will gladly sacrifice democracy if it inhibits their control of power.

ATL strippers shoot a PSA and an on-line registration and voter information site.

w w w.getyourbootytothepoll.com

NSFW, but no nudity.

The fraud is coming from inside the house!

Vote-by-mail ballots in my home state of FLORIDA begin going out TODAY! Make sure to request yours, fill it out & send it in. Request yours today: https://t.co/xoxgi1vVP2 pic.twitter.com/yMLNTo4jVQ

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2020

Should be an interesting development. I can see why the Democratic Party is strongly pushing for it. The convicted felon pool is a largely untapped resource, and Biden would likely get upwards of 90% of that vote. It could become a substantial part of his constituency.

I agree. Unless and until the GOP starts to support policies that help people who aren't high income rural whites, they are not going to be getting the votes of those groups.

People who have committed crimes should be allowed to vote.

Indeed. And we can see why the Republicans would try to block it with poll taxes and the such after losing the Constitutional Amendment so handily on felons who have served their time. Florida is projected to be close and a lot of those freed felons who are supposed to be able to vote now are black.

So how would we phrase this in FOFC speak? Something like "If you vote for Biden, it doesn't mean you're a convicted felon, but if you're a convicted felon, you're voting for Biden."

Sure. Shrug.

"If you vote for Biden, it doesn't mean you're a convicted felon, but if you're a convicted felon, you're voting for Biden or were a member of the Trump administration"

Lol, Perfect.

I think we were supposed to think of convicted felons who served their time as something horrifying? Sorry VV that it didn't work out the way you hoped. (Wait until he realizes some of us think people in jail should vote - though I don't know who that would benefit more as you have plenty of white supremacists in jail)

Actually, it would be surprising if the former felons voting rate is as high as 90%. There are many poor rural whites that have felony convictions, and that is a Trump demographic. Among Black convicts, 90% is probably right. Among whites? I think it may be more 60/40 Trump.

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Some of those folks may have received some form of clemency from Trump's justice reform & would be happy to vote for him, for all I know/care. There are enough ex-cons in this country that I can't really make any judgment about their character based on that status alone.

The Rock says, "Vote for Biden"

Tom Ridge has come out for Biden. That may be huge in Pennsylvania!

https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/com...-20200927.html

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If Biden really is a tool of the radical leftists, he's got a lot of people fooled.

I would die a happy man to hear The Rock say "It doesn't matter what you THINK" to Putin's face.

Rock and Jocko Willink 2024

I can assure you that Tom Ridge doesn’t move a needle. He hasn’t been governor since 2001. He was also a RINO like Arlen Specter to a lot of people.

So you're saying "IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT TOM RIDGE THINKS!!!!"

Rock and Sock Connection 2024!

TOM RIDGE IS A PRO-DEATH BABY KILLER

I finally registered to vote in the state of Ohio (I was in Michigan last election).

I think I'm at about 66% Libertarian an 34% Biden.

Filled out my mail in ballot yesterday and dropped it off.

I reviewed it 87 times just to make sure I filled it out and signed correctly.

Yeah. I'm sure I'll do the same if I do the mail-in ballot. I think I'll either drop box it, or if things still aren't too bad in my neck of the woods, go vote in person.

Going to do early voting with my daughter on Sat, Oct 17. We agreed to go when it first opens at 8am.

FYI, if you want to avoid crowds, this may not be the best strategy.

I've poll observed in the past, and there tends to be a queue right when things open up. You might be better off going at, like, 10 to let the early birds get through the system.

(That said, my experience has been on weekdays, so there may have been a bit of "don't be late for work" going into that).

Thanks for the tip. Yes, wanted to go when it wasn't as busy.

I would go on a weekday but daughter will have to drive home from college, about an hours drive away.

Looking forward to 9pm tonight, hoping to be entertained by the inevitable zingers.

Ready to get this election cycle (and this damn year) done and hopefully get back to center'ish.

To relieve the unending stress, my wife and I are working on a prop bet/drinking game/Bingo game to go along with the debates. Anything to make this all bearable.

Let's hope Biden is prepared and can start to pull away a little more. I think he's been prepping like this could be the knockout blow while Trump is just going to show up and rely on his instinct.

meh.

Trump is going to yell and scream and interrupt and his base will claim how awesome he was and showed Joe who was boss. Biden will have some small verbal gaffe and they will jump all over it in an endless loop. Nothing will change.

I still find it impossible to believe there is anyone who hasn't made up their mind. The debates are just theater to be interpreted based on who you support.

I generally agree, Lathum. Though I do know some people like my mother-in-law, who is still persuadable, I think, and pays basic attention to the news, and may watch the debate. I think it could influence a small section of people, but there's no telling what would influence her--could be a Biden gaffe, could be Trump being crazy, but she could just as easily ignore either one of those things. Boggles my mind.

Debates don't move the needle much anymore in general, so I don't think there's any knockout here. There are very much people who still haven't made up their mind. Not an excessive amount, but they are there. They always are, always will be in a system of voting between multiple options.

I think you could do something screwy that can hurt you ultimately but it's unlikely. Probably just adds a handful of items to the pile to build narratives for the next month.

SI

Wasn't able to vote back then but I remember watching "the admiral" in the 1992 VP debates. I was attracted to Perot just because he was going to bring a business mindset, but Stockdale's dismal performance would have changed my vote.

In a normal election I agree, but I just can't wrap my mind about it this time. Everyone knows who Trump is at this point and you are either for him or against him.

I realize I am likely wrong, but in my mind I can't internalize how anyone at this point could be undecided after the last 4 years. If you are it's likely because you are looking for a reason to feel better about yourself for voting Trump and come to terms with your own morality.

Quinnipiac's poll in Georgia released today is pretty hard to believe. It has Biden up 50-47, Ossoff up 49-48, and the biggest surprise Raphael Warnock up with 31%, with Loeffler and Collins at 22-21 respectively. That was a shock, as the last poll I saw had Warnock 5 points behind the two Republicans.

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I feel very similar, Trumps presidency has at least been transparent in what you see, is what you get and as polarizing as he is, I can't see anywhere near the number of undecideds we had in 2016.

Hell, walking to the polls on election morning in 2016 I still hadn't decided between Hillary and 3rd party. My mind in this election was made up 3 years ago.

Quinnipiac seems to have a dem lean but other recent polls have shown Biden and Trump basically tied in GA. Obama just endorsed Warnock so maybe that pushed him up. Is Warnock now considered the favorite in that race? Seems like in a run off he'd beat Loeffler, not sure about Collins.

According to Nate Cohn, Q has a Dem lean this cycle and has really good numbers for Biden among Southern whites. It also has bad numbers for Biden among Hispanics, so Florida kind of cancels out for them.

But apparently for the people who live in the cross-tabs, this was an unsurprising result out of Georgia.

Historically, I think late undecideds tend to break primarily towards the challenger. If you're still undecided after four years, it's hard to go back. It's yet another way 2020 is different than 2016.

This poll would have come before the Obama endorsement.

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Biden releases about 20 years of his tax returns today before the debate.

He will also have a twitter stream @truth where they apparently are going to live stream fact checking on Trump during the debate.

The Democrats were divided between Liebermann (yes, the son of THAT Liebermann) and Warnock. There was the Obama endorsement and the bringing up back up of the fact Liebermann wrote a book about a racist character who was fond of the KKK. Then Liebermann doubled down and said Obama endorsed every DC approved Senate candidate... running against Obama is probably the dumbest thing any Democratic candidate can do.

Remember when Obama supported Lieberman over Lamont in 2006 and then Lieberman torpedoed the public option? Was an incredibly dumb move by Obama and maybe this is a bit of payback.

Young Liberman running the plucky outsider campaign.

Seems like the asshole doesn't fall far from the tree.

There's definitely a lot fewer undecideds than '16 - that was a historically high number.

Stay classy, Fox: https://twitter.com/oliverdarcy/stat...343252992?s=19

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I usually watch most of my TV content though various apps on the Fire Stick. I watched the Twins vs Astros game on the local ABC station while I cooked dinner. How the hell do you guys watch any programming with all of those political ads?! I had not seen one for either party for any elections at any level of government. It felt like all I saw were political ads and that Heineken commercial with the guy who could not cook but had cooked food for friends.

For my entire life, I didn't live in a swing state.

Then NC became one. And the attention and the idea that "my vote mattered" felt fun for one election.

Now I wish that we'd just flip Red or Blue. The ads are so annoying (though, in fairness, all I watch live is sports, so I can still avoid most of it).

I live in NY. When I see a national political commercial I wonder what the hell they were thinking.

Joe's ready: https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/...338735104?s=19

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My prediction is that a week from now it will be Biden +7.

I predict that most GOP voters will say that Trump won the debate and most Democratic voters will say that Biden won the debate.

is there going to be any commentary from here during the debate?

sucker bet, no action from me

Just in terms of the job of being on TV, Wallace is a real pro. He's so smooth and confident.

AFAIK, there's a general belief that you kinda have to throw at least token money at lost cause states if the donator base is (or is perceived to be) deep enough. You gotta make the check writers feel like you're at least trying basically

It feels like community theatre.

Oh boy. Joe is already looking like he is not sure what he is talking about.

He needs an ear piece with someone telling him what to say.

Wallace seems like he should be on Wide WOrld of Sports in the 70s