Theater of the Absurd
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H. L. Mencken apparently never quite said that “No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.” He said lots of similar things, however, and I like to think he would have been proud of being the sort of chap to whom people attributed such astringent mots.
He would also, I feel sure, regard the theater surrounding the Kamala Harris-Tim Walz campaign as a test case of the proposition.
Last week in this space, I pointed out the irony of the Sudden Harris Ascendancy Syndrome. Here she was, one of the least popular figures on the American scene—someone, moreover, whom everyone, no matter their political coloration, regarded primarily as political life insurance for Joe Biden—and yet, Wham!, the very moment Biden resigns, her media reconstruction begins in earnest.
I almost wrote “media rehabilitation,” but that would not have been quite right. We say that someone is rehabilitated when he has fallen from a previous state of health, competence, or popularity.
Kamala Harris has never been competent or popular. So what the media has done to or with her these last couple of weeks is more of an outright fabrication project. In part, as I wrote last week, it is a product of “magical thinking,” the belief, or at least the hope or pretense, that by saying something is so, you magically make it so.
The primary aim of this bit of theatrical slight-of-hand is positive. It is to make people believe, for as long as they inhabit this theater of the absurd (the show runs, by the way, until November 5) that the person answering to the name “Kamala Harris” is not against fracking, though her doppelgänger, who existed until July 21 when Joe Biden dropped out of the race, was adamantly against fracking.
Similarly, Kamala 2.0 does not believe in open borders. But the original version, who was Biden’s “Border Czar,” did nothing to stanch the flow of illegal immigrants and spoke openly about a “path to citizenship” for them all eventually and Medicare and other benefits for them now.
Pick the issue: if it’s contentious, you will find that Kamala has had a sudden metanoia in the last couple of weeks. She is like the wolf who, addressing a flock of sheep, assures them that as soon as he is elected, he will become a vegetarian.
They are trying the same thing with Tim Walz, but what is uphill work for Kamala Harris is Mt. Everest for Walz. He really did order that tampons be put into boys’ bathrooms in Minnesota schools. He allowed eight babies to be murdered after botched abortions left them alive. He sat back and watched Minneapolis burn when the St. George Floyd riots erupted in 2020. Just a day or two ago, NBC reported that Walz now says he “misspoke” in 2018 when describing his military experience. But he did not “misspeak.” He lied.
Walz is one of the many Democrats who seem to think that George Orwell’s 1984 was a how-to manual, not a sober warning about the dangers of totalitarianism. Remember the COVID insanity? Walz was one of the worst governors during that made-up emergency. Not only did he mandate vaccines, but he also set up a “snitch line” and encouraged Minnesotans to report their neighbors should they dare to venture outside without a mask. Nevertheless, the media has been playing a clip over and over of Walz saying he wants people to “mind their own business.” As if.
The Democrats’ old friend, what the Freudians call “projection,” is evident everywhere in this entertainment. It boils down to accusing your opponents of the very things you are doing or are. So, the memo went out that J. D. was henceforth to be described as “weird,” when in fact he radiates normality, competence, and healthy self-confidence. Walz? Despite the theatrical producers’ best effort, the fact that the man is one sick puppy cannot be obscured.
The strategy of the Biden-Harris—er, make that the “Harris-Walz” campaign depends on people being dazzled by their theater of the absurd. Both candidates claim now to believe things they have spent the last decades attacking. But their supposed conversion is not the result of any heavenly illumination. It’s not like Saul falling to the ground on the road to Damascus. Rather, it is an abracadabra sort of conversion, i.e., no conversion at all, merely subterfuge. It’s an elaborate show we are being treated to, replete with fake polls showing Harris-Walz ahead in some swing states.
For the rest: https://tennesseestar.com/politics/commentary-theater-of-the-absurd-harris-walz-edition/agreat/2024/08/12/
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If the election were held tomorrow, she’d win.
Trump’s strategy seems to be to make sure his base loves him.
Maybe things will change, maybe not.
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https://nodebb.the-new-coffee-room.club/topic/33154/thieves-with-calculators
The title is a reference to the San Francisco law of no or little prosecution for thefts of just over $900. Trump said thieves were shoplifting with calculators in their hands, courtesy of Ms. Harris.
Trump had notes and was surprisingly on script, at least for a good bit of the newser. Trump still has to Trump, but I found him much more focused.
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If it happens on her watch...
“Cry havoc and let slip the DOGE of war!”
Those who cheered as J-6 American prisoners were locked in solitary for 18 months without trial, now suddenly fight tooth and nail for foreign terrorists’ "due process". — Buck Sexton
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@Jolly said in Theater of the Absurd:
If it happens on her watch...
I'm sure she's every bit as responsible for that as Trump was for all the Covid deaths.
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Watching Jon pretend that he actually likes her and approves of her as a candidate is kinda fun.
The Brad
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Watching Jon pretend that he actually likes her and approves of her as a candidate is kinda fun.
@LuFins-Dad said in Theater of the Absurd:
Watching Jon pretend that he actually likes her and approves of her as a candidate is kinda fun.
I'm sure she has certain positions he approves of...
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Watching Jon pretend that he actually likes her and approves of her as a candidate is kinda fun.
@LuFins-Dad said in Theater of the Absurd:
Watching Jon pretend that he actually likes her and approves of her as a candidate is kinda fun.
I’m a single issue voter and she clears the hurdle handily.
"You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from."
-Cormac McCarthy -
@LuFins-Dad said in Theater of the Absurd:
Watching Jon pretend that he actually likes her and approves of her as a candidate is kinda fun.
I’m a single issue voter and she clears the hurdle handily.
@jon-nyc said in Theater of the Absurd:
@LuFins-Dad said in Theater of the Absurd:
Watching Jon pretend that he actually likes her and approves of her as a candidate is kinda fun.
I’m a single issue voter and she clears the hurdle handily.
Tax the rich?
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@LuFins-Dad said in Theater of the Absurd:
Watching Jon pretend that he actually likes her and approves of her as a candidate is kinda fun.
I’m a single issue voter and she clears the hurdle handily.
@jon-nyc said in Theater of the Absurd:
@LuFins-Dad said in Theater of the Absurd:
Watching Jon pretend that he actually likes her and approves of her as a candidate is kinda fun.
I’m a single issue voter and she clears the hurdle handily.
Not Trump?
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RFK clears the hurdle, too…
