Joe Biden's Approval Rating Is A Sham

 

A sham is something that is not what it purports to be; a spurious imitation; fraud or hoax, according to Thesaurus.com. In other words, you have to look deeper to find out just what is going on here. In January of this year U.S. News published the post, "Why Is Joe Biden So Unpopular? Here's a quote from the piece...

"If there were an avatar to accompany the [Joe Biden] PR campaign, it would be an image of the baffled president, lifting America up by its collective lapels and screaming, 'What is wrong with you people? Why don't you LIKE ME!?'"

So, my question is, 'What is wrong with you people? Why don't you like Joe Biden?' And I don't really include Republicans in this question, although there must be some who are on his side but won't admit it. I'm talking about those who should like him, like some Democrats and Independents. Biden supports the left's agenda and has only been hampered by Republicans like Moscow Mitch and Kevin McCarthy and Democrats like Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema.

So what's the problem? Newsweek has this to say...

"While the Democrats performed strongly in last week's midterm elections, recent polling shows that President Joe Biden still remains unpopular with the American public.

Following the vote, a Big Village survey, conducted on November 9th and 10th, gave the president a net approval rating of minus 10.5.

So how, then, do you explain this conclusive record from U.S. News?...

"The frustration is understandable. On paper, the Biden administration has racked up some impressive achievements: more than 6 million new jobs were created, a single-year record. Unemployment dropped from 6.2% to 3.9%, another single-year first. Childhood poverty and hunger are down while average wages went up. Biden has the first majority non-white Cabinet in history and presides over the most diverse administration in history. He passed a massive COVID-19 relief bill and an expansive infrastructure package many previous presidents tried and failed to achieve."

Biden touts accomplishments at Cabinet meeting...

I know the people have spoken but, in this case, could the American public be way off base? Is there some kind of unknown grudge against Biden? I mean, the President and First Lady Jill Biden are very nice people. So what the hell is the problem? Robert Reich says in The Guardian...

"America is overflowing with good news. Unemployment is down, wages are up, consumer confidence is rebounding, and consumers are spending more (retail sales jumped 1.7% in October, the third monthly increase). Covid seems to be in retreat, at least among those who have been vaccinated. And two big parts of Biden’s legislative agenda – last spring’s $1.9tn American Rescue Plan, and his recent $1.2tn infrastructure plan – have been enacted."

The above article published on Nov. 18, 2021, goes on to talk about the upcoming midterm elections with Reich asking the question, "what’s not to be happy about?" Apparently plenty since Biden's approval at the time was 12 points lower than when he took office, then at 41%. It should be noted here that this is around where Trump’s was for most of his presidency. Current thinking in this Nov. 2021 time period...

Most registered voters say that if the midterm elections were today, they’d support the Republican candidate. Even Trump beats Biden in hypothetical matchups. More than 60% of Americans say the Democrats are out of touch with the concerns of most Americans. And Republican congressional candidates now hold their largest lead in midterm election vote preferences dating back 40 years.

Well, all this proved to be bullshit when the Republican red wave circled for a while and then went down the drain. The Democrats retained control of the Senate, added several governors wins and if the GOP does win the House, it will be on a razor-thin margin.

So, I ask once more, 'What is wrong with you people? Why don't you like Joe Biden?' The American public should think hard about this and if you don't come to a positive conclusion on Biden, you just aren't listening.

 

 

Kari Lake, You Lost...Now Please Go Away

 

Kari Lake didn't run a good campaign and Katie Hobbs ran a lousy campaign but she won because the people of Arizona realized Lake is a lunatic with a maniacal agenda. She is a Donald Trump avid supporter and most important an election denier who ranted through her campaign with a string of lies that would make Trump proud. Here is Salon's scenario...

"Lake, a former news anchor who was backed by former President Donald Trump, became one of the most prominent election deniers in the country but ultimately lost like so many other election deniers that the former president backed in key battleground states. Fellow Arizona election deniers Blake Masters and Mark Finchem also lost the U.S. Senate and secretary of state races, respectively."

Last Monday, Kari Lake tweeted, "Arizonans know BS when they see it." And they did by electing Democrat Katie Hobbs and sending Lake to the showers, or worse. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., agreed, tweeting, "As it turns out, yes, yes they did," in response to the beaten candidate's comment. Another, "Totally true, as the vote shows," jabbed Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo...

shared a letter Lake sent to her in October thanking her for an "in-kind contribution" to her campaign by campaigning against her. "You're welcome," Cheney wrote. 

Do you believe this?...

"Kari Lake told a legion of John McCain supporters across Arizona that they could go to hell. Tonight, [election nite] they returned the favor," an anonymous GOP strategist told CNN.

Even the dumbest of Arizona Republicans knows that you do not attack John McCain in this state. And, Arizona gun nuts came out in force...

Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to the Maricopa County Election Center over the [past] weekend after dozens of GOP supporters, including some that were armed and wearing ballistic vests, staged a protest and carried signs claiming "Kari Lake Won" and "Hobbs is a Cheat." But there was no repeat of the aggressive 2020 election protests at the vote-counting center, said Sheriff Paul Penzone, and the protest cleared out after about an hour.

"Former Republican strategist Tim Miller said Lake's tweet that 'Arizonans know BS when they see it' was 'unintentionally' right." Miller wonders now just how far Kari Lake might go, since she is so Trump-indoctrinated; could she continue this battle about the Arizona governor's race into the future? The state is full of MAGA Republicans capable of a statehouse insurrection and with some of the loosest gun laws in the country, it could be a bloodbath.

 Katie Hobbs Defeats Kari Lake To Win Arizona Governor’s Race...

The HuffPost came up with a long line of tweets mocking Kari Lake's tweet, "Arizonans know BS when they see it." One of my favorites is Rick Wilson, co-founder of The Lincoln Project, a Republican who has established himself as anti-Trump, who said, "Clearly. That's why they rejected you." While Trump cries election fraud, we have this from the New York Post...

"She [Kari Lake] is the latest Trump-endorsed MAGA candidate to be rejected by voters in the midterm elections, which failed to unleash the “red wave” of GOP victories that Republicans had predicted.

"From Pennsylvania to Nevada, a parade of Trump’s handpicked candidates vying to become senators or governors faltered, among them Dr. Mehmet Oz, Blake Masters and Doug Mastriano.

"Likewise, all the Trump-backed hopefuls running for secretaries of state in key battleground states met the same fate."

Trump's purpose in winning Sec. State offices is because they control elections, thus, would be under his thumb. You might remember that in the 2020 election, Trump demanded the Georgia secretary of state 'find' enough votes to hand him win. Here's the scenario...

"In an hour-long phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Saturday, [Jan. 2, 2021]President Donald Trump falsely claimed it was "not possible" for him to have lost in The Peach State, and asked the secretary to "find" the exact number of votes he would need -- just one vote over the margin that he trailed President-elect Joe Biden by -- so he could be declared the winner of an election that three separate counts confirmed he lost."

And...

Raffensperger, a Republican who supported the president's reelection but has maintained Georgia's election was legitimate and accurate, rebuffed the president's allegations, saying the data the president is citing to claim tens of thousands of illegal votes, "is wrong."

You may also remember the Georgia's AG investigation of Trump's interference covered in Newsweek...

"It wouldn't surprise me for Georgia to become the first jurisdiction to indict a former president on felony charges. I doubt it'll be the last. And I think the charges will stick," Laurence Tribe, professor emeritus of constitutional law at Harvard University.

Tribe's remarks came as Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis ramps up her investigation into Trump's alleged efforts to overturn Georgia's vote in the 2020 presidential election. Trump lost the state by a narrow margin of 0.23 points.

So, it's over for Kari Lake and Donald Trump. Now, if we can only get rid of Moscow Mitch and Kevin McCarthy. Any ideas? 

With 2022 Almost In The Books, What's Next

 

Some of the most undone work is the Arizona governor's race between Democrat Katie Hobbs and Republican Kari Lake. Hobbs leads the Trump lunatic Lake by only one point and Arizona is taking forever for the final vote count. This race has national ramifications in that a Lake win could boost her into the national picture. Rather than document the insanity of her campaign, you can see a compilation of my posts here. It is astonishing to me Lake has gotten this far.

Now, back to the national scene with a tug of war between Donald Trump and Florida governor Ron DeSantis for 2024. The Daily Beast says, "Trump Would Easily Crush DeSantis in Battle Today." That's today but in two years this country could be in a new civil war if the hate-mongers don't back off their rhetoric. 

Majority Of Trump Voters Say Civil War ‘Likely’ In Next Decade...

I recently finished The Next Civil War by Stephen Marche and it is frightening. One of the author's findings describes how the next one won't be fought on the battlefield, rather it will be neighbor against neighbor, depending on your political stand. Just think of the consequences especially if you live in a radically right area and you are on the liberal left. I urge you to read my post and if you really want a scare, read Marche's The Next Civil War.

And right in the middle of all this altercation is a war between Donald Trump and

Ron DeSantis that might just surpass 'winner takes all' to a conclusion of 'self annihilation.' It is an unfortunate fact but with the current situation in America this may be the happy ending. If this could take down the Republican Party to a point where they have to negotiate, we have saved our democracy. A recent Mother Jones headline: "The Party of Don’t Say 'Democracy'” says it all...

"Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) sent out a campaign with a solemn, all-caps heading: PARTICIPATING IN OUR CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC.

"As I read the email, I noticed that Boebert’s campaign uses a lot of words here to describe our form of government. It’s a “constitutional process.” It’s “representative.” But one word is glaringly absent: “democracy.”

Of course, Lauren Boebert is an idiot but her words reflect the position of the Republican Party. There's more...

Indeed, Republicans across the country are removing the word “democracy” from their lexicon. My colleague Pema Levy reported today that in Arizona, Senate candidate Blake Masters argued that the United States is not a democracy but a republic. “It sounds like a nerdy takedown,” she writes, “but it’s being bandied with frequency by Republicans who also support minority rule and supported overturning President Biden’s 2020 victory.”

Robert Reich says, and I agree, Democrats Can No Longer Compromise with “Authoritarian” Republicans. Republicans no longer understand or condone the word "compromise." From the right, no one since Everett Dirksen, U.S. Senator from Illinois, has mastered his ability to negotiate and compromise for the good of the U.S. Reich says...

President Biden must “push back as hard as he can” if Republicans take control of even one chamber in Congress following Tuesday’s midterm elections. He says the administration needs to be clear there is no compromise on the debt ceiling, which he expects a Republican-controlled Congress would challenge, potentially triggering a repeat of the political crisis in 2011 under former President Obama.

Well, the Democrats still hold the Senate and that position could strengthen if Warnock wins in Georgia. The House is still up for grabs but, at best, Republicans will end up with a small majority. The focus is then on 2023, then 2024 with plenty of time for the left to build momentum.

Major Threats to Democracy: Kari Lake and Ron DeSantis

 

What can one say about Ron (the despot) DeSantis? Well, he thinks he is God, as expressed in a 90-minute campaign ad released just before the midterms. This alone should have turned off the numb nuts in Florida who support him. But it didn't; he had a significant win. These people are just like the Trump minions who were trounced in the recent election and could likely return to violence for vindication. DeSantis is an offshoot of Trump, perhaps, even more depraved and dangerous. Here's the ad...

God made a liar Ron DeSantis Campaign ad...

And then there is the unbelievably sick and stupid Ron DeSantis campaign ad (above) that everyone, including the former Republican Nat'l Committee chair, says is the worst ever in the field of politics. Only a complete idiot would believe this crap! But right after the ad ran, DeSantis won the governor's election from Charlie Crist by almost 20 points. Go figure? If this bullshit swayed the voters in Florida, it is definitely a mandate of the low level of their intelligence.

Frank Bruni of the New York Times calls it, "Ron DeSantis’s God Complex." When you think about it, you not only hear this in what DeSantis says, but it is also portrayed in the smug look he expresses in public. This is Bruni's scenario on the ad...

"In little more than 90 seconds, its unseen narrator mentions “God” 10 times, beginning with the assertion that “on the eighth day” God gazed at a newly created world and decided that it needed a protector. “So God made a fighter,” the narrator says — sonorously, somberly. That’s the ad’s refrain, intoned again and again, and accompanied each time by a shining, commanding image of DeSantis."

MSNBC says...

"The ad is so ham-handed that one could imagine DeSantis later claiming it was tongue-in-cheek. He has not, so far. But even if it is just a tease, like many far right and authoritarian “jokes,” DeSantis is not kidding around. The ad is dangerous and anti-democratic, and was meant that way."

The dialogue from the ad could have been lifted from "a well-known speech, “So God Made a Farmer,” that the radio personality Paul Harvey delivered in 1978 to what was then known as the Future Farmers of America." And here is more examination from Bruni...

"To me, DeSantis doesn’t seem quite so levelheaded. (As exclaimed by 

Bruni's colleague Ross Douthat) He picks and hypes battles designed to cast him as some conservative superhero. In that regard he’s histrionic and hyperbolic, and I could easily see him overplaying his hand, especially in regard to religion. The “God” ad signals that any presidential bid by DeSantis, who is clearly plotting one, will aggressively court Christian nationalists and, in the process, empower them. "More from MSNBC's Sarah Posner...

"DeSantis’ premise — that just as God sent his son, Jesus Christ, to bring salvation to a sinful world, he has sent DeSantis to save an immoral America — seems so over the top that it’s hard to believe the campaign would use it."

Trump has just commented that he will 'scorched-earth humiliate' Ron DeSantis if he tries to take him on." He did say recently he had "dirt" on the Florida governor. And, I almost hesitate to say this but, could Donald Trump's war with Ron DeSantis set the stage for a huge win by the left in 2024? What the hell, it's worth a try.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Major Threats to Democracy: Kari Lake and Ron DeSantis

 

Republican Kari Lake is running for Arizona governor against Democrat Katie Hobbs with the results as of this writing Hobbs 50.33 to Lake 49.67. There are over 600,000 votes yet to be counted with the state being compared to Florida which had their votes counted just hours after the polls closed. If Kari Lake should win, she carries the baggage of being a Donald Trump minion and 2020 election denier. Morning Joe says Lake is, "Willing to do or say anything."...

"MSNBC's Joe Scarborough singled out one of Donald Trump's hand-picked candidates as a threat to U.S. democracy."

Kari Lake also supports Arizona state Senator Wendy Rogers "who promotes white Christian nationalism, racist conspiracy theories and election fraud claims." Here's another example...

"Top Arizona Republican candidates Kari Lake and Abraham Hamadeh, who are running for governor and attorney general, respectively, spent the final days of the campaign praising a GOP state legislator who has embraced white Christian nationalism, racist conspiracy theories and baseless election fraud claims."

 Lake also LIED that Lee Zeldin, GOP candidate for New York governor, got

stabbed while he was speaking to a crowd of people not all that long ago. Then blamed the "left" in the spread of her lie. And then there is my post, 'Kari Lake knows that the MAGA mob must stay ignorant in order for Trumpism to work. She wants less math, science, and history in public high schools.' But the clincher is my Sept. 2022 post, 'Kari Lake Invites Jesus Christ to Arizona." You have to read it.

Finally...

Speaking on MSNBC, Fanone (Capitol cop who was injured) referred to Lake, who is the Republican nominee in the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial election, as a “piece of sh*t".

 To read all my posts on Kari Lake, go here.

Maricopa voting officials announced earlier today that they would be counting votes into early next week. Meanwhile, voters will be counting the hours until Katie Hobbs is pronounced Governor of the state of Arizona.

NEXT: The mayhem of Florida's dictator, Ron DeSantis

GOP Red Wave Fizzles To A "Puddle"

The Washington Post coined the saying adding it was a "messy" one at that. At the same time, RawStory exclaims, "Not many signs of a red wave at this point’: Election experts say there’s lots of good news for Democrats." Okay, it wasn't a blue tsunami like Michael Moore predicted, but it also wasn't a blowout like Republicans envisioned. The governor's race in Arizona is still up for grabs with Democrat Katie Hobbs 50.1% of vote, Kari Lake 49.9%. 73% of votes counted.

The pundits have labeled Arizona a test of the future of democracy in this country. If the denier, liar and conspiracy specialist Kari Lake, supported by Donald Trump, wins, Arizona goes down the tube. Unfortunately, Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs did win reelections but, there is some good news... 

Democratic Secretary of State candidate Adrian Fontes held a lead over Republican nominee Rep. Mark Finchem, R-Oro Valley, when initial election results were published on Tuesday night, 59.4% to 40.6%.

And more on the good side: For U.S. Senate, Democrat incumbent Mark Kelly

51.2% and Republican Blake Masters 46.6%, 66.9% reporting. There are other Arizona races but none as important to the democracy to the state and the country than the above.  Just before 11 PM Tuesday on MSNBC Jen Psaki observed...

"This was supposed to be an election where it would be embarrassing for Joe Biden to wake up in the morning. And it's not going to be."

The Washington Post reported...

"Voters, it would appear, saw this midterm as something more than a referendum on the party in power; with Republicans putting forward a host of extreme, election-denying candidates and little by way of an agenda, it became a choice between two drastically different paths forward."

Further...

"Between former president Donald Trump’s continued domination of the news and the backlash against the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the right to abortion, Americans are — rightly — focusing on the question of what the opposition party stands for and what Republicans would do if they again found themselves controlling one or both houses of Congress."

The key here is the question of whether Republicans have an agenda? As an example, Arizona's gubernatorial candidate, Kari Lake's agenda is that she is an avid Trump supporter, that's it, a fact that has proved fateful for others like her across the country. There is still a lot to be determined and we aren't likely to have Georgia results on Warnock and Walker until Dec. 6, an important race for the control of the Senate.

With egg on their face, Republicans will still attempt to show us what they can do. History tells us that could be a disaster.

VOTE...VOTE...VOTE...VOTE...VOTE...VOTE...VOTE...

 

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