Tag Archives: Gavin Newsom

06.30.24
by

The Bear of Biden

Joe Biden is not demented or senile or any of the other lovely adjectives many nervous Democrats and Never Trump Republicans have been using to describe him.

What Pres Biden is – is 81 years old.

I mean… OK… I guess?

You get older and your voice gets hoarse, you sometimes jumble words (Note: Especially when you have a stutter) and on really bad days, you lose your train of thought.

This happens a lot more when you have a cold, you’ve been flying a lot or when you are tired and haven’t gotten enough sleep.

It’s not as if someone demented and senile can suddenly get up before a crowd of thousands, as he did the next day, and magically become coherent and charismatic.  I had a father who died last year at the age of 94.  Trust me, it just doesn’t happen.

None of this

Do doubters have a right to have a conversation, voice their opinions on his performance on Thursday night and be especially concerned since he’s running against an extremely dangerous, constantly lying, racist, cretinous aspiring dictator, multi-convicted felon like Donald Trump?

Certainly.  Of course.

But my God.

And I’m not even religious.

RELAX

If you simply go by the facts, this POTUS has been one of the most successful presidents in the modern era.  He led us out of COVID and got us vaccinated, created more jobs than any of our other leaders in recent memory and presided over what is arguably THE best economy in the world post COVID, not to mention the envy of the world.

Ask Canada and Great Britain.

We’re looking at you, Mr. Handsome

Yes, there’s inflation and eggs are too expensive.  I don’t like it and neither should you.  But a big part of that is the sheer greed of corporations and billionaires determined to raise prices to offset even a tiny dent in their record profits. 

They don’t like it that there is some modicum of environmental standards put back in place or the slightest increase of taxes they are required to pay to the country that has enabled them to grow their record profits for decades.  So they are passing it off to Y.O.U.

Yes, Meryl, yes

I refuse to write any more about how Trump will dismantle democracy and threaten peace in the world by dismantling NATO.  Or how he clearly looks down on anyone who is not rich and who is non-white (Note:  What exactly are “black” jobs?).  Or how he will use the right for women to control their bodies in order to regain the White House and further pack the Supreme Court with conservatives in order to stay out of jail.

You all get that.

The question is how we proceed.

We gotta put out the fire first!

Be clear.  President Biden is THE nominee of the Democratic Party.  He is not getting out of the race, nor should he. 

And if every nervous nellie got their way and the party ran scared, what do you think would happen?  Traditional wisdom tells us Kamala Harris, our sitting vice-president, would be our nominee. 

I think she’s great but do you think this will satisfy the doubters?

No.  They hate her poll numbers, which are far below those of Biden. 

We’re all there Lisa

So instead a lot of people are playing fantasy football with names like Gretchen Whitmer, Gavin Newsom, Josh Stein, Raphael Warnock, Pete Buttigieg and…Michelle Obama?

Seriously?????  Michelle HATES politics, almost as much as she loathes Trump.

We still love you Michelle

And what do you think every non-white Democratic voter would do if the only Black female vice-president in history, who previously was an effective senator from a state that has the fifth largest economy in the WORLD (Note: California, for those who like pop quizzes), was denied the nomination from their party?

They’d walk and it would be justified.  Not to mention many white voters, who’d find that scenario at best panic-driven or undesirable and at worst despicable and misogynistic.

So please.  I beg of everyone.

Stay with Biden and give this a chance. 

Please???

I get the concern.  But remember how he became the nominee, and in turn president, in the first place.  He was the ONLY candidate we could all agree on.  He might not have been many or most people’s first or second choice but he had the experience and nose to the grindstone ability to dig us out of the awful ditch the “orange turd” (Note: The term used by Stormy Daniels – the woman Trump said he NEVER HAD SEX WITH straight to your face on the debate stage) gave us.

Biden is factually correct about almost everything he said on that semi-disaster of a debate stage with ZERO fact checking from CNN.  Trump was almost 100% aggressively wrong.  Optics are important but they are not the sole reason to make a decision. 

Do I still need the fire extinguisher?

Most minds were not much changed either way in early focus groups post-debate.  And if we all work together with Pres. Biden and all those who loathe and detest Trump and love democracy, the Democratic Party can win not only the White House but BOTH houses of Congress.

Not to mention gain a few seats on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Oh no, he brought up SCOTUS. RUN!!!!!

I grew up the son of a bookie so I know in my bones that NOTHING is a sure thing.  Perhaps that is why I’m more comfortable with risk and playing the odds.  But here’s what I’ve learned after many decades of living:

All of life is risk with ZERO guarantees.  Every choice has consequences.  Including the choice to do nothing, sit out an election or vote third party, and deny the reality:

There are only TWO people who will win the U.S. presidency by the end of 2024. 

Donald Trump or Joe Biden.

Make YOUR choice while you still have A choice. 

To do anything.

And I do not look good in red

And after you do watch season three of FX’s The Bear on Hulu.  It’s brilliantly done and will get you thinking about choices and other existential questions in life far better than I can.

The Bear – Season 3 Trailer – AKA the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election Metaphor

02.11.18
by

I (Don’t) Love a Parade

U.S. Electoral College Vice President Mike Pence and his wife were seated in a box next to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in South Korea this weekend and when everyone stood and cheered as the North Korea and South Korea delegations historically entered as one Korea, Pence and his wife chose to remain seated.

Of course, this is their prerogative. There is inherently nothing wrong with not cheering at a show of national unity when other people are cheering out of either support or respect.

Except if you believe one is required to stand when everyone else does so during a ritual at a sports stadium. Or if you believe that protesting a fervent show of nationalism towards a regime with whom you disagree with by remaining seated is abhorrent and offensive to the country in which said event is taking place.

uh oh

Gavin Newsom, California’s Lt. Governor and soon the be gubernatorial candidate, said it best, and even provided a gif and accompanying article and image to illustrate this point:

I, for one, have never been big on national anthems or ceremonial deference.

My earliest experiences saluting a flag or being required to sing a song in order to display my loyalty – to a system of religion, of government or of some moral law –always felt not only silly but ill-advised.

What does singing this dumb song or saluting like an idiot along with everyone else prove, my younger self thought and sometimes verbalized, much to the chagrin of several adults around me. Either I liked the thing I was being forced to respect or didn’t – making me do it along with everyone else doesn’t prove ANYTHING.

Pretty sure this was my face for much of my childhood #sass

As for parades, my feeling is have at it if it floats your boat – or, um, float – but don’t make me do it. That said, I have attended events like the annual Gay Pride Parade in West Hollywood over the years – but usually as a means of strength and protest AGAINST people like Pence or our current US Electoral College POTUS – not as an oath of loyalty or respect to either a particular system of belief or any single individual or group.

This is why the Oval Office/right wing hysteria over the #TakeAKnee movement spurred by Colin Kaepernick always perplexed me. In the same way the protocol of bowing, curtsying or whatever you’re supposed to do to royalty in the last two centuries has always left me secretly laughing and not so secretly rolling my eyes.

Watch it, Chairy #kween

Really? A song, a crown, a scepter and a flag? Those are items that in your culture or mind REPRESENT an overarching IDEA. They are not the IDEAS themselves. Better to show in your ACTIONS that you are LIVING the IDEA than show your deference with some world worn SYMBOL. A salute or a couple of bars of a chorus is a ceremonial cheat. It’s like having your spouse or boyfriend/ girlfriend pledge their fidelity to you during the day and then be allowed to rendezvous with their secret lover that very same night.

maybe I’m overcompensating

And speaking of the Electoral College POTUS currently in the Oval Office, the latest is that he wants a military parade down Pennsylvania Ave. because, well, he can.   Oh, sure he can. Think of it as part of the discretionary powers of the job, supported by a kind of mad money fund of millions of taxpayer/governmental dollars one gets to spend when one determines one’s country/employees/subjects are in need of a celebration.   Though it could be that it’s only the ONE who fancies an impromptu blowout, which in essence is the same thing since the ONE is the defacto leader of everyone else and, in essence, speaks for EVERYONE.

Snicker, snicker #toogood #ihadto

The last time we did this type of thing was 27 years ago after the Persian Gulf War and it cost between $8-$12 million. So, with rising expenses and inflation, by today’s standards it could be… oh well, let’s not think about that when it comes a ceremony of patriotism. It might LOOK like we don’t support the troops. To whom, I don’t know

As I often say to my screenwriting students, you can’t film an absence. Who a character is, is what he or she actually does. Or pretends to do. It’s then up to the audience to decide what actions are real and whether to get onboard the journey.

Of course, that’s movie talk. Which has little to do with reality. Unless one chooses to live life like a movie. Or worse, a reality TV show.

“Don’t Rain on My Parade” – Barbra Streisand (from Funny Girl)