We just finished watching the Harris-Walz rally in Philadelphia. Do you want to know what Tracy and I took away? The political electricity of two candidates with great big wide smiles on their faces filled that arena with the theme of the night: “Thank you for bringing back the joy,” Governor Walz said to Vice President Harris right after she introduced him.
Wow. Your father, your favorite high school teacher, your coach. Brought up on a farm. Achieved the highest enlisted rank possible in the military. Served 24 years. Hunter, owns firearms, takes away the BS of the Trumpers that "she is coming for your guns."
But actually takes a stance, is a principled man. After years where the NRA gave him money for his campaigns, his daughter was 17 when Parkland's mass killings happened, so he said "enough." He gave back every penny he ever got from the NRA. Then in his state, decided they needed common sense gun laws- and got them passed.
Traditional marriage, lovely wife, two kids. They struggled to have children, totally understands people going through fertility issues and the IVF nonsense by Alabama.
And yes, charismatic, which surprised me as I listened to him. "Make no mistake, violent crime was up under Donald Trump.....and that's not even counting the crimes he committed!"
Then he dished it out to JD. "And I got to tell you, I can't wait to debate the guy, that's if he's willing to get off the couch and show up."
Vance has an approval rating right now of 32. Yikes.
Harris/Walz have a real chance of taking it in November. I love it. We will see the week after the convention, where we are.
I was convinced Walz was the best choice when he spoke at the White Men for Harris Zoom event last week. I didn’t really know much about him, but read he was a possible contender. He’s genuine and intelligent while his opposite number in T💩p’s campaign is a poséur and a dullard. Harris has the goods on the Gilded Toadstool™️ and I hope he’s running scared, lose miserably, and end up in a prison cell, forgotten and alone.
Last night felt like the beginning of the Democratic Convention there was so much energy in that arena that was packed to the rafters with the 10,000 plus that it can hold. The energy was palpable. I love the words coming from that rally. Freedom! Hope! Joy! Contrast that with Hatred and Fear which is how despots like Trump rule. I am reading Project 2025 and it is basically 920 pages of grievance against Biden and ways to make our nation the most chaotic on the planet. South Sudan will have nothing on us at this point. I can see vigilante militias going into communities and slaughtering people when I read that document, and we will be having a third and fourth world educational program after they get done with destroying us. They need to get it all done in 2 years too because they know after they blow things up they aren't going to get the midterms. Afterwards I watched some of C-Span taking callers who were Dems, Reps, Ind, and Other. All of the independents I heard said they were excited by the ticket and want to vote for it. Dems were excited and even some of the negative Republicans who said their hate filled stuff had to admit that the crowd was fired up and it made them feel unsure of their ticket. They should feel unsure of their ticket, because as people become more and more clear what Project 2025 has in it, the more they will want to choose something else.
I’m absolutely jubilant over this energy and enthusiasm! Sunny days ahead. I suspect the Trump storm clouds will peter out and dissipate soon. I already feel the change in the air.
"Blue skies smilin' at me, nothin' but blue skies, do I see". Irving Berlin wrote this lyric almost 100 years ago and it is as good today as it was when he penned it.
Not to forget what I remember from radio days in the '30s "Happy Days are here again, The skies above are clear again, let us sing a song of cheer again! Happy days are here again!"
No Democratic convention is complete till the Depression/FDR anthem 'Happy Days' has been heard early and often. In other settings it's usually played ironically, in a minor key
I would love to see that, but make no mistake...the misery and desperation of the orange traitor will not peter out and dissipate peacefully. His life is on the line, and he will fight like the rabid animal he is to attain the power he seeks. He would rather destroy it all than lose and have to answer for his actions, just like hitler did to Germany not that long ago.
WE are the change we are looking for, and we must continue to work for it. Remember, the republicans are doing everything they can to suppress the vote and cheat when they can.
So, let's take this wonderful energy and enthusiasm and put it to work to stop them. Let's have a massive landslide victory for VP Harris and Gov. Walz so there can be no mistake what the American people want.
Isn’t it wonderful to see?! Not that Biden didn’t smile, but the visual joy is also wrapped up in the final riddance of Trump perhaps? Hope and change, again?
I will always defend President Biden who saved us from The Bloated Yam's second term. However, the joy and glee over our new ticket is absolutely awesome.
Yes! I love you Joe, both for what you did in saving us from the boy that decided he was orange, for the accomplishments of your Term and especially for showing the wisdom of the ages by knowing what America needed to maintain our freedom and give us Kamala. I am so very excited and you will be in history books alongside the best Presidents in the future Classrooms.
Kamala, I agree with Governor Walz! I can rest when I die but I am here for you two now and will work as hard as I can to help you WIN! Great selection and I am so excited to see you soaring.
Like water seeking level, healthy humans reflexively come back to joy after suffering. That’s what I’ve been feeling—relief—chaos and drama and fear and anger are not sustainable. It’s time again for joy and the good feeling of necessary existential work.
I want to see Dems pointing out that there has been serious talk by red state politicians about tracking women’s menstrual apps. Mark Robinson who is NC Lt. Governor and is running against the very impressive AG Josh Stein to be the next governor has actually blamed abortion on women not keeping their skirts down and also “It’s not your body anymore”. That ad ought to be getting national attention.
What really bothers me is that Robinson is smart and can sound perfectly reasonable when he isn’t talking to the base. Luckily a lot of his comments are on video but given how tuned out so many voters are these kinds of videos need to be shown as much as possible.
Reduced me to tears. I'm 74 and it's been a damn long time since that happened to me. For the first time in years I have hope. No more Clinton centrist bullshit, no more Obama kissing Republicans' asses in the hope they'd give him some crumbs. Just out front Democratic energy and ferocity, a little maybe like FDR in 1933.
Absolutely agree! Clinton and Obama were ok but Joe and Kamala got the ball really rolling and Kamala and Walz will bring equality back. I have great hope for America and its people now.
Just when we were seeing the dark side of the 30's in the rise of fascism, along comes a message of hope. "The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself."
I haven’t smiled or laughed so much in more than 8 years! David Hogg just said that “It feels so good to have hope!”. Walz is a perfect partner to Kamala. They both are very bright, energetic, and great orators. Just feels so damn good!
I was moved by David Hogg's post on Instagram. It's true that it has been a heavy lift to find hope for quite a long time. It started with trump's escalator ride and his mean spirited speech in 2015. Trump and his maga cohort have shoveled colossal loads of negativity, lies, hateful rhetoric, threats, and derision into the public forum every single day for the past eight+ years. The chaos, at times overwhelming, has been difficult to ignore. The rally in Philadelphia with Governor Shapiro, Governor Walz, and VP Harris brought us to a place where we can envision a new beginning. Trump and maga belong in the dust bin. We have a fantastic opportunity to turn the tide in America. We have the leaders to take us there. It does feel good to have hope!
With sound? I've never heard him even feign a laugh. I hear nothing. I see only posed rictus grins. He has no need to express mirth. He clearly has never felt it.
I wonder if any of them will peel off, or all will just stay wrapped around the balloon till it has lost the foul gas that inflates it and it all becomes an inert puddle.
Oh Lucian. What a wonderful post!! My nickname in college was Smiley and your description of the juxtaposition of our team vs those horrors who never smile has buoyed my mood. I am eager to watch the rally on video.
I think you’ve captured so well the new energy. Thank you. Thank you!
This is all marvelous. Can I share? Today in Monterey California we came upon a great big Trump merchandising stand. Got a picture of my beloved old white guy for Kamala standing smack in front of all of those angry signs and banners, smiling his ass off in a Make America Laugh Again KAMALA HARRIS shirt.
So many people smiling back, thumbs up, way to go, yesssss.
The Washington Post and the NYTimes are as usual doing their best to minimize the positive developments and maximize the horse race with words like “fight” and “struggle”. #%&@ “”em. We could have a landslide with this duo of smart, experienced, honest people. Neither is perfect, but the vibes cannot be better. The closest in my life was JFK and Obama, but this is different, especially considering the time frame. I’m feeling really good about this.
I've noticed too. Neither paper knows how to describe what's in the air. They know something's different, just don't know what it is or how to say it. The first night Obama was elected everyone understood the reason for celebration. This isn't like that or anything else except maybe V-E and V-J days, which hardly anyone is alive to remember. We have only Alfred Eisenstaedt's Times Square V-J day photo of the sailor and the nurse.
The press is aping Trump in their approach to what's happening, i.e. throwing stuff out there hoping it will stick. My 2favs are sugar high and honeymoon. So analytical and so original. Watching the inside the beltway DC and NYC press left spinning in circles is priceless. Still lmrao at Tom Friedman's crowning Op-Ed on the word weird.
What's next, the ticket is too joyful for these dark days? Coach is no way to address a Governor? Coach is too folksy for America? Kamala needs to laugh less? The ticket is not taking any of what we write seriously?
Last but not least, Republicans told us Kamala hasn't done a sit-down so we will beat that drum for them! Just as they beat the drum that those with foresight should be labeled elites, anyone who dares read the room is hurting Joe, people who cite our polls shouldn't be listened to because we do all the talking, "those people" don't know what they're talking about, Ds in disarray, we love the Tortoise and the Hair race just as it is aka we wants it My Precious
To continue from Irving Berlin’s song, (Blue Skies- of course many will know it from Willie Nelson’s cover) “ never saw the sun shining so bright, never saw things looking so right.”
Let us all Do the Harris Walz waltz to the polls, vote Democratic up and down the ballot and be free. Tell your friends. We were in tears of joy watching them together Kamala and Tim!
The energy and joy are palpable. This 75-year-old cynic is even feeling it. For one of the few times in my life, I will truly be voting FOR someone rather than against someone.
Wow. Your father, your favorite high school teacher, your coach. Brought up on a farm. Achieved the highest enlisted rank possible in the military. Served 24 years. Hunter, owns firearms, takes away the BS of the Trumpers that "she is coming for your guns."
But actually takes a stance, is a principled man. After years where the NRA gave him money for his campaigns, his daughter was 17 when Parkland's mass killings happened, so he said "enough." He gave back every penny he ever got from the NRA. Then in his state, decided they needed common sense gun laws- and got them passed.
Traditional marriage, lovely wife, two kids. They struggled to have children, totally understands people going through fertility issues and the IVF nonsense by Alabama.
And yes, charismatic, which surprised me as I listened to him. "Make no mistake, violent crime was up under Donald Trump.....and that's not even counting the crimes he committed!"
Then he dished it out to JD. "And I got to tell you, I can't wait to debate the guy, that's if he's willing to get off the couch and show up."
Vance has an approval rating right now of 32. Yikes.
Harris/Walz have a real chance of taking it in November. I love it. We will see the week after the convention, where we are.
I was convinced Walz was the best choice when he spoke at the White Men for Harris Zoom event last week. I didn’t really know much about him, but read he was a possible contender. He’s genuine and intelligent while his opposite number in T💩p’s campaign is a poséur and a dullard. Harris has the goods on the Gilded Toadstool™️ and I hope he’s running scared, lose miserably, and end up in a prison cell, forgotten and alone.
Last night felt like the beginning of the Democratic Convention there was so much energy in that arena that was packed to the rafters with the 10,000 plus that it can hold. The energy was palpable. I love the words coming from that rally. Freedom! Hope! Joy! Contrast that with Hatred and Fear which is how despots like Trump rule. I am reading Project 2025 and it is basically 920 pages of grievance against Biden and ways to make our nation the most chaotic on the planet. South Sudan will have nothing on us at this point. I can see vigilante militias going into communities and slaughtering people when I read that document, and we will be having a third and fourth world educational program after they get done with destroying us. They need to get it all done in 2 years too because they know after they blow things up they aren't going to get the midterms. Afterwards I watched some of C-Span taking callers who were Dems, Reps, Ind, and Other. All of the independents I heard said they were excited by the ticket and want to vote for it. Dems were excited and even some of the negative Republicans who said their hate filled stuff had to admit that the crowd was fired up and it made them feel unsure of their ticket. They should feel unsure of their ticket, because as people become more and more clear what Project 2025 has in it, the more they will want to choose something else.
I’m absolutely jubilant over this energy and enthusiasm! Sunny days ahead. I suspect the Trump storm clouds will peter out and dissipate soon. I already feel the change in the air.
"Blue skies smilin' at me, nothin' but blue skies, do I see". Irving Berlin wrote this lyric almost 100 years ago and it is as good today as it was when he penned it.
Amazing, how relevant so much of the Great American Songbook remains decade after decade. …
A DAY LATER That is an unconscious appropriation of a *very* Noël Coward line Sir Noël gives Amanda to introduce a new tune in "Private Lives": "Strange, how potent cheap music is.." — "Noël and Gertie" https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zc8yFjkGASE&list=PLIvacmZCzEbBqV0sRp4HXGbj0K3yusERe&index=11&pp=iAQB8AUB
Not to forget what I remember from radio days in the '30s "Happy Days are here again, The skies above are clear again, let us sing a song of cheer again! Happy days are here again!"
No Democratic convention is complete till the Depression/FDR anthem 'Happy Days' has been heard early and often. In other settings it's usually played ironically, in a minor key
I keep hearing comments that this moment is “electric” so my minds went here:
https://youtu.be/JXo0kFVu6Gg?si=rtOlDtCBXIXqaUBu
It’s electric!!
You are so right, Susan.
I would love to see that, but make no mistake...the misery and desperation of the orange traitor will not peter out and dissipate peacefully. His life is on the line, and he will fight like the rabid animal he is to attain the power he seeks. He would rather destroy it all than lose and have to answer for his actions, just like hitler did to Germany not that long ago.
WE are the change we are looking for, and we must continue to work for it. Remember, the republicans are doing everything they can to suppress the vote and cheat when they can.
So, let's take this wonderful energy and enthusiasm and put it to work to stop them. Let's have a massive landslide victory for VP Harris and Gov. Walz so there can be no mistake what the American people want.
Agree, and a well grounded reminder to stay vigilant and commit to the work needed to follow through with this hope.
I don't feel joy as much as vindication having candidates confront the BS and fascist tactics aimed at this country for 9 years.
It's been a long time coming.
JOY!
Yes,I feel the change in the gloomy weather from the past days morphing into glorious sunshiny days ahead!This is so so exhilarating!
Josh Shapiro spoke first and delivered a barn burner! What a great benchbthe Democrats have.
I was just listening to Moly Jong-Fast’s podcast interview with Nancy Pelosi. The Dems have a lot of truly impressive people.
I thought both of them were terrific as was Governor Shapiro. It's lovely to laugh again.
Isn’t it wonderful to see?! Not that Biden didn’t smile, but the visual joy is also wrapped up in the final riddance of Trump perhaps? Hope and change, again?
I will always defend President Biden who saved us from The Bloated Yam's second term. However, the joy and glee over our new ticket is absolutely awesome.
The bloated yam? Oh that’s good. Thank you. But heel that he is will always be the orange dumpster fire to me.
Yes! I love you Joe, both for what you did in saving us from the boy that decided he was orange, for the accomplishments of your Term and especially for showing the wisdom of the ages by knowing what America needed to maintain our freedom and give us Kamala. I am so very excited and you will be in history books alongside the best Presidents in the future Classrooms.
Kamala, I agree with Governor Walz! I can rest when I die but I am here for you two now and will work as hard as I can to help you WIN! Great selection and I am so excited to see you soaring.
Like water seeking level, healthy humans reflexively come back to joy after suffering. That’s what I’ve been feeling—relief—chaos and drama and fear and anger are not sustainable. It’s time again for joy and the good feeling of necessary existential work.
Kim. That is sooo beautifully said. Thank you!! And YES!
Yes…yes…yes!!!!!
I will always remember that Walz said about reproductive rights, “it’s none of their business!” So true!
I want to see Dems pointing out that there has been serious talk by red state politicians about tracking women’s menstrual apps. Mark Robinson who is NC Lt. Governor and is running against the very impressive AG Josh Stein to be the next governor has actually blamed abortion on women not keeping their skirts down and also “It’s not your body anymore”. That ad ought to be getting national attention.
https://youtu.be/ZFfiPGN67pY?si=qNE6kshhNI-FJKRO
What really bothers me is that Robinson is smart and can sound perfectly reasonable when he isn’t talking to the base. Luckily a lot of his comments are on video but given how tuned out so many voters are these kinds of videos need to be shown as much as possible.
Absolutely, and he phrased it even more strongly: “Mind your own damn business!”
Tim was on fire with the right stuff and so was Kamala. SO powerful and genuine and TRUTHFUL. I am not religious but I can shout Hallelujah!
Encourage everyone to Vote vote vote.
Reduced me to tears. I'm 74 and it's been a damn long time since that happened to me. For the first time in years I have hope. No more Clinton centrist bullshit, no more Obama kissing Republicans' asses in the hope they'd give him some crumbs. Just out front Democratic energy and ferocity, a little maybe like FDR in 1933.
Absolutely agree! Clinton and Obama were ok but Joe and Kamala got the ball really rolling and Kamala and Walz will bring equality back. I have great hope for America and its people now.
Just when we were seeing the dark side of the 30's in the rise of fascism, along comes a message of hope. "The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself."
Thank you! Very well said!!!
I haven’t smiled or laughed so much in more than 8 years! David Hogg just said that “It feels so good to have hope!”. Walz is a perfect partner to Kamala. They both are very bright, energetic, and great orators. Just feels so damn good!
I was moved by David Hogg's post on Instagram. It's true that it has been a heavy lift to find hope for quite a long time. It started with trump's escalator ride and his mean spirited speech in 2015. Trump and his maga cohort have shoveled colossal loads of negativity, lies, hateful rhetoric, threats, and derision into the public forum every single day for the past eight+ years. The chaos, at times overwhelming, has been difficult to ignore. The rally in Philadelphia with Governor Shapiro, Governor Walz, and VP Harris brought us to a place where we can envision a new beginning. Trump and maga belong in the dust bin. We have a fantastic opportunity to turn the tide in America. We have the leaders to take us there. It does feel good to have hope!
Love David Hogg! He is such a remarkable representative for Gen Z as is Maxwell Frost.
Yes to everything you said. Trump laughs at, not with. What a refreshing change of demeanor these two are. Never underestimate the value of joy.
t-Rump doesn't even really laugh-- he sneers, snickers, cruelly laughs AT and not WITH people.
With sound? I've never heard him even feign a laugh. I hear nothing. I see only posed rictus grins. He has no need to express mirth. He clearly has never felt it.
Scowls and grimaces, too.
He's incapable of laughing, as he's incapable of empathy, pity, remorse, gratitude or, getting right down to it, happiness.
It was one of this nation's great failings to have elected this empty creature as a president.
The entire GOP is now running scared.
That effing cracks me up.
I wonder if any of them will peel off, or all will just stay wrapped around the balloon till it has lost the foul gas that inflates it and it all becomes an inert puddle.
A boy can dream.
So joyful to watch and I can’t wait until we win on November 5! Tim Watz was the right pick, her first positive decision!
I really didn't know anything about Walz until today. The more I've read about him the more I like him.
He's a good skin, as they say on the Merseyside!
Someone today (I have already forgotten who) called him “the world’s most instantly likable politician.”
Oh Lucian. What a wonderful post!! My nickname in college was Smiley and your description of the juxtaposition of our team vs those horrors who never smile has buoyed my mood. I am eager to watch the rally on video.
I think you’ve captured so well the new energy. Thank you. Thank you!
This is all marvelous. Can I share? Today in Monterey California we came upon a great big Trump merchandising stand. Got a picture of my beloved old white guy for Kamala standing smack in front of all of those angry signs and banners, smiling his ass off in a Make America Laugh Again KAMALA HARRIS shirt.
So many people smiling back, thumbs up, way to go, yesssss.
The vibe is happening!
The Washington Post and the NYTimes are as usual doing their best to minimize the positive developments and maximize the horse race with words like “fight” and “struggle”. #%&@ “”em. We could have a landslide with this duo of smart, experienced, honest people. Neither is perfect, but the vibes cannot be better. The closest in my life was JFK and Obama, but this is different, especially considering the time frame. I’m feeling really good about this.
I've noticed too. Neither paper knows how to describe what's in the air. They know something's different, just don't know what it is or how to say it. The first night Obama was elected everyone understood the reason for celebration. This isn't like that or anything else except maybe V-E and V-J days, which hardly anyone is alive to remember. We have only Alfred Eisenstaedt's Times Square V-J day photo of the sailor and the nurse.
The press is aping Trump in their approach to what's happening, i.e. throwing stuff out there hoping it will stick. My 2favs are sugar high and honeymoon. So analytical and so original. Watching the inside the beltway DC and NYC press left spinning in circles is priceless. Still lmrao at Tom Friedman's crowning Op-Ed on the word weird.
What's next, the ticket is too joyful for these dark days? Coach is no way to address a Governor? Coach is too folksy for America? Kamala needs to laugh less? The ticket is not taking any of what we write seriously?
Last but not least, Republicans told us Kamala hasn't done a sit-down so we will beat that drum for them! Just as they beat the drum that those with foresight should be labeled elites, anyone who dares read the room is hurting Joe, people who cite our polls shouldn't be listened to because we do all the talking, "those people" don't know what they're talking about, Ds in disarray, we love the Tortoise and the Hair race just as it is aka we wants it My Precious
There it is, for all to see.
To continue from Irving Berlin’s song, (Blue Skies- of course many will know it from Willie Nelson’s cover) “ never saw the sun shining so bright, never saw things looking so right.”
Let us all Do the Harris Walz waltz to the polls, vote Democratic up and down the ballot and be free. Tell your friends. We were in tears of joy watching them together Kamala and Tim!
The energy and joy are palpable. This 75-year-old cynic is even feeling it. For one of the few times in my life, I will truly be voting FOR someone rather than against someone.