Jennifer Rubin has another article yesterday that hit it out of the park.
She wrote
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Among the worst takes on the impeachment: “Biden’s words from 2020 fuel GOP’s impeachment push” (Axios); and on Hunter Biden’s indictment: “Biden allies worry son Hunter’s indictment could strain the president’s 2024 focus” (NBC News). The worst of the worst was from the Wall Street Journal: “Biden’s Rough September: Auto Strike, Son’s Indictment, Inflation, Impeachment Inquiry.” (Inflation is actually down, and there is no sign anything involving his son is a drag on his reelection.)
These fit a common media pattern: Hammer an item and then castigate Democrats for getting distracted by or worrying about it. I find it hard to believe any significant number of people willing to vote for Biden would say, “Nope, his kid is being indicted, so I will go with Donald Trump” or “Even if there’s no evidence, Biden’s impeachment is as bad as Trump’s two.” Both the amount of and hysterical tone of coverage remind us how little self-awareness the media gained during the Trump years.
If it were not so infuriating, it would be comical. The political media’s obsession with alleged problems for Biden frankly smacks of attempting to make its own coverage a self-fulfilling prophecy. Then, the media can safely claim “both sides have problems,” even though no negative issue on Biden’s side remotely matches the danger and lunacy in inviting an accused felon and twice-impeached former president back to the White House.
As for the impeachment based on the utterly baseless charge that President Biden helped his son and/or benefited from his foreign business dealings, an unlikely source provided the definitive take on the entire gambit. Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) wrote for The Post: “What’s missing, despite years of investigation, is the smoking gun that connects Joe Biden to his ne’er-do-well son’s corruption.” That’s a simple statement of fact, one that should have been the news headline for the episode, not endless speculating about the “problem” it supposedly poses for the president.
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Moreover, as the media attempts to even the scales, it diverts from a near-collapse in House leadership as Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) can find no feasible escape hatch from a shutdown that he knows will work to his and his party’s detriment. Maybe the most pressing story is not Hunter Biden’s gun charge but the utter incapacity of Republicans to govern.
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This is what we are up against: a media determined to make stories without two sides seem like two sides. A media obsessed with showing that they are “fair” by tearing down Democrats. A media obsessed with the clicks that bad news and sensationalism bring.
The GREAT news is that we can fight this! We can share good news about our Biden and the Democrats here and anywhere else where we have an audience.
That is why we show up here every day to bring good news. We do it because it brings us hope and love to share it. We do it because we want you to have hope. We do it because we care about our democracy.
We also do it to amplify that which is true AND good — that which gets ignored elsewhere.
So let’s get to it!
Democrats are doing great things
Biden’s new Climate Corps will train thousands of young people
President Biden on Wednesday announced an initiative to train more than 20,000 young people in skills crucial to combating climate change, such as installing solar panels, restoring coastal wetlands and retrofitting homes to be more energy-efficient.
In a TikTok video Monday that racked up more than 16,000 views, the Sunrise Movement, a youth-led climate group, declared that “Dark Brandon would pass a CCC” — a reference to a meme that Biden’s 2024 campaign has embraced.
Biden’s move bypasses gridlock on Capitol Hill, where Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) have introduced legislation to establish a Civilian Climate Corps that is unlikely to pass the Republican-controlled House.
This is what taking on election deniers really looks like
Democrats won a whole lot of elections in 2022, in no small part on their vow to strengthen and defend democracy. But if they hope to turn the issue into a sustained political winner, they have to deliver on that promise by showing voters what a pro-democracy governing agenda actually looks like.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is set to make a big move in this direction by unveiling a big change on Tuesday that will implement what’s known as “automatic voter registration” statewide.
Automatic registration makes getting on the voter rolls something you have to opt out of, rather than actively sign up for in advance. An underappreciated success story, it has been put into effect in two dozen states, mostly by Democrats. It typically works by automatically registering customers at state Department of Motor Vehicles offices (or other agencies) or by automatically extending them that option, while offering an opt-out alternative.
“I see voter participation as key to strengthening democracy,” Shapiro told me in an interview, noting that he is “committed to ensuring free and fair elections, and to making sure every eligible voter can make their voice heard.”
Biden sets up White House office on gun violence prevention
U.S. President Joe Biden is establishing a new office of gun violence prevention at the White House to implement existing laws and work with local authorities to pass gun safety legislation at the state level, officials said on Thursday.
The new office will be overseen by Vice President Kamala Harris and run with the help of gun safety advocates who are joining the administration, officials told reporters on a conference call.
"I’ll continue to urge Congress to take common sense actions that the majority of Americans support like enacting universal background checks and banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines," Biden, a Democrat, said in a statement released by the White House.
"But in the absence of that sorely-needed action, the Office of Gun Violence Prevention along with the rest of my Administration will continue to do everything it can to combat the epidemic of gun violence that is tearing our families, our communities, and our country apart," he said.
Gun safety groups welcomed the move.
"We are so pleased that the Biden administration has officially created an Office of Gun Violence Prevention," said Kris Brown, president of Brady, an advocacy group.
We Can Win Upcoming Elections
The best predictor of performance in election years? Performance in special elections held on non-election years. Been true every time.
Democrats have been winning big in special elections
Democrats just scored a big win in an election on Tuesday: Democrat Hal Rafter defeated Republican James Guzofski 56 percent to 44 percent in a special election to fill a Republican-held seat in the New Hampshire state House.
It’s also the latest example of Democrats outperforming in a special election, a trend that could be a harbinger of a very good year for Democrats in 2024. This New Hampshire district is 6 percentage points more Republican-leaning than the nation as a whole, according to a weighted average of the 2020 and 2016 presidential results in the district.* Yet Rafter won by 12 points — an 18-point Democratic overperformance above their partisan baseline.
“Hang on,” you might be saying. “Only 2,800 people voted in this election.” (New Hampshire House districts are really tiny.) “Does that really mean anything?” On its own, no — any single special election can be influenced by any number of factors, including candidate quality or parochial issues. But Democrats have been posting special-election overperformances of that magnitude all year long, in all kinds of districts. And on average, they have won by margins 11 points higher than the weighted relative partisanship of their districts.
What can you do to save democracy?
Here are some ideas:
We here at the GNR have set up a fundraising ActBlue account where you can donate and have it evenly distributed between 24 races that will be key to winning the House in 24!
Go ahead and donate at this link:
More worried about keeping tfg out of the WH? You could:
Looking for something else? Maybe something that doesn’t involve donating? GREAT! Here are some other ideas:
So pick just one and get to it!
Bad News for Bad Guys
Jack Smith and Fani Willis have a secret weapon: Donald Trump
Four-times indicted former president Donald Trump and his co-defendants are turning out to be special counsel Jack Smith’s and Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis’s secret weapons. Their trail of admissions of wrongdoing, failed efforts at moving their cases to federal court and incriminating documents provide evidence that prosecutors only dream of collecting.
The “advice of counsel” defense posits that if you received and accepted reasonable legal advice, you might not have had the requisite intent for certain crimes.
Whatever the shortcomings in Kristen Welker’s “Meet the Press” interview, it did provide Trump with the opportunity to disarm one of his defenses to the indictments regarding Jan. 6, 2021. Welker asked, “The most senior lawyers in your own administration and in your campaign told you that after you lost more than 60 legal challenges that it was over. Why did you ignore them and decide to listen to a new outside group of attorneys?” He responded that he didn’t “respect them.” He explained, “You know who I listen to? Myself. I saw what happened, I watched that election, and I thought the election was over at 10 o’clock in the evening. My instincts are a big part of it. That’s been the thing that’s gotten me to where I am — my instincts.”
Just to make sure everyone understood he wasn’t blaming the lawyers, he reiterated, “It was my decision. I listened to some people.”
His attorneys might now be barred from even raising the defense.
Other Good News
He ‘gentle parents’ the squirrels on his balcony. Millions now watch.
Derrick Downey Jr. was relaxing on his second-story balcony in Los Angeles when a bushy-tailed fox squirrel suddenly appeared.
Downey said they stared at each other for a few seconds, and then he asked the squirrel: “Do you want something to eat?”
“It seemed obvious to me that he did, so I told him, ‘Stay here, I’ll be right back,’” Downey recalled.
Downey ran into his kitchen and searched in his cupboards until he’d found some peanuts, then he hurried back to the balcony.
“The squirrel was still sitting in the same spot, so I figured, ‘Okay, he was listening to me,’” he said. “And when I held my hand out with the peanuts, he pulled my hand closer and started eating.”
He decided to share a video on TikTok of him interacting with the squirrels. The short clip of him giving Richard and Maxine sips of water from a glass and tenderly telling them not to quarrel has racked up more than 26 million views since it was posted last year.
Downey was excited his followers liked the squirrels as much as he did, so he decided to start posting daily videos of Richard and Maxine. In a recent one, he tries to teach Maxine patience as he peels her an avocado.
Now, three years in, his videos attract a community of people who love squirrels, and also are seeking kindness to both animals and humans — just like him.
“This page isn’t about the squirrels really, it’s about the good vibes,” one person wrote on his Instagram.
On The Lighter Side
What can you do to save democracy?
Here are some ideas:
We here at the GNR have set up a fundraising ActBlue account where you can donate and have it evenly distributed between 24 races that will be key to winning the House in 24!
Go ahead and donate at this link:
More worried about keeping tfg out of the WH? You could:
Looking for something else? Maybe something that doesn’t involve donating? GREAT! Here are some other ideas:
So pick just one and get to it!
I am so lucky and so proud to be in this with all of you 💓💚💛🧡✊🏻✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿✊❤️🧡💛💚
