The Blue Avalanche?; Democrats Gain Much Needed Momentum
This Week in PurpleAmerica; Kamala, The Olympics and The Death of a Serial Killer
It’s been a good first week for the Harris campaign. There is considerable energy behind her and the grassroots Dem organizations are engaged. Money is flowing. Her events have a spark, and Harris herself has looked much better than she did campaigning in 2019. Nonetheless, I made the mistake of saying that this will be a cakewalk, but it's easy to see why I said it.
The reason it was a mistake is for a number of reasons. First, it’s politics, sooner or later gravity sets in and people come back down to earth. The backlash is almost always as big as the launch, and you know a backlash is coming. The only questions are, when does it come and how big? Second, everyone in the Democratic Party is a happy family for the moment, but once that wears off, will the remain that way? Word is that knives are already out internally over territory within the campaign between Biden and Harris staffers (this is to be expected, it happens every campaign as things transition to the general election) and who ends up on top of that will matter. Third, eventually, Republicans will have a say in the outcome; they are not just passive observers that will give Harris the keys to the White House. They will attack and sling mud incessantly. You know they’ve been sitting on some rich mud for awhile waiting for the time to fling it at her; the questions are how much and how damaging is it?
So come Labor Day, as things settle and the General Election homestretch begins in earnest, that blue avalanche may look more like some pebbles falling off the rocks. Pollsters have already indicated that the original swing states are still really the only ones currently in play, but at least Harris reset that to expand outside of the industrial midwest. Harris has been granted a golden opportunity, one most people no matter how good they are never get a chance to do; make a serious run at the White House. How she carries herself and how the campaign unfolds will be the difference between four more years of Democratic control or the nightmare scenario so many are hoping to avoid.
PurpleAmerica’s People of the Past Week
The Good
Democratic Fundraising. Holy shit, $100 million in less than 48 hours. Biden leaving may have unleashed a financial juggernaut.
Joe Biden. He handled the transition to Kamala Harris as the presumptive nominee about has good as anyone could have expected. That Oval Office speech was perfection. He said all the right things. It has to be hard on him, but it was the right thing to do.
The Bad
Dem Legislators Protesting Netanyahu. Nearly 90 boycotted Bibi's speech to Congress this week. Listen, when you are elected, it is your job to listen to others, some of whom you don't agree with. Many of the other legislators from the other party you don't agree with, but you still listen to them; heads of state are no different. You're obligated to listen because you're constituents can't as easily.
Summer movie season. There has been a real dearth of things to see and other than the new Deadpool, it's a barren desert until November.
ESPN. What a downfall. When you spend so much programming time on lacrosse and corn hole, it's time to go back to the drawing board. Yes they just got basketball, but all it means is another 4 hours a day for Stephen A. Smith.
The Ugly
The United States Basketball Team. It was just a warm up but the United States Basketball team was down at halftime by 12 and in jeopardy of losing with 6 seconds left…to South Sudan. The South Sudanese hung 100 on the Americans in what should have been a blowout. I’ve never witnessed such a lack of heart and zero team defense since…last year’s All Star Game. Prepare to be disappointed in this team.
Crowdstrike. After sending out a patch to fix a Microsoft issue, this company practically single handedly wrecked the aviation industry, 25 years after Y2K threatened to do it. On top of that, now that there is such a huge backlog of flights, airlines can’t find pilots or crew to man planes in time. What a mess.
Palestinian Protesters at Union Station. Yeah, I get you have a right to “Peaceful Protest” but taking down the US flag and replacing it with a Palestinian one, burning the US Flag, and spray painting landmarks calling for Intafada isn’t really helping your cause. It’s the epitome of Toxic Activism. Kamala Harris agrees.
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PurpleAmerica Pop Culture Random Top Five
This week: The Top 5 Olympic Sports I’m Looking Forward to.
Over the years, I’m less of an Olympics fan. I used to be big time but now it just seems more overhyped and more overfocused on United States athletes. You may not know it, but back in the day they would cover it as SPORTS with athletes from other countries getting some attention too. It’s how America fell in love with Katherina Witt and Nadia Comenici. Nonetheless, I still get hooked into it. Here are my top five—you’ll notice I am completely uninterested in the US Basketball team; almost losing to South Sudan because they have zero heart in the games will do that to you.
Gymnastics. In truth, I’m less interested in “judged” sports but Simone Biles is the GOAT and this will be on in primetime so much that it will be hard to avoid.
Swimming. In particular women’s swimming. There is a local girl competing that our town is all excited for and this may be the last time to view the greatest female swimmer of all time, Katie Ledecky. It’s also the first Olympics without famed swimmer Michael Phelps, which means young newcomers will step up to fill the void.
Weightlifting. This is usually won by some former Eastern Bloc brick of a human being, but watching the sheer amount of weight they lift is astounding. Watching the bar bend on both sides at a 45 degree angle because of the weight that this stout person lifts above their head….damn. The winner is usually deemed “The World’s Strongest Man.”
Decathalon. U.S. networks rarely cover the event, because the US routinely sucks at it. But the winner of the Olympic Decathalon can be considered the World’s Greatest Athlete, and it's earned.
The 100 Meter Dash. Watching whoever gets crowned the “World’s Fastest Person” is always worthwhile. Its the greatest 10 seconds in sports. I can even watch the 200 and 400, along with some relays, but the 100 meter dash is must see viewing. You can’t avert your eyes or even blink until its over.
PurpleAmerica’s Best Articles of the Week
Why Centrism May Be Our Salvation, by Jennifer Rubin at the Washington Post.
The Center Must Hold, by Yair Zivan at the Atlantic.
Democrats Should Embrace the New Centrism, by Ruy Texeira at The Liberal Patriot
The Next Level Podcast talking about the Harris Campaign and where their strengths and weaknesses are. I was happy to see, they largely agreed with where I was coming from earlier this week here.
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My tribute to Joe Biden last Sunday (published a day early) became the largest viewed item this year, after only 48 hours. It’s still growing and circulating around. Overall, many seemed to agree that he was the best President in my lifetime, whether it being actually true or just recency bias reflecting on his legacy. Regardless, thanks for the very positive feedback. It was refreshing going into my mailbox and seeing positivity for a change.
“He’s the only President I remember who actually tried to persuade members from the other party to pass stuff. D.C. is so polarized now, I can’t help but think ‘Is this how government used to work?’” Well, in the way, way back, in the long. long ago, in a time called “Before 1992”, this was how government worked. It’s changed a lot since Gingrich and his cronies took over the GOP and decided they were not going to work together for the good of the country, but that’s a different story.
“If Biden were 20 years younger, not only would he win, it would be a landslide. The only argument Trump and Republicans had was ‘He’s old.’ That’s how you know he was doing a good job.” Not sure if I agree with the landslide idea given how polarized the Electoral College is, but I agree on the other points.
“I’m just glad we had a President that showed he was human more often than not, and wasn’t afraid of making a verbal mistake and not being perfect.” Biden’s humanity was his defining trait. We tend to poke fun at the “Biden Gaffe” without realizing how often we all do the same thing in general conversation. He chose to wear it like a badge of honor. As Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones said:
Still others disagreed.
“Uh, Obama?” My disagreement with Obama was that most everything he accomplished was done in the first two years when he had 60 votes in the Senate. Shit, with those numbers you can get much of anything through, of which he still struggled to get ObamaCare passed. He still presided over the single largest party electoral collapse in an election ever (2010). After that, he tended to coast based on the foundation layed those first 2 years. He didn’t get much accomplished in years 3-8, but was a steady hand, pulling us out of a terrible recession. He was good, not great.
“The Clinton economy of the late 90s was so much better than now.” True, but his personal life wasn’t exactly stellar. I do believe what Republicans did to him was way over a line, but it still led to his impeachment for what HE did (lie under oath). Not to mention, he had little to do with the tech economy and was a beneficiary of excellent timing. Still, he modernized the Presidency to the Boomer generation.
“Biden isn’t even the best one-term President in my lifetime. George H.W. Bush was the best one term President ever. He saw the collapse of the Berlin Wall, expanded NATO to include those former Soviet countries, and organized the international forces against Iraq in Kuwait. He never should’ve lost re-election.” Sure, he was great at foreign policy, but his domestic policy wasn’t so fantastic. He presided over a deep recession, seemed out of touch by age (much like Biden is now) and wanted to stay the course when people wanted change. Oh, and there was the S&L scandal and collapse too, which included many friends of GHWB. That’s why he lost re-election…to a philandering, pot-smoking Baby Boomer hippie.
“Were you not alive during the Reagan years?” I grew up during the Reagan years. In my lifetime, he has easily been the most iconic President (Obama is probably up there too, but for those who don’t recall the ‘80s, Reagan was ubiquitous and defined the decade much moreso than Obama did his time in office). Putting aside whether you agree or disagree with his policies a moment, he was extremely effective at getting what he wanted done (with a Democratic Congress) and at the height of the Cold War, commanded a presence and policy that precipitated the fall of the U.S.S.R.. What he also did was break the law by selling arms to a hostile country (Iran) and using it to fund a Central American war (in Nicaragua). He also presided over one of the most lopsided economic booms ever, with the rich getting extremely rich and the middle class sliding down. Sadly, it’s been that way ever since.
Nobody said anything making the case for the George W. Bush years. Thankfully.
However, I did get a couple trying to argue for Trump, which I just laughed at and deleted without any real consideration—I mean, if you really think Trump is the best President in your lifetime, you are on par with the Heaven’s Gate and Jim Jones followers, or akin to these theatre goers in this SNL skit from the ‘80s.
But one (and only one) did offer his take on another President. “Jimmy Carter has been the best ex-President ever, regardless of how futile his actual Presidency really was. Through his words and deeds, he demonstrates public service, humility and what it really means to be proud to be an American. Nobody else can touch him, though Joe Biden demonstrated those very same attributes this past week about as close as anyone could. He’ll be viewed in the same vein, favorably to history.”
Well put.
PurpleAmerica’s Historical Note from This Week
On July 26, 1984, Ed Gein died. Some of you may not know who Gein is, but his notoriety far exceeds his persona. Let me explain.
Back in the fall of 1957, when Sputnik was first launched and the Milwaukee Braves were in the World Series, the murder of Berniece Worden took place on the opening of deer hunting season, at her hardware store in rural Plainfield, WI. The son of the victim mentioned to officers that a local man named Ed Gein, who lived alone and made money doing odd jobs around town, had been in the store acting odd earlier that day.
Police went out to his home, and Gein wasn’t there. However, they did find the victim hanging in the shed, decapitated and gutted like a deer. Based on this, officers went into the home and what they found shocked the world; a heart in a paper bag on the stove, furniture made out of body parts, evidence of grave robbing and other assorted taboos and perversions. Police eventually found Gein at a neighbors, watching television (back then a luxury) on the floor with the neighbors’ kids, for whom he occasionally babysat.
The story became huge. Life Magazine did a full write up on the small town with the “Serial Killer Next Door.” National media invaded the small burg of only a couple hundred people, playing up the obliviousness of the locals. Author Robert Bloch, then in Green Bay, WI, began writing a story loosely based on the events. When Gein came to trial, he was quickly found incompetent to stand trial and moved to a mental health facility. That didn’t stop the media frenzy. His car was auctioned off and showcased at car shows.
On the eve that Gein’s house was to be auctioned (the likely buyer wanted to turn it into a museum and roadside attraction), the local fire marshall was alerted to a fire at the Gein home. The local fire marshall was the son of the victim who first alerted authorities to Gein. He casually took his time and when he finally arrived at the scene, the house had already burned to the ground.
Gein, eventually was found competent and came to trial years later. All of the evidence police found in his home was found inadmissible due to a lack of warrant,1 but he was convicted anyway2 and sentenced to a criminal mental health facility.3 Robert Bloch’s book became a bestseller you may have heard of after Alfred Hitchcock turned it into the movie “Psycho.” Elements of Gein’s story have been used for other Hollywood films, including “Silence of the Lambs” and “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” along with a host of others. He's become the source for many Hollywood horror themes.
Gein spent the rest of his days in a mental health facility. The depiction of him as an aggressive, maniacal killer flies in the face of the reality; in truth he was a more awkward, introverted simpleton, who had difficulty socializing and a morbid curiosity. His headstone has been stolen several times and now his grave remains unmarked. The location of his home was purchased and today there is no sign of its previous existence, but for the new owner's sign “No Trespassing.”
PurpleAmerica’s Dad/Uncle/Cheesy Joke of the Week
And with that…
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Footnotes and Fun Stuff
A confession and everything he said to police was also ruled inadmissible, since a police officer who personally knew Worden struck him during questioning. It was ruled that everything Gein said after that was obtained due to duress and inadmissible.
Despite the sensationalism of the story, and many of the potential crimes evident, he was found guilty only of the murder of Worden.
As a lawyer, one of the more interesting aspects of his trial was his choice of counsel. Gein’s initial lawyer was a public defender who managed to prevent the trial and get Gein to a facility based on mental incompetence. When he was found competent to stand trial, the lawyer by then had become the District Attorney for the area, in charge of prosecuting Gein. When Gein was given a new public defender, he refused any other attorney but for his previous counsel, which was problematic. The attorney, after a brief side bar and assent by Gein (for what would be a clear conflict of interest), resigned his position as District Attorney to represent Gein again. By all accounts, he represented Gein to the best of his abilities.