Author: Michael A. Ventrella

by

Who should be the candidate in 2028?

I recently asked my friends on Facebook who they would want as the Democratic candidate in 2026 and got a ton of responses.

Keep in mind a few things before I report what they said. First, my Facebook friends are almost entirely other liberals (duh) so this skews that direction. Second, many made the proper distinction between who they would personally like to see as President and who they think would be the best candidate (since the two are not necessarily the same). Thirdly, this was not any sort of well-designed polling. Some people named more than one candidate, some only named who they didn’t want (“Anyone but X!”), some merely said things like “I’ll vote for a toaster for President if it’s a Democrat.”

Keep in mind as well that a year is a lifetime in politics. Someone new could pop up between now and election day, and any of these named candidates could do something to ruin their chances.

So I counted mentions, even if some people mentioned more than one.

“Who, me?”

As expected, the name that popped up most is Gavin Newsom. He certainly has dominated the news lately with his brilliant attacks on Trump, and that has endeared him to many Democrats. Of course, he comes from California, and we’re going to get all their electoral votes no matter who the candidate is, so I’m not sure personally if that would be the best choice. (On the other hand, I voted for Harris, and she’s from California as well.)

Close behind was Pete Buttigieg, although most everyone who named him commented that they don’t think he has a chance. (Hey, people said the same thing about Obama when he started running.) Personally, I think Buttigieg would be great — I’d love to have someone of his intelligence in charge. However, I think he should probably get more experience. The highest office he has ever been elected to was mayor of a town in Indiana. Since getting married, he moved to Michigan and people thought he did that so he could run for Senate from there, but he shot that idea down early and has taken no steps to do so.

Third was J.B. Pritzker, another governor who has been wonderful at attacking Trump and giving Trump the respect he deserves (that is, none whatsoever). Pritzker has the personality many Democrats like, does and says the right thing, and may be a possibility.

Those three were a bit ahead of the next group. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez led the second tier. Most respondents admitted they’d want her but know that she probably could not get elected (yet). Some mentioned her as a VP choice. AOC is beloved by many Democrats but, let’s face it, she’s still young and only a representative. She probably should run for Schumer’s seat when he retires (which hopefully will be soon) and get more experience first. She could wait until 2060 and still be younger than Biden or Trump.

My own governor Josh Shapiro was in the next tier, along with Senator Mark Kelly, Governor Andy Beshear, and Representative Jasmine Crockett.

I was surprised to see that my friends hardly listed Cory Booker and Kamala Harris … Both of those would be high on my list, although I can see why people would say that Harris already had her chance and it’s not a good idea to have her try again.

In any event, this means absolutely nothing, but it was interesting to see who was popular among my Facebook friends.

by

Scary

Matt Wuerker
by

Unnecessary Censorship

You ever see someone write “f*ck” or something similar, as if that absolves them of writing a bad word? Like we can’t figure out what the word could possibly be, especially when taken in context?

Or when a TV censor bleeps a word but you can still tell from the context and the speaker’s mouth what the word is? Or when a comic book character says “&%@(!!” instead of what you know they’re really saying?

Who are we protecting here? You think kids haven’t heard these words before? You think they’re too dumb to figure it out? The very young ones, maybe, but then they’re not reading “f*ck” or watching the kinds of shows where those words might be used. (Or in comic books and comic strips that kids might read.)

For network TV, which has to apply for licenses from the government, it makes a bit more sense. However, I see that most cable stations don’t censor any more (Jon Stewart and the cast of “South Park” are finally free to say what they think without bleeping), and clearly we’re moving in that direction. Even our President and other politicians use words that would have destroyed their careers when I was young.

These kinds of silly word censorships are sort of like those fashion pictures you’ve seen where the beautiful female model is topless but she has her fingers covering her nipples … Gee, what could possibly be under her finger? I can’t imagine! (And seriously, it’s not the nipples we care about anyway. If all I wanted to do is see nipples, I could look in a mirror…)

Anyway, the point I was trying to make before I distracted myself with nipples is this: I sometimes have to laugh at silly censorhip. I mean, come on. No one is going to be hurt by it. It’s just a f*cking word.

by

It’s only socialism if Democrats do it

Bill Bramhall

by

They know they’re unpopular and they don’t care

Trump’s approval is around 35% or so, and those are mostly the cultists who will support him no matter what. It’s still lower than any other President at this point in their presidency.

The majority of Americans do not approve of anything he is doing, but the Republicans don’t care. They laugh and pretend they’re popular — mostly because they live in that bubble where they only pay attention to the news sources that suck up to them — but the fact is that they are tremendously unpopular.

And that’s why they cheat. That’s why they do everything they can to prevent people from voting. That’s why they ignore the laws and do whatever they want because they know they’ll lose otherwise.

And they’re successful often because they have spent years building to this point, filling courts with judges whose views are political instead of legal, gerrymandering to control legislatures, and knowing they can get away with it because we’re the “good guys” who won’t stoop to their level to stop them.

But hey, they don’t care who they hurt to get their power, to help their billionaire friends, to destroy people who aren’t like them.

I mean, seriously, this isn’t a fight between liberal and conservative any more; it’s more of a fight of good and evil.

by

The history of Cancel Culture

Matt Wuerker

by

The Republican platform 2025

“Hi, we’re the Republican party! We’re the ones who just shut down the government and are violating your Constitutional rights. We’re led by a rapist with 34 felonies who is suffering from dementia and who has the lowest approval rating of any President at this stage of his presidency. If you vote for us, we promise to cut every government program that helps you and will work to hurt everyone who is not a straight, white male! So, can we count on your vote in November?

Oh, did we mention that we’re actively hiding evidence about rich people raping young girls?”

(An apology: I’ve been so depressed over politics lately, I find it hard to write about it on this blog, although I do give small comments on my Facebook page often.)

by

Paint it black

Dave Whammond
by

We need more Democrats fighting back

I may have some problems with Newsom’s policies, but I love the way he’s trolling Trump. He’s posting tweets that mimic Trump’s deranged ramblings along with fake AI pictures of the type Trump posts. And when Republicans say he’s not acting like a Governor should, he just laughs and wonders why they never say the same about Trump’s unhinged posts.

There’s a reason the support for Democrats is at its lowest in years, and it’s mainly because we’re tired of moderate Democrats who are too scared to fight back and who won’t push for the liberal policies the majority of Americans want. Chuck Schumer and his “strongly worded letters” may have been how politics was done in the days of political decorum, but that ended when Newt Gingrich came along, and Democrats have yet to learn that you won’t accomplish anything that way any more.

No more “When they go low, we go high.” Ignoring the neighborhood bully only makes him more powerful.

I mean, I am not really looking forward to Newsom running for President but duh, if he gets the nomination, I’m going to vote for him. I mean, come on, the worst Democrat is still better than the best Republican these days.

by

Besties

Chris Britt