TV viewers and internet "clicks" equal BIG BUCKS! And, this is why we are beginning to

[Atticus]

see the widespread efforts to cast the presidential race as "tightening" and a proliferation of "thought" pieces with titles like "Could Trump Turn This Around And Beat The Polls---AGAIN!"

"Neck and neck" horse races are more exciting than those won by ten lengths. Call it "suspense" or "concern" or "fear", but a lot of mega-corporations are going to try to create an attitude of anxiety that will compel millions of us to spend more time watching the tube or searching the net for "the latest"

Please keep in mind that much of the "coverage" of this race is not intended to report reality but to create it. "Who says so?" and "What is their motivation?" are just a couple of the questions we should be asking about all "Breaking News". And, while averages of multiple polls are of some value, no one poll really means anything and some are "purchased" to yield a predetermined outcome.

Contribute what you can afford. Volunteer your time, use your influence, put a sticker on your bumper and a sign in your yard.

No whining. No hand-wringing. These bring smiles to Trumpies.

VOTE---for ALL Democrats.

[Sherman A1]

1. Precisely

It’s all about the money.

[world wide wally]

2. Personally, It makes me NOT want to watch the news

[Thekaspervote]

3. I don't watch, won't until the narrative changes

[ananda]

12. Same here.

I've been boycotting for a good while.

[Atticus]

4. Amen. nt

[OnlinePoker]

5. So, where do you get your unbiased news? n/t

[Thekaspervote]

6. Here, other news apps, WAPO, public radio..certain channels only

[world wide wally]

10. Mostly right here.

DU links to news services all over the world.
I watch MSNBC and CNN for events like the conventions or debates.
NEVER Fox.

[Wounded Bear]

7. I've often figured that the biggest problem we have is the Ad industry...

Nowhere else in the world do the Presidential races last two years.

It's not surprising when even good politicians don't get much done. They go straight from their swearing in ceremonies to their first fund raisers for their next election. Politics as entertainment, and the one class that really makes money off of it is advertisers.

[Lock him up.]

8. Whatever they say, Joe & Kamala will destroy the cRiminal clowns in debates.

- 200,000 DEAD (by then)

- Millions unemployed.

- Economy in the ditch.

- $4 Trillions deficit

- Hatch Act breakers

- Emoluments clause.

- Say goodbye to Social Security, Medicare & the ACA.

- Bounties on troops he gives no sh*t about.

- So many more it's impossible to list them all...

RICO the MASSIVELY-DEADLY tRump MOB
Over 183,000 confirmed INNOCENT VICTIMS KILLED for POLITICAL gain!

[Thekaspervote]

9. +1000

[world wide wally]

11. Truth is a powerful tool in a debate

[KPN]

13. I think it's more than that. While you are absolutely

right about the money, it seems quite obvious to me that the right-wing machine is going full tilt to create an impression that tRump is actually going to win in order to legitimize tRump’s inevitable claim that the election results are fraudulent, that Democrats have and are stealing the election and refuse to concede on the evening of Nov. 3rd.

Listen to RW radio — they are all talking about primarily three things when you boil it down: (1) that “internal polling” by the tRump campaign shows him winning in a LANDSLIDE (impression they are trying to pre-fabricate — how could it not have been rigged if their “internal polls” projected a landslide victory?)! (2) The Biden camps internal polling is showing his chances slipping away, ergo, they’ve mobilized Antifa to sow chaos throughout America that they can then pin on tRump; and (3) the actual numbers of US deaths from Covid is only 9,000, the rest are just all people who happened to have Covid when they died from other causes, I.e., it’s all a massive Marxist Democratic hoaxing -/ they want to tear our country down and will resort to anything to do so. ... I kid you not!

[klook]

16. I'm just looking forward to the day when MS-13 takes over the suburbs

and there are taco trucks on every corner! You'll get a free copy of Mao's Little Red Book with every order!!1!


- Envisioning the American Dream

You are correct. They want to create the impression that the election is close enough to steal, and then they'll do everything they can to steal it.

One thing I can't figure, what do the Republicans think Trump is going to do if he gets re-(s)elected? Maybe they really don't care how many die from COVID-19 (as long as they're mostly black and brown), and they really believe that tax cuts for the wealthy magically solve all economic problems, and they think systemic racism is a myth and all that's needed to restore Law And Order (cue Dragnet theme) is more troops in Dem cities.

But if Trump really does get a second term, there are going to be so many problems that we'll all be nostalgic for the relatively calm days of 2020. Stating the obvious: We've got to do everything in our power to cancel the Trump Unreality Show.

[KPN]

20. Lol! Actually, I'd be okay with taco trucks as

opposed to Dunkin donuts on every street corner.

Me? I’m worried about Nov 4th, the morning after. Can’t help but think some blood will be shed somewhere, somehow regardless of the outcome. It’s going to be a turbulent trip — be safe!

[hunter]

14. I don't watch television and block clickbait sites that annoy me.

My wife and I quit television a long time ago.

The only television commercials I see are posted here on DU as YouTube videos. I don't click on most of those, especially political commercials. I'm completely intolerant of political advertising.

Our television plays DVDs and Netflix. That's pretty much all it does. It's not connected to an antenna, cable, or satellite. I can 'cast other stuff to our television from my laptop, but mostly I don't.

The ad blocker I use is uBlock Origin. It's available free in most app stores. If I don't like something I see on the internet, even a specific sig-line picture here on DU, I can right click it and make it go away forever. Mostly I kill things that move or make noise without asking. I don't block silent non-moving ads on sites I wish to support. Most of the sites I visit are technical and only have advertising related to those technologies. I see a lot of ads for things like water pumps, motor controllers, test equipment, and electronic components, even on non-technical sites.

We don't have to feed the beast.

[Moostache]

15. Yes, that's one way to interpret things...

Another is through the 2016 prism...

At this same time in the race in 2016, Hillary was CRUSHING Trump in polls. He was coming out of that freak-show Cleveland convention with plagiarism scandals for his idiot wife, an acceptance speech that reeked of brimstone, and a farce of a convention featuring an old man yelling at an empty chair at one point. He looked EXACTLY like what he is today - an incompetent boob, over-matched by the responsibilities of the job and more cartoonish than serious.

Now in 2020, we are at the EXACT same point. Biden looks like the serious, level-headed and experienced candidate to actually address the nation's problems and engage the world and Trump looks like a rodeo clown, barely coherent and trafficking in nut-baggery. Yet, "polls are tightening"? REALLY?

NO!

2016 was stolen, pure and simple. Trump's own surprise at the result will forever stick in my memory. Putin and the Russians saw an opportunity and they jumped all over it. The original intent was to harm Clinton as revenge for her pissing of Putin, but when they realized that they had access to actual voting machine tallies and could invisibly change the results by manipulating a mere 78,000 votes spread out over 3 states and with only a need to alter a few dozen votes per precinct to do it...we got President Trump.

Now that scum-bag cocksucker of a fraud is eyes deep in scandals and pending litigation, including likely felonies for fraud and money laundering if he returns to civilian life, so he is fully joined in the effort to make sure he does not get removed from office. ALL of the 2016 dirty tricks and propaganda - INCLUDING the "polls are tightening" trope - are being added to with Trump's willingness to sacrifice the entirety of the USA government integrity to save his own ass and have become an obvious, in-your-face broad-daylight election fraud in real time.

The fix is in and the outcome is a close Trump "miracle" in much the same places as before.

A vote that is not counted, or worse is flipped in the counting via dirty tricks and fraud is not a vote, its a waste of a good portion of your day. The sabotage of the USPS, the constant "its gonna be a rigged election" and "you can't let THEM steal YOUR president" nonsense are merely indications that the plot is underway and that it is going according to plan.

But on this point, I agree totally - Polls are fucking worthless drivers of discussion sections of the evening news shows / marketing vehicles for drugs you need to cure diseases you never heard of and that your actual doctor never recommended.

Its all a giant marketing fraud - 'election season', complete with betting odds and "in-depth" (i.e. - embarrassingly surface level) analysis by "experts" (i.e.- worthless talking heads selected to fulfill slotted roles in the 'drama'.

The whole fucking thing is disgusting and utterly transparent once you recognize it for what it is - a very long advertising and mind control campaign to pit Americans against each other, to service the rich and keep one half of the poor at the throats of the other half when what SHOULD happen, what is NEEDED is a collection awakening and recognition of the REAL enemy - the fucking billionaires hammering home their red-hot exploiter's poker into the ass of every working American.

But, sure, watch away. I can write next week's headlines for you now - "Biden gaffe brings up questions for campaign"..."Trump supporters rally to President, numbers are tightening"..."Battleground states are showing a dead heat"..."Can <insert 'Texas' or 'Georgia'> go blue this year?"

Its all bullshit.

[Atticus]

17. "The fix is in!" and "It's all bullshit!" are EXACTLY the type of despair the Dark Side is paying

millions to encourage.

There are plenty of reasons go be pissed off but NONE to surrender!

[Moostache]

18. I have heard this all before....

Without the help of the not-altogether-there Ross Perot to split votes from Bush in '92, Clinton may not have actually won.
It was not turn-out that won that race for use with a plurality, it was a disaffected population after "Read my lips, no new taxes" and other doublespeak nonsense from Poppy Bush

Heard it in '00 before Gore surrendered and allowed Bush to take office instead of essentially shutting the whole thing down back then. Did it for "the good of the country"... I say fuck being magnanimous with Republicans, EVER. That fuckstick Matt Schlapp and his cohorts from the "Brooks Brothers Riot" in Florida recount are STILL cashing in on that bullshit, they made entire CAREERS off of it and MILLIONS of dollars...oh, and they managed to steal the narrative on counting every vote and muddy the whole thing.

Heard it again in '04 when Kerry got Swift-boated and an AWOL Texas Air National Guardsman was portrayed as a 'hero' and an actual hero was painted as a "commie-sympathizing traitor".

Heard a TON of it in '08 with Palin running around stoking hate and racism before McCain refused to go 100% into the sewer. He was not a hero, but McCain may have been one of the last Republicans that I believe actually loved their country as more than an ATM to extract money from people poorer than themselves. He was no saint, but he was not in the same sewer as what has followed...

Obama was able to win in very large part due to one thing - the economic disaster unfolding in fall of '08 and McCain's asinine defense of the status quo with the statement "the fundamentals of the economy are strong" at the exact same time people were being thrown out into the streets and losing everything.

Remember election night 2012 and how stunned they were on Fox News when Romney lost Ohio? That was not supposed to happen, but somehow it did - there was a glitch in the planning and execution that night and what most right-wingers "knew" was going to be a win for them actually did not happen. There was a lot of consternation that night and the plot to simply go full-on racist was hatched soon after.

I've covered my 'gut feelings' on 2016 and whats happening in 2020.
Should we vote? OF COURSE WE SHOULD...
Will it be enough? It was (barely) in '92 and '96 and '08 and '12 (more comfortably for sure)....not in '00 or '16 and looking too familiar in '20...

Surrender? Not my intent, but when the election is stolen (again - for the 4th time in the last 6 cycles) it is time to STOP advocating for peaceful transition and voting to overcome a criminal cabal and party beholden to foreign cash, domestic donor cash and racism to its very core.

Surrender? NO.
Succession? Now you have my attention...

[Atticus]

19. We share many of the same beliefs and attitudes. I just believe that some who don't catch

your references to past rat-fucking will only come away with "Gee, here's a respected DU poster who sounds like he's throwing in the towel!"

If I were to post what I think would be JUSTICE for this POS, I'd be in Gitmo when Agent Mike pulled the bag off my head. So, I'll try to encourage others to help me find some other way.

Thanks for giving a damn.

[KPN]

21. Great summation of the past and current situation

I’m with you. No surrender ... for the good of the country! Biggest mistake ever by Democrats: Gore conceding for the good of the country. Clinton was still President. Got Gore/we Dems acquiesced on our only power to potentially influence the outcome. I know, I know ... the SCOTUS. But there is also the people, especially when the leader calls on them. Gore/Clinton did what seemed right in 2000 and probably still is now. But the “fool me once, shame on you“ adage applies without question today in my view. No surrender. No concession.