senseandsensibility

senseandsensibility's Journal

June 30, 2024

Thank God for Jill Biden!

This may sound trivial, but I don't think it is. I am thankful for her service for the past four years (all the while working as a teacher), and for her loyalty to Joe. I'm glad she is there for him during this difficult time. I'm sure we can all agree that she will give him heartfelt, honest advice and that he will listen to her.

She was great on the campaign trail on Friday. She gave an uplifting, forceful speech before Joe's equally good speech. What an assent she is and will continue to be! Like Kamala, I hope the campaign uses her more. And that "Vote" dress she was wearing was genius.

June 29, 2024

Tapper and Bash are trending on twitter and it does my heart good

They are absolutely getting clobbered. Really great takedowns by Keith Olbermann
and Dan Rather.

I don't think the no fact-checking thing was part of the agreeent. At least I didn't see it in the reporting at the time. It was announced later. But it must be nice to collect million dollar salaries while reading mediocre questions like good little robots with no responsibility to fact check for follow through. Where do I sign up for that gig?

June 29, 2024

Like an earthquake

Many years ago, as a beginning teacher, I found myself teaching a class of first graders as an earthquake struck. For someone who grew up in CA, I had experienced very few earthquakes at that point. Just a couple of short, sharp jolts that were over almost before they began. But this one was different; it was a long, rolling one and it scared the daylights out of me.

But as terrified as I was, I immediately went into teaching mode and reassured the kids that it was okay, and they would be fine. The alarm had been triggered and they were under their desks with their hands over their heads. I talked them through it as some of them cried out for their mommies, telling them over and over that it would be okay. They stopped crying, the earthquake ended, and as we waited for the second alarm telling us that they could come out from under their desks. As we waited, I realized that I had been so preoccupied with the students that I had not taken my recommended position under the doorway. I had just stood in front of my desk, a target for any falling debris. Not good, obviously, and I never did that again.

Well, I find myself feeling those same emotions after the debate debacle and the horrendous SC decisions. Once a teacher, always a teacher, I guess. I can think of nothing to do but reassure, have faith, and do my best to make sure all the bases are covered. Most of my posts since the debate have been in that vein since Thursday night, although to be honest, I am scared %%$$less. I know some of you are too. It's going to take positive thinking, pro-active steps, participation, and buy in from all of us to get through this. There will be mistakes ( like me not getting in my correct safety position), between now and November. We need to come through them stronger, and not let them rattle us.

June 28, 2024

Newsom is not angling to replace Biden in 2024

I know him. He's my Governor, and not only that he's been a local celebrity here in the SF Bay Area for decades. He's the real deal. He made gay marriage legal in SF decades before mainstream Dems would consider it. When asked why he said, "It's a Civil Rights Issue." No drama.

Because he's good looking and well spoken, people who don't know him like we do in CA think he's slick or has hidden motives. He doesn't.

I was not surprised when he immediately gave a full throated defense of Biden last night right after the debate. And he wasn't angling for anything. Today he continued to implore Dems to get behind Biden. I hope people listen to him.

June 28, 2024

"I know how to tell the truth!"

Great line from Joe this morning at his live appearance. Really great speech if you get a chance to see it. He ended with a real call to action and the crowd went wild. More of this please. If you're feeling down I recommend you watch this. It really helped me.

June 28, 2024

My take on last night for what it's worth

I think Biden was overprepared with facts and figures and underprepared on how to be telegenic. The facts and figures went over like a dead balloon because of his (admittedly) poor delivery. And simple advice like looking into the camera, speaking loudly and slowly, and smiling during cheato's answers instead of staring blankly, would have gone a long way.

Some of this is Biden's fault, but I do feel that his team should have prepared him with short snappy answers and voice projection instead of paragraphs of facts that are not engaging to most people watching debates. This morning I heard talking heads on MSNBC ask if Biden was even told by his team that there would be a split screen and that his reaction to cheato would be televised. Jan Psaki said she doesn't know if he was prepared for the set up. No excuse for this.

Anyway, he came out "jacked up" this morning, and so I still have hope. It's counterproductive to look back too much. I think he sounded good today. Let's give him and his team (and his surrogates) a chance to fix this.