Post

White privilege is a hell of a drug.

You could take all the people said to have lost their jobs because of Woke, and it wouldn't equal the losses just from DeSantis taking over the New Florida College. These people are constructing an alternate reality to absolve themselves in their role in creating this mess.

Also, how are the Democrats regarded as a 'toxic brand' when compared to the GOP/MAGA ?!

With no disrespect to Mr. Bouie, I should add.

And French plays innocent and above the fray. I had the same reaction.

Michelle Cottle is the James Carville of Maureen Dowds

Inflation was easing: Historical inflation:

Easy, move the timestamps & goalposts. Suddenly, persistent inflation doesn’t matter if it was last quarter, but prices never go back down so voters see right through the lies & omissions.

The relentless lies and propaganda from Trump mean that Harris lost the election on fictional issues beyond her control

Appreciate this. As a person who's spent >50% of their media attention toward that bubble, it's been educational, via Bluesky, to dig into data, even data I don't like. And continue to be glad I dumped the Times over 18 months ago.

Elliot, I really appreciate the work you are doing. You often bring facts into (debunking, nuancing) myths. One such example is the recent post that explained there are no more new pollsters this year than others years.

Wild to see Cottle essentially dismiss the understanding of the term "woke" by black people, get totally bodied on the driver of the 2024 election, and then end with a call to continue discussing "woke". Particularly when French offers, unprompted, the Right will literally kill you for wrongthink

Ok, but Josh Marshall points out that just because swing voters aren't particularly ideological doesn't mean you can just choose your own adventure. Woke 1 certainly annoyed a lot people. How much damage did it do? I dunno: what does the evidence say? Is it sufficient to override weak priors?

I could buy it if it were somehow claimed to rely on something empirical but it’s all vibes. And in that case, you could argue the opposite - that voters are fed up with centrism.

Damn, Elliott's on fire this morning.

I'd agree national Dems have been somewhat saddled with the "weak and whiny" label, but "woke"? As if opposition to Trump (and Russel Vought) is somehow considered woke by anyone except MAGA diehards.

“Weak, woke, and whiny INSTEAD OF taking on the corrupt extreme Republicans destroying our lives” why is this so difficult for pundits to grasp??

Several gospels Stay awake Keep your lamps burning Cottle Nah Too much bother

She is definitely right that the centrist media bubble views Dems as weak and woke, but that is not in fact how voters view the party, from a comparative perspective

He didn't win all 7 swing states and 70+ flips from D to R and 0 from R to D is statistically impossible....so don't spend to much time yelling at each other about "what went wrong"

After Mondale was trounced by Reagan in 1984, the Dems concluded that the New Deal coalition was broken. But Mondale didn't underperform too much given incumbency and the economy. (via Fair model) Lots to be learned from studying residuals of overperformance/underperformance regressions!

Also the Black lady was too confident and had a weird laugh. <sarcasm dialed up to 11>

I tend to agree with your inflation argument and Harris - with the following caveat. Inflation in the U.S. was actually lower than in the rest of industrialized world- but that fact was conveniently ignored by the MEDIA. The MEDIA had a vested interest in pushing inflation = worst ever. (Not 1978)

French was a longtime professional bigot for SPLC-designated hate groups.

She’s dumb as dogshit.

I was yelling in my car for half of this interview for these reasons, thank you for putting them into words

bsky.app/profile/muel...

“You HAD to buy How To Be an Antiracist” No you didn’t. It was height of COVID lockdowns. How is the woke mob gonna cancel you for not having the right books at your house when they’re all staying inside

Thanks for summarizing Elliot - I wouldn't listen to that shit if I had bees in my ears and this podcast was a magical anti-bee-in-the-ear elixir

Facts vs Feels

Agree. Also, something about her general demeanor grates on me. There’s a perceptible shallowness that’s difficult to qualify.

David French is so obnoxious tho…

Not to mention their insistence that horrible unspeakable things happened at universities then. Silence from them on current situation at universities that trump administration is targeting

I couldn’t believe how Cottle reacted to Jamelle. I would not have been as gracious to her. Props to Jamelle for not escalating.

I think it’s really annoying how there’s this notion that critique of “woke 1” is a change in moral alignment and goals. “Woke 1” took place in an era where far too much faith was placed in neolib politics. Language was too passive and so was the attitude. We need to put people in fucking prison.