October 5, 2024

Oliver Willis. Remember him? Remember Daily Kos! I did a search and clicked on my favorite headline.

My search was barack obama with kamala harris today and elon musk with trump.

I wanted something to link to for a post about how both presidential candidates are suddenly appearing with their most prominent supporter. Today's a big day and their pulling out their biggest... celebrity.

Here's the headline at Daily Kos that made me laugh: "Obama hits the trail for Harris as Trump teams up with notorious troll."

Obama’s first event for Harris will take place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Thursday....

Why is he only appearing now? My hypothesis would be that it was thought that he would overshadow Harris, but now there's a new desperation. Something is needed. Will Obama say we should elect her as a way to have continuity with the Obama Administration? But she's said many times "We're not going back." You're supposed to understand that we're not going back to the Trump Administration, but lately it seems to have meant we're not going back to the Biden Administration, which seems incoherent, give that her performance as Vice President is her primary credential. But how can we believe we could go back — without going back — to the Obama Administration? Oh! It's easy, with Obama speaking. He can make these ideas fit together, with his fine rhetoric and mellifluous voice.

Back to Willis:

On the same day Obama’s plans were revealed, Tesla and X CEO Elon Musk announced that he will attend Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. Musk is worth an estimated $261 billion, and has a history of anti-union views.... On social media, Musk has frequently promoted conspiracy theories and racist memes in support of Trump and other conservative causes. The social media platform X, formerly Twitter, which Musk owns, has seen a resurgence of pro-Nazi accounts since Musk took over the business.

That's the view from Daily Kos. 

I'll watch both rallies. I'm interested in seeing how the 2 great men share the stage with their presidential candidate, and I'll judge them by what they do today. 

64 comments:

rehajm said...

I can’t believe Obama passes for great- he’s a Johnny Bravo fits-the-suit empty vessel. I guess it’s true what said about former politicians and the passage if time…

…or is this a sly Althousian play on words? Two great men being Musk and Obama, with Obama sharing the stage with his lightbringer, heal the planet candidate self. His pronouns are we/us…

Ralph L said...

Are Kos and Willis up to date on the causes du jour? Haven't heard from either in ages. Thanks, Obama.

Peachy said...

Unions mostly suck. Why union membership is down.
But if you like part of your paycheck going to democrats and to wealthy union bosses - so they can stay flush with money, on the back of your hard work... yay UNION!

btw- did you hear about the idiot young people (fresh out of government school) who unionized a small mom and pop coffee shop?
Mom and pop could not afford to be in business anymore - so they closed up shop.
YAY UNIONS!

Peachy said...

As soon as Musk went all in for free speech - the left dropped him.

Peachy said...

Speaking of Musk:

@Elon Musk
"Just received this note from a SpaceX engineer helping on the ground in North Carolina.
@FEMA
is not merely failing to adequately help people in trouble, but is actively blocking citizens who try to help!

“Hey Elon, update here on site of Asheville, NC. We have powered up two large operating bases for choppers to deliver goods into hands. We’ve deployed 300+ starlinks and outpour is it has saved many lives.

The big issue is FEMA is actively blocking shipments and seizing goods and services locally and locking them away to state they are their own. It’s very real and scary how much they have taken control to stop people helping. We are blocked now on the shipments of new starlinks coming in until we get an escort from the fire dept. but that may not be enough.”

MadTownGuy said...

"That's the view from Daily Kos."

That's the view through one-sided blinders.

Peachy said...

Reports are FEMA is blocking help to those in need.
Bonus - yes FEMA is out of money due to all the spending on ILLEGAL Entrants.

rhhardin said...

Obama has always struck me as a POS. Theodor Adorno had the perfect book title, The Jargon of Authenticity.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

I hope they put Musk's people in charge of security for the Butler rally

Peachy said...

Lets talk about all the mansions Obama owns.

Sally327 said...

I don't think Obama would be worried about overshadowing Harris. She might worry about that, but he won't. I don't think Obama has been prominent to date in this election cycle because he's got better things to do. But then I've never thought Obama enjoyed politics and politicking all that much -not the way Bill Clinton or Ronald Reagan did.

Obama inspired people to believe that the world could be a better place, somewhere ahead at a time in the future. Presumably those people will have those same feelings again, seeing him standing next to Kamala Harris. And she will bask in and absorb the light bringer's radiance.

Dixcus said...

Kamala Harris' most prominent supporter is Dick Cheney. Plus, Inga of course. Cheney and Inga support the same stuff.

Dixcus said...

The left hasn't "dropped" Elon Musk. They are busy destroying him.

Dixcus said...

Turns out, if you're from Kenya, and the make you President and fake you up a birth certificate, you can pretty much demand whatever you want to keep your mouth shut.

Marcus Bressler said...

There's a video out of Musk destroying an inept BBC reporter who cannot cite a single example of "racist", "hate speech" or "misinformation" on X -- and then cannot defend BBC on their misinformation on Covid.

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

mellifluous: adjective
(of a voice or words) sweet or musical; pleasant to hear.
"the voice was mellifluous and smooth"

Dixcus said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MbSFW9vQlI&pp=ygUVY2hpbW5leSByb2NrIGRpc2FzdGVy

Notice the complete lack of any FEMA or federal law enforcement presence here?

Lloyd W. Robertson said...

Obama can just say we have to go back to fighting Jim Crow, or keep fighting it, in order to avoid going back to it. Bullshit.

Oso Negro said...

The Mellifluous Mulatto still matters to many. Get yer bromides, vacuities, and woke a joke here!

Megthered said...

Obama always was a blank slate that people could project what they wanted in a politician. He has no ambition or conviction. He just goes along. Whatever you think he is, that's what he is.

Peachy said...

Just received this note from a SpaceX engineer helping on the ground in North Carolina.
@FEMA
is not merely failing to adequately help people in trouble, but is actively blocking citizens who try to help!
“Hey Elon, update here on site of Asheville, NC. We have powered up two large operating bases for choppers to deliver goods into hands. We’ve deployed 300+ starlinks and outpour is it has saved many lives.

The big issue is FEMA is actively blocking shipments and seizing goods and services locally and locking them away to state they are their own. It’s very real and scary how much they have taken control to stop people helping. We are blocked now on the shipments of new starlinks coming in until we get an escort from the fire dept. but that may not be enough.”

Peachy said...

Dix - sorry - Obama was born in a hospital on Oahu. The birther stuff was inserted by Hillary - and way too many people fell for it.

JK Brown said...

"Oh! It's easy, with Obama speaking. He can make these ideas fit together, with his fine rhetoric and mellifluous voice."

I've never understood how supposedly "educated" people, professors and those with economically-useless degrees swoon so much for Obama. You'd think these, mostly women, would have developed skepticism of the smooth talker who turns on lies.

But on the other hand, Trump is appearing with a doer. A man known for doing what others said was impossible or at least implausible.

Peachy said...

mmm I love stale bromides in the morning with a cup of coffee.

WisRich said...

My recollection of Obama campaigning for Dem candidates was that he wasn't very successful. He's not a closer.

Bob Boyd said...

I don't think Kamala has committed to a campaign slogan yet, so I'd like to humbly suggest one. Normally, slogans don't have multiple paragraphs, but these are not normal times and I'm a newbie, so...

Harris/Walz 2024
Okay, we're going to have to go back after all. We just have to go back a little further than...the bad man wants to go, but not too far.
Remember that story about Goldilocks and the three bears? It's kind of like that...only different. It's like if Goldilocks had a time machine. We're going to go back to when things were just right.

Michael Fitzgerald said...

There's two great men in that article, but neither one is Obama.

mezzrow said...

I could be wrong (as always) but I sense the turning of the mandate of heaven. Between the storm response and the density of the social media output on FEMA's enemy status to the people stranded and in need (I'm getting the same anecdotally from locals working on relief from here), and my ability to get the memes based on the gaffes and inconsistencies of the Harris camp in my inbox, I sense the damage control operation is falling short for the Dems and their minions. Deploying Obama may have the effect on the campaign that sending Abrams tanks to Ukraine had on their spring offensive. The key word in the phrase false hope is "false".

We should know a lot more a month from now, and if we don't, we'll know the reason why. Thirty one days of "events" lie between here and there.

What's that thing you said about seatbelts, Margo?

Michael Fitzgerald said...

Obama's mellifluous mouthfarts.

Saint Croix said...

If Obama wants to take us back a decade

He ought to wear the hat

"Make America Great Again"

Peachy said...

Roll the kkkreepy kkklip of kkkamala threatening Musk to stay in line... or he will be punished.

jaydub said...

Obama fooled a lot of people when he was in office, but not so many anymore. Time has proven him to be the type of shallow individual whose contempt for Americans is best exemplified by his role in the elevation of Hilary and Joe to head the successive Democrat Party tickets after his departure. That he is now trying to enable a hair-brained Marxist is fully in character. Ain't going to work this time.

Bob Boyd said...

Okay, how about this?

Harris/Walz 2024
Hope is not a method, but ballot harvesting is. It's one of many.

narciso said...

A tech billionaire an space mogul yes a troll

narciso said...

Obama is a high end conman like billie valentine

narciso said...

Who lectures us from his beach front estate on marthas vineyard

Michael K said...

Government employee unions are most of what's left. They were illegal until an EO by Kennedy, I think.

Bob Boyd said...

Harris/Walz 2024
We're not going back to stay. But for now...I mean, I don't want to sleep in the car tonight. Do you?

Michael said...

I thought they were "me" "I"

Michael K said...

I remember the occasions when Obama tried to be "mellifluous" off Teleprompter. It was not pretty.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Both have absent black daddies. Hmm.
Hope & Change are still needed because of dem attempts to govern effectively.
Cause and effect?

BUMBLE BEE said...

Harris/Walz = BHO 4.0.

narciso said...

Remember the totus blog

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

We elected Obama out of self interest in appearing progressive enough to vote for the black man for president of the United States. We got BLM for our troubles.

narciso said...

What do you mean we kemosabe

Ice Nine said...

You and I have very different mellifluous sensors. (And no, it's not because I loathe the guy.)

BUMBLE BEE said...

But, but... Kamala said she wasn't going back.
Meet the new boss... Same as the old boss.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Burdened by the past?
You Betcha!

mccullough said...

Obama benefitted from following W. Easy act to follow.

mccullough said...

People fall for bullshit. Dems talk about Obama the way Republicans talk about Reagan. Men made out of words. Reagan was Debt & Amnesty but man could that Hollywood has been give a speech. Obama understood Reagan better than Reagan’s fans.

Michael K said...

Reagan had the key to the bull market. The Congress was run by Democrats. They allowed him to win the Cold War as long as he did not try to cut their spending. Fair bargain.

Michael K said...

Obama's was mostly imaginary, like the rest of his story. I'm still reading "Rising Star." "Dreams" was a novel, not a biography.

walter said...

DEI Nobel prize winner.

walter said...

"Turn the page."

Lazarus said...

Sure, this year's, campaign can't be all about Obama, but presidents are a little standoffish when it comes to their VPs and successors (and maybe about their VPs and successors). They want the spotlight for themselves, and they chose VP's because they weren't threatening to take the spotlight away. Eisenhower did Nixon no favors. Johnson despised Humphrey (or didn't even go to the trouble of despising him). Reagan and Bush were frosty with each other, and at the end, so were Clinton and Gore. Obama looked down on Biden and Biden came to resent it. Obama was even hesitant to endorse Harris when Biden dropped out. Also, though, the guy's been having way too much fun doing whatever it is he's doing now.

Lazarus said...

Musk is the troll? That will be funny when he lands on Mars.

Iman said...

“Two great men”? Which “great man” is appearing with Harris?

GRW3 said...

Conspiracy theories just keep becoming spoiler alerts...

Sydney said...

You're supposed to understand that we're not going back to the Trump Administration, but lately it seems to have meant we're not going back to the Biden Administration, which seems incoherent, give that her performance as Vice President is her primary credential.
And especially since the Biden Administration made great efforts for the past four years to label everything they did as the "Biden/HARRIS Administration. I always found that odd, because I don't recall other presidential administrations doing that. She can't walk away from that.

Michael K said...

Actually the Kenya stuff came from an Obama book blurb early on.

Dr.Bunkypotatohead said...

Biden got the most votes ever by sitting in his basement four years ago.
Where's the evidence these campaign appearances have any bearing on the election results?

Kirk Parker said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kirk Parker said...

Dixcus,

I am not aware that there has ever been the slightest controversy about the claim that Obama's father was Kenyan, but is there even one single tiny molecule of evidence that Stanley Ann Dunham travel to Kenya to give birth to Barack?

Kirk Parker said...

Althouse,

I object to calling Musk a "celebrity" -- He's not well known for having a popular song released in his name, he's not well known for having impersonated someone in a movie, nor is he well known for that pinnacle of celebrityhood, being well-known for his well-known-ness.

Instead, he is well known for having accomplished some very significant actual achievements.