2024 Elections Thread

[sinenomine]

RFK, Jr., a dead bear, and a bike.

I'm having trouble keeping up with all the weird these days.

There is no way that his version of the story is true

Well, a worm did eat part of his brain...

[Langue_doc]

RFK, Jr., a dead bear, and a bike.

I'm having trouble keeping up with all the weird these days.

There is no way that his version of the story is true

It is, indeed. The local news (print) are referring back to the incident of the poor bear in Central Park in 2014. See the NYT article:

Kennedy Fights to Stay on Ballot, but Everyone's Talking About the Bear

The first few paragraphs:

Lucas Altman remembers it well: On an early October night in 2014, he had taken his two Labradors to Central Park when suddenly they became alert, their tails wagging with the thrill of the hunt as they towed him to a patch of shrubbery.

"It was dark, I was getting impatient and I didn't bother to look," he said.

A day later, he returned to find out that another resident had made a shocking discovery under the bushes: a dead bear cub, oddly placed under an old bike.

"It was so strange," Mr. Altman, 52, remembered in an interview Monday. "I always thought it had to take somebody kooky to do that."

This weekend, a most unexpected culprit stepped forward to admit the bear dumping: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

[apl68]

I don't know how the news outlets are going to "spin" this, but it's hard to come up with any take on this incident that doesn't make it look like a piece of bizarre poor judgement on his part.  It looks very much like a juvenile prank that the prankster realized too late was likely to get him in big trouble.  A funny story as a college anecdote, not so much when the perpetrator is a grown man.

Even in the rural area where I live, where it's not unheard of--though, I should note, also uncommon--to salvage some of the meat from a freshly road-killed deer, this would be considered a weird story.

[Langue_doc]

Dream team--made for each other!

https://enewspaper.nydailynews.com/html5/desktop/production/default.aspx?edid=380286aa-61fd-433f-90d1-4e4a3f500651&utm_source=listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=https://enewspaper.nydailynews.com&utm_campaign=#Listrak\ContentURL=%22https://dev.apps.medianewsgroup.com/newsletters/eedition/page.php?site=nydailyn

[Sun_Worshiper]

RFK, Jr., a dead bear, and a bike.

I'm having trouble keeping up with all the weird these days.

There is no way that his version of the story is true

It is, indeed. The local news (print) are referring back to the incident of the poor bear in Central Park in 2014. See the NYT article:

Kennedy Fights to Stay on Ballot, but Everyone's Talking About the Bear

The first few paragraphs:

Lucas Altman remembers it well: On an early October night in 2014, he had taken his two Labradors to Central Park when suddenly they became alert, their tails wagging with the thrill of the hunt as they towed him to a patch of shrubbery.

"It was dark, I was getting impatient and I didn't bother to look," he said.

A day later, he returned to find out that another resident had made a shocking discovery under the bushes: a dead bear cub, oddly placed under an old bike.

"It was so strange," Mr. Altman, 52, remembered in an interview Monday. "I always thought it had to take somebody kooky to do that."

This weekend, a most unexpected culprit stepped forward to admit the bear dumping: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

What I'm saying is that Kennedy is lying about some aspect of this - i.e. that another person (that is, not Kennedy himself) hit the bear.

[Langue_doc]

RFK, Jr., a dead bear, and a bike.

I'm having trouble keeping up with all the weird these days.

RFK Jr

There is no way that his version of the story is true

It is, indeed. The local news (print) are referring back to the incident of the poor bear in Central Park in 2014. See the NYT article:

Kennedy Fights to Stay on Ballot, but Everyone's Talking About the Bear

The first few paragraphs:

Lucas Altman remembers it well: On an early October night in 2014, he had taken his two Labradors to Central Park when suddenly they became alert, their tails wagging with the thrill of the hunt as they towed him to a patch of shrubbery.

"It was dark, I was getting impatient and I didn't bother to look," he said.

A day later, he returned to find out that another resident had made a shocking discovery under the bushes: a dead bear cub, oddly placed under an old bike.

"It was so strange," Mr. Altman, 52, remembered in an interview Monday. "I always thought it had to take somebody kooky to do that."

This weekend, a most unexpected culprit stepped forward to admit the bear dumping: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

What I'm saying is that Kennedy is lying about some aspect of this - i.e. that another person (that is, not Kennedy himself) hit the bear.

RFK Jr. didn't claim to have hit the bear; he picked up the bear that was hit by the car in front of his.

This was in the local print news yesterday, and is already old news here.

In the overall scheme of things, it doesn't really matter whether or not he hit the bear; the weird part is wanting to skin the bear and then dumping it in Central Park, which is quite far from the place where the bear was presumably hit. See the link to the cartoon I posted upthread for the weirdness factor.

[Puget]

Dream team--made for each other!

https://enewspaper.nydailynews.com/html5/desktop/production/default.aspx?edid=380286aa-61fd-433f-90d1-4e4a3f500651&utm_source=listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=https://enewspaper.nydailynews.com&utm_campaign=#Listrak\ContentURL=%22https://dev.apps.medianewsgroup.com/newsletters/eedition/page.php?site=nydailyn

I'm really not sure you could script a better VP candidate if you tried!
Former HS teaching and football coach-Nation Guard veteran-midwestern-pheasant hunting (but strong on gun control)-dad-who's good on TV.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/06/us/politics/tim-walz-harris-vp-facts.html?smid=url-share

[Ruralguy]

You could have picked someone who could help deliver an important state?

I think Walz will be fine, but there may be some blaming if they just barely lose by, say, one state, such as PA or AZ by a small amount.

But I can see why she made this pick (probably no harm done with internal constituencies , and a decent bio, and well spoken against Trump).

[Sun_Worshiper]

RFK, Jr., a dead bear, and a bike.

I'm having trouble keeping up with all the weird these days.

RFK Jr

There is no way that his version of the story is true

It is, indeed. The local news (print) are referring back to the incident of the poor bear in Central Park in 2014. See the NYT article:

Kennedy Fights to Stay on Ballot, but Everyone's Talking About the Bear

The first few paragraphs:

Lucas Altman remembers it well: On an early October night in 2014, he had taken his two Labradors to Central Park when suddenly they became alert, their tails wagging with the thrill of the hunt as they towed him to a patch of shrubbery.

"It was dark, I was getting impatient and I didn't bother to look," he said.

A day later, he returned to find out that another resident had made a shocking discovery under the bushes: a dead bear cub, oddly placed under an old bike.

"It was so strange," Mr. Altman, 52, remembered in an interview Monday. "I always thought it had to take somebody kooky to do that."

This weekend, a most unexpected culprit stepped forward to admit the bear dumping: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

What I'm saying is that Kennedy is lying about some aspect of this - i.e. that another person (that is, not Kennedy himself) hit the bear.

RFK Jr. didn't claim to have hit the bear; he picked up the bear that was hit by the car in front of his.

This was in the local print news yesterday, and is already old news here.

In the overall scheme of things, it doesn't really matter whether or not he hit the bear; the weird part is wanting to skin the bear and then dumping it in Central Park, which is quite far from the place where the bear was presumably hit. See the link to the cartoon I posted upthread for the weirdness factor.

Yes I know the story. He is lying or having some drug induced fantasy. But you are right that it does not matter.

[Sun_Worshiper]

You could have picked someone who could help deliver an important state?

I think Walz will be fine, but there may be some blaming if they just barely lose by, say, one state, such as PA or AZ by a small amount.

But I can see why she made this pick (probably no harm done with internal constituencies , and a decent bio, and well spoken against Trump).

I am surprised she didn't go with Shapiro. Maybe she gets along better with Walz or is worried about pissing off some voters in MI by picking Shapiro. At the end of the day, it probably doesn't make a difference, but you are right that people will look back on this as a mistake if she loses PA by a hair (same for AZ, but PA is more of a must-win state).

[jimbogumbo]

You could have picked someone who could help deliver an important state?

I think Walz will be fine, but there may be some blaming if they just barely lose by, say, one state, such as PA or AZ by a small amount.

But I can see why she made this pick (probably no harm done with internal constituencies , and a decent bio, and well spoken against Trump).

I am surprised she didn't go with Shapiro. Maybe she gets along better with Walz or is worried about pissing off some voters in MI by picking Shapiro. At the end of the day, it probably doesn't make a difference, but you are right that people will look back on this as a mistake if she loses PA by a hair (same for AZ, but PA is more of a must-win state).

I think they are betting on winning PA with Shapiro energetically campaigning for them around the state.

[Sun_Worshiper]

You could have picked someone who could help deliver an important state?

I think Walz will be fine, but there may be some blaming if they just barely lose by, say, one state, such as PA or AZ by a small amount.

But I can see why she made this pick (probably no harm done with internal constituencies , and a decent bio, and well spoken against Trump).

I am surprised she didn't go with Shapiro. Maybe she gets along better with Walz or is worried about pissing off some voters in MI by picking Shapiro. At the end of the day, it probably doesn't make a difference, but you are right that people will look back on this as a mistake if she loses PA by a hair (same for AZ, but PA is more of a must-win state).

I think they are betting on winning PA with Shapiro energetically campaigning for them around the state.

I'm sure they are. And it is possible that this bet will pay off - even slightly probable if you trust the polling and election forecasts. We'll see. But if they lose PA in a squeaker then people will be blaming this VP pick (whether rightly or wrongly).

[RatGuy]

In my area, the angry cohort that wanted Sanders (and subsequently didn't vote for Clinton) had promised to boycott Harris if Shapiro was the VP. It has to do with his record on Palestine-Israel conflict. I haven't heard them complain about Walz yet but it's probably coming

[Puget]

You could have picked someone who could help deliver an important state?

I think Walz will be fine, but there may be some blaming if they just barely lose by, say, one state, such as PA or AZ by a small amount.

But I can see why she made this pick (probably no harm done with internal constituencies , and a decent bio, and well spoken against Trump).

I read that the data show VP pick really has almost no impact on home state voting. Perhaps they used to when things were less partisan and there were more true swing voters, but do you really think there are people in PA or AZ who would vote D based on the VP pick who wouldn't otherwise? Seems unlikely these days.

In my area, the angry cohort that wanted Sanders (and subsequently didn't vote for Clinton) had promised to boycott Harris if Shapiro was the VP. It has to do with his record on Palestine-Israel conflict. I haven't heard them complain about Walz yet but it's probably coming

Shapiro, fairly or not, was going to piss off some on the left, and then that was going to become a "dems in disarray" story. The first rule of VP picks is do no harm.

[jimbogumbo]

The real worry with Shapiro as a pick would be Michigan. Dearborn would have dems sitting out en masse, and that would have been bad. Still might be, but less likely now.