From comments I saw, the most ‘likable’ was the fly on Pence’s head.
Told you I was going to do more of these. Here we go:
- High court slaps down McMaster on giving millions to private schools — This was the worst thing Henry McMaster has tried to do as governor — it’s right down there with the things he doesn’t do, like try to fix our roads — and it was nice to see the state Supremes say so unanimously. This time, the system worked
- Fly wins veep debate — I missed the beginning of this, and then missed a good bit more because I wasn’t what you’d call riveted. Congrats to both for being more civil than Trump. A low bar, of course. And is it civil to completely ignore time limits and refuse to shut up, but do it in such boring voice that people fall asleep and don’t notice? Someone should ask Miss Manners.
- The likability trap — Maybe this should be a separate post. Anyway, here’s one of the things that keeps me from being a feminist. Feminists believe there’s some “likability” standard that applies only to women. There isn’t. The fact that they keep saying there is makes me not like them. For instance, Donald Trump is the least likable S.O.B. (we can have a separate discussion later about the “B.”) in living history of American politics, which would be enough to keep me from voting for him for anything. We just don’t talk about it much because it’s such a bigger deal that he is both stupid and evil. Joe Biden is one of the most likable people ever to run for president, and it’s a real asset for him. Even though he doesn’t drink beer, you want to have one with him. We don’t know whether Mike Pence drinks beer, but we don’t care because we don’t want to have one with him. Although he’s less unlikable than Trump, we just don’t want to hang with him. Kamala Harris has many assets, but no, being likable isn’t one of them. But she wasn’t particularly unlikable last night, because she didn’t say stuff like “That little girl was me.” So have we got it all straight now? Have I mansplained it enough? Stop making me do this. I don’t, you know, like it.
- Trump pulls out of debate over plan to hold it virtually — Maybe he’s scared he can’t talk over everybody in that format. Or maybe he’s just scared, having seen polls after the first debate. Or maybe he suddenly wised up, realizing a COVID patient shouldn’t be debating… naaahhhh.
I’m tired of looking for stuff. You want to talk about something else, bring it up. I’m in enough trouble already with the “likability” thing…
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I’d like to smoke embalming fluid with Mike Pence…
There’s also this, which I missed earlier, about Gretchen Whitmer:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/michigan-governor-kidnap-plot/2020/10/08/0032e206-0980-11eb-9be6-cf25fb429f1a_story.html
Like ability is in the eyes of the beholder. I’d love to hang out with Kamala and have a beer. Joe Biden has this icky quality that is very repellent. But I will agree that Donald Trump is hands down the least likable human being I have ever witnessed.
Hank knew all about fly trouble:
Interesting item on the likeability factor: https://phys.org/news/2020-01-women-likeable-men-dont.html#:~:text=A%20new%20study%20in%20The%20Economic%20Journal%20finds,men%20and%20women%2C%20but%20not%20in%20all-male%20interactions.
Oh, please. Of course, the likability factor exists. Women deal with it from the time they start negotiating the world. And we have been discussing it and reading studies about it at least since I was in college decades ago. We all knew what it was from living it; now we knew what to call it. But not believing it exists shouldn’t keep you from being a feminist — that’s just supporting economic, political and social equality for women, by definition. You know how white people, however empathetic or sympathetic to black people or not, are ill-advised to weigh in on what it is to be black? The same applies here.
Here is one take on Harris’s dilemma. She has the added bonus of “the angry black woman” trope.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/10/08/kamala-harriss-critics-fell-into-is-she-likable-trap/
Yes, that’s the story I linked to.
As to this: “You know how white people, however empathetic or sympathetic to black people or not, are ill-advised to weigh in on what it is to be black? The same applies here.”
Not really. I wasn’t weighing in on, for instance, what it’s like to be a woman. I would have no idea where to start.
I was weighing in on whether people — and I’m one of them — require female candidates to meet a special “likability” requirement.
From here, of course, we could argue all day, because with the subject of “people” and how they perceive things, we have several billion different examples whose perceptions and judgments we could examine.
Actually, we have more than that, since a single person can react to something several different ways within minutes. I certainly can, anyway.
What can I, personally, say about women and “likability?” Well, there’s the fact that, in general, women are more likable than men. That’s based on my 67 years of experiences. To the extent that there is any truth to the “likability trap,” it is this: The fact that women generally exhibit more positive traits in social interaction creates a certain expectation in all of us. We might be more surprised, in a negative way, when a woman seems to depart from that pattern. (And we might be surprised positively when a man shows social grace. Imagine how shocked we’d be if Donald Trump suddenly seemed to actually care about a human being other than himself! Of course, with him it’s less that he is a man, and more the fact that he’s a jackass. More on that later, when I get around to discussing the “B.” part of “S.O.B.”)
This actually is not a negative thing about the world’s perception of women, but a factor resulting from women being more positively perceived.
Here’s where feminism, as I have perceived it all these years, comes in: If you see that higher estimation of women as a bad thing, because it is “limiting” to them in the quest for worldly power, then you’re far more likely to be a feminist than I am.
Personally, I see the kindness and consideration that I tend to get from women a great gift that make life more worth living. I am enormously thankful for it….
I hadn’t really followed the private school money case closely after the initial injunction, but if the SC Supreme Court unanimously ruled, that’s the ballgame. In related SC Supreme Court news, I’ll be there next week for the first case I’ve ever had to go the State Supreme Court. Will be a milestone for me professionally, and I think my client has an interesting and good case to make. We might end up changing the law here in SC on our issue if we win.
I didn’t see the VP debate after all since my son’s game was a later game. However, I got the better end of the deal. I got to see my son pitch the final inning and our team won. It was his second pitching outing of his career, and watching him play baseball is pretty much the best part of my day.
Here’s something I can’t figure out, but perhaps y’all can help me with it. From 538.com, there’s an article about how Graham is in a close race with Harrison.
So there are people out there that are voting for Trump, but not voting for Graham? How does that figure? How does someone decide to vote for Trump, but not Graham? Graham has tied himself as closely as he can to Trump. Is this such a hardcore Trump supporter refusing to vote for Graham due to what Graham said about Trump in the 2016 primary? I can’t think of anything else.
Bryan, here’s the way that math works…
It relates to the reason why Lindsey has so abased himself before Trump, when everyone knows he knows better.
The kind of Republican who backs Trump has always hated Lindsey — for being the kind of moderate I like. On immigration. On judicial selection, for that matter. And in the past, he could deal with it. For years, they had been censuring him at county party meetings. I was at a STATE party meeting when he got a decidedly cool reaction — I’m thinking it was 2012, and he just kind of laughed it off.
If I’m right about the year, that would have been the party convention when there was this pathetic young guy going around trying to get people to support him in supporting Donald Trump. There was a lot of craziness going around in the party that year, but not THAT much craziness. (I have this vague memory of thinking about blogging about that guy and using his name, but I felt bad about it. He was so sad, so misguided. I may have posted something saying just that and not naming him; I don’t recall.)
As I said, there was crazy in the party that year, but even though SC voters went for Newt, the party overall calmed down and went with Mitt.
Four years later, all bets were off. The crazies got their way, all the way, and decided it was THEIR party now. And Lindsey got the message, and started bowing down before all the crazy.
But they remember. They remember when they didn’t like him, because he was sensible.
That’s why there would be Trump supporters who don’t support Lindsey…
Rush LImbaugh made fun of Lindsey’s name for years (again, the guy’s name is Rush!). Still does occasionally and of course Rush is conservatism these days.
Good luck in court, Bryan!
And revelling in kids’ positive experiences is just the best feeling. They deserve it.
Just got through voting. Pretty much like normal voting except they asked why I was voting today. I voting straight Dem ticket then ignored all the uncontested races. I was surprised at how many Lexington Republicans are unopposed. Sheriff, state representative and more. Took 40 minutes at the county voting location in Lexington. I was voter 3,159 which didn’t include the drive thru voters and mail in folks who were numerous. Perhaps Brad will have a short wait come Election Day.
That would be nice. If so, I will thank all of y’all…
Received my absentee ballot and voted straight Democrat. My wife and oldest child also received there ballots and did the same. Ballots are sealed up.
We had my youngest niece “witness” the signature on the ballot. LOL. That was on purpose. She can’t even write her name but she scribbled what is basically a mark that looks like the letter “O” with a straight line through it. We just handed her a pen and told her to try to write something on the line. But, there are no witness requirements so it was perfectly legal. Just shows how absurd the Republican scheme is to make it harder to vote absentee.
First time I’ve ever voted straight party but was 100% glad to do so. In my area, the only republican I liked (He’s a middle of the road Republican, one of the few left) was unopposed for a local office.
We are hand delivering them to the our county election office Monday.
“Their ballots”
Yes, I’m in the same boat. My rep, Micah Caskey, has no opposition.
If you don’t cast a few write-in votes,you’re not really voting…
Love this album!