Pun Salad

You might think this Granite Grok headline is exaggerated: One of the "Sounds" Kamala Makes When You Yank Her Pull-String.

Oh, but it's not. This is from April, but…

Kamala Harris is also "unburdened" by competency pic.twitter.com/3XKC7hKvLD

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) May 1, 2023

I watched the whole thing, and I suggest … that you don't bother. It's the same phrase over and over, with only occasional, minor, uninteresting variations: "what can be, unburdened by what has been".

To reuse a tired, but accurate, cliché: it's "a stupid person's idea of what a smart person sounds like".

Even worse: her hand motions that usually accompany the oh-so-profound words.

"What can be": upward gesture with right hand.

"What has been": dismissive gesture down to the left.

Message: Good stuff is up there in government-provided heaven. Old stuff (free markets, individualism, liberty) deservedly buried over there under the ash heap of history.

In short, an over-rehearsed, scripted performance bit. She sometimes gets lazy, though, forgetting to adequately comma-pause between "what can be" and "unburdened". Which shifts the intended meaning somewhat. "What can be unburdened?"

[A version of this commentary also left as a comment at Granite Grok.]

On a related note, also from the Kamala-watchers at RNC research: (and appropriately headlined RedState: People Wonder if Kamala Harris Was High After Hysterical Laughing Fit)

Kamala Harris laughs hysterically after claiming Biden-Harris policies are "POPULAR, POPULAR, POPULAR!"

"We just need to let everybody know who brought it to 'em. Ha ha ha!" pic.twitter.com/Mg2ilPTm9h

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 6, 2023

I can't help but wonder: how many people at RNC Research do this, and how good is the pay? Is there an OSHA warning? Watching Kamala speak has been known to turn people's brains to mush.

On to this week's betting odds:

Summary: Vivek Fever has apparently run its course, as he's dipped below our arbitrary 2% inclusion threshold. And so has Kamala; those grim scenarios involving Biden incapacity (the kind you can't ignore) allowing the empty pantsuit to step up to the throne are seemingly seen as less likely.

Also of note:

• Another useful headline template: "Biden is Lying About    noun phrase   ". Andrew McCarthy fills it in: Biden Is Lying about the Border Wall.

  Record numbers of illegal aliens continue to pour into the United States at the invitation of President Biden’s no-enforcement border policies. The administration is thus feeling the heat from blue-state and big-city Democrats on whom it had never dawned that preening as a “sanctuary” would require, you know, actually providing sanctuary. Their education, health-care, social-welfare, and law-enforcement resources are grossly inadequate to deal with the resulting crisis. It is that political reality, and nothing else, that has forced Biden’s grudging concession to the need for border-wall construction.

  Naturally, reality is not welcomed by the Democrats’ transnational-progressive base, which does not believe the United States should have borders or be a nation, and which is used to having its way with our senescent chief executive. (See, e.g., Biden’s joining hard leftists Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Justin Trudeau, respectively the president of Mexico and the prime minister of Canada, in the “Declaration of North America,” which, among other post-sovereign tripe, celebrates how “North America” has now “welcomed record numbers of migrants and refugees from the Western Hemisphere under new and expanded labor and humanitarian programs.”)

  The Left is in revolt over Biden’s sudden conversion to border-wall construction. So, as is wont to happen on those rare occasions when reality intrudes on utopia, Biden is lying. While seeking credit from the country at large for building some (but not nearly enough) border barrier, Biden is telling his base that he had no choice.

  “The money was appropriated for the border wall,” he mewled at the White House on Thursday. He really, really tried to get Congress to redirect it, but those bad Republicans wouldn’t hear of it. This from the same man who continues to try to cancel student loans that Congress has not authorized him to cancel, even after the Supreme Court (in June’s Biden v. Nebraska decision) ruled that doing so violates the Constitution he is sworn to uphold.

  That's a "gifted" link, so read on for the details on Biden's bullshit.

• In local news… USA Today reports on the mood of the Republican electorate: New Hampshire debate watchers have a message for Chris Christie: Get off the island.

  New Hampshire voters have a blunt message for Chris Christie.

  Get off the island.

  In an exclusive USA TODAY/Boston Globe/Suffolk University poll in New Hampshire, 41% of likely Republican primary voters who watched last week's debate cited the former New Jersey governor as the winner, or rather loser, in a question of which of the seven participants should drop out of the presidential race first.

  This is in keeping with thew stupid question Dana Perino posed at the debate:

  Dana Perino (01:56:24): And welcome back to the final minutes. I could go another hour, but we only have a few minutes. And candidates, it’s now obvious that if you all stay in the race, former President Donald Trump wins the nomination. None of you have indicated that you’re dropping out. So which one of you on stage tonight should be voted off the island? Please use your marker to write your choice on the notepad in front of you, 15 seconds starting now. Of the people on the stage-

  Nikki Haley (01:56:56): Are you serious?

  Dana Perino (01:56:57): Who should be v-

  Ron DeSantis (01:56:57): I’ll decline to do that with all due respect.

  Dana Perino (01:56:58): I’m absolutely serious.

  Ron DeSantis (01:57:00): I mean, we’re here, we’re happy to debate. I think that that’s disrespectful to my fellow competitors.

  Vivek Ramaswamy (01:57:16): I’m not doing it. [inaudible 01:57:17]

  Dana Perino (01:57:16): Nobody wants to participate.

  Ron DeSantis (01:57:16): Let’s do some questions. Let’s talk about the future of the country. [inaudible 01:57:17].

  Vivek Ramaswamy (01:57:16): I want to be clear-

  Dana Perino (01:57:16): Let me ask you this-

  About a minute later, Christie said he'd vote Trump off the island.

• More local notes… from the NHJournal Iowa Dems Bow to DNC, Abandon Hope for FITN 'Mail-In' Caucus. Which means:

  Relax, Granite State poll workers: There won’t be a Christmas presidential primary — at least not this year.

  After months of waging a losing battle against President Joe Biden and the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the hapless Iowa Democratic Party has abandoned all hope of holding onto its place at the front of the presidential nomination calendar.

  "Hapless", I like that. Totally without hap. I also like the commentary of Jim Geraghty who describes the details (and I've bolded the bit I chuckled at):

  But the Iowa Democratic Caucus has earned particular scorn, as its organizers suffered one of the great “you had one job!” moments of all time and failed to count the votes on caucus night in 2020. It took three days for the state party to tabulate the results, which used to be available the night of the caucus, live, on television, late in the evening, in the era before the internet. The caucuses were held Monday evening; by Wednesday afternoon, not only could the state party not provide the full results or say when it would be able provide full results, it also could not explain why it could not provide full results. It was the biggest embarrassment in the presidential-nomination process for any state in modern history.

  The Democratic National Committee, justifiably irate, punished Iowa and kicked it toward the back of the line. Iowa Democrats, wholly embracing the party’s philosophy that no one should ever be held accountable for anything, decided earlier this year that they would ignore the DNC’s punishment, go rogue, and have a mail-in primary in January that aligns with their regular caucus meetings.

  I have a number of relatives in that fine state (sister, brother-in-law, nephew, a few cousins) and I'm pretty sure some of them are still hanging on to their D registrations. I won't bring this up at the next reunion.

  Also amusing is Ann Althouse who is intrigued by the concept of Going Rogue.

  But here's to you, Iowa, for giving up your place in the grand tradition. It was institutionalized racism, and you knew it. Now, back to the farm or whatever it is you do over there. Our years of caring about you (and your damned ethanol) are over... or, oh, no, there are still those miserable Republicans tromping about in that heartland of yours.

  Meanwhile, New Hampshire clings to what's left of its once-proud first-in-the-nation tradition, which is so little that to adhere to it is — as Politico has it — to deserve to be called "rogue."

  The good news for our local TV stations, radio stations, lodging and dining providers: they're comin'. With money.

  The bad news for my mail carrier: a few more months of bringing me slick crap that just goes right into the shredder, unread.

… when recent news reveals the barbarism that we'd like to pretend isn't there. Or at least can be negotiated with. As usual, someone else says it better than I can, specifically Bari Weiss, who has a warning:

Some of those lies are described by The Times of Israel:

I'm pretty sure the US Council of Muslim Organizations has a faulty understanding of what "unprovoked" means. (A fuller description of their statement here.)

I'll (probably) pull myself together for the usual light-hearted look at the presidential campaign later today. Until then: if you pray, pray for Israel, Israeli dead and wounded, and Israeli hostages.