Vee

Allred has his flaws and I still don't buy we'll flip Texas no matter what the internals say, but this is very good (as was a lot of this debate).

I think there's a big difference between understandably worrying that something will go badly vs. accepting the pre-spin or pre-narrative from any right wing conservative or dead end leftist grifter as though those spin or narratives are actually taking flight among the general public, or having any serious impact. If you listen to every dead-ender online be it on the far left or the right their personal mythology is that of course Harris is a weak candidate, of course she's losing because Gaza or whatever else, of course Walz is a joke. The reality is, none of this appears to be true or has borne out to be the case. Harris is still up in most polling, Gaza is just not a key issue for most of the Dem base in this election (vs. abortion, etc) and Walz is still overwhelmingly popular among the public according to actual numbers. I also don't get any indication that Harris' campaign is frantic in their current media push. I haven't heard that kind of talk anywhere, from anyone reputable online be it a journalist or anyone else. Random people on social media are entitled to their opinions, they're not entitled to make me treat them all credibly or as a bellweather for the larger public. There's signal and then there's noise. I try to filter out noise. It seems like this went well:

A tale of two papers. The NYT's take on Trump's bizarre PA rally: Versus the Post: I am pleased that most papers and TV media have openly begun addressing the age/competence question with Trump more and more directly and clearly in recent days. But while I actually felt the full NYT article's tone was more bemusement and bafflement than anything else, it is presented in such a bloodless way that it absolutely does sound like attempting to rationalize his behavior yet again.

This is where we will differ again, because I don't think most of those interviews hurt her numbers and I don't think there is much that suggests that. But again, as I said above I also don't think there is any sign that her internals are bad or this is a desperation play - that is the right-wing framing about this, but it doesn't have a basis in reality to me. From what I can see it's offense to box Trump in and continue to drive him nuts and dig into his margins.

Kamala is now doing an interview with Bret Baier on Fox and (it's rumored) may be doing Joe Rogan next week. I think these are actually pretty smart because I see the strategy - I don't think Baier will outplay her and she's depriving Trump of his safe spaces, boxing him in. She continues to answer the nagging media question while continuing to push the angles she has been on the stump and in intvs for the last couple weeks; his cognitive decline, asking why he's hiding, why he won't do more interviews, why he won't do another debate, etc. I wouldn't be shocked if she next challenges him to show up for the Fox debate he offered and then rescinded. It's not desperation, it's offense. I hated Sanders doing Rogan bc it felt like it was of a piece with him actively courting that incel/angry white vote in a very different way, coddling who they are, which he did over and over again at that time. Here, Kamala doing both Fox and potentially this feels like a psyop designed to continue to drill down into Trump and drive him nuts, so I can potentially stomach it.

Not Sinead! This is truly off, even for him. @marceline does not miss.

Yes, but you have thought that re: Republicans for almost every cycle on this site that I can remember. I also don't see any Dem win is automatically close but a Republican win would naturally be a mandate/blowout. That's just Politico thinking to me. Wouldn't a close election (if the polling matches the turnout, which I doubt) dictate that a win for either would therefore be close? For me, the facts remain we're up in most polls by one number or another, and turnout is up as well - those numbers have not changed. Then you have these internals, which are pretty rough for the GOP period across the board. I am not seeing a major Trump comeback or likely win/sweep there. YMMV. For me, it's feeling like 2022 (and others have mentioned '12, but I am not there yet). But it could be bigger. Anyway, here is a gift link for a NYT piece re: the Dem ground game vs. Trump's.

I don't see that at all.

Wow. These are allegedly GOP internals. And no, I don't think this leak or these numbers are some masterful GOP psy-op to misdirect Dems. They haven't been that smart in over a decade. If these are legit (and they appear to be, as Politico has picked them up) I am reminded of 2022 all the more.

Thanks. I don't dislike the original track, even with the rather obvious lyrics (it's still an important issue). I thought she did well with it live, though I thought Edge of Seventeen was fairly rough. Her voice has come down quite a bit since I heard her do Gypsy on AHS, or maybe it's just she can't do the heights of Edge anymore. Still, I'm very glad she got to perform.

I mean, overall the polls really haven't moved (even the NBC poll, I believe, cites that). The media is just bored and hopeful for a long night/Trump win, and people are tired and stressed.

Well, that timeline doesn't exist anymore because Barnabas and Julia prevented it by stopping Gerard and Judah Zachery. I think you have to reboot DS at this point, but I too will always adore the originals.

Which is typical of this show.

Except I don't think GH (unfortunately) has that much of a new generation of fans over the last 10 years, let alone the last 20. And Jonathan was just as popular the last time he was back on contract. So I don't see a reason not to utilize a strong core actor. YMMV. My issue is far more with the creative output of the show itself.

More dishy Nuzzi/Lizza business (albeit a bit too sympathetic to Nuzzi, it is a good background primer for both).

I think they're underestimating Dems - again.

I think JJ's return has been pretty well-received from the general audience from what I've seen, it's the story/execution that has been found to be at best mediocre. No amount of irate Liason stan accounts trying to astroturf reaction against Lucky on Twitter has managed to alter the positivity towards the actor. It's one example where FV ignoring Twitter comes in handy for once. I don't think anything is going to change re: the Lucky/Liz trajectory, and I think the show is far better with him than without him.

The irony of course being what we talked about before re: Dark Shadows, which is that somehow no one who's picked it up since has managed to make it work long-term. I still feel that's because the market has such a glut of DS-like shows now already, all its imitators. EON is maybe even more optimal but there's also many shows similar to it, though I think it could still easily succeed since it kind of straddles the ideal line between soap, horror-themed mystery show and procedural. In many ways I feel what EON became in the '70s is what DS could've and should've done had it hoped to survive long-term.

I think certain shows like GL or AMC (or OLTL, for different tonal and content reasons) are endlessly malleable and renewable, particularly because GL and AMC are kind of quintessentially Americana. GL in particular had so many eras that the core families themselves are less essential than the specific tone. Edge of Night is perhaps an even more evergreen property for its own reasons that has sadly been left on the table. AW or others, I can't see it without maybe very light ties to the past or those families, maybe a focus on publishing empire or aspirational stuff like Lemay's class divides, and similar deep familial or Oedipal conflict with all-new characters. Beyond that I think it would need to be a whole new thing.

I'm not up to date on finishing the past season at all, but I don't really think it is. The YT outrage merchants love to claim it's at death's door to fuel the woke wars, but in reality I think even if Disney didn't renew it (and I don't think that's likely, yet) the BBC would still continue it on a tighter budget.