Vee

He's still got it. I'm not going to post all of this but the Aaron Rupar and Acyn accounts have a ton of it, and I'm sure the full speech will be on YT shortly. I will post a little though!

I admired Mitt for his stance against Trump at a few key points in the last several years (particularly re: impeachment), but in the end he always defaults to trying to thread the impossible needle where he will come out the victor. I think he's delusional. There is no party base that will ever accept him now, even if he just manages to deftly keep Trump's name out of his mouth.

That's wild. What a world.

I think Lucky's current arc, however weakly executed, is about becoming a better parent and father for his family (and Liz), though. Jason is never going to be capable of that so (particularly after Mulcahey exited) they've just entirely elided that issue that he came on dealing with. There are a couple fanbases very invested in making JJ's return a failure but the performances are still strong and he's still getting consistent praise, which is more than we can say for Steve. I don't think anybody was served well by spending weeks in those bare rooms playing cards, but that is typical Frank, Van Etten etc. nonsense over the last 5-10 years. I think things with Lucky will continue to settle onscreen, and I'm pleased Becky is at the forefront again.

Amusingly, Trump leaked his internal (Tony Fabrizio) polling today - and even his slanted internals only have him tied in all swing states.

Ridiculous that this had to air. They should've fought it in court.

It's official, though I think his team may panic and try to set another:

Taking a break from seething and spitting nails that Harris is in the race at all let alone doing well, Jonathan Martin offers a coping mechanism:

I don't think that's actually reality, though - I think that's just very online noise. Outliers aside, I just don't see the coalition breaking off, I don't see that bearing out in any actual Dem turnout numbers or polling so far. Just the opposite for both turnout, registration and now apparently early voting. And Trump always pointlessly goes to states he either doesn't need or can't win simply because he feels like it to lift his spirits. He's been doing that since at least 2020. And I don't think it's half the country behind him - otherwise Trump would be over 50%. He hasn't been in years. He's only been losing voters, never gaining them. Not since 2016. And honestly, Joe's win (while a nailbiter on the first night) was not that close in the end. I can understand being tense or concerned, because I am tense. It's not over til it's over. And it may be tight on Election Night, though I'm not convinced it will be. I don't see 2016.

I agree, as I said in my post earlier. I don't think the day to day writing is very good for the show period but this reaction is in character for Lucky at this point. The idea of the arc is for him to grow past it.

Joe Kahn on the ropes:

I understand why they did what they did here with Lucky. The fact is he has been running for years and he would attempt (and fail) to go back to that bad pattern of behavior. It makes sense as drama, and of course he's not going anywhere.

The Kelly Monaco brigade can't do anything to anyone. That being said, while I'm happy they'll be dealing with Liz I know this appearance will be all about Heather. Reeves did a fine job in a support role for a few years but I'd still rather they recast if they want to bring Steve back long-term.

That title does feel like just an entry point for more though. Maybe.

Oh boy. @Darn

It's not exactly the first time.

I think she has a very good shot. Right now I think she is on track to win. But that's me. I think when the press gets bored and there's not enough news (and the race isn't close enough) they manufacture this stuff, but I do think very online Dem neuroses is real. Too many people on our side are going to always angst over 2016 (or '04, or '84) if you leave them to their own devices, but the reality is we are ahead. I have never doubted the ground/turnout game myself.

This from Colbert tonight is great. The earlier segment in this appearance where she again kind of bobs and weaves around the 'how would you govern differently from Biden' question is not as rough as the gotcha corps online are making it out to be, as she does eventually pivot to some of her own previously stated policies fairly well. I just think, as I said above, that Harris is in an impossible position due to her intense loyalty to Joe where she cannot and will not totally turn her back on him and their (very strong) overall policy record, but the media (who deeply resent Biden) and the GOP want to chain her to him. And if she talks about the obvious new element - a female POTUS zeroing in on women's rights in a new way - she risks alienating men. That said, I think it was overall a very strong appearance and this clip will go viral and be winning material for her.

The irony of course being that Frank is openly gay. But yes, he threw the gays under the bus long ago IMO, starting at OLTL in 2010.

I do think Harris' stuff on The View is really quite good overall - particularly the longer story about the morning she got the call from Joe and then calling her pastor. I can't fault her for her loyalty to Joe re: answers on delineating herself from his choices in his term. It is a tricky tightrope she has to walk til November, probably the first candidate to ever do so in these circumstances and she has been very loyal to him on the trail. But of course the Beltway is mad she didn't give them something on a gotcha question re: throwing Joe under the bus. Anyway, I feel her answers, particularly on the hurricane disasters, will resonate with voters. She was awfully good. I find that when she is live (on the stump, on The View, at a debate, etc.) she always is.

I do think Lucas may have been added back (along with quick returns for Terry and Brad) to get the heat off them re: the mess with Natalia, etc. But I also think it dovetails with preexisting plans re: JJ and Whether that Spencer rebuild in turn came about after collapsing ratings who knows, but I do believe they are committed to that because they have to be. You also don't hire not one but two major marquee soap performers as the Spencer kids unless you intend to play them. Frank can't autopilot it. (For an example of the opposite, look at him quickly removing Josh Kelly from the role of Joey Buchanan on OLTL, a character he had no investment in, and creating a new role for him while passing the role of Joey off to an actor who got very little to do instead.)

Per some of what we discussed in the PT:

I didn't love the 60 Minutes interview either. Harris is admittedly not perfect as an interview subject unless it's more casual (which is to somewhat be expected after being kept often in reserve for four years, and only having two months to pull this whole thing off up to now which has been remarkable) and I find she too often leans on canned answers in those more buttoned-up settings, whereas I do think she thrives and excels in debates or live on the stump, or with more unconventional or less Beltway-centric outlets. I do think with more time she'd do much better in this kind of format, but we haven't had any and regardless it hasn't hurt her favorables which keep going up. But I also felt Bill Whitaker's performance on 60 Minutes was lousy. It was the classic old-school TV interview of brief soundbites, too much editing down, too much voice-over by the anchor and not enough substantive discussion, and most of his questions were merely gotcha framing shots out of the old GOP playbook (Trump says this/what do you say, how are you going to pay for it, etc). So in that sense I think it only proved Harris' team right for going to Stern, to Call Her Daddy, to The View, to NABJ etc. And I think those will all work well.