Vee

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.

I probably said some of that, sure, though it's more insightful than me, but I think I said that I feel part of it also has to do with her 'drama club kid' teenage complex, seeing the world as self-obsessed theater, and of course losing her father. It's a toxic mix but either way I wanted Diana gone quickly lol. I do need to get back to the show - I stopped a third of the way through S7 at ep 10 (Joshua's death) so I could try to catch up on Dallas' Dream Season which I intend to watch in tandem, and I've been preoccupied IRL and with movies, etc. I will be back on it soon.

Since part of that seems unavoidably paywalled, you can find more here. Since NBC is now facing internal pressure from their own stars over this as well as Errol Morris, hopefully if Trump fails to acquiesce to a debate by the Thursday deadline they'll be forced to run it.

Thompson, who seems to have a visceral distaste for Harris (and Biden), nonetheless posts this poll which seems to bear out what we've been seeing for some time:

Nah, I think he's great.

And yes, this and the COVID test stuff is the key headline all major Beltway media are running with:

A typically dishy piece, but the biggest takeaway is Trump secretly sending Putin COVID tests before the American people. I don't always agree with Beutler on many things, but I generally agree with this. Like him, my growing concern is after the election. The race is pretty stable, and as of today's polls Harris remains considerably up both nationally and in most key states including MI: Sorry for the funky order.

This is the way this derailing should always be handled.

February sweeps is not that far away, lol. I wouldn't see any point in a triangle with Sam, Dante and Lulu without a strong fourth side for Sam, and I already considered her a spent character (unlike Dante or Lulu). Sam and Dante was always a C-pairing to park the characters somewhere.