Primarily Speaking

Welcome to another edition of Primarily Speaking, because presidential primaries now begin fully one million years before the election!

In case this primary wasn't already enough of a circus for you, CNN, which is hosting the second Democratic debate over two nights later this month (July 30-31), has decided it will "conduct a live draw to determine which night each candidate will appear."

The draw to determine the lineup for each night will air live on July 18 in the 8 p.m. ET hour on CNN, said the network spokesperson, who noted additional details of the draw will be released in the coming days.

I can only presume those "additional details" will include how big the pyrotechnics show will be, how many live tigers will be onstage, and to which ancient god Wolf Blitzer will be ritualistically sacrificed. STAY TUNED! #democracy

Rep. Eric Swalwell may be dropping out of the race today. Which would be the biggest headlines he's made in the race, so.

John Hickenlooper, on the other hand, says that he's not going ANYWHERE, bub. And don't even ASK him to consider running for the Senate, because "I don't think that's my calling." Yikes.

Meanwhile, billionaire Democratic donor Tom Steyer, who said earlier this year that he wouldn't be running for president, is reportedly reconsidering his decision and is now telling allies he's running for president. JFC.

And if the eventual Democratic nominee weren't already facing a steep-enough uphill battle, that fucking dipshit Justin Amash, the only Republican in Congress to criticize Donald Trump, is now contemplating an independent run — as I predicted he would when he announced he was leaving the GOP to become an independent.

As I was saying... https://t.co/SODRBSFOdk

— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) July 8, 2019

So much for his allegedly principled stand against Trump. Polling clearly shows that, if Amash runs as an independent, he will only "give independent voters who don't want to support Trump an outlet to not vote for the Democrat. If you look at who would be moving toward Amash, it is particularly independent men." So, he would almost certainly help reelect Trump. Terrific.

This election is going to kill me.

* * *

Wow, Joe Biden is just absolutely terrible at this:

Joe Biden apologized Saturday for his remarks about working with segregationists during his time in the Senate but again stopped short of saying that it was wrong to work with them amid a defense of his broader civil rights record.

"Now was I wrong a few weeks ago, to somehow give the impression to people that I was praising those men who I successfully opposed time and again? Yes, I was. I regret it. I'm sorry for any of the pain or misconception that I caused anybody," the former vice president and Democratic presidential candidate said to cheers during a speech to a mostly black audience in Sumter, S.C.

"But did that misstep define 50 years of my record for fighting for civil rights, racial justice in this country? I hope not. I don't think so. That just isn't an honest assessment of my record," Biden continued. "I'm going to let my record and character stand for itself and not be distorted or smeared."

...Biden also pushed back at critics in the Democratic presidential field who have been picking at his long tenure in the Senate, saying they are ignoring his record as vice president and invoking former President Barack Obama's vetting of him as testament to his civil rights record.

"If you look at the issues I've been attacked on, nearly every one of them is for something well before 2008. It's as if my opponents want you to believe I served from 1972 until 2008 — and then took the next eight years off," Biden said in his prepared remarks.

"They don't want to talk much about my time as vice president," he said. "It was the honor of a lifetime to serve with a man who was a great president, an historic figure, and most important to me, a friend. I was vetted by him and selected by him. I will take his judgment of my record, my character, and my ability to handle the job over anyone else's."

Joe Biden has a Black friend, everyone. Maybe you've heard of him? His name is BARACK OBAMA.

Listen, this is just bad. And it's bad because Biden doesn't get it. Any of it. All of it.

And if people are acting as if he "took the next eight years off" while veep, it's because his disconnection from modern politics suggests that he did.

I mean, if he doesn't want people to think he slept-walk through the Obama administration, he could start by tossing in the trash his stupid refrain about how Republicans are going to start working with Democrats again once Trump leaves office.

That is honestly the most arrogantly daft thing I've heard so far in this campaign.

* * *

You know how I keep saying that people should really scrutinize Mayor Pete Buttigieg's record on race before going all in on this guy? Welp: "As Mayor Pete Buttigieg contends with the fallout from the shooting of a black man by a white police officer in his city, a Politico analysis of data from his earlier mayoral elections shows he struggled to win the confidence of the city's black voters following a series of controversies in his first term. ...[H]is support plunged by more than 20 points in some precincts."

Senator Kamala Harris talks being a Black woman running for president: "When you break things, you get hurt, you bleed, you get cut. When I made the decision to run, I fully appreciated that it will not be easy. But I know if I'm not on the stage, there's a certain voice that will not be present on that stage. Knowing that there is a perspective, there is a life experience, there is a vision that must be heard and seen and present on that stage, and that I have an ability to do that." RIGHT ON.

She's also tweeting about reproductive justice: "Right now, access to reproductive health is under attack in states across America. It is not alarmist to say that women will die because of these restrictive policies — because we've seen it happen before. As president, I will work to stop these policies before they become law."

Senator Elizabeth Warren is talking about what animates her: "I spent a big chunk of my adult life studying why families are going broke in this country, studying why America's middle class has been hollowed out, working on why it is that people who work hard, who play to the rules, find the path so steep and so rocky, and, for people of color, even steeper and even rockier. The principle answer: It's about a government that just doesn't work for them... That's the thing that we could change come 2020. We get enough people in this, we can take our government back and we can make it work not just for a thinner and thinner slice at the top. We make it work for everyone."

She's also tweeting about the U.S. Women's National Team: "They bring home the ratings, the revenue, and the wins. But even if they didn't, the players of the USWNT deserve equal pay." Heck yeah they do.

Senator Amy Klobuchar is tweeting about them, too — in her inimitable style:

#PayTheseWomenhttps://t.co/WGiTk4O88K

— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) July 7, 2019

Former HUD Secretary Julián Castro is clapping back at Jane Lynch for mocking his saying that iced tea is his comfort food:

.@janemarielynch, clearly you've never been to Texas in July. https://t.co/eh4vSO94sv

— Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) July 8, 2019

Oh snap!

Senator Cory Booker is still dating Rosario Dawson. Which is something that matters to some voters, I guess. I personally would have zero reservation about voting for a "bachelor president," but I'm a deliberately childless heathen feminist, so.

Bernie Sanders is still definitely running for president.

Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.