Dialogues on the Saga of KamaTim: Good Times at the DNC

Posted on Updated on by Geoff CarterCategories:Politics, Reproductive Rights, Social Commentary

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Featuring the Fabulous Dadbots: Dave S., Mark M., Mark O., Dennis C., and Geoff Carter

Dialogues on the Saga of KamaTim: Good Times at the DNC 

The Harris campaign communications strategy is pretty simple, Orange Man Bad. Somebody counted (150) mentions of “Trump” in the campaign platform.People are rightly skeptical of any platitudes contained in a party platform, but except for diehard MAGA-ites (not reachable anyway), people will largely believe Orange Man Bad.  Seems like a winning strategy to me.

MarkO

Yeah, agreed.  Saw that headline but didn’t read the platform yet.  Can someone distill it for me?….maybe MO just did.  

Adding to orange man bad, I’ve noticed a brilliant…dunno how to describe it but before I do, I’ll note my shock and awe in that Kamala and crew did it without me—(no forward of Dave from Wisconsin e-mail to Tammy B. required). Here are the themes I’ve noticed or have read others noticing:

  1. Basically, taking on some populist’s stances—just doing it in a more civilized, star spangled way.
  2. Patriotism:  All in.  Kamala has no patience for Gaza supporters burning the flag.  (She’s more middle on the greater issue, but flag burning:  uh huh…”lock ‘em up”.  
  • She’s 100% against murder, rape, arson…  
  • She’s made it clear she is Oakland working class (say:   Not SF) and Walz’s roots are cornhusking cornhusker.
  • Super tough on immigration.  Really, really, tough…it’s just beautiful how tough she is going to be.  (Say that like an orange man impersonator)
  • NFW are we going to tax tips.
  1. Seriously, pardon the jaded spins, I do love the strategy:  Taking the wind out of the blowhards (orange man & gentrified hillbilly wingman– with Asian wife—BTW:  has anyone checked her papers?…) sails.  
  2. NYT describes her as macho.  Prediction:  We are going to see a Kamala Rambo tee soon. It won’t make the popular press, but it’ll be out there.  Hell, I might come up with it:   The bandana headband, the torn vest, the biceps, belt of bullets draped around her neck and a  big automatic gun.

All digits crossed for 2.5 more months.  What a difference an 11th hour abdication makes…(or was it a bad ass Nance engineered coup?)

-D.

Pardon the jubilation…and I know it’s taboo to be overconfident, but since I’m a bot, I have special rights.

Icing on the cake for me was the Walz speech—coupled with an observation article in today’s Times that men who play football can be more sensitive than men who don’t.  It’s not all that earth shaking a revelation.  Sort of inherent in the definition of magnanimous—imo.  I’ve noticed that once one is secure—be it financially, career, your 19 and you just scored with the hottest thing at the bar—with your buddies to witness/bow in homage, sports prowess…whatever—its is one helluva a lot easier to be magnanimous (or “be excellent”—same diff) once on easy street.  The Times sites an NC high school study—sounded like about the time we were in high school—when no one wanted to be labeled,  a “ fag”.  Study found that football players were more likely to show their sensitive side.  The times article added Travis Kelce (Taylor Swift’s bo) and his brother Jason (‘nother all pro footballer) as men who can cry in public, just like Tim W.

Which brings me to Tim Walz…OMG…I find myself using the term “2nd coming”.  Honestly…never thought I see a role model like this rise up for everyone to see. I’ve been waiting for a GOP star to stand up to trump and take some of these stances—like Paul Ryan or Mitt…even Mario….but this is close enough…plus he’s doing it across so many “wimp” (aka fag) landmines.  Examples:

  1. He can outshoot most NRA members at skeet/trap yet fully supports gun control.
  2. All in on fertility (huge poignant family moment shared last night), abortion and all other “keep the government out of our bedroom” issues. 
  3. Lunch for poor kids at school, not book banning at school.
  4. Only tough guys get away with a nickname like Tampon Tim, “pap smear Pete” (Buttigieg)  would never fly.  Kamala’s husband did talk about pap smear the other day.
  5. Football!  F’ing ay man!  Block, tackle…but no crack backs…(ok I added the last part but he did say the former and many more manly FB lines last night)
  6. (I envision Trump wincing, squirming, as he’s watching this guy….as MM reminded us sometime back…at least reminded me…Trump is an amazingly successful politico, so when he sees something this successful, that he can’t use, can’t take down,  it must eat away at him day and night. I see Trump on the run….he’s lost his enthusiasm.  Why?  Age….that bullet across the ear…buyer’s remorse with Vance…Pity party:  “first covid, then the Kamala coup, now this fucking 2nd coming guy from ‘sota”.  Why me? Why always me?”
  7. (3) Trump flyers in the mail yesterday—timed to arrive before Walz’s speech.  (2) declaring Harris:  weak, failed, dangerously liberal, the third making it clear Trump “Disavows Project 2025”.   Dem’s are doing a good job of saying “yeah right”….  Walz said:  “ I learned in football, if a team has a playbook, there sure as hell going to use it”.  Also a nifty  piece by SNL comedian Kenan Thompson having real people pop up on the big screen—state their deal…like “I pay $35/mo for insulin” only to have Kenan flip to a page in the 2025 playbook and say “sorry, that’s gone”….they did about 4 other instances, gay marriage, an obgyn doc (abortion)—”sorry your going to jail”….p. 46 here in  Project 2025.  They kept it short and got their point across.  

What lies ahead?

  1. The last time I saw such a lightning rod rise up, they got shot. (or banned, via collusion, from the NFL while being a superbowl QB in their prime).  I sure hope Walz  and Harris stay behind bullet proof glass when outdoors—Trump and Vance do that now.  I could easily see some lunatic, (the one with an IQ over 100), watching the DNC  and saying “holy  shit, we are f’d…unless…unless….hey Kyle…come here, grab your rifle, I gotta job for ya”
  2. Never count out ao….wonder if he’ll come up with something fresh?  I can’t imagine it, more likely we’ll see an increasingly vulgar nadir.  One can only hope.
  3. And of course Harris has to qb this squad.  Be nice if she could just pop off till election day, but even NPR is getting pointed about asking for a platform….I think she’ll do fine against agent orange in debates, but a presser, after she comes out with a platform, will be an important hurdle.

Interested in bot’s hot takes on the DNC, other issues…even Devin Williams’ air bender!  (will save that for another email—but omg, what a pitch!).

-d.

Interesting bot-servations.  Okay, okay. I admit the term “bot-servation” is sorta clunky.  Not like MarkO’s coinage of the phrase “Orange Man Bad”. That coinage is gold, baby, gold. I can see OMB on t-shirts and posters across the land…. It’s almost as sticky as Tim Walz’s use of the term “weird” to describe Trump, JD Vance and their Project 2025 cronies.

“Orange Man Bad” might not have much substance as policy, but, yeah, it’s a pretty solid campaign theme.  Now the Dems have gleefully co-opted a favorite term of Republicans: ‘FREEDOM”. And not only that, now “JOY” has been added to this heady mix (as heard throughout the Democratic Convention). No, that’s not policy either, but man that’s genius. Pretty hard to argue against freedom and joy.

Back to Tim Walz. Hey, Marko, how was he as your guv? Like Dave says, he sure checks off a lot of boxes for the Dems. Hmmm. A  sixty-something Midwestern white guy dad who likes sports and pushes strangers out of snow banks while pushing forward a progressive agenda. Heck, is this guy one of the fabulous dad-bots or what?.  We should make him an honorary member.  

DC

I like bot-servation. It’s not as gripping or succinct as “Orange Man Bad”—which is kind of reminiscent of Animal Farm to me: “Four legs good, two legs bad.” Anyway, the Walz phenomenon is just incredible. Who is this guy? I wrote in a recent blog that AI couldn’t have created a more perfect running mate. I won’t list all his attributes—that’s already been well-documented. What really struck me during the DNC is Walz’s (and Harris’s for that matter) relationships with their families. I don’t know if you saw Walz’s kids doing bunny ears behind him during an interview or actually talking and joking with him in their stands. I’ve seen some genuinely funny videos of Walz and his daughter Hope hanging out at the Minnesota State Fair. I was trying to imagine Eric or Don, Jr., having a fun or relaxed time with their dad. Or Melania actually talking to her husband. The Trumps don’t seem like a family; they look like a Disney autotronic display in The Hall of Presidents. The Vances seem a little more human, but that’s a very low bar that they barely clear.

When Gus Walz stood up in tears cheering for his dad as he took the stage to accept the nomination was—beyond any doubt—genuine. Daughter Hope and Mrs. Walz’s reactions were also heartfelt. 

Kamala Harris’ family not only also has a great vibe, their incredible diversity demonstrates a degree of tolerance not even hinted at in the GOP camp. Even though Vance’s wife is Indian, no one really seems to acknowledge that fact except in a peripheral way. Her ethnicity is probably seen as an embarrassment by the Trump camp.

So it’s set: the human beings versus whatever the hell the Trumps are.

G

The environment is absolutely filthy with vibes and memes now ain’a?  Weird, Freedom, Joy, MYODB (Mind Your Own Damn Business), etc…  “Take the PR machine to Warp 7 Scottie!  But Captain, the Mind Warp Engine can’t take any more!”  My mind might have exploded if the DNC had continued one more day.  The mind-meld in Chicago was a bit too “culty” for me.

To DC’s question, Tim Walz has been a real revelation as a governor.  He did the seemingly impossible in that he wrangled all the Dems (herding cats comes to mind) into a united force to get a truly progressive agenda passed onto law.  Not a single representative bolted from the party plan (remember Sinema and Manchin anyone?).  That’s effective politics.  The Republicans here were absolutely dumbstruck and helpless bystanders, despite holding almost half the seats.  It’s possible folks.  Personally, I think the Dems overplayed their hand on a couple issues which may hurt them in future elections, but they saw the future as now.  Had the power, took it, used it.  Pretty refreshing compared to our national politics.

Should be an interesting 10 weeks.  I think Tim will be a bit busy but he would be a welcome dadbot addition.

MarkO

Dadbot Tim. Oh, be still my heart. Handyman, music fan (everything from Zevon to Bruce to Prince), and sports guru; what more could we ask for?

G

More hot takes from the DNC

  1. Our illustrator had a great T shirt idea (says, me….aren’t they more profitable than memes?). You’ll have to search for it but imagine his head, in a football helmet,   Taken from Tim Walz’s superpower story—’bout jocks having carte blanche to be sensitive.  Note the ice bowl-esque frozen tears of joy.
  2. Gretchen quipped last night “chauffeur” was the first word baby Donald learned.  She also came back to it a 2nd time, just in case we all missed the class distinction.
  3. 27 yr. old black rep from Florida was awesome!  Gen Z.  Maxwell Frost.  Remember that name.
  4. Did a 180 on AOC.  Such vitality!  Such conviction!  Great speaker.  I winced at the sophomoric-naive-easy “corporate greed” go to line, but she’ll mature.  I could see her being one of the many “non-sausages” being President.  It begins with President Harris.
  5. Never heard (republican) Adam Kinzinger speak before.  F!  Too good to be true.  His take down of the orange man was better than Walz’s.  More ‘sober’ but just as passionate.
  6. Joe was a disaster.  Never smiled, flipped between bitter ‘bout being shoved aside—so obvious and mad as hell about Trump.  He gives Trump’s cause so much oxygen by letting it get to him.  The rest of the party is on board with the don’t give it credence tact, laugh at it, belittle it, (“weird”…etc. …).  A tad depressing cuz he could’ve been another shot of adrenaline, had he just smiled, relaxed, been accepting….  He’s still not in a good place…looks like it’ll take a year or two….  I wouldn’t be surprised to see him croak…poor guy.  As the Times put it, it literally would’ve taken about 10 words of editing to make it a Joe acceptance speech.  Nothing did he say that was baton handing.  Zero praising of Harris.  BOM. (bitter old man).
  7. My pet peeve:  Most of these speakers assume a well informed audience…and I suppose half of the  1000s of convention attendees are.  But if you want to make an impact with the millions watching, you really need to inform the audience before you make a cute line.  Michelle Obama’s crack about the President being a “black job” —rejoinder to Donald, fell on deaf ears for 99% of the listeners.  There were other examples…where I’m  screaming to the TV….”first explain”…help the audience remember what Trump said and why this line you are about to deliver cuts do deep”.  Lost ops.
  8. Haven’t caught Oprah or my main man Pete yet….
  9. Oh….yeah we should vote Tim onto ‘bot island and I also love ‘bot-servations:  Bot-servations are:  acute, streetwise, cynical yet not jaded and above all, sensitive. (oh….forgot humble–😎

-D

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        Illustration by Michael DiMilo

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