“In the face of unprecedented obstacles, a record number of Americans voted. Proving once again, that democracy beats deep in the heart of America. With the campaign over, it’s time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation. It’s time for America to unite. And to heal. We are the United States of America. And there’s nothing we can’t do, if we do it together.”
– President-Elect Joe Biden
Filed under News
“We are not going to control the pandemic. We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics and other mitigation areas.”
– Mark Meadows, White House Chief of staff, on CNN
“One thing we’ve seen in a lot of the Black community, which is mostly Democrat, is that President Trump’s policies are the policies that can help people break out of the problems that they’re complaining about. But he can’t want them to be successful more than they want to be successful.”
– Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, on “Fox & Friends”
“We’ll have to see if it’s a problem, right? People are entitled to say maybe it was a problem, maybe it wasn’t.”
– Donald Trump, on an alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer by right-wing extremists
“Because women, suburban or otherwise, they want security. They want security. They want safety. They want law and order. They have to have law and order, and we’re gonna do great. And I love women, and I can’t help it. They’re the greatest. I love them much more than the men. Much more than the men. So I’m saving suburbia. I’m getting your kids back to school, get your kids back to school. And you know what else? I’m also getting your husbands — they wanna get back to work, right? They wanna get back to work. We’re getting your husbands back to work, and everybody wants it.”
– Donald Trump, at a rally in Michigan
Filed under News
To my fellow Americans (and pretty much the rest of the world):
It’s almost over! Both 2020 and this year’s elections are almost done. I can see the sun peeking over the horizon. Yes, it’s there – waiting for the demise of our current morass. And then we will be free! And we can continue on with our lives! Hold on, brothers and sisters! The aftermath is upon us, and we will be delivered to freedom!
(If freedom doesn’t arrive as expected, please feel free to imbibe in your vice of choice.)
Filed under Wolf Tales
“Four or five months ago when we started this whole thing before the plague came in, I had made it, I wasn’t coming to Erie. I mean, I have to be honest. There’s no way I was coming. I didn’t have to. I would have called you and said, ‘Hey Erie, you know if you have a chance get out and vote’. We had this thing won.”
– Donald Trump, at a campaign stop in Erie, Pennsylvania
Filed under News
“He’ll listen to the scientists. If I listened totally to the scientists, we would right now have a country that would be in a massive depression instead – we’re like a rocket ship. Take a look at the numbers.”
– President Donald Trump, at a rally in Carson City, Nevada, on Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s pending response to the COVID-19 pandemic
“Who do these people think they are? Debate commission will mute the mics? Can you imagine if they’d-a told Abraham Lincoln we’re gonna mute the microphone if you don’t shut up, sir?
“Abe Lincoln would say, why do you think people are gonna be there? To watch you hit the mute button? Who do these people think they are?
“You know, if I didn’t know better, I would swear that the debate commission is trying to get Trump to pull out of this. I think they’re goading Trump. I think they’re trying to provoke him into pulling out of this thing by announcing they’re going to mute microphones.
“Look, I understand when these people — and these are tiny people compared to Donald Trump, folks. Whoever’s on this debate commission, they are tiny people. Now, they think that they are the country’s elite — and, hell, they may be.
“I mean, given the definition of elite and who these people that think they run the country are. But they are tiny people compared to the giant that is Donald Trump.
“Donald Trump is a giant of achievement, a giant of personality, a giant of appetite, a giant of energy. There isn’t a single person in American politics that can hold a candle to Donald Trump.
“There’s not a person that can keep up with him energy-wise. There isn’t a person with his drive. There isn’t anybody close to his ambition at his age.
That’s who they are. So they come along and they threaten to mute his microphone. I don’t think these people want Biden taking a risk of looking like a deer in the headlights when confronted with his treason.
“The treason that involves these deals between his son Hunter and Hunter’s buddies and Biden’s family members that resulted in the massive enrichment of the Biden family.
“Donald Trump, however he has earned his money, he has not done it via corruption of the United States government. Donald Trump has not enriched himself by sticking his hand into the U.S. Treasury like all of these other government players do.”
– Rush Limbaugh, on his radio show, criticizing microphone muting rules for the October 22 presidential debate
Filed under News
“You turn on CNN, that’s all they talk about: COVID, COVID, pandemic, COVID, COVID, COVID. People are tired of COVID. People are saying, ‘Whatever. Just leave us alone.’ They’re tired of it.”
– President Donald Trump, lamenting ongoing coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, at a campaign rally in Las Vegas
Filed under News
“They talk about the suburban women. And somebody said, ‘I don’t know if the suburban woman likes you.’ I said, ‘Why?’ They said, ‘They may not like the way you talk,’ but I’m about law and order. I’m about having you safe. I’m about having your suburban communities. I don’t want to build low-income housing next to your house.”
– President Donald Trump, at a campaign rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania
“The fact that it is a box does not make it illegal.”
– Tom Hiltachk, general counsel for the California State Republican Party, regarding accusations the organization placed fake ballot boxes around the state
Hiltachk added that the boxes comply with California’s “ballot harvesting” law, which lets people collect ballots from voters and return them to county election offices to be counted. He said all of the party’s drop boxes are indoors at county party headquarters, churches or retailers that have agreed to participate and that the boxes are locked and monitored by people.
Filed under News
“I think this hearing is a sham. I think it shows real messed up priorities from the Republican Party. But I am here to do my job, to tell the truth.”
– Sen. Amy Klobuchar, in her opening statement at the start of the confirm hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett
“Politicians should never decide what medical procedures a patient can and cannot receive.”
– Nancy Northup, Center for Reproductive Rights, reacting to a court ruling that blocked a 2017 anti-abortion law passed by the Texas State Legislature
“I don’t like to be associated with anything political or with any political campaign.”
– Dr. Anthony Fauci, on Good Morning America, 10/15/20
“I don’t get that. You’re the president. You’re not like someone’s crazy uncle who can just retweet whatever.”
– Savannah Guthrie, during a live “town hall” meeting with Donald Trump, questioning his retweet of a QAnon-linked conspiracy theory
No to be outdone, Trump made a trite insult at Guthrie during a campaign stop the next day.
Filed under News
Last Wednesday’s debate between Vice-President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris was a glaringly stark contrast to the crap-fest between Donald Trump and Joe Biden the previous week. For the most part, Pence and Harris showed those two other old curmudgeons how to remain relatively calm and focused during discussions about critical national issues.
I say ‘for the most part’ because of Pence’s tendency to interrupt Harris – the same way Trump repeatedly interrupted Biden – and to ramble beyond his slated time limit – again, like Trump. I feel that both Trump and Pence fit the unpleasantly stereotypical image of the angry White male: men who believe only those exactly like them are qualified to speak out on any concern facing the country and should be allowed to speak adnauseam about it.
Harris, meanwhile, showed restraint and decorum by politely stating, “I’m speaking,” with a bright grin. Many observers, especially women and non-Whites, viewed this as a typical response for someone like Harris. Women and non-Whites, it seems, are always expected to maintain a sense of calm in the face of indignity and disrespect. Otherwise, they’d be viewed as uppity or bitchy. Harris, in effect, had to stay polite and professional; for if she had done a Joe Biden and yelled, “Shut up!” to Pence, political pundits – particularly those on the conservative end who already hate her for the mere fact she’s a dark-skinned woman daring to campaign for a national office, much like they did with Barack Obama – would have mercilessly slayed her.
Pence never really answered any question from moderator Susan Page who proved as equally powerless as Chris Wallace during the Trump-Biden fiasco. But, for we independent observers – that is, those of us not satisfied with either Trump or Biden – Pence’s blatant disorientation during the debate signaled how dysfunctional the current White House administration is in the face of dual crises: the failing economy and the expanding COVID-19 pandemic.
To me Trump, Biden and Pence represent America’s past: still fighting the U.S. Civil War; the civil rights movement of the 1960s and 70s; law-and-order mantras; the Cold War; a caste society. Harris, on the other hand, represents America’s future: attacks on economic inequality and social injustices; ending war; giving ALL citizens the chance to prove their merit and their value in a 21st century world.
Time doesn’t stagnate, except in the minds of conservatives. Regardless of what one thinks of the vice-presidential debate, the 2020 presidential campaign continues. It can’t end soon enough.
Filed under Essays
Chief Writing Wolf 