41 Comments
May 21Liked by Robert Leonard

Thank you, Bob. This is our truth and we need to face it head-on. Silence is the enemy now.

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May 21Liked by Robert Leonard

You are absolutely correct. President Biden has been one of the most effective of US Presidents. Historians will recognize his accomplishments. There would be nothing to gain in turning away from him. No MAGAts are reachable by anything rational. If a candidate tries to turn away from the President, what is there to run on? "I'm not as crazy as my Republican opponent," though almost always categorically true, is hardly much of a campaign.

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This: “If Democratic candidates don’t celebrate the President's accomplishments, they are implicitly agreeing with Republicans”

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Republicans always vilify Democratic candidates. They take one issue, usually a non-issue, and pound it for months at a time. Remember Bruce Braley having the audacity to say that if Republicans took control of the Senate in 2014, Chuck Grassley, an Iowa farmer, would be chair of the Judiciary Committee? One would have thought Braley personally insulted every Iowa farmer the way GOP ads attacked him for month after month.

And the disaster Braley predicted came true. Grassley became chair and helped steal a Supreme Court pick from Obama.

Same deal with Cindy Axne, who wrote a letter to strip mall tenants as part of her private-sector job. Republicans pounded that for months, too.

If Baccam is the nominee, they will make him out to be a horrible puppet controlled by Nancy Pelosi. What WE should be doing is hammering Zach Nunn for enabling Marjorie Taylor Greene, Goetz, Gosar and the rest of the dysfunctional circus in the House GOP.

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author

Excellent thoughts Dave. Thanks for the reminder on Braley. He should have doubled down. He should have said Grassley would be great on the ag committee, but we need someone experienced in law on Justice. Yes. Nunn is a clown enabler. Only he may be worse than them because he is in hiding while supporting them.

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May 21Liked by Robert Leonard

I cringe every time I drive by that house in the first picture. You can’t reason with the MAGA people. They are completely brainwashed and I think they like the fact that they can do and say whatever they want with no repercussions. That’s why they look up to Trump.

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May 21Liked by Robert Leonard

All of us should be proud of what the Biden administration has accomplished and the dignity that he has restored. When the Biden signs arrive, display one in your yard (or help your county Democratic Party deliver them) along with the American flag--the GOP has for years branded themselves as the patriots, and we need to change that. When I read that article about Baccam's campaign, I was disappointed in their actions to scrub references to Biden.

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May 21·edited May 21Liked by Robert Leonard

I so agree and would add that this is undoubtedly the most important Presidential election of my lifetime and yours because of not only what you say so well here but this: Our Constitution and democracy are at stake. What Trump stands for and what he's done are unprecedented in any former election when, as one example, tears in Edmund Muskie's eye eliminated him from the race. Let us compare what is now at stake and what Trump has done--not only January 6th that must not be forgotten, but also the fact that Trump—along with his allies in Congress, his tribe of red-tie supporters who show up at the New York trial—still does not accept the result of the Biden/Trump 2020 election and that he and they say they will not accept the result of the 2024 election unless he wins and what he plans to do, not excluding a dictatorship if he wins.

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May 21Liked by Robert Leonard

That was a much needed wake up call. It is so easy for the MAGA to categorically shred Biden on everything with falsehoods while we feel the need to give truthful testimony as to the facts of his success. That’s harder and maybe less compelling so we (I) step aside. But you just shared how it can be done.

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May 21Liked by Robert Leonard

The DNC has made bad decisions in the recent past. Removing Iowa's first in the Nation Caucus. Giving Republicans even more fuel on their claim of 'Democratic incompetence', which, ironically, the DNC caused with their new system of reporting.

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May 24Liked by Robert Leonard

Funny thing - I posted your column about the weather service on Facebook with the caption, I think Chicken Little was right the sky IS falling. And we need to VOTE.

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May 24Liked by Robert Leonard

(Before I read this.)

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Thanks, Bob

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This is great. Funny, scary, and true all at the same time.

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Thank you, Bob. It seems like stating the obvious, but Democrats should be shouting this from the rooftops!

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May 26Liked by Robert Leonard

Polls . . . those results always bother me because sensible people like me don't answer phone calls from numbers I don't recognize. That tells me that those polls are not including sensible opinions.

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May 26Liked by Robert Leonard

Biden's been an acceptable President. And he's been blamed unfairly for such things such as the exit from Afghanistan. However, as one who traditionally has identified with his party, and a Trump hater who can never vote for that creature, I will be leaving the Presidential portion of my November ballot unmarked. I can never vote for a person who is enabling genocide and using my tax dollars to help pay the costs. Even though I realize that most of those tax dollars are intended to feed the needs of our military/industrial complex. It's also upsetting that NATO's war in Ukraine has brought the world horrible inflation that has extraordinary harmful impact in the poorer countries. Whereas in the USA, it has been simply a major inconvenience.

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author

I understand and appreciate your perspective. I just fear a protest vote by leaving the presidential portion of the ballot unmarked will only help Trump.

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We need to make the progress visible, tangible and local. One can go to websites like these to report on Biden funded projects and how they impact local areas. I believe counties, like Delaware, have even circulated posters on this. Other areas have written letters to the editor listing local projects funded over past 4 years.

1. invest.gov

2. Invest.gov. -- Iowa page. https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Iowa-IIA-State-Fact-Sheet.pdfbuild.gov

3. IowaAtWork.com You can drill down to get county level projects at his side.

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author

great ideas Ralph!

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