Why I am abandoning The Bulwark
They were a life raft in the 2020 election, and have been a good counter-balance, but their backgrounds and proclivities are just so retromingent.
When I first discovered The Bulwark in late 2020, it felt like an oasis of sanity. Yes, they were Republicans. Yes, they preferred different policy choices than I would make. But they were sane (mostly).
Over the next three years, it ebbed and flowed, they added people, people left (I miss Ted Johnson), and they remained steadfast in their opposition to Trump.
For a long time I could forgive some of their odious positions (their pro-life proclivities come out pretty ugly, and their hope and prayers for one of their pet “normie” Republicans to rise to reclaim the “conservative” mantle from the MAGA usurpers grate particularly harshly to me) but the thing that put me over the edge is simple. It is the non-stop bleating about Biden’s age, and how it is “political malpractice” to nominate him, because he is old, and the public thinks he’s senile.
Ok, I get it, Biden is old. And yes, I would like to finally get someone in GenX to be president1. But I would also like Jessica Alba and Scarlett Johannson to fly me to Tahiti for a 2 week island romp.
Fact is: 1) He’s the incumbent. 2) He’s done a lot given the makeup of congress, 3) He fucking spanked the R’s in the SOTU, and 4) fuck right off.
They then begin to wax poetically about fantasy politics, like Gretchen Whitmer or Josh Shapiro at the top of the ticket, with a nod to the African American base with Raphael Warnock. Or maybe an outsider like Jared Polis from Colorado2.
You know what you will likely get? Gavin fuckin’ Newsom and AOC.
Do you think they could beat Trump? Because I don’t. No, a coastal liberal elite is not a winning strategy.
And it seems like there is at least one article a day on Biden’s age. One section of a podcast per day on Biden’s age. It is at the point where if AB Stoddard is the guest, or Adam Kinzinger, or well anybody I just click off.
Yes, he’s old. Yes, he looks old.
But he has the power of incumbency. And I know you don’t like Kamala Harris3, but without her, a not insignificant fraction of the Black vote will sit it out, and then we get Trump in a rout.
I will miss some things. I really enjoy the Secret Podcast. I like reading the Triad mostly4.
How I know I made the right choice
One person that I early on liked was when AB Stoddard was a guest. Either her writing, or on the pods.
However, the last 7 months or so, she has been the queen of bashing Biden. And they keep having her on. Over and over and over. Like a broken record5.
This morning, while walking my dog, I got the notification for the daily Morning Shots newsletter, and fuck me running, AB Stoddard is joining The Bulwark staff.
Yeah, I am damn glad I cancelled my renewal.
My subscription expires on October 13, and I will at that time turn off all notifications. I *might* navigate to their main page occasionally, but I will definitely not be a daily reader.
Because I have had enough Chicken Little “The Sky is Falling” about the Dems.
And today’s Pod, the Monday regular episode with Will Saletan - mister Liberal-Lite spent much of the first 13 minutes dissecting an admittedly poor optic press conference Biden had at the G20. We fucking get it, Biden’s old. At that point, I turned it off in disgust.
I am done.
I am beginning to think that Greatest Generation, and Boomers are going to give way to the first Millennial president, skipping (and screwing) us Gen X folks. I guess that might be why a particularly large cohort of my peers are Trumper MAGAts
Look, I like me some Polis fine, and hell, Mayor Pete would be amazeballs to see on the debate stage with the Shitgibbon, but repeat after me: We are at least 2 generations before a gay man might be competitive nationally.
For fuck’s sake, you can’t even learn the correct way to pronounce her first name.
Last week, I commented on the one where JVL did his watch thing that I would miss those rants when my sub expired. JVL asked me to email him (I presume he thought my financial circumstances were the cause of my cancellation) I replied “Nah, I’m good. I just don’t want to pay for 5+ stories a week lamenting about how criminal it is that Biden hasn’t stepped aside”.
For those youngs in the audience, a broken record was an LP that had a scratch that would kick the needle back, so you would hear the same 30 second soundbite over and over and over.
Yeah, I wasn't jumping for joy at AB's joining the crew either. At this point, probably the only people I'll miss are Tim Miller and Joe Perticone. The rest hit me as becoming pretty mainstream with all the political horse-race commentary.