A Birthday Girls Reflection

 When my mother was in her early eighties I caught her staring  into  the mirror. “What’s up mom”, I asked.  She kept looking at her reflection and finally said, “When I look into the mirror I don’t recognize who I see”.

“What do you mean mom, you look great.”  

“But what I’m seeing is not what I was expecting. I guess I expect to see someone younger and with some pizzazz.”

“For your age, you look terrific.”

“For my age, is the issue.”

To be honest I didn’t really understand, until lately.  When I look in the mirror I don’t recognize who I see either.  Luckily I’m friends with people who I have known forever. Long time friends see you like you were when you were in high school or college. At least they say so.

When I look in the mirror I see a stranger with Clarabelle like blonde hair, many wrinkles and my nose looks big. Was my nose always big. It’s hard to remember. Today for my birthday I did six loads of laundry, raked the leaves, made my bed and cleaned the basement. There is so much paper on my desk it’s hard to remember where it all came from. So tomorrow my plan is to sort all that paper. 

Remember when you were little, and had kids’ birthday parties. We were luckier than most kids ((me and Stevie) even though we were only two weeks apart and we lived together we each had our own party because that was the law. We had the same relatives and the same friends but we always had our own parties.  We probably shared presents, and there was always entertainment (us) usually dancing on the couches.  And we were absolutely adorable. This is no longer the case.  

When I realized I would never be a great beauty that was ok because I had a case of terminal cuteness. When did that go away?  Over the years these things happen. It’s usually subtle, but then one day you look in the mirror and there’s a stranger staring back. Oh, there are remnants of the person that used to be, but not so many.  My wish over the years was to be able to grow old gracefully. I have numerous friends who have been able to do that and I admire their casual attitude about it. Maybe the work I chose over the years required a young person to succeed. Someone with unrelenting energy.  At some point the energy diminishes and things that you used to do simply can’t be done. I can still read papers on another persons desk upside down. It was a learned skill that no one can take away, regardless of age, but my eyesight is not so good anymore.  And I am still quick witted, some would even say funny. Oh yes, I can still come up with wacky ideas, and am willing to participate no matter how wacky.  That is innate and comes with a sense of humor, and a friend who always insisted we think, not only out of the box, but out of the universe. 

So what does this all mean?  Nothing really. Understand that I am not whining. My life has been terrific, many firsts and more seconds. It’s just that without serious face work, I’m never again going to be the cutest kid on the block. Good news is, I don’t need to be, because I am happy, active, meditating and just the person I want to be.  A Democrat with a conscience and a moral core will lead the nation when fatty, fatty 2x4 finally goes out the White House door. My cousin with whom I shared those birthdays said, all that needs to happen is the secret service says “we are out of here.”

How lucky am I, how lucky are we all.  It’s my birthday:  Time to eat a Diary Queen. We’re just sayin’....Iris

Does This Ever Get to End?

I changed my mind.

He stood out in the rain without an umbrella. He paused to gently touch the wreath he had just put on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  If you didn’t know that it was all for the cameras, kind of like holding a bible, after they cleared and gassed the peaceful protestors, you almost would have thought it was a special moment.  It's the first time he has been out of the White House since he lost the election.  Yes, despite what you may have heard from Republicans and political appointees, he lost the election.  

Have you been waiting for the Monster to come to his senses?  Let us not forget, he has no sense, yet alone senses. We all need to remember that he has been saying that if he lost the election it was because there had to be fraud.  He couldn’t just lose the election because people understood that given the choice between a hollow shell, who knew that the entire nation was in danger from the pandemic, and a human being, who cares about the health of the people and the health of the nation, they would chose the latter. 

The thing that still puzzles me is why would any woman or any minority or any immigrant would vote for someone who didn’t care about their human rights. Maybe its me, but when I worked for the Carters and saw that even when people had something to lose, they would choose human rights over expediency.  The Carters were serious about human rights and human dignity.  Its why he’s the best ex-president ever.  And when Hillary said, "womens' rights are human rights," she meant it, and changed a great many lives.  In the 60’s we marched for every injustice. Whether it was the war, women’s rights, or civil rights, we went out on the street and yelled about it.  How could any woman vote for aperson (that’s the nicest i can be), who talked about women the way he did on that infamous Access Hollywood bus interview. If he’s not a rapist, he certainly took liberties with any number of women over the years.  He has no respect for what he calls ugly women, dirty immigrants, or minorities who are poor. Guess he hates white people who are poor, or anyone who is not in that  2% of people who are really really rich. Remember when is was pro-choice and a Democrat?  Even then he was a fop but not dangerous.  Oh, how things change when a brat realizes he has some power, and all he has to do is lose his moral core.  Not that he ever had one — which does make it easier —but based on the last four years, it appears he never did.

This inability to admit he lost.  That he and his many “monsterettes” are not going to be able to use their power and position for anything other than entertaining one another.  What must it be like to suck the blood of an entire country, and then when you still have blood on your face, deny that you did anything evil.   Guess Ivanka will have to sell her own clothes and jewels without being the daughter of the President.  A few weeks ago I saw one of her Ugly dresses in TJMaxx.

And the lovely husband who always looks like he’s smelling farts will have to go back to knowing nothing without his father-in-law giving him assignments which are clearly beyond his minimal ability.  It will be good not to have to listen to their foolish ranting anymore. 

Now i will have to go to sleep knowing that tomorrow he will fire good people and replace them with dolts and political imcompetents.  We can only hope that he will not sell top secret information to his pal Putin in exchange for a hotel in downtown Moscow.  We're just sayin'...Iris

Kick Ass - No Prisoners: It's Transition Time

 Let’s pretend that President-elect Biden asked me how should he answer the Monster who is not leaving the White House any time soon.  The Secretary of State said today that there was no need for a transition, because Trump would be staying for another four years. We all know this is crazy town but those of us who were well-versed in crisis communication would tell you that there is something dangerous for all of us by allowing the Monster to craft the narrative.  Which goes something like this:    He won, and they are filing lawsuits, because if he hadn’t won, there wouldn’t be so many people supporting his effort to prove fraudulent voting.  These people are Republican elected officials, political appointees, and people who voted for him.  Should Biden allow the Monster to get away with more lies and false narratives?  

Tonight Biden laughed at Pompeo, the Secretary of State for another 70 days.  The Justice department, I don’t have to tell you.  But the Monster is making very dangerous people  in positions at the Defense Department.  And further, Biden isn’t receiving the kind of international briefings that is usually given to the President-Elect.  That in itself leaves the US exposed to some Despots and Thugs, friends of the administration who have depended on Trump not to make waves or change.  Putin comes to mind, but there are others.  

A few years ago, stop me if I have already told this story, Pamela Harriman called me to find out how she should comment on a supposedly scandalous book that was going to be released about her life.  What I told her was not to comment at all because no matter what she said would be a problem. She took my advice and when asked what she thought about the book, she said,  "no comment," and the book went away,  Would I suggest to Biden that he was playing it exactly the right way by ignoring all the accusations of fraud?  This is a tough one, because it is not in his DNA to be confrontational.  But I don’t think you can allow the Monster to craft the narrative. In addition, People don’t want to think of the President-Elect as a wus.  So he needs to do something.  Maybe not himself, but he has some very strong message people, and surrogates.  The Lincoln Project comes to mind as a  possibility for crafting a Biden narrative, along with some very strong surrogates, like Obama and the Leaders of the Black churches and organizations.  

This is not a matter of ignoring - this is a matter of laughing at the Monster.  He hates to be ridiculed almost more than anything else.  He is a fool, and that needs to be made clear to the American public. The rest of the world already knows it.  Why is he not conceding?   We know he hates to lose but there has to be something else.  It’s all about the money.  He is raising money for PACs, for his new Party, for his new movement.  Since he never released his taxes, we have no idea if he has any private funds. My guess is he does not, and this intentional delay in conceding is because he needs the money, and really, there is no better platform than the White House to make a financial pitch.  Let us not forget the man has no moral core, so this is a perfect scam, much like Trump University. (A deep dive on their new "Fund Raising to Fight Fraud" money operation makes it clear that almost none of that money goes to the Fraud Fight, it's going to Trump bill paying.) 

Biden should keep doing what he’s doing, but the people who are communication experts should not let this pass.  We need to take back the narrative, and craft a message that makes all these Republican yahoos look like the idiots they are.  In one of my last blobs I disagreed with Vice President Biden, and said that the opposition is the enemy and it’s time for us to, as I said before, kick ass and take no prisoners.  We won:  we don’t need to be nice, its a waste of time.  We're just sayin'....Iris

Post Op Post Op

 Update:   the Monster is still saying he won, and he won bigly. There apparently is no length to which he will go not to lose. Most  people would be embarrassed about this idiocy but not the Monster or all his little monsters and monsterettes.  Moving on, please.

Joe Biden said he will sign executive orders that put an end to a ban on Muslim countries, he will rejoin the Paris Climate Accord, and the World Health organization and so the dreamers do not have to leave this country.  I’m sure there will be more because the maniac doesn’t understand the the majority of people in this country don’t like what he’s done for the last four years.  Is that all it was?  It seems like a decade.  Joe Biden will try to heal the country.  He will make wearing a mask patriotic. Wow.

Here's what is extraordinary about the campaign, and it may or may not be true.  Biden and the woman who was his campaign manager were never together. There was no war room, like there was in the past.  For political hacks like myself, this is unbelievable. Who ever heard of this kind of campaign leadership? I am truly in awe.  Maybe they will realize they need me to clean house and after I do I will take my mop and bucket and retire to Florida.  Trump has no interest in healing, his tweets go on and on ad nauseum.  Saying he has lost perspective is like saying  the moon will never come out again, and the sun won’t shine.  His actions are unbelievable.   He has regressed to being four years old and his parents won’t let him burn the house down.  Let's all go outside, once the tropical storm ends, and scream “the monster is a lunatic” maybe  we can get some electronic megaphones and do it right in front of his house in Florida.  Really, How could anyone have voted for this monster?  And I mean that in the most affable way. It has never been my role to be nice.

On more interesting:   We are having a tropical storm here.  Its a little scary.  The winds are high but not 70 miles an hour so its not a Hurricane, but it is not fun. And we will probably lose electricity. Its flickering.  I finally found candles.  It was harder to find matches.  But I was lucky to find Yartzeit candles and they burn for 24 hours.  There was a slight earthquake in New England and that probably wasn't fun either. On a sadder note, Alex Trebek died today.   In the last few years he lightened up and seemed to develop a better sense of humor, but he was always entertaining.  Can anyone take his place? No, but some say George Stephanopolis, is a possibility.  That would probably work since no one can replace him.

And speaking of tragedy this certainly has been a tragic year, what with the pandemic, the Monster and his election behavior, and Sean Connery has died.  And most tragic of all, we’re in the midst of a tropical storm which means Tyrone cant go out. We did go out this morning but he was quite disconcerted and couldn’t figure out why he was standing in the rain.

Anyway, if the storm ends I’m on my way north on Thursday. There is a wedding I’m so looking forward to,  and a colonoscopy, not so much.  The travel is a little tedious but if you want to go from one place to another thats what you have to do.   We're just sayin'...Iris

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And The Winnnnnah.....

When I heard that Joe Biden won the election, I took a deep breath and thought about the dreamers, the children in cages, my gay friends, all the women who have suffered humiliation at the hands of the monster, health care,  the millenials who voted, and my children and grandchildren.  It is possible that their lives won’t be impacted by all the monsters.  

It’s funny to be in a place where I have no people to celebrate with and even if there were there is a pandemic out there waiting to put a knee on my throat.  On my way home from tap  I passed a large group of Biden people holding signs  and celebrating to victory.  Today there were no Trump thugs there to push them around. Unfortunately, there  is also a storm which will put a damper on the celebration in the next few hours. At least its putting a damper on Tyrones afternoon walk.

Maybe I’ll go back to that corner and  stand with them again, It depends on how hard the rain is falling and the wind is blowing.   When we won an election in past years, nothing stopped me, but in those days my work was from a desk and reasonable stress. This time my work was in the field confronted by thugs, and the level of stress has made me tired. Celebration is possible whether Im in the street or watching it all over the country.  The main Monster says the election is not over and he won big.  What more do you need to know about the moron.

The storm outside is getting worse, Tyrone didn’t even want to go out but he did and now he gets to be in.  The best thing about the celebrations is that people are gathering as if every corner is their community. And in fact it could be. The pride the young people are feeling is much like the Obama victory.  They voted and they have taken the victory as a personal victory, a referendum on justice and civil liberty.  They should be proud. On a personal note,  Jordan and David are driving across the country. Jordan said if Joe wins  she will take off her top and dance in the street. Thank god she found out while they were in a gas station. 

This is the anniversary of women getting the right to vote. How proud are we all that Mamala will be the Vice President?  Very?  I wish my mother and my aunts were alive to see this.  It is a very fine thing.  We're just sayin'....Iris

Election + 3: A Kibitka in Waiting

 Yesterday  I got out of bed and had a kibitka. You remember that word from previous blobs. If you don’t, it means a small horse-drwn Russian wagon but it is much more effective when you use it to mean a miraculous recovery. Depending on they way you use it, I either had a small red wagon or a miraculous recovery.  People have been asking me how my mental and physical health is.  So I wanted you to know it is close to fine.

Anyway,  yesterday this enormous corner popped up in front of me and I went around it.  Around the corner on my tricycle. It’s an adult trike, but would be funnier if it were kids size.  The weather is beautiful and nothing clears my head like a bike ride or my meditation meeting.  The television remains off. It is my intention to watch it after the weekend. I simply cannot listen to the monster claiming victory over and over and over.  The other thing that caused my kibitka was that I realized my favorite Sirius XM station, Yacht rock, plays only four songs. It doesn’t matter to me because I love all four of them.  The Love channel was my favorite until it became the Billy Joel station.  Much as I like  Billy, it isn’t the same. Love is Love and Billy, who knows?  The 60s and 70’s channels are also good but they never play my favorite tune which is “Need You” by Donnie Owens.  He only had that one hit and then he died. 

Durning the election cycle I wrote this letter to the editor for my candidate, who I really liked and respected. She is smart, with endless energy. They had terrible commercials, no money and ran without the support of the DCCC—because they are idiots.  It’s an OK piece but since it wasn’t published anywhere I still wanted to share it, so here it is:

“What happened to civility in American politics. There have always been negative campaign ads but there was always a sense of decency and when the campaigns ended you worked with your opponent to “make America great again”—which it already is. You rightly endorsed Pam Keith, which makes sense given our opponent. . Oh on paper he looks OK.  But the truth is he’s just another Trumper without a moral core.  He says Pam is a radical, and portrays her in that light.  Remember, you can now edit any tape the way you want to.  Brian (the opponent)  thinks its fine to separate children from their parents, to vote against a woman’s right to choose, and no more same sex marriages. He thinks global warming doesn’t exist. He never votes for money that supports veterans. He  lies about Pam raising taxes, and supporting education and a healthy environment.  If all this and Pam’s  concern for human rights are radical than most right thinking people I know are also radical.  Brian should be ashamed of the mean spirited lying ads.  It’s time to Make America Kind and Truthful Again.

Iris Burnett

Author, “So You Think You Can Be President”

OK I lied.  The television has been on since 6pm. We lost power at about 3 so it would have been impossible to watch or listen to anything. When the modem is out we are without the ability to communicate. In fact, I wanted to call Florida Power and Light to find out what the problem was and when would the electricity be on, but it was impossible to find a number without Google.  I called  David who is driving across the country with Jordan and they had to find the number for me.  Maybe that’s why people have land lines.  Where are we going from here? It is likely Joey B will be President. And will have a kinder nation.  The Trump antics will only get worse.  Maybe they should build their own White House somewhere they like him. Russia or Saudi Arabia come to mind.  We're just sayin'... Iris

Enough With the Monster's Thugs, Awready!

 The election may not be over and Joe Biden may actually be the President — at some point.  Of course we will have to suffer the Monster having a tantrum, and suing everyone involved in politics for fraudulent counting tactics.   He so wants the Supreme Court to decide this election.  Maybe he’ll figure out a way to do that.  It matters, but right now, not to me.  I remain deeply disturbed by the number of people who marked their ballots for that Monster.  I know some of those people, turns out they are my friends and family. They are not the thugs who harassed me in Jupiter… the people whose behavior mirrors the Monster’s. When I ask people who I know why they would vote for Trump, almost without exception they say they 'like the things he did.'  The support for Israel is attractive to Jews - and Evangelicals.  I get that, It is an international city with religious history for  Muslims, Christians and Jews, The Embassy thing was just an in-your-face which will  always be a detractor for peace in the Middle East  (Hello, Jared? Peace plan?).  

So, what did he do other than eliminate regulations for clean air and water.  If you read my other blobs you will find the list of things the Monster did to undermine our civil liberties, health and the economy. He hates the people we love. He signed a great many executive orders, but that means he couldn’t get anything he wanted to do through the Congress.  I would like someone to explain the positive things he did to make this a better country.  Oh yes, he gave his big fat monster children (in this case fat has nothing to do with weight) all kinds of goodies, which were paid for by the American taxpayer.  Jordan says that Jared always looks like he’s smelling farts.  Now try to look at him without laughing.  

Joe Biden gave a good speech yesterday.  He will be the President for everyone, even the people who did not vote for him.  He said the people who didn’t vote for him are not the enemy.  He is wrong.  Many of them are the enemy.  The thugs, who are certainly part of the Republican Monster constituency, are the enemy.  They are the people who surrounded the Biden staff bus and terrorized the riders.  If I had been on the bus I would have stopped the bus in the middle of the highway, and called the police.  During the Carter campaign we had a bus lodged in the cement overhang of a Holiday Inn. What do you do when there is a bus issue — let the air out of the tires. And that’s what pulling the bus over and calling the police would have done— let the air out of their tires.  Hopefully that makes some sense, but too bad if it doesn’t.  Back to the enemies. The problem with Democrats has always been that they want everyone to like them.  GET OVER IT!  We do not have to be lovable.  We have to kick some ass and as they say, take no prisoners.  If only it were just the people on the street. That would be horrible of course. But they are also thugs for whom we voted.

Obama was a neighborhood organizer, he had to have people like him. But as President he tried to be nice.  He never filled judges seats with our people. Trump and the Republicans did that.  He didn’t clean house in the government, and fire the political appointed positions available to him, so his government for years had Republican appointees making policy decisions.  If Biden wins, I want to be the “cleaner upper” who goes in and  fires all the Republican appointees before they have a chance to burrow, and change their status from political to civil servant.  As you might have guessed these people are not civil by any definition.  Remember when the Monster said he was going to drain the swamp? That didn’t happen. He just appointed more and more monsters into the swamp.  

Now what?  Yesterday I couldn’t get out of bed for so many reasons. Making America Kind Again is not an option right now. Kind got lost between the thugs screaming outside the polls, and the lawyers who are suing to deny you your vote, and accusing the government counters of fraud.  The Monster needs a new script.  The big fat children need to start packing, and Melania made her deal with the Monster, not the American people. If she’s going to have her face repaired again she should do it before they have to pay for a medical procedure out of pocket, not with government insurance.  I’m just sick of all these people, all these thugs.   We're just sayin'...Iris

Election Day 2020 - Florida Edition

The polls were eerily quiet yesterday.  After visiting five sites, where there were no people, the decision to go to Dairy Queen for an overly sweet caloric treat (and a pup cup), was easy.  It didn’t stop there. It seems consuming one ice cream was not enough. During the day I ate three bags of M&M’s, one bag of yogurt covered almonds (that was the healthiest thing put in my mouth), too much cucumber vodka with soda, celery with peanut butter and burrata, oh and another ice cream bar covered in chocolate.  There is nothing more to be said about the election except it is clear we live in an alternate reality. One where we are surrounded by people who think it is wrong to take health care away from people during a health crisis.  Where people with a moral compass are out of style, where women, children, and minorities, belong on the periphery of what is fair,  where  the rest of the world doesn’t count. Where civil rights and dignity were a phase in the 60’s, clean air and water, and climate change, were a dream we might have had a long time ago.  Thuggish behavior is preferable to kindness. People clearly want a President who is a reality TV phenomenon. Who are these people? Is there more?  Probably but thinking about it is too painful.  

It wasn’t a blow out.  The pollsters were wrong again.  The amount of money spent on campaigns doesn’t matter. What is 'right' and what is 'wrong' need new definition.  i still do not understand, given all the lies, how this guy could win. All I can say is If you are an immigrant, you better watch out!  I still wonder, what does "make America great again" really mean?  We're just sayin' ... Iris

Election Day Minus Two

Let’s play catch-up, since I have been missing for a day.  It’s hard to keep track of the time because all the last few days seem the same.  Three days ago when I accidentally met Sasha, the field director for Pam Keith, it just felt right to be working for the Congressional campaign instead of the big picture.  The Presidential campaign  is like most big picture operations, everyone is vying for position.  This is no longer what I dream about when deciding what is the best use of my time. Besides, Pam is the real deal.  If I had wanted to be a candidate, which I did not, I would have been like Pam:  sincere, committed with endless energy, and centered.  She knows exactly who she is.  Enough about the candidate, this is about me—as is usually the case.

Anyway, when I met Sasha, it felt absolutely right.  They are a small understaffed campaign where the determination far outweighs the experience.  Two days ago we were supposed to meet with the owner of a Haitian restaurant, and then walk through the neighborhood with literature.  Kind of "meet the candidate and get excited" stuff.  When the owner did not show up we decided to walk around the neighborhood.  There were a few Biden signs but mostly people were not at home.  Suddenly, (wow where did that come from),  Mary Hanley was standing beside me in our Philadelphia office and it was 1976— no phones and no computers. The Udall campaign was always out of money.  But, we were in Philly with lots of press people looking for us to produce an event. After lengthy discussion and Tully screaming we were idiots (there was a lot of that), we decided to give all the media a subway ticket and we would visit a neighborhood where the tenants were forewarned to be excited about the candidate. It would all culminate at a rally.  Our rallies usually looked like the pandemic with about 25 people,  It was the middle of summer and would have been fine except we took the wrong subway,  arrived in the wrong neighborhood, where no one had ever heard of Morris K. Udall. In addition, because it was the wrong  neighborhood, the advance guy was not there, and there was no rally.   We had no idea where we were.

Not to be defeated, Mary and I “sprung” into action.  One of us stayed with Mo, and Shirley Chisholm, while the other ran in front knocking on doors to announce Mo’s imminent arrival.  It was hot and everyone was tired.  We knew o one would be  willing to get back on the subway. Then like a Christmas Miracle (too much Hallmark Channel), we happened on an outdoor church service.  Mo was instructed by one of us to get up on the stage, thank everyone for coming and do his charming campaign pitch.  As we were bemoaning the disaster we spotted a church bus close to the rally site.  I gingerly approached the bus driver and told him that the Reverend suggested he take all of us back to the hotel, and then return for the Congregation. They are probably still laughing about it today— we are.

Yesterday, i went to several black churches to pass out literature.  Turns out because there is a second pandemic wave, church services have been cancelled.  Today, I am going to Walmart to pass out literature.  Walmart is never cancelled!  Tomorrow the polls are closed, no idea why, and Tuesday I'll be at the polls in Jupiter.  We remain hopeful and committed.   Later in the day I’m zooming with my Emerson polling friends to get some numbers, which we know are never right.  But at least for the next few days, I will think we are about to make America Kind Again.  We're just sayin'....Iris

Campaign TwentyTwenty - "Vote Them Out"

This morning I went to the polling site at the Palm Beach Gardens library.  Almost before I got out of the car I was approached by an old poll worker who asked me if I had been soliciting people in line.  He said he had been told that a woman in an orange t-shirt was soliciting the voters.  He must have been talking about me, because my t-shirt was orange and it said “Vote Them Out.”  It is a terrific shirt created by the kids at  Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school after 17 friends and teachers were shot and killed.  The amazing kids who immediately became advocates for gun control and rallied thousands of people across the country to support their efforts. Having been a “go out on the street and scream about injustice” kind of girl, it has enormous significance to me.  

What exactly is the definition of Soliciting?  In Florida , during an election it means distributing information to voters.  How foolish was I to think that the materials were "educational."  A guide to the candidates who are running for offices such as assembly people, sheriffs and judges.  And on the card is a rundown on the amendments, which no one ever understands.  It seems  handing out the guides was a violation of Election Rules.  

“Sir”, I said, “if I was soliciting, it probably wouldn’t be at the polls. It would be in an upscale bar during happy hour.”  He didn’t think that was funny, and I did not think his  question was appropriate.  In Presidential  politics you have to maintain a sense of humor or the stress and frustration will kill you.  This guy was older than dirt and obviously  didn’t have to travel to far to be on his way to a better place.  Does that make any sense? Probably not.

I wondered if it was this way in Jupiter, where the verbal abuse was plentiful yesterday.  I thought I better find out.  I took a box of donuts and drove over to that site.  It was the same thing. A distance of 200 feet from the voters or you would be in violation of the voting regulations.  What to do next.  Well, I think I mentioned the Trump thugs at the flag waving event looking for confrontation.  The best use of my time was to figure out how to avoid that situation again.  Needless to say, it is never easy to identify the person most likely and most able to help to do anything about it.  It was time consuming to call everyone at any agency, who might be able to act with authority.  By the time  I arrived at Military Trail & PGA the police had set up barriers to keep the unmasked thugs away from the Biden/Pam Keith diligent clear-thinking folk.

Pam Keith is a  stellar, smart charismatic person whose political issues are close to my heart.  Of course, the opposition, a guy who, when asked how he thought the President was handling  the pandemic, said that if he were grading Trump he would give him an A. So would I, but the A in my case would be for being a great big Asswipe.  Is that unkind?  Well I said it in the kindest way I could. Which  is certainly not what I mean when I say make America Kind again.  

Did I mention that Pam’s dad is a friend from days of yore at USIA and Meridian House International. Maybe I did, but it is so much fun to think about it that I simply can’t stop saying it.  It is only 5 days away from the 3rd.  There is limited time to do anything but GOTV. (Get out the vote) for those of you who weren’t listening or reading the previous posts.  With the pandemic raging again, most of the work we are able to do is on the phone or computer.  There is no time to mail a ballot so it is a last effort to get people to actually get up, take themselves to the polls, and Vote.  Remember, This year you are voting sanity and truth, and to Make America Kind again.   We're just sayin'.... Iris

Another Day With Your Resident Commie Bastard

 What happened today made me smile, despite the angry Trump people. You might not understand what happened, unless you played "Dictionary" with us in years gone by.  I had a 'kibitka.' In actuality a kibitka is an old horse-drawn Russian wagon, but our definition - my game-winning definition was that a kibitka is a 'miraculous recovery.'  So today I had one.  It can also mean a revelation, and that’s the kind I had.  

 

There I was, working at the polls in Jupiter, Florida, an upscale conservative community where house special Brussel Sprouts are the norm.  Some of the people lined up to vote were fine. But some were incredibly abusive.  They were screaming at me about how I was a baby killer. Others were so angry they screamed that I was a fucking Commie.  That’s what people called Communists in the 50’s, and if you can believe it, it was down hill from there. Oh, they also called me a Socialist. One guy was yelling about how the Biden people were hitting Jews in New York with clubs.  The urge to respond was too great so I said, “They probably deserved it.”  What else was there to say? Maybe, “What kind of bats did they use?”   When I thought about it,  I was saddened by their anger. It was not all about Biden. They are angry and hostile all the time: imagine having to live with yourself being that horrible 24/7, or spend your life with someone else who is.

Moving on, since I have been meditating, when I was ready to leave I got into my car and took three deep breaths, felt calm and came home. One of the best things to happen was that while I was pursuing the candidate's website,  just to learn about her background, I learned that her dad was Kenton Keith. He was an old pal of mine when I worked at USIA and Meridian House International. This is an organization that worked with the international exchange angels, students and organizations.  I think both Pam (the Cong. candidate)  and certainly Kenton, would get a kick out of that.  Like most campaigns, you can not have a conversation with the Candidate, no one wants to help get anyone to do anything.  All these tools. All these phones, routers, keyboards, peel-apart stickers, electric nail guns.  And so little use of them.  So I guess I will have to figure that out.  

Tomorrow will be better because I will be absent from the polls. That means more phone work and writing.   The break will be welcome.  It has been raining here for days. Everyone says we need the rain. Not me, I like the sun. People are asking me if I think we are going to win in Florida. Who knows?   I am in Jupiter, which is very Republican.  There must be areas where there are Democrats because the word is that it is possible for us to win here, which I hope is true because it’s the only way to make America Kind again. 

For more look at www.blogspot.werejustsayin.com

We're just sayin,'   ... Iris

If They'd Have Told Me This Fifty Years Ago, I Might Have Skipped Politics!

Yesterday the campaign discovered that the Republicans had substituted the Q candidate Loomer — a total whacko --  for Lois Frankel on the slate cards. Remember the slate cards direct you to whom to vote for at polls. It is something that even I wouldn’t do—but this is just a reflection of how evil and desperate these people are. 

When I say I wouldn’t do it, I wouldn’t  because the stakes are so high. Although there  was a time  when I might have considered it.  At the Democratic convention, I think it was NY, but a convention is the same no matter where it is.  Anyway, It is always important to station people at locations that are most important -   then it was the Gore skybox.  After a while, with all the VIP's hungering to be part of the inner circle, it was tedious. Terry O’connell was the guy in  charge of that VIP skybox.

He welcomed my help.  VIP rooms are usually difficult to manage because everyone who “thinks” they are a VIP wants to be in them.  There was one credential for that room and stupidly it was supposed to last 4 days.  There was no way that was going to happen.  (Counterfeits seem to grow out of thin air.) Furthermore, when someone was only staying one day they just tossed the paper.  We decided that we would use different stickers to designate different days.  

Shopping for stickers was a hoot.  There were limitations:  they had to be stickers no one expected, and cheap because we had no funds so we were out of pocket.  We finally decided that kiddie stickers, bunny, duckies and horses were our best bet.  In addition to which they made us laugh.  It simply wasn’t the moral equivalent of changing a name on a slate card for a Congressional candidate.  But we weren’t thugs, although i would never mess with Terry. He lost an arm and an eye in Viet Nam and looked like a big pirate.  And occasionally acted like one, too.

Today I found out the campaign manager is Dave, not Steve, and people have claimed to actually have seen him. Not me, but there would be no reason for me to see him because he doesn’t go to the Palm Beach  Gardens Democratic HQ.  There is no crafted message  - simply she (the candidate...) wants healthcare, is concerned about co-vid, and she wants to clean up the environment. So thats all good, and her opponent is just a stamp for whatever Trump wants, so that’s  all bad.  We apparently have a website which I will look at today and see if I can make GOTV or fundraising calls.  Does it sound uncoordinated? Why yes, it is.   We're just sayin'... Iris

Alone With All My Friends....

 What do you do when you want to work on a campaign and the “in-charge” people cannot figure out what you should do, or for that matter what they should do.  You could just say, “Well if they don’t want me, then I don’t want them.”   Or since you have been working in politics your whole life and you want to make America kind again, you figure out what needs to be done, and you just do it. My week here could be a TV special called “The Crazy Person is at it Again.”   It's about this nutty campaign strategist who has worked in every area of political campaigns.

In a campaign no job is too small and no task is unimportant. There is so much to do and never enough time to do it. For example, money has to be raised, schedules have to be established, there needs to be a message, the message leads to what kind of events you will have. There is a need for a press operation or at least a press person. There is usually a field organization, an advance team, campaign paraphernalia available, signs, buttons, and stickers that tell you in a most succinct way why you need to elect your candidate.

If however, you have a candidate and no campaign structure what do you do?   You look at the operation and see what needs to be done and without bullying anyone - you do it by yourself. You collect the materials you need,  and distribute them to the places from which the campaign will benefit the most. Will you look silly being a one person campaign (there are people working, but there isn’t enough time to train them) and again, you don’t want to appear to be anything but helpful.  So far I have written 200 Get Out the Vote postcards, made fundraising calls for candidates other than my own, since I can’t get a list from "my own."   I attend rallies that I know will be in certain places, carry signs and a banner flag, go door-to-door, always masked, to see if people will put signs upon their lawns. At this late date you do not waste your resources on places you know will not vote for your candidate and your political party— in this case it’s the Democrat party.

As I drive around with my flags and signs I am one person but I am not alone. Right there, sitting beside me and yelling in my ear, as they always did, are Wagner, Tully, Harold, Anne, Sarah, Donna, Kim, Sue, and Alicia, Sid, and all those folks with whom I have worked over the years. Not only do they tell me what I should be doing, but, as we ride along we tell old campaign stories like, "do you remember when we left all our rental cars someplace close to the border but in Mexico. Or the time the event site got washed out by near tornado winds and rain five minutes before the candidate arrived. Or the time we were flying in the Bassler Bomber and we were reported missing somewhere between NY and Wisconsin. Remember when we were in NYC and had to raise enough money to get to Chicago ? " (Before the FEC limits on cash being passed in a hat.)   There is no shortage of stories and they go on forever because telling stories is almost the best part of working in campaign politics.  We're just saying...Iris.

It's 2020 And Politics in Florida Is Alive and Well

When I worked on the Gary Hart campaign sometime in the 80’s (the date shall remain flexible), the campaign was a bit short on structure. That didn’t make it less fun or less important.  For example, we never really knew where the candidate was headed. He had an actual schedule but sometimes when the candidate and the staff were on their way somewhere they changed their minds and instead of going to their scheduled destination, they went someplace else. Somewhere we had no ground support.  Sometimes we could get an Advance person to the location, and sometimes we would have to find a local person who had no idea why they were doing what needed to be done.  Just a little chaotic and challenging.

Pam Keith (running in FL-18 Congressional district) is an amazing woman, certainly well qualified to be a House Member, so why doesn't she have national support?  I talked to the DCCC, who has pretty much ignored her, so why?  The campaign has no structure.  You can not find out where she’s appearing because there is no posted schedule.  It may be that they are wary of a Trump thug appearance, but that can be handled by the police or volunteers. As Mother Goose I tell you this is true.  There is no Press person, so at Biden/Harris  events there is no one to speak for our candidate, and the Biden people don't show for Keith events.  We are handing out slate cards in predominately Republican areas, which is a waste of resources. There is a fundraising operation, but I can’t find them. And certainly no surrogates who can speak on her behalf.  If she wins, and I certainly hope she will, it will be because her opponent is a Trump supporter.  It’s a little frustrating.  

That being said, yesterday I posted about a Biden rally overrun by Trump thugs.  Did I mention that there was a  guy who wore a T-shirt that said “Ask me if I’m carrying a weapon,” and underneath there was a box checked "yes."  The police assured me there was nothing they could do about that or the fact that despite the county-wide mandate for masks — the thugs do not wear them.  Today i will call the county, but they’ll just say, 'nothing we can do.'  The police were wearing masks.  
Actually, if you think about it, I’m like a brainstorming campaign all by myself. I decorate my car, ride around in neighborhoods where there are likely Biden voters, I look for rallies. I put signs in places like Home Goods and TJMaxx  (smart shoppers - well educated in savings).  It's pretty funny. If I could wish for anything, it would be to have a team of chicken people here, and of course, to make America Kind and Truthful Again.  We're just sayin'...  Iris

Politics and Thugs: They Seem to Go Together

For the last few weeks I have been working in 3 political campaigns in PalmBeach County, Coral Springs and Palm Beach,  and sending post cards all over Florida.  Here’s what’s going on. The Trump voters are exactly what you would expect, based on all the reports. They are Thugs. Oh sure there are some nice people but there is a hostility for Biden people who have worked in campaigns of yore. We put up a road sign, they take it down. From some reports they have razor blades tacked to their signs so the sign can’t be removed. They infiltrate our rallies and push young people around.  The police stand by an watch with amusement. It enraged me so I went to Trump headquarters to confront the racists. They said they didn’t know what I was talking about but they were smirking.

It is impossible to believe that this is happening in our country.  Yet, it is.  Sure in the past we got arrested for hanging signs in places where they might not be legal, but that was harmless fun. And yes I sent chickens to opponent's rallies—don’t ask. But the opponents laughed. This campaign has no sense of humor. The reason, because it’s not about people, the pandemic or the economy, it’s about the power to do what he wants, for financial benefits and his admiration for racists, autocrats, and other political thugs.  

When I go to Black and Hispanic areas it is thrilling. People ask for lawn signs, buttons and other campaign paraphernalia. But yesterday I worked the polling place in Jupiter and it was pretty depressing.  Maybe 1 in five voters took Democratic slate cards. If you don’t know what a slate card is, it basically preparation for the voter who doesn’t know the local politicians — state races, judges, and sheriff.  It is inspiring to see the number of people in line to vote early, but my fear is that the Trump voters outnumber the Democrats.  It is impossible to understand why, given his “wheeling-dealing”, dishonesty, and innate evil thinking. Such is life, but it’s our children’s and grandchildren’s lives on the line.  All I can think is please, Make America Kind Again.   We're just sayin'... Iris

They’re Gonna F*ck It Up

Most of the Democrats with whom I speak are incredibly nervous about the election. They are having a conversation like David and I had today, and it starts like this.   

“They are going to f*ck it up, aren’t they?”  

We have been assured that the Biden people are out there somewhere.  What makes us nervous is that it feels a little like the Hillary campaign.  Okay, people didn’t vote for her because they didn’t like her. Those of us who know her will never understand how her “crack” staff, many of whom I know and love, managed to position her as humorless and removed from  the people who were supposed to vote for her. Regardless, she won the popular vote which means nothing if you’re not sitting in the transition Oval Office taking over the government. David actually said that Sanders would have been a better choice because there was so much passion in his campaign. There are hardly any people who are passionate about Biden/Harris.

May of the Biden people are people I know and people with whom I worked.  And I can’t get a call back from the campaign. And I am not the only one.  My pal Paige, who has impeccable White House credentials sent the campaign  a thoughtful message with suggestions of Covid friendly events they could do. He never got the courtesy of a response or a call to say thanks.  Another friend was so frustrated he gave the LinconProject $200,000 to be able to speak to people who were smart and grateful for his always important political advice.

Having worked on any number of Presidential campaigns (7), the truth is that you do get very busy, but you can have a volunteer (there are no shortage of Presidential campaign volunteers)

return calls and take information to deliver to the appropriate campaign staffer.  No one, experienced or otherwise wants to be ignored. There are a million ways to make people feel included and all that inclusion means more voters. 

The language and the appeals have to be personal because if they are personal, people will feel invested and they might even feel passionate. Wouldn’t that be nice.  If you have worked on a Presidential campaign you know that the most important task is fundraising.  However, there are different tasks that are also important and can be assigned.  Right now the Trump people are knocking on doors to pitch the President and they are telling people that Biden is sleepy, not very smart, and to old and frail to be the President. None of that is true but since Trump has been framing the Biden campaign as laughable, the truth is irrelevant.  

Speaking of the truth, the President never tells it.  Trump is s racist, a sexist, a bigot, a bully, and a crook. He has no morale core. He doesn’t care about right or wrong, he cares about whatever works to promote how great he is. He is never embarrassed when  he is caught in a lie, he simply talks over the accuser. And that’s what he will do during the debates. He won’t be nice or courteous, he will try to humiliate his opposition and if that doesn’t work, he will try name calling or degradation. There is no level to which he won’t stoop. 

A few years ago I was working with an organization that was trying to figure out how to debate some Republican women who were against Title 9.  It was difficult to explain to right thinking women that they should never explain or try to answer questions posed in such a way - that it would always be a no win. You have to get your message across without the truth. Unfortunately, it takes too much time.  Trying to be respectful doesn’t work with people who have a right wing agenda.  Trump is one of those people, every time he opens his mouth.

Am I frustrated by all of this?  Yes, it is frustrating that people you love and respect say that they are going to vote for Trump because they don’t know what Biden is planning, despite all the plans he has released. No one wants to read plans, they want to be able to hear in 25 words or less what he’s going to do.  That explanation has to be passionate, compelling and brief.

Anyway, it is possible that the Biden people will f*ck it up simply because they can’t imagine anyone would vote for a person who is constantly offensive, but they will if Biden doesn’t give them a reason to vote for him and not just against Trump. We have learned that because there is now a lunatic in the Oval Office.   We’re just sayin’ ....Iris

Hatcheting the Hatch Act

There comes a time when you forget what you are doing and the results are always a surprise. The other day when  I was applying toothpaste to my legs, instead of sun block, was one of those times.  Yes, it felt a little pasty but it was possible that the uv sun block could have been 1000 instead of 50.  Forget it, it was a stupid mistake because I was not paying attention.

And speaking of not paying attention, sometimes it appears that the Democrats are not paying attention once again.  The Trump people, who are not necessarily Republicans, have knocked on a million doors to boost votership in the campaign.  We have not knocked on any.  The reason is the pandemic, but surely it’s possible to knock on doors, wearing masks and standing six feet away.  The excuse that they re trying to keep campaign workers safe misses the point that the only real way to keep them safe is to defeat Trump in November.  People really appreciate a personal appeal.  The Democrats are making phone calls, sending text messages (hoop dee do!)  and mailing postcards. 

The message on the post card is one of three. My message is supposed to be “Dear Whomever, thank you for being a previous voter (maybe). Who you vote for is a secret, but whether you vote is public information.  After the election on Nov 3, local organizations may follow up  with you on your voting record.  My name (Iris)”

When I saw this supposedly ‘tested’ message, I was a little taken aback.  My first thought was who would read this without thinking, “someone is following up with me?  I don’t want people to contact me about my vote!  Once the election is over, the last thing I want to do is talk about the election.” 

We are supposed to write this on each postcard, I volunteered to do  200 of them.  This was supposedly ‘tested.’  Here’s what I know after 40 years of involvement in political elections.  Whatever you say or send has to be personal.  For example, when I make calls for a House race, I always start with my name, and then I say “I’m a friend of the candidate, we are hoping you’ll vote for us, and [Insert name of …] whoever is running for President.”  That works a whole lot better than,  “I am a volunteer for the candidate….”

Here’s the other thing, and I have conducted an informal survey with 50 people.  No one knows what “the Hatch Act” is.  So you ask, what is the Hatch Act?   It is a law that prohibits anything political to take place on government property by government employees.  When the political appointees  had a meeting at the White House to discuss something that was political rather than government business, it took place in a specially designated space -  I think it was the Roosevelt room  - that was designated for all political business.  And this is why the President’s unmasked guests on the White House grounds, and the Secretary of State’s speech from Jerusalem were so outrageous.  The President says he was going to reimburse the taxpayer for the millions of dollars that was spent on the Republican Convention, but you know that Trump never tells the truth, so why should he start now.  And the fireworks, OH PLEEZE!

It’s hard to explain the violence, which is getting far more attention than the protests.  While I don’t think it’s the same people who are doing both, it is possible that white supremacists, or anarchists are inciting the violence  (Provocateurs!).  The fact is that the violence is helping the Republicans.  They are framing the conversation as, “we are the law and order people,” and those “radical Socialist Democrats” are just going to eliminate the police.  I just pray, and I mean down on my knees, and everything, that we are not blowing it again.  Joe biden was not my first choice, but he is a good choice, as is Kamala. But we need to get into action mode or the turkey in the White House will be roasting the country for Thanksgiving.  We’re just sayin’… Iris

It's Convention Time, But Not For the Conventional

This year, as we all know, the national political conventions are all about technology.  What a bore. As the Director of Security for a national political convention (first and only woman ever to have that job), it is impossible for me to imagine what that job must be in this chaotic time.  

It was in NYC at Madison Square Garden (MSG) so we started to work about seven months before the convention.  We probably would have started sooner but the Ringling Brothers had rented the venue for the circus and we had to wait until after it was cleaned up and fumigated because the animals really smell. Once the area was fumigated and cleaned we could start to rebuild the Garden to meet our specifications.   The producer was brought in to look at the space and start to design the podium and the delegate areas.  The capacity of MSG was roughly 35,000 people.  No one was taking a count (like they are now doing at retail stores, but the NYC fire departments are experts on crowd sites.  They can eyeball a room and tell if the crowd is manageable.)  

Because the site was over Penn Station, there were concerns about lockers, restaurants and travelers, you can imagine there were “special’ circumstances. Not only did MSG need security but Penn Station had to be secured.  There were so many different authorities involved, police, firemen, MSG security, FBI,  Secret Service they outsourced Democratic Committee and the people in charge — that was me.  Communications were complicated and there were no cell phones (not yet invented) , just bulbous, thick,  gray Motorola radios with every security specialist on a separate channel.  The radios were so enormous that I had to assign a volunteer just to carry my radios.  

Part of my job was to develop a credential plan.  What credentials would be acceptable in what areas.  How would we credential the podium area, backstage, the rooms backstage for celebrities and speakers, the media, the candidate sky boxes, the media skyboxes and the VIP areas. (big money machers).  It was so complicated that I created a t-shirt that showed what credentials would work in what areas.  Needless to say, the MSG security needed to be in their uniforms so we had to assign a DNC volunteer to every MSG employee.  The other security people would just grab a volunteer and turn them around in order to gaze at the layout.  

It is exhausting just remembering it.  There was policy to decide, for example, could Governors’ security be allowed to carry weapons into the hall to protect their Governor.  The answer of course, was no. all we would need was some Governor’s security guy (sorry, Charles Durning, that position has been filled!) shooting in a hall with 35,000 people.  There was policy about arrivals and departures, about terrorist groups, about protestors, and the most important thing:  what we would do with my mother and her friend Sylvia, who sat in the VIP area not far from the President.

This year the Democrats did everything on line to taped.  There was probably no need for any security because most people spoke from their homes on tape or to an empty auditorium.  Sure, the ballroom had to be secured but there were only a few people and some press.  I’m sure there were bomb dogs who were constantly searching both inside and outside the auditorium and offices from which people spoke, but that was, depending on the speaker, either Capital Hill Cops,  Secret Service, or private security. Who else would you need? The Republicans are working out of the White House and because that’s illegal (you can’t do anything political in all but one room in the White House the President’s people will reimburse the taxpayer for anything spent. (Sure they will).  

The beauty of past conventions was the chaos.  It was so much fun just doing day to day business. And wondering if anything would work?  Would there be enough transportation for all the guest and delegates?  Where would people talk, meet, and negotiate and do actual politics?  And What would the public think after four days of Convention?  Would they be inspired  enough to vote for your candidate? It’s kind of like making sausage.  You never want to see what goes into it, but if it’s good, you will think it’s delicious and want more. I think I preferred being the chef, ordering everyone around and walking away with a hell of a sausage inside my backpack.