Today in Supreme Court History: July 21, 1824

7/21/1824: Justice Stanley Matthews's birthday.

Justice Stanley Matthews

 

Comments

[JoeFromtheBronx]

Justice Matthews might not be a too familiar name but he wrote a few notable opinions including Hurtado v. California (due process) and Yick Wo v. Hopkins (equal protection).

He had a short tenure (under 10 years) and was nominated by James Garfield. Wikipedia tells me he had ten children, including a daughter who married one of his colleagues on the Court.

Another case decided OTD, “South Park Independent School District v. United States,” did not involve Cartman and the gang.

https://www.captcrisis.com/post/today-in-supreme-court-history-july-21-1

[Dan Schiavetta]

Thanks for the link to my site! No one ever goes there. (Though Josh may not be doing these VC posts for me to glom on to forever . . .)

[NvEric]

The page does not display fully / correctly. Lower section for comments / message go on top of each other.

[Dan Schiavetta]

I've been using it just as a repository for my VC comments. But now that the occasional human has set foot on it, I'll spruce it up. Thanks for the input.

[Michael Resanovic]

I've been there on occasion!

[Dan Schiavetta]

NCAA v. Board of Regents of University of Oklahoma, 463 U.S. 1311 (decided July 21, 1983): White (a former NCAA star himself) stays decision against NCAA because certiorari would probably be granted (lower courts had held that arrangement banning televising of teams not selected by networks was illegal price-fixing under antitrust laws); cert was granted but White got pushed back into his own end zone (i.e., the Court affirmed)

Delo v. Blair, 509 U.S. 823 (decided July 21, 1993): stay of execution denied by full Court because facts similar to recently-decided Herrera v. Collins decision (conviction upheld due to uncoerced written confession despite numerous post-trial witness affidavits); Blackmun, Stevens and Souter dissent, as they had in Herrera, basically on the argument that Herrera was wrongly decided

South Park Independent School District v. United States, 453 U.S. 1301 (decided July 21, 1981): Powell turns down stay of desegregation order because facts are similar to recent case where cert was denied, even though he personally would vote to grant cert and had voted to grant cert in the prior case

Barber v. Ivey, 143 S.Ct. 2545 (decided July 21, 2023): denies stay of execution in Alabama by lethal injection; in dissent Sotomayor (with Kagan and Jackson) point out that same Alabama agency has spent hours searching for veins, causing pain, and sometimes not killing the prisoners, leaving them with (sometimes) “nerve pain equivalent to electrocution”, and refused to disclose why those executions failed (Barber was executed two hours later)

[F.D. Wolf]

Stanley Matthews was first nominated to the Supreme Court by President Rutherford B. Hayes on January 25, 1881, 37 days before the end of Hayes’ presidency. The Senate Judiciary Committee took no action on the nomination.

On March 14, 1881, Hayes’ successor, and fellow Republican, James A. Garfield, re-nominated Matthews. His nomination was reported out of the Judiciary Committee with a negative recommendation. Despite, this, the Senate confirmed Matthews by a vote of 24-23, the only justice to date confirmed by a single vote.

The vote breakdown in the Senate was interesting for the Republican president’s Republican nominee. Democrats voted 14-9 in favor of confirmation, while Republicans voted 10-13. Independent David Davis, former Supreme Court justice and Lincoln campaign manager, voted “nay”.

What had Matthews done to irritate his fellow Republicans? Well, a few things, but, chiefly, in 1859, as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Matthews, though an avowed abolitionist, had prosecuted a newspaperman under the Fugitive Slave Act for harboring runaway slaves. In 1861, Matthews resigned as U.S. Attorney and was commissioned a lieutenant colonel in the Union Army. In 1862, President Lincoln nominated him for a promotion to brigadier general, but the Senate took no action on the nomination. Nineteen years later, it seems, all was not forgotten and forgiven.

Matthews died at the age of 64, having served just shy of eight years on the Court. His most notable opinion is probably Yick Wo v. Hopkins (1886), in which a unanimous Court held that a facially neutral statute, administered in a racially biased manner, was invalid under the Equal Protection Clause.

[Kazinski]

Biden's Out.

https://x.com/JoeBiden/status/1815080881981190320

He should also resign, but baby steps. I guess the donors finally got through to him, although there was probably a carrot with the stick.

[Mr. Bumble]

Do you really want him to resign leaving Kackeling Kamala as president?

[Dr. Ed 2]

It would eliminate her 51st vote in the Senate -- and a 50-50 motion fails so the GOP could block her replacement.

[F.D. Wolf]

I believe he certainly should resign. I'm no great believer in the abilities of Harris, but at least she is not senile. From a Democrat perspective, it would give her the imprimatur of the incumbent president going into the election.

Regardless, I feel she will almost certainly be the nominee. I predict a Harris-Whitmer ticket. An all-woman ticket would fire up certain segments of society. It would be something of a Hail Mary pass, as Mondale's selection of Geraldine Ferraro was in 1984.

[Dan Schiavetta]

Harris-Whitmer would be good. It would not really be that big of a jolt. Except for Sarah Palin as VP in 2008, Republicans have always had two white males running. By contrast, the last two-white-males Democratic ticket was in 2004.

[Dr. Ed 2]

It would actually be rather stupid as the abortion issue has already given Her Arse ever female vote who would vote on the basis of her vagina already, and the purpose of ticket balancing is to bring in a group that you otherwise wouldn't get.

Whitmer is not only a Wuhan Flu Nazi, but was pointed out as hypocritical at that -- she got caught with her husband breaking her own rules or something. Whom would Whitmer bring in, even in Michigan, who wasn't already going to vote for Her Arse on the Vagina basis?

Obama picked Biden to bring in conservative white males -- the Archie Bunker folk. She needs someone like Biden, borderline racist and from the trade unions. A Joe Liberman except that there aren't any Democrats like that left.

An all-female ticket is going to push even more Black and Hispanic men (and their wives and mothers) to Trump. A lot of Trump's acceptance speech was directed to Black men with the implicit message of "you've been voting Democrat all your life -- or not voting at all -- and what's it gotten you?" Reality is that Black men were doing quite well in 2018/2019 and know that.

So let's have an actual election when the "female vote" is balanced against the "male vote" -- the Trump (family) wives present a very different message to that of Her Arse and we'll see which American women prefer...

[Brett Bellmore]

Anybody she picks is guaranteed to be at least a borderline racist, since Democrats think it's racist to not be racist. But you probably have a point about her already maxing out the female vote.

Is Sam Brinton available?

[Frank Drackman]

You should keep your dating habits private

[Joe_dallas]

Brett that is a good observation.

It’s doubtful any woke democrat realizes how deeply they are invested in the racism racket

[Noscitur a sociis]

Dr. Ed,

I must once again implore you to stop helping.

[Frank Drackman]

Can Common-Law Willie-Brown-Harris see May-he-co from her home?
I agree they should have another Bee-otch on the ticket, is Pete Booty-Judge back from his maternity leave?

Frank

[Frank Drackman]

If being 1/2 Black made Barry Hussein “Black” why didn’t being 1/2 White make him “White”?

[Mr. Bumble]

Because selecting black gave him a pass on being the racist he was.

[Joe_dallas]

That is one major point that is overlooked
Race relations in the US were making very slow but very steady progress,. That progress reversed itself with obama

[Jason Cavanaugh]

Whatever you say, Pinocchio.

[Joe_dallas]

typical racist leftist -
So blinded by the left racism that you can see how racist you have become

[Jason Cavanaugh]

Whatever you say, Pinocchio.

Your nose continues to grow longer. Perhaps you could try facts for once instead of partisan stupidity and lies?

Oh wait, no – you probably cannot. I apologize for setting the bar too high for someone of your ilk to possibly meet.

[CJColucci]

You'd have to ask the people who made those rules a long time ago. There used to be laws about this, and there are still entrenched attitudes.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Much like two pudgy white guys full of bigotry, backwardness, and old-times superstition fire up a certain segment of our society?

[Frank Drackman]

Why Revolting, you should understand Presidential errections, you only need 270, and you get just as big of a Oval Orifice with 270 as 538

Frank

[Alpheus W Drinkwater]

He might resign, especially since he has now endorsed Harris, he might as well give her the benefit of incumbency. I sincerely hope she doesn't end up being the nominee. The next couple months are going to be interesting.

[Dan Schiavetta]

He could continue as President with about the same level of functionality as Reagan in his second term. He has good, competent people around him.

[Alpheus W Drinkwater]

Woodrow Wilson post-stroke comes to mind. To me, if the last 8 years have taught us anything, it's that the country will muddle through no matter what incompetent idiot is in the Oval Office. It would be nice to do something better than muddle through.

[Brett Bellmore]

We have the testimony of every last doctor who examined him that Reagan was still fine by the end of his second term, and only developed dementia later.

[Magister]

And we have the testimony of every last doctor who "examined" Trump that he grew taller and thinner in his 70s. The decline in Reagan's performance was clear; aides providing scripts for short phone calls, Nancy Reagan audibly feeding him lines, fewer press conferences which gave indications of advancing dementia when analyzed for linguistic changes characteristic of Alzheimer's disease.

[Michael P]

You can whatabout Reagan all you like but (a) that was 40 years ago (b) Reagan was younger when he left office than Biden was when he became President and (c) Reagan never needed a photo guide to find the podium he was supposed to speak at.

(Before you even think about breathing words like "step by step choreography", keep in mind that the Democrat talking point on that implies moral equivalence between this and this.)

[Magister]

Forty years ago, we faced the "evil empire" and realistic fears of nuclear war, fueled by a guy with dementia. Dementia is not automatic at a particular age. Reagan needed scripting to get through short phone interactions.

But we should be talking about Trump's dementia; he's the only candidate still in the race who gets names and places wrong, speaks incoherently and can't distinguish fiction from reality.

[Dr. Ed 2]

It took at least another decade for Reagan to get this bad -- Reagan was still able to give speeches (including his "we did it" one), annoy reporters, chop brush, etc.

He may have been fading, he never was the same after he got shot in '81, but he was still functional. Brandon isn't.

And on what planet are people like Butt Plug considered competent cabinet secretaries? Flyover territory hasn't forgotten the toxic train wreck, or Butt Plug's maternity leave...

[Michael P]

Biden already performs worse than Reagan did in 1992, for example his speech at the RNC.

The people around Biden are the ones who insisted to all of us that he was at the top of his game -- not good people. And they've been ineffectual at implementing or following laws, so not competent either.

[Sam Bankman-Fried]

People around here complain I attack Bush too much…JD Vance’s entire acceptance speech was an attack on Bush/Cheney!! Lololololololololololololololololololololol!!!!!

[JesusHadBlondeHairBlueEyes]

ROFL!!! LOLOLOLOLOLLLLLL!!!!! ROFFFFFFFLLLLL!L!!!!!! TEEEHEEE!!!!! <@:-D

LOLLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!!

[Sam Bankman-Fried]

Lolololololololololololol!!! Vance believes Bawney Fwank was Bush’s puppet master!! So he believes Fwank’s fist was inserted up Bush’s butthole!!!

[JesusHadBlondeHairBlueEyes]

"BAWNEY FWANK" LOLOL ROLF LOLOLOLOL BUT HOLE!!!!! THE GREAT CORNHOLIO!!!! LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLolololOLOLOLOloololOLOLOLLo11111ollolol!!!!lolOLOLOLO!!!

[Joe_dallas]

Reagan cognitive skills at the end of his second term were vastly superior to Biden’s cognitive skills at the start of his first term.

You are either repeating the typical propaganda spewed out by the democrat talking points or you actually believe the propaganda

[Magister]

That's clearly not true of Reagan in the campaign for his second term, let alone at the end of that term.

[Mr. Bumble]

Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan

[Magister]

If you're happy supporting a man who got beaten in the 2020 debates and election by a man whose cognitive skills were behind Reagan's in 1989, and has exhibited and now exhibits worse issues, I guess you will have to resort to pretend facts.

[Kazinski]

You’ve got a point there, I’m not going to say they shouldn’t set her up for failure, because its too late for that, but they should let her fail at one thing at a time.

[hobie]

Obstinate old bird. At least he finally did the right thing. He can endorse Harris all he wants, but the convention will ultimately decide.

Oh, I am much much happier now. We can now nominate the most fearsome candidates possible (hopefully). Well, you hayseeds got your wish. Be careful what you wish for...

[Dan Schiavetta]

Most people don't realize how important ego is to a politician's ability to persevere, and how hard it was for Biden to do what he just did.

[Mr. Bumble]

With all the long knives pointed at him he didn't have much choice.
Hunter Biden pardon coming soon.

[Frank Drackman]

Breaking news, Hunter Biden announced a as Common-Laws VP, they won’t have to change the signs!

[hobie]

“The WASHINGTON ESTABLISHMENT, the Hate-America Media, and the corrupt DEEP STATE did everything they could to protect Biden, but he just quit the race in COMPLETE DISGRACE!”

Donald Trump

You keep kicking the man now that he's down, Donny. That's gonna do great things for the polls. This is turning out to be a great day!

[Dan Schiavetta]

Trump is a juvenile disgrace and as an American I'm embarrassed that so many people support him. In fact his cruelty seems to turn them on.

[SimonP]

American men of a certain age seem to think that "strength" is to be found in a kind of indifferent cruelty towards others. They lack better male role models, having apparently been raised in environments without loving fathers.

I can certainly see why some people view Trump as "stronger" than Biden, but how anyone can look at that ugly, fat, poorly-aging slob in an ill-fitting suit and think, "model of masculinity," I'll never understand.

[Mr. Bumble]

You've already been nominated for a "Pullitzer" for historical revision and now you're trying for one for best fiction writing?
Greedy bastard.

[Noscitur a sociis]

Which part is fiction? That Trump is juvenile? That many people support him? That captcrisis finds that embarassing? That many of Trump's supporter find his cruelty appealing?

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

People like Trump precisely because they know exactly where he stands and what he wants. Look at all this crap in the last few weeks -- some Dems still defending him as sharp and able while their aides "leak" "confidential" insider reports, does-he-know-that-I-know-that-he-knows, all this typical bureaucratic in-fighting bullshit.

People like Trump precisely because he doesn't play those stupid games. The first rule of warfare is to know your enemy. You TDS-addled political chumps are simply out of your league.

It doesn't mean Trump is good, sane, or will win. It means you don't know your enemy.

[Sarcastr0]

'My party is lockstep, while Democrats have a ton of points of view before they finally settle on a compromise.'

This is not the indictment of the Democrats you think it is.

[Commenter_XY]

Go ahead, run Heels Up. 🙂

[LawTalkingGuy]

Don’t you ever rethink this strategy. In fact, talk to your local party leaders and get them to make similar comments all the time.

[Jason Cavanaugh]

Does your misogyny come from having never touched a real woman, or were you just born an asshole and decided that was the best version of you that you'd ever be?

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

Your partisanslip is showing. I singled out “You TDS-addled political chumps”, and you self-selected yourself as one of them, along with your fellow Democrats.

[Sarcastr0]

Your comment makes it clear how you like your politics - marching in unison in support of dear leader.

The rest writes itself.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

So you climb down and admit I said nothing that you claimed I said.

Thanks for your honesty.

[Sarcastr0]

You literally talk about the unity around Trump as a virtue, and the variations of takes on Biden as a problem.

[TwelveInchPianist]

Huh? The Dems were lockstep throughout the primary, got caught running someone unfit, and had to force their candidate out.

[Magister]

People like Trump precisely because they know exactly where he stands and what he wants.

For or against NATO? For or against Project 2025? For or against COVID vaccines? For or against TikTok? For or against restrictions on birth control? For or against US-educated foreigners staying in the US? For or against being a dictator? For or against a national abortion ban? For or against cryptocurrency? For or against the US constitution? For or against Putin? (OK, we know that one he's for; the rest he's flip flopped on.)

The most important thing about which we do know where Trump stands is rejecting election results and rejecting the peaceful transfer of power.

[Dr. Ed 2]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13653703/Loophole-Biden-booted-election-race-refuses-go.html

Interesting...

[Frank Drackman]

I think those were Matthew Shephards last words

[Dr. Ed 2]

He had a fundraiser with David Letterman out on Martha's Vineyard today. Nice day - maybe no one showed up. https://www.bizpacreview.com/2024/07/21/biden-scores-david-letterman-headliner-at-swanky-marthas-vineyard-fundraiser-1474075/

But I can still see a split between the Letterman/Clinton wing of the party and the Dingbat Left/California wings that she represents.

[Krayt]

I'm with Bill Maher on this one. It'll be a bid deal...for three days.

I think he overstated it by 2.

[Michael P]

Others have suggested that they had to get the incentives right, which is why he dropped out on National Ice Cream Day.

[Dr. Ed 2]

This will split the party and the convention should be fun. And even more fun when people realize that her Great Grandfather owned slaves. Forget attacking Jefferson, here is a live slave owner...

But I want to know about accountability for all the people who lied to us about his abilities. And why is this on his own stationary and not the POTUS stationary?

[Noscitur a sociis]

Are you sure you know what the word “live” means?

[Dr. Ed 2]

Yes.

Name one decedent of Thomas Jefferson active in US politics today.
Or Washington. Biological decedent of Washington and not someone who took the name at emancipation, as a lot of freedmen did.

[Noscitur a sociis]

Gotcha: it's "slave owner" that you don't know the meaning of.

(Unsurprisingly, your description of her genealogy is also wrong.)

[hobie]

This is the alternate facts crowd, as you know.

[JesusHadBlondeHairBlueEyes]

Says King Blue Anon

[Michael P]

Democrats have told us over and over that being an enslaver corrupts the blood in a way that does not go away just because a few generations have passed.

[LawTalkingGuy]

I think you should continue saying stuff like this, preferably to people in the suburbs.

[Michael P]

I do plan to continue reminding people that Democrats have been strong advocates of the idea that the sins of the father are the sins of the son. Or daughter, in the case of Harris.

[LawTalkingGuy]

Yes. Please do. You won’t come off as a fucking weirdo at all.

[Michael P]

I think you should continue saying stuff like this. You will continue to come across as a concern troll who can't back up his points.

[LawTalkingGuy]

My point is that online right-wingers are weirdos and say weird shit that is off-putting to most voters. That’s why I am genuinely telling you to continue to say what you think about Kamala Harris to as many people as possible. If I was concern trolling I would be telling you not to do it. I’m not even sarcastically telling you to be like this, because that would be pointless. Even if you managed to pick up on that, you would never be able to help yourself from saying weird shit anyway.

[JesusHadBlondeHairBlueEyes]

LTG didn't exist during the 2020 Summer of Love

[Sarcastr0]

You are doing the thing extremists do where you take some fringey position some random leftist maybe said once and pretend it's a universally held position.

As has been pointed out, it makes you like pretty crazy to everyone who isn't also playing that same game.

[JesusHadBlondeHairBlueEyes]

Great contribution Sarcastr0!!
Moving the ball forward and not attacking the players as usual!!!

[Michael P]

JHBHBE, to be honest, at this point we just assume that Gaslight0 will complain about nutpicking and bad-faith immoral right-wing assholes no matter what the original thread is about. It saves time and lets us focus on the rare cases where he says anything different.

[Noscitur a sociis]

Can you show me an example?

[bernard11]

it’s “slave owner” that you don’t know the meaning of.

Also "decedent."

[LawTalkingGuy]

Online right-wingers understand linear time challenge: impossible.

[Dr. Ed 2]

#$#$@&% small font of spell correct...

Yes, I know the difference, but can I SEE the difference?

@#$$%#@.....

[bernard11]

You mean Harris is the only person active in US politics who has a slave-holding ancestor?

Wanna bet?

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

Oh, you admit the importance, but think Kamala is the only one it doesn't apply to.

[Sarcastr0]

That is nothing like what bernard said.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

You can't read.

A: He thinks it's important.

B: He thinks it doesn't matter for Kamala.

[Sarcastr0]

What in his comments says he thinks it’s important? I see him arguing the exact opposite.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

He wouldn't have replied if he thought it unimportant. Just as you wouldn't be arguing so much over nothing if it were nothing.

[Sarcastr0]

He wouldn’t have replied if he thought it unimportant.

This your first day on the Internet?

[bernard11]

I didn't "admit the importance."

In fact, I was suggesting that, obviously, it is unimportant. It was Ed, of course, trying to make an issue of it, with help from you.

My point was that nobody cares, especially since not only politicians but a large percentage of Americans with pre-Civil War ancestors have slave-holders in their family tree.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

You certainly cared quite a bit about something so unimportant.

[bernard11]

You're nuts, or just trolling.

[Dr. Ed 2]

That directly, and Jamaican slavery was way more brutal.

5-10 times more slaves imported into Jamaica than the entire US South because they all died so young.

[Drewski]

Ed, who claims to be a professional educator, divides 600,000 by 400,000 and gets an answer of "5-10." Not that the specific numbers matter - this is just a reminder that Ed makes up everything he says and is cartoonishly stupid.

[LawTalkingGuy]

One advantage to Harris for Dems is that it’ll be very difficult for many on the right-wing not to be weird as shit about her.

[Kazinski]

Can't be weirder than the Democrats are about Trump.

[LawTalkingGuy]

Oh they absolutely can.

Average online liberal: Trump is a bad person who is a criminal that tried to overturn an election!

Average online right-winger: 1/64: Harris’s biracial physiognomy demonstrates that…

[Kazinski]

Actually there are lots of Rightwingers with dozens of biracial kids, Brett, Me (actually I only have 3), JD Vance, Strom Thurmond....

We can handle it.

[Sarcastr0]

Y'all haven't in this very thread.

Anyhow, it would be nutpicking, so I offer the below not for any general truth about the right, but because it is funny and this guy deserves to be mocked:

@signulll
JD Vance’s wife is indian btw.

@RandyTreibel
She has more European physiognomy though. Her bloodline is probably a mix of early Macedonian invasions.

[Drewski]

"And why is this on his own stationary and not the POTUS stationary?"

The mind of a conspiracy theorist, ladies and gentlemen. Biden, of course, was at his home in Delaware and used what was handy.

[David Nieporent]

Isn't the more obvious answer that, unlike Trump, Biden understands the difference between official and unofficial acts? Running for president (or in this case, not) is not an official act, and therefore is a personal matter that doesn’t belong on government stationery. (Dr. Ed might want to learn how to spell.)

[Mr. Bumble]

So why did LBJ give his announcement not to run from the Oval Office?

[Magister]

I expect President Biden will also speak officially on the matter soon. He actually wrote "I will speak to the Nation later this week in more detail about my decision."

[Drewski]

That's certainly possible. One thing is for sure: It's worth no thought or analysis unless you're spinning a sovereign-citizenesque conspiracy theory and can be dismissed out of hand as evidence of anything nefarious.

[F.D. Wolf]

Captcrisis, what is your recollection of Democrats' feelings and reactions when LBJ dropped out in '68? Would you have voted for Johnson in the '68 election? (I suspect you would not have voted for Nixon, but perhaps you would have voted third-party or not at all in the race).

[Dr. Ed 2]

George Wallace?!?

[Dan Schiavetta]

I remember that year very well — it was the first year I followed politics day by day. Though LBJ hadn’t lost a primary yet, the embarrassingly large showing of Eugene McCarthy in New Hampshire was a jolt. Also by this time there was a gale force anti-war sentiment blowing through the Party. Still, LBJ’s announcement stunned everyone.

It was the decision of a tired man, though we didn’t know his fatigue at the time. This was not Richard Nixon, contentedly extending the War for three years so that serious efforts to end it wouldn’t be made until 1972 so that failure wouldn’t be apparent until after that election (we know this from Haldeman’s diary). LBJ was genuinely troubled by all the lost lives and the war that seemed to be getting worse and worse with no way out. “Hey hey LBJ — how many kids did you kill today!” wounded him deeply. Behind the external toughness he was a sensitive person.

Also with no way out was what to do about Humphrey. He knew that a full-throated endorsement would actually be counterproductive. And this was before the assassinations of MLK (robbing black America of its most powerful voice) and RFK (denying the Party its best candidate).

As it happened, the election was a real squeaker, with Humphrey closing the gap on Nixon and a smaller-than-expected vote for Wallace. Looking back on it, the Republicans waltzed right in, after Democrats had been saddled with making the hard decisions on Vietnam, even though had the Republicans been in power they would have probably conducted (or mis-conducted) the war the same way LBJ did.

To answer your question (which I am flattered you asked), I would have voted for Johnson against Nixon, and as it happened I would have voted for Humphrey, someone I wasn’t thrilled with, because both Nixon and Wallace were unpalatable. There were no other third parties that were feasible (though I got a kick out of Dick Gregory and his “Freedom and Peace Party”).

As for my parents, I was all but sure that my father voted for Nixon (he had voted for Goldwater) and my mother, conservative but from a labor union family, voted for Humphrey.

[Noscitur a sociis]

As it happened, the election was a real squeaker, with Humphrey closing the gap on Nixon and a smaller-than-expected vote for Wallace.

Humphrey lost by almost 20 states and more than 100 electoral votes!

[Alpheus W Drinkwater]

He won the popular vote by less than 1 percent, and many of the margins in those states were razor thin. But in the end it was a comfortable electoral college win. And Humphrey didn't whine for the next four years about how the election was rigged, at least in public.

[Dan Schiavetta]

The only good thing about the Electoral College was that it frequently turned a narrow popular vote win into something seeming more definite so that the new President could have a firm start. After what happened in 2000 and 2016, those days are past.

[Frank Drackman]

Whats past is prologue, I remember how President Kerry was going to win in a landslide in 04’ Stupid guy, should have picked a male running mate

Frank

[Frank Drackman]

Hubert Humphrey was a decrepit old ward healer who should have been castrated and left on an Ice Flow, like they’re doing today with Parkinsonian Joe

Frank

[Frank Drackman]

That darn Electrical College again!

[Mr. Bumble]

Good News! You have been nominated for a "Pullitzer" Prize for writing alternate history.

[AmosArch]

So I guess nobody can argue any longer than the Dems lied when they said Joe was fine.

[Mr. Bumble]

Oh sure the can.

[AmosArch]

The tons and tons of media claiming Biden is the best choice is now a lie according to the Dems themselves.

[hobie]

Amos 'whatabout' Arch. I see you don't like politicians that lie a lot. Is this true?

[Michael P]

Q: How can you tell when a politician is lying?
A: His lips move.

Journalists and even pundits mostly claim to be more honest than that, though.

[SimonP]

The only ones who care about whether Democrats "lied" about Biden's fitness are the ones who want to fight endlessly over something else, to distract from the new nominee, whoever it ends up being.

Personally, I'm looking forward to this election being a choice between a convicted felon and a prosecutor.

[AmosArch]

>The only ones who care about whether Democrats “lied” about Biden’s fitness

They did lie. Big time. It certainly is a big deal they were trying to push an unfit person so hard for so long and now that its gotten so bad even they can’t continue with him any longer on the eve of an election you want everyone to just switch gears 1984 style and pretend it never happened.

>and a prosecutor.
She certainly cleaned up San Francisco and California!
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/broken-bart-escalators-poop_n_1706716

[SimonP]

"I insist you fight with me about this other thing!!!"

Nope.

[AmosArch]

What other thing? Its of little importance who they pick to succeed Biden be it Kamala or a potato or Joseph Stalin since the bulk of Dems will pull the lever for whoever they put in no matter what. And I'm not so sure it matters to the middle voters either who will determine this election. But you are not a middle voter anyways.

[SimonP]

Like Republicans aren’t set to do the same with Don the con, despite everything? It wasn’t so long ago that it was generally agreed that Trump was the only Republican candidate Biden could beat. Now you fuckwits are all so confident that you’re putting menstrual pads on your ears like you don’t look like a bunch of morons.

Anyway, the question was never what the bulk of one group of registered voters or another was likely to do. The question was what those squishy “independents” were likely to do. We’ll see how much of the Black vote Trump can get, if Harris is at the top of the ticket, or how many suburban moms.

Good luck, AssArch.

[AmosArch]

Shes a black and a woman so blacks and women have to vote for her.

Man I love your cynicism.

[Frank Drackman]

She’s 1/4 Black, which is about the fraction of Black Males who’ll vote for “45/47” they can’t stand that cackling Labia Lips either

Frank

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

I now see why Orin Kerr chooses to publish his scholarship at this blog. Congratulations?

[SimonP]

Listen, AssMunch, we can see what the polls say about it. I kinda think that the Republicans don't think this is a good development for them, given that the message across the board seems to be, "No fair!"

[Krayt]

See also lying $6 trillion would not cause inflation.

[bernard11]

I think $6T is a bit high, but no matter. Recall that Trump's CARES Act distributed about $2T.

Also recall that at the time it was passed unemployment was at 15%. Seriously bad. It stayed above 5% until Sep, 2021.

Oh, and tell me what you think a 60% tariff on imports from China will do to prices.

[Mr. Bumble]

Didn't you mean prostitute?

[SimonP]

For MAGA's sake, I'd hope that Trump's political advisers know better than to go with "She's a whore," if they're campaigning against Harris.

[LawTalkingGuy]

Campaign strategists in the RNC, the Trump campaign, and most of the prominent Republican elected official know that’s a terrible idea.

Right-wing media, republican state reps, and republican back-bench shit-stirrers (Greene, Boebert, Mike Collins, Gaetz, etc), and possibly Trump/Trump children completely lack the self-awareness and impulse control to not go that route.

[Alpheus W Drinkwater]

Look at the crap about Vance's wife, for god's sake!

[LawTalkingGuy]

The biggest freaks online have been very weird about Vance’s wife. Can Groypers actually in or closely associated with the GOP keep it together to not seem absolutely insane? Doubt it.

[Frank Drackman]

She’s actually hotter than the actress who played her in Hillbilly Elegy. JD is too.

Frank

[Kazinski]

I think the corrupt prosecutor thing works the best.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/8xwkab/jamal-trulove-wants-kamala-harris-to-talk-about-his-wrongful-conviction

[LawTalkingGuy]

Lol you think the Republican Party can do that without coming off as the most disingenuous people on the planet? Not only would it be ridiculously incongruent given their nominee is the “Kill Central Park 5” Guy, but their main surrogates’ hearts’ would not actually be in it. You think Tom Cotton or Ted Cruz are going to go on TV and talk about a wrongful conviction in a murder case? GTFOH. The people who never met a police shooting they didn’t support and appoint judges who don’t think there is factual innocence should prevent an execution are not going to talk about this. Be for real.

[Kazinski]

Heh, Tulsi Gabbard wrecked Kamala on the issue once, and she can probably do it again.

https://youtu.be/o1-CRrMDSLs?feature=shared

[Frank Drackman]

She’s more of a Slut, Whores do it for a living, wait! You’re right!

[TwelveInchPianist]

I'm pretty sure she's not a slut. At most she's a bitch, but those are just rumors. .

[Frank Drackman]

Common-law’s gonna do about as well as the last DemoKKKrat VP who got the nomination handed to him, Hubert Whore-ratio(Marine Corpse Slang for rating the quality of a Port Call “What’s the Whore Ratio?”) Humphrey (I know he came close in the Popular Vote he lost in a Landslide in the only poll that counts, and that was back when DemoKKKrats carried Texas and Repubiclowns carried California

Frank

[Commenter_XY]

Well, she is.

[LawTalkingGuy]

You should tell everyone in your life that you think Kamala Harris is a whore.

[Mr. Bumble]

Well, she is!

[LawTalkingGuy]

I cannot emphasize enough how much I want you and all your friends and everyone in the Republican Party and conservative media to announce this loudly and often.

[Mr. Bumble]

Didn’t we just do that? You want we should put it on a billboard?

[LawTalkingGuy]

I would like nothing more than Republicans putting up billboards saying “Kamala Harris is a Whore.”

[Mr. Bumble]

If I could I'd put this on the Jumbotron in Time's Square:
https://x.com/TulsiGabbard/status/1815122213479276897

[LawTalkingGuy]

Republicans wasting resources in NYC with grifters saying weird shit would be great. I wish you were on the RNC.

[Kazinski]

I don't care. We just had Amber Rose speak at the GOP convention.

And she is multi racial too

[TwelveInchPianist]

"The only ones who care about whether Democrats “lied” about Biden’s fitness are the ones who want to fight endlessly over something else..."

So, assuming arguendo that the Dems lied, you're OK with that, as are the rest of the Dems?

I guess there's not so much difference between Dems and Trump supporters after all.

I mean, it's amazing how fast you guys go from "But Trump lies all the time!" to "Who among us hasn't conspired to conceal the incapacity of a Presidential candidate and sitting President"?

[SimonP]

Like I said. You're the one who would prefer to argue about it. I'm not going to engage by even hinting at what I think about it.

None of it actually matters. The thing that matters is the election. I wasn't feeling Biden. But now we have a shot at someone else.

[Joe_dallas]

SimonP
Lied about Biden’s fitness ?

You were one of the many woke democrat believers who have been fooled for the last 4 years

[Sarcastr0]

I note you didn't start going hard to the paint with your silly down to the month diagnosis till the debate, about when the Dems decided it was bad.

'It was obvious' you say, attempting to retcon your way into being a neurologist.

[Michael P]

It was obvious in 2020, and we told you then, but you people pretended otherwise until last month.

[Kazinski]

I certainly was an early adopter of the Biden is too old narrative.

Don't make me pull out the receipts.

[Sarcastr0]

Holy shit are you another Joe_dallas sock puppet?

[SimonP]

Look, I'd rather be someone who willfully believed, contrary to some available evidence, that Biden was 100% there, than someone who is 100% for Trump - the twice-impeached, corrupt, convicted felon who is only running to escape justice and enrich himself and his friends.

In another thread another one of you MAGA asshats declares that people like Trump because people know where he stands. But this is so laughably untrue that one has to wonder what explains your collective delusion. He's conning all of you. J.D. Vance is conning all of you. You're seriously at the point where you're telling yourselves, "I don't care if he's a crook, he's going to hurt the right people." Yeah, good luck with that, shit-for-brains!

[Armchair]

Gonna be an interesting convention.

If Biden releases his delegates, I don't think he gets to decide where they go.

[Alpheus W Drinkwater]

I guess it all depends on internal Democratic Party rules. If they do become uncommitted delegates, what a wild show this will be!

[Frank Drackman]

The Delegates are there to preserve Disorder! Gonna be the biggest crash in Chicago since Jake & Elwood drove through that Mall

[bernard11]

I see Trump displayed his usual grace:

“Crooked Joe Biden was not fit to run for President, and is certainly not fit to serve — And never was!” Trump wrote. “He only attained the position of President by lies, Fake News, and not leaving his Basement.” He added, “We will suffer greatly because of his presidency, but we will remedy the damage he has done very quickly.”

What a complete fucking jackass.

[Michael P]

It's hilarious that the left thinks it uncouth to point out the truth in public. As Barack Obama advised in private, never underestimate Joe's ability to fuck things up.

[bernard11]

It's tragic that so many people like you think that statement is true.

And if Biden's always been such a fuck-up what does it say about Trump that he lost to Biden in 2020?

[Frank Drackman]

It was “Rigged” of course, good luck with Common-Law in PA, WI, MI, and I know she “won” them in 2020, keep thinking that

Frank

[TwelveInchPianist]

"It’s tragic that so many people like you think that statement is true."

Seems like even the Dems are admitting it's partly true. And Biden hasn't has a cabinet meeting in nine months, and the ones before that were scripted, so we don't know how long it's been true.

[TwelveInchPianist]

"If we keep having cabinet meetings, people are bound to find out about Biden!"

"Don't worry, I know a trick we can use to hide the decline."

[David Nieporent]

It’s hilarious that the left thinks it uncouth to point out the truth in public.

It's sad that you think that "Well, it's true" is a defense to charges that the things one is saying involve being an asshole.

[TwelveInchPianist]

There are an awful lot of Dems criticizing each other for not being assholes sooner.

[Alpheus W Drinkwater]

Someone in another thread quoted the old saying that every accusation is an admission: "He only attained the position of President by lies, Fake news..."

[Krayt]

the old saying that every accusation is an admission

“Inflation was not caused by us. It was caused by greed!”

Your aphorism seems to hold up.

[Frank Drackman]

Someone has to tell the truth, he’s a 2024 Hairy Truman

[Frank Drackman]

Haven’t you heard you shouldn’t speak badly of the Dead?

[Commenter_XY]

Bye Joe....scumbag.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Can I get something for you? Cheeseburger? Bacon cheeseburger? Shrimp cocktail? When the time is right it will be my treat, even for the bigoted clingers. Compared to what I’ll save when no longer being asked to subsidize war-criming, theocratic right-wing jerks it will be a bargain.

[Mr. Bumble]

You might want to consider the possibility of crow.

[hobie]

Yeah I'm crowing. This is the best news ever. Now let hayseed tears flow for what is to come.

[bernard11]

Wow. Is that a nasty and utterly unjustified comment, not to mention it comes from an ardent supporter of one the biggest scumbags on the planet.

You've really descended into the slime pits. Disgusting.

[Sarcastr0]

Is this who you want to be, Commenter?

Are you happier now than before you became...this?

[Dan Schiavetta]

If I made a comment like that, about someone who has just had to make such a hard, humiliating decision, I would be completely embarrassed and try to walk it back. Maybe explain that I was drunk when I wrote it.

[hobie]

This is what us democrats are up against. I had a get-together this evening on my porch. All the brothers were there and I mentioned Biden had left the race. They start whooping and hollering because Trump is their boy now because he is gangster. They don’t really know why he is gangster, but, whatever. They start yelling that Trump is now president. I had to disabuse them of that. Explain the process of elections. Then I tell them Kamala might be the front-runner. Man they became so mad. They shouted that no woman can ever give a man orders. They said they would never vote for a woman.

So you hayseeds can see, these negroes are almost as bigoted and backwards as you. I thought I was moving into a black neighborhood, but I just moved in with a bunch of rednecks

[Dan Schiavetta]

The idea that black people could support Trump is weird. By any measure he is the most racist candidate in years. How do they excuse his words and actions? That he was just joking? As for black men, maybe it’s just a visceral thing, he appeals to their “toxic masculinity”.

[hobie]

To be perfectly honest, it is because, like the people here, they are just patently ignorant

[Drewski]

We're going to spend so much money in black neighborhoods reminding everyone that Trump pardoned Kwame Kilpatrick, the man who poisoned Flint.

[JoeFromtheBronx]

Trump is an insurrectionist, sexual predator (civil judgment), found liable for defamation, multiple counts of financial wrongdoing (civil and criminal/one a felony because of electoral malfeasance as the reason), his mental acuity has regularly been shown to be dubious & oh, his policies are authoritarian & overall dangerous.

His poorly qualified vice president pick takes the authoritarianism to 11. He has a new one in part since Mike Pence does not support him for obvious reasons. Many here support this sort of thing, tossing in fiction like Trump is the "peace candidate" (I provided a detailed refutation of that lie) and so forth.

I wanted Biden to stay in but so be it. Whoever is running on the Democratic ticket should be supported by those who like sanity, good policy, the rule of law, and basic American values. OTOH, some here don't like that sort of thing. I appreciate the one libertarian contributor who realizes the right path.

I think it might be a good idea for Biden to resign so Kamala Harris has full incumbency benefits. I don't think two women on the ticket is logical. The best choice is likely the governor of PA or some other swing state that they need to win.