Guest Cartoon: The Highwayman: "The Windowless Basement Hustle"

<Click on the image for the full effect!>

"We're not going to beat 
Trump with pocket change."

Democratic Presidential hopeful
Pete Buttigieg, 
pondering the pros and cons
of joining the money chase

"Small-dollar grassroots campaigns, aka what Buttegieg insults here

as 'pocket change,'

out-fundraise him by millions.

"Our nation’s leaders

should be working to end the era

of big money politics,

not protect it." <Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez offers a slightly different take>

“The front of the line is always filled
with people whose pockets are filled."


Joe Biden, Zombie Frontrunner,
Explaining How It Works, 101

Our friend and house artist, The Highwayman, is feeling righteously angry, as this week's cartoon makes amply clear. The quote in panel #2 comes from The National Review, which ran an interesting article (see below) about Democratic Minority Leader Charles Schumer's strategy to retake the Senate --by putting up party-vetted favorites, have them say as little of substance as possible, and run a blizzard of negative ads to make their opponent -- typically, a white, male, inoffensive, party-vetted favorite -- seem like the spawn of Hitler, Osama bin Laden and Satan combined.

Does sound like an equation that favors the common interest? Not in the least, but it showcases the Democratic Party disconnect between the Old Bulls, who seem hellbent on imposing the above vision on the rest of us, till Hell freezes over, or they die, or finally get run off, whichever comes first -- and the newly energized progressive wing, who don't want the anti-Trump resistance simply hijacked to preserve the status quo...the same status quo that keeps us stuck in the hellish non-choice between a) Aetna and Cigna, b) Comcast and nobody, c) Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump...take your pick. Wash, rinse repeat.

This cartoon came at an interesting week, due to some welcome light getting shed on the issue of big money, and its role in campaigns. Just look how far Zombie Frontrunner, Joe Biden, has fallen -- $1 million in private jet rides later, and he still ends up with just $9 million to show for his third quarter of fundraising! I can just imagine the slogan: "Joe Biden: The Last White Man Who Can't Raise Money. Give Till It Hurts."

So what's Lunch Bucket Joe's solution? Do a 180-degree turnaround (see link below), and go with the super PACs that you disavowed when your campaign started. Of course, you'll definitely fix what ails the system, if you ever make it to the White House, and try elbowing past all those big donors, waiting to cash their IOUs, which only means...yeah, we've seen this movie before, time and again. It didn't pass the stench test then, and doesn't now. Unless we stand up and say, "We demand something different." We don't want to stay stuck in the windowless basement, right? --The Reckoner

Links To Go (Hurry, Hurry.

The Ghost Of Dark Money

Is Banging At Your Door)

The Intercept:
Joe Biden's Super PAC:
https://theintercept.com/2019/10/25/joe-biden-super-pac/

The National Review: 

Chuck Schumer's "Wndowless Basement" Strategy

For Winning Back The Strategy:
https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/10/chuck-schumer-windowless-basement-strategy-for-winning-back-the-senate/