Takeaways From Last Night
Obviously, Democrats need to do something different over the next year if they're going to have any chance at all in the midterm elections. That was the overwhelming message from last night's dismal election returns. Because what they just tried pretty obviously didn't work. At least, on a small scale. The off-off-year elections which always follow a presidential year only include two statewide races, in New Jersey and Virginia. That is a very small slice of America, but it's all the data we have to work with, so the natural inclination is to draw national political lessons from it all. Some will wind up being correct, some won't. After reading some other people's opinions about last night, here are the ones I'm inclined to believe right now:
The pandemic will be forgotten
America is just exhausted with COVID-19. It's been almost two years now, and everyone would truly like for the whole experience to be in the rear-view mirror. Voters don't just want it to all be over, they want it to be forgotten. So they don't particularly want to hear about it from politicians at this point. The battles over mask mandates and vaccinations will be long behind us by this time next year. Where applicable, Democrats should pat themselves on the back for doing a good job leading the public through the crisis, but it's going to be a minor issue at best. Look forward, not back, because that is where the public already is.
Republicans did fine without Trump on the ballot
Nobody really knew whether the GOP base would continue their enthusiasm after Donald Trump left the scene. The answer is in on that one, and it is: "Yes, they will -- and they will get even more enthusiastic, at times." The right-wing grievance factory has increased its output even without Trump ranting like a crazed loon on social media every day, and the Republican base just can't get enough of it. They eat it up. The motivation for all of this is plain -- if there is nothing obvious to complain about, then find something to complain about! It can be something new (the "Critical Race Theory" bugaboo) or something tried-and-true (banning books from school libraries). It'll all work. Or enough of it will, at any rate. The rural White Republican base is primed to get outraged at just anything, and when Democrats fail to meet these attacks effectively, then it leads to Democrats losing elections.
Painting a Republican candidate as a puppet of Donald Trump only goes so far. Terry McAuliffe found that out last night. "He's just like Trump!" is not some magical phrase that guarantees high turnout for your side. Maybe it worked for Gavin Newsom in the California recall election, but California is not Virginia or New Jersey. Fear of Trump is just not enough to get Democrats enthusiastic about voting for you. This is likely going to be just as true (if not more so) in the midterms.
Critical Race Theory demonizing requires a response
Republicans are drawing their own lessons from last night, of course. And the biggest one is pretty much guaranteed to be to double down on all the chaos at school board meetings. "Critical Race Theory" has now been redefined by the Republican Party, and Democrats need to wake up and realize the potency of the political attack it represents. The way Republicans define it now is: "Teaching schoolchildren about race and racism at all in history class." Slavery, of course, will have to be mentioned, but as far as Republicans are concerned it should be minimally covered and left far in the past. No discussion of race or racism in today's America should be allowed at all.
That is what they are fighting for. That is what they now expect will win them back the suburbs. And they might be right. Fights over parental control and what gets taught in schools are as old as the Republic -- for a reason. Parents always care about their children's education, and they never want to feel powerless. McAuliffe's one unforced error on a debate stage may well have lost him the election. Democrats should take heed. Never appear dismissive of parental concerns, for starters.
Instead, Democrats need to figure out what to say in response to C.R.T. attacks. They've got to have some competing storyline for what should be taught about race and racism in schools. Right now, they don't seem to have one. They better rectify this immediately if they're going to have any chance at all next year, because it is now going to be front and center of every Republican politician's campaign. That much is guaranteed, after last night in Virginia.
Offer the voters something, because nothing isn't working
That's not syntactically very elegant, but the concept is a basic one in politics: you have to offer people something, because when you offer them nothing, they're not going to enthusiastically vote for you.
This, of course, was beyond the control of the state-level candidates. It is the fault of Democrats in Congress and President Joe Biden. More specifically, it is the fault of Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin.
All year long, people have gotten nothing but promises from Democrats. Soon, we were told, the agenda that Joe Biden ran on will be enacted, and wonderfulness will spread over the land from sea to shining sea.
Nine months later, we're still waiting. As all the things which were promised continue not to happen. More and more of them have even moved over into the category of "never going to happen" while the ones which remain are bogged down in "might happen soon... maybe." That's not a good place for a political party to be.
Joe Biden got elected because he wasn't Donald Trump. But the voters wanted competence from him, and they expected he'd be able to get Democrats in Congress to at least partially fulfill the agenda he ran on.
To be fair, Democrats might be on the brink of doing so. But they've been on this brink since (at least) the beginning of the summer. And they never quite seem to make it over the finish line. At this point, the public is just tired of it all. They don't want to hear another round of finger-pointing and squabbling. They don't want to hear the details of what might get included and what might get cut. The public just wants to see some results. The longer this has gone on, the lower Biden's job approval rating has gotten and the more exhausted and disgusted with it all the public has become.
The Republicans don't even have to lift a finger in all of this. Biden is looking weak because two Democratic senators are making him look weak. Republicans just sit back and watch, laughing all the while.
The "enthusiasm gap" that lost Virginia to the Republicans may even get worse. The longer Democrats take to get anything done, the more people are just going to tune out of politics entirely. I would venture to guess that if Democrats can't pass both the infrastructure bill and the Build Back Better plan by Thanksgiving, then they will be toast next year. Even "by Christmas" may be too late.
It's not just passing the bills, remember. The whole plan is to get some of these programs up and running and changing people's lives before next year's midterms. The longer the Democrats dither, the shorter the lead time gets to implement anything next year. So passing the two bills is pretty imperative right now.
But these two bills aren't the entire Biden agenda. One of the biggest enthusiasm gaps in any demographic in Virginia showed up among Black voters. They were promised important things like police reform, gun safety laws, and protecting voting rights. None of that has happened. None of it will happen until Manchin and Sinema agree to change the filibuster laws, either.
When Democratic politicians promise: "Vote for me and I will do this for you!" the voters pay attention. And then when it doesn't happen, they get disappointed, disillusioned, and downright disgusted. They think they've been lied to. Or just bamboozled by empty promises.
This is not the way to build enthusiasm for the next election. Getting some of the things that were promised done is pretty much the only hope national Democrats have, at this point. And so far, that message hasn't seemed to have sunk in with either Joe Manchin or Kyrsten Sinema. Which could all but guarantee the failure of Joe Biden's presidency, and Democrats getting slaughtered in the midterms next year.
-- Chris Weigant
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
CW
The pandemic will be forgotten
I'll call this one the Ted Cruz theory and respectfully disagree.
Have you seen the anti-vaxxers crying "freedom" ramping up their violent rhetoric particularly now that children are beginning to be vaccinated? The political BS is heating up, not cooling down.
COVID isn't and never has been a "hoax" or a conspiracy invented by Democrats to harm Trump's reelection prospects... quite the contrary. SARS-CoV-2 is mutating into more dangerous forms of the original virus on a quite regular basis, and while those in the GOP might definitely want you to forget their responses to the pandemic in the same way they want to memory-hole the events of 1/6/21 and their premeditated conspiracy to ignore the certified results of the 2020 election and Trump's illegal attempts to remain POTUS, it's a very real mutating virus and global pandemic and not a political talking point to damage Trump... and it's going nowhere anytime soon.
Kick
If COVID "isn't and never has been a hoax . . invented by Dems", why is it officially known as the "Dempanic"??
[2]
Um, whom "officially" called it the "Dempanic?" Cain't say I've ever heard the term before, but then again I don't watch much right-wing TV. Help me out here, Stuck.
MtnCaddy
3
Um, whom "officially" called it the "Dempanic?"
I'll give you one guess: His initials are "Can't Remember Shit," and that's why anytime anyone mentions COVID, he trolls the group as if it's something he never posted before.
Cad [3]
Um, gotta confess, that would be me. (Of course, I'm aware that you might quibble about granting me the status of "official-dom", nit pickers that you guys all are.)
Republicans gained in the house last election, this should be no surprise.
I think the left needs to back off and rethink gun control. Stick with the low hanging fruit, back ground checks and keeping guns out of crazy peoples hands. Then really hit hard on POC gun rights. The history of gun control in this country has a lot of rules for thee but not for me, racism. The NRA intentionally ignores situations where if the gun owner was white, they would be all over it but when a person of color is the gun owner, crickets. Call the hypocrisy out. I think the left could neutralize the issue if played right.
Stop with the stupid taxes. That wealth tax is just awful, un-American, anti-capitalist and likely unconstitutional especially with the current conservative supreme court. Sure it's billionaires today but what about the next cause that needs funding? How low will it go? I mean I have investments with unrealized gains. Once precedent is set when does it drift down to me? Also, I read an article about a tech founder who put forth the idea that if he had started his company under the wealth tax as written, he would no longer have controlling interest in his own company and barely any stock at all as the tax law requires selling stock any time the stock price doubles. That is a huge problem and likely why Musk is so against it. It's not the money but the loss of control. Also, the way some of the other tax recommendations are written to target millionaires, do not take in to account one time sales of real estate and really screw over anyone who sells their house if valued over a million. Which may sound like a lot but is rapidly describing just about any house in a desirable metro. You know, like every coastal city on the west coat, most on the east coast...
But the big one that the left needs to figure out and figure out fast is the homeless/drug addicts/crazy people living on the streets. It's getting bad in just about every city on the west coast. I think if it continues to get worse, there is going to be a serious shift to the right if they propose some law and order. Throwing money at the problem alone is not going to fix it. Housing is not going to fix it. There are plenty of homeless living out of their car that if given affordable housing will thrive. The problem is there are also a lot of crazy or drug addicted people that if given a job will not show up, if given housing will trash the place. There needs to be a carrot and stick approach and if the left fears the stick, the right will happily relieve them of voters. Maybe even enough to take over the west coast blue strongholds...
Democrats need to do something different over the next year if they're going to have any chance at all in the midterm elections.
So what are Corporatist Dems doing? Blaming the Progressives, like always. This makes Ralph Nader's take on the two parties look spot on as it plays right into the Repugs hand, "Since the Dems won't give people hope we can win by making people afraid and making people hate."</b
Voters don't just want [Covid] to all be over, they want it to be forgotten. So they don't particularly want to hear about it from politicians at this point. The battles over mask mandates and vaccinations will be long behind us by this time next year.
I'm 100% with Kick on this one. Covid won't be over (due to variants, the lack of global vaxxing and because there no reason to think that "the battles over mask mandates and vaccinations" will be over at that point.) I'm afraid that America will blame Joe and the Dems for this no matter that Trump and the Repugs put us (and are keeping us) into the fine mess we'll very much still be in.
Don Harris
6
That's your takeaway from last night?
It wasn't last night, idiot. Details matter.
Only if you believe that voters only THINK they've been bamboozled.
There goes Don again claiming to know what the author believes and what voters are thinking. It's comical how Don is always claiming to know what others are thinking. It's a shit-ton of redundant bullshit. Don knows what everyone is thinking. *laughs*
The big money interests do not consider Joe Biden's presidency to be a failure.
Like I said... never stops. Hey, Don. I regret to inform you that I personally know a shit-ton of "big money interests," and many of them actually do consider Joe Biden's presidency a failure. When your definition of "big money" is anything over $200, I regret to inform you that there are a shit-ton of big money interests that consider the Biden presidency a failure. You have that in common with Joe Biden.
Biden is executing the plays being called by the big money interests.
You're brain dead and/or comatose if you believe the big money interests wanted Joe Biden to withdraw from Afghanistan.
The Deathocrats job is to not get voters enthusiastic because they are doing what needs to be done. The Deathocrats job is to make the empty promises, trot out the excuses and then make more empty promises to keep any real opposition to the big money interests from forming.
Your job is to trot out your made up fantasies of what you believe you know. No one is enthusiastic for your shit too.
And they get away with it because instead of getting disappointed, disillusioned and downright disgusted and finding an alternative voters keep buying the excuses and keep voting for the Deathocrats.
They get away with it because your pathetic attempt at political activism is a failure. If you weren't such a failure, everything would be fixed already, but it is rather daft to claim that voters aren't getting "disappointed, disillusioned and downright disgusted and finding an alternative" when clearly voting for Republicans is an alternative they obviously did choose. You do realize that voting for Republicans is an alternative? Or voting for an independent? This isn't that hard a concept.
You must either be clueless or think the rest of us are.
I believe you are clueless; there is ample proof of that in dang near your every post. I also believe that you are correct that CW believes you are clueless. I do not believe CW believes we are all clueless... most likely just you and no one else who regularly posts here.
The problem that you find yourself in is that if you are not clueless then you are in on the deception.
Like I said, you prove you are clueless in dang near every post. You've just claimed for about the 1000th time that your chosen messenger is clueless. Why would anyone believe anything he'd have to write about your personal obsession? You're shitting on your proposed messenger, and it doesn't get much more clueless than that.
The only way out (and you need to get out) is to say you were duped- even if you have been in on the deception.
Your head needs to get out of your ass so there'll be room to shove your repetitive bullshit up in there.
GET REAL!
Eff off, you daft little man. :)
[7]
I think the left needs to back off and rethink gun control. Stick with the low hanging fruit, back ground checks and keeping guns out of crazy peoples hands.
Bingo! Lots of Dems own guns (especially in red states) and likely won't tolerate any restrictions beyond these common sense ideas, which majorities of gun owners across the political spectrum support.
Stop with the stupid taxes. That wealth tax is just awful, un-American, anti-capitalist and likely unconstitutional especially with the current conservative supreme court. Sure it's billionaires today but what about the next cause that needs funding? How low will it go?
Again, spot on! The Wealth Tax was stupid and unworkable from day one (sorry, Elizabeth Warren -- you know I'm otherwise a big fan!)
It's a distraction from stating and changing the obvious: Repugs kept lowering tax rates on the rich so we're simply going to raise them back up to where they should be. Not only fair and popular (even with Repugs) but easy to understand and constitutional to boot.
But the big one that the left needs to figure out and figure out fast is the homeless/drug addicts/crazy people living on the streets. It's getting bad in just about every city on the west coast.
Here I disagree, BashiB. Yes, it's a nationwide problem but it's not a "national issue" because it's mainly concentrated in blue cities. Rural folk have no reason to care about it, making it a problem us Dems should take care of within the family, so to speak.
[5]
K, I just wanted to know if it was a Trump thing. For the record, surely you don't think Covid is a Dempanic anymore, right?
Stuck?
MtnCaddy
9
I'm afraid that America will blame Joe and the Dems for this no matter that Trump and the Repugs put us (and are keeping us) into the fine mess we'll very much still be in.
Yes, sir... my thoughts too, and I do not for one minute believe the GOP candidates and anti-vaxxer activists won't be out in full force making a political issue out of their "mask mandate" and "vaccine mandate" grievances by whining incessantly about about their "freedom." Greg Abbott in Texas and DeathSantis in Florida are falling all over themselves to deny private businesses the right to require masks and/or vaccines, while legal challenges to the mandate are being filed every day and as we speak.
I cannot fathom the GOP winning on this vaccine issue no matter how high the court in which it is heard: If an owner of a company requires employees to be vaccinated or wear masks, the owner has their freedom too, and they can fire your ass if you don't. There are multiple reasons employers are not permitted to terminate your employment; requiring a vaccine ain't one of them. No shirt, no shoes, no service... and all legal... so connect the dots that private businesses can deny you service unless you're being singled out for unlawful discrimination, of course. Not rocket science. :)
Cad
Yeah, I pretty much considered the whole plague thing to be a Dempanic from the git-go, and I've never seen anything to change my mind.
I presumed "pandemic" was a transpositional misprint, kinda on the same order as Kick's alias, 'fumducker'.
FPC/re Don Harris
MtnCaddy wrote:
HERE'S what I don't get about you, Don. Your (enjoyable) forays into political humor show that you have a brain. But when it comes to OD your brain goes AWOL, to wit:
1- suddenly, using and especially comprehending words in English eludes you. This failure dooms your mission.
You replied,
Nonsense.
Okay, so why does everyone here keep telling you this? Why haven't you gotten ANYWHERE with OD? It's not us, its YOU, man.
I wrote,
2- you relentlessly hammer away about Big Money in politics despite the fact that no one here disagrees with you.* WE AGREE ABOUT THE PROBLEM, already, but disagree about the solution (OD).
You replied,
What is your solution? It seems to be doing more of what hasn't worked for decades instead of using democracy to save democracy.
MY solution is if we want a government for We the People then WTP need to 100% publically finance all elections from the state legislation on up to President. And Citizens United must be completely undone to take dark money out of politics.
I asked,
why does CW have any obligation whatsoever to flog OD? OD is YOUR mission and that means that's YOUR job.
You replied,
Read his mission statement.
I did, and here are the relevant passages:
This blog's purpose is to present to the public one man's view of politics.
My main focus will be on the hypocrisy and foibles which emanate so regularly from Washington, D.C., but which are largely ignored by the mainstream media.
I'd rather devote my time to shining a spotlight on the issues which I feel people are ignoring, rather than add to an overcrowded field of light being shined on the "scandal-du-jour."
What part of ONE MAN'S view of politics don't you understand? It doesn't say ONE MAN AND DON HARRIS'S view of politics, now does it, Mr. "Nonsense?"
And notice how it doesn't read, "shining a spotlight on the issues which I [and Don Harris] feel people are ignoring?" Go ahead and show us where you find anything in CW's "mission statement" that obligates him to shill for anyone else's ideas. Or else STFU on the topic.
I wrote,
insisting that there's no difference between Bernie/AOC and #MoscowMitch etc simply makes you look silly.
You replied,
Again you are making a claim that is not true. How many times do you need to be told that just because they do some things the same does not mean that there is no difference on everything?
Um, you seem to be contradicting yourself. In fact, "How many times…" is what Weigantia keeps asking YOU, hello?
You do not address that the difference between Deathocrats and Republikillers is the difference between bad and worse.
Yes, I do. What about my ALAS, I've concluded that the Party of F.D.R.'s inability to message for, campaign on and thence to actually represent the interests of ALL Americans is because Establishment Democrats are as owned by Murica's Ownership Class as are the Repugs.
Greed for ever more riches is common across the political spectrum, and until Establishment Democrats prove otherwise (allowing Bernie's plan to pass) they're posers, quite happy to let us plebes fight over social issues while they keep raking in the money do you not understand?
Dude, how ISN'T THIS agreeing with you about the problem of Big Money?*sheesh*
I pointed out that,
OD's many problems have been repeatedly brought to your attention. Name calling instead of addressing these issues is really pathetic.
You wrote,
You are the one(s) using dodges such as 4 to avoid discussion. You keep claiming it is me that is not engaging when it is you. Name calling seems to okay for everyone else here until it comes back at them.
I've read numerous criticisms of OD's shortcomings that you have utterly failed to address. You know, to engage with.
TELLING those of us (who bother to raise these issues in hopes of discussing them) things like I already addressed this -- go look it up and go look up Ralph Nader's Radio Hour. He mentions OD and I replied in the comments section, so yippee -- that makes me right! ISN'T WORKING. So either it's ALL OF US that are wrong (in which case, why do YOU bother?) or it's YOU (and why should WE bother?)
I type all of this out on a smartphone and I'll no longer take the trouble with you if you keep on shoveling out the same repetitive crap (trolling, that is) as to date.
Have a nice day and go fuck off until you get your act together.
[14]
Wow.
Covid isn't real?
Half a million needlessly dead Americans didn't happen?
Guess I need to know what you mean by Dempanic, then.
Getting back to this CW column,
Here's a Guardian article Democratic strategists are embracing ‘popularism’. But they’ve got it wrong which says,
A debate is raging about what type of policies Democrats should lead with. Simply following the polls is a flawed approach
This is worth everyone's time!
[14]
[16]
I mean, "Dempanic" is pretty funny. I just want to be sure (as the resident Conservative here) that you're 100% on board with the reality of Covid, that's all.
And I don't think "fumducker" is a typo. Kick is just being a Lady, that's all!
Cad [16]
Nobody said anything about covid not being real. It's one of a great number of respiratory, flu-like afflictions that humankind has had to deal with forever.
8000-plus people die every single day in the U.S. Not sure how many die "needlessly", or even how you define "needlessly". Somebody once observed that "the leading cause of death is birth", right? You don't get birthed, you don't die, you do get birthed and you DO die!
K, Stuck, just checking.
We can agree to disagree on whether Covid needlessly killed Americans or not, as We ALL die someday so it doesn't matter what Trump did is not persuasive.
K, Stuck, just checking.
We can agree to disagree on whether Covid needlessly killed Americans or not, as We ALL die someday so it doesn't matter what Trump did is not persuasive.
(Whoops)
Oooo heres another good one, from POLITICO,
Why It’s So Hard To Tax the Rich:
Everyone believes the wealthy should pay more in taxes. Here’s why that rarely happens — and why Democrats are blowing the most obvious way to do it.
C. R. Stucki
14
Yeah, I pretty much considered the whole plague thing to be a Dempanic from the git-go, and I've never seen anything to change my mind.
You have to have a mind in order to change it; therein lies your problem.
I presumed "pandemic" was a transpositional misprint, kinda on the same order as Kick's alias, 'fumducker'.
It is the hallmark of the brainless trolls on this forum to presume, fabricate, and just make shit up. You and Don are so predictable that we know what you're going to post before you even do it. #Pathetic
C. R. Stucki
19
8000-plus people die every single day in the U.S. Not sure how many die "needlessly", or even how you define "needlessly".
If you had a brain, you'd consult your dictionary for definitions of words like "needlessly"... although, that one is pretty much dumbed down already for normal people with functioning brain cells.
Somebody once observed that "the leading cause of death is birth", right? You don't get birthed, you don't die, you do get birthed and you DO die!
The leading cause of death in the United States is now COVID... needless death because stupid people knowingly downplayed its severity and lied to American citizens.
This bullshit that people die anyway every day ignores the severity of SARS-CoV-2 and the thousands of excess deaths in the United States due to COVID:
https://www.indexmundi.com/dashboards/us-deaths/
really interesting visuals. i'd be curious to see those same charts vs. 2018 and 2021, or possibly one long line graph spanning the 2 years pre-covid and the 2 years post-covid.