Where Are We Runnin’? - American Politics Thread, May 2022

I think it's authentically good news that Trump's hand-picked election stealers got stomped in Georgia GOP primaries for gov and sec of state

^ this ... I'm thrilled that my creepy ex-congressman Jody Hice left his safe seat to get thumped by Raffensperger in the secretary of state race

Herschel Walker was always a lock to win the GOP primary, but I don't think he's going to be an effective candidate against Warnock in the general ... Herschel rallied here in Athens on Monday, with the living mummy of Vince Dooley speaking, and apparently less than 100 people showed up

lmao: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/25/trump-expressed-support-hanging-pence-capitol-riot-jan-6-00035117

Beto doubling down on running for statewide office in Texas with gun control front and center is the exact opposite of any consultant-approved "popularist" approach to electoral politics so let's see how it goes for the dude

Idealist take: He really means it and Texas voters are more open than you think to hearing that message to someone who conveys it with authenticity
Cynical take: He knows he's gonna lose but it's a good career/financial move to become a highly popular option for out-of-state donors a la Randy Bryce or Amy McGrath (though he obviously has a better shot than McGrath ever did)

Beto caved on 'critical race theory' immediately so I tend to think it's genuine (buoyed by the knowledge that he's going to lose by 20 so fuck it let's be legends etc., no need for triangulation on such a core issue to Democratic voters)

it'll be good to have a dem in a high profile race in a red state who isn't afraid to speak out on this issue. he'll get fawning media coverage, which might influence other attention whores to follow his lead!

Maybe Beto won't win but if he fires up the Democratic base it could lead to Paxton losing the AG race

I think it's authentically good news that Trump's hand-picked election stealers got stomped in Georgia GOP primaries for gov and sec of state

― Guayaquil (eephus!)

it's definitely good news. i wonder how much of it has to do with the attention put on trump's blatant tampering in the GA election results? (one of those millions of things he very obviously did that somehow never resulted in any sort of negative consequence for him) if that's the case, it's a good sign that when voters learn that their elected officials can tamper with results and are in fact being asked to do so by the president, they are still capable of identifying someone who is very obvious corrupt and not voting for them.

after years and years of lowering the bar for republican voters, it's good to see the GA voters did the right thing. i just worry about all of the other "stop the steal" elections taking place all over the country, almost all in places that didn't have such high-profile shenanigans as GA. stuff like this:

This is happening tomorrow: the election commission in Wisconsin is voting on its new chair, and it may end up being a Trump fake elector, who’d then oversee 2022 and the lead-up to 2024 https://t.co/XfE0oyD7gH

— Taniel (@Taniel) May 24, 2022

trenchant, maybe, but not inaccurate

I don't think congressional Democrats understand that voters see them as the cops standing around outside the school.

— Jonathan Larsen (@jtlarsen) May 26, 2022

If we can get 52 cops instead of 50, we might be able to really do something

nah, wait for 60 cops

NEW at @CookPolitical: 12 House rating changes, all but two in Republicans' direction. Full analysis: https://t.co/Fkh8IivsZD pic.twitter.com/i29BwrmCLA

— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) May 26, 2022

NEW at @CookPolitical: we're revising our November House outlook to a GOP gain of 20-35 seats. Full ratings: https://t.co/mAdCOtLpRZ pic.twitter.com/BxLPfP8FYO

— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) May 26, 2022

20-35 seat swing toward the GOP is expected. currently it's 225 Democrats, 210 Republicans. a 20 seat swing puts it at 205D-23R, a 35 seat swing bings it to 190D - 245R.

a lot can change between now and november. but it also requires any sort of confidence in the democratic party, which (from my perspective) has just completely disappeared

I'm going to canvass the first Saturday of June. I'll see if I get spit on.

Someday before we all die I hope we all get to vote for a party that is not the Democrats, is not the Republicans, and that this new party wins

curious though, what is the message the Dems are giving you alfred? for door knocking purposes?

I'm curious too!

is it freestyle? I'm pretttttty sure you could come up with a better message and be more persuasive than whatever the Democratic party leadership is going to come up with

I assume we'll get our scripts next week. I may bring a thermos with pre-mixed Negronis.

Someday before we all die I hope we all get to vote for a party that is not the Democrats, is not the Republicans, and that this new party wins

― Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Thursday, May 26, 2022 11:33 AM (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Glad to have you on board!

https://i0.wp.com/ctnewsjunkie.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/johnmertens_475_259_99.jpg?resize=475%2C259&ssl=1

There's a man caught with his pants down and Joe Lieberman on his knees.

my limited edition exclusive campaign t-shirt is free for the next 7 months

https://i.imgur.com/7XwvxJ3.jpg

lmao

yes!

another option is to get it on a coffee mug. you don't even have to say anything when you knock on the door. just stand there holding this cup, sipping secret negronis from a bendy straw

https://i.imgur.com/086jK2G.png

the donkey doesn't even have the decency to wear a firefighting hat smh

Ron Johnson, the honorable senator from Florida Wisconsin, doesn't actually dispute anything in this story, just calls it an "attack" and then posts a link to the whole damning report. Wotta genius dipshit.

This isn't journalism, it’s advocacy.

It is a fully coordinated attack by the Dem Party and their allies in the media.

When the truth isn't on their side, Dems and MSM media lie, distort, and engage in the politics of personal destruction.

Wisconsin and America deserve better. pic.twitter.com/ZSB2rzRPmG

— Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) May 26, 2022

pic.twitter.com/ETvKkj5d6S

— Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) May 26, 2022

I dunno man it sure seems like Sen. Ron Johnson uses tax dollars to travel between Florida family home and the U.S. Capitol

— 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫-𝐦𝐚𝐲𝐬 (@importantmeagan) May 26, 2022

People have been saying that. Including Sen. Ron Johnson, who I’ve heard uses tax dollars to travel between Florida family home and the U.S. Capitol.

— Chloe D (@chloedeeee) May 26, 2022

cannot fucking believe my state elected that dumb asshole. dude's even dumber and more corrupt than Scott Walker.

i can believe it

GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky criticized the domestic terrorism bill in a floor speech Thursday ahead of the vote.

"Today we will have a bill before us ostensibly titled and ostensibly about the subject of domestic terrorism. But this bill would be more accurately called the Democrat plan to brand and insult our police and soldiers as White supremacists and neo-Nazis -- how insulting," he said.

yeah but what if the cop IS a white supremacist?

Some Of Those That Work Forces Act of 2022

I hate Ron Johnson as much as the next guy, but not seeing the scandal here. If I’m reading that report right he’s only been reimbursed for travel FROM Florida, which is provided for by ethics rules as long as it doesn’t cost more than flying from home. I mean assuming he’d be in Wisconsin otherwise he’s probably actually saving taxpayer money by coming in from Florida? Sure he’s rich enough to be paying his own way, but do wealthy Democrats pay for their own travel to DC? (Would be very happy to be shown that my thinking is wrong here btw.)

lol well I guess he realized he was getting ratioed for posting the link, he deleted it.

Wisconsin and America deserve better than Ron Johnson, he's actually right about that.

And yeah it may not be much of a scandal, but it's useful information. There are places where jetting into work from your Florida home might not be what people want in a senator.

biden blows a layup

does not support any investigation of why the police sucked so badly, again, in Uvalde. supports giving cops a hug and complimenting them instead.

listen, the cops have been good to joe and that's number one. number two is that democratic leadership is ageist and purposefully excludes people under the age of 40

really excludes people not at least 5-0

You don’t really get an opportunity to be a junior/apprentice partner in today’s Democratic Party until you are at least 60

But that’s ok because they definitely have the finger on the pulse of younger people. It’s like a mind meld, very impressive

When the Roe draft leak surfaced, I donated $30 to the DNC

I now received about 10-12 emails a day... from Gabby Gifford, from Warnock, Biden & Harris, etc.. "Andy - I'm asking you to DIG DEEP" etc. I guess I asked for it but I do wish there was a way I could donate $30 in dark money anonymously

maybe crypto is the answer

The begging emails are an endless river of manufactured crises and synthetic deadlines. I usually delete 'em as fast as they arrive.

I used to get a half dozen a day from the Trumpoids, but I haven’t heard from them in months. I guess if they start up again, I’ll believe he’s running in 2024.

The utter failure of this country has become so clear in the last few weeks. Taken in toto it's all so surreal. Obama wins twice in a landslide, but can't pick a Supreme Court justice because Mitch McConnell directs the GOP to stonewall everything he does, including his very moderate SC nominee. The gambit pays off when a famous con man and game show host wins the presidency in 2016, an outcome that only happened because the FBI broke all precedent and put their thumb on the scale at the 11th hour, not to mention the fact that he got 3 million less votes than his opponent. This person, through sheer luck, nominates three justices, who proceed to overturn Roe, despite the fact that A) doing so is massively unpopular and B) they all stated very clearly UNDER OATH that they wouldn't try to do it.

Meanwhile, a kid turns 18, and proceeds to buy two AR-15s, a semiautomatic weapon so powerful that it is not even used in literal war zones. He can do this because the Republican Party has pushed nonstop for lax gun laws, despite the overwhelming majority of this country supporting several gun control measures. He uses these guns to massacre 18 kids and a teacher, while the cops stand outside and do nothing, other than handcuff and threaten the parents. "Thoughts and prayers" aside, the GOP response has been to suggest arming the teachers, to turn the schools into fire hazards, and to, uh...get really mad at Beto O'Rourke.

Despite all of this, the Republicans are overwhelming favorites to take back the House and possibly the Senate later this year. It also seems widely accepted that Trump will run and win again in 2024, even though his last act as President was to direct his supporters to violently storm the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the election and possibly murder the Vice President & Speaker of the House.

Do I have that all right? How the hell can we expect to have any semblance of a functioning "democracy" in 10 years?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Or0cXIBBf9s

This person, through sheer luck, nominates three justices

I still harbor doubts that sheer luck had anything to do with him getting to replace Kennedy.

How the hell can we expect to have any semblance of a functioning "democracy" in 10 years?

I no longer harbor this expectation.