The Politics Thread

[Vee]

A pretty fair thread, IMO. 

 

[marceline]

 

It's not the fault of Democrats that this country is full of racists, sexists, and people who are happy to embrace authoritarianism. It's time for people to realize that the electorate is the problem. There isn't some magic formula that Democrats have to use that will reverse what these people want for this country. A lot of people in this country want a white nationalist country and want authoritarianism. They don't want democracy. The don't want to share this country with the rest of us. That isn't about Democratic messaging it's about the electorate. Blaming Democrats for "letting it get this close" is just another way of trying to fool ourselves. Millions of people in this country hate us and would happily kill us all if they could get away with it.

[Vee]

 

 

I have begun to think we'll take everything but NC.

[Khan]

 

Well, for starters, it'd be nice if the Democratic Party were to renounce not just the far-left progressive types who arose in the wake of Bernie's so-called revolution and co-opted our party for their own grift, but strike any and all elements of their pie-in-the-sky agenda from our platform as well.  The right and far-right insist that we are hellbent on turning this country into a socialist nation -- which is so not true, but hard to argue down when we keep setting places for, say, AOC and the rest of the "squad" at our table.  I mean, right here in Oklahoma, all Stephanie Bice had to do was say Kendra Horn was BFF's with AOC (and with Nancy Pelosi, another highly-profiled Democrat who might be doing us more harm than good the longer she stays near the front of the line) and it was lights out for the first Democratic senator my state has had since God knows when.

Edited November 4, 2020 by Khan

[Faulkner]

 

[Khan]

FFS, would someone PLEASE put the Edit button back where it was?

Edited November 4, 2020 by Khan

[marceline]

 

We did. That's what happened when we nominated Biden. When Biden kept saying "I beat the socialist" that's what he was doing. The Berners are losing their minds today because the truth is they wanted us to lose. BTW, when people talk about Trump getting more votes now that he did in 2016 don't discount how many of those might've come from far-lefties wanting revenge for being rejected.

[Fevuh]

This.  I'm a Democrat but I could not take the Bernsters.  I'm sorry, but I paid for my college tuition by working and scholarships.  I know if I take out a loan, I have to pay it back and I did.  I know people who sent their kids off to college to places they really really could not afford.  That is not my responsibility to come with a bailout plan.  It's a debt.  Pay it back.  These pie in the skies ideas of his to have "free" college were never going to happen.  How many years did it take to get a national healthcare plan and now the Right is bent on dismantling it.  No way we're going to have free college.  And I've gotten into arguments with WAY far Left people who say - well, the more EDUCATION that people get the more likely they're going to be DEMOCRAT!  I'm like, UH.  I get the reasoning, but not really.  I know plenty of Republicans who were very well educated and are racist, dumb, and can't find the United States on a map and think Obama was born in Kenya.  

[Khan]

 

If that's so, then why do you have people on the right who keep insisting that he (and Kamala) are socialists, no matter how much or how often we keep insisting they're not?  Because, we aren't doing enough (IMO) to repudiate the far-left.  We keep letting them inside, in the name of bringing everyone under the same tent, instead of barring the [!@#$%^&*] doors against them.  We need to make it clear, or clearer, that their brand of progressive activism has no place in EITHER party, or we're gonna keep having close elections with razor-thin margins such as this one.

[Vee]

She's right about this clip.

 

 

[DRW50]

Leftists are right about a few things, one of them being that it doesn't matter how moderate a Democrat claims to be, many will still see them as a socialist. That doesn't mean I think Bernie was a better choice than Biden (I think Biden was one of the very, very, very few Democrats who could have won against Trump [if he wins]), but in places like Staten Island, Oklahoma, South Carolina, rural districts of Minnesota, etc. it wouldn't have mattered if Zombie Reagan was the House Speaker. There are some places that were going to be difficult to hold in an election year, especially against a figure like Trump who is beloved by many in these areas. I do think House Democrats bought into their own polling too much and got too overconfident, which, again, Biden's campaign people never did. 

 

Another thing I find myself agreeing with more and more with some on the left about is the establishment Democrats who are addicted to being in tears over how powerless they are. I cringed all the way through a long tweet thread a little while ago with Paul Krugman basically going on about how Biden winning was meaningless. So many people sacrificed their money, their time, their mental health, and potentially their lives to make this happen. That type of talk, especially from privileged people, makes me just say kiss my ass. 

Edited November 4, 2020 by DRW50

[Vee]

It's far from meaningless when you remember what Biden can and will do about ICE and those children in cages on Day One. Day. One. So yeah, agreed, folks can miss me with that talk.

 

But I think AOC's clip above from last year is the core of the issue and always has been. And she's right, and I've said it before: The work is ahead of us, and it always was.

 

Meanwhile, in the bunker:

 

 

[marceline]

 

We can't control what the right calls us. We can only keep pointing out that it's not true. The problem is that the left keeps sabotaging us and the right will always use that. You can't keep blaming our side for the fact that Republicans want to kill us and that the socialists want to help them.

[DRW50]

dp sorry

Edited November 4, 2020 by DRW50

[marceline]

 

AOC is not here to help. She's here to sabotage. She talks a good game but she will ALWAYS do what is most harmful to the Democratic party. That's her default setting. She doesn't really want to do her job. She just likes the spotlight. Frankly I'm looking forward to when she loses her district.

 

That said, it did hit me today that now we can get those kids out of cages.