The Politics Thread

[Vee]

[Roman]

newspapers in Georgia are telling Abrams' campaign that she is now embarrassing herself by refusing to concede.....the same state that fought for slavery. 

[Khan]

 

If I know black women, this is the point where we all need to run for cover.

 

Am I wrong for wishing Floridians would be prohibited from all future voting?  ("We'll send you your leaders -- and you'll like it!")

Edited November 10, 2018 by Khan

[DRW50]

It's not surprising, but it's frightening just how willing the GOP is to blatantly wade into any federal race that isn't going their way and now claim it's all rigged against them, and to stop the count or redo the count until they get the result they want. Even in Arizona, which hasn't even had the same reports of problems. They are trying to normalize even more power grabs. And the public, along with the media who hate America anyway, will go right along. 

 

I saw that Macron had spoken about needing an EU army to fight the US (along with Russia and China). This has been egged on by Trump, but the EU has been pushing this army idea for a number of years - it's one of many reasons the UK voted to leave, and it's just caused even more division. 

 

When I read this article about Macron's latest PR disasters I'm reminded of how similar he is to Trump, just in a more restrained, better-looking package. 

 

https://www.ft.com/content/a386762c-e37e-11e8-8e70-5e22a430c1ad

[Max]

 

If I lived in AZ,  I wouldn't have been able to vote for McSally simply because (1) she cozied up to Trump too much and (2) few instances would actually merit me voting for a Republican member of Congress so long as Trump as POTUS. (I would only have voted for a Republican Congressional candidate this cycle if the Democratic candidate were corrupt--e.g., Bob Menendez--or if the Republican candidate had a long track record of criticizing Trump.) That said, there's no way I could have ever voted for Sinema either. Her background is incredibly disturbing and is full of associations with far-left groups (even working with an anarchist group):

 

https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/12/politics/kfile-kyrsten-sinema-activist-past/index.html

 

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/kyrsten-sinema-in-2002-itd-be-inappropriate-to-condemn-destruction-of-property-by-anarchists

 

She also made an incredibly repugnant comment in which she basically stated that Arizona was the crazy state:

 

https://www.12news.com/article/news/local/arizona/new-recording-of-sinema-implying-arizona-produces-crazy/75-603482130

 

I know that Sinema has very cleverly branded herself has a moderate and has a center-left record as a Congresswoman. But I highly suspect that she did all this out of political necessity. (Back when Kristen Gillibrand represented a conservative Congressional District in Upstate NY, she also portrayed herself as a moderate. Of course, now that she's a U.S. Senator with presidential aspirations, she is a staunch liberal.) As Arizona continues to trend leftward--IMO, it's likely to become a Democratic state like Nevada and Colorado in the very near future, and it's also the state that Republicans are in most danger of losing in 2020--I fully expect Sinema to be far more liberal as a Senator than she was as a Congresswoman.

 

 

To echo something that you mentioned in the first paragraph of your post, John Ziegler (who's an anti-Trump conservative) recently tweeted that Trump's whole 2020 strategy is to appeal to 40% of the country and have their zealous support no matter what happens. And unfortunately, Ziegler also added that it's actually a very good strategy, given how polarized the country is.

 

Obviously, winning 40% percent of the vote won't be enough for Trump to win re-election. So in order to bring that number up to 46% (which would result in another popular vote loss but would be enough to prevail in the Electoral College), I fully expect Trump to run an even nastier campaign than he ran in 2016. He'll do whatever it takes to drive up the negative perceptions of the 2020 Democratic nominee, and he'll scare people who dislike him personally by presenting himself as the last line of defense for red state America.

Edited November 10, 2018 by Max

[DRW50]

 

I think she will be more liberal than she was as a Congresswoman (if she is elected) but probably still very cautious, especially since Arizona is not all that liberal a state. I think it is moving in a more moderate conservative direction (or maybe I should say moving back there as it seemed to be that type of state in Sandra Day O'Connor's era). I think that she was fortunate to run in the Trump era as even though Trump won Arizona in 2016 I don't get the impression that part of the US is hugely fond of him. 

 

Sinema has been criticized for years for putting on a mask for voters. Frankly I'm surprised it has worked, but Arizona is a unique state, and McSally doesn't seem especially likeable. 

 

One positive is that she has yet to join in with the pot-banging and hysteria about the election, to the anger of Trump and friends. Probably because she is hoping to just be appointed to McCain's seat when Jon Kyl leaves. 

 

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/09/sinema-mcsally-arizona-senate-race-982562

Edited November 10, 2018 by DRW50

[Max]

 

Carl, I agree that the reason why McSally isn't acting hysterical and making up all sorts of bogus accusations (like Rick Scott is currently doing) is most likely because she is hoping to be appointed to the McCain seat should Kyl decide to leave. And in the event that Kyl chooses to serve for another two years, McSally very much wants to run in 2020 (for the remainder of McCain's term), and looking like a sore loser would pretty much kill any hope she has of becoming a U.S. Senator.

 

On a different topic, there are definitely a lot of people who would disagree with my theory that Arizona will become a blue state in the near future. Certainly, one can point to the fact that John McCain won his last Senate race by 13% in 2016 and also to the fact that Governor Doug Ducey won re-election by 15 percentage points as evidence that Arizona is still favorable territory for Republicans. However, McCain was a deeply entrenched incumbent and Ducey had the huge benefit of running for re-election during a booming economy. By contrast, a very ominous sign for Republicans is that Trump won AZ by a paltry 3.55%, which was the worst showing any GOP presidential nominee had in AZ since Bob Dole in 1996. And with Trump and the GOP doing all they can to antagonize Latino voters, I don't see how Arizona doesn't continue to trend Democratic.

Edited November 10, 2018 by Max

[DRW50]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/07/us/politics/democrats-republicans-house.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share

 

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/11/09/democratic-republican-majority-house-election-2018-222400

 

Two post-election looks. 

[Khan]

From the NYT article:

 

In a presentation compiled for the PAC in the summer of 2017 by the Democratic polling firm Normington Petts, party strategists delivered an unambiguous assessment: “The strongest policies for a Democratic candidate are almost entirely economically focused.”
 

In other words, to quote old Bill Clinton, "It's the economy, stupid."

[alphanguy74]

What Bernie said is being misrepresented... in this video, you can hear his full comments, and honest analysis on the interview. 

 

 

[DramatistDreamer]

Were Bernie's quotes about low information Southern black voters also a misrepresentation?  He has built up a solid history of statements and gestures to show him to be dismissive of the issues that are of concern to marginalized groups, particularly those of color and women.  Bye to him!

 

Anyhoo,  looka here...but am I surprised that HRC would get raked over the coals for something that like many other men have done and likely continue to do?  Absolutely not.

 

[Khan]

 

Me neither!  Moreover, people want to LOCK! HER! UP! for her damn emails, but if she'd been black, they probably would've lynched her ass by now.

 

No, I'm not surprised to hear this about Comey.  He tried his best to rehabilitate his image after he had helped Trump win (even if he will never admit to doing as much), but I didn't fall for it.  There was no good excuse for dredging up her emails one more time right before the election.  None.  

 

And now, this.  Just proves that karma always gets her man.  So, like you say, bye to him!

Edited November 10, 2018 by Khan

[marceline]

The whole "but her emails" thing was the culmination of 30 years of Clinton hate being mainstreamed into our culture. We now have an entire generation of people  including journalists who have never known a world without the Clintons being accused of and blamed for everything from murder to mass incarceration. A whole industry was built around hating the Clintons. People like Mark Halperin and Maureen Dowd owe their careers to Clinton hate.

 

Look at the abuse Chelsea Clinton gets. She's never done anything to deserve it. She's been attacked from time she was a little girl. Grown men like John McCain and Rush Limbaugh attacked her looks when she was little more than a tween.

[Vee]

[alphanguy74]

They did it with Amy Carter, too.. I don't know how that became acceptable in mainstream society.