The 2022 Midterms

[lizkat]

So the midterms are practically upon us, and the Rs are already cautioning that if they lose, it will only be due to their bogeyman special: a nonexistent "lack of integrity" of our electoral processes.

Meanwhile in the great state of Ohio, the Republicans have managed to create a situation where the midterms will be voted upon from within new congressional district mappings that have TWICE been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the state of Ohio.

Ohio is about to hold elections for unconstitutional congressional and legislative districts. Here’s how it happened

This year, Ohio voters will elect candidates to Congress and the state legislature using redistricting maps that have twice been found unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court.

www.cleveland.com

As it turns out, that court, unlike in many other states, is limited on congressional redistricting questions to picking one or another of the proffered maps, and may NOT impose a map drawn by a court-appointed special master.

So the majority-R panel drawn up to make districts fair under the 2020 census proposed some maps that not suprisingly favored Republicans.

Objections were taken to court, and twice the (majority Republican!) state supreme court said yeah these maps are unconstitutional, try something else.

Deadlock situation...

OK so finally some Republicans said ok let's take it up to the feds because national elections are about to occur and we don't have legal districts. This move was made even though it's the state that manages most questions about elections.

The federal district court said look, get real, either pick one of these maps "just for 2022" or draw one up that can pass muster in your own state supreme court's opinion. And they gave a deadline, after which they said they would in fact pick one of the "just for 2022" maps... because what else could they do except to ensure that voters in the state of Ohio would in fact even be able to exercise their right to vote for representation in the US House and US Senate.

The Republican majority on the maps panel of course declined to draw up another map --why should they?, since both of the previous options favored them-- and so when the deadline passed, the federal court panel (including two picks by Trump) made good on its initial instruction and picked a map to use "just for 2022," noting that it was "the best of our bad options."

Slick, huh? And this is BEFORE the vote, and BEFORE the Rs whine about fradulent voting in any cases where gerrymandering failed and they are actually looking at having to contest Dem wins...

 

[Nycturne]

It’s been said before, but it must be said again… it was only 18 years ago when this was enough to tank your campaign…

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1577118888361611264/

I can’t forget. I was caucusing that year in the Democratic primary in WA. In support of Dean.

We hadn’t gotten to the state level caucus yet when this happened.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Tim Ryan’s Alpha Maneuver - The Bulwark

It’s an interesting strategy. Trumpism voters want to vote for a strongman. Remind these voters that many of these candidates and representatives at some point got humiliated by Trump and then came crawling to him with their tail tucked beneath their legs. They probably won’t analyze it much beyond that, but they’d probably have zero respect for anybody who did that outside the political world. It’s like begging the guy who slept with your wife to be your best friend. Sad.

 

[GermanSuplex]

I can’t forget. I was caucusing that year in the Democratic primary in WA. In support of Dean.

We hadn’t gotten to the state level caucus yet when this happened.

Great story!

It's hard to look back at things and wonder why they turned out why they turned out. Dean was a perfectly suitable candidate. He was trying to save face after a loss in Iowa. To be fair, it was seen as more comedic than any true wrongdoing. But still... it was indicative of the level you had to perform at when you were running for higher office.

The days of owning up to gaffes or recovering are over. People just lean into things. Trump has turned it into an art form that other people are following.

Hell, Kerry's big thorn was his service. The right desperately wanted him to not be what he claimed. Funnily enough, they turned around and nominated McCain 4 years later, and in 2016 and beyond, they themselves worked to discredit McCain, not for any perceived political benefit, just in honor to Trump - who actually lied about his health to avoid the draft.

Conservative logic is something else. How we can go from "The Dean Scream" to a draft-dodging, lying, egomaniac who says more career-ending things on a daily basis than all others before him combined is quite the leap to take in just a couple of decades.

 

[Nycturne]

It's hard to look back at things and wonder why they turned out why they turned out. Dean was a perfectly suitable candidate. He was trying to save face after a loss in Iowa. To be fair, it was seen as more comedic than any true wrongdoing. But still... it was indicative of the level you had to perform at when you were running for higher office.

I was wondering why the scream, which I totally remember was about trying to pump up the crowd after the early primary loss, was disqualifying even then.

Anyhow while things change, some things stay the same. The rhetoric during caucusing was that “we” needed a moderate candidate that could pull the center away from Bush and that we should lean into Kerry.

Even in 2020 there was so much talk about trying to cater to the center. Despite the fact that it’s getting Dems to turn out that is the general issue with winning national elections.

 

[Herdfan]

I was wondering why the scream, which I totally remember was about trying to pump up the crowd after the early primary loss, was disqualifying even then.

I never really understood that either. He was as you said, just trying to pump up the crowd.

Even in 2020 there was so much talk about trying to cater to the center. Despite the fact that it’s getting Dems to turn out that is the general issue with winning national elections.

You need the independents/moderates to win a national election. Run right/left in the primaries and then return to the center in the general has been the strategy as long as I can remember. Some people can pull it off, some can't.

 

[GermanSuplex]

Problem is, some people have gone from “Trump won, 2020 was a rigged and stolen election and Biden is an illegitimate president!” to “Nah, Biden is president, the election is over.”in a couple of weeks.

That is a shift more than one Republican has taken, and it’s a lot different than trying to be wishy-washy during the primaries and general. It’s a total 180 that exposes you as a liar, because you were either lying the last two years, or you’re lying now.

I don’t have much any negative towards Gabbard outside of politics beliefs, but I’m certainly not hoping she comes out of relative obscurity either.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

California resident here. At this point in history I would never vote for a Republican for governor and certainly not secretary of state, but I am open to voting for one when it comes to anything dealing with taxes or the budget. Our high taxes and cost of living are well known. The Democrat candidate statements kind of read like platitudes because, well, we’ve seen your history. There was nothing really insane said by the Republican candidates. One pointed out the massive unemployment insurance fraud during covid but that’s hardly just a CA problem or something the CA government encouraged. Of course being a Republican he didn’t also mention the massive covid related business fraud. Their budget and fraud hawkishness is always laser focused on those at the bottom.

CA officials absolutely refuse to reduce our insanely high gas tax. So they are sending out “inflation relief” checks based on basically the same prerequisites as the covid checks. Call it what they want but everybody’s mind is on the high gas prices. These checks will be going to people who don’t have cars, drive EVs, or don’t drive much. Sure, you can say it helps with the high cost of food but it’s not like people with long commutes don’t eat. Like our current sociopath federal reserve this is much too blunt of a tool.

We had a massive budget surplus this last year and because of that by law they gave some of it back to us. That’s nice and all, but Newsom ran on some kind of statewide medicare for all platform which he quickly and corruptly abandoned once in office. “We can’t afford it” is usually the reason given by politicians regardless of party. You can’t both have a massive budget surplus and claim we can’t afford things. The medicare for all example is just the most obvious. I’m sure there are many other projects we supposedly can’t afford while having a massive budget surplus.

One interesting proposition on the ballot is giving schools more money for the arts. The most interesting part is going over the brief explanation, what the pros and cons are, and who is for or against it. For this proposition it said there are no downsides and nobody is against it.

 

[GermanSuplex]

I probably shouldn’t, but I feel somewhat bad for Walker. He’s not all there.

Herschel Walker Flashes Seemingly Bogus Badge at GA Debate

Herschel Walker showed up to his Georgia Senate debate Friday, expecting barbs from his opponent, incumbent Raphael Warnock ... but ended up getting a scolding from the debate's moderator for intentionally breaking the rules with a seemingly bogus badge.

www.tmz.com

 

[lizkat]

Philadelphia Inquirer columnist took a look at research into who's behind the revolting political ads that ran during the baseball playoffs involving the Phillies. Guy notes that these ads made the infamous Willie Horton ad during the 1988 Bush père campaign against Dukakis look moderate, although at the time it was so shocking that it only ran one time, not least because Republicans found it too offensive.. These ads ran continuously during daytime baseball games with kids likely watching.

Who’s behind those vile, right-wing political TV ads during the baseball playoffs? | Will Bunch

Fans enjoying Phillies playoff games have been jarred by violent, vile political ads from Citizens for Sanity. Here's who's behind them.

www.inquirer.com

The required tagline lists the sponsor as a new group calling itself Citizens for Sanity. On one level, thanks to some excellent research by the campaign-finance watchdog Open Secrets, we know a lot about who these Citizens for Sanity are: the very worst, xenophobic remnants of Team Trump, offering America not just a new low for the 2022 midterms but a sneak preview of the nightmare that the 45th president’s 2024 comeback crusade is likely to be.

You won’t be shocked to learn that the ads are deliberately dishonest, conflating Democratic immigration policies, for example, with the horrific case of one undocumented immigrant named Christopher Puente accused of raping a toddler at a fast-food restaurant in Chicago (”She was 3 ... years ... old,” the narrator intones, milking the pathos). What’s not said is that the alleged assault occurred in February 2020, more than three years into the presidency of Republican Donald Trump, well before Biden took office.

That’s appalling, but that’s not what’s most upsetting about these ads, which, according to social media, have been broadcast nationally during the baseball telecasts on Fox Sports 1. There is absolutely no filter of jarring and often violent imagery, the racist overtones and the xenophobic innuendo, and the unrelenting darkness of the “American carnage” vibe. No one cares that this is afternoon baseball and little girls and boys are watching. This is America now.

Open Secrets reports a close overlap between the trustees of Citizens for Sanity — as identified to the Federal Communications Commission, or FCC — and the pro-Trump America First Legal Foundation, which is spearheaded by Stephen Miller, the former Trump White House official behind harsh immigration policies such as family separation at the southern border.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

The MAGAtards in Georgia have a bit of a conundrum in the gubernatorial race. In one corner they have a Democrat. Fuck! In the other they have Kemp who refused to help Trump steal the election. FUCK! Why does The Lord test these people? It’s hard enough they have to be ever vigilante living only 1,300 miles from the Mexican border.

 

[Eric]

Just my .02 but with an almost certain recession coming next year Democrats being the party out of power will only benefit them in 2024, we should probably play the long game here. In the end we know one party or the other isn't necessarily responsible but the party in power will certainly be held accountable either way.

 

[lizkat]

Just my .02 but with an almost certain recession coming next year Democrats being the party out of power will only benefit them in 2024, we should probably play the long game here. In the end we know one party or the other isn't necessarily responsible but the party in power will certainly be held accountable either way.

We darn well better hang onto the Senate... and not try to ditch the filibuster either. We might need the Rs to have to round up the extra votes if they take the House now and THEN the Senate on coattails of the Rs' prez ticket in 2024, if the Dems can't keep the WH in that race. Man it's my worst nightmare that we lose the House in 2022 and then both the WH and Senate in 2024.

I have no idea who will run for the GOP but think it won't be Trump. In my wildest dreams there's a strong mini-Trump voice at top of the Rs' ticket after GOP primaries but it splits the conservatives and someone like McMullin will go for it (esp. if Biden runs again) and chance a serious 3rd party go the way Perot did in 1992.

McMullin is fully aware of the fissures in the Democratic party and that progressives like myself came close to voting 3rd party in 2016, some holding back only because the thought of "helping elect Trump" by splitting the Dem vote was such a powerful disincentive.

If Trump is not in the 2024 picture and the Rs' candidate is too far to the right to be considered acceptable to even blue dog dems, some indies leaning center left and very left might both flee for a center right 3rd party guy like McMullin... as a protest vote they'd settle for as President, assuming the Senate stayed blue to weaken overall conservative influence on governance.

I think I would not like to see that scenario happen, mostly because of the risk if Ds lose the Senate, but otherwise honestly if the Dems can't remember how to be effectively progressive after all this time of slipping to the right when it comes to putting money where mouth is, what's wrong with voting for a center right guy who SAYS he is center right. Maybe he can be moved while in office, and not to the right, either. You never know. He's a thoughtful person. David Souter was just a thoughtful person too, and drifted to the left over the years as he thought his way through SCOTUS appeals.

 

[Herdfan]

We darn well better hang onto the Senate... and not try to ditch the filibuster either.

Yes and no.

At this point, I am all ready for the Dems to get 52 and ditch it. With the GOP controlling the House, it will mean nothing for the next 2 years. But at some point (hopefully 2024) the GOP will be back in control and with no filibuster, look out.

@lizkat, I know you see what could happen if the Dems ditch it, but sooooooo many in your party and even on here, simply don't. So I am all for giving them another taste of that particular apple.

I have no idea who will run for the GOP but think it won't be Trump. In my wildest dreams there's a strong mini-Trump voice at top of the Rs' ticket after GOP primaries but it splits the conservatives and someone like McMullin will go for it (esp. if Biden runs again) and chance a serious 3rd party go the way Perot did in 1992.

I have to think it will be DeSantis. Pair him with Kari Lake and watch out. The media won't know what hit them.

 

[lizkat]

Taking these in inverse order 'cuz the last one gets a swift kick from me lol.

I have to think it will be DeSantis. Pair him with Kari Lake and watch out. The media won't know what hit them.

Ugh. You could be right but Lake, really? They need to put DeSantis with someone who has half a chance of hauling in some indies and suburban women. I don't think she's the one for that. Women are getting more than hip to the destructive social and economic policies (in practice, regardless of how they get bullet-pointed) of the Republicans. They might go for DeSantis if they're pro-Trump now, but putting him and Lake on same ticket makes the ambience pretty RW. If they go with DeSantis then probably need someone who can sound a little more moderate. But they may have driven most of those from the GOP. Too bad because they can't win with just pro-Trump potential voters, they need to haul in some indies and conservative Dems.

On to the Senate and the filibuster...

I know you see what could happen if the Dems ditch it, but sooooooo many in your party and even on here, simply don't.

Yeah and I don't get why more Dems DON'T get it. A lot of us don't look past the (understandable) anger over having low-population states' Senate votes effectively weighted more than the populous ones when it comes to "will of the people". There IS more to the Senate than that, by design, and more to the filibuster as well.

I know some Dems argue that the "deliberative" function of the Senate is long gone because of all the hyperpartisan considerations now. But I think the slower pace of the Senate and the gathering of a consensus and a bipartisan vote on key issues is still important, and it doesn't happen so often in the House. The House reps are more the voice of the people --but often via intraparty caucus concerns-- whereas the Senate, at least by intention and sometimes still in practice, takes more a regional and sometimes national view.

It may not really be more deliberative, but the Senate is more conscious of its few numbers having national import as they consider their party, region, state's take on an issue. In the House it's often been more heat of moment and focused on the scrum over some amendment and the "gotcha!" that comes with the vote tallies.

House: You were for or against all those amendments, but we still killed the final bill. Gotcha!

Senate: our cities can't survive without better infrastructure but we can't afford THAT outlay.

Those are two completely different ways of looking at a same issue, and the way the chamber leaders bring their cats around to the votes are different too. More consultation and trading on the Senate side, more plain party discipline (or, waivers) in the House.

Of course K street has its ways of shoving its weight around in both chambers, and in a way, that may be even more of an argument for retaining the filibuster. K street has to work with that higher bar of sixty votes too. Either party can rue or celebrate that challenge over the years...

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Just my .02 but with an almost certain recession coming next year Democrats being the party out of power will only benefit them in 2024, we should probably play the long game here. In the end we know one party or the other isn't necessarily responsible but the party in power will certainly be held accountable either way.

On some level I'd welcome the opportunity for the Republicans to Liz Truss their party and I honestly don't see them doing anything other than that. At some point, sooner than later, people even on that side will wake up and realize you can't culture war or border wall yourself into a better economic reality.

But at the same time there are those who believe based on historical data that the only way for our current economic system to survive is to switch to authoritarianism. And by "survive" I don't mean a better outcome for more people. Fuck no. I mean those with the wealth will be a lot less shadowy about their control of the government and dictating the reality of the masses.

 

[rdrr]

This right here is a sad indication where the country is heading. The knuckle-dragging right is so hell bent on winning that they will actually vote for this guy.

GOP candidate arrested for masturbating by school might still win election

After reports of his arrest, candidate Randy Kaufman announced he was withdrawing from the race but it is too late for his name to be removed from the ballot.

www.newsweek.com

Where is the morals of the GOP?

 

[Joe]

Yes and no.

At this point, I am all ready for the Dems to get 52 and ditch it. With the GOP controlling the House, it will mean nothing for the next 2 years. But at some point (hopefully 2024) the GOP will be back in control and with no filibuster, look out.

@lizkat, I know you see what could happen if the Dems ditch it, but sooooooo many in your party and even on here, simply don't. So I am all for giving them another taste of that particular apple.





I have to think it will be DeSantis. Pair him with Kari Lake and watch out. The media won't know what hit them.

You sound excited for fascism.

 

[Citysnaps]

Where is the morals of the GOP?

That was my question when they elected a president who spastically mocked a respected NYT journalist suffering from a cerebral palsy-like disease, during a primary campaign stop back in 2015.

 

[Joe]

This right here is a sad indication where the country is heading. The knuckle-dragging right is so hell bent on winning that they will actually vote for this guy.

GOP candidate arrested for masturbating by school might still win election

After reports of his arrest, candidate Randy Kaufman announced he was withdrawing from the race but it is too late for his name to be removed from the ballot.

www.newsweek.com

Where is the morals of the GOP?

They.Do.Not.Care

The only thing they care about is power and white supremacy. They're scared shitless because white people are becoming the minority and are doing everything in their power to stay in power. They will still vote for this man caught masturbating by a school because to them it's worth it to maintain power and white supremacy. Even though they call gay people groomers they will still vote for an actual person caught jacking off by their children....because they just care about that power.

Republicans will destroy this country before giving up power and they are currently doing that. The same people that filled swimming pools with cement instead of sharing them with black people will destroy this country before giving up power. We have 1 maybe 2 elections before democracy is dead in this country all because of the Supreme Court and politicians that republicans have put in office.

Y'all sit here playing wordle with a fascist and then wonder why republicans run all over you. Couldn't be me.