Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

“Cheese and Kraken paired together for the appetizer trial.”

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

Bogus polls are all they’ve got left. Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls a year from now.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

Chutkan laughs. Lauro sits back down.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

The Supreme Court is corrupt. Democrats must win in November and force court reform.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Democrats have delivered the Square Deal, the New Deal, the Fair Deal, and now… the Big Joe Biden Deal.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

Russia bombs Ukraine’s maternity hospitals; Republicans in the House can’t sort out supporting Ukraine.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2018 / Late Night Open Thread: There Will Be A Reckoning

Late Night Open Thread: There Will Be A Reckoning

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The original poem was written by a pacifist at the height of the Civil War. Many decent people, at that point, despaired the survival of the American experiment — but they didn’t stop fighting.

Reader Interactions

49Comments

  1. 1.

    Jerzy Russian

    I think Martin said earlier that the 4 fuckheads from the Orange County area are all behind in the polls. It would be good to see that car thief Issa out of Congress, among others.

  2. 2.

    Trentrunner

    Will there be a reckoning?

    You can’t get people HERE to agree that Al Franken should resign (effective officially January 2).

    I’m 100% convinced that Dems can definitely still screw this up.

    After all, we screwed up 2016, didn’t we?

  4. 4.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    I’ll reiterate, unemployment is at 4.1%, inflation is at 2.2%, prime interest rate is 3.75%

    Those numbers aren’t going to get discernibly better.

    It only gets worse from here.

  7. 7.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Drumpf’s numbers are in the low 30s.

    Imagine what they would be if he faced a critical media or a crisis or high unemployment.

  9. 9.

    Yarrow

    And let nobody go unchallenged. None of their seats are safe

    I saw this segment on CNN where Don Lemon interviews Beto O’Rourke who is running for Senate in Texas against Ted Cruz. One point O’Rourke makes is that for the first time in 25 years all 36 congressional districts in Texas have a Democratic challenger. I think data like that hasn’t yet broken through to the national discussion but it’s a big deal. You can’t win if you don’t run and Democrats are running. in 2018

  10. 10.

    TenguPhule

    @Elizabelle:

    Good morning, all. Anybody up and about (insomniac or lark)?

    Evening here.

    Still in shock, I guess. The tax fuckup is going to cause so many bad things next year.

  12. 12.

    TenguPhule

    @James E. Powell:

    Next election is a very long way off.

    Assuming we win, its going to be nothing but damage control and repairs for the forseeable future.

    Absolutely zero energy or time is going to be left for progress and improvement.

    And I blame every Republican, Third Party Voter and Non-voter for it.

    It ought to be a fucking crime.

  14. 14.

    EBT

    Had a few ideas for my little project.

    Placing the narrative choices on the artwork, So like the open to open a door would be on the door, and to go down the hall would be on the hallway. Also have an idea on how to implement maps for the places that maps make sense and uhh achievements (also an artwork gallery and bestiary I suppose),

  16. 16.

    Hellbastard

    Not sure how much more of this nightmare I can take. It’s like an endless barrage of one disaster after another. Three more fucking years of this… three more years.

  18. 18.

    Raoul

    @Yarrow: Saw an article a while back, no idea exactly where/when, saying that the number of Dems for Congress who had raised $10K or more in the odd year before the elex was (guessing, from memory) 5X the typical number with that raised by end November.
    It sounded like this was the sort of datapoint that suggests a wave. Lots of other data (and anecdata) are pointing towards real problems for the GOP. I look at Cook from time to time, and the list of Tossups, Lean R and even Likely R (as opposed to Safe R, to be clear) are longer than a couple months ago. And Cook I think is cautious.
    So, trentruner and others, this does not have to look like ’16. Not at all.
    Yes, we have to hold the whole shebang together with paperclips and rubber bands till the election – including voter roll protection as a key element – but it can be done.

  20. 20.

    Raoul

    Also worth noting (again, for some readers) that the BJ Nowhere to Hide fundraiser pulled in over $6K in a day, today. People are motivated on our side.
    OK, Kochsuckers are going to have money too. But ultimately, money doesn’t pull on pants (or equivalent) and go vote.
    Alabama shows what a serious ground game can produce.
    Over the next few months I want to work with others on planning a sort of “freedom summer” redux where we get out and register and support ppl of color in swing (and heck, not-so-swing) states. I’m up for going out and doing leg work — and I hate doorknocking. But I’m motivated.
    The GOP is going to be hell-bent to disenfranchise. We have to out-organize them. Help people track down birth certificates, get their damn state IDs, all of that, and early, before the deadlines. These poll tax type things suck, but the way to undo them is to vote the fuckers out and change the laws after we shove our collective boots in their fat, GOP asses.

  21. 21.

    Raoul

    @Elizabelle: And, yes, I’m up late here in the CST.
    On a short course of prednisone, so … sleep, whazzat?

    Actually, I should sign off and go try. G’night all. More fighting the good fight tomorrow.

  24. 24.

    TenguPhule

    @Cacti:

    Will there be anything left to save by the time the reckoning comes?

    Depends on if they decide to go all in and actually cut Social Security and Medicare.

    At that point, violence is going to be the inevitable solution.

  25. 25.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Ben Terris‏ @bterris

    “We just passed one of the shittiest bills that’s ever come in front of the Senate last night… so you know the country’s seen better days.”

    -Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat from a red state up for reelection.

    93 replies 2,837 retweets 8,535 likes

    HA!

  27. 27.

    Elizabelle

    Not interested in late night dysphoria. It’s enervating.

    But John Cole put up a good twitter stream on his twitter. Someone named Joshua James; never heard of him. Gonna put it in paragraph form, because I fucking despise 31-item tweets. However, anyone addressing “bearing false witness” goes a long way with me. Agree, totally, on the need for discussing actual, verifiable facts.

    linky: https://twitter.com/writerjoshjames/status/943670105136947207

    [1)] So in light of the massive tax scam the GOP just passed, which will gut our economy and enrich the wealthy while punishing the poor and working class… a few thoughts, beginning here…

    2) First of all, we’re all too nice to them. The GOP completely disregard facts & evidence, and we go, “we’ll just have to agree to disagree.” No more of that. False is false, a lie is a lie, someone who pushes a lie is a liar.

    3) The GOP (and their defenders) will tell you that it’s rude and uncivil to call someone a liar over a difference of opinion. I say it’s far more uncivil to lie and traffic in known falsehoods. “Bearing false witness”.

    4) So stand firm. Call a lie and lie. One has no moral standing if they traffic in falsehoods. Don’t bend. Don’t allow them to wiggle that it’s a “difference of opinion” when it’s a falsehood versus a verifiable fact.

    5) All opinions are not equal. Everyone’s right to an opinion is, but they’re not equal. There are informed opinions and uninformed ones. The informed ones matter more. This is why we don’t board a jet piloted by someone who got a license online.

    6) this is also why we don’t go to barbers for medical advice any longer, either. Because being properly informed and educated matters when it comes to policy and things that are a public risk. They do.

    7) The GOP has spent decades discredited the educated for the very reason they don’t want to be hamstrung by facts and evidence. They want to erode trust for the educated “elite”. It’s on purpose. So fight for the informed and educated.

    8) Next, those who support Trump and the GOP are not paying enough of a social price for their sin. And it is a sin. He’s a bigoted fraud and Russian asset. It was known before that. They only voted for him due to racial animus.

    9) Make them pay for that. Don’t socialize with them, don’t allow their bullshit lies to go unchallenged. Just don’t. If they have to choose between the GOP and their friends and they choose the GOP, they’re not worthy of your friendship.

    10) if what they’re getting out of this is truly worth it, they must be willing to sacrifice for it. That’s it. Make them. Shun the shit out of them. Because they’re supporting a racist defender of Nazis, for fuck’s sake. Isn’t that enough to shun?

    11) they’ll make the case that it wasn’t about race, it was about economics. That’s bullshit and don’t even engage. Whatever their grievance re the economy, it’s not worth putting a Russian asset defender of Nazis in charge.

    12) stop debating policy with them. They’re not engaging honestly. It’s a dishonest debate (and many of them online are Russian bots who are supposed to sow dissent). They want to make it about HRC and that bullshit. It’s not. It’s a con.

    13) HRC was never as bad as she was made to be and obviously not a Nazi defending Russian asset like 45 is. So the idea that both sides are terrible is another awful lie and those who use it are lying. Stand up against them.

    14) last thing, and this is pick your own battle. Another reason the GOP has gotten away with this is that they’ve been allowed to bully, to push and call names, libtard, Crooked Hilary, whatever. Push back. Hard. Stand tall.

    15) or block and shun. The block button is useful. Some folks just won’t get it. But most bullies are cowards, and if you stand back and hold your ground, they’ll shout names from a distance. Don’t go as dirty, but be firm in the facts.

    16) most of all, stop being there for them. They don’t want to be a part of reasonable society, honestly. Some folks are damaged and can’t see it, sure. But some are just blinded by bias. They simply hate. Don’t tolerate it.

    17) Being tolerant doesn’t mean one has to put up with intolerant bullshit. Intolerance is the one thing tolerant folk stand against. They’ll play that against you, saying, you’re supposed to be open, diverse, etc.

    18) Just reply to that snide accusation that I am… except against bigotry and intolerance. I don’t allow that in my life, as that it poisons everything it touches. Tolerance in no way means one puts up with intolerant bullshit.

    19) This is who they are now, the GOP. We didn’t make them this way (they’ll lie and say we did)… they chose it. They chose their path, one of bigotry, bias, hate and greed. Make the pay for it. Make folks understand, you care about real folks.

    20) and the GOP doesn’t. They care about the really rich folks and corporations and lobbyists. That’s all the care about. Nothing more. It has the advantage of being true. They’re all about greed.

    21) one last thing. There’s a special kind of troll who will claim to hate the GOP or call them buffoons… but they’ll never criticize them. Rather, they’ll shit on liberals and democrats… constantly. Always.

    22) when confronted on it, they’ll evade and say, no, I’m the true Scotsman, etc. But the Ds are evil, etc… no. If they’re not a bot (and they may be) they’re a classic concern troll. And their job is to destroy unity of progress.

    23) Those concern trolls are the worst, because they’re even more dishonest than real GOPers. Shun them. There’s an awful one with the initials MG in FL who this is all he does. He claim he’s not a Trump defender, but that is what he does.

    24) there are actual studies that these trolls cause and undue amount of damage with not a lot of effort (and they must, given Russia has invested in folks doing this)… so real life concern trolls? drop the internet anvil on them. Block.

    25) I cannot say this enough. Shun and punish them. If these folks were doing criminal things (like rape, fraud, etc) you’d do it. In a very real way, they’re doing the equal to it (yes, I said it). Because it is fraud. It is rape of our culture.

    26) they DO promote violence (guns, do we even need to go there) and child abuse… they’re taking fucking HEALTH CARE away from kids, for crying out loud! If someone you know championed child abuse, would you still embrace them?

    27) No, you wouldn’t. You’d tell them exactly what you’d think and put them out of your life. Well, guess what? That’s what the GOP is now. They champion child abuse, fraud, bigotry and elder abuse. They’re stealing your money.

    28) and they’re enriching themselves and their friends. And those going along with it are only doing so (if they’re not rich) to punish non-whites, for crying out loud! That’s textbook bigotry, and it’s stupid. Stop allowing it in your life.

    29) Fight back, for fuck’s sake, and demand those Dems you elect ALSO fight back. They must ALSO follow these principles, too. Stop being nice to McConnell and Ryan and all those lying bastards. Call them out for what they are.

    30) Call them out for what they are. Liars, bigots, criminals, Russian assets, abusers of children and the poor and the elderly and clear hypocrites. That’s this generation’s GOP. Stand against them and make them pay for it. Okay, I’m out.

  29. 29.

    SectionH

    @Jerzy Russian: Issa is soooo [insert Deep Voice] running scared right now.

    1621. That’s how many votes the car thief won by the last time. Not this time! In the next seat over, I never imagined Duncan Hunter could possibly be in trouble, but he might have to shake a few hands at least.

  31. 31.

    Zinsky

    What happened when “the Corker provision” was inserted into this horrific legislation in reconciliation without both houses of Congress voting on it was just pure corruption, plain and simple. That sort of garbage happens in banana republics, not the United States of America. We must never let that stand! Also, Democrats need to sharpen up their messaging and learn from master propagandist Frank Luntz. For example, we should refer to the GOP forevermore as “the Russian-affiliated Republican Party“!

  32. 32.

    Gvg

    The problem with pushing for calling a lie a lie is religion. A lot of the GOP lies are cloaked by religion. ABortion for instance.

  33. 33.

    (((CassandraLeo)))

    @Gvg: Even the religious aspects are lies. For instance, the Christian Bible contains nothing that can be interpreted as even remotely prohibiting abortion without twisting oneself into knots applying poetic license, and in fact, interpreted literally, it’s pretty explicit that killing infants under one month of age isn’t even murder. (I don’t agree with this, to be clear; I’m just explaining what it says.) The right-wing anti-abortion liars certainly won’t tell you any of this.

  34. 34.

    Xentik

    @Viva BrisVegas:

    The gerrymander is built into the 2016/2018 numbers in the polls above. From what Nate Silver and Sam Wang have said previously, it’s roughly 5%. Remember, however that gerrymandering is a double-edged sword. Yes it gives them a +5% head start in their districts, but at the cost of having all those districts vulnerable in a wave election. If we’re running 15% ahead, they’ll be fighting for their lives in almost every district they’ve gerrymandered.

  35. 35.

    2liberal

    the election season corporate media assault on the democrats and sanity has not started yet. the margins will narrow down as they focus on some trivia or manufactured scandal to move things towards the thugs.

  37. 37.

    NJDave

    @Zinsky: How about Russian-Republicans? If there are any decent Republicans (questionable, I know) they won’t want to be know as such. Maybe a pithy way to introduce some discord into the R party?

  39. 39.

    Barbara

    @Yarrow: The thing about not fielding challengers everywhere is that this makes a difference not only in that district but statewide, because those districts lack the sustained campaign efforts to get out voters whose votes are counted in statewide elections, even if there is a loss at the local level.

    ETA: I have to believe that all the revelations about “Russiabacker” are going to take a toll. I also fervently hope to see more Republicans retiring to leave open seats.

  40. 40.

    Stan

    @Zinsky:

    What happened when “the Corker provision” was inserted into this horrific legislation in reconciliation without both houses of Congress voting on it was just pure corruption, plain and simple. That sort of garbage happens in banana republics, not the United States of America.

    Um, no, that happens daily in America.

  41. 41.

    Stan

    @Barbara:

    The thing about not fielding challengers everywhere is that this makes a difference not only in that district but statewide, because those districts lack the sustained campaign efforts to get out voters whose votes are counted in statewide elections, even if there is a loss at the local level.

    True and very important.

    Also: competing everywhere forces them to defend everywhere. Even running a campaign that is likely to be a loss, you force the Rs to spend money and effort in that district.

  42. 42.

    StringOnAStick

    @Barbara: I wonder if it is better to have R’s that have already shown how tainted they are still be in office when a D runs against them? If an R retires, then the R they put up to run for that seat has the advantage of being able to say “not me, I’m new and clean, no way I am tainted”. I kind of think most of them won’t announce they are not running until the last minute, signing off once they see the polling has stayed against them for a long time, The good thing about that is a new R would have a lot less time to gin up a campaign. Most of them have such huge egos that they won’t want to admit they are on their way to losing, at least until it becomes obvious to even them that their precious ego is in for an electoral drubbing.

    No matter what, contest every seat!

  43. 43.

    Fair Economist

    @Xentik:

    Remember, however that gerrymandering is a double-edged sword. Yes it gives them a +5% head start in their districts, but at the cost of having all those districts vulnerable in a wave election.

    That’s not what’s happening here. The GOP gerrymander is very tough in addition to very unfair. For it to actually backfire, the Democrats would need to be winning by more than 20%.

    What’s primarily happening, according to the polls, is that the Democratic wave is so strong it overcomes a still-functional gerrymander. There is a secondary effect from the Trump realignment. Because voters are changing allegiances the gerrymander is weakened, since voters were placed on how they voted in 2010, now that they are shifting they’re not always gerrymandered “correctly”.

  44. 44.

    Fair Economist

    @Stan:

    competing everywhere forces them to defend everywhere. Even running a campaign that is likely to be a loss, you force the Rs to spend money and effort in that district.

    Also: it improves our standing in other races in the same areas and in the future. Having all the TX districts contested is a boost for Beto O’Rouke, and for municipal and county candidates, who may become stars in the future.

  45. 45.

    Barbara

    @Fair Economist: Gerrymandering is more effective where the population is hidebound and older, as it is in Pennsylvania. The General Assembly in Virginia (along with the congressional delegation) is highly gerrymandered but the population in Northern Virginia has increased, and people who used to buy in closer in suburbs have expanded into further away suburbs and that is primarily what made the last election such an earthquake for Republican HOD members (House of Delegates). So in addition to changing allegiances among suburban voters who are highly sensitized to the impact of any measure on schools, places that are growing are much harder to lock in for any length of time. The reddest corners of Virginia not only are not by and large growing as fast, some of them actually have declining populations. And for the sweetest payback in recent memory, Ed Gillespie was one of the masterminds behind the 2010 gerrymander. He so deserved what he got.

  46. 46.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: I am with you, so far the only “win” this year is this tax bill that is basically a bribe to their voters not to abandoned the GOP. Just speaking from personal experience, when you have to bribe a girlfriend to keep her from leaving the, relationship is over, so I don’t see how that bill really helps them. The idea “The GOP can’t handle making a ham sandwich” is already there.

    It’s not impossible for the GOP to settle down and act respectable the next year, but that demands Trump stop being a man child, and the Turtle and Ryan to stop acting like punks. I don’t see that happening. If anything Trump will undermine any improvement for the GOP because Trump will see any improvement in the poll numbers as vindication and time for him to let his freak flag fly.

  47. 47.

    tam1MI

    @Trentrunner: My heavens, you’re certainly singing a different tune now then the day Franken announced his resignation.

    What you are experiencing is called a “Pyrhhic victory”.

  48. 48.

    TenguPhule

    @Elizabelle:

    Fight back, for fuck’s sake, and demand those Dems you elect ALSO fight back. They must ALSO follow these principles, too. Stop being nice to McConnell and Ryan and all those lying bastards. Call them out for what they are.

    Gird your loins on this one. We’ve been trying to get this done since 2000 and it has been nothing but an unending stream of disappointment.

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