After elected Republicans lost the presidency and Senate, after their quotient of ostentatiously insane elected trolls increased and their elite, high-profile caucus leaders joined their loser president to foment a deadly insurrection that threatened their own physical safety, they had a choice. For just a moment there, it looked like they might choose self-preservation.
When Mitch McConnell, wattles trembling with outrage, made a floor speech condemning the violence and their loser president’s part in it, when Kevin McCarthy read a script apportioning blame to said loser (albeit with hostage video affect), it almost looked like they would do the right thing.
The right thing is this: amputate the loser, cauterize the stump and rebrand — perhaps as 4-to-8-year deficit-scold cicadas. It worked after the disastrous presidency of Bush II.
But something (or several somethings) changed between that moment and the present day. The loser maybe threatened to build a third party. Perhaps elected Republicans were inundated with death threats from their unhinged voters. Maybe they had an epiphany about the nature of the GOP, i.e., that the Q/pro-insurrection/white supremacist faction is THE animating force within their party. Maybe all of the above.
For whatever reason, they reversed course and threw in their lot with the Gaetzes and Gohmerts and MTGs and Qberts. They reaffirmed fealty to the loser. Well, not all of them:
GOP Rep. Peter Meijer: “If Liz Cheney is the person who suffers the most from the events on January 6th, politically, it’ll be a very sad, sad day for my party.” pic.twitter.com/NSrTnBp0NT
— The Hill (@thehill) January 29, 2021
But enough of them to mark a clear choice. I think it’s as simple as what I see in my district: the majority of Republican voters are still in the loser ex-president’s cult, and their craven elected officials don’t have the courage to tell them the truth nor the leadership skills to chart a new course.
So, the only option is to keep Republicans from regaining power at the federal level and beat back their control where it exists at the state level as best we can. There are many ideas about how to pull this off. We discussed some in the morning thread, including hanging the words and deeds of the most floridly insane elected Republicans around the necks of their swing-district colleagues who won’t condemn the crazies.
I liked what Nancy Pelosi and AOC had to say about Kevin McCarthy and Ted Cruz (respectively) yesterday. Both are clear-eyed about the threat, and neither has any intention of making nice with the violent extremists Republicans have let loose in their workplace.
Brian Schatz and Chris Murphy in the Senate weren’t putting up with hypocritical Republican bullshit on legislative procedure (as outlined in the morning thread), which indicates that they and their colleagues are committed to delivering for the American people. They understand that’s their only shot to retain power in 2022 and 2024.
So, the Republicans have made their choice, and so have the Democrats. Now it’s up to the unaligned to make theirs. The only thing that hangs in the balance is the fate of the republic. Weirdly, I feel optimistic about our chances. How about you?
Open thread!
debbie
I do too, by and large. ?
BruceFromOhio
The GOP survives, or America survives. It won’t be both.
Old School
While I’d love the Republican party to spend 40 years in the wilderness, I don’t think even that would be enough. The filibuster will keep major changes from being made and the Supreme Court will limit/eliminate any changes that do get passed.
Still, a little optimism isn’t a bad thing.
Kelly
OT: The Beachie Fire that blew up on Labor Day is still smoldering. Plenty of rain and a bit snow since then. This pic of roots smoldering is a couple miles east of Idanha, OR looking across the North Santiam river from Highway 22.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/fonzTaMT2Ekm6x4x7
Just Chuck
Good on Liz Cheney (!) for standing up to the MAGAts, but I think Officers Sicknick, Liebengood, and Smith suffered more than she will.
Death Panel Truck
Deprogramming takes time. Most of them will never admit they were wrong about Dear Leader.
schrodingers_cat
To me the choice was clear when the Orange Person won. That’s why I decided to become a citizen so that I could vote D in every fucking election at every level.
Jeffro
The GOP is making the choice for American voters more clear by the day: go with the Q-nuts/cult of trumpov/violent white supremacists, or America.
Dems *are* the centrist party in this country today; the GOP is the Nihilist Party, the party of unchecked community Covid infection, mob violence, and constant lies.
guachi
“Deficit scold cicadas” is internet winning mockery. Let this become part of the BJ Lexicon.
Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix
I follow Jen Rubin on Twitter and she’s always talking about Republicans “destroying their party”. No, they’re not. They are doubling down on ruling from the minority, and expect more of the same for years to come, because they’ve been pretty good at rigging the system for white rule so far. Meijer and Cheney will be sidelined. More QAnon candidates will run and win in red districts. Marjorie Taylor Green’s district is something like R+27. There will be no electoral consequences for her, and she’s not resigning. I expect violence – probably assassination attempts. It’s gonna get ugly.
oatler.
watch out where the huskies go….
Hildebrand
I remain weirdly hopeful because the GOP has decided to keep its wagon hitched to an insurrectionist madman who happens to have cost them the White House and the Senate – and is incompetent at governance to boot. They decided they weren’t going to trade up for a fresher-faced Nazi like Hawley – at least not yet. Thus, with ‘Florida Man’ stipped of his twitter-powers, he is a dead hand on the rudder of the GOP.
Yes, he nearly won the election, but he didn’t, and neither did the brain-dead loons who panted after him in the Georgia senate elections.
That loser stink (which McConnell was first reacting to before going back to his usual turtle position) will not disappear quickly, combined with Biden’s competence, is going to prise some voters away from the clown, and all of a sudden Republicans will be in some real trouble. If the Democrats can peel off a few percent we can start to swing this into safer territory – I think the Covid recovery act will help get that process rolling.
On top of all of that – people prefer calm. Most folks aren’t rage or chaos addicted.
These things bring me a glimmer of hope.
Brachiator
Great post!
All of the above, plus blind, short-sighted, cynical political calculation which puts party over country. These assholes simply do not see that they are undermining the future of American democracy. They just don’t care. They look at the narrow victories that Trump achieved, tax cuts, Supreme Court justices and demolition of regulations by executive order, and they want more of that. And they are all in on white nationalism.
I usually would say let’s just focus on what Biden is doing now and not get into endless speculation about the mid-terms or 2024. But the GOP is making moves now to rehabilitate Trump and to position candidates for the mid-terms. And they are embracing the right wing political extreme and politically induced insanity.
I am very optimistic because Democrats have seen the GOP’s tricks and worked hard to blunt them in 2020, and are ready to do more. Also, the Republicans don’t seem to understand this, but whipping up their supporters into reality-denying frenzy is not effective political strategy.
Nor is clinging to the political anchor that Trump has become.
MattF
I think we’re doing the right thing. It seems unlikely to me that right-wing cults will make inroads with currently unconvinced and reality-based center-right voters and the cults will try to hold fast but will actually slowly erode. Violence will be a, um, ‘problem’, but that’s where we are now.
Dems will have to grit their teeth and be kinda sorta welcoming to center-right voters– at least enough to make a clear contrast with the crazies.
Also, Stacey Abrams.
schrodingers_cat
I am optimistic because bad as our current situation is, if Orange had won, it would have been far worse. Modi’s second term has been far worse than his first term was.
OT: Jim McGovern who is my Congressman is being ratioed by Sangh-BJP trolls for making a statement expressing solidarity with the farmers protesting the recently passed farm laws.
guachi
Stacey Abrams
burnspbesq
@Kelly:
Periodic shots from the Rothschild Space Laser will do that …
Barry
I disagree with the post. What they are doing now is very similar to what they did in 2009 onwards. Remember, they doubled down and profited.
Ksmiami
@BruceFromOhio: crush the GOP and scorn and diminish the followers. Make Republican a bad word
SFBayAreaGal
Substitute they for “he”
https://youtu.be/VA7J0KkanzM
BruceFromOhio
Also, until the money-bags realize fascism and civil war are bad for business, the spigots will stay open. Always follow the money, it leads to the shadows where Meadows and his ilk are operating.
Until then, vigilance and diligence.
VeniceRiley
Weird how they didn’t recognize that gerrymandering they accomplished ensured this result.
Nevertheless, we persisted and overcame them.
Now the fate of the USA, and even planet Earth, rests on our ability to convince a dinosaur from WV and a Bi Barbie former Green edgelady to not stop our efforts in track.
CarolDuhart2
There’s a difference-and that’s with us. We aren’t going to sleep like we did in 2009. I have been thinking-2022 starts now, and I doubt if I’m alone. We have elections in 2021 too, and while New Jersey and Virginia (ever think I could say that about Virginia) look safe, better work on them too. And candidates will certainly start announcing late this year as well.
Vaccination will allow us to canvass again, and meet again, even with threats.
Cameron
I think the country has a pretty good shot at making it, which I didn’t think a year ago. But…and totally OT, does anybody know what’s going on with this? https://www.stripes.com/news/europe/navy-sends-three-ships-into-black-sea-as-russia-takes-notice-1.660114
J R in WV
@Brachiator:
This is in part to test Chromium browser and in part to agree with Betty Cracker and Brachiator. Actually, I’ve decided the illness in the Republican party is mostly racism, white supremacist hatred of everyone not named Smith or Jones, everyone with different hair, manners, skin tone, from away. I’m not sure how large the KKK faction of the RWNJ party is, hopefully not large enough to win elections at the state level.
I suspect the footage of the Jan 6th insurrection and the news coverage of the trials of the insurrectionists will go a long way to help put the RWNJ party to bed. No patriot can see that horrible scene of cops being beaten and stand with those monsters. I have to believe that the oath sworn for enlistment means something to most people.
taumaturgo
The Democrats as they always do say the right things. It remains to be seen if they have what it takes to take on the action beyond the talk. I’m encouraged that for once, Madame speaker is alongside AOC to call the bluster and fake populism coming from the fascist. BTW, if they fill their mouth calling Democrats socialist-communist, let’s return the favor by calling them for what they are, anti-democracy fascist.
White & Gold Purgatorian
I would like to be optimistic, but worry about the effects of congressional redistricting. The House is way too close now, will GOP gerrymandering “give” them enough seats to take control in 2 years? On that point, is there any possibility the totally screwed up Trump census could be rejected as hopelessly flawed and, if so, would that stop or hamper Republican gerrymandering efforts?
Barbara
No real insight into what is most likely to succeed, but I suspect that the pivotal moment came in 2012 when the Republican party rejected the findings of whatever report had been commissioned to reach out to a more diverse set of voters. They know as well as we do that they are aging out of electoral relevance in a lot of places. That’s what voter suppression has always been about. Doubling down into white dominance or its proxy issues was a choice that they made to just hang on for as long as possible.
MattF
@Cameron: Don’t know, but I’d guess that intel is being gathered.
scav
In order to save the squeaky wheel, they destroyed the wagon.
Betty Cracker
@Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix: I worry about that too — that the structural advantages the GOP enjoys (that are written into the Constitution!) will bear any load of crazy.
But, related to the point @BruceFromOhio makes at #21, we’ve seen signs that the money people are alarmed by how unhinged the GOP is. IIRC, the Chamber of Commerce begged Trump to stop lying about the election. Wallets slammed shut after the insurrection.
It’s not civic-mindedness that motivates the plutocrats; it’s the knowledge that they require a stable country in which to do business. So, maybe we’ve got that going for us?
Jay
People keep saying that Cheetolinni will forever be remembered as the one responsible for the destruction of the Republican Party.
I however, prefer to remember him for his failures, not his one accomplishment.
CraigM
This was published in 2017 and again earlier this week, it does a good job summing up the problem facing Republicans and why their strategy guarantees the loons will control them …
HinTN
@Barry: The difference being that Dems didn’t stand their ground like we appear to be doing now. We have to sustain that posture for three long term.
germy
MattF
It’s important to keep in mind that, in the R party, the inmates have really and actually taken over the asylum. What do you do in that situation? Just think about it…
germy
CaseyL
I think what pundits overlook, for any number of reasons, and what we (and the Democratic Party as a whole) need to keep saying, is that the GOP is not about governing, not about policy, has no “philosophy” as such, and indeed is not a “political party” in the traditional sense of the term.
The GOP is, right now, at this moment, a malignancy on the American Republic. It is, right now, at this moment, an insurrectionist entity intent on destroying us. There is, right now, at this moment, no point in negotiating with them, trying to “unify” with them, or given them any courtesies, any benefits of the doubt.
The GOP is an enemy entity, and needs to be regarded as such, treated and such, and destroyed as such.
Period.
Martin
Yeah, sorta. Don’t underestimate the lengths a group of people who held absolute political power for 400 years will go once the have lost the demographics the retain that power. It’s going to be a pretty ugly couple of years as states that can afford to go full metal white supremacist GOP do so, while the national GOP scrambles to hold some relevance. It’s clear the folks who believe they are Gods army aren’t going to shrug their shoulders and cede to a multicultural governing majority. They’re going to fight. They’re just far enough in the minority that the political tools aren’t working, but not so far in the minority that a violent fight seems unwinnable.
Dems need to hold strong. Push through legislation that the public favors, turn out in 2022 like its 2020. Trump may be out of office, but there’s a whole bunch of new baby Trumps in Congress.
Another Scott
What’s that old saw? “People never give up power willingly.”?
We shouldn’t expect that the Teabaggers and RWNJs will just roll-over after getting a taste of real power and seemingly coming close to a “final” victory. They’ll fight tooth-and-nail to retain control.
Follow the money.
As long as there’s enough money backing them, they’ll keep fighting.
The US does – eventually – need two strong, sane, political parties. At the moment, though, one strong sane party is enough to move forward.
Cheers,
Scott.
germy
In its present form, it exists as an anti-government party. Its goal is to protect its donors from government, not use government to improve the lives of the rest of us.
kmeyerthelurker
Sigh. It would be great if the media would depict R obstruction accurately. They, however, much like the Rs themselves, are capable of learning a lesson for approximately 10 minutes. We’ll get the same old “Congress is dysfunctional” instead of “Republicans are nihilsts,” and lose house & senate in 2022.
Central Planning
I feel like there’s a spoof of a TNG episode here: “McConnell, his wattles trembling!”
Gretchen
Kansas is doubling down on the crazy. The State House just passed having a constitutional amendment about abortion on the August 2022 primary (lower turnout) and the Senate is about to pass it. We passed on electing a moderate, former R doctor in favor of Marshall, an OB whose only interest is obsessively seeing abortion everywhere. His first bill is forbidding the use of any covid funds for abortion (huh?) and his facebook commenters are delighted that somebody is finally saving the babies. The crazies believe God is behind them.
SiubhanDuinne
I love this so hard, I want to marry it and take it home with me and hug it and kiss it and call it George.
RedDirtGirl
@Ksmiami: Maybe Dan Savage can hold a contest…
Salty Sam
Until Trump came along, the GOP was a successful coalition of Chamber of Commerce/Country Club Republicans, Moral Majority evangelistas, and dumber-than-dirt racists (“Common Clay of the New West, y’know, morons”). It appears to me that Trump has effectively shattered that coalition, and without holding together, these various factions will not be successful at the ballot box. (The eternal pessimist in me is open to data that says otherwise- convince me I’m wrong!)
At the same time, the Democratic Party seems to have FINALLY lost their reflexive fear of the ghost of Ronald Reagan, and is prepared to push a bold legislative agenda. I know some of you here don’t think much of AOC, but her push-back against the reactionary forces is a model for how liberals should present themselves to the media and the American public.
I’m cautiously optimistic.
RedDirtGirl
@Jay: Well done!
The Moar You Know
You go with Trump because you have no other ideas on how to sell your bullshit.
And they don’t, because that bullshit is unsalable. So Trump it is.
Elizabelle
Hoodie had a really interesting comment on the morning thread. I don’t think any deprogramming can occur without taking their drug — Fox News, Rush, and shit of that ilk — out of the mix. I think it has to happen soon as possible, too. Rightwing media is there to destabilize our democracy and make consensus impossible. It and democracy cannot co-exist, because you do do not have an “informed” voting population. You have a brainwashed one, which can be manipulated into becoming physically dangerous.
No way this rightwing propaganda should be hiding behind the First Amendment. Would it be more acceptable to have all the Joseph Goebbels filth (Hitler’s Reich Minister of Propaganda) if he’d been a businessman making bucks off it? This is not a “business.” It is a destabilizing social scourge which is MEANT to disinform.
We can change, and we need to change on this rather rapidly. We don’t have slavery. Women and people of color can vote (albeit, we need to make it less onerous there). We beat back polio and smallpox.
This is a health of the republic matter. It’s also interesting to hear that people’s grandparents/associates return to a semblance of sanity once the rightwing propaganda source is neutralized. Treat it like a dangerous drug, or pornography.
Benw
@Martin: “turn out in 2022 like its 2020.”
This is so important, and/or an overhaul of US election laws. If Republicans control the House in 2024 in the current system we are screwed.
I am optimistic that Biden and the Democratic Congress are going to pass some good laws before then.
azlib
Read this:
https://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2021/Pres/Maps/Jan29.html#item-1
Matt McIrvin
Well, we got into a discussion about whether my worries about the impending age of political violence were just manifestations of pathological anxiety, then about two or three days later a crazed mob stormed the Capitol and several people were killed. So I should probably keep quiet.
LurkerNoLonger
Yes. Just like Jello, there’s always room for optimism.
patroclus
@Salty Sam: You left out the neo-con defense hawks. The Republicans have lost some of them as well (Kristol; Rubin; but not Bolton). It’s possible that this is more like 1934 (when the Dems picked up seats) than all the other historical examples where the in party loses seats in the mid-terms. But that was because the First New Deal was very action-oriented and got a LOT done. We need to get a lot done now too and while Biden seems to be doing that on COVID and with all the Exec. Orders, the prospect for making a lot of long-term legislative progress seems small, other than with reconciliation (for which we will only have a few bites of the apple). I want to be optimistic about 2022, but I’m having trouble doing it. I think holding the Senate is more likely than holding the House.
The Moar You Know
@Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix: As do I.
options from best to worst:
None of these are good options, but 2 & 3 are horrific, full bore civil war.
burnspbesq
@Jay:
Ask a Hungarian how not burying Orban when they had a chance worked out for them.
MattF
@patroclus: Neocons and libertarians. A lot of people have libertarian sympathies, on the level of ‘They’re correct in theory, but it won’t work in practice’
ETA: And, btw, although I now agree with Kristol about some things, he appears to avoid general conclusions. So who knows what he’s thinking, if anything.
randy khan
I feel like the Republicans are helping the Dems understand what they have to do. Yesterday (was it just yesterday?) someone – maybe here – said that the Republicans weren’t just laying their cards on the table but highlighting all of their tells right at the beginning of the game. And having done that, they’ve made it clear to the Dems that there won’t be any real bipartisanship even from the likes of Murkowski (although I do think you might get her attention with an extra billion here or there for Alaska), so there’s no reason not to just plow ahead and do what’s good for the country.
It’s hard to imagine a counterfactual for the 2010 elections based on the Dems moving quickly and ruthlessly on, well, everything, but if that had happened, 2010 might have turned out differently. I think this bunch is well on its way to trying that approach in 2020, and a big part of the reason for that is that the Republicans haven’t bothered to try to hide who they are.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Salty Sam:
I hope you’re right, but I think at this point, too many in that first group are willing to give the other two free rein in return for tax cuts, and not a few of them fundamentally agree with the other two, they just wish they were a little more tactful, that they’d learn to speak in the polite and acceptable code of the upper middle class.
Elizabelle
I think the churches should lose their tax exemptions, too. Too many are political entities.
Tax them. We need the money. We need a wall between Church and State.
Hildebrand
I wonder what is going to happen to the ‘insurrectionist-curious’ in the House when some of their constituents start going to jail for the assault on the Capitol. Watching kinfolk getting sent to prison may help some people realize that their reps are playing them.
debbie
@germy:
I heard that McCarthy said he would have a talk with her? Oh, please.
Brachiator
@The Moar You Know:
Too many purple states and purple households. Also, this is not in any way a “best” option.
Population is too large and again, not that sharply divided by identifiable tribal markers.
Barbara
@randy khan:
How about taking an extra billion or two away? I go by the Wall Street maxim, that negative feelings associated with losing a dollar are much more intense than positive feelings associated with gaining a dollar. Everybody likes winning but they positively absolutely hate losing. From my vantage point, remaining in lockstep with Republicans has been nothing but upside for the Murkowskis of the world. Maybe it shouldn’t be.
JoyceH
Meanwhile, pro-Trump lawyer Lin Wood has been asked by his licensing board to take a mental health evaluation.
https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2021-01-29/pro-trump-lawyer-lin-wood-asked-by-licensing-body-to-undergo-mental-health-evaluation
More pro-Trump folk need to submit to such evaluation, IMO.
West of the Rockies
Two thoughts… first, I’m a bit unclear how Trump continues to exert such influence. I’ve heard almost nothing from him in nine days. No interviews, no social media outbursts. I wonder if his influence will this wane.
Secondly, AZ has seen 10K Republicans re-register as I or D. If that is happening nationwide, that’s excellent news. A quarter of a million, half a million fewer Republicans is not nothing.
MattF
@debbie: A McCarthy spokesman told a reporter what they thought the reporter’s readers wanted to hear. I’m not persuaded that McCarthy has done or will do anything to discipline her.
Roger Moore
@White & Gold Purgatorian:
I think the Republicans are going to have a hard time squeezing out more seats with gerrymandering. Some states they successfully gerrymandered after the 2010 census now either have Democrats in the path to redistricting or have some kind of redistricting reform that should reduce the extent to which the Republicans can gerrymander. If anything, I expect reduced gerrymandering to offset some of the normal Republican midterm gains.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@JoyceH: I don’t know how much good it would do, but I am struck by how much of the commentary about Marjorie Taylor-Greene treats her as a liar or a bully and not a fucking whack job who shouldn’t be allowed to use the grown-up scissors.
CaseyL
OT, but I think this is something the jackalariat has asked about. Today I went into a UW Medicine site to get my second shot (yay!) and while I was there asked the nurse about the new vaccines coming out, and the new mutations/variants of the virus also coming out.
I asked whether, in view of the variant strains, UW Medicine thought we should get additional vaccines as they come out, or in fact any specific new vaccine.
She was unequivocal in her response: No. Do not get additional vaccines, even if they’re made available to people who’ve already gotten one. The vaccines already being rolled out should provide sufficient protection from the variants – if not absolute protection (i.e., not getting sick at all), then at least enough that a post-vaccination infection would be mild. (This could change if data indicates otherwise.)
debbie
@Elizabelle:
I heard that interview, I wish i could remember where (somewhere on NPR or BBC, I’m sure). I believe death threats have also been involved.
debbie
@MattF:
I think the sign will be whether he reassigns her to a different committee.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@debbie: the Fox News guy who was essentially fired for calling AZ too soon was on the Hayes program last night.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix: If a violent white minority rule was viable in the US don’t you think they would have done that in the 50’s and 60’s to stop the Civil Right movement? Segregation was only tolerable in the Old South because the racists kept the violence out of sight of the White majority and the Civil Rights movement deliberately rubbed that violence in the face of the whites until they were so disgusted they put a stop to it.
AnotherBruce
@White & Gold Purgatorian: um, our side can gerrymander. We don’t like to do it, but we may have to.
Betty Cracker
@azlib: Interesting!
Roger Moore
@MattF:
I think the main thing to do is to convince as many of the staff as possible to leave. I’m not sure we want to invite them in to our side, but just getting them to stop supporting the inmates in the vain hope they can regain control would be a good start.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@AnotherBruce: theoretically, in states where Dems control the gov’s office and state legislature/s. And where laws creating independent commissions haven’t been established. Not many of those.
also, we can’t gerrymander the Senate
Matt McIrvin
@Brachiator:
If anyone is wondering why they went all in on opposing wearing masks, this is why.
germy
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Starboard Tack
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
The independent commissions are mostly because of Democratic support.
sab
@oatler.: My favorite song ever. Thank you, I have had Halleluja stuck in my head/ear since inauguration. I like it but it has been there for nine days, which is long enough.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Not to mention, the next six months are going to be an endless parade of one screwed up thing after another thing Trump did with the pandemic as the only distraction. Like the OP said, the best move by the Republicans is purge Trump quickly, get that pain over with and move on, but they chickened out like the cowards they are.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Starboard Tack: and?
debbie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Other interviews have covered the same subject; I’m sure I am mixing them up. The other day, Fresh Air interviewed a WaPo columnist (Craig Timberg) about post-Trump Q, and my local NPR station interviewed Ruth Ben-Ghiat, an NYU professor and author of Strongmen: From Mussolini to the Present. The interview was really very good.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@CaseyL:I think it’s more accurate to describe the GOP as some of the characters in the Right Wing media’s reality TV show. The Republicans certainly haven’t been involved in governance for years now.
Brachiator
@BruceFromOhio:
Good point. Plutocrats are not monoliths. It’s funny, the remaining Koch brother seems to be backing off a bit, but Rupert Murdoch is all in on pushing right wing propaganda all around the world.
Some plutocrats see value in a stable political order. Others demonstrate that they are just as stupid as Trump, if not more stupid, venal and short-sighted.
debbie
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Don’t you believe they tried? I think the only real difference between then and now is the military, which back then would never have put anything above their duty to the Constitution and the government.
sab
@BruceFromOhio: I thought the big corporation moneybags had already figured this out already whoch is what scared McConnell. All that is left are the loan wolf billionaire loons ( block that metaphor.)
Elizabelle
@debbie: Thank you for those links. Will give them a listen.
germy
@sab:
Don’t they have plenty of small donors? I know we do.
Their small donors buy trump merchandise, and contribute to “build the wall” projects.
Our small donors try to get Democrats elected.
Sebastian
We should remember that a lot of secrets are about to be uncovered and the arrested insurrectionists will sing like birds. If used properly, it will deal a lot of damage to the GOP political apparatus.
I would like to see us activists push our party to target GOP’s second tier, aides, PACs, etc.
Indictments and arrests won’t garner too much attention as the media doesn’t care if some guys at Liberty Jesus Christ Freedom MAGA PAC got arrested for campaign finance violation but it’s the equivalent of bodyblows weakening them.
Next thing is to target their rabid base. Those death threats and similar forms of intimidation and terrorism? Pass laws and start neutralizing MAGA mouthvreathers in large numbers.
And lastly, we have to go HARD after Federalist Society, ALEC, and the entire power structure of the GOP.
Geminid
@Salty Sam: The disparate Republican party elements you describe have been contending for power for a while in Virginia. One 2014 battle was the successful primary challenge to Congressman Eric Cantor (VA-7) by Tea Party/Club for Growth backed Dave Brat. More recently, an alliance of “Constitutional Conservatives” (basically the tea party rebranded) and evangelical Dominionists knocked off my 5th VA Congressman by way of caucus and convention, and installed a Liberty University administrator as congressman for the gerrymandered district. There’ve been other intraparty fights, and a couple early retirements by Chamber of Commerce type Congressman. The establishment leaders haven’t given up, but so far the radicals seem to have the upper hand. But all they’ve done is help turn a purple state into a blue state.
Gerrymandering has helped get the party in trouble by encouraging extremism. I think that is why the One Virginia outfit that successfully advocated for an independent redistricting commission was created in part by Chamber of Commerce type Republicans. Or at least that’s what one of my customers, a retired cardiologist and “Volvo Republican,” told me. (Now I call those upper middle class, moderate conservatives “Range Rover Republicans.”)
Chyron HR
It’s gonna be a real shame when someone other than DJT wins the Republican primary and The Donald tells his chuds to storm the convention and kill the nominee.
A real shame.
Roger Moore
@AnotherBruce:
I think we should absolutely gerrymander as much as we can. Nothing will convince the Supreme Court of the evils of gerrymandering faster than the Democrats using it successfully.
Matt McIrvin
@germy: My Representative just announced she has COVID-19. I’m wondering if she got it from another member of Congress.
Brachiator
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
I think a review of the history of white violence against nonwhite people in America, north and south, easily refutes you here.
The history of violence had fallen away and been forgotten in the North, and there were more whites of good will.
Trump plugged into white resentment and tried to make it acceptable. It seemed odd that he was a New Yorker who refused to condemn any aspect of the Confederacy, and gave it his stamp of approval as a noble part of white American history.
...now I try to be amused
BC, your line “4-to-8-year deficit-scold cicadas” is beautiful. That is all.
White & Gold Purgatorian
@AnotherBruce: Yes, Democrats can and do gerrymander and I hope Democrat controlled legislatures will do so to the extent of their ability as long as the courts allow it. To do otherwise is suicide. But it seems to me Democrats don’t control enough state legislatures to stop Republicans from gaining a few critical seats just through gerrymanders. Sharice Davids’ district in Kansas for instance, and some of the recently elected Democrats in Georgia and Texas. We aren’t in quite as deep a hole as we were after 2010, but in states where they can, Republicans will “fix” their district lines to try and oust some Democrats who managed to get elected in the last couple of cycles.
Brachiator
@Matt McIrvin:
Damn. Which rep is this?
MattF
@AnotherBruce: As is done in Maryland. A downside to gerrymandering is that all the crazies may end up in the same district and you get a crazy representative. See, e.g., MD District 1, represented by Andy Harris
ETA: And note the… unusual… shapes of the other seven districts.
SFBayAreaGal
@azlib: Very interesting
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Here’s a map showing which state governments are in the control of which parties, or split. Doesn’t show which ones have independent commissions established for congressional redistricting.
Where are the opportunities for gerrymandering?
Have the new apportionments been announced? I read yesterday that NYS is losing a seat, I don’t know if that’s true.
sab
@…now I try to be amused: I agree. That will enter my political lexicon forever.
Roger Moore
I think there’s a really important long-term reason to focus on getting as much as possible done in the next two years. The 2020 election had the highest turnout in over a century, which means a lot of people who don’t regularly vote came out and voted. Many of those occasional voters are people who are inclined to think the parties are the same and their vote doesn’t matter, and it took huge events for them to show up. If we can achieve something really good, some of those occasional voters will decide their vote really does matter and become regular voters. If we fail, they’ll decide they were right all along and go back to their previous apathy. This is how FDR built the New Deal coalition, and those New Deal voters kept the Democrats in power for a couple of generations. If we really want to crush the seditionist Republicans, this is the way to do it.
Geminid
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I always liked Chris Stirewalt, the Fox Political analyst you reference. Back when I had satellite TV I used to watch a weekend show he had with Dana Perino.
sab
@germy: They just got kicked off book of faces and that bird squeak thing. Harder to communicate.
Matt McIrvin
@Brachiator: Lori Trahan (D-MA).
sab
@Matt McIrvin: Lowell?
Rusty
@Barry: The Republicans increased their hold at the state level (which is particularly problematic since they will control redistricting and set the playing field for the next 10 years), and have a firm hold on the judiciary. The Democrats are one senatorial geriatric illness away from losing everything. I am glad we have this window to make things better, but the Republican party ain’t anywhere near dead.
Geminid
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: New York state will lose one, possibly two Congressional seats. West Virginia will go from 3 to 2, and Alabama is “on the bubble,” and may go from 7 to 6. Illinois will lose one, it seems, as will California. Colorado gains one. It looks like Montana will go from 1 to 2, and Rhode Island may go from 2 to 1. Both Florida and Texas may gain two.
Lyrebird
I often have a different take [ETA than your generally more-informed one], but on this, I just gotta say, I am glad Mr. Stevens wrote his “it was all a lie” book.
I mean, I’m a daydream believer an nobody’s homecoming queen, and I have taught many R identifying students who were not white supremacists, but I also remember Reagan. Where he started his campaign. How he talked about mothers of different colors. So no this ain’t new.
PJ
@MattF: That MD Third District is hilarious. “Uh, how can we give this one specific guy a seat in Congress?”
cmorenc
Keep in mind that even though over 80%+ of Republican voters seem committed to stick with their party and Trumpism – we only need to permanently bleed off 10% or so to doom the GOP to oblivion, or at least permanent minority status outside their rump bastion of hard-red states. Their future of some states long-considered red are being slowly undone by demographic change. Georgia is the tip of the iceberg – and though it may be another 8 to 12 years before Texas eventually flips like Georgia, the GOP’s margins are slowly eroding even in Texas.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Geminid: Thanks
both of those surprise me, in part because I thought RI was already an AL state
jonas
I think the GOP has discovered that it can be a minority party in perpetuity whose only purpose is to be insane trolls and still raise money off of it. All the $$, none of the responsibility. What’s not to like?
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
@CaseyL: I wouldn’t recommend getting double vaccinated right away – there’s just not enough to go around to justify that approach. But a year or so from now hopefully there will be enough of the 95% effective stuff for everyone to get it.
debbie
@jonas:
Disagree. Power is what they’re after: A permanent majority, as Karl Rove was fond of saying.
Hoodie
@Roger Moore: This, but I do think we might be surprised how a not insignificant number of people will modify their worldview once they have made the decision to leave the cult. You’re starting to see this with some conservatives that have made the choice to leave the GOP. They’ll still pay lip service to things like Ronald Reagan and “small government,” but there is already less conservative dogma and out of hand rejection of liberal ideas. A lot of this stuff had been internalized without a lot of analysis and simply comes from being part of a particular group for most of your life and reinforced because a lot of supposedly bedrock principles are mostly signifiers for group acceptance. Once the person makes the choice to leave the group, those signifiers lose importance. Rubin has shown signs of this and, of course, there’s always the blogfather.
PJ
@debbie: I agree that power is what they want, above all else, but, given their constituency, they will be a minority party nationwide for the foreseeable future. They seem pretty aware of this, which is why voter suppression and the ability to cast out particular votes (or whole elections, as is being floated in the AZ legislature right now) are crucial to their plans.
Geminid
@PJ: When I look at a map of my 5th VA Congressional District, I am reminded of a brontosaurus with it’s feet planted on the North Carolina border, and its head getting ready to take a bite out of Fredericksburg.
hitchhiker
@Roger Moore:
Agree. I think that what will drive the midterms is how soon kids go to school, and how much credit Dems get for it if they do it quickly.
All those young people who showed up and voted in 2020? They want to be in college, in person. They want something done about student debt, as do their parents.
All those formerly R suburban women who marked the D box (at least in the presidential race)? They want their kids in school more than any other thing.
We are all watching a generation of young people, in real time, locked out of what everybody alive has taken for granted: the chance to go to school. It’s utter madness not to focus on this, get it done, and beat our chests every step of the way.
FelonyGovt
I’m pleased that our folks are fighting back. We recognize that “unity” means “civility” and unfortunately, we’re not getting any. It doesn’t mean we don’t use our Presidency and our slim majorities to enact what we campaigned on (and what the majority of the people want).
different-church-lady
They spent the last 26 years (at least) cultivating a party of sociopaths. There’s just no turning this Titanic around anymore, no matter how many of their increasingly few non-sociopaths speak up.
different-church-lady
@Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix:
Bombings. Count on it.
Miss Bianca
I don’t know. I had to speak up at the end of a County Commissioner meeting this morning after a “concerned conservative citizen” made a butt-hurt whining application to the commissioners for a letter to DC condemning “Democrat overreach” and suppression of conservative speech and that it was very very unfair of the Democrats to be impeaching Trump when all he had asked people to do was peacably interfere with the certification of the vote, and that all Democrats should therefore be impeached as a matter of course. And on and on and on. The Commissioners praised this lunkhead’s efforts and said that he could form a committee and the County could come up with resolution language per the County Attorney.
I asked the chairman of the BOCC whether he was aware of how many people in the county had voted for Democratic candidates in the last election (it was about 33% of the voters, all the way down from POTUS to DA). Then I asked if they were aware of how many lawsuits Trump had brought in the various states to contest the election. Then I asked if they knew how many he had won. Then I asked whether, under the circumstances, it was not demonstrably the case that Trump had no basis for his claims of election fraud, and that before they thought about putting together ANY language endorsing claims of fraud or Democratic overreach, that they consider the fact that a lot of their constituents would not agree with such actions being taken in their name. I could have gone on, but at that point they started harrumphing.
So, I am not feeling particularly optimistic about the state of my county, no. The state of the nation…maybe. But the realization that I’m just going to have to go on record calling out BS whenever, wherever I see it at the county level makes me feel tired and wired at the same time.
Uncle Cosmo
Just FTR, Joe Manchin’s vote has been there for the Democrats every time it’s been needed for many years now. He is the best Democratic Senator we could hope to have from WV for the next decade at least.
The political imbeciles on this blog who for all their supposed advanced intellectual credentials and self-proclaimed super-intelligence don’t seem to comprehend simple truths like this need to FUCK THE HELL OFF.
Emerald
@Old School: Don’t give up on the filibuster. Just a week or two before Manchin and Sinema made their absolutist statements, Manchin said that although he was opposed to nuking it, he was open to persuasion. The statements coming from those two senators at exactly the right time could have been merely optics.
Manchin just said that he wanted Biden’s agenda enacted. The only way to do that is to nuke the filibuster. Ergo, he will nuke the filibuster, probably getting massive goodies for WV (and AZ) in the process.
I give it no more than months if not weeks. McConnell will provide them with abundant justification
and:
Exactly.
cain
Schtaz and Murphy are my favorite pair – their twitter convos are always hilarious.
PST
@Brachiator: On the subject of why the USA won’t become another Rwanda:
I was astonished to learn that the tribal markers between the Tutsi and the Hutu are negligible. They speak the same language. Opinions vary, but many believe that the difference is more one of caste than origin, and perhaps one that was exacerbated during the colonial period. Sometimes invisible differences can lead to more violence than large ones, like the Thirty Years War.
sab
@Miss Bianca: Good for you. I have the luxury of living in a blue county in a blood red state so I don’t have to meet these loons on a daily basis. I deleted my out of state (R in CA) brother from my telephone contact list.
Jay
@burnspbesq:
Orban and his accomplices first took over Hungary’s media. That enabled them to shift the narrative, take over the party, divide the country, get elected and slowly strangle Hungary’s democracy.
with an assist from Putin.
Dolt45 and his minions have, however, no idea how anything works, which is why you guys retook the House, Senate and Presidency.
a better more organized Rethug is the danger, not Dolt 45.
Geminid
@different-church-lady: I have friends in Charlottesville who take seriously the threat you mention. When the August 11 anniversary of the infamous rally rolls around, they keep their eyes peeled for abandoned backpacks and such when in public places. It’s a real danger.
lowtechcyclist
@Jeffro:
They started off that way, but then they watched The Big Lebowski and heard John Goodman say, “say what you want about the tenets of National Socialism, at least it’s an ethos.” So they said, “yeah, that sounds better, let’s be Nazis.”
Fair Economist
@Roger Moore: I think gerrymandering will be close to a wash. Unfortunately we have few states where there are opportunities for gerrymander gains – CA and NJ have districting commissions, and many other blue states like OR and MA have few targets. The best ones are NY and VA. We will also gain some by having blocks to continuing R gerrymanders in MI and NC. OTOH states where the Rs still have a majority like TX and GA will allow them to restore gerrymanders that have decayed due to suburban shifts.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I’m still having a hard time figuring out this game stop thing, but this strengthens my notion that the idea that this was a great social justice movement is a lot of self-indulgent horseshit
Schwab is a big rightwing donor, I believe, don’t know about Fidelity. I suspect Vanguard works hard to stay away from politics– vanilla through and through. At least they’re not going to whichever outfit the Ricketts family started– Ameritrade?
OGLiberal
Have to put an end to these lunatics because this is some frightening shit:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/body-camera-footage-shows-capitol-130138220.html
H.E.Wolf
@taumaturgo: “The Democrats as they always do say the right things. It remains to be seen if they have what it takes to take on the action beyond the talk.”
You are aware, of course, that white women and people of color have been busting their butts at the grassroots level, and in state and national elected office, for decades; that their efforts redoubled since 2016; and that their hard work led to a flip of the US House of Representatives in 2018 and a trifecta in 2020.
As someone who saw the demographics of state-level volunteering up close for the past 4 years, the question in our state from 2016-2019 was: Where the white men at?
I think this is a question that many white men might want to sit with… and then make plans to participate in the present 2-year election cycle that culminates in Nov. 2022.
All people, newcomers to volunteering included, are welcome to join in and walk the talk!
Roger Moore
@Hoodie:
I don’t know that I agree that this is really what’s going on. I think you see two groups. One group are people like Max Boot and Joe Walsh, who are really conservative. They see the Republican Party as having basically the right priorities in terms of small government but having been taken over by crazies. They may leave the party or at least the party mainstream, but they won’t give up on their basic conservative worldview.
Then you have people like Jen Rubin, who joined the Republicans based on one or two critical issues where they agreed with the party and who adopted the rest of the party line as part of joining. When those people see the party as having given up on their big personal issue will give up the rest of the party line because they never really agreed with it. They’re capable of joining us. The other ones aren’t.
Matt McIrvin
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: The question, given what’s happened so far, is whether people can crank out vaccines for new COVID variants faster than they defeat the existing ones. Designing the vaccines is the easy part–it’d just be minor tweaks on the existing ones; getting them tested, approved, manufactured and distributed is most of the problem.
louc
The fired Fox news guy mentioned in this comment thread wrote a well-written column about Fox for the LA Times.
He says:
Re: gerrymandering. Somehow I ended up on Eric Holder’s All on the Line email list. He has a campaign against gerrymandering that doesn’t seem to be making much progress. What you’ve got to keep in mind is that Republican takeover of state legislatures is a 30-40 year strategy that started with the Christian Coalition grooming people to run for dogcatcher and school board and work their way up in the political system. Then came ALEC. Democrats seem to focus only on the big races instead of running for everything. That’s changed in some places, like Virginia, but it needs to be a much, much broader effort.
Yutsano
Jeebus Fucking Jehosephat!!!
Thiessen is being reasonable and my brain just can’t handle this…
moops
It would be nice if there was some way the Democrats could reward and empower the last sane GOP.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I remember Charlie Pierce making an early foray to Iowa in early ’18 (I think it was) and he went to a county meeting where the Count Ag Board was being elected. Five candidates for three seats, and all five talked about abortion.
JoyceH
@Uncle Cosmo:
I wish some renewable companies would plant a wind farm and a solar panel manufacturing plant in WV. In just a couple years, you could have more people in the state employed by renewables than by coal. If it didn’t turn WV blue, it might as least start weaning conservatives off fossil fuels.
RandomMonster
This is my fear as well.
Matt McIrvin
@JoyceH: The states with the biggest wind-power industries today are already red states, on the Plains–that’s where the wind is (at least without going offshore, which so far has had terrible East Coast NIMBY problems).
Jay
@PST:
one very interesting paper pointed out that the genocide was a mix of have nots’ and power brokers vs. the haves.
When the male dies, the land get’s split up amongst the sons. 40 acres, a viable farm, in a few generations becomes split up into tiny suburban plots, which those with money, can reassemble into viable farms.
a lot of the violence wasn’t “tribal” in that sense.
rikyrah
Geminid
@Fair Economist: Democrats in Albany may squeeze out another Republican New York Congressman. Virginia will redistrict through a new independent commission which I suspect will try not to make major changes. A more neutrally drawn 5th District could undermine the incumbent, who beat his Democratic rival by only 5 points. Right now the western border of the 5th runs along the Blue Ridge except for an eastward jog around Democratic Lynchburg. The map drawn in 2011 by the Republican Virginia General Assembly did not hold up well against factors of demographics and Republican stupidity. In 2018 Democrats flipped 3 Congressional seats drawn by the Republicans. By 2019 Democrats had taken back the General Assembly. A court order based on federal civil rights law requred 11 districts to be redrawn and accounted for a few pickups, but most of the districts flipped were as originally drawn.
lowtechcyclist
I’m pleasantly stunned at the moment. Biden and Schumer are saying and doing all the right things so far. They’re going forward with or without Mitch & Co. Whether to cooperate is up to them, but the Dems are refusing to get sidetracked by them.
This is the sort of Democratic Party I’ve been waiting to see for the past quarter-century – ever since I became willing to call myself a Democrat. The whole “proud to be a Democrat” schtick has always gotten under my skin, because while being a Democrat has been and continues to be a necessity in this era, there’s rarely been reason to be proud of the party.
And fuck and damn, at least so far in this new Administration, there finally IS reason.
I can’t quite get used to it yet, but I’d love to have the opportunity.
janesays
It’s pretty simple. Do the popular things that people want us to do, and we’ll be OK. Don’t do those things, and Kevin McCarthy becomes the Speaker of the House in January 2023.
So get the shit done.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@lowtechcyclist: Democrats created the social safety net
Democrats sacrificed the votes of half the country for (with apologies to LBJ) more than a generation to pass voting rights
Democrats have fought for more than a generation, arguably two, to protect women’s reproductive rights
Democrats moved gay rights from the fringe to the mainstream
Democrats have spent a generation, and more, fighting for a healthy climate
Democrats saved the country’s economy in 2009
Democrats expanded health coverage for 20 million poor and working poor Americans, just for starters.
Democrats elected the first Black president
This says a lot more about you than it does about Democrats.
catclub
The point of Kevin Drums most recent, non-cat post, is that FoxNews
has been making more people rage and fear addicted for the last 25 years.
MattF
@Yutsano: Saw that. I haven’t forgotten that Thiessen took up the ‘Biden is senile’ smear, nor that if it had worked we’d have seen a second inauguration of Trump. My ungenerous guess is that his outrage is focused on the insult to Liz Cheney and that the prospect of a crazed Republican Party is bad news for him personally.
catclub
How do they do that every year for new flu seasons?
Geminid
@moops: Even if Democrats wanted to reward and empower the last sane GOP, I’m not sure they can. These Republicans will just have “pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.” I wish them well, though.
burnspbesq
@Yutsano:
That’s the second time this month that space aliens have kidnapped Thiessen and replaced him with a sensible impostor.
Jim Appleton
@janesays:
Yes, and it’s good that much of what unfolds in the next year or so is in the hands of some competent players of long games. Optimism tempered appropriately — who knows how things stand years from now, for the moment some stars align.
Betty Cracker
@rikyrah: Has Eddie Glaude ever apologized for telling people not to vote for Clinton in 2016 and thus helping elect Trump?
Roger Moore
@catclub:
They have to guess well in advance what strains are going to be dominant the next flu season. They’ve gotten pretty good at it, but they have occasionally gotten it completely wrong, and the vaccine those years is largely useless.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@catclub:
The point still stands that most people are not
sab
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): What are you planning to do with your nursing degree? I understand you not going to work this year: why get PTSD your first year out. But can you keep it current without working?
LevelB
I just saw McCarthy’s tweet about his meeting with Trump – “United and ready to win in ’22”, and was struck by the similarity to Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement towards Hitler prior to WWII. Pretty sure it won’t work this time either.
Just Chuck
Here’s the thing Miejer: if it remains “your party”, you are as complicit as they are. I understand the idea that right now you might help change things from within, but the window for that is closing rapidly, slamming shut even.
moonbat
One thing I haven’t seen mentioned on this thread is while the Rs recognized a while back that demographic shifts were against them and decided gerrymandering and other forms of electoral cheating was the way to go, they are currently the party of unsafe COVID practice. How many of their own adherents are they killing off right now in ruby red states? Aren’t they hastening their own demise — both politically and actually? How is this a winning strategy?
Leslie
I confess that I have not read the several hundred comments in this thread and the morning thread, so this may be a repeat, and my apologies if so. Mother Jones has a video of Greene espousing political violence: https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status/1355268537229713418
Matt McIrvin
@catclub: Most of the time, it’s some trivalent or tetravalent vaccine made up of existing vaccines for known existing strains of flu. Also, I think they’re usually killed-virus vaccines that they grow in chicken eggs or something, a rather different process from most of these.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
I have some experience with cults. If somebody has given years of their life and tons of money to a destructive cult, it is very hard to make that break after the first cracks of doubt seep in. In order to admit to yourself that your cult leader is a crook and a con man, you have to admit that you have been taken in and have wasted years of your life and tons of your money on a crook and a con man.
This is a very difficult and emotional step for a lot of people.
The good news is that people who do make the break are pretty dedicated anti-cultists and often the best people to reach out to others still in the cult.
J R in WV
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
He used to work for a now deceased RWNJ newspaper here in WV. Is a RWNJ thru and thru, just misjudged the acceptance of actual facts at Faux Noise.
LurkerNoLonger
@H.E.Wolf: This is a very good post, but try not to feed the troll.
J R in WV
@Uncle Cosmo:
Thanks for this Cosmo. I kinda despise Manchin, but he is a Democratic Senator, and votes with his party as and when needed.
He may be as crooked as a dog’s hind leg (why I have no high regard for him), but he is still a vote when we need a vote.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@J R in WV: Everyone knows facts have a liberal bias.
debbie
@Geminid:
Gym Jordan’s gerrymandered district looks like a moldy, shriveling strand of linguini. I am really hoping redistricting tosses him right out of the House.
Chris Johnson
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yeah, and the Republicans used to have Lincoln, and abolition of slavery.
No point being salty. Democrats also got us into this mess and are literally the only ones with ability or inclination to get us out of it. We are without exception thrilled that Democrats are, at the moment, not kowtowing to the Republicans and putting up with their nonsense: back in the days of Reagan, and I was alive then even if I wasn’t alive for the heyday of Democratic support of union labor, the Democrats had to run scared and adopt everything the Republicans did just to not be obliterated completely.
Shoe’s on the other foot now, and with a bit of luck, for the rest of my whole lifetime. I’m with lowtechcyclist on this one (to some extent). We DO have new and better Dems. I would suggest that we did indeed need them.
sab
A lot of Republicans know they are wrong. Unfortunately, they believe they are less wrong than we are. I miss the days when we decided stuff issue by issue instead of tribe by tribe.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Chris Johnson:
you used to post as Applejinx, right?
What a stupid fucking comment, even given your past history.
frosty
@Roger Moore: Didn’t work with the Maryland – Wisconsin case. The Court ran away from it as fast as they could.
brantl
It’s a sad day in hell when Lynn Cheney is one of the best of any party. Jumping Jesus, she’s a crime against nature, as is her xy chromosome donor, and she’s still one of the best that they have. The party they have now would have broken old man Romney’s heart. And Michigan’s governor Milliken’s as well had he lived to see it.
I root for injuries. If, in their snarkfest, Matt Goetz and Cheney could strike deathblows, simultaneously, I would consider that outstandingly fitting.
Winston
@CaseyL:
Much as was the Communist party in 1954 which was outlawed.
Uncle Cosmo
(And thankew for unpieing me.)
My maternal grandparents, Italian immigrants, settled in Fairmont, not far from the little town of Farmington** where Manchin was born. Most of my cousins still live nearby. One of my favorite cousins (who sadly passed away a couple of years ago), a rock-ribbed Democrat, didn’t have much use for Joe – something about his daughter and a requirement for EpiPens in all schools. He’s still the best Democratic Senator we’re going to get from WV for the foreseeable future.
** Best known for the 1968 Farmington mine disaster. My godfather/favorite uncle was down in Consol #9 when it went up like a fucking Roman candle that November. (He did not make it out.)