2020 Election Thread

[KUGRDON]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/11/10/what-happened-that-blue-wave/%3foutputType=amp

Another view, but it doesn’t address why moderates can flip seats but progressives haven’t.

[Scscsc89]

5 hours ago, Jalapeno said:

GOP might have lost that battle but are you really sure the DNC won the war?

did I say anything about the DNC?

trump refusing to give up power goes far beyond left vs. right

[glduck]

Off the top of my head I can think of two examples that Jennifer Rubin either missed or purposely excluded, Katie Porter and Mike Levin from the blue wave of 2018.

Regardless, I don’t necessarily consider it surprising that in a country where 70 million people willingly voted for Donald Trump that areas exist where people clutch their pearls when they hear “socialism.”

[KUGRDON]

I think your point on Porter and Levin is correct.  At the same time I don’t think it’s surprising that there are more moderate Dems and swing voters deciding not to support progressive Dems than there are progressive Dems and swing voters that decide not to support moderates.  The progressives have no viable options.

[Orange]

Regardless of progressive left or moderate left, Kasich telling Democrats they should reach a hand out to Republicans is fucking insane. 

[KUGRDON]

Manchin for President.

[Orange]

A 70-something white man from West Virginia doesn't understand the minority experience in America?  Holy Fucking Shit, this is mind-blowing!

[Orange]

[Orange]

Cal Cunningham is a result of the centrist Democrats -- like Chuck Schumer -- insisting that we go with a "safe" centrist with a military background rather than candidates who run to change things.  And it backfired.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/11/cal-cunningham-let-the-democratic-party-and-america-down.html

 

Schumer recruited Cunningham for the race, and his Senate Majority PAC spent millions supporting him. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee endorsed Cunningham in the primary against several other Democrats, including progressive two-term state Sen. Erica Smith, a Black woman in a state whose registered Democrats are nearly half Black. (Cunningham was a former one-term state senator who lost the Democratic primary for a U.S. Senate seat in 2010 and hadn’t sought political office since.) According to a Democratic consultant who spoke to Politico and was “familiar with the process” of selecting Cunningham, Democratic leaders saw Cunningham as the candidate “with the fewest vulnerabilities for Republicans to exploit.” State Sen. Jeff Jackson said he’d considered running against Tillis too, but when he told Schumer he wanted to start his campaign by holding a town hall in each of North Carolina’s 100 counties, Schumer allegedly said, “Wrong answer—we want you to spend the next 16 months in a windowless basement raising money, and then we’re going to spend 80 percent of it on negative ads about Tillis.” And then Schumer went with Cunningham instead.

[KUGRDON]

The most powerful Senator (after the majority leader) in a closely divided Senate will be Susan Collins or Joe Manchin.

[Orange]

1 hour ago, KUGRDON said:

The most powerful Senator (after the majority leader) in a closely divided Senate will be Susan Collins or Joe Manchin.

Imagine senators who represent less than a million constituents being in charge of legislation for a country of 330 million.

Our democracy can barely edge out Myanmar at this point.

[clpp01]

3 hours ago, Orange said:

Cal Cunningham is a result of the centrist Democrats -- like Chuck Schumer -- insisting that we go with a "safe" centrist with a military background rather than candidates who run to change things.  And it backfired.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/11/cal-cunningham-let-the-democratic-party-and-america-down.html

 

Schumer recruited Cunningham for the race, and his Senate Majority PAC spent millions supporting him. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee endorsed Cunningham in the primary against several other Democrats, including progressive two-term state Sen. Erica Smith, a Black woman in a state whose registered Democrats are nearly half Black. (Cunningham was a former one-term state senator who lost the Democratic primary for a U.S. Senate seat in 2010 and hadn’t sought political office since.) According to a Democratic consultant who spoke to Politico and was “familiar with the process” of selecting Cunningham, Democratic leaders saw Cunningham as the candidate “with the fewest vulnerabilities for Republicans to exploit.” State Sen. Jeff Jackson said he’d considered running against Tillis too, but when he told Schumer he wanted to start his campaign by holding a town hall in each of North Carolina’s 100 counties, Schumer allegedly said, “Wrong answer—we want you to spend the next 16 months in a windowless basement raising money, and then we’re going to spend 80 percent of it on negative ads about Tillis.” And then Schumer went with Cunningham instead.

Root for AOC to try making the jump in 2022 by challenging Schumer.  The only way the progressive movement actually progresses is by picking off moderate seats in the liberal pockets of the country.  You'll never be able to get a progressive into the Senate in a place like North Carolina that always votes republican.

[Orange]

12 minutes ago, clpp01 said:

Root for AOC to try making the jump in 2022 by challenging Schumer.  The only way the progressive movement actually progresses is by picking off moderate seats in the liberal pockets of the country.  You'll never be able to get a progressive into the Senate in a place like North Carolina that always votes republican.

Or abolish the electoral college AND the senate.  This entire country and constitution is a sham.  
 

or at least make Puerto Rico and Washington DC states.  

[clpp01]

16 minutes ago, Orange said:

Or abolish the electoral college AND the senate.  This entire country and constitution is a sham.  
 

or at least make Puerto Rico and Washington DC states.  

I think I have a better shot of having a threesome with Jennifer Lawrence and Jessica Alba while simultaneously winning the lottery then any of those options have to pass.

 

[azgreg]

 

[Orange]

14 hours ago, clpp01 said:

I think I have a better shot of having a threesome with Jennifer Lawrence and Jessica Alba while simultaneously winning the lottery then any of those options have to pass.

 

And this kind of attitude is why it doesn’t happen.  
 

The republicans govern with fucking audacity.  Democrats are fucking pussies who want to “extend a hand” to right-wing fuckholes.  Start talking like it can happen, because it can.  

Fuck Dianne Feinstein and Joe manchin and Conor lamb and the rest of these whites supremacist fucks who suck the dick of oppressors.  It’s disgusting.   

[glduck]

A bit of historical context for elections following one side’s sweeping victory.

[clpp01]

2 hours ago, Orange said:

And this kind of attitude is why it doesn’t happen.  
 

The republicans govern with fucking audacity.  Democrats are fucking pussies who want to “extend a hand” to right-wing fuckholes.  Start talking like it can happen, because it can.  

Fuck Dianne Feinstein and Joe manchin and Conor lamb and the rest of these whites supremacist fucks who suck the dick of oppressors.  It’s disgusting.   

I'll walk back my comments in regards to statehood, after researching it a bit further appears it only requires a simple majority vote from Congress than a super majority that I had believed so that wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility.

But abolishing the Senate and the EC is where you are living in a fantasy world.  The Senate doesn't represent the people, it was never designed to represent the public.  The Senate is the representation of the states that binds what is essentially 50 independent nations into one.  You can hate on a Joe Manchin all you want but the simple fact is you can't do better than him in a place like West Virginia, the same way Republicans couldn't do better than Susan Collins in a place like Maine.  You try it and your choice of candidate is getting beat in the GE by 20+ points.

The EC is simple, only way to eliminate it is by passing a new constitutional amendment which requires either both chambers of Congress passing it by 2/3rd majority and 75% of states approving it, or for 2/3rds of the states to call for a Constitutional Convention where states could bypass Congress completely but they still require 3/4ths majority or 38 states to approve of any amendment passing and I can give you a list of 15+ states right now that will never support abandoning the EC because of the power it gives them to shape elections. 

[Mano]

8 hours ago, clpp01 said:

I'll walk back my comments in regards to statehood, after researching it a bit further appears it only requires a simple majority vote from Congress than a super majority that I had believed so that wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility.

But abolishing the Senate and the EC is where you are living in a fantasy world.  The Senate doesn't represent the people, it was never designed to represent the public.  The Senate is the representation of the states that binds what is essentially 50 independent nations into one.  You can hate on a Joe Manchin all you want but the simple fact is you can't do better than him in a place like West Virginia, the same way Republicans couldn't do better than Susan Collins in a place like Maine.  You try it and your choice of candidate is getting beat in the GE by 20+ points.

The EC is simple, only way to eliminate it is by passing a new constitutional amendment which requires either both chambers of Congress passing it by 2/3rd majority and 75% of states approving it, or for 2/3rds of the states to call for a Constitutional Convention where states could bypass Congress completely but they still require 3/4ths majority or 38 states to approve of any amendment passing and I can give you a list of 15+ states right now that will never support abandoning the EC because of the power it gives them to shape elections. 

You could do an end around on the EC if you could get enough states to agree ( 270 or greater electorals ) to allocate all their electoral votes to whoever wins the popular vote. The constitution leaves it up to the states to decide on how to allocate their electors, and this would be a perfectly valid way to do it. 

[clpp01]

20 hours ago, Mano said:

You could do an end around on the EC if you could get enough states to agree ( 270 or greater electorals ) to allocate all their electoral votes to whoever wins the popular vote. The constitution leaves it up to the states to decide on how to allocate their electors, and this would be a perfectly valid way to do it. 

Problem with that is that short of swing states sacrificing their importance in elections that there are not enough votes in democrat favored states to get to 270 and the states that have already signed up for it will be losing electoral votes starting with the '24 election making it even more difficult.