Assessing The Midterms
Link to Quote: The Only Thing Necessary for the Triumph of Evil is that Good Men Do Nothing – Quote Investigator
Now that the GOP has at long last managed to secure a majority in the House of Representatives, it might be a good time to assess the recent midterm elections. Let me say that politics in the US has changed dramatically over the past decade. The democratic party is now dominated by radical, neo-Socialist progressives and the Republican party has been reshaped by Donald Trump. Thus, the last two election cycles have been extremely polarized. In this particular election the conditions created by the Biden presidency led many to believe that there would be a red wave.
So, what happened?
The key factors:
First was the money spent on all of these races. In general, the left outspent the Republicans by a ratio of 3-1. On the Senate side, it was a tough year for Republicans as they had to defend 21 seats while trying to pick off some of the 14 being defended by democrats. Many of those 14 seats being held by democrats were incumbent Senators and thus much tougher to defeat.
Second was the very unconventional strategy employed by Joe Biden's handlers. In the final two weeks of the election, those who pull Biden's strings had him go out and make a very negative speech in which he claimed that voting for Republicans equaled a vote against democracy. In effect he ran on insurrection. This was done with a backdrop of Biden being very unpopular and 75% of those polled believing that the country was not going in the right direction. Democrats also tried to make abortion a key issue by making it a matter of life & death for a woman. What we are starting to see is that those two issues seemed to drive young people and single women to the polls. Both groups outperformed their demographics. Can we now assume that young people don't care about bread & butter issues or crime?
Extraneous factors:
The week before the election, Donald Trump unwisely said that he would be making a major announcement on the Tuesday after the election. He also viciously attacked Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Nothing galvanizes left wing voters like Trump running for President again. On the other hand, it could have impacted DeSantis voters as well. Then there was the complaint that Republicans never came up with a convincing narrative. I don't know if I buy that. Ideology & voting rules clearly were a factor in many of the elections. The race in PA was a prime example. The Fetterman campaign demanded that there only be one debate and it be scheduled just prior to the election. Democrats had banked many votes by then, making Fetterman's poor debate performance irrelevant. As it was voters in the second most important energy producing state elected someone who said over & over that he was against fracking. In New York, Lee Zeldin easily out debated Kathy Hochul in a campaign that Zeldin had made about crime, yet New Yorkers voted for Hochul anyway. In other states like Arizona the uninspired & boring Katie Hobbs refused to debate all together and she ended up winning. The only places where the pundits got the red wave right was in deep red states like Florida, where not a single democrat won statewide office and Texas. Dissatisfied Conservatives are moving to those states from Socialist states like California, Illinois and New York. As people flee the blue states, they actually become bluer.
The Positives:
Despite the Republicans being unprepared they did take the House and they will prevent Joe Biden from enacting any more radical legislation. There will be investigations of abuses of power and Republicans will control the purse strings. On the other hand, by democrats overperforming, Joe Biden will most likely run in 2024 and be a very vulnerable candidate. Certain minority groups are gradually trending towards the GOP.
The Negatives :
There will be a major confrontation in the GOP. Trump insulted both Ron DeSantis and his wife. That is Trump issuing a warning: He is reminding the GOP that he can destroy anyone who shares a stage with him. DeSantis, most likely will make his Presidential bid in about a year from now. Like Trump, DeSantis does not back down. Any other possible primary candidates will be irrelevant and that will hurt Trump. It just came to me: If/when DeSantis defeats Trump, Trump won't even tell Republicans to unify behind DeSantis.
I have been very pessimistic about the future of this country. Fortunately, I remembered the words of Edmund Burke.
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We now have divided government.
Radical legislation is now dead on arrival.
House Republicans may use negotiations over raising or suspending the debt limit as a means to getting spending cuts.
"A Democratic-led push for a bipartisan fix to the nation’s debt ceiling while the party still holds control of Congress is getting a chilly reception from Senate Republicans.
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters this week that he’d like to “get a debt ceiling done in this work period.” But Schumer also insisted the matter be handled with GOP support. "
Schumer want to take away this bargaining chip for Republicans before they take over the House in January.
Nobody is fooled.
Strange election. Republicans cost themselves some winnable elections with bad candidates and will end up winning less house seats than expected despite dramatically increasing their margins across pretty much all groups.
They won the house though, and that means subpoena power.
It will take me a while to get over it.
Does anyone believe that Garland will do anything to enforce them against democrats? He’s a partisan hack like “My people” Holder. 2 sets of laws. That’s why Maxwell is in prison and her customers are flying on private jets to climate conferences.
Garland won' do a thing. But Democrats refusing to comply with subpoenas and refusing to provide information will damage Democrats politically, especially given their peans to the rule of law the few years. Given their hysterics about Trump threatening the very existence of this country, it will be telling how often they cite him as precedent.
I don’t see that happening, the MSM sure won’t cover it. And the witch hunt talking points will be more prolific with the low functioning than the MAGA crap they constantly bleat like the ignorant sheep they are.
Might Pelosi announce her retirement today?
This whole seed is bizarro land.
I see.
What do you think of the new House Committee chairman: Jim Jordan?
He will be telling us about the upcoming investigations within minutes.
I hope McCarthy rejects all the new minority leader's selections for committee members!
"Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell , R-Ky., on Wednesday won re-election as Senate GOP leader, fending off a challenge from Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and setting himself up to become the longest-serving party leader in the history of the Senate."
"McConnell won a vote that broke 37-10 and saw one senator abstain, according to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex.
Cruz and several other GOP senators had called for the vote to be postponed until after the Dec. 6 Georgia Senate runoff, but a motion to do that from Cruz failed 32-16 ahead of the GOP leader vote."
McConnell should be done as a leader of Republicans. The fact that he is still in charge of the Senate is sickening. He doesn't give a shit about this country being in the hands of radical Fascist Democrats. He is only concerned with maintaining his power at any costs.
Like an old girlfriend, let's just call him "controversial." Spending all that money in a Republican primary to defeat one Republican and elevate another was questionable. However, one has to admit he has had great moments as both Senate Leader and Minority Leader.
Wouldn't it be ironic if Republicans took control of the House by a margin of 222 - 213?
That is exactly what democrats had and they considered it a mandate!
HAPPENING NOW:
Republicans Hold News Conference on Biden Family Investigation
I hope the right wing nut cases in the House do investigate the shit out of Biden, it will guarantee a Democratic win in '24.
People are tired of these far right weirdos. The recent election proved that.
Did you see what RCP had to say about the Kemp campaign?
Post # 10.
Beyond that, one could also argue that democrats got their base out by being bold enough to pursue their wildest dreams. Why shouldn't Republicans do the same?
Vic, outside of delusional right wingers and their media, Jim Jordan is considered to be a big mouth bully buffoon whose best talent is being extremely confrontational at congressional hearings. Two years of "hearings" will be a disaster for the Republicans.
You mean outside of all standards of normalcy, don't you? Only a left wing radical would view him that way. Should I characterize Adam Schiff?
Two years of "hearings" will be a disaster for the Republicans.
McCarthy has no choice. Had he won big he could have simply said no to these investigations. With his thin majority he will be forced to listen to the Freedom Caucus. I think I have what I want in the House.
What standard of normalcy was it when Jordan looked the other way at OSU when the team doctor fondled the genitals of student wrestlers ?
Adam Schiff is in no way comparable to Jim Jordan, who gets confrontational with every Democrat he ever interrogates, and is willing to instantly derail congressional hearings to suit his ideological purposes. That is why he was kept off the Jan 6 committee.
Ive about had it with right wing extremists trying to "compare" their heroes to normal people.
Schiff is a compulsive liar. That he keeps moving up in the Democratic party despite being caught red handed tells you all you need to know about democrats performative outrage over Trump's lying.
Oh, that's why he's "no-good?"
He was kept off that blatantly partisan Kangaroo Court because he would have asked questions that Pelosi didn't want asked.
Ive about had it with right wing extremists trying to "compare" their heroes to normal people.
Well, you're really going to be upset once you get a good dose of what Pelosi dished out since 2019.
Your credibility about that committee is non existent. You have repeatedly shown that you have no fucking idea what they found and presented to the nation. I heard a reporter interviewing Kinzinger, and the reporter said that one of the values to the committee is that it proved, beyond shadow of a doubt, that while the Capitol was under siege for four or five hours Trump did absolutely nothing to stop it. Nothing. This is not speculation or guess work, it is fact testified to by many people who WERE THERE in the White House with Trump at the time. And you want Trump to be president again. It is shameful.
The minute Pelosi rejected minority members the committee lost all its credibility.
. You have repeatedly shown that you have no fucking idea what they found and presented to the nation.
If you were paying attention, you'd know that I said the Barr testimony was highly credible.
I heard a reporter interviewing Kinzinger, and the reporter said that one of the values to the committee is that it proved, beyond shadow of a doubt, that while the Capitol was under siege for four or five hours Trump did absolutely nothing to stop it. Nothing. This is not speculation or guess work, it is fact testified to by many people who WERE THERE in the White House with Trump at the time. And you want Trump to be president again. It is shameful.
The other problem with that committee was that they taped interviews and depositions and used various portions of them at their own discretion. There was no chance for people who had a different view to ask questions. Worst of all, the hearings were all about influencing the midterm elections, which beyond all logic they did. We have a lot of feeble mided people in this country.
So witnessing sexual assault and ignoring it is okay with you ? Got it.
"It's always lightest just before the dark" ... Sheriff Bob Maples
Here's how we handle assault (on a Texas deputy!)
Replace Jim Jordan with Pelosi and you have a correct comment
What happens when you have completely had it?
BREAKING NEWS : "House Republicans allege Biden directly involved in business dealings with son Hunter Biden."
Republican Reps. James Comer and Jim Jordan alleged at a press conference Thursday that President Biden was actively involved in overseas business dealings involving his son Hunter.
Comer, citing whistleblowers, asserted that the Biden family "flourished and became millionaires by simply offering access to the family."
The representatives alleged that Hunter Biden and Joe Biden participated in "waste, fraud, and abuse" in international business dealings. The Republicans are releasing a report Thursday outlining their findings.
"This is an investigation of Joe Biden ," Comer said.
Brian Kemp was one of the few Republicans to utilize early voting:
"Two days before Brian Kemp bested Stacey Abrams by more than seven percentage points in their closely watched rematch, the Georgia governor did something unusual for a Republican candidate in the 2022 midterms: He expressed confidence about where he stood and cited early voting as a top reason.
“We’ve also had record turnout for early voting, which ended this Friday. It’s been an incredible turnout, and we feel good about things,” Kemp told Trey Gowdy, the former congressman and host of Fox News’ “Sunday Night in America.”
Kemp wasn’t just projecting optimism to sound upbeat on the eve of the election as many candidates on both sides of the aisle often do. He and his team prioritized early voting in their overall strategy to combat the vaunted Abrams’ ground-game machine. Heading into Election Day, Kemp had seen the early voting data rolling in and knew he was in a stronger-than-expected position.
In the end, Kemp received more votes cast through early in-person voting than Abrams, 1.139 million to 1.134 million. The governor also remained competitive with the mail-in vote instead of getting crushed, as most Republicans did this cycle, in this advance form of voting that was greatly expanded during the pandemic. Kemp received 90,080 mail-in votes to Abrams’ 152,494, while overwhelming Abrams with the predicted GOP flood of Election Day votes, 880,246 to Abrams’ 523,654."
Rep Maxine Waters schedule hearing to investigate the #FTXScandal next month.
Will it be broadcast with a laugh track?
Few will be laughing.
Is she going be testifying like she should; or providing cover for FTX since the owner is such a staunch Democrat donor?
Judging by her most recent comments, she'll be providing cover.
Last seen Waters told a reporter that Sam Bankman-Fried donated money to both political partys. In truth, Fried donted 92% of the money to democrats and the rest to Republicans who seemed doomed to losing general elections.
One of the questions will be: Was all of this done to fund democrats?
You seem stuck on the fact that Dems got money. No one except right wing partisans care about that. Congress has no oversite on cryptocurrencies unless they are going to start creating some kind of legislation to do so. They would be very late to that party if that's the case. Billions of dollars have been defrauded, or outright stolen from people in crytos and no one's cared about it yet.
As far as legalities go - a law suite was filed yesterday on all parties involved in creating and promoting the company. That's were the serious questions will be asked and it won't be televised on C-Span.
They outspent Republicans in the latest election by a ratioof 3 to 1. Please note: this story broke immediately after the latest election.
As far as legalities go
As far as legalities go: Many are liable here and that includes the SEC (which has gone woke). That 30 year old kid aquired most of his wealth in a 3 year period and stole people's investments at a rate far greater than Bernie Madoff ever did. The question posed in Post 11.2.1 will have to be answered.
Wrong.
So? As the saying goes a fool and their money are soon parted...
Are you Q? Is this a QAnon conspiracy theory?
His age doesn't matter, BUT law enforcement is investigating to determine IF actual crimes did occur and if they will extrite the fool back to the US to face fraud charges. This has nothing to do with Congress and everything to do with law enforcement.
Ah yes, Peter Halligan, dust bunny chaser and denialist extraordinaire. Will give you this Vic, you do come up with some of the most obscure partisan sources.
Your source appears to have far more veritas than Vic's does. Peter Halligan makes FOX sound like a liberal rag.
That's what I thought, lol.
Darn those pesky facts
"The FTX CEO's family — consisting of his parents, Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, and brother Gabe Bankman-Fried — has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democratic candidates and actively worked with left-wing organizations committed to supporting Democrats. The four appear to have had subtle influence on the Democratic establishment for the better part of a decade."
She showed her true colors in the picture in 11 above
The over usage of 'radical' has become radically mundane. Keep it up and 'our' readers will be tempted to look elsewhere for a snatch of sanity.
On the other hand, how else should he describe "communists" ?
Probably ignore them, the last one I met was in 1969 and he's dead. Canada suffers the same shtick up here relentlessly and there are not enough 'commies' around to form a condo committee. As with "woke", which the right has morphed into a form of derision, it is no more than an inane form of culture war presided over by flavor-of-the-weak neo-DeSantis.
I'm afraid it's gone the way of the over used "racist" which has been rendered meaningless.
I think the key factors were:
The GoP should have won huge given this was a midterm election and the party in power is not killing it and is lead by an unpopular, uncharismatic, marginally effective PotUS. That coupled with inflation and continued bizarre refusal to deal with illegal immigration (seems like it is to spite Trump and MAGA) should have lead to a shellacking.
But the SCotUS energized people against the GoP stance on abortion. I can easily see people voting for Ds in response to that one issue alone. But it is more than that. It seems (finally) that people (general) are truly growing sick of Trump and MAGA. The electorate is rejecting those who continue to suck up to Trump — especially those who sell their souls by parroting his election denial nonsense.
Yes, what a moron. How can any Trump supporter not see this as strong evidence that Trump only cares about Trump? He does not care if he harms the party (or the nation) because it is all about him. If reelected, his term of office will be driven by personal retribution, not focused on what is best for the American people. He is not out for the American people, he is only out for Trump.
Oz, with his celebrity, intelligence, charisma, etc. should have won. But he publicly supported Trump's election denial. The election-denial crap worked for the primary but is likely the single biggest factor for his general election failure. Oprah's late endorsement of Fetterman is no doubt a significant factor too.
You claimed that you understand the difference between socialism and social democracy yet still write nonsense like this. CA, IL and NY are fully capitalist states. There is no hint of a desire to move from capitalism to socialism (as if that were even possible). Social democracy = capitalism funding social programs. Socialism = private sector owned and controlled collectively and democratically by the people in general. There is no socialism in the USA (or anywhere else). CA, IL and NY favor social democracy.
And the last part is what is sickening. Investigating (and indicting) Trump given his historically negative actions against the USA while sitting PotUS is obviously appropriate. The USA cannot allow politicians to get away with coercion, subornation, etc. at the highest level. But these side hit jobs just go to show that our elected representatives are more concerned with their own power than doing the job for the people. Get power and use it to give cover to Trump and instead go after Hunter Biden? That kind of behavior by the GoP will illustrate that they have nothing of value to offer the people.
Let's hope not. That would be yet another stupid move by a major political party.
True.
As Jen Psaki said: "If democrats allow it to be a referendum on Biden, they will lose!"
It's hard to believe that our young people were so easily led.
The election is not so easily explained. It was a result of several key competing factors.
I will say this though, if the GoP was not so conflicted with Trump, they would have done much better.
“It's hard to believe that our young people were so easily led.”
Even more hard to believe how our old people were so easily misled.
And I said as much.
I will say this though, if the GoP was not so conflicted with Trump, they would have done much better.
That was a midterm election which should have been just what Jen Psaki feared it would be.
Oh, another wordsmith! Be careful..
“Oh, another wordsmith! Be careful..”
No, awaiting another blurred myth…Re: wareful.
I think the campaign that Brian Kemp ran has to be the big lesson. He actually fought for the early vote. He won the early vote by 6,000 votes and then blew Abrams right out of the water with the election day results.
Anyone could see that the midterm was not going to be a red wave. Four months before the elections it was apparent that Democrats would retain the Senate and Republicans would obtain control of the House by a slim margin.
Democrats could not run on accomplishments or promises. Democrats already controlled Congress and the White House. The list of accomplishments was quite thin. And Democrats couldn't promise to do things they weren't doing with control. The only thing Democrats could do would be dividing the country, fearmongering, and angering their voter base to get voter turnout. And the press played their part in wall to wall coverage of Democrats' divisive messaging and fearmonger. Fact checking took a holiday and issues were pushed to the back page.
Republicans didn't have anyone capable of pushing the midterm toward an issue and ideas election. Running on relitigating the 2020 election was going to be a loser. That only played to Democrats' playbook of division and fearmongering. And the press only covered Republicans who were focused on the 2020 election. The press rebranded all Republicans as 'election deniers' on behalf of Democrats.
Republicans actually performed pretty well in a political environment so decidedly skewed against Republicans. The one takeaway that isn't receiving much attention is that Democrats' divisive politics didn't play that well in suburbia. If Republicans can coalesce around an issue oriented spokesperson then Democrats' midterm strategy will come back to bite them on the ass. Right now Republican deadwood are the only issue oriented Republicans with any sort of national voice. Backsliding into the old, tired Republican status quo being touted by deadwood in the party will ultimately destroy the Republican Party.
The Press branded those who were ... not all.
Lol, the GOP failed because they have no message other than “Donald Trump.” There has never existed a better environment for the party out of power to take control of both houses, and the GOP single-handedly blew it. The press didn’t do it, the Democrats didn’t do it, the GOP did it to themselves.
You can make all the excuses you want, but the simple fact is the GOP doesn’t stand for anything anymore. They have no policies, no ideas, no solutions to any of the nation’s problems. Harassing trans kids and stopping women from being able to get an abortion doesn’t actually address any of the real issues facing a good portion of Americans.
That's odd since 'Donald Trump' is first and foremost on the minds of Democrats. Kinda difficult to avoid talking about Trump since that's all Democrats want to talk about.
Republicans stand for too many things, not too few. That's the problem with a transition. Republicans haven't set aside the old and coalesced around the new. Democrats have expended a lot of effort to hold back the Republican Party because they won't be as competitive against younger Republicans. Democrats are trying to keep Reagan alive politically but Republicans are moving on.
The Democratic Party has become the party of old, white neoliberals. But Republicans consider those senior politicos deadwood.
Buckle up, Nerm, because Trump declared his candidacy. It is not just the Ds talking about Trump.
Trump declaring his candidacy seems to worry Democrats. And don't be surprised if Democrats talk more about Trump than Republicans will.
It should worry Rs, not Ds.
The only takeaway is that the GOP doesn’t have a message that appeals to the majority of the electorate. Sugarcoat it all you like, but the simple fact is that the winds could not have been kinder to the GOP and they failed spectacularly because they have no platform. They have no plan, and no policies other than “whatever brain fart Donald trump has at any given moment.”
The GOP came out and said “more Donald trump!” and the majority of voters said no in most of the key races. I haven’t voted for the GOP since 2004 because they have progressively become more and more incapable of governing responsibly, or at all. Aside from cutting taxes for the rich, kissing Donald Trump’s ass at every opportunity, and harassing people over their sex lives, I have absolutely no idea what the GOP platform consists of. They are not a serious governing party and thus I cannot seriously consider voting for them.