2020 Election Results

[fromderinside]

Getting to the point that even reading such is making me puke.

 

[bilby]

The rioting this years was in support of black criminals who committed crimes such as DUI and assault (Rayshard Brooks) or assault with a deadly weapon (Walter Wallace Jr.).
Do you think these crimes should be repealed? Or repealed for black thugs only (as the rioters do not give a shit about white thugs getting shot by police)?


Of course riots need to be put down! That was the chief failure of people like Ted Wheeler in Portland. He did not go forcefully against leftist rioters and has thereby created a vacuum that "Proud Boys" and others filled. And the Antifa still don't like him and ran their own "Antifa" candidate against him, although she lost. Or take Seattle: the local city officials were inactive in the face of leftist rioting that the rioters managed to occupy territory in downtown Seattle for weeks!

The best way to address theft isn't to catch more theives; It's to ensure that nobody's in a position where they must steal in order to live.

How he gonna get his money?

US has social programs like food stamps. Nobody has to steal and rob to survive. People rob and steal for wants like brand-name clothes and sneakers, not basic needs.

The best way to address rioting isn't to use teargas and baton rounds against rioters; It's to ensure that few people feel powerless to resolve their grievances with authority via more peaceful means.

So give in to the rioter's extremist demands? If rioters for example demand that a police officer who did nothing wrong be prosecuted, should the officer be prosecuted just because the angry and violent mob demands it?

Tough on crime just means more grievances and more crime. We need politicians who are tough on the causes of crime - poverty, powerlessness, and marginalisation.

That is rather naïve. Crime cannot be solved by giving in to criminals.

Not to say that our criminal law can't be reformed and improved. But the crimes these rioters engage in (vandalism, looting, arson etc.) and the crimes their #BLM heroes have engaged in when they were shot (such as robbery, carjacking, assault, firearm offenses) are serious crimes and should not be excused no matter what the color of the skin of the perps is or what kind of excuse they have for doing it.

Thank you for providing an excellent example of the exact kind of irrational "thinking" that causes these problems.

It's undeniable that the kind of punitive, authoritarian and prescriptive approach you advocate is hugely popular amongst the middle classes.

But popular <> right.

You are absolutely wrong, and I am absolutely unsurprised by that.

Crime is defined by law; It absolutely CAN be solved by "giving in to criminals", and indeed it cannot be solved any other way.

The solution is to treat adults like adults, and humans like humans. That this is anathema to you surprises me not one whit.

 

[lpetrich]

What are the odds of Democratic wins in the Georgia runoffs? - The Washington Post

Republicans did better than Democrats in both of them,

The open question is what happens when these two races become nationalized, even more than they were before. There won’t be a presidential race alongside them. But millions will be spent on both sides to get voters the message that the Senate majority hangs in the balance.

...
“This isn’t about persuasion anymore,” said the Republican strategist. ”… It’s just a matter of who wants it more.”

I like these comments about Sen. Kelly Loeffler:

Oliver Goldsmith:
Loeffler is an empty arrogant self entitled pant suit who bought the seat from corrupt Governor Kemp. She is the richest member of the Senate! She achieved that by marrying.....her...boss, an older guy who is a billionaire. Loeffler is a women's NBA owner and her team dislike her and supported the Dems. She is a weak candidate who has clung to Trump like a limpet and hates talking to reporters or taking questions. Murdock is a smart decent and good candidate. But Georgia, despite changes, is a racist place in many ways still and electing a black Senator will be tough. Still.....and Perdue is none too sharp and was so humiliated by Ossoff in a TV debate recently that he refused to do the final one! What a pair L and P are. Hope spring eternal though....

vadem1:
plus, recently while being questioned by reporters, Loeffler claimed she wasn't familiar with the Access Hollywood tape where trump talked about grabbing women by the p+++y. Duh, what a jerk.

As if coronavirus insider trading wasn't bad enough.

 

[bilby]

 

[lpetrich]

Stacey Abrams garners praise from Democrats on the verge of achieving a long-held dream: Flipping Georgia - The Washington Post

AOC: Democrats' weakness with Latinos was foreseeable

Democrats’ struggle to win over Latino voters, especially Cuban-Americans in the Miami area, was quickly fingered as a major reason why Joe Biden lost Florida to Donald Trump — and doomed multiple Democratic incumbent House members in the state. Biden appears to have under-performed Hillary Clinton's 2016 margin in a number of Latino-heavy areas across the country.

The 'AOC movement' expands in NYC with congressional and Assembly wins

Claire McCaskill’s MSNBC election comments revive a tired argument - Vox

We’re going to argue about “pocketbook issues” versus “social issues” again, it would seem.

... And even though the party increasingly seems to include LGBTQ rights as a fairly mainstream part of its platform, pundits continue to advise reconsidering this in the hopes of reaching some mythical blue-collar voter who could be persuaded to vote Democratic by the party’s economic policies if the party just sacrificed the “right” social issues.

 

[fromderinside]

View attachment 30168

^^^

Three things about which Trump knows nothing.

 

[lpetrich]

It Sure Sounds Like Trump May Barricade Himself in the Oval Office and Refuse to Come Out If Biden Wins | Vanity Fair

The president has reportedly told allies he’ll never concede.

By now you’ve likely heard that after pulling ahead in Georgia and, most crucially, Pennsylvania, Joe Biden will very likely be the next president of the United States. As you’ve probably also heard, Donald Trump is taking it as well as everyone had expected, ranting and raving about all kinds of made-up fraud, demanding counts be stopped in one state and continued in others, and filing numerous lawsuits that stand little chance of holding up in court because they have no merit (and, in some cases, have led judges to believe the lawyers attached to them have recently suffered traumatic brain injuries). At this point, a quasi reasonable person might say to himself, Okay, I’m going to cut my losses, salvage my last atom of dignity, and admit defeat. But obviously Donald Trump is not reasonable and he has no dignity. So instead he’s decided he’ll keep fighting this thing well beyond the point that it’s hugely embarrassing to do so, and even after that fails, refuse to acknowledge that he lost and that Joe Biden is going to be president.

Trump has told people he has no plans to concede even if his path to victory is blocked - CNNPolitics

Top aides, including his chief of staff Mark Meadows, have not attempted to come to terms with the President about the reality of what is happening. Instead, they have fed his baseless claim that the election is being stolen from underneath him. That has led to some annoyance among staff, who believe Meadows is feeding the President's baseless claim that the election is illegitimate.

Thus enabling him.

Vice President Mike Pence -- who has not been seen since the early hours of Wednesday morning -- is doing his part to appease Trump by soliciting funds for his legal defense fund.

...
But even as Trump has acknowledged to some allies he recognizes the electoral math will not work in his favor, according to people familiar with the conversations, he has maintained that a prolonged court battle and corrosive rhetoric about election fraud would sow enough doubt to allow him to refuse to accept the results.

Two campaign advisers and one source close to the President said Trump will exhaust his legal avenues for fighting the results in several key battleground states before giving any consideration to conceding.

I imagine him calling up his Supreme Court appointees and shouting "Gorsuch! Kavanaugh! Barrett! I appointed you! Why don't you help me? I put you in the court, so you ought to show some gratitude for that."

 

[lpetrich]

More from CNN.

The delicate matter of a loss -- and a potential post-presidential life -- was not discussed widely among his team and was not raised often with the President, who believed adamantly he would win.

Trump spent much of the campaign claiming Biden was the worst presidential candidate in history -- and suggesting that losing to him would amount to abject humiliation.

"Losing is never easy," he said at his campaign headquarters on Election Day. "Not for me, it's not."

Now, people around Trump are working to identify who might be able to communicate to him the stark reality. There has been talk of potentially Jared Kushner or Ivanka Trump, though their willingness to lead a difficult intervention wasn't clear.

He continues to show what a big baby he is.

 

[lpetrich]

AOC continues to show where her heart is. In activism.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Who have been some of your favorite grassroots organizers, orgs, collectives, initiatives, etc that have been inspiring you lately? " / Twitter

Mark Kelly campaign launches first Snapchat AR lens for a Senate race - The Verge
AR = augmented reality
A Snapchat lens is pure software. It's an image filter that one can use with this social-media app to put stuff on video of oneself, like give oneself cat ears. Facebook and Instagram also have this capability. Social AR Filters and Lenses 101 - An Insiders Guide shows what one can do.

Makena Kelly on Twitter: "In light of @AOC's organizing thread and outlets calling @CaptMarkKelly victor in Arizona, I want to point out how strong the Kelly campaign's online presence was. Here's one piece I wrote! https://t.co/vKEf3JxBBX" / Twitter
That's Sen-elect Mark Kelly

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "It’s not an accident that Kelly spent by FAR the most on FB out of Senate challengers the week before the election &was 1 of the main breakthroughs.

Hickenlooper who also won had solid digital too. It’s not the only factor, yet a big lost opportunity for some.

Treat it like TV." / Twitter

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Ok that’s enough insight for today. That will be a bajillion DC consultant IOU bucks please " / Twitter

Kelly is in AZ and Hickenlooper in CO. But CO and AZ are also states that are turning blue. There may nevertheless be a connection. Lots of blue-state people move to red states for lower cost of living. But some long-time red-staters grumble about these newcomers bringing their politics with them. But some of these newcomers may be very savvy in social media, and that would turn into campaign advice.

 

[Derec]

Loeffler is an empty arrogant self entitled pant suit who bought the seat from corrupt Governor Kemp. She is the richest member of the Senate!

Mitt Romney: Am I a fucking joke to you?

She achieved that by marrying.....her...boss, an older guy who is a billionaire.

It's not exactly an Anna Nicole Smith situation. She is 50, Sprecher is 65. When they married, in 2004, they were well within (age/2)+7 limit. He is also not exactly a billionaire. Wikiipedia gives his net worth as $355 million.

She is a weak candidate who has clung to Trump like a limpet and hates talking to reporters or taking questions.

Strong enough to have defeated Doug Collins handily.

Murdock is a smart decent and good candidate.

Who?

Oh, he means Warnock. I don't know where he gets "smart" from. I have not really heard him say anything that intelligent. And being a Baptist pastor in itself is a testament to a certain lack of critical thinking skills.

But Georgia, despite changes, is a racist place in many ways still and electing a black Senator will be tough.

Yeah, because the only reason not to vote for a candidate who happens to be black is "raicsm".

Still.....and Perdue is none too sharp and was so humiliated by Ossoff in a TV debate recently that he refused to do the final one! What a pair L and P are. Hope spring eternal though....

I think both special elections will be a heavy lift for Democrats. But we shall see.

plus, recently while being questioned by reporters, Loeffler claimed she wasn't familiar with the Access Hollywood tape where trump talked about grabbing women by the p+++y. Duh, what a jerk.

There were much better ways she could have handled that one. Nobody believes she is not familiar with it.

 

[lpetrich]

Jonathan "Boo and Vote" Cohn on Twitter: "Democratic co-sponsors of Medicare for All who just won re-election in swing districts:

Jared Golden (ME-02; R+2)
Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-02; R+1)
Mike Levin (CA-49; R+1)
Katie Porter (CA-45; R+3)

Susan Wild (PA-07; D+1) and Matt Cartwright (PA-08; R+1) seem on track to win as well" / Twitter
The NYT lists the latter two as called. Having a positive policy that one can forcefully advocate must also be a help. Being a wimpy hand-wringing centrist who wrings their hands and wails "We can't do this", that does not seem like a good image. AOC didn't beat Joe Crowley by running as some Josephine Crowley.

then
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "These members deserve a lot of props. They took a risk based on their values, gut, & experience, & didn’t let themselves get bullied out of cosponsorship.

There’s a myth that progressive leg doesn’t win swing seats. But that’s what it is: a myth. And it’s time we called it that." / Twitter

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "@MikeLevin cosponsored the Green New Deal as well" / Twitter

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "And also a TON of the swing seat class ran without accepting corporate PAC money." / Twitter

 

[blastula]

Report: Armed men arrested in Philadelphia were trying to deliver fake ballots - CNN

Qanon idiots.

 

[southernhybrid]

What are the odds of Democratic wins in the Georgia runoffs? - The Washington Post

Republicans did better than Democrats in both of them,

The open question is what happens when these two races become nationalized, even more than they were before. There won’t be a presidential race alongside them. But millions will be spent on both sides to get voters the message that the Senate majority hangs in the balance.

...
“This isn’t about persuasion anymore,” said the Republican strategist. ”… It’s just a matter of who wants it more.”

I like these comments about Sen. Kelly Loeffler:

Oliver Goldsmith:
Loeffler is an empty arrogant self entitled pant suit who bought the seat from corrupt Governor Kemp. She is the richest member of the Senate! She achieved that by marrying.....her...boss, an older guy who is a billionaire. Loeffler is a women's NBA owner and her team dislike her and supported the Dems. She is a weak candidate who has clung to Trump like a limpet and hates talking to reporters or taking questions. Murdock is a smart decent and good candidate. But Georgia, despite changes, is a racist place in many ways still and electing a black Senator will be tough. Still.....and Perdue is none too sharp and was so humiliated by Ossoff in a TV debate recently that he refused to do the final one! What a pair L and P are. Hope spring eternal though....

vadem1:
plus, recently while being questioned by reporters, Loeffler claimed she wasn't familiar with the Access Hollywood tape where trump talked about grabbing women by the p+++y. Duh, what a jerk.

As if coronavirus insider trading wasn't bad enough.

The problem is that Democrats aren't very reliable voters in Georgia. I have a close friend who I chat with three times a week about politics. She is a native of Georgia, and Black, while I am a White native of New Jersey. She and I agree on almost everything when it comes to politics and morality. She is a Christian. I am an atheist but we are the same age and it's almost as if we were sisters of two different mothers.

We both agree that Georgia Democratic voters are not reliable, especially when it comes to special elections. Plus, I know there were a good number of Republicans in Georgia who voted for Biden because they despise Trump. There are a few in my neighborhood and I've spoken to one a few days ago. These people are probably not going to vote for a Democrat for the Seante. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm not optimistic about the run off races. Plus, Warnock is a liberal Baptist pastor with no political experience. I think the only reason that he got this far is because Stacey Abrams endorsed him almost as soon as he said he was running. Ossoff isn't that great of a candidate imo. He won the primaries due to name recognition, imo. I voted for a female candidate who had been the mayor of a fairly large city for two terms. She was very popular in her city, but lacked name recognition. Most of the voters I know, don't bother to research all of the primary candidates like I do. I think she would have had a better chance of beating Purdue, as she has a lot more experience than Ossoff.

So, unless, my personal hero, Stacey Abrams, is somehow able to motivate a lot more Dems to vote in the run off, it's pretty much a given that we will have two Republican Senators. I think they are both corrupt and incompetent, but I only get one vote, and Purdue is already bragging about how he's going to proof that Ossoff is an extreme socialist. We are turning blue in Georgia, but Democrats needs to become more reliable voters than they have been up until now.

I would be thrilled to be wrong.

 

[TomC]

We are turning blue in Georgia, but Democrats needs to become more reliable voters than they have been up until now.

I see this as huge.
The American people as a whole are more "center left" than election results would have you believe. There are many more registered Democrats than Republicans, and Dem leaning independents.
The reason that there aren't more Dems in government is fundamentally the fact that Democrats tend to be from low turnout demographics. Young people, black people, single mothers, etc, they generally just don't vote in the percentages that more conservative voters do.

As a result, their concerns aren't taken as seriously as they would be.
Tom

 

[ZiprHead]

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Report: Armed men arrested in Philadelphia were trying to deliver fake ballots - CNN

Qanon idiots.

This is what happens when you believe all of the BS you are fed. They thought they were going to catch these Election Officials using their fake ballots and they'd be heroes. The Trump Base folks.

 

[ZiprHead]

Seen elsewhere: These results are taking longer to come out than Lindsey Graham.

 

[southernhybrid]

We are turning blue in Georgia, but Democrats needs to become more reliable voters than they have been up until now.

I see this as huge.
The American people as a whole are more "center left" than election results would have you believe. There are many more registered Democrats than Republicans, and Dem leaning independents.
The reason that there aren't more Dems in government is fundamentally the fact that Democrats tend to be from low turnout demographics. Young people, black people, single mothers, etc, they generally just don't vote in the percentages that more conservative voters do.

As a result, their concerns aren't taken as seriously as they would be.
Tom

I agree. If it wasn't for Stacy Abrams and her Fair Fight organization, we would have far less Democratic voters in my state. Fair Fight helped register about 800,000 new voters.

The friend who I mentioned in an earlier post, finally talked her two middle aged children into voting for the first time in this recent election. I've met women when the senior center was still open who told me they only vote in the presidential elections. That's another problem. For some reason, a lot of people only think the presidential election is important. It's hard to get people to change their minds or habits.

 

[ZiprHead]

[TWEET]<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy.</p>— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/266038556504494082?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 7, 2012</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>[/TWEET]

 

[crazyfingers]

[TWEET]<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy.</p>— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/266038556504494082?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 7, 2012</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>[/TWEET]

WOW. He actually said something that has become true. I wonder though if he realizes that he lost the popular vote on Tuesday.