Is Georgia on your mind?

[TomC]

This would be a major mistake. Biden won narrowly, Senate is 50-50 and Dems have a narrow majority in the House. That is not a mandate for "transformative change across America". And if they try to push policies that are too out there, they will lose big in 2022 and Warnock will be a 1/3-term senator ...

You are wrong, you have been wrong for at least 4 years now. I sincerely hope there is transformative change. The alternative is more of the same, and just a few days ago everyone saw what that gets us. Now is not the time for Democrats to lose their will to fix the Country with progressive change. It is time for Republicans to get the fuck out of the way, or join in and make sure the correct things are done to right the ship.

Or the Dems can exploit the fissure in the Republican Party and split off the ones who haven’t lost their minds. Trump made that fissure a little wider and a little deeper with these parting antics.

I hope some organization does that. Split the moderate centrist voters out of both parties, and build a coalition.

I vote straight party Democratic. Not because I'm fond of their policies or candidates, but they're less hateful and divisive than the Republican party.

I would totally support an organization that was about incremental improvements to the USA. Not the progressive nonsense of the TeaParty. But also not the "maybe someday, we'll work on it" of the Democrats.

Centrist.

But that apparently doesn't work in the modern media world. So many people live inside bubbles of media crap that not enough people can get over their partisan hate to get anything done.
Tom

 

[ZiprHead]

Or the Dems can exploit the fissure in the Republican Party and split off the ones who haven’t lost their minds. Trump made that fissure a little wider and a little deeper with these parting antics.

I hope some organization does that. Split the moderate centrist voters out of both parties, and build a coalition.

I vote straight party Democratic. Not because I'm fond of their policies or candidates, but they're less hateful and divisive than the Republican party.

I would totally support an organization that was about incremental improvements to the USA. Not the progressive nonsense of the TeaParty. But also not the "maybe someday, we'll work on it" of the Democrats.

Centrist.

But that apparently doesn't work in the modern media world. So many people live inside bubbles of media crap that not enough people can get over their partisan hate to get anything done.
Tom

 Duverger's law shows how the system of voting in the US makes third parties either align with the two major parties or remain irrelevant. I think Bernie Sanders understands that.

 

[TV and credit cards]

Or the Dems can exploit the fissure in the Republican Party and split off the ones who haven’t lost their minds. Trump made that fissure a little wider and a little deeper with these parting antics.

I hope some organization does that. Split the moderate centrist voters out of both parties, and build a coalition.

I vote straight party Democratic. Not because I'm fond of their policies or candidates, but they're less hateful and divisive than the Republican party.

I would totally support an organization that was about incremental improvements to the USA. Not the progressive nonsense of the TeaParty. But also not the "maybe someday, we'll work on it" of the Democrats.

Centrist.

But that apparently doesn't work in the modern media world. So many people live inside bubbles of media crap that not enough people can get over their partisan hate to get anything done.
Tom

The Dems have a golden opportunity to strengthen the ACA bringing more centrists into the party without losing the hard left. This will help maintain control in 2022. My goals are liberal. My path is pragmatic. Show the people what they are missing and more will come into the fold.

 

[Elixir]

Or the Dems can exploit the fissure in the Republican Party and split off the ones who haven’t lost their minds. Trump made that fissure a little wider and a little deeper with these parting antics.

I hope some organization does that. Split the moderate centrist voters out of both parties, and build a coalition.

I vote straight party Democratic. Not because I'm fond of their policies or candidates, but they're less hateful and divisive than the Republican party.

I would totally support an organization that was about incremental improvements to the USA. Not the progressive nonsense of the TeaParty. But also not the "maybe someday, we'll work on it" of the Democrats.

Centrist.

But that apparently doesn't work in the modern media world. So many people live inside bubbles of media crap that not enough people can get over their partisan hate to get anything done.
Tom

The Dems have a golden opportunity to strengthen the ACA bringing more centrists into the party without losing the hard left. This will help maintain control in 2022. My goals are liberal. My path is pragmatic. Show the people what they are missing and more will come into the fold.

Ideally that's the way it works. Unfortunately of late it's "show the people what they are missing and Republicans will take credit for it". With Republican voters' appetite for what they wish was true, the result is foregone.

 

[lpetrich]

How Warnock and Ossoff's victories evoked the history of the Black freedom struggle - CNNPolitics

It was hard not to notice how Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff's Democratic victories in Georgia's January 5 runoff elections evoked the history of the Black freedom struggle -- a continuing struggle, as evidenced by a Confederate flag-carrying mob's takeover of the US Capitol on Wednesday.

"When I think about the arc of our history, what Georgia did (on Tuesday) is its own message in the midst of a moment in which so many people are trying to divide our country, at a time we can least afford to be divided," Warnock told CNN's John Berman on Wednesday morning on "New Day," even before the assault on the US Capitol and multiracial democracy.

...
Not to be ignored: the fact that Ossoff's triumph will make him Georgia's first Jewish senator.

That a Black man and a Jewish man, both from the Deep South, are about to go to Washington as senators recalls a similar alliance from the civil rights era.

Consider that historians estimate that up to half of the White students who participated in Freedom Summer -- the 1964 campaign to ramp up the number of registered Black voters in Mississippi -- were Jewish.

On a more tragic note, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, two of the three Freedom Summer workers abducted and killed in the infamous 1964 Mississippi Burning case, were Jewish. James Chaney, the other worker, was Black.

Among those Jewish civil-rights activists was a certain Bernie Sanders.

 

[Swammerdami]

How Warnock and Ossoff's victories evoked the history of the Black freedom struggle - CNNPolitics

...
Not to be ignored: the fact that Ossoff's triumph will make him Georgia's first Jewish senator.

That a Black man and a Jewish man, both from the Deep South, are about to go to Washington as senators recalls a similar alliance from the civil rights era.

Consider that historians estimate that up to half of the White students who participated in Freedom Summer -- the 1964 campaign to ramp up the number of registered Black voters in Mississippi -- were Jewish.

On a more tragic note, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, two of the three Freedom Summer workers abducted and killed in the infamous 1964 Mississippi Burning case, were Jewish. James Chaney, the other worker, was Black.

I didn't know that! Is it widely known? I see that history.com's page on Freedom Summer doesn't mention it at all, and Wikipedia barely hints at it.

Among those Jewish civil-rights activists was a certain Bernie Sanders.

 

[lpetrich]

Bernie Sanders didn't participate in civil-rights activism in Mississippi, as far as I know. However, he did participate in some activism in Chicago IL, even getting arrested there.

 

[ZiprHead]

Bernie Sanders didn't participate in civil-rights activism in Mississippi, as far as I know. However, he did participate in some activism in Chicago IL, even getting arrested there.

Jews were quite popular people in the south during the civil rights movement, doncha know.

 

[lpetrich]

How Trump?s obsession with baseless election claims cost Republicans in Georgia - The Washington Post

few days after the presidential election, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called President Trump to talk strategy in the pivotal Senate races in Georgia. But Trump quickly shifted the conversation. He wanted to talk about his claim that the presidential race had been stolen from him.

In calls with the Republican candidates, Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, Trump regularly turned the discussion to his own fortunes, a person familiar with the calls said.

And when Trump finally agreed to head to Georgia to campaign, hosting two rallies here, the president was far more focused on his own grievances against Georgia's GOP leadership than on helping the party win two key races.

Thus making those Senate races an own goal for him.

"The best-testing messages all had to do with checks and bal*ances on a Democratic president," said Josh Holmes, a McConnell adviser. "Those were the best messages in the election. They weren't accessible to us, because the president wouldn't concede the election. As he turned up the volume, if you ran checks and balances [messages], you were basically conceding it for him, which eliminated Republican votes."

More of what an own goal it was - he sabotaged his side's campaign with his emphasis on himself.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

How Trump?s obsession with baseless election claims cost Republicans in Georgia - The Washington Post

few days after the presidential election, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called President Trump to talk strategy in the pivotal Senate races in Georgia. But Trump quickly shifted the conversation. He wanted to talk about his claim that the presidential race had been stolen from him.

In calls with the Republican candidates, Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, Trump regularly turned the discussion to his own fortunes, a person familiar with the calls said.

And when Trump finally agreed to head to Georgia to campaign, hosting two rallies here, the president was far more focused on his own grievances against Georgia's GOP leadership than on helping the party win two key races.

Thus making those Senate races an own goal for him.

"The best-testing messages all had to do with checks and bal*ances on a Democratic president," said Josh Holmes, a McConnell adviser. "Those were the best messages in the election. They weren't accessible to us, because the president wouldn't concede the election. As he turned up the volume, if you ran checks and balances [messages], you were basically conceding it for him, which eliminated Republican votes."

More of what an own goal it was - he sabotaged his side's campaign with his emphasis on himself.

Moscow Mitch should have know better than to expect the Orange Shitstain to suddenly act differently than he's been acting from day one. Hope springs eternal I suppose. Mitch was just engaging in a bit of hopeful game theory and ended up getting fucked in the ass.

 

[TomC]

More of what an own goal it was - he sabotaged his side's campaign with his emphasis on himself.

No he didn't.

The problem "Republicans" are having is that they believe that Trump is on their side. He's not. He's a TeaParty politician and he's only on his own side. Ask Jeff Sessions.

Trump is not on anybody's side except his own. C'mon! His supporters put up a gallows for Mike Pence!
Tom

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

More of what an own goal it was - he sabotaged his side's campaign with his emphasis on himself.

No he didn't.

The problem "Republicans" are having is that they believe that Trump is on their side. He's not. He's a TeaParty politician and he's only on his own side. Ask Jeff Sessions.

Trump is not on anybody's side except his own. C'mon! His supporters put up a gallows for Mike Pence!
Tom

I agree with this 100%. Why are people so blind?

 

[Keith&Co.]

More of what an own goal it was - he sabotaged his side's campaign with his emphasis on himself.

No he didn't.

The problem "Republicans" are having is that they believe that Trump is on their side. He's not. He's a TeaParty politician and he's only on his own side. Ask Jeff Sessions.

Trump is not on anybody's side except his own. C'mon! His supporters put up a gallows for Mike Pence!
Tom

Eh. Still an own goal until someone takes away the (R) next to his name on the Wikipedia page.

That's the side he picked.
And that's the side that picked him.
The fact that he doesn't know how to play on a team doesn't suddenly make him an Independent. He's stuck on the party's side, like shit smeared on the Rotunda wall.
A lot like, in fact.

 

[jab]

How Trump?s obsession with baseless election claims cost Republicans in Georgia - The Washington Post

few days after the presidential election, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called President Trump to talk strategy in the pivotal Senate races in Georgia. But Trump quickly shifted the conversation. He wanted to talk about his claim that the presidential race had been stolen from him.

In calls with the Republican candidates, Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, Trump regularly turned the discussion to his own fortunes, a person familiar with the calls said.

And when Trump finally agreed to head to Georgia to campaign, hosting two rallies here, the president was far more focused on his own grievances against Georgia's GOP leadership than on helping the party win two key races.

Thus making those Senate races an own goal for him.

"The best-testing messages all had to do with checks and bal*ances on a Democratic president," said Josh Holmes, a McConnell adviser. "Those were the best messages in the election. They weren't accessible to us, because the president wouldn't concede the election. As he turned up the volume, if you ran checks and balances [messages], you were basically conceding it for him, which eliminated Republican votes."

More of what an own goal it was - he sabotaged his side's campaign with his emphasis on himself.

he, himself, and only he is his own side. However, when the impeachment comes to the Senate, he may regret the whole tenor of his behaviour in January and how it may have sabotaged his actual side.

 

[Derec]

You are wrong, you have been wrong for at least 4 years now.

I am right and you know it.

I sincerely hope there is transformative change. The alternative is more of the same, and just a few days ago everyone saw what that gets us.

The answer to right wing extremism is not left wing extremism. They are both rotten!

Now is not the time for Democrats to lose their will to fix the Country with progressive change. It is time for Republicans to get the fuck out of the way, or join in and make sure the correct things are done to right the ship.

What passes for "progressive" these days, especially in the AOC wing of the Democratic Party is usually very regressive. Things like identity politics. It is the identity politics on the left that paved the way to Trumpism in the first place. It is time to reject all extremism, not try to cast out the Devil with Beelzebub!

 

[Derec]

Trump’s victory in 2016 was even narrower but that never stopped them from exclaiming a large mandate.

And your point is that the Dems should emulate Trump?

 

[Patooka]

The answer to right wing extremism is not left wing extremism. They are both rotten!

Agreed. The reason your arguments are bullshit though is because you equate a handful of cunts throwing rocks to storming the fucking capitol whilst being cheered on by elected officials. They are not even remotely equivalent. And yet you keep trying. Incidentally, I have yet to hear a single black person you have condemned being labelled as a "false flag Trump supporter" or some other idiocy by an elected Democrat the way Republicans are trying to assert antifa was behind January 6.

 

[Shadowy Man]

Trump’s victory in 2016 was even narrower but that never stopped them from exclaiming a large mandate.

And your point is that the Dems should emulate Trump?

Um.... no.

But I do think that the elected officials have the mandate to follow through on the actions they campaigned on. If the people don't like the actions of their elected officials they are free to pick someone else in the next election. Democratic ideas are more popular than Republican ones, and have been for quite some time.

 

[lpetrich]

Georgia Senate Election: County Map and Results - The New York Times

The state is now listed as >98% counted, and all the state's counties are likewise listed at that. So the numbers that I'll give will be close to the definitive numbers.

• (Class II) Jon Ossoff (D) 2,268,612, David Perdue (R) 2213604, total 4,482,216 -- margin 1.23%
• (Class III) Raphael Warnock (D) 2,287,787, Kelly Loeffler (R) 2,194,480, total 4,482,267 -- margin 2.08%

The classes are the Senator classes, marked out by which years their regular elections are in.

• 6n+2
• 6n+4
• 6n (6n+6)

So Jon Ossoff will be set for a full 6-year term, with his next election in 2026, while Raphael Warnock's term will end in 2022.

 

[lpetrich]

How Democrats Won The Georgia Runoffs | FiveThirtyEight - a massive turnout effort among black voters, especially black female voters

t’s hard to overstate how precedent-shattering this election was. Going into 2020, it was a political axiom that Democrats always fared worse in runoff elections than in the general; Republicans had improved on their margins in seven out of the eight previous runoff elections in Georgia history. But this week, Ossoff and Warnock won despite Republicans getting more votes than Democrats in both races in November.

• (II) R+1.8 to D+1.2 -- D+3.0
• (III) R+1.0 to D+2.1 -- D+3.1

Both races had 90% of the November turnout and 60% of the eligible voters participating, more than in the 2016 general elections. Also, $833 million was spent on the two races.

Ossoff (and Warnock) did better than Biden in counties with lots of black voters, but worse than Biden in counties with lots of well-educated voters. " It seems that split-ticket voters from the general election — who voted Biden for president but Republicans for the Senate, and who were largely concentrated in the wealthy Atlanta suburbs — were not key to the Democratic victory after all."

Another trend was that Republicans tended to vote less in this election than in the recent general election. Trump's repeated claims of election fraud seem like a likely cause.