Shryke

Huh? This is the Democrats actually having a spine and playing smart. They literally have no power here so they are throwing McConnell's own words back in his face to oppose him in the media. It won't work because, again, they literally have no power to stop the appointment and McConnell doesn't give a shit about anything except power, but it's more or less the attack they've got. The only other real track to take here is the whole "Trump is under investigation" thing. But that amounts to about the same, just different messaging.

The same thing that stopped them from stealing the majority on the court in the first place: nothing. But it's already happening so you either fight back or you roll over and accept complete defeat.

The precedent is already set. The GOP stole a SCOTUS seat via conspiring with a hostile foreign government. They are using that court, literally as we speak, to destroy the Democratic party and to curtail rights and democracy within the US. Since the structure of the US Senate makes impeachment of a justice basically impossible and since Gorsuch will never voluntarily resign, packing the courts is the Democrat's only option for dealing with the situation.

No, it is not.

No, no, no, no. Let's not undersell what went on. McConnell, the leader of the Republican party in the Senate, and with the cooperation of the rest of his part prevented the legitimately elected president from filling a supreme court seat so that hopefully someone from his own party could do so instead after the election. And election that McConnell knew his party was conspiring with a hostile foreign government to steal, which he knowingly covered up. They were not derelict in their duty. They literally knowingly prevented Democrats from seating a SCOTUS justice as was their legitimate right given they won the election so that they could take the seat by working with a hostile foreign government to steal the election.

What the fuck are you talking about? Where have you been for years? The Republicans already stole a Supreme Court seat. This is not hypothetical. They literally already pulled this trigger. The only recourse is to fight back.

Nah. Their SCOTUS successes have been made possible because Republicans vote to control the courts and have for decades. And Democrats just don't vote or vote third party.

Oh don't be so short-sighted. This is also the end of rights for women, minorities and the LGBT community. Have your abortions now I guess. Kennedy has managed to secure himself one hell of a legacy here. A list of horrific decisions this week and then letting Trump appoint his successor. The only play for the Democrats now is to pack the courts. They've either got the balls to do it or they may as well stop pretending they are a political entity within the US.

Nope. The Republicans have defined the agenda of the federal government since the 80s. Clinton snuck in on a 3-way spoiler race and this entire conversation was about that tack to the centre that he used to win those races. The Democrats were pushing hard for the centre because they didn't believe they could win otherwise and the results are pretty suggestive of that being correct. Like, you wanna keep making this about something else. Your only point is horseshit based on misinterpretation.

But that doesn't contradict anything I said. Like, I feel the issue here is your own interpretation of what I mean by the domination of the US political sphere by conservatism and extending to some "they could never win southern states ever" stance I never took. The New Democrats and the things that preceded them and they way they shaped the Democratic Party and it's inner workings are a product of that conservative domination. To get back to the whole actual point I was making, Clinton's stances in the 90s are very indicative of a trend within the Democratic Party as they desperately tried to win presidential elections again.

Sorry, let me be more clear: How does any of this contradict anything I said?

Which southern states?

I don't see how it paints anyone as victims. It's just taking a real look at how the public was voting throughout that era. White supremacy carried the GOP to a cultural dominance that is still at work today.

It's pretty indicative of a trend over time I'd say. The truth is basically that Nixon used the culture war to stomp the american left's face in and the democratic party was left out in the wilderness for decades, with their only way to succeed being (or seeming to be at least, but I think it's pretty accurate) tacking towards the centre ala Clinton, who actually won. As voting demographics are shifting you are seeing new strategies being employed but that is a distinct change from what they were doing and what seemed to be the only thing working in the 1970s-2000s.

Plus as the Republican party has proven in 2 of the only 3 elections they've managed to win in the past 26 years, vote numbers don't matter, it's where those voters live. The Republican party will continue to be quite strong because the american system hugely advantages their base on basically every level.