US Politics: Losing Appeals

[A Horse Named Stranger]

5 hours ago, The Anti-Targ said:

Seems like most news network are trying to attract viewers away from Fox, which means hiring someone that identifiably fits within the current level of Fox crazy, since hiring people that left Fox because they lacked the requisite amount of crazy isn't working. It seems to be getting harder to find such people that aren't wholly unsuitable as credible political commentators.

Nah, the "justification" for that idiot idea was, it's good to have somebody with insights into the GOP campaign.

The problem with that approach. One party has almost entirely decided that democracy is optional and overrated, and the US could do without it - which is a real big deal in a two party system. And to hire one of the most pronounced proponents of GOP's anti-democracy brigade to explain the mindset/inner-workings of the people who argue that democracy is overrated... it's just a mindboggling how stupid that idea was/is.

On an unrelated note. Is there a more pathetic person in the US senate than Graham? I don't mean reprehensible/nauseating/galling. I mean pathetic.

[Bironic]

2 hours ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

 One party has almost entirely decided that democracy is optional and overrated, and the US could do without it - which is a real big deal in a two party system.

On an unrelated note. Is there a more pathetic person in the US senate than Graham? I don't mean reprehensible/nauseating/galling. I mean pathetic.

Yes that’s the big issue! you might have an anti democracy party in most democracies but in non first past the post democracies you have more than just one alternative…

No. McCain was his spine, he died and so we are left with jellyfish Graham. The interview that Trevor Noah did with Graham during the Republican primary in 2016 is still hilarious though… 

On a more positive note: democrat Marylin Lands flipped a red district in a special election for State House in Alabama, won by trump in 2020 held by republicans, on a platform of women‘s reproductive rights… the former Republican holder had to step down after he admitted to voter fraud in court…(not surprised) She won by 63 to 37 % !!! Alabama State House has around 75% republicans…this election is also after the Alabama  Supreme Court banned IVF, while the republican governor tried to protect it afterwards…

 

Edited March 27 by Bironic

[ThinkerX]

GOP might be in serious trouble. Democrat wins deep red district on abortion rights and IVF message. I figure this has a good chance of spreading because GOP politicians will continue to push for horrible things.

Democrat who ran heavily on abortion rights, IVF wins Alabama special election (msn.com)

Edited March 27 by ThinkerX

[The Anti-Targ]

Can you really read anything into a State House special election with a spectacularly low turnout, almost 1/3 the number of voters who voted in 2022? Seems a bit of a stretch to imagine it signalling some kind of national sea change. But it does possibly suggest that reproductive rights could motivate Democratic voters who might otherwise be pretty apathetic about voting in November.

There are 27 Democrats in the State House, so it's not like no Democrats ever get elected to anything in Alabama.

Edited March 27 by The Anti-Targ

[DMC]

Special elections in the aggregate - meaning over the course of entire election cycle - are a solid indicator.  In that way this reinforcers Dems' overperformance in that metric, especially considering over the winter the GOP had a slight edge.  However, it should also be emphasized that special elections are more of an indicator of the House popular vote, not the presidential vote.

What this does further support is the shift in Dems' advantage among likely voters.  Meaning if it's a relatively low turnout election, that favors the Dems/Biden - contrary to popular belief.  This shift is in large part due to the shift and polarization among educated vs. non-educated voters.  The result also, of course, supports the notion abortion/women's rights can continue to be a motivator for Dem turnout come November.

[IheartIheartTesla]

I've also noticed Biden poll numbers being slightly better in an LV versus RV or A screen, so thats good to hear it wasnt just my imagination. Regarding turnout, we wont hit the heights of 2020, thats for sure. 

[Jaxom 1974]

13 hours ago, Mudguard said:

The decision to hire her was mind bogglingly bad.  I question the judgment of all the NBC News leadership that thought this was a good idea.  If I was an employee there, I would have zero confidence in those morons.

MSNBC was something to tune into on Monday after that whole Ronna debacle...it was fascinating seeing the clip of Chuck Todd....Chuck Todd!...calling the NBC bosses to the mat on Sunday. But then then folks at MSNBC started up on Monday and each successive hour in prime time there was a buildup. I'm actually glad I didn't miss Maddow's first half hour. I think I learned as much as I was entertained by her absolute take down of the whole situation. 

[Maithanet]

1 hour ago, IheartIheartTesla said:

I've also noticed Biden poll numbers being slightly better in an LV versus RV or A screen, so thats good to hear it wasnt just my imagination. Regarding turnout, we wont hit the heights of 2020, thats for sure. 

If it does, Biden is in a lot of trouble.  Because voter turnout is always higher in times of great uncertainty/crisis (2008, 2020), and that is not a good sign for the administration.  That said, Trump is good at getting people to the polls to vote for or against him, so I expect it will be pretty high nonetheless.  2016 was 136 million votes and 2020 was almost 160 million.  I would guess with the drop in turnout and population growth we'll be somewhere around 145-150 million this time. 

[Zorral]

The Retired Justice Who Doesn’t Understand the Supreme Court
Stephen Breyer means well. Why is his new book, “Reading the Constitution,” so exasperating?

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/27/books/review/stephen-breyer-reading-the-constitution.html

Quote

 

.... Given that Breyer is no longer a sitting judge, one might have thought that this new book would afford him the opportunity to let loose, and in interviews he has suggested he is sounding an alarm. But his voice in the book barely rises above a whisper. Written in Breyer’s careful, tentative style, “Reading the Constitution” is well meaning, tedious and exasperating; it is also rather telling, showing how a thoughtful, conscientious jurist can get so wedded to propriety and high-mindedness that he comes across as earnestly naïve. ....

.... Does Breyer, who is so attuned to the irreducible complexity of the world outside the Supreme Court, truly believe that the world inside is so simple? Given his decades of experience, I find it hard to imagine he does — but then he still seems flummoxed by the Supreme Court’s right-wing turn. At his most baffled, he starts firing off strings of rhetorical questions, asking plaintively how anyone could ever want “a world in which no governmental effort is made to cure environmental, medical or safety-related ills?”

In an interview with Adam Liptak of The Times last week, a beseeching Breyer sounded similarly perplexed. After all, he said, the decision to override Roe was bound to have cruel consequences: “Are they really going to allow women to die on the table because they won’t allow an abortion which would save her life? I mean, really, no one would do that. And they wouldn’t do that.”

There is a profound and generous kindness embedded in his remarks, a determination to think the best of people, but his incredulity makes you wonder what alternate universe Breyer is living in. When it comes to denying a woman the right to a life-saving abortion, not only are there “really” some people who “would do that”; there are six people in black robes who effectively did. ....

 

 

[Zorral]

Let's just refresh our knowledge shall we, of this booted out on her ass wanna be 'journalist' from NBC as evidently there are so many ignorant idiots out there who Don't Know:

https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/26/media/nbc-news-cesar-conde-ronna-mcdaniel-backlash/index.html

Quote

.... As so many of NBCU’s staffers have underscored, the objection to McDaniel is not that she is a Republican. It’s not even that she is a Donald Trump-supporting Republican. It’s that she was an active participant in the plot to overthrow the last presidential election. That is not to even mention McDaniel’s years of demonizing the press, smearing the journalists who work at NBC News and MSNBC as she sought to destroy the credibility of the organization that she ran to after being chased out of the RNC. ....

 

[Zorral]

14 hours ago, LongRider said:

“Religion and Christianity are the biggest things missing from this country. And I truly believe that we need to bring them back and have to bring them back fast,” Trump said. “I think it’s one of the biggest problems we have. That’s why our country is going haywire. We’ve lost religion in our country.”   

I am missing something here.  So is Christianity not religion?  We definitely have lots of religion in this country: Islam, Judaism, Native Americans' religions, the religions of Indian-Americans, including Buddhism, which is practiced by a many different Asian Americans as well as non-Asians, Santería and other religions among Afro-latins, and others, including others from a variety of African countries, and so on so forth. Not to mention MORMANS (for remind those weeping about poor mistreated Ronathefascist).

Signed, Confused in Multi-religious NYC.

Edited March 27 by Zorral

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

13 minutes ago, Zorral said:

I am missing something here.  So is Christianity not religion?  We definitely have lots of religion in this country: Islam, Judaism, Native Americans' religions, the religions of Indian-Americans, including Buddhism, which is practiced by a many different Asian Americans as well as non-Asians, Santería and other religions among Afro-latins, and others, including others from a variety of African countries, and so on so forth.

Signed, Confused in Multi-religious NYC.

He’s an idiot.  He’s saying what he thinks his supporters want to hear it has absolutely no depth ot substance to it whatsoever.

[LongRider]

18 minutes ago, Zorral said:

I am missing something here.  So is Christianity not religion? 

Good point Zorral,  I missed that bit of nuance!  Trump wouldn't of course think that deeply.   He also said everyone should have a bible at home, something I firmly disagree with, there is no bible on my shelves and plan to keep it that way.

Edited March 27 by LongRider

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

7 minutes ago, LongRider said:

Good point Zorral,  I missed that bit of nuance!  Trump wouldn't of course think that deeply.   He also said everyone should have a bible at home, something I firmly disagree with, there is no bible on my shelves and plan to keep it that way.

I actually think there's some value in having several different religious books in your personal library covering anything from ancient Egypt to modern times (except Scientology, that can fuck off). However, in doing so you have to accept the obvious which is none of it is real. They're just stories. If people treated religion that way the world would be a much better place. But no, people have to become zealots and think their Spiderman comic is a true story. Sigh.

Edited March 27 by Mr. Chatywin et al.

[LongRider]

15 minutes ago, Mr. Chatywin et al. said:

I actually think there's some value in having several different religious books in your personal library covering anything from ancient Egypt to modern times (except Scientology, that can fuck off). However, in doing so you have to accept the obvious which is none of it is real. They're just stories. If people treated religion that way the world would be a much better place. But no, people have to become zealots and think their Spiderman comic is a true story. Sigh.

I've heard that argument many times and guess what?  I am so not interested in reading so called holy books.   If others want to, go for it, but please respect my choice, as I respect yours.  

[Week]

11 hours ago, mcbigski said:

I really don't understand  

We know.

[Ormond]

8 hours ago, ThinkerX said:

GOP might be in serious trouble. Democrat wins deep red district on abortion rights and IVF message. I figure this has a good chance of spreading because GOP politicians will continue to push for horrible things.

Democrat who ran heavily on abortion rights, IVF wins Alabama special election (msn.com)

Did you read what you linked to? Though this is good news, it is NOT a "deep red" district:  

Quote

Lands beat Republican Teddy Powell by a wide margin — about 25 percentage points — in a politically moderate section of northern Alabama that Donald Trump won by a single percentage point in 2020. Just fewer than 6,000 people voted — offering a limited snapshot of voter attitudes.

I would think an Alabama district which Trump only won by a single % point in 2020 must actually be one of the more liberal areas within that state. 

[Zorral]

2 hours ago, LongRider said:

Good point Zorral,  I missed that bit of nuance!  Trump wouldn't of course think that deeply.   He also said everyone should have a bible at home, something I firmly disagree with, there is no bible on my shelves and plan to keep it that way.

I hear ya!  Ha!

However, I have several bibles on my shelves, including the gold-leafed paged King James version which I've had since age six (relatives were always giving me bibles when I was growing up).  I also have the Quran, The Book of Mormon, the I Ching, several of the sacred Hindi texts, and others.  Not to mention the Catholic and the Lutheran catechisms, the Book of Common Prayer, as well as facsimiles of Books of the Hours.  They are useful for all kinds of writing, polemical or otherwise, like Shakespeare always is!  

 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

1 minute ago, Zorral said:

I hear ya!  Ha!

However, I have several bibles on my shelves, including the gold-leafed paged King James version which I've had since age six (relatives were always giving me bibles when I was growing up).  I also have the Quran, The Book of Mormon, the I Ching, several of the sacred Hindi texts, and others.  Not to mention the Catholic and the Lutheran catechisms, the Book of Common Prayer, as well as facsimiles of Books of the Hours.  They are useful for all kinds of writing, polemical or otherwise, like Shakespeare always is!  

 

Well done!

[BigFatCoward]

27 minutes ago, Zorral said:

I hear ya!  Ha!

However, I have several bibles on my shelves, including the gold-leafed paged King James version which I've had since age six (relatives were always giving me bibles when I was growing up).  I also have the Quran, The Book of Mormon, the I Ching, several of the sacred Hindi texts, and others.  Not to mention the Catholic and the Lutheran catechisms, the Book of Common Prayer, as well as facsimiles of Books of the Hours.  They are useful for all kinds of writing, polemical or otherwise, like Shakespeare always is!  

 

And during the great toilet paper shortage of 2020.