American Politics 3.0 - Back to Brunch

[the_only_turek_fan]

Great night for the Republicans so far.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

A lot of hot takes from all over the spectrum that paid zero attention to this election.



School issues mostly decided this election. Plus a bit of democrat discord and fallout from Afghanistan. Prog vs moderate didn't really play into it all.



A bit of a silver lining to me is that a sort of Trump shunning, somewhat normal R candidate won.

From what I saw, it seemed as if McAuliffe was running on the same "anti-Trump/restore the soul of nation" that Biden did. I've been saying all along that that strategy is going to have diminishing returns the further we get away from the 2020 election, and that eventually Democrats are going to have to run on their record (which so far has been pretty average).

The GOP have always been good at whipping their base into a frenzy with culture war/fear mongering nonsense, and the Democrats just aren't equipped to fight them on that battlefield because they refuse to do anything more than offer symbolic gestures.

I was reading a few days ago that the Dems were very worried that early voting numbers among millennial and Gen z voters looked to be well below what they were for Biden, and if they can't figure out why that is at this point, then they're dumb as bricks.

[GirlySports]

They won't change the strategy Rube. They will double down on "You're a racist and Trump is under everybody's bed."

McAuliffe ran hard on pushing CRT in schools and parents can't have a say.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

They won't change the strategy Rube. They will double down on "You're a racist and Trump is under everybody's bed."

They're in a tough spot right now because two of the bigger coalitions they need to win elections are progressives and corporatists, whose interests and priorities completely conflict with each other.

The GOP doesn't have the same problem because their populist wing still supports many of the same common goals as the establishment wing, and the GOP establishment has been cowed into throwing the populists a few bones from time to time.

The DNC doesn't really give the progressive wing any wins. It also doesn't help that many of the more high-profile elected progressives seem to spend more time with performative demonstrations on social media than getting their legislative priorities to the floor of the House.

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

They won't change the strategy Rube. They will double down on "You're a racist and Trump is under everybody's bed."

McAuliffe ran hard on pushing CRT in schools and parents can't have a say.

Jeez, what a grossly racist take.

McAuliffe did nothing to even remotely come close to pushing CRT in schools. He tried to dismiss that we should listen to parents freaking out about anything remotely tied to honest black history is CRT.

There were a few other school issues that came up. There was a sexual assault in a bathroom in a NOVA suburb that Republicans perverted into saying it was caused by bathroom bills.

Then there was another confusing take that Virginia was getting rid of advanced math classes that was based on a misinterpreted comment about a state policy.

All those things gained traction.

The VA election was lost (if it is actually lost) from white (and asian) suburban moms buying into all of this.

[calgarygeologist]

I always enjoy watching Democrat and progressive reactions and analysis when they lose because their messaging ends up so disjointed and all over the map. Despite being intellectuals they are extremely poor in critically analyzing their losses and learning from them.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

I always enjoy watching Democrat and progressive reactions and analysis when they lose because their messaging ends up so disjointed and all over the map. Despite being intellectuals they are extremely poor in critically analyzing their losses and learning from them.

Ah yes, as opposed to the nuanced analysis of "the election was stolen and the media was unfair to us" you hear from Republicans/conservatives when they lose elections.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

Jeez, what a grossly racist take.

McAuliffe did nothing to even remotely come close to pushing CRT in schools. He tried to dismiss that we should listen to parents freaking out about anything remotely tied to honest black history is CRT.

There were a few other school issues that came up. There was a sexual assault in a bathroom in a NOVA suburb that Republicans perverted into saying it was caused by bathroom bills.

Then there was another confusing take that Virginia was getting rid of advanced math classes that was based on a misinterpreted comment about a state policy.

All those things gained traction.

The VA election was lost (if it is actually lost) from white (and asian) suburban moms buying into all of this.

Sure. The narrative was he pushed hard and he couldn't reverse that momentum. Parents for Youngkin!

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Ah yes, as opposed to the nuanced analysis of "the election was stolen and the media was unfair to us" you hear from Republicans/conservatives when they lose elections.

I don't enjoy the stupid, angry, petulant Republican response. It does not provide much entertainment to me. It is good for 5 minutes and gets old fast.

Democrat response is much more interesting because there are so many smart people that think they have solved the electorate and the different factions end up tripping over each other. Democratic analysis is timeless when it comes to entertainment for me.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

I don't enjoy the stupid, angry, petulant Republican response. It does not provide much entertainment to me. It is good for 5 minutes and gets old fast.



Democrat response is much more interesting because there are so many smart people that think they have solved the electorate and the different factions end up tripping over each other. Democratic analysis is timeless when it comes to entertainment for me.

If you look at the numbers and where the Democrats have lost support from over the years, you get a decent idea of where the problem is. They continue to hemorrhage support among working class voters of all backgrounds, and so they're left relying on a very tenuous coalition of black, hispanic, white suburban, and young, progressive voters.

[direwolf]

That's an embarrassing defeat for team blue in Virginia. Dems better get their act together quick, or they're gonna lose everything in '22 and '24.

They also need to find a way to get Manchin and Sinema on board before those two dips***s torpedo Biden's entire presidency. That two people can have that much power and basically hold all of Congress and a country of 300 million people hostage is pretty ridiculous.

I'm still baffled as to why sane, rational people would still vote for Republicans after the insanity we've witnessed over the last few years, and yet here we are. That country is beyond screwed.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by direwolf

That's an embarrassing defeat for team blue in Virginia. Dems better get their act together quick, or they're gonna lose everything in '22 and '24.

They also need to find a way to get Manchin and Sinema on board before those two dips***s torpedo Biden's entire presidency. That two people can have that much power and basically hold all of Congress and a country of 300 million people hostage is pretty ridiculous.

I'm still baffled as to why sane, rational people would still vote for Republicans after the insanity we've witnessed over the last few years, and yet here we are. That country is beyond screwed.

Because the Democrats have zero credibility at this point and people are rapidly losing faith in the democratic process. The result of this is almost always a rise in pro-authoritarian sentiments.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politic...risis-1248615/

“Austerity measures implemented between 1930 and 1932 immiserized and radicalized the German electorate,” found a#recent study#from economists and historians looking at Weimar Republic data showing a statistically significant link between local budget cuts and working-class voters’ support for the Nazi Party. “Austerity worsened the situation of low-income households, and the Nazi Party became very efficient at channeling the austerity-driven German suffering and mass discontent.”

They conclude: “Imposing too much austerity and too many punitive conditions cannot only be self-defeating, but can also unleash a series of unintended political consequences, with truly unpredictable and potentially tragic results.”

Led by President#Barack Obama, Democrats used their new power to enrich their corporate donors with a#multitrillion-dollar bailout, while throwing#stimulus crumbs#at the rest of the country. The Obama administration also#refused to prosecute#a single banker involved in the financial crisis and allowed bailout money to#subsidize Wall Street bonuses, no doubt pleasing the finance-industry moguls who funneled a#record amount#of#cash#to Obama’s campaign. Then Democratic leaders#rescinded#the rest of that bailout money before it could be used for its intended purpose: to directly help millions of homeowners going into foreclosure.

Perhaps most tone-deaf of all, Democrats mimicked what Weimar leaders did in the early 1930s — they championed an austerity agenda in the name of fiscal responsibility, launching a#high-profile initiative#to slash Social Security benefits amid an economic emergency.

Hammering Democrats for not delivering real help to the working class, Trump was buoyed by a 10-point spike in the GOP vote share in the American counties that saw life expectancy stagnate or decline, according to#research#from Boston University’s Jacob Bor.

That dynamic echoed the 1930s, when there was “a significant association between mortality rates and increasing vote shares for the Nazi Party in 1930s Germany,” according to Bor and his fellow Weimar researchers, who ultimately#concluded#that “when people are suffering, they may be more open to the siren calls of right-wing radical populist parties.”

This isn’t to directly liken Trump and his followers to Nazis. But look no further than the Charlottesville uprising, the Jan. 6 insurrection, or a typical Trump rally to know that the MAGA movement’s authoritarianism and bigotry echo some of the dark themes of the 1930s. And polls show those events are influencing public opinion —#recent survey data#suggests more than a quarter of Americans today hold views that are right-wing authoritarian.

If these cuts end up sticking, and if Biden keeps refusing to wield power to help the country, Democrats may have placated the industries that bankroll their campaigns, but they will have made it harder to convince midterm-election voters that Americans’ lives have improved under the party’s reign. Democratic candidates will be left begging voters to support them as a last line of defense of democracy against the kind of insurrectionists who attacked the Capitol earlier this year.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by direwolf

That's an embarrassing defeat for team blue in Virginia. Dems better get their act together quick, or they're gonna lose everything in '22 and '24.

They also need to find a way to get Manchin and Sinema on board before those two dips***s torpedo Biden's entire presidency. That two people can have that much power and basically hold all of Congress and a country of 300 million people hostage is pretty ridiculous.

I'm still baffled as to why sane, rational people would still vote for Republicans after the insanity we've witnessed over the last few years, and yet here we are. That country is beyond screwed.

Most people are 1 issue voters and get swayed that way. Remember, what are the Republican pillars?

Jobs
Taxes
Guns
Abortion
Immigration
And now... Culture Wars

Youngkin won on the Education issue. How schools are run and what is taught.

And to your question, how can you get Manchin in board with bills detrimental to West Virginia's working class?

[Senator Clay Davis]

"And now...culture wars" lol where have you been the past 40 years? Culture wars are not some new approach for the GOP. It's just become arguably their number one go to now in the social media era, but they've been battling the culture wars since Reagan.

[PeteMoss]

Basically every election in between presidential elections in the US goes against the party in power. Their voters are way more motivated.

This is a bad night for Democrats - worse than expected - and they need to figure out a way to change the conversation on CRT since its the new right wing boogyman.

But Viriginia has a long history of voting in a governor of the party who lost the last presidential election.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

A lot of hot takes from all over the spectrum that paid zero attention to this election.

School issues mostly decided this election. Plus a bit of democrat discord and fallout from Afghanistan. Prog vs moderate didn't really play into it all.

A bit of a silver lining to me is that a sort of Trump shunning, somewhat normal R candidate won.

You're from Virginia. What do you think about school choice?

Honest question. I didn't know it was a thing. Is it a thing here in Canada even?

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by Azure

You're from Virginia. What do you think about school choice?

Honest question. I didn't know it was a thing. Is it a thing here in Canada even?

The PPC types will try to make it a thing here. Doubt it will be successful since culture war stuff isn't as effective here since our right wing media is mainly just newspaper and radio which aren't exactly growing businesses.

[Azure]

What I find crazy is that news is coming out about the tax breaks that the Democrats are trying to plug into their bill (the outrage on here or lack of is kinda funny), and the fact that the electorate right now is very much support the working class and we vote for you, and the Democrats are busy trying to win the woke vote and defund the police. (on and support their rich buddies)

I wonder who is dictating strategy, cause they probably out to be fired after the debacle in Virginia.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

The PPC types will try to make it a thing here. Doubt it will be successful since culture war stuff isn't as effective here since our right wing media is mainly just newspaper and radio which aren't exactly growing businesses.

Thanks for not answering my question and going with the usual rhetoric.

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by Azure

Thanks for not answering my question and going with the usual rhetoric.

These issues exist everywhere and have always existed. Just one party is successfully politicizing it.

What school thing are you talking about? Need to be more specific if you want answers.

The parents not having input? I'm sure its an issue here if you want it to be (see every time someone tries to update the sex education).

The race theory stuff - again - it could be if people get all up in arms about teaching about the treatment of indigenous and minorities in our history.