;)
November 10, 2022
Afternoon Update:
The New York Times live updates of election developments today are here. Not much news, though a few more House races have been decided.
Marie: Just to give you an idea of how seriously Republicans have lost the trust of the voters, in the first midterm after President Clinton's election, Republicans gained 54 House seats; in President Obama's first midterm, Republicans gained 64 House seats. They cannot come anywhere close to that number this year. ~~~
~~~ Update: Aaron Blake of the Washington Post does an actual analysis (as compared to my little Wowza: "The 2022 election wasn't that good for today's Democrats. But it's clearly the exception to the rule that the opposition party benefits quite a bit in the midterms the vast majority of the time. And that's even more striking considering how many on the right assured just a few days ago that we were headed toward a 'red wave.'"
AP: "A man already in custody in last month's attack on the husband of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury on charges of assault and attempted kidnapping. The charges against David DePape stem from the Oct. 28 break-in at the Pelosis'; San Francisco home are the same as but supersede those in an earlier federal complaint that was filed on October 31."
Hurubi Meko of the New York Times: "An 18-year-old man from Middlesex County, N.J., has been arrested and charged with threatening to attack a synagogue and Jews earlier this month, an episode that led to warnings from the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New Jersey of a broad security risk to synagogues in the state. The man, identified as Omar Alkattoul, of Sayreville, N.J., shared a document titled 'When Swords Collide' with several people through a social media application on Nov. 1, prosecutors said. Mr. Alkattoul admitted to writing the document, which included inflammatory language about relations between Jews and Muslims, and told a person he shared it with that the manifesto was 'in the context of an attack on Jews,' according to prosecutors. An individual who received a link to the document from Mr. Alkattoul informed law enforcement officials, according to the charging documents."
~~~~~~~~~~
Definitely not a Republican wave, that is for darn sure. -- Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)
Republicans have followed Donald Trump off the side of a cliff. -- David Urban, longtime Trump advisor
Colby Itkowitz & Annie Linskey of the Washington Post: "Democrats continued to celebrate unexpected victories, notching several more wins in competitive House races on Wednesday, as control of the House and Senate remained uncertain. It could take weeks to find out which party ends up with more seats in the Senate. Two critical Senate races in Arizona and Nevada remained too early to call Wednesday, and a third in Georgia is headed for a Dec. 6 runoff after neither Democratic Sen. Raphael G. Warnock nor Republican Herschel Walker won more than 50 percent of the vote.... Republicans are likely to take control of the House, experts say, but by a much smaller margin than they expected.... House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R -Calif.) has already started to make calls asking for support in his bid to be the next speaker.... Democrats outperformed expectations in races across the country, lifted by anger over the Supreme Court's June decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, weak Republican candidates and an aggressive on-the-ground push to turn out voters.... Democrats also won control of the state House in Michigan [MB: for the first time in 40 years] and were close to doing so in Pennsylvania."
The World Is Watching. Emily Rauhala, et al., of the Washington Post: "Much of Europe breathed a sigh of relief Wednesday as a weaker-than-expected showing by Republicans and the absence of major election violence eased concern about turmoil in the transatlantic relationship and the health of American democracy -- at least for now. The results of the first major races since the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection are likely to lend some short-term stability to efforts to isolate Russia and support Ukrainian forces, the central concern for European officials and diplomats heading into the midterms. The outcome will also add a sense of continuity to day-to-day diplomacy. But for a continent still reeling from Trump-era upheavals, the midterm races were a bracing reminder that despite talk of bolstering Europe's 'strategic autonomy,' American politics still very much shape European affairs. With or without a 'red wave' this year, Europe knows that it has not seen the end of Donald Trump or Trumpism and must plan accordingly."
Kathryn Watson of CBS News: "Coming off an Election Day in which Democrats seemingly exceeded expectations and overcame historical trends in the battle for control of Congress, a smiling and emboldened President Biden said he plans to do 'nothing' different in his approach to the presidency, and offered a message for the millions of voters who don't want him to run again: 'Watch me.' Mr. Biden fielded reporters' questions at the White House for about an hour Wednesday, in keeping with a tradition of presidents holding news conferences following midterm elections. Mr. Biden, who said it's his 'intention' to run again but gave no definitive answer on that front, called Tuesday a 'strong night' for Democrats. 'It was a good day, I think, for democracy,' Mr. Biden said. 'And I think it was a good day for America. ... Our democracy has been tested in recent years, but with their votes, the American people have spoken and proven once again that democracy is who we are.'" ~~~
~~~ A transcript, via the White House, of President Biden's press conference is here. Video of the presser is here.
So Unfa-a-a-air! Michael Bender & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump faced unusual public attacks from across the Republican Party on Wednesday after a string of midterm losses by candidates he had handpicked and supported, a display of weakness as he prepared to announce a third presidential campaign as soon as next week.... Conservative allies criticized Mr. Trump on social media and cable news, questioning whether he should continue as the party's leader and pointing to his toxic political brand as the common thread woven through three consecutive lackluster election cycles. Mr. Trump was seen as largely to blame for the Republicans' underwhelming finish in Tuesday's elections, as a number of the candidates he had endorsed in competitive races were defeated -- including nominees for governor and Senate in Pennsylvania and for governor of Michigan, New York and Wisconsin. Still, Mr. Trump has built a deep well of loyalty with Republican voters, and party officials cautioned that it was too soon to tell whether he would suffer any lasting political damage...." ~~~
~~~ Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "Retiring GOP Sen. Pat Toomey [Pa.] blamed Donald Trump for some of his handpicked candidates and predicted the former president would continue to lose influence in the Republican Party.... 'The more MAGA a candidate was, the more they tended to underperform even in their own states,' [Toomey told the Philadelphia Inquirer].... 'Like I said, when the primary criteria is allegiance to Donald Trump, the outcomes weren't very good,' Toomey said. '[Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug] Mastriano's loss was on an epic scale, and it is very hard for down-ballot candidates to overcome that.'" ~~~
~~~ Say, what if Trump called for a protest and no one showed up? Oh, that happened. ~~~
~~~ Rosalind Helderman, et al., of the Washington Post: "As voters cast ballots largely without incident on Tuesday afternoon..., Donald Trump took to social media to declare that a minor, already rectified problem with absentee balloting in Detroit was 'REALLY BAD.... Protest, protest, protest,' he wrote just before 2:30 p.m. Unlike in 2020, when similar cries from the then-president drew thousands of supporters into the streets -- including to a tabulating facility in Detroit and later to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 -- this time, no one showed up. After two years of promises from Trump and his supporters that they would flood polls and counting stations with partisan watchers to spot alleged fraud, after unprecedented threats lodged against election workers, after calls to ditch machines in favor of hand counting and after postings on internet chat groups called for violent action to stop supposed cheating, a peaceful Election Day drew high turnout and only scattered reports of problems."
Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump told Mike Pence that he was 'too honest' when he balked at the idea he could unilaterally sway the outcome of the 2020 election as Mr. Trump mounted an intense pressure campaign to bend Mr. Pence to his will, the former vice president writes in his upcoming memoir.... Mr. Trump [also told] him that 'hundreds of thousands are gonna hate your guts' and 'people are gonna think you're stupid.'... In 'So Help Me God,' to be published Tuesday, Mr. Pence offers not only his first extensive comments about his experiences with Mr. Trump after the election and during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters, but also his first lengthy reflections on the 2016 campaign and the four years that followed.... The vice president also shares dramatic details about escaping the rioters who had entered the Capitol while he was presiding over the certification that day." ~~~
~~~ If you have access to the Wall Street Journal, you can read an adapted excerpt from Pence's book. The adaptation is titled "My Last Days with Donald Trump." MB: I was able to access the excerpt, & it's essentially what Haberman recounts above. It also confirms some of what we learned from the January 6 committee hearings. In the meantime, I look forward to reading an excerpt from a book titled "The Last Days of Donald Trump."
Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Mounting legal threats to Donald Trump may have appeared ominous before the 2022 congressional elections. They're nothing compared to what comes next.... With the voting largely complete, prosecutors are free to take more overt steps to advance their investigation.... Trump is undeniably entering the 2024 contest weakened and squeezed by rising Republican figures like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.... The inability of Republicans to deliver massive margins of victory threatens to deprive Trump of the overwhelmingly Republican Congress that he had hoped would wield committee gavels and subpoena power to protect him and torment rivals.... [The January 6 committee is likely about to release more than 1,000 interview transcripts to the DOJ.]"
Tom Jackman of the Washington Post: "A Fairfax County[, Virginia,] judge rejected an attempt Wednesday by former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) to evade a summons for his grand jury testimony in Georgia, where the Fulton County prosecutor is investigating efforts by supporters of ... Donald Trump to overturn the 2020 election results in that state.... Fulton County Judge Robert C.I. McBurney then issued an order last month for Gingrich to appear before the special grand jury. A court in the state where the witness lives must then approve that order.... Fairfax County Judge Robert J. Smith rejected [Gingrich's] argument [that the Fulton County special grand jury is not a 'real' grand jury under the law].... [Gingrich's attorney then] asked Smith to stay his order so that Gingrich might appeal. 'I'm not going to do that,' the judge replied. 'I'm going to sign it now and get things going.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: The way they're fighting Fani Willis' subpoenas, you'd almost think all these Trump gangsters -- Gingrich, Lindsey Graham, Mark Meadows -- had sudden realized they were criminals & didn't want to incriminate themselves.
Gregory Schneider of the Washington Post: "Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) has sent a handwritten note of apology to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) over his comments last month that seemed to make light of the hammer attack against her husband, Paul Pelosi.... Speaking at a campaign rally in Stafford, Va. ... on Oct. 28, Youngkin mentioned the attack earlier that day on Pelosi's husband.... 'There's no room for violence anywhere, but we're going to send [Pelosi] back to be with him in California,' Youngkin said at the rally. The comment drew widespread rebukes, but Youngkin has resisted publicly apologizing for it." Pelosi's spokesman said she had accepted Youngkin's apology.
Julian Barnes of the New York Times: "A federal judge sentenced a Navy engineer to 19 years in prison on Wednesday and ... handed his wife nearly 22 years for the couple's botched attempt to sell sensitive nuclear propulsion secrets to a foreign country. U.S. District Judge Gina M. Groh gave a longer term to Diana Toebbe even though it was her husband, Jonathan, who held the security clearance and took the sensitive documents from the Navy. Judge Groh said the longer sentence for Ms. Toebbe was mainly because she found that Ms. Toebbe had tried to obstruct justice by attempting to send letters to her husband while in jail.... Prosecutors had asked for just three years for Ms. Toebbe, but Judge Groh said the offense was 'not your usual case.' In delivering her sentence, the judge said that while Mr. Toebbe, 44, had access to the information, Ms. Toebbe, 46, was 'driving the bus' and had a big role in crafting the plan and covering it up. Judge Groh had thrown out the original pleas by the Toebbes in August, arguing they were too lenient and forcing them to cut new deals with prosecutors, which opened the prospect of much longer prison sentences."
Elon McScrooge. Heather Kelly & Garrit De Vynck of the Washington Post: Twitter "on Wednesday released its much talked about revamped Twitter Blue subscription service for $7.99 a month. Its flagship feature is a signature check mark in blue next to your account name, which was previously free to notable accounts whose identity had been verified by the company. The rushed rollout has led to a confusing hierarchy of check marks on the site, uncertainty about which ones will be taken away, and attempts at impersonation and scams.... Here's everything thing you need to know about the change in how Twitter verifies users."
Georgia Senate Race
Elena Schneider of Politico: "The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is spending $7 million on field operations in the Georgia Senate runoff, kicking off an expensive overtime race that could give the winning party control of the Senate. The DSCC's multimillion-dollar expenditure on its ground game will fund direct voter contact programs, particularly door-to-door canvassing.... Field organizers will not be able to register new voters, so the primary focus will be on turning out the party's base again...."
Marc Caputo of NBC News: "Republican leaders don't want a repeat of [Georgia's] 2021 runoff, especially now that Trump has teased a 'big announcement' Tuesday, when he is widely expected to officially declare another White House bid. But Scott is staying mum on the Trump question.... Political commentator Erick Erickson, a [Brian] Kemp surrogate, said Republicans want Trump to stay away. 'The emails I'm getting all morning is: Can we keep Trump from coming to Georgia to help Herschel?' he said. 'If they can keep Trump off the radar, maybe they can get [Herschel] Walker across the finish line. If Trump shows up to help, that ruins it.'"
Way Beyond the Beltway
Ukraine, et al.
The New York Times' live updates of developments Thursday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates are here. The Guardian's summary report is here. ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Thursday are here: "The number of Russian and Ukrainian soldiers killed or wounded since the Feb. 24 invasion is likely to have reached 200,000, said Gen. Mark A. Milley, the top U.S. military official. 'Well over' 100,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in the war, and Ukraine has probably suffered a similar number of casualties, Milley told the Economic Club of New York.... The 100,000 figure is an increase from the Pentagon's previous estimate of Russian casualties, which was between 70,000 and 80,000 in August."
Marc Santora, et al., of the New York Times: "The Kremlin on Wednesday announced a retreat of Russian forces from the strategically important city of Kherson in southern Ukraine, a concession to military reality eight months after capturing the area, and one of the most significant reversals of President Vladimir V. Putin's war effort. The withdrawal order came from Russia's defense minister, Sergei K. Shoigu, in a meeting with top military leaders that was broadcast on Russian state television.... Mr. Putin was not present at the meeting, distancing him from both an embarrassing defeat and a decision to retreat that, Kremlin analysts say, only he could have made." MB: President Biden noted wryly in his press conference Wednesday that the Kremlin had waited until right after the U.S. elections.
News Ledes
CNBC: "The consumer price index rose less than expected in October, an indication that while inflation is still a threat to the U.S. economy, pressures could be starting to cool. The consumer price index, a broad-based measure of goods and services costs, increased 0.4% for the month and 7.7% from a year ago. Respective estimates from Dow Jones were for increases of 0.6% and 7.9%."
New York Times: "Hurricane Nicole whipped through Florida on Thursday, a rare November storm that crashed huge waves along the coast, collapsed houses into the Atlantic Ocean, required the evacuation of unstable waterfront condo buildings and washed away roads and beaches. Nicole, the first hurricane to come ashore on the state's Atlantic coast since Katrina in 2005, became a tropical storm shortly after making landfall as a Category 1 hurricane at around 3 a.m. south of Vero Beach. At least four deaths were attributed to the storm as it crossed the peninsula, and then swung offshore over the Gulf of Mexico and turned north, going back over land in the Big Bend region of Florida, just east of the Panhandle." ~~~
~~~ Weather Channel: "Nicole made landfall in Florida as a hurricane early Thursday morning, but its impacts including prolonged coastal flooding, beach erosion, strong winds, high surf, heavy rain and tornadoes will continue to impact other parts of the Southeast as well as the mid-Atlantic and Northeast through the end of the workweek. Nicole's center pushed ashore just south of Vero Beach, Florida, at 3 a.m. EST. It's maximum sustained winds were 75 mph, making Nicole a Category 1 hurricane. Now that Nicole is inland, it has weakened back to a strong tropical storm." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' live updates are here.
Washington Post: "An outbreak of listeria tied to deli meat and cheese has killed one person, sickened 16 others and resulted in a lost pregnancy, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Wednesday. The illnesses spanned six states. Investigators are trying to identify any specific products or delis that may have been contaminated, according to the CDC. Samples from sick people were collected from April 17, 2021, to Sept. 29, 2022.... The CDC reported that New York is home to seven of the sick people. Three live in Maryland. Massachusetts and Illinois each have two people who were sickened. New Jersey and California each have one person who fell ill."
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Reader Comments (18)
Three things (for now…).
First, all the votes aren’t counted yet…
Second, there are still hundreds of suits of voter fraud already filed by the traitors to save them from exactly this outcome…what’s happening there?
Third, remember how we complained about the slothful, recreant, easily cowed media for all jumping on the Red Wave bandwagon without providing the requisite journalistic due diligence to check and see if that thing had wheels? Of COURSE it’s easier to look at questionable polls, do the horse race thing, parrot received wisdom and forget about actual reporting. But when received wisdom comes from idiots, paid shills, and inveterate liars, it looks more wise ass than wise.
Wait…I forgot. Four things:
*knock, knock, knock* “Oh MERRICK! ‘lection’s over. You can come out now!
TuKKKums is whining that the traitors shouldn’t blame poor Donald. “Lots of candidates lost in races that had nothing to do with Donald Trump” he blathered.
Stupid or willfully ignorant?
Dear TucKKK, you whiny liar, the Party of Traitors IS Trump’s party. All races and all candidates from that side have everything to do with the Fat Fascist. You can’t seriously suggest that after promoting hundreds of candidates, all of whom are wretchedly unsuitable for elected office and who, collectively, are the moral equivalent of a child molester, Trump is blameless when it comes to the yuuuuge electoral failure that was the “Red Wave”.
My sense is that, just like the aftermath of Jan. 6, when a few Rs dared to criticize Fatty and promptly retracted their weak ass critiques, the Party of Traitors will tuck tail and fall in line behind their criminal overlord.
Oh, and the media will forget all about it as well.
Wondering what the headlines in all the news outlets will be today.
Will they apologize for "Dems in disarray" and "big red wave
coming"?
Or will it be "don't pay any attention to all those polls, wait 'til all
the votes are counted".
Nah, some losers never admit defeat.
Forrest,
Few people want to apologize for not doing their job. Especially big name TV pundits whose prognostications stink like an abattoir at low tide.
The Red Trickle will be ascribed to conditions and circumstances “no one” could have predicted.
I have to ask, nonetheless, what the fuck is the matter with Georgia? How is it that a smart, highly competent, decent human being who has excelled at his job is neck and neck with a brain damaged, amoral liar who couldn’t craft a three word declarative sentence with a handbook and a battery of tutors?
I read somewhere that many Republicans left the line on the ballot for senator blank, not wanting to vote for Walker and congenitally unable to vote for a Democrat. This is even scarier! The current thinking is that those people won’t bother to show up for the run off. But if this race is the difference between a Democratically controlled senate and total legislative control by the traitors, those people will definitely show up.
I’m gonna guess that the monumental effort by the traitors to suppress the vote had an effect. Still, the fact that a mumbling idiot who flashes a little plastic badge he got in a box of Cracker Jacks is neck and neck with Warnock, a serious, smart sitting senator, demonstrates the power of blind, ignorant, power mad tribalism which currently grips an entire party.
But with a month to go, look for all those media “experts” who were stunningly wrong in the midterms to offer their uninformed gut feelings about how Walker will easily win in December.
Plus ça change.
I’m reading that officials and consultants in Georgia hoping to drag Walker’s barely conscious body across the finish line are going to try to keep Fatty’s fat ass from stumping for his buddy Herschel (being stumped, of course, is a quotidian condition for Walker, as in “How do you open this can of tuna fish?”).
Good luck. First, no one tells the Orange Monster what to do. The best way to guarantee he’ll show up, screaming, is to tell him not to come. Besides, this could be the last chance in the midterms for Trump to “win”. If Walker gets to babble in the senate chamber, Trump will crow about how he did it all.
As I suggested earlier, a month from now, no traitor will be blaming Fatty for anything. They’ll be back to their servile selves.
One other thing…
Party of Traitor tea leaf readers are currently in a tizzy over their new fave, DeSantolini, someone they seem to believe got a huge boost from Trump’s humiliating record in picking losing candidates.
Sorry. The roaring rabble might like DeSantolini, he is, after all, Trump Lite, and a seriously fascistic piece of shit, just their meat, but Fatty is still the Eminence Grease.
I’ll be very surprised if the traitors ditch their hero for the Florida guy in 2024. Consultants can say what they like. The MAGA morons are permanently brainwashed.
And honestly, I’d prefer to run against Trump. Hey, with luck (and a different AG), he could be running from a federal lockup.
Will Nicole do the fat man in? He refuses to leave. Will the rising waters and horrific winds destroy Merry Loggy along with its one occupant who will have to hide in one of those rooms where he keeps all his purloined papers and golf clubs? The gods are having a fine time aren't they? Right after an election that dispelled the idea of a red wave, they now send actual waves to once again put Florida under water.
As far as Walker is concerned, he's just a body to put in those leather chairs and then told what to say and how to vote. You would think the GOP would be embarrassed to put him out there, but we know they don't care one wit––it's all about the numbers. Trump backing him is also laughable in the sense that Walker's history, as bad as it is, cannot compare with his backer in any way shape or form although only one of them pisses ice water and can count to ten.
Now that Americans have told Sam (Hit Man) Alito and Clarence (Pubic Hair on Coke Can) Thomas to practice flying fucks with rolling donuts, we can all expect those pissy, thin-skinned authoritarians to rustle up their revenge in the Death to Democracy and Other Stuff We Hate portion of this Supreme Court session, and man, oh man, is the originalism-cherry picking-embarrassing casuistry fur gonna fly.
They may just decide to say “Fuck it! To hell with Democrats and democracy altogether. We’re gonna pick the next dictato…ooops, we mean president. We did it before, we’ll do it again”.
A tale of 4 states: Florida & New York, messed up redistricting; Michigan (where I lived more than 30 years) & Colorado, both with non-partisan commissions to redistrict. We see the results: Democrats win with the latter. Our new District 8-- close but in the bag. Of course we wait anxiously for Boebby (district 3) to be sent back to Rifle, but in this case every vote will be counted before it's over. So here are 3 suggestions for my RC friends:
1. Check out https://votefwd.org/. I've participated in their GOTV letter writing campaigns for the past 3 biggies, plus the last Georgia run-off. This time I wrote largely for Colorado 8, with an extra last minute batch to the Las Vegas area. This organization is very well organized and really makes it easy to help encourage infrequent voters to participate. No matter what happens in AZ & NV we need Warnock in the Senate so I'll be signing up again.
2. Encourage everyone you know to be an organ donor. After 2 1/2 years of waiting on the transplant list, my husband finally was gifted with a much needed heart on Sunday. He's doing well, but the wait has been long. Apparently men are more reluctant to participate as donors but are more likely to need new hearts, so larger people have to wait longer.
3. Listen to Rachel's "Ultra" (it was linked the other day)-- she tells these stories like none other, and while it's still a scary time, as she says, "we've been here before."
Linda from Denver
@Ak, I think what you read about GA voters not voting is only partially true. The bigger factor were those voting for 3rd-party.
Here are AP numbers posted yesterday @ 4.53PM EST:
Gov. Race
Kemp (R) 2,109,105 [53.4%]
Abrams (D) 1,809,522 [45.8%]
Hazel (Lib) 28,074 [0.7%]
Total 3,946,701
Sen.
Walker (R) 1,906,246 [48.5%]
Warnock (D) 1,941,499 [49.4%]
Oliver (Lib) 81,175 [2.1%]
Total 3,928,920
Results:
a) 17,781 more votes were cast for Gov. than Sen. These would be the "blank" ones you mentioned.
b) Walker got 202,859 fewer votes than Kemp
c) Warnock got 131,977 more votes than Abrams
d) The 3-party vote was insignificant for the Gov, but very significant for the Sen. In both races 3rd-party were greater than the number of "blanks", but it was 4.5x greater for the Sen race.
My guess is that more R's used the 3rd-party option as a protest against Walker rather than vote "blank", more so than D's did against Warnock. Those protest votes are what caused the need for the upcoming run-off.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/09/opinion/republicans-midterms-abortion.html?
Looked at from the distance created by my age and practiced skepticism, I think Goldberg's otherwise fine account of what went wrong for the R's misses an essential point.
We talk about the Right drinking the Kool-Aid and they sure have. Every time I hear the crazies talk, I think of Jim Jones and his death cult, and each time the image rings true.
But there's another ingredient in the Republican Kool-Aid besides the True Belief of the credulous that Goldberg doesn't mention: the supreme and overweening arrogance that has rotted what used to be their brains.
Some of that arrogance is the personality types the Republican brand attracts, some the result of unschooled privilege run rampant, but much of it the result of how successfully our Constitution has allowed them to achieve and maintain power without being accountable to the people they are supposed to serve.
Lose a presidential election? Who cares, they have the Electoral College to bail them out.
Don't like the way some constituents vote? Gerrymander their votes to insignificance.
Don't like rules governing the intersection of money and elections? Buy a Court that will get rid of them.
Over the last forty or so years Republicans have been able to wield power while moving farther and farther away from the will of the people. It's happened because the Constitution has allowed it and the party's cynical power-seekers (McConnell) took that opening as far as they could go.
So here they are, trying to figure out what happened to them, when what happened is kinda simple. They had gotten to the point where they thought they could do anything (Shoot someone on Fifth Avenue?), but the majority of people don't like what they do or what they stand for, and even the armor of minority government the Constitution provides could not protect them entirely from the consequences of their gradual drift away from the people-- not the money-- who remain, for now at least, the real source of their power.
Linda: Good luck to your husband and glad to hear he finally got his heart. And thanks for the political info––nice to hear from you again.
And Ken: I've thought for a long time we need a new Constitution, but I'm afraid that ain't gonna happen in our lifetime.
@Linda from Denver: Best wishes for your husband, you & your family. I can barely imagine what a trying time this has been for all of you.
And thank you for the advice about organ donation. It ought to be a federal opt-out law, not an opt-in law, as I believe it is in most states. (I may be wrong about this.) That is, we should have to say we do not wish to be organ donors.
Does organ donation include brains?
If so, all liberals should specify transplantation of their brain only into
the bodies of a certain type of conservative.
We could get rid of them one at a time.
Of course, their bodies would probably reject anything having to do
with 'liberal.'
I don't know how to link, and I guess it is on youtube or something, but if you get a chance, do listen to the foul toxin that is Andy Biggs doing some version of standup where he says Pelosi is exchanging her gavel for a hammer, and then says, smugly, "Too soon?" It is hard to overreact to what a POS he is. He was also at some point teasing a run at Speaker "when" they get the House back. It's like there is some poisonous river of sludge somewhere, and most of the traitor party drinks from it every day, then waxes oratorial. Hard to believe.
Very disappointed that so many inconveniently noneducated election liar incumbents were safely re-elected, including our SmuckerFucker, who is bragging he will qualify on an important committee the coming years. He already belongs to the liars' club that voted against certification, and has voted with Orange Marred-melade every time. He defeated a distinguished educator, on retirement running to bring the county into this century. One young black gay guy from city council made it onto the state lege, so now we will have two Dems from here. I hear the state House could be Democratic, but I will only believe that when I see it in print. And I guess Asstriano is still in the lege now he was trounced by Josh Shapiro, thank all that's holy.
Linda: what wonderful news. I am grateful to have never had to face what you and your husband have. I applaud your courage and grit.
Wishing Lauren no luck at all--may she be the lone moron NOT re-elected. And for sad bad Walker: yes, we all wish you the "best" as you move to a retirement home just before Christmas. Just nowhere near the nation's cap.
Has anyone else had a flashback to their youth with all of the "Red Ripple" editorial cartoons?
@Bobby Lee: No, I always purloined some of granny's rheumatism
medicine.
It came in a brown bottle, made in Tennessee. She did claim it was
medicine and it seemed to cure whatever the ailment was.
Unwashed,
Thanks for the breakdown. I’m still not sure how all this will play out in December, but I’m certain that whatever sneaky, snaky, trickster bullshit Rs can devise will be put into effect asap. Turtle Traitor McConnell wants so badly to get back to being totalitarian boss of the senate that he’s out there right now begging traitor donors to give millions to ensure that a brain damaged, bobble head dumpster fire of a candidate is sent to Washington.
This is going to be dirty.