All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[numberthirty]

This isn't to say that the national environment for Democrats is good, just that it isn't like the sky is falling. Sometimes you lose elections. Sometimes they're in places you thought were safer than they were. The only thing you can do now is to pick yourself up and try to encourage more people to not let something like what happened in Virginia happen in the next election.

How many seats did House Dems lose last year?

This is the next election.

While you can account for that Virginia's Dem was the "Business As Usual..." Democrats' equivalent of a ham sandwich versus that the Republican victory speech last night was probably better than anyone in this Presidential administration could muster?

You've also got to be realistic about that this is part of a pattern that is already happening. Maybe not the most telling part, but it is part of a pattern.

[Tami]

It's very important for Dems to drive out the vote. As others have noted, it seems voter turnout wasn't very high which is always a problem for the dems.

From what I'm reading, McAuliffe ran on an anti-Trumpist platform and he also said something about "parents not telling schools what to teach" (Youngkin used this heavily in campaign ads to attack McAuliffe). Now, running an anti-Trumpist campaign is a bit redudant now because Trump lost Virginia by a pretty large 10 points. The whole thing about the parents comments was just fear mongering by the GOP and I fully understand what McAuliffe was trying to say but the "anti-critical race theory in schools white panic" is very real. It just seems that McAuliffe didn't run a very good campaign and basically couldn't get out the voters. What I find interesting about Virginia is that Biden isn't particularly popular there right now, which is odd because he completely gazumped Trump in that state.

As for NJ, I'm at a total loss. I have no idea what's going on there. Even if Murphy wins, there needs to be a SERIOUS inquisition as to why the vote was this close.

Ari Melber on MSNBC made a good point that the pattern has held that as soon as a person becomes President, the opposing party gains and his party loses. VA and NJ are the bellweather of this.


In that context, I would say that, if (when) Murphy wins NJ then he'd be the first in a long time to break this pattern, even if it was razor thin close.

So, it's not really a negative, it's actually a positive.

I mean, my county went from Purple back to red, but there is hope that can change eventually.

[Jack Dracula]

I was referring mostly to the name-calling and babyblob apologized to the board for that which is very admirable and appreciated.

I for one don’t mind.

[Jack Dracula]

The problem is that there are still Americans trying to get out of Afghanistan. So unfortunately, regardless of whether the evacuation could have been handled better or not, the optics of Americans still stuck there is a massive blow.

If people are paying attention they know the Biden administration is working to get those out who want to leave.

[babyblob]

If people are paying attention they know the Biden administration is working to get those out who want to leave.

But many will say they should not have been left behind in the first place. If people think the GOP wont hammer that home in 2022 I think they are wrong. I keep hearing talk that the withdraw will be forgotten by the midterms. The GOP is very petty and they will pull out anything to give them an edge. They pull crap from a decade ago people really think they will sit on what some call the worst foreign policy debacle in American history that is only going two years old?

[Jack Dracula]

I am not a registered GOP so maybe I just care about Democracy.

While touting voter fraud conspiracy theories.

[Tami]

Ari Melber on MSNBC made a good point that the pattern has held that as soon as a person becomes President, the opposing party gains and his party loses. VA and NJ are the bellweather of this.


In that context, I would say that, if (when) Murphy wins NJ then he'd be the first in a long time to break this pattern, even if it was razor thin close.

So, it's not really a negative, it's actually a positive.

I mean, my county went from Purple back to red, but there is hope that can change eventually.

Murphy is being declared the winner by multiple news outlets, but a recount is still a possibility. The last of the votes are still being counted.

[Zauriel]

Phil Murphy narrowly reelected governor in New Jersey, defeating Republican Jack Ciattarelli

The race was so close, so narrow, that they were still trying to recount all the votes. The Democrats are still reeling from their losses in Virginia. I hope they do a better job in the US 2022 elections next year. It's the midterm elections with all the house seats and one third of senate seats are up for election. 2022 Gubernatorial races are also in half of the states.

[TheDarman]

How many seats did House Dems lose last year?

This is the next election.

Ehh...Democrats mobilized more in the mid-terms in 2010 than they did in off-year elections in 2009. This isn't what the next election looks like--almost guaranteed.

How much better for Democrats will the next year be? That depends on a lot of factors. Unfortunately, voters do tend to punish the incumbent party for a lot of things that happen that aren't necessarily their fault. But if the pandemic is essentially over by next November (hopefully it will be) and the economy has largely recovered (the pace of the economic recovery, coupled with new investments by the federal government with Biden's bills), those factors will probably be smaller in people's minds. Then, it really is down to who can run better campaigns. Democrats still have an uphill battle even in that environment, but it is certainly a better environment to be in than the one they faced this year--coupled with the fact that stated trends are often more difficult to shake than people think.

While you can account for that Virginia's Dem was the "Business As Usual..." Democrats' equivalent of a ham sandwich

Don't disagree here. He barely won in 2013 with a spoiler Libertarian candidate. It didn't seem like the best move.

versus that the Republican victory speech last night was probably better than anyone in this Presidential administration could muster?

Hard disagree there. I absolutely thought President Biden's speech on the Tulsa Race Massacre in June was far better than Youngkin's last night. It might be up to personal preference--and more people may even agree with you--but I can't agree at all.

You've also got to be realistic about that this is part of a pattern that is already happening. Maybe not the most telling part, but it is part of a pattern.

The pattern is that the president's party suffers while they are in office and not at the top of the ballot. Once they are, they often have coat-tail effects that raise their candidates. It's not that hard. All I'm saying is that it isn't the case that this is some abnormally huge loss. In fact, the data suggest that the opposite is true.

[GindyPosts]

At least in Indiana, the Democrats finally did something different for once and campaigned this year around the state in areas where they regularly get slaughtered and the state party usually offers no assistance.

I doubt it'll provide much help, because it's too little too late, but I think this is an idea they need to keep doing every odd year to finally start showing folks that Democrats aren't monsters lurking in the bush.

Though it still bugs me how, as usual, the Indiana GOP goes "These folks will reject the radical progressive and socialist policies offered by the yadda yadda yadda"... Man, if there's one thing Democrats and Republicans are united in, it's their mutual hatred of the left, so I always roll my eyes when I see those empty nothings uttered.

[TheDarman]

But many will say they should not have been left behind in the first place. If people think the GOP wont hammer that home in 2022 I think they are wrong. I keep hearing talk that the withdraw will be forgotten by the midterms. The GOP is very petty and they will pull out anything to give them an edge. They pull crap from a decade ago people really think they will sit on what some call the worst foreign policy debacle in American history that is only going two years old?

I don't think they'll sit on it. The hope, though, is that the Biden Administration is largely successful by this time next year in getting those people out.

Additionally, it is important for Democrats to be pointing out that these citizens were told they should probably leave, but many of those who were left were dual citizens who had more of a connection to the country than they do to the U.S. and wanted to stay and fight. It didn't work out and they wanted to leave. This led to one of the largest humanitarian missions the U.S. military has ever successfully conducted. It's time to engage on the issue and point out that Biden's response was hardly a debacle and doesn't even begin to resemble Reagan's response to Beirut's Barrack Bombing.

[Zauriel]

Just because the Democrats won the White House, the senate and the House last year doesn't mean they should let their guard down. They need to pay attention to the voters and listen to what they want.

One state just flipped red. another state nearly flipped red. Not a good sign for the Democratic Party.

[Tami]

Phil Murphy narrowly reelected governor in New Jersey, defeating Republican Jack Ciattarelli

The race was so close, so narrow, that they were still trying to recount all the votes. The Democrats are still reeling from their losses in Virginia. I hope they do a better job in the US 2022 elections next year. It's the midterm elections with all the house seats and one third of senate seats are up for election. 2022 Gubernatorial races are also in half of the states.

Considering the overall elections across the country, including Mayor's races, I think the Democrats aren't doing as bad as they could (maybe even should) have.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I am not a registered GOP so maybe I just care about Democracy.

To quote the immortal Ted Kord:

BWA-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !

Thanks for the good laugh!

[numberthirty]

Ari Melber on MSNBC made a good point that the pattern has held that as soon as a person becomes President, the opposing party gains and his party loses. VA and NJ are the bellweather of this.


In that context, I would say that, if (when) Murphy wins NJ then he'd be the first in a long time to break this pattern, even if it was razor thin close.

So, it's not really a negative, it's actually a positive.

I mean, my county went from Purple back to red, but there is hope that can change eventually.

A positive that points to that your fingers are slipping on a grip that you just barely had to start with.

While I will always take it?

It's important to be honest about what it actually is.