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

[4saken1]

One guy's take...

Actual worst case scenario involves this Congress getting almost nothing done.

It kneecaps Biden, and Congressional Dems have a seriously hard time selling the voter on that this will be the time they can get things done.

Yes. This has more to do with public perception and fundamental ignorance about how things get done (or don't, as it were), though.

In this country, there is a different set of standards for the two Parties. For a Republican to not get re-elected, they need to **** up spectacularly. For a Democrat to not get re-elected, they just need to have a mediocre record. Whether or not this is due to obstructionism is far too much for the American public to comprehend, much less consider.

[numberthirty]

Yes. This has more to do with public perception and fundamental ignorance about how things get done (or don't, as it were), though.

In this country, there is a different set of standards for the two Parties. For a Republican to not get re-elected, they need to **** up spectacularly. For a Democrat to not get re-elected, they just need to have a mediocre record. Whether or not this is due to obstructionism is far too much for the American public to comprehend, much less consider.

A tough job is a tough job.

You don't want to actually take a tough job with unfair expectations?

I don't see anyone hitting people in the knees with a fire extinguisher until they finally say "Ok. You win. I'll run for elected office..."

[4saken1]

An additional complicating factor is the leadership in the states. Some of the "good" blue states have Republican Governors (Massachusetts, New Hampshire), while some of the "bad" red states have Democratic Governor (Louisiana, Kentucky.)

It's also worth noting that some of the red states that you suggest were poorly governed had state legislatures and Governor's mansions controlled by Democrats until relatively recently, though I wouldn't say that's the reason for the outcomes. Democrats controlled the Kentucky state house until 2016, the Mississippi state house until 2012, the West Virginia House of Delegates until 2014, the Louisiana state house until 2008, and the Arkansas state house until 2012.

As stated in the post, how red or blue the states are were determined solely on the 2020 Election and are relative to other States. If you have a link which provides a broader view on how liberal/conservative the States are compared to one another over the last decade or so, I would welcome the input. Anybody with an ounce of intellectual honesty, though, would be hard pressed to demonstrate that Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, or Arkansas were bastions of liberalism at any point in recent history. A significant portion of the Democrats in these legislatures when they did have a majority were likely Manchinesque and/or remnants from the age of Dixiecrats.

In 2009, Southern Democrats controlled both branches of the Alabama General Assembly, the Arkansas General Assembly, the Delaware General Assembly, the Louisiana State Legislature, the Maryland General Assembly, the Mississippi Legislature, the North Carolina General Assembly, and the West Virginia Legislature, along with the Council of the District of Columbia, the Kentucky House of Representatives, and the Virginia Senate.[24] In 2017, Southern Democrats still controlled both branches of the Delaware General Assembly and the Maryland General Assembly, along with the Council of the District of Columbia. However, they had lost control of the state legislatures in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, and West Virginia.

Furthermore, even if you buy into the idea that liberalism is to blame for the condition of these States, is Republican leadership in them so lacking that they can't turn things around after several years and get out of being the bottom feeders in even a few of the myriad of categories that they find themselves lacking in? Kentucky was the most recent (2016) of the states you listed where Democrats had a majority in only one of their state legislative bodies (with a Republican governor, nonetheless). You have to go back to 2000 to find a time when Democrats controlled both legislative bodies and the governorship there. In most of the States you listed, Republicans have had plenty of time to dig themselves out of being the shitholes that they are, but instead their crappy policies just drive them further into the ground, where they will likely remain.

It's all just data, though. You can try do dance around it all you like, but the simple fact is that red states statistically inhabit the echelons of lower performing states and blue states are primarily those on top. There are a few categories that red states fare better in, such as unemployment, homelessness, and debt, but overall they kinda suck.

I looked up another couple of statistics today - Average lifespan and obesity rates. No surprises where red and blue states fell in each of these, either. If you have any other statistics that you think I should add to the list, I am open to input.

[worstblogever]

I'm glad Trump is gone, but he's gone because he lost. Not because Biden won. The common criticism of those on the right is that he can't be legitimate because almost nobody is truly enthusiastic about Biden on his own merits, but rather as an alternative to what came before him. They're right, but underestimate how much people disliked their guy.

Biden's best chance is if Trump runs again and actually follows through to the nomination rather than quitting once he's eked every dollar out of every MAGA sucker and basked in all of the attention the rallies bring. I'd still say right now it'd be close. If anyone else runs with any competence, again as things stand now (and it's a long time out), Biden likely loses.

Worst case scenario for us would be Biden retiring, they push Harris (who polled at around 1% in the primaries) as the nominee, and that perceived weakness ripples down the ticket and we see another four years of the Republicans having all branches and fully entrenching laws that keep them in power despite demographic shifts.

I want to like VP Harris, but she has not galvanized any support, if anything, she's lost it so far.

She's still a historic pick, but she is not doing anything that says she's going to be what we transition to after Biden, except having "VP" in front of her name.

Hell, the right use even a dumber Birther argument against her, so... I want them to go a different direction for the first female president...

Can I get a President Warren who doesn't have time for the right's nonsense, or a badass like President Duckworth, plz? Either option would be exciting.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, as well as 2019, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day posted profiles of John Shimkus, the U.S. House Representative from Illinois’ 15th Congressional District, one of the dumbest deniers of climate change on Capitol Hill, who actually cites a promise that God made to Noah in the Book of Genesis as proof against the phenomenon, and wants to eliminate carbon dioxide restrictions from the EPA, viewing it as “taking away plant food from the atmosphere”. John Shimkus retired from Congress in 2020.

On this date in 2020, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled PhilanIse White, a 2020 candidate for U.S. House of Representatives in Illinois’ 1st Congressional District, and conservative activist who came to our attention because she is yet ANOTHER Qanon supporter who the GOP had on the ballot for a seat in the House, hoping to pull off the unlikely feat of unseating Democratic Congressman Bobby Rush. White was allowed to run for the GOP nomination for this seat unopposed, because the Illinois GOP aren’t exactly focused on preventing ridiculous candidates onto the ballot to embarrass them. We’re talking about the same people who allowed folks like Susan Atanus (claimed God was angry and punishing the country for abortion and same sex marriage) and Art Jones (a literal Nazi) to be their nominees in the general election. Anyway, Philanise White repeatedly referenced the Qanon conspiracy theory on social media, and when asked repeatedly about it, her campaign attacked the local media for not promoting her as “Blacks supporting Trump” instead. She is the kind of candidate that you would expect to support an agenda that looks like it best would be summarized as “fascism” as she supports Trump’s stupid, ineffective border wall, his ban on Muslims traveling to the United States, and wants the government to be able to jail peaceful protesters (no respect for the First Amendment). Meanwhile, she wants no restrictions on the 2nd Amendment, because, well, she is a Republican, after all. Philanese White only got 26% of the vote on election day, and we will set aside her profile at this time, however, to cover another wacky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 1033-50, since this was established in July 2014.


Theresa Raborn

Welcome to what is the 1033rd original profile here at “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day”, where we’ll be profiling Theresa Raborn, a 2020 candidate for U.S. House of Representatives in Illinois’ 2nd Congressional District. And Raborn is the latest in our long, long line of Republicans who ran for office that year while supporting the Qanon conspiracy theory. Raborn actually replied to the positively psychotic video of former General Michael Flynn taking the Qanon oath by saying, “AMEN AND CONGRATS!!!” and signing the post with “#WWG1WGA”. Y’know, nothing to indicate she wasn’t fanatically into it.The Washington post followed up on that and interviewed Raborn about her Qanon obsession and the Twitter reply, and she said that Flynn’s video endorsement of QAnon made it appear somehow more legitimate to her and “seemed to give a lot of validity to people who support me who also happen to follow Q.” We'll add that she was also on board with the white nationalist policy of wasting time and resources on building Donald Trump’s vanity project of a wall on the U.S./Mexico border, if it wasn’t clear there was something wrong with her already.

Theresa Raborn got absolutely destroyed at the ballot box by Democratic Congresswoman Robin Kelly, getting only 21% of the vote. We hope this will be the only time she runs for any office.

[Mister Mets]

As stated in the post, how red or blue the states are were determined solely on the 2020 Election and are relative to other States. If you have a link which provides a broader view on how liberal/conservative the States are compared to one another over the last decade or so, I would welcome the input. Anybody with an ounce of intellectual honesty, though, would be hard pressed to demonstrate that Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, or Arkansas were bastions of liberalism at any point in recent history. A significant portion of the Democrats in these legislatures when they did have a majority were likely Manchinesque and/or remnants from the age of Dixiecrats.



Furthermore, even if you buy into the idea that liberalism is to blame for the condition of these States, is Republican leadership in them so lacking that they can't turn things around after several years and get out of being the bottom feeders in even a few of the myriad of categories that they find themselves lacking in? Kentucky was the most recent (2016) of the states you listed where Democrats had a majority in only one of their state legislative bodies (with a Republican governor, nonetheless). You have to go back to 2000 to find a time when Democrats controlled both legislative bodies and the governorship there. In most of the States you listed, Republicans have had plenty of time to dig themselves out of being the shitholes that they are, but instead their crappy policies just drive them further into the ground, where they will likely remain.

It's all just data, though. You can try do dance around it all you like, but the simple fact is that red states statistically inhabit the echelons of lower performing states and blue states are primarily those on top. There are a few categories that red states fare better in, such as unemployment, homelessness, and debt, but overall they kinda suck.

I looked up another couple of statistics today - Average lifespan and obesity rates. No surprises where red and blue states fell in each of these, either. If you have any other statistics that you think I should add to the list, I am open to input.

I don't buy the idea that liberalism is to blame for the failure of some former Democratic-leaning states.

First, it's a bit of a change in goal posts to switch from Republicans (your initial post) VS Democrats to conservatives VS liberals.

I did write "It's also worth noting that some of the red states that you suggest were poorly governed had state legislatures and Governor's mansions controlled by Democrats until relatively recently, though I wouldn't say that's the reason for the outcomes." so I explicitly said I wasn't blaming Democrats.

I think there are other factors beyond the control of elected officials. They're not going to be able to provide West Virginia with the farmland of California.

Feels like you are asking me how much time in jail we should be giving a prostitute.

While I feel like I've been a broken record about this, my answer is roughly "Well first off, I don't really think that a nation full of Johns is in any position to be talking about how much jail time a prostitute should be serving..."

Actually get serious about addressing the actual issues.

With the prostitution metaphor, one can express the opinion that only johns and pimps should be prosecuted, or that prostitution should be legal.

When it comes to immigration, what are the actual issues you refer to? Are you talking about the quality of life in the other countries? If so, that may take a while, and it's going to require good governance outside the United States whatever this country does (IE- South American mayors using foreign aid spending efficiently and honestly.)

[Mister Mets]

Because pretending that's closer than it really is only furthers the motives of people in your party who fantasize about a Civil War and actually worked to start it on 1/6.

Try and not act surprised. I'm not that you miss that simple truth.

I've given you my numbers. It seems to me that an election in which the key swing states were won by 0.23%, 0.31% and 0.63% is a close one. I don't believe this position is so outrageous as to merit insult.

As a basic principle, I hope everyone reading this will agree that suggesting that someone's a liar (a fair reading of "Whatever lies you're required to tell yourself to keep your party registration") goes beyond mere disagreement. It is to suggest that no reasonable person could believe something, in this case that no one can honestly think that an election in which the key swing states were won by 0.23%, 0.31% and 0.63% is a close one.

A lesson we've learned from January 6 is that lies or even honest misunderstandings about elections should not be tolerated.

I think your position falls in that category, which puts you in a poor position to criticize anyone else's honesty regarding what happened in the election.

[worstblogever]

I've given you my numbers. It seems to me that an election in which the key swing states were won by 0.23%, 0.31% and 0.63% is a close one. I don't believe this position is so outrageous as to merit insult.

You're arguing "CLOSE" because Biden supposedly "barely" won states by tens of thousands of votes that have traditionally gone red in elections for decades.

Ergo, you're full of it, and dipping your toe into the GQP's "stolen election" narrative. Your perception of reality is becoming skewed. As your party requires. It's quite sad.

That's clearly what they've done, and that based on what you're doing, that it's worked. I'm not going to let it stand without challenging it not just because it's mathematically wrong, but because it's not a healthy thing to let stand for the dialogue of everyone in this thread, or this country. It's a known where we end up if it isn't.

Apologies that I refuse to be delusional to humor you.

[Mister Mets]

You're arguing "CLOSE" because Biden supposedly "barely" won states by tens of thousands of votes that have traditionally gone red in elections for decades.

Ergo, you're full of it, and dipping your toe into the GQP's "stolen election" narrative. Your perception of reality is becoming skewed. As your party requires. It's quite sad.

That's clearly what they've done, and that based on what you're doing, that it's worked. I'm not going to let it stand without challenging it not just because it's mathematically wrong, but because it's not a healthy thing to let stand for the dialogue of everyone in this thread, or this country. It's a known where we end up if it isn't.

Apologies that I refuse to be delusional to humor you.

I'm curious how other people understand this discussion.

Is the idea that an election in which the key swing states were won by 0.23%, 0.31% and 0.63% is a close one so outrageous that it merits insults? Am I in any way mistaken regarding anything WBE has said, or misrepresenting the results of the 2020 elections?

[worstblogever]

I'm curious how other people understand this discussion.

Is the idea that an election in which the key swing states were won by 0.23%, 0.31% and 0.63% is a close one so outrageous that it merits insults? Am I in any way mistaken regarding anything WBE has said, or misrepresenting the results of the 2020 elections?

Georgia and Arizona aren't supposed to be swing states. You're just framing them as that so it seems closer. They're traditionally red, but Biden beat Trump overall well enough that he pulled those states off.

Again, there's the misrepresentation. You've moved the goalposts so often, you don't even notice they're strapped to your back at this point.

[babyblob]

I'm curious how other people understand this discussion.

Is the idea that an election in which the key swing states were won by 0.23%, 0.31% and 0.63% is a close one so outrageous that it merits insults? Am I in any way mistaken regarding anything WBE has said, or misrepresenting the results of the 2020 elections?

I can see both sides. I know that doesnt help. Biden did win those states by close margins as the numbers show. But two of the states if I remember right have never really been swing states before. They were in the Red camp. The fact that Biden won them at all even if only by a little is a very troubling thing for the GOP and the reason they are going all in on the big lie and the stolen election. The only people I have heard call Georgia and Arizona a swing state are pretty much the GOP so they can feel like they could have lost it because before 2020 they were swing states. The last time Georiga went blue was in 96 after that 5 GOP wins in a row before 2020. That is not a swing state.

Arizona was the same way. Going blue in 96 and then solid Red. Before 96 solid Red. Again not a swing state. So yea the margins in those 2 states are close but the fact that a Dem can win those 2 states at all makes the contest to some people more heavy favored in Bidens camp.

The problem with the GOP is they are coming up with fake reasons and lies as to why they lost those states and not looking at the real reasons (a change in demographics, a really bad candidate etc..) and reacting accordingly. Rather they look at what they saw and decided to go the voter restriction route and the big lie route. Dont change the message to fit the will of the people. Change the rules to fit the will of the GOP

[worstblogever]

Relevant from ABC News' This Week with Dana Bash yesterday... she was interviewing Virginia gubernatorial candidate/former Governor Terry McAullife yesterday, and for a moment, tried comparing how close the 2000 election was, to how close the 2020 election was...

And McAullife shut that s*** down and noted how different the way it played out legally, and noted that this year, the votes were all counted... they weren't in 2000. The Supreme Court ordered the recount stopped.

[worstblogever]

And meanwhile, down in Texas... the family of domestic terrorist and right-wing "martyr" Ashli Babbitt held a rally on what should have been her 36th birthday celebration. So who endorsed her victimhood that she was shot and killed while trying to climb through a broken window to murder several members of Congress and Mike Pence?

Why, DONALD TRUMP, OF COURSE! He sent in a video message letting those present know they should all demand "justice" for Ashli's death. The one he motivated her to run head long and incited her to march to the Capitol for a date with the Grim Reaper.

Y'know, since we're talking how dangerous it is to pretend the election was "stolen" or "really close", I'll conclude by pointing out that Ashli Babbitt would still be alive if Donald Trump didn't have useful idiots willing to spread the lie that said election was stolen from him, and continuing to perpetuate such a myth could result on more domestic terror attacks and deaths.

Responsibly, folks should stop it. We had a lesson we should have learned around the evening of the sixth and morning of the seventh.

[Malvolio]

I don't buy the idea that liberalism is to blame for the failure of some former Democratic-leaning states.

First, it's a bit of a change in goal posts to switch from Republicans (your initial post) VS Democrats to conservatives VS liberals.

I did write "It's also worth noting that some of the red states that you suggest were poorly governed had state legislatures and Governor's mansions controlled by Democrats until relatively recently, though I wouldn't say that's the reason for the outcomes." so I explicitly said I wasn't blaming Democrats.

I think there are other factors beyond the control of elected officials. They're not going to be able to provide West Virginia with the farmland of California.

With the prostitution metaphor, one can express the opinion that only johns and pimps should be prosecuted, or that prostitution should be legal.

When it comes to immigration, what are the actual issues you refer to? Are you talking about the quality of life in the other countries? If so, that may take a while, and it's going to require good governance outside the United States whatever this country does (IE- South American mayors using foreign aid spending efficiently and honestly.)

I think numberthirty's point is that just like prostitution would not exist if it were not for the johns, so why don't we arrest them too? Illegal immigration would not exist if it were not for employers who hire immigrants for low wages that American citizens would never agree to. We should do something about those employers who are committing crimes, right?

[Malvolio]

Georgia and Arizona aren't supposed to be swing states. You're just framing them as that so it seems closer. They're traditionally red, but Biden beat Trump overall well enough that he pulled those states off.

Again, there's the misrepresentation. You've moved the goalposts so often, you don't even notice they're strapped to your back at this point.

If Michigan plays Iowa State in football, and Michigan is favored by 21 points, but Iowa State somehow wins 28-27, it's a major upset, but it's still a close game. The 2020 election wasn't played against the spread, WBE.