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

[Zauriel]

The fact is that Biden's presidency is seen as ineffective by a lot of people and without a major signature promise of a bill with both houses of Congress run by his party, it doesn't make things better.

I do think his unpopularity in poll numbers is undeserved because he's done well in a lot of respects and I agree with him pulling out of Afghanistan.
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To quote Commander Kang in the Star Trek TOS episode "Day of the Dove", Klingons say "Only a fool fights in a burning house". The US military could stay in Afghanistan for a hundred years and they couldn't change a thing in the country.

I agree that President Biden was right to withdraw from Afghanistan but I do not approve of the way he's handled it. I wish he could have handled it more smoothly or less hastily.


He still has unresolved issues like the border crisis, the covid pandemic, rising gas prices, etc to deal with

[Revolutionary_Jack]

It kind of seems there are two different mindsets between Dem and GOP voters. The GOP most of the time turns out heavy. And they seem to have a long haul outlook.

Well remember that GOP voters didn't seem so motivated when it was their guy in the WH. It would make sense if GOP beat off anti-incumbency more than the Dems did but mostly anti-incumbency animates both parties.

It's just that there's more at stake these days if GOP gets in power owing to them becoming a semi-fascist party.

[Username taken]

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.

[Iron Maiden]

To quote Commander Kang in the Star Trek TOS episode "Day of the Dove", Klingons say "Only a fool fights in a burning house". The US military could stay in Afghanistan for a hundred years and they couldn't change a thing in the country.

I agree that President Biden was right to withdraw from Afghanistan but I do not approve of the way he's handled it. I wish he could have handled it more smoothly or less hastily.


He still has unresolved issues like the border crisis, the covid pandemic, rising gas prices, etc to deal with

I think the things that hit people in their bank account probably was a big problem for Biden. I've seen bumper stickers on gas pumps with a Biden sticker on them saying "I got this". And in today's news, BP posted a 3 billion dollar profit. The border crisis really doesn't resonant in the Midwest, East Coast, etc. It's hardly ever in the papers or on the news. It's a bigger story in Texas and other border states.

IMO I don't think Biden was served well by those in charge of the evacuation and I imagine that would be the TPTP in the Pentagon. Trump made a lousy deal and then was gone without doing much to implement it since people where leaving his staff as his term was obviously over. They washed their hands of taking care of the details. For one thing, Trump never included the Afgani government in the negotiations with the Taliban. It's no wonder they bolted when things got serious during evacuation. Trump's deal only was for the Taliban not to kill Americans...but nothing about not killing Afghans.

This article is from March of this year Trump's Deal to End War in Afghanistan Leaves Biden in a Terrible Situation so the gravity of the situation was not a secret. But it still looked like the planning wasn't very good. There may be some logistics problems that we civilians don't know about but it looked bad on the newscasts.

[Iron Maiden]

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, there needs to be a SERIOUS inquisition as to why the vote was this close.

Agree totally....even Obama making a campaign appearance didn't really have much effect. IMO the Democrats have been notoriously bad campaigners when left to their own devices esp at the local level. They need a platoon of Stacy Abrams out there doing the ground work starting now if they don't want a disaster at the midterms.

[JB]

Agree totally....even Obama making a campaign appearance didn't really have much effect. IMO the Democrats have been notoriously bad campaigners when left to their own devices esp at the local level. They need a platoon of Stacy Abrams out there doing the ground work starting now if they don't want a disaster at the midterms.

They definitely need some fresh blood out there as well because career politicians have long lost their appeal. We're seeing more people get elected that don't have much political history if at all, and that's appealing to voters these days.

[Gray Lensman]

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, there needs to be a SERIOUS inquisition as to why the vote was this close.

Democrats also have a serious problem with branding. Both with what they come up with and what others come up with and they run with.

[babyblob]

They definitely need some fresh blood out there as well because career politicians have long lost their appeal. We're seeing more people get elected that don't have much political history if at all, and that's appealing to voters these days.

That is what happened here in Cincy. The Mayor's race had David Mann a guy that has been in Cincy politics in one form or another for the last 50 years run against Aftab Pureval. A guy with only 5 years in city government and most of that has the Clerk of Courts. He won the race huge 66% to 33%. And a lot of people had been saying during the race they are just tired of the same old thing.

[Iron Maiden]

They definitely need some fresh blood out there as well because career politicians have long lost their appeal. We're seeing more people get elected that don't have much political history if at all, and that's appealing to voters these days.

And less baggage too, at least not anything that may be known yet. I was saddened to hear that one of the few Republicans that I give a crap about, Illinois representative Adam Kinzinger is not running for reelection, one of the few sane voices on that side of the aisle.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

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

I’m sure Tami who lives in New Jersey can explain the situation better than I can, but, from what I’ve heard and read, it sounds like Qpublican challenger Jack Ciattarelli made most, if not the entire campaign a referendum on Murphy and dreadfully high taxes in the state during his tenure, something voters didn’t like. Also, as with races in other states, low voter turnout appears to have been a contributing factor, lastly, and this is nothing more than the roll of the dice, but no Democrat in New Jersey has won a second term as governor since 1977, and while the race is still too close to call, it looks like Murphy will continue the trend. Again, Tami can explain things better than I can.

[Malvolio]

To quote Commander Kang in the Star Trek TOS episode "Day of the Dove", Klingons say "Only a fool fights in a burning house". The US military could stay in Afghanistan for a hundred years and they couldn't change a thing in the country.

I agree that President Biden was right to withdraw from Afghanistan but I do not approve of the way he's handled it. I wish he could have handled it more smoothly or less hastily.


He still has unresolved issues like the border crisis, the covid pandemic, rising gas prices, etc to deal with

There really was no smooth way to get out of Afghanistan. But each day we were there made it worse than the day before.

Love that Star Trek quote, though.

[Phoenixx9]

I’m sure Tami who lives in New Jersey can explain the situation better than I can, but, from what I’ve heard and read, it sounds like Qpublican challenger Jack Ciattarelli made most, if not the entire campaign a referendum on Murphy and dreadfully high taxes in the state during his tenure, something voters didn’t like. Also, as with races in other states, low voter turnout appears to have been a contributing factor, lastly, and this is nothing more than the roll of the dice, but no Democrat in New Jersey has won a second term as governor since 1977, and while the race is still too close to call, it looks like Murphy will continue the trend. Again, Tami can explain things better than I can.

Huh, that is interesting as I heard that New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the nation. I would think those voters would want their taxes much reduced. Yes, maybe Tami can better explain.

[Jack Dracula]

In fairness, if they polled non college-educated latino or black women do you think they'd be significantly more pro-trans rights? Or the men for that matter? Ignorance sadly knows no race.

The anti-critical race theory rhetoric and threat of new discriminatory voting laws should be enough to get people of color out to the polls. The question is why isn’t it?

[JB]

That is what happened here in Cincy. The Mayor's race had David Mann a guy that has been in Cincy politics in one form or another for the last 50 years run against Aftab Pureval. A guy with only 5 years in city government and most of that has the Clerk of Courts. He won the race huge 66% to 33%. And a lot of people had been saying during the race they are just tired of the same old thing.

There you have it, thanks for sharing. Voters are seeing the same politicians rotating in and out, and they're understandably over it.

[babyblob]

There you have it, thanks for sharing. Voters are seeing the same politicians rotating in and out, and they're understandably over it.

It very much is that case, it also didnt help Mann that he had been on the City Council during the time that 3 count them 3 members were charged (1 of which has been convicted) of things like Bribery, Wire Fraud, and stuff like that. Despite the Fact that Mann had some decent ideas and worked hard on The City Council after all the scandals to clean things up people saw him as part of the same old corrupt system.