Even I was fooled about the much vaunted red wave that never was. I believe it's a combination of factors. 1) People are sick of Trump and his MAGA puerility. 2) People really are, after all, centrists. 3) Abortion should be rare, safe and legal. 4) The GOP had some really bad candidates. Mastriano my very well have doomed the entire ticket. What's your reason for the poor showing?
Today's one-liner: "The shortest way to the distinguishing excellence of any writer is through his hostile critics." Richard LeGallienne
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Tuesday, November 15, 2022
40 comments:
You own views are appreciated, especially if they differ from mine. But remember, commenting is a privilege, not a right. I will delete personal attacks or off-topic remarks at my discretion. Comments that play into the tribalism that has consumed this nation will be declined. So will comments alleging voter fraud unless backed up by concrete evidence. If you attack someone personally, I expect you to identify yourself. I will delete criticisms of my comment policy, vulgarities, cut-and-paste jobs from other sources and any suggestion of violence towards anyone. I will also delete sweeping generalizations about mainstream parties or ideologies, i.e. identity politics. My decisions on these matters are made on a case by case basis, and may be affected by my mood that day, my access to the blog at the time the comment was made or other information that isn’t readily apparent.
First...you don't tell 100 million women what to do with their bodies.
ReplyDeletesecond...you don't tell 100 million women what to do with their bodies
Third,,,you don't tell 100 million women what to do with their bodies
fourth,,,you cannot always be negative. When voting no, please tell us your plan.
fifth...you don't tell 150 million senior citizens that you are going to cut their social
security without coming up with a different plan. You don't tell 60 million college
students that you oppose the democrats plan to help them with their college
tuition without coming up with an alternative plan.
sixth...you don't go against all the sciences and medical experts and deny their findings
and recommendations without coming up with an alternative plan.
seventh...you don't run candidates that are like lynch and Mastriono????Doesn't the
Republican Party have candidates capable of thinking for themselves?
eighth...you don't encourage civilian militia groups to riot and storm the Capitol building
ninth,,,At some time you must admit that Donald Trump has proven to the voters that he is
a lowlife and poor excuse for a human being unfit to hold public office.
Tenth...you don't tell 100 million women what to do with their bodies
The government told us all to get vaccinated. I'm good with that but it's our bodies too
DeleteYou don't mention a concern for whether we will continue as a democracy. That was, and shall remain, my foremost concern.
ReplyDeleteYes you are right People consider all that stuff more important than Inflation, crime, no border and all those problems, they do not care about high energy prices. People were will to sacrifice for democracy, climate, and abortion.
ReplyDeleteCovid deaths higher amongst GOP base?
ReplyDeleteRepublicans will do anything else rather than have better policies.
ReplyDeleteInstead of becoming introspective after these elections and listen to voters, once again, they’re back at their old ways trying to rig the system by talking about ballot harvesting and gerrymandering.
Gen Z hears you loud and clear, you don’t care about them, and it shows with this turnout.
One pollster appeared on a an interview and stated Rs weren't represented correctly in their pre-election polling because they under represent themselves in the sampling, by refusing to participate. He, and other pollsters according to him, "over-indexed" them. That is, they (the pollsters) assumed Rs wouldn't cross over. He also stated about 8% of voters are undecided when they enter the booth, and will vote the opposite of their party, to make a statement against an issue. He believed more Rs crossed to the D candidates, than vice-versa, because Trump put himself into races, promoting his own agenda and support.
ReplyDeleteCheating
ReplyDeleteBallot harvesting. It's legal and Democrats got good at it in a hurry. Republicans have to stop complaining about the election rules battles they lost (or surrendered). They need to get as good as Democrats at stuffing the boxes and working the seven week-long election. Democrats squealed about Citizens United until they mastered it and flooded their candidates with piles of dark money (e.g. the crypto thief who is their number two donor). I rarely hear a Democrat complain about Citizens United anymore. The pendulum swings and the second team to figure out the rules usually abuse them more effectively. Republicans need to get with the zero-ID, weeks long, unsecured ballot box program. They'll learn and do it better.
ReplyDeleteThe problem wasn’t Trump. He endorsed something like 215 candidates and 93 % of those candidates won! His political party did take over control of the House, and their final total of Senate seats would likely have put Republicans in control there if Mitch McConnell would have directed more financial support to a few of those close races, but there’s no way to prove that.
ReplyDeleteNationwide, there were still enough issues with mail-in balloting, dirty voter registration lists, and machine tabulating to keep these final numbers suspect once again.
As to fielding bad candidates in Pennsylvania, let’s just say there were a few on BOTH sides. I mean, where would we be in the Senate if Oz did win? Something most commenters around the nation did expect given his opponent’s past and present performance abilities.
Doug Mastriano, in my mind, was the better qualified candidate to lead Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, the news media was brutal in its efforts to scare voters with regular negative reporting and censorship. He was also underfunded.
Abortion should be rare--Democrats do not want that they want open season, who is worse than Fetterman, Penna. is joke around the nation having Fetterman representing us. The people of Pa. are like kamikaze They believed their leaders about the end of democracy, so they voted that way. The hell with high inflation, high energy prices,401 plans down the drain, no border hell on the 100000 people dying from drugs Biden is doing a great job especially foreign affair. Example Afghanistan withdrawal. No the people especially in our cities our responsible for our decline and suffering yet to come.
ReplyDeleteRe: #3- "Abortion should be rare, safe and legal"
ReplyDeleteThe far right believes life starts at erection. Abortion should be safe and legal up to the third trimester...in college.
Doug’s brave quest for election integrity was smeared unjustly by a coeterie of soros backed media outlets, drop boxes mail in ballots and the like are a farce only #DJT in 2024 can save this nation from the Marxist scourge led by nasty Nancy and Chuck the schmuck
ReplyDeleteAll of the above. The MAGA mob has ruined the Republican Party and liberated the worst candidates, people who should never run got Trump support. But again, follow the money, Scheller and her husband gave Trump money. Mostriano drummed up money for the RNC as did Oz. A generation of potential Republican leadership has been lost. And we’re left with a Supreme Court that can’t be trusted to recuse itself when personal connections are involved in cases.
ReplyDeletePoints 1, 2 and 4 are really one overarching reason, though I do think Dobbs was a major motivator and drove a significant amount of turnout, especially for younger voters.
ReplyDeleteThe GOP has placed a big bet on policies based on/derived from, old political data and voting tendencies that are becoming increasingly less important to a majority of voters. For decades, they've created a large and well run "right wing" media ecosystem with radio and cable news which does very well with Baby Boomers and other older voters. Unfortunately, that has very little penetration or influence in younger markets beyond small sound bites and clips posted on social media, and in most of those cases, it's not to positively promote the views of the GOP, it's to show their friends/followers examples of what they think is wrong.
Whether some people like it or not, this country is becoming more and more racially/culturally diverse and less rural. There are a lot of conservative policies that do have widespread/crossover appeal to voters, namely smaller and efficient government which should be a focus moving forward. The GOP needs to start putting some daylight between them and a lot of the culture war messaging that appeals to a good portion of their voting bloc, but is viewed unfavorably by younger voters.
First time voters this year were 12 years old when Trump was elected President. In 2024 their 10-year-old brothers and sisters from that November will also be joining them. 2024 in fact will be the first election where Baby Boomers won't be the largest eligible voting group since 1980.
Change is coming whether we like it or not.
A. Trump
ReplyDeleteB. MAGA
C. Both A and B
D. All of the above
Trump - loud f'n mouth
ReplyDeleteThe media - re: abortion and social security, and absolutely biased.
The leak of SCOTUS R v W - deliberate, and we have YET? to hear how that investigation is going. This goes to the States. Many think Feds are overseeing. Note, I think a woman has the right to choose.
I feel that people are so enraptured with what the media is saying that these elections are being tampered with, per se.
As for candidates, the fact that a Fetterman ( tax avoider) can get elected, speaks volumes. Mastriano was awful.
It seems like no one is worried about inflation, The BIG GUY's relationship Hunter/money/China, or term limits (as we keep electing the same old career politicians), nor crime in the big cities.
The R's need to step back and come up with a game plan that works, with viable candidates. Probably DeSantis. Trump has got to go! The D's are so Hollywood elite these days, I hope they shoot themselves in the foot.
p.s. I hope Biden and Harris run again... ;)
The GOP did poorly primarily because they serve as a sort of loyal opposition to the general status quo order. They make a lot of noise about acceptable edge issues (e.g. abortion) without actually challenging the system. If you had a candidate that ran on Trump's 2016 platform, was actually competent, and had real leadership qualities, then you'd see something happen.
ReplyDeleteUntil then, conservatives will keep losing. They do nothing but respond to the left.
Both parties have fringe elements, which can present challenges for centrist candidates in primary elections. Having to tack back to the center in a general election is, however, easier for democrats because republicans have more absolutist positions (abortion, guns) than democrats (abortion). It also helps the dems that the American people object when a right which they thought was well-settled is taken away by the Supreme Court. So even though Mr. Trump and his followers decry the "radical left", it is fact they who are more radical in their positions and in their disregarding of the norms of democracy. The republicans have a small but devoted group who will deny the validity of elections without proof, and a leader who won't let anyone say otherwise. The majority of voters have rejected this approach, and have delivered divided government. From a political science perspective, this should yield either compromise policies or total gridlock...
ReplyDeleteSo the Republicans had bad candidates, while Fetterman, Hobbs and Biden have been elected. I seriously believe all GOOD people should now exit the system, declare a unanimous Democrat victory.
ReplyDeleteNo longer engage in this charade of an election system, instead focus on protecting yourself, your family, remove your kids from the public school system and prepare to just survive, hopefully a couple of generations in the future, they will be able to prosper.
The country is doomed, it is over, just prepare to make your exit.
ReplyDeleteThe abortion factor was probably a negative influence on choosing who to vote for. But, should it have been so critical? I say, no. But, I’m a guy so it’s not really my call.
ReplyDeleteAbortion is STILL available in more than half the states, including Pennsylvania and every state adjoining us! The claim was Mastriano would prohibit abortion here. Not true! Same as believing Shapiro would guarantee abortions will be available here. Not true, either! The status of abortion is a matter for the LEGISLATURE, not the Governor. Mastriano’s personal preference is not of the significance portrayed. At worse, a woman might need to travel to get what she believes is her only option. Or, maybe, just allow the baby to be born and drop the unwanted baby off at a hospital, police station, or church. There must be a better way to deal with this issue, I think.
I remain befuddled how a majority of voters would choose to vote for an influential member of Tom Wolf’s team. I wanted a clean break from that mess, so voted for Mastriano.
Trump backlash. Obama backlash was catastrophic for Ds and lasted six years. Trump (love him or hate him) was a far more consequential POTUS than Obama. Trump backlash will go on for a while longer.
ReplyDelete@ "more important than Inflation, crime, no border and all those problems, they do not care about high energy prices."
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure this is one individual who repeats this point over and over in any political post of Bernie's, but these issues only matter to FOXNews viewers on a national level. These topics are more or less marketing tested/created talking points meant to keep viewers coming back every night...
Inflation/High Energy Prices - Most people understand that "economics" is complicated, these issues you cite are related to each other and they are also a GLOBAL problem resulting from 2020 pandemic disruption and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Blaming Biden or Dems for it and expecting it to stick with non-partisan independent voters is laughably naive no matter how many times you say it.
Crime - Rape, Robbery, Assault statistics in the US show 16.5 violent crimes per 1,000 Americans in 2021. Everyone would love to see that number lower, Republicans and Democrats alike. That said, the violent crime rates pre pandemic were higher. 2018 = 23.2 2012 = 26.1 2006 = 34.1 so crime isn't the big issue you seem to think it is and is in fact trending downwards.
"The Border" - First off, this is a blog focused on a specific region of Pennsylvania. A quick look at the map shows the Canadian border to be approximately 250 miles from the Lehigh Valley, but for arguments sake MUCH closer if you're in Erie, PA. My guess though is that your concern about border security points towards Mexico, which is 1,600 miles away. The caravans of rapists and murders and gun toting cartel gangs that are regularly invading our country makes for dramatic talking points on Hannity/Tucker/Ingram, but the issue has very little impact on the daily lives of Pennsylvanians and expecting that it would influence voters here just doesnt make any sense.
Our lives will be much better when we stop watching cable news on a daily basis. First because its focused on large scale national issues that have very little day to day impact on you. Secondly it is literally driven to make you come back and watch more, you need to recognize you're being emotionally manipulated by these channels and hosts who are profiting off of you. Turn off your TV, or at least change the channel to sports, weather, or some other form of entertainment. Go outside, talk to your neighbors, volunteer at church, the local library, retirement home, YMCA or shelter, just get involved and you'll see we're a great country filled with great people from many different backgrounds and experiences.
Your last paragraph is great and I agree. But how can you say the border is not our issue. It is everyone's issue. We are part of a great country and the border security is important to all. Talk to the mother's who have lost their children to drugs like fentanyl. Talk to families who had children raped or worse killed. I truly am appalled that you actually wrote this. That's what wrong today. People only caring about their part of the country. And prices for food and energy do effect everyone and aren't just talking points. Ask any senior with limited income. It seems our country is more and more interested in woke,, pronouns , teaching young kids things we have no business teaching and abortion than the safety and prosperity of our nation. We all need to care and help be part of change for our great country. One in 197 chance of being murdered if murder rates continue as they are today . Even in Pennsylvania
Delete6:06,
ReplyDeleteSorry to burst your bubble, those percentages were for Primary races. Most were heavy favorites and some weren't opposed.
He does the same in General Elections, and his percentage was about 76% before this mid-term (that may be off a few points either way - I'm not going to waste time looking for the numbers again).
After this mid-term, nobody wants his endorsement other than those MAGA extremists who put Trump over Constitution.
Democracy has been saved.
Mitch McConnell said that when the Republicans regain control of the Senate, Biden will not get another judge confirmed, including The Supreme Court . That is exactly why he lost the Senate.
ReplyDeleteAmerica thought he was kidding that he wasn't going to put Merrick Garland up for consideration. Then when he stated that preventing Garland from the Supreme Court was his greatest victory, America knew that the Republicans cheat. Then he allowed Trump to nominate 3 complete wackos , which his Senate confirmed without the required 60 votes, America was furious.
Had Trump nominated normal, centrists to the Supreme Court, I have no doubt that he would have easily won a second term.
The GOP lost because of the extreme partisan politics in their caucus.
With Arizona calling BS on Kari Lake, it's pretty clear Republicans need to come up with a new game plan that appeals to a majority of voters.
ReplyDeleteThere were 22 races in 2022 that Democrats focused on and were critical to the survival of our democracy. Existential races. They were laser-focused on five states: Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. Fight where they had to win — and make the maximum impact.
Of the 22, the pro-democracy coalition won 16 of them. Here are a few of the biggest ones:
Wisconsin Governor
Arizona Governor
Arizona Senate
Arizona Secretary of State
Michigan Governor
Michigan Secretary of State
Nevada Senate
Nevada Secretary of State
Pennsylvania Governor
Pennsylvania Senate
They'll be fighting just as hard for Georgia. That 51st Senator is a game changer when it comes to judges, cabinet appointees, and committees.
How anyone could vote for Walker is beyond me. The guy is as big a liar and con man as Trump. Two pea brained idiots in a pod.
The red party is dead. 5000 boomers die everyday and everyday, Gen Z and Gen alpha become eligible to vote.
ReplyDeleteAnd they HATE the Republican Party.
It is what I call the next best loser syndrome. There is a core group that is swayed from the current to the next best loser under the guise of "How much worse could it get". Well as a past number of elections have shown the deterioration continues regularly and further with each. We hit probably the low point with Trump. Like him or hate him the current president Biden is just lack luster whereas Trump was destructive. Looking at the horizon we must have hit almost Rock Bottom as there does not seem to be anyone stepping up for he abuse. The same repetitive losers. there might be one or two new who throw their hats in the ring but right now it seems like most are trying to stay away. Scary thought wouldn't you say.
ReplyDeleteLooking at the number of votes per candidate in each of the past elections there seems to be the core pendulum trend.
We need new and better. But be very honest would any honest , self respecting, non-con artist manipulator, non-narcissus individual want the headaches of being a president? Think long and hard how many of you would want to be president.
"Gen Z and Gen alpha become eligible to vote." Den Z voters picked Biden by 20 points over Trump in 2020. This election continues that trend.
ReplyDeleteDemocracy. The people don't want authoritarian rule. Denying the results of a free and fair electionsis the first step on the way to authoritarianism.
ReplyDeleteMoney is big. Rs aren't clean. Percentage of their total donations:
ReplyDeleteBernie Madoff 11% to Rs
Jeffery Epstein 8% to Rs
Harvey Weinstein 8% to Rs
Sam Bankman-Fried (FTX) 1% to Rs
6:06 AM.....what freaken planet do you live on?
ReplyDelete3) Abortion should be rare, safe and legal
ReplyDeleteMost can agree to this. But facts are facts.
Women’s reasons for seeking an abortion fell into 11 broad themes. The predominant themes identified as reasons for seeking abortion included financial reasons (40%), timing (36%), partner related reasons (31%), and the need to focus on other children (29%).
Ref. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3729671/#__sec19title
When a human life can be ended due to finances, bad timing, a deadbeat partner and not wanting the inconvenience of another kid, those are not "rare". So let's clean that up. Health issues, rape and incest account for about 10% of all abortions. Can we agree the other 90% need to be addressed? Human life has value, whether in utero or on the delivery table. Protect it.
10:02am- "Can we agree that the other 90% need to be addressed?"
DeleteNo. Abortion should be legal for any reason up to the point of viability, and even past this point if the life of the mother is in danger or serious life changes.
I joked above the the right believes that life begins at Erection. I'm not sure the joke is much of a stretch anymore. Certainly, this current Supreme Court will continue hacking away at abortion rights with this notion in mind.
Next will be Same sex marriage.
When I say this to my "Christian" family and friends about potential future rulings on Abortion and/or gay rights, their response is , "I hope so".
And, just so the mom's and dad's out there understand, I know about a dozen or so people that while they were in college, they either had an abortion, or paid for their girlfriend to have an abortion. I'm not sure much has changed since I was an undergrad. Yet 10:02 spouts a self righteous , holier-than-thou response to this issue.
It is sad that what was said to win an election was to support abortions. I am ashamed of my sisters. Would that we would treasure the life in utero as much as we fight for abandoned cats and dogs. Even though so many cats are homeless we allow a stray pregnant cat in our animal shelter to give birth prior to spaying. How do you justify to your children that you aborted their sister or brother? And do you point out to your children that Downs syndrome playmate could be aborted if a woman so chooses. Oh, I forgot, this is protected private health care information between a doctor and the woman. And where does the man fit in this picture?
ReplyDeleteAbortion culls retards, blacks, and the spawn of selfish and entitled white women. How is this a problem for anyone? Murder? OK. So what?
ReplyDeleteI know no one who supports abortion. It is a hard decision to make. It should be rare, safe and legal. Yesterday, NPR ran a story about a pregnant woman who was told she had miscarried. They could give her a drug to induce a discharge of the tissue, perform a D&C or wait for it to come naturally. She waited weeks and weeks and then it came when she was out of state. She was bleeding so heavily the clots were the size of golf balls. She was told to go to the ER and was sent back home. She continued bleeding and nearly died before a D&C was performed. Ohio doctors are afraid to perform abortions now, even after a mother miscarries.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/11/15/1135882310/miscarriage-hemorrhage-abortion-law-ohio
I want to say one last thing regarding republicans and I’ll go on the record to say that they’ll never win another election.
ReplyDeleteInstead of using their press conference to bring forth a list of demands that will make life easier and better for their constituents, they instead use this time to tell the American public that they’re going to investigate Hunter Biden’s laptop.
That’s what the republicans are offering the American people…
I hope they investigate every single bullshit conspiracy theory in their entire regimen…
And Gen Z will be there to make sure they never take office again.