Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Hannibal]

It's really going to be this simple for the Rs -- either rid themselves of DJT or lose. .

If ridding themselves of DJT means going back to the Bush/McCain days, then you have just replaced one losing strategy with another. If ridding themselves of DJT means cloning the DeSantis approach, then that could work. There is going to be a very strong push from the former from the Lindsey Grahams and Mitt Romneys of the world.

[iam416]

How do you propose to take advantage of that electorally if the only "electable" candidates are all John McCain types? Therein lies the problem. You are under the impression that the voters will someday wake up on their own without a great push from the Rs. But the only Rs willing to make that push are the kook candidates that you hate. Or guys named Ron Desantis.

You weren't an R-lean back when the country had six years of Bush + an R Congress in both houses. If you had been, maybe you would appreciate this frustration more.

I think you undersell the power of DJT's populism. I think it's very powerful. I think it can be articulated by strong candidates. Strong ELECTABLE candidates. BUT, if that ALSO requires fealty to all things DJT then you're in trouble. January 6th is not a principled ideology. It's being a poor loser.

I don't particularly agree with R populism I mean, on policy matters I agree with the Rs way more than Ds, but I'm not personally invested in it. BUT, I would very much prefer to see those candidates govern than folks beholdent to the Congressional Prog Caucus.

AND there is absolutely a way to do that. There is abosultely a way to distill the powerful populism of DJT into very electable and "ideologically" strong candidates, but you can't do it if it's "all or nothing" on DJT. Can't.

Never-Trumpers would rather see the Progs govern for eons than Trumpers win. Trumpers would rather see the Progs govern for eons than see "RINOs" win. Me -- I don't want the Progs to govern and I don't care how the fuck it happens.

[froot loops]

If you want to win a large amount of elections you need a lot of John McCain types on the GOP side and Joe Manchin types on the Democratic side. Running a bunch of people that play to the base limits the ceiling of any party. In Poli Sci 101 it's one of the first things you learn, you find the 51st percentile on an issue and that's the position you take. It is still valid today.

[iam416]

Only if you want to win elections.

[Mike]

CNN hasn't called it but seeing that NM-2 has likely flipped Dem. That's ousting Yvette Herrell, another election denier and Trump toady.

Good. We need a complete purge of the 2020 election morons and Trump boot-lickers. The sooner that R pols realize those are losing positions and those of Kemp and DeSantis are winners, the more likely they will distance themselves from Trump. Too many politicians fear him and are afraid to piss him off but after last night that should not be the case at all. I was watching the returns on a flight back from the west coast and when it became apparent that the night was going in the shitter for the Rs, the image that came to mind was when Rocky cut Drago. Stop fearing that ass clown! He can be defeated from the right, too. Point out his utterly fucking awful electoral record: Lost the House, Senate, and Executive in a single term. Cost the Rs the Senate two elections in a row and seems hell bent on knee-capping the biggest star the Rs have.

[iam416]

The "RINOs" in the Senate, btw, did not get bullied out of quashing Merrick Garland, they did not get bullied out of Kav, and the did not get bullied out of getting ACB on the bench.

Now, I realize these are inconsequential results and I realize these are all really just Ds of some sort, but, you know, winning elections isn't always a terrible thing.

We live in a Constitutional Republic. If you're gonna let perfect be the enemy of good or even tolerable, then godspeed. But it's about choices. It's about holding your nose on occasion. It's about occasionally eating a shit sandwich. But, you do it because no one is going bat 1.000....no one is going to win everything. You try to win what you can and gently move the Overton window.

[Hannibal]

The "RINOs" in the Senate, btw, did not get bullied out quashing Merrick Garland, they did not get bullied out of Kav, and the did not get bullied out of getting ACB on the bench.

Now, I realize these are inconsequential results and I realize these are all really just Ds of some sort, but, you know, winning elections isn't always a terrible thing.

But a few of them did cross the aisle to vote for KJB.

Also -- it wasn't exactly a hard Right stance to approve Kavanaugh or ACB. I'll give you the point on Merrick Garland. It's about the only good thing that the Rs did in Congress in the past 20 years. but over a dozen Rs crossed the aisle to approve him as attorney general, and as you can see, he is governing in that position like a Banana Republic Leftist.

[Dr. Strangelove]

I have no idea what's gonna happen but Trump is going to hear non-stop for the next several weeks about how great DeSantis did and how HE is the future and it's going to make him furious.

[froot loops]

One thing about Hannibal's continued contempt for McCain is it is misplaced. The fundamentals for the GOP were terrible in 2008 and Barack Obama was a superlative campaigner. The Democratic party got to 60 in the Senate. DINO isn't a thing, but if it was a lot of those Senate gains were made because of really conservative Democratic senate candidates. Howard Dean wasn't much of a presidential candidate, but he was one hell of an RNC chair. There was nothing McCain could do to stop that.

[iam416]

But a few of them did cross the aisle to vote for KJB.

Also -- it wasn't exactly a hard Right stance to approve Kavanaugh or ACB. I'll give you the point on Merrick Garland. It's about the only good thing that the Rs did in Congress in the past 20 years. but over a dozen Rs crossed the aisle to approve him as attorney general, and as you can see, he is governing in that position like a Banana Republic Leftist.

(1) I don't care if someone voted for KJB. She was going to be confirmed regardless. At that point, do what's best for your re-election.
(2) They absolutely stood up to the Kav onslaught and you know it.
(3) ACB wasn't much of a reach. Fair enough.

[iam416]

I have no idea what's gonna happen but Trump is going to hear non-stop for the next several weeks about how great DeSantis did and how HE is the future and it's going to make him furious.

Oh, he's going on a tirade. No doubt. His biggest problem is that most Rs LIKE DeSantis. They may like DJT better, but they like DeSantis, too. Most of his other targets had little support from the R "base" -- Lyin' Ted, Little Marco, Wearing Glass to Look Smart Rick Perry, Look at that Face Carly...those were easy targets.

DeSantis is not an easy target. There's a non-negligble chance that his incoming tirade will actually blow back on him.

Of course, when the Ds vote in R primaries for DJT because they know he's the only candidate they can beat, it'll all be for naught. 😂

[Hannibal]

BTW I’m not saying that Trump doesn’t need to go. He needs to be replaced by Ron DeSantis, as the standard bearer for the party, not some other shmuck who is going to be a professional loser.

DeSantis has turned Florida into a state that is 10 points to the right of Texas. That is the #1 lesson on the night.

[Hannibal]

Also – Trump wasn’t the only losing dimension. The all out abortion ban proposed by most Republicans, even in purple states where such a ban is wholly unpopular, is just plain dumb. About half of Gretch’s ads were Tudor Dixon saying “no exceptions”. That’s not a candidate problem. That’s a legit ideology problem.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Of course, when the Ds vote in R primaries for DJT because they know he's the only candidate they can beat, it'll all be for naught. 😂

Yeah I would like to think they learned their lesson the last time but then I have to point out that every Republican midterm primary they interfered with pretty much went their way last night. So they may be learning bad lessons....

[iam416]

Also – Trump wasn’t the only losing dimension. The all out abortion ban proposed by most Republicans, even in states where it is wholly unpopular, is just plain dumb. About half of Gretch’s ads were Tudor Dixon saying “no exceptions”. That’s not a candidate problem. That’s a legit ideology problem.

100%. The 15-week approach ought to be it. Adopt it. Run on it. That's it. Put the issue to bed.

That's ANOTHER thing DeSantis has going for him -- the Florida aboriton law was sensibly restrictive. I think it was 15. Or 12. Either way. SENSIBLE.

It's not that fucking hard.