Election 2018 Thread (An Adult Finally Has the Gavel)

[No Excuses]

3 minutes ago, Lombardi's_kid_brother said:

By the way, remember that big Georgia election that the Dems through money at and barely lost in 2017? They won it last night.

 

They also beat the guy who beat Cantor in Virginia.

 

They also beat Putin's second best friend in DC, Dana Rohrabacher. 

 

Here is potentially the biggest story of the night that is getting missed. Florida reinstated voting rights to something like 1.5 million felons. I've read that something like 20 percent of black men in Florida are impacted by this. That honestly changes the demographics there considerably going forward.

 

 

 

40% of voting age black men in Florida were impacted by this. 

[Bozo the kKklown]

54 minutes ago, Lombardi's_kid_brother said:

 

Now, there is an element of fool's gold here.

 

Texas has been a Dem dream based on demographics for close to 15 years. And it's just gotten more and more Republican. But - as I said - there is a path now.

 

What Beto did was end the argument of "You need a conservative Democrat." Beto was an out and out ****ing liberal who swore on the ****ing stump and on MSNBC. A liberal Latino from the valley got within two points of the most conservative, most focused politician possibly in Texas history. I hate Cruz with a passion, but he's a nightmare to run against, because he is never going to make a mistake. He has 72 specific talking points memorized, and he answers every question with one of those 72 talking points. He never even changes the wording or the inflection in his voice. He's a robot.

 

The only person who has ever shaken him is Trump and that's because Trump basically walked up to him and kicked him in the nuts. It's hard to imagine any Democratic politician saying, "Your wife is ugly and your dad killed Kennedy," because my god. But that's what it takes to get Cruz off message.

 

There are thousands of capable liberals in Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, Houston, El Paso, and Corpus Christie. But until this year, I think we've all believed that we have to find our little gerrymandered hives and do the best we can there. The State DNC - for what it was - basically saw Texas Democrats in two flavors. You had minorities for those specific districts (Shelia Jackson Lee, Al Green, etc) and then you had old yellow dog Democrats who remembered voting for Lloyd Bentson. Somehow, that was supposed to be a state-wide party.

 

That's over. My friend that won is a white working mother. A young black dude beat a 20 year congressman in the Dallas suburbs. Beto is 14 different nationalities at once. College-educated diverse suburbanites and urban dwellers who don't necessarily go to a mega-church. There are apparently millions of us in Texas, and we found each other this year.

 

Now, it's up to the state party to actually unite these people.

This is what I said earlier in this thread.

 

The DNC keeps wanting to support moderate Dems/former Republicans in these states because they feel they can get the most money and not scare off Republicans. 

 

Gillam, Abrams, and now Beto are showing you do not have to do that. You can run candidates who are progressive as heck and are from these areas and know these areas. Beto was always facing an uphill battle versus Cruz and he got close to beating him but the Dems have found a new type of candidate and I hope they don't waste it by dragging out Phil Bresdens.

[TradeTheBeal!]

Any #s on youth/millennial turnout?

[PleaseBlitz]

I love the spin that "OMG DEMS WILL BE INVESTIGATING SO MUCH" is a knock on the Dems and ignores the fact that there IS SO MUCH to investigate about Trump and his cronies that the Republican-controlled Congress has completely abdicated its duties on for the past 2 years.  

 

Investigate the **** out of these people, do it fairly, make it public.  

[Going Commando]

Give a Midwesterner the Speakership.  We need to be following that part of the party's lead.

[The Caretaker]

5 minutes ago, PleaseBlitz said:

I love the spin that "OMG DEMS WILL BE INVESTIGATING SO MUCH" is a knock on the Dems and ignores the fact that there IS SO MUCH to investigate about Trump and his cronies that the Republican-controlled Congress has completely abdicated its duties on for the past 2 years.  

 

Investigate the **** out of these people, do it fairly, make it public.  

It's this strange phenomenon where Liberals are supposed to pander to the feelings of the right and emphasize bipartisanship but at the same time the right is in the other corner completely ****ting itself and flinging **** at the left simultaneously with zero regard. If there are "moderates" that see these impending investigations as being too partisan, under this enraged mango of a president, they were never "moderate" to begin with. 

[Cooked Crack]

 

[NoCalMike]

10 minutes ago, PleaseBlitz said:

I love the spin that "OMG DEMS WILL BE INVESTIGATING SO MUCH" is a knock on the Dems and ignores the fact that there IS SO MUCH to investigate about Trump and his cronies that the Republican-controlled Congress has completely abdicated its duties on for the past 2 years.  

 

Investigate the **** out of these people, do it fairly, make it public.  

 

 

Not to mention, the GOP pretty much investigated non-crimes over and over and over.

[Going Commando]

18 minutes ago, Lombardi's_kid_brother said:

Here is potentially the biggest story of the night that is getting missed. Florida reinstated voting rights to something like 1.5 million felons. I've read that something like 20 percent of black men in Florida are impacted by this. That honestly changes the demographics there considerably going forward. 

 

Maybe not a big story, but another important story from last night was that Michigan passed all of those ease of voting measures on their ballot.  Every purple state needs to follow that blueprint.  Who'd have thought that being registered to vote was one of the biggest indicators of whether or not a person will actually vote?  Making it far easier to register is a big way to increase participation.  Expanding the electorate as much as possible needs to be a major long term goal for Democrats.  Anything that makes voting easier is better for them than for Republicans.

[Kilmer17]

21 minutes ago, Lombardi's_kid_brother said:

By the way, remember that big Georgia election that the Dems through money at and barely lost in 2017? They won it last night.

 

They also beat the guy who beat Cantor in Virginia.

 

They also beat Putin's second best friend in DC, Dana Rohrabacher. 

 

Here is potentially the biggest story of the night that is getting missed. Florida reinstated voting rights to something like 1.5 million felons. I've read that something like 20 percent of black men in Florida are impacted by this. That honestly changes the demographics there considerably going forward.

 

 

We've been talking about it a good bit.  The amendment to state constitution was supported by DeSantis and endorsed by the Manatee GOP. ( I havent looked at other counties etc).  They wouldnt openly endorse something if it was going to be a big win for the Dems.  

 

There was an article a few days ago from Vox (I think) that I cant find now that showed little to no impact politically for felons rights being reinstated.  

[88Comrade2000]

13 hours ago, SkinsHokieFan said:

Most dissappoitning thing is that a big chunk of this country still buys into the racism of Trump and the racism of the ‘18 GOP

 

It is going to take some time to kick their asses. All the economic engines of this country are firmly blue. We’ll see how long this divide lasts before the money makers get tired of supporting the racist welfare queens in rural areas. 

 

We have already seen that change in VA as the GOP is dead beyond a few areas of moocher VA 

Look at 2018 as the first step in that process. It will probably take 10 years to completely wipe the GOP from control levers of power and the ability to pick judges.  The judges will be their firewall for a while.

[@DCGoldPants]

It would be stupid for the Dems to just announce investigations. 

 

The smart move would be to start with supported things like infrastructure. Load that up with rules that make money going that way to be triple checked against corruption and shady dealings. Then move on to basic rules for all elected officials on disclosure and disconnection from personal gain by abusing their positions. Never mention Trump by name. Steal the whole "drain the swamp" but focus it on protecting the taxpayer. These are easy wins. 

 

The last move is...... pick photogenic and lesser know Dems who are strong speakers with positive messages to give as many upbeat interviews on potential ideas that speak to middle America. Every week. Don't pick fights right away. Don't get sucked into the caravan and guns talk. It's a losing topic right now.

 

The GOP wants.....needs a fight right now. Can't do that or the Dems will lose any message.

 

That's a fact. 

[Momma There Goes That Man]

I agree. They can investigate and subpoena but it shouldn't be their focus or the spotlight.

 

The spotlight needs to be issues that benefit Americans. As Don Draper said, "if you don't like what they are saying, change the conversation." **** this caravan and culture war stuff. Trump wants to drag us into the mud and we can't let him do that. 

 

They need to push a comprehensive medicaid for all or universal health care plan through the House. Put the country on notice what those cost savings would be to them and how it will impact their lives. This worked in stopping the GOP health care plan last year. They have the audience to get this message across. Then, send it to the Senate and let them get on record voting against it. 

 

Now you have an easy talking point for 2020. Look how we tried to save you money and help you and they stopped us. 

 

Do the same for a host of other big ticket issues too. That's our 2020 platform. This is another reason i like Beto for VP. The Presidential candidates will steal the spotlight and news cycles regardless. They always do. Most people don't even know what Mike Pence sounds like though. He wasn't front and center in 2016, most VP picks aren't. This is where Beto can help drive that platform home. He dominates media and would steal news cycles which can be used to get out the platform and message. 

[PleaseBlitz]

25 minutes ago, @SkinsGoldPants said:

It would be stupid for the Dems to just announce investigations. 

 

The smart move would be to start with supported things like infrastructure. Load that up with rules that make money going that way to be triple checked against corruption and shady dealings. Then move on to basic rules for all elected officials on disclosure and disconnection from personal gain by abusing their positions. Never mention Trump by name. Steal the whole "drain the swamp" but focus it on protecting the taxpayer. These are easy wins. 

 

The last move is...... pick photogenic and lesser know Dems who are strong speakers with positive messages to give as many upbeat interviews on potential ideas that speak to middle America. Every week. Don't pick fights right away. Don't get sucked into the caravan and guns talk. It's a losing topic right now.

 

The GOP wants.....needs a fight right now. Can't do that or the Dems will lose any message.

 

That's a fact. 

 

This is a good post.  I agree that the first move is to introduce legislation that they can pitch as bipartisan (even tho it wont be) like infrastructure and improvements to Obamacare.  Then, when R's balk at that, Dems can point out the fact that Trump has been talking about doing infrastructure improvements for two years in between scandals, and R's just ran a bunch of adds about how in favor of protecting people with preexisting conditions they are.  Passed or not, Dems just need to look like they are trying to govern responsibly and have ideas that help people, especially the middle class.  Definitely never mention Trump by name.  

 

Concurrent with that, they should conduct investigations into a whole bunch of stuff, they just shouldn't grandstand about it (until later). 

[NoCalMike]

The important part of winning the house is getting people into the position(s) that will be able to investigate in the future if needed.  I don't foresee the Dems just going investigation-crazy as soon as they get sworn in.  There is enough corruption going on where they can sit back and choose their battles.  

 

I think Trump was actually smart in harping on the idea of "If Dems win the house they are going to......" because he (or his strategist more likely) had the foresight to know that when you have someone as corrupt as Trump has been, the chickens are eventually going to come home to roost, so a lot of the investigations are going to be justified. Period. However, at the same time, because Trump was so forward-thinking to predict it, once it starts happening he will run right out to the media to say "Seeeee!" Which is why, the Dems will be best served to reserve their time & energy on investigations that have a good shot at a quick turnaround and for more of the major stuff.

[visionary]

 

[visionary]

She needs to step back, even if the GOP will attack whoever takes her place, she shouldn’t be a Democratic spokesperson at this point.  She should stick to inside politics.  

 

There should probably be a discussion about Schumer at some point too.

 

 

 

 

 

[The Evil Genius]

1 hour ago, Kilmer17 said:

Is there a good list of ranked upsets from last night?  

 

I saw a list on 538 last night. 

 

 

56 minutes ago, PleaseBlitz said:

I love the spin that "OMG DEMS WILL BE INVESTIGATING SO MUCH" is a knock on the Dems and ignores the fact that there IS SO MUCH to investigate about Trump and his cronies that the Republican-controlled Congress has completely abdicated its duties on for the past 2 years.  

 

Investigate the **** out of these people, do it fairly, make it public.  

 

Conservatives conveniently forget this is exactly what the GOP promised to do in 2016 if HRC had won.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/house-republicans-are-already-preparing-for-years-of-investigations-of-clinton/2016/10/26/e153a714-9ac3-11e6-9980-50913d68eacb_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.118ac1ec009c

 

 

 

Also this tweet below is golden. Click the tweet for the all Trump endorsement fails. ? 

 

 

[SoulSkin]

I thought there were a few good points in this opinion piece from WaPo earlier today, on what you guys are talking about regarding not immediately launching into investigations. Starting with this:

"The most important “investigative” thing that Democrats can do in the short run is to stay out of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s way..."

 

and this

 

"Putting investigations front and center would also send a loud — and damaging — message to the millions of Americans who went to the polls to elect Democrats to deliver on kitchen-table issues: health care and jobs, incomes and opportunity, fair treatment for all. The Democrats’ closing argument in 2018 should be where they start in 2019."

 

He goes on to list some possibilities for legislation that a lot of people would support, which will allow people to see how the WH and Senate react to/work with them.

 

The first five things the Democrats should do with their House majority

[AJ*]

If Trump opens the door and starts attacking the Mueller investigation in any attempt to end it or sabotage it Democrats should just go all in with an investigation. 

[Dan T.]

Yeah, Mueller's got the whole investigations thing covered.  I suspect we'll hear more from the Special Counsel as soon as the midterm dust settles.

 

Did you see how agitated Trump got when Acosta brought up the Special Counsel?  He about **** his pants.  He's rattled by it.

[SoulSkin]

...and now I see Jeffrey Beuregard has resigned, so that's probably not great. Guess we'll see.

[Dan T.]

Aha. So that's why Trump got so riled up at the mention of Mueller... New York Magazine is reporting that an perjury indictment of Don Jr. is coming down soon.

 

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/11/donald-trump-jr-expecting-to-be-indicted-by-mueller-soon.html

[Burgold]

2 hours ago, Fresh8686 said:

Try reading first, it might not be exactly how you think. They're being smart for the most part and making sure their investigations have merit and are substantive. Some stuff will be a political lighting rod for sure though. But, who cares that's going to happen regardless due to our highly polarized political landscape.

Right. There tend to be a significant difference between democratic investigations and republican investigations. Republican investigations are BS. The Republicans know it's BS when they launch it and pursue it even though it's BS strictly to cash in some political points. When their investigation is proven to be BS, the Republicans will then wash, rinse, and repeat, holding the same investigation 10, 20, or 100 times even though they know it's BS and there is no new information. (See any number of ten thousand Clinton investigations. None of which ever resulted in some much as a slap on the wrist.)

 

Democratic investigations, on the other hand, are merit based. They usually result in someone going to jail, someone getting censured, or someone resigning.

 

Problem is, Republicans think because they go on witch hunts as a political stunt the other side does too. Truth is, there are real issues of graft, misuse of funds, illegal profiting/profiteering, potential stock market manipulation, tax fraud, treason, and other issues all of which seem to be weighty and real. After all, have already seen, despite White House, Senate and House obfuscation and delay, very high ranking officials have been forced to plead guilty or have been found guilty.

 

Now,whether Republicans will care if Republicans are guilty of committing actual crimes is a wholly separate issue. I am sure it will be framed as a witch hunt. Heck, the Mueller investigation already is despite having conclusively proven that it is not.

[The Evil Genius]

Yep. Too bad its not Ivanka too. That would have made him extra childish.