So what have we learned?
Submitted by gjohnsit on Tue, 06/20/2017 - 9:11pm
Update: Aaanndd it's over.
Handel’s victory in the closely fought contest, which drew national interest and was the most expensive House race ever at over $50 million spent by both sides, comes as good news for President Donald Trump. Democrats had promoted the contest as a referendum on the president.
With over 80 percent of the vote counted, Handel lead Ossoff 52 percent to 48 percent in a race that many expected to be much closer.
The Democrats have three choices:
1) They can spend no money running progressive candidates in red states, and lose by 6 points (Kansas, Montana)
2) They can spend a huge mountain of money running a Republican-lite candidate in a wealthy purple region, and lose by 4 points.
3) They could spend an average amount of money running progressive candidates in red, blue, and purple regions, and probably win some elections, but this will never happen.
Comments
It's been proven
that a losing strategy is to say "I'm not a republican".
Who the hell can tell the difference?
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
Hillary lost in Montana and Kansas by over 20 points
Hillary lost Georgia's 6th by 1 point.
Which elections did the dem candidates outperform and which underperformed?
That's easy.
Where did they spend the money?
And no. That giant swooshing sound ain't the toilet unless somebody's wiping with million dollar bills.
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
These results are surprising
Here I thought the Democrats had finally found the right combination of blandness, vacuity, and triangulation.
The lesson for next time is clear, though: what they need is more money.
"The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum." --Noam Chomsky
Blame the progressives
It's their fault.
And C99P is especially guilty.
Next time make sure to say "Trump Bad. Putin Bad."
I'm sure the neoliberal dead-enders
at DailyKos will find a way to blame Bernie Sanders for this loss. Yet how do you freaking spend tens of millions of dollars and actually underperform your primary vote?
I see two places to put the blame.
First: the Trump voters, who still personify the intersection of crazy, stupid, and evil (Karen "I'm not for a livable wage" Handel? Riiiiight).
Second: the worthless DCCC, with their idiotic spam emails. ("We're DOOOMED!" "All hope is lost!" "Trump has already WON!" "We're BROKE!" "Gloom and despair!") Way to motivate voters to go to the polls. Way to motivate others to volunteer, to phone bank, to canvas. And who the hell gives money to a "doomed" campaign? I saw those emails in the Montana race as well--they have become as predictable as Bill O'Reilly's annual War on Christmas. Just, make it stop.
Democrats . . .
I don't blame the Trump voters
I blame the Democrats, 100%.
Crazy, stupid, deluded.... there's always been an abundance of that. The point is, by putting a corpo-Dem like Ossoff up as a candidate, they sabotaged their own game. The guy is a neoliberal, a former student of Maddy Albright and Michael Oren, and he isn't on our side.
As long as they keep putting these shills forward, excitement will wither, our folks will stay home, and the Trump voters will win. Money can't fix this, it isn't about the advertising, it's about the product.
The last time the Dems won big was under Obama, because people believed, erroneously, that he was going to do what he said he was going to do. In order to win again, they're either going to need the world's greatest troll (to convince us that he/she is really progressive), or they'll need to nominate an actual progressive.
The latter can't happen under current conditions in the DNC, so watch for the former.
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
That fits in nicely
with gjohn and his last post.
In case anybody missed it: https://caucus99percent.com/content/democratic-party-just-aint-you
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
More money is good.
It provides a jobs program for well-connected beltway consultants and contractors.
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
Can't wait for the spin on this one.
It's gonna be good.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Vladimir Putin is very, very crafty
"The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum." --Noam Chomsky
I will love to see it
If/When someone spots one of those diaries, please link to it here. I could use a good laugh.
WinSmith was one of the ones that accused me of being
a Russian troll who was implanted in DKos 8 years ago just to disrupt Her's run for president in 2016. I got my BOJO award a day later when a half dozen piled on with the same complaint.
https://www.dailykos.com/comments/1673541/66895488#comment_66895488
Wow, that didn't take long
and from one of my favorite people in the world, no less.
WinSmith is one of the worst
he supports every war and opposes every benefit or reform. He's a Koch brothers hit-man in a stupid donkeysuit.
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
@dervish I think he's
I think he's WinSmith after the conversion via rats.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Electronic voting is potentially hackable
But I would look at the Koch Brothers or ALEC and their ilk first before applying Occam's Butterknife and assuming Putin did it. Putin has plenty of useful idiots under his thumb already. The Republicans have already rigged the elections these states with voter suppression, purges, caging, cross-check, etc.
Paper ballots would thwart the Russians (and others). Elections by mail would thwart the polling place chicanery. Automatic registration would go a long way to defeat the rest of it. Here in Oregon we have elections by mail with not only the nation's highest turnout, but the Democrats GAINED seats in the 2014 disaster.
Voting. It does a body good.
This should make you happy.
Guess where.
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
i don't have to guess where,
and i don't even want to know who
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
It's good news...
for John McCain!
/s
(Remember when that used to be a thing?)
Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.
Losing less badly will lead to victory !!!
Better they be sore losers than sore winners.
why, that sounds like Marcus Moose Tits himself!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
We're getting closer.
Not yet a diary but soon.
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
burden of evidence
ummmm, burden of evidence?
The burden of evidence is and should always be on the affirmant, i.e., those who claim the vote was hacked!
Sheesh....!!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Putin has made sure the Russians are everywhere /s
@LoneStarMike All around my house,
All around my house, we have a sudden surge of rabbits. Large amounts of rabbits everywhere. At first, I thought nothing of it.
But, I'm starting to get worried.
I thought I saw one with a pillbox hat.
They ate the grass in what appeared to be a hammer-and-sickle pattern.
Yep. The Russians are everywhere
The Russianbots even showed up at my house and were very naughty
Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?
Those Russians show up almost
every day at my house, and my cats are so tired of being blamed for the puke I find almost every single day! Damn that Putin, I am so tired of washing rugs!
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
You cannot trust
Your neighbor,
Nor any of your kin.
If your Mommie is a Commie
You've got to turn her in.
Went a song in the 60s.
Orwell: Where's the omelette?
A response to that '60s song
[video:https://youtu.be/cEVVOaPMj08]
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Believe it or not, there's a diary on the rec list
And it blames Ossoff and scanning through the comments, it seems that most agree.
Apparently his campaign sent out no less than 6 emails today - one as late as 5:05 p.m. asking for money. It was pretty much one email per hour. The diarist pointed out that you need to be focused on getting people out to vote by that point in time - not still asking for money.
Here's the archived link to the diary
It's got a screenshot of the emails and I have to say - they're over the top and downright unprofessional.
Thanks for going down there and retrieving that, Mike.
I'm not welcome there anymore, sob, sob, sob.
/s
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Establishment Dems have
A positively insatiable appetite for money. They simply cannot get along without it, and preferably lots of it... the more the better. Tons of money equals tons of support. How very democratic of them.
native
Yeah and speaking of their insatiable appetite for $
I'd say they're going hungry right now.
Both the DNC and the RNC filed their reports for May last night.
DNC (click on Filings, then click on the June 20th report that covers May.)
Beginning cash on hand - $8,796,366.15
Receipts - $4,293,682.32
Disbursements - $5,395,705.73
Ending cash on hand - $7,694,342.74
And they have debts totaling $1,901,185.17
RNC (click on Filings, then click on the June 20th report that covers May.)
Beginning cash on hand - $41,410,435.00
Receipts - $10,868,580.
Disbursements - $10,446,998.34
Ending cash on hand - $41,832,036.98
And they have debts totaling ZERO.
The DNC beast is starving.
Good!
I have no confidence about any change in the Dems as long as the money is still flowing. There's zero incentive for them if they can keep losing and still get paid. I'm still highly skeptical change is possible at all, but if they can't afford to fight challenges from progressives, that's going to help.
Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.
Show Us The Money!!
Oh that's an excellent point about not being able to fight progressives! I didn't even think about that.
@earthling1 I won't link to it but
I won't link to it but here's a recent GOS diary (presented here in it's entirety).
@Dopeman To their credit it is
To their credit it is flagged/hidden with no recs, but still...
Walt Star apparently didn't see all the negative Handel ads run
24/7 with pics of Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama and Bernie Sanders. These ads claimed that San Francisco and the aforementioned people wanted Ossoff in Congress. That was a claim guaranteed to turn out Republicans to vote for Handel. And it is a Republican district. Bernie's endorsement came after weeks of these ads. It couldn't have mattered.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
Laughing my ass off
All that money flushed down the drain. The Democratic Establishment won't get the right idea from this, but at least they won't get any validation.
I have the urge
to send them a check for 27 cents.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Send 'em 27 kopeks instead. n/t
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
27 cents
Make sure the check is drawn on Zimbabwean Dollars. So 27 Zimbabwean cents.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Re: all that money flushed down the drain
Hey, LSM--greatly enjoy your graphics! :-D EOM
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
No diaries... yet, but there
No diaries... yet, but there have been comments to that effect. :O
Edit: Meant to be a response to a comment above about blaming Russia for Ossof's loss.
They don't post diaries about relevant issues there
You have to come here for that, and the news. You'll learn more news in one EB essay than 30,000 diaries at ToP. It's all meta, CT, and Trump's impending impeachment.
There is a purge over there now, expect some refugees.
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
@dervish
Lol, the red (!!!) carpet's always out for refugees here, isn't it?
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
refugee ex-Kossacks welcome here
Yeppers. And it's been that way since before I posted this Essay -- my first ever here.
The words of which are still as cogent today as they were then.
kos is going to purge and purge until his blogsite is a pure echo chamber -- at which point it will also be completely irrelevant to anything or anyone. I'd guess: watch for the proportion of ads to first go through the roof, and then utterly disappear, as the net value of each ad plummets because of crashing Alexa stats and what those mean (fewer eyes on each ad).
At which point kos will simply shut it down. We already know he doesn't give a shit about much of anything real.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
He doesn't nee a shit about TOP
Vox Media
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
Dems haven't learned anything
from 2010, 2012, 2014 and now 2016.
But I'm sure all real liberals and Dem-exiters will come running back and all the Dems and Dem-leaners who skip mid-terms will can't wait to vote 'D' in 2018.
Because...um...well, I'll think of something. Give me a couple of years.
Dear Dems: You lost the WH, Senate, House, dozens of governors, state level SOS and AG and about 1,000 state legislative seats. Maybe...you're doing something wrong.
@coloradoblue The indies won't come
The indies won't come back, I bet.
Those who are still Dems....uh....yeah, I bet they will.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
One minor correction to your essay
According to the Decision Desk all 208 precincts have now reported.
Karen Handel - 128,231 votes - 52.7% of the votes
John Ossoff - 115,126 votes - 47.3% of the votes
So it looks like Ossoff lost by 5.4%. I wish a stronger message had been sent to the Democratic Party, but this will do.
And now...for tonight's memes:
Got it, but first
we have to ask what the goal is. Is the primary goal to win elections, or generate money and contracts? If you can generate a big budget and I get a percentage of the handle, what's my goal?
Real Democrats would bring higher taxes and fewer revenue schemes. They'll settle for fake ones, and they don't give a shit if they win or lose, just as long as the right people get a piece of the action.
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
@dervish
And perhaps this is also in the (self-)interest of allowing the Republicans to gain the majority necessary for a corporate rewrite of the US Constitution to suit themselves?
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
What have they learned?
Why nothing of course, these are Democrats we're talking about. Like the Bourbons, they've learned nothing, and forgotten nothing, ad nauseum ad infinitum.
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
Damn, I wish someone
could get away with posting this at GOS without getting banned. Just the end part.
Just a short diary titled "The Democrats have three choices" with the body simply listing the 3 choices listed here. Maybe a poll with the 3 choices. And that's it.
This is the truth they SO need to hear over there. But alas...
It's happening, no worries. n/t
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
@dervish if you post it I'll
if you post it I'll rec it.
Does this undermine the Russia CT narrative?
The democrats don't need anybody's interference to lose--a lot.
Why would you say that?
What are you trying to hide?
Are you the Russian spy that hacked Georgia? I'm considering reporting you to the GOS help desk just in case. I got my eye on you, Mr. BORIS Webster.
It was me
and my telepathic dog. We did it telekinetically. If not for me, the centrists would have won, so keep giving them money, and blood, and brains. They're hungry.
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
@dervish NO! We had tin foil
NO! We had tin foil hats on which should have negated your telekinesis!
Love ya, mean it
But you didn't wear them shiny side out!
@Dopeman Hand me the vodka. I'm
Hand me the vodka. I'm gonna need it.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Well that kind of sucks
The Secretary of State who, using the insidious Crosscheck program to purge thousands of people with African American and Latin sounding names from the voting lists and helped implement other programs to inhibit college students and others from voting, beat the Democratic establishment corprocrat. Must be nice to be a grizzly bear with a river full of salmon, oblivious to the fact that humans are destroying their home:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHvmGucGm_E]
Beware the bullshit factories.
Damn! Those are Russian bears. Why are they allowed
to eat our endangered fish?
Where the hell is Palin? She needs to round them up and shoot them before they have more cubs and completely take over Alaska. Then it would only be a matter of time before hundreds are roaming the streets of Seattle eating our children.
This has to stop, NOW!
@CB
As long as the teachers are equipped with automatic weapons so that the schools are safe from Grizzlies, it's OK if only the fastest kids survive to get there; there are more poors born every minute, you know, and the Kids Who Matter won't be on the streets anyway.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
There's very few grizzlies (Russian and American)
99.9% of the animals in the river are poor, hard-working salmon.
Beware the bullshit factories.
In reality, the Russians don’t seem to give a poot — er, hoot
The only Russian-language article I find about the Ossoff-Handel Georgia 6th district race is from Euronews, a globalist, Western-Europe-based media company originally founded by an alliance of ten European public broadcasters but now, since 2015, majority-owned by an Egyptian billionaire.
The article is identical to one on the Russian-language version of MSN.
http://ru.euronews.com/2017/06/20/us-most-expensive-congressional-campai...
Karen Handel = Карен Гандель
Jon Ossoff = Джон Оссофф
Congress [of the] USA = Конгресс США
state of Georgia = штата Джорджия
That article was about the upcoming race. Here’s one about the final result, from the Russian-language service of the Azerbaijani news agency.
http://azertag.az/ru/xeber/Respublikanka_Karen_Gandel_pobedila_na_specia...
Edited to correct Russian spelling of “Karen”
What was the final result in the So. Carolina
race? I know the Repuke won, but he/she/it was a head by only 1% as the early totals started coming in. Re: Ossoff-- run as a Repuke Lite, lose 99% of the time. Run as a democrat, win. Rec'd!!
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
Parnell (D) vs. Norman (R) ? The Charleston Post and Courier:
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/ralph-norman-wins-south-carolina-th-c...
I really appreciate the pointer to the Russian perspective
Thanks!
Just so you know that someone is actually reading - that should be Карен Гандель
If I had a kopek for every mistake I made in Russian I'd be a wealthy Russian Oligarch by now and I could hack any election in США.
Capitalism has always been the rule of the people by the oligarchs. You only have two choices, eliminate them or restrict their power.
Thanks! I fixed it.
Looks like a fallacious thought process slipped in there: “Hey, the R in Karen looks like a P in Russian, so let’s just go ahead and type P to be pro-active.” Thereby missing the point of having previously turned on Cyrillic phonetic keyboard input.
Also smiling, seeing that they’re writing Trump as Трамп and not Трумп or Тромп.
@lotlizard
Lol, I'd expect that Putin's fully aware that the problem lies with the billionaires/corporate interests running the American political show and arranging the election-rigging, so I'd guess that which of any particular stooge was selected for political office wouldn't be likely of much increased concern, on a general basis.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Gee...
If we wish real hard and believe...we can save Tinkerbell...next time for sure.
My prognostication of what people at TOP and that party will think about it.
I want a Pony!
I looked at the vote totals. This federal race
was totally under the MSM, etc. radar. The results:
*Ralph Norman (Republican) 51.1% 44,889
Archie Parnell (Democratic) 47.9% 42,053
Josh Thornton (American) 0.4% 319
Victor Kocher (Libertarian) 0.3% 272
David Kulma (Green) 0.3% 242
Write in 0.1% 65
This area is blood red and has been for decades. I would like to know what issues Parnell ran on. I bet he lived in the district, too. Repukes had to spend money here. They don't like surprises, and they got one. It's been that way in all these special elections. If Democrats run as democratic public servants, and mean it, they win.
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
There you go
It was the Green Party voters fault again
Replying to @lotlizard
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
LOL! CNN Panel was NOT happy
Harry Truman, ladies and gentlemen.
When you run a Democrat who behaves like a Republican against a real Republican, the real one wins every time.
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
The Ads
I saw one of the fear loaded ads the Reps ran against Ossoff. the insane was full on.
So long, and thanks for all the fish
I was listening to The Talkies with Kris Welch yesterday
A local show on KPFA. The show was about the Georgia election and Welch interviewed Greg Pallast, who made the movie, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy. It was f**cked with like a lot of our elections. No need for Russians, our oligarchs do a pretty good job all by themselves. It was an enlightening show, which I recommend. Here is a link to it:
The Talkies
Beware the bullshit factories.