Voters sent a clear and unmistakable message that they don't like conservative Democrats
If you watch MSNBC you probably believe that if it wasn't for some local politician in Seattle whispering the word "socialist" within earshot of a microphone, then right-wing Democrats in Minnesota and Florida would have won their elections.
It seems saying "socialism" has the exact same effect as saying Beetlejuice three times. Yet for some reason saying "corrupt neoliberal corporatist shill" three times has no magical powers on MSNBC at all. At least I assume so, because no one has ever whispered that phrase on-air.
Maybe it's because the channel is a fact free zone where some puppy memes from an overseas click-bait farm is more powerful than the entire Democratic Party establishment PLUS the American news media combined.
Maybe you've seen tweets like this.
Or this.
Or perhaps something along this line.
Support progressive policies like Medicare for All and win elections.
Campaign against progressive policies like Medicare for All and lose elections. pic.twitter.com/DZ7mUeE6Po
— Ryan Knight (@ProudSocialist) November 7, 2020
Why it's almost as if the American people didn't fear progressive policies and progressive candidates. It's almost exactly like being endorsed by socialists is not a handicap, and that compromising your values to pass Republican policies isn't what the voters wanted.
“That’s what’s wrong with our country in the past few years—an unwillingness to work across the aisle,” Representative Harley Rouda of California, a Democrat who seems poised to lose reelection in his swing district, told me in a text message.
That can't be right. That would mean that Fox News and CNN/MSNBC, and the politicians of both parties, the same groups that warned us about Iraq's WMD's, were craven liars.
Hard to believe, right?
There must be some way to check. Oh, yeah. We could look at who the voters rejected and where on the political spectrum they stood.
Name | Lost/Losing? | Member of Blue Dogs/New Democrats? |
Gil Cisneros | Y | Y |
TJ Cox | Y | Y |
Harley Rouda | Y | Y |
Xochitl Torres Small | Y | Y |
Kendra Horn | Y | Y |
Abby Finkenauer | Y | No, but former Republican |
Collin Peterson | Y | Y |
Joe Cunningham | Y | Y |
Debbie Mucarsel-Powell | Y | Y |
Donna Shalala | Y | Y |
Ben McAdams | Y | Y |
Max Rose | Y | Y |
Anthony Brindisi | Y | Y |
Thomas Suozzi | Y | No, but vice chair of bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus |
That's a complete list of all the incumbent Dems who have lost or are losing.
Do you see a trend?
Comments
The DSA
tweeted that of the 29 candidates they endorsed, 20 won.
I completely agree with your post.
Misinformation is the current normal.
NYCVG
I just got censored on reddit
Considering that this post is FULL of facts, I wonder what excuse they have for silencing me?
I can see it over there now,
at least.
Did you contact the WoTB mods about it? They're trying to stay on top of the Reddit powers-that-be playing games with their readership...
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
I asked the admins about it
and they pulled it out of the trash.
Reddit autoremoval
As Upton Sinclair said,
Truer words were never spoken.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
'unwillingness to work across the aisle'
You don't negotiate with terrorists!!!
This shit is bananas.
Gee whiz!
If this had happened and Biden had gotten only 100 EC votes, like say, he would have gotten if there hadn't been a pandemic, there wouldn't be a Democratic Party today and the Earth might survive the century.
On to Biden since 1973
The dems
attribute all their failed panders to "the left". The latest is if the left didn't go whole hog on defund the police they would have won the senate and gained seats in the house. Of course the "far left" socialists didn't endorse defund the police, but since that slogan turned unpopular, hang it on the left. Also MfA, minimum wage hike, etc, same as defund the police. Like the republicans, throw stuff at the wall until something sticks.
Work across the aisle with a party that has nothing but contempt for you, even hatred, that will push their agenda past any norm, even commit illegal actions, daring dems to stop them if they have the guts...which they often don't. On the bright side, if the neolib conservadems keep losing, pretty soon we'll outnumber them.
but actually it's not going to work this time
too many people saw how hard Bernie Sanders worked for Biden. The latest attempt at blaming the left for anything is being ignored by everyone who isn't an insider.
It also shows that the party itself is something we can move on from. No need to back anything they do, or anyone who might be President in a couple of months. No need to give anyone any time.
No need to show them any respect
Early indications are that the left-wing of the party (i.e. the grassroots) is more than ready to stand up to Biden and Pelosi.
That doesn't mean they will win. It only means that they'll make the Dems earn it.
That's important because the Biden administration is going to be a failure. So the Left needs to distance itself ASAP.
Republicans definitely aren't keen on Conservodems
they'd rather vote for an actual Republican (see demise of Collin Peterson, MN).
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
Cue Harry
Whenever I read "...actual Republicans," I always think of Harry Truman. Truman made plenty of mistakes, but I'd damn sure take him over what we're offered today.
Everyone here knows it, but nevertheless here's the relevant snippet from Truman's 1952 speech at the National Convention Banquet of the Americans for Democratic Action (my bolds):
Truman fucked up royally
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Our bar is low
I think he knew he fucked up on the CIA, too. He penned a NY Times editorial saying pretty much that just after Nov. 22, 1963.
Nevertheless, he admitted if it wasn't for politics, he'd have likely been a piano player in a whorehouse. I think he actually said that. Also, as I recall, he'd used to give his occupation as "haberdasher" ...which I believe he was. I think he also was a postal clerk or something.
There are all kinds of crazy Truman stories. One of my favorites is that he kept a loaded .45 automatic (pilfered from the army) next to his bed in the White House. Likely learned that from working for the Pendergast machine in Kansas City...
Truman’s Frankenstein Agency
(my bold)
This was penned in a Washington Post editorial December 23, 1963, one month and a day after JFK died at Parkland Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. After the CIA’s role in the failed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion became known, Kennedy resolved to “break the CIA into a thousand pieces” with the help of a handful of trusted agents in the the FBI.
In this context, Truman’s warning appears very understated and arriving much too late to put his CIA Genie back into its bottle. Today the CIA remains a most significant player in shaping our foreign policy while remaining autonomous in its clandestine activities and largely unaccountable to any branch of government.
“ …and when we destroy nature, we diminish our capacity to sense the divine,and understand who God is, and what our own potential is and duties are as human beings.- RFK jr. 8/26/2024
Praetorian Guard
The originals became kingmakers also.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
Surprised he did it at all.
You are absolutely correct. It's weak tea at its weakest. At least it certainly seems so now. At the time it was written it was more of a bold statement - not that it was ever all that bold - but it was probably as far as Truman dared go. Considering the timing, I've wondered whether Truman knew more than he was letting on. He also knew that there was probably no going back - the genie was indeed out of the bottle at that point. Certainly, there was nothing Truman could do about it. Truman's reputation was at low ebb at that time to begin with.
It's interesting to me that, although I lived through those days, I never knew of Truman's NY Times piece until maybe five years ago. Certainly, it didn't get the recognition that Ike's farewell address received. It didn't merit it. Still, I'm surprised it went as far as it did go. I would not have expected that from Truman, especially during Cold War days.
The bar keeps getting lower & lower like the 'Limbo Rock' song
At this point
This shit is bananas.
@on the cusp More than Carter?
More than Carter?
Yes.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Democrats Just Elected a Conservative for President
I don't know how much more conservative one can get than uncle Joe but on most measures of L/R I'd put him over on the right hand side. Highest number of votes of anybody ever.
The GND/Medicare for all/Socialism mantra means nothing to me and to millions more like me, I've no idea what they actually mean, the nuts and bolts, just more slogans. "Your job is forfeit" more than likely LOL Whenever I ask about jobs the GND types tell me how everyone is going to make tons of money off these brand spanking new jobs, no one will ever tell me what happens to roughnecks, or how wages will magically rise.
"Learn to code" for a while would get you kicked off twitter, because it's such a joke. They don't lay off 55 year old oil field hands and hire them as coders, does not happen. If they are lucky they're stocking shelves at Walmart, and that six figure income is down the road. Those slogans are not developed by workers, they are the product of graduates of BU, with majors in Polisci and minors on economics.
Congress people are re elected 98% of the time. Congresspeople in swingy districts or first time as incumbents are the most vulnerable. If I had to read tea leaves about this election it would be the shift towards Trump by Asian Americans and Hispanic folks, it was enough to push Texas firmly Republican and gained some house seats in Orange County.
More than anything this election was about Trump. This was an incumbent election, a quarter million dead people, a loud mouthed clown, and Trump came within a whisker of winning the thing. Ridiculous. Every demographic shifted in Trump's direction except white men. Black men and women, white women, Hispanics of all variety, Asians, all shifted slightly Trump, but enough white guys especially the college educated white guys, shifted to the Dems to create a 4,000 or 20,000 vote margin in a couple of states to push Joe (aka Kamala) over the line.
And about half of them weren't voting "for" Biden
but against Trump. They were messaged loud, clear, hard and long that they MUST MUST MUST vote Blue and nothing else to get rid of the odious Cheeto Man.
It's quite possible the opposite dynamic was in play in the other groups: "Don't want Biden, so I gotta vote Trump even if he stinks - because he stinks less".
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
Anecdotally, every good liberal I know
They are going to find out just how bad Biden (and Harris) are going to be for this country. I am adding Harris in because I believe that Biden will not serve his entire term and we will end up with the top cop who could not even win a delegate as our President some time in the next four years.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
This is it, basically
One reason for the relative ineffectiveness of the left—other than the rather optimistic notion of changing the party from within—is that much like their colleagues on the right they tend to stop at policy labels. They also have not done a good job at countering the propaganda that permits the perception of lefties being associated with stupidity like “learn to code.”
This election was very much about Trump (pro- and anti-). And as I’ve noted elsewhere—and data continue to confirm—it seems like non-whites shifted a bit toward Trump. You don’t get a racist jackass like Trump having a larger share of a bigger pool of non-whites if they’re thinking about identity politics. You get that if they’re thinking Trump’s got better ideas that will more directly help them and/or they believe Biden’s will be worse for them. I’d bet that his past and current racism and Kopmala’s history played a big part in those small shifts, at least in the black community.
Trump was the lesser evil.
Just because he is an incompetent goofball. Did ANY of his initiatives go anywhere? I will give him marks for trying to negotiate with North Korea and wanting to get out of Afghanistan. Watch Biden start another star wars to protect us from North Korean missiles or bungle us into a nuclear war over the Taiwan strait.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
Trump’s as evil, but the incompetence
certainly means he’s likely less effective in some areas.
I just couldn’t vote for either of them.
But the fact that he got more of the non-white vote this time than last, at the expense of Biden’s share, should be a glaring bright neon sign to the virtue signalers that their shitty ID politics doesn’t work.
But instead they’re just saying it’s all “toxic masculinity” at work: he got more men to vote for him this time and it’s because they all hate women or something.
With you 100%
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
@The Voice In the Wilderness He increased the
There is currently a tariff on all imports from China, I think it's 15%, google searching is hard because of all the corporations saying how bad it is and how we all pay for it, blah blah blah. For people too poor to buy stuff it doesn't matter.
He had this thing with transparent pricing for all medical care, it's wending it's way through the process. Most countries I've been to they tell you how much something is going to cost before they do it. Often prices posted in office.
He mostly blew it with covid, in my opinion, I'd give him an F minus on that one. Plus he's a low life. Look at how he's handled the post election thing.
Donald Trump used to know --
“The loyal Left cannot act decisively. Their devotion to the system is a built-in kill switch limiting dissent.” - Richard Moser
The question is will we see a re-run
Two animatronic corpses making video appearances.
Have we seen the last of Her Heinous?
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
@ban nock
It seems unlikely that Trump was blamed by nearly as many people as Dems were expecting for the COVID situation or he would not have done as well as he did. Most decisions on COVID policy were correctly left to the states - and voters may have directed praise or blame for those policies in that direction instead of toward Trump.
About the post-election thing, beyond the fact that Biden blatantly broke his promise (end of 1st debate) to not declare victory until counts are finalized, claims settled, etc. And that Trump is doing exactly what Hillary and others were recommending Biden to do: not concede until all options for winning were exhausted..
If voter fraud or elections system failure really occurred on the scale Trump's legal team is alleging - that is to say massive - then it would seem like the beneficial thing for society overall to have those fully investigated.
If there is really no there there, then why should it be a problem to have maximum transparency to demonstrate it?
Someone posted to the effect that 70 or 80 percent of people thought the election was conducted fairly and honestly like that validates it somehow.
Imagine a corporate meeting going like this:
"And now we'll hear from Marketing."
"Well, we have some very positive news. Only twenty to thirty percent of customers believe that our claims about our products are fraudulent and that the products themselves are dangerously defective..."
I was looking for these numbers yesterday.
Thanks.
If only someone could interview Pelosi and the rest about this curious mathematical contradiction to the message.
But it's okay --
because the defeated conservadems can get jobs with the Biden administration. And then, when the Biden administration sends out the message that "what are you going to do, vote for Republicans?", everyone will like conservadems again.
“The loyal Left cannot act decisively. Their devotion to the system is a built-in kill switch limiting dissent.” - Richard Moser
Jared Golden
(Maine CD-2)
Did OK - flipped the seat in 2018 and hung on to it.
Guess he's be a "conservadem" by standards here as he voted against one of the
articles of impeachment and voted against one or two of the gun control bills House
Dems were pushing.
I make zero apologies for voting for Trump, even though I hate some of his policies,
but my *original* choices in 2016 and 2020 were *Democrats*: Jim Webb and Tulsi Gabbard, respectively.
Either one would have readily beaten Trump, but were anathema to both the PTB and "progressives" and thrown under the bus at the first opportunity.
Which sort of thing goes a long way toward explaining why there are tens of millions of *former* Democrats.