The Decline of the DNC III

[81usaf92]

Yes, Hillary Clinton and RFK were Republicans......

I can get on board with a lot of criticisms of Republicans. But "Tuberville doesn't even live in Alabama" when he was a football coach recruiting in state longer than White House resident Hillary Clinton was a US Senator from NEW FREAKING YORK, this doesn't even register now.



I've mentioned it previously on here, but the issue (LOL!) of voter fraud is a primary example of how the Democratic Party as a whole is just plain awful at retail politics.

I've always wanted one of the principals to turn when this claim is made and say, "Can you give me a specific place, precinct, anything that doesn't require some form of ID to vote?" I say that because I've been voting since the 1988 Presidential election, and I have NEVER voted without showing a driver's license or a signature proof since I'd voted there in previous elections or something like that. In my first election, I voted absentee ballot and had to go sit in an office after proving who I was and showing my ballot and vote in the booth with someone out there.

It is these instances of "well some people don't have ID" that give rise to the notion that there's something deep down Democrats actually fear about a voter showing an ID. One doesn't have to be a conspiracy theorist to ask "why" to that question. And their answers are always childishly stupid to that question.

You don't even have to actually answer it; just ask the accuser to give a specific place and time it has actually happened. He can't do it. And if he makes one up, check it out and broadcast it.

These things ain't hard, folks.

I think the ID issue is just a lazy excuse. I remember when Roy Moore was facing Doug Jones the Democrats were carpooling people to get their ID and to the voting booth. It’s never been an issue for a side committed to win. The problem is that each side tends to overestimate their chances of winning and doesn’t want to do the hard work if they don’t have to.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

I think the ID issue is just a lazy excuse. I remember when Roy Moore was facing Doug Jones the Democrats were carpooling people to get their ID and to the voting booth. It’s never been an issue for a side committed to win. The problem is that each side tends to overestimate their chances of winning and doesn’t want to do the hard work if they don’t have to.

Every losing political campaign has a pile of excuses.

Voter ID, voter fraud, voter suppression, illegals voting, badly designed ballots, third party candidates, negative ads, gerrymandering, celebrity candidates, biased media coverage, the Electoral College, conspiracy with a foreign power. ALL have occurred to different degrees from time to Time and all have a small measure of validity, but they’re still excuses invoked only by the side who lost but deep down can’t handle rejection so they concoct a narrative.

Depending on the day of the week, Hillary lost because of Comey, Russian interference, the Electoral College, misogyny or it was stolen. She lost of course because of the Electoral College, but SHE KNEW THE RULES before the game began. It’s not like she showed up on election night and a court order postmarked midnight Monday said the rules were now different.

Maybe it is another reason I have soured so much on college football. The excuses of the losers sound very similar to the ones I’ve heard the last 20 years: Saban pays players, Alabama plays a cupcake schedule, SEC is afraid of games up north in Duluth in February, the refs hosed us, the SEC offices are in Birmingham, Mercer November something something.

 

[JDCrimson]

It has been referenced frequently that HRC lost the election with her deplorables comment. Certainly didnt help insulting a voter bloc.

But I thought she lost the election the night I saw her stump in West Virginia where she literally said if you are in coal mining we are putting you out of business...

It would be polite to say this was a stupid remark, but that was sinister elitism on full display...

Every losing political campaign has a pile of excuses.

Voter ID, voter fraud, voter suppression, illegals voting, badly designed ballots, third party candidates, negative ads, gerrymandering, celebrity candidates, biased media coverage, the Electoral College, conspiracy with a foreign power. ALL have occurred to different degrees from time to Time and all have a small measure of validity, but they’re still excuses invoked only by the side who lost but deep down can’t handle rejection so they concoct a narrative.

Depending on the day of the week, Hillary lost because of Comey, Russian interference, the Electoral College, misogyny or it was stolen. She lost of course because of the Electoral College, but SHE KNEW THE RULES before the game began. It’s not like she showed up on election night and a court order postmarked midnight Monday said the rules were now different.

Maybe it is another reason I have soured so much on college football. The excuses of the losers sound very similar to the ones I’ve heard the last 20 years: Saban pays players, Alabama plays a cupcake schedule, SEC is afraid of games up north in Duluth in February, the refs hosed us, the SEC offices are in Birmingham, Mercer November something something.

 

[4Q Basket Case]

The DNC is in conflict with its base. The leaders are scared of the left wing, and rightly so. AOC was/is so far left that she scared Nancy Pelosi. Think on that.

I notice that AOC's been deafeningly silent lately. Which tells me that she wants to soften her image, get elected to something bigger than the HoR, then revert to her true self.

This Mamdani character in New York is even further left. To the point that he is scaring Hakeem Jeffries. Mind-boggling.

The Chair of the DNC is so far left that he's being marginalized by Chuck Schumer and crew.

They learned nothing from losing not just the Electoral College, but the popular vote, to the weakest most beatable Republican presidential nominee since Herbert Hoover. Yet many of them and their mainstream media mules think that was because they didn't go far left enough.

And they compound that by incessantly talking about how stupid MAGA is. I don't disagree with the assessment, but insulting a whole cohort isn't the recommended way to get them to vote for you.

The Democratic Party as a whole is absolutely missing four huge points: First, America is still a center to slightly center-right country -- coastal liberal enclaves notwithstanding. Second, the supporters of the "progressive" policies are so heavily concentrated in media centers that they act as though they're the real majority. They're not. Third, all these so-called "progressive" policies are actually incredibly hurtful to the people they purport to help. Fourth, immigrants want in. But once they're in, they don't want competition from other newer immigrants. IOW, an open border isn't nearly the net positive for your base that you think it is.

Defund the police? Even left cities are walking that back. Affluent suburbs don't need police nearly as much as inner-city residents, living where crime is high and just walking to school is dang scary. Yet these are the very ones endangered when you disband the police force.

No cash bail sounds good until you get truly bad guys (free because of no cash bail) repeating crimes on their neighbors because police aren't there to stop it (because the department was deliberately gutted).

Declining to enforce theft below a specified dollar amount -- surprise, surprise -- leads to a raft of theft below the dollar amount. And to groceries, pharmacies and other retailers to shut down and move out. Leading to the food deserts you yell about and blame on corporate racism.

Rent-controlled housing sounds good until you see the real impact -- rents and prices soar because you've restricted the supply of housing.

Confiscatory taxes on people you deem to have too much money will only drive them away -- along with their tax revenue and the jobs that many of their companies provide.

If the Democrats could go back a bit toward center, and nominate more candidates like Joe Manchin for all levels of office, they could clean up against Trump, his band of clowns, and his MAGA supporters. But they try to out-clown the clowns, it isn't working, and they refuse to see that.

Rather, they repeatedly circle up to form a firing squad.

SMH.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

It has been referenced frequently that HRC lost the election with her deplorables comment. Certainly didnt help insulting a voter bloc.

But I thought she lost the election the night I saw her stump in West Virginia where she literally said if you are in coal mining we are putting you out of business...

It would be polite to say this was a stupid remark, but that was sinister elitism on full display...

I think the "Deplorables" comment was a gaffe, but I think one problem in the overall analysis is there's this tendency for folks to try to reduce everything like we're in a movie or an hour-long TV show, they want to find that one moment that changes the outcome. And of course a CLOSE race like in 2016 gets the losing candidate more flack than when they get clobbered a la McGovern or Mondale (or even Dukakis). After all, more groups are prone to say "if you would have just done X" and can comfort themselves that the candidate is to blame and not their bad advice.

I vaguely recall the instance you're talking about, but Hillary wasn't going to win WVA anyway, and she might have been throwing a bone to the more extreme environmentalist voters ("hey, coal is going away"). And of course it IS going away, but I'll agree with you her approach to that might not have been the best. And there's a way to say those things that she didn't possess the way Obama did or even her husband.

Everyone nowadays is looking for the single moment - the "there you go again" comment by Reagan in the debate, Dukakis getting in the tank, Daddy Bush looking at his watch, Gore tsk tsking his way through a debate, being "for the war before I was against it", the fundamentals of the economy being sound, the 47% mark on tape.....those are all important, but I think the idea that in ANY of those cases (much less all of them) the idea that that was the magic moment that turned the winner into the loser is shallow, lazy, and has more in common with TV shows than everyday reality.

Let's take Dukakis in the tank, which has become one of the seminal moments in American politics. But Dukakis rode in the tank on September 13. A CBS/NYT poll published September 14 (and thus from days earlier) found Bush leading, 47-39. That same day a Gallup Poll showed Bush leading, 49-41. An LA Times poll the same day showed Bush and Dukakis tied at 47 in California.

Fast forward to Election Day on November 8:
- Bush wins nationally by 7.72 (ahead by 8 in two polls on September 14)
- Bush wins California by 3.57 (51-47)

Now, I'm not saying the tank didn't hurt Dukakis or reinforce a negative image of him; I'm saying the idea that Dukakis would have won the election without hopping in the tank is poppycock. In the same article from which I culled the poll numbers, it states that on that day, Dukakis was TRAILING in EVERY IMPORTANT STATE except New York. And guess what? He LOST every important state except New York (unless one includes Wisconsin).

No matter what anyone wants to believe, there is no one single moment that flips a Presidential race from win to lose. There are individual moments that hurt you and the biggest thing hurting Dukakis - conceded both by his consultants and the GOP ones - was losing every night on the evening news. There are moments where "I remember where I was when that happened," yes. And they can add up.

It's like Gary Danielson, whom I consider to be a GOOD analyst, constantly reducing beating Alabama to "Alabama has trouble with RPO quarterbacks" and citing the same few examples of Tim Tebow (when Florida was the better team), Cam Newton (Auburn averaged 41 ppg in 2010, Alabama held him to 28), Johnny Manziel (held 15 points below his average)...and ignoring the actual reasonS Alabama lost those games (often turnovers, stupid penalties, dumb luck, and stupid playcalling among other things).

 

[selmaborntidefan]

The DNC is in conflict with its base. The leaders are scared of the left wing, and rightly so. AOC was/is so far left that she scared Nancy Pelosi. Think on that.

I notice that AOC's been deafeningly silent lately. Which tells me that she wants to soften her image, get elected to something bigger than the HoR, then revert to her true self.

Let's give AOC some credit for political foresight here. But part of the conflict comes with the donor class, too. The GOP has the same problems as the Democrats on this, but when you win, nobody looks very closely.

This Mamdani character in New York is even further left. To the point that he is scaring Hakeem Jeffries. Mind-boggling.

60 years of "any opposition to X is by definition (epithet)" is, in fact, biting them in the behind.

Just wait until Trump opts to go to NYC for the 25th anniversary of 9/11 and effectively disinvites the Muslim mayor. We ain't seen nothing yet.

They learned nothing from losing not just the Electoral College, but the popular vote, to the weakest most beatable Republican presidential nominee since Herbert Hoover. Yet many of them and their mainstream media mules think that was because they didn't go far left enough.


And they compound that by incessantly talking about how stupid MAGA is. I don't disagree with the assessment, but insulting a whole cohort isn't the recommended way to get them to vote for you.

The thing here, though, is it's the MAGAs who have the purity test of all purity tests, not the Left. If you don't get Trump's behind damp from kissing it, you get blasted as a RINO and threatened with a primary.

The Democratic Party as a whole is absolutely missing four huge points: First, America is still a center to slightly center-right country -- coastal liberal enclaves notwithstanding.

True. For the most part.

Second, the supporters of the "progressive" policies are so heavily concentrated in media centers that they act as though they're the real majority. They're not.

"I didn't know a single person who voted for Nixon."
Columnist Mary McGrory in 1972, trying to figure out how he won 49 states.

Third, all these so-called "progressive" policies are actually incredibly hurtful to the people they purport to help. Fourth, immigrants want in. But once they're in, they don't want competition from other newer immigrants. IOW, an open border isn't nearly the net positive for your base that you think it is.

What's so bizarre to me is that despite all the Republican carping the last 40 years, none of the Democratic Presidents had a "truly open" border...and then the old guy who should know better basically says, "Everyone in the pool!"

Defund the police? Even left cities are walking that back. Affluent suburbs don't need police nearly as much as inner-city residents, living where crime is high and just walking to school is dang scary. Yet these are the very ones endangered when you disband the police force.

No cash bail sounds good until you get truly bad guys (free because of no cash bail) repeating crimes on their neighbors because police aren't there to stop it (because the department was deliberately gutted).

Declining to enforce theft below a specified dollar amount -- surprise, surprise -- leads to a raft of theft below the dollar amount. And to groceries, pharmacies and other retailers to shut down and move out. Leading to the food deserts you yell about and blame on corporate racism.

Rent-controlled housing sounds good until you see the real impact -- rents and prices soar because you've restricted the supply of housing.

Confiscatory taxes on people you deem to have too much money will only drive them away -- along with their tax revenue and the jobs that many of their companies provide.

I'm in general agreement with this - but the beauty of this country is....if I don't like it, I can move. In fact, I can move so much that I can make New York go from 43 electoral votes in 1968 to 28 today (a net loss of 15) while Florida goes from 14 to 30 (basically taking all 15 NY EVs plus one) in that same time frame. Or maybe the argument will be that 14 of those EVs went to CALIFORNIA and turned it blue.....but then you have Texas picking up 15 while the Rust Belt states of Illinois/PA/MI/NJ/Ohio went from 119 EVs to 84 (a loss of 35 EVs) while TX picked up 15 in the same time frame.

If the Democrats could go back a bit toward center, and nominate more candidates like Joe Manchin

And.....you lost me right here.....you can nominate a respectable liberal without going to the right.

for all levels of office, they could clean up against Trump, his band of clowns, and his MAGA supporters. But they try to out-clown the clowns, it isn't working, and they refuse to see that.

But it wasn't the Democrats who nominated Kari Lake (what was it now, 3 times?), Herschel Walker, Dr. Oz, Christine O'Donnell, Sharon Angle, or Todd Akin.

I can criticize the Democrats on a LOT of things politically, and I can even generically agree with the basics of your points. But the GOP nominating complete nutbags is the only reason the Dems are as close as they are right now.

 

[jthomas666]

Fine, here's one I picked at random.

Georgia SOS: 35 voter fraud cases referred for criminal prosecution

ATLANTA -- Georgia's State Elections board has referred 35 election-related legal offenses to state and local authorities for criminal prosecution. The Secretary of State's Office confirmed Thursday that the Board referred 35 cases to the attorney general or to local district attorneys...

wgxa.tv

OK, 35 cases. IIRC, over half of those were against Trump and his supporters. Not sure about the remaining cases. So, let's say that there are 16 remaining cases at this point. Who are those against? What are the specific allegations? What was the final disposition?

 

[Bazza]

Finally - a Democrat who gets it!

These are the very dinner table issues Americans across the country are concerned about!

I wish Sen. Booker well on his campaign!

 

[CrimsonJazz]

Finally - a Democrat who gets it!

These are the very dinner table issues Americans across the country are concerned about!

I wish Sen. Booker well on his campaign!

He is such a putz. Nevertheless, bad press is still press. There's no doubt that Temu-Obama wants to chase the presidency in a few years.

 

[jthomas666]

Finally - a Democrat who gets it!

These are the very dinner table issues Americans across the country are concerned about!

I wish Sen. Booker well on his campaign!

Your insinuation that Americans across the country are unconcerned with Trump's antics says more about those particular Americans than about Booker.

 

[Huckleberry]

Finally - a Democrat who gets it!

These are the very dinner table issues Americans across the country are concerned about!

I wish Sen. Booker well on his campaign!

If these issues aren't important to Americans, then this country is lost. I expect the Trump cult to have no problem with his actions, but those who care about the survival of our nation as we know it better take this seriously.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

Elizabeth Warren took a tumble today on the Senate floor.

Which means we can now say that Pocahontas became a casualty at Wounded Knee.

 

[CrimsonJazz]

Elizabeth Warren took a tumble today on the Senate floor.

Which means we can now say that Pocahontas became a casualty at Wounded Knee.

Just give her a beer; she’ll be all right. I’m sure she’ll immediately win back the blue collar class if she drinks it on camera.

 

[Bazza]

Your insinuation that Americans across the country are unconcerned with Trump's antics says more about those particular Americans than about Booker.

Thanks for making my point.

 

[CrimsonJazz]

BREAKING NEWS from TX Governor Greg Abbott:

“This truancy ends now. The derelict Democrat House members must return to Texas and be in attendance when the House reconvenes at 3:00 PM on Monday, August 4, 2025. For any member who fails to do so, I will invoke Texas Attorney General Opinion No. KP-0382 to remove the missing Democrats from membership in the Texas House.”

WOW.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1952202889910161739

To borrow Jasmine Crockett's phrase, it looks like Gov. "Hot Wheels" is about to leave skid marks on a few of these clowns.

 

[Huckleberry]

BREAKING NEWS from TX Governor Greg Abbott:

“This truancy ends now. The derelict Democrat House members must return to Texas and be in attendance when the House reconvenes at 3:00 PM on Monday, August 4, 2025. For any member who fails to do so, I will invoke Texas Attorney General Opinion No. KP-0382 to remove the missing Democrats from membership in the Texas House.”

WOW.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1952202889910161739

To borrow Jasmine Crockett's phrase, it looks like Gov. "Hot Wheels" is about to leave skid marks on a few of these clowns.

I think a district court has to rule that the legislators have abandoned their seats in order to have them removed. I’m not sure how long that would take.

 

[CrimsonJazz]

I think a district court has to rule that the legislators have abandoned their seats in order to have them removed. I’m not sure how long that would take.

I thought about that, too, but I figure that Abbott might already have that covered since he chose to make such a bold proclamation.

 

[Huckleberry]

BREAKING NEWS from TX Governor Greg Abbott:

“This truancy ends now. The derelict Democrat House members must return to Texas and be in attendance when the House reconvenes at 3:00 PM on Monday, August 4, 2025. For any member who fails to do so, I will invoke Texas Attorney General Opinion No. KP-0382 to remove the missing Democrats from membership in the Texas House.”

WOW.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1952202889910161739

To borrow Jasmine Crockett's phrase, it looks like Gov. "Hot Wheels" is about to leave skid marks on a few of these clowns.

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5435251-newsom-california-redistricting-push/

California Republican to introduce bill banning mid-decade redistricting

Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) said he plans to introduce legislation on Tuesday that would ban all middecade redistricting efforts nationwide and nullify any new maps approved before the 2030 census.

In a statement Monday, Kiley took aim at his own governor, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has said he is exploring several options for California to take on its own redistricting push, in response to Texas Republicans’ move to redraw their state’s maps.

Newsom said he is working with the Legislature to bring a new map directly to voters for approval in a special election this November.

“Gavin Newsom is trying to subvert the will of voters and do lasting damage to democracy in California,” Kiley said in his statement.

“Fortunately, Congress has the ability to protect California voters using its authority under the Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution. This will also stop a damaging redistricting war from breaking out across the country,” he continued.

Kiley, in his statement, did not mention Texas, which has proceeded with a midcycle push to approve new maps that would give Republicans in the state five more pickup opportunities ahead of the 2026 midterms. Texas Republicans proceeded with that plan at President Trump’s urging.

Any similar initiative in California could leave Kiley vulnerable as a Republican congressman in a heavily Democratic state.

Newsom, who met with Texas Democrats late last month, said any move would be “predicated on Texas moving forward.”

 

[selmaborntidefan]

Let's cut to the chase: this ain't the 1930s and Big Labor hasn't had any REAL pull on a national level in this country since maybe - MAYBE - the 1960s. But if this is true, it should serve as a reminder that Kamala Harris wasn't a very good politician at all, didn't know how to play the "grin and nod when you want to kick them in the knee" game, and would have been a disaster in the White House politically.

Kamala Harris pressured Teamsters union boss Sean OBrien for an endorsement during 2024 presidential campaign

Now I would hasten to add this: I tend to be skeptical of self-serving accounts regardless of whomever is making them, so there's probably SOME truth to what he's saying, but yes, it's also probably exaggerated. But on the other hand, the fact is that the Teamsters Union DID NOT endorse the Democrat for President for the first time since the 20th century. And I can 100% believe Harris went in with the "whatcha gonna do, vote for the Republicans" approach. And while I understand that thought, you still have to play that - yes, it's stupid - game. You have to court, you have to persuade. And if you think you can just walk into the room and they're supposed to be glad you're there, you're honestly in the wrong game.

 

[CrimsonJazz]

Georgia Judge Rules Against Democrats Blocking Republicans on Board of Elections

Democrats in Georgia have lost their effort to block two Republican commissioners from sitting on Fulton County’s Board of Elections because of their political views. What is most striking ab…

jonathanturley.org

Democrats in Georgia have lost their effort to block two Republican commissioners from sitting on Fulton County’s Board of Elections because of their political views. What is most striking about this effort was not just the raw partisanship but the utter lack of legal authority of Democrats to refuse to recognize the duly selected GOP members.

For months, the board has blocked two Republican nominees: Jason Frazier and Julie Adams. Fulton County Commissioner Marvin Arrington declared that “I think the Republican party ought to take a look at their people and not nominate people that are on the far right and nominate people that are in the center.”

While self-proclaimed defenders of democracy often seem to have no qualms about curtailing democratic choices from ballot cleansing to jurisdiction flight, this is particularly raw and outrageous. There is no law supporting this action and the state law is clear on the need to seat the GOP commissioners.