sycasey said:

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Unit2Sucks said:

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Big C said:

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tequila4kapp said:

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Big C said:

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tequila4kapp said:

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This election is over but for some counting and Georgia's run-off.

The underlying fundamentals were so skewed toward Rs that I am suspicious there's something more fundamental at play rather than anti-trump, abortion, etc. It has to be something like Ds on the ground get out the vote game developed during the Covid shutdown were leveraged to great effect. It's the most logical explanation to me, but we will learn in time.

In the meantime, Ds get some time to rightly gloat and Rs still have a solid path to quietly capturing the House and Senate. TBD.

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How, in your opinion, were "the underlying fundamentals... so skewed toward Rs"?

For me, the one thing that comes to mind is the way that the midterms have tended to go against the President that has just taken office two years prior, which, in this case, happens to be away from the Dems, toward the Republicans.

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Biden massively underwater. 75-80% of people saying country is going in the wrong direction. Very high number of people saying inflation was their major issue. Historical trend of party in power losing seats. This will be 1st ever party in power with underwater president has over 195 seats.

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If that's true that "75-80% of people saying country is going in the wrong direction", how, specifically, did they pin that on ol' Joe?

It's like inflation, how, specifically, is that Biden's fault? Sure, the Republicans tried to pin it on him, but I didn't sense that they had their own plan to counter it, did they? Do they?

Everybody hates inflation and it's an aspect of the economy that everybody sees, firsthand, all the time. But I feel like, in general, the economy's in decent shape.

Americans (and, heck, people everywhere) like to gripe and blame things on the politicians in office, but when push came to shove and people looked at alternatives, they were like, "Biden? He's doing okay."

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Exactly, most democrats think that Trumpism and the fascists have done and continue to do damage to our country. SCOTUS is taking our country in a direction that a lot of people don't want it to go. The Dobbs decision was one of the most unpopular decisions we've seen, and there were more than a few other decisions that rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. There are other fundamental rights that have been implicated as well with the recent jurisprudence. How you interpret "going in the wrong direction" is pretty important.

I do think that t4k is correct however that the fundamentals favored the GOP. Inflation is a huge problem and correcting it is very likely to cause a recession. The duration and impact of that inflation is of course yet to be known. The general fear around what's coming for us with the economy is a pretty huge headwind.

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It seems pretty clear that at least some of Joe Biden's low approval rating is from people who think he's not doing ENOUGH to stop the Republicans.

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One of the fascinating things about our ongoing political realignment is the massive political incentive Democrats have to keep women unmarried. https://t.co/M4xrcKLOhV

— Mollie (@MZHemingway) November 9, 2022

It does not appear the Georgia Senate runoff will decide who controls the Senate: pic.twitter.com/K0eJB5Juet

— Conor Sen (@conorsen) November 10, 2022

okaydo said:

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movielover said:

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Tucker Carlson calls out GOP leadership... to find new jobs.

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We can’t figure out why so many Republicans were surprised by Tuesday night’s results. #redwave pic.twitter.com/KOlQ3zNgfp

— All In with Chris Hayes (@allinwithchris) November 10, 2022

tequila4kapp said:

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dajo9 said:

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Dear Baby Boomers,
Meet your new overlords

Kenneth Mejia’s campaign manager @theglowingstars has a message:

“it wasn’t enough that th they had to drag kenneth’s name through the mud, they attacked some of the youngest members of the campaign for daring to speak out. Here’s what I have to say about that: FUCK THAT!” pic.twitter.com/jtm0a5miqy

— People’s City Council - Los Angeles (@PplsCityCouncil) November 9, 2022

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Thankfully I will only have to live with the idiocy of people like this guy for a couple of decades before I'm pushing up daisies. Too bad I may not be around to see the pendulum swing the other way when their stupid ideas fail.

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movielover said:

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One of the fascinating things about our ongoing political realignment is the massive political incentive Democrats have to keep women unmarried. https://t.co/M4xrcKLOhV

— Mollie (@MZHemingway) November 9, 2022

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Eastern Oregon Bear said:

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I don't know anything about Kenneth Mejia, but at some point us boomers need to step aside and let the younger generations take over. Some will prove to be mistakes but some will likely have some good ideas. Certainly us old fogies haven't been spectacularly good and we're all getting older and older.

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calbear93 said:

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Unit2Sucks said:

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tequila4kapp said:

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This election is over but for some counting and Georgia's run-off.

The underlying fundamentals were so skewed toward Rs that I am suspicious there's something more fundamental at play rather than anti-trump, abortion, etc. It has to be something like Ds on the ground get out the vote game developed during the Covid shutdown were leveraged to great effect. It's the most logical explanation to me, but we will learn in time.

In the meantime, Ds get some time to rightly gloat and Rs still have a solid path to quietly capturing the House and Senate. TBD.

---

The bigger picture is that this country doesn't trust Trump or the extremists controlling the GOP. According to exit polls, Democrats won independents nationwide (49-47) which is crazy in a midterm with economic challenges and Biden's approval numbers. Dobbs can only count for so much. The GOP lost with moderates 56-41. Let that sink in. Losing the middle by 15 points in a midterm with these fundamentals should be ringing alarm bells. But for gerrymandering, the GOP would be dead in the water. This was a repudiation of the modern GOP.

I don't think this is just about ground game or get out the vote. The GOP always does a great job turning out its voters but they are fundamentally selling an unpopular product. At some point the GOP will have to reckon with the fact that the GOP has consciously decided to serve only a fraction of its potential base.

---

I have never hidden my conservative bias and disdain for liberal fiscal policies. If the party of election deniers has lost my vote and has caused someone like me who hates the failed liberal fiscal policies with a passion and believes in strong law and order to nonetheless commit never to vote for a dishonest individual who promotes election lies, the party has to move on from Trump and populism and get back to responsible governing. Hopefully this gives them the courage to get back to focusing on promoting ideas and not on tribal wars and Trump appeasement.

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tequila4kapp said:

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movielover said:

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One of the fascinating things about our ongoing political realignment is the massive political incentive Democrats have to keep women unmarried. https://t.co/M4xrcKLOhV

— Mollie (@MZHemingway) November 9, 2022

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I like MH a lot but she misses the boat here. The correct question is how do Rs convince unmarried women their positions are better? Or how do they find solutions which meet UW needs? Just like with Hispanics X number of years ago…you don't cede a demographic to your opponent you do what I suggest above.

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tequila4kapp said:

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calbear93 said:

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Unit2Sucks said:

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tequila4kapp said:

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This election is over but for some counting and Georgia's run-off.

The underlying fundamentals were so skewed toward Rs that I am suspicious there's something more fundamental at play rather than anti-trump, abortion, etc. It has to be something like Ds on the ground get out the vote game developed during the Covid shutdown were leveraged to great effect. It's the most logical explanation to me, but we will learn in time.

In the meantime, Ds get some time to rightly gloat and Rs still have a solid path to quietly capturing the House and Senate. TBD.

---

The bigger picture is that this country doesn't trust Trump or the extremists controlling the GOP. According to exit polls, Democrats won independents nationwide (49-47) which is crazy in a midterm with economic challenges and Biden's approval numbers. Dobbs can only count for so much. The GOP lost with moderates 56-41. Let that sink in. Losing the middle by 15 points in a midterm with these fundamentals should be ringing alarm bells. But for gerrymandering, the GOP would be dead in the water. This was a repudiation of the modern GOP.

I don't think this is just about ground game or get out the vote. The GOP always does a great job turning out its voters but they are fundamentally selling an unpopular product. At some point the GOP will have to reckon with the fact that the GOP has consciously decided to serve only a fraction of its potential base.

---

I have never hidden my conservative bias and disdain for liberal fiscal policies. If the party of election deniers has lost my vote and has caused someone like me who hates the failed liberal fiscal policies with a passion and believes in strong law and order to nonetheless commit never to vote for a dishonest individual who promotes election lies, the party has to move on from Trump and populism and get back to responsible governing. Hopefully this gives them the courage to get back to focusing on promoting ideas and not on tribal wars and Trump appeasement.

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I said something similar. If T has lost people like me…his window has closed. I disagree about Rs needing abandon populism. The emerging coalition of working class, Hispanics and African Americans is the demographic future of the party (+finding a way to appeal to suburban and single women).

Re women, see Michigan's constitutional amendment re Abortion. Abortion is a fundamental right, never allowed to ignore health of the mom BUT the government CAN "regulate" from the point of viability. Uh…that's a position huge swaths of Rs would have been on board with pre-Dobbs but today that's sold as a D win. Time for conservatives to wake up.

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tequila4kapp said:

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okaydo said:

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tequila4kapp said:

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dajo9 said:

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Dear Baby Boomers,
Meet your new overlords

Kenneth Mejia’s campaign manager @theglowingstars has a message:

“it wasn’t enough that th they had to drag kenneth’s name through the mud, they attacked some of the youngest members of the campaign for daring to speak out. Here’s what I have to say about that: FUCK THAT!” pic.twitter.com/jtm0a5miqy

— People’s City Council - Los Angeles (@PplsCityCouncil) November 9, 2022

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Thankfully I will only have to live with the idiocy of people like this guy for a couple of decades before I'm pushing up daisies. Too bad I may not be around to see the pendulum swing the other way when their stupid ideas fail.

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How was he able to beat his opponent by so much?

WOW, we won in ALL 15 City Council Districts! We especially dominated in CD1, CD13, and CD14!

Which council district are you representing fam? 🔥 pic.twitter.com/UTY8e8QTTx

— Kenneth Mejia, CPA (@kennethmejiaLA) November 10, 2022

You may be confused - why didn’t we already know what the LAPD budget was? But the city keeps the public out of this information AND THE @latimes MISREPORTS IT!

Jane was like uhhhh pg174 of the mayors budget says $3B. Made the graph that became @kennethmejiaLA’s first billboard https://t.co/vCbzqxBNDl pic.twitter.com/3BMnvWxMkI

— People’s City Council - Los Angeles (@PplsCityCouncil) November 9, 2022

Jane and Kenneth made public education the campaign’s number one priority. They used billboards, TikTok, Pikachu, Corgis to do it. And they fucking won. More votes than either Caruso or Bass.

We just witnessed history happen. Hope you all can appreciate this moment with us. pic.twitter.com/73l337Phh5

— People’s City Council - Los Angeles (@PplsCityCouncil) November 9, 2022

Meanwhile, his opponent hasn't called to concede.

What is this about? Now we have yet another city councilmember and career politician who is refusing to call and concede to the person who defeated him? https://t.co/qb2JI4511L pic.twitter.com/qffwMERl9Z

— Alissa Walker (@awalkerinLA) November 9, 2022

This dude would even tweet the salaries of LAPD officers. Like this guy Cory Palka made $401,461 in salary and benefits in 2020, the year before he retired.

Hi @ChavezRavineLA !

Taxpayers in the City of LA paid a total of $401,461.31 for LAPD Police Commander CORY PALKA in 2020 💰:

Base Earnings: 236,104.46
Overtime Earnings: 7,860.34
Other Pay: 29,224.51
Health Benefits: 17,799.00
Retirement Benefits: 110,473.00

— Kenneth Mejia, CPA (@kennethmejiaLA) August 10, 2021

Did a former #LAPD captain help cover up sex abuse claims against a powerful media mogul? The stunning investigation of Retired LAPD Commander Cory Palka and his handling of sex assault allegations against former CBS CEO Les Moonves. Tonight at 11 on ABC7 https://t.co/dh12i137DL pic.twitter.com/OHQHnY3zRx

— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) November 3, 2022

CBS, LAPD captain led cover-up of sexual assault report against Moonves, AG says. #lapd names retired Commander Cory Palka. NYAG alleges he gave up victim info to CBS and Moonves ⁦@MegJamesLAT⁩ https://t.co/ECN9CRTp56

— Richard Winton (@LAcrimes) November 3, 2022

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tequila4kapp said:

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calbear93 said:

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Unit2Sucks said:

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tequila4kapp said:

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This election is over but for some counting and Georgia's run-off.

The underlying fundamentals were so skewed toward Rs that I am suspicious there's something more fundamental at play rather than anti-trump, abortion, etc. It has to be something like Ds on the ground get out the vote game developed during the Covid shutdown were leveraged to great effect. It's the most logical explanation to me, but we will learn in time.

In the meantime, Ds get some time to rightly gloat and Rs still have a solid path to quietly capturing the House and Senate. TBD.

---

The bigger picture is that this country doesn't trust Trump or the extremists controlling the GOP. According to exit polls, Democrats won independents nationwide (49-47) which is crazy in a midterm with economic challenges and Biden's approval numbers. Dobbs can only count for so much. The GOP lost with moderates 56-41. Let that sink in. Losing the middle by 15 points in a midterm with these fundamentals should be ringing alarm bells. But for gerrymandering, the GOP would be dead in the water. This was a repudiation of the modern GOP.

I don't think this is just about ground game or get out the vote. The GOP always does a great job turning out its voters but they are fundamentally selling an unpopular product. At some point the GOP will have to reckon with the fact that the GOP has consciously decided to serve only a fraction of its potential base.

---

I have never hidden my conservative bias and disdain for liberal fiscal policies. If the party of election deniers has lost my vote and has caused someone like me who hates the failed liberal fiscal policies with a passion and believes in strong law and order to nonetheless commit never to vote for a dishonest individual who promotes election lies, the party has to move on from Trump and populism and get back to responsible governing. Hopefully this gives them the courage to get back to focusing on promoting ideas and not on tribal wars and Trump appeasement.

---

I said something similar. If T has lost people like me…his window has closed. I disagree about Rs needing abandon populism. The emerging coalition of working class, Hispanics and African Americans is the demographic future of the party (+finding a way to appeal to suburban and single women).

Re women, see Michigan's constitutional amendment re Abortion. Abortion is a fundamental right, never allowed to ignore health of the mom BUT the government CAN "regulate" from the point of viability. Uh…that's a position huge swaths of Rs would have been on board with pre-Dobbs but today that's sold as a D win. Time for conservatives to wake up.

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Unit2Sucks said:

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calbear93 said:

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Unit2Sucks said:

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tequila4kapp said:

---

This election is over but for some counting and Georgia's run-off.

The underlying fundamentals were so skewed toward Rs that I am suspicious there's something more fundamental at play rather than anti-trump, abortion, etc. It has to be something like Ds on the ground get out the vote game developed during the Covid shutdown were leveraged to great effect. It's the most logical explanation to me, but we will learn in time.

In the meantime, Ds get some time to rightly gloat and Rs still have a solid path to quietly capturing the House and Senate. TBD.

---

The bigger picture is that this country doesn't trust Trump or the extremists controlling the GOP. According to exit polls, Democrats won independents nationwide (49-47) which is crazy in a midterm with economic challenges and Biden's approval numbers. Dobbs can only count for so much. The GOP lost with moderates 56-41. Let that sink in. Losing the middle by 15 points in a midterm with these fundamentals should be ringing alarm bells. But for gerrymandering, the GOP would be dead in the water. This was a repudiation of the modern GOP.

I don't think this is just about ground game or get out the vote. The GOP always does a great job turning out its voters but they are fundamentally selling an unpopular product. At some point the GOP will have to reckon with the fact that the GOP has consciously decided to serve only a fraction of its potential base.

---

I have never hidden my conservative bias and disdain for liberal fiscal policies. If the party of election deniers has lost my vote and has caused someone like me who hates the failed liberal fiscal policies with a passion and believes in strong law and order to nonetheless commit never to vote for a dishonest individual who promotes election lies, the party has to move on from Trump and populism and get back to responsible governing. Hopefully this gives them the courage to get back to focusing on promoting ideas and not on tribal wars and Trump appeasement.

---

Unfortunately for this country, you and t4k hold a minority view within the GOP. Trump represents the bigger view. People like movielover may be a minority conservative view on BI (now that so many Trump nuts have been banned) but it's definitely the majority view in the party. Obviously I don't see eye to eye with either wing of the GOP (although I *used* to be pretty close to your fiscal view) but I think it's a worthwhile POV to be represented. Unfortunately it requires too much 'splaining and most of the GOP doesn't really care so the party leaders doubled own on white grievance and culture wars and that led to people no longer caring about traditional GOP values. Now all that's left is culture war and white grievance and it is what it is. The GOP will be wrecked for a while.

concordtom said:

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That's interesting because Dems typically win the popular vote in presidential elections (despite losing the electoral college count).
And sad/funny that the conclusion is a call to focus more on gerrymandering. That's actually a really bad idea, as gerrymandering needs to be stopped by all everywhere, not taken to further extreme.

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They still aren't done counting the votes. Now a 6M vote lead isn't something I expect to evaporate but I do think it'll shrink by at least a few million votes.

I do think that this is largely a combination of both gerrymandering and the fact that more GOP senate seats were up this year than Dem seats. In a midterm, senate seats drive turnout.

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DiabloWags said:

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tequila4kapp said:

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BUT this billboard goes to my point. He's actually just got a lot of vague liberal "stuff" - not really concrete policies and certainly no authority to make policy change. A couple of years ago when conservatives complained about lifeguard captains making the same kind of money as a means of showing state government was bloated it was pooh-poohed. This guy does it with cop salaries and it works.

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Anyone can look up the salaries of State and Local Employees.
It's easily accessible and you dont even have to be connected to George Soros.

Transparent California

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calbear93 said:

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Unit2Sucks said:

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calbear93 said:

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Unit2Sucks said:

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tequila4kapp said:

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This election is over but for some counting and Georgia's run-off.

The underlying fundamentals were so skewed toward Rs that I am suspicious there's something more fundamental at play rather than anti-trump, abortion, etc. It has to be something like Ds on the ground get out the vote game developed during the Covid shutdown were leveraged to great effect. It's the most logical explanation to me, but we will learn in time.

In the meantime, Ds get some time to rightly gloat and Rs still have a solid path to quietly capturing the House and Senate. TBD.

---

The bigger picture is that this country doesn't trust Trump or the extremists controlling the GOP. According to exit polls, Democrats won independents nationwide (49-47) which is crazy in a midterm with economic challenges and Biden's approval numbers. Dobbs can only count for so much. The GOP lost with moderates 56-41. Let that sink in. Losing the middle by 15 points in a midterm with these fundamentals should be ringing alarm bells. But for gerrymandering, the GOP would be dead in the water. This was a repudiation of the modern GOP.

I don't think this is just about ground game or get out the vote. The GOP always does a great job turning out its voters but they are fundamentally selling an unpopular product. At some point the GOP will have to reckon with the fact that the GOP has consciously decided to serve only a fraction of its potential base.

---

I have never hidden my conservative bias and disdain for liberal fiscal policies. If the party of election deniers has lost my vote and has caused someone like me who hates the failed liberal fiscal policies with a passion and believes in strong law and order to nonetheless commit never to vote for a dishonest individual who promotes election lies, the party has to move on from Trump and populism and get back to responsible governing. Hopefully this gives them the courage to get back to focusing on promoting ideas and not on tribal wars and Trump appeasement.

---

Unfortunately for this country, you and t4k hold a minority view within the GOP. Trump represents the bigger view. People like movielover may be a minority conservative view on BI (now that so many Trump nuts have been banned) but it's definitely the majority view in the party. Obviously I don't see eye to eye with either wing of the GOP (although I *used* to be pretty close to your fiscal view) but I think it's a worthwhile POV to be represented. Unfortunately it requires too much 'splaining and most of the GOP doesn't really care so the party leaders doubled own on white grievance and culture wars and that led to people no longer caring about traditional GOP values. Now all that's left is culture war and white grievance and it is what it is. The GOP will be wrecked for a while.

concordtom said:

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That's interesting because Dems typically win the popular vote in presidential elections (despite losing the electoral college count).
And sad/funny that the conclusion is a call to focus more on gerrymandering. That's actually a really bad idea, as gerrymandering needs to be stopped by all everywhere, not taken to further extreme.

---

They still aren't done counting the votes. Now a 6M vote lead isn't something I expect to evaporate but I do think it'll shrink by at least a few million votes.

I do think that this is largely a combination of both gerrymandering and the fact that more GOP senate seats were up this year than Dem seats. In a midterm, senate seats drive turnout.

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If you are right, the party is done. I think there is a fairly large base that just want fighters on conservative policies but don't care for the divisiveness of Trump or election deniers. And I suspect a big portion of the former republican base left to be independent and some socially conservative democrats became Trumpian republicans. I think most Americans are moderately conservative on economic issues but I may be wrong. If we cater to those folks, I don't care if we lose the Dixiecrats.

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dajo9 said:

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calbear93 said:

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tequila4kapp said:

---

calbear93 said:

---

Unit2Sucks said:

---

tequila4kapp said:

---

This election is over but for some counting and Georgia's run-off.

The underlying fundamentals were so skewed toward Rs that I am suspicious there's something more fundamental at play rather than anti-trump, abortion, etc. It has to be something like Ds on the ground get out the vote game developed during the Covid shutdown were leveraged to great effect. It's the most logical explanation to me, but we will learn in time.

In the meantime, Ds get some time to rightly gloat and Rs still have a solid path to quietly capturing the House and Senate. TBD.

---

The bigger picture is that this country doesn't trust Trump or the extremists controlling the GOP. According to exit polls, Democrats won independents nationwide (49-47) which is crazy in a midterm with economic challenges and Biden's approval numbers. Dobbs can only count for so much. The GOP lost with moderates 56-41. Let that sink in. Losing the middle by 15 points in a midterm with these fundamentals should be ringing alarm bells. But for gerrymandering, the GOP would be dead in the water. This was a repudiation of the modern GOP.

I don't think this is just about ground game or get out the vote. The GOP always does a great job turning out its voters but they are fundamentally selling an unpopular product. At some point the GOP will have to reckon with the fact that the GOP has consciously decided to serve only a fraction of its potential base.

---

I have never hidden my conservative bias and disdain for liberal fiscal policies. If the party of election deniers has lost my vote and has caused someone like me who hates the failed liberal fiscal policies with a passion and believes in strong law and order to nonetheless commit never to vote for a dishonest individual who promotes election lies, the party has to move on from Trump and populism and get back to responsible governing. Hopefully this gives them the courage to get back to focusing on promoting ideas and not on tribal wars and Trump appeasement.

---

I said something similar. If T has lost people like me…his window has closed. I disagree about Rs needing abandon populism. The emerging coalition of working class, Hispanics and African Americans is the demographic future of the party (+finding a way to appeal to suburban and single women).

Re women, see Michigan's constitutional amendment re Abortion. Abortion is a fundamental right, never allowed to ignore health of the mom BUT the government CAN "regulate" from the point of viability. Uh…that's a position huge swaths of Rs would have been on board with pre-Dobbs but today that's sold as a D win. Time for conservatives to wake up.

---

I agree with you. I should have been clearer. I don't want George Wallace / Trump form of populism that appeals to the baser or racist side of Americans. I would want an inclusive Republican Party that focuses on the appeal of fiscal responsibility, encouragement of market competition and robust legal immigration while enforcing borders, less regulation and strong law and order. We would win every election in purple states if we just focused on strong candidates with strong conservative principles. Instead, the party resorts to Qanon / Dixiecrats who would have been popular democrats in the south 60 years ago. Hope this wakes up the party because I think we would have better ideas and appeal on economic issues alone.

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Joe Biden already occupies that space

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