Such a great quote, and true. I’m not so sure trump will be “kicked to the curb,” however. There will be those who make the attempt, but someone like McCarthy, if Republicans have gerrymandered, often with racist intent, in my opinion, their way to a surprisingly narrow “majority” in the House, wishes to be Leader of his party in that body, a handful of trump’s fanatical supporters may demand GOP support for a trump candidacy as the price for supporting him. Not only that. They might, citing fantasy “stolen elections” as the reason that there were a huge number of trump supported candidates for a host of offices defeated in the election (fairly, but when did that ever stop their lies?) threaten to withhold support for a Republican majority in the House if trump is “betrayed” by the GOP by backing a different candidate for president. Someone, let’s say, like DeSantis. In other words, while control of Congress still remains up in the air, astonishingly (based on the widespread pre-election meme that there would be a “Red Wave”), a small group of trump fanatics like Marjorie Taylor-Greene (and McCarthy himself?) could demand GOP loyalty to trump as the price for not insuring Democratic control of the House. A bizarre idea? Perhaps. Control of the House is still uncertain. So far, this election hasn’t gone at all the way the GOP, and a host of “pundits” in the mainstream media, expected. Just an idle thought.
The election is over. The fight for the explanation is just getting started. https://thehill.com/opinion/congres...-for-the-explanation-is-just-getting-started/ excerpt: . . . Han Solo might have been right. In campaigns — especially close campaigns — most explanations are plausible. In some places, some groups of some voters might be motivated because of a specific issue like abortion or inflation. Others might be persuaded to vote by family members or peer pressure. Some because celebrities encouraged them to. There’s probably a voter somewhere who has a thing for “I Voted!” stickers. Odds are good that each of those reasons mattered to someone. Candidates may have won or lost because of where they happened to be running, who they were running against, their voter turnout operation, their famous last name, what and who else was on the ballot, a really clever Tik-Tok, or the weather. In Expert Political Judgement, Philip Tetlock persuasively argues that political pundits — people like me and maybe you — are terrible predictors of political outcomes. We fall in love with our own theories about how politics work, we misread situations, find patterns where there aren’t any, or find the wrong patterns where they do exist. We’re the college students who are worse than lab rats at figuring out where the cheese will be, because we assume patterns when in reality experimenters randomly put the cheese on one side 60 percent of the time, and the rats just play the odds. But pundits and political professionals have never been accused of being overly humble or circumspect. The political industrial complex demands explanations, so those of us who live in it will explain things. more at the link
Some Republican sore LOSERS are talking about how exceeding expectations isn't winning. "The Astros didn't sweep the Phillies but they still won..." It's not really like that but more like the Olympics. The country of Nauru won 84 gold medals and the Chinese and Americans each won 84 gold medals. If you want to call that Nauru not winning, you can. But it isn't capturing the real story.
So the Dems are the underdog like Nauru, although they control the presidency, most of the media, the senate and the house. Okay.
If you could somehow make voting as convenient as tax filing online the Republicans would never win another election. Higher voter turnout always leads to more Democrat victories. The Dems don’t need to focus on their messaging as much as they need to figure out how to get people out to vote. And no I don’t mean just motivating people but like making Election Day a mandatory national holiday with more polling locations all open 24 hours. We need a culture of shooting for 100% participation in the process.
A few things. 1. Because Dems control the presidency is the main reason why they were the underdogs. First term presidents have their party lose seats in the midterms all of the time. That is expected and the norm. More than that, Biden isn't popular, has a low approval rate, and high inflation. That all made Dems more of an underdog. 2. When did you become such a conspiracy theorist? Dems don't control the media.
Democrats only have one mandate this term: make abortion legal again nationwide. This includes ensuring doctors can offer abortion in cases of ectopic pregnancy and late term non-viable pregnancies.
Or its just a long and established history of elections. It's also what Republicans were crowing about before the election. Zero mental gymnastics needed.
A better compromise needs to be found than "pro abortion up to the second of birth" vs. "no abortions at all". Roe vs. Wade was sensible. What DeSantis is doing in Florida is sensible.
There were already restrictions in all 50 states. There was no abortion on demand in any state when Roe v. Wade was the law of the land.
"Up to the minute before birth abortion" is a frequently-invoked boogeyman on the right but I never, ever, see someone actually back up its existence.
Bleak future for this country, guess a good portion of my next paycheck is going to zelensky and 100$ oranges 'It's crazy': Fat Joe is feeling the sting of inflation at the supermarket Even hip-hop icon Fat Joe is feeling the sting of inflation. "My wife is upset with the economy because everybody's doing terrible out here — and we have more friends that are middle class to poor than we have rich friends," the millionaire "Lean Back" singer said in a new edition of Yahoo Finance Presents. "You know, my wife came home from the supermarket. She had one bag. She was like: 'It was $350... one bag.' It's crazy." While the stock market embraced the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI), the reality is that inflation remains stubbornly high and a major problem for households. The October report showed that the overall cost of groceries is up by 12.4% compared to a year ago.
It doesn't exist because you're not going to find a provider who terminates a viable pregnancy at 37+ weeks. At that point, it is simply birth.
