Cortez Masto narrowly bested the Trumpublican Laxalt in Nevada, to give the Democrats 50 seats and the tie-breaker.
With control of the Senate off the table, it will be interesting to see if the GOP backs off its support for Herschel Walker in Georgia.
Democrats dont have the house. All
Projections show gop, 222 all they need is 218. Thats control, of impeachment, the purse, and investigations. So joe, hunter and fbi will be investigated, imleachment could follow. Nbc, abc, fox, and cbs show projection of gop majority. Dems set the rules, on impeachment, as they did with thw nuclear option.
Impeached for what? McCarthy is already being pressured by individuals more nuts than him, which is why Boehner and Ryan got the heck out of there. With a small minority he’s has to present a case to the rest of the party, which may actually include a couple with a few brain cells.
You actually have to have a rationale to impeach. Trump incited a riot and incompetently tried to overturn election results, as well as withheld military aid to a sovereign country in exchange for political favors. You actually have to write up articles and present a case. This isn’t an eight figure making FOX News propaganda artist making up crap for the brain dead trolls to consume.
The only thing necessary for impeachment is a majority vote in the House. Period. High crimes and misdemeanors are whatever they say they are, and that decision is immune from judicial review. America has to hope that there are some Republicans who actually have the integrity to require a justification. Otherwise, they can just keep impeaching Biden once a month until their base is tired of it. Common sense says they shouldn’t bother because they won’t get a conviction or even a majority in the Senate, but when did common sense ever influence them?
That’s the point, McCarthy won’t be able to wrangle a small minority, and the justification will go to the level of unreasonableness. They could vote to impeach perpetually, but they also have to have hearings that expose the logic behind it. It may speak to the crazies, but considering how many of Trump’s supported candidates lost, do they really want to present the crux of their evidence featuring Giuliani-esque assertions?
The thing that keeps me up nights is if Sinema or Manchin decide to leave the party. They haven’t been part of it to begin with but their D, no matter how fractious, is what have then the majority. If they change horses midstream, Ds lose the majority.
Biden has gotten judges approved that he would not have if the Senate were GOP controlled. Manchin is from a State that gave Trump his second largest margin of victory (after Wyoming) in 2020. It’s to Manchin’s credit that he didn’t switch parties. Sinema is a different story.
Kyrsten Sinema campaigned as a moderate Democrat. It is to her credit that she has voted as one since her election. The problem with the most passionate advocates on both the left and right is they like to insist on the ideological purity of Democratic and GOP candidates and elected officials. That is of course the opposite of the “big tent” that is necessary to becoming and remaining a majority party. Last week at a rally Kari Lake asked if there were any McCain supporters present. She then said, “if there are, get the hell out.” Saying you don’t want the votes of moderate Republicans in purple states is not the kind of thing that helps you get elected governor. That will still be true even if she somehow manages to eke out a win. As a Republican who still dreams of a day responsible adults will be in charge of my party again, all I can say to Democrats angry at Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin is go ahead and chase them and all the other moderates out of the Democratic Party. I’ll even make it a trade. You can have Kari Lake and Blake Masters in exchange.
The problem is what’s considered a moderate has changed. As I’ve said before, Eisenhower would have been considered a socialist with his investments in infrastructure, and was a Republican. It’s heresy to the level of ‘far left’ to suggest the types of things he did in modern times.
Anything that’s ever an investment in anything that isn’t giving some private company or top earner a giant tax cut is considered ‘radical left’ now.
Manchin is the biggest hypocrite of them all, because he claims to be worried about spending and often votes bills down on it – yet the citizens in the state he represents are the second most reliant in the country on federal tax dollars. And this applies across Republicans – the voters VOTE for the individuals that cut the policies the voters take advantage of.
If you applied Republican economic polices on a micro level, down to the state with federal dollars, and down to the county with red counties supporting their own tax dollar pool, and blue supporting their own urban areas with their tax dollar pool, rural American would look like Ukraine right now. That’s the irony of it all. No ‘red wave’ rural county would ever be able to afford minimal public services based on the policies the people they vote for implement. That’s why Manchin is a hypocrite.
The question of being a moderate has always been in relation to what? When I was in college, I was part of a group of students campaigning for students to “vote no” in a referendum about whether the New York Public Interest Group (NYPIRG) should be funded from the mandatory student activity fee. The PIRGs were started in various states by Ralph Nader and when he came to speak on campus we protested outside. Ralph Nader called us fascist sons and daughters of the ruling class. Fast forward almost a decade and I was in my 2nd year of law school and president of my school’s Federalist Society chapter. I answered a question from my Con Law professor about how segregation definitely impacted interstate commerce justifying the 1964 Civil Rights Act as proper under the Interstate Commerce Clause. He then said “Oh the moderate position from the Federalist Society.” Finally, the previous summer I had worked at an unpaid internship and worked nights at a pizzeria in the Bronx. One night while we were making dough the owner said to me that he thought there should be mandatory sterilization of all women on welfare. I told him I thought that was horrible and that I would rather see welfare eliminated than allow such a program to go into effect. He said “You know what the problem with you is Mike? You’re just too damn liberal.” So that’s me, a just too damn liberal moderate fascist son of the ruling class. Too paraphrase Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School, want to look moderate? Hang out with arch conservatives or liberals.
Manchin is a republican. He works for them, period. He’s done several things in purely bad faith that prove it. The best thing the Democrats could do is tell Joe to pound sand and throw him out of the party if such a thing is even possible. They’ve let him control the country as emperor for years now, and he’s done the will of the GOP making fools of the Dems repeatedly via bad faith negotiations and breaking promises. Make him just own it and he’ll be done. Nobody will vote for him as a Republican. Make him choose sides or go home.
I’m still surprised that stroke victim defeated snake oil salesman. There was a lot of talk on these pages about his plummeting stock.
Fetterman was a rising rock star before the stroke. I put him in the same category as Cory Booker. I’m more surprised that people are willing to automatically discount him because of a stroke.
Pennsylvania really responded to Fetterman’s sincerity. The voters were apparently able to discern that he actually cares about Pennsylvania, whereas Oz only cared about getting elected.
The fact that he looks like a less articulate version of Frankenstein, and dresses like cold-weather Spicoli, turned out to be less important than the fact that he has always gone all-in on the rebirth of Western Pennsylvania. The big galoot’s track record, especially of fighting to revitalize steel country, brings him a lot of love, and deservedly so. He really has a great story if you read up on him, and I find it refreshing that voters somewhere are willing to look past superficial things and vote for the guy’s big heart. And he’s no dummy. He has a Master’s degree from Harvard.
(I have to say that I did not have that much confidence in the electorate, and I am thrilled to have been completely wrong.)
Lots of the DNC are looking at how Fetterman won…relatively moderately liberal. He decided to be pro-fracking, supported abortion rights and managed to weave the stroke into health care reform and resiliency. If there is any knock against him it’s that he’s not really working class.
I’m still surprised in 2022 that complete idiots still exist that don’t realize minor strokes that cause speech problems are common and can be overcome 100% with therapy. Yet we still have tons of people acting like it’s the middle ages and he’s been struck cripple by a curse.
He has trouble talking. That’s all. He’ll get over that with a lot of hard work. Many period have recovered from worse strokes. If you know the actor Timothy Omundson (best known as Lassiter from Psych) he lost the ABILITY to speak, write, walk, and do a lot of other stuff. Years later, he’s back acting. His mind? Never went away. His intelligence never went anywhere.
But this is politics, so suddenly Fetterman has been reduced into some kind of zombie just because he commits the unforgivable sin of being bad on TV.
“Herschel Walker who???”, says the chorus.
I expect the GOP to double down on Walker.
Good. Maybe the GOP will now move on from Trump.
Not probable but of course I’d like to see it. All this rooting for Democrats goes against my nature. But on all the lists of potential Republican candidates for 2024, there is not a single one I can see myself voting for.
Anyone who voted against certifying or had anything to do with the amicus suit in 2020, anyone who identifies as Christian Nationalist, anyone who proclaims their Trumpiness, anyone with a Tea Party background, anyone who supports Putin or wants to undercut Ukraine: no effing way. Which seems to include just about all of them. The only two major Republicans I can think of who don’t check any of these boxes are Romney and McConnell.
The only philosophy that the GOP currently espouses is power at any price. Loved the tweet from election denier Sen. Hawley this morning: “The old party is dead. Time to bury it. Build something new.” This is the GOP Senator who gave a fist bump to the people who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6 before fleeing.
The GOP has no ideas, other than to give corporations and the rich tax breaks, and ‘prove’ government doesn’t work by sabotaging it internally to begin with. Doesn’t take much to create a self-fulfilling prophecy by obstructing anything good that could be created and saying ‘I told you it wouldn’t work.’
Anything that isn’t giving the Fortune 500 and donors a boatload of money to do stock buybacks or buy other companies to raise prices and cut jobs, is ‘socialism’ according to them. Eisenhower would have been called socialist by today’s standards.
Look up the grand Foxconn ‘jobs’ strategy by the GOP in Wisconsin to see what a monumental failure this type of policy is, and always will be. Look up FTX’s crypto collapse this past week to see how effective a ‘free market’ is on it’s own.
All Trump-ism and FOX News do are get the rich a tribalism scapegoat to say ‘those people’ that don’t look like you are causing all your pain and problems, and then the brainwashed follow like an Orwellian novel. Still waiting for that immigrant caravan and the cities to burn to the ground like was predicted years ago. Meanwhile, the upper class that run the corporation continue steal the productivity of the lower class and manipulate the casino trickle-down economy for their own gains.
You have to admit the GOP’s strategy to capture the working class has been impressive. They have managed to get white, poorly educated Americans to vote against their own economic interests in order to support fat-cats who would never give them the time of day.
The party strategists reasoned that they could pull this off with no concessions at all on policy, but on the strength of cultural propaganda alone.
And they were right.
I honestly blame Romney for this fiasco. If he closed the deal in 2012, there would be no Donald Trump. Hillary wouldn’t have lost her mind. She may even have been President after two terms of Romney. I was a big Paul Ryan fan. He had a great career ahead of him. Too many “what ifs” but here we are. Obamas second term caused a lot of anger and division in this country. His hatred of conservatives was palpable. I also see him as the inspiration for the millennials and “wokism”.
What a clueless view….
Please be respectful. I never agree with you but I don’t insult you.
There’s some truth to that, although I don’t see Obama as a real cultural progressive. He came along very slowly on gay marriage, for example.
Mitt was unable to motivate the right, and you can understand that. In an ideal world of thoughtful, non-tribal voters, he could say “Don’t give Obama credit for Obamacare. I invented that shit in Massachusetts. They should call it Mittcare.” But in today’s loony world, that would actually cost him supporters, since hatred of Obamacare is integral to right-wing dogma. Mitt’s brand, such as it is, is that he is a decent, compassionate, reasonable, pragmatic conservative – exactly what the right hates most! Given that, it’s not surprising that he couldn’t inspire a mad conservative dash to the voting booths.
The orange man, on the other hand, was able to move that group to action, in the voting booths and (unfortunately) in the streets. Whether we like it or not, Donald Trump was the man for our times, and sometimes you just have to acknowledge a man’s impact on history, for good or ill. (Like Time choosing Hitler as man of the year.)
Mitt “tied” a dog to the car roof…that’s real compassion. 🙂
It’s very difficult to defeat a sitting President in today’s politics. Even someone as bad as Trump got around 74 million votes. Silly to blame Romney for losing in 2012.
I agree. That’s why I referenced Obamas second term. He played the role of a good social moderate his first term. But he was just the start. Definitely not the single defining factor.
I’m not sure he could excite enough voters to get elected but I think that Larry Hogan would be a great President.
As a former Republican I understand the feeling of strangeness when voting Democrat. At some point you have to come to terms with the reality that the party you grew up with has left you behind though. Those things you want them to purge are now core philosophy for a majority of the base and people who vote R. I hate it too, but I could no longer support the GOP and have moved on.
They can’t. It’s a cult. They can’t afford the cult turning on them. He has an instant third party. Think Perot but weaponized and brainwashed with 30% of the national vote. They’ll immediately lose every single election and vanish with democrats ruling everything and the GOP sharing second place with the Trumpys.
I think they both parties still want Georgia, if only because that seat represents “fuck you Joe Manchin” money.
As of Georgia, the Republicains will press for Walker to win. If Bidens 40 year high, inflation keeps up. Gas prices, food cost etc he and dems will loose in the presidental election. Last poll i saw show 75% of america dont want Biden to run again. Kamala is a brain dead do nothing, and no dem can be put on the ticket, Gavin newsom i think not, and not many others either. Do a Trump desantis ticket its over.
There’s nothing more brain dead than thinking inflation just gets created out of thin air within less than two years. Maybe if Trump were doing something for the lower and middle class besides funneling money in giant corporate tax breaks and letting his buddies get away with business loan fraud during COVID, while doing nothing during any of it, these conditions wouldn’t exist.
I wonder if America is ready for another breakthrough.
The Democrats have exactly one young star – Mayor Pete. He has a flawless resume, is not radical, is brilliant, has a solid military record, can think on his feet, and handles press conferences as well as JFK. In a sense, he is the gay JFK – with a much higher IQ and a better work ethic.
If he were straight he would already be the anointed successor.
But …is America ready to vote for the gay JFK?
I agree it’s time for young blood and a thinker, wish country could see person and not gender race or religion he would have my vote
This.
The concept that nobody can beat Trump or DeSantis, or a Trump/DeSantis ticket (which will never happen…both have too much ego and don’t play well with others) is absurd.
Joe goddamn Biden beat him. Biden! Two time loser crazy uncle Joe! That proves that. Trump is the biggest loser in history. And now he’s responsible for losing bigger on the midterms than anyone in history. Without him and his influence the GOP should have trounced the dems. Thanks to him and his efforts, nada.
Can Biden get reelected? Can kamala win? No idea. But any number of others can
Including mayor Pete who they should have run last time, bad with labor or not. Isn’t like Biden has done great things for labor.
Trump/DeSantis is not possible because you can’t have two people from the same state on a single ticket if I recall correctly.
Hey! That’s *holding*. Where’s the flag?
*Grumpy Cat good .jpg*
Is Uncle Scoopy from Wisconsin? Maybe it was a sports post or politics, but I feel like that’s true.
Hmm. How does that fact relate to bean prices? Not that being from a state or even choosing to live there says nothing about a person. But, OTOH, I don’t extend my beliefs against the average Russian, not just their politics but also the culture, to the individual Russian.
The average Russian is aggressive, Moscow-centric, & believes eg that Ukrainians (who, like Russians, are also Slavic) are ugly & stupid. It’s embarrassing & heads must roll if ugly, stupid, inferior Ukr forces can defeat our superior master race in battle. He feels likewise above the people of all ex-Soviet vassal states. The problem is not just politics, but a pervasive mentality in that country that is centuries old.
Yet I have had Russian & Wisconsin-origin bosses & peers, or fellow square-dancers, whom I have liked, respected & been buddies with. Uncle Scoopy could be, let’s say, conservative-leaning. I cried foul when he suggested he was tempted to vote GOP. But despite my low opinion of conservative talking points, I’m confident that when it comes to solving particular problems, despite that backdrop, his reasoning will be as sound as mine. His take sometimes supercedes my own. By which I only mean I can be wrong & he can be the one to set me straight.
I know a little of his age & experience. Not a lot. It’s not what matters. He’s proven he brings us a point of view that’s worth directing a stray thought to about many things.
Who’s Russian?
Just a rhetorical device. If I won’t even prejudge a person for being Russian, why would I, to one whose only sin is being “from Wisconsin”. What’s the expected inference? You’re from Wisconsin, therefore what?