By Whskyjack, a Trail Mix Contributor
Goodness, did you all really believe a Democrat could win a solid Republican district?
Grow up. Politics is a rough sport. The Democrats went into the devil’s lair and grabbed old Nick by the beard. It was a good night.
But get real, come 2018 there are 435 seats up for grabs and a lot of them way more vulnerable than this one.
More Posts by Whskyjack
Craig – your original comment still holds – next time Dems need to run someone who lives in the district. I think that if the guy had lived in the district for a year he would have won. The woman is one of those r’s who the more you know her the more you hate her.
handel is Georgia’s 1st goperette in critterville. they’ve sent a dem fem before, but lately it’s been an old boys club no girls allowed. and it’s not surprising, according to wapo, Besides Georgia, 10 other states have no female members of Congress, according to data compiled by the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, and two states — Mississippi and Vermont — have never sent a woman to Washington.
BB & Poobah, that one factor may have done it- we’ll never know. Bottom line is in the end if you don’t win you lose. Last night Ossoff lost.
I hate to admit it, but I actually agree with Joe Scarborough. When it comes to putting Congressmen and women In Washington, the candidates have to reflect the values of their districts. That doesn’t lead to purity in the party, but it puts people with the right letter after their name in the seats.
pelosi & Hillary weren’t the only boogy-men used to scare off ga voters in goper ads
Published on Jun 21, 2017
A pro-Trump group used snippets from President Obama’s audiobook to Frankenstein an attack ad. Though, to be fair, Frankenstein’s monster was far more coherent.
Like Charlie Brown and Lucy’s football, the Democrats will once again draw the wrong lessons from this defeat. With a shot at picking up a Republican seat, the Dems put up a candidate that didn’t even live in the district he wanted to represent. And he tried to run a “hey, I’m a nice guy” campaign, bringing a spoon to a gunfight. And, just like Hillary, they fell victim to polls that are increasingly unreliable, for reasons we don’t understand yet. The Dems need a new, clear and specific message (beyond “we’re pro-choice”) if they are going to appeal to moderates and independents. And, in my view, the anti-Trump vote is a given (if they turn out.) If they are going to re-take the House, they need to run against the Republican House of Representatives, taking a page out of the Republican anti-Pelosi message, which they’ve successfully exploited for now over a decade.
People are making a big deal out of the wrong point. He grew up in the district and plenty of idiot republicans have won in districts they didn’t live in
He lost because Democrats chicken out
She was spouting all that bullshit about how he didn’t know anything about foreign policy what did she know and they should have attacked her for her loser status and work to destroy Planned Parenthood.
I do agree with Jack on this. Dems can only run the people willing to run
joe Scarborough is an idiot and should not be on the air why do people watch him
My brother lived in the Atlanta area for a while (he was hired to bring commuter rail to Georgia but they didn’t want it because they thought it would make travel to easy for people of color) said he didn’t think a Dem could win …I hate it when he is correct.
Handel is like Marcia Blackburn happily ignorant and vicious and a big fat asshole racist
I forgot about this election until I read my emails this morning. I did not expect the Dem to win. I did not expect the Dem to win in Wyoming either. No one has yet really felt the effects of Trump being president. IMO, people are going to have to experience pain to change their minds… like losing their healthcare, their parent being thrown off of medicaid, or some other program they depend on. Promised jobs not materializing and the general decline of this nation will also affect how people feel.
Human nature can be both stupid (as in biting one’s nose off to spite one’s face) and pretty stubborn (repeat). Too bad… but that’s the way it is. In the meantime, I’m holding my breath that this country doesn’t go too far off the ledge until a correction occurs.
In honor of World Refugee Day, a photo of my friend Warren’s dad, Muni Oster, who walked out of Russia with his sisters at age 13. He served in US Army mainly China/Burma/India. And settled in the Silver Springs area
makes sense, CajunJoe: “they need to run against the Republican House of Representatives, taking a page out of the Republican anti-Pelosi message”
that makes perfect sense
Ryan and McConnell have plenty on tape that makes them look pretty stupid
The vilification of Pelosi is a terrible and unfair thing, but it’s done, can’t see it changing. Looks like it was a factor yesterday. House Dems really need a new face in that job before 2018.
Nancy is a prodigious fund raiser, and she holds the chits of many Democratic members. She is also a true progressive and skilled legislator. Obamacare would never have become law without her skills. But she has become an icon for the GOP that energizes the conservative base AND reminds the moderate middle and independents why they turned against the Democrats in 2010. Leaving policy aside (and many occasional voters do) Paul Ryan projects a more youthful image, and, frankly, is able to articulate conservative policy better than Nancy and the current Democratic leadership can articulate the progressive agenda. Adam Schiff may not be the most dynamic Democrat, but he has demonstrated a quiet competence and command of facts that could serve as a partial model for the next Democratic Speaker.
Who is in charge of the Dem message anyway? I just heard Amy Goodman try to promote the idea that Osnoff wasn’t liberal enough. Her two guests the pastor at Ebenezer Baptist church and a very progressive ga legislator told her she had fucking lost her mind if that was what she believed
kind of put a big chill on the rest of the interview They both thought he would come back and beat her in the next election because Handal is such a hack
Incumbent hacks find ways to get re-elected in large numbers.
Cheri Bustos of Illinois is a rising star worth watching: “A Democrat shows how to win over Trump voters” (CSM)
now here is a Democrat who gets it:
KC, re: Scarborough, yes he is, and beats me. I watch because they at least touch on the political issues I give a shit about. Even idiots are right from time to time – in this case the point he was making is that you won’t likely get a pro choice anti gun candidate elected (by Baptists and Catholics) in the South if those are issues used against them – regardless of his or her position on other issues. 9 times out of 10 that’s probably right.
I agree on Bustos – sounds good – wonder what the Cong race would sound like?
From PatD early this morning on the last post:
In the race in Georgia, the most unpopular Republican in the country (Donald Trump) remained a major presence but not in terms of the messages from either candidate. Handel largely avoided discussing the latest controversies spawned by Trump’s actions, and Ossoff only indirectly mentioned Trump, going out of his way to say that he was willing work with the president if it delivered results.
Privately, Democratic strategists said even before the votes were counted Tuesday that Ossoff’s civility campaign would be mirrored only in more Republican-leaning districts, and that a more aggressive anti-Trump campaign would be waged by candidates in longtime swing districts.
The question that remains to be answered is whether Democrats need more warriors or more priests; complete resistance or civil resistance.
Reactionaries have better bumper stickers, too. Remember “Liar, Liar, Liar”? “Lock Her Up”? “She stole bags of money from the State Department”? “Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi”? “Democrats will take away your guns”? “ObamaCare Sucks”?
Democrats answer with “see my webpage on (fill-in the blank) on page 320, section 2, paragraph 9.” Ossoff is probably a nice guy but he was corned into the “choir boy” role by his own admission and attacked by attack dogs like Trump. Little Marco, Low energy Jeb, Crazy Cruz. Politics is a blood sport and, whether we like it or not, both sides have to throw some mud so it sticks in the voter’s mind on election day.
Now, back to the freakin weather: 119 officially here; Jace’s town hit 121 yesterday. More on the weather later, something else I can’t do much about.
1. I agree with Mr Joe’s ideas.
2. Ms Pelosi is still a potent stimulant to get folks to vote against Dems. I think the House Dems should move her from Majority Leader to Speaker Emeritus, and throw her a huge party. Just make sure that she remains a prodigious fund raiser for fellow Dems, and make sure that she is always treated with the respect that she deserves.
Why do you suppose this po-dunk race in Georgia was such a big media deal?
Why waste so much money on it? Is there just so much political money looking for a home that
the value of almost any seat is inflated beyond comprehension.
Are the dems so desperate for a win, any win that the cost becomes irrelevant.
Why would the repubs spend so much to defend a single seat with an already big majority?
Is it because the only sports on is before the all star break baseball.
When you see this kind of spending on a single seat by both parties its not hard to understand why we can’t balance the books in Washington.
I’m just surprised that there isn’t more of a public uproar over this ridiculous example of political spending.
Through energy, brains, tenacity, and graciousness, Ms Pelosi achieved things that had been tried but never before accomplished – such as getting every American covered by health insurance. She rose through merit to become the first female House Majority Leader and the first female Speaker of the House. She deserves one helluva party.
Mr Trader is right. We need a draconian campaign spending law. If we have to pass a constitutional amendment to do it, let’s do it. And, right quick.
To win his last 12 years in the Senate, William Proxmire (D-WI) spent about $375. He paid this princely sum out of his own pocket. This was for 12 year in the Senate, not 2 years in the house. Adjusted for inflation, the duration of time, and the size of the district, the average expenditure in GA6 wa$ 3,400,000 time$ the combined Proxmire expenditure$.
I remember the fir$t $1M!LL!ON Hou$e race. It took my breath away. Thi$ wa$ 51 time$ a$ big. Crazy. $imply crazy.
The person who won in South Carolina strikes me as being a racist, homophobic pig. His opponent was a recent retiree who ran a spirited campaign, but he was an outsider with ties to the financial industry.
The weather here was foul much of the day and the district was skillfully gerrymandered. Despite all that, the Democratic candidate made a credible showing. Still, I’m glad I don’t live in that sick district.
That victorious SC fellow must be one helluva rotter if the kindly Flatus sees him as a pig.
“I’m just surprised that there isn’t more of a public uproar over this ridiculous example of political spending.”
jaxt, I agree with you and xr. we need a fool proof constitutionally correct campaign contribution law. 1st step would be to convince scotus to revisit citizens united before we see amazon inc. vs. google inc. on the ballot…. if they’re people enough to have speech rights they must be people enough to run for office.
flatus, I understand the weather was a factor in the ga race…. not that much of one, but a factor to some degree.
what good are all the ads, endorsements, phone banks, mailouts and hoop-de-doing on the streets if you can’t get the folks to the polling place. better to spend some of that money on free rides, baby-sitting service, safe and easy transit to vote, especially on bad weather days etc.
ap story at msn
Commissioners in a suburban Atlanta county have voted to publicly reprimand a colleague for calling civil rights leader and U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia a “racist pig” on Facebook.
News outlets report the decision on Tuesday followed the recommendation of Gwinnett County’s ethics board, which voted earlier in June to sustain the ethics complaint against Commissioner Tommy Hunter. He did not attend the meeting, which included a public hearing.
The public reprimand will involve posting a written rebuke on the county’s website, on the wall of the courthouse and in the local newspaper.
An Atlanta woman, Nancy Turner, filed the complaint against Hunter on Feb. 6.
Hunter spokesman Seth Weathers issued a statement that reads, in part, “We now know that mob rule controls the Gwinnett County Commission Board.”
Don’t worry your pretty little head over health care
By Ann Telnaes By Ann Telnaes
Opinions
June 21 at 11:32 AM
No female senators were initially included to work on the Republican replacement health-care bill. After being criticized, the committee invited Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) to satisfy the token woman quota.
think I’m going to propose to Cheri Bustos she do a q&a for us. Submit your questions.
🙂
Does she support single payer government run health care?
Where does she stand on legalization for undocumented persons who have lived here for ten or more years, including legalization for children brought here prior to their 12th birthday?
Her thoughts on the totally absurd Cannabis laws, both recreational and medicinal.
her thoughts on the growing “white supremacy” menace.
how to push back on the Christians’ attempts to undermine democracy by their constant attacks on separation of church and state.
Her thoughts on how to rid our public schools of the Cult of Fundamentalist Ignorance
How to shine some light on the gop’s total betrayal of the “working stiffs” of America….
Patd, Inviting Shelley Moore Capito to participate in the healthcare drafting is cynical to the nth degree. She has expressed reservations about it, probably because the house version of the bill would kick 50,000 people in West Virginia off Medicaid. They would be with no insurance and able only to use emergency rooms as doctors offices. God I hope she’s not that stupid.
For rep. Bustos, how to reconcile traditional deep blue dem values (and we know what they are) with the mixed values of purple and reddish districts as we try to win districts toward if not in the South.
BTW, Samantha Bee, damn is she good or what?
Something to soothe the fevered brow :
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/?wpisrc=nl_fix&wpmm=1
re rep. capito and the 50,000 W Virginians who get thrown off health care coverage : What does she care ? They’re all just junkies who want the koch bros to pay for their fixes. Except for the pregnant women who unfairly want their babies to be born alive and healthy. How selfish.
We know the robots are all over, but now they are coming for the musicians:
This Robot Just Composed Original Music
I’ll bet that some human claims the copyright, robbing the poor contraption of the fruits of its intellect.
Humans are like that, and that’s why machines will eventually kill us all.
Gizmos of the world unite ! You have nothing to lose but your users.
G’night, Solar.
Cliff Bells