Pivot And Punch

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Former Sen. Claire McCaskill (MSNBC) to Democrats on their rough night Tuesday:

“Do not spend days or minutes even trying to blame someone for what happened. It’s time to pivot and punch. … We have an opportunity to turn this around for the Fall, but not if we spend the next three weeks or a month trying to figure out who to blame.”

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58 thoughts on “Pivot And Punch”

  4. Virginia 2020 —> White women

    50% Biden (D), 49% Trump (R)

    Virginia 2021 —> White women

    57% Youngkin (R), 43% McAuliffe (D)

    A 15-point swing to the GOP!

    Why did this happen? Warning sign for Dems 2022?

  7. who to blame if blame is the game today: the voters and the eligible ones who didn’t vote.
    it’s dĂ©jĂ  vu all over again. welcome to the new 1930s and beware the brown shirts next door.

  8. with one correction for clarity, a quote reported by mediaite via msn:

    “I would like to thank my BASE for coming out in force and voting for Glenn Youngkin,” said [the former guy – you know the insurrection instigator]. “Without you, he would not have been close to winning. The MAGA movement is bigger and stronger than ever before. Glenn will be a great governor. Thank you to the people of the Commonwealth of Virginia and most particularly, to our incredible MAGA voters!”

     

  11. Yes, Claire, good advice. Run on a message, not against the disgraced former “president”.  Pass the two bills and run on the progress delivered. 

    Smerconish just congratulated Joe Manchin for winning Virginia and New Jersey.

  12. WHO TO BLAME?:

    This VA loss thing could be about President Trump so blame him for losing his own election.  Or, you can choose to remember President Clinton’s words “…it’s about the economy stupid…;” have to admit he was and is right. 
     
    The price of gas alone is enough to lose or win an election.  Is Biden responsible for the sudden rise in gas prices; I doubt it, but all Democrats will be blamed to include this VA guy (whats ‘er name)?

     So let’s go down to blaming Covid; this whole mess (VA election thingie) is the result of a sudden surge in gas and other demands as Covid waned; it has been driving gas demand that drives the price of oil. Any idiot driving a car sees the gas prices.

      Now it is the Chinese fault; you know, the Covid thing.  It’s Big Daddy Xi’s fault.  Let’s blame him. 
     
    No one ever wins an election; some things cause a loss.  The fault lies in President Clinton’s words “…the economy…!”

    Maybe I went over a few heads; most probably my own.  (Hi Craig: how are things?), Mike.

  13. BTW good on Eric Adams. He stuffed Sliwa and his stupid red beret. 
    And congratulations to Michelle Wu. And in Boston. 

  14. Craig

    That was all part of the MSNBC phony coverage of the VA race.  Nothing bad about Youngkin coupled with the whining about McAuliff chances.  

  16. yeah on mojo this morning, good advice from adams and rev al about it not being enough to be woke and just wallow in bed.  you got to get up and do something. get stuff done.  as adams said earlier in the campaign “we can’t be so idealistic that we’re not realistic”

     

  17. pilar, thanks for a cold splash of wake up for the dems.  that “it’s the economy, stupid” could also be re-phrased “it’s the VOTER, stupid” because it’s meaningless if they can’t get across what’s happening with the economy as it relates to what’s happening vis-Ă -vis joe/jill six pack.

    and, yeah, what jamie said – come around more often

  18. And moving on to other news – first frost of the year in East Bumfuck, 28 degrees at dawn with freezing temps overnight forecast for the next 4 nights and no precip for over a week. The maples have dropped their leaves and the beeches are half way there.  The oaks are just beginning but they’re definitely into it.  Aside from the ginko, that takes care of my plot of ground.  I think the seasons are changing.

  19. BTW, craig, that pic at top of page looks less like a donkey and more like a kangaroo as in this ad for aussie day jan 26. but thanks for finding it, it gets the idea across perfectly

    See the source image

  20. so what flavor was the kool-aid and was it served before or after the magic moment?

    wapo:

    In rainy Dallas with temperatures dipping into the low 60s, hundreds huddled with umbrellas, flags and signs to wait for history to be made on Tuesday. Some even brought folding chairs.
    At the site overlooking where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated nearly six decades ago, scores of QAnon believers outfitted with “Trump-Kennedy 2024” shirts, flags and other merchandise gathered. They forecast the president’s son John F. Kennedy Jr., who has been dead for over 20 years, would appear at that spot, emerging from anonymity to become Donald Trump’s vice president when the former president is reinstated. The prophecy foretold online, of course, did not come true.
    When 12:30 p.m. came, the time when Kennedy was shot, they recited the Pledge of Allegiance, journalist Steven Monacelli reported. The crowd lingered, some for more than an hour, eventually trickling away, a few vowing the Kennedy known as John-John will reappear at a Rolling Stone concert later in the night.
    [continues]

  21. Morons. (from WaPo)
     

    In rainy Dallas with temperatures dipping into the low 60s, hundreds huddled with umbrellas, flags and signs to wait for history to be made on Tuesday. Some even brought folding chairs.

    At the site overlooking where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated nearly six decades ago, scores of QAnon believers outfitted with “Trump-Kennedy 2024” shirts, flags and other merchandise gathered. They forecast the president’s son John F. Kennedy Jr., who has been dead for over 20 years, would appear at that spot, emerging from anonymity to become Donald Trump’s vice president when the former president is reinstated. The prophecy foretold online, of course, did not come true.
    [Continues]

    Those t-shirts kinda tell the tale.

  24. It is the pivot part that is so hard.
    Time to bring Big Dawg politics of the ninties back as it is obvious that the left can’t build a governing coalition.
    What yesterday told you is the median American voter is closer to Joe Manchin than  Bernie. 
    Jack

  25. Critical, a negative word
    Race, a dangerous topic
    Theory, a wild ass swinging guess.
    Then take a party that is scared to talk about race in anyway but an apologetic statement. 
    It is a perfect political bludgeon.
    From reading the local news it works real well in local school board elections
    Jack

  26. Jack

    Dished out to a group that doesn’t understand that the reason they aren’t floating in mid air might have something to do with another theory:  Gravity.

     

  27. Today’s really great tweet:

    Best voting advice: Voting isn’t marriage. It’s public transport. You’re not waiting for “the one”. You’re getting on the bus. And if there isn’t one going exactly to your destination, you don’t stay home and sulk. You take the one that’s going closest to where you want to be. Mohamad Safa

     

  28. Jamie
    A perfect point for my SWAG definition of theory. Gravity is a word assigned to a particular observed phenomenon. Nobody knows what gravity is, a number of very smart people make swags believing they are close to right. The honest ones admit it is a swag.
    Jack

  30. When Democrats want to talk “working man” they run to the nearest union rep, a man in a suit who hasn’t put a tool belt on in his life. 
    Jack

  32.  
    Last night I went to a neighborhood meeting where a lot of liberal bike riders lectured us on why their pov was important but our concerns weren’t. 
    After the meeting I stood in line as people talked to our council woman, waiting my turn. As I stepped up to talk to her she spread her arms in an invitation to hug. 
    Politics is a politically powerful, middle age black woman giving this old white guy a hug. 
    Jack

  33. If the Democrats hadn’t lost all of those senate seats over the last 2 elections we wouldn’t be talking about Joe Manchin, So no the problem isn’t with one conservative Senator holding a seat that will switch parties as soon as he retires. 
    Jack

  34. What yesterday told you is the median American voter is closer to Joe Manchin than  Bernie. 

    Jack, Yep. In a purplish state like VA? Imagine.

  36. speaking of politically powerful middle age black women, this one may have had a hand in many va voters who otherwise would have voted D voted the R column

    YouTube thumbnail

    Winsome Sears delivered a patriotic speech as she claimed victory in her race to become the first woman and woman of color to be elected Virginia’s lieutenant governor.

     

    wiki:

    Winsome Earle Sears (born March 11, 1964) is an American politician who is the lieutenant governor-elect of Virginia. A Republican, Sears served as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 2002 to 2004 after defeating longtime incumbent Billy Robinson Jr. In September 2018, she entered the race for U.S. Senate as a Republican write-in alternative to Corey Stewart. Sears was the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor in the 2021 election which she won, becoming the first woman of Jamaican origin to be elected to a statewide office in Virginia.
    Early life and education
    Sears was born in Kingston, Jamaica and immigrated to the United States at the age of six. Her father arrived with just $1.75 and took any job he could find while also continuing his education. She grew up in The Bronx, New York City. She served as an electrician in the United States Marines. Sears earned an A.A. from Tidewater Community College, a B.A. in English with a minor in economics from Old Dominion University and an M.A. in organizational leadership from Regent University.
    Career
    Before running for public office, Sears ran a homeless shelter. In November 2001, Sears upset 20-year Democratic incumbent William P. “Billy” Robinson, Jr. while running for the 90th district seat in Virginia’s House of Delegates. Sears was the first Jamaican female Republican, first female veteran, and the first naturalized citizen delegate, to serve in the House of Delegates. She challenged Democrat Bobby Scott in 2004 for Virginia’s 3rd congressional district seat, but lost, garnering 31 percent of the vote.She was vice president of the Virginia Board of Education and has received presidential appointments to the Department of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Census Bureau.

  37. Oh, and a group called Stop Citizens United is running pro Manchin ads for his sponsorship of the Freedom to Vote Act (that does not have the 60 votes needed to pass in the Senate). Shows a hunter, dressed up in camo that looks an awful lot like desert camo (no blaze orange), saying he’s a vet and he didn’t sign up to let billionaires keep people from voting and thanks Sen. Manchin for his leadership – the kind we need.  Might as well be running ads thanking Pogo for supporting the bill – I’m apparently as successful as Manchin in trying to get it through Congress. 

  38. Dem strategists be like:
     
    ”Hmmm, how can we more effectively tailor our messages to fascistic idiots?”

  40. … gotta laugh every time Dems lose ANY election, it’s a “wake-up call”, or a “warning sign”, or a “DIRE warning for Dems”, as if they are immediately complacent the moment they take office.  Such lazy analysis.

  41. “Seems like more going on here.“
     
    Yeah- everyone hates trump but is still interested in more palatable, less overtly offensive Christian-esque fascists

  42. What I find puzzling is why progressives don’t sell their agenda to rural America. Family leave, child tax credits, broadband, Medicaid/Medicare expansion, community college, infrastructure jobs, drug prices, on and on. No one benefits more than poor people in rural America. That’s how they should respond to Manchin. 

  43. it might help if most of the campaign money would be spent on helping voters register, receive  proper IDs, get their absentee or vote early ballots and making sure they know how to properly fill them out as well as where drop boxes are or provide ways to get to the polls.  doesn’t help much to pay exorbitant ad making and airing fees if the voters don’t know how to obtain a ballot and send it in or have no means to get to polling places.   spreading funds thru community groups, clubs, volunteers  is better use of them  than spending most of it on hiring expensive campaign managers & writers of rarely read white papers.

  45. Thinking about history of racist code in my lifetime, what did I forget? States rights, Forced busing, Welfare queen, Defund the police, Mexican caravans, Critical race theory, Parental rights…

  46. Poobah, there’s lots of blame to go around – McAuliffe gets his share for failing to read the room, Congress gets it for circular firing squad antics and fiddle farting around negotiating within the party, the press for clickbaiting the races, and there are probably at least a baker’s dozen more blame targets out there if you ask people who know more about what wen t on than I.  I do see one problem with your suggestion about selling policies to rural and poor folks.  That problem is that one of the perceived signature policies pushed by Dems is gun control, which realities aside, stands as an immediate impediment among rural voters in the land of two guns for every voter to other policies that would benefit them.  

  49. If you asked my rural grandparents, they wouldn’t have wanted any of it. Someone forced government cheese onto my grandmother; they were giving it to all seniors in town. She felt shamed at being given anything. Different mindset. Never ask for help. Never expect help. My great-grandmother called FDR “Santa,” because people were really hurting, yet my grandmother was a Republican. We didn’t even have hot water in the house until I was 17.

  51. https://www.texastribune.org/2021/11/01/greg-abbott-texas-schools-books/

    “Gov. Greg Abbott asked the Texas Association of School Boards on Monday to determine the extent to which “pornography or other inappropriate content” exists in public schools across the state and to remove it if found.“

    “Abbott, who did not cite examples in his letter, said that the organization has “an obligation to Texas parents and students to ensure that no child in Texas is exposed to pornography or other inappropriate content while inside a Texas public school.”

    “…Rep. Matt Krause, a Fort Worth Republican running for Texas attorney general. Krause sent a letter to certain school districts with an 850-book list that included novels about racism and sexuality.“

    “Krause’s list of titles includes a number of bestsellers and award winners, including the 1967 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “The Confessions of Nat Turner” by William Styron and “Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates. The list includes books that help kids respond to bullying and others that center on LGBTQ characters, in addition to telling stories about the Black Lives Matter movement.“

  52. https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/03/health/unvaccinated-death-benefits-khn-partner/index.html

    “…workers who refuse to get vaccinated against covid-19 may face financial repercussions, from higher health insurance premiums to loss of their jobs. Now, the financial fallout might follow workers beyond the grave. If they die of covid and weren’t vaccinated, their families may not get death benefits they would otherwise have received.”

    “New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority no longer pays a $500,000 death benefit to the families of subway, bus and commuter rail workers who die of covid if the workers were unvaccinated at the time of death.”

    “Now that vaccines are widely available, some employers have considered limiting other benefits paid to unvaccinated workers, including reducing short-term disability payments…”

  55. Yep, and Orange Adolf gets to be the kingmaker…unless he decides to take the throne for himself.

    Youngkin is 6’7” and Orange Adolf doesn’t like anyone taller than him. Just ask Comey.

    Greg is a putz. Dan Patrick is the real turd behind Abbott’s stench.

    DeSantis is a bonafide stinker.

  56. https://www.texastribune.org/2021/11/03/texas-john-lujan-san-antonio-house-flip/

    “What really, I think, helped is the fact that there’s a big movement, I think, for conservatism because people are seeing what’s going on from a national level all the way down to our borders and to the jobs and the hardships, gas prices — all these things are big in our community,” Lujan said, “And the Hispanic community has always been about faith, family and country, and I think that just shows now, and I just think all of those things made a perfect environment for this victory.”

    “Texas Democrats went “all in” to protect a San Antonio-area House seat from flipping. The GOP still took it.“

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