Republicans Win in Georgia, Obamacare Repeal Moves Forward, and People Really Do Not Like Chris Christie: A.M. Links

• 

  Gage Skidmore/Flickr

  Republican Karen Handel wins the special election in Georgia's 6th Congressional District, over Democract John Ossoff. Progressives around the country had poured their hopes and cash into Ossoff's campaign in the hopes of causing an embarrassing upset in this conservative district.

• A Texas couple convicted of sexual abuse of children during the country's little-remembered Satanic Panic has been exonerated. The exoneration is the first to come out of Travis County District Attorney's conviction integrity office.

• Republicans are trying to rush through a hasty repeal of Obamacare. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promises a draft bill by Thursday and a vote sometime next week.

• New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's approval rating has shrunk to 15 percent, making him the least popular governor in New Jersey since William Franklin. The governor is trying to keep a stiff upper lip, saying he doesn't care about the polls.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Republican Karen Handel wins the special election in Georgia's 6th Congressional District, over Democract John Ossoff.

Trump's a winner. That's what he does.

[PurityDiluting]

"Progressives around the country had poured their hopes and cash into Ossoff's campaign "
Who has the deeper pockets in this bonfire of cash? Mid-terms are gonna be spendy

[NoVaNick]

I have no problem with proggies pouring their money into lost causes. Its when they demand that I pour my money in too that I have a problem with.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

[some guy]

Ossof outspent Handel, what, 8-to-1? And most of that came from out of state. Still, I'm sure the Dems will be pushing campaign spending "reform" in 2018 as if buying elections is possible and reform isn't anti-liberty.

[Rhywun]

NYT link, loads slowly, auto-video impervious to ad-blocking. The new kid is off to a good start.

[Tom Bombadil]

" in the hopes of causing an embarrassing upset in this conservative district."

Is it really a conservative district? I thought the demographics were close to even regarding Dem vs. Rep. (I'm assuming the author is implying Rep. = conservative, although that ship sailed long ago.)

[prolefeed]

The last three elections for this district were won by the Republican by a 20 to 30 point margin.

It appears to have been this close this time around because the D candidate got the same number of votes as the last election, while the R candidate got tens of thousands fewer votes. Basically, progs around the country poured massive money into this race, getting pretty much all their voters out to vote, but still failed to win -- instead of doing the smart thing, and saving their money to pour into the swing districts up for reelection in less than two years.

[Red Rocks Baiting n Inciting]

Between this race and Hillary blowing $1.5 billion in another losing presidential campaign, the Dem establishment appears to have plenty of money to throw in the furnace.

Funny how they immediately took the "at least we covered the spread!" line after screeching for weeks that this election was a referendum on "DER SWAMPF!!"

[dantheserene]

red rocks-
You just know they had that line all set to trot out.
As long as they can raise that level of cash, does the winning of this one seat matter all that much?

[Red Rocks Baiting n Inciting]

As long as they can raise that level of cash, does the winning of this one seat matter all that much?

In the grand scheme of things, no. But it is an indication that the Dems are having a serious identity crisis right now. The Clinton wing and the Obama/Sanders wing are operating at funding cross-purposes, and they can't decide right now if they want to be a neoliberal or a populist party.

It can be argued that Obama setting up Organizing for Action as a separate funding pool from the DNC--done for the rational purpose of keeping the Clintons and their DNC cronies' money-grubbing hands off of it--ended up hurting downballot candidates at the federal/state level because every dollar that went to OFA was one less dollar the DNC could use to support those candidates, resulting in a 1,000-seat collective loss in the last seven years. And because Obama continues to run OFA as a Chicago-style shadow-DNC org, the question is whether those big money donors migrate their cash over to him or continue to pour it into the DNC. Expect a major realignment in the next 5-10 years within the party once they decide where most of their money is supposed to go.

[NoVaNick]

The DEM party will not recover until they cut all ties with the Clintons. They are like a virus/tumor/parasite that they can't seem to get rid of.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Progressives around the country had poured their hopes and cash into Ossoff's campaign in the hopes of causing an embarrassing upset in this conservative district.

Progtards are nothing if not stupid.

Hell, that's where the aptonym comes from: Their ability to reason (drink!) is so retarded from deepthroating anything Principals over Principles their jackbooted leadership spews.

[Fuck You - Cut Spending]

instead of doing the smart thing, and saving their money to pour into the swing districts up for reelection in less than two years.

People who save their money are called "Republicans".

[loveconstitution1789]

That is a conservative district but there are a lot of lefties moving there.

Where are all the media reports about how the Georgia special election is a referendum on Trump?
Republican Karen Handel 134,595 51.9%
Democratic Jon Ossoff 124,893 48.1%

Democrats are 0-3 for special elections. There is your referendum on Trump.

[Curt]

On the positive side, it's finally safe to turn my TV on and open my mailbox without being swamped by those two assholes.

[Fist of Etiquette]

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's approval rating have shrunk to 15 percent...

His waistline, on the other hand...

[Anomalous]

He must be stress eating.

[gaoxiaen]

He's keeping a stiff upper lip while that lower jaw is grinding away on a bacon double cheeseburger.

[Rhywun]

He appears to have another cheeseburger stored in his second chin.

[Libertarian]

I blame Trump.

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

"They look like big, good, strong hands. Don't they?"

[I can't even]

When Phil Murphy is elected and taxes go up even higher, we'll miss Chris Christie.

[Fist of Etiquette]

New Jerksey gets what it deserves.

[Rhywun]

No it doesn't. Stop that.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"I don't deserve this."

[RAHeinlein]

Agreed. I was planning to move back to Princeton but the property tax jump once Christie is out will be a killer.

[Conchfritters]

Chris Christie is no Terry Branstad.

[gaoxiaen]

However, he is possibly the next John Brower Minnoch.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Brower_Minnoch

[Tom Bombadil]

alt-tex:
"And don't skimp on the pate"

[Rhywun]

"One thin waffer!"

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

"One thin waffer waffle .... with butter, syrup and whipped cream!"

FTFY

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

And Chris is getting laaaarrrrrger.

[CE]

Isn't he going to be Solomon Grundy on Gotham next season though?

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

Republican Karen Handel wins the special election in Georgia's 6th Congressional District, over Democract John Ossoff. Progressives around the country had poured their hopes and cash into Ossoff's campaign in the hopes of causing an embarrassing upset in this conservative district.

Waiting to see what scientific explanation the progs have for this one. The Russians? Reverse Vampires? Saucer People? Hitler?

[Get To Da Chippah]

At least Democrats now have enough seats in the Congress of Moral Victories to pretend-impeach Trump!

[Brian]

Citizens United?

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

Reverse vampires? I that where they spray you with blood? I think those are called PETA activists.

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

LOL, Reverse Vampires and Saucer People are a Simpsons reference. But your explanation is funnier.

[Dillinger]

Okay here's what we've got: the Rand Corporation, in conjunction with the Saucer People, under the supervision of the Reverse Vampires...

[Aloysious]

Vampire swamp people that resemble Hitler.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

The answer is always Hitler.

[Princess Trigger]

Racist, bigoted, drooling trogs who can't see the beauty of their Vision For America.
"They don't deserve Us."

[gaoxiaen]

How true.

[JWatts]

"Waiting to see what scientific explanation the progs have for this one. The Russians? Reverse Vampires? Saucer People? Hitler?"

The Lizard people, it's always the Lizard people.

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

Hey, what ever happened to Mr.Lizard?

[Crusty Juggler - Alpha]

An owl got him.

[gaoxiaen]

The Satanic preschool students' parents lynched him.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Is THAT what they are calling the Glibs now ...

[Atlas Slugged]

The Rand Corporation, in conjunction with the saucer people,under the supervision of the reverse vampires. Duh, I thought that would be obvious!

[Domestic Dissident]

Hey Sparky, Crusty/Citizen, Weigel, and all the rest of you Obama lovers, remember how I told you Tossoff was going to lose and I was going to sit here laughing at your dumb asses when it happened?

He lost, and I'm sitting here laaughing at your dumb asses.

[gaoxiaen]

I'd prefer to laugh at their faces.

[Tom Bombadil]

Gotta give credit, good call. Also, the poster named ?loveconstitution1790 (or something) nailed it, right down to the percentages and how they would play out.

[loveconstitution1789]

Yup. Thanks for the shout out!

The Democrats did get all their people out to vote. Most Republicans did vote but not all and still beat Ossoff.

[paranoid android]

You should huff an extra bottle of glue tonight in celebration, Bootlicker.

[loveconstitution1789]

Wait, I thought Ossoff winning was a referendum on Trump being disliked.

Well, Ossoff lost so I guess Trump's liked after all.

You lefties can admit that anytime. Or you can continue to blame _______ . It must have been bad polling. Oh wait, the polls showed Ossoff losing too.

I guess we will have to wait until tomorrow to find out what the Democrat problem is with winning these referendums on Trump.

[MarkLastname]

Was someone here rooting for Ossef or something?

[Zeb]

I try not to jump on the abuse Mikey bandwagon, but my god, you are a retard aren't you?

[$park? leftist poser]

The pretend people in your head never cease to amaze me.

[Zeb]

Just admit that you are in love with Obama, cuck.

[Domestic Dissident]

That's all you've got, you loser?

[paranoid android]

What a sad, sad little man.

[$park? leftist poser]

I sometimes wonder what it would be like to meet a person like you in real life. And then I start to wonder if people like you actually exist in real life. I'm always surprised when someone so clearly retarded as you are is still able to work a keyboard.

[Domestic Dissident]

Some things never change. You were a complete loser yesterday, you're a complete loser today, and you'll still be a complete loser tomorrow.

Now be a good little boy and go suck Obama's cock.

[Rat on a train]

misogyny

[Bee Tagger]

making him the least popular governor in New Jersey since William Franklin.

4 first names among them, can you blame New Jerseyians?

[creech]

William Franklin's approval rate was probably higher. After all, the Tories were more than 15% of the population during the Revolution.

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

A Republican wins in Georgia? What's next? Democrats in California? The world's gone all crazy.

[Libertarian]

The Dems outspent the Reps 9 to 1. Too bad that there hadn't been a similar outcome in a well-known election within, oh, the last year. Perhaps they could have learned something.

[Libertarian]

Oops. I think the 9 to 1 figure I read this morning was referring to California Dem donations vs. District donations, not Dem to Rep donations.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Republicans are trying to rush through a hasty repeal of Obamacare.

Yeah, yeah. We're going to have to pass it to find out what's in it. The Dems are going to shout the n-word at them on the way to the vote. Etc.

[Libertarian]

"Nazi"?

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

Ni!

[gaoxiaen]

Non!

[Tom Bombadil]

"Republicans are trying to rush through a hasty repeal of Obamacare."

That word: "repeal". I don't think it means what they think it means.

[BYODB]

^ This.

Suddenly, after winning elections, it's 'repeal and replace' instead of what they said for seven years. Up until then they were just saying 'repeal'.

It turns out that they were just joshin' us.

[CE]

6 months later isn't "hasty", it's overdue.

[Rebel Scum]

Progressives around the country had poured their hopes and cash into Ossoff's campaign in the hopes of causing an embarrassing upset in this conservative district.

Not gonna lie, I laughed when I found this out earlier this morning. Serves them right. The guy had virtually no ties to the district and received almost exclusively out of state money.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Also, that name. TRUMP IS THE ONLY ONE ALLOWED TIES TO RUSSIA.

[damikesc]

The guy had virtually no ties to the district and received almost exclusively out of state money.

He didn't even LIVE in the district. As said elsewhere, Handel won the candidate vote 1-0.

[Princess Trigger]

$30 million and he couldn't rent an apartment to vote for himself.

[Rhywun]

Or feed himself a cheeseburger.

[gaoxiaen]

Chris Christie, on the other hand, IS a district.

[Fuck You - Cut Spending]

He didn't live in the district and yet 48% said "He represents me!"

Proving that democracy is just socialism with one extra step.

[CE]

Just gotta wear the local baseball team's hat and speak with a fake regional accent.
But don't forget to go to the fish frys.

[Fist of Etiquette]

A Texas couple convicted of sexual abuse of children during the country's little-remembered Satanic Panic has been exonerated.

AM I THE ONLY ONE STILL WORRIED ABOUT CLOWNS?

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

Wait till It comes out.

[Libertarian]

"Satanic Panic" would be a great album name.

Oh wait.

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/a.....the-attic/

[Fist of Etiquette]

Progressives around the country had poured their hopes and cash into Ossoff's campaign in the hopes of causing an embarrassing upset in this conservative district.

Embarrassing like a fox.

[Bee Tagger]

Republican Karen Handel wins the special election... Progressives around the country had poured their hopes and cash into Ossoff's campaign in the hopes of causing an embarrassing upset in this conservative district.

Progressives went for baroque and got Handle. Why are they surprised?

[Fist of Etiquette]

More like they got handled.

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

You know who else got handled?

[Get To Da Chippah]

Mrs. Potts?

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

The Traveling Wilburys?

[Crusty Juggler - Alpha]

Sixty women who stepped into Bill Cosby's trailer?

[gaoxiaen]

Loved those Ludes. Just ask the Wolf of Wall Street.

[loveconstitution1789]

Dirk Diggler?

[Rhywun]

Ew... who would want to handle a progressive.

[gaoxiaen]

Moz art-ists are homos. The rest are drunks.

[Anomalous]

Bach off, I'm warning you.

[MarkLastname]

That's it, you're on my Liszt.

[Rebel Scum]

Republicans are trying to rush through a hasty repeal of Obamacare.

Team Stupid is determined to take credit for collapse of the healthcare system by trying to put a band-aid on the ppaca.

[Libertarian]

This is so true. Not a single GOP vote for Obamacare, but now their fingerprints will be all over it.

[Conchfritters]

What a bunch of fucking idiots. Leave Obamacare alone. Let those shitbag democrats own it as it collapses to the ground, and in the smokey ruins people might start remembering how great the free market and having choices was.

[Tom Bombadil]

Only a bunch of idiots who live in an echo chamber bubble could think that what they are doing qualifies as keeping a campaign promise. Goddamit, it is peak derp I tell ya'.

[colorblindkid]

What's funny/sad about Chris Christie is that Phil Murphy, who is pretty much guaranteed to be our next governor, will be far worse than Chris Christie, who was the least-terrible NJ governor in 20 years.

[damikesc]

Nobody respects a guy who debases himself for others. He became Trump's bitch for a long time. Nobody, including Trump, can really respect that.

Without his aura of tough-as-nails, he lost conservative support. And without Obama's cock in his mouth, ala 2012, he lost progressive support.

[gaoxiaen]

Anti-pot is a no-go. Christie is on the wrong side of history. He's on the right side of obesity. Please have a heart attack or stroke soon, please.

[Tom Bombadil]

Yeah, he was Obama's bitch first. When he started going downhill... well, let's just say p=mv. And that m is clocking in at 68% body fat.

[Rhywun]

I wonder if the last batch of corrupt NJ Democrats will be released from prison in time to make space for the next administration's batch.

[gaoxiaen]

They can give advice, thanks to the internet.

[MarkLastname]

I hope New Jersey doesn't get too much worse, as I think we all want New Jerseyers to stay in New Jersey. I won't have the Midwest become West Jersey.

[Libertarian]

"Republicans are trying to rush through a hasty repeal of Obamacare. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promises a draft bill by Thursday and a vote sometime next week."

They've had eight years to come up with an alternative or repeal and yet they are now trying "to rush through" their answer. No wonder we're screwed.

[PurityDiluting]

true dat

[gaoxiaen]

It's "Trudat".

[Bubba Jones]

I think the rush is in trying to cobble together competing, incompatible ideas.

[American Memer]

^

[gaoxiaen]

IDGAF.+

[damikesc]

No joke. You'd think with entire campaigns based around "We'll repeat that", they'd have had something to repeal it.

Oh wait, they do. They voted on these bills for years.

Pass one of THOSE. Why is this new POS needed?

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

So they have the new kid doing both AM links and PM links? Brutal.

[Tom Bombadil]

I read his name as Christian Bitchy-guy, and I like it.

[Crusty Juggler - Alpha]

Ford to move production of Focus from Mexico to China

Ford Motor Co. is moving production of its Focus model to China after production at its Michigan plant ends in 2019.

The move, which Ford estimates will save it $500 million in production costs for the car, comes as the company has become a target of President Trump, who is pressuring manufacturers to keep jobs in the United States.

Ford initially planned to move production of the Focus to Mexico, but it is now scrapping that plan in favor of production in China, according to a report in Bloomberg.

[Rhywun]

Good luck with that, Ford. Some companies can make it work - some let their production quality go to shit.

[Conchfritters]

Self inflicted - I have no sympathy. The Mexican President Had a chance to go to Mar A Lago and tell Trump how delicious the chocolate cake there is, and he refused. Now he can sit at the bad hombre table with the Australian Prime Minister and think about that as US companies build their factories in China.

[Crusty Juggler - Alpha]

The CIA's Secret Talks With Obama's Arab Back Channel

Good summary as to why US involvement in Middle Eastern relations is hella dumb.

[Rhywun]

That makes my brain hurt. WTF are we doing there again?

[Crusty Juggler - Alpha]

Helping?

[Domestic Dissident]

By the way, it got pretty much no attention, but the republicans also won another special election in South Carolina. That's like 6 out of 6 or something now.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

Republican partisans must be very happy.

[paranoid android]

Partisans: "Stoopid Dems, trying to make every election into a referendum on Trump"
Same partisans: "This 1-point victory in a district we used to carry by 20 points proves the Trumpenreich will last at least a thousand years..."

[damikesc]

In the case of GA, it is different as Trump is HATED in that district (barely beat Hillary). If this was a referendum on him, and he is more disliked there now than he was 7 months ago, Handel would've lost.

Maybe Dems should try to convince folks and not lecture/attack them. Sure, Trump might suck --- doesn't mean Ossoff ALSO didn't suck.

[Red Rocks Baiting n Inciting]

I don't know why I need to keep pointing this out, but covering the spread when you lose is still a loss--especially when the Dems and the media had so much invested, financially and emotionally, in Ossoff taking the seat.

It shows that it doesn't matter if you run some non-threatening Kennedy-lite "YOUTHFUL VIGAH!!" clone, if you can't actually connect with the people who will be electing you, all the money in the world won't pull you over the top.

[paranoid android]

But that's the point: their strategy was tin-eared and doomed to failure, and they lost by only 1 point anyway. Obviously it was folly for Dems to go all-in on these special elections they probably weren't going to win anyway, but that's because these were mostly safe, solidly Republican districts, not because the electorate is just so enamored with the Republican brand generally.

Granted, Mikey is a glue-huffing retard, but he nonetheless is echoing the same sentiment being voiced by some Republican boosters that may have functioning frontal lobes, namely that Trump's "strength" and "decisiveness" is going to broker a permanent majority. That's hilarious to me, because it's like everyone got hit on the head again and completely forgot that the "permanent majority" talk has been bouncing back and forth between the sides every 4-6 years for all of the 21st century.

They're setting themselves up for a slaughter, if not in the midterms than probably in 2020.

[Red Rocks Baiting n Inciting]

They're setting themselves up for a slaughter, if not in the midterms than probably in 2020.

I'd say that's a bit much to assume at this point. Republicans will probably lose some seats in the House, but likely not enough to lose their majority, and there are far more Democrats up for re-election in the Senate in 2018 than Republicans. Couple that with the fact that the Dems are clearly searching for an identity right now, with no clear bench other than Elizabeth Warren and a few affirmative action tokens like Booker and Kamala Harris, (even hack publications like Rolling Stone are admitting this), and your prediction is a lot less likely than you might think.

It's a lot more likely that people will be motivated enough in 2020 to enact a wholesale party shift, but then again the Dems just might be stupid enough to run Hillary one more time. If that happens, short of an economic collapse in the next 3.5 years Trump could very well win re-election.

[Azathoth!!]

Loving your salty tears, loser.

REALLY loving the 'Well, they tear us new assholes in REAL elections, if they only make us wince in these special elections, that's a win for us, right?........Right?.......oh god, make it stop--please make it stop......"

Trump took three reliably blue states from Hillary and won. He's now won again in every special election.

Gods, this must hurt so much.

[loveconstitution1789]

Democrats partisans must be SADZ.

[Sevo]

'Women and minorities...'

"Young American women face demise in well-being, study shows"
[...]
"We have been pushed back, there's no question," said Terry O'Neill, president of the National Organization for Women. "Younger women are really feeling the effects of ... a 30-year march to dismantle government agencies, to dismantle government protections, all in the name of free markets."
http://www.sfgate.com/nation/a.....234103.php

You don't think the study might be biased toward the brain-dead lefty view, do you?

[Rhywun]

Members of the Baby Boom generation, who were born between 1946 and 1964, saw their well-being increase by 66 percent over their World War II counterparts, but the improvements did not continue for Generation X women, born between 1965 and 1981.

Obviously, that's because government agencies were cut to the bone in the intervening decades.

[Zeb]

"Demise"? I don't think that's the word they really wanted to use. "Decline" sees like what they probably meant.

[pan fried wylie]

Well-being is over, done, kaput, you cishetetcetc

[Zeb]

If that's what they meant (which would still be a really awkward way to phrase it), it should have been "demise of wellbeing" not "in". Does SFGate just not have editors, or what?

[BYODB]

I read that cisheretic, which seems about as accurate as anything else.

[Zeb]

a 30-year march to dismantle government agencies

Which ones are those now?

[Red Rocks Baiting n Inciting]

Planned Parenthood, NPR, and PBS.

[Zeb]

I'm pretty sure those still exist. And are not government agencies.

[Red Rocks Baiting n Inciting]

I was being facetious.

[Red Rocks Baiting n Inciting]

That's a pretty damning indictment of women in the implication that without massive government bureaucracies, they'd essentially be unemployable.

but the improvements did not continue for Generation X women, born between 1965 and 1981.

So basically, the Boomers filled a post-war labor vacuum that emerged as the nation's economy grew, and Gen-Xers haven't been able to climb the ladder because their Boomer counterparts haven't retired in sufficient numbers yet for those jobs to open up.

[The Last American Hero]

What about diminishing returns? OK, so the journey from Leave it to Beaver to Mary Tyler Moore is a big leap. The journey from Mary Tyler Moore to Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a smaller leap. But once you've reached Buffy, how much farther is there to go? Isn't it essentially "mission accomplished"?

[Sevo]

"Nov. 7, 2003 -- Female doctors may soon outnumber their male counterparts if current trends hold up.
For the first time, the number of women who applied to the nation's medical schools has outnumbered men. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, 17,672 women applied to attend medical school in the 2003-2004 school year, compared with 17,113 men."
http://www.webmd.com/women/new.....cal-school

That was 14 years ago; pretty sure it's only gotten more biased. Poor womyns can't do anything without Pelosi's help!

[CE]

Which government agencies were dismantled? I must have missed those stories.

[creech]

"dismantle government agencies,"

What agencies would those be?

[Sevo]

Well, trucking rates got de-regged. Maybe that's what's got their pants in a wad.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

The NEAs.

Both of 'em.

[Sevo]

BTW, Scott Adams is going to bring the wrath of a scorned woman down on himself:
http://dilbert.com/