It Was a Good Night For Abortion Rights, Ron DeSantis, Iowa Gun Owners—and Democrats

What we know about 2022 midterm results so far

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 11.9.2022 9:46 AM

(CHINE NOUVELLE/SIPA)

Big-picture items like the fate of the House or Senate are still unclear, so for Roundup this morning we'll zero in on what we do know. This includes the outcomes of a lot of the state ballot initiatives we previewed yesterday, and of some key Congressional races.

It was a good night for…

Reproductive freedom. Five states had reproduction-related measures on their ballots last night, with three of them aimed at protecting abortion rights, one anti-abortion measure, and one measure in Montana that require doctors to prolong the lives of infants who are born but could not ultimately survive on their own outside the womb. It's looking like the three measures aimed at protecting reproductive freedom will pass, while the anti-abortion amendment (in Kentucky) and the Montana measure will fail. More on these five measures here.

Iowa gun owners. Iowans have approved a constitutional amendment protecting their right to bear arms.

John Fetterman. Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman has beat Republican Mehmet Oz in a highly contested and high-profile Senate race. With 94 percent of votes in, Fetterman is beating Oz 50.3 percent to 47.3 percent. Libertarian candidate Erik Gerhardt has 1.4 percent of the vote.

J.D. Vance. In another closely watched Senate race, this one in Ohio, Republican J.D. Vance has beat Democrat Tim Ryan. With 95 percent of votes in, Vance is beating Ryan 53.3 to 46.7 percent.

Ron DeSantis. The Florida governor easily won reelection, even turning the historically blue Miami-Dade County red. "DeSantis is the first GOP governor to win Miami-Dade County, a Democratic stronghold, since Jeb Bush's re-election in 2002. He did so by double digits," noted Axios.

Vice regulation. In California, a proposal to legalize sports betting at race tracks and Native American casinos is failing by a huge margin, and a proposal to legalize online sports betting in California is failing by an even bigger margin. Meanwhile, a proposal to uphold the state's ban on flavored tobacco products has passed. And in Colorado, a measure to allow alcohol delivery services and to-go drinks is currently failing. With 78 percent of precincts reporting, 52.78 percent of Colorado voters said no.

Ranked choice voting in Nevada. The state is looking likely to approve a top five ranked choice voting scheme.

The very old and the very young. In Florida, voters elected the first Gen Z member of Congress. In Iowa:

https://twitter.com/CharlotteAlter/status/1590190507778793472?t=1wRPAhrWJwB9t72hzsDDfQ&s=19

It was a MIXED night for…

Drug prohibition. Recreational marijuana legalization was on the ballot in five states last night. But only two of these proposals were successful, in Maryland (Question 4) and Missouri (Amendment 3). The legalization measures failed in Arkansas (Issue 4), North Dakota (Measure 2), and South Dakota (Measure 27). Meanwhile, a Colorado proposal to decriminalize psychedelic plants and fungi is narrowly winning with 80 percent of votes in.

Criminal justice reform. Both Ohio and Alabama passed bail initiatives (Issue 1 and Amendment 1) that will mean more people being denied bail or having their bail set very high. (Reason's Billy Binion has more on these proposals.) Montanans overwhelmingly voted for a constitutional amendment (Montana C-48) requiring authorities to obtain a search warrant before searching electronic devices or communications. And five states voted last night on whether their constitutions should allow slavery or indentured servitude as punishment for crimes. Proposals to prohibit this passed with large majorities in Alabama, Vermont (Proposal 2), and Tennessee (Amendment 3), and passed with a slimmer majority in Oregon (Measure 112). Louisiana's measure (Amendment 7)—which was more controversial, with some saying its provisions would actually backfire—has failed.

It was a BaD night for…

Punditry and the predicted "red wave." As of this morning, it looks like the GOP will control the House of Representatives—but by a much smaller margin than was anticipated. Republicans were expecting to gain at least a couple dozen seats, giving them a hefty House majority. Now it's looking like they'll win a much smaller number of races and may wind up controlling the House by as little as a few seats.

MAGA Republicans. The meta story forming about this election seems to be how Republicans—and especially MAGA Republicans who spread 2020 election conspiracy theories—performed much worse than expected. This includes losses for Doug Mastriano and New Hampshire Senate candidate Don Bolduc (both men who say the 2020 election was stolen), Tudor Dixon (a Trump-backed candidate running for governor of Michigan), and former Trump administration official John Gibbs (who was running for a Congressional seat in Michigan), among a number of others. While it's probably too soon for any grand pronouncements yet, a lot of people are nonetheless calling this a referendum on Donald Trump. "Within the party, Mr. Trump's power has been unquestionable…But the limits of Mr. Trump's political power were evident during the general election," said The New York Times. Alt-right personality Mike Cernovich tweeted that "Trump as kingmaker or a viable 2024 general election candidate is over as of tonight."

Quite a moment on Fox: @MarcThiessen calling the midterm results "an absolute disaster for the Republican party." He's urging the party to look in the mirror, reject "radical candidates," and rally behind the likes of Ron DeSantis and Mike DeWine.

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) November 9, 2022

The Libertarian Party's one state legislator. In Wyoming, Marshall Burt—the only Libertarian candidate currently serving as a state legislator anywhere in the country—lost his seat to Republican Cody Wylie.

Tipped wage workers in Washington, D.C. The city has passed a proposal (Initiative 82) to raise the minimum wage for tipped-wage workers (like bartenders and servers)—a move which many say will lead to them getting less in tips and making less money ultimately.

Still Unclear…

The fate of the Senate. Two key Senate races—including those in Georgia (where Democrat Raphael Warnock is facing off against Republican Herschel Walker) and Nevada (where Democrat Catherine Cortez Mastro is facing off against Republican Adam Laxalt)—are still toss-ups. Which means control of the Senate could still go either way. As of this morning, 49 seats have either been called for or are highly expected to be called for Democrats, and the same number of seats have been called for or are highly expected to be called for Republicans.

Democrats need to win one of two tossups -- Nevada and Georgia -- provided they win Arizona, which isn't exactly a totally sure thing given the opacity of the data and the obvious biases of various kinds of votes there

— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) November 9, 2022

How big a majority Republicans will have in the House. As of this morning, Democrats have either won or are expected to win 206 seats, Republicans have either won or are expected to win 219 seats, and 10 races are still considered toss-ups.

The fate of the Trumpy-Republican gubernatorial candidate in Arizona, Kari Lake. As of this morning, 63 percent of votes were in, with 49.1 percent going for Lake and 50.9 percent going for Democrat Katie Hobbs.

The fate of a religious freedom amendment in Arkansas.

How Arizonans are voting on a measure to add new voter ID requirements (though it's not looking good right now).

QUICK HITS

Mary Shaw, the judge who approved the fraudulent warrant for the raid on #BreonnaTaylor's home, has lost 51-49 with 99% of precincts reporting.

— Caleb O. Brown (@cobrown) November 9, 2022

• James Roesener, a Democrat running for a state house seat in New Hampshire, has won his race, making him the first openly transgender man to be a state legislator.

• Jonathan Chait calls the midterm results "a shocking vote of confidence for Democrats."

• Trump drew cheers talking about executing drug dealers and sending the bullets to their families:

https://twitter.com/amandacarpenter/status/1589947763856670720

Start your day with Reason. Get a daily brief of the most important stories and trends every weekday morning when you subscribe to Reason Roundup.

NEXT: Midterm Voters Choose To Protect Reproductive Freedom

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Fist of Etiquette 2 years ago

Big-picture items like the fate of the House or Senate are still unclear...

America's Aunt Flo didn't show last night.
1. Mother's Lament 2 years ago (edited)
  
  Horrifying. I was hoping American kickback would inspire Canadians. Trudeau never won a majority and his party got less votes than the Conservative oppo the last two times, but he won them in the right places. The Canadian equivalents to Michigan and New York.
  
  If they're not willing to toss off their chains, then Toronto and Nova Scotia won’t either.
  1. Overt 2 years ago
    
    The biggest data point I saw last night was exit polls showing 60%+ unfavorable view of Trump. Whether you think it is fair or not, the media and Democrats (and maybe Trump himself) have done a good job of making Trump toxic to independents.
    
    And the results from last night pretty much show that. The GOP had to dump tons of money into Ohio to save a seat (Vance) that Portman won by 20 points in years past. Other Trump-Endorsed candidates underperformed significantly. Meanwhile, DeSantis made Florida look like everyone expected the rest of the country to look- like a massive red wave even in Blue Enclaves like Miami-Dade.
    
    The Democratic party has a significant problem in that its voters are overwhelmingly authoritarian compared to the rest of the country. This leads them to elect authoritarian asshats in Primaries who feel the US should be policing disinformation and empowering the FBI and CIA. Until they move closer to the center on these issues, the Democrats will put up authoritarians who don't appeal to the rest of the country. Likewise, the Republicans have a significant problem in that its core voters are overwhelmingly pro-trump compared to the rest of the country. Until these voters and the rest of the country come to agreement on this, Republican primaries are going to present candidates that independents don't like.
    1. damikesc 2 years ago
      
      Yeah, time to jettison Trump. He was a good President but as a "kingmaker", he is the drizzling shits.
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    2. Commenter_XY 2 years ago
      
      Team R just whiffed. The Senate was the 'make or break' part to the election. Team R blew it.
    3. mrvco 2 years ago
      
      By all rights, this should clear the deck for DeSantis in 2024... of course that will never be accepted or acknowledged by Trump. Trump's ego trumps all... of course. I guess the question now is does the media prop up DeSantis to prevent a return of Trump or are they confident enough that Trump can't or (at least) won't be elected in 2024 that they prop up Trump to spoil DeSantis (and 4teh ad$$$).
      1. Unable2Reason 2 years ago
        
        They could just make up a new name to include them both (Maga Republicans is already taken - fjb) and just keep repeating, "newgroupX are equally racist, sexist, homophobe, transphobe, anti-abortion extremist, etc." Very economical of print-space.
        
        ElvisIsReal 2 years ago
        
        This is what they're doing. You'll notice the subtle shift from "Orange Man Bad" to "MAGA Men Bad" -- that's because DeSantis can be slandered with the latter.
    4. Nardz 2 years ago
      
      This take, ubiquitous among the polite and proper sort, is such a boon to the totalitarian left.
      The problems are structural. Our institutions are corrupt as hell. Letting 2020, ALL of 2020 (covid hype, "mostly peaceful" nationwide political terrorism, the after the fact blatant election theft), slide was a fatal blow to this country and to freedom.
      There is no voting your way out of totalitarianism.
      All institutions are united in corruption and rot. The fed needs to be gutted and rebuilt.
      Trump, being an antagonistic candidate limited to one prospective term, is the only one who could possibly accomplish that.
      Annihilation is necessary.
      All this Trump blame gives cover to the cancer continuing to spread.
      We're seeing the exact same pattern, one contrary to all contextual metrics beyond orangemanbad, from 2020 repeat now in 2022.
      You think Trump disappearing fixes anything?
      It might satisfy your feelz, but if an R is ever even allowed to win again it will be useless in the face of total institutional control.
      1. Overt 2 years ago
        
        Oh yeah, the entire system is corrupt and crony. It is chock full of Elites enriching themselves off the back of working americans. It's a shame you don't realize Trump was just another billionaire huckster trying to muscle his way into the same game.
        
        Nardz 2 years ago
        
        Trump may be shitty, but he has the right enemies...
        
        But forget Trump. He could drop dead tomorrow.
        How the fuck do you think it doesn't just continue to get worse?
        
        Overt 2 years ago
        
        Oh, there are two certainties for which I have zero doubt:
        
        1) It will get worse. Much worse.
        2) You will be here impotently imploring people to "Push Back" like a particularly sociopathic Iago.
        
        ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
        
        Nardz 2 years ago
        
        As you'll continue posing as above it all while living in California, and shifting on anybody who doesn't speak with the proper milquetoast pox on both sidez mantra.
        I've already lost hope, but at least I live in Florida.
        Excuse me for interrupting the vapid circlejerk.
        
        Overt 2 years ago
        
        Impotently calling for other people to rise up in some rebellion that you never seem willing to do yourself. And if they don't hold their gun up high and cheer with wild abandon- if, GASP, they don't enthusiastically endorse a mediocre old orange man- they must be wrong wrong wrong. You are a bad parody, Nardz, and the only thing that makes it funny is learning that you are in Florida.
        
        Nardz 2 years ago
        
        Your insecurity is topped only by your lack of comprehension, perhaps partially due to that insecurity.
        
        Ted AKA Teddy Salad, CIA/US Ballet Force 2 years ago
        
        People should push back. It’s been obvious, to me at least, for over a decade that elections and the courts aren’t going to save us. More will be required.
        
        You are of course all free to delude yourself to the contrary. Though I h have one request. When shit gets real, any of you who want nut up need to stay out of the way.
        
        Ted AKA Teddy Salad, CIA/US Ballet Force 2 years ago
        
        A Great Cleansing needs to take place.
        
        American rights > democrat lives
        
        Earth-based Human Skeptic 2 years ago
        
        We could just put a fence around California ask tell people to relocate or STFU.
        
        Ted AKA Teddy Salad, CIA/US Ballet Force 2 years ago
        
        You’re half right. Leftists be relocated, but not anywhere in the US. Why would we ever allow them to have CA? Just force them to leave. As in permanent exile. Then there will be no more leftists.
        
        Until then, there will an omnipresent threat to our natural rights.
        
        kevrob 2 years ago
        
        If one of Trump's internal organs would do us the same service Grunthos the Flatulent did for intergalactic poetry in h2g2, that would be appreciated.
        
        https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Grunthos_the_Flatulent
        
        mad.casual 2 years ago
        
        It’s a shame you don’t realize Trump was just another billionaire huckster trying to muscle his way into the same game.
        
        You realize Trump wasn't on the ballot, right? That governors that violated their constitutional oaths, violated people's rights, and locked down their citizens were and won, right?
        
        Imagine coming away from the victory of Whitmer, Hochul, Pritzker, Fetterman, Hobbs, etc., etc., etc. and thinking "Man, we really stuck it to those Trumpkins."
        
        This seems kind of like a bunch of Leninists cheering the erasure of Trotsky (or Nazis purging socialists...), and that's being, arguably, excessively derogatory of Trump (and still not as insanely OrangeHitler! as the people you're celebrating).
        
        Overt 2 years ago
        
        "You realize Trump wasn’t on the ballot, right?"
        
        So this is what you are going with? Trump had NOTHING to do with the performance of the candidates he championed in the Primaries? Despite the fact that Democrats and the Media did everything in their power to tie him to these candidates?
        
        "This seems kind of like a bunch of Leninists cheering the erasure of Trotsky (or Nazis purging socialists…), and that’s being, arguably, excessively derogatory of Trump (and still not as insanely OrangeHitler! as the people you’re celebrating)."
        
        Here is your problem: you think I am celebrating. TDS works both ways, mad, and right now you are seriously afflicted. I made an observation of the facts: 1) Exit polls showed Trump is favorable only to republicans, and he is toxic to the rest of the country. 2) His candidates did poorly, while candidates in GA, FL, and even NH who stood on their own did well.
        
        That isn't gloating. That isn't celebration. It is a post mortem. And the fact that you (and our resident paper-tiger, Nardz) are taking it so personally says more about you than me.
        
        mad.casual 2 years ago (edited)
        
        It is a post mortem.
        
        So, whether it was ‘with Trump’ or ‘of Trump’ is immaterial, there can be no discussion about whether we should be locking people in their homes because the media says "Trump!", and I better wear a mask because I could have TDS?
        
        Great work there, doc.
        
        mad.casual 2 years ago
        
        I mean, FFS, you're literally saying "I blame Trump."
        
        Overt 2 years ago
        
        Blaming Trump- or Trumpisma- is not the same as celebrating Trump's defeat. You understand that, right?
        
        mad.casual 2 years ago
        
        Blaming Trump- or Trumpisma- is not the same as celebrating Trump’s defeat. You understand that, right?
        
        Yes. You understand that declaring the patient dead 'of COVID' isn't celebrating COVID, right?
        
        Overt 2 years ago
        
        Seriously, what the fuck are you talking about? What point exactly, do you think I was making?
        
        You have this rambling and vague writing style that makes it difficult to understand what your point is. But you seem to be implying that I am celebrating Trump's failure to produce winners ("we really stuck it to those Trumpkins.”) or that I am ignoring that a bunch of totalitarian governors got the nod.
        
        In case it isn't painfully obvious, I am not happy that the government isn't split. I am not happy that people voted to support all the Branch Covidians of the last two years. And a key reason I am not happy today is that Trump- self proclaimed kingmaker, Trump- endorsed a wife-beating philanderer and a carpetbagging "doctor" in the Senate primaries. He endorsed equally bad gubernatorial candidates in other states. He did a dis-service to anyone who wanted a split government and repudiation of Covid Mania.
        
        If this wasn't the point you were trying to make, then please drop the fucking mixed metaphors and vague innuendo and type legibly for once.
        
        Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP) 2 years ago
        
        You understand that declaring the patient dead ‘of COVID’ isn’t celebrating COVID, right?
        
        Sweet riposte, dude.
        
        mad.casual 2 years ago
        
        What point exactly, do you think I was making?
        
        Besides Trump, what point were you making?
        
        JesseAz 2 years ago
        
        It wasn't only trump candidates that lost. Blake masters, while endorsed by Trump, was Peter Thiels camp. He is not a trump republican. Just endorsed. He is still losing. This despite arizona polling showing 70% think direction of the country is wrong.
        
        He is closer to MC than trump, yet loss.
        
        Blaming solely trump is just plain silly and quite frankly an excuse.
        
        Yes he is a negative. But seeing such contrary numbers as you even note above can't be blamed solely on trump. Outside of Florida we saw numbers that make zero sense. Not claiming electoral fraud, just a basis of voting of the irrational. People who hate the way things are but vote the same because of media and social narratives. More of a result of complete corruption of leftists in institutions and a reduction of education across the board.
        
        Mother's Lament 2 years ago
        
        "It wasn’t only trump candidates that lost."
        
        Agreed. I don't think Trump endorsements had a positive effect, but I don't think they had a negative effect either.
        Trump really didn't have any role at all, which may mean it's pointless to look for the rebellion against the aristocracy to continue under him.
        
        What has also been dawning on me is that there's a very real cultural divide now between places like Texas, Alberta, Ohio and Utah, and places like New York, Metro DC, urban California and Vancouver.
        The blue urbanites want lockdowns, censorship and strict social controls. They want to feel safe in the arms of a strong and firm daddy so they don't have to worry or think anymore. Just trust in the top men.
        
        In a way, it makes sense. When you live densely packed on top of each other, how is freedom and a lack of central planning going to help you? You need enforced cooperation to make it work.
        
        It's poison for running a country, but it's what they know and trust.
        
        Overt 2 years ago
        
        Masters was a Trump endorsee. It was widely reported that he and Trump were talking on the phone as recently as last month. He also happened to be running in a race where his up-ticket candidate (Lake) was an unapologetic Trumper.
        
        Was Trump the sole reason Republicans did poorly? Probably not. And his shadow certainly afflicted some more or less than others. Nevertheless, you cannot look at this race and think he wasn't one of the, if not the, proximate causes.
        
        JesseAz 2 years ago
        
        Per the point above, you're claiming trump adjacent as trump republican. They talked on the phone?? That is not a comparison of their policies. Focusing solely on trump and trump adjacent is what democrats want and youre actually perpetuating it.
        
        Trump and DeSantis have also talked. But they have different policies, they aren't the same person.
        
        It is more a statement of the irrationality of the voter than anything against a single person. Again look at exit polls vs results. They are contradictory
        
        Moonrocks 2 years ago
        
        He also happened to be running in a race where his up-ticket candidate (Lake) was an unapologetic Trumper.
        
        ...who outperformed him by close to 5%. Clearly more Trump didn't mean more bad.
        
        mad.casual 2 years ago (edited)
        
        Trump and DeSantis have also talked. But they have different policies, they aren’t the same person.
        
        Yup. Cited ~~above~~ below. Any political ads where Masters is building Trump’s wall with his daughter (and won)? If not, the assertion that Masters lost because Trump and DeSantis won despite Trump is plucking a preferred narrative out of the zeitgeist.
        
        Inquisitive Squirrel 2 years ago
        
        Trump was a monumentally detrimental factor to Repubs in this election. There were other issues like Repubs' position on abortion after Dobbs and just terrible quality of candidates. But Trump's presence and existence played a huge role. The guy is massively despised and anyone remotely near him has to overcome that.
        
        Ted AKA Teddy Salad, CIA/US Ballet Force 2 years ago
        
        I think you’re overstating Trump’s value as a variable in the 2022 election equation.
      2. mad.casual 2 years ago
        
        Yup. You don't have to fool all of the people all of the time, just most of them most of the time.
        
        The Trump hate is the omicron variant of TDS.
        Even just from Reason:
        -Candidate [DeSantis] and Daughter Build Trump's Border Wall in Cringeworthy Campaign Ad
        -The Florida Gubernatorial Race Is Over, and Trump Ally Ron DeSantis Has Won
        -President Trump Credits Himself for Republicans' Performance in the Midterms: "But Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis, who made a point to build a literal wall with his children and read them bedtime stories about Trump, won by a mere 0.7 points."
        
        But, somehow, a vote for anti-lockdown, immigrant-stunt, parental-rights, DeathSantis is, suddenly, a refutation of Trump.
        
        2022 was the peoples', including libertarians, including Reason's time to say "We won't be locked down again.", "We won't be locked out of our schools' decisions about our children.", "We won't compromise our morals and destroy society on the premise of false narratives, false equity, and specious reasoning of The Science."
        
        None of that required an embrace of Trump. Lots of libertarians lost last night too, but you wouldn't know it by reading Reason. Instead we get the papering over the lack of response with a hatred of Trump as an unequivocal defense of the totalitarianism.
        
        Nardz 2 years ago
        
        Correct
        
        Ted AKA Teddy Salad, CIA/US Ballet Force 2 years ago
        
        Americans better be ready to do more if elections and the courts continue to fail us. Or at least stay out of the way when things get real.
      3. JimboJr 2 years ago
        
        "There is no voting your way out of totalitarianism.
        All institutions are united in corruption and rot. The fed needs to be gutted and rebuilt.
        Trump, being an antagonistic candidate limited to one prospective term, is the only one who could possibly accomplish that."
        
        I dont disagree with you that candidates who intend to work entirely within the swamp, are not going to fix it. It will probably take something more. I just dont think Trump is going to be the one to do it. While he has done the most to piss off and expose the elites for what they are, he also cant get out of his own ego's way to be effective.
        
        Kemp isnt an ideal gov, but he kept Ga open and the trains running. Desantis is a great gov. These guys both sailed to victory because they were completely unencumbered from spending every interview and their campaign on making sure they sucked up to Trump enough. Vance and other candidates vying for the king's approval spent way too much time having to do the dance about the 2020 election to stay enough in his good graces.
        
        Trump's vanity is becoming a problem. Taking shots at Desantis before the election because he cant help himself is a clear sign he is too undisciplined and cares too much about stroking his own ego. There is no game theory that makes this the correct choice.
        
        Nardz 2 years ago
        
        I mean, I think we're fucked.
        They aren't going to allow anybody that's a threat to win again. 2016 was our last shot.
        And here you are, bitching about Trump, praising the clearly corrupt Kemp (who, by the way, didn't open GA up until well after Florida), and overlooking the significant difference in Florida's election integrity vs the rest of the country.
        Literally ALL power is concentrated behind the left (and against Trump), and nobody wants to address that issue or think about the influence it might wield when talking about results.
        
        JimboJr 2 years ago
        
        "And here you are, bitching about Trump, praising the clearly corrupt Kemp"
        
        Trump isnt the Lord's second coming, and he isnt above criticism when he deserves it. What I said about Kemp is hardly praise, and he is clearly 100000x better than Abrams.
        
        I think Desantis is the shot, always have.
        
        Nardz 2 years ago
        
        My point is that there is no shot.
        And of course Trump isn't infallible, he underperformed my hopes for sure. But the small, <1% shot that may be isn't simply putting DeSantis, Scott, Paul, even a libertarian in there with everything else status quo and as currently constituted.
        There has to be a massive teardown.
        Trump is expendable.
        Only if he, or someone similar (and I don't know who that would be because whoever needs to not have reelection concerns), blows up the cathedral nothing will change.
        
        Ted AKA Teddy Salad, CIA/US Ballet Force 2 years ago
        
        The real problem is we have a surplus of Marxist idiots. There can be no oath forward until they’re dealt with. Most people are too frightened and lack the stomach to acknowledge that.
        
        Anyone who doesn’t agree with that, feel free to explain how I’m wrong, and how we can fix the country with their kind still here.
        
        Nelson 2 years ago
        
        You're wrong because killing people because you lost an election or because you don't like their political beliefs is tyranny. It is evil. Full stop.
        
        Weigel's Cock Ring 2 years ago
        
        We're absolutely 100% fucked, unless the U.S. Supreme Court eventually rules that ballot harvesting and month-long elections with unlimited unverified absentee ballots are unconstitutional, and they force the whole country to go back to the old pre COVID system of legitimate verified elections where 99.9% of the voters have to get their ass to the voting booth and vote on election day.
        
        Unless and until that happens, every big national election going forward will continue to be the American equivalent of a farcical Stalinist Soviet election. The resuts in Florida didn't look so different ONLY because the candidates are so much better, a lot of it is because they still enforce the old election integrity system. Anyone who gets caught ballot harvesting down there gets arrested and charged and pays a real price.
        
        Mother's Lament 2 years ago
        
        "We’re absolutely 100% fucked, unless the U.S. Supreme Court eventually rules that ballot harvesting and month-long elections with unlimited unverified absentee ballots are unconstitutional"
        
        This. Paper ballots, purple fingers.
        
        ElvisIsReal 2 years ago
        
        Yep.
        
        InsaneTrollLogic 2 years ago
        
        Because the flip side of Florida is Illinois, a state where mail-in ballots are accepted without postmark for up to two weeks after the election. A state where ballot harvesting is done all too often, especially in Cook County, mostly in Chicago. A state where we have actual voter intimidation in Chicago. There is no rigid integrity for elections. It might as well be a Stalinist joke.
        
        Demosthenes of Athens 2 years ago
        
        And it's bled out to the suburbs now. DuPage county board is now majority democrat. All the folks who left Cook county and moved here brought their politics with them.
        
        InsaneTrollLogic 2 years ago
        
        By contrast, it appears that Will County went from being Democrat to 50-50 split (11 of each - my district is 1 of each). The sheriff flipped from D to R, as has the treasurer.
        
        Earth-based Human Skeptic 2 years ago
        
        But voting in person on one day is hard!
        
        Fk_Censorship 2 years ago
        
        And rayciss
        
        Nelson 2 years ago
        
        For people who can't afford (or aren't allowed) to take the day off to wait in line to vote, it absolutely is.
        
        You have to decide if you want a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people" or one dictated by the people who can afford to take the day off to vote. You can't have both.
        
        I side with Lincoln and democracy, but you can go with a technocratic oligopoly if you prefer.
        
        Fk_Censorship 2 years ago
        
        I prefer a democracy for the people that contribute to its finances only. Although that would probably be both racist and sexist at the same time, at least in the context of American society.
        
        Nelson 2 years ago
        
        That's an aristocracy. Or an oligopoly. It definitely isn't democracy.
      4. damikesc 2 years ago
        
        I don't doubt that there are tons of institutional problems.
        
        But to pretend that Dr. Oz was the best of the options in the PA GOP primary is to deny reality. He was not. Barnette was measures better.
        
        His picks, much as he liked the credit when they won primaries, did dick-all in the general. It's simply what happened. We can sit back and comment on the corruption in the system --- but that will simply allow continued entrenchment of it and do nobody any good.
        
        Trump celebrating the loss of some Republicans was asinine. His lame as hell potshot at DeSantis (who, unlike him, tends to pick winners) was just pathetic and weak.
        
        Nardz 2 years ago
        
        Oz was definitely a horrible choice. I would like to see Walker get a shot though based on his own merits though.
        The conversation today should not be about Trump, but blaming "Trump/Trumpism" makes resentful libertarians feel good about themselves.
        
        damikesc 2 years ago
        
        I'm not blaming "Trumpism" which is little more than a focus on the US and less focus on the rest of the world.
        
        I am blaming him for promoting losers and then, honestly, being a whiny cunt about it (he's going to embarrass DeSantis? Really? He thinks he has something that well over a year of deep digging does not?).
        
        In 2024, he is really old. His judgment in staffing is really iffy. Remember how bad Wray is? Who nominated him? Who put Gina Haspel in as CIA chief? His Sec of States and Defense were pretty terrible. John Bolton was a shit choice. His people were, by and large, incredibly disloyal and not overly competent. It was not a one-off but a consistent issue. I know that people who came to work for him were attacked by the Left. DeSantis has the same issue in FL yet has quite good and capable people around him.
        
        Nardz 2 years ago
        
        Trump fucked up a lot.
        Did some good.
        But the point is that this obsession with Trump and spotlighting him for blame is being pushed by the left/media/cathedral for a reason. It obscures the real peril we're in.
        
        Inquisitive Squirrel 2 years ago
        
        Jesus, the massive defending of Trump that happens in these comments is just gross at this point.
        
        The guy is a train wreck. Everything he touches dies politically. Couple that with terrible abortion positions and the Repubs have a huge problem unless they can get rid of Trump.
        
        Stop the bootlicking of the guy.
        
        JesseAz 2 years ago
        
        Be specific. Pointing put countering narratives instead if exclusively blaming trump isn't defending trump.
        
        Blaming trump is the easy no thinking metric to use but isn't supported by actual evidence.
        
        A few races sure. But in others like masters it makes zero sense.
        
        Inquisitive Squirrel 2 years ago
        
        Yeah, I'm not buying this not defending Trump line of argument at all. For the last four years here the allegiance to Trump is insane. At this point, if you compare Reason comments to Breitbart comments, it's astonishing. Even Breitbarters are beginning to see the writing on the wall as concerns Trump.
        
        Was he the only reason Repubs did poorly? Of course not. Was he a major contributing factor? Absolutely. Between Trump, his influence, Jan 6, and abortion, Repubs were in a bad spot with the electorate. So much so that someone like Fetterman who can't even spell his own name won.
        
        Trump is the bane to the right and no bizarre defending of the guy is going to change that.
        
        Nardz 2 years ago
        
        Keep sucking that cathedral dick, squirrel.
      5. middlefinger 2 years ago (edited)
        
        Breaking:SEC fines investment banks 200million each. Apparently, employees text message clients on their personal phones. Private equity is on the fine block too.
        
        So, I guess it’s illegal to use text messaging, in business, in these United States.
        
        We’re all socialists now.
        
        Nelson 2 years ago
        
        Really? You think it's the technology that got them fined,
        
        Perhaps it was the information they were sharing with the technology that was the problem. Just maybe.
    5. Earth-based Human Skeptic 2 years ago
      
      I have often quipped that that if Trump did not exist, then the Democrats would have to invent him. My interpretation for 2022 results includes the observation that while intentionally setting up a contest against Trump (or his minions) failed for Hillary in 2016 it worked enough this year for Democrats.
      1. Moonrocks 2 years ago
        
        I have often quipped that that if Trump did not exist, then the Democrats would have to invent him.
        
        I think it's more that the Democrats would have done the exact same thing to any other Republican candidate in 2016. I remember all the shit they talked about every Republican candidate for as long as I can remember, and it wasn't substantially different than what they said about Trump.
        
        Overt 2 years ago
        
        The problem is that Trump made it easy.
        
        Bush, Reagan, Romney, McCain- all of them were literally Hitler. But whether Independents bought that message was another question entirely. In the case of Trump, a significant number of independents buy the message.
        
        The point is that it takes two to tango. The Democrats can insist that you are the Devil incarnate. But it takes you to contradict that image. Trump was not effective at doing that.
        
        Nardz 2 years ago
        
        Like Romney, McCain, and Bush were?
        
        Jfc, just look at those names
        
        Moonrocks 2 years ago
        
        On the other hand, playing by the rules means the Republican candidate will get choked out by the leftist narrative. See 2008, 2012, and 2020 (which saw a combination of Trump trying to be less abrasive with social media giants forcibly muzzling him).
        
        Inquisitive Squirrel 2 years ago
        
        I love how the argument is between either a milquetoast candidate who can't win or a caustic moronic megalomaniac who can't win.
        
        Just depressing.
        
        Nardz 2 years ago
        
        Your obsessive resentment of Trump is unhealthy.
      2. Cronut 2 years ago
        
        The democrats have been inventing him for at least as long as I've been voting. I can't remember a GOP candidate that WASN'T called a racist, mysoginist, Nazi, fascist, etc.
        
        JimboJr 2 years ago
        
        Mitt Romney, and a Cheyney are now in their good graces.
        
        Both of which were previously literally Hitler, 5 minutes ago. The litmus test seems to be if you'll support their bs and bend the knee
        
        soldiermedic76 2 years ago
        
        De Santis does a real good job pushing back, as does Kemp and Tim Scott, without looking like an asshole.
        
        Of course, Nardz is all it's over. I don't see it that way. The Supreme Court (and lower courts) are starting to chip away at the bureaucracy, reining them in. It took us a century to get here, expecting it to end overnight is just unrealistic. People subconsciously know it's a problem, but you have to make them see it. Targeted oversight, but don't make that your sole focus.
        
        Offer real solutions (call fucking Newt, because he offered real solutions). It's easy to identify the problems, it's harder to fix them. There is benefits to passing some real solutions, even if Biden vetos them. Especially if he does. School vouchers.
        
        Reform government procurement, especially DoD procurement. There's been some major blunders recently in the DoD, especially the Navy. Hold hearings on the massive project overruns, acquisitions that have failed, favored contractors who fail to deliver, regulations that lead to waste. Also, focus on the massive disproportion of O-6 and above, terrible waste of training time, terrible command atmosphere. Next time the media brings up sexual harassment of troops, or violence, turn it around and link the problem back to poor morale and terrible command climate.
        
        Finally, when you hold these oversight hearings, don't make it a gotcha session, but make it about identifying and fixing the problems. Don't grandstand, bring up the facts but ask how do we fix it. If they don't have solutions or state their is not a problem, then hold their feet to the fire. If you want a blue print, do what Truman did as Senator. First on the transportation committee, and then with his Truman Commission during the war. Don't aim for sound bytes, aim for real solutions. Identify people in the other party you can work with and force the Democrats to say no to your policies. But have a plan. Something the Republicans really haven't had in a long time. You can't vote out a program if you have nothing to replace it with. Take healthcare. Right to try, parent and copyright reform, FDA approval process, crony capitalism, revolving door between FDA and pharma, etc. On justice, moderate prison reform (find rehabilitation programs that work), mental health reform (especially in prison and as an alternative for prison in some cases), asset forfeiture reform (require a conviction and end the fed-local work around). Basically, when you do oversight, don't make it about you and your career. Make it about fixing the system, because Americans know it's broken be the party that fixes it.
        
        mad.casual 2 years ago (edited)
        
        But have a plan. Something the Republicans really haven’t had in a long time.
        
        You mean like a plan to withdraw from Afghanistan? Kinda funny how your narrative on that topic to date ends with “I blame Trump.”
        
        And, when you say ‘DeSantis does a real good job without looking like an asshole.’, and this is without disagreement and an ~75% certainty that I’d vote for him on a presidential ticket, you actually literally mean he’s a politically correct candidate, right?
        
        soldiermedic76 2 years ago
        
        Dafuq? Oh, yes I fully defended Biden on Afghanistan. Oh wait I fully ridiculed him for not having a fucking plan. And yes, not looking like an asshole totally means politically correct wokeness. What the absolute fuck? I've only been posting here for 21 years, when the fuck have I ever said any of those things you interpreted me as saying? I'm simply speechless. Really, I have nothing.
        
        Having a plan is like Newt's Contract with America, something McCarthy and the GOP really didn't do. They put out something and then walked it back as soon as they did. Instead they listed everything that was wrong but did not offer concrete alternatives. Not being an asshole is "There you go again," or "I won't hold my opponents age against him". It's the difference in criticizing your opponents and looking mean spirited. Reagan was good at this. The left is largely mean spirited. Push back, but be smart about it. Let them hang themselves on their own petards. You don't win by playing your opponents game, and you don't win by playing the game the way they expect you to.
        
        mad.casual 2 years ago (edited)
        
        Oh, yes I fully defended Biden on Afghanistan.
        
        Show me where I said you did. Because I will show you where somebody that had a plan, a plan you supported, has you openly denouncing anyone even nominally aligned with the person in charge of the plan.
        
        Having a plan is like Newt’s Contract with America
        
        How did the politically correct Contract with America work out for you in 2019? 2020? 2021?
        
        Let them hang themselves on their own petards.
        
        They can’t. They can literally lock people in their own homes and the people primarily opposed to it, when the mic swings their way say, “Well, we can’t hold Trump in no way culpable in all this.”
        
        You don’t win by playing your opponents game
        
        Right. The opponents’ classic maneuver is to change voter regulations, enact healthcare and welfare handouts, and impose lock downs (with a plan, without a plan, with a shitty plan… doesn’t matter) and then turn around and say “You can’t repeal them without a plan.” ‘You need to have a plan.’ is their game, they want you to say, “Trump is not a plan and you need to have a plan.” and that’s what you’re doing. They want you to have a plan because they want you to say, think, and present as knowing, ‘The freedom to operate a massive federal government without a plan is too uncouth.’ Ceding the need to operate a massive federal government in the process.
        
        FFS, do you think DeSantis got elected so that he could fly immigrants to MV? No. At best, the plan was “Pwn the immigration retards.”
        
        soldiermedic76 2 years ago
        
        What the absolute fuck are you going on about? Pissed because I criticized Trump? Jesus Christ.
        
        soldiermedic76 2 years ago
        
        Who the fuck are you arguing with? Because it sure the fuck isn't me. Wow! So, I didn't vote for Trump. Didn't vote for Biden either. Trump was going to win my state no matter what. This whole diatribe is just really not related to reality at all. Fuck.
        
        Nelson 2 years ago
        
        "I can’t remember a GOP candidate that WASN’T called a racist, mysoginist, Nazi, fascist, etc."
        
        And there hasn't been a Dem candidate that wasn't attacked by the GOP as in favor of rampant crime, open borders, socialism, and (these days) pedophilia/grooming.
        
        It's almost like the two political parties make generalized caricatures of the other party amd slap it on all of their candidates. Almost.
        
        The two parties build strawmen and then attack them. It's what they do. It always has been. It always will be. It's a play for the base and credulous fools, but it keeps working so they keep doing it.
      3. American Mongrel 2 years ago
        
        The real problem is trumpism. I didn't vote because of the way trump supporters personally attack "RINOs" more harshly than they do anyone except for the furthest on the left.
        They drove reasons two best posters away. This election was an extension of that.
        I voted Trump 20 even though the man is personally distasteful. I withheld my vote for Michels because of the way true republicans attacked kleeficsh and her supporters in the primaries.
        This is the first election I didn't vote in since 2000. My vote is worthless and I'm not playing the game anymore with the way people are currently treating each other.
        So keep at the strategy of middle school bullying anyone not 100% behind trump. It's a winning strategy.
        
        Nardz 2 years ago
        
        You won, dipshit.
        The world we have now is the one you asked for.
        
        soldiermedic76 2 years ago
        
        Your such a fucking crybaby. You don't get your way and throw a fucking fit. Your more fucking Autistic then I am, and I'm actually on the fucking spectrum. It took over a century and you want it fixed overnight. And when it isn't, you take your ball and go home crying. I muted Sarc for his bullshit. I'm muting you because you offer no solutions just a tantrum. Just like your fucking hero, Trump. You lost, because you don't want to do the hard work, just fucking bitch and moan. And play right into the hands of the leftist. Play right into their hands. And I don't think you realize how much of a useful idiot you are for the left.
        
        sarcasmic 2 years ago (edited)
        
        Logic is bullshit. Yep. Ken thought so too.
        
        Ted AKA Teddy Salad, CIA/US Ballet Force 2 years ago
        
        Other things are bullshit too. Like you.
        
        Nardz 2 years ago
        
        I say things that make you uncomfortable because they're fucking true.
        
        sarcasmic 2 years ago
        
        Maybe people wouldn't hate you if you weren't so hostile to anyone who disagrees with you.
        
        Mother's Lament 2 years ago
        
        "Maybe people wouldn’t hate you if you weren’t so hostile to anyone who disagrees with you."
        
        Self-awareness isn't Sarcasmic's superpower.
        
        sarcasmic 2 years ago
        
        Lying is ML's superpower.
        
        Ted AKA Teddy Salad, CIA/US Ballet Force 2 years ago
        
        No, lying is your superpower, along with being a whiny little drunken bitch.
        
        Mother's Lament 2 years ago
        
        Lying about what, Sarckles? You never manage to answer that.
        
        Mother's Lament 2 years ago
        
        "And I don’t think you realize how much of a useful idiot you are for the left."
        
        I actually feel Nardz's despair right now too. I'm not feeling confident that the Supreme Court can chip away at the bureaucracy.
        
        I fear that they have been emboldened to carry on with the corruption of the FBI and DOJ. That they're no longer worried about consequences.
        
        I think the Biden administration will also now do what they threatened, and pack the Supreme Court.
        
        soldiermedic76 2 years ago
        
        They won't be able to. Republicans will have a slim majority in the house and quite possibly the Senate. Additionally, there is room to still make a play for Manchin and possibly Tester, especially if either decides to run again. It was bad, but not that bad. Republicans really have the focus on Georgia to get to 51. It was disappointing. I am extremely disappointed. If you fumble the ball, and you let that eat you up, you're going to fumble again. Look at the good QBs, they throw an interception, they aren't screaming at their receivers, no they're looking at the replay, talking with their players, with their OC and QB and receiver coaches, pumping up their team, cheering on their defenses.
        
        Ted AKA Teddy Salad, CIA/US Ballet Force 2 years ago
        
        The next two election cycles favor republicans for the senate.
        
        R Mac 2 years ago
        
        So not an Aaron Rodgers fan?
        
        soldiermedic76 2 years ago
        
        Never have been. Game managers may not be as exciting but they win. I'm really disappointed in Wilson, too, ever since he married Ciana he seems like he is not putting the work into it that he used to. Trying to hard to force it. He used to be better at moving the ball to set up the big play.
        
        JesseAz 2 years ago
        
        I'm more worried the Dems see this as a referendum and do the shit theyve been threatening. Stack the court. End the filibuster. Etc.
        
        InsaneTrollLogic 2 years ago
        
        Any proposed legislation to increase the size of the Supreme Court will have to go through both houses. With a Republican House and Democrat Senate, this doesn't happen. If the Senate Dems try to end the filibuster, they should remember what happened to them the last time they tried a nuclear option. Manchin knows. That's why he voted against it.
        
        soldiermedic76 2 years ago
        
        The Dems haven't won the Senate. It's fifty-fifty with Georgia special election still to come.
        
        InsaneTrollLogic 2 years ago
        
        True, but I'm stating the worst case scenario, should Walker not win the runoff. Should Walker win the runoff in Georgia, it becomes a Republican Senate and House, and therefore, the filibuster stays alive, and the court does not get packed.
        
        soldiermedic76 2 years ago
        
        I think what irritates me the most is the nihilism of some like those that are posting today. It was a bad night but how does conservative crying "game over man, game over" make things better. How did it work in Georgia last time giving up? They need to grow a fucking pair.
        
        Nardz 2 years ago
        
        "They need to grow a fucking pair [and have faith in The System!]"
        
        Sevo 2 years ago
        
        "The real problem is trumpism..."
        
        Nope,
        The real problem is TDS-addled piles of shit.
        
        soldiermedic76 2 years ago
        
        Trump is a problem. Not his policies, but his personality, his lack of solutions (being able to articulate them well), his work ethic (or maybe better to say his lack of focus/ADHD/lack of discipline), and above all his ego. I think there are several Republicans who had a good night last night, on similar platforms, but far more disciplined and proven track records. A debate with Kemp, Tim Scott and De Santis would be good for the party. Could throw in De Wyne and Abbott. You want an outsider, but an outsider with enough knowledge of the system to accomplish things. Even if that is fixing the system, you have to know what's wrong before you can fix it. De Santis has a track record in emergencies, and a track record of addressing concerns and government reform. You're always going to have the majority of the media against you, but it's how you react that's important. You can't do Romney and turn up your belly, and Trump goes to far the other way. De Santis does sometimes go overboard but rarely appears unhinged. Trump, even if you liked his policies, tended to appear unhinged or at least gave enough ammunition (again lack of discipline) to be portrayed as unhinged.
        
        Sevo 2 years ago
        
        Care to name a better POTUS since Silent Cal?
        
        damikesc 2 years ago
        
        He was a very good President.
        
        ...but he picks losers in the general election. He simply does. He is no better at picking good candidates than Romney or McConnell.
        
        soldiermedic76 2 years ago
        
        Reagan, he had a much more hostile Congress (his party was always in the minority), a media that was hostile (but appeared less partisan so people believed it more). Trump had good policies and for the most part his judicial picks were good (he farmed that out but he listened), unfortunately most of his policies weren't lasting and his inability to get reelected and his drag on the party this year, really means for all his positives he ends up being a failure, because most of his accomplishments Biden undid in the first two weeks. Reagan set the narrative for a generation. It's one thing to have good policies, it's another to get them accomplished and to have them persists. Trump really failed in these latter two.
        
        Trump deserves credit for highlighting the changes we need, but he fails to advance his agenda in a meaningful, lasting manner.
        
        Compared to Biden, Obama, Clinton and either Bush, I agree with his policies more, unfortunately, they got shit done (and a lot of it really was shit) that lasted after they left office. So, based on long term accomplishments, I have to say Reagan was the better president.
        
        Inquisitive Squirrel 2 years ago
        
        He was so good he could never gain a majority of support, couldn't win reelection, and still has lower approval rating than Biden has.
        
        Trump was not a good president. His existence has given us the current situation. That's not a positive in my book.
        
        mad.casual 2 years ago
        
        "I blame Trump."... from libertarians... in 2022.
        
        soldiermedic76 2 years ago
        
        I blame Trump because he is still making this about him rather than moving his agenda forward. Which is more important? Trump or actually accomplishing long term, the agenda he proposed? Arguing about who won Pennsylvania, or Kemp getting meaningful voting reform that worked? Florida had the best ran election system in the country last night, because they were successful in fixing their problems. Georgia improved a hell of a lot. Shit got done. Kemp was crucified by the media for his reforms. And he proved them wrong by the results. Record turnout, short lines.
        
        Often Trump's biggest fault is he doesn't know when to shut up. Kemp and De Santis (although the latter is more outspoken than the former) are able to take the criticism, get stuff done and let the results speak for them. And when they do pushback, they don't make it personal, e.g. they don't make it about the insult against them, but focus on the mischaracterization of their policies. They focus on policy and let the results speak for them.
        
        Rather than say 2020 was stolen. Say "there were several changes we disagreed with and felt were illegal. Since 2021, the courts have largely agreed with us. These are the way we propose to fix the problems and how they will help..."
        
        Nardz 2 years ago
        
        "“I blame Trump.”… from libertarians… in 2022."
        
        And now holding up Bush as a positive example of what Trump isn't, if you scroll down a bit further...
        
        JesseAz 2 years ago
        
        Yeah. That is insane. There seems to be an ask to go back to the failures of the 2012 tea party where they demurred any time the media was mean to them.
        
        soldiermedic76 2 years ago
        
        No, but how about the successes of 1994 and 1980. This argument is puerile. There is something between Trump and Ryan.
        
        Red Rocks White Privilege 2 years ago
        
        They drove reasons two best posters away.
        
        Huh?
        
        Dillinger 2 years ago
        
        seriously dafuq? here every day for the most part.
        
        R Mac 2 years ago
        
        Right?
        
        JesseAz 2 years ago
        
        Thank you sir. /s
        
        sarcasmic 2 years ago
        
        Ken and John maybe?
        
        Red Rocks White Privilege 2 years ago (edited)
        
        Ken I can see, but John appears to have simply vanished for no apparent reason. I haven’t seen a single post from him in about 1.5 years, and I don’t think it was driven by anything in particular.
        
        sarcasmic 2 years ago (edited)
        
        I heard that he went to the Glibs but got banned for being an asshole.
        
        Edit: I shouldn't say that. I actually liked the guy. But when he dug in his heels he because an obtuse mule. I think that's what got him the boot.
        
        Red Rocks White Privilege 2 years ago
        
        He did admit that they banned him, but that was long before his disappearing act. I remember he left here briefly to post over at Glibs, but came back regularly after they booted him out.
        
        Yeah, he was stubborn, but he was also arguably the most well-read poster here, particularly on historical issues.
        
        Mother's Lament 2 years ago
        
        "I heard that he went to the Glibs but got banned for being an asshole."
        
        Remember when you loudly announced you were decamping permanently for the glibs? Want to tell us again what happened.
        
        sarcasmic 2 years ago
        
        Want to tell us again what happened.
        
        Sure. There is a flurry of activity and then it goes dead. In other words it's boring. That and it was at the same time Reason introduced the mute feature.
        
        JesseAz 2 years ago
        
        So just like reason yet you came back to troll daily here instead?
        
        Mother's Lament 2 years ago
        
        "John appears to have simply vanished for no apparent reason."
        
        He disappeared the day after Biden won.
        
        sarcasmic 2 years ago
        
        Don't you mean the day after Biden stole the election through a grand conspiracy of fraud throughout the entire electoral system?
        
        Ted AKA Teddy Salad, CIA/US Ballet Force 2 years ago
        
        Well, it was a victory of sorts. Just not a truly legal or honest one. But your pathological hatred of all things Trump prevents you from using logic and engaging in constructive critical thinking.
        
        Red Rocks White Privilege 2 years ago
        
        No, he was posting here through the inauguration, as I recall. I think his last posts were sometime in late Jan 2021.
        
        JimboJr 2 years ago
        
        Ken and John are the most memorable recent departures, but if we are talking best, Fist and OBL immediately come to mind
        
        Utkonos 2 years ago
        
        Chumby
        
        TheReEncogitationer 2 years ago
        
        Chumby's puns were fantastic! (Not to take away from your fantastic work, of course.). I miss the laugh-a-minute in real time that commenced when you both got started. 🙂
        
        He was kinda heavy into the false dilemma of WEF vs. Putin, but he seemed like a reasonable fellow and I hope this war and it's atrocities have woke him up to the reality of Putin's thuggery.
        
        mad.casual 2 years ago
        
        I think we can all agree that he's not referring to nicole.
        
        Derp-o-Matic 6000 2 years ago
        
        Well, she was the worst
        
        Nelson 2 years ago
        
        "They drove reasons two best posters away."
        
        Which ones? There are a few, like Cal Cetin, that I miss in discussions.
    6. soldiermedic76 2 years ago
      
      Trump costs the Republicans a lot last night. Oz probably would have won Pennsylvania if not for the idiot Trump got nominated for governor there. From what I heard last night the GOP couldn't even get a hold of their nominee for most of the past month. What the absolute fuck.
      
      Anyone who backs Trump after last night must secretly like what the Democrats are doing. De Santis is the clear winner. He has the experience, the policies and he is only 44. Republicans did not do to bad, did continue to improve in the Hispanic community and did slightly better in the suburbs. I think Mark Penn had the best take, last night's message is Americans want solutions not extremism. The GOP needs to do more than identify problems, they need to offer real solutions and sell them.
      
      Also, it looks like Dobbs did hurt Republicans more than I thought it would. The GOP needs to offer a better message of moderation, I'm surprised by the Montana ballot initiative. As for the drug initiatives, I'm not really overly surprised. With ODs up and crime up, trying to legalize any drug, even marijuana, is going to be tough.
      
      Biggest take away (besides De Santis) is Trump is more unpopular than Biden. It's time for Republican voters to come to grips with that. I know my brother, parents and several of my other relatives, did last night (they supported him but all said he needed to shut the fuck up).
      
      The GOP has to make the case for energy independence, improving education, a sane border policy, sane criminal justice reform, and moderate abortion (15 weeks with limited exceptions should become the party plank). Also, they need to emphasize that we can't ignore entitlements, that reform is necessary. Oversight is going to be important but it needs to be targeted. Hearings on the DoJ and government-tech collusion, but shut up about impeachment at this point. Also, make the case about how overregulation is hurting the economy and is unconstitutional in many cases. Return to some sane fiscal policies. Shutdowns are probably out but actually try and pass a budget. Pass some laws like the ballot initiative that passed in Montana. Reform (I'd prefer kill but probably a bridge to far at this time) the Patriot Act and the DHS. Pass a school vouchers program (make Biden veto it or Schumer filibuster it). Reform CDC and FDA. Stop with the steal rhetoric (focus on that at the state level).
      
      Stand up to Trump. The thing is what made him popular is he fights. So does De Santis and Kemp, but are better strategic thinkers. Fight, pushback but be smart about it. The people want to move past 2020. Yes, they want the mistakes fixed, but they really want some stability, and that's not going to happen with Trump. The left is fucking nuts and most people agree, but Trump is nuts to and gives them cover (and the media an excuse to ignore the left). Also, the Republicans have got to figure out early voting and mail in voting (not a huge fan of mail in but it looks like it's here to stay). There were some very exciting new candidates, that while they didn't win, they did well in very blue areas. Continue with that level of recruitment.
      
      Another winner, though he is not getting the press, was Tim Scott. He won by almost 30%. Yeah, South Carolina is a red state, but damn. A De Santis/Scott ticket, think about it.
      1. Nardz 2 years ago
        
        I can't help but think of the "everything is fine" meme, with the dog having coffee while sitting in a burning house.
        
        Maybe Trump is the cause of all things and the only topic worth discussion.
        Or...
        Trump vs more polite Top Men is largely irrelevant, a red herring, and is used to distract from and excuse the phase transition that occurred in 2020.
        But maybe if we just pile on Trump the WEF et al will change their plans.
      2. Red Rocks White Privilege 2 years ago
        
        Another winner, though he is not getting the press, was Tim Scott. He won by almost 30%. Yeah, South Carolina is a red state, but damn. A De Santis/Scott ticket, think about it.
        
        That's a definite possibility. ENB said after the Pence/Harris debate that Pence was able to promote Trumpism without being Trump (he obliterated Kaine and Harris in the VP debates); Scott seems to have that same ability to soften the volume on DeSantis' bullhorn.
      3. InsaneTrollLogic 2 years ago
        
        I'm highly inclined to agree. There is a path forward, but it's a bit more moderate, and without Trump. The Democrats are extreme enough as it is, the Republicans don't need to be extreme in the other direction.
        
        JesseAz 2 years ago
        
        Moderate is the neocons. We have seen how that works out. Demuring to the left for good press. Paul Ryan is a fine example.
        
        InsaneTrollLogic 2 years ago (edited)
        
        There’s moderating a platform, such as abortion, to appeal to more versus “moderates” who are really just neocons such as Liz Cheney, those of whom should really just be Democrats at this point.
        
        I’ll use abortion as an example. A platform with a total ban on abortion seems to be about as popular as a platform with abortion legal until birth. However, the Democrats get away with claiming one side is “extreme” by misstating and not being fully truthful about their own platform, abortion up until birth. Republicans have to frame the issue differently – 15 weeks (the Mississippi law in question in Dobbs) just like Western Europe, and then show how extreme the Democrats are with abortion up until birth. Make the Dems play defense. If there’s anything Trump did rather well in the 2016 campaign, it was making the Dems play defense, and they don’t play defense very well. They love being the attacker and using their attack dogs in the media.
        
        Essentially, you have to make the other side look extreme without being a “moderate” yourself.
        
        DeSantis has done exactly this with the kulture war in Florida. He's been able to paint himself as rational and moderating while painting the Democrats as extreme regarding wokeism and the trans shit in schools. But, he's not exactly a moderate. He's distinctly on one side there.
        
        soldiermedic76 2 years ago
        
        And part of that is in how you approach it. Say, "I didn't agree with Clinton on most things, but safe, sane, rare and legal I can agree with him". That accomplishes a few things, it makes you look moderate, it's a bit of a call out to bipartisanship and it illustrates how far the opponents have moved. Then you can pivot and say, "it should be legal but also with some restrictions such as most of Europe follows."
        
        JesseAz 2 years ago
        
        Those who moderate tend to do so based on the noise from the press which is heavily captured. They are forced to act within the bounda democrats set as acceptable (even as democrats violate those norms) and work in a policy framework of a one way ratchet.
        
        Again Paul Ryan is the example. Wanted less spending. Developed a plan. Held ground on negotiations, then bent the knee when the media got mad.
        
        It doesn't work.
        
        InsaneTrollLogic 2 years ago
        
        The trick is not to bend the knee for the media. DeSantis hasn't, even when they got pissy over the parental rights bill. Ryan wussed out when he should've held his ground.
        
        soldiermedic76 2 years ago
        
        No one said or implied Ryan or Romney. I've stated Reagan, De Santis, Kemp, Scott as the type who fight effectively, unlike Trump. If you think the only way to fight is Trump's style, that's more of a statement about you than anyone else. Who would you prefer Trump or De Santis? Why?
        
        InsaneTrollLogic 2 years ago
        
        That's one thing Reagan never really did before the press corp, bend the knee. Instead, like DeSantis and Kemp (I don't know enough about Scott), he reframed issues so he looked like the rational one. It's not a position so much as a style. I do this a lot a work to get my way - use a calm, but firm voice, and make myself look rational and "moderate" when I'm really trying to push for a position and get my way. The problem with Turmp is that he tended to be a bit bombastic and boastful when he really didn't need to be. That style drew unwanted attention from the press and the press (being the asshole Democrats they are) used it to frame him as "unstable", "extreme", and "mean".
        
        JesseAz 2 years ago
        
        Trump actually said what he wanted and stood his ground. That's what I want. Not his demeanor. Not sure why some of you can't separate the two.
        
        The fact is moderate is a statement based on some type of comparison. The comparison currently is made in news rooms and social media.
        
        You talk about moderate policies above like 15 week abortion regulations. That was nearly the entire slate of GOP candidates. But the media declared them extreme and convinced people they were for total bans no exceptions.
        
        Being moderate and not fighting institutions like the media doesn't work. See Romney and McCain.
        
        Until institutions change and are not captured moderate means youre playing the dems game.
        
        You dont have to be brash but you have to attack those institutions. Lake set a good example.
        
        Recognizing this is not defending trump no matter how easy it is to use that argument to explain last night.
        
        Nearly 70% of the country said wrong track but voted for the people leading that train. That isn't trump. Most candidates were not trump nor trump like candidates. It is a facile argument.
        
        Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        No one said or implied Ryan or Romney. I’ve stated Reagan, De Santis, Kemp, Scott as the type who fight effectively, unlike Trump.
        
        Ahh right, the mighty Reagan who bitched out to Tip O'Neil on Social Security, passed amnesty for illegal aliens turning 4 states into the deep blue strongholds they are today, couped several South American governments using money from illegally selling weapons to Iran to conduct proxy war in the middle east, sat like a faggot and let the Lebanese blow 80 of our Marines to smithereens with no repercussions and raised taxes. What a fine model you've got there. And then there's Tim Scott. The mighty mighty Tim Scott who has done... uh... well, there was that time he said how much he hated Trump! That's got to count for something!
        
        Keep simping for the Democrats and their nuclear threats against Russia you pathetic little faggot bitch.
        
        soldiermedic76 2 years ago
        
        There's a way to be moderate without going full neo-con. And, in some states you have to be more moderate. Susan Collins isn't my favorite, but having her win, helps advance your agenda. Boudic losing doesn't. Masters possibly losing, doesn't. Laxalt likely winning does.
        
        Ichiro didn't hit a town of homers, but he consistently got on base. Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, why were they successful? Because they consistently moved the ball forward, maybe it's a three yard pass, but it's positive yards, eats up the clock, and wins the position game. Take three plays to move twelve yards, at least you earned another set of downs. Three and out when your blasting incompletes (or taking sacks because you're trying to blast it) 20+ yard pass plays, might occasionally win when you connect, but usually leads to a punt and loss of possession. Balance is important, because both of those QB could, and did, hit the long pass when it was open, but they didn't force it. And yes, sometimes a deep, but incomplete pass does have the benefit of keeping defenses honest, but in moderation, it can't be your entire strategy.
        
        InsaneTrollLogic 2 years ago
        
        Exactly. The goal should be long-term. Get people on base each time and keep bringing in the RBIs. Grind out each goal and keep the other side on their side of their blue line. Play the game strategically.
        
        Red Rocks White Privilege 2 years ago
        
        Yeah, I'm pretty sure about 1/3 of Manning's career yardage consisted of short slant routes to Marvin Harrison and Brandon Stokely, and wheel routes to Dallas Clark.
        
        soldiermedic76 2 years ago
        
        My son hated all the conditioning his coach made them do. The players all complained about it, but they've gone undefeated the last two regular seasons, are in the semi-finals and have a real shot at bringing home state. Games are often tight at half time, 28-14 last Saturday, but they won 52-26, because that hard work pays off. The two yard blast play in the first half turns into a 10+ yard run in the second half (and into a 20+ yard play action).
        
        mad.casual 2 years ago
        
        Could you imagine if Tom Brady got caught even thinking out loud in the locker room about grabbing Gisele Bundchen's pussy? What an uncouth asshole, right? How could you possibly stand to be on the field, let alone win a Super Bowl, with an asshole like that? I blame Belichick. Grandiose assholes with no plan, like Brady and Belichick, are why the NFL is less popular than ever and more kids play soccer. If kids today could just get with the program, suffer concussions and go through two-a-days with no hope of winning a Super Bowl without cheating, much less dating cheerleader, let alone a super model, the world would be a much better place. And if you think I'm just jumping on the bandwagon of Patriot haters, you're the one suffering Brady/Belichick Derangement Syndrome. Go home to cry to mom and take your ball with you.
        
        Good luck at State. My 8th grader's team (8-1) is headed for the tri-county Super Bowl this weekend. Here's hoping the coach isn't just some immoderate asshole with no plan. Wouldn't want a team full of kids winning on their own talent, drive, hard work, and camaraderie. Especially if their goals are even slightly politically incorrect *and* their coach is an asshole. Can't wait to see our kids and our kids' kids (assuming we don't refute biology more vociferously) grow up in order to follow all the rules and bend the knee.
        
        soldiermedic76 2 years ago
        
        So, is it criticizing Trump that sets you off? Because your first paragraph is completely not at all related to anything I have ever stated. Or anything akin to any position I've ever voiced. Maybe consider, how good is your guy, if he doesn't win? As for saying I'm jumping on the Trump hate wagon, I think I've been pretty clear for several years (since 2015) that I consider Trump's style a detriment. And I have stated multiple times it's because it hampers getting stuff done. List any Trump accomplishment that Biden wasn't able to undo within a month (other than his court picks, which was probably his most important accomplishments).
        
        I'll argue Marino was a far better QB than Montana, but all my brother (a 49ers fan) has to ask "is how many rings does Marino have?"
        
        mad.casual 2 years ago (edited)
        
        So, is it criticizing Trump that sets you off?
        
        No, it’s the willing, knowing, or not, unnecessary adoption of the media’s “I blame Trump.” narrative.
        
        It’s the, in lock step behind Reason even if begrudgingly, ignoring or dismissal of the (lack of) impact of COVID (response), BLM, protests, troon idiocy, FBI and deep state plots, MSM manipulation against not just Trump but Sandmann, Eich, Damore, Assange, Snowden, Rittenhouse… all of the above in favor of Fauci, Walensky, ‘amnesty’...
        
        It’s the adoption of “Republicans need a plan.”
        
        It’s the adoption of “Republicans need a plan.” in the background of “Their main failure was a successful divorce from Trump.”
        
        It’s the adoption of “Republicans need a plan, like during the Bush/Clinton era.”
        
        It’s the adoption of “Maybe if we’re more polite our oppressors won’t be as oppressive.”
        
        It’s the unprincipled adoption of all of the above literally overnight.
        
        When your brother cites the number of rings on Montana’s hand, do you argue? If not, how many years has DeSantis spent in the Oval Office and other than a one-off shipping illegal immigrants to MV, what’s his plan*?
        
        *Note: I don’t actually need a plan. Every last person fucking progressives simply for pwnership with Trump or DeSantis, or more pointedly without, is sufficient for me. You’ve been here for 2 decades, you know how the swing back to moderation is going to go. You know that you’re going to get ‘not a plan’ presented as a plan and even if it worked as intended, would still critically fuck over federalism and/or individual liberty.
        
        mad.casual 2 years ago
        
        It’s the unprincipled adoption of all of the above literally overnight.
        
        [9/11]
        Bush: Never forget.
        Libertarians: Yes, let's never forget, but let's not trample human rights.
        
        [COVID-19]
        Whitmer, Pritzker, Hochul, Newsome, Fauci, Walensky, MSM, etc.: Forget.
        Libertarians: Yeah, Trump sucked anyway.
        
        Fuck you. I don't give a damn if Trump sucked or not.
        
        JesseAz 2 years ago
        
        What win has a libertarian ever got with Susan Collins being a deciding vote?
        
        soldiermedic76 2 years ago
        
        Several supreme court justices, lower court justices, stopping some really bad gun control bills (while she's voted for some slightly less, so not a complete victory there), etc. She voted 80% or better with Trump, the alternative is a Democrat who voted 99% against. Which is better?
        
        InsaneTrollLogic 2 years ago
        
        I'll take Collins over a Democrat as there are three Supreme Court justices, making the votes 5-4 or 6-3 our way. There's no way a SCOTUS without Collins voting for those justices overturns Roe for example. A Dem would've voted against Goursch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett (as they inevitably did).
        
        soldiermedic76 2 years ago
        
        Exactly. Collins can win in her state. What is the alternative? The group think of Trump supporters is almost as bad as Sanders and Obama supporters, except the latter two actually have long term success, Sanders has moved the party in his direction, and we aren't getting rid of ACA any time soon. Other than the courts, what did Trump really accomplish that lasted past the end of his presidency?
        
        JesseAz 2 years ago
        
        She stopped ACA and other major roll backs of the system.
        
        Youre again voting for a slower one way ratchet rather than voting to try to undo some of the state. It doesn't work. It just slows the takeover slightly.
        
        Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        There’s a way to be moderate without going full neo-con.
        
        And yet every example you've come up with to prove your point is... oh hey, a fucking neocon. Beginning with the fucking retard faggot Reagan who literally defined the term, as a New Deal Democrat-turned-Republican. Maybe facile sports metaphors aren't actually a good analogy to electoral politics and you're just an incredibly stupid historically illiterate piece of shit cowardly bitch who uses your 2 years as a REMF to get a free Starbucks or something.
        
        Zeb 2 years ago
        
        Moderate is the neocons.
        I think you have that backwards. Neocons are largely considered moderate Republicans (or center-right Democrats). That doesn't mean that the only way to be a moderate Republican is to be a neo-con.
        Personally, I don't want to see them moderate. I want them to dismantle the federal government and make it in line with the constitution. But they won't be in a position to do so unless they pick their other issues carefully. It seems like banning abortion and questioning the election from 2 years ago aren't winners for them.
        
        soldiermedic76 2 years ago
        
        Exactly. And dismantling the government can't happen overnight. But show how it's not working and how shrinking it will make it better. Show how their are to many chiefs, to much middle management. Americans will understand this, because we've all had to deal with it.
        
        mad.casual 2 years ago
        
        You mean like negotiating an unprecedented peace accord and planning a peaceful withdrawal? That shit will get you blamed by your own fans for losing the mid-terms.
        
        soldiermedic76 2 years ago
        
        The fuck. Again, when did I ever say anything like that? In fact, if you go back to last summer, I blasted Biden for not following Trump's withdrawal plan and for not having a plan of his own. He should have done what Obama did with Iraq, basically follow his predecessors plan, and then claim the glory. As for plans, tell me what plans the GOP offered this year? You are so caught up in defending Trump from any criticism that you're missing the big picture.
        
        You're right, how dare I criticize Trump, when his candidates lost, largely because the other side ran against Trump and tied them to Trump? You're so right, I should celebrate him and hope he does more, because that worked so well last night.
        
        Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        Again, when did I ever say anything like that?
        
        It's quite literally the only thing you've said since you brought your sub-average IQ into this thread. The military draws in really stupid people like yourself who cannot think independently and require a rigid hierarchy in order to function. It's why you're agitating for nuclear engagement with Russia over a piece of shit kleptocracy half a world away. You are stupid. You are a sheep. You have no capability for independent thought. Go away, cash your VA disability checks, drink your free Starbucks, and stop embarrassing yourself trying to contribute to a discussion 4 standard deviations above your IQ level.
        
        Nelson 2 years ago (edited)
        
        Jesus, Jon. Soldiermedic will be the first to tell you that I vehemently disagree with him, often. But there’s no need to bash his service, his veteran status, his intelligence, or his ability to follow your argument.
        
        He is often wrong, in my opinion. I tell him so, and tell him why. He often simplifies complex things when it helps his argument and makes simple things complex when that helps him. That makes him a bit dishonest, intellectually, but he understands the discussion just fine.
        
        Attack the message, not the messenger. He differs from you in his assessment of Trump, his effectiveness, and his future viability as a Presidential candidate. He laid out his argument.
        
        Can you refute it without telling him he’s too stupid to understand? If you have to attack him personally, the answer is no.
        
        PS- Don’t worry, Soldier. I’m not supporting your beliefs. Although about half of your suggestions were excellent, I’m sure the details (like what “moderate” means) would have us butting heads again. But Jon went well past the line. Thank you for your service.
        
        JesseAz 2 years ago
        
        You guys are pushing for the exact same results of the tea party takeover that gave us people like Kizinger and nothing to show.
        
        Youre literally describing Paul Ryan. He was completely ineffective. No reduced spending, gave up on every budget fight, never ended ACA.
        
        soldiermedic76 2 years ago
        
        No, we aren't. So,you're saying De Santis is Ryan? That only Trump is the anti-Ryan? That Trump is the only alternative to Ryan?
        
        soldiermedic76 2 years ago
        
        And, are we going to get any of those things you listed now? Did we get them under Trump? Blame the legislatures if you want, but the fact is, nothing can be accomplished if you can't win the legislature. You said what good is Collins. Someone who voted 80-90% with the Republicans. She isn't perfect by a long shot, but it's far better than a Democrat in her seat who voted 99% opposite. If you demand purity, you will always lose. Pragmatism is necessary. Libertarians often lack pragmatism, I'm seeing that many Trump supporters also lack it.
        
        Think long term here. Focus on next month getting Walker across the finish line. 2024 is a good field for the Republicans Senate wise. Find good candidates that fit their state. Maybe only 80%, but if they caucus with you, that determines leadership, committees, what bills get introduced, etc.
        
        Consider an alternative to Trump at the top of the ticket. He has several negatives. The big one is age, especially if Biden runs. Yes, he's younger than Biden but not significantly. Removes that issue. A younger candidate like De Santis or Scott emphasizes it, without even needing to say anything. Trump is already well defined. The media has tried to define De Santis but it doesn't seem to have stuck to him. Additionally, Trump attacking him the other day was a gift to him. Rather you like it or not, Americans are pretty clear they don't like Trump. Figure out what you like about Trump and see if there is a candidate that offers similar. Is it about character or policy? Maybe both. Was it Trump or the fact that you were tired of Romneyesque candidates? Is Trump the only alternative to Ryan and Romney? If so, how much good is that if you lose (either way)? Losing is losing. Is there really no alternative in your book to Trump?
        
        JesseAz 2 years ago (edited)
        
        Why are we back to blaming the president for not passing legislation. That is another facile talking point of excuse making. Separate the two entities please. We are talking about the senate and the senate results.
        
        Nardz 2 years ago
        
        Nobody is saying Trump is Paul Ryan.
        We're saying your obsession with blaming Trump is exactly what the totalitarian left wants you to do. Mad.casual absolutely nailed it above. Try reading it without being overcome by emotion.
        We now have you, overt, others holding up GW Bush and Susan Collins as models for the types of candidates you prefer.
        Think about that.
        
        Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        Why are we back to blaming the president for not passing legislation.
        
        Because "thank me for my service" can't formulate a thought he didn't pick up from a Military.com article.
        
        Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        Focus on next month getting Walker across the finish line. 2024 is a good field for the Republicans Senate wise.
        
        Walker is far below the margin of cheating and has a 0% chance of being elected. 2024 will have twice as many Republicans as Democrats defending senate seats in a presidential election year where we will be conducting the election in the same manner as 2020 and 2022 with all mail-in voting for a month after election night. Jesus fucking Christ, you're even more stupid than the average slack jawed yokel high school dropout who joins up. I'm surprised they didn't let you go after AVSAB.
        
        Nelson 2 years ago
        
        Gee, you still think there is widespread.voter fraud, but can't understand why moderates and independents don't support your version of the GOP? Pay attention when the voters speak, especially when there is rampant inflation due to overspending and all your extremists got spanked (and pulled down the less estreme in the process).
        
        If you don't listen when the voters send a message, bad things will happen in the near future.
        
        Overt 2 years ago
        
        I agree here, Zeb.
        
        Bush actually won on an agenda of repudiating the globalist policeman schtick. One of his biggest strikes against Gore (via Clinton) was nationbuilding adventures in Somalia and Eastern Europe. Unfortunately 9/11 changed the country's priorities and the Neo-Cons emerged.
        
        Today, I think most americans are skeptical of that world view, and it is seen as time to focus domestically.
        
        Unfortunately, I see very little indication that a majority of Americans want to see the scope and power of the leviathan reduced, to be honest. They all have specific gripes, but when it comes time to cut things, there is little to no consensus.
        
        sarcasmic 2 years ago
        
        Those who rob Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul. In this case Paul represents government employees and the recipients of government programs. To have a consensus on government cuts you have to get Paul on board. Good luck with that.
        
        Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        So is this your personal confession that your self-admitted welfare dependency which saved you from homelessness is the reason for your unyielding support of Marxism?
        
        mad.casual 2 years ago
        
        Bush actually won on an agenda of repudiating the globalist policeman schtick.
        
        The failure on 'No nation-building' is why I divested from the GOP. There are no words for the utter repugnance of hearing, after Reason pimped for Cheney and Bolton, even the commentariat say, "We need a plan... like during the Bush years."
        
        Nardz 2 years ago
        
        This whole thread is simply amazing. This thread is an example of why I have lost hope.
        
        Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        Unfortunately 9/11 changed the country’s priorities and the Neo-Cons emerged.
        
        If you think the neocons emerged after 9/11 you either have no idea what the term neocon means or to whom it refers, or you are so completely historically illiterate that you'd need years of remedial study before you could even approach this conversation. The neocons have been in charge of the Republican party since Reagan. Reagan was the proto-Neocon: a New Deal Democrat who switched to Republican because the New Left opposed the Vietnam War.
        
        Today, I think most americans are skeptical of that world view
        
        Based on their overwhelming support of a regime that's currently threatening to deploy nuclear weapons against Russia?
        
        Unfortunately, I see very little indication that a majority of Americans want to see the scope and power of the leviathan reduced, to be honest.
        
        So the obvious solution is to suck Democrat cock until their cum has replaced the smattering of white matter between your ears? Makes good sense. Carry on.
        
        Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        It seems like banning abortion and questioning the election from 2 years ago aren’t winners for them.
        
        Funny how literally no one has proposed banning abortion anywhere, and you are literally blaming the election from 2 years ago for this year's outcome. Maybe you should let "thank me for my service" defend his own imbecilic ideas. You're even worst at it than he is.
        
        Nelson 2 years ago
        
        Indiana just banned abortion except for in the cases of rape and incest (up to 10 weeks only), life of or serious health risk to the mother (up to 20 weeks only), and lethal fetal abnormalities (also only up to 20 weeks). The also outlawed abortion clinics. Abortions can only be performed in a hispital or surgical center.
        
        If you don't call that an abortion ban, you are using a seriously skewed definition of "ban".
        
        And the Big Lie was spewed throughout this election by wingnuts like Mastriano. So it wasn't about two years ago, it was about right now. And it was a loser, like abortion bans.
      4. perlmonger 2 years ago
        
        A De Santis/Scott ticket, think about it.
        
        I would vote for that.
      5. Overt 2 years ago
        
        All very correct.
        
        Part of getting Trump in, and all this new blood, is that you got a lot of new blood. They confused success in the primaries for broad support of extreme policies.
        
        DeSantis, I believe, is walking a knife's edge. The fights he is picking help keep his support up, but he also needs to channel that into (as you say) real solutions. CRT, Trans Nonsense, and other Kulture Warz issues provide the momentum, but if his answer is point solutions (like bans or attacks on specific targets), he isn't going to prevail at the national level. Instead he needs to channel that energy into real solutions that the country can get behind- things like reforming education and entitlements.
        
        soldiermedic76 2 years ago
        
        I think he's been very strategic about his kulture warz. Pushing back on woke corporations, his parental rights bill, I don't think really hurt him. Most people agree teaching sex to grade schoolers is a bridge to far. People are tired of the woke scolds. He has a record as governor of some big accomplishments,and has a track record of dealing with emergencies. Plus, an Hispanic and black GOP ticket (DeSantis/Scott) has benefits over another rich, white guy (mainly because it reduces some of the impact of the lefts favorite tactics). Additionally, both are young, which is another big benefit.
        
        The thing people like Nardz have to realize is if you can't get elected you're never going to get anything changed and to get elected you have to convince moderates. That's why they're doomed to lose. Because they want a sprint, but it's a marathon. Screaming for a revolution just plays into the lefts hands. Just gives them ammunition. There's a Reason the Democrats chose to run against Trump adjacent candidates. Oh, people like Nardz love them. So do Democrats.
        
        Nardz 2 years ago
        
        "The thing people like Nardz have to realize is if you can’t get elected you’re never going to get anything changed and to get elected you have to convince moderates."
        
        Trust the system, choose the right Top Men?
        I find this continued faith in government and institutions baffling.
        It's like 2020 (and before) never happened...
        
        Nardz 2 years ago
        
        "Trump adjacent"
        
        So we're copying the marxist ("white adjacent") language now?
        
        Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        So we’re copying the marxist (“white adjacent”) language now?
        
        Seeing as how you're intruding on a discussion between a Marxist (Overt) and a sub-literate clown who would be a Marxist if he could only comprehend what the term means ("thank me for my service") why are you surprised?
        
        Overt 2 years ago
        
        "Pushing back on woke corporations, his parental rights bill, I don’t think really hurt him. "
        
        Well, that is what is difficult to figure out. How much of his success was due to his Pandemic policies, and how much is due to his Kulture Warz performance? And even if that Kulture Warz stuff was a big portion of his support, will that translate to the national level?
        
        Even if we say Kulture Warz issues helped him, that doesn't mean he will prevail in purple states with the same policies that he pushed in a Red state like Florida. You correctly note that Republicans got over their skis on Abortion, to their detriment. They mistook wins on abortion with a national mandate that was in fact not popular at all.
        
        Again, I am setting aside my own views and just calling out tactics. I don't think something like the Stop WOKE Act will work in Pennsylvania or Wisconsin like it did in Florida. But turn it into something more vague, and you can capture those purple voters- things like school choice and parental notification rights.
        
        In 2000, Bush did a good job of taking Abortion off the table when he said "Look, I know you all aren't going to agree with me on abortion, but we can all agree on programs that reduce the need." Gore, on the other hand, failed to triangulate on Gun Control and lost his home state. If DeSantis can do the same thing, he will do well.
        
        soldiermedic76 2 years ago
        
        This is the point that Mad.casaul seems to be missing that I was trying to make. You have to win first. That requires you to sell people on your ideas. It's easy to sell people on free stuff harder to sell them on responsibility. Yelling and making it about you, taking it personally will hurt you as much as being to passive like Romney. It's find the middle ground. Learn what worked for Trump, but also learn why he failed. And you can't blame it all on the media, or COVID.
        
        JesseAz 2 years ago
        
        When ideas get mutilated through narrative building of the media... again most GOP was aligned with 15 vote abortion regulation like most of the country. Media changed the narrative to no abortion no excuse.
        
        Nardz 2 years ago
        
        And, as offensive to one's delicate sensibilities as it may have been, that's where Trump's bombastic communication style caused the left problems. There's a reason they fucking banned him from Twitter. Couldn't have him getting messages out directly, they needed to be able to filter, edit, and frame them.
        Trump posting on Twitter stuff like "Piglosi and the garbage Dems keep lying about abortion. We're not banning it. We're letting the voters decide".
        That may offend you and send you to the fainting couch, but it worked. The counterpoint to the Ds screaming about abortion being banned was amplified and as present in the public mind.
        Mean tweets may be uncouth, but they were definitely effective.
        
        Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        Yelling and making it about you, taking it personally will hurt you as much as being to passive like Romney.
        
        Like it hurt your boy Biden who called a fucking Democratic voter at one of his own rallies a fat dog faced pony soldier and challenged him to a pushup contest for questioning his policies? Like that, you fucking retarded high school dropout government tit-sucking welfare leeching muzzie-killing fucking clown?
        
        Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        "Republicans should let Democrats own the culture war" worked really really great for the last 50 years, right fucking clown?
        
        Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        Plus, an Hispanic and black GOP ticket (DeSantis/Scott) has benefits
        
        DeSantis isn't Hispanic, you race-obsessed Marxist fucking clown. Goddamn, why did they have to put you in the rear with the gear when society would have been so much better off with you getting your sub-average brains blown out?
        
        Nelson 2 years ago
        
        The biggest problem DeSantis (and partisan/cultural conservatives) has is that the narratives they believe aren't believed by moderates and independents.
        
        "Pushing back on woke corporations"
        
        There were 1844 special tax districts. Six lost their status, DeSantis' target and 5 other companies who were unfortunate enough to be collateral damage. How stupid do you think voters are? Do you think they don't see that there is no principle involved? It's clear that it was retribution, using the power of the government. Why would people be uncomfortable about that sort of behavior in a potential President?
        
        "his parental rights bill"
        
        He can't claim to support parental rights when he doesn't believe parents should make medical decisions for their children. Again, it isn't like voters don't know that calling it a "parental rights" bill is a bad joke. And deeply partisan.
        
        "Most people agree teaching sex to grade schoolers is a bridge to far."
        
        The problem for conservatives is that no one is doing that. There is a group of people who believe it, but moderates and independents don't. Pushing it alienates them.
        
        Or do you not understand what sex education is (and isn't)?
        
        If you believe that the path to electoral success is less extremism and more moderate candidates, DeSantis isn't the guy.
        
        Running someone who exacts political revenge on critics using the power of the state, prevents parents from making medical decisions for their kids, claims teachers are grooming children for sexual exploitation, and can only succeed with a legislature that is in his pocket is the opposite of moderate.
        
        Red Rocks White Privilege 2 years ago
        
        If DeSantis actually got to the big chair, I suspect his culture war target would be the Tech Trust, with maybe the entertainment industry as part of that. I don't think he'd go after tranny propaganda in schools because that's a state issue, not a federal one.
        
        But he can start pushing for anti-trust actions and political collusion investigations into Google and Facebook, nerf the Operation Chokepoint crap by the banks and pass-throughs like PayPal, and hit Hollywood for its ties to China and "tax breaks for me, but not for thee" actions when they film in states with significant tax breaks like New Mexico and Georgia.
        
        Red Rocks White Privilege 2 years ago (edited)
        
        Another culture war target should be the universities–make any federal grants dependent on eliminating the rape star chambers as Constitutional violations (or better yet, prosecute them for those violations), and get rid of the college degree requirements for federal positions by classing them as a discriminatory measure that hurts POCs who might have experience, but not a degree. I’d love to see the student loan racket go away entirely, but that’s not realistic.
        
        soldiermedic76 2 years ago
        
        Funding is a big stick (to paraphrase Roosevelt). Use funding to also implement things like the Chicago principle in Universities. Use funding to attack the education blob, point out how big the administrative set has become at all levels of education and how it drives up costs, while taking away from education. It's very related to the issues I brought up about the DoD, FDA, CDC (plus all the rest of the government). People understand too many chiefs, cumbersome middle management etc. And it's a way to pivot to the idea that bad ideas never go away in DC, bad agencies never have to actually reform, they just bigger budget and larger, while never actually fixing the problem. You have to be pragmatically cynical about it. And there is ways to be hopefully cynical. Reagan could do it and do it well.
        
        Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        And there is ways to be hopefully cynical. Reagan could do it and do it well.
        
        Saint Reagan exploded the federal deficit and conducted illegal CIA coups in South America using money from illegally selling arms to Iran, you welfare leeching fucking clown. And the only time he effectively used funding as a big stick is when he threatened to withhold highway funds from states that didn't raise their drinking age to 21. Keep cashing your daddy gubmint VA disability checks and shut the fuck up while adults are talking.
        
        Ted AKA Teddy Salad, CIA/US Ballet Force 2 years ago
        
        There should be grants, or loans for worthless degrees in the humanities or sociology. Possibly other areas too.
        
        Ted AKA Teddy Salad, CIA/US Ballet Force 2 years ago
        
        ‘No grants or loans’ dammit.
        
        Fk_Censorship 2 years ago
        
        DeSantis can't afford to go to war with the CIA or big tech (but I repeat myself), nobody can do that and remain in power.
        
        Nardz 2 years ago
        
        What extremist policies???
        
        Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        Yeah, we need moderates who will not infringe on the freedom of pedophiles to show pornography to 8 year old children in public school.s
        
        Lol. What a fucking clown. Please, stick a gun in your mouth and pull the trigger.
      6. damikesc 2 years ago
        
        One of my issues is: What if Dr. Oz won?
        
        Does anybody think he'd be less of a squish than Romney? Seriously?
        
        He was the epitome of a "hold your nose" candidate. What the hell did Trump see in HIM?
        
        Moonrocks 2 years ago
        
        Does anybody think he’d be less of a squish than Romney? Seriously?
        
        Depends on what, but probably. He'd probably squish on things like gun control and abortion but stand firm on things like judicial appointments.
        
        What the hell did Trump see in HIM?
        
        A New York Post Republican, much like Trump himself.
        
        soldiermedic76 2 years ago
        
        Which was another reason I didn't like Trump but I'm sure his defenders will make excuses, because I've seen them do it. He had some good policies, was pretty good on judicial appointments, terrible cabinet (except for Devos). But not the conservative hero his followers try to make him out to be. It was refreshing after Romney to have a fighter, but he wasn't always smart about how he fought. He made the mistake of letting the fight define him, rather than fighting for policy. Obama was thin skinned, Biden is thin skinned, but they can get away with it. It's not fair, but its the reality. I like De Santis and Kemp because they can fight but they are smarter about it.
        
        Nardz 2 years ago
        
        Objection: strawman.
        I haven't seen anybody defend Trump's (non judicial) appointments or his choices for endorsements.
        Oz was an awful choice. Many of the people in his cabinet were awful choices.
        
        And what's with this crap about Kemp being a fighter?
        He opened GA a bit after DeSantis opened Florida. Ok, he took some heat but DeSantis took the vast majority of it.
        He took away tax breaks for delta? Good I guess, but not exactly a huge national story. Again, DeSantis took way more heat for doing the same to Disney.
        Kemp completely caved to Abrams' voting "reform" bullshit. Did absolutely nothing to look into (or prevent) suspicious polling behavior.
        
        I'm genuinely curious, maybe there's something I missed. What has Kemp actually fought on?
        
        Sevo 2 years ago
        
        "...I haven’t seen anybody defend Trump’s (non judicial) appointments ..."
        
        Yes, you have:
        1) DeVos
        2) judicial
        3) judicial
        4) Ajit Pai, end net price fixing
        
        Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        But not the conservative hero his followers try to make him out to be.
        
        This from the historically illiterate clown pimping neocon Reagan as the 2nd coming of Christ and a model for limited government. The Reagan who blew up the deficit, doubled the national debt, conducted illegal CIA coups in South America using money from illegal arms sales to Iran, raised taxes, and amnestied 4 million illegal aliens while leaving the border gaping open wider than "thank me for my service"'s asshole after a night at his local DNC fundraiser.
        
        Also kind of blows up your narrative that Trump was an extremist right-winger who turned off the electorate with his right-wing extremism, but nobody expects a high school washout who had to go become a REMF in the word's most expensive and least effective military that got its ass handed to it by a bunch of functionally illiterate 14th century goat fuckers to be able to maintain a train of thought for more than a paragraph.
        
        TheReEncogitationer 2 years ago
        
        If Oz won, he'd be wanting Melatonin in the water supply and music to adjust the "Chakras" blaired from speakers on every lamp-post. 🙂
        
        Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        Yeah the poor benighted cardiologist clearly lacks your medical prowess.
        
        TheReEncogitationer 2 years ago
        
        It's not his Cardiology I oppose. It's his Allopathic/Homeopathic/Woo-shit he peddles. Other Physicians who know that rational, factual claims produce practical results agree.
        
        Ted AKA Teddy Salad, CIA/US Ballet Force 2 years ago
        
        Oz is not a brain damaged Marxist who is to the left of Bernie Sanders. Sometimes that has to be enough. I hate that, but it’s true.
        
        TheReEncogitationer 2 years ago
        
        A system that leaves us a Woo-Peddler and a Woozy-Head as choices for candidates is the problem.
        
        Inquisitive Squirrel 2 years ago
        
        He kissed Trump's ring. That's all it takes for Trump's support.
      7. Ted AKA Teddy Salad, CIA/US Ballet Force 2 years ago
        
        Above the state level, any Republican should just say that abortion is a state issue and not in the purview of congress. Period. Rather than debate a policy that legally for which they have no control.
        
        Red Rocks White Privilege 2 years ago
        
        Yeah, someone needs to tard-wrangle Lindsey Graham on that, because he's pushing a position very few people actually want.
        
        soldiermedic76 2 years ago
        
        Actually, he's pushing a policy that the polls show the majority agree with but plays into his opponents hands. A fifteen week limit with exceptions polls well, but probably not the best time to bring it up. Also, you're right that the better stance is saying let the states decide (especially as that's what the court ruled). It really was tone deaf and completely off message. Additionally, looking at the outcomes of ballot initiatives in red states like Montana and Kansas earlier this year and the gubernatorial race in Kansas, now that the Republicans got their wish to overturn RvW, they really need to get pragmatic about what now?
        
        Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        Linsday Graham needs to moderate his stance. The Democrats calling for a constitutional amendment allowing abortion and early infanticide and calling anything less than that extremism never need to moderate their stances. This is your brain on whatever the fuck they put in the government cheese "thank for me your service" ate during his time polishing doorknobs at Fort Retard.
        
        The New Number Two 2 years ago
        
        Lindsey Graham is too politically savvy for that bonehead move not to have been a deliberate act of sabotage.
        
        Nobody believes a single, closeted gay neocon is genuinely interested in leading a national charge for fetal rights.
        
        Ted AKA Teddy Salad, CIA/US Ballet Force 2 years ago
        
        All Lindsey Graham did was reinforce public ignorance about the anions decision. To the detriment of his own party.
      8. Inquisitive Squirrel 2 years ago
        
        If the right doesn't learn that Trump is completely toxic to their success, things won't change.
        
        Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        For Republicans to succeed, they must become Democrats. Same as it ever was.
        
        The New Number Two 2 years ago
        
        They're gradually beginning to wake up. Openly criticizing Donald Trump and his continued grip on the party is no longer met with universal cries of "RINO!" and "Swamp!" from the national populist base. DeSantis has made it possible for conservative Republicans to break free from him without committing party political suicide. By 2024, Trump may not be the preferred primary candidate.
    7. Nardz 2 years ago
      
      "The biggest data point..."
      
      https://twitter.com/BradWilcoxIFS/status/1590409234818420737?t=7gxDqaGhlYfEosW2IhDMIw&s=19
      
      Married men broke Republican by 20 pts
      
      Married women broke R by 14 pts
      
      Unmarried men broke R by 7 pts
      
      But *unmarried women* broke D “by whopping 37 pts”
      
      [Link]
      1. JesseAz 2 years ago
        
        Miserable people love misery. See sarc.
        
        They want it bad for everybody so will vote to keep the same policies and results they admit are bad.
        
        soldiermedic76 2 years ago
        
        Trump is the only thing that can save us? The only alternative? Really?
        
        Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        You could try not being a lying piece of shit and actually addressing anything JesseAz actually said. Just once, just to see what it feels like.
        
        Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP) 2 years ago
        
        Miserable people love misery.
        
        Miserable? Unmarried women are the single largest beneficiaries of transfer payments. They are bought and paid for.
        
        Something, something, world's oldest profession and all that...
      2. The New Number Two 2 years ago
        
        The wokest, most welfare-dependent, most "into themselves," and most abortion-seeking demographic of the four.
2. TheReEncogitationer 2 years ago
  
  You sure she shouldn't be called Norman Bates' Mom? 🙂
3. You Can Keep Your Doctor 2 years ago
  
  Two things I'd like to point out:
  1) The Supreme Court blew this election for the Repubs by making their abortions decision before midterms. Other than abortion, the Dems had nothing. So libs complain about the "right wing" court, but the court handed them a gift.
  2) 80,000 Georgians voted Libertarian, and no way these people vote for Warnock in the runoff - Walker wins...
  1. Personcommenting 2 years ago
    
    The coin flip is the non-voters. Those Libertarian votes might not go to Warnock but they also might not go to Walker. How many Republicans voted for Walker while they were in the booth voting against Abrams but won't make a trip for Walker or against Warnock?
  2. Fk_Censorship 2 years ago
    
    It's far more important who counts the votes (and how) than how 80,000 libertarians will vote in the run off.
  3. Jon Petti 2 years ago
    
    2) 80,000 Georgians voted Libertarian, and no way these people vote for Warnock in the runoff
    
    Lmfao. Lolberts are Democrats. See, Overt, "thank me for my service" and the entire Reason staff. Not only is Warnock going to win, but it's going to be a fucking landslide. The useful idiot lolberts served their purpose.
Fist of Etiquette 2 years ago

Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman has beat Republican Mehmet Oz in a highly contested and high-profile Senate race.

"Unless he's a drooling vegetable, but I think that's just common sense."
1. HelenSutton 2 years ago (edited)
  
  I’ve made $1250 so far this week working online and I’m a full time student. I’m using an online business opportunity I heard about and I’AM made such great money. It’s really user friendly and I’m just so happy that I found out about it. Here’s what I do for more information simply.
  
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Fist of Etiquette 2 years ago

The Florida governor easily won reelection, even turning the historically blue Miami-Dade County red.

I'm sure that won't bring out any poisonous envy from a certain former president.
1. Nardz 2 years ago
  
  And I'm sure it's just Florida that really had this change of heart, and has nothing at all to do with relative vote integrity measures...
  1. Fk_Censorship 2 years ago
    
    Exactly!
Fist of Etiquette 2 years ago

With 95 percent of votes in, Vance is beating Ryan 53.3 to 46.7 percent.

At least we got to see democracy die in Ohio.
1. Earth-based Human Skeptic 2 years ago
  
  Don't be so sure. What about the 100-110% of voters?
2. BestUsedCarSales 2 years ago
  
  I blame Cincinnati Chili.
  1. Dillinger 2 years ago
    
    you take that back Skyline five-way is the bomb
    1. TheReEncogitationer 2 years ago
      
      It tastes like it's got cinnamon in it. Cinnamon is fine on toast or with apple cider and Pumpkin Spice lattes, but not on spaghetti!
      
      And "Skyline five-way?". That is freaky-deaky kinky! 😉
      1. Dillinger 2 years ago
        
        exactly.
      2. Zeb 2 years ago
        
        Cinnamon should be in any chili. Just not so much that it dominates.
        
        TheReEncogitationer 2 years ago
        
        To each his own, but as for me, Ugh!
  2. perlmonger 2 years ago
    
    I also blame Cincinnati Bean Soup.
    
    *throws some shade from New Mexico*
    
    (Which it turns out is actually kind of a compliment, because shade is a rarity here in the desert. Ba-dum, ching!)
sarcasmic 2 years ago

The meta story forming about this election seems to be how Republicans—and especially MAGA Republicans who spread 2020 election conspiracy theories—performed much worse than expected.

Conspiracy facts!
1. Earth-based Human Skeptic 2 years ago
  
  And most especially those MAGA kooks who got Democratic support in their primaries, right?
  1. JimboJr 2 years ago
    
    I mean, in fairness, it looks like that strategy worked. Despite how blatantly dishonest it was
    1. Nardz 2 years ago
      
      Examples?
      List them all, not just Oz and Walker.
      1. Earth-based Human Skeptic 2 years ago
        
        In Colorado the messaging from Democrats was pretty blatant: cross party affiliations to vote in R primaries.
        
        InsaneTrollLogic 2 years ago
        
        In Illinois, the Democrats actively funded the opponent in the primary that they wanted to face in the general election.
        
        perlmonger 2 years ago
        
        I am guilty of that in NM. Which is why I've been registered as a Libertarian, Republican, Democrat, and "Declined To State" over the decades. We have closed primaries (and the election signs they put up, as I saw yesterday, state that while independents may change affiliation and vote in a primary the day of the election, people who are members of a major party may not.
      2. BestUsedCarSales 2 years ago
        
        Masters and Lake in Arizona both had this. At this moment, Lake is looking to have a tough go at it (though that's very surprising). Masters' is having an expected tough go at it though.
        
        JimboJr 2 years ago
        
        Add Mastriano to the list
        
        Ted AKA Teddy Salad, CIA/US Ballet Force 2 years ago
        
        Lake is poised to win. The remaining ballots are no from areas that strongly favor her.
        
        Nelson 2 years ago
        
        Governor and at least 2 US House seats look like they will flip from R to D, US Senate, Secretary of State and Attorney General looking like D wins.
        
        I think you're wishcasting.
      3. Ted AKA Teddy Salad, CIA/US Ballet Force 2 years ago
        
        Herschel Walker will likely win in the runoff.
      4. The New Number Two 2 years ago
        
        Boebert got pwned out of nowhere. She had a high probability of reelection.
        
        Nelson 2 years ago
        
        I think she is up by about 1000 votes right now. She will probably pull it out, but it's a lot closer than anyone expected.
2. JesseAz 2 years ago
  
  I bet you're as happy as a fat kid with cake this morning.
  1. sarcasmic 2 years ago
    
    I honestly don't give a shit. If I did I'd vote.
    1. JesseAz 2 years ago
      
      Doesn't mean you're not happy dummy.
      
      Enjoy the next 2 years. Hope it continues falling to shit for you just so you can own the right lol.
      
      Winter bills will be fun for you this year. Enjoy buddy!
      1. sarcasmic 2 years ago
        
        Means I have no skin in the game, so I don't care either way. Dummy.
        
        JesseAz 2 years ago
        
        And thats why you're a retard. No skin in the game? Federal policy doesn't effect you? Lol. Wow.
        
        You truly are a fucking moron.
        
        Enjoy your consequences!
        
        Bet you gloat multiple times today.
        
        sarcasmic 2 years ago (edited)
        
        I don’t gloat. I’m not an asshole like you.
        Edit: It’s not like there’s anything to gloat about. Did any libertarians win? Nope. Did any free-traders get elected? Nope. Is either party going to do anything about inflation except make it worse? Nope.
        
        JesseAz 2 years ago
        
        Lol. Self awareness is not your strong suit? What have you done the last 2 years besides attack the right? You certainly don't attack the left.
        
        And your actions are allowing the party that is continuing inflationary policies to continue. You are too dumb to realize this as you defend the left and attack the right.
        
        As I said. Enjoy your consequences. Especially energy policies. Not like Maine gets cold or anything.
        
        sarcasmic 2 years ago
        
        What have you done the last 2 years besides attack the right? You certainly don’t attack the left.
        
        If you paid any attention, you would have seen that when I attack the right, it's for being like the left.
        
        Brandybuck 2 years ago
        
        We have two leftist parties.
        
        sarcasmic 2 years ago (edited)
        
        Ken had it right before he lost his mind over the election. Democrats are totalitarians while Republicans are “mere” authoritarians. Sure authoritarianism is less-bad than totalitarianism, but that’s not a reason to support it. Not to me anyway.
        
        Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        If you weren't a drunken piece of shit who loses track of his own train of thought within the same thread you wouldn't lie constantly about things that are committed to permanence under your username.
      2. sarcasmic 2 years ago
        
        And I don't want to own the right. I want the right to shape up and stop acting like the people they hate. As it is the only difference between the parties is what they want to control and who they want to control it. When there are liberty-minded people to vote for, I'll register to vote. Until then I'll sit on the sidelines and watch the children fight on on the playground.
        
        JesseAz 2 years ago
        
        This is a fucking lie. It is all you do. Dozens of people have called you out on it. How delusional are you?
        
        sarcasmic 2 years ago
        
        Only people like you who lack the brainpower to comprehend not being on one of the two teams.
        
        JSinAZ 2 years ago
        
        You lick Democrat boot leather, you absolutely lying mendacious fuck.
        
        sarcasmic 2 years ago
        
        There's one.
        
        Sevo 2 years ago
        
        And the post above is by the other.
        Eat shit and die, asshole.
        
        Mike Laursen 2 years ago
        
        With that level of certainty about sarcasmic’s Democratic sympathies, I’m sure you would have no problem linking to an example of his supporting Democrats.
        
        sarcasmic 2 years ago
        
        Being critical of Republicans equals support for Democrats. You don't need to explicitly say you support Democrats to support Democrats. All you have to do is criticize Republicans for something, like becoming more and more like Democrats, and that's proof that you're a Democrat.
        
        Mike Laursen 2 years ago
        
        You are correct that the Republicans have been becoming more and more a funhouse mirror reflection of the Democrats.
        
        sarcasmic 2 years ago
        
        It used to be that D's were hostile to economic liberty while giving lip service to personal liberty, while R's were hostile to personal liberty while giving lip service to economic liberty.
        
        Now R's are hostile to both. At least they don't want to take away our guns away.
        
        JesseAz 2 years ago
        
        Hey Mike is back with the same tired argument even though I state it clearly above. Sarc spends all his time attacking the right and never criticizing the left. He does this in threads critical of the left. Usually in the first few posts. This is deflecting from criticism of the left. He doesn't criticize them ever. 2 years of an open bet showing any criticism he has ever had.
        
        You can defend a side by being exclusionary in attacks on the other. Much of media and fact checkers do that.
        
        You are the same way Mike.
        
        And both of you constantly call others right wing but never provide evidence of support. Weird double standards. Lol.
        
        Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        There was that time in this thread where he posted 30 comments all supporting Democrats. You could start there.
        
        JesseAz 2 years ago
        
        LOL. I love this hypocrisy. We went over this yesterday when I called out libertarian policy. You make yet another assertion with actual evidence against your assertion. It is amazing.
        
        Is this you again being able to call others party cultists while you claim you are the one true centrist?
        
        Even this thread I'm only calling out the results of your behaviors. The Democrats are loudly working against Americans self empowerment, and you think you aren't subject to that. "No skin in the game" as you say.
        
        You really are an amazing example of inspired ignorance.
        
        sarcasmic 2 years ago
        
        By "no skin in the game" I meant I didn't vote, which means I'm not emotionally invested in the outcome.
        
        You know that, but you're one of those intentional liars I mentioned below.
        
        JesseAz 2 years ago (edited)
        
        Hint retard. You have skin in the game. You make the choice to allow democrats to win. That is an active choice. By sitting out and helping them, you are supporting them. By not ever denouncing or criticizing them you are supporting them. You have no problem attacking the right yet you still can’t criticize a single democrat or policy. Find one example the last 2 years of you doing so.
      3. Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        Winter bills will be fun for you this year.
        
        He's in a section 8 apartment and receiving welfare benefits. The only problem he's going to have with his winter bills is that he might need to cut back to 4 handles of plastic jug vodka a day.
    2. Jon Petti 2 years ago
      
      That would be just as illegal as owning your imaginary guns, since you are a self-admitted convicted felon. But good try!
3. Fist of Etiquette 2 years ago
  
  Luckily Democrat election deniers won the day.
4. Mike Laursen 2 years ago
  
  Jonathan Chait calls the midterm results "a shocking vote of confidence for Democrats."
  
  I am not seeing how losing control of the House can be spun into “a shocking vote of confidence for Democrats.” Spinners gonna spin.
  1. BestUsedCarSales 2 years ago
    
    Yeah. This really feels like an extreme "we have no idea what we want" from a lot of the country. Though, all of this has the issue of attempting to read into many individual races spread across a nation of 330 million.
    The safest best is, as always, to just ignore Jonathan Chait's analysis.
    1. Mike Laursen 2 years ago
      
      Who is he, anyway? And why should anyone care what he thinks?
    2. CE 2 years ago
      
      And a "how bad was the Oz campaign, to lose to Fetterman?"
  2. CE 2 years ago
    
    Yeah, other than that unscheduled visit to the Presidential box by that famous actor John Wilkes Booth, Mrs. Lincoln had a fine night at the theater.
  3. Jon Petti 2 years ago
    
    The Democrats are not going to lose control of the house, for one. And considering that over 70% of the country says we're on the wrong track and the figurehead of the Democratic party is a president with a 35% approval rating you would expect a thrashing in the midterms. Kinda like how you, your 8 socks, and sarcasmic all dutifully regurgitated the narrative that the American public elected Democrats to every office in the nation because everything was just so unfair and horrible under BadOrangeMan. If the lowest unemployment rate in half a century and stable gas prices was enough to drive people to vote for Democrats in droves then you'd think double digit inflation, a 200% increase in gas prices, a 300% increase in home heating bills, double digit increases in energy prices and the lowest labor participation rate since Obama would be enough to drive people to vote for Republicans in droves. But since we all know that vote by mail elections are the mostestest securesest elections that have ever been conducted in the history of democracy it can't possibly be that there was any cheating or malfeasance. Must just be bad luck. If only those stupid Republicans would run unifying and centrist candidates like Nancy Pelosi and AOC maybe they could replicate the Democrats' success.
Earth-based Human Skeptic 2 years ago

Democracy good and hard, part 17: back to the swamp.
1. TheReEncogitationer 2 years ago
  
  So not only no lube, but with mosquito bites and jungle rot. Yeeech!
Fist of Etiquette 2 years ago

Now it's looking like they'll win a much smaller number of races and may wind up controlling the House by as little as a few seats.

Memory holing works, people.
1. Bubba Jones 2 years ago
  
  I wonder if there's a way to determine if Trump scared people away from voting GOP, or if he drove Dem turnout.
  1. Sometimes a Great Notion 2 years ago
    
    Exit polls (for what their worth)?
    1. JesseAz 2 years ago
      
      Exit polls were against the democrats. Exit polls don't sample mail in ballots.
  2. Nardz 2 years ago
    
    LOL
  3. Red Rocks White Privilege 2 years ago
    
    I doubt he drove Dem turnout all that much on his own. A red wave was dependent on a lot of toss-up races going the Rs way, and while the early indicators showed that might happen, it wasn't a given.
    
    The reason DeSantis has the spotlight on him now is because his party has absolutely obliterated the Dems in what had been a fairly balanced state up until he took office, for two election cycles now. This is a state that had become known for winner announcement delays well into the night and often through the following days, and is now getting called about an hour or so into primetime. So expect a lot of investigation going forward into how he's managed to grow his support during his time in office, as the media tries to give their allies in DNC a gameplan for how to counter it should he declare for the presidency, and expect GOP leaders to start looking at his organizational practices on the election front for a template on how to minimize Democrat reindeer games with the voting.
    
    Trump did a good thing by clearing out a lot of the neocon deadwood from the GOP during his 2016 run, but anyone with a brain could see that he's not going to be a viable candidate in 2024 because 1) he's going to be too fucking old, and 2) he's already lost an election. There's no reason he should get another nomination based on those two factors alone.
    1. BestUsedCarSales 2 years ago
      
      It's interesting to see what's going on in Arizona. I don't pay attention to electoral politics that much, but I was for Brnovich in the primary. I had issue with Ducey but thought he was generally quite good. What they both had was a general lack of flashiness and a general sense of workmanlike competence. Which is what I like.
      Some of the stuff got so wacky here I actually voted Democrat for the Secretary of State this year. I voted for Lake, but am not too crushed except...
      The voting issues in Maricopa are an embarrassment. I do not chalk it up to any bad actor, but in a state where election denialism has run hot there should have been a huge push towards appearance of professionalism in elections. This is, in no small part, a failure of Hobbs as she was in charge of running elections in the state. It's an embarrassment.
      But, Arizona will continue onwards. We've had many goofy governors, we will have more. I still have to see how certain propositions went.
      1. Red Rocks White Privilege 2 years ago
        
        The voting issues in Maricopa are an embarrassment. I do not chalk it up to any bad actor, but in a state where election denialism has run hot there should have been a huge push towards appearance of professionalism in elections
        
        Yeah, the county election board should have that shit locked down tight after the 2020 drama. Those machines breaking down mostly in red-dominant areas, and the judge denying Lake and Masters an extension on the voting to account for that, didn't do anything except undermine trust in the final result. No matter who wins, the whole thing is going to be tainted.
        
        BestUsedCarSales 2 years ago
        
        And if it's not clear, the Democratic Governor candidate (who may win/have won, I'm not following it too close) is in some way responsible for this as she is the Secretary of State who is in charge of elections in Arizona.
        It's going to be ugly, and it could have been avoided by actually taking things seriously.
      2. Social Justice is neither 2 years ago
        
        Is it an embarrassment or a strategy? If she weren't both on the ticket and running the election it would be less of an issue.
        
        Red Rocks White Privilege 2 years ago
        
        That's a good point, but the media isn't going to play up the conflict of interest issue like they would if Hobbs was a Republican.
      3. Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        I do not chalk it up to any bad actor
        
        Of course not! It's obviously just a coincidence that the county that gave Biden his presidency and then not only refused to participate in audits but defied court orders and destroyed evidence just happened to have a quarter of its voting machines mysteriously malfunction for half of election day and then threw out the provisional ballots. It's a good thing you voted for a Democrat for secretary of state! They'll get to the bottom of it for sure! Once the current Democrat secretary of state finishes certifying the results of her own election to the governor's mansion, of course.
        
        Ersatz 2 years ago
        
        ^THIS^
        We shouldn't be trying to be so above it all that we deny obvious red flags.
        Not saying there is fire, but if it looks like smoke and smells like smoke... maaaaaybeee there is some fire?
      4. Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        Nice touch with the holocaust denial smear too you partisan hack piece of shit. Can you point me to a single person who denies that an election took place in 2020? One? Just one. I'll wait. Oh, you can't? You can only point to people who think it's a little bit shady that the Democrat you voted for to certify her own coronation destroyed evidence and refused to comply with court orders and a state-ordered audit? Then maybe you should retire that bit of propaganda, you idiotic fucking faggot.
    2. soldiermedic76 2 years ago
      
      Yes, exactly. But it seems to me several posters have decided Trump or nothing. We got basically nothing the last two elections. Maybe it's time to try something new. And no, that doesn't mean Ryan or Romney, because we lost with them and their type to. Why did De Santis win so big in Florida? Kemp in Georgia, Scott in South Carolina, De Wyne in Ohio? Why are Laxalt and Lombardo winning in Nevada? Now how do we translate that?
      1. Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        Laxalt is less than 2 points up in Nevada and will lose handily when all of the rigging is finished. The rest of the candidates you named did well in states that didn't allow the same fuckery that took place in 2020 with the election rigging. But that's obviously just mere coincidence. If the Republicans would just run a big government WEF acolyte like Bush or Saint Reagan then the country would be saved. The thought that someone actually handed you a gun, even if just for those couple weeks of basic before you switched it out for a line cook's utensils, is truly fucking terrifying.
  4. American Mongrel 2 years ago
    
    Anecdotal discourage GOP here.
Mother's Lament 2 years ago

"who spread 2020 election conspiracy theories"

Imagine writing this in a libertarian magazine. Imagine writing this about Democrats who talked about TrumpRussia.
1. JesseAz 2 years ago
  
  The dem media has been spreading 2022 and 2024 conspiracies for a month.
  
  Most election analysts are mystified how a party with so many negatives in polling from president to direction of the country did so well this year.
  1. Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2 2 years ago
    
    Because of you MAGA liars.
    
    Democrats should have been trounced because the media falsely pinned a "bad economy" on them. Only the stench of MAGA saved them.
    1. sarcasmic 2 years ago
      
      There's a difference between being a liar and spreading lies you believe to be true. Most people do one or the other. And I don't really fault people who spread lies they believe to be true. They're deluded and it's not their fault.
      
      The ones who intentionally spread lies are human refuse because they know exactly what they are doing. They know who they are too.
      1. JesseAz 2 years ago
        
        Cmon man, you're not human refuse. Garbage maybe. But don't be so hard on yourself.
        
        sarcasmic 2 years ago
        
        There's one.
        
        Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        Point to one thing JesseAz has said that is a lie.
    2. Sevo 2 years ago
      
      turd lies; it's what turd does. If turd posts it, it's a lie.
    3. Jon Petti 2 years ago
      
      And you should be in jail for possession and distribution of child pornography based on the time you posted dark web links to hardcore child pornography and got your account banned.
  2. Social Justice is neither 2 years ago
    
    Look at the big city fraud factories for a start. If the difference isn't entirely there I'll consider that there are forces beyond Democrats have intentionally broken all election integrity and our marxist press are gleeful propagandists for them.
  3. Super Scary 2 years ago
    
    "The dem media has been spreading 2022 and 2024 conspiracies for a month"
    
    Well, they won a lot of stuff yesterday, so we'll just go ahead and memory hole all that talk about people stealing 2022.
2. JasonAZ 2 years ago
  
  "Imagine writing this about Democrats who talked about TrumpRussia."
  
  Uh, this includes Reason Editors, so...
Fist of Etiquette 2 years ago

Mary Shaw, the judge who approved the fraudulent warrant for the raid on #BreonnaTaylor's home, has lost 51-49 with 99% of precincts reporting.

Consequences for judges? Maybe we are seeing the end of the republic.
1. Social Justice is neither 2 years ago
  
  It is shit framing though. The warrant wasn't fraudulent, I'll informed or I'll advised, sure but fraudulent implies the judge knew of the deficiencies and signed off anyway.
  1. Sometimes a Great Notion 2 years ago
    
    No, it was fraudulent, the police lied in it and the judge still may not have known that. But to sign a no knock warrant on a non violent ancillary non-target, shows poor discretion on her part (in the least), and the voters showed her the door for it.
    1. Jon Petti 2 years ago
      
      Lmfao. Like I said, now do the Trump FISA warrant.
2. Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf 2 years ago
  
  Pinning such a narrow loss on a single case from, what, 2 years ago?
  
  Has she faced re-election before, and how did she do?
  
  How did other judges do?
  
  What else colors her reputation there?
3. Jon Petti 2 years ago
  
  Funny how Reason's descriptive language changes so radically when we're talking about the judge who approved the fraudulent warrant to spy on Donald Trump's presidential campaign and eventual presidency for 4 fucking years.
Sandra (formerly OBL) 2 years ago

"Don't underestimate the GOP's ability to f--- things up."

Wow. Yesterday I said I was more bullish than most on Dems' chances in the Senate. But I didn't expect the House would be this close.

The Republican Party is a complete shitshow, led by an idiot game show host, that got lucky in 2016 because Hillary was really that terrible (and overconfident).
1. JimboJr 2 years ago
  
  As I said yesterday, I just wanted a 51-49 R senate, and R house. Small goals. Though I did think it was going to be much more red, its all I wanted.
  
  Now it seems like even that might not be happening. Really a historically bad election for the GOP
  1. JesseAz 2 years ago
    
    Warnock and walker are going to a run off.
    
    Laxoff seems to have won. Ron Johnson looks like he will hang on.
    
    So looking like 51 is possible.
    
    I dont get mark Kelly. I haven't seen one sign for him. Even the dems I know dislike him. I dont know a single Kelly voter despite knowing many dem voters. It makes zero sense.
    1. Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2 2 years ago
      
      Masters is a MAGA fruitcake.
      
      A Lauren Boebert without the tits. What did he offer a voter?
      1. Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        You posted child pornography at Reason.com and got your original Sarah Palin's Buttplug account banned, shreek. What do you offer to anyone, pedophile? Shut the fuck up. You are lucky you aren't in jail or a smoking corpse at the feet of the father of one of the children you fuck.
    2. Overt 2 years ago
      
      Warnock will win the runoff. The Atlanta vote machine is just too powerful.
      1. Ajsloss 2 years ago
        
        They should make them really run for it, then that Heisman would pay off.
      2. Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        Weren't you just telling us how that's a wild conspiracy theory and literally every Republican loss is Trump's fault? Do you get whiplash when you do that, or are you used to the G forces by now from daily practice?
    3. Commenter_XY 2 years ago
      
      Absent fraud, and I have not heard of any, maybe the electorate really preferred Kelly? Unbelievable, but maybe true.
      1. JasonAZ 2 years ago
        
        Dude, there was major problems with ballots in Maricopa country.
        
        I went to vote at 10am yesterday. 100+ people in line. At 10am. There was definitely good turnout, which should indicate a strong GOP/non-Dem turnout.
        
        I'll reserve judgement until I see more data on turnout and the ballot issues, but AZ seems very fishy.
        
        Commenter_XY 2 years ago
        
        Yeah, the print settings for about 20% of machines was FUBAR, which is amazing to me. Does that Hobbs lady have any competence at all? How do you not rehearse and make extra sure everything works right, after the train wreck of 2020?
        
        Still though, it was a Team Red ripple. And that is reality.
        
        Maybe there was nothing Team R offered to vote for, as opposed to saying that Biden blows as POTUS (which is true - he does suck).
        
        Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        How do you not rehearse and make extra sure everything works right, after the train wreck of 2020?
        
        Almost as if the same party tried to commit the same fraud twice while you sit around with your thumb up your ass pretending you can't see any fraud because you didn't look.
        
        Maybe there was nothing Team R offered to vote for, as opposed to saying that Biden blows as POTUS
        
        And yet you and the rest of the Reason Marxists insist that's all it took for an octogenarian suffering from dementia who wouldn't leave his basement to receive the most votes ever recorded in American history. It's almost like you're a fucking partisan shill with an agenda or something.
      2. Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        and I have not heard of any
        
        That's what happens when you don't look for any and when the people who committed the fraud make it impossible to look for any.
    4. Spiritus Mundi 2 years ago
      
      In my US house district I didn't even know who the Dem candidate was until I got my ballot. The dem won 70-30. But it is a seat held by the same dem for almost 30 years.
    5. BestUsedCarSales 2 years ago
      
      I see signs for him out here, and Sahuarita is pretty Republican best I can tell. I saw more Blake Masters, but Mark Kelly is of the area and best as I can tell ran a race of "boring" which I think a lot of people want.
      
      I don't know. I am also disappointed about that race, as I am openly anti-Kelly. I do not like him.
    6. Dillinger 2 years ago
      
      >>I dont get mark Kelly.
      
      Arizona is the cheat this time.
      1. Nardz 2 years ago
        
        One of them.
        Again.
    7. Jon Petti 2 years ago
      
      Laxoff seems to have won.
      
      Not even fucking close. 2 days later and the union-owned NV government hasn't even reported 50% and he's up less than 2 points.
  2. Fats of Fury 2 years ago
    
    What do you expect? The GOPe under McConnell and McCarthy stand for nothing. McConnell has been sandbagging Republicans since the Tea Party days. McCarthy's just a California squish.
2. Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2 2 years ago
  
  You did call it. Your political instinct is sound.
  
  Will MAGA Republicans turn on Donnie when he starts slamming the new GOP rock star?
  1. Mother's Lament 2 years ago
    
    Probably. It's not about personalities, it's about hatred for your ilk.
    1. Red Rocks White Privilege 2 years ago
      
      I'm expecting Trump to reach out to DeSantis in the next couple of days and offer him a chance at a VP slot for a Trump 2024 run. And if I'm DeSantis, I'd tell him, "Thanks, but no thanks, I think I can handle shit on my own. Appreciate the vote of confidence, though."
      
      Trump might complain in the aftermath, but you can't argue with results, and I fully expect the McConnell wing and a lot of crossover Trump supporters to start lining up behind him.
      
      So here's my predictions for the 2024 GOP challengers:
      -DeSantis
      -Kemp
      -Youngkin
      -Romney
      -Rubio
      -Paul
      -Trump
      -Haley
      -Noem
      1. Ajsloss 2 years ago
        
        You forgot Liz Cheney.
        
        Red Rocks White Privilege 2 years ago
        
        Liz will run as a Democrat in a east coast swing district if she runs again. I expect Kinzinger to switch parties and try to get back in Congress as well.
        
        InsaneTrollLogic 2 years ago
        
        I think Kinzinger's political career is done. He's a pariah to Republicans for siding with the Jan 6th committee, and the Dems in Illinois don't seem to want him either. They gerrymandered him out of his House seat.
        
        Dillinger 2 years ago
        
        hopefully everybody forgets Liz Cheney.
      2. perlmonger 2 years ago
        
        Not Cruz?
        
        Red Rocks White Privilege 2 years ago
        
        A lot of people in his own party don't even like Cruz. If he gets re-elected as Senator, it will be due to sheer political ennui in Texas.
        
        The dude almost lost to Bobby O'Rourke, who's a Howdy Doody moron that acts like he's running for student body president of UTEP. He'd be better off lobbying to replace Thomas if a Republican wins 2024.
        
        Dillinger 2 years ago
        
        Ted should take Merrick Garland's job next time it's up
  2. Sevo 2 years ago
    
    turd lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a TDS-addled shitpile a kiddie diddler, and a pathological liar, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
    If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental.
    turd lies; it’s what he does. turd is a lying pile of lefty shit.
  3. Overt 2 years ago
    
    This would be an interesting conversation, but since SPB is a pedophile we ought to have the conversation elsewhere between people who aren't deplorable.
    
    A few years back SPB posted kiddy porn to this site, and his initial handle was banned. The link below details all the evidence surrounding that ban. A decent person would honor that ban and stay away from Reason. Instead SPB keeps showing up, acting as if all people should just be ok with a kiddy-porn-posting asshole hanging around. Since I cannot get him to stay away, the only thing I can do is post this boilerplate, and link to the evidence of his wrongdoing.
    
    https://reason.com/2022/08/06/biden-comforts-the-comfortable/?comments=true#comment-9635836
    
    Don't respond to SPB, just shun him.
  4. Jon Petti 2 years ago
    
    Will you continue to post dark web links to child pornography at Reason.com and get your account banned again, shreek?
3. Mother's Lament 2 years ago
  
  It's not good enough to poll at 55% in purple states. If you're GOP you've got to poll at least 65%.
4. Sevo 2 years ago
  
  "...led by an idiot game show host, that got lucky in 2016 because Hillary was really that terrible (and overconfident)."
  
  Didn't know you were a TDS-addled pile of shit until now.
  Fuck off and die.
  1. Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2 2 years ago
    
    Haha! OBL has earned the wrath of Sevo.
    
    Sevo is eat up with MAGA idiocy.
    1. Sevo 2 years ago
      
      turd lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a TDS-addled shitpile a kiddie diddler, and a pathological liar, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
      If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental.
      turd lies; it’s what he does. turd is a lying pile of lefty shit.
      1. SoSoCoCoMoFo 2 years ago
        
        You have successfully associated yourself with "shit", Scato. Enjoy!
        
        Sevo 2 years ago
        
        Fuck off and die, asshole.
        
        Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        What's the point in socking your own post this deep into the thread, shreek?
    2. Mother's Lament 2 years ago (edited)
      
      For fuck’s sake, Sevo. Don’t join the circular firing squad too. Look, the pederast and his sock are now gloating.
      1. InsaneTrollLogic 2 years ago
        
        The last thing we need is a circular firing squad. Looking inward and figuring out what went wrong is one thing. Bitching about people not being pure enough is a bad thing.
        
        Nardz 2 years ago
        
        No, definitely don't want a circular firing squad. Just have to hand the left Trump's head on a platter and sign a sworn statement that everything the media said about him was totes right. Then we have to repent and get behind reasonable candidates in the Bush/Susan Collins mold.
        That's the ticket!
    3. Jon Petti 2 years ago
      
      You speekee englee gudly, shreek. Maybe just stick to copying and pasting links to hardcore child pornography. The FBI operators of those sites do the spell checking for you!
  2. Sandra (formerly OBL) 2 years ago
    
    TDS is the diagnosis for people who refused to accept the 2016 election because they thought Trump was a Russian intel asset being blackmailed over a pee tape, and that Robert Mueller would lead him out of the White House in handcuffs.
    
    I, on the other hand, think Trump was a lousy candidate who nevertheless won fair & square because Hillary was just that terrible. And that his Presidency would likely end not because of Mueller's heroics, but because Dems would wise up and run someone other than Hillary the second time.
    1. Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2 2 years ago
      
      You will admit that the Kremlin conducted a pro-Trump social media campaign in 2016, won't you? A GOP Senate committee agrees.
      
      The pee tape was always CT.
      1. Sevo 2 years ago
        
        turd lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a TDS-addled shitpile a kiddie diddler, and a pathological liar, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
        If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental.
        turd lies; it’s what he does. turd is a lying pile of lefty shit.
        Further, trud is stupid enough to believe other lies.
      2. Sandra (formerly OBL) 2 years ago
        
        Sure, I think I saw some of those goofy 2016 memes after the fact. Doesn't invalidate the whole election.
        
        It's also true that in 2020 a story that probably didn't matter on its own (Hunter Biden's laptop) prompted the intelligence community and Big Tech to put their thumb on the scale for Joe. Also not enough to invalidate the election, which I always expected Trump to lose anyway.
        
        American Mongrel 2 years ago (edited)
        
        2020 was fraudulent. There was no insurrection. Trump was a better than average president. His online supporters are more toxic than he is.
        All truths.
        
        Sevo 2 years ago
        
        "...His online supporters are more toxic than he is..."
        
        Those addled with TDS are more obnoxious than he is.
      3. Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        You will admit that you posted dark web links to hardcore child pornography and got your account banned, won't you? Web archives demonstrate conclusively that you did.
    2. Sevo 2 years ago
      
      “…I, on the other hand, think Trump was a lousy candidate who nevertheless won fair & square because Hillary was just that terrible…”
      Doesn't quite match:
      "...The Republican Party is a complete shitshow, led by an idiot game show host, that got lucky in 2016 because Hillary was really that terrible..."
      1. Sandra (formerly OBL) 2 years ago
        
        Trump was a "lousy candidate" because he's an "idiot game show host" and wasn't even a politician before running for President of the United States. Military generals can pull that off sometimes. Not the casino guy from The Apprentice.
        
        And outside Florida, the GOP currently is a shitshow. They should have dominated the House in this environment. Completely inexcusable they might only barely squeak out a majority.
        
        Sevo 2 years ago
        
        Care to name a better POTUS since Silent Cal?
        
        Sandra (formerly OBL) 2 years ago
        
        Well I'm not old enough to remember Reagan but wasn't he considered pretty good? Strong economy, decline of Soviet Union, landslide reelection?
        
        Sevo 2 years ago
        
        I liked Reagan, and he was good, but...
        This was only through 2016:
        1) DeVos
        2) Gorsuch
        3) Kavanuagh
        4) Ajit Pai, end net price fixing
        5) Major reduction in the growth of regulations.
        6) Dow +35%
        7) Unemployment at 3.0% (!)
        8) The US Manufacturing Index soared to a 33 year high
        9) Got repeal of the national medical insurance mandate.
        10) Withdrawal from Paris climate agreement.
        11) Not sure about the tax reform; any "reform" that leaves me subisdizing Musk's customers is not what I hoped for. Let Musk run a company for once. But cutting taxes is good.
        12) Pulled support for the $13 billion Hudson Tunnel project.
        13) More than 16,000 jobs have been cut from the federal leviathan
        14) MIGHT have a deal to de-nuke NK.
        15) Killed monbeam’s choo-choo
        16) Supported and signed First Step Act.
        And finally:
        17) Still making lefties steppin and fetchin like their pants is on fire and their asses are catchin'
        
        You can meow about a 'game-show host', but the man also knows how to run businesses to make money.
        Yeah, he is and was a blow-hard, and it's not like I'd prefer to spend a lot of time with him, but I'll take policy over an adolescent focus on personality anytime.
        
        mad.casual 2 years ago
        
        18) Abraham Accords
        19) WW-none
        20) Deep state exposure
        
        Sevo 2 years ago
        
        We seem to be getting crickets
        
        mad.casual 2 years ago
        
        We seem to be getting crickets
        
        Shut up and eat! You don't want anybody thinking you're some sort of radical who isn't on board with the plan.
        
        perlmonger 2 years ago
        
        There is a disjunct between being a lousy candidate and doing a lousy job once he had the position. I have maintained since the 2016 election that he'd have lost against anyone but Hillary, because she's just that toxic. I also think he's had one of the best presidencies since I've been alive, and that's only because I am old enough to remember Reagan.
        
        I know it's the internet, but I promise, nuance is possible. 😉
        
        Sevo 2 years ago
        
        The TDS-addled shit-pile Sandra seems to be 'confused' at best.
        Sandra, STFU; learn something before you make an ass of yourself again.
        
        Dillinger 2 years ago
        
        Rocky totally beat Drago too.
        
        Utkonos 2 years ago
        
        Of course. Drago was, after all, literally a Dolph!
        
        TheReEncogitationer 2 years ago
        
        "If he dies, he dies!"
        
        Mother's Lament 2 years ago
        
        I'm going to both sides this thing and agree that Trump was indeed a big-mouthed, obnoxious shit-show. He was rude, undignified and made some very mean tweets.
        He fucked up majorly with the lockdowns, flight restrictions, bailouts and vaccines.
        
        However, most of the shit-show wasn't his fault (Trump/Russia, impeachments, etc), but rather the Democrats being dishonest psychopaths.
        
        Unlike Reagan, Trump didn't start any wars, did more for deregulation since Carter, and was the most libertarian president since Coolidge.
        In fact he was probably the best president in almost 100 years, which is really fucking sad in a way.
        
        Will DeSantis be a better president, maybe, hopefully, probably.
        
        Trump's probably done. It's not his fault, but the slander has accumulated on him like sticky tar, and it's all many people see.
        
        Sevo 2 years ago
        
        "...Trump’s probably done. It’s not his fault, but the slander has accumulated on him like sticky tar, and it’s all many people see."
        
        Tell lies often enough and the gullible will believe the, but I think you're missing a larger point if you want to somehow pry the country loose of swamp-critters (mc, below)
        "...As I said when Trump won, even if you don’t like him, if you want a political nobody to take the reigns of power, even if only to toss them into the woodchipper, you are never going to get someone like him again. Declaring “This election shows just how worthless as a candidate Trump was.” is just driving the nails in that coffin..."
        It's not just Trump who loses here, it's all of us hoping for someone NOT steeped in swamp-living who might possibly make an actual change.
        Sandra is an example of what TDS-addled shitpiles do, albeit stupidly, rather than by design.
        
        Nardz 2 years ago
        
        "the slander has accumulated on him like sticky tar, and it’s all many people see."
        
        Okay. So light him on fire and send him back into the swamp to take it all down?
        Couldn't ever consider that- its not proper and polite.
        
        Sevo 2 years ago
        
        "Well I’m not old enough to remember Reagan but wasn’t he considered pretty good? Strong economy, decline of Soviet Union, landslide reelection?"
        
        Gonna point out that TDS-addled shit piles like Sandra are ill-informed assholes willing to visit their ignorance on the rest of us.
        As such an idiotic asshole, please get fucked with a running, rusty chainsaw, steaming pile of TDS-addled shit.
        
        Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        Well I’m not old enough to remember Reagan but wasn’t he considered pretty good?
        
        Well that explains it. You're a stupid millennial cunt. Let me help you out:
        
        Reagan exploded the deficit, bitched out to Tip O'Neil on Social Security, raised taxes, illegally couped several South American governments using money from illegal arms sales to Iran, and amnestied 4 million illegal aliens. Reagan was a piece of shit deep state cunt.
        
        Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        So presidential candidates can only attempt the office after they've spent some arbitrary amount of time being a lying shitweasel in a lower office? I wish you'd stuck with the OBL shtick. The real you is kind of a fucking retard.
    3. Spiritus Mundi 2 years ago
      
      but because Dems would wise up and run someone other than Hillary the second time.
      
      Alas that did happen but their alternative was worse.
    4. mad.casual 2 years ago
      
      TDS is the diagnosis for people who refused to accept the 2016 election because they thought Trump was a Russian intel asset being blackmailed over a pee tape, and that Robert Mueller would lead him out of the White House in handcuffs.
      
      I disagree. Like monkeypox, there were certain behavior patterns that predisposed and effectively openly advertised a TDS infection, but the hallmark symptom of TDS is pretty much injecting Trump into any narrative unnecessarily and, with disease progression, more forcefully. To the point that all reasoning is lost and you wind up with the inevitable bad choices that come from "Avoid Trump and anyone even remotely like him at all costs."
      
      As I said when Trump won, even if you don't like him, if you want a political nobody to take the reigns of power, even if only to toss them into the woodchipper, you are never going to get someone like him again. Declaring "This election shows just how worthless as a candidate Trump was." is just driving the nails in that coffin.
      
      Pick your 'political nobody'; Elon Musk, Mark Cuban, Peter Thiel, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Brendan Eich, Kyle Rittenhouse, Angela McArdle, Nick Sarwark, Jo Jorgensen, Penn Gillette, Dave Smith... Trump's coffin is already virtually nailed shut and you're ordering enough pine and nails to make coffins for each of them.
      
      It's a 50-tier Gretchen Whitmer, J.B. Pritzker, Marco Rubio, Ron DeSantis, Sarah Palin, and Bill Weld cake with Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris icing, with no side of anything resembling the Abraham Accords, zero foreign wars, even nominal deregulation, etc., etc., etc. from here on out.
      
      No more Liz Cheney, whoopeee.
5. Nardz 2 years ago
  
  "got lucky in 2016 because Hillary was really that terrible (and overconfident"
  
  Explain the 20% increase in his performance then...
  1. Sandra (formerly OBL) 2 years ago
    
    You're talking about raw vote totals increasing from 2016 to 2020? Why is that impressive?
    
    By the most important standard (Electoral College) Trump did worse against dementia patient Joe Biden than against Clinton. Suggesting Clinton was a historically bad candidate ....... or that she actually won, but RUSSIA HACKED THE ELECTION. And I spent 5 years mocking the latter explanation.
    1. Nardz 2 years ago
      
      Trump substantially increased his appeal among pretty much all demographics.
    2. Social Justice is neither 2 years ago
      
      Right, just ignore the election fortification and the various unconstitutional election changes and the history of over electoral corruption in Dem cities.
    3. Mother's Lament 2 years ago
      
      Call me denier all you want, but there's no way those late Biden votes that suddenly materialized were real.
      1. JesseAz 2 years ago
        
        They failed many statistical analysis tests. All 5 sigma outliers or more favoring Biden.
6. perlmonger 2 years ago
  
  So, I see that "Sandra" is actually short for "Cassandra"... 😉
  1. Utkonos 2 years ago
    
    I didn’t see that coming!
  2. InsaneTrollLogic 2 years ago
    
    Had Cassandra been listened to, catastrophe could have either been averted or mitigated.
Fist of Etiquette 2 years ago

...making him the first openly transgender man to be a state legislator.

Historic achievement. No further value needed.
1. Dillinger 2 years ago
  
  >>openly transgender man
  
  still don't know what I'd be looking at by those words.
  1. mad.casual 2 years ago
    
    Does it matter. We've fixed the problem of lying and deception in politics and thwarted Trumpians by electing someone effectively perpetrating a deception down to their chromosomes.
    1. Dillinger 2 years ago
      
      I'd be even more empathetic if it was a dude who always wanted to give birth moreso than a chick who just wants a dick.
      1. mad.casual 2 years ago
        
        Personally, it's astounding how in the last ~40 yrs., the notion of 'penis envy' has progressed from vague, dubiously-conjectured eidos to the most insanely real hyle of all hyles. I don't know of anyone growing up that I would say definitively had 'penis envy'. There were strong women who wished they were stronger or had better jobs and whatnot. There were, of course, weak men who would project their envy onto strong women as 'penis envy'. But certainly no women willing to forsake members of their own gender or their gender critically and entirely in order to enshrine their own personal gender supremacy, much less any willing to amputate and mutilate themselves or others to do so.
        
        Way to go feminism.
2. Ajsloss 2 years ago
  
  But what color is its skin?
JFree 2 years ago

Lauren Boebert may be going down in a safe R district. Apparently the campaign slogan - she's nasty, embarrassing with no redeeming qualities - may have worked better than - I've got good tits
1. I, Woodchipper 2 years ago
  
  ^ every leftist votes on personality over policy. Every time.
  1. Bubba Jones 2 years ago
    
    Why can't GOP recruit non-toxic advocates for their policies?
    1. I, Woodchipper 2 years ago
      
      Define non-toxic. Some of the most abrasive and awful candidates are D side as well. Who cares?
      
      It's the policies that matter. How will they vote? That's literally all that matters.
    2. Earth-based Human Skeptic 2 years ago
      
      Populism?
      
      Maybe the Democrats were smart to disown the blue collar class.
      1. Red Rocks White Privilege 2 years ago
        
        Maybe the Democrats were smart to disown the blue collar class.
        
        That's not what's driving it, although there's certainly an economic split going on. It's generatonal.
        
        Zoomers MASSIVELY went for the Dems this round, something like 25%. Boomers and Gen-X went for the Rs , and even Millennials only went for the Dems in single digits after being a fairly reliable Dem vote for about 20 years, which indicates they're starting to trend conservative as they get older, move from the cities to the suburbs, and have families.
        
        Zoomers are still in their lunatic 20-something phase where they expect the world to conform to their ideals, and let's not forget that this demographic shows extremely high levels of mental illness as well.
        
        Commenter_XY 2 years ago
        
        I think the analysis of Independents will prove very interesting. Team R assumed, wrongly, that Independents would break heavily their way on election day. That really did not happen, from what I see.
        
        Team R just completely whiffed. Personally, there is much truth to what McConnell says about candidate quality and electability.
        
        Earth-based Human Skeptic 2 years ago
        
        Well, there's whiffed, and there's decided to put on a freak show, yell at the ump, mug for the cameras, and play for the cheap seats.
        
        Fk_Censorship 2 years ago
        
        It's not that, it's more likely that zoomers are far less white and far less American on average, hence they tend to support the Democrats. It won't change with age.
    3. Mike Laursen 2 years ago
      
      Very good question.
      
      You’d think if Republicans had confidence in their own political beliefs they could advocate for them with calm, adult debating and presentation of facts.
      1. sarcasmic 2 years ago
        
        That's just how politics work. You don't win by promoting yourself and your policies. You win by portraying the enemy as evil.
        
        JesseAz 2 years ago
        
        So since you protray the right as evil... oh you're a democrat?
        
        Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        iT'S DiFfErEnT WhEn We Do iT
      2. Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        Yeah they should take their cue from the Democrats like Joe Biden that claimed their opponents were going to reinstitute slavery. Take a calm, rational approach like Nancy Pelosi who said that Trump was literally armageddon.
      3. Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        Oh, also, remind who bitched out and ran into a bathroom to avoid answering questions from the media and their constituents?
    4. DesigNate 2 years ago
      
      Because politicians, by their very nature, are shitty human beings?
2. Red Rocks White Privilege 2 years ago
  
  Expect that district to go back to R eventually, assuming that holds. Boebert's benefitting from the fact that the 3rd is a strong R district, and I wouldn't be surprised if Scott Tipton tried running again to get his seat back since he'd be more palatable to the independents on the western slope.
Fist of Etiquette 2 years ago

Jonathan Chait calls the midterm results "a shocking vote of confidence for Democrats."

There might be something to having near total capture of the messaging apparatus.

(An apparatus which, by the way, informed me yesterday how vulnerable our voting systems were so who knows if the election results are on the up and up.)
1. NoVaNick 2 years ago
  
  Yeah, reminds me of how excited I was in college because I was convinced I was going to flunk multivariable calculus, but somehow ended up passing by the skin of my teeth. It was a vote of confidence for me that I was done with taking any more math classes.
  1. Bubba Jones 2 years ago
    
    I too received a courtesy C in my last math class.
2. Mike Laursen 2 years ago
  
  “near total capture of the messaging apparatus”
  
  The Democrats have no such control. There are plenty of Republican-biased news sites. Anyone who wants to get the conservative view of current events can do so.
  
  But it is useful to conservatives to paint themselves as victims who are just fighting back against oppression when they do nasty things.
  1. CE 2 years ago
    
    How about tallying them up? TV networks, major newspapers.... it's not exactly 50-50 out there....
    1. Mike Laursen 2 years ago
      
      So what? If conservatives still have plenty of news sources why does it matter if it is 50-50 or not?
      1. ElvisIsReal 2 years ago
        
        I just can't deal with this guy anymore.
        
        InsaneTrollLogic 2 years ago
        
        Mike's a doofus, but he'll never read this as I think he's muted me.
        
        Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP) 2 years ago
        
        Mike is another cunt in the same vein as his buddy Sarcasmic. They read every response because even the negative ones feed their ego. They troll for the attention and are not about to ignore it. They pretend they have muted people they know will pound them into the ground. You can tell because they always talk about all those they have muted.
        
        Mike Laursen 2 years ago
        
        Good then, leave me alone. Mute me.
        
        Anyway, you just tacitly admitted you don’t have an answer to my question.
        
        Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        You already got an answer to your question: You're a lying piece of shit and your framing is incorrect from the roots up. Republicans do not have access to the largest advertising and information dissemination networks. What you're saying is no different than claiming there's no monopoly on daily mail delivery because you can hire a private courier to deliver your letters instead of using the Post Office. It's embarrassingly stupid even for you.
  2. ElvisIsReal 2 years ago
    
    As long as wingnut.com exists, government colluding with Twitter and Facebook is no big deal!
    1. Mike Laursen 2 years ago
      
      Way to put words in my mouth on a tangential topic!
      1. ElvisIsReal 2 years ago
        
        I'm not interested in hearing your shit any longer. Back on the blocked list.
        
        Mike Laursen 2 years ago (edited)
        
        Awesome! You were the one who commented on my comments, not vice versa.
        
        Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        Awwww, you buttflustered there Episiarch? Post your mute list again, it's always a riot. Especially when you continually and obsessively reply hundreds of times to the people you've forgotten you publicly stated you muted.
3. Number 2 2 years ago
  
  Talk about lowered standards. A “vote of confidence” for Democrats is: likely losing control of the House (sufficient in itself to create divided government and block their agenda), still possibly losing the Senate, having their two media darlings O’Rourke and Abrams lose yet again despite sucking up enormous amounts of Democrat campaign contributions that could have been better spent elsewhere, and having possible 2024 GOP Presidential Candidate Ron DeSantis turn Florida, which had been a swing state, completely red.
  
  So “not getting slaughtered” is now a “vote of confidence.”
Sandra (formerly OBL) 2 years ago

Given Republicans' downright abysmal performance, here's my question for 2024. How bad do things have to get over the next 2 years for Biden not to be considered a heavy favorite for reelection?

I'm at the point where Biden could look like this and gas could be $10 / gallon and I'd say "Hmmmmmmmm I reckon Democrats still have the advantage!"
1. Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2 2 years ago
  
  What? Voters are already sick of Biden. The only GOP candidate he could beat is Fatass Donnie. DeSantis would trounce Biden.
  
  Everyone else in the GOP is wasting their time if they run.
  
  Chris Christie? Mike Pence?
  
  They are jokes.
  1. sarcasmic 2 years ago
    
    Even NPR is sick of the guy. When a Democrat loses NPR they're toast.
    1. Jon Petti 2 years ago
      
      Well at least he'll still have you sucking his desiccated cock until the casket is lowered.
  2. Sevo 2 years ago
    
    turd posted that; it's lies. It's what turd does.
  3. Sandra (formerly OBL) 2 years ago
    
    "The only GOP candidate he could beat is Fatass Donnie."
    
    See that's why I teased you so many times about predicting Trump would go to prison. The last thing Democrats want is Trump removed from the equation. I'm convinced they'll do the same "pied piper strategy" in 2024 that they did in 2016 (which only backfired because of Clinton's unique awfulness).
    
    Are Republican voters dumb enough to give Democrats their dream opponent again? I suspect yes.
  4. Jon Petti 2 years ago
    
    They are jokes.
    
    That must really sting coming from a guy who got banned from Reason.com for posting dark web links to hardcore child pornography.
2. defaultdotxbe 2 years ago
  
  I think 2024 election is still the Republicans' to lose, it just depends whether they choose to lose it or not. It used to be the Democrats who were the masters at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, but Republicans are catching up.
  1. JesseAz 2 years ago
    
    I'm following exOBLs beliefs now. If the minority party can't win given the current state of public opinion, it means elections have no meaning at this point. Near records against the ruling party for public opinion and you see last night. It is insane.
    1. Commenter_XY 2 years ago
      
      Isn't that just a sad-assed conclusion? = If the minority party can’t win given the current state of public opinion, it means elections have no meaning at this point. Near records against the ruling party for public opinion and you see last night. It is insane.
      1. JesseAz 2 years ago (edited)
        
        No. If the majority of the country thinks the country is headed in the wrong direction and re elects the conductors of the train going in the direction, then elections aren’t about the direction.
  2. n00bdragon 2 years ago
    
    I was watching the Fetterman/Oz race out of morbid curiosity whether people would choose a shambling corpse over a Republican. If it's Biden v. Trump again in 2024 I think I may actually die of laughter if Biden passes away sometime in October and still manages to win.
3. InsaneTrollLogic 2 years ago
  
  How bad do things have to get...
  
  That's a question I've had about Chicago voters for years. How bad does the pension crisis, the crime, and the corruption have to get before they actually rebel? This is highly pessimistic, but I'm convinced that they could be in the 9th Circle of Hell, and still vote for the very same people making that Hell.
4. Jon Petti 2 years ago
  
  Maybe once he's reelected in a landslide after starting a nuclear war with Russia you'll wake the fuck up and realize that maybe it was the vote by mail with no restrictions or accountability for up to a month after election day thing that was driving his success.
A Thinking Mind 2 years ago

Need to get out my own musings:

--Michigan re-electing Whitmer is like a battered spouse escaping her family to run back to the abusive husband.

--Republicans really did a shitty job of finding good candidates people can get behind. Walker, Oz, etc. Races that should have been quite winnable if they could have found good candidates.

--I don't think Trump endorsements carry a ton of value. The 20-25% of Republican voters who are hard-core MAGA were probably going to vote Republican anyway.

--Stacey Abrams conceded the 2022 election before conceding the 2018 election. She said in her concession speech she won't be going anywhere, but I suspect she's never going to be relevant again. Enjoy the $10 million you stole from donors, you won't be getting more.

--Arizona is a shitshow.
1. Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2 2 years ago
  
  Trump's done. He is yesterday's trash. All he can do is fuck up 2024 for Republicans. The GOP has a new rock star.
  1. Sevo 2 years ago
    
    turd posted this; it's a lie.
  2. Mike Laursen 2 years ago
    
    Trump is threatening to release some unspecified dirty laundry on DeSantis. ‘Cause Trump is a class act that way.
    1. Jon Petti 2 years ago
      
      If he can manage to get the FBI to fabricate a FISA warrant declaring his dirty laundry to be rock-solid foreign intelligence, maybe he can spy on DeSantis for 4 years with your full-throated approval, Episiarch.
  3. Jon Petti 2 years ago
    
    You posted dark web links to hardcore child pornography at Reason.com and got your original Sarah Palin's Buttplug account banned.
2. Overt 2 years ago
  
  "I don’t think Trump endorsements carry a ton of value."
  
  Woah, there. You don't have to put it so harsh!
  
  I'm not going to pull any punches either. Trump may in fact potentially cast a bit of a shadow over his candidates.
  1. A Thinking Mind 2 years ago
    
    I'm not sure I'd go that far. I just think he's gone off the deep end a bit since 2020, and he's doing a bad job vetting candidates. He chose dumbass David Perdue in the primary to run against Brian Kemp in my state, due to perceived disloyalty, but Kemp is massively popular because he's been real good. And the people who voted against him in the primary all fell in line in the general election.
    
    But elsewhere, he's pushed Republicans into nominating really weak candidates like Oz and Walker. It's not that Trump necessarily stigmatized them by association, but it's that he carries so much weight in the party that his endorsements got weak candidates through the primaries where their weaknesses were later exposed.
    1. Sometimes a Great Notion 2 years ago
      
      Trump did the same with Larry Hogan's succesor, Kelly Schulz, in Maryland. I'm no Hogan fan but in Maryland his type is better than the alternative and is who independents and non partisan Dems will vote for. But Trump and Hogan didn't like each other, so Trump had to sabotage the election. Dan Cox had zero chance.
      1. Red Rocks White Privilege 2 years ago
        
        I doubt Schulz would have done much better, to be honest. Hogan's a unicorn in that he was an extremely popular R in a ultramarine blue state (seriously, even in Baltimore people loved the guy). He likely would have won the Senate seat if he had run this year, but he's letting the press convince him that he'd be a viable Presidential candidate if he ran, and so he passed on what should have been a slam-dunk opportunity. He might be able to legitimately flip Maryland if he was the nominee, but he'd depress turnout everywhere else.
        
        Sometimes a Great Notion 2 years ago
        
        True, but she had a shot, Cox didn't. But Hogan isn't quite a unicorn, Robert Ehrlich had the same playbook.
        
        Moonrocks 2 years ago
        
        Ehrlich lost reelection, Hogan won bigger the second time. Personally, I think Hogan's public dislike of Trump helped his in-state popularity.
        
        Red Rocks White Privilege 2 years ago
        
        If Trump decides he wants to try and sandbag DeSantis, if I'm the latter, I'd actually ask Hogan to be my VP candidate just to troll Trump. GOP voters aren't going to care as long as they think the ticket will win.
        
        And here's the thing about Trump--he's acting right now like he's entitled to the spot, the way McCain acted in 2008, Romney acted in 2012, and Jeb acted in 2016. He became a good insurgency candidate in 2016 because he worked his ass off to win the nomination instead of expecting that it would just be handed to him. If he's expecting a coronation, then he might as well be Hillary, and it's going to turn off a lot of the GOP base.
      2. Moonrocks 2 years ago
        
        I’m no Hogan fan
        
        Neither am I. He's not the best, but he's the best Maryland can get.
        
        But Trump and Hogan didn’t like each other, so Trump had to sabotage the election
        
        To be fair, Hogan did just as much sabotage by refusing to even tepidly endorse Cox after he won the primary.
    2. Overt 2 years ago
      
      " I just think he’s gone off the deep end a bit since 2020, and he’s doing a bad job vetting candidates."
      
      I think it is more than that. The Democrats have done everything in their power to hype up the "Election Denier, MAGA Head, Insurrectionist J6 Threats to Democracy". That has taken its toll. I'm not saying this characterization is fair- because it isn't.
      
      Yes, some of these candidates are flawed in general, but their connection to him was also a flaw, unfortunately.
      1. Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        I’m not saying this characterization is fair- because it isn’t.
        
        Even though you just got done calling everyone in this thread who didn't agree with your facile "Everything is Trump's fault" conclusion "Election Denier, MAGA Head, Insurrectionist J6 Threats to Democracy". If you're going to lie, maybe don't do it IN THE SAME FUCKING THREAD you piece of Marxist faggot trash.
3. Brandybuck 2 years ago
  
  Actually Oz won. Which distresses me greatly because he was an idiot decades before he entered politics.
  1. A Thinking Mind 2 years ago
    
    Oz definitely lost...it's notable because the person he lost to is even more senile than Biden.
    1. Ronbback 2 years ago
      
      who would you rather have a senile man you can control or an idiot you can't. I am amazed though that a racist who took a shot gun to a POC can still win I guess thats okay when a democrat does racist things
      1. Red Rocks White Privilege 2 years ago
        
        As long as Fetterman has enough presence of mind to flip the lever, the Dems won't care. His staff will do all the work and his wife will be the shadow Senator for as long as he's in office. I'll be shocked if they even let him speak once in the Senate chamber.
        
        A Thinking Mind 2 years ago
        
        All he has to do is survive until January, then he can step down for health reasons and let the governor appoint a replacement. At least that's my understanding.
4. Nardz 2 years ago
  
  Kemp made a deal with the left machine: stay out of the gov race, and the left can do whatever it wants for national offices.
  He governs GA well and gets his cut, Abrams is cast aside by the machine, and Ds get the Senate seats and electoral votes in perpetuity.
  1. A Thinking Mind 2 years ago
    
    I mean, that's transparent bullshit. Democrats spent well over $100 million on Stacey Abrams' race, the vast majority of which came from out of state. Their problem is that she's corrupt and was siphoning off a lot of that money for personal enrichment. She was all over the liberal media landscape, guest starring on Star Trek, hitting all the talk shows, featured on NBC. The left machine was completely organized against Kemp.
    
    Compare that massive dump of cash and support to the ~$30 million the GOP dropped to re-elect Vance, which was considered massive in that state. Kemp took down a liberal juggernaut because she was, in the end, a shitty candidate and he's a fantastic one.
    1. Red Rocks White Privilege 2 years ago
      
      Yeah, this idea that Kemp made some sort of deal is just cope. He did a magnificent job of skirting the line of not alienating Trump-supporting voters in his state while building up his base of support in other areas, and won comfortably as a result. The results are clear that there was a lot of split-ticket votes for him, but against Walker, although Walker might still pull it out if there's a runoff.
      
      Abrams has been cast as a future national political figure for the Dems since her first governor run, which is why the party and Californians shoveled so much money into her campaign--they couldn't move her up until she actually had a win under her belt. Looks like she'll just go back to being a grifter at this point, unless she leaves Georgia and runs for an office in North Carolina or Virginia. Which she might do, because that bitch loves press attention almost as much as she loves all-you-can-eat buffets.
      
      Her loss and Bobby O'Rourke's were honestly the best news to come out of last night.
      1. A Thinking Mind 2 years ago
        
        Abrams coming out and saying, in the middle of her campaign, that Georgia is the worst state to live in, that's the sort of flub that tanks a political career. I wouldn't be surprised if Democrats just want her to go away at this point. She's not going to get much traction out of state after something like that because it's so easy to call her out for caring more about her political career than the concerns of voters.
        
        JimboJr 2 years ago
        
        Yup. That line immediately made me think of McAwful's "parents should not have a say in school curriculum". Ballot poison.
        
        The heartbeat stuff was a close second
        
        Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        Abrams coming out and saying, in the middle of her campaign, that Georgia is the worst state to live in, that’s the sort of flub that tanks a political career.
        
        Barack Obama won national office by saying that America was not exceptional. Sinema became a senator by saying her state was the "meth lab of democracy". Any explanation for that, or should we just ignore it and join you in seeing how much Democrat cock we can get down our fat fucking gullet?
      2. JimboJr 2 years ago
        
        "He did a magnificent job of skirting the line of not alienating Trump-supporting voters in his state while building up his base of support in other areas, and won comfortably as a result."
        
        Every person talking about the election today around the ol water cooler claimed they voted for Kemp and either didnt vote for Senate or voted L. Maybe they voted for Warnock, but they wont admit to it as its a pretty R heavy crowd in general.
        
        Point being, Walker was a bridge too far for a lot of folks. Kemp pissed a lot of them off by not being besties with Trump, but didnt openly make it an issue. He moved on quickly. A lot of the Trump folks talk about voting for him begrudgingly and him being a snake, but he clearly walked the line well enough.
      3. Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        Yeah, this idea that Kemp made some sort of deal is just cope.
        
        There's literal fucking receipts for it in 2020, but I'm sure he completely cleaned up his act this year.
    2. Moonrocks 2 years ago
      
      I wonder, How did Kemp's support for Walker compare with DeSantis' support for Rubio?
      1. A Thinking Mind 2 years ago
        
        To some extent, Kemp kept his distance from Walker. I mean, Walker actually started that last year when he criticized Kemp openly and backed his opponent in the primary. Most of Kemp's interaction with the Walker campaign were when he was pressed on Walker's abortion comments. Because Kemp was a big advocate of the 6-week law and seems quite happy with getting that passed, he was always going to hedge on more extreme restrictions. Kemp had to work to get himself re-elected.
        
        I suspect that now that he's secured his re-election he'll probably come out more strongly in favor of Herschel, but it may be too late to matter.
        
        JimboJr 2 years ago
        
        "Walker actually started that last year when he criticized Kemp openly and backed his opponent in the primary."
        
        This is an important data point. Trump also backed Purdue. And what did we see. Kemp steamrolled him, while Trump was campaigning against him
        
        Red Rocks White Privilege 2 years ago
        
        I suspect that now that he’s secured his re-election he’ll probably come out more strongly in favor of Herschel, but it may be too late to matter.
        
        Eh, I doubt it unless they've talked behind the scenes and Kemp told him, "I'm not going to come out for you, but I'm not going to condemn you, either." Providing a "let the voters decide" message would probably be more favorable to Walker in the long run than an outright endorsement.
        
        Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        but it may be too late to matter.
        
        In the sense that GA is a corrupt shit hole rife with fraud that he agreed to turn a blind eye toward in exchange for his career, you're right. I hope you die of asphyxiation with his cock lodged in your throat.
    3. Nardz 2 years ago
      
      So why did Kemp refuse to investigate any of the suspicious actions in Fulton or Gwinnett?
      1. Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        Because he got his pay day, but ATM has a fag-crush on him because of his TDS.
5. Sometimes a Great Notion 2 years ago
  
  Trump endorsement may fuel your opposition, though. Of course, if you don't get his endorsement, you tend to get his wrath which hurts MAGA turnout.
  
  He's a destroyer political speaking, which made him attractive in his race but leaves a wake of indiscriminate destruction in his path.
  1. Mike Laursen 2 years ago
    
    “He’s a destroyer political speaking”
    
    Yet when he made it into the White House, it was all complaining about how he couldn’t drain the swamp because The Deep State was too powerful.
    1. DesigNate 2 years ago
      
      The Deep State aren’t elected officials so not sure how he could politically destroy them…
      1. Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        Episiarch, formerly MJGreen, currently dba Mike "White Mike" Laursen is a lying piece of shit, but makes up for it by being incredibly fucking stupid.
  2. American Mongrel 2 years ago
    
    I'm sticking with a vote for a maga candidate is an endorsement of the rhetoric of the reverse TDS crowd.
    I'm sure they'll be along to tell me that I'm a secret lefty fascist retard neocon etc etc.
    I'll pass on republicans that act like democrats. And I'm not taking 15 minutes of any more tuesdays to waste a vote on Ls or constitution party candidates. They'll never get to 5% the dream is dead.
    1. Sevo 2 years ago
      
      "...I’m sure they’ll be along to tell me that I’m a secret lefty fascist retard neocon etc etc..."
      
      Here ya go, shitbag:
      "...So, no, this was not a ‘both sides’ issue; this was an R POTUS who delivered more for freedom than any POTUS since silent Cal, compared to a hag who publicly claimed “it takes a village” to raise your kid. I have serious doubts this was unique.
      So, to all of you ‘both sides’, TDS-addled shits, get fucked with a running rusty chainsaw."
      That's you, asshole.
I, Woodchipper 2 years ago

Meanwhile, a proposal to uphold the state's ban on flavored tobacco products has passed.

Jesus christ, Californians are an embarassment.
1. JimboJr 2 years ago
  
  menthol cigs just might be a racist scheme to kill blacks
2. NoVaNick 2 years ago
  
  They’re just admitting that most of them are too retarded to be trusted to make their own decisions, and need big mommy government to hide the cookies from them.
3. Brandybuck 2 years ago
  
  Can't have Blacks be puffing on menthols!
  
  It's one reason I'm sour on the whole idea of citizen referendums. California has more than any other state. And they're all driven by the worst sort of advertisements. But people aren't experts, and stuff the legislature doesn't want to deal with they just turn into a referendum. So the public thinks it's about kids vaping seedy black market joos, when in fact it outlaws stuff that has been legal since the time of Sir Walter Raleigh.
  
  People are idiots. Legislators are as well, but people are still idiots and referendums should not be there for shit like tobacco, or insurance prices, or whether Uber is legal, and whether Indians can expand their casinos, and shit like that. Even stuff like school bonds is a problem. Referendums are a bad idea.
  
  The reddest state would be just as bad if it had spent a century developing the same referendum culture where the price of automobile insurance was literally up for a popular vote.
  1. Overt 2 years ago
    
    The annual interest on California's tobacco fund is enough money outspend any Pro-Freedom or Industry group combined. Just wait until they have banned vaping and smoking all-together, and start coming for marijuana. In 15 years, California is going to resemble prohibitionist America.
    1. Earth-based Human Skeptic 2 years ago
      
      And in 30 years it will look like an updated version of feudal France, with a tech nobility flying about in electric drones, complaining about the ill-behaved peasants.
    2. TheReEncogitationer 2 years ago
      
      You mean it's not already, with Hoovervilles in every city and fights in food lines only captured in every restaurant by WorldStar?
  2. Mike Laursen 2 years ago
    
    When it comes to spending, the California legislature has a long habit of putting any spending that they know will be popular (environment, infrastructure, water) into initiatives so they can reserve the general budget for more questionable spending.
  3. Minadin 2 years ago
    
    "seedy black market joos"
    
    I really hope you mean Juuls . . .
    1. Utkonos 2 years ago
      
      Herr Misek on line 1
      1. TheReEncogitationer 2 years ago
        
        Hey, check out his contribution on the Elon Musk Twitter story. Misek evidently wants to force every private business to provide anything that customers want, otherwise they are "oligarchs!"
        
        Misek has one-upped his proposal to outlaw lying, though nothing will ever top his Holocaust Denial.
        
        Utkonos 2 years ago
        
        I’ll never forget the night he started spouting off about labor markets and people were responding to him with essentially “Oh, shove your Manifesto up your ass ya Marxist fuck!” And, finally, I had to beak in with: “Um, y’all DO realize that you’re debating labor theory with a bonafide Holocaust-denying Hitlerite—-RIGHT???”
        
        Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        “Um, y’all DO realize that you’re debating labor theory with a bonafide Holocaust-denying Hitlerite—-RIGHT???”
        
        Misek is a piece of shit, but that's an absolutely retarded combination of red herring and ad hominem fallacy. And you were proud enough of it to actually repeat it.
        
        TheReEncogitationer 2 years ago
        
        Greetings, Jon Petti! If you're new here, you'll find with experience that, with Misek, it's not name-calling, it's name-naming 🙂
        
        Everything attributed to him is real!
        
        Ditto likewise with Nemo Aequalis, a Neo-Reactionary Alt-Right-style Nazi who endorsed a book advocating Witch-burning;
        
        BioBehavioral, a "Race Realist" type who espouses Ku Klux Krud Anti-black, Antisemitic views with a pseudo-intellectual vaneer;
        
        Tony, our resident Tankie Socialist/Communist apologist (when he's not denying that these ideologies were and are real and actually practiced;)
        
        and Mtruman, an actual Eco-Wacko Watermelon (Green on the outside, Red on the inside) who advocates forcing everyone to bicycle and pull or ride rickshaws.
        
        We are just Chock-Full-O'-Nuts here, but more rational, sensible people are here to take them all on. Feel free to join in anytime!
        
        Sevo 2 years ago
        
        Misek continues to claim is 'evidence' has yet to be refuted. Shame on me, I did so a couple of years ago, rubbing it in his face, but further, shame on me, did not save the debunking.
        I keep asking the Nazi shit to re-post his "evidence" and it will again get smeared in his face, but the Nazi scum can't seem to provide it.
        If someone finds the asshole 'trailing' it someplace, please link it to any Sevo post; the claims of "evidence" are laughable at best, more like pathetic.
        Promise to save the debunking this time.
        
        Utkonos 2 years ago
        
        I admire your tenacity in—your own word’s—handing Herr Misek his ass. I assume that, like me, Sevo, you’ve had the honor of personally knowing Holocaust survivors?
4. Utkonos 2 years ago
  
  Straight up left wing fascism here in California. I never thought I’d miss the old school left liberals, but I’d take the latter’s Oldsmobile over the former’s APC any ole day.
  1. TheReEncogitationer 2 years ago
    
    Oldsmobiles? Today's Left wants us driving tricked-out electric cars that catch on fire on the freeway, or rickshaws if you talk to the Eco-Unibomber crowd like Mtruman!
    
    They all need to face our existing vehicles with the brunt end of a cow-catcher to sweep 'em off the street and out of our hair! 🙂
Sandra (formerly OBL) 2 years ago

Off topic / movie related

Has anyone seen The Empty Man? The trailer makes it look like more Bye Bye Man / Slender Man teen horror dreck but it's way more ambitious than that. I saw it on HBO Max but I don't think it's there anymore.

I only mention it because it might be the only movie I've seen where the idea of a "tulpa" is a key plot point. Kind of amusing for Reason vets.
sarcasmic 2 years ago

How long before losers start crying fraud?
1. JesseAz 2 years ago
  
  Not going to gloat at all huh? Lol.
2. Fetterman's Hump (formerly Ecoli) 2 years ago
  
  Gleeful this morning.
  1. JesseAz 2 years ago
    
    He is totally not happy. He is concerned about democrat policy for sure. Just read his comments.
3. Mike Laursen 2 years ago
  
  It already started yesterday with Trump (and some commenters) here expounding on the obvious fraud behind malfunctioning tabulating machines in Maricopa Country, AZ.
  1. sarcasmic 2 years ago
    
    With Hillary's recent declaration of fraud I'm surprised her team isn't claiming it as well.
    1. Mike Laursen 2 years ago
      
      It was nice for a while when Hillary was staying out of the public eye.
      1. Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        Well, she couldn't remain seated on your face getting her turgid clit-dick sucked forever.
  2. Jon Petti 2 years ago
    
    It already started yesterday with Trump (and some commenters) here
    
    I'm surprised Trump found the time to post at Reason.com. I'm sure you gave him a right thrashing with your FACTS and LOGIC, right Episiarch?
4. Jon Petti 2 years ago
  
  Probably as long as it takes Maricopa county to shred tens of thousands of provisional ballots. Oopsie!
Moderation4ever 2 years ago

I was very surprised by the turnout of the midterm election. I think this is good because those that won did so because they were well supported. I also think that the political divide pushes more people to vote.
1. Earth-based Human Skeptic 2 years ago
  
  What about when voting reaches 110%?
2. Mike Laursen 2 years ago
  
  I suspect the Republicans undermined the “red wave” a bit with pushing so hard on the abortion issue.
  1. Moderation4ever 2 years ago
    
    I also suspect that the former President contributed to the loss. The American people said they were done with Trump in 2020. A number of Republicans did not listen. That lead to bad choices and bad platforms in 2022.
    1. Mike Laursen 2 years ago
      
      You may be right.
      1. Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        Do you ever feel even a hint of embarrassment tongue-bathing an actual no-shit pedophile, Episiarch?
  2. DesigNate 2 years ago
    
    If abortion pushed people towards Democrats insane economic policies, we’re already solidly fucked.
    1. Isaac Bartram 2 years ago
      
      It might not be a matter of people acting positively, but acting negatively: ie, not voting at all.
3. Jon Petti 2 years ago
  
  Nobody gives a shit what you think about any topic, shreek. You posted dark web links to hardcore child pornography. Go away and be glad that you're not in prison or a crumpled cadaver beneath the boot of one of the fathers of the little boys you like to fuck.
Brandybuck 2 years ago

> In California, a proposal to legalize sports betting at race tracks and Native American casinos is failing by a huge margin, and a proposal to legalize online sports betting in California is failing by an even bigger margin.

I am glad these are losing becuase they are NOT legalization bills. They are about expanding regulated gambling with even more regulations. Not the right direction. It would be like what they did with "legalizing" marijuana, where the end results are so much regulation that the pot black market is stronger than ever before.

You want legalized gambling within tribal lands? Just legalize it! You want legal online gambling? Just legalize it! The state should be involved only insofar as it collects the same taxes it does from returning Las Vegas patrons.
1. Overt 2 years ago (edited)
  
  Correct- market protectionism and corporatism masquerading as legalization.
  
  I cannot figure out WHY it failed though. On the one hand, I would hope that Californians recognized a crony boondoggle when they see it. But the anti-menthol vote makes me actually suspect that Californians are letting their inner nanny-authoritarians out.
  
  For all the shit it gets about being run by hippy liberals, California repeatedly demonstrates itself as a state that is happy to micromanage what you eat, drink and smoke; who you marry; and what else you do with your money. Sure, there is a nice veneer of “Tolerance and Inclusivity” but scratch that off, and it’s just some weird mutated Puritan underneath.
  1. sarcasmic 2 years ago
    
    Tolerance and inclusivity only apply to immutable characteristics like race or height or intelligence. I was going to say gender but that seems to mean however you feel in the morning.
    
    Tolerance and inclusivity does not apply to ideas. Quite the opposite actually. In that case tolerance and inclusivity means proudly excluding and not tolerating people over what they believe.
    1. Jon Petti 2 years ago
      
      And if you disagree, you're an extreme Trumpista MAGA insurrectionist.
      
      Why do you post shit like this knowing how badly we're going to stuff it up your ass? I guess that's the curse of the alcoholic mind. They really do love the abuse.
  2. Earth-based Human Skeptic 2 years ago
    
    "But the anti-menthol vote makes me actually suspect that Californians are letting their inner nanny-authoritarians out."
    
    Inner nanny?
    1. Utkonos 2 years ago
      
      Fran Drescher in jackboots?
      1. TheReEncogitationer 2 years ago
        
        While I did like Niles and Cee-Cee and their silver-tongued wit foiled against each other, that show made me think that Joseph Goebbels was still alive and writing sit-coms. Fran's Nanny could have been a caricature in Nazi or Muslim propaganda films.
  3. CE 2 years ago
    
    Plus what kind of car you drive, how often you can drive it, what home appliances you can install, when you can use electricity, etc. Freedom is a dead letter in California.
    1. Earth-based Human Skeptic 2 years ago
      
      Utopia is impossible with freedom.
  4. BestUsedCarSales 2 years ago
    
    I've made a point about this many times. I see pot legalization waved about as the one thing libertarians managed to do. They talk about it so much, because it is viewed as the one thing their movement has really succeeded on in the last 20 years or so.
    The problem is that I do believe the underlying reasoning for why we've gotten pot legalization is not that "people should be free to decide" but because "pot is considered to be either good or at least not harmful enough to warrant the cost of policing" and these are two very different arguments. The former is libertarian, the latter is a somewhat progressive number crunching game. All evidence I see moves us towards the latter of more control, that weed happens to be viewed as good now is a different issue.
    1. BestUsedCarSales 2 years ago
      
      And right as I post this I see that there is a new Sullum article discussing weed legalization, and the extremely progressive version of a psychedelic decriminalization ballot measure in Colorado. The article appears to do no particular analysis of the measure at hand and only views it as a means to an end.
      
      I think I need to take a break from Reason. I've been frustrated with their complete lack of doing anything but the most surface discussion of topics for awhile now. And I think ultimately I need to just accept that. Being in a comment section is not going to change that, and they will continue to be the face of popular libertarianism.
      
      Have a good one guys.
      1. Dillinger 2 years ago
        
        vaya con dios.
      2. Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        Enjoy the Democrats you voted for, faggot. Feel free to fuck off and die.
    2. Isaac Bartram 2 years ago
      
      ...not that “people should be free to decide” but because “pot is considered to be either good or at least not harmful enough to warrant the cost of policing”...
      
      You've forgotten the most common leftist argument for pot legalization, which is essentially, "People are going to use pot and therefore are going to need to buy it so why don't we 'legalize' it and go after the sellers and tax the shit out of it."
      1. Isaac Bartram 2 years ago
        
        And, as a consequence, we now have a situation in Californicate where "legal" licensed pot is more expensive than street pot due to taxation.
        
        Seriously, black markets are not supposed to work that way. 🙂
        
        Sevo 2 years ago
        
        "Seriously, black markets are not supposed to work that way. ?"
        
        That's exactly the way they are supposed to operate.
        Not going to the bookshelves tonight for the source, but Gorby was fully aware that shutting down the back alley black markets supplying most of the USSR's food would lead to rioting in the streets.
        Newsom doesn't have to worry about rioting in the streets, but that's exactly what black markets do.
        
        Isaac Bartram 2 years ago (edited)
        
        Yes, but in the black markets of the Soviet Union, where people could actually get stuff, prices were higher than in the legal markets where goods were scarce for a number of reasons one of which was that prices were being kept artificially low.
2. I, Woodchipper 2 years ago
  
  ^. it was totally corrupt. Everyone knew it. Even Newsie boy's people could feel the slime rolling off that initiative.
3. CE 2 years ago
  
  Both bills would have increased freedom in the state though, allowing more gambling than is currently allowed. I voted for both, not wanting to let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
  
  I suspect they went down to defeat mostly because people got tired of all the TV ads of the two measures bashing each other, big tribes vs. small tribes.
TheReEncogitationer 2 years ago

MAMA! (Make America Meh Again!)
MWAocdoc 2 years ago

The best that could have happened for America during this election is that the Democrats would lose control of at least one house in Congress and that seems to have been a lock from early on. Even better is the possibility that Trump doesn't have the political muscle that his supporters seem to have thought he had. Having said all this, the only thing good for Americans in the longer run would be to eliminate the two-party system and replace it with proportional representation in the state legislatures and Congress. Having the one Libertarian legislator lose to a Republican argues against any ongoing strategy to "try to get libertarians elected" and for a fifty-state push to implement ranked-choice, at-large elections to achieve the destruction of the duopoly.
1. Nardz 2 years ago
  
  Libertarians need to run local.
  
  They're a suicide pact nationally.
  1. Minadin 2 years ago
    
    The Libertarian candidate for state senate in my district lost, but he received almost 25% of the vote. The one running for county prosecuting attorney was almost up to 30%. A few others did similarly in races outside my district.
    
    The common denominator seemed to be that they were the opposition candidate in a race where the incumbent Democrat or Republican was running otherwise unopposed by the other major party.
    
    Not that getting 30% in a 2-dog race is all that impressive, but it's more to work with than the 2% - 5% results the Libertarians received in most of the 3-dog races in my area.
    1. MWAocdoc 2 years ago (edited)
      
      Sorry, but “no!” Libertarians have frequently achieved a dismal 30% in two-dog races for decades. It has made ZERO difference. There is almost zero chance that it will ever make any difference as long as the two-party, district-based, winner-takes-all election system for representatives continues. The only alternative that is making any headway at all against the entrenched Republicrat Party is the ranked-choice, at-large proportional representation mechanism; it is the only alternative that has any chance of changing the rigged game and allowing a much higher percentage of voters to be represented by the representatives of their choice.
      1. TheReEncogitationer 2 years ago
        
        So, how does the Physician heal him/her/xer self, especially when the Physician doesn't even acknowledge there is a problem? How do we get there from here?
        
        Earth-based Human Skeptic 2 years ago
        
        How about switching libertarian efforts to become an advocacy group for principals? We already know the right messages resonate with many voters. Can we have more effective impact by endorsing candidate, especially if they pledge to support those principals?
        
        Sevo 2 years ago
        
        But, but, but, this would mean the end of simplistic 'thinkers' claiming victimhood at the hands of any politician, other than a saintly, halo'd L candidate!!!!!!!
        
        Seriously: Agreed.
        There is not going to be an L candidate elected to ANY national office during the lifetime of the *children* of anyone posting here; the best we can do is back candidates who at least claim to support freedom and (we hope) demonstrate such. Willing to entertain evidence otherwise, but that pretty much means R or nothing.
        Living in CA; my vote is even more worthless than about anyplace else; voted the L POTUS candidate in the hopes of warming the heart (or scaring the shit out) of some vote counter in 2016. Had there been any possibility that it might have counted, you bet Trump would have gotten the nod; at the very least, he was going to keep a SCOTUS nomination out of the hag's hands, and that was my best hope. And then he kept doing the right things more often than not, including pissing off lefties (not the least) and exposing all those who (stated preference) favored freedom, but (revealed preference) wanted a warm, cuddly daddy-figure, regardless of his policies as Daddy-in-Chief; the legion of TDS-addled assholes.
        So, no, this was not a 'both sides' issue; this was an R POTUS who delivered more for freedom than any POTUS since silent Cal, compared to a hag who publicly claimed "it takes a village" to raise your kid. I have serious doubts this was unique.
        So, to all of you 'both sides', TDS-addled shits, get fucked with a running rusty chainsaw.
        
        MWAocdoc 2 years ago
        
        I feel your anger! It makes you stronger, gives you focus. Give in to your anger and turn to the dark side!
        
        MWAocdoc 2 years ago (edited)
        
        The democrats are about 33% of the voters, with the Republicans coming in at about 22% – which means that about 45% of the voters are neither Republicans nor Democrats and are not being represented by the representative of their choice. They have to hold their noses to vote for the “lesser of two evils,” throw away their vote on someone who has no chance of winning or abstain from voting. All we have to do is put proportional representation on the ballot in all fifty states and convince those unrepresented millions that it would be better for them to be represented by the representative of their choice instead.
      2. Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        The only alternative that is making any headway at all against the entrenched Republicrat Party is the ranked-choice, at-large proportional representation mechanism
        
        You mean like in California and Alaska where they result in one party rule? Die of cancer, please. At your soonest possible opportunity. With any luck your fuckhat ideas will die with you.
        
        MWAocdoc 2 years ago
        
        I'm guessing you're a Demopublican who feels threatened by the possibility of losing your lock on the elections. Alaska has only one representative so ... no. And California doesn't have proportional representation - either the election system or the non-Republicats in the legislature or in Congress. But nice try!
  2. CE 2 years ago (edited)
    
    The LP just needs to run better candidates than the two older parties. Now, they just need to find some.
    
    And judging by the D and R candidates, it won't be that tough.
    1. Mike Laursen 2 years ago
      
      To do that successfully, the LP would have to come to internal agreement that the party's purpose is to run candidates who can win election. Many in the LP have always seen the party's purpose to be an educational or influencer organization.
      1. Overt 2 years ago
        
        They have done this with the recent leadership changes.
      2. Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        The Libertarian Party was founded in 1972 by "former" Marxists and Democratic Party acolytes as a spoiler for conservative candidates. Nothing more, nothing less, and never will be. You're precisely the type of sub-average piece of shit that has always constituted the Libertarian Party.
        
        TheReEncogitationer 2 years ago
        
        I don't recall Dr. John Hospers or Toni Nathan or Roger McBride being Marxists or Democratic. Tibor Machan and Thomas Szasz escaped from Communist Hungary and damn sure weren't Communists.
    2. MWAocdoc 2 years ago
      
      Not just "no," but "HELL no!" This has nothing whatever to do with the quality of candidates. The R's and D's have been running low-quality party hacks who failed to make a living writing wills and settling divorce decrees forever. It's about the two-party election system and ONLY the two-party election system.
      1. Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        You sound like a real freedom-loving guy who just has oh so many concerns, don't you, concern troll? Why yes, I think you're right. We must break the two party duopoly by instituting single party control!
        
        Fuck off and die of cancer.
        
        MWAocdoc 2 years ago
        
        I don't think you would recognize freedom if it slapped you in the face. And it will ... long before I die of cancer.
  3. Minadin 2 years ago
    
    Well, I suppose it could be worse. One of the Green Party candidates in PA lost a 2-way race to a dead guy:
    
    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pennsylvania-state-representative-reelected-despite-being-dead
    1. Its_Not_Inevitable 2 years ago
      
      PA has only the most informed voters.
2. Jon Petti 2 years ago
  
  The best that could have happened for America during this election is that the Democrats would lose control of at least one house in Congress and that seems to have been a lock from early on.
  
  Dems are going to have a 52 seat senate and a bare majority in the house. And if we get your idiotic ranked choice bullshit shoved up our ass there will never be another Republican elected to federal office. Ever. I sincerely hope you die of cancer.
  1. MWAocdoc 2 years ago
    
    You obviously have had lots of things shoved up your ass over time. That's the only thing that can explain your apparent obsession with dying of cancer.
Fetterman's Hump (formerly Ecoli) 2 years ago

Hi everyone, good night.

I am relieved that Democracy did not end last night, but struggled onward to the next most important election in your lifetime.
1. sarcasmic 2 years ago
  
  *sigh*
2. Sandra (formerly OBL) 2 years ago
  
  Good night to you too!
  
  You made me look pretty smart because I sort of predicted the stroke victim you're attached to would win. 🙂
  1. Fetterman's Hump (formerly Ecoli) 2 years ago
    
    OBL, you ARE pretty smart. Your continuous satire for many months proves that.
    
    I have to wonder if you are some sort of professional comedy writer. If not, you should be. My hump approves.
3. MWAocdoc 2 years ago
  
  Um ... democracy did not end last night because it ended over a hundred years ago when the two-party system was first established. When up to 49% of the voters are not represented by the representative of their choice after every election, you cannot claim that the result is any kind of democracy.
  1. Jon Petti 2 years ago
    
    Single party rule will make sure that 100% of people are represented by the representative of their choice, right you faggot piece of Marxist shit? Die. Of. Cancer.
Ronbback 2 years ago

My take away was that Hillary and several others have claimed teh MAGA's were going to steel this election. well this proved them wrong and they won't be able to use that argument in 2024. they will but they shouldn't, I'm sure they will claim because of their scary add tactics brought out more voters and that may be partially true.
1. Minadin 2 years ago
  
  When has being proven wrong, repeatedly, stopped any major party politician from recycling the same claim all over again at the next opportunity?
2. DesigNate 2 years ago
  
  They will still use that argument.
3. Jon Petti 2 years ago
  
  well this proved them wrong and they won’t be able to use that argument in 2024.
  
  They've been using it since 2000, what the fuck makes you think they'd stop a quarter century later?
InsaneTrollLogic 2 years ago

My takeaways from yesterday.

1. It's time to let Trump go. His candidates yesterday did not do particularly well. Not too bad as President, better than Hillary would've been, but he is not a kingmaker. He's more of a one-shot and done type.
2. The future of the Republican Party is in people like DeSantis. He and those on his coattails did very well. He even made Miami-Dade County red.
3. Illinois is doomed. I have a bad feel the assholes will try to get Amendment 1 through by hook or by crook, and then we're fucked.
4. Democrats who got to choose their opponents did very well such as Prtizker pouring money into the primary for Bailey. That practice needs to be outlawed.
5. Democrats will vote for a vegetable for office as long as it's got a "D" after its name.
6. Fortification works - see the shitshow in Arizona. There is no way a gubernatorial candidate who is also a sitting Secretary of State should be in charge of elections. She should've been made to rescue herself. Instead, we get upwards of 20% of voting machines malfunctioning.
7. Mail-in voting needs to be banned unless it is for absentee for a good reason. Otherwise, get yourself to the polls.
8. Early voting shouldn't be done either.
9. Illinois is doomed.
1. Minadin 2 years ago
  
  10. I could tell which poll workers were Democrats because they were still wearing masks.
  1. InsaneTrollLogic 2 years ago
    
    11. Did I mention Illinois is doomed?
    1. Earth-based Human Skeptic 2 years ago
      
      Perhaps we should not only tolerate the insanity in Illinois, but actually encourage it (and in California as well). The faster they achieve actual human disasters--and be recognized as such by people in other states--the sooner the US might regain some sanity.
      1. Minadin 2 years ago
        
        The Thelma and Louise maneuver?
    2. Dillinger 2 years ago
      
      DOOOOMED! ~~Morvo
2. ricden 2 years ago
  
  My takeaway is that the Democrats are just better at psychological warfare and scare tactics because they have so many areas of media in their court. How can someone who isn't a libertarian see clearly? Major newspapers, cable news, Internet browsers, talk shows, comedians, celebrities, rock stars, young people all played roles. All weekend they were bombarded with "the end of democracy" scare tactics. There is virtually no one who thinks that saving a mother's life is less important than saving a fetus, but every attack ad claimed that the candidate wanted no exceptions at all. I don't know how the Democrats got away with saying that. House of the Dragon had like three horrible pregnancy scenes, one of which where the baby was barbarically cut out of the mother in order to save the baby. I recently saw a similar scene in Handmaid's Tale. Both women died of course. Celebrities attacked Musk (to sidetrack him) on Twitter for a variety of things in an effort to stop him from making political comments before the election.
Nardz 2 years ago

https://twitter.com/Vermeullarmine/status/1590356181104877570?t=UQH-2eHDm5DghBR0UmDBCw&s=19

It’s funny to see GOP types debating which candidates or issues would have made a difference, when the simplest hypothesis is that there is a critical mass of voters who will support left-liberalism on essentially theological grounds, regardless of the conditions it produces.
1. Jon Petti 2 years ago
  
  Outside of California and New York there are very few such people ad that's been reflected in the voting patterns of this country for half a century. The simplest hypothesis is that vote by mail is a fucking fraud scheme cooked up by the Democrats to cement a permanent majority and they've succeeded.
Knutsack 2 years ago

Given how things went last night, will we ever have an election where the Ds don't use the "death of democracy"?
1. sarcasmic 2 years ago
  
  That will happen around the same time Republicans accept the election results.
  1. InsaneTrollLogic 2 years ago
    
    You mean like Democrats did in 2000, 2004, 2016, and 2018?
    1. sarcasmic 2 years ago
      
      Yes. Just like that. Took them a while, but now they're just like Democrats in that regard.
      1. Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        Unlike you I have a job and therefore can't spend 16 hours of my day glued to daytime television and spanking it to a worn out DVD of Mean Girls, but I missed any coverage of Republicans rioting and setting Washington D.C. on fire the last 2 days. Can you link me to the footage? Or were you just being a lying piece of shit drunk again? I'll bet you were just being a lying piece of shit drunk again.
  2. Knutsack 2 years ago
    
    I understand your impulse to get in a dig on the Rs, but I meant this as a serious question.
    1. sarcasmic 2 years ago
      
      Serious answer? When they sweep the election.
      
      Then they will declare from the mountaintops "The People have Spoken! It's Settled!"
      1. Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        Then they will declare from the mountaintops “The People have Spoken! It’s Settled!”
        
        They already do that every time they "win" on the 14th recount after the 83rd box of straight-ticket ballots get found in the trunk of the janitor's car. When he said he meant it as a serious question, that was your cue to return to your Mean Girls DVD and plastic jug of vodka.
    2. Mike Laursen 2 years ago
      
      It is a serious answer. Basic martial arts principle is you cannot have a fight without two opposing forces.
      
      If Republicans would stop lying and whining about stolen elections, there would be nothing for Democrats to point to as evidence democracy is under a threat.
      
      “It takes two to tango.”
      1. Moderation4ever 2 years ago
        
        Good point. The Republicans did well in 2020 and yet to satisfy the vanity of a former President they claim fraud.
      2. Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        Lmfao. "Selected not elected" ring any bells, Episiarch?
        
        "If she wouldn't struggle so much when I initiate sex I wouldn't have to rape her!"
  3. JesseAz 2 years ago
    
    So not a Democrat. Sarc just never sees any flaws in democrats he can criticize.
  4. Jon Petti 2 years ago
    
    Can you name any Republican who hasn't accepted the election results? Just one is fine.
2. Moonrocks 2 years ago
  
  Worse, Rs will likely pick up that habit.
  1. Jon Petti 2 years ago
    
    Yeah wouldn't it be just like those evil Republicans to pounce on the poor Democrats after they've instituted federal voting rules that establish a one-party state in perpetuity.
Nardz 2 years ago

https://twitter.com/kylenabecker/status/1590249147269279745?t=NY8ZRnR0piYtR3QMJCebxw&s=19

"This may be the strangest election I've ever seen."

Steven Moore nailed it on Fox News. Despite 75% of voters saying country is on 'wrong track' and majority 'angry' about inflation/economy, not a single incumbent governor or senator gets flipped?

How does that happen? ?

So none of these Democrat incumbents lose a governor's seat or senate seat?

How does that happen with the most unpopular president in modern times going into a midterm election?

This just doesn't happen. At least, until 2020, it didn't.
1. Earth-based Human Skeptic 2 years ago
  
  Again, Mencken nailed it. As did all the founders who were at least skeptical of democracy.
  1. sarcasmic 2 years ago
    
    Democracy was a pejorative to the Founders. The word appears exactly zero times in the Constitution. The only popularly elected seats in the federal government was the House. The president was (is) chosen by the EC, which is not Constitutionally obligated to follow the popular vote in their states. The Senate was originally people appointed by the state governments.
    
    The Founders had no use at all for democracy. That's why they created a representative republic. Except that republic died with the passage of the 17A.
    1. Old Engineer 2 years ago
      
      The Founders understood that democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on dinner. After that, it's two wolves hunting for a new meal.
2. perlmonger 2 years ago
  
  I'm pretty godsdamned disappointed that NM didn't dump Lujan-Grisham. :-/
3. Fk_Censorship 2 years ago
  
  Mail in voting, ballot harvesting, and rapid changes in demographics, that's what happened.
  1. Jon Petti 2 years ago
    
    Demographics wasn't working fast enough, so they had to switch to the vote by mail for up to a year after election night with no accountability strategy.
I, Woodchipper 2 years ago

"it was a good night for abortion rights"

But no others.
Nardz 2 years ago

https://twitter.com/Timcast/status/1590343838501330944?t=HP8LIgl6aeY1fETpp6XzAA&s=19

its funny how republicans won, DeSantis, Abbott, and Kemp won handily, 224 house seats projected, and yet I see leftists mocking the GOP as if they lost and conservatives lamenting the results

the forecast was so bad for Dems that Gop winning this well is considered a loss
1. Moonrocks 2 years ago
  
  While true, it doesn't change the fact that Republicans under-performed expectations when the Democrats are running the country into the ground from every branch of government. What should have been a massive repudiation of the Democrats' politics ended up a minor one, and it's important to understand why.
  1. I, Woodchipper 2 years ago
    
    Look no further than the 19th amendment
    1. Dillinger 2 years ago
      
      lol word.
2. Commenter_XY 2 years ago
  
  It is the Senate that matters here, Nardz. Team R whiffed.
  
  Having the Senate stops the federal judicial appointments of progressive idiots, and that is more important to me, long term. A Team R Senate stalls the Biden agenda.
  1. JimboJr 2 years ago
    
    ^ this. Also would block any Biden Scotus
    1. Jon Petti 2 years ago
      
      Because the dozen Republicans that voted to confirm Kagan and Sotomayor would surely hold the line?
  2. Jon Petti 2 years ago
    
    Team R whiffed.
    
    Team D cheated. And after you just got done beating off to their victory lap for 200 posts, you can fuck right off with your fake ass "muh divided gubmint!" bullshit. You wanted it, you got it, enjoy.
3. Nardz 2 years ago
  
  You've all done a wonderful job of missing the implications
4. Jon Petti 2 years ago
  
  The Republicans are not going to have anywhere even close to 224 house seats. And yes, this was a huge "loss" created by fraudulent vote by mail. This is a one party country from now until the next civil war.
Dillinger 2 years ago

>>Big-picture items like the fate of the House or Senate are still unclear,

lol misspelled "being fortified" it's okay to be honest
Dillinger 2 years ago

also what the holy fuck, Pennsylvania?
1. Commenter_XY 2 years ago
  
  PA had 500K mail in ballots in the bag before Federman embarrassed himself in the debate. That ship sailed.
  1. Moderation4ever 2 years ago
    
    It is true that many ballots were already cast when the debate was held, but the fact that Fetterman participated gave him points. The Republican also over played their response. Instead of raising concerns they looked like the school yard bully picking on the weak kid.
    1. Dillinger 2 years ago
      
      Pennsylvania voters are something I can't put into words to not demand better than a stroke victim as a Senator.
      1. perlmonger 2 years ago
        
        I suspect many of them were actually voting for his wife.
        
        Dillinger 2 years ago
        
        don't know why. not hot, not smart. empty vase.
    2. Commenter_XY 2 years ago
      
      I was frankly horrified by what I saw, M4e. The point I made at the time: One cannot mock the poor. Meaning, it is completely wrong to mock Fetterman for having a stroke, and difficulties. That bothered me a lot.
      
      (that is separate and apart from the propriety of Fetterman not dropping out or Team D not replacing him before the primary)
      1. Moderation4ever 2 years ago
        
        I will say that I too was surprised that the Ds did not do more to pressure Fetterman to step back in favor of another. But that is past, and Oz was so bad that Fetterman won anyway.
        
        It is also very likely that Fetterman will continue to improve. Many stroke victims do make significant recoveries. If he needs electronic aids until then so be it. No one would question a cane or wheelchair, should we question his using visual monitors to improve comprehension? Really, for all his smarts Oz could comprehend that the Steeler were not playing last Sunday.
        
        Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        People don't use canes or wheelchairs to compensate for their failing fucking brain, shreek. You already got this talking point stuffed up your gaping asshole a thousand times when you were peddling it last week. Keep your pedophile cock holster shut.
      2. Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        Awwww, did those meanie Repubwicans huwt your delicate fee fees, little Marxist faggot bitch? Did you feel the same when the Democrats yucked it up about Ronald Reagan? Or accused George W. Bush of being mentally handicapped? Oh, that's right, your mouth was too full of Democrat cock to speak then.
        
        Fuck off and die you pathetic little faggot cunt. I hope your wife gets raped to death in front of you and you have to suck the rapists jizz out of her cold, dead snatch before he snuffs you out as well. There, now go find a fainting couch.
    3. Jon Petti 2 years ago
      
      Well you'd know about that since you prowl schoolyards picking out little boys to fuck, shreek.
HelenSutton 2 years ago (edited)

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awildseaking 2 years ago

There's an awful lot of guilt by association and I think we're all forgetting that unlike Ds, Rs are the big tent party. We still have a lot of infighting. McConnell backstabbed all of the candidates who wouldn't support him as Senate leader. Trump went 174-9 this time around on endorsements.

What these races proved is that you cannot run on a Trump endorsement alone. I won't speak as much about out of state races for me, but Mastriano was one of the shittiest candidates PA has ever seen and he got schlonged for it. Trump isn't an abortion extremist, nor is he vehemently anti-weed. Mastriano is like running Westboro Baptist in a blue state.

Oz was more competitive and he did well enough in the suburbs, but our state party is run poorly. What kind of ticket is Oz and Mastriano? Utter chaos and conflict. There was no unified message between them. I guarantee you some of the Mastriano types didn't turn out for Oz because he's Turkish.

Oz's handlers should have told him to spend more time in Pitt and Philly. Rs need to stop running scared from cities. You just cannot go 80/20 in Philly and pretend that you have any chance of winning. He did about 65/35 in Pitt, Allentown, Delco and Montco. Think of Delco and Montco as Philly lite. They are literally bordering it and closest after all.

If he flipped just 10% in Philly and made it 70/30, he would have picked up a net gain of 120k. A campaign good enough to do that would also make gains in above mentioned cities and counties. He lost by 168k votes. He would have won comfortably with such a strategy.
1. Fk_Censorship 2 years ago
  
  He would have gotten shot in Philly.
Cloudbuster 2 years ago

It Was a Good Night For Abortion Rights

Which means it was a bad night for human rights.
1. Dillinger 2 years ago
  
  ya cheering for death is just fucked up.
2. I, Woodchipper 2 years ago
  
  yeah all the "abortion rights" that happened yesterday were to preserve late term abortions.
Ajsloss 2 years ago

Did Jackie win? Is she back in Congress?
1. Utkonos 2 years ago
  
  Where’s her vote?
Cronut 2 years ago

"In fact, 73% of anticipated recipients say they expect to spend their debt forgiveness on non-essential items, including travel, dining out and new tech, according to a recent survey from Intelligent.com."

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/09/how-student-debt-forgiveness-recipients-plan-to-spend.html?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=Main&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1668003191

The Free Shit Generation.
1. sarcasmic 2 years ago
  
  “Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.” -Bastiat
  
  http://bastiat.org/en/government.html
  1. Jon Petti 2 years ago
    
    Why do you keep trotting out that quotation as if you've ever read a syllable of Bastiat when you admitted you were too stupid and ADHD to even finish Economics In One Lesson? Do you not understand that you're a fucking clown and the only person here who can stand you besides the pedophile who you used to mock and scorn but have since decided to curl up with is Episiarch dba Mike "White Mikey" Laursen? Nobody can stand you. There's a reason why you were tossed off of Glibertarians. Maybe go try the Gilead forum if Episiarch and his butt buddy SugarFree are still circle jerking each other over there. No one else can stand you. Including the kids you molested and the "cunt" wife you beat. The world will be a happier place when you are dead.
SteveJ 2 2 years ago

It was a "good" night for Democrats in that the Republicans underperformed for the time being.

But the Democrats are not in great shape, and look to be offering up the White House, House and Senate to Republicans on a silver platter in 2024.

Of course, to the extent some Republicans wish to continue going on and on with Trump election denying B.S., then that will cause continued underperformance.
1. Jon Petti 2 years ago
  
  Yeah they'll lose big next time with another round of vote by mail fraud when they have to defend 1/3 as many seats as the Republicans.
  
  Get your fucking head out of your ass. You and the rest of these fucking clowns. This is a one party country until the next civil war.
GraniteLiberty303 2 years ago

If last night taught us anything it's that candidate "quality" matters. Yes Fetterman is a stroke patient but, apparently, that still beats a carpetbagger/chameleon in the eyes of PA's voters. Likewise, if Walker loses in Georgia it'll be another lesson on candidate "quality."

Regarding Florida, the Democrats are a near-dead party statewide so the results there didn't surprise me much (Miami Dade was a surprise though). Cheers to Mike Lee and the voters of Utah for defeating McMuffin. Cheers also to Rand Paul who won an easy race last night despite the abortion measure. Polis, unsurprisingly, won re-election same with Bennett sadly.

A couple of surprises, the Democratic Governor next door to me in Kansas won re-election. Amusing that Democrats still have a pulse in Kansas but are basically dead in Florida. I'm also sadly surprised that the alcohol initiatives seem to be going down to defeat. Meh, at least we got a decrease in the income tax.
1. Red Rocks White Privilege 2 years ago
  
  The Kansas governor won because she pointedly de-emphasized her party ties; Boebert's opponent will likely win for the same reason.
  1. Jon Petti 2 years ago
    
    Boebert's opponent will win due to fraud, just like every Democratic candidate in Arizona.
mad.casual 2 years ago

On the plus side, the FBI can continue to frame people for kidnapping Gretchen Whitmer.
1. Nardz 2 years ago
  
  And apparently most people here will blame Trump's influence...
2. Nardz 2 years ago
  
  I mean, we have all the worst violators of rights/liberty being reelected, suspicious results in all the same places as 2020, ANOTHER invalid elected to high office... and all everyone here wants to do is bitch about Trump and the people who don't blame him for all things.
  Libertarians have become amazingly trusting in government and media.
  1. perlmonger 2 years ago
    
    I don't think Trump had much to do with the election this year except insofar as the media was successful in keeping TDS frenzy and hysteria high enough among the Ds to motivate them to vote. I know of at least two people who have said (I can't actually verify it, of course) that they were going to vote R this year because they really hate the woke thing, but abstained from voting instead due to abortion concerns.
    
    Given that one of them is a woman who was raped repeatedly between the ages of 8 and 12, and who reportedly experienced menarche at age 9, and therefore could have ended up as one of these pregnant 10 year olds, I am willing to believe that the issue was of sufficient importance to her to have actually caused her to not vote.
    
    I can see the issue being important enough to a lot of women such that even if it didn't cause them to go vote D, it may have made them not vote R, or indeed at all.
    
    A lot of these races were within the 6% or whatever that someone has been bandying about lately that consider abortion an important issue when it comes to voting. I think the Rs could have done a lot better if they'd managed to hold their shot until January.
    1. Nardz 2 years ago
      
      If preserving abortion is somebody's highest priority... not a good sign for their life, character, or intelligence.
      
      https://twitter.com/BradWilcoxIFS/status/1590409234818420737?t=m5EVHJduj46fAvgosNKUXg&s=19
      
      Married men broke Republican by 20 pts
      
      Married women broke R by 14 pts
      
      Unmarried men broke R by 7 pts
      
      But *unmarried women* broke D "by whopping 37 pts"
      1. Dillinger 2 years ago
        
        save us!
      2. Fk_Censorship 2 years ago
        
        Thank the suffragettes.
    2. Jon Petti 2 years ago
      
      Very insightful. Surely no party can possibly win if it loses the massive "raped repeatedly between the ages of 8 and 12" demographic.
      1. Jon Petti 2 years ago
        
        By the way, no Republican in this country has proposed preventing a 12 year old rape victim from obtaining an abortion, and most girls are not even having their cycle in that 8-12 age range. It's a good thing women are mostly as stupid as you are, I guess.
  2. Jon Petti 2 years ago
    
    Libertarians have become amazingly trusting in government and media.
    
    You'd almost think the Libertarian Party was founded in 1972 by "former" Marxists and Democratic Party acolytes as a spoiler for conservative candidates and that its loudest mouthpieces, Reason Foundation and the Cato Institute, were clients of Chuckie Koch whose most recent accomplishment was starting an election fraud organization co-founded by George Soros.
Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP) 2 years ago

Most voters are not rational.

Property taxes in Texas are downright punitive at 2.5 - 3.5% annually, 70% of which goes to cover school bond measures. Absolutely everybody and their brother complains about endlessly about the property taxes. Yet, Austin (population ~1M) approved every single bond measure totaling $1.6 billion. My city of Pflugerville (population ~70k) approved 5 measures for over $100 million, while rejecting a $400k bond for new scoreboards. Pflugerville measures included this gem:

Proposition H authorizes $43.92 million for the district to purchase land and build affordable housing for teachers.

LOL! Property taxes on the average ($415k) property in the city are already $850/month and they are voting to raise that to provide a $2500 gift from every household in the city to teachers. Apparently, people will vote for anything in a 'for the kids' package. We are so fucked.
1. Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP) 2 years ago
  
  Sorry, too late to edit. The million people in Austin voted for $3.5 billion in bond measures. I was grossly understating it.
2. Red Rocks White Privilege 2 years ago
  
  Property taxes in Texas are downright punitive at 2.5 – 3.5% annually, 70% of which goes to cover school bond measures. Absolutely everybody and their brother complains about endlessly about the property taxes.
  
  Yeah, when we lived in Texas, pretty much any money we gained from the lack of state income tax got eaten up and then some by property taxes. I think it was something like $400-500 a month over what we paid before we moved there. If my wife hadn't gotten a $20K annual raise for her own job, we'd have actually been worse off economically because my pay only went up marginally when we moved.
3. Old Engineer 2 years ago
  
  Texas is the state that gave us two awful presidents, LBJ and W. Don't be surprised if taxes are punishing, bribing businesses to move to Texas is expensive.
4. Dillinger 2 years ago
  
  $5mil to drop the P from the name.
Old Engineer 2 years ago

Trump is the kiss of death for Republicans. His announcing his run in 2024 will put Warnock back in the Senate.

Trump is the ultimate loser. He inherited $200 million of prime NY real estate that would be worth two or three times what Trump is worth today had he done nothing but maintained it. No bank will touch him. He lost so much money in one year that he didn't have to pay any income tax for years afterwards. That's why he won't release his embarrassing tax returns.

When Oz lost with Trump's endorsement Trump blamed his wife who "made him" endorse Oz. Pennsylvania chose brain damage over Oz.

Trump lost his 2020 campaign to a corrupt, senile fossil who hid in the basement for most of the campaign. No loss could be worse than that.

Only when he faced an even bigger loser than him, could he eek out a win. Hillary is the only Democrat who could lose to Trump.

Trump's negatives are worse than Biden's and even worse than Harris and yet, there are Republicans who want him to run again. Imagine losing to Harris who rivals Fetterman in her inability to make two coherent statements in a row.

The fact that Trump was horribly mistreated by the press and the deep state does not negate the fact that he is a catastrophe for the Republican party
1. Sevo 2 years ago
  
  "...Trump is the ultimate loser..."
  
  Old Engineer is the ultimate TDS-addled shit-pile.
  Fuck off and die, asshole.
  1. Old Engineer 2 years ago
    
    So eloquent, you could write for Reason.
    1. Sevo 2 years ago
      
      So stupid, defending a raging case of TDS; you could write for WaPo.
      But you got exactly what a steaming pile of TDS-addled shit deserves.
      Fuck off and die, asshole.
2. Fk_Censorship 2 years ago
  
  It's surprising that Trump, the salesman, is worse at sales (in politics) than at execution. As an executive, he had plenty of accomplishments, despite his atrocious judgment of those whom he trusted.
3. Jon Petti 2 years ago
  
  Why did you change your handle Old(Dumb)Mexican? You're not an engineer. Still a stupid spic though, I see.
Gaear Grimsrud 2 years ago

I'm sure all of my Impressions are covered above but I don't have time to read all of the comments today so here it goes.
It's become clear that any respect for individual rights is completely dead in the US. When people like Whitmer who literally killed people with her tyranny in my home state of Michigan get another shot I must face the fact that liberty is a lost cause. Expect a steady stream of fake crisis that will be eagerly accepted by the population.
I have said I would vote for Trump in 2024 but it's becoming increasingly obvious that he won't be the nominee which at this point suits me fine. It's time to pass the torch. Disantis looks like the future but Trump looks like he's going to try to take him down. I would advise Disantis to not respond in kind and keep his powder dry for 2024.
Taking the house really is the most important issue and it looks like the Rs will get that done. We'll still have WW3 on the horizon and executive orders up the wazoo but maybe they'll slow the worst of the damage.
I live in IL and while I'm not surprised by the outcome here it's obviously time to GTFO.
It would be better if the Rs can take a majority in the Senate but I'm not hopeful at this point. As long as the government is divided we're slightly better off.
Overall there a lot more important things happening in the world than this election in Europe, China, South America, and Asia and the US whether single party or bipartisan will make matters worse. Count on it.
Final conclusions. The future does not look bright.
1. Old Engineer 2 years ago
  
  DeSantis shouldn't go after Trump himself, but he needs a proxy to destroy Trump, who is eminently destroyable based on his delusional self image that he is a "winner". Prick Trump's ego and he will self destruct.
  1. Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP) 2 years ago
    
    First debate:
    
    1st candidate to speak - "I want to open the remarks by saying this: President Trump had his chance to lead the country. He lost reelection. According to his own past comments, he is a loser. Are people going to throw their support behind a loser? Sad."
    
    Trump - [pops an aneurysm and drops dead to the stage]
    1. Sevo 2 years ago
      
      Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)
      "...Trump – [pops an aneurysm and drops dead to the stage]..."
      
      From above:
      "...So, no, this was not a ‘both sides’ issue; this was an R POTUS who delivered more for freedom than any POTUS since silent Cal, compared to a hag who publicly claimed “it takes a village” to raise your kid. I have serious doubts this was unique.
      So, to all of you ‘both sides’, TDS-addled shits, get fucked with a running rusty chainsaw."
  2. Mother's Lament 2 years ago
    
    Trump's good in a mud fight. DeSantis feeding his ego would probably achieve more.
    1. Gaear Grimsrud 2 years ago
      
      Maybe a Disantis/Trump ticket would work but I don't see Trump accepting 2nd billing. Now a Disantis/Gabbard would be interesting.
      1. Nardz 2 years ago
        
        Tulsi has pulled a complete 180 on the 2A. She's now a vocal advocate, and anti-Dem. Really would've been nice if Trump had reached out to her for SoS.
        
        Regarding Trump vs DeSantis. I'm a huge DeSantis fan. He's the only reason I voted. He'd make a great president.
        But I don't think it'll be enough in 2024. I worry that I'll lose my excellent governor while he'll be hamstrung as president. He might make some temporary strides, but they'll be muted and quickly erased.
        The cancer is too deep. The System needs to be torn down and rebuilt. Here's where Trump presents a unique opportunity. He's already served a term. No reelection to worry about. Lots of mistakes to learn from (chief among which was trusting people in the swamp/establishment to guide him). I'd prefer Trump go to war in 2024, get the economy humming, then suicide bomb the leviathan so DeSantis can come in 2028 and build it back from the ground up.
        I know this offends many people's delicate sensibilities. I assure you, the system cannot be trusted. You can't vote your way out of totalitarianism. You can't play nice with totalitarians. We are dealing with the worst enemies we've ever faced.
        
        Nardz 2 years ago
        
        I also recognize there's a 1% chance the above happens, and we're almost certainly condemned to totalitarian hell for the rest of our lives.
        You'll own nothing, and you'll be submissive.
        
        Sevo 2 years ago
        
        "...Regarding Trump vs DeSantis. I’m a huge DeSantis fan. He’s the only reason I voted. He’d make a great president..."
        
        See below; yet one more pol who has spent his life slopping at the public trough,
2. Commenter_XY 2 years ago
  
  It’s become clear that any respect for individual rights is completely dead in the US.
  
  Yes. Covid finally killed our individual rights.
  1. Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP) 2 years ago
    
    So it really was worse than the flu...
middlefinger 2 years ago

I try not to overthink this simple new election recipe:
Fed/State/Local
A.Net taxpayers keep going down, specifically with tax credit UBIs
B. Net beneficiaries keep going up, see UBI or A.
Add in teachers unions

Get U.S. politics in 2022
Reshufflex 2 years ago

Breathe easy. There was a red wave last night. Call it a tidal wave, a tsunami, a tour de force, or, as the man himself called, a “ win for the ages.”

Wave Desantis conquered Florida last night. He did so in the manner that signals a political sea change. He won the Hispanics, the PhD crowd, the rich, poor, old, young, fat and stupid. Everybody voted for the guy.

The dude won every county except maybe five. I think there are around 60 counties in FL. That’s 55-5. Huh? Those numbers are Ruthian. Who is this guy?

Do the fucking math if need be. Trump beat Crooked Hillary by 2%; Desantis won by @ 20% in what has been basically a swing state. Stunning stuff.

But the real beauty to the DeSantis victory is that it took place directly in the face of the WOKE plague. And in the face of the Covidians, the DC swamp, the statists, the Bidenistas, Garland’s DOJ and in the face of the fake news.

He’s coming. DeSantis is the future and the now. Trump can do what he wants, and so can the deluded leftist horde. Cheat or cry all you want. Doesn’t matter. There’s triumph on the horizon, a reckoning, and its name is Wave DeSantis.
1. Sevo 2 years ago
  
  As an SF resident, I can attest that none of the elected SF pols has ever held a job, and, further (AFAICT) not a single D state elected official has either. Understand that to mean that not a one has ever worked for a boss where gross and obvious incompetence could get you fired. Witness the grease-ball tin-pot-dictator-wannabe cruising back into the G office after totally fucking the CA economy; a boss would have given him the two-week's pay, but would have him empty his desk under scrutiny and be escorted out the door.
  Been involved with (and greatly profited from) Silicone Valley economic explosion(s) (yep, there have been more than one); you want an asshole? Steve Jobs, not to mention Larry Ellison or T. J. Rogers for that matter, were (are) all well qualified in my experience (they have, all three, added greatly to my wealth, not so McNealy; sumbitch wouldn't pay on time).
  You want change? Assholes deliver, and if you want change to the swamp which is DC, you want the biggest asshole you can find.
  What has DeSantis done other than slopping at the public trough his entire life?
  You think DeSantis is Trump-lite? Nothing yet suggests he's anything close.
  1. Reshufflex 2 years ago
    
    If it were up to me, Trump would run the country until the cows came home. But it ain’t up to me, or to you. The people decide.
    
    Say what? Politics is about electing one of two types of people, certainly on a national level, anyway. The people look at a politician and they ask themselves if the guy is going to fuck things up for the better or is he going to fuck things up for the worse.
    
    Everything else you hear or read is noise.
    
    That’s how they figure things when they meet their sober contemplations. It’s how they figure things the minute they’re behind that symbolic curtain, in the polling booth, while playing Praetorian Guard for their vision of democracy.
    
    So the question ain’t about Trump versus DeSantis. That’s a topic for killing time. The question rather is who the people think will best fuck things up for the better-or for the worse, if you prefer.
    
    Based on what DeSantis just did in Fl (as I noted above), I see him as the answer to the former part of the question. Everybody else, including Trump, sad to say, is an answer to the latter.
    
    Btw, keep up the good work in here.
    1. Jon Petti 2 years ago
      
      Florida isn't the whole country. And the most meaningful difference is that Florida hasn't yet joined the rest of the country in handing over its elections to Democratic operatives to commit unlimited and unrestricted vote by mail fraud. There will never be another Republican elected to national office while we have unlimited and unrestricted vote by mail fraud. And the only way that's going away is civil war.
2. Jon Petti 2 years ago
  
  No Republican will ever win national office again in this again as long as we have vote by mail fraud. As bad as it's going to be I really look forward to rubbing all of your stupid fucking noses in it when 2024 ends up exactly like 2020 and you still have to stand around with your dicks in your hands going "Gee, what could have happened? Trump did this!"
Liberty Lover 2 years ago

The Democrats lost the House, the Speaker-ship an probably the Senate and Reason calls it a good night! LOL
Both parties had a bad night, which is good for the electorate.
1. Jon Petti 2 years ago
  
  The Democrats have not lost the house and will likely hold onto it by 5-10 seats. They are going to gain at least 1 in the senate and probably 2. You are fucking delusional.
raspberrydinners 2 years ago

Ha, get fucked Magats.

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