Althouse: "The longer Democrats are in denial, the longer their road to political recovery is going to be."

December 14, 2016

"The longer Democrats are in denial, the longer their road to political recovery is going to be."

"They don’t have to like what happened, but for their own good, Democrats need to stop seriously entertaining arguments that Trump’s victory was invalid."

102 comments:

Ron said...: All bound for Mu Mu Land (aka Trumpland)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZTYNBtUbNQ

Sing it Tammy Wynette!; 12/14/16, 6:28 PM
tim maguire said...: Right now the Democrats are failing to play their role in a two-party system and are setting up the Republicans for a long period of dominance. In the five weeks since the election, I can't imagine even one reluctant Trump voter coming to regret their desion.; 12/14/16, 6:29 PM
Sebastian said...: "3 Dumb Arguments About Donald Trump’s Win Democrats Need To Stop Making Immediately." Which raises Sebastian's Dilemma once again: should we ridicule or encourage their dumb arguments -- assuming that our ridicule doesn't really encourage them?

"Why are Democrats doing everything in their power to make sure Donald Trump runs roughshod over them and wins so much he gets sick of winning?" He might get sick of being Prez, but he won't get sick of winning.; 12/14/16, 6:32 PM
Bill, Republic of Texas said...: Don't listen progs. They are just concern trolling. Keep up the good fight! Maybe a few more riots after the EC votes. You know you want too. Imagine how good it would feel.; 12/14/16, 6:35 PM
Ron said...: Correction! Earlier version was not the Tammy version....this one is!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7_ajdd99CM; 12/14/16, 6:36 PM
Crimso said...: Cheer up Hillary voters! You can always watch "Madam Secretary," while it's still on (it is still on, isn't it?).; 12/14/16, 6:43 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: Until some sane Dems are welcomed back to the party like Joe Lieberman, Zell Miller, Jim Webb, I say screw 'em. They have too many power-craving, rent-seeking wack jobs in their ranks.; 12/14/16, 6:45 PM
Robert Cook said...: "They have too many power-craving, rent-seeking wack jobs in their ranks."

You've just described the whole of the present-day Republican membership in Congress and the White House.; 12/14/16, 6:49 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: No - this is fun. Keep it up!; 12/14/16, 6:56 PM
Jupiter said...: Robert Cook said...

Pretty much what he always says. Everything is absolutely corrupt, and devoid of redeeming characteristics of any sort. Everyone is wrong about everything, and nothing is any good.

Look, Cookie, it could be worse. Imagine if you paid taxes.; 12/14/16, 6:58 PM
Chris Lopes said...: I didn't vote for Trump and if his administration turns into a goat rodeo, I won't be too shocked, but yeah the Democrats are losing it. The name of the game is to convince the people who voted for Trump that they made a mistake. Acting like a bunch of spoiled assholes who are entitled to the power they have does exactly the opposite.
Many Trump voters weren't voting for Trump as much as they were voting against Hillary and the elites she represents. These people hated the status quo so much they were willing to roll the dice with a billionaire reality television star. The Democrats (and their friends in the media) are living up (or down) to the expectations of those voters. As Glenn Reynolds likes to say, worst.political class.ever.; 12/14/16, 7:04 PM
Jaq said...: He's obviously wrong, because racism.; 12/14/16, 7:07 PM
Jupiter said...: The most hopeful sign is the Democrats apparent certainty that Donald Trump won the election because Russian hackers stole a few e-mails between DNC insiders and released them, unedited. This demonstrates that
1) they are well aware that their views strike most normal people as reprehensible, and
2) they imagine the American electorate to be an utterly clueless collection of flighty imbeciles, constantly poised one idiotic misconception away from selling the family cow for a handful of magic beans. Kind of like the government of Qatar.; 12/14/16, 7:09 PM
mockturtle said...: I just knew this was too sensible to have come from the NYT.

Certainly, the Dems need to rethink and regroup. Problem is, they can't agree on what they are. Much like the GOP before the primaries. Trump shoved aside the hand-wringers and took charge.; 12/14/16, 7:10 PM
TheThinMan said...: To those who think Trump is wrong to question the CIA's assessment about Russian hacking, remember that the CIA morphed into a Democratic dirty tricks organization since the second Bush administration. For example, In 2007 they put out a phony finding that Iran had given up its nuclear weapons program in 2003.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/03/world/americas/03iht-cia.5.8573960.html

The media and Democratic congress had a field day for the next six months denouncing Bush for his belligerence. A few years later, when Iran was bragging about how close they were to having the bomb, it was admitted that the fake report was only to stop Bush from bombing Iran's nuclear facilities (and thus making him and the Republicans more popular and electable).

Now they're at it again, but let's not let them get away with it this time. Call them on their past political meddling and expose them as the propaganda machine they've become.; 12/14/16, 7:11 PM
PB said...: the Democrats believe is so much that isn't true. I don't see them giving this up. Ever.; 12/14/16, 7:12 PM
MacMacConnell said...: White House? At this time there are no Republicans in the White House.

The Dems and Clinton Electors are demanding a CIA briefing on Russian interference in our elections, if what I'm hearing is correct the CIA said fuck off. Obama doesn't want his and the DNC's incompetence in dealing with this problem exposed. Seems cybersecurity isn't cool or their bags, fucking idiots.; 12/14/16, 7:14 PM
buwaya said...: Cookie is right, they are all corrupt, none can be trusted.
The only way to avoid damage from government is to have as little of it as possible.
This game of politics is only tolerable if the stakes are low.
The level of anxiety is high because the stakes are high. Too much depends on government policy, too many careers, too much private investment.; 12/14/16, 7:16 PM
MacMacConnell said...: For the next week let's all push fake news that fifty Republican Electors are voting their conscience and crossing over to vote for Hillary, it will go viral. Then next week we can enjoy the left doing another melt down when Hillary gets rat fucked. I wonder how long we can troll those idiots.; 12/14/16, 7:19 PM
Michael K said...: You've just described the whole of the present-day Republican membership in Congress and the White House.

Actually, I might agree with you if you had just added the Dims leadership.; 12/14/16, 7:22 PM
HT said...: Clinton did win the electoral college. Comey probably did want Trump to win. The Russians are coming.

The electoral college is fair and it's good. Keep it.

Trump won.; 12/14/16, 7:26 PM
SteveR said...: I have a FB friend, a very intelligent and well read man. A surgeon. A true MA progressive. Hated Hillary but not as much as any Republican. He has been unhinged with every move Trump has made. Once he is actually in office and does anything, there will be nothing left to say.

I just smile, if people like him think this is a joke,a tragedy or a danger to the country, what were they doing handing HRC the nomination without a fight. The Democrats turned this into a farce well before any Republican announced. A corrupt, career insider with no real accomplishments that was a terrible retail politician. How smart was the private server? Who can honestly say the Clinton Foundation pay to play scam was okay? Winning was more important than anything else. Get 3-4 more young living constitutionalists on SOCTUS and nirvana awaits; 12/14/16, 7:28 PM
HT said...: ....did win the pop. vote.; 12/14/16, 7:28 PM
Fabi said...: I agree with the article and have been saying similar things for weeks. They won't change anytime soon because they operate on emotion -- and those will be raw for many months. If their behavior persists much beyond that then they risk a disaster in the 2018 Senate races.; 12/14/16, 7:29 PM
Tarrou said...: I agree that the inability of the democrats to deal with their loss is a symptom of deep dysfunction. That said, I wouldn't expect democrats to take any "helpful advice" from their enemies anymore than I expect republicans to. Every time they lose one, the media is full of stories about how the only way the republicans will ever avoid permanent minority status is to sit in sackloth and ashes, rend their garments, import another hundred million democratic voters, wear dunce hats with "racist" printed on them and sit in the corner and vote for everything the democrats want.

Big picture, the democrats lost bad, but they haven't lost by the sort of margin that's not recoverable. They'll be back in two years, probably pick up a few seats in congress. The opposition party almost always does. Maybe they'll learn something, maybe they'll just keep winding up the paranoia. Either way, what's the first rule of politics? Don't stop your opponent when he is making a mistake.; 12/14/16, 7:30 PM
MaxedOutMama said...: Even an individual who is utterly thrilled at Trump's election ought to be worried about some of this Democratic Alice-in-Electorland stuff.

Without a viable Democratic party, it's a good guess that the Republican party will become even more dysfunctional than it now is.

Competition in politics is terribly important. Every time I look at the national map of red/blue House representation or contemplate the 1/3rd of Democratic Congress representing three states (NY/CA/MA) I feel worry. This means there won't be a truly representational Congressional Democratic initiative.

The Republicans aren't that hot either, and if they feel too secure and if the individual Congressmen don't have to worry about genuinely representing their local voters, it's a sure bet that it will become a mess.; 12/14/16, 7:31 PM
Original Mike said...: "Cookie is right, they are all corrupt, none can be trusted.
The only way to avoid damage from government is to have as little of it as possible."

Good luck getting Cook to understand that second part.; 12/14/16, 7:34 PM
HT said...: As almost always, it's mostly about the leader (and his degree of charisma). After 2008 and 2012, who thought the yogur natur republicans could come up with a candidate any time soon? Eddie Munster in Wisconsin? Not me. I'm still not sure They have. And there was a fight - Bernie.; 12/14/16, 7:34 PM
Gahrie said...: If their behavior persists much beyond that then they risk a disaster in the 2018 Senate races.

I fully expect the Republican Party to retain control of the House and to achieve a 60 seat majority in the Senate after the 2018 elections...then all bets are off....imagine Ginsburg and Breyer both shuffling off in 2019....; 12/14/16, 7:35 PM
eric said...: I wrote back in forth today with a friend of a friend on Facebook. He argued that this is the rise of the third Reich all over again. I laughed and said he is crying wolf and it doesn't work anymore. He said this time, it's true.

So I asked, what will you do about it? I mean, if I could foresee the rise of the third Reich, I'd get the hell out of Germany while the getting was good.

He said he was going to fight.

I asked him, fight how? Stock up on guns and ammo? Join a revolution? Build a bunker and stalk up for the coming conflict? What, exactly, are you going to do?

He then dismissed me as useless to talk with.

Which reminds me of something Glenn Reynolds likes to say about climate alarmists. I'll believe them when they start acting like it's true.; 12/14/16, 7:54 PM
cubanbob said...: If the Russians "hacked" the election it sure as hell backfired on them. The conventional wisdom before the election was that Trump was a roadshow but had no chance of winning. Therefore leaking Clinton's sleaze, corruption, criminality and treason would make her a very weak and therefore pliable president (as well as very bribable) for the Russians. That is if the Russians are behind the wikileaks. Let's suppose for the sake of argument its true the Russians did leak the emails to wikileaks. What of it? Unless there is credible evidence the emails are fake (and no one credible has made that assertion) the only thing the Democrats can be pissed about is being exposed for the trash they are. As for the vote, again unless there is any evidence the Russians engaged in vote fraud there was no hacking of the vote by the Russians. However there is suspicious activity in Democrat areas with respects to the vote.; 12/14/16, 7:56 PM
wildswan said...: I find it weird right now listening to Dem mourners while Trump gets Carrier and IBM jobs back. The Dems aren't even approaching the idea of sometime in the future saying they got some jobs back for flyover and did it better than Trump. They're just snivelling and basically snivelling because they themselves by the hundreds are losing jobs in DC. This is why their discourse has collapsed - because they have finally lost jobs, been displaced, faced an invasion of an alien culture, i.e. the Republicans, Trump's cabinet picks. The Dems have to adjust to a new culture and the whinging and crazy suggestions make Marine Le Pen look like a respectable colorless functionary.; 12/14/16, 8:00 PM
rhhardin said...: The MSM needs viewers, which means women and soap opera. It's a business, not a news service.

Any democrat who can supply soap opera free rides on it.

In the end it's about the women's vote.; 12/14/16, 8:06 PM
Quaestor said...: Cook wrote: You've just described the whole of the present-day Republican membership in Congress and the White House.

Weak. Jejune.
Cook, you sound like both ends of this dispute; 12/14/16, 8:07 PM
Fabi said...: They also have a leadership problem. Old white people like Schumer, Warren, Clinton, Biden, Sanders and Pelosi don't exactly represent their party's demographic.; 12/14/16, 8:10 PM
Original Mike said...: OMG! Trump is appointing people who agree with him!

I remember arcticles like this when Bush was elected, but this one is especially unhinged.; 12/14/16, 8:16 PM
Original Mike said...: The article I just linked to is entitled "The Trump Honeymoon is Over". You all remember the Trump honeymoon, right?; 12/14/16, 8:24 PM
MadisonMan said...: To use Wisconsin as an example, have Democrats here accepted Scott Walker?; 12/14/16, 8:25 PM
StephenFearby said...: Agitprop.

White House (Josh Earnest): ‘Ample Evidence’ Trump Knew About And Encouraged Russian Election Hacking

'“It might be an indication that he was obviously aware and concluded based on whatever facts or sources he had available to him that Russia was involved, and that they’re involvement was having a negative impact on his opponent’s campaign,” he continued. “That’s why he was encouraging them to keep doing it.”

Earnest also noted that Trump referred “to the Russian president as a strong leader,” and installed a “campaign chair with extensive, lucrative personal financial ties to the Kremlin, and it was obvious to those covering the race that the hack-and-leak strategy that they operationalized was not being equally applied to the two parties and the two campaigns.”

http://dailycaller.com/2016/12/14/white-house-ample-evidence-trump-knew-about-and-encouraged-russian-election-hacking-video/

The only "campaign chair with extensive, lucrative personal financial ties to the Kremlin" was obviously a reference to former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort.

Except that the Press Secretary Earnest confuses Manafort's ties as a consultant to former Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovich when Yanukovich was making noises about qualifying Ukraine for European Union membership instead of remaining in its loose Russian orbit.

There weren't any known ties of Manafort to the Kremlin. By the time that Putin twisted Yanukovich's arm to ditch any ideas of Ukrainian membership in the EU, Manafort was gone.

More fake news from the usually ultra-smooth and unctuously earnest Earnest.

A character in Catch 22.; 12/14/16, 8:33 PM
Charlie Eklund said...: Mongol General: What is best in life, Conan?

Conan: Crush your enemies. See them driven before you. Hear the lamentations of their women. See teardrops on every page of the New York Times and the Washington Post.

Mongol General: That is good!; 12/14/16, 8:38 PM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: StephenFearby said...

More fake news from the usually ultra-smooth and unctuously earnest Earnest.

Aimed right at the Democrat's highly educated, low information voter base. I've already been told by some of my Pro-Hillary family members that this will be Trump's Watergate.; 12/14/16, 8:42 PM
Sam L. said...: And then there's this!: https://medium.com/mtracey/how-to-violently-prevent-trump-from-taking-power-77f30a7f399f#.x7dl50ram
With ever so many comments about the heights of stupidity.; 12/14/16, 8:54 PM
stan said...: Democrats are insane. Seriously. They have completely lost touch with reality.

They are so consumed with hatred their brains have stopped working.; 12/14/16, 9:00 PM
YoungHegelian said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/14/16, 9:01 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: Money quote from the article:

"If you’re worried about an FBI investigation influencing a presidential election DON’T NOMINATE A CANDIDATE UNDER FBI INVESTIGATION."; 12/14/16, 9:04 PM
YoungHegelian said...: Sadly, this article is in the Federalist, which means that the folks who really need to read it won't be reading it.

The Democrats think Trump is the problem. Trump's part of the problem, but a small & ultimately term-limited self-correcting problem. The real problem for the Democrats is their annihilation at the state level, which translates into their losses in the House of Representatives & Senate.; 12/14/16, 9:04 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: I saw an excellent comment at another blog today:

"For Democrats, soul-searching means examining the souls of Republican voters."

And invariably pronouncing those souls vile, bigoted, sexist and deplorable.; 12/14/16, 9:07 PM
Hagar said...: Now we hear that the "intelligence community" is refusing to comply with a call from the House intelligence oversight committee to the Hill and tell the committee what they know about the "Russian hacking." What the heck?

Could this have anything to do with the testimony from a former British diplomat now working with Wikileaks that he personally collected the DNC e-mails on a CD from a disgruntled DNC whistleblower at a meeting in a Wash., DC park?

Of course, as far as I know this story about the "intelligence community" (and I tend to pass on to the next subject whenever I see the word "community") consensus about the "Russians hacking the election" has never been tied to any known intelligence official, or even an agency, so it might be that this is just another "fake news" story put out by persons unknown and the MSM swallowed it whole and ran with it.

Perhaps it is just that the "intelligence community" needs some time to belatedly put their heads together and think of something to say?; 12/14/16, 9:14 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: Speaking of denial, a guy spearheading the movement for California secession appeared tonight on Tucker Carlson's show and provided more great comedy.

Carlson asked about US military bases in California - if California becomes its' own country, what will happen to those bases? Cali dude said he didn't think the world would want to mess with California because they're diverse and peace-loving folks and for border control, they do have the California Highway Patrol.

I pictured Vicky in Pasadena raising her fist in the Golden State power salute and shouting "yes!" But of course, she doesn't watch Fox and so missed a man who is undoubtably one of California's top political figures and deep thinkers.; 12/14/16, 9:18 PM
Gahrie said...: Most of California doesn't want to leave...or be associated with these guys....Blue California is the coastal cities and the Inland Empire (lots of Mexicans and Mexican- Americans)

If you break down the California vote by county, the map is pretty telling
...; 12/14/16, 9:27 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Satan isn't in denial, that is what Democratic's own.

Satan bless(es) them in their attempts to square that triangular circle, and thank God all of us unSatans are able to be.

My concern is I don't kill me enough, that I ain't bigoted enough, that I die as Madoff or Reid and not heroically anonymous to the mass'.; 12/14/16, 9:50 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Kill yourself: abortions might not be as profitable and What oh What will we do then? Iffin' I can't kill me blacks then I will burn this whole motherfucker down.

How is me gonna get Ferrari without abortion?

Abortion is everyone's right to the extent you will kill life as not merely matter-of-factly but as your identity, in it's near entirety.

Okay then, and I do apologize for not noticing earlier your deathly ways and (anti- literally) ethos'.

Won't happen again much Killer Mac's.; 12/14/16, 9:56 PM
mockturtle said...: But Arizona--also with a high population of Hispanics--voted Trump except for a few counties, like Pima, which includes Tucson. I've spent a lot of time here in AZ [in fact, I'm in the process of buying a small winter home here] and know a lot of Mexican-Americans. Many are military, many are LEOs and many small business owners and employees. They are quite conservative in their political views.; 12/14/16, 9:56 PM
Chuck said...: Oh, absolutely; Dems ought to stop trying to delegitimize Trump. But they won't. They can't help themselves. It might be hurtful to their cause. But that won't stop them.

Being counter-productive didn't stop Trump from trying to delegitimizing Obama with the "birther" conspiracy claims.

Anyway, yeah; I think the Dems are pissing into the wind.

But Trumpkins need to remember; their guy won by the slimmest of margins. He won, for sure. In elections there are only winners and losers. Nothing in between, and no "mandates." What Trump has, is a win. Four years in the White House, and then a big question mark. And for now, he's got a Senate majority of just 2. A Senate, in which almost nobody in his party wanted him to win the nomination for president. Nobody except Jeff Sessions, who will no longer be in that Senate. If Trump plays his cards right, the Republicans could win nearly 60 seats in 2018. Their map looks great, for the Senate's Class I. But it won't, if Trump screws up. Trump is not some fabulous new hero; he only outperformed Mitt Romney by margin-of-error-type numbers.; 12/14/16, 10:12 PM
Bob Loblaw said...: This election is just the gift that keeps on giving. All the right people are popping Xanax and crying themselves to sleep. I hope they never stop.; 12/14/16, 10:19 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Cat people, I just understood, were me betwist toddler to high school ages.

I now know I will come to hurt so much when Barney bid's farewell to this golden slumber what has been my life heretofore, I will never (n very as it were) allow me to hurt that much again so therefore come to bestilledness amidst treasure the feline; a non-heartmurdering entity.

Not once have I considered God indifferent to what is best for me and us.

This has kept many others alive and me oway from jail/prison.

Win Weinstein Wynn.

I figure rh loses out somehow though, math and all.; 12/14/16, 10:37 PM
Michael K said...: "voted Trump except for a few counties, like Pima, which includes Tucson."

Tucson is a university city and has lots of looney tunes but also a military population, both active duty and retired. I'm moving to Tucson next month. Martha McSally is the Congresswoman and is famous for two things.

1. she was an A 10 pilot.
2. She is the USAF officer who refused to wear a burkha in Saudi Arabia when she was deployed there.

Tucson will be OK.; 12/14/16, 10:42 PM
Michael K said...: Also, there is a hilarious video of Nancy Pelosi's daughter, who is a Hillary elector, trying to justify the "intelligence briefing."; 12/14/16, 10:44 PM
Big Mike said...: @Chuck, a margin of 74 electoral votes out of 538 is not a slim margin. The GOP margin in the Senate is four, (52 - 48), not two. With Democrats defending a ridiculous 23 seats in 2018 (25 with Sanders and King, but they're self-proclaimed independents) it should not be hard to peel off individual Democrat senatorial votes on key issues, depending on the redness of the state they represent and the degree to which they dread a return to working for a living.; 12/14/16, 10:51 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Tiny Craig Silverman, his daddy was a DA and, sure sure not Manhatten, but still Denver. And CrIg is 6'4.

Anyways, Craig felt very smug asking listeners in order to bait, "hey what about science having 24 babies there just waiting to be realized and one close to infant. What about that? Huh? You pro-life or what's good enough for Netinanpuio not good enough for you to comprehend my conjuring s?

If Silverman don't understand Israel, why talk American?

It's all the same, as country music has taught me for decades.

What lessons hasn't Silverman been taiught so we together wander around?

All answers of these most UnBarnhardt revolve yet God solid remains.

God remains empty too, and unrequited, such is consciousness. But not always. Other than mere words have, and will, shown.; 12/14/16, 11:06 PM
Original Mike said...: "Now we hear that the "intelligence community" is refusing to comply with a call from the House intelligence oversight committee to the Hill and tell the committee what they know about the "Russian hacking." What the heck?"

Mighty fishy.; 12/14/16, 11:10 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: I've started to refer to myself as "the" Guildofcannonballs.; 12/14/16, 11:21 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Not everyone can be beta, much less 3000 max.; 12/14/16, 11:22 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Roads.

Long ain't in in now way less.; 12/14/16, 11:24 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: I kept reading that last post comment I made.

Still sense was of-a-lackiny defitiounlsh.; 12/14/16, 11:26 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: You Kay okay okayI get it.

Buckley and his and frankly all"wit" is better in a way you will only belated know.; 12/14/16, 11:28 PM
AllenS said...: It's probably because there is no there there, Original Mike. So far, it is only the word of the Washington Post that ran the story based on two anonymous sources from the CIA. In other words, this could quite possibly fake news.; 12/14/16, 11:36 PM
AllenS said...: make that -- be fake news.; 12/14/16, 11:37 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: I've been embarrassed 7 times 77 times.; 12/14/16, 11:52 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Seven times seventy seven times.; 12/14/16, 11:53 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Satan wishes it could be.

Those wishes have been fulfilled, but not always.; 12/15/16, 12:04 AM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Satan's losses define infinty.

Even the great rh sees me here.; 12/15/16, 12:08 AM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Me defeatingnSatan, what could be other?; 12/15/16, 12:09 AM
Guildofcannonballs said...: RThertham enjoy my brilliant writing, I have to say this:
Jen Rubin ilkwise was designed and of course all, everry sngle each and one, of us, welcomes Jen out of her bigoted hatred, especially so stupid.; 12/15/16, 12:19 AM
Bob Loblaw said...: ...it should not be hard to peel off individual Democrat senatorial votes on key issues, depending on the redness of the state they represent and the degree to which they dread a return to working for a living.

Or the Republicans can just get rid of the filibuster on votes for witch it becomes inconvenient. Turnabout is fair play.; 12/15/16, 1:04 AM
Anonymous said...: Democrats apparently didn't learn anything from 16 years ago about how to deal with an election loss - and arguably they've had trouble dealing with a loss in Presidential politics since 1968, the problem has just grown worse over time. They plan to spend the next 4 years convincing themselves that they were cheated out of the presidency, acting like jackasses toward Trump and his voting base, and denying they need to change anything about their politics. So far that plan is going well, as the one poll I've seen of Trump's favorable rating since the election had a double-digit gain.

Democrats are gambling their party on the unpredictable dice roll of events. Whether that cuts in their favor or not is anyone's guess. It is also putting them at the mercy of Donald Trump in the hope that he really is an unstable moronic racist who is going to massively fail at the job. That seems like an unwise bet given how many times Trump was declared to have had no chance in the primary or the general elections.; 12/15/16, 1:31 AM
Earnest Prole said...: Call it a road trip; 12/15/16, 2:02 AM
EsoxLucius said...: Maybe the Democrats need to find a rich liar that can get free television time insisting that ladyfingers was born in Russia, is illegitimate, is taking away guns, storing coffins in black helicopters flown by ACORN, letting illegal immigrants build a wall so only they know the secret way in, and generally recklessly roiling up the hoi polloi against him. Nah, it would never work.; 12/15/16, 3:39 AM
MacMacConnell said...: Original Mike
Because they have been briefing the committee on the election "hacks" for over a year and these "sources" are Dem congressmen twisting and leaking classified information for political reasons. Someone tell me when over the last 100 years hasn't Russia tried to discredit US politics or elections? If this was/is such a serious blow to national security and sovereignty why hasn't Obama done anything about it for over a year?

I've got another question. I saw George Stephanopoulos on ABC News the other day, has his application for Australian citizenship not been approved ?; 12/15/16, 4:12 AM
MayBee said...: Yesterday I drove behind an SUV with a safety pin rear window sticker.; 12/15/16, 4:33 AM
HT said...: The California map for 2016's presidential election:

http://www.cnn.com/election/results/states/california; 12/15/16, 4:59 AM
Jaq said...: Or maybe Democrats could find a candidate not under criminal investigation for mishandling classified information and didn't let their work emails from a position of the highest trust end up on the laptop of a pervert also under investigation? Naah!; 12/15/16, 5:23 AM
urbane legend said...: @tim in vermont:
What? What? You mean move out of this safe space with the puppies and cookies?; 12/15/16, 5:37 AM
Brando said...: Not true. Continuing to believe the victory was "rigged" will help gin up their outrage for the next four years and fire up their base. What good does it do Democrats to say "yeah he's our president now"?

Though if they're going to fix their fundamental problem--which is weakness in key parts of the country that gives them a disadvantage in the states even while having an overall population advantage--they need to appeal beyond their comfort zone. Pleasing the Lena Dunhams of the world does not get them there.; 12/15/16, 6:09 AM
Paco Wové said...: "they need to appeal beyond their comfort zone"

Or keep importing a more favorable electorate, which seems to be the preferred strategy.; 12/15/16, 6:49 AM
Fabi said...: Poor, poor Chuck. He's pissed because Trump did substantially better in the election than his favorite dumbass Magic Underwear Mitt -- 30 states + ME2 to 24 states. Calling that a "margin of error" victory is pitifully sour grapes, Chuckles. What's worse is that six months ago you were demanding -- demanding -- to know which states Trump could flip that Romney couldn't, because there was no way Trump could win.

By the way, have you started your promised purge from "your party" of the people who supported Trump? Better start with the nominee for Attorney General. Lulz; 12/15/16, 6:54 AM
Brando said...: "Or keep importing a more favorable electorate, which seems to be the preferred strategy."

Yeah, but even there they'd need to move that electorate outside of solid blue districts. Giving Pelosi and Nadler ever bigger majorities in their districts won't help them become a majority party.

I suspect that they're going to drift further to the left, believing Hillary's problem was that she was too moderate, and they need to make Warren or Sanders (who is still not even a Democrat) the de facto head of the party.; 12/15/16, 7:02 AM
Johnathan Birks said...: Democrats need to start some sort of 12 step program. They keep doing what they've always done and keep getting what they've always gotten.; 12/15/16, 7:14 AM
Original Mike said...: Blogger AllenS said..."It's probably because there is no there there, Original Mike. So far, it is only the word of the Washington Post that ran the story based on two anonymous sources from the CIA. In other words, this could quite possibly fake news."

NBC saying Putin did it personally.. I didn't know Putin could code.

Man, these guys are going all in on this. The CIA better get its ass in front of Congress.; 12/15/16, 7:42 AM
Hagar said...: So, how do we know the anonymice were from the CIA?

I think all the sworn testimony we or Congress are going to get will be from "least untrue answer" Clapper.; 12/15/16, 7:50 AM
AllenS said...: If any of the intelligence agencies got in front of any congressional committees, and they told the truth, they would have to admit that they can't prove anything.

Again, this is fake news.; 12/15/16, 8:05 AM
Original Mike said...: Yeah, until they're willing to testify publicly I'm assuming it's bullshit.; 12/15/16, 8:10 AM
Wilbur said...: "Carlson asked about US military bases in California - if California becomes its' own country, what will happen to those bases? Cali dude said he didn't think the world would want to mess with California because they're diverse and peace-loving folks and for border control, they do have the California Highway Patrol."

But he didn't answer the question - what about the military bases, national parks and the other vast amount of land owned by the USA, i.e., the Federal government? Who gets it?

That was something that puzzled me when I was kid - why the North gave a shit whether the South seceded from the USA in 1860-61. Then I realized that the real problem with secession was all of the Federal forts, armories, and other property in the South. You can't just cede them to what would be a foreign sovereign right on your border.; 12/15/16, 8:17 AM
Dude1394 said...: It is obvious that this country needs a replacement party for the democrat party. They are political terrorists.; 12/15/16, 9:09 AM
Dude1394 said...: " Blogger Wilbur said...

"Carlson asked about US military bases in California - if California becomes its' own country, what will happen to those bases? Cali dude said he didn't think the world would want to mess with California because they're diverse and peace-loving folks and for border control, they do have the California Highway Patrol."

But he didn't answer the question - what about the military bases, national parks and the other vast amount of land owned by the USA, i.e., the Federal government? Who gets it?

That was something that puzzled me when I was kid - why the North gave a shit whether the South seceded from the USA in 1860-61. Then I realized that the real problem with secession was all of the Federal forts, armories, and other property in the South. You can't just cede them to what would be a foreign sovereign right on your border.

12/15/16, 8:17 AM"

Well hopefully I will be able to pick up some cool ocean-view property after we march up the coast Sheridan Style and burn it all down.; 12/15/16, 9:10 AM
tcrosse said...: Well hopefully I will be able to pick up some cool ocean-view property after we march up the coast Sheridan Style and burn it all down.
By all accounts, California will collapse on its own, without Uncle Sugar to bail out their pension shortfall.; 12/15/16, 9:19 AM
Chuck said...: Fabi said...
Poor, poor Chuck. He's pissed because Trump did substantially better in the election than his favorite dumbass Magic Underwear Mitt -- 30 states + ME2 to 24 states. Calling that a "margin of error" victory is pitifully sour grapes, Chuckles. What's worse is that six months ago you were demanding -- demanding -- to know which states Trump could flip that Romney couldn't, because there was no way Trump could win.

By the way, have you started your promised purge from "your party" of the people who supported Trump? Better start with the nominee for Attorney General. Lulz

This is a really interesting comment! (Fabi often writes interesting comments.)

My really short answer, to your really excellent point, is that there is no need to "purge" anybody from a history with Trump as long as Trump is governing just like an establishment Republican. And I think his best cabinet pick so far, by far, is Jeff Sessions for AG.

If your remember, or look up my old posts, about the early Trump campaign, I called out Jeff Sessions as a guy I really liked, and the oddest of exceptions to the general rule of Senate Republicans who abhorred Trump.

For Althouse's benefit, I am waiting for the day in which Trump has to make some big LGBTQ rights executive decision. And Trump has to weigh the competing views of Ivanka Trump, and Mike Pence.; 12/15/16, 9:43 AM
Roughcoat said...: Then I realized that the real problem with secession was all of the Federal forts, armories, and other property in the South.

Actually, the bedrock problem was slavery, i.e. the South's determination to expand that evil institution into U.S. territories and to force the North and anti-slavery populations in the West (e.g., Kansas) to obey, via the Dred Scott decision, Southern laws regarding the status of slaves in the free states. It was an instance of Southerners in slavery states demanding what amounted to minority rule over the majority of Americans who viewed slavery as a moral evil and who were enraged by the South's highhanded efforts to both preserve and aggressively expand it. Southerners rather like to call the Civil War the "War of Northern Aggression" but it was the South that was perpetrating aggression in the years leading up to the war via "lawfare, e.g., with their relentless drive to expand slavery and to legally force Northerners to, among other outrages, return escaped slaves to their owners in the South.

Sorry for the rant. But neo-Conderate revisionism concerning the Civil War makes me mad.; 12/15/16, 9:59 AM
Wilbur said...: Roughcoat: this was no neo-anything from me.

Like I said, when I was a kid growing up in Illinois, I couldn't figure out why the North went to war over secession. I knew all about slavery but they hadn't gone to war with the South over that before, so why then? If the southern states didn't want to be in the club anymore, who make them?

And that was the answer that I had a eureka moment over. Then it made sense to me that no president would or could allow that loss of Federal property to stand.

But, of course, the impetus and reason for the war was slavery. That's obvious.; 12/15/16, 10:51 AM
Brando said...: "Like I said, when I was a kid growing up in Illinois, I couldn't figure out why the North went to war over secession. I knew all about slavery but they hadn't gone to war with the South over that before, so why then? If the southern states didn't want to be in the club anymore, who make them?"

It was secession, which was caused by the slavery issue (South wanted to spread slavery into territories, North opposed, South feared as country grew they'd be a smaller minority and their rights to own slaves would be jeopardized). North didn't want any states to be able to just leave, and particularly in this case as it would leave a hostile and expansionist (into the West and Mexico) neighbor to the South.

So yes, it was about slavery, but the precipitating cause was secession.; 12/15/16, 11:20 AM
mikee said...: It is the seriousness of the charges against Republican presidents that matters, that requires unconventional responses, that calls out for revolution, not the reality of the charges. Destroy the Trump presidency, because it has been charged with some serious things!

Meanwhile, the actual corruption of the Clinton camp and the actual malfeasance in office of the Obama administration merits no charges, no charges at all, because their intentions are honorable. And we know that their intentions are honorable because they say so, themselves, while accepting graft to their charity and letting the IRS infringe on the rights of citizens.

No standards, none at all, except double standards.; 12/15/16, 1:56 PM
Kirk Parker said...: MaxedOut,

"if the individual Congressmen don't have to worry about genuinely representing their local voters"

What do you suppose the primaries are for? Cantor their asses!; 12/16/16, 2:46 AM