June 21, 2017

After Ossoff.

1. Trump revels: "Well, the Special Elections are over and those that want to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN are 5 and O! All the Fake News, all the money spent = 0."

2. Cruder gloating from Kellyanne Conway: "Laughing my #Ossoff." "Thanks to everyone who breathlessly and snarkily proclaimed #GA06 as a "referendum on POTUS @realDonaldTrump"/You were right/#winning."

3. A WaPo column (by Paul Kane) rationalizes: "Ossoff chose civility and it didn’t work": "So Ossoff chose the high priest route instead of the fierce warrior. It was civil disobedience rather than civil unrest. And he still lost, by an even wider margin than the almost forgotten Parnell."

4. A Daily Beast columnist (Patricia Murphy): "Jon Ossoff's $23 Million Loss Shows Dems Have No Idea How to Win in the Age of Trump."

5. Another WaPo column (by Aaron Blake): The Democrats "had nine weeks after the primary to get from 49 percent of the vote that day to 50 percent-plus-one on Tuesday, and they didn't do it. For a party still smarting from somehow losing a 2016 presidential race that was well within their grasp, they have to feel the need to do some soul-searching and figure out why their strategies aren't resulting in actual wins. Commence bloodletting."

6. Matt Yglesias at Vox: "Jon Ossoff’s Georgia special election loss shows Democrats could use a substantive agenda."
Karen Handel didn’t argue that the Republican Party’s health care bill is a good idea (it’s very unpopular) or that tax cuts for millionaires should be the country’s top economic priority (another policy that polls dismally). Instead, her campaign and its allies buried Ossoff under a pile of what basically amounts to nonsense — stuff about Kathy Griffin, stuff about Samuel L. Jackson, stuff about his home being just over the district line, stuff about him having raised money from out of state — lumped together under the broad heading that he’s an “outsider.”...

Ossoff’s team... attempted to counter this move by positioning Ossoff as blandly as possible — just a kind of nice guy who doesn’t like Donald Trump — and dissociating him from any hard-edged ideas or themes....
7. Alexander Burns and Jonathan Martin in the NYT: "Democrats Seethe After Georgia Loss: ‘Our Brand Is Worse Than Trump.'"
[A] half-dozen Democratic elected officials and operatives privately vented in text messages and phone calls about a dispiriting trend emerging in this year’s special elections: When their candidates appear to gain traction in the polls, Republicans can easily halt the momentum by invoking Ms. Pelosi....

[P]opulist forces on the left took Mr. Ossoff’s defeat as an occasion to criticize the whole notion of centrism as a Democratic strategy. Jim Dean, the chairman of Democracy for America, a liberal activist group, blasted Mr. Ossoff overnight for “lighting millions of dollars on fire” and delivering an “uninspiring message” that he predicted would fail again in 2018. “The same, tired centrist Democratic playbook that has come up short cycle after cycle will not suffice,” Mr. Dean said in a statement.

216 comments:

1 – 200 of 216   Newer›   Newest»
Matt said...

Perhaps a first step could be to disavow antifa entirely and then try to resist the urge to behead or stab the president to death because art.

Birches said...

Also, polling is unreliable in the age of Trump. Voters are still comfortable enough to vote how they feel in the security of the voting booth, but will not voice their thoughtcrime to anyone else.

Gee, you think that has anything to do with the media?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The best part is watching the pro-democrat hack press hold back the tears.

mccullough said...

Ossoff may have been civil, but the Dems aren't. This defeat was sealed when that nutjob tried to assasinate the GOP congress members and their staffs at a baseball field.

M Jordan said...

The most significant moment in Handel's victory speech came when she thanked Donald Trump. "Trump! Trump! Trump!" The crowd shouted.

The media refuses to believe it and they have massaged polls to back them up, but the Republican electorate loves Donald Trump. It is growing, not declining. Until Dems learn this reality, they will continues their descent into the wilderness of irrelev.

David Begley said...

Nebraska Dem party chair blames big money. I kid you not.

How about the fact that most American voters don't agree with the policies of the Dems.

Gahrie said...

[P]opulist forces on the left took Mr. Ossoff’s defeat as an occasion to criticize the whole notion of centrism as a Democratic strategy.

Well the first problem is that some of the people on the Left think their policies are centrist. The bigger problem is that they think the answer is to move farther to the Left.

Unknown said...

Give it a break Trumpski's. GA-06 has been Republican for 40 years.

If Trump & Handel were doing so well they should have increased their share 10-fold or more. They didn't. The result was very close. Go and crow as much as you want but it doesn't change the ground truth.

Tommy Duncan said...

After reading through Ann's post I'm struck by the disunity among the Democrats regarding their strategy and tactics.

I'm also struck by their denial of election reality. People aren't buying what they're selling, so the problem is with the consumers. It seems the voters dislike both the tone and the content of the Democrat message.

M Jordan said...

The media, deranged in their hatred of Trump -- including much of Fox -- is demonstrating a classic case of counterproductivity. The more they scream Russia or whatever hate point they are on at the moment, the more he wins. They're like the dieter who starves himself only to find his body responds by slowing its metabolism ... resulting in a weight gain. And they have no idea how to change this.

Original Mike said...

"[P]opulist forces on the left took Mr. Ossoff’s defeat as an occasion to criticize the whole notion of centrism as a Democratic strategy."

Yeah, clearly they need more assassination attempts.

ddh said...

Maybe the Democrats should stick to candidates who vote in the districts they seek to represent.

tim in vermont said...

her campaign and its allies buried Ossoff under a pile of what basically amounts to nonsense — stuff about Kathy Griffin, stuff about Samuel L. Jackson, stuff about his home being just over the district line, stuff about him having raised money from out of state — lumped together under the broad heading that he’s an “outsider.”.

As opposed to the hounding of Trump, which has it's moral and intellectual foundation in "REASONS!"

Drago said...

From Patricia Murphy's Daily Beast article: “You have provided a beacon of hope, not just for people in Georgia, but for people around the world,” he (Ossoff) said, finishing. “The fight goes on. Hope is still alive.”

Yes, of course.

Across the globe and amidst war, strife and socialist starvation all eyes were turned towards the GA 6 election in the hopes of a new day dawning.

Uh huh.

Plus we might have stopped the oceans from rising if Ossoff had won.

Gee, it's a good thing these humble Democrats deign to walk amongst us.

Spiros said...

The Democratic party is the recipient of countless millions from wealthy donors and nonstop propaganda from the news outlets. They have young, attractive and well-spoken candidates. Their positions are attractive to many, many people. The Democrats feel our pain. And the GOP candidates are, let's face it, thuggish slobs. Yet, the Democrats keep losing. Something just seems off here. Is it still ridiculous to believe Mr. Trump's claim that millions of illegals are responsible for Mrs. Clinton's large popular vote count? How do the Democrats keep losing outside of California and New York (where most illegals reside)? Isn't equally outrageous to claim that zero (!) illegals voted in a country where 150 million votes were cast? Something seems to be skewing the results in the Democratic Party's favor and when that something is absent, they lose.

Rocketeer said...

Also, polling is unreliable in the age of Trump. Voters are still comfortable enough to vote how they feel in the security of the voting booth, but will not voice their thoughtcrime to anyone else.

At least in my case, the news is actually worse for public pollsters: I'm perfectly comfortable voicing my "thoughtcrime," but I've come to view answering pollsters dishonestly as strategically useful.

tim in vermont said...

Give it a break Trumpski's. GA-06 has been Republican for 40 years.

Let's look at the actual "ground truth," shall we?

On the Democratic side, the combined efforts of the Ossoff campaign, the DNC, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee help build a monster operation unprecedented in Georgia Democratic politics. By the end of the race, they had knocked on more than 500,000 doors, hired 100 staffers, recruited 12,000 active volunteers and spent more than $11 million on ads on everything from the Today Show to Korean newspapers and gospel stations.

But, and this is the part that will sting Democrats for a long time: It still wasn’t enough.

traditionalguy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
traditionalguy said...

The Dems are stunned like the GOP was in 1934. How common Americans can fall in love with a wealthy Ivy League Patrician from New York. By sharing their suffering and showing courage like a Polio victim has to. And that was possible because of the brilliant Radio broadcasts made by FDR.

Now Twitter is a winning for DJT for the same reasons. Oh, do the establishment folks hate that silly Twitter. Hate it. Hate it. Hate it.

robother said...

Half the Democrats want to see Trump impeached; the other half want to see him dead. Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad.

Dave from Minnesota said...

As many have said about the November election....the problem with the Democrats is that they put putting drag queens in the girls locker rooms in North Carolina ahead of jobs in Michigan.

Drago said...

Unknown: "Give it a break Trumpski's. GA-06 has been Republican for 40 years."

Oh, right.

So, the most important special election EVAH, and a harbinger of 2018 midterms is now really quite irrelevant and the lefties don't know what all the fuss is about.

Mary Katherine Ham nailed it: "Update: Formerly vitally important election with national implications that can't be overstated now scheduled to be irrelevant by 10 am."

Jay Vogt said...

Somebody said, "if history teaches us anything, it's that history teaches us nothing".

True then. True now.

None . . . .none of these people (with the possible exception of DJT & KAC . . .and frankly I'm doubtful about them) have been shown to have any acute prescience or analytical acumen in the past. They won't even recognize their own failure and limitations and now, now they have the nerve to explain the significance of mere trivia to us. It's just a joyful experience to ignore about 99? of the stuff.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The media are sadz

tim in vermont said...

Wasn't he two points away from winning at some point? Why couldn't he get that final two points? The RUSSIANS!

cacimbo said...

24/7 Democrats/BIG media explain how stupid, racist, bigoted, ugly and evil white rural/suburban voters are. Then they are shocked that come election the insultees are not eager to vote for the people who hate them.

Drago said...

Pelosi. Is. Toxic.

And not just because of all the Botox.

Jay Vogt said...

in my world ? = %

Rocketeer said...

If Trump & Handel were doing so well they should have increased their share 10-fold or more.

"10-fold." Gold star for effort with that false framing, but it still only gets a C- grade. Fact is, Handel outperformed Trump's November 9 margin in the special.

Static Ping said...

It's always nice to see Vox providing us with their "insight" again. The fact that Ossoff does not live in the district he wanted to represent is "nonsense?" Really? I would think that would normally be disqualifying. Believing in open borders leads to all sorts of interesting conclusions. I look forward to the day when my representative commutes from California, my senator has his constituents visit him on his estate is Botswana, and my president is, in the name of internationalism, Vlad Putin. I don't know why Democrats would object to the last since according to them all that is required to be American is to want to be, not to mention that they think he's in charge now and, by all accounts, doing a half decent job.

Drago said...

Virtually Unknown: Wasn't he two points away from winning at some point? Why couldn't he get that final two points? The RUSSIANS!"

The lefties are going crazy with Putin hacking the election votes and gerrymandering conspiracies.

We should definitely vote more of them into office.

Peter said...

"Also, polling is more unreliable in the age of Trump." Polling died with the death of the landline phone (although reluctance of Trump voters to identify themselves makes it worse).

Perhaps it's time for Democrats to insist on ending the secret ballot? Let all the world see what you've done!

traditionalguy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Xmas said...

Iowahawk posted a link to this twitter thread from someone that lives in the district.

Basically, the Democrats plastered the region with advertisements and kept phoning residents until the locals were just sick of it.

traditionalguy said...

I call Bullshit that Ga6 always being Republican in the past won this election. The voters are different now. Most are immigrants from north or other foreign countries now. And the total disaster of running an cartoon character illusion for their candidate failed the Dems again.

California Dreaming is not gonna work while DJT hits the real issues 24/7.

Richard Dolan said...

Trying to figure out what will sell, rather than what you stand for, is not a recipe for success. Just ask Hillary! On second thought, don't -- you can't trust a thing she says.

Trying to figure out how to sell (honestly) what you stand for (if anything) might work better.

SGT Ted said...

"[A] half-dozen Democratic elected officials and operatives privately vented in text messages and phone calls about a dispiriting trend emerging in this year’s special elections: When their candidates appear to gain traction in the polls, Republicans can easily halt the momentum by invoking Ms. Pelosi...."

And the response when they lose is:

"We need to be more batshit crazy."

The ACA is still wreaking havoc with peoples healthcare plans, the Dems are still the party of the rich coastal/trendy media corporate elites and the Weirdo/Racist Skin Color Minority and Womynz Intersectional Grievance-Hate Group Coalition who have signed onto rioting, assassination porn art and violating the civil rights of their opponents via fascist street thug tactics.

The Democrats deserve to lose.

George M. Spencer said...

There's a review of a new book on Iranian politics "Democracy in Iran" in this morning's WSJ which seems to offer some sort of odd parallel to our government and the Democratic party...

"As evidence, he lays out a series of ironies that highlight the dysfunction in Iran. A revolution for the common man has produced a vast empire of corruption among an all-powerful elite as society has become more stratified than under the Pahlavi dynasty. A ruling clique that saw universities in revolution against the shah is now perpetually at war with higher education—which, despite Islamized curricula, keeps producing rebellious students.

"A theocratic regime has made Shiites less observant: Few attend the ever-shrinking supply of functioning mosques. The numbers here are striking: Mr. Parsa relates that “a Revolutionary Guard commander, Zia Eddin Hozni, recently announced that about 3,000 of the country’s 57,000 Shiite mosques, or only 5 percent, were fully operational during the year.” As of 2012, nearly half of them “lacked clerics and prayer leaders.” In a clerical state, fewer and fewer young men want to become clerics, Mr. Parsa’s statistics show. Young women from traditional families are declining to take mullahs as mates. (Even at the end of the Soviet Union, the communist elite never lost their cachet as marriage partners.) Clerics trying to tell citizens to behave properly have been beaten severely. Their desire to serve in parliament has waned, as has the people’s willingness to elect them. In 1980, 60.7% of the deputies in the Majles—the Iranian parliament that rubber-stamps the theocracy—were clerics. After the 2016 elections, their number had declined to 5.5%.

"Mr. Parsa highlights how the regime is its own worst enemy: In religion, economics and culture, the state heavily intrudes, politicizing the personal and apolitical. How Iranians dress and socialize, what they read, write and watch, how they practice their faith and whom they recognize as religious authorities—areas where believers could once exercise considerable individual discretion—have all been subject to intolerant state oversight. Beyond oil and gas, the once mostly private economy has been increasingly divvied up among the clerics and their allies. “The relatively high level of state involvement in so many aspects of Iranian society has forced the state to rely on continuous repression to maintain power,” Mr. Parsa writes. This violent politicization has diminished social cohesion, eroding any common ground that might allow Iran’s opposing factions to come together in pursuit of peaceful reform. “The result in the long run,” Mr. Parsa concludes, “is likely to be a movement to transform the political system through a disruptive, revolutionary route.”

roesch/voltaire said...

Another aspect of this loss is the voter suppression from the Republicans. Greg Palast has an interesting article on this, and here is one quote: They were doing a campaign to register 10,000 Korean-Americans to vote, and had quite a bit of success. At some point during the campaign, they noticed that many of the folks that they were registering were not showing up on the voter rolls. So, they reached out to the Secretary of State to say, "Hey, where are our folks? Why aren't they showing up on the rolls?" They never got an official response. What they did get was the GBI kicking in the door and requesting all of their files.

David Begley said...

Nate Silver should either quit or never be cited by the MSM again.

rhhardin said...

It's about political correctness. It keeps losing.

Robert Cook said...

"How about the fact (sic) that most American voters don't agree with the policies of the Dems."

It's that American voters are disgusted by the Dems' populist appeal to working and minority groups on the campaign trail, but then governing like Republicans when they get into office. Americans want what Dems promise, but they are pissed off at being lied to and getting shafted.

SGT Ted said...

"Give it a break Trumpski's. GA-06 has been Republican for 40 years."

Hey, we weren't the ones touting this election as the Gotterdammerung of Trump.

Night Owl said...

Dems have no idea how to win in the age of Trump because they still haven't figured out why they're losing. I read the Daily Beast article; they're still clueless, even with all the "this is why we got Trump" comments and articles. Their obsession with the bogus "Russia!" story has made them delusional.

Dave from Minnesota said...

Basically, the Democrats plastered the region with advertisements and kept phoning residents until the locals were just sick of it.

Not partisan bashing, but an actual question on marketing and best use of cash.
What did they think would happen if they spent $23,000,000 instead of $10,000,000? That several thousand residents would say "gosh, I had planned to vote for the lady, but after seeing that advertisement for the 150th time, maybe I should vote for the guy who lives outside our district".

Same with Wisconsin and the Walker recall. All that money spent and probably almost no votes changed because of it.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Robert Cook said...

"The ACA is still wreaking havoc with peoples healthcare plans, the Dems are still the party of the rich coastal/trendy media corporate elites and the Weirdo/Racist Skin Color Minority and Womynz Intersectional Grievance-Hate Group Coalition who have signed onto rioting, assassination porn art and violating the civil rights of their opponents via fascist street thug tactics."

This is mostly incomprehensible, but the Dems are the party of the rich, just as the Republicans are the party of the rich. The people who vote Republican know this and like it; the people who have traditionally voted for the Dems are realizing they're being conned, and they're not voting.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

No rest until the liar left is called out and crushed.

Henry said...

Karen Handel didn’t argue that the Republican Party’s health care bill is a good idea (it’s very unpopular) or that tax cuts for millionaires should be the country’s top economic priority (another policy that polls dismally). Instead, her campaign and its allies buried Ossoff under a pile of what basically amounts to nonsense...

It's almost as if this story is about politics.

Paul said...

Trump triumphs again!!!

SGT Ted said...

It's only incomprehensible if you haven't been paying attention.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Eh - Rich this - rich that. The democrat party is corrupt. We have the highest standard of living on the earth, and the left want to tear us down - turn us into Illinois or Venezuela.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Karen Handle is a female, but she has an (R) after her name, so she's not a feminist hero, she's not a woman, and she's probably not even human.

No special female celebration for her from the hack press. Those celebrations are reserved for the D.

Fen said...

It's not you OssWhatever, it's us. See, in these uncertain times of Democcats assassinating GOP Congressmen, we think it wise to pad our House majotity as much as possible.

Unknown said...

Btw, while Trumpski's were dancing the night away with the Handel win this little gem went by on the wire (search for it using Google):

"Ford Motor Co. is moving production of its Focus model to China after production at its Michigan plant ends in 2019. The move, which Ford estimates will save it $500 million in production costs for the car, comes as the company has become a target of President Trump, who is pressuring manufacturers to keep jobs in the United States. Ford initially planned to move production of the Focus to Mexico, but it is now scrapping that plan in favor of production in China, according to a report in Bloomberg."

Anyone heard a tweet out of Trump yet about these automotive jobs shutting down in Michigan and moving to China? Nope. Is he going to do anything about it? Nope. Can he do anything about it? Nope.

After the new healthcare bill kicks-in, taxes for the rich are cut, manufacturing jobs continue to go overseas ... come back in a few years and tell everyone in gory detail how Trump solved all your problems. Not!

Michael K said...

This defeat was sealed when that nutjob tried to assasinate the GOP congress members and their staffs at a baseball field.

Handel actually was named in some of his social media rants. Then somebody sent notes to voters threatening them and including "white powder" in the envelopes.

That stuff will win every time.

Tim said...

Unknown said...
Give it a break Trumpski's. GA-06 has been Republican for 40 years.

If Trump & Handel were doing so well they should have increased their share 10-fold or more. They didn't. The result was very close. Go and crow as much as you want but it doesn't change the ground truth.

6/21/17, 8:36

trump won the district by 1-2 %. Also, district was redrawn to include more of Cynthia McKinney's district ( and Hank Johnson- Guam might tip over!).

SGT Ted said...

The politics of racial hate and envy that the Democrats practice, while pocketing gobs of cash and screwing over the white working class might also have something to do with their losing. That and obsessing over bathrooms, too.

Saint Croix said...

Democrats have normalized Trump.

Trump was harsh, mean, and ugly during the campaign.

Now that he's been elected, he hasn't been any of those things.

He's dialed it back.

Meanwhile, people on the left keep fantasizing about killing him.

And the media--which isn't supposed to be leftist--has been fantasizing about impeaching him.

Right now Donald Trump seems far more reliable than his critics, who seem unstable, dishonest, violent, and undemocratic.

Bay Area Guy said...

The candidate did not live in the district. The campaign money - $24 Million - came largely from outside the district too.

Nobody heard of Jon Ossoff before the election, nobody will hear from him afterwards.

He was merely an artificially-created vessel for the "Get Trump" crowd, i.e., the Democrat party to capture the narrative.

Missed it by that much. Maybe, they should drop the phony Russian-collusion leak fest, too.

exhelodrvr1 said...

"“You have provided a beacon of hope, not just for people in Georgia, but for people around the world,” he (Ossoff) said, finishing. “The fight goes on. Hope is still alive.”"

Absolutely. But not in the way that Ossoff meant.

Henry said...

It's striking to me how deeply the Democrats appear to believe that politicians shouldn't actually have to appeal for votes. You can go all the way back to Scott Brown beating Martha Coakley in 2010, where one candidate appealed to voters and the other appealed to party poobahs. When Elizabeth Warren ran against him in 2012 she had no trouble throwing red meat to the masses (Republican charges that she was an intellectual fraud didn't hurt her; she wasn't running as an intellectual).

Old school Democrats run on a sense of entitlement and lose. New school Democrats run on a kind of technocratic autopilot and lose. They appear continually surprised that the job of "politician" involves politics. You take positions. You talk and cavort and embrace the stage. It's an emotional job.

Dave from Minnesota said...

The Iowahawk Twitter thread linked to above is worth reading.

Here's a question......as the nation becomes more polarized and segregated when it comes to where Republicans and Democrats live, is the urban Californian, Manhatten, Madison, Minneapolis, etc ultra socially liberal Atheist Democrats hurting Democrat nationwide?

Calling southerners KKKers and obsessing with allowing men into the girls locker rooms isn't playing well with many people.

tim in vermont said...

This is mostly incomprehensible,

It's not actually, it's just a little hyperbolic. But as long as you refuse to try to understand it, you can continue to suffer these kinds of losses.

And why would Koreans, in particular, come out in numbers to vote for a party that thinks people who look like them should be kept out of Harvard?

Drago said...

r/v helpfully adds voter suppression to the lineup of reasons for the loss.

So, to summarize the lefties, Handel won because:
1) Putin hacked the voting machines
2) gerrymandering by republicans
3) voter suppression

"Unknown" helpfully reverts back to a -republican voters are stupid- meme.

I simply can't fathom why these lefty rocket scientists keep losing.

Fen said...

"Referendum on Trump, yesterday. Nothing to see here, today. And besides, we weren't really trying"

For starters, the Dems need to learn to lose with grace and dignity. They turn an election loss into something even worse with their Sore Loserman antics. People remember the jerk who threw his helmet into the Gatorade table.

Night Owl said...

It's quite funny that even with the opposition clearly spelling out for them why they're losing, the Dems still can't see the truth in front of their eyes. The cloud of smug they surround themselves with is so thick it blocks out reality.

Maybe SNL will do a funny skit about it... oh wait they already did.

Bad Lieutenant said...

"Well, the Special Elections are over and those that want to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN are 5 and O! All the Fake News, all the money spent = 0."

Haha, President Trump typo'd again, writing O for 0! Stupid fat President!

Thief, thief, election thief! Trump! We hates it, we hates it, we hates it for ever! [gollum]

Robert Cook said...

"We have the highest standard of living on the earth...."

Sez who?

Come again?

Maybe we've been misled.

Maybe it depends on how you're appraising "standard of living."

Or perhaps it was true once, but no longer. We can't admit the party is over.

Fen said...

Best line from last night's Ossoff concession speech.

"As he mentioned Handel, chants of Not My Congressman! echoed."

"Was Ossoff chanting along? Because technically that's true"

LOL

tim in vermont said...

It's quite funny that even with the opposition clearly spelling out for them why they're losing, the Dems still can't see the truth in front of their eyes.

Well, we are all total and complete morons! Just ask ARM.

Robert Cook said...

"But as long as you refuse to try to understand it, you can continue to suffer these kinds of losses."

By "you," are you referring to me? Ha! Fuck the dems! They deserve their losses. Until they start working for the people instead of serving their Wall Street masters, they will continue to lose.

Though I'm not happy with some aspects of Elizabeth Warren and Alan Grayson, there need to be more like them in the Democratic party. The dems would start winning if there were.

Bob Boyd said...

"Republicans can easily halt the momentum by invoking Ms. Pelosi...."

It's not just Pelosi those campaign workers were up against, as big a handicap as she is. It's the constant firehose of smug, self-righteous, hateful rhetoric from the media toward ordinary Americans. That's the Democrat brand now.

"positioning Ossoff as blandly as possible — just a kind of nice guy who doesn’t like Donald Trump — and dissociating him from any hard-edged ideas or themes...." was impossible with the 24-7 media telling voters, 'We are the Democrats, we despise you and if we had the power, we'd fix you because you're broken.'

SGT Ted said...

I suspect the National "social progress" chart in the telegraph is cooked to sway towards redistributive collectivism to give people free shit as being a sign of "progress".

Gahrie said...

Though I'm not happy with some aspects of Elizabeth Warren and Alan Grayson, there need to be more like them in the Democratic party. The dems would start winning if there were.

Oh please, please, please..........

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

They turn an election loss into something even worse with their Sore Loserman antics.

I think I'll wear my beautiful "Sore-Loserman" T-shirt today in celebration. It still fits in so many ways.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Though I'm not happy with some aspects of Elizabeth Warren and Alan Grayson, there need to be more like them in the Democratic party. The dems would start winning if there were.

Hahahahahah

Oh. Yeah. That's what they need. ANOTHER screeching harridan point her fingers at everyone and yelling. Clenching her little fists and pounding the air. Grayson....> Bubba the used car salesman oozing self interest all over the place.

Yeah. Go with that. It's a winner.

Now if you guys would run someone like Jim Webb, I may be interested.

Dave from Minnesota said...

Robert C., stats are misleading. For example, many standard of living indexes show Sweden and Norway near the top. Ahead of the US as a whole. Well let me educate you. If you are Norwegian or Swede living in the one of those 2 nations, vs a Norwegian or Swede living in an Norwegian-American or Swedish-American community in the US, the US Scandinavians will have:

-Higher income
-Lower taxes
-Much much less crime (the murder rate is at or near zero in most US Scandinavian cities)
-A house that is twice the size of what you will have over there
-Affordable food (what does a gallon of milk cost in Norway?)
-A nice truck
-More freedom (no 1st amendment over there)
-Higher test scores from the students (so the schools must be better here)

Gahrie said...

Anyone heard a tweet out of Trump yet about these automotive jobs shutting down in Michigan and moving to China? Nope. Is he going to do anything about it? Nope. Can he do anything about it? Nope.

OK...but are the Democratic politicians and their lackeys the labor unions who made it impossible to build cars profitably doing anything about it?

Fen said...

"Come back in a few years and tell us if Trump solved all your gory problems"

In 12 years not 2. See, Trump will need time to fix the mess he inherited from Obama.

And yes, I said 12 years. Since you guys are handicapping him with bullshit reindeer games, we're going to repeal the 22nd Amendment. Enjoy!

tcrosse said...

They deserve their losses. Until they start working for the people instead of serving their Wall Street masters, they will continue to lose.

FDR used the term Economic Royalists to describe those who thought their Big Money entitled them to rule the rest of us. He was referring to Republicans then, but these days it can refer to wealthy Democrats in Silicon Valley, Wall Street, and Media. The Republicans may be the party of the rich, but Democrats are the party of the very, very rich.

tim in vermont said...

Until they start working for the people instead of serving their Wall Street masters, they will continue to lose.

Maybe a good way to do that would be to try to understand what the lumpenproletariat really wants and needs? Naah! We know what they need, it's they who suffer the false consciousness! I am sure they appreciate efforts to raise the price of gas and heating oil though, and the millions of workers imported in order to hold down their wages. This is the kind of manna from heaven that the Dems rain down on the working class (defined as low skilled people who actually show up at a job or want to.). Not people who don't have money because they spend all day in a used book store reading the final and authoritative disquisition on the theory of labor, or whatever.

ddh said...

If Trump & Handel were doing so well, they should have increased their share 10-fold or more.

Okay. Since Trump carried the district with 48 percent of the vote, then Handel's failure to win with 480 percent of the vote shows how unpopular Republicans truly are. Yeah, that seems reasonable, especially since Democrats tell us that no significant voter fraud exists.

Dave from Minnesota said...

tcroose, one of the things I hate most is when out-of-state Big Liberal Business tries to tell us what laws we can and can't pass. See North Carolina, Mississippi, Indiana.
But then again that is a big reason Trump was elected.

Fen said...

"do anything about these automotive jobs shipping to china?"

Trump has already said he's going to slap a huge import tax on them. That sucking sound you hear is Trump snatching away the Rust Belt from the Democrats and flipping it red for generations.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

3. A WaPo column (by Paul Kane) rationalizes: "Ossoff chose civility and it didn’t work": "So Ossoff chose the high priest route instead of the fierce warrior. It was civil disobedience rather than civil unrest. And he still lost, by an even wider margin than the almost forgotten Parnell."

What a pompous twit. "Get more extreme!" they shout. Yeah, run harder Left; run more under the banner of Pelosi and Warren. That'll show us all!

Geez, we're really going to get in some trouble if the Repubs do well in the midterms, aren't we? The Dems are going to decide that getting radical is their only move, and they're going to run a Leftist Trump. I shudder at the thought.

tim in vermont said...

So Trump won the district by two percent in November and Ossoff lost by five? Am I hearing that right? It's not the same District R's have been walking to victory in in the past?


Ha Ha ha!

Fen said...

And just to make the rubble bounce, we are going to startup a PAC, call it something like "Progressives For Tolerance", and run ads 24/7 in Michigan and Pennsylvania calling for transgender bathrooms in every public space.

Dave from Minnesota said...

I see Planned Parenthood spent $735,000 on the election. I wonder what those dupes he give their money to that organization think. I mean voluntarily give them money, not the taxpayers.

You know, they could abort a lot of babies with that $735,000.

tcrosse said...

...one of the things I hate most is when out-of-state Big Liberal Business tries to tell us what laws we can and can't pass.

One thing I learned from my 40 years in Minnesota is that Big Liberal Business did not have to be from out-of-state.

Dave from Minnesota said...

Virtual....from people who live in the district....they are saying this isn't the reliable Republican district it once was. A lot of liberal New Yorkers have moved in. These are people who want to live in Greater Atlanta, but don't want to live anywhere near the black neighborhoods.

Yancey Ward said...

Lots of sour grapes as usual from the Left.

exhelodrvr1 said...

Excellent analysis of the election:

https://twitter.com/willcollier/status/877500277649285120

Dave from Minnesota said...

tcrosse, yeah. General Mills was really pushing for gay marriage (this we before those 5 justices discovered the gay marriage clause in the constitution).

Daddio said...

I love this idea that the centrist message is a losing strategy so the Dems need to go hard left. Obama was the last significant Dem victory. He won by sounding centrist then went further and further left while governing. The cat was out of the bag then, that's how we got Trump. The voters don't trust the centrist message because they know it is a lie. They reject the hard left. It's not hard to understand. If the hard left wants to win, they'll have to convince people they're philosophy is best. Unlikely.

Bob Boyd said...

""Get more extreme!" they shout."

More cowbell!

bagoh20 said...

The fatal flaw of Democrats is that they believe spending lots of money can fix anything. This makes most everything they do fail either short term or long term. They use it to gain power, and if they win, they use it exclusively as policy. When that doesn't work, they insist they just need to spend more. This is because they have no real answers, no guiding principles beyond winning and control. Leading Democrats talk about principles that nearly to a person they themselves do not live by.

Dave from Minnesota said...

From Iowahawk:

Cornpone (whatever that means) Georgia hicks sell Brooklyn Bridge to visiting California city slickers for $25,000,000.

tim in vermont said...

The fatal flaw of Democrats is that they believe spending lots of money can fix anything.

When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. One thing Democrats have is filthy lucre, lots and lots of filthy lucre.

Dave from Minnesota said...

bago,

A big difference between liberals and conservatives (true conservatives) is measuring inputs vs outputs (aka results). We see that with Big Government.
If we spend a hundred million dollars on a social program, that is a success (in some eyes).
But what if we spend 30 million dollars instead, and spend it on a program that actually works? Are we shorting the feel good program by $70M, or are we better off because we only borrowed/taxed $30M and did something that works?

Dr Weevil said...

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. roesch/voltire can't be bothered to provide a link to his 8:50am allegation of GBI suppression of Korean-American voting in the 6th district. Perhaps he worries that his source is some blatantly partisan and proven unreliable website, and we would be even less likely to believe the allegation if we knew where he got it. He does name Greg Palast, whose own site (www.gregpalast.com) does not (to put it mildly) inspire confidence. For instance, Palast assumes that if black turnout dropped for the first time in twenty years, it must prove Republican shenanigans. He can't seem to imagine that not having a black candidate running for the top spot might have something to do with that.

Sebastian said...

"3. A WaPo column (by Paul Kane) rationalizes: "Ossoff chose civility and it didn’t work": "So Ossoff chose the high priest route instead of the fierce warrior." Yeah, a fierce warrior would have won over all those milquetoast GOPers in Romney/Rubio country.

"4. A Daily Beast columnist (Patricia Murphy): "Jon Ossoff's $23 Million Loss Shows Dems Have No Idea How to Win in the Age of Trump."" They just need more: more CA money, more fierce warriors, more Trump derangement, more than $250 per voter. Keep at it Dems!

"they have to feel the need to do some soul-searching and figure out why their strategies aren't resulting in actual wins. Commence bloodletting." But they are the woke people! They know! It's just the voters that keep making mistakes.

"6. Matt Yglesias at Vox: "Jon Ossoff’s Georgia special election loss shows Democrats could use a substantive agenda."
Karen Handel didn’t argue that the Republican Party’s health care bill is a good idea (it’s very unpopular) or that tax cuts for millionaires should be the country’s top economic priority (another policy that polls dismally). Instead, her campaign and its allies buried Ossoff under a pile of what basically amounts to nonsense" See, they can't even describe what they were facing honestly: Handel was about as bland and mainstream a candidate as the GOP could offer up, former Chamber exec, going on about traditional GOP themes (including taxes). Sure, the fact that the guy couldn't vote for himself may have played well with the few fence-sitters, but the key to the election is that most (though not all) of the traditional GOP vote in the district turned out. The Romney/Rubio folks may not be totally on board with Trump but they were totally on board with Handel as Rep and with sticking it to the Dems running a phony "moderate" who would indeed "vote with Pelosi."

But the GOP does need to pay attention and be smarter than the Dems. That district looks close and may get closer. Handel has work to do. But for now: cheers, everyone!

Robert Cook said...

"Obama was the last significant Dem victory. He won by sounding centrist then went further and further left while governing."

Wrong. He campaigned as a progressive and governed as a (slightly liberal) Republican.

Dave from Minnesota said...

Does everyone here follow Iowahawk? He and his responders are on fire today.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

The Iowahawk Twitter thread linked to above is worth reading.

No Dems don't read it. The Twitter is a republican and just concern trolling you. Don't follow any of his advise. Keep up all the good work. One day calling voters stupid and hateful will pay off. And if that doesn't work time to amp up the violence. That'll work.

Dave from Minnesota said...

R Cook, remember in summer of 2008 when Obama said "My Christian faith requires me to support the traditional definition of marriage"?

Robert Cook said...

"And yes, I said 12 years. Since you guys are handicapping him with bullshit reindeer games, we're going to repeal the 22nd Amendment. Enjoy!"

It is unseemly to make your darker private fantasies public.

Bruce Hayden said...

"[A] half-dozen Democratic elected officials and operatives privately vented in text messages and phone calls about a dispiriting trend emerging in this year’s special elections: When their candidates appear to gain traction in the polls, Republicans can easily halt the momentum by invoking Ms. Pelosi...."

I think that these Dem politicians need to think this through for their own sake. I remember in the Gianforte/Quist special election here in MT the ads with pictures of Quist paired with pictures of Pelosi, and the claim that he will vote just like her, or do what she tells him (which for Dem Representatives,is typical calmly very true). In much of this country, association with Pelosi is toxic. She is a stupid, vile woman who is seemingly entering dementia. And gave us Obamacare, the Porkulous, Dodd-Frank, etc. yet, she maintains control of the Dem House Caucus, year in and year out. As do her committee chairs and ranking members. Contrast the scoliosis of the Dems, esp in the House, to the vibrancy of the GOP, who actively enforce term limits on leadership posts, and change their top leadership even quicker. Think of the night more of a Republican House Speakers/Minority Leaders who have served since Pelosi gained power. And, with the ability of the Dem leadership in both the House and Senate to enforce voting orthodoxy, it is quite fair to tie Dem Congressional candidates to Pelosi, because everyone pretty well knows that they would be forced to vote how she directs, if elected.

The question though for Dem leaders is why they don't wise up, and turn over their leadership, esp in the House? They finally managed to get Dingy Harry Reid out the door in the Senate, replacing him (as expected) with the slimy Chucky Schumer, who, while still being a pathogenic lier and master manipulator (hello Comey, Baharra, and probably Mueller, etc), isn't as automatically reviled by much of the country as Reid was, and Pelosi is. Esp Pelosi. She is a close second to Crooked Hillary as most reviled woman in much of Red/Trump America. Which means that in special election after special election the GOP successfully ties the Dem candidate to her, winning votes.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

Republican wins by 5% in a district Republicans won by 23% last fall.

Robert Cook said...

"R Cook, remember in summer of 2008 when Obama said 'My Christian faith requires me to support the traditional definition of marriage?'"

Yes, because he was too chicken-shit to openly support gay marriage. But how is this pertinent? He didn't make gay marriage legal. That was the Supreme Court.

Gahrie said...

It is unseemly to make your darker private fantasies public.

Unless of course those fantasies involve violence toward Republicans and conservatives.......

Bob Ellison said...

This election might have turned out differently, in that district in Georgia, if the Dem candidate weren't so obviously gay.

There's nothing wrong with that, but he hides it with shame, and in 2017, that's just plain dumb.

Dave from Minnesota said...

I stole this from the internet. The only way Democrats can get Republicans out of congress is by shooting them, and they aren't very good at that either.

Dave from Minnesota said...

Bob, he's an Anthony Wiener wannabe.

tim maguire said...

At this point, I don't just question the patriotism and intelligence, I question the sanity and moral fitness of anyone who would vote Democratic. And I'm only half-joking when I say the FCC should sue them under false advertising laws to change their name.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Unknown said...
Btw, while Trumpski's

Do you ever read what other people write?

Original Mike said...

"Though I'm not happy with some aspects of Elizabeth Warren and Alan Grayson, there need to be more like them in the Democratic party. The dems would start winning if there were."

Alan Grayson is a reprehensible human being.

Fen said...

"Republicans only win by -"

You're on to something:

Losing is Winning. War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength - IngSoc Motto, Nineteen Eighty Four

I think you should run with it.

MikeR said...

These commenters don't seem to be addressing the fact that Ossoff's time made a very conscious decision that in a fairly conservative district they need to sound as centrist as possible. The fact that it didn't quite work doesn't mean that they couldn't have lost the election by twenty points by following everyone's advice.

Michael K said...

Blogger Robert Cook said...
"Obama was the last significant Dem victory. He won by sounding centrist then went further and further left while governing."

Wrong. He campaigned as a progressive and governed as a (slightly liberal) Republican.


Cookie, I definitely think you should be in charge of Democrat messaging.

I think they might just try this in 2018 and the results could be historic. By 2020, they wil;l probably kjnow better but I don't see them having anywhere to go.

RNB said...

Only someone who never saw Ossoff's campaign ads could describe them as 'overly civil.' Handel's were just more effective. And funnier.

Michael said...

Robert Cook
Yours is a genius idea. Warren and Grayson would be perfect. The Dems lost the 6th because they were too centrist. If there is anything that suburban Atlanta wants it is more, much much more, progressive action. I am certain that the rest of the country shares this view: we have only to see that Bernie got within a hair of the presidency and would be POTUS now if it weren't for the crone. Grayson may be too young to resonate but in general I would say you have the right idea. I might contribute to such a team. Because, as we know, money was another reason the Dem lost in Georgia.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Dr Weevil said...
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. roesch/voltire can't be bothered to provide a link to his 8:50am allegation of GBI suppression of Korean-American voting in the 6th district.

That just speaks to the low quality of scholarship at the University of Dayton.

Night Owl said...

"Republican wins by 5% in a district Republicans won by 23% last fall."

You know, my instincts said, "this is Georgia; chances are the GOP candidate will win", w/o knowing anything else about the candidates or the local politics. I wasn't paying attention to this election, but the leftist media was telling me for weeks that this election was a big deal, that it was a national referendum on Trump.

Bottom line- The left brought this on themselves. Their hubris makes them ridiculous.

TosaGuy said...

The GOP got sucked into a meaningless House special election in upstate NY in 2009. Palin was at her peak and rushed in to nationalize it. Didn't work.

Both parties would be better served if they left these things alone and let the locals decide who they want to represent them.

Also, if you are going to toss $30 million...at least have the person live in the district. Now the result is that a once-promising young candidate gets the stain of a political carpetbagger and the stink of a loser. It's easier to find more money than it is to find good candidates.

The Dem's jungle primary strategy made sense, but once that didn't work they should have cut their losses and let it play out locally. The electoral result would have been the same, but nobody nationally would be talking about it today.

The incumbent party is always on the defensive in these races. Replacement candidates never win by more than the previous. Defensive wins are never sexy.

Birkel said...

These comments fill my blackened wee heart with so much schadenfraude that it just might burst. Picture what happened to the Grinch when his heart grew three sizes.

Leftist Bank want to talk about the size of another person's victory. That is delicious and I cannot wait to consume more of this delightful treat.

TosaGuy said...

""Republican wins by 5% in a district Republicans won by 23% last fall."

I saw a blurb on how the last Dem to run only spent $1,000. I guess it takes $30 million to make up 17 percent. The accountants at the DNC may find that info nugget useful.

By all means compare a presidential election featuring a popular multi-term incumbent to a special election in June with a new candidate who had to first survive a 13-person primary.

Rocketeer said...

"Republican wins by 5% in a district Republicans won by 23% last fall."

But I was told by everyone on the left that it was a referendum on Trump, not Price. By that metric - IOW, the correct metric - Handel won by 5% in a district Trump won by 2% last fall.

Robert Cook said...

"Unless of course those fantasies involve violence toward Republicans and conservatives......."

Nope...those should be kept private, too.

(Too many ellipses...should be three, plus the period)

tim in vermont said...

Palin was at her peak and rushed in to nationalize it. Didn't work.

I remember that election, as it took place pretty nearby. The Democrat switched positions on the ACA the day after the election. He lost the next election to "Elise" who still holds it, as far as I know.

Dave from Minnesota said...

Tosa....that is one of the things. We had two elections yesterday that Republicans should have easily won. So in a normal world, it really wouldn't be a "referendum on Trump". But the Democrats thought it was, so they made a big deal out of it. Now it is a Trump victory.

Seeing Red said...

Buried him under Nancy Pelosi.

I didn't read the article, but there's a claim over 5 million non-citizens broke the law and voted --illegally.

At that rate, The Donald could have won Cali.

Michael said...

roesch/voltaire

Exactly how was the GBI, with its limited resources, going to suppress the Korean vote when they had their hands full suppressing the black vote? It never ceases to amaze how easy it is to wrong foot the left. OK we did tell one Korean he couldn't vote in the 6th because he wasn't registered in the 6th being a neighbor of the Dem candidate. Apparently that was all it took to get the lefties focused on the Koreans while the GBI was threatening to arrest any black person trying to get to the polls.

tim in vermont said...

Last fall the Republican was an incumbent, well known to voters there, obviously.

JAORE said...

[P]opulist forces on the left took Mr. Ossoff’s defeat as an occasion to criticize the whole notion of centrism as a Democratic strategy.

Oh my.....further left, go, go, go.

One (of many) of Ossoff's problems is he ran as a centrist but it was SO OBVIOUSLY a lie.

And today, ANY Democrat running from the center will, and should be, viewed with suspicion.

Drago said...

Robert Cook: "Though I'm not happy with some aspects of Elizabeth Warren and Alan Grayson, there need to be more like them in the Democratic party."

From your lips to The Great Spirits ears.

TosaGuy said...

"Tosa....that is one of the things. We had two elections yesterday that Republicans should have easily won. So in a normal world, it really wouldn't be a "referendum on Trump". But the Democrats thought it was, so they made a big deal out of it. Now it is a Trump victory."

The thing about trying to manufacture a talking point out of nothing is that when it doesn't work, it becomes one against you.


Drago said...

Robert Cook would like the dems to more forcefully practice the Chavez/Maduro model of government for that is the only way to achieve the kind of "success" the left so yearns for.

Fen said...

"Too many elipses"

See? Now the Marxists want to dictate how many elipses we can use! Give them a coma and they'll take a... no that doesn't work. Give them a semi-colon and... no, ah nevermind

(just teasing you Cook)

Look at me........ I'm in ur base....... using up all your ellipses! Mwahahaha!

Dave from Minnesota said...

How's Illinois doing these days?

TosaGuy said...

Robert Cook: "Though I'm not happy with some aspects of Elizabeth Warren and Alan Grayson, there need to be more like them in the Democratic party."

In yesterday's redistricting thread, I remarked about how Dems in bubble districts elect the most tone-deaf and partisan candidates they can find and primary those who don't toe the bubble line. Once in office, such folks then turn off independent and non-partisan voters in more competitive districts.

The GOP wants Lieawatha to stay around for a long time.

Drago said...

Fen: "Look at me........ I'm in ur base....... using up all your ellipses! Mwahahaha!"


All Your Ellipse Are Belong To Us.

tim in vermont said...

I'm a little worried that we will lose our "majority maker" Pelosi. Naah! She knows where the bodies are buried!

Francisco D said...

Alan Grayson?


Hahahahahahahahahahahah!

ROTFLMAO!

Yancey Ward said...

Ossoff ran the best campaign he could given the terrain- and still lost. Had he run explicitly hard left in this district, he would have lost by a minimum of twice the margin he did.

After Ossoff failed to win a majority in the first round, I predicted Handel would win by about 5 percent. In the first round, the Democratic Party cleared the field for Ossoff making him the only candidate in that vote who had a chance to actually win the seat in April, thus maximizing the turnout gap for the Democrats. Once it reach a run off, however, that turnout gap advantage disappears. It turned out almost exactly as I predicted.

Lewis Wetzel said...

If Chavez/Mauro's socialist utopia can be destroyed by a quite natural downward shift in oil prices (unforeseen by our socialist masters of the twisting weave of history), what good is it? Capitalism can undo socialism, not the other way around. What good is socialism other than for murdering and impoverishing people?

Michael said...

You think you typed those ellipses?

Drago said...

Lewis Wetzel: "What good is socialism other than for murdering and impoverishing people?"

To the leftists, that's precisely what they enjoy most about it.

PackerBronco said...

Blogger Robert Cook said...

Though I'm not happy with some aspects of Elizabeth Warren and Alan Grayson, there need to be more like them in the Democratic party. The dems would start winning if there were.


Yeah, the Dems need more Graysons. Y'know the guy who could only garner about 18% in the Florida Democrat Senate primary ... The people luuuvvv him!!!!

PackerBronco said...

Blogger Drago said...
Lewis Wetzel: "What good is socialism other than for murdering and impoverishing people?"

To the leftists, that's precisely what they enjoy most about it.


Within every socialist beats the heart of a thief.

PackerBronco said...

Blogger Yancey Ward said...
Ossoff ran the best campaign he could given the terrain- and still lost. Had he run explicitly hard left in this district, he would have lost by a minimum of twice the margin he did.


Pajama Boy's centrist rhetoric was a fraud. Both sides knew it.

Unknown said...

Democrats are going with this same "Run a far, far left person--that's gonna totally work!" in Jason Chaffetz's seat in Utah's third congressional district. They are running a Nancy Pelosi scion/far left liberal wacko who is going around telling everyone how she has experience being on a political campaign in California and thus is easily going to win with her "abort all the babies and impeach Trump!" platform.

Here in Utah.

Yeah, good luck with that. The Republicans have narrowed the field from 22 down to 3 or 5, for a primary. Then whoever wins gets to take a victory lap by crushing a tax and spend liberal.

Then we'll have to suffer cries of "Gerrymandering!" because Utah voters don't want Nancy Pelosi.

--Vance

Swede said...

Well, I guess all that "civility" didn't pay off.

Looks like they'll just have to have better aim next time.

It seems more and more like leftism is a byproduct of some fungal brain disease.

Darrell said...

If he jacked us off, maybe he would have won.

Ficta said...

"Perhaps a first step could be to disavow antifa entirely and then try to resist the urge to behead or stab the president to death because art."

Excellent point, disavowing is easy and it speaks volumes that this isn't done routinely. But I would go farther and say: Get some Democratic mayors to put some antifa members in jail.

Original Mike said...

I think the Dems need more Russia. They should hire Inga as communications director.

Bay Area Guy said...

True, Nancy Pelosi is a dominating political figure -- but this is limited to California.

She and the Democrats (Feinstein, Jerry Brown, Willie Brown, John Burton, Harris, Newsome) will continue to dominate politics in Cali and continue to make it a play place for the really, really, really rich liberal San Francisco, Hollywood, Silicon Valley types. To heck with all the blue collar types, though.

Good on ya!

But, as noted many times above, Pelosi is toxic to pretty much the rest of the country.

I will know the Dems are finally serious about shaping up, when they replace Pelosi with Tim Ryan (D-Ohio). He's a blue collar guy, he cares about working wages, he's not an elitist, he's probably not Gung Ho about elevating transgendered bathrooms to the top of the political agenda.

Until then, carry on.

Dude1394 said...

"6. Matt Yglesias at Vox: "Jon Ossoff’s Georgia special election loss shows Democrats could use a substantive agenda."

Karen Handel didn’t argue that the Republican Party’s health care bill is a good idea (it’s very unpopular) or that tax cuts for millionaires should be the country’s top economic priority (another policy that polls dismally). Instead, her campaign and its allies buried Ossoff under a pile of what basically amounts to nonsense — stuff about Kathy Griffin, stuff about Samuel L. Jackson, stuff about his home being just over the district line, stuff about him having raised money from out of state — lumped together under the broad heading that he’s an “outsider.”..."

How hilarious, just hilarious... The above sounds exactly like Hillary Clinton's campaign. Heh..

Drago said...

Personally, if I were California President Hillary Clinton, I would fire First Minister Nancy Pelosi.

tim in vermont said...

I worry about Pelosi's health in the same way that Dems worry about RBG.

Drago said...

Given that the Left built this election up as the ultimate referendum on Trump, how should we celebrate the results on this, Day 1 AO (After Ossoff)?

Kelly said...

Was there ever any real hope that he was going to win in a district he didn't live in and one that had been in republican hands for decades?

Darrell said...

If each of you will send me just $13.57, we can mount a recount to overturn what is clearly a mistake by the hillbilly trash people of Georgia.
----Dr. Jill Stein

Dave from Minnesota said...

Reading other blogs....a resident of that district said that several people decided at the last minute to vote for Handel as they didn't want to see the Democrats do a victory dance and lap.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Darrell said...
If he jacked us off, maybe he would have won.


THAT'S IT! Needed Madonna to promise blowies to all his voters. She didn't pay off last time, but that wouldn't stop 'em. Or get that Italian chick, La Pompa, who actually did deliver.




Drago said...
Given that the Left built this election up as the ultimate referendum on Trump, how should we celebrate the results on this, Day 1 AO (After Ossoff)?

Er...BRING ME YOUR FINEST MEATS AND CHEESES!?

Johnathan Birks said...

"Democrats could use a substantive agenda." -Matt Yglesias. A little late dontchathink Matty?

Michael K said...

"Get some Democratic mayors to put some antifa members in jail."

Every Democrat has forgotten Bill's "Sister Souljah moment."

Don't remind them. They probably wouldn't get it anyway.

tim in vermont said...

Was there ever any real hope that he was going to win in a district he didn't live in and one that had been in republican hands for decades?

He was at 49% in the last runoff, so he lost ground.

Bay Area Guy said...

@Jonathan Birks,

"Democrats could use a substantive agenda." -Matt Yglesias. A little late dontchathink Matty?

The Dems do have a substantive agenda: tax the people who work more, give the money to people who work less.

They just don't come out and say it clearly, because it doesn't sell politically.

Drago said...

Bay Area Guy: "The Dems do have a substantive agenda: tax the people who work more, give the money to people who work less."

Don't forget the criminalization of opposing viewpoints.

Achilles said...

"Democrats could use a substantive agenda."

-Matt Yglesias.

The core problem for the democrats is a strong majority don't like their agenda. "If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor." is the epitome of democrat failure. Nobody wants what they are offering so they have to lie about it to get it passed.

When they are honest they are trying to get men into women's bathrooms.

If you look at it of course they are going to try to import new voters and get them to vote illegally. Fortunately for us the founders anticipated California opening poll stations in Mexico.

And Illinois go bankrupt in 10 days. Merry Christmas Democrats.

Bay Area Guy said...

@Drago,

"Don't forget the criminalization of opposing viewpoints."

And don't forget transgendered bathroom rights and men transgendering to become women to win track medals, wrestling matches and other women sporting events. That's important too!

Alex said...

Unknown... GA-06 was redistricted to include less Republicans and more Democrats. You don't go from winning by +25, +30 to +5 coz suddenly a bunch of Republicans are hating Trump. Always look for the simplest explanation.

Dave from Minnesota said...

A couple of years ago I sat in on a transit planning presentation in St Paul, Minnesota. I was probably the only Republican-American in the room (I stayed in the closet). Watching and listening to the interaction between the others attending and those giving the talk….it sunk in. The difference between the left and right.

Republicans view meetings like this as a necessary evil. They attend if it affects them, and then only to make sure the project gets down as efficiently and in the least disruptive way possible.

The people in this room went on and on and on about expanding the projects being talked about. And what the next step is. And how to expand the existing plan so it includes more things related to bicycling and “sustainable” this and that.

Conservatives don’t view the gov’t as a major player in their daily lives.
Liberals live for central planning and making the government as large and far reaching as possible.

Rightwingers are less likely to get involved in the Republican party as they don’t like political apparatus. Especially goofy rightwingers. “After I get done checking on my survivalist supplies, I’m heading to the 2 hour meeting on zoning the height of buildings in the new hipster district”. Probably not.

While the control freak lefties see the Democrat party as the vehicle for them to obtain power and control other peoples lives. That is why you get the Democrat party obsessed with putting men in the girls locker rooms and destroying the Little Sisters of the Poor.
The closest thing Republicans had were probably tele-preachers in the 80s. But we’ve done a good job of keeping them in the basement.

My point? The most goofy rightwingers don't get involved in Republican politics as its against their nature. The goofy leftwingers do get involved in Democrat party activism.

Bilwick said...

It delayed my power walk this morning. I live in a heavily Yuppified part of the contested district, and every time I passed a McMansion with a pro-Ossoff sign on the lawn, I had to stop, point at the sign, and give it a Nelson Muntz-like "HA-HA!"

Michael K said...

The most goofy rightwingers don't get involved in Republican politics as its against their nature. The goofy leftwingers do get involved in Democrat party activism.

I partially agree but it isn't just "goofy rightwingers" who have better things to do.

I sat on a planning commission in a small city in Orange County CA for years. People wanted me to run for City Council.

It was torture. The people who like this stuff and want to do more and more of it are naturally Democrats, even if they say they are Republicans. That's why so many Republicans elected to office "grow in office." They like ordering people around.

It goes back to the definition of libertarians. They want to take over the government so they can leave you alone.

Bruce Hayden said...

Blogger Virtually Unknown said...
"I'm a little worried that we will lose our "majority maker" Pelosi. Naah! She knows where the bodies are buried!"

Be fair. If Pelosi can't remember who the President is, she probably can't remember where the bodies are buried. That is why you have staff.

TosaGuy said...

Dave from MN.

I am a former Minnesota and can describe many of the people in that room.....middle to senior aged women in poorly fitting clothes, gray hair that needs an appointment with a stylist. If working, it is at a non-profit, government or health care admin flunky. Went to St. Olaf or one of the other St. colleges..... If married, the husband is a henpecked beta?

Far too many of those in Minnesota.

Lewis Wetzel said...


Blogger Bay Area Guy said...
. . .

The Dems do have a substantive agenda: tax the people who work more, give the money to people who work less.


The Dems who have a stranglehood on my state, from the governor, through the legislature down to the county level, have stated their plans for the states massive "every child a success" education plan.
They will shift limited resources away from successful schools to less successful schools, apparently because they believe that while these resources did not make successful schools successful, they will make unsuccessful schools successful.
I'm sure it is all very scientific, or at least this plan has been approved by the "stakeholders" (whenever I hear a politician use this phrase, I wonder what they think it is these people have a stake in?)..

Dave from Minnesota said...

I am a former Minnesota and can describe many of the people in that room.....middle to senior aged women in poorly fitting clothes, gray hair that needs an appointment with a stylist. If working, it is at a non-profit, government or health care admin flunky. Went to St. Olaf or one of the other St. colleges..... If married, the husband is a henpecked beta?

Holy F'n God. That EXACTLY describes the room.
Yeah, afterwords I had to drive to Mills Fleet Farm in Hudson and just sit in the parking lot for a while so I could be surrounded by old pickup trucks with pro-gun & pro-American bumper stickers on them. Just to set my universe back to normal.

My name goes here. said...

"Anyone heard a tweet out of Trump yet about these automotive jobs shutting down in Michigan and moving to China? Nope. Is he going to do anything about it? Nope. Can he do anything about it? Nope."

The jobs Ford is sending to China are for the focus, a car, where the demand for cars is shrinking. In that factory they will start making a new ranger small pickup truck, trucks are currently a growing market. The jobs, as I understand it, are not being lost.

Dave from Minnesota said...

Not sure if this is still the case, but a few years ago Ford lost money on every Focus they sold.

wwww said...

Unknown... GA-06 was redistricted to include less Republicans and more Democrats. You don't go from winning by +25, +30 to +5 coz suddenly a bunch of Republicans are hating Trump. Always look for the simplest explanation.



I'm confused -- I thought the last redistricting of house races was after the 2010 census? every ten years right?

mockturtle said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
mockturtle said...

Althouse has done a terrific job putting this all together. It's clear that the media still miss the message. They still think campaigns, not candidates, win or lose elections. The process, not the product.

OGWiseman said...

I'm a Democrat but good God are professional Democrats stupid sometimes. These special elections are happening because Trump is picking members of congress to serve in his admin. He's literally hand-picking the districts where they will occur. Democrats response: "Let's throw every dollar/jot of energy we have into this solidly GOP district and declare the results a referendum!"

I've always been of the opinion that Trump is not--despite what Scott Adams says--playing some kind of 9-D chess, but the Democrats are laying on the ground next to the board, gazing up at the ceiling, wondering what they'll be served for lunch.

Unknown said...

dems are gonna lose for a decade because they can’t stop ignoring their base to chase after the two dozen gop voters who find trump’s personality distasteful but have no meaningful policy differences with him

Rabel said...

May I ask a dumb question?

Ok, thanks.

A house candidate has to live in his state but not his district. Is there any law that prevents a candidate from running in two districts? What about winning in two districts? What about serving in two different seats and having two votes in Congress?

That was three questions, wasn't it. Sorry about that.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Michael K. wrote of local politics:

"It was torture. The people who like this stuff and want to do more and more of it are naturally Democrats, even if they say they are Republicans. That's why so many Republicans elected to office "grow in office." They like ordering people around."

It's been noted that the people in Congress - of both parties - are the ones who were presidents of their high school class and who volunteered to be hall monitors.

And if you remember, those kids were usually insufferable twits.

tcrosse said...

Dave from MN.

I lived in St Paul for many years, and came to the conclusion that the DFL is the political arm of the teachers union. Every election they'd send a Goon Squad of Moral Bullies to my doorstep to work me over.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

vicari valdez said...
dems are gonna lose for a decade because they can’t stop ignoring their base to chase after the two dozen gop voters who find trump’s personality distasteful but have no meaningful policy differences with him

6/21/17, 1:36 PM

Oh, I'm totes with you, vv. I completely agree that that the Dems haven't done enough to appease their base and really need to move more to the left.

Yep. That's the ticket!

ddh said...

Unknown must be thinking that Georgia redrew its district lines between November 2016 and June 2017.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Saw this at Insty:

"The only thing Democrats won recently was the congressional baseball game, while the only way Democrat voters can seem to get Republicans out of Congress is by shooting them. And they can’t even do that right.”


tim in vermont said...

Unknown must be thinking that Georgia redrew its district lines between November 2016 and June 2017.

Did Trump win the district by 25%? This was a referendum on Trump we were assured, yet she did better than Trump.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Stephen Mille:

"The Democrats and their base (Hollywood) think the key to winning elections is to insult voters. “They don’t vote for us because they are bigots” is not a strategy I would employ as a campaign manager but they are welcome to keep trying this, and they are welcome to keep losing."

I pray they keep on doing this.

Dave from Minnesota said...

"The only thing Democrats won recently was the congressional baseball game, while the only way Democrat voters can seem to get Republicans out of Congress is by shooting them. And they can’t even do that right.”

Exile, I saw something to that affect also. And if I can be offensive for a minute, read this too (I feel fine posting this as it came from non-Democrat source).

Maybe the Democrats should have spent that $23,000,000 on target practice instead.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Dave from Minnesota: Let's not give them any ideas.

I'm rather glad these days that most Dems think guns are icky.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Virtually Unknown said...
Unknown must be thinking

Assumes facts not in evidence.


Dave from Minnesota said...
Maybe the Democrats should have spent that $23,000,000 on target practice instead.

Didn't BHO buy 1.6 BILLION rounds of .40 cal ammo for DHS?

'Sooner or later, you've had enough target time.'

Or maybe one should say:

'You didn't hit that.'

Jim at said...

"Go and crow as much as you want but it doesn't change the ground truth."

You're correct.

The truth is ... you lost.
Again.

Michael K said...

the Democrats are laying on the ground next to the board, gazing up at the ceiling, wondering what they'll be served for lunch.

There is an old rule that, if you are playing poker and after a half hour you do not know who the mark is, it is you.

The Democrats never learned that.

«Oldest ‹Older   1 – 200 of 216   Newer› Newest»