Democrats Handed Republicans Their Asses in Elections Nationwide
Plus: How to End Tonight’s GOP Debate with One Question
Wow. What an election! When Democrats vote, they win. Tuesday looked a lot like a blue wave, with victories in blue and purple states and dramatic overperformances in red ones.
How bad was it for Republicans? A +35 Trump district in New Jersey was flipped by a Democrat.
The right to have an abortion without the church lady standing by once again proved to be a winner. So did opposing book bans. The Democratic governor of Kentucky won re-election. School board elections sent the so-called parents’ rights numbnuts away. And Monica Montgomery-Steppe will take the open seat at the County Board of Supervisors.
Fear not, election addicts; I’ll have a more of a wrap up tomorrow, once better vote counts are in. In the meantime, here are some observations about tonight’s GOP debate in Miami, definitely not must-see TV.
What makes this edition of has-beens and wannabes potentially special is that, finally, somebody other than Fox –NBC– is the host network.
The third GOP debate is scheduled for 5pm local time tonight (Nov. 8). The NBC moderators are “Nightly News” anchor Lester Holt and “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker, along with Hugh Hewitt, host of “The Hugh Hewitt Show” on Salem Radio Network.
Hewitt, in case you’re unfamiliar, is a cleaned up conservative who’s gone over the brink into MAGA land. His syndicated radio show, podcast, and op ed columns are a feast for Trumpites who can spell.
Given that line up, I think we can expect that candidates won’t be hit out of the gate with questions about whatever cultural phenomenon is closest to the GOP’s low bar of victimhood. (Last time it was the “North of Richmond” country hit.)
Dear Leader won’t be participating in the debate again; there's a cult gathering up the road in Hialeah, Fl where devotees will get to hear a rehash of “poor pitiful me,” the essence of his speechifying. His calculation of sitting out debates, and letting everybody else fight for attention, seems to have paid off thus far.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis –perhaps unknowingly– stumbled upon the chink in Trump’s armor this week when his “war room” tweeted “a running list of every one of Donald Trump’s fumbles, accidents, and confused moments from this year,” adding, “NOTE: this is why his handlers won’t let him debate.”
Nobody’s gotten much traction by trying to out-Trump the man, and picking fights with candidates who are on the stage for ego reasons certainly haven’t helped.
Candidate Trump has been stumbling badly in his speaking and having memory lapses, like saying his current opponent is Barack Obama, and forgetting that he wasn’t president in 2021 during testimony in court. And, somehow, this hasn’t been commented on in major media coverage.
If a Republican gets on the debate stage and goes after Trump as a doddering fool instead of rambling about Chinese commies and Hunter Biden’s porno pics, the former president’s mental issues might be the subject of some major media discussion. And the sound of Trump exploding in anger not far away might be loud enough to interrupt the debate.
DeSantis has shifted some of his Florida-based staff to Iowa, hoping to increase his chances of emerging as an alternative to Trump in the leadoff state. Iowa Gov Kim Reynolds endorsed DeSantis this week and Trump graciously responded by declaring her political career finished.
Let’s face it, DeSantis has nothing to lose. His campaign was declared on life support by veteran observers two months ago, and South Carolina’s Nicki Haley is now sneaking up on him in assorted polls. Of course, jockeying for second place in New Hampshire and South Carolina, 50 points behind the front runner is no great prize.
The word is that South Carolina Senator Tim Scott is now interested in positioning himself for consideration as a potential candidate for Vice President. He’ll be questioning DeSantis and Haley about how they can be different from the politician who boosted their careers.
Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy may as well show up with clown makeup on, since early fascination with his “ideas” has turned into ridicule as he uncontrollably rambles on during interviews. I’m sure he’ll try to woo the audience with his rat-a-tat-tat speechifying chock full of falsehoods so bad that even Republicans recognize them.
Also on the debate stage will be former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. He’s tried his best to take on Donald Trump from afar, but his natural “charm” doesn’t seem to be helping.
If NBC wanted to keep the debate real interesting, they could look to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos’ abbreviated interview on The Week with House Majority Leader Steve Scalise.
The ABC correspondent refused to move on, asking Scalise the same question five times:
“Can you say unequivocally the 2020 election was not stolen?”
Stephanopoulos wouldn’t accept the various word salads offered up to deflect from the question, and ended the interview once it was clear that Scalise wouldn’t answer.
I’d watch something like that over and over again on Thursday morning.
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Wednesday’s Important Links
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A win win opening for a president who badly needs one? By Bill McKibben
The closest they’ll get to a second chance is this rapidly emerging fight against LNG exports. And in fact, it’s a much bigger deal even than Willow. Just the next project on block, the CP2 terminal slated for Cameron Parish Louisiana, would produce 20 times the greenhouse gas emissions of Willow. If they build out the next 19 projects in line, the total greenhouse gas emissions from exported US LNG would be larger than the greenhouse gas footprint of…Europe. New data from Cornell’s Bob Howarth, repeatedly cited in yesterday’s press conference by all those politicians, shows that LNG is much worse than coal.
So, if Biden uses his authority to deny export licenses, then he will also be able to legitimately say he has also done more than any other predecessor to shut down the fossil fuel geyser. That counts as a big fracking deal. It would be a win
But wait there’s more. The reason Democratic presidents always hesitate to take on the fossil fuel industry is fear that they’ll be vilified for raising energy prices. In this case, though, since the LNG is set for export, blocking new export facilities will lower the domestic price of natural gas. He will legitimately be able to say that he’s cut costs for those Americans still dependent on gas furnaces and cookstoves. It will be an actual inflation reduction act.
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Abortion access remains undefeated in the polls post-Roe Via the Washington Post
There are undoubtedly a number of reasons that the initiative passed in Ohio, despite the state’s general Republican lean at the state level. One, obviously, is that supporters of abortion access were highly motivated to turn out to support Issue 1. This is a group that skews young (as exit polls reflected), voters who are less frequent voters in other elections. In other words, the issue probably helped boost turnout from lower propensity voters, overwhelming the higher-propensity voters who help make Ohio a red state.
Another likely factor is that, despite the change to the ballot language, the issue was uncomplicated. This was not a question of where limits on access should be drawn or conditions under which it should be available. The question was, instead, quite literally yes or no. If you think abortion should be available up until 10 weeks or you think it should be available into the third trimester, you were, in the abstract, a “yes" supporter on Issue 1.
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THIS IS THE LEAD ARTICLE ON THE FRONT PAGE OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES ON THE DAY AFTER A BLUE WAVE ELECTION
Biden support down sharply among California voters for first time in presidency, poll shows
The election, of course, remains a year away, and history shows that polls this far in advance cannot forecast outcomes; their value lies in describing what voters feel currently.
Both of Biden’s Democratic predecessors, Presidents Clinton and Obama, suffered sharp declines in approval during their third years in office, including steep drops among their fellow Democrats. Obama’s nationwide job approval at this point was similar to Biden’s now.
I find the results of yesterday's elections simultaneously comforting and alarming. I am glad people voted. I am glad that liberal/progressives, historically lazy about voting in the mid-terms and special elections, actually voted.
What I find alarming about the election results is that I really hope liberal/progressives don't rest on their laurels. The Guns Over People party is going to fight hard, lay out all sorts of lies and other horrible stuff. The Democratic party and the rest of us need to continue to expose the bullying, fraud, lies, misinformation, double down on the importance tasks of governance, etc.
Another good one. I get a good laugh out of the snark -- "handed their asses", "Trumpites who can spell" etc.