The 2018 Midterms

[nsacpi]

Sure, Pelosi is a San Francisco liberal and doesn't present all that well at times, but I am still having a difficult time determining why she is viewed as such a pariah. She has more backbone than 99% of the people serving in DC. There were a number of negative ads launched against DFL congressional candidates in Minnesota that featured Pelosi as a reason to vote Republican. I don't think it had much of an effect either way. Maybe Rs hate her so much because she can actually get things done.

Ted Kennedy was the GOP's fundraising poster child for a long time. They had to find a successor and Pelosi is as good as anyone. She is well to the left of me but I've always thought she was an effective player for her side. It will be interesting to see what happens with all the Dems who promised during the campaign not to vote for her as speaker.

[Enscheff]

The Left just can't wrap their heads around what's going on...

As previously marginalized groups gain power, that power must be taken away from straight white males. Naturally, the folks losing power are not happy about it. They feel ignored and rally behind the guy who makes them feel heard.

It doesn't matter if they are right to feel that way. It doesn't matter if "reverse racism" is wrong or right. It doesn't matter if the "invasion" is really just a group of poor people consisting mostly of women and children. It doesn't matter if manufacturing jobs aren't ever coming back, no matter how much the immigration policy is tightened.

These people have these concerns, and the Left is not addressing them. Period. Trump is addressing them. That's all that matters. Trump's genius lies in his ability to market himself to stupid people. So the Left needs to get better at marketing their policies to stupid people.

The biggest demographic gap in Left/Right support is now college educated white women vs uneducated white men...all because the Left is unable to sell themselves to stupid people. Trump's masterstroke was to rile up his base with the "invasion" and the Kav hearings to ensure they turned out to vote. Pure genius at engaging the stupid masses on display by Trump.

When your 3 year old is scared of monsters under the bed, you don't tell the child they are stupid monsterphobes. You make a silly thing like "monster spray", spray it under the bed, fix the problem as far as the child is concerned, and then go about your business taking care of real issues.

So build the stupid wall. Who cares? Everyone with half a brain understands it is pointless, but it appeases the middle America morons with the intellect of children who will never even travel far enough from their little home town to see the silly wall. Then, when you have them on your side, you can accomplish things that will really benefit them...like free education to prepare them for jobs that can't be taken over by robots, or clean energy, or healthcare, or all the other things they vote against because they are afraid of monsters under the bed.

[50PoundHead]

Ted Kennedy was the GOP's fundraising poster child for a long time. They had to find a successor and Pelosi is as good as anyone. She is well to the left of me but I've always thought she was an effective player for her side. It will be interesting to see what happens with all the Dems who promised during the campaign not to vote for her as speaker.

She's to the left of me as well, but she knows how to raise money and she knows how to get stuff passed. Getting the Affordable Care Act passed (for whatever warts it had/has) was a really impressive feat after it came back from the Senate stripped of the public option.

[Jaw]

Ted Kennedy was the GOP's fundraising poster child for a long time. They had to find a successor and Pelosi is as good as anyone. She is well to the left of me but I've always thought she was an effective player for her side. It will be interesting to see what happens with all the Dems who promised during the campaign not to vote for her as speaker.

She also made it clear that her goal was to oppose anything the Bush administration tried to do a few years back, at a time when politics really started intersecting with the 24/7 news cycle. I think that lodged her in the minds of a lot of Republican voters as the enemy.

[Super]

The Left just can't wrap their heads around what's going on...

As previously marginalized groups gain power, that power must be taken away from straight white males. Naturally, the folks losing power are not happy about it. They feel ignored and rally behind the guy who makes them feel heard.

It doesn't matter if they are right to feel that way. It doesn't matter if "reverse racism" is wrong or right. It doesn't matter if the "invasion" is really just a group of poor people consisting mostly of women and children. It doesn't matter if manufacturing jobs aren't ever coming back, no matter how much the immigration policy is tightened.

These people have these concerns, and the Left is not addressing them. Period. Trump is addressing them. That's all that matters. Trump's genius lies in his ability to market himself to stupid people. So the Left needs to get better at marketing their policies to stupid people.

The biggest demographic gap in Left/Right support is now college educated white women vs uneducated white men...all because the Left is unable to sell themselves to stupid people. Trump's masterstroke was to rile up his base with the "invasion" and the Kav hearings to ensure they turned out to vote. Pure genius at engaging the stupid masses on display by Trump.

When your 3 year old is scared of monsters under the bed, you don't tell the child they are stupid monsterphobes. You make a silly thing like "monster spray", spray it under the bed, fix the problem as far as the child is concerned, and then go about your business taking care of real issues.

So build the stupid wall. Who cares? Everyone with half a brain understands it is pointless, but it appeases the middle America morons with the intellect of children who will never even travel far enough from their little home town to see the silly wall. Then, when you have them on your side, you can accomplish things that will really benefit them...like free education to prepare them for jobs that can't be taken over by robots, or clean energy, or healthcare, or all the other things they vote against because they are afraid of monsters under the bed.

i agree with some of this, mostly the "appeals to stupid people" bit because that's clearly true. there's something missing intellectually if you can support this guy without being a rich person set to benefit greatly from his tax plan (and a lot of it is racism).

however i'm not in favor of further stoking these irrational fears of immigrants. if dems ever caved to them and pretended these fears were justified, i don't think that would be a good thing overall.

i think you give the stupids you speak of too much credit.

[Enscheff]

i agree with some of this, mostly the "appeals to stupid people" bit because that's clearly true. there's something missing intellectually if you can support this guy without being a rich person set to benefit greatly from his tax plan (and a lot of it is racism).

however i'm not in favor of further stoking these irrational fears of immigrants. if dems ever caved to them and pretended these fears were justified, i don't think that would be a good thing overall.

i think you give the stupids you speak of too much credit.

Maybe you're right, but Trump has proven twice now that he has the winning strategy: appeal to the mob.

The wall itself isn't racist. It's just a wall that guards a border that is already guarded in many places by a wall. Simply unveiling a plan to expand/improve existing sections of the wall would likely appease the mouth breathers. It would be the monster spray needed to let them focus on something other than the monster under the bed.

Nothing scares uneducated white folks more than the thought of no longer being the majority. They have proven beyond all doubt that fear motivates them to vote against their other self interests. Losing power over all the groups they have previously marginalized absolutely terrifies them, and Trump is brilliantly playing that fear to his advantage.

And the Left still doesn't get it...

[Jaw]

Looks like some on the left side of the aisle have returned to their pre-2016 superiority complex. That should go well for both their party and their country.

[Super]

Maybe you're right, but Trump has proven twice now that he has the winning strategy: appeal to the mob.

meh. he won in 16 against another very unpopular person, but still lost the popular vote. the republicans did not do well last night, and a lot of people he stumped for lost. dems took over in some very red areas/states. there's no need to stoop to his racist fear mongering.

i don't think it's that they "don't get it." but i don't want them to start playing to that fear. if you have both sides stoking fear of non-white people, you're going to have more black churches shot up, more racial attacks - not less. i agree it's pretty clear irrational fear drives these people more than anything else. i'm not sure exactly how you play into that without making it worse, tho. Agreeing to build the stupid (expensive) wall isn't necessarily a fix to me.

[Super]

Looks like some on the left side of the aisle have returned to their pre-2016 superiority complex. That should go well for both their party and their country.

you support a babbling moron. that's been the case this whole time. you listen to him speak and aren't baffled.

[Jaw]

you support a babbling moron. that's been the case this whole time. you listen to him speak and aren't baffled.

Most of his speeches are either uninformed, dishonest, coarse, nonsensical, or some combination of those. His policy positions continue to be more in line with mine than any President since Reagan. So yes, I will continue hoping for his continued success in implementing his policy goals and also that he forgets how to speak and tweet.

[nsacpi]

She also made it clear that her goal was to oppose anything the Bush administration tried to do a few years back, at a time when politics really started intersecting with the 24/7 news cycle. I think that lodged her in the minds of a lot of Republican voters as the enemy.

W got his tax cuts, war on terrorism, and no child left behind...what did he have left that Pelosi blocked?...privatization of social security?

[Enscheff]

Looks like some on the left side of the aisle have returned to their pre-2016 superiority complex. That should go well for both their party and their country.

Pointing out facts is not a superiority complex unless you are offended by those facts.

The fact is the typical Trump supporter is less intelligent than their more progressive counterparts. In fact, that is the largest demographic divide between Trump supporters and non-supporters.

Another fact is that white america is terrified of no longer being the dominant demographic. If all someone has is being white, they are even more terrified. Pointing out that there’s a monster under the bed is all it takes to make them single issue voters.

I realize arguing facts is in style nowadays as part of the push against progress, but that doesn’t make facts untrue.

Until the Left realizes the singular issue to Trump’s base is the fear of losing power, they will never beat him. This “blue wave” was little more than a ripple despite all the fires up rhetoric we saw from the Left.

[The Chosen One]

Pelosi was very effective at holding the line as Speaker. Arguably even more effective as Post-Speaker Minority Leader.

[The Chosen One]

Amazed Tester came back and won in Montana. Thought for sure Trump would push Rosendale over the line.

Dems picked up Heller's seat in Nevada.

Although Beto didn't win the Senate seat, he appears to have helped the party pick up House seats in Texas.

Nelson wants a recount in Florida, not sure it will be enough.

Going to be interesting to see what happens in Arizona now with the million early ballots yet to be counted until a few more days.

[57Brave]

However you feel about the outcome of last night’s election, if you care about evidence-based policymaking, there’s one thing to cheer: The House Committee on Space, Science, and Technology will, for the first time in nearly a decade, be led by someone who accepts the conclusions of mainstream climate science.

https://earther.gizmodo.com/victory-...qioNtc-1jviGvU

[sturg33]

2018 midterms are gonna be a tsunami...i think the swing in the House will be over 70 seats

Nailed it

[sturg33]

people like Beto not winning in Texas and Abrams (maybe) not winning in GA really don't mean much. they had great showings - who thought texas could be that close? Georgia, even with all the voter suppression?! this was a great night for dems, and taking control of the House is YUGE. it was certainly a wave. lots of women elected, important ballot measures passed (1.4M people re-gaining the right to vote in FLA!). trying to spin this as a positive night for republicans is funny, but we're talking about people who support donald trump. expectations for those people are low, just like the expectations for their president.

.

Good night for dems? Sure. They took back the house.

Compared to expectations? Pretty poor night, in my opinion. They flipped what, 27 seats? That's the lowest to a new President since 1946. If there was ever a time for a tsunami as nsacpi promised us, it would be against this President. Momentum was there. Hatred for Trump was there. And they flipped 27 seats and lost Senate seats. 2010 flipped 63 house seats and 6 senate seats.

Where the dems should feel good about is winning in places like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ohio. If they carry those in 2020, they likely win.

But i think spinning this has a great outing for Dems is seriously reaching. Compared to expectations, a pretty muted response to the most hated President of all time.

Based on this, I think Trump wins in 2020 unless economy tanks (which it may)

[sturg33]

The Left just can't wrap their heads around what's going on...

As previously marginalized groups gain power, that power must be taken away from straight white males. Naturally, the folks losing power are not happy about it. They feel ignored and rally behind the guy who makes them feel heard.

It doesn't matter if they are right to feel that way. It doesn't matter if "reverse racism" is wrong or right. It doesn't matter if the "invasion" is really just a group of poor people consisting mostly of women and children. It doesn't matter if manufacturing jobs aren't ever coming back, no matter how much the immigration policy is tightened.

These people have these concerns, and the Left is not addressing them. Period. Trump is addressing them. That's all that matters. Trump's genius lies in his ability to market himself to stupid people. So the Left needs to get better at marketing their policies to stupid people.

The biggest demographic gap in Left/Right support is now college educated white women vs uneducated white men...all because the Left is unable to sell themselves to stupid people. Trump's masterstroke was to rile up his base with the "invasion" and the Kav hearings to ensure they turned out to vote. Pure genius at engaging the stupid masses on display by Trump.

When your 3 year old is scared of monsters under the bed, you don't tell the child they are stupid monsterphobes. You make a silly thing like "monster spray", spray it under the bed, fix the problem as far as the child is concerned, and then go about your business taking care of real issues.

So build the stupid wall. Who cares? Everyone with half a brain understands it is pointless, but it appeases the middle America morons with the intellect of children who will never even travel far enough from their little home town to see the silly wall. Then, when you have them on your side, you can accomplish things that will really benefit them...like free education to prepare them for jobs that can't be taken over by robots, or clean energy, or healthcare, or all the other things they vote against because they are afraid of monsters under the bed.

Speaking of stupid people, there's a cohort of leftist media and prominent dems pushing theories such as:

- There is such a thing as a Senate national popular vote
- The Dems won this mythical popular vote with 55%, AND LOST 3 SEATS!!
- Dems lost 3 senate seats due to gerrymandering!!!

Luckily, the super smart dems who ran on adding $40 trillion in new entitlement spending didn't produce the tsunami as promised. They're so smart and good at math after all... as Oscario Cortez says "You just pay for it!" Can't believe all those mouth breathing drooling sister ****ing blacks hating republicans were too stupid to turn down all that free stuff!

Luckily, the super smart dems who believe in gerrymandered senate races and limitless free stuff will remind other voters how stupid they are once again. This time, it will surely work.

[nsacpi]

Nailed it

well...happens...good catch

[57Brave]

Speaking of stupid people,
...

This time, it will surely work.

It kinda did. 7 Governorships, 6 or 7 state houses, ballot initiatives and easy big guy, lots of women making laws.
This is besides winning back the House

but this is all below the surface politics which you tend to avoid


there will be 4 or 5 red states signing onto Medicade expansion, which is kinda big deal if you live in those states.
1.4M voters were restored to Florida's voting rolls. Ones that were expunged in the Jeb Bush voter purge of 2000. Remember that ? Where his brother who before getting us into o a senseless war and knee jerk reacting in Afghanistan , won by what a hundred votes or something.
Supposing those voters voted Tuesday Gillum and Nelson are shoe ins as well as Trump never wins Fla in 2016

Scott Walker the Koch sponsored Governor in Wisconsin was one of the not so lucky this time .

So yeah it coulda been better but, what couldn't ?
.................................................. ....................

and before you start with nonsense, no one promised you a " blue wave."
Or a pony