this post was submitted on 27 Aug 2024
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[–] Yawweee877h444 247 points 2 months ago (6 children)

Please, for love of all the gods, let us win the presidency, keep the senate, and take back the house.

Fucking please.

[–] ChocoboRocket 185 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

And with some damn wiggle room this time.

We had multiple Democrats Peel off and stymied loads of progress (Manchin, Sinema etc).

We need enough room for the wolves in sheep's clothing to not make a (D)ifference in the progress we need to shut down authoritarianism.

The supreme court being public enemy #1 means we need everything else to be operating seamlessly to be able to prevent every single goal for project 2025 line by line immediately and permanently.

Undoing regulatory capture will also be a monumental feat, as will reforming media's ability to platform lies and disinformation that are objectively false.

Huge fucking task list and we haven't even talked about running the actual country yet. We're gonna need one hell of a blue wave to drown the fascists and drain the swamp.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil 54 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

We had multiple Democrats Peel off and stymied loads of progress (Manchin, Sinema etc).

This is a consistent problem with Dem "majority" coalitions dating back to the '77 Carter coalition that cracked up while trying to pass a universal health care plan and fossil fuel exit strategy. Clinton's '93 coalition also splintered due to conservative Democrat infighting. Lieberman famously killed a host of legislation in '09/'10 (although he was mostly a cat's paw for other conservatives in the House and Senate). And then Manchin/Sinema upended Biden's reforms in '17, before squandering the House majority the following year.

These failures aren't accidental. They are the direct result of Democrats saying "We need to vote candidates who are electable" and then getting a bunch of shitty corporate flaks who bought their way through the primaries.

We just watched Cori Bush and Jamal Bowman lose their House seats to AIPAC lobbyists, while Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlahib had to muscle through enormously expensive primaries funded by the same far-right donor groups that favor the Republican Party.

The supreme court being public enemy #1 means we need everything else to be operating seamlessly

The SCOTUS is a distraction, as they've got no real power to enforce their decisions. The real fight is between a liberal federal government and the assorted red state and municipal governments. We've seen this proven out with AGs like Ken Paxton and governors like DeSantis who routinely break laws in their quest to pump up the base with high profile acts of cruelty to their minority populations. They've discovered its easier to ask forgiveness than permission, and the Biden admin's response has been to just kinda shrug its way through rather than risk open confrontation.

This is the same shit guys like Pierce and Buchanan did shortly before the federal system collapsed under their feet. But if you're always trying to triangulate and get the opposition on board, its where your party and your country eventually end up when fascists at the lower levels of government realize they've got carte blanche and a partisan mandate to do evil.

[–] hydrospanner 7 points 2 months ago (2 children)

The SCOTUS is a distraction, as they've got no real power to enforce their decisions.

This is something I've been thinking about more and more.

With our three branches of government, it's up to the executive to enforce the laws, and by extension, the rulings of the judiciary.

What's the failsafe mechanism for when the executive doesn't like a ruling and has no respect of law, or for the system?

What happens after the supreme court says, "Hey President! What you're doing is unconstitutional and you must stop immediately."...and the president just goes, "Actually I don't care what you say. I'm still doing it. Have a wonderful day and go fuck all nine of yourselves."

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[–] Triasha 11 points 2 months ago (5 children)

I have bad news about the Senate.

Reps are probably taking it unless Texas, Florida, or Montana comes through to glad Dems a 50/50 split.

Now if they can abolish the filibuster at least for adding states and also take the house, they could add DC and Puerto Rico and the next cycle would be friendlier.

[–] krashmo 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Last poll I saw had Tester up 6 points here in Montana.

Even if that's based on a small sample poll you need to be giving people hope that their vote matters. Save the doomerism, pessimism, realism, or whatever else you call what you're doing until after the election.

[–] Triasha 10 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Senate will be tight in any realistic scenario. Tester in Montana is the most likely of the three I listed to come through and I donated to his campaign.

I will be voting against Ted Cruz and I am volunteering on weekends to help Collin Allred.

If anyone reading this is wondering if it's worth it, I think it absolutely is worth it to donate what you can, and volunteer how you can.

Voting is the bare minimum. Please do so.

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[–] just_another_person 12 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Certainly is tracking that way, and gaining more and more each week.

[–] draneceusrex 19 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Senate is gonna be tight....

[–] UnpopularCrow 24 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Agreed. Without Tester winning in Montana, the only other close race is Cruz in Texas. And rest assured, Texas is doing everything they can to disenfranchise democrats.

[–] Aermis 9 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I am not sure they want to win. The convention as a whole anyways. Having all 3 seats of power will now set the precedent to do something and they don't want to do something, at least their donors don't.

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[–] [email protected] 64 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I read the article to see who was gunna get knifed, but couldn't find the source quote. I hope it's Mike Johnson, proverbially or whatever.

[–] RaoulDook 39 points 2 months ago

Fucking bullshit clickbait about knife fighting with no actual knife fights at all!

[–] IchNichtenLichten 10 points 2 months ago (1 children)

"Meanwhile, Will Reinert, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said the most contentious House races are likely to require "trench warfare" in order for the GOP to keep the speaker's gavel.

Reinert told The Hill, "Because we are well-prepared, we are well-positioned to grow our majority. But it's going to be a knife fight until the very end.""

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[–] psycho_driver 52 points 2 months ago

Everybody just vote. Also, vote in local elections. Rs dominate most local governments and they're what is allowing this disease to fester.

[–] Snapz 48 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

"Okay boys, time to shit in our own pants, cry and blame someone else for the shit in our pants"

-Transcript from emergency, closed door gop strategy session

[–] [email protected] 40 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Drive these maga weirdos from office!

[–] [email protected] 55 points 2 months ago (2 children)

It's still absurd to me that this is something one would even need to say.

The sentence "don't vote for Ted Cruz" has the same vibe to it as "don't shit your pants in the supermarket". It feels like something that shouldn't need to be said.

Then again, evidently it does.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

I mean... there are genuinely good odds that people will be doing that after trump inevitably gets caught shitting his pants on camera/microphone.

It is deranged that one of the stupidest and most vile people on the planet has this much of a cult around him.

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[–] [email protected] 35 points 2 months ago (1 children)

IF everyone voted, there would not be a GOP.

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[–] Sam_Bass 33 points 2 months ago (4 children)
[–] just_another_person 17 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Radiohead wrote a song about it a long time ago.

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[–] randon31415 17 points 2 months ago (7 children)

Dems almost won the house on an off year in 2022, there hasn't been a significant level of gerrymandering between then and now (just standard levels).

How could the democrats loose the house?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago

Voter suppression

[–] Snowclone 9 points 2 months ago

Overconfidence in voters leading to low turn out.

[–] Eatspancakes84 8 points 2 months ago

Watch NY Dems fuck it up (again). More seriously I think it’s very likely that the presidency and the house will move in the same direction. Gerrymandering and the electoral college both favor the GOP in the same way. Even in 2016 when Dems won the popular vote by a mile, the GOP still took both the house and the presidency.

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[–] givesomefucks 14 points 2 months ago (12 children)

Its still crazy to me so many people wanted to keep Biden. He wasn't only hurting our chance at the presidency, a poor presidential candidate hurts chances for gains in House/Senate too.

Biden had too many valid issues that was hurting Dem turnout.

Lots of people couldn't hold their nose for Biden, and likely weren't going to show up to just vote down ballot.

Kamala is far from perfect, but has practically zero baggage in comparison to Biden. So running her is going to help pick up more seats elsewhere.

If she does the "now that I'm in office I'm going to start trying to find out if I can do anything" that Biden did tho. We'll get nothing accomplished with those 2 years and lose one or both in midterms.

There's no excuse to be unprepared in January, it shows voters that the candidate wasn't really serious about fixing shit, and it's almost impossible for a candidate to recover.

Considering a primary in 2028 is incredibly unlikely, we can't afford Kamala to fuck this up.

She needs to start doing shit to help Americans day 1.

[–] 24_at_the_withers 63 points 2 months ago (6 children)

Traditionally, the incumbent has a huge advantage. I don't believe that the party of any sitting president that was primaried ever won the election. There are only a few cases of a sitting president that was eligible for another term stepping aside, and those were a very long time ago.

There was very little precedent for what Biden did, and I think very few could have predicted the enthusiasm for Harris - I remember her last campaign. It wasn't inspiring.

I think Biden felt like the safest choice to many, though obviously that's been proven incorrect. Hopefully the Democratic party will take a lesson from this and be more willing to replace an incumbent in the future if there's a better option.

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[–] simplejack 24 points 2 months ago (16 children)

Its still crazy to me so many people wanted to keep Biden

I get it. Changing the engine out mid-flight comes with a lot of uncertainty. Would selecting a new candidate go smoothly, would a new candidate be able to get momentum, what happens if a new candidate is worse, etc.

Biden wasn’t great, but people were worried about all the unknowns.

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[–] Hawke 12 points 2 months ago (5 children)

If she does the "now that I'm in office I'm going to start trying to find out if I can do anything"

Not sure what you’re trying to say with this. Are you saying she shouldn’t try to do anything? If so what is the point of electing her? As I see it, it’s the exact opposite and she should immediately try to accomplish some goals. Why wait?

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago

Its still crazy to me so many people wanted to keep Biden.

This question has been asked and answered; to death. Trends strongly indicate it's a disaster to primary the incumbent for very obvious and often-repeated reasons.

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[–] Eiri 12 points 2 months ago (6 children)

Okay off topic but I had to Google "gubernatorial". That word looks made up.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 months ago (2 children)
[–] nomous 13 points 2 months ago

It's easy to remember cause that's when we elect the goobers.

[–] GaMEChld 10 points 2 months ago

It's a perfectly cromulent word.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago

Dems were always expected to flip the House this year. The fight is much tighter for the Senate, which the Republicans are still expected to flip given a map that is very favorable to them this year.

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