BlitzoTheOisSilent

It's better to be judged by twelve than carried by six.

That could've been a typo on my part, but in that sense, I meant the constituency of the Democrat Party didn't want Kamala.

Biden didn't drop out until well after the primaries had begun, do the members of the Democrat party weren't given the chance to choose their candidate. A few names were floated around for a week or so, and then the party establishment basically all got behind Harris.

So we don't know who the voters of the Democrat party would have wanted, they were having Biden forced on them until they moved to Harris.

I'd say the idiot is the career politician who lost to a fascist, convicted felon who gained votes by insulting his base. 🤷‍♀️

And instead of reflecting on her own shortcomings and those of her political party, we'll blame and insult those who supported her regardless of her lackluster campaign and policy promises.

And huh, 98% of Michigan is in, and Harris is behind by about 100,000 votes, roughly the same amount as those who protest voted during the primaries... Good thing we completely wrote off that entire demographic of our party in a key swing state, fucking voters should have known better.

Democrats wanted to incrementally improve things.

They've had four years to, and to the average American, they didn't. They improved things, but not enough for the average American to notice, or care.

In comparison, regardless of how he did it, Trump got things done that his base wanted.

Democrats are going to learn that they need to move further to the right to pick up votes. They've done it before, and they will do it again. They will look at the conservatives who voted and tailor a party platform for them.

They did that this time and lost. They did it in 2016 and lost. The Democrats want a return to the status quo, and nothing else. Americans want change, the status quo is not working for them, but the Democrat party will not try to rally the vote. They scream about Republicans and voter suppression, but where's the law mandating voting? Or making it a federal holiday? Or requiring paid time off to vote for essential employees?

You're talking about strategy, well, progressives want to align with the Democrats, right? The FPTP system only allows for two viable parties, right, because winner takes all, and third parties can't compete? Therefore, progressive third party candidates, under the current system, can't gain any political power because the system is broken, right?

Ok, so let's work within the system we have. Republicans are fascist, not very progressive, guess that leaves the Democrats. And they seem open to it! But they keep telling us no, now's not the right time for XYZ, we don't have the support, we have to stop/prevent XYZ. We keep voicing concerns and want our issues addressed, and we keep being ignored, told we have to get back to normal before we can move forward, condescended to, or outright dismissed.

You keep saying the Democrats will just keep moving right, and that's exactly the point I'm making, and the reason people didn't go out in droves for Harris. You keep saying the Democrats will just try to keep stealing Republican voters, well, then they deserve to lose. 37% of eligible voters vote, and instead of trying to garner that other 63% of the voters to come out, they'll cut off their nose to spite their face and refuse to adopt progressive, populist policies?

You're basically telling me the Democrat's strategy is, "Do what we say or we'll become more like the fascists." Cool, so delayed fascism versus fascism... Hence "what difference does it make if our wants don't matter."

Harris, with Democrats down ballot. My state also went for Harris, but we're not one of the ones that matters.

As a trans woman, I don't have the luxury of voting my conscience and begrudgingly voted Harris despite her lackluster policies and genocide support.

At the same time, I don't blame anyone who couldn't vote for her and chose to abstain or vote third party, because the Democrats didn't win their vote. The Democrats aren't entitled to someone's vote just because the opponent is a fascist, and maybe if they stopped acting like they deserve every election for simply not being a Republican and actually put forth progressive policies, they'd win.

Throws your tantrum all you want, the Dems didn't get the votes they needed, and it's their lackluster campaigning that lost them the election.

The voters don't owe candidates shit, especially when they're being promised four more years of Biden, but a pinch more progressive.

I've written a lot of comments this morning, and I don't remember which one's I've said what in, so I apologize if I'm repeating something.

I understand what you're saying, it's not fair that the Democrats have an unrealistic standard compared to the Republicans. But the Democrats have to figure that out and get over it, and they're just not.

I'm seeing a lot of polls now showing the biggest factor for Americans voting was the economy. The economy has, verifiably, improved under Biden, and I will not argue against that.

But polls also consistently show that, despite the improved economy, Americans don't feel it. And that's the problem: the Dems were presented this information (Americans don't feel better under this economy), and just kept doubling down, spouting metrics that mean nothing to the average American.

I think in response to the economy polling, Harris trotted out the $15/hr minimum wage increase. In our political hellscape, that's a progressive policy. But it's 10 years too late... Minimum wage should be around $26/hr if it was (and should be) tied to inflation, the magic buzzword everyone has on their mind. But they're not campaigning on $26/hr, they're barely campaigning on $15/hr.

Someone in another thread pointed out bodily autonomy and how much worse it would get under Trump. Fair enough, but what has Biden shown the American people he's done about bodily autonomy in the last 4 years? Why wasn't it enshrined into law at any point during the decades since the initial Roe ruling? Why should voters believe Democrats are actually going to do it this time and not continue using abortion as a campaign tool?

You and I both know the answers to all of the questions above are not black and white, their answers range from the complexity of different administrations to the limited power within the executive branch to Democrats lacking a political majority outside of a few months every couple decades, etc. I get that, but even I'm tired of it being an excuse, and the average American doesn't even consider the excuse. They just don't care: they see their money worth less, their paycheck barely increasing to match inflation most years, and laws not being passed.

On the flip side, Trump got a lot done in his first four years, regardless of whatever legal obstacles got in his way. This flies in the face of our constitution and the very rule of law and is a direct threat to our democracy.....

.... But he got things done. No one can deny that, Trump got things done, and he did things his base wanted him to. As much as Trump hates his base, he at least panders to them, and if he doesn't support them, he shows faux support, which is good enough. He represents the worst of humanity, is a serial rapist, convicted felon, racist, misogynist, sexist, xenophobic, transphobic, homophobic orange shit stain on the annals of history...

But he got things done, and in the eyes if the average American, Biden didn't, and Harris promised 4 more years of the same. So voters stayed home, and it is 100% the Democrats fault.

First of all, Drag, I voted for Harris, and actually voted Democrat down ballot. So from this trans veterans lips to your ear canals: Drag can go fuck Dragself for calling me a Nazi for having the audacity to criticize the party I'm forced to vote for that doesn't represent any of my interests.

And that right fucking there is why Democrats lose, and Democrats are to blame: they can't do anything but give us a candidate to vote against, and not one to vote for.

How many voters do you think they would have pulled running on an actual, progressive platform instead of the status quo bullshit we're all clearly tired of? Medicare4All, free tuition, free school meals, actually funding social welfare programs, actually enshrining LGBTQ+ and bodily autonomy rights into law, expanding the supreme court to actually reflect the country's wishes, abolishing the filibuster so progress can potentially start again in the Senate, stopping weapons shipments for the Palestinian genocide (or ffs, even taking a stance on the genocide)?

The Democrats lost, and fascism won, because the Democrats refuse to listen to their base. Dem voters stayed home because their party leadership failed to inspire them, and I'm sick of the people asking for policies that will actually benefit them instead of some billionaire oligarchs (where's the blame pointed at the millions they funneled into the elections) being blamed for everything. This isn't even considering the four years Biden had to show the American people any progress, any discernible improvement in their economic lives, and failed to do so.

Just like in 2016: the DNC forced a candidate onto the party they didn't want, refused to listen to any vocal portions of the party while condescendingly telling them that party leaders know best and they need to fall in line, campaigned on uninspiring centrist policies and a return to the status quo, keep preaching about working across the aisle while being slandered and shit on, and then assume the race is in the bag because the other candidate is a fascist reality star.

And just like in 2016, they lost, and they have no one to blame but themselves.

Yep, we will.

The Democrats ran on an uninspiring platform, and then wondered why the voting base was uninspired.

And I didn't realize "listen to your constituents" was the same as "do anything I say and also fuck you."

Bodily autonomy of women.

The same bodily autonomy Democrats failed to enshrine in law at any point in the decades following the initial Roe v. Wade decision? Or the bodily autonomy that Harris and the dems wouldn't have had the votes to pass anyway even had they won? Or do you mean the bodily autonomy that Biden has done nothing meaningful with since he took office four years ago?

Gerrymandering

What specific policy platform did Harris put forward and advertise to the American people regarding gerrymandering? I don't recall anything specific beyond "we need to stop it." Ok, how? How do you plan to do that when, once again, you won't have majorities in both houses, and SCOTUS is corrupt and you/Biden refuse to do anything about that, either, like pack the court?

Climate change

She reversed her policy on fracking a couple weeks into her campaign, might make voters think you can't trust her and her commitment to the climate crisis, which Biden has shown to also not be doing great on.

Land grabbing

I'm assuming this is related to housing? Yeah, Harris said she wanted to build 3 million new homes and offer first time homebuyers down payment assistance. This doesn't address all of the corporate consolidation of housing, and it doesn't prevent these corporate entities from gobbling up huge amounts of these new homes.

Corporate tax evasion

What has Biden done in regards to this? Have the tax breaks put in place by Trump been reversed? No? Because they have to be undone by Congress? Cool, so what's Harris's plan if she doesn't control both houses of Congress, send me 8 emails a day for the next 4 years begging me for money while not raising the minimum wage in any meaningful way?

I voted Harris, to be clear, but her policies were centrist at best, and that's why she lost. Regardless of what the stats and polls show, Americans don't feel better off than four years ago. Americans want change, and if it's not going to be progress, then I guess it'll be regress. And the Dems have no one to blame but themselves.

Proving my point as to why Democrats can't seem to win, keep winning people over to the party there, champ.