I mean to say, few voters bother researching this kind of thing. It's a kneejerk reaction: defund the police=no. CRT in schools=no. tacos and titties=yes. I mean, Trump endorsed the guy. That's a fair target, IMHO. The issue is to those of us in the DC area, Trump is toxic, it's like painting him with skunk shit. To the rest of the state, Trump is either irrelevant (his endorsement doesn't actually carry any weight, unless Youngkin wants a golf discount or some shit), or a popular figure that's smeared by the media. Where do you think McAuliffe recruited his staff from?
I think there are definitely accusations of racism for voting conservative. Especially from the MSNBC types. But I think that there is more noise from the Fox News world that says “these people are calling you racist for wanting to have a say in your child’s education”. Meanwhile, they are trying to ban books here in Texas. It’s a sexier and simpler message that resonates with the morons. Once people start getting into the mud to debate what CRT is or isn’t, the debate is already over. End of the day, the Dems just do not get through to the working class anymore. The circular firing squad that is so common among the Dems will be out in full force as the moderates and progressives try to blame each other for accomplishing nothing. And Biden is too scared/incompetent to make bold moves.
I don't watch Fox News or MSNBC, so I'll take your word on it for both. I don't think the vast majority of GOP voters could give a consistent definition of what CRT actually is, but I don't think Democrats could either. Some of them are proponents of it, while others are claiming it doesn't even exist. I think in terms of McAuliffe's failure, CRT was just one of the issues, and may have been the tipping point. He claimed that parents shouldn't have a say in their child's education. A public education system needs to have a standard curriculum, at least in some regard. Realistically, you can't have a bespoke educational program for each student that changes depending on how each parent is feeling that day. However, after 18 months + of parents having their kids home, struggling with remote learning across the board and then dealing with random closures due to outbreaks in the districts, it was just a completely tone-deaf comment for him to make. Whatever he tells the teacher's unions in private doesn't translate well when he repeats it to the parents. I'll never understand why the Democrats completely turned their backs on the working class after they went for Trump in 2016. That betrayal cuts both ways, but it probably didn't have to end up like it did. It would be one thing if they had some national legislative successes to hang their hat on, but they can't even unite to do that.
I admittedly didn’t follow McAuliffe’s campaign but from what I’ve read, he was generally not very exciting and didn’t inspire much. Also, gas prices are through the roof right now and the cost of shit is going up with new and different shortages every day. Whether or not it’s Biden’s “fault” is irrelevant. The easy taking point is, “he’s in charge, it’s his fault”. It cuts both ways and both parties do it. I think all these expensive new bills they are trying to pass are maybe good for the country, but no one knows what’s in them or how they might help. All we hear is the total cost and the constant bickering. There’s a lot of really popular shit they could do to shore up support, like legalize weed, fix the student loan problem, not by total forgiveness necessarily, but maybe with a permanent interest rate reduction. I dunno. Improve tax benefits for those working from home. Get rid of all the means testing that make the benefits unobtainable. I’m just brainstorming things that piss me off though.
https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/1455722698689196033 This is a helluva stat. College educated white women didn't budge from 2020, but non-college educated white women swung by 20 points. Basically if they actually had experience with education, they saw right through the "focus on education" framing.
That’s the spirit! Sure that’ll win over the blue collar voters that swing apparently decided this election.
I know I paint with a broad stroke, but we had people in Dealey Plaza waiting for JFK Jr. to return. Setting aside the fact that he wasn’t even killed there, he’s been dead for over 20 years. A not so insignificant number of people are railing against something that they can’t define(critical race theory), that’s not being taught to their children, but think it is anyway. As Trump said, we love the uneducated. There is no real common ground with folks like this. As far as your average blue collar worker, that’s a Democratic failure to get them in their tent. But the Dems lost the cultural war a long time ago. Most of their policies require nuanced discussion and understanding. It doesn’t work as bumper sticker principles.
Like what, though? What amazing policies is the general public just not fully comprehending? There is no salient legislation regarding economics, immigration, criminal justice reform, education, etc. If they exist, where are the bills on the floor for each of those like we were promised? The strict orthodoxy is strangling the hell of the Democrats, particularly since they can’t even pass bills on the back of their own majority. “Fuck Trump” was a viable party platform for one election cycle, it doesn’t work when everyone else is moving on and is expecting anything out of them.
Passing these bills requires 60 votes. There seems to be very little appetite to break the filibuster rules to pass things. I know publicly, Manchin and Sinema are the only ones who say they won’t end the filibuster, but I’m betting there are more privately. As for all the legislation that you mentioned above, I just don’t think it exists. They are spending so much fucking time on these infrastructure bills and bickering and bullshitting, and it probably won’t pass anyway. The republicans have essentially committed to giving not one inch on any legislation because they know it hurts the Dems more when they don’t play ball. Also, if they end the filibuster, it basically forces their hands into doing really big things. Student loan elimination, DC statehood, voting rights legislation, Supreme Court expansion, etc. If they can do it with just a simple majority and don’t do it, it just means they never really wanted it in the first place.
"Fuck Obama" and "Fuck Hillary" got us Trump. "Fuck Trump" got us Biden and all the disappointment that entails. "Fuck Biden" is scary, because there's nothing slowing the race to the bottom. We're going to depend on people like Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell to preserve the system over party the next time January 6th happens? I agree, the Democrats have done precisely fuck all, and it's embarassing. Legalize pot? Student loans? The border? Fucking NOTHING. Not a whisper. The stuff they got elected to do is apparently "don't be Trump", which translates to "don't engage the media, do as little as possible, and make places like West Virginia and Arizona seem like they're the problem." The futility and insistence on every issue being race-baiting or the Republican's fault just means we elected the wrong cunts. I wish someone like Warren had gotten a bit more clout, so that y'know...shit could actually get done.
I voted for Warren in the primaries. But they tainted the fuck out of her with that Pocahontas shit. I hate the fact that Trump was so fucking funny at times. It didn’t help that she made the claims even if she really thought she was part native. The damage was done and she looked stupid.
I was all in for Julian Castro. His brave support of abortion rights for trans women really resonated with me.
I don't know how something so dumb went viral, particularly when Biden may (but probably not) have shit his pants in front of the Pope and no one cared.
My favorite thing I saw about the whole "Let's go Brandon" phrase was (paraphrasing here) "Saying 'Let's go Brandon' instead of 'Fuck Joe Biden' is so childish that I'm surprised Matt Gaetz hasn't tried to have sex with it.".
Hey, now that you mention it, wasn't there some weed legalization bill before Congress right before the election? What ever happened with that? You know, guys, I really think that if weed is ever legalized, it will be the Republicans that do it. Not because it's the right thing to do, but so they can point their fingers at the Democrats for not doing it themselves. Then a bunch of wealthy Republicans are going to get even wealthier.