Wednesday, November 8, 2017
Democratic victory
Democrats win as governor in New Jersey and Virginia. Both candidates are supporters of Planned Parenthood and won the women's vote. I think this is a sign that voters do care about issues like women's rights and do see the Democratic party as standing *for* something. Yay :)
More on this all from Rachel Maddow ...
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Looking at the stats, he won the Latino vote, among other groups. Immigration reform support and healthcare were in the mix of important issues, too, along with Christy being a swine. However, Murphy's a rich Wall Street guy, so I don't expect he'll be a real true blue Democrat.
ReplyDeleteIn Repub Delaware County, for the first time, Democrats took two County Council seats. They ran as anti-Trumpers.
ReplyDeleteI hope this is a sign that people are starting to move away from Trumpism and all its works and pomps.
ReplyDeleteSober counting of hatched eggs: The Democrats had to pull these out of the fire. But neither VA or NJ Democrat marches to the Bernie drum beat. The NJ Republican was so pitiful that she couldn't have won dog catcher having been Christie's lap dog as Lt. Gov (j.g.).
ReplyDeleteThe Democrats have a long way to go to recoup legitimacy.
The best outcome of the election was the Maine Referendum that allowed the citizens to vote in favor of a Medicare extension that was turned down by their idiot governor. That is democracy at work, and demonstrates that the citizenry can vote for its own best interests.
P.S. Local reporting in Jersey metro area foresaw low Democratic turn-out even if the Republican candidate was not favored to win. The Democrats turned out.
DeleteAlso interesting critiques of the Virginia pre-election polling showing a tight race. Wasn't. Northam did even better than Clinton who won VA in 2016.
These are good signs, people are waking up to Trump's collusion with the Anti-Christ and forces of Chaos, but I agree whole-heartedly that Democrats cannot win in large numbers on a "we hate Trump" platform.
DeleteSupporting Planned Parenthood ought not to be conflated with supporting women. I care about health care (and support Planned Parenthood to the extent that it provides some low-cost health services). But women's issues extend beyond pelvic issues.
I don't vote as a uterus. I vote for candidates who have a lucid understanding of foreign policy that strengthens existing alliances and forges others, concern for wage disparity, a commitment to established safety nets, and a liberal construction of "civil rights."
I also want someone to ride herd on these (excuse me) goddam guns.
I do support candidates who support women's rights. Usually candidates who support women's rights also support the other stuff I care about too, so it works out. What creeps me out are the candidates who try to split economic views and social views ... like pro-life Bernie supporters.
DeleteWhy do they "creep you out"?
DeleteBack when I was a practicing Republican I was a cafeteria one. Now that I lean more in the Democratic direction, I'm still cafeteria. I can't picture myself ever being totally on board with any party's platform. I just do the best I can with what options are available. Agree with Jean about foreign policy, wage disparity, safety nets, and civil rights.
DeleteOne take-away message I get from these election results is that getting voters to turn out really counts. I would almost say it is more important to focus on getting everyone possible to vote than to focus on micro-interest groups. If people aren't part of what they perceive as the solution, then they are part of the problem.
It's tricky, though, isn't it, Katherine? You have advocacy groups for all kinds of special interests, and you have to to somehow persuade them that their interests are interwoven into your overarching concerns about fairness and compassion.
DeleteTo some this sounds like The Man blowing them off. Will, say, Black Lives Matter turn out the vote if you promise general police improvement measures and don't make specific promises about the very real fact that African Americans are disproportionately targets of cop violence?
Everyone wants a specific and special deal now from the federal government when often their problems are local or regional.
Jean,
DeleteI don't mean people who are Democrats and pro-life creep me out, I mean that Democratic candidates who are pro-life creep me out. Most Democratic candidates and office-holders who are personally pro-life promise to keep that personal and not let it affect the way they will govern for our pluralistic society, like Joe Biden and Tim Kaine. For a Dem in office to force his religious beliefs on others, especially minority beliefs, does seem creepy to me.
More on the importance of the Maine referendum:
Delete"Presenting a pure question of a big government economic redistribution scheme divorced from any questions about candidate personality or culture war politics, the ballot initiative was a roaring success, passing with what looks to be about 60 percent of the vote. In the Democratic stronghold of Portland, it ran 5 points ahead of Hillary Clinton and secured 81 percent of the vote. But it also carried inland towns like Ellsworth and Dover-Foxcroft that Trump won.
"That suggests that both blades of the Trumpist scissors — economic populism and white identity politics — mattered to Trump’s success. And that while Democrats certainly won’t win white rural America over to their column, their candidates have ample opportunity to make at least some inroads by emphasizing traditional social programs and downplaying culture war issues."
VOX: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/11/9/16623534/maine-medicaid-referendum
It's other places too - Democrats In Washington State Win Full Control Of The Government
ReplyDeleteBart Stupak says Michigan is now a red state thanks to divisive identity politics. I think he has a point. However, he also says that a lot of people in his district have "buyers remorse" over the Trump election. It will be interesting to see which way things go in the Michigan State Legislature next year.
ReplyDeleteA news program I was watching last night opined that Democrats trying to win over the "deplorables" probably won't work, but that they did win and can win in the future by getting all the Democrats out there to actually vote. Many disaffected Dems didn't vote for Hillary, but they did pull together in these latest elections. Time is on our side - younger voters are much more likely to be Democrats.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who doesn't have "buyer's remorse" ... my mother-in-law being one .... about Trump isn't willing to look in the mirror and see the face of one who fell for a Tale told by an Idiot, full of Sound and Fury, yet signifying Nothing."
ReplyDeleteHope you can open this:
ReplyDeletehttps://international.la-croix.com/news/trump-is-more-dangerous-than-kim-jong-un-says-former-head-of-benedictines/6311
Thanks for the link, Jim. Interesting - I never thought of there being Benedictines in N. Korea.
ReplyDeleteOne of my cousins was ranting this morning on Facebook about how his health insurance rates for 2018 had tripled. He previously had a subsidy, and now he doesn't. Did he blame Trump and the party of nihilistic spite for withdrawing the subsidies before they even had the shadow of a plan in place? Not on your tintype. It was Obama's fault. For, you know, starting the ACA in the first place. I didn't take part in that discussion, you can't convince irrational.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like my step-parents. My sister and I make every effort not to ever bring up politics with them.
DeleteHas Trump changed at all from the clown who ran for the presidency in 2016? Has his actions (antics) surprised anyone? If someone were crazy enough to vote for this poor excuse for a humanoid in the first place, why should they change now? I am sure that at Thanksgiving I will find my relatives still firmly immersed in their group insanity. But I have no intention of holding back on expressing my derision for what they did to MY COUNTRY.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid that once we (the family) start talking about politics, we'll ruin the relationship beyond repair. But it's already affected the relationship in more covert ways, I guess.
ReplyDelete