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Thread: 11/08/2022, The Midterms, aka build on 2020 aka The Election Thread

  1. #1231
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    Best quote from Buzzfeed: "For someone who hates socialism, Bloomberg sure loves getting publicly owned."

  2. #1232
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    People on Twitter are bitching that last night’s debate was more like a “reality show” than showing how the Democrats can “beat Donald Trump.”

    First, they ALL claim they can beat Trump. The proof will be how many votes they can get from the “Big Tent” range of Democrat and Independent voters.

    Second, last night was marketing, not strategy. And it was brilliant political theater. Compared to the SNOOZE FEST field of 2016 (Remember Lincoln Chafee? Jim Webb? Martin O’Malley?)


  3. #1233
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    It was great and all, but everyone outside of Bernie agreeing to let superdelegates swing the nomination (regardless of the lead in pledged votes and delegates) undid whatever wind was put in my sails after Bloomberg was ethered.

  4. #1234
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aladdinsanity View Post
    It was great and all, but everyone outside of Bernie agreeing to let superdelegates swing the nomination (regardless of the lead in pledged votes and delegates) undid whatever wind was put in my sails after Bloomberg was ethered.
    All candidates know the DNC rules going into this, when they decide to run as a Democrat.

    And a brokered convention is one of those boogeymen that people throw around (Republicans spread it around as an option to get rid of Trump in 2016) but it never actually happens. Meghan McCain is insisting there will be a brokered Democratic convention, but she’s a total drama queen.

    Sure, it’s POSSIBLE. It’s ALWAYS “possible.” But making that possibility out to be “unfair” is like hijacking a plane and then bitching that the plane doesn’t have premium vodka and isn’t going to your destination.

    I think Bloomberg is gonna fizzle.
    Last edited by allegro; 02-20-2020 at 04:10 PM.

  5. #1235
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    Warren camp is now reporting they've brought in over $5 million since the start of the debate.

  6. #1236
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    Quote Originally Posted by allegro View Post
    (Remember Lincoln Chafee? Jim Webb? Martin O’Malley?)
    Honestly? no

  7. #1237
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    Quote Originally Posted by allegro View Post
    But Bernie knew the DNC rules going into this, when he opted to run as a Democrat. They all do.

    And a brokered convention is one of those boogeymen that people throw around (Republicans spread it around as an option to get rid of Trump in 2016) but it never actually happens. Meghan McCain is insisting there will be a brokered convention, but she’s a total drama queen.

    Sure, it’s POSSIBLE. It’s ALWAYS “possible.” But making that possibility out to be “unfair” is like hijacking a plane and then bitching that the plane doesn’t have premium vodka and isn’t going to your destination.

    We are a Republic, but we are also a party system and the candidates are obligated to operate under the rules of that party, or they are welcome to run as Independents or under another party. Or, start their own party.
    True. But fuck, man, I don't know... the DNC really screwed the pooch letting Bloomberg buy his way into the primary this late and suddenly changing the guidelines to allow him on the debate stage last night. Between that and the disaster of the Iowa caucus, the Democratic party is on really shaky ground right now when it comes to their voters' trust.

  8. #1238
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    I remember O'Malley because of that strong Daddy energy, but not anything he ever said or did. Don't have any recollection of the other two. Would have to Google.

  9. #1239
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aladdinsanity View Post
    True. But fuck, man, I don't know... the DNC really screwed the pooch letting Bloomberg buy his way into the primary this late and suddenly changing the guidelines to allow him on the debate stage last night. Between that and the disaster of the Iowa caucus, the Democratic party is on really shaky ground right now when it comes to their voters' trust.
    But that rule-change in Nevada fucked ALL the other candidates; they’re all pissed about it.

    https://www.vox.com/2020/2/1/2111803...iden-bloomberg

    I think the DNC is just trying to appeal to a wide variety. It’s party politics. The DNC also wants money for its OTHER (non-Presidential) candidates.

    Bloomberg pumped millions of dollars into 2018 Democratic candidates and will likely do the same in 2020, and the DNC doesn’t want to stem that flow of money that helps Dem candidates in local races all over the country.

    It shouldn’t all be about money, but it is. And until meaningful campaign finance reform legislation is passed, it won’t change.

    Voters should be a LOT more concerned about the possibility that their vote won’t be hacked by foreign adversaries or the opposing party, or tha POC will be prevented from voting through voter suppression.
    Last edited by allegro; 02-20-2020 at 07:31 PM.

  10. #1240
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jinsai View Post
    Honestly? no
    https://time.com/4156243/democratic-...ocial-moments/

  11. #1241
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    I suppose this is more "2016 election", but that thread is long gone.

    https://thehill.com/policy/technolog...ormation-would

    tl;dr - Facebook's own staff said in 2016 that they didn't want to take down propaganda because most of it was geared towards helping conservatives and it would be unfair to pull it.

  12. #1242
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    This the most galaxy brain rationale I’ve ever fucking heard...and it’s been a monumentally stupid couple of years so that’s saying something.

  13. #1243
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    I have this fantasy where Bloomberg:

    * Buys all Trump loans, then calls them in,

    * Buys Facebook and Twitter and shuts them down,

    * Buys Fox News and turns it into a 24-hour gangster rap and Tejano music video station.
    Last edited by allegro; 02-20-2020 at 08:11 PM.

  14. #1244
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aladdinsanity View Post
    It was great and all, but everyone outside of Bernie agreeing to let superdelegates swing the nomination (regardless of the lead in pledged votes and delegates) undid whatever wind was put in my sails after Bloomberg was ethered.
    I'm very pro-Bernie, but in 2016 he said roughly the opposite.

    https://www.npr.org/2016/05/19/47870...ing-nomination

    EDIT:
    Quote Originally Posted by allegro View Post
    I have this fantasy where Bloomberg:

    * Buys all Trump loans, then calls them in,

    * Buys Facebook and Twitter and shuts them down,

    * Buys Fox News and turns it into a 24-hour gangster rap and Tejano music video station.
    People might start liking Daddy Warbucks if he did this shit. It's hard to think about the $400 million he's already spent and not imagine what incredible good it could have done. The guy is ridiculously out of touch.
    Last edited by Magtig; 02-21-2020 at 12:07 AM.

  15. #1245
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    BERNIE SANDERS LEADS IN ALL 10 NATIONAL POLLS RELEASED THIS WEEK AHEAD OF NEVADA CAUCUSES
    https://www.newsweek.com/bernie-sand...9Qi9WWcgZtl8vE

    Rivals worry Sanders building 'insurmountable' Super Tuesday lead
    https://thehill.com/homenews/campaig...MG2rlMPodf3kI0
    Last edited by neorev; 02-21-2020 at 12:41 PM.

  16. #1246
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    I completely ignore ANYTHING on The Hill.

    The Hill is 100% Right Wing propaganda crapola.

  17. #1247
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    Quote Originally Posted by allegro View Post
    I have this fantasy where Bloomberg:

    * Buys all Trump loans, then calls them in,

    * Buys Facebook and Twitter and shuts them down,

    * Buys Fox News and turns it into a 24-hour gangster rap and Tejano music video station.
    Bloomberg spends more on one week of advertising for his stupid, self-indulgent campaign than the vast majority of human beings will ever possess in their lifetime. I know you're just having fun and I don't mean this as a personal attack but it would be great if we not do this gross "what if he was OUR billionaire?!" bullshit. It is useless and frustrating to contemplate the staggering amount of good people as wealthy as him could accomplish if they gave even a fraction of a shit about everyone else.

    Yes, like all people with obscene and frankly immoral quantities of money, he has put some of his wealth towards things that are not horrible, or even good. This means nothing. As staggering as amounts he donates may seem to us, they amount to pocket change for him, and not only are most of these charitable ventures tax deductible - they also earn him unearned respect and praise from citizens and media outlets, who look at him giving a minuscule fraction of his wealth and think, "Wow, what a generous, good-hearted man!" It's a smokescreen, a common one for the disgustingly rich, to distract from the obvious. He directly targeted and terrorized communities of color in New York City for a decade. He endorsed President Bush. He helped Republicans keep control of the Senate. He has said taxing the wealthy is a bigger problem than income inequality. He's a fucking Republican.

    That there is even a chance of him being the Democratic Presidential candidate illustrates the profound limits of "Vote Blue No Matter Who" and how the Democratic party has continually leveraged our desperation against us. Instead of rising to the occasion of the legitimate threat of fascism brewing, they endeavor instead to use our yearning for something, ANYTHING else but Trump to push through someone almost identical to a Republican - in Bloomberg's case, a literal Republican - who will almost certainly lose, and if they don't lose, they play the usual Democrat dance of effecting so little positive change that voters end up convinced that Republicans will somehow be better in four years.

    Four years of Trump and the Democratic party is still most concerned with protecting itself.

    Anyone hoping that a brokered convention will be their candidate's ticket to the nomination, take heed - that would be Bloomberg's dream scenario. Frankly any major snafu in Milwaukee would be very ill-advised as far as general election prospects are concerned, but to go through that bullshit to nominate Michael fucking Bloomberg... It's a disgrace enough that he's in the running and that somehow the Buttigieg campaign doesn't represent the biggest middle finger to the Democratic party's non-caucasian constituents. Nominating Bloomberg would be the end of the party. And anyone thinking he is somehow the most likely to defeat Trump head-to-head has no idea what the electorate even is anymore.

  18. #1248
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    Quote Originally Posted by Deacon Blackfire View Post
    "what if he was OUR billionaire?!" bullshit
    Um ... are you aware of who's Governor of my State of Illinois? Plenty of Democrats are billionaires.

    Nobody (until you) has painted billionaire contributions to party campaigns as "kind-hearted." Any donations to party campaigns is, frankly, wasted bullshit. NO money should be necessary. But, it is what it is. It's strategic. We have a two-party system, and more and more money is needed with each election. If you start posting George Soros conspiracy shit, we'll know you're really just a Russian plant. Or, maybe just anti-Semitic. Who knows. Now, Lara Trump is retweeting QAnon.

    And, now the Russians have put their giant thumb on the scale and are cheating. Trump welcomes the cheating, helps obtain the cheating, the Republicans have given him a free pass for the cheating. This is REALITY.

    Trump just fired his interim National Security Director, Joseph McGuire:

    Trump, both officials said, was angered that Maguire had allowed Pierson to brief members of the House Intelligence Committee on what officials at the three agencies assess is an ongoing Russian effort to meddle in the 2020 presidential election in an effort to help Trump.

    The Russians are also meddling in Congressional races, aiding some Republican candidates and targeting some Democratic ones, the officials say. “The Russians understand our system, and they know that the President needs the Senate to remain in friendly hands in order to carry out his agenda,” one of the officials said.
    And now:

    Bernie Sanders briefed by U.S. officials that Russia is trying to help his presidential campaign

    Of COURSE the Democratic Party is concerned about "protecting itself." THAT'S WHAT POLITICAL PARTIES DO. That is what ANY organizations do.

    Most of you, here, are clutching your pearls over the importance of a President, but I don't see what any of you are doing about any Senate or House races. Or about Russian interference. Or about voter obstruction and what it does to minorities' ability to vote. I don't know that a lot of you really grok that a President can't pass legislation or budgets.
    Last edited by allegro; 02-21-2020 at 07:18 PM.

  19. #1249
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    Quote Originally Posted by allegro View Post
    Most of you, here, are clutching your pearls over the importance of a President, but I don't see what any of you are doing about any Senate or House races. Or about Russian interference. Or about voter obstruction and what it does to minorities' ability to vote. I don't know that a lot of you really grok that a President can't pass legislation or budgets.
    Say it louder for the kids in the back.

  20. #1250
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    So I can only assume a scoreboard is next? Where should we log our donations?

  21. #1251
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    If Dems don’t win the Senate, we are fucked.

  22. #1252
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    We know this. You’re not breaking any news. Don’t confuse lack of airtime here with apathy to downticket races or voting rights.

  23. #1253
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    Yeah okay nowhere did I imply that down ballot races, Russian interference, and minority voter suppression were not important issues (and frankly I don't really "see" what you're doing about them either, other than using them to deflect away from and dismiss the concerns I was expressing) but I didn't realize that by neglecting to mention every issue affecting the political landscape of the country I was officially designating said issues Unimportant In My Opinion. I share what I feel benefits and suits the conversation here, I don't share every political opinion I have. Just sharing the bits I've ventured to is stressful enough.

  24. #1254
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    “Threat of fascism brewing.”

    You know what prevents that “threat” from ever becoming reality in a Democratic Republic, right?



    This thread isn’t called the “2020 Presidential Election Thread.”

    We’ve HAD threads on ETS dedicated solely to Presidential elections. Lots of them.

    This one is different.
    Last edited by allegro; 02-21-2020 at 08:40 PM.

  25. #1255
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    Quote Originally Posted by cdm View Post
    Every House seat is up in 2020 and something like 30 Senate seats.
    35 Senate seats.

    Fucked. Totally fucked.

    'GRIM REAPER' MITCH MCCONNELL ADMITS THERE ARE 395 HOUSE BILLS SITTING IN THE SENATE: 'WE'RE NOT GOING TO PASS THOSE'

    "It is true," the senator said. "They've been on full left-wing parade over there, trotting out all of their left-wing solutions that are going to be issues in the fall campaign. They're right. We're not going to pass those."
    Last edited by allegro; 02-21-2020 at 08:47 PM.

  26. #1256
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    Quote Originally Posted by allegro View Post
    This thread isn’t called the “2020 Presidential Election Thread.
    Because I have nothing better to do on a Friday night I scrolled back a handful of pages and the vast majority of your posts are centered around...the presidential race in one form or another. The sole exception: you asking if Pelosi’s house seat was up for re-election...in a year where every house seat is up for re-election. So please spare us all with how plugged in you are on other races.

  27. #1257
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    Quote Originally Posted by allegro View Post
    We’ve HAD threads on ETS dedicated solely to Presidential elections. Lots of them.

    This one is different.
    It's called "11/3/2020 - President, Senate, House, LOCAL" - is any comment that doesn't touch on all of them illegitimate or something? You're being ridiculous.

    Anyway Nevada caucuses on the horizon. Hopefully it's not the Iowa mess all over again.

  28. #1258
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    Quote Originally Posted by cdm View Post
    Because I have nothing better to do on a Friday night I scrolled back a handful of pages and the vast majority of your posts are centered around...the presidential race in one form or another. The sole exception: you asking if Pelosi’s house seat was up for re-election...in a year where every house seat is up for re-election. So please spare us all with how plugged in you are on other races.
    You know, that wasn't even really the point of all of this; the point was that nearly every single thing he pointed out in his "OH MY GOD, THE BILLIONAIRE FASCISM IS COMING" post enumerated all of the POWER that some evil billionaire dictator would acquire via a Presidency, none of which power is afforded to the Executive through our Constitution and all of which is solely through the Legislative branch via our Constitution. So, if you're so concerned about the Oligarchy having all that control, look no further than Congress and lobbyists and how they have a fuckload of control of Congress. You ain't gonna make all that change shit until you completely reboot Congress. The President ain't it, man. Congress is it. Congress is the Oligarchy. The Congress has the power of the purse, the sole power to tax, the sole power to legislate.

    Trump is the Republicans’ (and Putin’s) Manchurian candidate so they can use the idiot to sign off on shit THEY WANT and so they can keep themselves in power in their states and keep money in their portfolios.

    Fuck, Congressional insider trading wasn’t made illegal until 2012!

    See: Health Care and Insurance Industries Mobilize to Kill ‘Medicare for All’

    See also. Now read this.

    But, I am really sick right now, I have something close to pneumonia right now, am coughing up a lung, I'm on Prednisone. I have posted that I've donated to and done a lot of Twitter stanning for Mark Kelly in Arizona, and to Amy McGrath in Kentucky, and to Jaime Harrison in South Carolina. I have done online work for Stacey Abrams. I have signed petitions all over the damned place.

    https://www.echoingthesound.org/comm...410#post483410
    Last edited by allegro; 02-21-2020 at 09:45 PM.

  29. #1259
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    Look, don’t assume the rest of us aren’t doing anything or don’t give a shit about certain topics/races because they aren’t discussed here. I’m not going to get into a genitalia wagging contest over donations but I will say I’ve spent more money this year in other states than I have in my adult lifetime in my own district. By a long shot. Many of us understand the urgency while being invested in the presidential primaries.

    Get some rest and feel better soon.

  30. #1260
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    Quote Originally Posted by cdm View Post
    Get some rest and feel better soon.
    Thank you.

    It wasn’t inviting a competition. But, kudos to your work. Seriously. It’s important.

    My being really sick affects any potential artful eloquence, LoL, but my emphasizing Congress (and especially the Senate) is because of the posts I see here making Sanders out to be the person who can change the entire American system (or Bloomberg as the guy who can entirely destroy it), which to me just says that a whole lot of Jr. High Civics teachers failed at their jobs, and voters believe the crap these Presidential candidates sell.
    Last edited by allegro; 02-21-2020 at 10:44 PM.

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