President Biden: The NEW one and only politics thread

I went into a local bar about six or eight months ago and a couple MAGA types struck up a conversation. One woman who's about my age mentioned going to the 1/6 rally but said she didn't storm the Capitol. Uh-huh.

 

ain't no half goose steppin'

 

Faber University.

 

Respectfully agree to disagree on the rise of the right in MN.

Going back to the 90's it been coming.

Get out of the first-ring suburbs of MSP and it gets Red. Yes, St. Louis, Dakota and other counties are Blue.

The map in the link of greater MN shows the District 6 wraparound to Stillwater. Bachmann's old turf including St. Cloud.

For a little while on election night 2016, some Democrats started to think that Minnesota was lost. Greater Minnesota, a largely rural region bigger than many states, was the reason. Even in 1984, Democrats had held on to towns like Benson and Red Lake, mitigating the GOP’s rural strength. Trump carried every single county in the region, transforming the party’s win margin of nearly 43,000 votes in 2012 to more than 208,000 votes in 2016.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/politics/minnesota-political-geography/

The sheer numbers of MSP proper will still make it a challenge for the Rs, but they have grown their base.

I'm open to being wrong. I'd like to be.

Live election results: 2020 Minnesota results

Going sideways, it's a bummer about Tafoya. I liked her when she was on KFAN years and years ago.

You mentioned Duluth. When I was a kid our family vacation for years was five days on the Range and two in Duluth visiting relatives. I'd like to make it to the Blues Festival some day. I see Albert Castiglia is there this year. I dig him.

 

Yeah, I don't mind outing myself as a current Duluthian. I think you make valid arguments, particularly at the district by district level. The DFL has probably lost MN-7 for a generation due to opposition by environmentalists and Native tribes to extractive resource development. As I said a while back, they're right to oppose it but it's a fantastic wedge issue for the right because the mining industry is one of a very limited number ways to make a good living in northern Minnesota that doesn't involve tourism or moving to Duluth or the Cities. So what it sounds like is people like Betty McCollum telling Iron Rangers they can't do what their fathers and grandfathers did because it'll ruin the Boundary Waters for Citiots on vacation.

But on a statewide level like the governor's race, I think they're not generating sufficient new Republicans to replace the ones they're losing by choice or other means. With Birk, Jensen will have name recognition and throw bombs left and right, but I don't think Walz is easy to run against. The COVID lockdowns sucked, but they were effective for the first six months or so before the political will faltered. They can try and run against him for mishandling George Floyd, but I don't think a guy like Jensen is the kind of person who can make that stick. We'll see.

 

Walz should win, Jensen is such a fucking tool.

But then, Janos won in 98.

Janos never took the bumps, he knew how to work the mic and it served him well. I'm not familiar enough with Birk to know if he can fill that role on the trail under scrutiny. I've heard him on football, not anything political.

Janos also had the surplus to give away and Birk does not. Janos also had the teachers now that I think of it. Thanks for nothing, Mae Shunk!

Did you ever see that billboard of 35W by Pine City that depicted Walz with his head up his ass? Friends live in Pine County and told me to look for it. So classy.

 

Oh, this is good. From the website:

I, Elise Stefanik, am a monster. I am a vile and disgusting politician who is responsible for the Buffalo NY shooting spree. How? What is in his manifesto is what I placed into his head. Why? Because I want power. I want votes. I don't want to lead. I want to rule. People will lose lives, but that's not my concern. I'm here for the exposure, the power, the control. I will continue to do everything in my power to raise White Supremacy higher than it's ever been.

If you're a Democrat reading this. You better start swinging for the fences. Your bullshit subpoenas and harshly written letters are hilarious. Start punching. Start kicking. Start fighting back. Otherwise, this will continue to slowly become the easiest win for GOP Sycophants.

 

I wasn't in Minnesota at the time, but wasn't a big part of the problem in that election that Skip Humphrey wasn't much of a candidate (and everyone kind of hated Norm Coleman)? I think Walz is pretty hard to do oppo on, mostly because he gives off such a huge dad vibe. There was a picture of him taking a look at the first lot of vaccine that arrived in Minnesota and I swear you can hear him through the picture saying, "So what gauge of needle do these bad boys take?" When we had bad fires up north last summer, he showed up on the scene in jeans, a dusty T-shirt and, I think, a Gophers hat like he had some hose in the back of his truck they could use. There are a lot of billboards on 35 north of the metro about babies and meeting Jesus and such. Sometimes I like to count them.

I think Walz's biggest weakness is George Floyd, to the point that liberals on Twitter like to call out rural Minnesotans who claim they won't set foot in Minneapolis anymore (because of the implied racism and the fact that never came to Minneapolis before for anything other than Twins and Vikings games). But Jensen, being a doctor and a kook, is gonna make this a referendum on COVID.

 

@UPChip

I wasn't in Minnesota at the time, but wasn't a big part of the problem in that election that Skip Humphrey wasn't much of a candidate (and everyone kind of hated Norm Coleman)?

Yes, and I voted for fucking Norm. Skip was Skip and Janos was Janos. Hence Norm, may my late mother have mercy on me next we meet.

I think Walz is pretty hard to do oppo on, mostly because he gives off such a huge dad vibe.

Teacher, football, military and he's articulate with a voice.

There are a lot of billboards on 35 north of the metro about babies and meeting Jesus and such.

Repped for real talk.

I think Walz's biggest weakness is George Floyd

Agree.

But Jensen, being a doctor and a kook, is gonna make this a referendum on COVID.

I hope that Birk doesn't become 'the star' of the campaign and carry them forward just because he's Matt Birk, former NFL star, etc. Look at what he is saying.