President Biden: The NEW one and only politics thread

Virginia is for lovers....of a whiter shade of clone.

 

The Dems idea of moderation is to do things in a small way - and do it slowly. Manchin is up in '24, I doubt he's re-elected if the Rs do well in '22. There is no reason for the Ds to reward him and renominate him. Sinema is the same. About now they ought to think that the Ds need to "go big" - I think it's their only shot to survive in '22. The activist base (the people who volunteer and donate) won't be enthusiastic if the only thing the Ds can sell is fear of Trump. And that's about all the party is selling right now.
And I disagree about Clinton's "pivot." His initial vision was done in by the same foot-dragging among Senate Ds we are seeing right now. His rebound was keyed by the Oklahoma City bombing. He was seen as a leader and the Rs were seen as part of the problem.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2010/04/remembering_oklahoma_city_and.html

 

I always check his speed figures at the track as well.

 

Alternate take: Virginia results with all those giant swings from Democrat to Republican in each district show how much voters really, really wanted Trump out of there.
Republican take: it shows how much the Democrats cheated.

 

The thermostatic model of public opinion strikes again. The truth there is a decisive bloc of American voters who're perpetually dissatisfied and immediately turn on the party they just chose in the last election. Ronald Reagan won two landslide elections and his party got trounced in the two midterm elections of his administration. The incumbent President's party has lost the Virginia governor's race in 11 of the last 12 elections. That takes us back to 1973. New Hampshire Democrats almost ran the table in local elections last night, 12 months after voters chose unified Republican state government. The only sane takeaway for elected officials of either party is do what you said you would and accept you'll get blame, not credit, for it. But of course almost no pol thinks like that.

 

I think the New Jersey results are more troubling than Virginia. I think anyone paying attention was pretty sure McAuliffe was going to lose.

I think there's an inherent dissatisfaction with Democrats in that people like the ideas, but the Democrats seem to have a harder time governing on their ideas. I think what also plays into yesterday was the idea that Democrats thought with Trump off the ballot Republican voters would be less energized and wouldn't show up. Lesson learned hopefully.

Democrats need better messaging, and better candidates. The fact that the party apparatus hasn't engaged Stacy Abrams in some kind of large-scale training program to turn out the vote is indicative of the problems the Democrats have of getting their goals from ideas to reality. There's a lot of things that can be fixed.

I think the weakness of the Democrats in the Senate is troubling as well. Yes it's Manchin and Sinema, but the fact that Chuck Schumer can't whip his team into a cohesive unit has led to this really negative coverage of what's happening right now. You can talk about the Squad and the progressives in the House all you want, but they do what Pelosi wants in the end.

I think Biden's poll numbers are going to rebound. The covet hangover, the shipping issues, those are going to ease. Inflation needs to be handled. But the simple fact is Republicans are doing horrible things in power, they're limiting free speech and assembly rights, they're attacking women, they're seriously attacking the right to vote especially if you're not white. And there's this obsession with the Confederacy that should not play at all in America in the year 2021. There are so many reasons to not vote Republican and the Democrats have to find a way to use that. If they don't, Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis is going to be president in 2024.

 

I think all the kvetching by the House and Senate hurt
If Democrats can’t work with each other that saps enthusiasm
So does the realization nothing will happen on voting rights, police reform and gun control
McAuliffe was a terrible candidate
Murphy is the shocker

 

Dems have nothing to show for their time in office. Covid-relief...I guess - but....one of the things that made Trump appealing is that he did what he said he was going to do. He didn't back off and "negotiate" with his Congress like Biden is doing. Outside of the Obamacare repeal, the GOP Congress carried out his marching orders.

 

I haven’t seen the numbers yet, but I’m willing to bet they are much lower than in 2020. A lot of democrats didn’t vote, and this is the price for that.

 

It was more like Trump followed the GOP Congress's lead. The nadirs of his popularity came during the fight to end Obamacare and when the GOP was passing its tax cut. He had no interest in legislation, just in issuing orders. Remember Infrastructure Week(s)?

 

No. McAuliffe got many more votes than Northam did in 2017. Youngkin just got more votes.

 

It's so frustrating to see the Dems deciding to punt on 3rd and 1 at the opponent's 35 every time instead of ramming it down the GOP's throats.

McAuliff had an easy storyline that he did nothing but weasel-word with. Just show clips the 1/6 riots, and say that Youngkin supports that. Show Charlottesville clips and say that Youngkin's party supports that. Do that over and over again. Drown out the CRT BS. Nope.