President Biden: The NEW one and only politics thread

Trump and the GOP are very good at simply making something up (like Pelosi and the National Guard) and then repeating it until it their base believes it is gospel and any facts to the contrary are just left wing lies.

 

Wisconsin is indeed weird politically. It has a strong progressive history and is also the birthplace of the Republican Party. There are a lot of traditional union Democrats around the Great Lakes and farmers elsewhere who have evolved/devolved from blue to red, like a lot of places that have become Trump country. Lots of mid-sized college towns throughout the state, but also a very strong Catholic conservative eastern part of the state.

When it comes to the racial divide, I think some real geography plays into it, with Milwaukee being in the SE corner of the state and not being a major middle-of-the-state destination (I grew up in West-Central Wisconsin, and we would go to the Twin Cities a lot. I went to Milwaukee just once as a school-aged kid). For more than 40 years Republicans, starting with Reagan but maybe before, have done a great job of using race without explicitly saying race, talking about welfare (Tommy Thompson as governor was a big welfare-reform guy) and making poor and middle-class whites in the rest of the state resentful of some boogeyman laying around and stealing their hard-earned tax dollars. But, those candidates never said Milwaukee or Kenosha or Racine. They'd always say Chicago, as if there was a pipeline of welfare cheats coming into Wisconsin from out of state. But "Chicago" was definitely and always a code word for Black. Forty-plus years of that kind of rhetoric can turn a blue state purple or red.

Also, I'd add, Wisconsin Dems are a weird bunch. They often fit the professorial stereotype, like Gov. Evers. I always thought Feingold would be the great, admired liberal like Wellstone in Minnesota, but he couldn't stick for some reason. Herb Kohl was a longtime senator who seemed to do nothing of note of the national stage. Tammy Baldwin seems to be just as quiet (compared to my Minnesota senators Amy Kobuchar and even Tina Smith to a lesser degree), while Ron Johnson dipsy-dos all over the place. God, I hope Barnes can beat him.

 

Considering the gobs of money being spent on political ads this cycle - candidates are really throwing money away. The ones I've seen don't draw you in - they repel you and you tune out within the first three seconds because you know what will follow.

Dark, sinister images, "regular person" testimony, candidate looking fresh/determined at the end. And when did every Democratic female candidate decide they needed to steal Rachel Maddow's look? Not being a misogynist or homophobe, just pointing out that in a general election, it's about as effective as an old white guy in a pick-up truck showing off his gun in reaching persuadable voters. But perhaps the point is that there aren't persuadables anymore - it's all about turnout.

Seen a lot of candidates in fleece vests this year for some reason.

 

The vest worked for Glenn Youngkin.

The GOP nominee’s ads in the New Hampshire US Senate race are high-octane nuttery. It’s a nominal swing state, guys, try a little harder.

 

Fightin' Bob La Follette sends his love.

 

I've lived in Wisconsin for most of the last 53 years, and I'm something of a Wisconsin history buff. A black candidate cannot win a statewide race in Wisconsin at this time. And of course the activist wing of the Democratic Party shot itself in the foot by electing Mandela Barnes in the primary. I've seen the man speak, and I will vote for him, but he will lose to The Man from Glad.

I have met Louis Butler, the state Supreme Court justice who lost to Michael Gabelman in 2008. Butler is a brilliant man, particularly compared to Gabelman, who (obviously) is a stiff, not even pretty like RoJo. But Barnes' complexion is a problem I don't think he can overcome.

I live out in the exurbs, where African Americans are gradually making inroads. They're still a novelty, but generally they're professionals taking jobs out here where Jesus lost his sandals.' I salute their bravery. It ain't easy being green.

It's pretty damn sad seeing this all go down. Digging down into the history archives, the Iron Brigade fought and died for racial justice. Historically, African Americans were welcomed in places like the Cheyenne Valley because they were great farmers. But fear of "the other" prevails these days. I've said it before, but our human original sin is racism, our fear of the other. And we are all racists.

 

Some good points here. I think the one about Milwaukee being comparatively out of the way has a lot of truth to it. The Bucks did something to affect this, but Green Bay is still the center of the state's cultural consciousness, and it is very different from Milwaukee. Minnesota is the obvious analogue, and as much as the hicks in the sticks hate it, the state revolves around the Cities. That's where the pro sports are, where the state's largest university is and where state government is, but more importantly, it's where the people are. Nearly 2/3 of all Minnesota residents live in the Twin Cities metro area and are familiar with its concerns, good, bad and otherwise. The Milwaukee and Madison metros combined are less than half of Wisconsin's population.

Feingold's main problem was time plus timing. When Johnson ran against him in 2010, he'd had three terms in the Senate, enough to be painted as a career politician but not as many to be a fixture like a Carl Levin or Herb Kohl, for that matter. Further, both of his two attempts to beat Johnson came in bad (2010, 2016) environments for Democrats nationally.

 

This election is going to come down to whether the Dems can get their voters off the couch "even if they aren't crazy about their candidates" and the GOP getting enough voters to stomach voting for their crazy candidates.

Ive been thinking about this election a lot though and I guess we are just at a time of transition, with neither party having a firm grip on its future. The GOP is still dealing with Trump's popularity and the Dems with a geriatric leadership that is no longer compatible with a party that is younger, more diverse and tech savvy. You can't keep selling "new ideas" in old packaging and expect to do good business. If the Dems fall short in the House, Pelosi will step aside and retire. I doubt Biden will go for a second term, but likely wouldn't announce until Summer or Fall of next year to see what he could get done with Republicans. Harris may run - she's at least deserving of a headsup before its official, but her 2020 campaign didn't even make it to Iowa.

 

Don’t be so sure. The morons hit two school boards near me last month demanding answers. Even when told it wasn’t true, the fuckers said well it sounded like it could be true and stormed off in a huff.

 

The more I think about this the more I think that the 1/6 should *let* Trump testify live. Do what it takes to get him there and under oath. Let him testify live if you have to, the Chair can always cut his mike if he gets too far afield. Hell, give Cheney the microphone switch and make sure he knows it. Ask him tough questions. Let him get riled up. When he starts off on one of his rants, cut his mike. Once he's steaming, let him talk. He's in front of cameras, he'll do what he always does when he's on camera. He'll start using the boilerplate lines from his rallies, and he'll perjure himself six ways from Sunday. Then arrest his ass for perjury, live on camera if possible.

You know his lawyers would fight this tooth and nail, but if he's taunted about it his ego will prevail over good sense.

 

It would turn him into even more of a martyr than he appears now. And it would feed his ego. No.

 

See also Texas, where everything is Joe Biden's fault but the gov, lt. gov and AG are up for re-election and held those positions since 2015.