Election Day

[CleCoTiger 1,957]

3 hours ago, wdefromtx said:

And just like 2016 we will have half the country saying not my president and the election was rigged. Both choices again were turds. Let’s hope the republicans keep control of the senate. 

I don't recall a lot of "it was rigged" talk after 2016. What I recall is shock. Dems accepted that Trump won. They hated it, but they accepted it.

[McLoofus 35,182]

6 hours ago, CleCoTiger said:

I don't recall a lot of "it was rigged" talk after 2016. What I recall is shock. Dems accepted that Trump won. They hated it, but they accepted it.

Yep. Dems did and continue to point out that he didn't win the popular vote- fact- and that the EC is an outdated relic- opinion held before 2016.

Another false narrative spun up out of nowhere. More normalizing, more false equivalency. It's beyond frustrating and really calls into question the intelligence of those who persist with it.

One of the candidates is weaponizing his supporters against democracy, but y'all keep on with this dumb ass "they're all the same" s***.

[DKW 86 7,437]

5 hours ago, CleCoTiger said:

I don't recall a lot of "it was rigged" talk after 2016. What I recall is shock. Dems accepted that Trump won. They hated it, but they accepted it.

 Did you really type that out and not think of the 1,001 Ways it was wrong?

https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2016/11/not-my-president-thousands-march-in-protest/507248/

24 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

Yep. Dems did and continue to point out that he didn't win the popular vote- fact- and that the EC is an outdated relic- opinion held before 2016.

Another false narrative spun up out of nowhere. More normalizing, more false equivalency. It's beyond frustrating and really calls into question the intelligence of those who persist with it.

One of the candidates is weaponizing his supporters against democracy, but y'all keep on with this dumb ass "they're all* the same" s***.

Well, they are all owned by the same Wall Street Masters. 
They all support the same wars that enrich the same masters.
They all attend the same "Gatherings" across the globe.
They all Do or Dont Do the same things.

Talk is cheap. Talk is crap. 
What has any candidate done in the last 40 years that was so different than what the other party's candidate did?
Abortion really hasnt changed.
Tax policy is now almost exactly the same. 
Both parties dont want M4A. 
Both Parties dont want Student Loan forgiveness.
Both parties really dont want to Defund the police.
What is the real differences between a Neo-Lib Dem and a Neo-Con Republican these days?
Who holds the committee chairs?

You know sometimes it just baffles the rest of us when people can not allow themselves to see the whole for what it is. 
Trump sucked plain as day. 
Biden could not win a primary for 32 years. He was laughed out of the race in 1988 for all his lies and crazy talk.
But now, as we scrape the bottom of the barrel, we now have President Not-Trump. I say that because no one in America voted FOR Biden. No one. 

We had 70M+++ vote against Trump. 

[aubiefifty 16,848]

1 hour ago, DKW 86 said:

 Did you really type that out and not think of the 1,001 Ways it was wrong?

https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2016/11/not-my-president-thousands-march-in-protest/507248/

Well, they are all owned by the same Wall Street Masters. 
They all support the same wars that enrich the same masters.
They all attend the same "Gatherings" across the globe.
They all Do or Dont Do the same things.

Talk is cheap. Talk is crap. 
What has any candidate done in the last 40 years that was so different than what the other party's candidate did?
Abortion really hasnt changed.
Tax policy is now almost exactly the same. 
Both parties dont want M4A. 
Both Parties dont want Student Loan forgiveness.
Both parties really dont want to Defund the police.
What is the real differences between a Neo-Lib Dem and a Neo-Con Republican these days?
Who holds the committee chairs?

You know sometimes it just baffles the rest of us when people can not allow themselves to see the whole for what it is. 
Trump sucked plain as day. 
Biden could not win a primary for 32 years. He was laughed out of the race in 1988 for all his lies and crazy talk.
But now, as we scrape the bottom of the barrel, we now have President Not-Trump. I say that because no one in America voted FOR Biden. No one. 

We had 70M+++ vote against Trump. 

dude you have already said that like a hundred times. smoke some skunk and come up wid something new.............

[homersapien 11,409]

11 hours ago, wdefromtx said:

Let’s hope the republicans keep control of the senate. 

Stop romanticizing divided government. If McConnell is majority leader, there will be no progress.

 

Catherine Rampell

November 9, 2020

 

With Joe Biden now president-elect, and partisan control of the Senate hanging in the balance, pundits are already romanticizing “divided government” — a Democratic president alongside a Republican-controlled legislative chamber.

It sounds “inherently moderate,” wax some commentators; it’s “a good moment because in order to get something done, people are going to have to cooperate and compromise,” claim others. In this telling, “divided government” is, paradoxically, just what the country needs to heal our divisions.

It’s a nice thought.

Unfortunately, a single man stands in the way of this fantasy. And it’s not the guy in the White House. It’s the current Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — to whom Senate custom gives nearly unilateral power to block most initiatives from ever getting a vote, compromises or efforts toward common ground be damned. Over and over, McConnell has already exercised this power.

It’s true that today, as when President Trump was elected four years ago, Democrats and Republicans already agree on oodles of issues. Or at least the exhausted middle majority of Americans, and the middle chunk legislators, do. Or most Democrats, plus some peeled-off Republicans. Or vice versa.

You get the idea. There are indeed obvious solutions to be had, and clinched by the middle 50 votes within the Senate, if only lawmakers had the courage to cooperate.

For instance, lawmakers could finally pass a permanent legislative fix for the Obama-era Deferred Action for Early Childhood Arrivals program, which provides partial protections to unauthorized immigrants brought here as children. Large majorities of voters in both parties support these immigrants, known as “dreamers,” and a bipartisan agreement giving them a path to citizenship almost materialized two years ago. (Until Trump blew up the efforts, of course.)

Resolving other immigration issues remains thorny. But making life better for dreamers is low-hanging, bipartisan fruit.

Or there are pocketbook issues important to American families.

In an interview Sunday, Republican Sen. Mitt Romney (Utah) spoke about his desire to work with the president-elect and Democrats on an expansion of the child tax credit. Romney already co-sponsors, alongside Democratic Sen. Michael F. Bennet (Colo.), a bill to make this credit fully refundable and thus available to the poorest households. Other Republicans and conservatives have supported variants of the idea, partly because it can help “traditional” families, with one nonworking parent (usually mom); and nearly every sitting Democratic senator co-sponsors related legislation.

Again, an easy win-win. Expanding a similar tax break that rewards work (the Earned Income Tax Credit) likewise has a demonstrated record of appeal among both parties.

Other opportunities for bipartisan kumbaya moments include: more funding for community health centers (which help the poor everywhere, but particularly in rural, redder states). Or paid parental leave (which both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have endorsed, albeit with different funding mechanisms). Or covid-19 aid to small businesses.

Or most any effort to rebuild international relationships that have been shredded over the past four years, to much hand-wringing from members of both parties.

Voters seem to like the idea of divided government on the premise that it incentivizes such shared victories. This is part of the pitch Republicans are making about the two U.S. Senate seats in Georgia facing runoff elections, which will decide which party ultimately controls the upper chamber next year: If Republicans hold the seats, the GOP argues, they can not only check Democrats’ most radical impulses but also deliver the moderate outcomes, forced through mutually beneficial cooperation, that voters crave.

But if past is prologue, such promised cooperation is likely to be a con. At least if McConnell continues running the show, as he almost certainly would if those Georgia seats remain Republican.

Recall that back in the day, Barack Obama also ran on a platform of healing our divides and bringing political harmony to a polarized Washington. Republicans, led by McConnell, refuted this promise simply by obstructing nearly every Obama initiative on offer, regardless of public support. This forced Obama to implement his agenda through executive action wherever possible, which led to GOP accusations of executive-branch “tyranny.” (Those same Republicans, somehow, stayed mum when Trump exercised even more executive power, including when his party controlled both houses of Congress.)

Any opportunities for finding common ground — and for Biden to prove his political healing powers — will be blocked if McConnell again prevents such legislation from even getting a vote. Which he is likely to do, at least if he still believes his top priority is to make a Democratic occupant of the White House a “one-term president.”

Maybe McConnell will ultimately be less obstructive. We’re told that he and Biden are “old friends,” after all. But Charlie Brown and the football-wielding Lucy are sometimes said to be pals, too.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/stop-romanticizing-divided-government-if-mcconnell-is-majority-leader-there-will-be-no-progress/2020/11/09/1d911d22-22c6-11eb-8672-c281c7a2c96e_story.html

[DKW 86 7,437]

1 hour ago, aubiefifty said:

dude you have already said that like a hundred times. smoke some skunk and come up wid something new.............

lmao!!!! That doesnt make it any less true. 

You do realize that the Dems LOST SEATS in the HOR? They did not pick up any seats in the HOR, as was predicted? That they did not take over the Senate, as was predicted?

 

[wdefromtx 3,159]

9 hours ago, CleCoTiger said:

I don't recall a lot of "it was rigged" talk after 2016. What I recall is shock. Dems accepted that Trump won. They hated it, but they accepted it.

More like the Russia this, Russia that. I’m sure this time we will hear it was rigged for four years. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

37 minutes ago, wdefromtx said:

More like the Russia this, Russia that. I’m sure this time we will hear it was rigged for four years. 

More normalizing, more false equivocation, SSDD.

It will be good if and when Biden is sworn in and we can all pretend that this wasn't such dangerous and naive rhetoric. 

[CleCoTiger 1,957]

37 minutes ago, wdefromtx said:

More like the Russia this, Russia that. I’m sure this time we will hear it was rigged for four years. 

Foreign interference is not the same as rigged. There was foreign interference. No hoax. But that's not rigging.

[wdefromtx 3,159]

1 minute ago, McLoofus said:

More normalizing, more false equivocation, SSDD.

It will be good if and when Biden is sworn in and we can all pretend that this wasn't such dangerous and naive rhetoric. 

So you don’t think we will hear it was rigged for the next four years? I bet we will. I’m sure they will say not my President as well. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

8 minutes ago, wdefromtx said:

So you don’t think we will hear it was rigged for the next four years? I bet we will. I’m sure they will say not my President as well. 

Merely hearing that it was rigged for the next four years is our best cast scenario. 

You do realize a sitting POTUS is telling half the country that our democracy is no longer valid, yes? And that it's time to reconfigure- or just circumvent- it to preserve power? And that he's already taking steps to do that? And that these mouth breathers are eating it up? You do see the difference, yes? 

[McLoofus 35,182]

Remember, trump's butt boy governor in GA, who rigged his own election, is now openly leaning on the SoS to rig this one as Biden's lead keeps growing. 

Quote

The Constitution, states’ laws, and precedent indicates that if there was indeed a legitimate dispute and a state couldn’t certify their election by December 14, state legislatures could use that “uncertainty” to select their own slate of electors. There are Republican state legislatures in Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona. Trump doesn’t need to win in Court. He simply needs to tie things up in enough of those states until December 14 when legislatures appoint electors to cast ballots for their states. That is why he is claiming fraud and irregularities with no evidence. He told us months ago that if he lost the election, he was going to do this. He is now doing it. It’s all about his own power, and he would sacrifice our country for it. Sure, if there were legitimate issues he has a right to have those determined. What he doesn’t have a right to do is use the Constitution to destroy the Constitution. That’s what he is doing.

It’s worth noting that a purge of sorts has also started. He fired the defense secretary who refused to use the military against citizens. He’s threatening to fire the head of the FBI and the CIA. He has stopped the GSA from releasing traditional funds to Biden’s team. 

https://www.newsandguts.com/opinion-there-is-an-attempted-coup-happening-right-now/?fbclid=IwAR3gSPsbo_74sXjLgW-dUe6DfX1Cqrn6vlKl2NIyI2XJRtATjSmWLblHFOM

[savorytiger 182]

43 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

Remember, trump's butt boy governor in GA, who rigged his own election, is now openly leaning on the SoS to rig this one as Biden's lead keeps growing. 

https://www.newsandguts.com/opinion-there-is-an-attempted-coup-happening-right-now/?fbclid=IwAR3gSPsbo_74sXjLgW-dUe6DfX1Cqrn6vlKl2NIyI2XJRtATjSmWLblHFOM

He's trying, and has the backing of a lot of voters. I think the Republican leadership don't see any downsides for them, so they're happy to just let it play out in the courts. Lasting damage to public trust in our elections wouldn't hurt them if Trump doesn't pull it off, and they keep the presidency if he does.

[McLoofus 35,182]

10 minutes ago, savorytiger said:

He's trying, and has the backing of a lot of voters. I think the Republican leadership don't see any downsides for them, so they're happy to just let it play out in the courts. Lasting damage to public trust in our elections wouldn't hurt them if Trump doesn't pull it off, and they keep the presidency if he does.

Doesn't hurt them as long as they stay completely loyal. I would say this is how it starts, but it started during his first campaign.

If he is somehow successful in retaining the presidency, democracy is done in this country. Joe Biden has already been legally elected our next president. This is not actually up for a legitimate dispute. Any other outcome means that the system that elected every president before Donald Trump is no longer in place.

[DKW 86 7,437]

http://www.facebook.com/HillTVLive/videos/2800323703535377

[AU9377 5,011]

3 hours ago, DKW 86 said:

lmao!!!! That doesnt make it any less true. 

You do realize that the Dems LOST SEATS in the HOR? They did not pick up any seats in the HOR, as was predicted? That they did not take over the Senate, as was predicted?

 

There is a huge difference between pointing out the fact that someone lost the popular vote and alleging criminally engineering election results.  Trump has been thrown out of court in Georgia twice already and is still planning to file more bizarre claims in an attempt to change the results.  It will not work.  The election was legitimate.  Hell, it was run by the Republican party.

[McLoofus 35,182]

7 minutes ago, AU9377 said:

The election was legitimate.  Hell, it was run by the Republican party.

GOP leadership in GA trying to coerce the Republican SoS to resign. 

[DKW 86 7,437]

Do you think I was IN ANYWAY TALKING or SUPPORTING TRUMP???? You are a sick puppy. 

I did not support Trump at any time in the last 35+ years. Certainly not now. You have confused valid criticism of the Dems with Supporting Trump. Nothing could be further from the truth. 

Who did the Dems pick to run the DNC House Majority PAC? 
Anyone know?

Dear old Robby Mook, of course...
https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/431804-robby-mook-is-one-person-to-thank-if-house-democrats-keep-the-majority

You cant make this crap up. Who in the world puts one of the biggest losers in American Political History in charge of making the HOR even more blue, and then watch as he fails yet again? <smdh>Mook has managed one big win in his political life. McAuliffe. He has lost time and again before and since. He was HRC's campaign manager in 2008 and 2016.

[homersapien 11,409]

48 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

Doesn't hurt them as long as they stay completely loyal. I would say this is how it starts, but it started during his first campaign.

If he is somehow successful in retaining the presidency, democracy is done in this country. Joe Biden has already been legally elected our next president. This is not actually up for a legitimate dispute. Any other outcome means that the system that elected every president before Donald Trump is no longer in place.

Which illustrates exactly why Putin is such a major supporter of Trump.

[homersapien 11,409]

The election is over, but there’s no end to Republican bad faith

Opinion by

Michael Gerson

Columnist

November 9, 2020

 

It is not over.

The presidential election is certainly over, and the result was not particularly close. President-elect Joe Biden won a decisive majority of the popular vote and likely a considerable electoral college victory. Claims of widespread electoral fraud would be spurious even if they weren’t made by a prating fool in front of a Philadelphia landscaping firm. The 2020 election is done. Concluded. Finished.

What has not ended — what seems endless — is Republican bad faith and poltroonery.

I am not referring here to those voters for President Trump who have been misled into false hope. It is not hard to convince people who distrust elites and are prone to conspiracy theories that elites are plotting to deny “real” Americans their influence. It does not even matter if the vote-counters are Republicans, because that is exactly what a conspiracy would do to hide its nefarious work.

No, it is Republican leaders who are responsible for poisoning whatever wells of goodwill still exist in our republic. Having aided Trump’s autocratic delusions, they are now abetting his assault on the orderly transfer of power. Through their active support or guilty silence, most elected Republicans are encouraging their fellow citizens to believe that America’s democratic system is fundamentally corrupt. No agent of China or Russia could do a better job of sabotage. Republicans are fostering cynicism about the constitutional order on a massive scale. They are stumbling toward sedition.

And they are looking mighty pathetic in the process. After Trump’s campaign manager threatened political harm to Republicans who refused to embrace Trump’s position on the election, Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) reported promptly for degradation. Cruz falsely alleged that Republican poll watchers had been denied access in Philadelphia. McCarthy falsely asserted: “President Trump won this election.” It was a good thing both men were not in the same room or their strings might have gotten tangled. Other Republicans simply expressed no opinion on the validity of a U.S presidential election, as though Trump’s sabotage of democratic legitimacy was just another tweet they could ignore.

What explains this degree of deference to a besieged, erratic lame-duck president? Some legislators claim that they are just providing time for Trump to cool down and accustom himself to the election result. They believe, apparently, that the president just needs a little encouragement and self-care before he will do the right thing. This theory is less compelling on the 1,001st unsuccessful attempt. Trump will not sacrifice any personal interest merely for the good of the country. He will interpret anything short of opposition as permission. And permission is clearly what many elected Republicans intend to provide.

The only plausible explanation for Republican complicity is fear. Fear of a vengeful, wounded president. Fear of a Trump-endorsed primary challenger. Fear of voters so loyal that they stuck with Trump through a botched pandemic response, a wrecked economy and an aimless campaign.

The damage encouraged by feckless elected Republicans is considerable. Trump’s defiance of the election results is already creating confusion in the transition process. The incoming Biden administration is being denied resources and facilities: office space, government email addresses that allow secure communication, access to classified briefings. That will undermine the staffing and preparations necessary to tackle concurrent health and economic challenges.

It is particularly obscene for an administration that has abdicated the work of pandemic response to undercut a new administration determined to mount a serious effort. Trump seems determined to extend his legacy of incompetence and needless death as far into the future as possible.

The other effect of Trump’s strategy is harder to quantify — body bags are easy to count — but no less real. Trump and his Republican retainers are purposely destroying the democratic faith of many Americans. The problem is not with the substance of Trump’s legal challenges (though they seem embarrassingly frivolous). Rather, it is the broad assertion that the U.S. electoral system is rigged. A conspiracy on the scale necessary to overturn the results of the 2020 election — reaching across several states, and involving numerous Republican and Democratic officials — would reveal a system of government that is rotten to its core.

If tens of millions of people were to actually believe this, it would reduce the legitimacy and, potentially, the stability of the U.S. form of government. It would render political cooperation — agreement with the stealer of elections — almost impossible. It would encourage a desire to retaliate in kind, and add credibility to radicals who act outside the law.

It is one thing to vote for a demagogue. It is another to support a demagogue as he tries to destroy the credibility of voting itself. This is where the Republican Party finds itself at the shabby political end of Donald Trump: as an ally to illiberalism.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-election-is-over-but-theres-no-end-to-republican-bad-faith/2020/11/09/56101008-22c7-11eb-a688-5298ad5d580a_story.html

[TitanTiger 20,506]

Decision Desk calls North Carolina for Trump:

...thus hitting the ceiling for Trump electoral votes in this election.

[RunInRed 16,454]

 

[DKW 86 7,437]

6 hours ago, AU9377 said:

There is a huge difference between pointing out the fact that someone lost the popular vote and alleging criminally engineering election results.  Trump has been thrown out of court in Georgia twice already and is still planning to file more bizarre claims in an attempt to change the results.  It will not work.  The election was legitimate.  Hell, it was run by the Republican party.

Well since I didnt say nor allege any of that, could you please tell the group who you are talking to?

[AUDub 11,160]

On 11/8/2020 at 11:32 AM, AUDub said:

Nope that's him. Tried to tell y'all. 

Sigh.

Tried to tell y'all. ****head. 

 

[Grumps 3,704]

55 minutes ago, AUDub said:

Sigh.

Tried to tell y'all. ****head. 

 

Does that mean you disagree with what he said or that you don't like it?