115th Congress - Fantastik! Try to remember we vote in November.

[Kepler]

Re: 115th Congress - Fantastik! Try to remember we vote in November.

It was R+5 in 2016. I don't care enough to spend $35 a month on Cook to see what it is now.

I think Dr. Mrs. may still have her free subscription from her days as leg liaison. I'll ask her.

 

[burd]

Re: 115th Congress - Fantastik! Try to remember we vote in November.

I was on a hospital board once where the CEO would go to Washington now and then and make the rounds on the many issues affecting health care. At that time, both Kohl and Baldwin were senators. I recall him expressing frustration with Baldwin and Kohl, saying their offices were lackadaisical and uninformed. About Ryan, he said, "he gets it," referring not to his politics but his willingness to work hard enough to be prepared and responsive.

I like Baldwin a lot and just wish Ryan would go away, but that's probably how he built his grass roots support. And it's another reminder how fatal it is for a politician to become/appear disconnected from her constituency. And dems have to deal with that perception.

 

[dxmnkd316]

Re: 115th Congress - Fantastik! Try to remember we vote in November.

That’s some good insight. That’s the kind of feedback that needs to get to our senators and representatives.

 

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: 115th Congress - Fantastik! Try to remember we vote in November.

Please, please, please... https://www.rgj.com/story/news/poli...er-scalise-replace-him-amodei-says/460544002/

 

[Handyman]

Re: 115th Congress - Fantastik! Try to remember we vote in November.

Isn't his district reliably red? What's he polling?

I dont know but no one is safe Eric Cantor being primaried (by the Tea Party) as House Majority Leader proved that. If Trump +20 districts can fall any district can fall.

The youth in Sconnie are definitely motivated right now so he has to be feeling pressure.

 

[Kepler]

Re: 115th Congress - Fantastik! Try to remember we vote in November.

And it's another reminder how fatal it is for a politician to become/appear disconnected from her constituency. And dems have to deal with that perception.

Which is all the worse because those perceptions used to be reversed: forty years ago the GOP was perceived as aloof while the Dems were perceived as having responsive local offices and being able to help grandma get her Medicare or little Jimmy Junior get a job on the city payroll because he was too dumb to do anything else.

I have a theory about this: the GOP is more responsive to their constituents because their rhetoric on social issues is dead on what their constituents want. The Dems, OTOH, have a real problem on both economic and social issues. On social issues the DC-Ivy League obsession with racial and gender issues doesn't resonate with Ma and Pa Kettle, while on economic issues the Dems' actual actions betray all but the donor class, so they change the subject. The result is a cooling of enthusiasm and the surrender of Dem institutions to timeservers and career builders rather than idealists and change makers.

We have to take our party back from the robots who took it over in the 90s.

 

[dxmnkd316]

Re: 115th Congress - Fantastik! Try to remember we vote in November.

I dont know but no one is safe Eric Cantor being primaried (by the Tea Party) as House Majority Leader proved that. If Trump +20 districts can fall any district can fall.

The youth in Sconnie are definitely motivated right now so he has to be feeling pressure.

Possibly. It's one thing to have a concerted head-to-head push. It's another to run hundreds of local and state elections.

 

[Rover]

Re: 115th Congress - Fantastik! Try to remember we vote in November.

Which is all the worse because as those perceptions used to be reversed: forty years ago the GOP was perceived as aloof while the Dems were perceived as having responsive local offices and being able to help grandma understand Medicare or little Jimmy Junior get a job on the city payroll because he was too dumb to do anything else.

I have a theory about this: the GOP is more responsive to their constituents because their rhetoric on social issues is dead on what their constituents want. The Dems, OTOH, have a real problem on both economic and social issues. On social issues the DC-Ivy League obsession with racial and gender issues doesn't resonate with Ma and Pa Kettle, while on economic issue the Dems' actual actions betray all but the donor class, so they change the subject. The result is a cooling on enthusiasm, and the population of Dem institutions by timeservers and career builders rather than idealists and change makers.

We have to take our party back from the robots who took it over in the 90s.

A far simpler theory is that Republican voters tend to be dumber and suckers who are more into rhetoric than results.

 

[burd]

Re: 115th Congress - Fantastik! Try to remember we vote in November.

A far simpler theory is that Republican voters tend to be dumber and suckers who are more into rhetoric than results.

I don't buy that. More susceptible to fear response, probably; but I don't think that means they are dumber.

 

[joecct]

A far simpler theory is that Republican voters tend to be dumber and suckers who are more into rhetoric than results.

Which is why you lose middle America. Snobbery does make friends or influence people.

 

[Kepler]

Re: 115th Congress - Fantastik! Try to remember we vote in November.

I don't buy that. More susceptible to fear response, probably; but I don't think that means they are dumber.

This. Republicans aren't dumber than Democrats and conservatives aren't dumber than liberals. The right is less informed (and more misinformed) than the left, but that has nothing to do with intellectual capacity. The right is also more fearful and the left more hopeful -- that distinction is at the core of the difference between the conservative and liberal personalities. The right is also more aggressive and violent than the left because fight or flight is a stronger, deeper, more animal instinct than the desire to improve things.

But a healthy society needs both to function, just as a car needs both brakes and an accelerator. The left is ethical, indecisive Kirk and the right is vicious, decisive Kirk. We need to get back in the transporter and be reintegrated. We need to get back into balance as a society. That doesn't mean individuals can't stray out onto the tails, but as a whole the society should have a normal distribution where the majority are solid, albeit uninteresting, well-integrated normals. And somehow both poles should respect each other.

The left is centered at the top of the Maslow hierarchy and gradually weakens as you drop. The right is centered at the bottom and thins as you move up. Or to put it another way, the left is where we're going as a species and the right is where we've been. But we need a fully developed structure that is sound top to bottom to be healthy and successful.

<img src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1080/1*IJRILU1E5GqMN6dT5eIu1w.jpeg" height="300" />

 

[Kepler]

Re: 115th Congress - Fantastik! Try to remember we vote in November.

Which is why you lose middle America. Snobbery does make friends or influence people.

But anti-intellectualism does. Because of the difference in numbers.

Being a Low Elitist is a recipe for doing well at the polls. You can't do that as a High Elitist. At least not outside of the New Yorker editorial board.

Our problem is the internet allows smart people to congregate in large enough numbers that we can forget we are a fragile raft in a tempestuous ocean. We vent and joke just like the groundings do. But when we do it that's OHNOES!!!11! isn't that awful?!?. When the rubes do it that's a prime time speech at CPAC or the RNC. The glorification of the bumpkin is the oldest, most powerful form of political correctness in America.

Rule 1 of being smart is to hide it at recess or you get beat up by the bullies. Politics is just one long recess.

 

[Rover]

Re: 115th Congress - Fantastik! Try to remember we vote in November.

I don't buy that. More susceptible to fear response, probably; but I don't think that means they are dumber.

We're splitting hairs. If you want to chalk up fears of antifa gay muslim illegal immigrant hordes enforcing Sharia Law and Mork & Mindy re-runs on us god fearin' whities as being something other than pure stupidity, okay I guess. I consider people easily manipulated to vote against their interest based on BS reasons to be idiots, but that's just me. Regardless its why the same 60-62M people turned out for GWB's re-election, McCain, Romney and Trump even though these are very different candidates. Lefties from the center lefties to the far lefties aren't driven by the same fears. In fact I'd argue they're way too complacent.

Which is why you lose middle America. Snobbery does make friends or influence people.

I'm a snob and have lots of friends. Not sure why but if I ever figure it out I'll write a book. Sure as hell isn't because I buy drinks for anybody as I haven't done that in decades. Ask anybody who knows me.

 

[dxmnkd316]

Re: 115th Congress - Fantastik! Try to remember we vote in November.

Which is why you lose middle America. Snobbery does make friends or influence people.

Yeah, but there has been a massive shift in the education gap over the last 20 years. Smerconish highlighted this yesterday on his show. College-educated voters have started to swing left by a significant margin (of change). Conversely, those with only high school education have shifted to the republicans.

 

[Rover]

Re: 115th Congress - Fantastik! Try to remember we vote in November.

Speaking of Wisconsin, this is why I don't understand knuckledraggers...

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news...-time-cancel-two-special-elections/461545002/

Sooo...Scott Walker wants to cancel two special elections because his party might lose. Even though if these seats did flip the GOP would still be in power until the general election at least. What am I missing here? Its like the PA redistricting idiocy that looks like it got shot down. There's zero upside, but the downside is that it correctly paints the party in power as corrupt azzholes with little interest in democratic elections.

 

[Kepler]

Re: 115th Congress - Fantastik! Try to remember we vote in November.

Speaking of Wisconsin, this is why I don't understand knuckledraggers...

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news...-time-cancel-two-special-elections/461545002/

Sooo...Scott Walker wants to cancel two special elections because his party might lose. Even though if these seats did flip the GOP would still be in power until the general election at least. What am I missing here? Its like the PA redistricting idiocy that looks like it got shot down. There's zero upside, but the downside is that it correctly paints the party in power as corrupt azzholes with little interest in democratic elections.

The GOP has made the calculation that after Garland they can get away with anything. Not a single one of their supporters will withhold support as a protest about process and legitimacy -- all that matters to them now is power. The right no longer cares about rule of law, they only care about winning.

 

[Rover]

Re: 115th Congress - Fantastik! Try to remember we vote in November.

The GOP has made the calculation that after Garland they can get away with anything. Not a single one of their supporters will withhold support as a protest about process and legitimacy -- all that matters to them now is power. The right no longer cares about rule of law, they only care about winning.

I agree, but there's also something called strategy. After Creepy Roy Moore got bounced in Alabama, one would think the aura of invincibility would be reconsidered. Not sure why my incompetent great uncle Karl for example isn't calling up Walker and advising him to at least make it look good that he cares about fair elections even though he actually doesn't. There's zero upside to all of this. It sort of reminds me of where the GOP was in 2006, thinking that gerrymandering and campaign $$$ would allow them to get away with bribery, bigamy, mistress choking, house page poking, wife beating, extortion, incompetence, child molester as House speaker, etc etc.

 

[Kepler]

Re: 115th Congress - Fantastik! Try to remember we vote in November.

I agree, but there's also something called strategy. After Creepy Roy Moore got bounced in Alabama, one would think the aura of invincibility would be reconsidered. Not sure why my incompetent great uncle Karl for example isn't calling up Walker and advising him to at least make it look good that he cares about fair elections even though he actually doesn't. There's zero upside to all of this.

They have decided it doesn't matter when their voters never even hear about any of this inside the Fox killing jar.

 

[unofan]

Which is why you lose middle America. Snobbery does make friends or influence people.

Blue collar snobbery is still snobbery, Joe. "That's your education talkin'" is more destructive, frankly.

 

[Kepler]

Re: 115th Congress - Fantastik! Try to remember we vote in November.

Blue collar snobbery is still snobbery, Joe. "That's your education talkin'" is more destructive, frankly.

<img src="https://i.redd.it/one5b7t9hn2y.png" height="300" />