In The News Today...

Oh my God, that totally inexperienced truck driver in New Jersey has won a senate seat by beating a Democrat who was there forever. He paid $150 to make a Grassroots video and there was under $10,000 invested in his campaign. He absolutely won totally because Poopypants is president. This has to be laid totally at the feet of Beijing Joe. And the guy he beat was president of the New Jersey senate. People are scared to death, Democrats included, of what Poopypants Biden is doing to the country. I keep saying this because it's the absolute truth, the Democrats in Washington are scared out of their minds at what Beijing Joe Biden is doing to their prospects for next year's elections. When a totally Blue State like New Jersey will vote out the state senate President and elect a totally inexperienced truck driver you know people are fed up. And he beat him by 4% which is huge. It means either a lot of Democrats voted for the truck driver Or democrats never even bothered showing up at the poles. Either way it's a devastating blow to the party because it shows the mood of the country.

Quote: Evenbob

Oh my God, that totally inexperienced truck driver in New Jersey has won a senate seat by beating a Democrat who was there forever. He paid $150 to make a Grassroots video and there was under $10,000 invested in his campaign. He absolutely won totally because Poopypants is president. This has to be laid totally at the feet of Beijing Joe. And the guy he beat was president of the New Jersey senate. People are scared to death, Democrats included, of what Poopypants Biden is doing to the country. I keep saying this because it's the absolute truth, the Democrats in Washington are scared out of their minds at what Beijing Joe Biden is doing to their prospects for next year's elections. When a totally Blue State like New Jersey will vote out the state senate President and elect a totally inexperienced truck driver you know people are fed up. And he beat him by 4% which is huge. It means either a lot of Democrats voted for the truck driver Or democrats never even bothered showing up at the poles. Either way it's a devastating blow to the party because it shows the mood of the country.

The thing is people are seeing the disaster that happens when liberals are allowed to run things. They sound so loving when they say things like "we should not be separating families at the border!" but feelings are not policy. Sadly Americans need to be reminded how bad Democrat policies are ever 20 years or so, every generation. Then Republicans have to come in and clean up the mess they made.

Quote: AZDuffman

The thing is people are seeing the disaster that happens when liberals are allowed to run things. They sound so loving when they say things like "we should not be separating families at the border!" but feelings are not policy. Sadly Americans need to be reminded how bad Democrat policies are ever 20 years or so, every generation. Then Republicans have to come in and clean up the mess they made.

They haven't really made much of a mess, yet, as they haven't been able to do anything at the national level. If you want to see how much of a mess going, "Full Leftist," is, just look at somewhere like San Francisco or Portland...that's really all you need to know.

Personally, I think the Independent swing is just a referendum on everything having to be culture wars and, "Wokeness," and not so much having to do with any actual policies that have been implemented. I think that people are actually starting to worry about what they theoretically could do if they amassed enough power.

I really think the race card is seriously overplayed at this point, but if we're going to go that route, then I say this to the Democrats---like it or not, you still need white Independents at this time, so portraying whites as the inherently racist and massively privileged scum of the Earth might not be the best strategy.

Quote: Mission146

I really think the race card is seriously overplayed at this point, but if we're going to go that route, then I say this to the Democrats---like it or not, you still need white Independents at this time, so portraying whites as the inherently racist and massively privileged scum of the Earth might not be the best strategy.

That is what killed Hillary. Sometime in the 2010s the Democrat Party wrote off the white vote. Giddy saying "demographics is destiny" they decided why bother, go full bore crying "racism" and get a huge portion of the non-white vote. Well, they have finally pissed off the whites with no college degree. Guess what, that is 40% or so of the USA. Running a campaign telling 40% of voters they are uneducated, racist scumbags probably not smart.

Quote: Mission146

I really think the race card is seriously overplayed at this point, but if we're going to go that route, then I say this to the Democrats---like it or not, you still need white Independents at this time, so portraying whites as the inherently racist and massively privileged scum of the Earth might not be the best strategy.

It's certainly progress that the New Lt Gov said racism didn't stop her, but it's also naïve to consider it to be a mute issue. If it is, then a black person accused of killing a white person should have no issues facing an all white jury and judge 'cause race is not an issue. Or vice versa, a white person accused of killing a black person facing an all black jury and judge ( probably a rarity, if it ever happened at all)

I am a skeptic for people saying "get over it".

edit moot. Though mute makes an interesting choice.

Quote: Mission146

I really think the race card is seriously overplayed at this point, .

I've heard half a dozen black commentators and politicians the last two days say the race card is dead in the water as a political tool. It's been played to the point it has no meaning anymore. Turn on CNN and it's all you hear every hour is the word racism. Nobody pays any attention to it. Terry McAuliffe played the race card over and over and look where it got him. He played it the day before the election when he said Virginia has too many white teachers. You can't turn on the liberal media without hearing about white supremacists and racism. People are tuning it out because they're sick of hearing it. The people who use those words, white supremacy and racism, never explain what they mean because they can't. So the words end up meaning nothing.

Quote: AZDuffman

That is what killed Hillary. Sometime in the 2010s the Democrat Party wrote off the white vote. Giddy saying "demographics is destiny" they decided why bother, go full bore crying "racism" and get a huge portion of the non-white vote. Well, they have finally pissed off the whites with no college degree. Guess what, that is 40% or so of the USA. Running a campaign telling 40% of voters they are uneducated, racist scumbags probably not smart.

The racist part probably isn't smart, but of the 40% that you speak of, how many of those are Southern White Christians/Evangelicals who the Democrats have no chance of ever attracting, anyway? When you look at it in terms of the Electorate, then you basically accept (especially these days) that there is going to be a hard cap of something like 20% of all voters that are even up for grabs---and that many of those are going to be highly improbable.

Within that 20% of voters exist certain demographics and ideologies that are more or less likely to go one way or the other anyway. In other words, if you did that 20% in a way that looked like this:

Left/Moderately Left---Moderate Left----Slight Left---Centrist---Slight Right---Moderate Right---Right/Moderately Right

If you break all the way through to the ones who are just a little more than moderately one thing or another, then you've already won anyway, which renders them (while they may be part of the 20% of people who can be swayed) pragmatically unimportant.

In my opinion, of all voters, only 10% (or so) can actually be swayed and are pragmatically important. If you can get all of the people who lean in any way to your side, the Centrists and maybe just dapple in people who lean slightly the other way---you've already won.

Anyway, manufacturing an enemy is an effective political tool, Trump aside, I think you and I can both think of quite a few leaders who rose to power that way...but where Romney and Clinton erred was painting with too broad a brush when identifying the enemy.

Like we saw with the Independents and as you point out---you can't look to non-college educated white males and paint all of them as the enemy because the brush you are using is simply too big. You also don't solve racism/gender-ism by using racism and gender-ism...saying that white males are inherently racist and sexist is, in fact, a racist and sexist thing to say.

That said, if you narrow your focus and cast White Non-College Educated Evangelical Males as the enemy, when it comes to percentage of vote and where their votes are usually going anyway, you can alienate that much more specific demographic. You don't need any of their votes. You do need more than zero votes from Centrist white males, though.

Quote: rxwine

It's certainly progress that the New Lt Gov said racism didn't stop her, but it's also naïve to consider it to be a mute issue. If it is, then a black person accused of killing a white person should have no issues facing an all white jury and judge 'cause race is not an issue. Or vice versa, a white person accused of killing a black person facing an all black jury and judge ( probably a rarity, if it ever happened at all)

I am a skeptic for people saying "get over it".

edit moot. Though mute makes an interesting choice.

That's actually an interesting comparison because then you get into wondering whether race is an actual issue in that instance or a perceived issue.

That's really the entire problem with framing things in the context of race to begin with. With some juries, it probably would be an ACTUAL issue (particularly in the South) whereas, with other juries, any issue would be a perceived one and no actual bias against the defendant would exist.

That's also the problem with trying to advance a social argument that there is an, "Intrinsic racism," "Inherent racism," or, "Systemic racism,"...it probably has married white couples working two wage slave jobs to get by wondering where the hell their white privilege is purported to be! The social argument basically tries to take racism from being a flaw that is found in many individuals up to something that is just automatically there with everyone.

Quote: Evenbob

I've heard half a dozen black commentators and politicians the last two days say the race card is dead in the water as a political tool. It's been played to the point it has no meaning anymore. Turn on CNN and it's all you hear every hour is the word racism. Nobody pays any attention to it. Terry McAuliffe played the race card over and over and look where it got him. He played it the day before the election when he said Virginia has too many white teachers. You can't turn on the liberal media without hearing about white supremacists and racism. People are tuning it out because they're sick of hearing it. The people who use those words, white supremacy and racism, never explain what they mean because they can't. So the words end up meaning nothing.

"White supremacy," and, "Racism," are clearly definable terms and, to a lesser extent than perhaps some on the Far Left would like, you could make an argument for, "Systemic Racism," only if you wanted to give it a very specific definition. Beyond that, there is nothing that they can describe because their own descriptions of the current state of affairs are such to become a circular position by which every person must be a racist. Obviously, some people see that as nonsense just on its face...but, again, they come back with an argument that essentially amounts to, "If you don't think you're a racist or don't see racism in certain things, then it's probably because you are a racist."

Quote: Mission146

"White supremacy," and, "Racism," are clearly definable terms and, to a lesser extent than perhaps some on the Far Left would like, you could make an argument for, "Systemic Racism," only if you wanted to give it a very specific definition. "

Nobody knows what systemic racism means. The keywords now are 'white supremacy dog whistle', you hear this constantly on CNN and MSNBC. They never explain what it means and nobody knows what it means. It just sounds clever.