Doug Jones wins! Donald Trump is on an epic losing streak this year. #AlabamaSenateElection pic.twitter.com/gamrQSCXK4
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) December 13, 2017
.
CONGRATULATIONS, SENATOR JONES!
Breaking news: Doug Jones has won the Alabama senate race, according to the Associated Press. https://t.co/OoMlPxFuB7
— NYT Politics (@nytpolitics) December 13, 2017
… The upset delivered an unimagined victory for Democrats and shaved Republicans’ unstable Senate majority to a single seat.
Mr. Jones’s victory could have drastic consequences on the national level, snarling Republicans’ legislative agenda in Washington and opening, for the first time, a realistic but still difficult path for Democrats to capture the Senate next year. It amounted to a stinging snub of President Trump, who broke with much of his party and fully embraced Mr. Moore’s candidacy, seeking to rally support for him in the closing days of the campaign.
Sue Bell Cobb, a former chief judge of the Alabama Supreme Court, said Mr. Jones had overcome a culture of “toxic partisanship,” reaching out to Republicans and electrifying restive Democrats.
“Never has there been this level of civic engagement,” said Ms. Cobb, who is planning to run for governor next year. “Never has it happened.”
She was drowned out by a raucous cry from her fellow Democrats, and clasped her hands to her face as she saw on a massive projection screen that Mr. Jones had pulled ahead. Mayor Randall Woodfin of Birmingham, a newly inaugurated Democrat standing just feet away, beamed as returns from his city helped put Mr. Jones over the top….
The election is a painful setback for Republicans in Washington, who have already struggled to enact policies of any scale and now face even tougher legislative math. Mr. Moore’s success in the Republican primary here, and the subsequent general-election fiasco, may deter mainstream Republicans from seeking office in 2018 and could prompt entrenched incumbents to consider retirement.
But there is also a measure of relief for some party leaders that Mr. Moore will not join the chamber, carrying with him a radioactive cloud of scandal. A number of Republicans, including Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, had indicated that Mr. Moore would face an ethics investigation if he were elected, and possibly expulsion from the Senate….
Yeah, I’m not buying that line, either. If you read the whole article, there’s an obvious tension between the genuine reporters and the NYT head office’s determination to stenograph the new GOP talking points — that they had Moore forced upon them by that parvenu Trump, who isn’t even really a Republican, after all. It’s not gonna convince many Democrats, and somehow I suspect Republican voters aren’t liable to be persuaded, either.
But tonight is OURS!
dmsilev
Tonight’s award for Excellence In Chutzpah goes to Cory Gardner:
Major Major Major Major
@dmsilev: That’s the stupidest thing I’ve read all day, and I read those email excerpts you posted.
Villago Delenda Est
The unspeakable Nazi filth of the alt-right are already whining about “vote fraud!”.
A Ghost to Not
Yay team! Hope abides.
Eta Fuck you, Corey Gardner. Your time in the barrel is coming.
Karen
I’m confused. How does Jones win by 1 point? Isn’t there an automatic recount?
Suzanne
@Major Major Major Major: The derp video of the Moore deputy-douche who was amazed that you can take your oath of office on something other than a Bible was the stupidest shit I saw all day.
chopper
yaaaaay
dmsilev
@Major Major Major Major: I think Sen. Gardner proved the old adage “better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak up and remove all doubt.”
Major Major Major Major
Slate has a fun collection of Twitter pundit reactions to the Times’s fucking needle.
Marcopolo
Enjoying the fact that Trump’s gonna be up all night gnashing his teeth. Can they keep him away from his phone? Ha ha ha!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Corner Stone
@dmsilev:
What? He was elected to vote with the R party?
dmsilev
@Karen: A quick Google search says that the threshold for an automatic recount in Alabama is a margin of 0.5 percent or less, so if Jones is sitting at 1.something, he’s well above that threshold.
NotMax
Teenage girls can stroll the aisles of D.C. metro area malls with their heads held high.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
It was nice to hear unabashed, positive liberalism with a southern drawl.I actually got a little emotional about it – I had missed it.
Corner Stone
Can not wait for this vote to be certified and Jones seated.
Raoul
@dmsilev: Totally, laughably pathetic, Cory.
??? Martin
Alabama makes clear where America’s moral compass is, and it sure as fuck isn’t white Christians. The black community have done a great service today. Thank you.
hellslittlestangel
What is this strange sensation I’m feeling? Could it be … glee?
jl
I read depressed turnout by GOP voters was important part of Jones’ victory. Part of that is due to Moore being particularly toxic. But some of it must be due to massive betrayal of Trump voters by GOP Congress and Trump himself. I read that the depressed GOP turnout in Alabama was similar to Virginia election.So, that part of the problem isn’t going to get solved. Unless the Congressional GOP decides to completely rewrite their tax bill. Or maybe not even then.
GOPers tomorrow are going to have to recalculate their chances next year with more evidence of severely depressed GOP vote and hypercharged Dem vote. The planned voter suppression will have to be terrific and the best to get them out of that jam.
Elmo
Open thread! I have a friend needing help rehoming two abandoned dogs From the LA fires.
Yarrow
Oh. My. God! My neighbor texted me the news while I was coming back from picking up someone at the airport. Doug Jones won? Doug Jones won! I can hardly believe it. How exciting!
ByRookorbyCrook
I smell the stench of rodent carnality. AL SOS website has Moore up 7,000 votes with 66 0f 67 precincts reporting.
Link
lamh36
So the narrative will be the “write-ins” were the deciding factor…sure… African Americans had NOTHING to do with it…sure…Jan…
Raoul
@Marcopolo: Can they keep him away from the nuclear football? Rage-vaporizing NK is something his minders might have to watch for.
hellslittlestangel
Funny, Moore got thoroughly smeared with The Orange Better One’s shit, but it didn’t make him filthier than he already was.
Major Major Major Major
@ByRookorbyCrook: No it doesn’t. Probably slow to update.
Steve in the ATL
I’ve been in bargaining since this morning with a 0% chance of getting a contract, so this is a nice bit of unexpected good news.
Caphilldcne
So pleased. And proud of Jones. What a great campaign. I donated just cause I wanted to go down swinging (and didnt want my Alabama family represented by Moore). Paid off in gold!!
lamh36
per Heilemen on MSNBC…the #MeToo movement was a big factor, but I disagree, 65% of White Women in Alabama still voted for Moore…sure the climate made the media cover it in a different fashion, but I can’t really see any numbers saying that it made a difference with enough Republican white women…
I’m not sure if the #MeToo movement can even make inroads into that voter block
B.B.A.
@Corner Stone: Well, it’s a permanent Republican seat that can only change hands with the approval of the NRSC chairman. It’s in the Senate rulebook somewhere, and totally not made up on the spur of the moment, no fooling, hey look over there!
PsiFighter37
@jl: That’s a good point – despite the massive voter suppression tactics in play, Jones still pulled it off.
Get people registered, get them the right kinds of ID, and let’s fucking kick ass and take some names.
So pumped.
Major Major Major Major
This owl is wondering if it missed anything.
lamh36
Wait…CNN reporter saying Moore camp claims he only had 1 speech written, and 1 speech only…ugh…
ByRookorbyCrook
Bah Nevermind last precinct ended killed the rats.
oatler.
Did we win the Civil War then?
Immanentize
Tomorrow’s DKos Headline:
“Sanders supporters call for primary challenge to ‘neoliberal Jones'”
Adam L Silverman
@dmsilev: To his credit, Senator Gardner has been unequivocal in opposing Roy Moore’s candidacy since he won the primary.
The Moar You Know
Holy fucking shit. I am blown away. This is huge. And I have never in my life been happier to be wrong.
dmsilev
@lamh36: So he’s not giving a concession speech? Too bad, that’d be one for the History of Lunacy textbooks.
Adam L Silverman
Corner Stone
@Steve in the ATL: Stop asking for their first born and all honey produced by their honeycombs and you may start getting somewhere, you fucking pimp.
Ken
@lamh36: Shades of Mitt Romney.
Come to think of it, wasn’t there a huge delay last November because Trump hadn’t prepared even one speech for election night?
lamh36
One tweet from Doug Jones:
hellslittlestangel
Final score:
Decent Human Beings 1
Christians 0
Steve in the ATL
@Corner Stone: I am what I am!
BC in Illinois
@Corner Stone:
@dmsilev:
Asinine quote of the day, from the head of the National Republican Senate Committee:
Let me offer an alternative. Senator Jones should spend his time in the Senate doing things that the vast majority of the American people desire: health care, voting rights, tax laws that do not enrich the already rich, investigation into Russian interference with our elections, protection of the environment, equal justice for all.
You know — represent Alabama and serve his country, by opposing anything that comes from Trump, McConnell, and Ryan.
Peej
I can’t take credit for this comment I saw:
“The Republicans blew a 28-3 lead.”
Raoul
@Adam L Silverman: Senator Gardner has a firm handle on the direction of the wind in Colorado. It isn’t blowing towards Trump here.
oldgold
Naming Sessions AG has yielded us Mueller and Jones!
Adam L Silverman
@Villago Delenda Est: That’s because they also tried to pull this scam. Has Cernovich, Posobiec, and Chucky Johnson written all over it:
https://www.axios.com/schumer-calls-cops-after-forged-sex-scandal-charge-2517019807.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=twsocialshare&utm_campaign=organic
Anne Laurie
@oatler.:
Looks like we may finally be ready to start putting down the revanchist uprising, please Murphy the Trickster God!
NotMax
The irony of Pence swearing in Jones is both precious and luscious.
Or will he cheaply, crassly wimp out and assign it to a surrogate?
Kay
In other good news, Texans hate Ted Cruz.
Major Major Major Major
@Raoul: Then maybe Gardner can do the right thing and truly represent CO by fucking resigning.
MP
@lamh36: Surely he can channel God from the podium.
Adam L Silverman
@Karen: Only if someone wins by .5 or less. 1% or more and no automatic recount.
Sloegin
Congrats to black turnout putting this thing in the win column. I’d say baby steps, but you know… Phrasing!
hedgehog mobile
Huge thanks to the black community from this white woman. Thanks to Charles Barkley for speaking truth.
Gonna finish my cranberry cider then break open the Breckenridge bourbon. I’m off this week so I can.
Adam L Silverman
@Marcopolo: OT: Saw you reply to my comment this morning. Had racked out. I’m tracking on what you said, but wasn’t offering because I figured you wanted to use them/to try to get you to use them. Rather because treating them properly for long term storage preserves them and therefore their value in case you decide to pass them on to a family member as a family keepsake or sell them. And given what you’ve described you’ve got at least one very valuable rifle, if not three.
Ruckus
@BC in Illinois:
Let me offer an alternative. Senator Jones should spend his time in the senate doing what the people who elected him desired. And that quite apparently was not be Roy Moore or a republican.
So, as Doug Jones, Democratic Senator from Alafuckingbama, might just be an slightly nicer person or perhaps a much better politician than me, let me say, go fuck yourself, Cory Gardner.
GregB
@Adam L Silverman:
Let’s hope this little character assassin cartel is due for their time in the barrel.
randy khan
@dmsilev:
I had started to look forward to Moore conceding, but then realized that there was no way he’d actually give the speech.
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: No, Gardner’s being facetious.
Caphilldcne
PS congratulations to all the Good balloon juicers who also donated. Most importantly congratulations to the people of Alabama who won big tonight!
Tim C.
Hope is kindled.
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: Well there goes all the excitement at the 2018 Senate bring your daughter to work day…
cmorenc
Hey Roy: “Fuck you and the horse you rode in on!”
What delicious irony that this isn’t merely a figure of speech.
Corner Stone
@Steve in the ATL: What happened to my comment, one wonders?
oldgold
USA Today usually has very tepid editorials. But, in tomorrow’s paper they let Trump have it big time.
“A president who’d all but call a senator a whore is unfit to clean toilets in Obama’s presidential library or to shine George W. Bush’s shoes.”
THE EDITORIAL BOARD | USA TODAY
Major Major Major Major
The Onion’s News In Photos headline: “Roy Moore Retires From Politics To Spend More Quality Time With Someone’s Kid”
Cheryl Rofer
Throughout this campaign, I have thought how important it is that he prosecuted the Klan for the deaths of those four young girls. I thought more should have been said about it. But maybe that’s just my age showing.
NotMax
As for those who habitually refrain from civic participation because “My vote doesn’t count”…
…efgoldman ’em.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
AL SoS inviting Moore supporters to come to his office at 11 PM to discuss the steps to delay certification and get a recount, per Moore flunky at his rally. Can that be true?
Ken
This is good news for Roy Moore. It means he can spend his full time clearing his name of those horrible accusations.
(I meant that facetiously, but I just realized – if his victims were planning any civil suits, those can still go forward and his life might get even worse. Cue tiny violins.)
Corner Stone
@NotMax: I wouldn’t wish that on almost anyone.
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: Alabama Secretary of State has indicated he expects to certify results between 27 and 29 DEC. The actual required deadline is 3 JAN 2018. This, however, is the larger question:
Ruckus
@Major Major Major Major:
So unlike them to wimp out. How about this?
Roy Moore Retires From Politics To Spend More Quality Time With Someone’s teen aged daughter.
Raoul
Moore camp talking about military ballots not in, AL s.o.s. process.
And now the Bible from this sh*theel. Gaaaaah
Cheryl Rofer
Moore is now asking for a recount.
Garbo
@cmorenc: Poor Sassy, we need to rescue her!
Adam L Silverman
@lamh36: African Americans are 26% of Alabamans. The African American turnout today was no less than 30%. This wasn’t about write ins or even absentee ballots.
Major Major Major Major
@Cheryl Rofer: He’s outside the margin, tough shit. Is it up to the SoS?
Quinerly
Roy Moore’s campaign, “It’s not over.”
Plus Bible verses.
Raven Onthill
Black votes matter.
The Dangerman
@Adam L Silverman:
LALALALALALALALALA. Can’t hear you.
/McConnell
Lyrebird
@Immanentize: You certainly have a point, but it’s also worth noting that DKos channeled more than two thousand buckaroos to the Jones campaign.
But back to your point – I hope that along with increasing recognition of the importance of Black voters’ views that we’ll see decreasing support for purity pony-ism like that.
I’m thrilled Jones won,
and I do not envy him the job that he’s won!
Adam L Silverman
@Raoul:
Corner Stone
@Steve in the ATL: Apparently I should not have said “first born” or some other term? I am mystified, personally. But am sure Anne has a really good explanation for what happened.
Suzanne
Thank you to the African-American community of Alabama for ONCE AGAIN building a solid foundation for this country.
lamh36
Of course Roy Moore won’t concede and talking bout a recoutnt…and now CNN on with Alabama SoS…FUQ’ers
pepper
my daughter is a freshman at the university of alabama. turned 18 this past may and cast the first ballot of her life for doug jones. roll tide.
Ken
@Raoul:
Didn’t Moore brag in his autobiography about sleeping on sandbags for fear of being fragged? I’d call this ironic, but irony was strangled and buried in an unmarked grave a couple of years ago.
MCA1
What an undignified, horseshit sour grapes delusional Not Concession speech that was by Moore. Keyriced, what an asshole.
trollhattan
They call me Deacon Blue.
Channeling Our Lady of the Magic Dolphins, “Let us savor.”
Tomorrow we fight.
misterpuff
Roy Moore is a Dead-Ender…we are going to get a look at what Drumpf would have done if he had lost.
GregB
This morning Roy Moore rode his horse in to polls to vote and tonight Doug Jones rode his ass out of town.
Ruckus
My pie list will not even stay while I am online and in the same session.
Help!
mac, 10.13.2, FF ver 57.0.1
different-church-lady
@Cheryl Rofer:
LOSER: 1 — YOU.
Origuy
@cmorenc: Be nice to Roy Moore’s horse. She? has been through a lot. Here’s her Twitter feed.
Cheryl Rofer
@Adam L Silverman: Plenty of material for Trump to tweet about tomorrow morning.
Adam L Silverman
@GregB: Yep.
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
@Adam L Silverman: Ha, of course, Trump and his bloviating are nothing but 100% unadulterated bullshit.
Suzanne
@lamh36: Dude is a sore fucking loser.
Everyone is invited to my house for drinks.
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: Went into the trash. I have no idea why. I have restored it for you.
Cheryl Rofer
Villago Delenda Est
@Adam L Silverman: Roger Stone, who if there was actually a Clinton Murder, Inc,, would have been at room temperature decades ago.
Ruckus
@Origuy:
Roy Moore’s Horse @RoyMooresHorse
Roy Moore’s Horse Retweeted Steve-O
THE HORSE IS UNCOMFORTABLE UNDER THE ASSHOLE
Ken
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: Well, yes. But it’s surprising how many people in his administration say that.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Sounds like a direct response to what the Moore flunky said (the threat he made?) on stage
catclub
@Adam L Silverman:
I look at that and wonder how soon before there is a request for a NON-automatic recount. That probably takes extenuating circumstances – like a Democrat won in a state wide election.
japa21
If the GOP in Alabama does some skullduggery and gets the results thrown out and have Moore winning, there will be hell to pay in Alabama.
NotMax
Video for Moore, when he can spare 5 seconds.
Corner Stone
@Adam L Silverman: I have an idea. But thanks.
catclub
@Cheryl Rofer: That did not take long.
??? Martin
Keep an eye on Collins. She just got a lot of leverage to vote against the tax bill.
Suzanne
@Cheryl Rofer:
Taking out the trash.
Major Major Major Major
@Ruckus: Can you run
localStorage.getItem('BJAutoPieNamesList');
for me in the developer console?ArchTeryx
You know, I figured that by this time, Obamacare would be dead and so would I.
Instead, it – and I – live. And I lived to see a Democrat that WASN’T a Dixiecrat elected to a seat in Alabama. He may only be a seat warmer for a few years, but…this is a HUGE symbolic victory. And a practical one: McConnell has one less vote in the Senate for a whole lot of things. Jones won’t vote with the Ds on every vote, but he may oppose McConnell on a few crucial ones – like the tax bill.
Suck on it, you cocksucking, blood-drinking ghouls. You LOST.
Cheryl Rofer
Felonious Monk
@Corner Stone:
You wrote it with invisible pixels?
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: Once he sees the news coverage on Morning Joe about how he and Bannon blew this. How they inserted themselves and cost the GOP an easy/safe seat, he’s going to lose it big time.
John Revolta
Mr. President- this is a big fucking deal.
jl
@japa21: Jones has over 20,000 vote lead, more than 1.5 percentage points. Can they throw that out?
Anyway, good news. For the GOP, betrayal of their base may be priceless, in the sense that they can’t buy their way out of it. And in the sense of the hilarity of the consequences. And a bonus is that Moore won’t be around to take the focus off of Trump’s own long and predatory history of harassment and assault.
The Dangerman
@??? Martin:
Tax Bill just got a JATO strapped to it. No way that thing waits for Jones.
ETA: +2
Ruckus
@??? Martin:
The only and all the leverage she needed was already there. The shitty tax bill and how it will fuck her constituents.
Anne Laurie
@Corner Stone: You know I don’t favor personal attacks on other commentors. Seems like Steve can throw it back atcha, but you have had your one warning.
jl
@The Dangerman: Jones ain’t on a plane yet?
Marcopolo
Everyone here w/ a R senator—call their office tomorrow and demand they give the Jones special election the same treatment as Scott Brown’s. In 2010 McConnell insisted there be no further votes/progress on the ACA until Brown was seated. The R’s should halt progress on their tax bill until Jones is seated.
Cheryl Rofer
The Alabama Secretary of State is saying there is no reason for a recount – no way the results are likely to change.
CaseyL
@catclub: In most states, if you want a non-automatic recount, your campaign has to pay for it. Automatics are free.
clay
Robert Costa is getting all squeamish over strong words in a USA Today editorial. Not “bad” words. Just strong, true words about how horrible Trump is.
Costa, you’re not a horrible reporter, but wake the fuck up. The time for timid suggestions is over.
Corner Stone
@??? Martin: Are you kidding? Think they are going to wait? That thing is going to get reverse crammed through like an explosive enema plug. They *HAVE* to have this. They don’t GIVE A SHIT.
Marcopolo
@Adam L Silverman: no worries
Adam L Silverman
@Villago Delenda Est: Yep. Though apparently he and Chuckie Johnson are having a falling out.
Corner Stone
@Anne Laurie: Fuck you.
Viva BrisVegas
@Villago Delenda Est:
Well, they’re right. It’s obvious there was vote fraud.
There just wasn’t enough to get Moore elected.
Adam L Silverman
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: So there is some crap that even the Alabama Secretary of State refuses to engage in.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I think he’s a good reporter, but he came to the WaPo from the National Review. I get a strong Nice Catholic Boy vibe off him
@Corner Stone: I’m wondering if Ryan will try to cram through the Sente version now
Face
@jl: The AL SoS van do whatever he wants. Do you really think the DoJ would actually investigate the sudden discovery of 20,001 military votes, every one of them for Moore?
A recount is where the shenanigans starts, Im afraid.
Cacti
Well butter my buns and call me a biscuit.
I honestly thought Moore would still win by 5-7 points.
Cheryl Rofer
@Adam L Silverman: Yeah. I saw a really nasty tweet takedown of Bannon. Can’t remember it. Decided not to post it here because that’s not how I roll. But Trump will see it or something like it.
It seemed to me that if Alabamians don’t like outsiders telling them how to vote, Bannon’s campaigning for Moore wasn’t the smartest idea. Plus now he gets blamed. Love it.
Corner Stone
@Adam L Silverman: Thanks anyway.
Matt McIrvin
@catclub: Moore’s asking for a recount. I presume somebody with deep pockets will pay for it. I don’t know how they do it if only digital records exist and some have been destroyed, as it was ruled they could do.
But it’s entirely possible the bastards find some way to just make up a Moore win.
stinger
@GregB: LOL
Anne Laurie
@Corner Stone: And you also know you’re allowed to attack me, but it’s not a good look on you, fella-me-lad.
Adam L Silverman
@catclub: Actually I mistyped. It is .51% margin of victory or better and no automatic recount. Right now Jones is leading by 21,000 votes with 99% of precincts reporting. So unless there’s 21,001 absentee ballots that haven’t been counted, this is a done deal.
From what is being reported, the attempt by Moore to overturn this with dirty tricks by the Alabama Secretary of State’s Office/Secretary of State isn’t going to happen.
Shalimar
@Adam L Silverman: Merrill was the asshole saying as late as 2:30pm that turnout would be around 25%. It turns out to have been almost 40%, and more than 25% had already voted by the time he said that. I’m not sure what his goal was with that statement, he had to have better information already, but I still don’t trust him. Slime even by Alabama Secretary of State standards, which are not high.
Major Major Major Major
@Cheryl Rofer:
Yertle’s old chief of staff, wasn’t it?
catclub
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
No, because that still has giant mistakes – like setting the corporate AMT at 20% – which kills all deductions.
Amaranthine RBG
@Suzanne:
Yeah Doesn’t he even know that party-darling Nikki Haley took her oath with her hand on InaGodadavita?
Cheryl Rofer
Steve in the ATL
@Corner Stone: I was responding to your description of me as “a fucking pimp”. I was flattered!
Corner Stone
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Robert Costa plays it VERY down the middle. He is not giving any faction a chance to plug him or pull him.
But, he does have some good insights once in a while.
TS
The republicans are all saying Doug Jones has the opportunity to be bipartisan in the senate – hahahahaha – they know they’re on the way out – and they know WHO stopped any bipartisanship in the senate & it sure wasn’t the democrats
Cheryl Rofer
@Major Major Major Major: Don’t recall – just had an instant reaction to share, decided not to. There are plenty around to rouse Trump up.
Adam L Silverman
@Marcopolo: So my offer stands if you want to confab. If not I’m not offended.
Corner Stone
@Anne Laurie: That was not an attack on Steve. He knows what it was. Look at his reply. We can still banter about golf or anything else. Your trigger finger was a big miss here.
Adam L Silverman
@Anne Laurie: Sorry, didn’t mean to undue a moderation decision you had made.
lamh36
this afternoon twitter thread from Al Giordano on the GOTV efforts that were going on underneath the surface of the Trump driven media…tells the tale of what happened tonight in Alabama!!!
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: Not unless there’s more than 21,000 absentee ballots waiting to be counted.
MisterForkbeard
@Adam L Silverman: I guess this is a tacit recognition that Trump’s “up the ante and yell like a crazy old man” strategy isn’t paying dividends?
Adam L Silverman
@clay: Costa is trying to protect his access.
Mike J
Ruckus
@Major Major Major Major:
Apparently I can not. That is incorrect.
comes back null
Cheryl Rofer
NotMax
Unless I’m gravely mistaken*, Jones will not have the credentials to present at the Senate in order to be sworn in until after the Alabama Secretary of State certifies the results and provides the appropriate documents.
*Has happened once or twice. :)
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: Knock it off.
Bill Arnold
Open thread material – does anyone know of the reputation of polipace.com? Specifically:
Vanessa Trump Thought Donald Jr Had an Affair with Leanne Tweeden (2017/12/12 – sorry if duplicate link)
(Many happy dances about Jones win.)
Ken
@Cheryl Rofer: And we already know where Shelby stands…
This may be another instance of the GOP break. What remains of the old establishment knows they can easily get this seat back in 2020 with any halfway decent candidate. The lunatics want their way NOW.
MisterForkbeard
@Adam L Silverman: God forbid the president have egg on his face because of… The President. Nope, all Bannon’s fault.
Steve in the ATL
@Anne Laurie: appreciate the support, but honestly that, even if he weren’t being facetious, was far less offensive than what was said to my face, in person, by a union today, a union that wants me to give their members a bunch of money.
And as I told the union, “I have a wife and two daughters—there’s nothing you can say to me that’s worse than what they have said!”
Adam L Silverman
@Shalimar: I’m not suggesting he’s a stand up person. He’s made it clear his job is to make it as hard as possible for people of color/Democratic voters to vote in Alabama. He’s also a Putinphile.
WaterGirl
@lamh36: Just listened to the victory speech. Seemed like once he thanked family and staff, etc, the first thing he did was thank the african american community. I was very glad to see that.
Shalimar
@Cheryl Rofer: That statement from the AL GOP chair makes it sound like Jones needs to vote with Republicans to shore up his support for 2018. He doesn’t actually face voters again until 2020, so has a little more leeway than that implies. In addition to the voters who put Jones in office overwhelmingly hating Trump and Republicans and not wanting compromise.
Ken
@MisterForkbeard: You’ve got to remember how dividends have historically worked with Trump’s businesses. He gets all the publicity and money, everyone else gets screwed.
clay
I think we have to give it up for Tom Perez. He said he would organize and focus on down-ticket races and state-party-building, and it’s paid off enormously thus far.
Mnemosyne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
There have been stories all day about the AL SoS suppressing Black and other minority voters, so the last thing he wants is an investigation into how he tried to tilt the scales.
Adam L Silverman
@MisterForkbeard: Not so much.
Mike in NC
Can never be said enough to this criminal cartel: TUCK FRUMP
Gelfling 545
@Adam L Silverman: Has anybody told Trump?
Cheryl Rofer
And with this, I’m going to bed. Nice to have good news for a change.
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: Correct. The Alabama SoS has indicated they expect to be able to certify between 27 and 29 DEC. He’s required to certify no later than 3 JAN 2018. Given that Congress will go on Christmas vacation around 23 DEC or so and be out till about 3 JAN 2018, Jones won’t be seated until sometime in the first week in January.
Adam L Silverman
Corner Stone
@Steve in the ATL: Sir, mayhap I engage in fruitful discussion with thy self? Thou and thy family should partake in the most glorious of fairpole and merriwether celebrations! I’ve dedicated my finest rooster for sacrifice unto thy Lord. Best to you, and Glory to thine above!
John Revolta
Huh. So we finally found out how high the goddamn contradictions gotta be heightened.
NotMax
Tomorrow’s Sarah Sanders tonight:
“The President’s obvious joshing in those tweets has been once again misinterpreted by the malicious media; now that it is wintertime he was urging Americans to vote with their wallets and wear more corduroy.”
Major Major Major Major
@Ruckus: Perhaps your localstorage isn’t persisting. Try
localStorage.setItem('whatever', 'man');
and refresh and
localStorage.getItem('whatever');
–anything?
Yarrow
@Kay:
Beto O’Rourke’s campaign was really quick out with an email titled “Next up, Texas.” Text:
I took out the fundraising sentence. Glad to see them responding quickly to Jones’ win.
Cacti
This is one of the biggest GOP own goals I’ve ever seen.
Alabama is an R +14 state.
Davebo
@Adam L Silverman: If only!
Obviously 200,000 illegal aliens in AL voted.
mike in dc
We need to win big next year. Then, every day after January 3rd, 2019 should be slow torture for 45. Investigations, subpoenas, forced vetos, stonewalling appointments, etc. Ultimately leading to impeachment, or, in the alternative, a landslide defeat in 2020.
Adam L Silverman
@Bill Arnold: Here’s their about page:
http://polipace.com/about-us/
I’ve seen their owner/director of sales retweeted by legitimate folks, left and right, so…
Chet Murthy
@NotMax: And with their Mace tucked away in their handbags, more importantly.
Ian G.
@Adam L Silverman:
Oh please, let Morning Joe stick it to Trump and Bannon big time. Let the proud Alabama alum let loose with full broadsides. The shitgibbon meltdown will be epic.
Villago Delenda Est
@Adam L Silverman: Wrong Charles Johnson, who came to the light side years ago. The OTHER Charles Johnson is the rage furby.
WaterGirl
@Adam L Silverman: Apparently Alabama wants the tie to Roy Moore to be off the front pages NOW. Smart move.
Regine Touchon
Hey you juicers we volunteers here in Alabama never gave up. Not till the last phone banking call was made tonight . We had an army of workers in Lee County, home of Auburn University, and we hit it out of the park. Onward to 2018. A lot of Representatives have a bulls eye on their back. The Resistance is real!!!
Adam L Silverman
@Mnemosyne: Kormacki on MSNBC has reported there is only about 1,500 to 2,000 absentee ballots out. Jones has a 21,000 vote lead. Even if all the absentee ballots are for Moore, there’s no way he can win and no way he can get to the automatic, and therefore free, recount. He’s done. Despite the ongoing temper tantrum we’re going to see.
Cacti
Quoth the ‘Bama:
“Never Moore!”
lamh36
Mnemosyne
@clay:
Al Giordano credited Tom Perez for this switch at the bottom of the tweet thread that everyone is linking to.
Amir Khalid
@Kay:
Gee, why would anyone hate Ted Cruz? He’s the best transparent phony in the US Senate.
Adam L Silverman
@Gelfling 545: I have no idea.
Steve in the ATL
@Major Major Major Major: English, motherfucker—do you speak it?
WaterGirl
@Major Major Major Major: Yes.
Uncle Cosmo
How long would a recount take? Long enough to make it worthwhile for some wingnut bazillionaire to spring for one to keep Jones from being certified while the looting of the Treasury continues?
NotMax
@Davebo
Doubtful that the number is statistically significant yet can’t help but wonder how many Puerto Ricans may have relocated to Alabama.
tobie
@Regine Touchon: Thanks so much for the fighting spirit through to the end of this race. Hats off to you and your friends. Yes, we’re all jacked up for the 2018 races and all in! So much people power on display tonight. Great to see.
Steve in the ATL
@Corner Stone: thou art too kind!
Now that Alabama has done the right thing for the first time in decades, it’s up to you and your neighbors to take out Ted Fucking Cruz
Mnemosyne
@Regine Touchon:
And you all did an awesome job — congratulations! I’m very glad to see that my donation from blue California was put to good use. ?
Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ
All the analysis can go screw itself until morning. Right now I’m feeling happy. I’ll take it, thank you very much.
Mike in NC
@Regine Touchon: Thank you for your service to our country.
Ruckus
@Major Major Major Major:
Answer is, to both.
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WaterGirl
@Shalimar:
I hope Doug Jones doesn’t fall for that. The Republican party would never support a democrat for senate, no matter what Doug Jones did.
edited
Viva BrisVegas
@Adam L Silverman:
Does Moore have any avenues to do to Jones what Coleman did to Franken in 2008? i.e. keep him out of the Senate for 9 months?
WaterGirl
@clay: Al Giordano gave credit to Perez today in a tweet.
Adam L Silverman
@Davebo: All paid for by George Soros.
WaterGirl
@Regine Touchon: Thank you so much for all the work you guys did. The whole country thanks you – at least the democrats and people who are against pedophiles.
scott (the other one)
If Murkowski, Collins and Gardner (his phenomenally asinine statement tonight nowithstanding) have any political savvy—and I suspect they do—they’ve got to see tonight results, combined with last month’s in Virginia, and realize their best hopes of reelection lie in running the hell away from Trump as unambiguously as possible.
Alabama just elected a Democrat to the Senate. You think rolling the dice and seeing if the people Maine or Alaska, never mind Colorado, are going to be more conservative than Alabama?
Adam L Silverman
@Villago Delenda Est: I’m aware. Charles Johnson was tweeting about Rage Furby’s text message fight with Roger Stone. The screen cap of the texts was from Rage Furby. He’d posted it on his website. Click on Charles Johnson’s tweet to see the whole sad pissing match between Rage Furby and Stone.
NotMax
These are unofficial results (Alabama SoS has not posted official results yet), but some might be curious about who got the write-ins (slightly edited for clarity, no breakdown by name available yet).
TS
Throwing up – on tweety & friend want Jones to vote with republicans – he is probably not going to win in 2020 – voting for trump will just make EVERYONE vote against him. They just keep saying he has to vote with republicans – if he did that why did people come out and vote for the democrat???
Lovely lass – not idea who she is – calling them out.
Another Scott
@Regine Touchon: Thank you! And Congratulations!!
Well done.
Cheers,
Scott.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@scott (the other one): also, does Heller think he can be re-elected, or is he just auditioning for post-senate jobs at this point?
Adam L Silverman
@Regine Touchon: Well done!
Ruckus
@Steve in the ATL:
Get smarter.
It is the pimp from ATL isn’t it? Find your pants?
Adam L Silverman
@lamh36: Unfortunately all too true.
WaterGirl
Merry Christmas, Alabama
Anne Laurie
@Adam L Silverman: No harm, no foul.
Corner Stone
@Steve in the ATL: Moderators?
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: Almost none. Almost all of them have come to Florida. Which is going to radically reshape the politics here next year. They are pissed at the President and the GOP over how the island has been treated and how that has forced them into exile in the continental US.
Anne Laurie
@Regine Touchon: Congratulations to you & your fellow volunteers — you are WONDERFUL!
Yarrow
@Regine Touchon: Thank you for your hard work! A really big win. So glad to see all the effort paying off.
jl
@Regine Touchon: Missed your comment. Thanks so much for your hard work.
Cacti
@TS:
The librul media definition of “bipartisan”:
Both Republicans and Democrats voting for what Republicans want.
Major Major Major Major
@Ruckus: Huhhhh, that should be detected and then the pie filter removed as a result.
@Steve in the ATL: Somebody’s feisty tonight.
Adam L Silverman
@Viva BrisVegas: Doubtful. The most he can do is pay for a recount. But with a 21,000 vote margin and only 1,500 to 2,000 absentee ballots outstanding, he’s not going to get very far with a recount. Also, given that the Alabama Supreme Court reversed the lower court order to preserve all ballots/records of votes, I’m not sure what there actually is to recount. It may be more of a recertification based on each machine by precinct depending on what type of voting machines they’re using. And since by Alabama law the results have to be certified by 3 January 2018, he can’t really hold things up for very long.
Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ
@lamh36: they can’t make inroads because those white women have their entire worldview resting upon their position in regards to men like Roy Moore. So long as they are weak in relation to men like Roy Moore they cannot see past that. Free them in other ways so they are not dependent upon men like “Roy Moore” and they will start to vote independently. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs through the eyes of Stockholm syndrome.
Steve in the ATL
@Regine Touchon: god bless you!
And dog bless you too, just to be safe.
WaterGirl
@Adam L Silverman: Adam, I have a friend who is from Puerto Rico, here while her husband gets his PhD, and their families are (obviously) still in Puerto Rico, many without power, etc. She was telling me about the villages up in the mountains where no one can get in or out – no food, no anything – and they have rigged a pulley system with a grocery cart to get things in and out. It made me wonder whether people here would be interested in a guest post from her, if she was willing.
Would you post something like that if she was interested in doing it?
Corner Stone
@Major Major Major Major: Feisty? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Adam L Silverman
@Cacti: The blonde woman on in the segment with Michael Steele and Joy Ann Reid? If so she’s a local reporter in Alabama.
Frankensteinbeck
@Regine Touchon:
There is nothing we can say but ‘thank you’, and if we said it a million times it would not be enough. Thank you. Thank the other volunteers for us.
Steve in the ATL
@Major Major Major Major: long, painful day at work, mitigated by a couple of bottles of surprisingly not awful Romanian Cabernet and a surprisingly not awful election result out of the Deep South.
Adam L Silverman
@WaterGirl: Sure, if you send it across to me I’ll put it up. Also, if you email me the places she’s talking about with points of contacts in them, including phone #s if possible, I’ll push that directly to the Chief of Staff for the US Army Task Force on site. He’s my former student and a good friend. He’ll make sure they get a resupply ASAP.
Matt McIrvin
@TS: This happens every single time: whenever a Democrat wins anything, there are people claiming it was some kind of unfair fluke and saying Republicans deserve some kind of concession or voluntary representation from them. Appoint some Republicans, vote with Republicans, whatever. When it’s the other way around, nobody even bothers suggesting that.
NotMax
@NotMax
And – somehow managed to leave one name out of the copy and paste. Corrected version (assumption is the order is by highest number of write-ins to lowest):
Steve in the ATL
@Ruckus: pants? Fuck that shit!
SFAW
@Regine Touchon:
Congratulations! Great work!
With the thanks of a grateful nation, too!
WaterGirl
@Adam L Silverman: Thank you!
Adam L Silverman
efgoldman
@Adam L Silverman:
RWNJs don’t do facetious.
WaterGirl
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: I really wish you wouldn’t put up BREAKING NEWS with no acknowledgement that it’s made up. This isn’t the first time you have done this, and I really don’t think it’s a good idea, as is. Thanks for your consideration.
Adam L Silverman
Don’t piss Ana Navarro off!
Major Major Major Major
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: Not some of your better fanfiction.
Cacti
I never thought I’d ever have a reason to say this, but…
Thanks Alabama!
PIGL
@Corner Stone: Somebody needs a time out.
NotMax
@Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe)
Sorry, but tain’t funny, McGee.
Adam L Silverman
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: Even with the sarc tag, I’m yanking this comment.
Amir Khalid
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?:
Please. It is doubleplusungood to make a joke about violence towards any woman. Even her. She’s not the one holding public office.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@NotMax:
Eh. There’s always hits and misses.
Adam L Silverman
@WaterGirl: No problem.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Adam L Silverman:
That’s fair enough.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Amir Khalid:
I didn’t really consider that angle when I wrote it. Sorry.
Steve in the ATL
@efgoldman: he’s being fallacious
trollhattan
@Adam L Silverman:
Heh. A microcosm of…something. Sane Republicans need to toss those other dolts into a large dumpster. Hope they’ve been eating their Wheaties.
lamh36
Still catching up on things, but after watching a bit of Tweety, best thing to come out of tonight’s win in Alabama, for Dems is for GOP strategist like the last guy on Hardball to advice their clients that the win wasn’t about energized African American vote thanks to Dem GOTV, and instead try to say it was ONLY cause Roy Moore was cray
I think I saw somewhere that the African American portion of Doug Jones win was like 1/2 of his total victory! sure, white turnout was down and 1.7%voted write in, but White voters in Alabama STILL overwhelmingly voted for Roy Moore….if Moore wasn’t the candidate, i suspect tonight would not have been close, but at the very least it should give Dems a heads up about what a good GOTV efforts geared specifically to their most loyal base can do
Mnemosyne
@Adam L Silverman:
I understand why people like Julia Ioffe and Masha Gessen get really freaked out by current events, but I also think they don’t understand how much of this stuff is actually legally required. Trump and the Republicans have been breaking a lot of norms and customs, but so fat they haven’t run up against any actual laws with their shenanigans.
I know they get freaked out about the possibility of Trump canceling elections and so forth but, IIRC, the current Congress ends on January 19, 2019, and there is no provision in US law for it to be extended. Any attempt to cancel elections would run into 50 different states’ election laws, plus federal election laws. How would it even work?
Mike in NC
Trump just needs to get used to spreading his fat cheeks. Get used to idiot, fatso.
TS
@Matt McIrvin:
Republicans elected in NY, NJ & California always seem to vote with Republicans – the rules are always different for the GOP
Adam L Silverman
@lamh36: Was that the guy on with Corrine Jean Pierre? He’s an old GOP/movement conservative hack. But Tweety likes him so he brings him on.
Quinerly
BBC coverage of Jones win first up with HRC tweet front and center!
tobie
@Cacti: I turn off the TV whenever Tweety is on. I figure this lowers his ratings, which is supposed to be the be-all and end-all when it comes to programming decisions at major networks. He’s insufferable, and his take on the Kennedy’s is just so stupid. Listening to him, you’d think Bobby Kennedy was a regular blue collar guy, who worked nightshifts and on weekends went to his corner bar, not a patrician fellow with a classical education who enjoyed citing Aeschylus.
TS
@Adam L Silverman: Mansplaining, smirking ahole – Ana told him what he needs to hear but refuses to acknowledge.
Major Major Major Major
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: What Amir said. Gratuitous violence against women is to be avoided in stories, as well as life. This one isn’t really a question of taste.
Yarrow
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: @WaterGirl: Agree with Water Girl. Please consider another style of posting your fake news. The /s tag at the end is too late.
Kent
I’ve been clicking through some of the county by country results on the NYT web site. Took a look at Tuscaloosa County because I visted there a couple years ago on a college visit with my daughter (she ended up going to Arkansas). The place struck me as extremely white and conservative at the time. The blonde student campus tour guides wore skirts and heels in the 100 degree August heat and talked about when the Yankees burned this or that campus building in 1864. In 2016 Tuscaloosa County went for Trump over Clinton by 70% to 29%.
Last night Tuscaloosa voted for Jones over Moore 57% to 40%.
That is one hell of a swing. If we can keep some of those young southern college student types in the D column there is hope.
Corner Stone
@PIGL: Oh, come on Silly!
Hovercraft
@lamh36: @Adam L Silverman:
John Breabender, a Republican strategist
NotMax
@Mike in NC
It isn’t his weight that makes him a loathesome person, it’s himself that makes him a loathesome person.
/avoirdupois-enhanced person
AxelFoley
@oldgold:
Fuck that editorial. They of course had to badmouth Obama as they ripped into Trump.
Fuck ’em, as a certain elder statesman here likes to say.
Corner Stone
@Hovercraft: Peeps keep asking about you. Not sure why.
Adam L Silverman
@Mnemosyne: I think they are right to be concerned. The President is interested in destroying every other power center. Not just those that can challenge him. And McConnell, despite his ability to stand in front of a camera and say with a straight face that he’s all about preserving the historic uniqueness, norms, and traditions of the Senate while actually shredding them in pursuit of power, will be willing to go along with a lot if it gets him what he wants. Ryan is just in over his head. Imagine Eddie Haskell with a developmental disability.
But that said, Gessen and Ioffe grew up in a very different society and culture. Americans, at the best of times, aren’t joiners. We don’t go along to get along. We don’t like being told what to do. Sure, about a third of Americans are authoritarians/accepting of/desiring authoritarianism, but even they don’t like to be told what to do. There’s a lot of socio-political, socio-cultural, socio-religious, and socio-economic acculturation in the US that makes it hard for the President or his supporters to recreate here what Putin has recreated in Russia. Russia had a brief, partial, stalled, and ultimately failed experience with liberal democracy and free market economics. Prior to that Soviet Russia was Communist totalitarian. Prior to that it was a very conservative, absolute monarchy totalitarian state and society. There’s nothing inherent in Russians as people that prevents them from understanding or accepting liberal democracy and some form of market economics. But they are differentially socially organized into an acculturation that is accepting of totalitarianism. It takes time to overcome that type of socio-cultural learning.
NotMax
Senate Ethics Committee tonight:
“Phew! Dodged that bullet!”
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
And Yeltsin was snockered. A lot.
Corner Stone
@NotMax: You mean the three year bullet? Yeah.
Adam L Silverman
@Hovercraft: Yep, that’s him. He’s a one note performer.
frosty
@ArchTeryx:
Glad to see you here. And to channel AnotherScott, Keep fighting!
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Major Major Major Major:
Yeah I get that now. I didn’t think about it that closely. I ashamed to say that never occurred to me.
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: Part of Putin’s rise was he promised to protect both Yeltsin’s family once he died, but also to make sure the money that had been offshored by/on behalf of Yeltsin and his family were safe so that the Yeltsins would never have to want for anything ever again.
Chet Murthy
@AxelFoley:
Oh, c’mon. That’s pretty mild criticism, and very evenhanded.
GregB
@Viva BrisVegas:
I am pretty sure the margin between Al and Norm was only a few hundred votes as compared with 10,000 plus for Doug and the Food Court Judge.
Anne Laurie
New thread up top, anybody wants to keep talking.
Hovercraft
@Corner Stone:
I’ve been lurking, but my in real tIme, so I don’t coment.
I had to come on to watch the celebration tonight.???????
lamh36
@Adam L Silverman: yeah…that was him
Major Major Major Major
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: It’s alright, you learned!
CapnMubbers
@Ruckus:Pie filter empties same way for me since FireFox updated. Mac 10.11.6, FF 57.0.1. MISS PIE FILTER.
Corner Stone
@Hovercraft: Ha! Fell for it, I see! Seriously, people have been asking about you. I think the pie turns as it must.
But those other people. they are a little strange, if you ask me.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Major Major Major Major:
Yup. I’d never really want to see Melania get hurt even if I personally dislike her.
1000 flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)
@Davebo: Damn Martians! Now we know why Our President and Dear Leaser is so set on that mission to Mars! We must return those criminals to their own planet! ICE in spaaaaace!
Adam L Silverman
@lamh36: Jon Braebender. He and Tweety are buddies, so he gets booked even though he’s got nothing to really contribute.
JudyinSD
@Adam L Silverman: I read earlier this evening that in regards to Moore paying for a recount, that provision only applies to State and Local elections, not Federal contests, therefore it will not be an option should the margin remain at 1.5%.
Radio One
this feels better than that one time in 2008, when we won Dennis Hastert and Roger Wicker’s congressional seats in special elections.
frosty
@Regine Touchon: Let me add my thanks to your work. I’ve knocked on hundreds of doors and it’s awful work for an introvert. Thanks for getting out there and helping to swing the election. This is a Big Biden Deal.
cain
@Raoul:
We got our sights on that guy. I attended a local democratic holiday party and met a number of people running for state wide elections. The interest is high. Colorado is going to be turning blue real soon now.
scott (the other one)
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: If he has any kind of political acumen at all…he’s auditioning.
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
Perhaps you thought I meant snookered?
Snockered – plotzed, pie-eyed, sloshed, plastered, smashed
Adam L Silverman
@JudyinSD: I had not/have not seen that.
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: I know what snockered means. I was providing additional context to the Yeltsin-Putin relationship.
CapnMubbers
@Bill Arnold: For what it’s worth, Polipace’s address is a post box at a UPS facility in Las Vegas.
Adam L Silverman
@CapnMubbers: Whose isn’t?
SgrAstar
@Lyrebird: > $200,000! Pretty good for a buncha DFHs. ✊️
Canadian Shield
As a Canadian I am an outsider but I have interest in your politics as, to paraphrase the current Canadian Prime Ministers late father, we are a mouse sharing the bed with an Elephant.
The Abortion thing is a huge wedge issue that enables the red states to stay with team R. Why is there no dialog on “they have the Presidency, the House, the Senate, the Supreme Court, and they are not trying to do anything about abortion. You are being played. Team D wants to minimize abortions by making available parental planning services, education, contraception availability, etc. Team R talks about banning abortion to get your vote and then does nothing but kill the aformentioned programs that reduce abortions, spending all their time and energy on tax cuts to the wealthiest and corporations.” I think there should be a way to tackle this wedge issue, if it worked the Repubs would be down to the minors for a few seasons to rebuild. What am I missing?
Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
@Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ: @Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ: Hey, I’ve had some thoughts on Mallow’s hierarchy of needs along with Graham’s hierarchy of argument. I’d like some people to look at it an make sure I’m not spiraling into some personal spiral of insanity that ends up in 200 pages of densely written text that would require a computer to untangle. Talk to me at nwi,th.ers,[email protected],co.m. Remove the commas and dots. I’d like to keep my spam to a minimum.
AxelFoley
@Chet Murthy:
Nope. I heard someone reading quotes from it on SiriusXM on the way to work (I forget if it was CNN or MSNBC), but the editorial also said that Obama was a terrible President. That’s all I need to hear to dismiss it.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Canadian Shield:
It’s not about abortion, it’s about controlling girls and young women’s lives.
Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
@Canadian Shield: Here is a massively simplified answer, multiple libraries in the USA have entire wings on this problem. Of course, this is my personal, non-objective overview.
The near term problem is that, to the intelligent people of our country, with a few small exceptions, ALL the major media conglomerates (5 and dropping rapidly) are focused on what will provide profit for the next quarter rather than what will make the country better.
The longer term problem, is that there is a simmering disagreement on the best path forward in this country, dealing with slavery, that starts with the founding of the USA.. It came to war (you might have heard of the Civil War in America), and although one side won, the other side never really accepted defeat. This argument, and the arguments that spin off of it, are a massive part of the political evolution of the United states.
One side believes that Tradition and Hierarchy will make the country prosper, they are commonly labelled as Conservatives (Conservative and progressive are better labels these days due to the shift in the 30s-90s). The other side believes that consensus and Inclusion will make the country prosper, they are commonly labelled as Progressives. There is a third side, commonly called the moderates, which over the past 20ish years has played both sides against the middle for personal gain, which, until recently, has had out sized power to their actual population.
The Moderates, to maintain their power, made a false bargain with the conservatives. Give us votes, and we will bring forth your issues, because the Progressives threaten our power in ways you don’t care about. the Moderates did not really care about the conservative issues, but were threatened by progressive concepts. This false bargain for power is starting to fall apart in terrifying ways.
Because of this, Abortion has been important [hierarchy] for about 20-30 years now. Contraception is next, once power is established. One of the main reasons that “The Handmaidens Tail” is so resonant in America is that for all too large a part of the country, the highlights are not a warning but a blueprint. I’d suggest googling up “Christian Dominionist”, “Prosperity Gospel” and “Quiverfull” if you feel a reason to not sleep at night.
I’m sorry that your Southern neighbor seems politically insane, but we are a long way from sane right now, WAY worse that Britain.
PaulWartenberg
Thank God.
JoJo
@The Moar You Know: I am also joyously and happily wrong.
J R in WV
@Regine Touchon:
Thank you for your service to our nation, and please pass our gratitude on to your co-workers and fellow volunteers!!