Maybe Democrats should take a page out of Pat McCrory and the NCGOP’s playbook. Almost before the votes were counted, McCrory and company were crying voter fraud. As McCrory’s inevitable loss became apparent, they upped the game by filing complaints of voting irregularities in counties across the state. Now, they’re claiming that so many complaints have been filed, that the system is so rife with fraud that the outcome must be in doubt. Never mind that they filed the complaints themselves.
Their goal is not to win the vote count but to cast doubt on the legitimacy of Cooper’s election. It’s akin to the birthers, led by Donald Trump, who claimed that Obama was not legitimate because he wasn’t born an American—and he was a Muslim to boot. If they can’t win the election, they want to present obstacles to governing.
Democrats, on the other hand, are accepting Trump’s victory while whining about Clinton winning the popular vote but not the White House. If they played like Republicans, they would be loudly asserting the Russians or somebody hacked the election and probably altered the results. They could point to the wild swings in areas that Trump won despite Obama victories four years prior.
Instead of arguing with Trump about the appropriateness of booing Mike Pence at Hamilton, they should be bashing Trump as an unwitting Russian patsy. They should be claiming that his tax returns show that he has deep ties to Russian interests that are, in turn, tied to Vladimir Putin. They should do the same thing Republicans have done to Obama and are now trying to do to Roy Cooper in North Carolina—make his presidency illegitimate.
Democrats won’t do that, though, because, unlike Republicans, Democrats want the system, i.e., government, to work. They believe we need public institutions to offer people a hand up and to keep them from falling too far down. They will accept losses because, like Al Gore, they believe losing an election is better than losing an institution.
In the past maybe they’ve been right, but this time, it feels like losing the election is losing the institution—and the institution is the very government itself.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
D,g,. whenever you’re called out for some outrageous claim that has no relationship to reality, you resort to personal invective. It’s no doubt an instinctive reaction for being shown to be nothing more than a partisan ideologue who, whenever caught in an obvious sham, responds with personal insults.
I agree. Democrats play by the rules, Republicans make up the rules to serve themselves. Democrats need to start fighting like the Republicans – it seems to be the only way to salvage the state and country.
Really? What was that little episode last decade about where the Democrat-controlled legislature finessed June Atkinson out of a contested election and into another term as SPI? Business as usual?
Or when the DNC colluded with the Clinton campaign to undermine Bernie Sanders at every turn? Fair and square? If so, why did Debbie Wasserman-Schultz have to resign as DNC Chair when Wikileaks exposed her?
Remember a guy named Mike Easley? Or someone named Meg Phipps Scott? How about Speaker Jim Black? Why’d they all get convictions and two of them got jail time just for playing by the rules?
Ebrum, I am copying this from your post so I won’t be misquoted….. “Troy, the NC economy is booming and will no doubt continue to grow as a result of Republican pro business policies. The International Equestrian Show that McCrory persuaded to come to Rutherford County in 2018 will last for two weeks and bring in big spenders from all over the globe. Every motel and hotel from Asheville to Charlotte will be booked up. One company, I believe it is Marriott, has already announced plans to construct a five-star resort near the site. And hundreds of new private sector job locations in NC have been announced just this year.”
Okay I get that there are some people who flock to these Equestrian Shows but to think that this is going to make up for the loss of major businesses from across the United States and several other countries that have left North Carolina because of McCroy and his HB2, don’t even make me laugh! Don’t get me wrong, I like horses and have nothing against them and their owners and all of the business that they bring in everywhere BUT it ain’t gonna replace the NCAA TOURNAMENT, THE NBA TOURNAMENT, THE MOVIE INDUSTRY and all of the other million dollar companies who have left, PLUS, THE EMBARRASSMENT this has brought upon the CITIZENS of NORTH CAROLINA, THE HEARTACHE AND PAIN CAUSED TO THE LGBTQ. Want to put a price on that Ebrum? I don’t think you can nor can anyone else because it’s priceless what McCroy has done to this state!
The horse show is an international event that lasts for two weeks. It attracts the wealthy from all over the globe. The last one was in Paris. (FYI, that’s France) It will have a many times larger economic impact than an NBA All Star game that lasts for one weekend.
And you’re just wrong about the loss of major businesses. The state has continued to attract new businesses since HB2 was passed. Most of the new jobs announced this year will start during Cooper’s tenure. Nearly a thousand announced this year and over 3,000 since McCrory took office.
Actually, it was the General Assembly that pushed through HB2. McCrory was reluctant but had little choice but to go along as his veto would have been easily overridden. So if you’re really so upset over HB2, blame the Republican legislature, which, BTW, just increased it’s GOP majority in the recent election.
So here’s the question I have for all you left wingers: When Cooper is the Governor, will you and your allies continue to trash the state and discourage new business from locating here? Cause HB2 is going to be on the books for quite some time and probably during all of his tenure.
Millions of DOLLARS, D.g., millions of dollars. You’re revealing a rather provincial outlook, which is not surprising. I realize the average NC Democrat doesn’t appreciate the horsey set, but their spending can pad the profits of many a NC business person.
Oh wow, D.g. Now you feel the need to tout your bonafides? And as a world traveler at that! Whatsamatter? Feeling a little overwhelmed by the election results?
NC is still ranked number 2 among the 50 states for business climate by Site Selection Magazine as of November 16, 2016. Still ranked number 2 by Forbes earlier this year.
While the state’s reputation may have been diminished in the halls of left-wing interest groups and the liberal MSM, our reputation has flourished among those in the private sector who make business location and investment decisions. Even Chief Executive Magazine ranks NC among the top five.
I realize local liberals aren’t familiar with these publications that analyze economic conditions, but they have a positive influence on those who make decisions affecting the private sector economy.
Troy wants to know what policies under the GOP are pro worker? Duh—how how about more jobs? Above the national average private sector jobs growth in NC since the GOP took over.
Troy and D.g, I hope you’re not suggesting that NC workers would rather be on the government dole than having full time employment. Liberals just can’t seem to comprehend that most working class families would rather be financially independent with private sector jobs than relying on government entitlements.
Perhaps that’s why working class families voted so overwhelmingly for Trump.
Wow, Eb. It took you five days to write that? That’s the best you could come up with? Pro-worker is generating jobs huh? Not skilled jobs, not high paying jobs, just “jobs.” That’s the entire reason behind the collective bargaining and not allowing local adjustment to the minimum wage provisions of HB2; it’s “pro-worker.” What the hell is “pro” about it? What a crock.
All of this from the same guy that holds the opinion that if you want a raise, you should get another job. Of course, the job you get is no better than the job you have, everything being “pro business.”
Do you think working class families work because they like it? Do you think they like making decisions on which bill to pay this particular week so that whatever service it provides doesn’t get discontinued? Do you think that, maybe, they voted for Trump out of desperation because he said he was going to, “…bring all those jobs back…?” I want to see it. Like there’s a snowballs’ chance in Hell of Trump bringing back those jobs back. But he said it and they believed.
Unfortunately for you, Trump, and the Republican Party, I don’t believe a word of it.
Actually, I wrote it several days ago with a hyperlink to a W-S Journal article that was never cleared by the web master. Actually, the original version is now posted up above with the link to the news article.
There’s nothing unfortunate about the election results for conservatives and Republicans, Troy. It’s liberals and their collectivist inclinations that are the losers. All Trump has to do is to keep reminding the working class of the failure of political and academic elites to even attempt to address their economic concerns. The left’s emphasis on Identify politics and reversing cultural norms is a sure recipe for election defeats, now and in the future.
So you say. But we’ll find out the truth of it over the course of the next four years Eb.
D.g., any one who worked all their lives and only receives a monthly Social Security check of $85 is either mentally challenged or totally irresponsible. For those mentally or physically incompetent (or are the victims of events beyond their control), there are social welfare programs that are designed to provide them a safety net. However, the rest of society has no responsibility to provide for those who are mentally and physically fit, but who fail to act responsibly.
yeah but, not being politically inclined myself, I have watched with fascination over how he who yells loudest and oftenest owns the narrative and can and does make reality whatever they want it to be. During Reagan’s presidency, he was obviously a B Grade film actor who was a talking puppet for his masters. Now he’s been transformed into a saint, or maybe a demigod by the relentless Republican myth machine
In my view, the great failure of you democrats, especially Obama is not broadcasting your story and controlling the narrative. Sitting silently on your hands feeling smug in your self righteous refusal “to stoop to their level”, while Pat McCrory & Co. play their tune is, if history is any indicator likely to see the Republicans once again “winning”
Don’t tell yourselves it can’t happen
That’s my gripe with the Dems, too.
Over the last thirty years they have been unable to effectively message. The right has run away with the narrative and is winning the country, to the detriment of all of us.
Can someone please tell me why the Dems have remained so impotent?
That’s an excellent premise. Does caveat emptor need to be the foremost thing on the voter’s mind when they contemplate who to vote for? I don’t know that. The good thing is, elected officials aren’t something we’re stuck with; our mistakes can be remedied.
I’m loathe to say this, but politics in many respects is a faith based activity. You have to believe in the candidate and the message. Remember the old days when a candidate had to stump the planks of the party platform? The party set the agenda, the priorities, and it was left to the candidate to conform to that. As opposed to now when the candidate is the dynamic and the party conforms to the candidate. We’re lost in the fact that anybody can present the message. It’s not unlike reading from a teleprompter.
The entire dynamic of politician has changed as well. There was a time when the roll of politician was a part time pursuit. Politicians were picked from among the people to represent them in the government. To give the people a voice in some faraway hall so that the rules formulated that we live by would be truly representative of the peoples’ wishes. Will we all agree? Certainly not, but that is when compromise and levity enter the fore so that the majority does not rule absolute, ramming its views down the throats of the minority. The reality of that however is that Plessey v. Ferguson was the rule of law for over 70 years in this nation. This occurred more in the South than in other geographic locations of the country. It’s even sadder that when the nation and this region began to finally move away from the politics of bigotry, we saw a shift in politics for the region.
Now we have manufactured candidates. People picked on the basis of ‘look’ more so than what they believe or adhere to from a political stance; the consummate professional politician. They have their own class of existence…along with a special set of benefits and retirement perks. They are no longer representative of the people. They are representative of themselves and their class. If you doubt that, look at the list of qualifiers to serve in office. They all possess those same traits! They’ll tell you anything you want to hear. They pander to a shifting electoral demographic that is statistically driven by poll numbers and popular opinion. Like law however, political views and opinions shouldn’t shift on the basis of whim or whats trending. But every day, that is the rule rather than the exception.
Stability is what we need and what I’m talking about. Without it, institutions in flux and a constant state of shift are fleeting. Right now, Republicans are the ones offering the illusion of stability in the form of regression and a return to a self-styled image that exists only under the brush of Norman Rockwell.
In my eyes, the root causes and driving motivations for voting for whomever it is we vote for, where they exist, are much deeper than we realize with a simple cursory glance. Thus a return to my statement of politics being a faith based activity. People yearn for that stylized image. Republicans delivered. Democrats conversely provided no hope, no image, nothing that the people could embrace and believe in for a better future. The mudslinging came from both camps, but in the end, there was nothing in the Hillary camp people could embrace as visionary. There was nothing to cling to with the emotion of the human spirit; only the hard realities of fact and statistic. All reasons to vote for, but hardly something you can embrace and wrap yourself around wholly.
Hillary was rejected because she wasn’t believable. All she had to do was open up her mouth and say, “I was wrong. I didn’t truly understand. You’re right….” What we got was, “I misspoke. What I really meant to say was…; I used the wrong words to describe….” I understand a lot of that was due to her always being on the defensive from being attacked for anything she had to say. But she failed to give people hope; something to believe in. She proffered only, “We’re going to put a lot of mines and miners out of work.” She could have stripped off every stitch of clothing she had on after making that statement; no one would have seen her or remembered it. Those words told the story for many. They provided absolutely nothing to embrace or believe in for the future. No hope, no future. They migrated to the man with a dubious background who said, “what have you got to lose voting for me?”
So while we know that Trump was not the better choice, the electorate opted for the intangible rather than the promise of loss. Belief; whether it was right or wrong, was something more than we gave them. There is a chance at something better.
You know, I do agree with you about that. In 2010 in particular, it seemed like the Democrats were cowering over in the corner while the Tea Party were busy shouting down sitting members of Congress during townhall meetings. Democrats frustrate me to no end because many of them will NOT stick to their principles, and they come across as flip-floppy and weak. They never seem to have a unified message, like Republicans do. Democrats try to be too many things to too many people, and the message gets muddled. What Dems need are some easy sound bites that can be repeated over and over until those sound bites permeate the national consciousness. Republicans do that all the time, and they stay on message. In 2010, the Democrats should have been shouting from every rooftop that the stimulus cut taxes for 95% of the country. They also should have kept reminding the country that just a short two years before, the Republicans had crashed the economy and plunged us into the worst economic downturn since the Depression. Instead, they sat on their hands while the Tea Party took over.
Well, well. Pat McCrory is certainly going to see that he gets all of his due process by filing his request for an official vote recount. He’d strip due process from everyone else that he possibly could, but he’s going to insist on everything allowable to him under color of law. What a guy.
And his moral ally Civitas is apparently suing because counting “Same Day Registration” votes is somehow wrong. It’s allowed by statute but it’s wrong. Yes, I know, the addresses have to verified. Civitas is quite a group too. Gonna suck that final straw flat just because they can.
So while McCrory exercises his rights, we are left waiting. Waiting for a man with no honor or panache to come to the sobering conclusion that we all know; he lost. No, adolescent Pat is going to kicking, screaming, and whining about how the election was rigged against him, how voter fraud turned him out into the street (and not handing out cookies this time), and the biggest fallacy of all; how he is the victim.
Had the shoe been on the other foot, Roy Cooper would have been dragged figuratively up and down Jones and Blount streets tied to the Civitas chariot.
It’s time North Carolina moved on; McCrory-less and better for it.
If Cooper is Governor, do you think NC Democrats will stop trying to trash the state’s reputation? HB2 is unlikely to be repealed any time soon. I guess that will be ok with the left if we have a Democrat in the Governor’s office.
If the NCGOP steals the election to keep McCrory in office , do you think they’ll stop trying to portray themselves as caring one bit about the voter’s voice? The courts are unlikely to change their view that GOP gerrymandering and that the GOP’s Voter ID law are unconstitutional any time soon. But I guess that will be ok with the radical right as long as they get to keep a yes-man Republican in the Governor’s office.
Trash NC’s reputation? We didn’t trash it Eb. You Republicans did that on your own. We simply pointed it out. If you don’t like being called on it, stop it!
The best thing? Pat McCrory won’t be Governor. He’s going to become an after thought.
Roy Cooper might not be able to jerk back HB2 because of the legislature, but at least he’ll make them wear it like a hat. Just like moderate Pat should have done.
I couldn’t have said it better, Troy! McCroy has been the biggest and most ungrateful loser in this whole election across the U.S.A. on November 8, 2016. I can’t wait to get McCroy out of the office as our Governor in NC because he has done nothing lately but ruin business for us with the HB2. There was never a problem with transgendered people using female/male bathrooms until it was brought up before McCroy and when it did; it was like the worst thing that had ever happened on this planet! We’ve lost “who-knows-how-much-money” from the movie industry in Wilmington which was a booming city not just for tourists but for Hollywood to bring movie actors and producers here to make #1 movies, but, now? Who wants to come and make a movie in a state that mistreats the LGBTQ Community? And we lost the NCAA Tournament Games and thousands of dollars that brought in fans from everywhere! And we’ve lost the Professional Sports Teams also, plus, so many concerts have been canceled and businesses who have decided to leave North Carolina?? And McCroy had the power in his hands to stop all of this BUT DID HE DO IT? NO, HE DID NOT!
He’s had his dirty little hands in so many projects in this state and has lied too many times. It’s way past time for him to get out of the Governor’s Office and be A MAN ABOUT IT, INSTEAD OF A SNIVELING WHINY CRYBABY!
I’m just fed up with McCroy and Republicans, period, and it makes me sick to my stomach to think that we are going to have to put up with Donald Trump for the next four years. And I seriously can’t believe how he conned so many people into believing him.
Troy, the NC economy is booming and will no doubt continue to grow as a result of Republican pro business policies. The International Equestrian Show that McCrory persuaded to come to Rutherford County in 2018 will last for two weeks and bring in big spenders from all over the globe. Every motel and hotel from Asheville to Charlotte will be booked up. One company, I believe it is Marriott, has already announced plans to construct a five-star resort near the site. And hundreds of new private sector job locations in NC have been announced just this year.
Cooper would be wise to quietly acquiesce to GOP economic policies and try to gain some credit for what’s already been put in place. Actually, that’s about all he’ll be able to do given the GOP-controlled General Assembly and the Republican majority on the Council of State.
And I doubt you’ll hear liberals trashing the state because of HB2 as long as one of their own holds the Governorship. Cooper will look good as long as he remains a figurehead as Governor.
I see. Well, that’s all great an’ stuff for businesses, but when are the wages going to take off? Benefit packages? When is the middle class going to start moving forward rather than backward or worse, toward extinction?
Roll out some no BS answers to those questions or better still, point to some Republican policies that are pro-worker. Republicans are the party of the ‘working’ man now, so where is that reciprocation?!?! Just let me know if I need to go drive a thermometer probe into the ground awaiting Hell to freeze over since those two things just might be contemporaneous.
A horse show. Really? In 2018? Who lined that up for Pat? The guy that used to be in charge of FEMA for George W. that ran horse shows?
Honestly Eb, I expected better from you.
“Will republicans put party first and the welfare of this state second.” Now Dis…why would they change now?
Yes, calling out those deplorables for what they are is a sure-fire way to win elections. Keep it up! But as for the original point of this article, NC Republicans had excellent teachers for 140 years to learn from. Apparently, imitation really is the sincerest form of flattery.
http://www.journalnow.com/business/business_news/local/site-selection-keeps-north-carolina-ranked-second-for-business-climate/article_f7322502-72df-5c6b-b856-4214cb4c9fd9.html
Troy, NC is still ranked number 2 among the 50 states for business climate by Site Selection Magazine as of November 16, 2016. Still ranked number 2 by Forbes earlier this year.
While the state’s reputation may have been diminished in the halls of left-wing interest groups and the liberal MSM, our reputation has flourished among those in the private sector who make business location and investment decisions. Even Chief Executive Magazine ranks NC among the top five.
I realize local liberals aren’t familiar with these publications that analyze economic conditions, but they have a positive influence on those who make decisions affecting the private sector economy.
Any you want to know what policies under the GOP are pro worker? Duh—how how about more jobs? Above the national average private sector jobs growth in NC since the GOP took over.
I hope you’re not suggesting that NC workers would rather be on the government dole than having full time employment. Liberals just can’t seem to comprehend that most working class families would rather be financially independent with private sector jobs than relying on government entitlements.
Perhaps that’s why working class families voted so overwhelmingly for Trump.
It’ll be interesting to see where McCrony goes next (assuming he and his owners can’t find a judge to anoint him to another term or other means to thwart the will of the people). I’m pretty sure Charlotte will not be rolling out the red carpet for him. Maybe Art Pope can find a job that won’t be taxing to Pat’s tiny mind and sizeable ego. I understand Pope has founded a right-wing “think tank” at UNC, run by his family: maybe there’s a job for Pat there–or maybe Pope will just adopt him.
“….I am sure, republican voters would join our fight to protect social security, medicare and traditional public education.”
Really, d.g.? I disagree. The Trumpers (80% or more of the GOP base now) want things shaken up, remember? So they will allow Trump and his henchmen (like Bannon, Ryan, Kelly, Sessions) to “fix” things and to end/twist/squash programs/institutions beyond recognition. Until, of course, things get very broken and people’s lives get savaged, which will be too late. By until that point, Republicans will defend and excuse and rationalize everything Trump and the GOP-led Congress d to this nation..
Apologies. That last sentence should read: “But until that point, Republicans will defend and excuse and rationalize everything Trump and the GOP-led Congress do to this nation.”
Far as the presidential race it was a contest between jet setters & Trump flew his plane to more places.
Both used Boeings, though Trump’s was shown more, and shown bigger. Plus he had his own venues.
Meantime here, I did discover Democrats didn’t do things in order, & didn’t do follow-up, and lied about the fine print.
The fact is that the US has been in Economic Warfare for four years with the Putin regime. Hybrid war is what their tactics are called.
Far as Trump is concerned the US is a Federation system evidenced by his belief in his powers as like that of his model Putin.
Of course since the abdication to the War Dictator Presidency by Congress you can understand why he would think so.
Meantime what about the Democrats makes you think they will become able to operate offices that respond to constituents?
The Democrats are obviously in the pockets of the Financial Terrorists who have laid the Gold Standard on top of Modern Monetary Theory so as to continue to loot any treasury that hires some alum of Goldman Sachs.
That the Not Conscious election is even close is amazing since McCrory and his government have been doing such a great job running everyone from Elon Musk to Bruce Springsteen to Google out of the state.
It is C.S.A. today, and the system is pathological top to bottom.
Thanks, Thomas, for finding the words and the point that I’ve been trying to formulate in my mind, not only since election day but especially in the crazy days that have followed.
Trump and/or his GOP sycophants have made it clear that they are willing to tar/radically alter/destroy any institution that has served Americans well, especially key ones from the New Deal and Great Society era (e.g., Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid). And just withing the past 48 hours, Trump has signaled that an institution as old as the republic and cherished by the founding fathers, i.e., the Fourth Estate, is his sworn enemy, and he will do anything — ignore, asperse, name-call, mislead, evade, or obstruct — to impede accurate media coverage of his presidency.
As for McCrory and the NCGOP, you have covered their plans to destroy confidence in and thus undermine our state’s elective process, all just to keep their spineless yes-man of a governor in office, or, if that fails, to cast Cooper as nothing more than the winner of a fully rigged election. Speaker Moore had a chance in an N&O interview yesterday to dispel rumors about the NCGA ultimately making McCrory governor for a second term and packing the state Supreme Court to favor conservative ideology, but he didn’t. He minced his words and left open the probability that the NCGOP will steal the governor’s race and pack the court to its advantage. Shameless and despicable stuff.
It may be a long time before the Dems can overcome the gerrymandered distortion of the voters’ voice in NC, and before demographics might tilt the state more into the blue. In the meantime, I am all for the NC Democratic Party as well as all progressive leaning residents of this state to cry foul at every action taken by the NCGOP that has the slightest whiff of unfairness, impropriety, and/or mean-spiritedness–which, if history is the guide, will include damn near everything the NCGOP does and says.
Democrats just learned the hard way–identity politics and changing demographics are way overrated.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-politics-democrats-analysis-idUSKBN13H11P
I think the Democrats just learned the hard way that trying to play a game as gentlefolk, following the Marquis Of Queensbury rules, with an apponent that will lie cheat and steal to try to continue to scam and skim a profit from a population they do not represent is a mistake. After the mouthbreathers, racists, rednecks, and dumbasses survive the next four years having their asses beaten and their blood sucked by King Trump and his Court of parasites and vipers, I don’t think they’ll make the same mistake again. But you never can tell with stoopid pepple. Meanwhile, you can’t even hope that some patriot takes Trump out because next in line is a professional liar and Xtian Talibaner who espouses the creed that humans rode on the back of dinosaurs, and that women are chattle. And next there’s Ryan, whose position is the result of growing up with government largesse but insists on taking the benefits I WORKED FOR away from me. “Gonna take alot of bullets”, those odd Vermont Progressives say, the ones with the “Liberalism is not Pacifism” tee-shirts under their flannel shirt-jacs. I hope they take time away from the cheese and candle-making to make a statement.
Wow, how perceptive, Analyst. Keep churning out more eloquent prose like that and you’ll soon be nationally syndicated. LOL
Analyst…you can drop the mic!
Well said!!!
Excellent point. The Republicans will burn down the United States, shut down the government, and scorch the earth to get their own way. Democrats pick up the pieces and try to put the world back together to a chorus of jeers and boos.. Republicans hate most of the world and everyone in it. You would think that spoiled rich folks would have a tiny measure of gratitude for what they have been given, but you would be wrong.
Thomas, you are wrong. The Republicans do hope to overturn the election results by having the State Board of Elections hold that they cannot certify the results due to irregularities. The selection of the governor then reverts to the NC Legislature. The only question is whether the Republican-controlled SBE will play ball. As for us Democrats, we keep congratulating ourselves on our integrity, while the Republicans continue to hold the political power.
Democrats keep bringing a knife to a gun fight. Republican have been at war with Democrats for a long time, but Democrats either ignore it or fail to address the implications.
Republicans use every tactic in their arsenal including voter suppression, hacking the equipment, smearing candidates with false charges, creating entirely false narratives and disinformation for the low-information voter; the list goes on. The Karl Rove playbook was thick and comprehensive in the 2000s. It has now become an encyclopedia of election trickery. Rove was a Watergate suspect who was too small a fish for the FBI. His network of operatives has grown continuously since then to cover the United States. The Koch brothers have an army of operatives and investigators who are watching people around the country. Our new Attorney General Josh Stein was being followed by a Koch operative even before he ran for office. He was suspected of being a candidate. The White Supremacists have a different and nastier army of thugs, gunslingers, and operatives.
There is no surrender, no understanding, no compromise in the language of the right. They wake up every morning hell-bent on destroying Democrats, liberals, and parts of the government which help people.
The response from Democrats is: “Come on now. Let’s play fair.” Every stolen election puts the right more in charge , further ahead of the law and beyond accountability.
And that’s the truth!!!
I also liken the Democrats as coming to a duel with a water pistol. Dems keep trying to appeal to the intellect of an electorate where 62% don’t have a college degree. They will learn that trying to appeal to the Latinos or using identity politics is dueling with a water pistol and I don’t mean super soaker.
Have you paused and listened to yourself? Simply because you don’t have a college degree doesn’t make you stupid, silly, or ignorant. Just like having a degree or degrees doesn’t make you smarter; it makes you educated.
62%. Yes, Democrats need to find a way to effectively reach those people and connect. 62%. That’s an election victory. Doubt that? Look who won. 62%. If you continue to ignore that demographic or try to reach out to them with all the sincerity and empathy of a condescending ass, we’re going to keep losing.
Troy-
I am well aware of my statement about 62% of the electorate not having a college degree for a reason. As an electorate we don’t have the intellectual curiosity to chose our leaders. If you listened to the President elect, he said he loves the uneducated. Many of his supporters are indeed uneducated by their own admission. I’m pointing out the lack of intellectual curiosity by the electorate to chose leaders based on something other than, “He tells it like it is” or “He says what many of us want to say and now feel like we can.” I totally agree with you that a degree doesn’t make you smart. I never used the words, silly, stupid or ignorant. I don’t use those words to describe anyone. Uneducated doesn’t make you silly. If you follow the demographics, folks without a college degree vote for Republicans. That is not a judgement call, it’s a fact! It is also fact that many of the policies proposed by Democrats would benefit them far more than they would me. So why do they vote against their economic interests? Republicans have conned the uninformed and “Don’t want to be informed” for decades and it works! Keep them focused on taking away your guns or blame others for your lack of progress and the GOP gets their votes. Democrats could be more vocal about the role voter suppression played in NC, Wisc, MI and Indiana. Troy, I think the Democratic Party tries to hard to be nice and play fair instead of going hard left and being true progressives!
I did and I do. Quite a few with college degrees also followed the Pied Piper to the Trump line on the ballot.
That being said, you may choose those that represent on the basis of intellectual curiosity. A measure that if it proved statistically significant, would show a predominance of leaders and representatives nationwide as being wholly rational human beings. I think we both know what a misnomer that conclusion is. Those that represent are chosen and successful on an entire host of things completely irrelevant to intellectual curiosity. Some would say quite the opposite in many respects. I can’t say thats erroneous.
You’re advocating for a sharp turn to the left however. Radicalism, left or right, in American politics has never been successful for very long. Right now, Trump is wearing a fascist label for his ultra right wing tendencies. His message was not one of hope per se, but one of, “I hear you.” He mouthed it back. And people heard it. If you’ve read anything else on this site that I’ve written, you’ve read my thoughts on that very topic. That hard left turn is not going to get you anything but less of the vote. Most people vote and believe in the middle. Base supporters, left and right, are those ideological types that live and die by the -ism of their beliefs. They ignore the synthesis and melding that has existed between the two ideological extremes to make this country work.
Purity of system or ideology is a false narrative. The way forward exists in plurality. Not just the wealthy elites or the intellectual elites; but all the people.
That is the message that has to be conveyed Michelle. As long as Republicans can divide us, they will win. The majority is centered between the extremes. The messenger needs to talk there, to a myriad audience, with confidence and vision for the nation as a whole to prosper, and be understood by everyone.
Thanks, Troy!
I’ve enjoyed this exchange. I’m being a little facetious about going hard left. I totally agree about pure ideology not serving either side of the political isle well. I think we have the same goals with slightly different approaches to getting there. I agree with you, we must stay strong in this struggle. I still think we need to elevate the bar in political discussion and message the party’s goals in a language that works.
Good points however, they win! They are rewarded for their tactic of stalling, saying no to everything the Democrats and Obama proposed. I’m not so sure if always playing nice leads to winning. Repulbicans stay on message no matter how imoral they might be. They all admitted in some form that Trump is a con artist but they put their support behind him..why? They understand the long game; Supreme Court, pushing the agenda of your party, etc.
I say at some point we may have to play to win instead of playing not to lose.