Republican Karen Handel Defeats Democrat Jon Ossoff In Georgia Special Election
[guest post by Dana]
Democrats from across the country reportedly pumped at least $23 million into Ossoff’s campaign, to no avail:
Republican Karen Handel defeated Democrat Jon Ossoff in a high-stakes special election for a Georgia House seat on Tuesday, denying Democrats their first major victory of the Donald Trump era.
Handel bested Ossoff by 5 percentage points in the most expensive House race in history.
California Bay Area Democrats hardest hit:
Georgia congressional candidate Jon Ossoff, who’s turned his special election race next week into a referendum on President Donald Trump, reported receiving almost as much money from the Bay Area than from the entire state of Georgia over the last two months. He also reported receiving almost nine times as many individual donations from California than from Georgia, according to federal campaign finance data released last week…In money raised, Ossoff has blown Handel out of the water — thanks in part to the Golden State. Between March 29 and May 31, Ossoff reported receiving 7,218 donations from California, dwarfing the 808 donations he received from Georgia. In the nine Bay Area counties alone, he received 3,063 donations in the same time period. (Those are only a fraction of his total donations, as he doesn’t have to report donations from people who give less than $200 in total.) Overall, he reported receiving $456,296.03 from California — and $220,532.10 from the Bay Area — versus just $228,474.44 from Georgia. That’s an even larger disparity than from his earlier donations report in April…But for out of state donors, the idea of sticking one to Trump with an Ossoff win is the big draw.
Here’s a fascinating breakdown of the money involved in the most expensive U.S. House race in history.
–Dana
Handel thanked both Trump and Pence upon her being declared the winner.
Dana (023079) — 6/20/2017 @ 9:39 pmIn poking around, it looks like Ossoff’s loss will be blamed on voter suppression and “overtly racist” gerrymandering. Of course it can’t be because he was just a crappy candidate who had nothing of substance to offer voters.
Dana (023079) — 6/20/2017 @ 10:06 pmI have a bunch of comments at the David French/Castille thread. Partly cross-posting with Dana because I was responding to another commenter on that thread.
To summarize, Trump carried the district by 1.5% in November, compared to the Republican Tom Price’s 24%, and now Handel’s 6%. All politics is local, no matter how the Democrats are trying to spin their “moral victories” when they lose by only 6% as somehow a message about Trump. The House Republicans collectively got the highest percentage of the popular vote in November, higher than Trump, and even higher than Hillary.
nk (dbc370) — 6/20/2017 @ 10:06 pmCNN has now invoked the nunc pro tunc son-of-a-b*tch rule on Ossoff. He was never their friend, he was always a bad candidate, all the money in the world can’t help if you aren’t a good candidate, he had no issues, he was too young, he never had a chance, and the dog ate his homework.
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/20/2017 @ 10:11 pmSo since this was a referendum election, does that mean that we can finally start passing our agenda?
NJRob (7f4bec) — 6/20/2017 @ 10:12 pmAnd the obvious response, when they try to spin it into a referendum about Trump and lose, is: “You couldn’t even beat Trump. Loser!”
nk (dbc370) — 6/20/2017 @ 10:13 pmAnd now they’re mocking Ossoff for having a cash bar at his (their words!) “not-so-victory party!”
And this — all these comments are from their regular Hard Left late-night talking heads, the Don Lemon crowd: “Nancy Pelosi, outside the San Francisco area, is Malathion.” That’s a really odd thing to say: it’s a pesticide used for head and body lice.
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/20/2017 @ 10:18 pmThe final margin is 3.7%.
In a district that Romney won by 23% in a Democratic year.
The tightness of the SC race is should be equally sobering to Trump’s cheerleaders: a 3.2% margin in a district that has been 19 points redder than the nation as whole over the last two presidential elections.
I was hoping the GOP would win both seats by one vote, so the results aren’t too far from ideal, AFAIC.
Dave (711345) — 6/20/2017 @ 10:21 pmPoor Dave. Try using those lemons to make lemonade. You can do it.
NJRob (7f4bec) — 6/20/2017 @ 10:23 pmAnd keep the RMS Titanic right on course, steady as she goes, Rob.
Dave (711345) — 6/20/2017 @ 10:29 pmPoor Dave. 40 million dollars down the drain. Outspent the Republican 10-1 and dominated all forms of media. Still lost when it counted. Yet again.
NJRob (7f4bec) — 6/20/2017 @ 10:38 pmPesticides are worse than gluten to the granolas. Stop Monsanto!
nk (dbc370) — 6/20/2017 @ 10:39 pmsteve57 is likely to ask you about that “RMS” stuff Dave. I’m guessing it was a typo, and that you don’t think the Titanic was a Royal Mail Ship.
Blue state Dems, the actors and the hedge fund managers and the social x-rays and the people who fly to Davos yearly, have always assumed, I think, that worst come to worst, they could always just through enough money at an election to buy it. They were some of them taken aback by the hundreds of millions of dollars that HRC basically set fire to, for all the results it bought them, but they seem to have genuinely thought that they could buy this one.
I respectfully submit that instead what we’ve seen is another proof that the Dems are full of crap when they want more campaign finance restrictions to end “big-dollar politics.” All that is important, as a matter of fairness and good public policy and adherence to the First Amendment, is that political contributions be reasonably transparent. Those laws, plus the internet and alternative and local media, absolutely exposed this firehose of money being spat at Georgia’s 6th Congressional District. It functioned well enough to allow an adequate set of countermoves — Ryan and his guys pumped in funds for GOP ads, but nowhere remotely the kind of money coming to Ossoff from CA, NY, MA & DC.
Just as Bernie’s astonishing fundraising put the lie to his claim that the system is financially rigged so the little guy can never compete, this special election has confirmed that voters — especially in a district like this one, with relatively upscale demographics among reliably red districts — are absolutely capable of taking offense at those who’re trying to buy them off.
You want to talk about sobering messages? I’m doubting Barbra Streisand is remotely sober right now, but she and her friends ought to dry out and rethink in the cold clear light of day. Losing a House election you’ve spent something like (IIRC) $200/vote on is genuinely historic.
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/20/2017 @ 10:49 pmOMG, *throw enough money.
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/20/2017 @ 10:50 pmAlso: It’s losing. This ain’t hand grenades or horseshoes. Ossoff got no participation trophy.
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/20/2017 @ 10:51 pmGA6 is Newt’s old district. Also, I heard someone say, the fictional Frank Underwood’s.
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/20/2017 @ 10:53 pmExcept it was.
Dave (711345) — 6/20/2017 @ 10:55 pmOh really?
Dana (023079) — 6/20/2017 @ 10:59 pm@ NJRob, who wrote (#5):
I’m actually cautiously optimistic that this result, combined with the other special election results, are going to be quite helpful in doing exactly that.
That’s the biggest take-away for the short and middle term (through the 2018 elections, in fact):
All those GOP congress-folk who have been sweating bullets wondering if they could still hold their seats despite Trump’s turmoils have now been given several very encouraging data points, all in the same trend: Yup, if you’re smart and we bring our A-games, that’s still doable.
That is the necessary prerequisite for them to go out on any limbs, to make any of the compromises that absolutely have to be made, a bunch of them on a bunch of topics and in both chambers, to actually get legislation on Trump’s desk.
Dems are raving about how narrowly Trump carried GA6 in 2016. Well, yeah! And if you get two downward points in a row, you’ve got a trend line, don’t you? Yes, if the GOP had lost this seat, that would have been a huge hit, something actually (to coin a phrase, can’t recall where I heard it last) sobering. And if you’re extending that trend line from behind the desk of a current GOP congress-critter, you’re gonna hunker down and turn impervious to the attempted persuasions of your party leaders or the POTUS.
Instead, this is another one of those Scott Walker-like triumphs, one so much more impressive precisely because your opponent did indeed bring its A-game. Ossoff spoke well. He’s an impressive young man, and he ought to have a future in the Democratic Party — just objectively. He’s Georgia-born and raised, but he was reckless in thinking he could get through two elections without having moved into his district; that was indeed an unforced rookie error, really atypical for Democrats. Hell, if he’d have asked, Alan Alda would have bought him a house in the district. They’d have built him an entire subdivision of his own.
This was a very sound spanking, not something to be minimized or to go uncelebrated. Now my only question for myself is: With which adult beverage?
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/20/2017 @ 11:05 pmBeldar,
And yet no one stopped him from making this error. Where were his advisors for such a critical election? It may have been a rookie mistake, but it was one born of smug arrogance and a belief that there was little doubt a Democrat would win.
Dana (023079) — 6/20/2017 @ 11:10 pmOMG, *throw enough money.
That’s GMO, Beldar. Stop Monsanto!
nk (dbc370) — 6/20/2017 @ 11:10 pmI guess it wasn’t a referendum election. I mean, it was, then it wasn’t. Magically.
jcurtis (f724ca) — 6/20/2017 @ 11:11 pmKidding. I know what you meant.
nk (dbc370) — 6/20/2017 @ 11:11 pmQuick, Dave, which is more significant?
1) The Republican margin of victory in a GA Congressional district drops from 24% to 6%.
2) The GOP nominee for President wins Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.
I know which one I would choose. But hey, nice moral victory tonight.
JVW (42615e) — 6/20/2017 @ 11:13 pmMea culpa maxima Dave! the brain fart was indeed mine, and not yours. I beg your pardon.
Now how am I going to endure steve57’s justifiable disappointment in me, and my own in myself? Aha! The self-same adult beverage mentioned in a comment on another post.
OT & FWIW: It seems to me that the hyperlinks to comments are working properly on many other pages, perhaps most pages, maybe every page except that one you & I were unsuccessfully trying to link to the other evening. For all I know your HTML is better than mine (which is ancient & limited), Dave. But I thought I’d pass along the observation, in case you’re interested in trying to pursue this riddle.
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/20/2017 @ 11:13 pmHere is what denial and desperation looks like:
Sad indeed!
Dana (023079) — 6/20/2017 @ 11:13 pmBeldar, excellent comments on this thread. I too was thinking about Scott Walker in pondering Ms. Handel’s comeback.
JVW (42615e) — 6/20/2017 @ 11:15 pmErrata (#25): Actually, the link to the comment worked, but it was to my earlier comment on this same post, not a different one. (I had the same page in multiple windows and confused myself.)
Actually, I confess that I reached the conclusion about the adult beverages based on early returns.
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/20/2017 @ 11:15 pmEnjoyed my own frosty cold one, but now it’s time to sleep.
Agreed with your thoughts on our political prospects Beldar.
NJRob (7f4bec) — 6/20/2017 @ 11:17 pmI think my comment may have been a little bit too pissy, Dave, so I apologize for that. The only point I was trying to make is that the Dems have now told us that they were poised for upset victories in three races, and have come up empty on all three, even though they have fought competitive races. This is absolutely nothing like Scott Brown’s amazing win in Massachusetts in 2010, and the Dems should really start wondering how they are going to present themselves in 2018.
JVW (42615e) — 6/20/2017 @ 11:18 pmIf you look at the runoff results compared to April’s open primary, Ossoff went from 92,390 votes to 114,390. So that’s almost a 25 percent increase in total votes. But Handel’s vote total soared frrom just under 38,000 in the primary to just over 127,000 last night.
That’s 89,000 more votes. While the GOP field was split far more than the Democratic field in the primary, where almost all the voters were united behind Ossoff, the Republican candidate boosting her vote total by 250 percent shows there was something more going on here, and that the expected ‘enthusiasm gap’ in GA-6 the Democrats were supposed to have, due to their anger and Trump’s tepid win last November, didn’t pan out.
Something juiced GOP voters to show up at the polls, whether it was the debates, the advertizing run at Handel’s campaign, the distaste some Republicans in the district may have had for all that outside money coming in, or last week’s assassination attempt against GOP House and Senate members in Alexandria, which may have stirred some GA-6 Republicans to turn out and vote as a way to repudiate the climate that created a James Hodgkinson.
John (558db9) — 6/20/2017 @ 11:20 pm@ Dana (#20), who said, astutely:
What, Sandra Bullock (“Jane” in Our Brand Is Crisis) wasn’t available? She’s letting down the side!
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/20/2017 @ 11:21 pmThe margin of victory is 3.7%, not 6%.
In terms of overall historical significance, #2 clearly outweighs #1.
But #2 is seven long months in the past.
Dave (711345) — 6/20/2017 @ 11:22 pmThe other good bellwether races for a wave election were Rudy Giuliani, Richard Riordan, George Allen and Christine Todd Whitman’s victories in the 1993 elections, which foreshadowed the big GOP win the next year. If the Dems have a November like that then I am sure we’re in for a really rough 2018. Otherwise, it might just be a status quo election after all.
JVW (42615e) — 6/20/2017 @ 11:24 pmScott Brown’s victory came late in Obama’s first year, as the unpopular ACA was nearing passage.
We’re still about six months from that timeframe, and the AHCA (which is shaping up to be at least equally unpopular) is still in the pipeline.
I’m not rooting for the Democrats, but I agree they have not made any kind of positive case for themselves, and are still lack anything resembling an effective leader. Donald Trump is the best (only?) thing they have going for them, in my view.
Dave (711345) — 6/20/2017 @ 11:34 pmYou can’t have it both ways. If you view Handel as Trump’s surrogate, than her win by 3.8%, compared to his win by 1.5%, means that his standing in the district has improved.
nk (dbc370) — 6/20/2017 @ 11:34 pmThe CNN folk are whining tonight that these results don’t matter because they’re from seats that became vacant when Trump appointed an incumbent, just as if that isn’t routine for every such POTUS of either party filling his administration, the twits.
But one thing that is absolutely different about this series of post-presidential election special elections than any other: Trump, his approval ratings, and his center position in this Russia/Comey stuff. Trump’s troubles so soon into his presidency are an unparalleled gut-check for every GOP politician looking to 2018 or 2020, especially in the red states that Trump lost in the GOP primary (even though they went for Trump in the general).
This GA race was the marquee event among several elections. It’s their collective, mutually reinforcing import that matters. And this runoff was like — well, not a Super Bowl, but maybe a Peach Bowl college playoff game, not some scrimmage or even a regular season game.
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/20/2017 @ 11:37 pmMy schadenfreude may keep me up late tonight. Solution: adult beverage!
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/20/2017 @ 11:37 pmDave, I’m really trying to keep an open mind. Maybe you’re stubborn to a fault rather than something worse. I just want to note that this from you just now struck me as intellectually honest, and hence interesting:
But perhaps the adult beverages and my good mood are inclining me to be less mischievous than usual. Worth noting, regardless.
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/20/2017 @ 11:42 pmAnd if you want to look at the even shorter term, Ossoff’s percentage stayed the same in the runoff as it was in the primary, even though the turnout was 26% higher. Can you say “rejection”?
nk (dbc370) — 6/20/2017 @ 11:43 pmI’m having a Maxwell House frappe myself, Beldar. Nescafe is traditional but my daughter and I like Maxwell House better.
nk (dbc370) — 6/20/2017 @ 11:48 pmIt’s off topic for this threatd, but rather than go back to the last time we were talking about legal privileges:
I remembered another one, very rare, that I’ve only encountered once in my legal career: the privilege to call it in the air. And in that case, I do confess that with my client at my shoulder, having only a split second to invoke it, I seized the opportunity without full consultation as being within my implied authority given what we’d previously discussed and my standing marching orders. And I promptly obtained a well-informed ratification of my decision on my client’s behalf within seconds. The privilege belonged to the client, and how to exercise it was an important decision in the progress of the case.
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/20/2017 @ 11:54 pm*thread
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/20/2017 @ 11:54 pmTrump’s troubles so soon into his presidency are an unparalleled gut-check for every GOP politician looking to 2018 or 2020, especially in the red states that Trump lost in the GOP primary (even though they went for Trump in the general).
Yeah, the best thing that can come of this is that GOP candidates learn to fend for themselves rather than expect heavy lifting from the White House. I think that would be a positive step because it would help restore the balance of power between the Executive and the Legislative branches which was obliterated during the Obama Reign.
JVW (42615e) — 6/20/2017 @ 11:58 pmThank you for the “call it in the air” link, Beldar. That is a great story.
DRJ (d35869) — 6/21/2017 @ 12:05 amAnd keep the RMS Titanic right on course, steady as she goes, Rob.
And Dave’s right there to push the iceberg in the way if he has to.
Kevin M (752a26) — 6/21/2017 @ 12:12 amSláinte, nk!
@ JVW (#44): Thanks for your earlier kind words, and that further comment, with which I agree. Quite a bit of that repair work must be done within the Executive Branch by the new Executive, basically dismantling Obama’s executive order mischief, and I give Trump credit for finding and empowering staff and advisors and cabinet officers who’re making a reasonably good start of that. They have far to go, and of course, they must not lose their way and start passing new regs picking different, new winners and losers. I worry about that from a career crony capitalist, but I haven’t seen it yet.
One area in which Congress has been particularly passive throughout the Obama years has been the proper assertion of Congress’ role in declaring and funding wars. There are ways to frame those debates that can bring political dividends, because the Dems don’t like record votes on things like authorizing force. But the previous authorizations from the Bush era, for Afghanistan and Iraq, can and ought to be amended to include the destruction of ISIS. That inevitably is going to require some political courage because it’s going to have to somehow deal with the problems of Assad, Syria, and their Russian patron. Ultimately, however, this is necessary to cloak the POTUS — this one, any POTUS — in the requisite constitutional and political legitimacy to perform his constitutional roles. So it’s ultimately for the benefit of both branches for Congress, and specifically GOP congressmen, to man up and force these debates and votes.
Otherwise, a great deal of the recent flaccidity of the Legislative Branch traces to the split government we’ve endured, the product of political gridlock as guaranteed by the filibuster rules. My greatest nightmare is waking up in 2020 having lost our congressional majorities and the White House, whereupon the Dems very first order of business will be to nuke the filibuster in its entirety, fulfilling the Harry Reid Prophecy and making Mitch McConnell once again into Charlie Brown, foolishly having trusted Lucy not to jerk the football away this time, for the first time ever. The filibuster is a zombie, one that lived a long and useful life but that is now undead, and the Dems will put it down in a heartbeat the very next time they get the chance.
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/21/2017 @ 12:14 amIt was one of the shortest but most decisive court appearances I’ve ever had, DRJ. I’m glad you enjoyed the story.
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/21/2017 @ 12:16 amAs predicted, the “referendum” that they were all set to opine on for the rest of the month is now “just another by-election” with a “poor candidate” who couldn’t even win when The People™ wanted to vote against Trump.
I guess CNN wasted all that money they spent on the “Referendum Against Trump” graphics and set design.
Kevin M (752a26) — 6/21/2017 @ 12:16 amRMS. RMS. In the last three years I read the whole Horatio Hornblower series, the whole Aubrey-Maturin series, and several science fiction space operas whose space navies were patterned after the Royal Navy. I’m really kicking myself over that whiff.
The answer! …
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/21/2017 @ 12:26 amI wonder what in what percentage of special elections, there has been a higher voter turnout (in a rainstorm, no less!) in the runoff than in the original election. I can’t imagine that’s very common.
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/21/2017 @ 12:27 amIn a recent LA School Board election (which was of the “throw the union stooges out variety”) there was considerably more voting in the runoff than in the original melee. Now, it was a regular city election, but in February of an odd year, so that is almost the same as a by-election.
Kevin M (752a26) — 6/21/2017 @ 12:31 amLast I heard, in parts of San Antonio and the Rio Grande Valley, the Dems can and do still regularly round up a solid ten votes per $200 in “walking around money” (read Caro’s LBJ biographies for the history of the term).
Paying $200 per vote for a special election to the House, and then still losing? Can you imagine how LBJ or Bobby or Mayor Dailey would have laughed at that?
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/21/2017 @ 12:39 amOne more reason why this series of results ought be so reassuring to nervous GOP congress-critters:
By definition here, we’re talking about people looking at seats that have most recently gone GOP, like these special election seats, but that are still occupied by incumbents, with all the natural advantage of incumbency.
Handel was an experienced politician but she, too, was a rookie as a congressional candidate. She’s now survived what was effectively a primary among a large field of other GOP candidates, plus the best that the national Democratic organization could throw at her. In 2018 she’ll run as an incumbent. That she was a rookie seeking an open seat, like the fact that the Dems brought their checkbooks and their A-game — but still got spanked! decisively enough! — will be further comfort to GOP congress-critters when reading these political entrails. (I’m still under the influence of watching that 1953 film production of Julius Caesar the other night.)
From my perspective as a Trump skeptic-at-best, this also gives me welcome reassurance that yes, the GOP is indeed not all about Trump, and it’s still bigger than Trump. He played a part and deserves to share in this series of victories, no less than any POTUS in similar circumstances — he said the right things at the right times (or, I guess I mean, tweeted effectively rather than catastrophically, which is always a relief), and good for him: He held serve. But I think from the perspective of GOP congress-critters, they’re going to be this result as more evidentiary of the traditional GOP voting public’s continued willingness to vote GOP without Trump’s name on the ballot and without him playing more than a remote, symbolic (albeit powerfully so) role in this district-level campaign.
“I can grit my teeth and get through this, I’m gonna vote for that ___ bill and take the risks instead of turtling and playing it safe. If the Dems can’t win GA6 with all the opportunities they had there, with Trump’s name in headlines with the word “impeachment” twelve times daily every day for six months, then they probably can’t beat me, and they’re not going to pour tens of millions of dollars into my race.” Man, that could be some powerful political lubrication and motivation.
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/21/2017 @ 12:57 amErrata (#54): Should have read: “But I think from the perspective of GOP congress-critters, they’re going to see this result as more evidentiary of the traditional GOP voting public’s continued willingness ….”
Diagnosis and solution: Adult beverages!
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:00 amI seem to recall reading that GA’s latest voter ID law had been enjoined and is still being litigated, but I’m not at all confident of that recollection. Does anyone know? Would anyone like to investigate? (Oh, Mr. Finkelman! Call your office!)
If a new, robust voter ID law were in place, I’d expect to have heard that among the Dems’ excuses on CNN tonight, so I’m taking that as inferential confirmation that it’s still being litigated. Again, given the district’s demographics, you’d expect a negligible percentage of its eligible voters to lack adequate photo ID.
Every time I hear Dems rail about voter ID laws, I say: “How long have you been against voter ID laws on grounds that they disadvantage the most helpless?”
I will get a righteously indignant answer, typically measured in years.
“How many people who are eligible voters, but lack adequate voter IDs, have you personally sought out and helped get a free, multi-year ID card from the multiple means and locations that the state makes available for that purpose?”
That usually ends the conversation. To their retreating backs, I shout: “Don’t you think if Democrats spent 1/100th of the time they spend arguing and posturing about voter ID laws on actually getting people who don’t yet have them the IDs they’d need, this problem would be solved?”
They walk faster, usually. Sometimes they shoot the finger. That means I won the argument!
Note: You can say, “Well, good for you!” but then go on to ask the last question even if, to your astonishment, you get a positive integer as the answer to the penultimate question. That has happened to me exactly once, out of 20+ people I’ve asked this question in person or online.
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:11 amSay, Dave:
How long have you been against voter ID laws on grounds that they disadvantage the most helpless?
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:12 am(Joking, joking. I didn’t intend that, this time to you anyway, as a serious question. I don’t presume to know your opinions on voter ID laws, Dave.)
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:13 amNot good news for bezos of amazon! He is financing the pelosi/clinton wing of the democrat party to protect his internet empire while he crushes local retailers and their white collar workers jobs. He can’t make a deal with the bernie bros!
internet tax (2d5e9b) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:35 amBeldar – Thank you so very much for that anecdote about JP justice. Seems to me that between that guy and Sheriff Buford T. Justice, the sovereign under six flags has it over the rest of the USA.
Also, the last time I voted in Georgia (2014) there was a robust and enforced requirement for a state-issued picture ID if one wished to vote.
Dave – 5.7 is not 3.7 Well, unless it’s Common Core or some such. Carry on.
I am not happy that the GOPe will be able to rhetorically pop champagne over the results last night. They underperformed to the office contested by more than 15 points in each Southern state. That is a wake-up call, y’all. It will be ignored.
Ed from SFV (3400a5) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:38 am@ Kevin M (#52): I think you’re right. There are some shared dynamics among these off-year/off-season/special elections.
Re-reading Caro’s “Path to Power” last year, I was reminded that while LBJ was Congressman Kleberg (D-TX)’s top aide for many years in the 1930s, LBJ — who wanted to be a congressman himself, not just the most important aide in Congress — was very frustrated at the seeming impossibility of ever finding a seat that was open, unfilled by an invulnerable old Texas Democrat. In those days there were dozens and dozens of Congressmen with 30+ years of seniority who were still getting crap committee assignments, even in the days when seniority was still Congress’ principle method of allocating real power. The “election” in Texas in those days meant the Democratic Primary, of course. But any seat that came open in the regular course upon a member’s retirement would typically be filled by the member’s picked successor, who wasn’t ever likely to be Lyndon Johnson, a poor boy from the Hill Country with zero political power back home except that he’d garnered by being a hyper-efficient aid for the rather uninterested Congressman Kleberg. Kleberg was fabulously rich, part of the King Ranch heir group, and being a congressman was a hobby for him sort of like polo, but even he wasn’t expected to be retiring soon, and if he did, King Ranch would pick his successor. (See above, re buying votes in the Valley. The Klebergs didn’t even have to pay cash, they had so many favors to bestow.)
But then on Feb. 22, 1937, the Texas 10th Congressional District’s Congressman Buck Buchanan (now known to Texans mainly for a Colorado River dam named after him) dropped dead of a heart attack. LBJ had long been waiting for something like this, recognizing that a special election for which no one else had been preparing was his only chance, so he resolved to be always prepared. And the bonus was: TX10 included his family’s ancestral homeland in the Hill Country! Johnson instantly got on the phone to his money men (Brown & Root at the top of that list) and set about to buy and steal votes sufficient to get elected to Congress in the resulting special election. It’s a great story in Caro’s telling; I can’t do it justice here. This seems to have the big picture, but Caro has the dirt and the details.
Ted Cruz played the dynamics of run-off elections brilliantly when he mounted an improbable come-from-behind but resounding victory over the heavily favored Dan Dewhurst. But he was exploiting the more traditional scenario in which the runoff has fewer voters, IIRC, and he relied on his highly motivated constitutional conservatives to show up in disproportionate numbers for the run-off. It worked.
But it’s hard to read the increased turnout for this GA6 election as anything but a similar response by a still-very-committed group of GOP voters. Indeed, given just the size of the GOP field in the initial special election, which effectively ensured that Ossoff would make the run-off, some Georgia Republicans may have stayed home from the initial election, figuring they’d bestir themselves to vote against Ossoff and in favor of whoever placed highest among the GOP field. It seems pretty clear that GA6 has delivered resounding reply to all those out-of-district, out-of-state donors from the coasts.
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:40 amCongressman Johnson’s first legislative priority was to complete the pork-barrel funding for that self-same dam that is now Buchanan Dam, which the late congressman had never quite been able to swing, leaving it half-built for many, many years. Guess who got the contracts to finish the dam? Brown & Root, of course! And they always had cash that they were willing to deliver on LBJ’s instructions as campaign contributions for favors received, like votes to approve funding for a Colorado River dam.
Graft so perfect, so refined, so deeply embedded and well concealed, so powerful and seductive. The current Dems have all the subtlety of street gangs, and as the Clintons certainly demonstrated, you can’t shame the shameless, so they just didn’t bother to be nearly as sneaky as a general rule.
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:46 amAnd by cash, I mean cash in $100 bills stuffed in suitcases hand-carried by LBJ’s most trusted aides and delivered without receipt or acknowledgment requested or accepted.
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:47 am@ Ed from SFV (#60): You’re welcome, and I’m glad you enjoyed the story. I’d agree with your underperformance/wake-up call argument if these were ordinary times with a conventional POTUS. But from the point of view of GOP congress-critters, we’re in a gale-force wind with heavy seas already, and they’re worried about getting swamped. They’re going to see these results, even with those under-performances, as good grounds hope that any actual hurricanes can be dodged or at least endured.
Still, I’ll grant that that’s not inconsistent, actually, with what you’ve said. Do you have any particular advice or prescriptions that we should, if awoken by such a call, employ? I’d certainly agree that at a minimum, it’s always good advice to not get cocky. None of this means anything unless there are some more substantive accomplishments from both the White House and Congress. But is there something more specific that you have in mind?
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:58 amCNN reports: 51.9 – 48.1 = 3.8 (3.7 if you don’t round off before subtracting)
NYT reports: 51.9 – 48.1 = 3.8 (3.7 if you don’t round off before subtracting)
The Atlanta Journal Constitution (for example) is reporting a wider margin with lower (incomplete) vote totals. The last votes tallied were the mail-in ballots, which heavily favored Ossoff.
I am, and have always been, 100% in favor of voter ID laws.
Dave (711345) — 6/21/2017 @ 2:14 amInteresting to know, Dave! G’night.
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/21/2017 @ 2:16 amget over it never Trumpers, President Trump is 5-0 on special elections.
mg (31009b) — 6/21/2017 @ 3:21 amScott Brown is one of the worst persons in the world. Lying SOB, voted against what he said he was going to do. The cool thing was people despised Martha Coakley. And Ted was dead.
mg (31009b) — 6/21/2017 @ 3:29 amA once solid red district has changed over the years. Now the district has more non white non affluent population. Which makes the victory sweet.
mg (31009b) — 6/21/2017 @ 3:33 amEvery republican in d.c. should be demanding obamas documents be given up for the public to read.
mg (31009b) — 6/21/2017 @ 4:14 amI’m betting on crickets from this crowd of dunces.
wow it’s like Ossoff was a US Navy destroyer and Handel was a mighty cargo ship
happyfeet (28a91b) — 6/21/2017 @ 5:43 amWay back to Dana at 1. Or 2., she made a very special emphasis of thanking Pence. Brutus and Cassius got themselves help.
It seems as though there is now an inverse mathematical relationship to dollars and focus national Dems put on a house race. MT-At large and GA 6 fizzled while the Mulvaney SC and Pompeo KS were closer at the end than expected.
urbanleftbehind (9db048) — 6/21/2017 @ 5:44 am71, it’s asymetrical ramming all around, the human kind of which I’m sure you will see this weekend, hf. Vehicle to vehicle ramming actually originted in Chicago with Latino v. Latino gangs.
urbanleftbehind (9db048) — 6/21/2017 @ 5:47 am26 – Dana on denial: yep.
Seth Myers of all people nailed it last night:
http://www.realclearlife.com/television/seth-meyers-slams-democratic-hypocrisy-spin-georgia-special-election/
The absolute best part is when the clueless souls in the audience applaud the “disastrous presidency of Donald J Trump” line. They don’t even realize it’s parody.
harkin (536957) — 6/21/2017 @ 7:03 am65 –” I am, and have always been, 100% in favor of ending most of the Democratic voter fraud.”
fyp
harkin (536957) — 6/21/2017 @ 7:05 amUnderwood would be a boll weevil, he’s from South Carolina a citadel grad except for the Murder he’s fairly moderate
narciso (d1f714) — 6/21/2017 @ 7:31 amIt was interesting casting for the series, making Underwood a Republican would be too obvious, welliber a fmr deaniac and Schumer aide made weiner an Irish congressman from Philadelphia I know another fiction
narciso (d1f714) — 6/21/2017 @ 7:41 amSince that thread has gotten moldy
https://mobile.twitter.com/freebeacon/status/877536807231135745
narciso (d1f714) — 6/21/2017 @ 7:55 amGreetings:
Sorry, but I still can’t get past that he wasn’t even a resident of the district.
11B40 (6abb5c) — 6/21/2017 @ 7:56 amHe worked for hank ‘tip over’ , and he was a documentarian for al jazeera yes a perfect fit.
narciso (d1f714) — 6/21/2017 @ 8:01 am61. Beldar (fa637a) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:40 am
I had read, years ago, a sentence in a newspaper, that said that LBJ had come out in favor the New deal – all the other people running were against that, and it didn’t have majority support, but by being the only person to take that position he was ale to win a plurality.
But what I see here from Caro is, it wasn’the New Deal, it was FDR’s court packing plan! Which was a live issue right at that point in 1937.
There is no vote stealing or vote buying involved, beyond having, to some degree, perhaps extorted campaign contributions from people he had dealt with as Texas director of the National Youth Administration, and from some people involved in politics helping him.
It was one of the most expensive congressional races in Texas history up to that time, according to the man who was then Texas Secretary of State – Ed Clark – but the key point was how it wss spent – to maintain that he was FDRs man down the line. A minority position, but one that gave him a plurality, since everybody else was on the other side, in a special election with no runoff.
Donald Trump did that with a few issues, like his wall, which, to make sure he stood alone, he insisted Mexico would pay for. Also his Muslim ban, which he moderated, but not in a way so that anyone would join him. This won him closed primaries in states with small Republican parties that always lost elections, and pluraties in others.
Sammy Finkelman (8ac22c) — 6/21/2017 @ 8:42 amIronically the dems lost big in that year, tempering the left ambitions,
narciso (d1f714) — 6/21/2017 @ 8:46 am79 – “Sorry, but I still can’t get past that he wasn’t even a resident of the district.”
Saw a great couple of tweets last night:
“She’s not my congresswoman!”
“That’s OK, she’s not Ossoff’s either.”
harkin (a76a32) — 6/21/2017 @ 8:46 am3. nk (dbc370) — 6/20/2017 @ 10:06 pm
Ostoff got 1% less than he did in the first primary – Handel for all the other votes.
This probably happened because Ostoff was perceived as much more of a partisan who would ot act independently than Handel was, and because the distrct, afetr all nrmally wod vote for a Republican. And Trump, after all, carried it. We need the figures for Romney – this probably didn’t have close enough boundaries for comparison in 2008.
Sammy Finkelman (8ac22c) — 6/21/2017 @ 8:48 am40. nk (dbc370) — 6/20/2017 @ 11:43 pm
Sammy Finkelman (8ac22c) — 6/21/2017 @ 8:54 amThank Allah for the Russian vote!!
Ipso Fatso (e79725) — 6/21/2017 @ 8:58 amThe thing to take away from this election, and the Progressive/Left’s reaction to losing it, is that absolutely ANYTHING the Left says after losing an election should be taken with a huge grain of salt, if not indeed an entire salt-lick. NOTHING is ever their fault. They don’t pick poor candidates, bad issues, or suboptimal strategies. It’s the Russians, or Racism, or the phase of the goddamned moon. Never THEM.
Which means that they have abdicated their responsibilities as a political party. They are unwilling to actually examine their losses and try again. They want to win or whine.
Which is going to make it goddamned hard to tell if there ever really IS something wrong with a Republican victory. I find it very, VERY hard to take the charges that Trump did something illegal at all seriously because every time I try to look into it I run into masses of what is obviously Lefty sniveling. I don’t think much of Trump – except that he seems to have a lot of the right enemies – but I thin less of the whining Left right now.
C. S. P. Schofield (99bd37) — 6/21/2017 @ 9:11 amA Democrat precinct captain working for Jon Ossoff’s congressional campaign opined recently that a lot of constituents are “hard to reach” because they still live at home with their parents.
AZ Bob (f7a491) — 6/21/2017 @ 9:50 amDa
Boris grishenko (b50707) — 6/21/2017 @ 10:02 amAfter running the most expensive Congressional campaign in history, Jon OssOff calls for Campaign Finance Reform.
Neo (d1c681) — 6/21/2017 @ 10:13 amre 249. That’s because there’s no limit to the hypocrisy of the left, Neo.
Rev.Hoagie® (630eca) — 6/21/2017 @ 10:25 amNYT: Democrats Seethe After Georgia Loss: ‘Our Brand Is Worse Than Trump’
Neo (d1c681) — 6/21/2017 @ 10:37 amThe Democrat response:
“We need more fringe candidates! To hell with the center!”
This only works if 1) your wingnuts are fully informed about the nuttiness of the candidates and 2) the media lies to everyone else. This is what has happened in CA, where, somehow,
Kevin M (752a26) — 6/21/2017 @ 10:44 amGoldsteinthe powerless Republicans are blamed for everything that goes wrong and none of the details about what the Dems are really doing makes the news.After running the most expensive Congressional campaign in history, Jon OssOff calls for Campaign Finance Reform.
This isn’t because he spent a lot, it’s because his opponent got his message out. The purpose of CFR is to have the PRESS be the only loud voice. For obvious reasons.
Kevin M (752a26) — 6/21/2017 @ 10:47 amIf you live at home with your parents, it should be illegal to vote.
Blah (44eaa0) — 6/21/2017 @ 11:02 amOT: Alluh Ahkbar again.
But don’t profile!
Blah (44eaa0) — 6/21/2017 @ 11:02 amIf you live at home with your parents, it should be illegal to vote.
I favor a $2000/month guaranteed annual income, with MedicAid. However, should you take this offer, you can’t vote until you’ve been off it for a year (to avoid positive feedback).
It would be cheap, all things considered.
Kevin M (752a26) — 6/21/2017 @ 11:36 amAnd, the loss couldn’t happen to a more deserving pack of jackals and cockroaches. The increasingly less than relevant Democrat Party has abdicated all but the pretence of representing American voters.
It’s nothing but a hollow shell, an empty ideology made threadbare by failed policies, corrupt leaders, and crushing rejection at the polls.
Dem leaders have largely reduced themselves to propaganda spinmisters, playacters – straightmen really – for late night comedians and talking heads for media guttersnipes flaking manufactured outrage and absurd (groundless) accusations.
Daily they grow increasingly more bitter, more resentful, more deranged, more trigger-happy.
ropelight (f923af) — 6/21/2017 @ 11:55 amThe democrats are blowing it.
A Jim Webb party as a reaction to losing to a buffoon would show America a clear way forward. Instead, it’s just two crazy, corrupt, broken political parties.
Both parties think the other party is the most absolute evil imaginable, because that is the only justification for remaining a partisan in either corrupt party today. They don’t realize that admitting the GOP is just as bad as the democrats, or vice versa, would be a powerful reason to fix some problems and actually have a party worth supporting. Partisanship isn’t good for political parties. That’s the hilarious thing today.
Dustin (ba94b2) — 6/21/2017 @ 11:59 am#97, no vote till one year after all funds received have been repaid, and you have my support.
ropelight (f923af) — 6/21/2017 @ 12:00 pmThe GOP is no where near as corrupt, anti-American, and parasitic as the Dems, and I despise the GOP.
ropelight (f923af) — 6/21/2017 @ 12:05 pmmg, you’re a hard one to figure out. Why on earth do you think “Never-Trumpers” would have to “get over” the fact that the respective GOP nominees (not Trump, who hasn’t run any races since November, but yeah, he’s the current nominally-GOP top officeholder and ostensibly the “head” of the GOP in that capacity) have won these special elections? The winners of these special elections haven’t sworn unlimited fealty to Trump, he didn’t hand-pick them, and in some cases including Handel’s, the candidates were themselves a little skittish about getting to close to him in the public perception. Are then nevertheless extremely likely to become reliable GOP votes in Congress between now and January 2019? Oh, yes, absolutely! And if Trump can manage to stay in office until then — which will require that he at least stop telling some new and inconsistent stories and otherwise feeding the Dems’ (and possibly Mueller) so much live ammo — these newly elected Republicans will assuredly join their GOP brothers and sisters, or most of them anyway, in voting for legislation that Trump may and should sign and claim his share of credit for.
I really don’t know who in the world you see as your ally, mg, other than Donald Trump himself. Who else from modern political life now do you see as a like-minded ally? It’s easy for us to tell some of the people and classes you despise from your comments here, but not who you agree with other than the Donald. Help us out, perhaps?
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/21/2017 @ 12:22 pmI’m guessing most never Trumpers aka republicans that hold office would rejoice in having the press continue to bring down The President they so despise. Lets face it Educated republicans hate the President. Where as people that create things with their own hands have something in common with Trump. Trump was never my first pick, but by golly he has put the Clintons out of commission, exposed the press, and shows that republicans are gutless swine. If the republicans would stand with Trump and ram this agenda through America could finally tell the Chamber of Commerce dolts to go screw. I like Gorsuch.
mg (31009b) — 6/21/2017 @ 12:33 pmThere is a storm coming and it’s not from the GOP side nor has it anything to do with Russia.
It’s the growing schism between the dishonest, corrupt, race-baiting but still-nominally-faithful-to-the-status quo Dems and the absolute bats**t crazy far left Marxist redistribution Occupy Antifa brainless creatures.
There are many democrats out there calling for an abandonment of centrism and their numbers are growing.
harkin (a76a32) — 6/21/2017 @ 12:39 pm“Let’s face it educated Republicans hate the President”
I’m an educated, independent conservative who last voted for a presidential nominee from one of the two major parties in 1980 (Reagan).
I don’t hate Trump. I refused to vote for him because I deemed him unfit for office, I still do.
But I’m not a never-Trumper. He was duly elected and that’s the will of our people under the constitution of this republic.
I am as concerned with the lack of support he’s getting from his own party as I am his inability to police himself and focus on real policy goals. That he’s able to accomplish anything with the delusional rabid hounds in the media baying goes without saying and magnifies the need for party teamwork and focus.
All that being said, he’s still a tall step up from Obama and Obama v2(Hillary).
And I’d be surprised if Trump ever created anything with his hands beyond embarrassment for a young pageant contestant or two.
harkin (a76a32) — 6/21/2017 @ 12:51 pmIt’ll take little effort for Dems to abandon ground they haven’t occupied for over 40 years.
ropelight (f923af) — 6/21/2017 @ 12:51 pm> 5-0 on special elections.
4-1, actually; the fifth special election was a district in California where the runoff was a Dem on Dem race.
aphrael (e0cdc9) — 6/21/2017 @ 12:53 pmThe corporate establishment wing of the democratic party loses again. not even a participation trophy! If you think this is good news your wrong! The job of the establishment democratic party is to control the left and the minorities which the right can’t. the right opposes gun control while the corporate state must keep guns out of the “negros hands at all cost” black criminals with guns are no threat ;but armed negros are! the establishment democrat appeals for calm and closes ghetto gun stores. if they are discredited the leftist democrats will yell arm yourselfs and shoot back! see bill ayres support of second amendment on alex jones show. if you don’t understand find out why ronal reagan signed the first major gun control law in california.
juneteenth (a0d70d) — 6/21/2017 @ 12:54 pmDitto #101, #99 is not accurate.
Blah (44eaa0) — 6/21/2017 @ 12:56 pmNYT: Democrats Seethe After Georgia Loss: ‘Our Brand Is Worse Than Trump’
Neo (d1c681) — 6/21/2017 @ 10:37 am
I said it here first.
nk (dbc370) — 6/21/2017 @ 12:57 pm#103 Educate Republicans also seem to have no issue with declaring their sons, girls and pumping them full of drugs to placate a deranged mind and society.
I am a very educated Republican but find the Country Club set detestable filth with no moral compass. All they care about is what their neighbors think about them and money.
Blah (44eaa0) — 6/21/2017 @ 12:58 pmThat’s pretty much a textbook description of a #NeverTrumper, not the frothing at the mouth rabid ones, but the kind who would sit on his hands and let a monster like Hillary turn the country upside down.
ropelight (f923af) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:06 pmI am a very educated Republican but find the Country Club set detestable filth with no moral compass. All they care about is what their neighbors think about them and money.
nk (dbc370) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:06 pmOhmigosh! Funny you should say that. Because that’s almost exactly my opinion of Trump.
Does that make Trump a NeverTrumper, nk?
DRJ (15874d) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:11 pm@ aphrael (#107): I think your math is right, but I’d not include in either the Dem or the GOP win column the retention of a seat via a one-party (uncontested by the other) special election. I’d say the relevant count is 4-0 with an asterisk; that’s fair at a minimum, as is your overall point (5-0 is wrong). Good to hear from you, hope all’s well.
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:15 pmIt makes him qualified to join a Country Club, DRJ. Oh, wait, he’s in a bunch of them. He evens runs some.
nk (dbc370) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:17 pmI strongly suspect that Blah has an inter-dimensional computer and is accessing PP from an alternate reality where Trump is not a narcissistic moneybags skirt-chaser with two castoff wives.
nk (dbc370) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:24 pmRe country clubs, I still maintain that the photo from the Clinton Library — Bubba and Trump snuggled up side-by-side after a round of golf, with Bubba’s other arm wrapping around Melania’s waist, and Trump’s other arm wrapped around Sports Illustrated supermodel Kylie Bax — speaks volumes about the ridiculously poor choice that faced American voters in November 2016.
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:25 pm#113 Trump is a cafone but at least he has the sense to know boys are boys and girls are girls … and that forcing my daughter to shower with a boy in the interest of the perverted, demented, deranged pathology is not a good idea.
Wish the Country Club Republicans had the courage to stand up against it instead of thinking it alrighty cuz their kids are in private school.
Blah (44eaa0) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:26 pm#117 LOL, I know who my friends are and who my enemies are. Most NeverTrumpers are too stupid to get that.
Trump is an ass but he has never passed a policy that has hurt me or my family. Nor have I heard him advocate for anything that is assault on my freedom to live peacefully in my own deluded world.
Can’t say the same for “Republicans” and most certainly of Democrats.
… And yet you guys call Trump a squirrel chaser. Go figure. Navel gazers insulting a squirrel chaser.
Blah (44eaa0) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:30 pmAh, sorry — private box at the U.S. Open Tennis Competition at Flushing Meadows, not golf. Still very New York country-club set sort of stuff.
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:32 pmHey, Blah — no one here will dispute you when you say that Trump believes that forcing you daughter to shower with a boy in the interest of the perverted, demented, deranged pathology is not a good idea.
Just speaking as a father of two adult unmarried daughters whom I hope will someday bless me with grandkids, I’m not at all disturbed by the prospect of them showering with their husbands in due course, but I guess that won’t meet your stipulation that we’re only talking about coed showers that are for the specific purpose of perverted, demented, deranged pathology. So still — no arguments from me with your assertion. If you think this is a good point in Trump’s favor, then fine.
But why raise it here? Did you see anyone in this thread, or on this blog in the past few weeks anyway, arguing in favor of forcing your daughter to take such showers?
I’m inclined to think this is more episodic broadbrushism. No?
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:37 pmAnd, um, would Melania and Ivana be among those country-club Republicans who have their kids in private schools? (We’d have to give Ivana credit for sincerity in her “conversion” to Republicanism, wouldn’t we? But I won’t quibble, and wish both those moms nothing but the best.)
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:40 pmTed Cruz was very very articulate on the issue of where and with whom little girls should be showering. And he wasn’t shy about saying so to the economically insecure voters of Indiana.
happyfeet (a037ad) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:42 pmTrump and many wealthy individuals like him offer an opportunity to work with materials and designs that create craftsmen of the future.
mg (31009b) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:42 pmNo Republican has related 2 so many idiots without degrees. Dealing with the American work force of the future is something I hope he can pull off.
Well, actually, Trump voted present over the North Carolina transvestites in ladies rooms law during the election. He said that it was a distraction and bad for business.
nk (dbc370) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:48 pmBlah:
<a href="Trump is a cafone but at least he has the sense to know boys are boys and girls are girls " And zirs are zirs:
DRJ (15874d) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:49 pmSorry. Link.
DRJ (15874d) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:50 pmI confess to being the son of a country-club Republican. The Lamesa (Texas) Country Club is conspicuous from the air by virtue of being relatively (by west Texas standards only) lush and green, since it contains one of the few even partially irrigated golf courses in Dawson County. But its other main attractions — a pretty good bar & grill, a private room in the back where friendly cash poker games were sometimes held, and especially a mixed-beverage permit in a dry county an hour’s drive from a bar or liquor store where you could buy so much as a cold can of Coors — attracted members like my dad, and I ate plenty of suppers there before I moved from my hometown. There were indeed a ton of good-natured political debates there too, mostly my dad (probably the county’s most prominent self-confessed Republican) arguing with deeply conservative Texas Democrats who’ve all since switched to the GOP.
(They used to call themselves “Yellow Dog Democrats,” which has an overtly racist origin, actually, and which I guess might explain why I heard one of the CNN talking heads referring to “Blue Dog Democrats” last night, which I guess is the politically correct conversion. The thing is, Texans generally like their blue dogs, so it screws up the metaphor entirely, its origin having been: “I’d vote for a yellow [N-word-variant] before I’d vote for a Republican!”)
Am I a country club Republican, then?
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:50 pmI think it’s a good rule that if you let one kid choose their name or use a nickname, let them all choose their names. But I predict it will get messy.
DRJ (15874d) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:52 pm@ Hatefulfeet! Is that you (#124), using capital letters and punctuation? WTG.
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:52 pmFrom the Wikipedia entry on Blue Dog Democrats:
> The term “Blue Dog Democrat” is credited to Texas Democratic Rep. Pete Geren (who later joined the Bush Administration). Geren opined that the members had been “choked blue” by Democrats on the Left.[11] It is related to the political term “Yellow Dog Democrat,” a reference to southern Democrats said to be so loyal they would even vote for a yellow dog if it were labeled Democrat. The term is also a reference to the “Blue Dog” paintings of Cajun artist George Rodrigue of Lafayette, Louisiana, as the original members of the coalition would regularly meet in the offices of Louisiana representatives Billy Tauzin and Jimmy Hayes, both of whom later joined the Republican Party; both had Rodrigue’s paintings on their walls.[12][13] An additional explanation for the term cited by members is “when dogs are not let into the house, they stay outside in the cold and turn blue,” a reference to the Blue Dogs’ belief they had been left out of a party that they believed had shifted to the political left.[14]
aphrael (e0cdc9) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:52 pmyou an attorney and a plum lolly and a catch-as-catch-can
vanquisher of Mr. Spardapus, you have done many achieves
happyfeet (a037ad) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:54 pmHere’s a fascinating breakdown of the money involved in the most expensive U.S. House race in history.
Given this was a solid ruby red GOP district, expending a record amount of resources to retain it– and to challenge it– $50 million or so between the two major parties– speaks volumes about their use of other people’s money. The signals are clear: Dems should dump the old guard for fresher faces while the GOP keeps overspending to maintain a majority. Recall Trump crowing how much less he spent in his campaign compared to his challengers to win. This particular election doesn’t fit his pistol. But as long as he keeps neutering conservative ideologues he’ll keep his base happy. The Captain knows his audience, and a win is win…
“If I were to run, I’d run as a Republican. They’re the dumbest group of voters in the country. They love anything on Fox News. I could lie and they’d still eat it up. I bet my numbers would be terrific.” – Donald Trump, ‘People Magazine’ 1998
___________
Today’s Beldar The Bitter ‘Watergate, Watergate, Watergate’ Words of Wonder:
“In all candor, the Court fails to perceive any reason for suspending the power of courts to get evidence and rule on questions of privilege in criminal matters simply because it is the president of the United States who holds the evidence.” – Judge John Sirica
DCSCA (797bc0) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:55 pmyes yes sometimes i make the sentences
i contain multitudes
happyfeet (a037ad) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:55 pm“I am a very educated Republican but find the Country Club set detestable filth with no moral compass. All they care about is what their neighbors think about them and money.”
The country clubs have a good portion of greedy, status-seeking, shallow, self-absorbed cretins but anyone who thinks that they are all Republicans has never visited a country club.
Wait till the Dems elect a Jeremy Corbin-type who advocates squatting and citizens seizing property from the less-deserving, then you’ll be right.
harkin (a76a32) — 6/21/2017 @ 1:57 pmWell, that People magazine quote is fake. Just a photoshop on the internet. As for Sirica, the 9th Circuit has him beat ten ways from Sunday when it comes to practicing politics under the guise of law.
nk (dbc370) — 6/21/2017 @ 2:02 pm134 – “If I were to run, I’d run as a Republican. They’re the dumbest group of voters in the country. They love anything on Fox News. I could lie and they’d still eat it up. I bet my numbers would be terrific.” – Donald Trump, 1998
Wasn’t that around the time the Dems were giving nuke technology to the North Koreans and assuring the public it would never be used for weapons? Their supporters sure ate that up.
harkin (a76a32) — 6/21/2017 @ 2:03 pmA Yellowdog Democrat is such a loyal Dem voter he’d even pull the lever for a yellow dog if one ran on the Dem ticket.
The term is unrelated to race, except in the feavered imaginations of the obsessed.
ropelight (f923af) — 6/21/2017 @ 2:07 pm@137- Meh, nk, you prove the point: the Captain knows his audience. Truth, truthiness, fibs, fakery, reality teevee… it all makes for quite a show. And he’s center ring. Sirica, as you surely know, was a Republican– appointed by Ike who tapped the Big Dick as his veep.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 6/21/2017 @ 2:40 pm@ aphrael, ropelight, or anyone else: I believe that Wikipedia is unreliable, or at least insufficiently reliable, on this subject.
I’m speaking from vivid childhood memories, from hearing the phrase from the mouths of people who thought they were being racially tolerant by substitution “yellow dog” for “yellow nig” (aka mulatto), which is how the phrase first started. I was the little boy who was still struggling with metaphors and wanted to know what they meant by those things, since even “Old Yeller” was really tan, and I tended to be quite literal so I was confused.
We’re talking the Reconstruction South mentality here, when “Republican” was a worse slur than “nigger” and “yellow nig” was considered a slur somewhere in between the two.
But perhaps these are my “feavered” imaginations. Or perhaps the old-line Southern racists I remember from my childhood were confused about their own slurs.
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/21/2017 @ 2:42 pmBah. Let me try that again:
We’re talking the Reconstruction South mentality here, when “Republican” was a worse slur than “nigger” and “yellow nig” was considered a slur less damning than either of the other two.
No literal dogs were running for office in Texas during Reconstruction.
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/21/2017 @ 2:44 pmI would gladly play at a country club.
mg (31009b) — 6/21/2017 @ 2:47 pmI would only join at a public course.
(They also had to explain to me what a “mulatto” was, since it wasn’t previously part of my vocabulary, although another similar term, “half-breed,” already was. They may have found the conversation embarrassing; I hope so.)
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/21/2017 @ 2:47 pmBeldar – My prescription is ridiculously basic: Perform the implied contract. At a minimum, this means rip out Obamacare, build the wall, defund any and all abortion-providing entities (Did you know Planned Parenthood donated more than $700K to Ossoff?!!!!), drastically simplified income tax. If the Dems want to obfuscate, fine. Simply force them to vote/own their convictions.
When Newt executed the Contract with America, he actually grew stronger, forcing the Clintons(!) to tack severely to the right. If the GOP displays a similar seriousness of purpose now, they would build a generational coalition of power the Dems would not well survive. Heck, they may even convert DJT into something substantial.
I fully agree with you that the critters perceive Camille and Andrew just offshore. What they don’t get is that there is a tornadic front building which will wipe them out every bit as much if they fail to follow through.
Ed from SFV (3400a5) — 6/21/2017 @ 3:22 pmMeh. Unfortunately this is nothing new. Back in ’76 John Heinz spent $25/vote [in 1976 $ which in today’s $ is close to $110/vote] to win a PA senate seat. At the time it was a shocka. Today it’s all too common.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 6/21/2017 @ 3:23 pmOn althouse someone commented that he was reading other blogs, and he found a comment by a resident of that district who said several people decided at the last minute to vote for Karen Handel because they didn’t want to see the Democrats do a victory dance and lap.
Sammy Finkelman (2b1acb) — 6/21/2017 @ 3:26 pmDon’t take too hard, I just learned the difference between eggs ‘over easy’ and ‘over medium.
Now I know why my eggs were never just right.
ropelight (f923af) — 6/21/2017 @ 3:33 pm@ Ed from SFV (#145): Thanks for the reply! You and I are not only on the same team and in the same general ballpark, we’re both on the same side of the close infield. I particularly agree with you about making the Dems take a whole bunch of record votes — clean ones that don’t offer cover. That’s the way to lay the groundwork for a well-focused 2018 set of midterms.
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/21/2017 @ 3:35 pmThe widow of John Heinz is now wife to John Kerry.
ropelight (f923af) — 6/21/2017 @ 3:37 pmDave – I stupidly relied upon the Fox News graphic which had been up for a couple of hours showing 100% of votes counted and Handel with a 5.7% lead. You were correct. A tip o’ the hat to you.
Ed from SFV (3400a5) — 6/21/2017 @ 3:38 pmWhich DNC geriarch is going to be detailed to recruit the ’18 batch of Ossoffs? Will Pelosi and Schumer be working on their elevator pitches or will they leave it to Perez and Ellison to find like minded lefties to lure to the sacrificial altar?
I don’t attach any meaning to the special election outcomes but I do know that sinking $40 million into a beta loser is not conducive to positive candidate recruitment outcomes. I also know the 1,000 Democrat seats lost during Obama’s tenure make for a much shorter eligible roster. The Obama albatross around the Democrat’s neck still isn’t losing any weight.
Rick Ballard (5397ef) — 6/21/2017 @ 3:52 pm@ Ed from SFV,
You’ve isolated the problem: “If the GOP”…
Dana (023079) — 6/21/2017 @ 3:52 pm@137-” Meh, nk, you prove the point: the Captain knows his audience. Truth, truthiness, fibs, fakery, reality teevee…”
Lol at saying that someone who pointed out you posted a fraud quote proves your point.
But take heart; you’re batting 1.000 on your usual practice of quoting fiction.
harkin (a76a32) — 6/21/2017 @ 4:12 pmSharp eye, Dana.
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/21/2017 @ 4:13 pm@154- Is it? He’s not under investigation but is under investigation. Witch hunt. Or is it? ‘witch’ is it? You keep proving the point. Love it. Go, Captain, go– Iowa awaits!
What. A. Show!
DCSCA (797bc0) — 6/21/2017 @ 4:48 pmHow’s that wall coming, harkin? Or that plan to crush ISIS in 30 days? And those tapes he teased— an answer this week– maybe– stay-tuned!!! Lord, has he got you suckered. Love it! What a show.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 6/21/2017 @ 4:52 pmDo hope Ingraham is foolish enough to take the PS gig if offered.
Should give Kate McKinnon the summer to hone her impersonation a la Tina Fey of Palin and have Laura a laughing stock by Halloween. Another Emmy waiting in the wings, dear!
DCSCA (797bc0) — 6/21/2017 @ 4:58 pm“How’s that wall coming, harkin? Or that plan to crush ISIS in 30 days? And those tapes he teased— an answer this week– maybe– stay-tuned!!! Lord, has he got you suckered. Love it! What a show.”
He would have if I’d given him my vote.
Alas I deemed him horrible yet preferable to the crime matriarch. I stood back and let my countrymen roll the dice.
Looking forward to your next step into the liberal cow pie.
harkin (a76a32) — 6/21/2017 @ 7:30 pm@159- Which makes you part of the problem, not part of the solution. Go, boy! Go!
DCSCA (797bc0) — 6/21/2017 @ 7:33 pmThe Dems are done as a party much sooner than anyone will admit. The Rs merely needs not to let its T and NT wings try to seduce the resulting respective and disarate Bernie and not-Bernie detritus.
urbanleftbehind (847a06) — 6/21/2017 @ 7:35 pmWell matted is doing a good mop up operation, but the battlefield moved to European capitals at least since merah in 2012
narciso (d1f714) — 6/21/2017 @ 7:37 pm@161. Meh. Pelosi and Hoyer should have been jettisoned two cycles ago after they lost the House. They’re old, uninspiring and offer nothing remotely close to counter the stage presence pizazz of Trump– such as it is. They cling to power like moss on a rock. The Brits do it better.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 6/21/2017 @ 7:39 pmIt really has been sound and fury, signifying nothing
http://legalinsurrection.com/2017/06/dems-beginning-to-regret-russia-conspiracy-obsession/#more-217676
narciso (d1f714) — 6/21/2017 @ 7:39 pmHow about talosian Perez or cair windup doll ellison.
narciso (d1f714) — 6/21/2017 @ 7:41 pm159- Which makes you part of the problem, not part of the solution.”
You got caught pulling a smear quote out of your backside, try not to foam.
harkin (a76a32) — 6/21/2017 @ 8:00 pmThat was also the year part of the sanbernadino cell was caught plotting an attack.
narciso (d1f714) — 6/21/2017 @ 8:12 pm@166- Is it? He’s not under investigation but is under investigation. Witch hunt. Or is it? ‘Witch’ is it? Truth, truthiness, fibs, fakery, reality teevee… it all makes for quite a show. You keep proving the point and just don’t get it. But our Captain does. Love it.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 6/21/2017 @ 8:27 pmMy nomination for the Best Cliche-Evoking Quotation So Far Yet in 2017:
The quote, from the lede paragraph of an online article from TheHill.com entitled Dems point fingers after crushing loss:
The cliche, of course, from Conan the Barbarian:
Cliche #2: World ends: NYT, Nancy Pelosi most affected.
Beldar (fa637a) — 6/21/2017 @ 10:54 pmOliver Stone stole it from an anecdote about Genghis Khan. In any event, I think Cohen the Barbarian got it more nearly right:
nk (dbc370) — 6/22/2017 @ 3:48 am– “What is it that a man may call the greatest things in life?”
– “Hot [running] water, good dentistry and soft lavatory paper.”
Yes they are this petty:
narciso (d1f714) — 6/22/2017 @ 5:44 amhttp://www.express.co.uk/news/world/819972/helmut-kohl-dead-funeral-angela-merkel-viktor-orban
168 -DCSCA – “Is it?”
(CNN) Dear internet, we don’t want to scold you, but you’re making it difficult.
That viral meme your friends keep sharing of Donald Trump calling Republicans “the dumbest group of voters in the country” is not true. It’s not a thing. Stop sharing it.”
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2016/11/10/politics/trump-quote-facebook-trnd/index.html
I guess the “dumbest group” of people might include someone very close to you, possibly even someone wearing your man romper.
When even CNN has labeled you fake news, most people would own up.
Since you fail that test, perhaps the world of fiction you inhabit could provide a hint to your next possible step:
“RUN AWAY!!!” – Arthur, King of the Britons – Monty Python And The Holy Grail – 1975
harkin (bba461) — 6/22/2017 @ 7:41 amI’m still waiting for the answer to what I considered the best question of the last primary cycle. I think it was asked by Chris Mathews (if you can believe it).
Bueller? Bueller?
Rev.Hoagie® (630eca) — 6/22/2017 @ 8:13 amSocialists take from the rich and give to the poor. Democrats and Republicans take from everybody and keep it.
nk (dbc370) — 6/22/2017 @ 9:02 amNot only is that so wrong about socialists it does not answer the question. So far nobody can.
Rev.Hoagie® (630eca) — 6/22/2017 @ 9:43 amBeldar, at 141: I think you and wikipedia are talking about different things; you’re talking about the etymology of ‘yellow dog’, and they’re talking about the etymology of ‘blue dog’.
Your memory of the meaning of ‘yellow dog’ comports with the meaning I learned when i was a kid growing up in San Antonio.
aphrael (3f0569) — 6/22/2017 @ 9:46 am“If Matthews doesn’t know, nobody does”, is the most nearly correct answer. Or is there any doubt that Matthews is a Democrat?
nk (dbc370) — 6/22/2017 @ 10:01 amI can do better than Conan.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Jack-Macy-Korean-War-vet-dies-3171579.php
I will not go into detail. Just this. There are giants, heroes. I am not among them. And they walk among us.
Steve57 (0b1dac) — 6/22/2017 @ 10:13 am158. – DC, the Administration passing on Huckabee-Sanders (for obvious eye candy ala Guilfoyle instead) may be the only “in” the Dems have with some of the Trumpaic demographics.
urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 6/22/2017 @ 10:19 am@172- Comrade Harkin: Is it? Like thousands cheering in Jersey City when the WTC fell; like the ‘yugest’ crowds ever for his inaugural; like the dumbest voters… like there’s tapes of Comey.. and on and on and on.
You really, really just don’t get it, do you. Lets put it in terms you can grasp:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn_PSJsl0LQ
DCSCA (797bc0) — 6/22/2017 @ 11:30 am180 – DSCSA – we going on five or six posts now where you refuse to own your posting a fake quote.
We all get it, believe me.
Feel free to keep digging.
harkin (bba461) — 6/22/2017 @ 3:51 pm@181- We? Comrade Harkin: you just don’t get it. But our Captain does.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn_PSJsl0LQ
“It’s not a lie… if you believe it.” – George Costanza [Jason Alexander] ‘Seinfeld’ – NBC TV
DCSCA (797bc0) — 6/22/2017 @ 3:55 pmThe same day there was a special election in South Carolina – that iis why at the end of the day it was 5-0, not 4-0 and the Democrats came within 3 points, mostly, they think, because they increased the black turnout, and so local Democrats there think they had a better chance to win that one, and if the national Democratic Party had poured in money like they did in Georgia, or tried to win there instead, they cuuld have won.
But that is wrong because if so much attention had been paid to the race in South Carolina, Republican turnout would have gone up too.
(That Congressional district is, by the way, the fictional Frank Underwood’s district they say, but I don’t know what that’s based on. The Congressional district number won’t tell you anything because we shouldn’t presume, in that story, that the districts are even numbered roughly the same way they are in reality; and the fictional district, even if located roughly in the same place, would have different boundaries.)
Sammy Finkelman (f61675) — 6/24/2017 @ 7:37 pm