The Political Junkie Thread

[OPK]

I assume that with Abrams now in the race all other Democrats will steer clear? That should help her a lot while the Republicans beat each other up. And as you noted, in a Republican primary, the candidates will be fighting over their Trumpiness, which will not help them with marginal voters in the general election.

I don't recall exactly how things work in GA, but if Abrams were to manage to win, I assume she would be working with a very Republican legislature - would she be able to get anything done? Or just slow things down a bit? Every state works a bit differently in terms of how much power the governor actually has.

Between the governor election and the Warnock/Herschel Walker battle (bless Herschel's heart), I think it would be wise to invest in the stock of the major TV and radio network owners in Georgia, as poor OPK is going to be up to his ears in political advertising.

Not sure if everyone will steer clear, but I kinda think most serious Dem challengers will.

If she wins, and there remains a Rep legislature (almost assuredly so), it will be a stalemate unless the legislature can overcome her veto. I would expect a lot of legislation stripping the governor of powers, and court fights over whether that is kosher under the Georgia Constitution.

I wonder if Herschel could beat Nick Saban? That would certainly get him elected.

[Phredd3]

I assume that with Abrams now in the race all other Democrats will steer clear? That should help her a lot while the Republicans beat each other up. And as you noted, in a Republican primary, the candidates will be fighting over their Trumpiness, which will not help them with marginal voters in the general election.

I don't recall exactly how things work in GA, but if Abrams were to manage to win, I assume she would be working with a very Republican legislature - would she be able to get anything done? Or just slow things down a bit? Every state works a bit differently in terms of how much power the governor actually has.

Between the governor election and the Warnock/Herschel Walker battle (bless Herschel's heart), I think it would be wise to invest in the stock of the major TV and radio network owners in Georgia, as poor OPK is going to be up to his ears in political advertising.

Not sure if everyone will steer clear, but I kinda think most serious Dem challengers will.

If she wins, and there remains a Rep legislature (almost assuredly so), it will be a stalemate unless the legislature can overcome her veto. I would expect a lot of legislation stripping the governor of powers, and court fights over whether that is kosher under the Georgia Constitution.

In other words, if the Democrat wins, you expect Georgia to turn into North Carolina. *Sigh*

[OPK]

I assume that with Abrams now in the race all other Democrats will steer clear? That should help her a lot while the Republicans beat each other up. And as you noted, in a Republican primary, the candidates will be fighting over their Trumpiness, which will not help them with marginal voters in the general election.

I don't recall exactly how things work in GA, but if Abrams were to manage to win, I assume she would be working with a very Republican legislature - would she be able to get anything done? Or just slow things down a bit? Every state works a bit differently in terms of how much power the governor actually has.

Between the governor election and the Warnock/Herschel Walker battle (bless Herschel's heart), I think it would be wise to invest in the stock of the major TV and radio network owners in Georgia, as poor OPK is going to be up to his ears in political advertising.

Not sure if everyone will steer clear, but I kinda think most serious Dem challengers will.

If she wins, and there remains a Rep legislature (almost assuredly so), it will be a stalemate unless the legislature can overcome her veto. I would expect a lot of legislation stripping the governor of powers, and court fights over whether that is kosher under the Georgia Constitution.

In other words, if the Democrat wins, you expect Georgia to turn into North Carolina. *Sigh*

The executive branch under the Georgia Constitution has a lot of power. But no laws will get passed.

Without a primary, I’d bet that Kemp beats Abrams again. In a three-way bloody primary (Vernon Jones is also running as of now) this could o-en the door for Abrams.

For those that don’t know Vernon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernon_Jones

An interesting character, to keep it neutral.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

Not sure if everyone will steer clear, but I kinda think most serious Dem challengers will.

If she wins, and there remains a Rep legislature (almost assuredly so), it will be a stalemate unless the legislature can overcome her veto. I would expect a lot of legislation stripping the governor of powers, and court fights over whether that is kosher under the Georgia Constitution.

In other words, if the Democrat wins, you expect Georgia to turn into North Carolina. *Sigh*

The executive branch under the Georgia Constitution has a lot of power. But no laws will get passed.

Without a primary, I’d bet that Kemp beats Abrams again. In a three-way bloody primary (Vernon Jones is also running as of now) this could o-en the door for Abrams.

For those that don’t know Vernon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernon_Jones

An interesting character, to keep it neutral.

Taking one from the Republican playbook, if Abrams can stop bad laws from being passed, I guess that is a win for the good guys? Both sides can play at obstructionism.

And hopefully the Republicans can beat the crud out of each other in the primary while she is working her get-out-the-vote magic.

Not sure if we discussed it here but Dr. Oz has thrown his hat in the ring for the Republican Senate seat in PA. Despite having virtually no ties to PA (I think his in-laws live there, so I share that with him). The guy has really gone off the deep end, and despite being a surgeon with multiple Ivy League degrees, is running on a platform of opposing the privileged elite. I think both primaries are going to be blood baths so it should be interesting. I believe this is the only Republican Senate seat in a state that Biden won.

[lawgrad91]

Not sure if we discussed it here but Dr. Oz has thrown his hat in the ring for the Republican Senate seat in PA. Despite having virtually no ties to PA (I think his in-laws live there, so I share that with him). The guy has really gone off the deep end, and despite being a surgeon with multiple Ivy League degrees, is running on a platform of opposing the privileged elite. I think both primaries are going to be blood baths so it should be interesting. I believe this is the only Republican Senate seat in a state that Biden won.

It's always been custom for Senators to be from the state where they run, but there's no law that says they have to.

Maybe you should run for the PA Senate....You know we'd all support you, and it sounds like you have a. the same connections as Dr. Oz, and b. a hell of a lot more sense.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Not sure if we discussed it here but Dr. Oz has thrown his hat in the ring for the Republican Senate seat in PA. Despite having virtually no ties to PA (I think his in-laws live there, so I share that with him).

Well they used to watch his show on TV there. (They took it off the air when he announced his run. I think his daughter has something on in its place.)

[CrazyNotCrazie]

Not sure if we discussed it here but Dr. Oz has thrown his hat in the ring for the Republican Senate seat in PA. Despite having virtually no ties to PA (I think his in-laws live there, so I share that with him). The guy has really gone off the deep end, and despite being a surgeon with multiple Ivy League degrees, is running on a platform of opposing the privileged elite. I think both primaries are going to be blood baths so it should be interesting. I believe this is the only Republican Senate seat in a state that Biden won.

It's always been custom for Senators to be from the state where they run, but there's no law that says they have to.

Maybe you should run for the PA Senate....You know we'd all support you, and it sounds like you have a. the same connections as Dr. Oz, and b. a hell of a lot more sense.

Correct. I know Hillary Clinton had very minimal ties to NY when she ran for Senate here. It has been her primary residence ever since so she made up for it on the back end. Theoretically voters could say "we don't want someone who is not one of us" but if the choice is between an outsider whose politics are close to yours or a native of the state who is far away from you politically, then your desire for a native son/daughter goes out the window.

Thanks for the compliment. Saying I have more sense than Dr. Oz sets the bar pretty low, but I still appreciate it! I don't know a lot about him but based on what I know, I am a fan of Conor Lamb, who is running as a very moderate Democrat for the PA Senate seat - he is actually probably a bit too far to the right for my taste, but I will take him over someone woke or any of the Trump Republicans. He is from the Pittsburgh area and is one of the more vocal people to tell AOC that she needs to STFU as she is ruining the Democratic Party. The other Democrat is the Deputy Governor John Fetterman, who is a very unique individual - I would also take him over the Republicans (especially Oz), but he is very non-traditional.

There have been a lot of disturbing trends in my very local neck of the woods that have made me want to run for office. Ironically, though I am a moderate Democrat nationally, where I live I am pretty far to the right. Unfortunately, there are several major reasons why I could not run for office, so it won't happen, at least not until I am retired. A retired lawyer ran for City Council for my district on a great common sense platform that generated a lot of enthusiasm, but when push came to shove, the recycled woke machine politician won by a lot.

[dudog]

I really hate saying this, but women have themselves to blame in large part. Maybe now they'll start voting in their own interests.

Mississippi, like 13 other states with extensive abortion restrictions, invests the least in the health and well-being of women and children. As a result, it has the nation's highest infant mortality rate and the 15th highest maternal mortality rate.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... li=BBnb7Kz

[ArkieDukie]

The state of MO has an interesting/super annoying situation right now. Our AG is running for the Senate seat being vacated by Roy Blunt. To gain political points, he is suing right and left to block any and all mask/vaccine mandates. He won a case last week in Cole County, and he has used that victory to issue a proclamation blocking all mask and vaccine mandates in the state. The judge agreed with him that county health departments do not have the legal authority to issue any sort of public health mandates like mask orders. They have decided that it’s unconstitutional to do so; such proclamations must come from an elected official. The thing is, they’re also trying to void mask mandates that were put into place by school boards, and they have fought all such mandates coming from the St. Louis City and County councils - in other words, elected officials.

Now, here’s my question. Is it just me, or is that a very slippery slope?

Side bar: we also learned last week that our idiot governor buried a report that proved the effectiveness of mask mandates. He’s been in lockstep with the AG in fighting them, which explains why he would hide such findings.

[ArkieDukie]

Raise your hand if you saw this coming: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/12/ ... ion-524129

[CrazyNotCrazie]

The state of MO has an interesting/super annoying situation right now. Our AG is running for the Senate seat being vacated by Roy Blunt. To gain political points, he is suing right and left to block any and all mask/vaccine mandates. He won a case last week in Cole County, and he has used that victory to issue a proclamation blocking all mask and vaccine mandates in the state. The judge agreed with him that county health departments do not have the legal authority to issue any sort of public health mandates like mask orders. They have decided that it’s unconstitutional to do so; such proclamations must come from an elected official. The thing is, they’re also trying to void mask mandates that were put into place by school boards, and they have fought all such mandates coming from the St. Louis City and County councils - in other words, elected officials.

Now, here’s my question. Is it just me, or is that a very slippery slope?

Side bar: we also learned last week that our idiot governor buried a report that proved the effectiveness of mask mandates. He’s been in lockstep with the AG in fighting them, which explains why he would hide such findings.

It's late so my brain isn't working so well, but I am trying to figure out how this jives with this supreme court decision that just came out saying that a vaccine mandate for health care workers in NY is legal. The three amigos (Gorusch, Alito and Thomas) dissented. I would assume that the supreme court decision takes precedent, but there also might be some nuance that differentiates the situations.

Missouri really has become a race to the bottom. It used to be such a nice, moderate state. St. Louis should just leave and join Illinois.

Regarding your other post about the gun law in CA (sorry - I don't know how to multi-quote), this was the inevitable outcome of what happened in Texas. Newsom was the first one to have the chutzpah to actually try something. As someone who lives in a very blue state, selfishly I would be OK with each state having its own set of laws, with some major battles in the purple states. But obviously this is not really good for the United States. As I understand it, the Texas "law" is absolutely ridiculous - it seems to enable totally frivolous law suits with absolutely no consequences, which is really not sustainable.

[ArkieDukie]

The state of MO has an interesting/super annoying situation right now. Our AG is running for the Senate seat being vacated by Roy Blunt. To gain political points, he is suing right and left to block any and all mask/vaccine mandates. He won a case last week in Cole County, and he has used that victory to issue a proclamation blocking all mask and vaccine mandates in the state. The judge agreed with him that county health departments do not have the legal authority to issue any sort of public health mandates like mask orders. They have decided that it’s unconstitutional to do so; such proclamations must come from an elected official. The thing is, they’re also trying to void mask mandates that were put into place by school boards, and they have fought all such mandates coming from the St. Louis City and County councils - in other words, elected officials.

Now, here’s my question. Is it just me, or is that a very slippery slope?

Side bar: we also learned last week that our idiot governor buried a report that proved the effectiveness of mask mandates. He’s been in lockstep with the AG in fighting them, which explains why he would hide such findings.

It's late so my brain isn't working so well, but I am trying to figure out how this jives with this supreme court decision that just came out saying that a vaccine mandate for health care workers in NY is legal. The three amigos (Gorusch, Alito and Thomas) dissented. I would assume that the supreme court decision takes precedent, but there also might be some nuance that differentiates the situations.

Missouri really has become a race to the bottom. It used to be such a nice, moderate state. St. Louis should just leave and join Illinois.

Regarding your other post about the gun law in CA (sorry - I don't know how to multi-quote), this was the inevitable outcome of what happened in Texas. Newsom was the first one to have the chutzpah to actually try something. As someone who lives in a very blue state, selfishly I would be OK with each state having its own set of laws, with some major battles in the purple states. But obviously this is not really good for the United States. As I understand it, the Texas "law" is absolutely ridiculous - it seems to enable totally frivolous law suits with absolutely no consequences, which is really not sustainable.

Good question, and I do not know the answer. I do know that AG Schmitt isn’t likely to let a pesky thing like the Supreme Court stand in the way of appealing to voters on the far right. I used to think he was the same one in the race. Now, not so much.

From the initial line of questioning in front of the Supreme Court, it sounded as though they had a huge problem with the TX law - specifically, that there was no way to enforce the law. Then they decided to let it stand until they make a final ruling. That, I do not understand. If there’s some question of legality/constitutionality, shouldn’t it be suspended until the issue is resolved? Would really like to hear from someone with a greater legal understanding of the issue.

[dudog]

Breaking: Raleigh News and Observer makes obvious statement, hundreds of old white men cancel their subscriptions. Ok, I made up the last part, but it's probably true.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... li=BBnb7Kz

[OPK]

Breaking: Raleigh News and Observer makes obvious statement, hundreds of old white men cancel their subscriptions. Ok, I made up the last part, but it's probably true.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... li=BBnb7Kz

Did they say that Dean Smith was a cheating blowhard bastard?

[Phredd3]

Breaking: Raleigh News and Observer makes obvious statement, hundreds of old white men cancel their subscriptions. Ok, I made up the last part, but it's probably true.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... li=BBnb7Kz

Unfortunately, that dovetails with this dark and scary opinion piece from the New York Times about the current state of American politics. In short, it is exactly a party who will not censure its own members for bad behavior that could be the slippery slope of doom for democracy itself. I wish I thought the piece were wrong.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Breaking: Raleigh News and Observer makes obvious statement, hundreds of old white men cancel their subscriptions. Ok, I made up the last part, but it's probably true.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... li=BBnb7Kz

Ha! I've got no doubt that there a few furious letters to the editor being slam-typed right now.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

Breaking: Raleigh News and Observer makes obvious statement, hundreds of old white men cancel their subscriptions. Ok, I made up the last part, but it's probably true.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... li=BBnb7Kz

Unfortunately, that dovetails with this dark and scary opinion piece from the New York Times about the current state of American politics. In short, it is exactly a party who will not censure its own members for bad behavior that could be the slippery slope of doom for democracy itself. I wish I thought the piece were wrong.

Thanks. These types of articles are coming out with increasing frequency. Unfortunately, this only seems to bother one group (the group that still reads the Times). So many Trump supporters/Republicans (the two are increasingly becoming interchangeable) really don't care and solely view things through the lens of "winning" and "losing" with everything they do focused on "sticking it to the libs." They have no morals. They have no rules. Anything is fair game if it helps them to win, because they think America is doomed with Democrats in charge.

I brought up some of these questions in this thread over a year ago and one formerly frequent poster through a major hissy fit and stormed off, never to post again, because he thought I was being melodramatic. He was also very upset with my characterizing Trump as mentally unstable, even though I think he is a mental health professional. But I digress.

Hopefully articles like this will get people to take the situation more seriously. I'm still not sure what the solution is but sitting back and ignoring it definitely is not the right one. Some type of reverse Kool-Aid to unbrainwash these people would be ideal, but I'm not holding my breath.

[ArkieDukie]

Breaking: Raleigh News and Observer makes obvious statement, hundreds of old white men cancel their subscriptions. Ok, I made up the last part, but it's probably true.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... li=BBnb7Kz

Unfortunately, that dovetails with this dark and scary opinion piece from the New York Times about the current state of American politics. In short, it is exactly a party who will not censure its own members for bad behavior that could be the slippery slope of doom for democracy itself. I wish I thought the piece were wrong.

Thanks. These types of articles are coming out with increasing frequency. Unfortunately, this only seems to bother one group (the group that still reads the Times). So many Trump supporters/Republicans (the two are increasingly becoming interchangeable) really don't care and solely view things through the lens of "winning" and "losing" with everything they do focused on "sticking it to the libs." They have no morals. They have no rules. Anything is fair game if it helps them to win, because they think America is doomed with Democrats in charge.

I brought up some of these questions in this thread over a year ago and one formerly frequent poster through a major hissy fit and stormed off, never to post again, because he thought I was being melodramatic. He was also very upset with my characterizing Trump as mentally unstable, even though I think he is a mental health professional. But I digress.

Hopefully articles like this will get people to take the situation more seriously. I'm still not sure what the solution is but sitting back and ignoring it definitely is not the right one. Some type of reverse Kool-Aid to unbrainwash these people would be ideal, but I'm not holding my breath.

You nailed it, unfortunately. I’ve had the misfortune of listening to enough right wing propaganda (Faux News) to agree with all you are saying. I’ll go a step further and say they are lying for political gain. At Thanksgiving, their main talking points were: 1) the uptick in Covid cases is Pres Biden’s fault (not the fault of the people blocking mask mandates and vaccine mandates), 2) chloroquine/hydroxychloroquine are effective Covid treatments that are being blocked because 45 recommended them, 3) Harris and Biden both stated in the debates that they wouldn’t take treatments that 45 recommended (comments taken out of context and repeated ad nauseum), 4) vaccine and mask mandates are unconstitutional; it’s the Democrats trying to control people. Those are just the ones I remember.

On the talking point about the mandates, some Republican legislator said, in a very sanctimonious way, that Pres Biden just needs to explain to people why these mandates are important and encourage people to follow them, rather than forcing people. I had to get up and leave the room. He has only been doing that since before he even took office.

I pray for the kool-aid you mentioned. My dad, who used to be somewhat reasonable, believes everything they say and is pretty much addicted to the propaganda spreaders. Nothing I can say makes a difference. I do not understand why the FCC doesn’t fine them into oblivion.

[OPK]

Unfortunately, that dovetails with this dark and scary opinion piece from the New York Times about the current state of American politics. In short, it is exactly a party who will not censure its own members for bad behavior that could be the slippery slope of doom for democracy itself. I wish I thought the piece were wrong.

Thanks. These types of articles are coming out with increasing frequency. Unfortunately, this only seems to bother one group (the group that still reads the Times). So many Trump supporters/Republicans (the two are increasingly becoming interchangeable) really don't care and solely view things through the lens of "winning" and "losing" with everything they do focused on "sticking it to the libs." They have no morals. They have no rules. Anything is fair game if it helps them to win, because they think America is doomed with Democrats in charge.

I brought up some of these questions in this thread over a year ago and one formerly frequent poster through a major hissy fit and stormed off, never to post again, because he thought I was being melodramatic. He was also very upset with my characterizing Trump as mentally unstable, even though I think he is a mental health professional. But I digress.

Hopefully articles like this will get people to take the situation more seriously. I'm still not sure what the solution is but sitting back and ignoring it definitely is not the right one. Some type of reverse Kool-Aid to unbrainwash these people would be ideal, but I'm not holding my breath.

You nailed it, unfortunately. I’ve had the misfortune of listening to enough right wing propaganda (Faux News) to agree with all you are saying. I’ll go a step further and say they are lying for political gain. At Thanksgiving, their main talking points were: 1) the uptick in Covid cases is Pres Biden’s fault (not the fault of the people blocking mask mandates and vaccine mandates), 2) chloroquine/hydroxychloroquine are effective Covid treatments that are being blocked because 45 recommended them, 3) Harris and Biden both stated in the debates that they wouldn’t take treatments that 45 recommended (comments taken out of context and repeated ad nauseum), 4) vaccine and mask mandates are unconstitutional; it’s the Democrats trying to control people. Those are just the ones I remember.

On the talking point about the mandates, some Republican legislator said, in a very sanctimonious way, that Pres Biden just needs to explain to people why these mandates are important and encourage people to follow them, rather than forcing people. I had to get up and leave the room. He has only been doing that since before he even took office.

I pray for the kool-aid you mentioned. My dad, who used to be somewhat reasonable, believes everything they say and is pretty much addicted to the propaganda spreaders. Nothing I can say makes a difference. I do not understand why the FCC doesn’t fine them into oblivion.

Dominion may do it in their lawsuit.

[CameronBornAndBred]

I do not understand why the FCC doesn’t fine them into oblivion.

And expose The Deep State?! No way!!!