President Biden warned that democracy in the U.S. is in a state of decline in remarks at the Summit For Democracy on Thursday.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1397560
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1397560
Hell no, We’re #1!
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Publicly acknowledging that democracy itself is under assault by domestic foes is a not-bad POTUS first step–even if it’s dreadfully late.
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Our declining democracy is 100% to product of republican policy, activities and obstruction.
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It’s about time. The POTUS should acknowledge that our democracy is in trouble, and the reason is the GOP no longer believes in democracy, at all. Put them on the spot for NOT supporting expanded voting rights and free and fair elections. Put them on the spot for spouting constant nonsense about voter fraud that doesn’t exist and make clear their real motivation is to stifle the ability of Americans of diverse ethnic descent from full participation as American citizens. Make it obvious that the GOP does NOT support the 14th Amendment to the Constitution which belatedly guaranteed “Equal Justice Under the Law”. The truth hurts, but it must be said.
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OT but related.
Alan Abramowitz lays it out. Getting out the Democratic vote is key. Lazy, diffident Dem voters are a real problem. Attempting to convert GOP voters is probably not a good strategy.
The reasons for the Republican tilt of the 2021 Virginia electorate are clear in Table 1, which compares the demographic characteristics and candidate preferences of the 2020 and 2021 Virginia electorates based on exit poll data from the two elections. The data in this table show that the 2021 Virginia electorate was substantially older, Whiter, and more rural than the 2020 Virginia electorate. The most dramatic difference between the 2020 and 2021 electorates involved their age distribution. Not only were the 2021 voters considerably older, but those young voters who did turn out in 2021 were far more Republican in their preferences than the much larger group that turned out in 2020.
The data in Table 1 show that the 2021 electorate was also considerably Whiter than the 2020 electorate. In addition, White voters who turned out in 2021 were considerably more Republican than those who turned out for the presidential election. There is less evidence here of any swing toward Republicans among nonwhites although the results for Latinos and Asians should be viewed with considerable caution due to the relatively small numbers of Latino and Asian respondents in these surveys.
…
These results suggest that the results of the 2022 midterm elections will depend primarily on the ability of Republican and Democratic candidates to mobilize their own party’s supporters more than their ability to convert supporters of the opposing party.
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His Attorney General is running the DOJ as if we’re confronting the problems of the 60s. We’re confronting a real threat of authoritarianism and ending Democracy b/c conservative whites fear they will soon be outnumbered and will not be able to project political power. Their leader is Donald J. Trump. It seems like the AG should be more forthcoming and aggressive about what he intends to do about all the evidence that has piled up in the public sphere from reporting, congressional inquiries, court records and even inquiries by inspectors general and the DOJ itself.
I just don’t see any reason to act like this thing we’re experiencing is at all normal.
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And then there’s this…
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MOSCOW (The Borowitz Report)—Vladimir Putin thinks that negotiating with the United States would be “so much easier” if he possessed a pee tape of President Joe Biden, the Russian leader has confirmed.
Speaking to reporters about his lengthy phone conversation with Biden regarding Ukraine, Putin said, “I kept thinking to myself, I wish I had a pee tape of this guy.”
After hanging up with the U.S. President, Putin ordered Russian intelligence officials to scour their archives for a Biden pee tape, but they came up empty.
“They mainly found a lot of footage of him saying things he didn’t mean to say,” Putin said. “Nothing great.”
The Russian President said that the absence of a Biden pee tape will make Russia’s dealings with the United States “more challenging.”
“It is what it is,” he said wistfully.
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It seems that way to me too but every time I say Merrick Garland needs to get busy I get slammed.
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Biden:US Is Among Half Of Democracies Where Democracy Is On The Decline
Divisive SOB!! Pass the smelling salts…
MESSAGING!!!
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The United States is firmly divided into two tribal camps now. Elections are no longer about persuading fence-sitters or seeking defectors from the other party. It’s all about turnout and activating the base (and, simultaneously, suppressing the opposition’s turnout). Rachel Bitecofer figured this out before the 2016 election and has been beating the drum on this issue ever since.
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Damn right we’re #1!!
We’re not declining. We’re simply triangulating with Fascism!
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Democrats tend to take the press more seriously than it deserves. They’re afraid that if they celebrate, things might go wrong and the DC Press will regale the public with how foolish they were.
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It seems clear President Biden sees the danger of inaction on this front.
I could wish that the DOJ was more visibly expanded and active on other fronts but have nothing to add to that conversation; I just wish it.
NB: Dana Milbank and a few others such as Paul Krugman have speculated on the topic of media negativity towards Biden’s initiatives, and those of Democrats generally, and whether this has affected the national mood but a lot of the media rhetoric really seems to boil down to something closer to concern trolling: not just a “but” in the body of many articles but in the damned headline or lede. Could be my febrile imagination I suppose but that’s my perception: a feckless or flaccid pessimism in corporate media coverage that was relatively uncommon in covering the benighted kakistocracy of TFG; e.g., ledes were assertive – TFG said this or did that – but now qualified, “Biden tries but …” or “Democrats attempt but…,” etc.
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Yup. Democrats are in desperate need of a 24/7 P.R. team. Rethugs are NEVER going to do anything to help the country. We need to completely forget about them and work on VOTING RIGHTS LEGISLATION and running the J6 Planners and Conspirators through the courts and into Prison.
The Clock 
is ticking away!
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Meanwhile, the dumbest senator by a wide margin sez…
It’s not hard to see how and why democracies die when the likes of this cretin get elected.
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Well if you could create an average between a liberal, inclusive and vibrant democracy, and whatever the fuck fascist bullshit Republicans wank off to, you’d get a democracy in decline.
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You do realize all of this is the reason they have as much support as they do. Calling them out for being fascist assholes only brings more fascist assholes to their side. Just like with those who are salivating at the chance to undo Roe, there are tens of millions who finally see their chance to put “those people” in their place once and for all.
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