Rep. Greg Walden (R, OR) did not do well at town halls in his home area. Walden is the sole Republican representative in Oregon:
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Clinton beat Trump by 9 points in Coffmanâs (and my) district.
Ok, hereâs a cautionary tale as reported on FB from GA-06 canvasser:
I heard some tragic Democratic logic while I was canvassing. I want to share it, even though itâs always dangerous to generalize â so, now Iâm going to generalize.
Iâve reluctantly come to the conclusion that there is a fundamental difference between how Republicans and Democrats make their voting decisions. And this caused the Mistake of 2016 and may cause future Democratic candidates to lose.
Republicans look for one excuse, any excuse to vote for their candidate. One âgoodâ reason is enough. If, for example, the candidate is an admitted sexual predator â like Trump â his promise that he will appoint an anti-abortion Supreme Court justice is enough and they vote for him. And thatâs even if the voter disagrees with every other aspect of the candidate and their positions.
On the other hand, Democrats look for ONE concern, any concern, to NOT vote for their candidate. On my recent canvass I heard taht after someone was planning to vote for Jon Ossoff in the GA-6 race (and I think they might have taken down their sign?), they shared that they were thinking of NOT voting for Jon because of all the money pouring in from all parts of the country. This guyâs reasoningâ Jon might be beholding to some moneyed interest and not be fully independent.
This guyâs potential choice was to NOT vote for Jon because of some hypothetical future special interest influence, and instead insure the election of a completely bought-and-paid-for Republican, with a known agenda that opposes womanâs rights, environmental protections, economic fairness, etc.
This is the problem with Democrats.
Because Dems are trying to make the world better (while Republicans are trying to lock the world in a fantasized but nonexistent past place of perfect white privilege) too many Dems seem psychologically incapable of voting for the best option when it is not at the extreme end of liberal perfection/leftist enlightenment (a la Bernie Sandersâ campaign).
Pay attention, Progressives: 62 million Americans voted for Trump, despite everything that everyone knew about him. Centrist policies are the only ones that can draw a majority of Americansâand Iâm not talking rallies, Iâm talking votes.
Weâve lost 32 state legislatures in part because of this demand that Dems be perfect while Republicans need merely have one single idea (anti-abortion, unlimited guns, no taxes, etc.) that appeals. Weâve lost the Presidency, the Senate, the House and the Supreme Court, and the vast majority of Governorships. Weâre running out of political offices to lose, and all because of the Democratic tendency to demand perfection in their candidate and utopia in their policies.
I fear for us. And I blame us.
Weâve done this to ourselves. And weâre continuing to do this by debating how far left the party should push instead of appealing to the vast majority of voters who have plenty to fear from Republican extremism.
Itâs not âWhen They Go Low, We Go High.â Itâs âWhen They Win, We Go Extreme Left.â
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And that is the question. I suspect, well hope more than suspect, that 2018 will be a wave election. The Democrats could take both the House and the Senate. If they donât, 2020 is likely to nail both of them down unless Golden Boy greatly improves. But, if history is any judge, voters will just turn around and hand one or both houses back to the Republicans again in 2022.
Remember 2008? Al Franken was prevented from seating for many months. Then, Ted Kennedy died and was replaced by a Republican. So the Democrats only had a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate for a few months as a result. Neil Gorsuch only reinforced the idea for Republicans that if they stall, things will swing their way. Expect any election that brings Democrats to power anywhere to get stalled and delayed and buried under lawsuits until the Republicans win things back.
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<And anyone who voted against him should just sit down and shut up, is that it?
I donât think thatâs what chethandy meant. Itâs rather that if everyone who hates Coffman voted for his opponent instead of for him, then the opponent would have won and the voters wouldnât be so angry.>
jmnorris, what chethandy is saying is: you lost, itâs history, so shut up, IOW. But what Iâm talking about is here and now. You donât know that all those people haranguing Coffman voted for or against him, or even voted, just that theyâre not happy campers right now. Itâs too late to go back and re-vote, but itâs not too late to bring pressure to bear on him re his future decisions.
So serious is the group noun for models? Seriously?
(Autocorrect, right?)
Remember that coming out of the Great Depression the Republicans were out of power in Congress for nearly 40 years. There were one or two Congresses where they held a majority in the House. It was a reaction to the Republican mismanagement of the economy and social matters that put them out of power.
History tells us the pendulum will swing back, but it doesnât really predict how long it will take.