peggysue2
peggysue2's JournalIf This is What Zero Tolerance Looks Like . . .
we should all be very concerned and prepare for an onslaught of accusations, particularly against those who strongly voice opposition to the Majority. I tip my hat to Senator Franken. He's going out as a gentleman, saving his scorn (that bitter irony) for Donald Trump's many accusations and Access Hollywood tape expose' and Roy Moore, accused of tweener/child molestation.
It's clear to me now that this decision was made before the Democratic pile-on yesterday, that Franken had telegraphed his decision earlier, allowing his colleagues to take the 'high road' of moral superiority. A poster suggested this earlier in another thread, a bit of political theater in the making.
My prediction?
This is going to come back and bite us in the ass. A public execution might be satisfying in the moment, give the True Believers a sugar high. We're so righteous! But there are sinister forces at play here, those that will do anything to tip the scales in 2018. The way the Dem leadership handled this was short-sighted at best IMHO.
Eating our own is never a good thing. This is a sad day.
Bravo!
Though this is not the result I would have hoped for--Senator Franken's resignation--I tip my hat to Al Franken and his speech on the Senate floor. Sad but inspiring.
We will miss this voice.
"The future belongs to those who are passionate and work hard."
If Al Franken still believes those words, I think we can, too.
Bravo.
Laughter is Good in Trying Times
This made me roll on the floor. Happy Turkey Day to everyone!
https://goo.gl/images/tFhFi9
Update on Virginia Delegates
Though GOP leadership came out this morning claiming victory in the 4 close vote seats, we're likely looking at recounts before a final determination is made. None of these races have been conceded to date.
Again from Ballotpedia:
Election updates
November 9, 11:00 AM ET: According to Virginia law, recounts can take place if the official result of a race shows a difference of one percent or less between two candidates.[2] Official results will be determined by the State Board of Elections (SBE) later in November. Republicans still lead all four races that have not been called or conceded. The apparent loser of a race must ask the SBE for a recount.
November 8, 5:56 PM ET: Virginia House Republican leader says his party won a 51-49 majority in the chamber. Republican Speaker-designee Kirk Cox said the November 8 vote canvass showed that Republican candidates won seats in District 40 and District 94, meaning his party would retain control of the chamber.[3][4]
Update on Virginia Delegates
From Ballotpedia:
Election updates
November 8, 5:02 PM ET: An additional 83 votes for Delegate Tim Hugo (R) in the District 40 race were found in a vote canvass, increasing Hugo's lead over challenger Donte Tanner (D) to 115 votes.[2]
November 8, 1:30 PM ET: According to the Washington Post, the reported vote count for Delegate Tim Hugo (R) in the District 40 race was 100 votes lower than it should have been. With this 100-vote swing, Hugo took a narrow lead over Donte Tanner (D), who had previously led by 68 votes. Republicans now have leads in all four uncalled races that could go to recounts.[3] If Republicans win all four seats, they will have a 51-49 majority in the chamber.
This will be a squeaker. But the confirmed wins are still amazing. Stay tuned on those recounts!
Redstate is Having a Sad
I would assume this applies to other Republican/Conservative sites but Redstate was pointed out as a discussion point on last night's Democratic wins--Never Trumpers. Yes, that's right. It's the small but vocal band of Republican anti-Trump people who doomed Gillespie and other fellow GOP candidates. According to the spin, Rick Wilson, Jennifer Rubin, David Frum et al are secret, rabid wolves within the pack, quasi-Democrats who deliberately sabotaged the elections that swept Dems to victory.
Really?
I suppose we should be applauding this craziness; it works for us. But I think it also underscores the recalcitrant nature of people like Laura Ingram who holds fast to the notion that Republicans lost because they did not embrace Trump and his odious message hard enough. As I read online this morning, this argument is analogous to claiming a two-pack smoking habit will prevent cancer.
It won't. It doesn't. Because evidence and . . .
Everything Trump Touches Dies.
Someone had a clever headline this morning: Grab 'em by the mid-terms.
LOL. But it rings with truth. We ride this wave--and that's what it is--right into the mid-terms. We allow the far-right whackos set themselves on fire, rather than our lives, our futures. If the Trumpsters want to believe the foolish message that Trump and his God awful agenda is blameless, we let them, while rousing are own electorate and underscoring our message:
We Stand With All Americans.
And then, we win!
Love the Smell of Victory in the Morning
It was a good, good night, a night to reignite hope and renew a vision for the future, sans Trump and his enablers. Because make no mistake, Republicans lost last night because the stink of Trump's Administration has permeated the entire country, coast to coast. That and the hard work of Democratic loyalists, volunteers and voters of all demographics.
The doom and gloom of the last few months, weeks, days were kicked to the curb, so the incessant criticisms of all things Democratic should cease and crawl back under the rocks from which they came. Just yesterday I read a specious poll on how unpopular the Democratic Party was with average voters.
Ahem.
Meanwhile, the favorability of a generic Dem candidate to a Rep. candidate is in the range of 8-10 pts. This is tsunami territory and points to massive wins in the future, not simply for Dems but the country at large. That's what we're talking about, repairing the damage that's been done across the country and recharting a course for the positive change we expect and want for ourselves and our fellow citizens.
So what did we learn?
HEALTH CARE, people. This was the number 1 concern for the voters who came out yesterday. The referendum in Maine? Expand Medicaid for Maine citizens, a 60-40 split pro-vote. So, while the GOP lashes the wedge issues of Confederate statues and monuments et al, we now know people are paying attention to the issues that affect their lives in the most personal way--their health and their ability to access care.
Healthcare is but one takeaway (although a big one). Perhaps the most important is this: we win when we vote, when we don't give up, when we hold fast to what we believe. And cut the crap that Dems don't stand for anything. We stand for healthcare, voting rights, civil rights, workers rights, human rights, climate change, fair tax and trade policy, etc., etc., etc. We stand for and with all Americans.
We take that into 2018? We'll win again and again and again.
Time to Hang Up the Doom/Gloom Drumbeat
Tonight proves that Democratic candidates can win when Dem voters turn out en masse. The New York Times estimates that Northam will outperform the predictions in the end. With 1 million+ votes left, they estimate that Northam's margin will be 10 pts up.
And CNN just called it. Northam wins!!!! Murphy wins!!!
Go Blue.
The Arsonists Will Win if We . . .
let them by buying into these stupid memes on the right and the left. Today it's how Hillary Clinton rigged the 2016 primary by fundraising and spreading the money around to the DNC as well as state & local races, micromanaging the party apparatus with a witch's spell thereby ensuring her 3 million vote win and nomination.
Lame. Overdone. Stick a fork in it.
Previous right-wing pundits are all aghast about the Uranium One deal and the Steele dossier and . . . whatever flies into their imaginations and fever dreams.
Hooey. All of it. A diversion for nth time.
Those of us who are Democrats need to focus on one thing: elections coming up and the 2018 midterms, taking the 8-10 generic margin favoring Democrats and running the ball over the line with big fat wins.
Not for the mere thrill of winning. But to save the House from burning down.
Let's be clear. This is not simply the Democratic house. This is the Nation's House engulfed in flames, a fire deliberately set by arsonists who gleefully fan the flames with propaganda and diversionary tactics. If the House burns down all these sideshow arguments and debates about purity et al are irrelevant. Because the House will be in ashes. And so will everything we value as citizens of a Democratic Republic. Right now we have a fucking psychopath sitting in the WH, enabled by sycophants extraordinarie in their deceit and corruption.
When your house is on fire, you call the fire company. Not an interior decorator to measure for drapes.
I'll suggest what I suggested this morning over at TPM. We should remember the words of Rick Wilson and Josh Marshall:
Everything Trump Touches Dies
The Man Is Poison
Repeat these words 5x daily. Maybe then, the smoke will finally clear in some people's brains.
Trump, Bannon, Assange, Farage Bound in an . . . UnHoly Alliance
excerpt from The Guardian: essay dated 10/28
"Because if there’s one person who’s in the middle of all of this, but who has escaped any proper scrutiny, it’s Nigel Farage. That’s Nigel Farage, who led the Leave.EU campaign, which is being investigated by the Electoral Commission alongside Cambridge Analytica, about whether the latter made an “impermissible donation” of services to the leave campaign. Nigel Farage who visited Donald Trump and then Julian Assange. Who is friends with Steve Bannon and Robert Mercer. Who headed an organisation – Ukip – which has multiple, public, visible but almost entirely unreported Russian connections. Who is paid by the Russian state via the broadcaster RT, which was banned last week from Twitter. And who appears like clockwork on British television without any word of this."
A very interesting read that gives us an idea of how wide and deep this conspiracy actually is. Oh my!
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/28/trump-assange-bannon-farage-bound-together-in-unholy-alliance?CMP=share_btn_tw
Profile Information
Name: PegGender: Female
Hometown: New Jersey
Home country: USA
Current location: Wilmington, DE
Member since: Sat Feb 6, 2016, 08:31 PM
Number of posts: 10,828