We have spent eleven and a half months decrying the Trump disaster,
mocking him, expressing our contempt for him and all those who bow to him. Now we approach the year of revenge. Already, the victories in Virginia and Alabama
and many other less well-publicized races have set the scene. For the first time in memory, virtually every
House Republican seat will be actively contested. Howard Dean’s Fifty State Strategy has been
revived and launched. There is good
reason to believe that at least two more indictments or guilty pleas are
imminent in the Mueller investigation.
Why? Because in the numerical
court docket of sealed indictments, there were four listed between those of
Manafort and his son, and only two of them – Papadopoulos and Flynn – have been
unsealed. The generic
Democrat/Republican polls average a 13 point advantage for Democrats, well over
the 8% or so required to overcome the gerrymandering and wasted-vote
concentrations that favor Republicans.
In this dead zone of days between Christmas and New Year,
filled with endless bowl games, playoff games, godawful feel good movie
revivals and fatuous Year-in-Review TV specials, let us gird up our loins and
prepare for battle. This is one we can
win.
The lack of comment on this post is not, I hope, and indication of indifference to its topic; certainly it isn’t on my part. The 2018 elections might be the most important of our lifetimes--no exaggeration intended.
ReplyDeleteThe next big test will be the special election in western Pennsylvania. for the seat that was left open when the anti-abortion Republican was forced to resign after procuring an abortion for his mistress. Trump carried the district by 20 points. The Republican is a state legislator who was a Trump supporter. The Democrat is a young Marine veteran. My guess--based only on his being an ex-Marine and being from Western Pennsylvania--is that he would be a conservative Democrat.
I don’t care. No matter how he votes on the issues, his vote for the Democrats to organize the House is enough to support him.
We will not have won, if we elect a flock of Republicans in Democratic clothing in 2018. How they vote will certainly matter. A Republican is what a Republican does. Purity of heart doesn't count for anything, if they prance into Congress and vote to confirm appointees such as Devos, Mnuchin et alia. As the street kid said, fuck 'dat shit....
ReplyDeleteA Republican in Democratic clothing is a Republican who votes for a Democrat to be Speaker and for Democrats to chair all House committees and to set the agenda on such things as impeachment, the Russia investigation, taxes, health care and on and on. I'll support such a Democrat --if that's the only choice--over any Republican any day.
ReplyDeleteThe person elected from a district that Trump carried by 20% is highly unlikely to be on the left. The inescapable question is which non-left person would be better for the left?
OFF TOPIC: Marcus Rasking, co-founder of the Institute for Policy Studies, has died at 83. Here's his obit from the Washington Post:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/marcus-raskin-think-tank-founder-who-helped-shape-liberal-ideas-dies-at-83/2017/12/26/704d841e-ea53-11e7-b698-91d4e35920a3_story.html?utm_term=.915c14b9e918
Correction: I misspelled "Raskin" as "Rasking."
ReplyDeleteDavid P.,
ReplyDeleteThank you for pointing out the Raskin obit. I guess I shd check the WaPo obits from time to time. (I usually don't.)
See the video series on youtube by the investigator George Webb. Start with where is eric braverman, then who killed monica peterson, and then on from there. you know nothing about politics in the actual world. all you know is books. you're a fool.
ReplyDelete