359 Comments

For a long time Republicans pushed the idea that all politics was crooked which discouraged people from getting involved. Then with <i>Dobbs</i> they proved that one party was a lot worse then the other. Now tjey're reeping the whirlwind.

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I cannot express how relieved I am with how well this election went. My SwingLeft group went hard -- we ran canvassing trips, letter parties, and phone banks -- and the local teams we coordinated with worked even harder. I'd be surprised if there was a single voter nobody made contact with before election day.

Personally, I'm nervous on the phone, and with small children, day trips to canvass are almost always out of the question, so instead I run letter-writing parties on zoom. A friend of mine in the district, aware of my special interest, pinged me to let me know that a LOT of the people he was speaking to in the days before the election to told him they'd gotten a letter reminding them to vote, and they were very motivated to do so.

(Insert here my obligatory notice that if you'd like to volunteer and aren't sure how, feel free to message me, and I will do my level best to hook you up with something that works for you.)

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bless you! i am also nervous and force myself - and my friends - to at least postcard.

all of us doing all the things helps.

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HOW DOES ONE PRONOUNCE SUOZZI?

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The absolute best thing about Santos is the creativity he has sparked in those who write or speak about him. Someone with more free time than me could put together a nice compendium of all the imaginary titles he's been credited with. I'd read it!

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They're only overperforming because all them polls keep saying yer gonna lose

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GEORGE SANTOS says, “And I am Marie of Rumania.”

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I am not a fan of Suozzi, but any Democrat is better than Santos.

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That's my attitude also. No electable Democrat is worse than any Republican I'm aware of.

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> Perhaps you can get Perry Mason ...

Dad likes to watch Perry Mason on MeTV, and so I saw quite a few episodes over the past few weeks while I was staying with him. In virtually every case, Mason only wins because, when faced with evidence that suggests -- but frequently does not actually prove -- their guilt, the real killer breaks down on the stand and admits it. If any of those people simply invoked their right to remain silent, or even -- <gasp!> lied! -- then Mason would have lost.

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Those were simpler times.

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I also too watch 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯. And since this is the internet, I must disagree with your conclusion.

Many of the "real" murderers on the show either lie to him or to the cops, since they're usually the one who set up the wrongly accused of that crime. And they will sometimes invoke their 5th Amendment rights or just outright lie on the stand. But the writers knew that Mason is well-prepared - he always asks a question where he already knows the answer. And he knows both the law and courtroom procedure well, so that the judge will often allow a question over objections from the DA.

𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 also is a remarkable show for it's time. It shows that the cops don't always investigate crimes thoroughly, and as soon as they think they know who committed it, they arrest and try that person. Mason investigates, finds out that the cops didn't (or wouldn't) check every angle, and uses courtroom procedure to "catch" the real killer.

Erle Stanley Gardner started writing those stories 90 years ago, and the TV show aired during the Cold War when America was constantly told that the cops are always right, and if you're arrested you're guilty. It's so unlike procedurals like 𝘓𝘢𝘸 & 𝘖𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳, where the viewers are shown the guilty person ahead of time so they can boo the defense lawyers and "bleeding heart" judges that care about the defendant's rights over those poor victims and Sam Waterston.

(Plus, you know... it is only a TV show.)

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> 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 also is a remarkable show for it's time. It shows that the cops don't always investigate crimes thoroughly, and as soon as they think they know who committed it, they arrest and try that person. Mason investigates, finds out that the cops didn't (or wouldn't) check every angle, and uses courtroom procedure to "catch" the real killer.

I'll grant you that. It was a good show.

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Hi pals! Great piece in Vanity Fair about a Village Voice reporter who was on to Assmouth from the start (as was Spy magazine.) VF gives one free read: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/a-brief-oral-history-of-wayne-barrett-the-first-journalist-to-doggedly-cover-donald-trump#intcid=_vanity-fair-verso-hp-trending_df37e128-3549-4cef-a402-a76f417f3e7e_popular4-1

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I'm wondering. Shouldn't Santos' office be preserved as a shrine, not unlike the Pyramids, because George was descended from Cleopatra herself? (Hell, he might have been Cleopatra. It's not that hard to believe.)

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So what's left of the GOP in Nassau County won't even go out in the snow to help these weirdos hold on to the House...granted, a kinda sorta reddish suburb in this blue state isn't the whole country, but still, good news.

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One other observation--Suozzi winning this seat comfortably now means that Democratic redistricting for November (how is that going BTW?) can afford to slice off some blue votes from his district to help other districts more. Had he won by a squeaker, or even lost, they couldn't have afforded to do that.

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I guess Santos is the answer to "how bad do you have to be as a Republican to be shitcanned by other Republicans?"

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Well not so fast. They are seriously rethinking that decision.

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Yep--just shows that their original decision was based on political calculation rather than principle. They really thought they could hold the seat!

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Won't it be fun to watch them when they suddenly realize Dobbs isn't going away?

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But do the Suozziberries taste like Suozziberries?

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If ONLY Mazi Pilip had kissed Trump's gigantic corpulent ass even HARDER she could have won! Doesn't she understand today's MAGA politics?

HAHAHAHA! What a fucking IMBECILE who has to make everything about himself. The sun revolves around Donald Trump, don't you understand?

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Imagine being so stupid you'd take advice on "MODERN DAY politics" from someone unable to see that "following the Dobbs decision in 2022, Democrats have been on a run, not only winning five special elections, but also overperforming their 2020 results in those five districts by an average of seven points."

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Something tells me it's Trump who doesn't understand modern day politics.

Or anything at all, really.

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But he can find himself to someone else's money like a pig to truffles.

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Hmm, let's test that...last November, in deep red Kentucky, Daniel Cameron repeatedly embraced Trump when running for Governor....and lost by five points.

Wow, maybe Trump is just turning off a lot of swing voters?

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This is the Faustian Bargain that Republicans have made. Kiss Trump's ass and win the primary. Kiss his ass harder and lose the General. This pattern has been repeated since 2016.

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They've rationalized their subservience to him by telling themselves they'd lose more without him--but I'm old enough to remember that before he took over, they dominated Congress, governorships and state legislatures and were poised to win the WH. He shows up and since then it's been all downhill.

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There's also an overall theme at work here, among suburban "normals"--people who trend a bit left or a bit right, but aren't deep in the weeds on politics. These voters are getting a sense that the Republicans are just plain fucking weird. They don't know what the latest GOP jargon means ("DEI" or "CRT") because they don't watch Fox News all the time (Fox may be the most watched news channel, but most people don't watch news), they've never met anyone correcting their pronouns, these Taylor Swift conspiracies sound just batty. What they do know is that the right to decide whether to have a baby is soon to be put in the hands of people who deny that evolution is a thing, and that Republicans are treating immigrant families and guys looking to take on any work available as invaders, and when reminded that Republicans fucked over their own border security bill on the orders of a gross raping shit-pile of a man, they are turned off completely.

Republicans are weird creeps, and the more they're reminded of this the more swing voters will support the Democrats instead.

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One of the prevailing themes of last night's election is that voters recognize House Republicans as being totally useless as far as any legislative accomplishments. Except petty revenge, of course. But petty revenge doesn't win elections, it turns out.

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Yep--not if those elections require them to win over at least some normal people.

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