Favorite recent post by the previous poster

[Mr. Smith]

Largest tax increase in Illinois history, common sense, sure....  perhaps to a tax and spend liberal!

As opposed to a borrow and spend conservative?

Yes honestly at this point the term 'tax and spend' doesn't even bother me anymore. It at least reminds me that the people saying that support the party whose fiscal policy since Reagan amounts to basically a dine-and-dash scheme. Sit around eating everything in the place, say you're going to the bathroom then dip out the back while your friend gets stuck with the bill. Then when that friend wants to eat food the next day, accuse them of eating too much last time and that they need to cut down on food consumption.

Simply put: Republican lawmakers have become so anti-tax that they just run up debt instead and blame the "others," all because they are too afraid to level with their voters about the reality they live in.

[Mr. Smith]

Me whenever ghostmonkey starts a thread:

[Mr. Smith]

Casey enthusiastically.

This, but Klobuchar makes the ticket more appealing.

[Mr. Smith]

Color me a Trump voter!

[Mr. Smith]

The eponymous theme of Super Mario Galaxy 2. Mahito Yokota is a genius.

[Mr. Smith]

Go away Cuban. *massive eye roll*

This applies both to Mark and Cruz.

[Mr. Smith]

From Stefany Shaheen's autobiography, Faith, Family and the Campaign

I very clearly remember that morning, November 9th, 2016. The president was still an unknown factor, both candidates claiming victory and refusing to concede, the media scrambling to put together a program on one of the biggest electoral events in history.

But in Portsmouth, everything stood still.

To my surprise, and to many others', New Hampshire had vote for Donald Trump. The margin was small, of course, but it felt as if, for the first time, I didn't know my home. A state that willingly voted for President Obama twice - hell, it even voted for John Kerry of all people - and was widely known for its libertarian streak, its rugged identity, its defiance of authority, for some reason voted for the authoritarian tyrant.

Of course, there was a ray of hope. My good friend, Governor Maggie Hassan, managed to unseat Senator Ayotte despite the state casting its votes for Trump. Maggie and I went back for a couple years. She's always been a sweetheart - a woman I was proud to call my friend. In fact, the only reason I didn't run for anything in 2016 was her - she was dead set on becoming Senator, so I offered to help her instead.

My other friend, Collin, was running for governor. I actually met him when he was just a little baby, 22 years old, as he was working as consultant Mom hired during her first senate campaign. And then, fifteen years later, he had not only become an Executive Councillor, he became the nominee for Governor. And it was really quite funny - the whole election was a little battle between our two houses - the Shaheens and their friends against the Sununus. Of course, I also knew Chris, from the days he tried to flirt with me... yes, we even dated for a bit, but I'll spare the details.

It was clear during election night that Chris prevailed. Of course, I was devastated - it was the only governor's mansion the Democrats lost that night - and Collin was too. Before this election, it was nearly twenty years of Democrats, except for a brief two-year break by Governor Benson, at Bridges House.

I went to sleep, or at least did the best I could. I was restless for the whole night, tossing and turning in my bed. Finally, when morning arrived, I made a decision.

I called up Mike Vlacich, Mom's 2014 campaign manager. Without introduction, for Mike knew me, I said just a few simple words.

"I'm in for 2018."

Delaware
John Carney - 60.3%
Carl Bonini - 37.9%

Indiana
John Gregg - 50.3%
Eric Holcomb - 48.9%

Missouri
Chris Koster - 52.1%
Eric Greitens - 46.8%

Montana
Gov. Steve Bullock - 56.2%
Greg Gianforte - 40.3%

New Hampshire
Chris Sununu - 49.8%
Collin van Ostern - 47.1%

North Carolina
Roy Cooper - 50.1%
Gov. Pat McCrory - 48.8%

North Dakota
Doug Burgum - 70.3%
Marvin Nelson - 28.4%

Oregon
Gov. Kate Brown - 56.0%
Bud Pierce - 43.1%

Utah
Gov. Gary Herbert - 66.6%
Mike Weinholtz - 30.9%

Vermont
Terry Bouricius - 53.4%
Phil Scott - 46.6%

Washington
Gov. Jay Inslee - 59.3%
Phil Bryant - 39.5%

West Virginia
Jim Justice - 53.4%
Bill Cole - 41.3%
Charlotte Pritt - 5.3%

[Mr. Smith]

How dare Hillary write a book, she should be campaigning in Wisconsin!

[Mr. Smith]

I'd pick LSD over Moore. 

While I think so would most people here (even a good chunk of blue avvies), I admire your honesty.

[Mr. Smith]

Context:  Other Elections - Analysis and Discussion / Gubernatorial/Statewide Elections / Re: NYT: Cuomo, a Master of the $50,000 Fund-Raiser, Bypasses Small Donors   on: November 13, 2017, 05:49:05 pm

Who are the voters that would support this guy??

[Mr. Smith]

I'm a partisan republican and I think Kobach is evil.

[Mr. Smith]

-I hate all identity politics and mentions of race/gender/nationality in any context

Wait what does this even mean? Honest question, especially since:

-Secularism is the biggest threat facing America today, and the GOP needs to drop anti-immigration rhetoric to win over Christian Hispanics and double down on social issues to win Black Evangelicals.

Though I actually agree with you here:

-I support TPP and NAFTA and think economic nationalism is stupid

Which doesn't seem to be a very popular opinion in either the Republican nor Democratic party (at least the Sanders wing) as of late, unfortunately...

I actually wish I had put those two (the first two you mentioned) side-by-side.  I believe that race should be completely irrelevant to the political divide.  It is the fault of both parties that it is (and largely stems from neither side being willing to JUST STOP TALKING ABOUT RACE AND SEX).  The political divide should be people who live traditional, moral, and religious lives with family values against those who do not.  We should be getting 90% of the vote in Mississippi, not just 90% of the white vote.  Likewise, we shouldn't be dominant in the Mountain West, which isn't that religious or socially conservative and we should be obliterated in somewhere like New Hampshire.  We could offset that with somewhere like New Mexico probably being Safe R.

Black voters are overwhelmingly progressive on economic issues based on the polling data.  Why do you think that a full-fledged economically conservative (even moreso than now) party would do a better job appealing to blacks?  Yes, Trump has enflamed tensions, but George W Bush, who ran a very inoffensive campaign, still only got about the same percentage of the black vote in 2000 as Trump got in 2016.

[Mr. Smith]

https://twitter.com/mcimaps/status/991490375805292545

[Mr. Smith]

There is nothing wrong with elderly leaders, but something is amiss when younger people are conspicuously absent. Age doesn't deserve ridicule. However, gerontocracy does.

People like Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer exist in a system that optimizes its leaders for the ability to accumulate power with age. The truly glaring thing about this, and a perpetual problem in Democratic politics, is the gaping hole where they should have a younger cohort of leaders who are ready to take their places.

This is all the more galling considering the constant hype on the Democratic side re: "the young people are our future!" (ps: please Rock The Vote Out in November). Any Democrat who honestly wonders why young people in this country vote at abysmal rates even by American standards and have been so apathetic and cynical about politics and government in the US, despite their comparatively and genuinely strong Democratic/liberal-left "lean", could do worse than by starting here.

[Mr. Smith]

My biggest problem with Democrats in general is how they act in general elections when they throw a fit that "their" side didn't win. It makes the Democratic Party as a whole full of whiney toddlers.

Republicans lose elections with class? Interesting. The effigies of President Obama with nooses around his neck and signs that called him N's and monkey must have been a figment of my imagination.

I'll give this one to RFKFan68.  The GOP are worse losers; they really view themselves as entitled to victory, and they really think that they lose only because people lost their minds.

[Mr. Smith]

>Daily Caller
>Insert thinking face emoji here

[Mr. Smith]

Are these the swing voters that will vote against Trump if we nominate a #populist white male who whispers about race and gender issues?

Congratulations to Landslide Lyndon and you! You’ve both proudly displayed total ignorance of a fairly simple theory by falsely (intentionally or not), that the “economic anxiety” issue was meant to explain the voting habits of Republican partisans. It’s obvious to anyone above a 3rd grade comprehension level that it was meant to be applied to swing voters who were drawn to Trump’s faux-economic populism due to their anxious financial situation and that of their community.

There is a ton of evidence that the opposite is true: they were attracted to Trump because of his racial resentment and xenophobic rhetoric.
But keep believing that Ms. Minton means Wall Street bankers and fat cats when she talks about  "these people".

Yeah, some lefties have to get their heads out of their *****.

The average Trump voters (hell, the average voter in general) doesn't care about Wall Street or bankers. This is all about hurting minorities, liberal academics, and people who live in the cities.

Yes but the average Trump voter isn't a swing voter. A swing Obama-Trump vote is less likely to be against the bolded than the average Trump voter, even if they are more culturally conservative than the modern day Democratic Party.

[Mr. Smith]

In an real, developed country this would be political suicide.

[Mr. Smith]

Welcome back, Scott. I am glad that you are safe. I think we would all be very sad if you decided to leave - I certainly would - but in the end you should do whatever is best for your health. And please don't say that you deserve this 'punishment', because you don't.
May the Lord bless you.

Yeah, this is hard to top, though I admit the next good post I put here will from somewhere lighter-hearted.

[Mr. Smith]

why the hell would i want to know

[Mr. Smith]

A Struggle For Progress

[Mr. Smith]

I never even watched GOT

The correct answer in this thread.