GA-SEN 2022 Megathread: Werewolves and Vampires

[Person Man]

Did you know Walker is the name of a large breed of Beagle? Remember Alvin the Beagle?

[Person Man]

Not even Trump was given the Benefit of the Doubt on Abortion as a right-winger. Beyond committing a violent crime in broad daylight, this is kind of a last frontier of sorts.

[Person Man]

Amazing what Herschel Walker has done to his life & family all because Trump told him to run for the Senate.

It's why I genuinely don't understand most peoples' motivation to run for office.  I'm not talking about your Lucy McBath types (the rare few who actually run on a sole desire to make actual change based on personal tragedy or hardship).  

I'm talking about those who think it will bring them personal glory or a prestigious lifestyle.

Especially in today's day and age, you don't get to have secrets or a personal life anymore.  This is hard enough to do as a private doctor or teacher, let alone having your dirty laundry aired as part of attack ads or talking points by your opponents.  

I think it was Michelle Obama who said that the biggest difficulty of being First Lady was her loss of anonymity.  Not that Herschel Walker was a nobody before this run, but still.  

What we need more of are people who are actually interested in governing because that is their life’s interest. The only problem with people like that is not how they govern, but whether what they can do is what people want. At the core, that was why Dukakis lost. It wasn’t Willie Horton, or the tank, it was that he tried to prove that he was competent but never explained what exactly he was competent at.

Tom Daschle campaigned on being the being the community’s “Congress guy”. He was successful at it until he became too involved in the opportunities it presented.

[Person Man]

It's probably over for Walker.

Can we now say this race is Lean D? lol

Maybe it really will come down to Nevada but if Oz is wounded too, that's pretty much it for Republicans.

[Person Man]

Wait... so they're might have been a second abortion Walker has paid for??

Honestly, Walker has probably slept with hundreds of women out of infidelity and impregnated a dozen of them. He spent most of his life living a very un-Christian lifestyle.

Makes sense.

[Person Man]

https://twitter.com/sollenbergerrc/status/1577661077466353664

It's like your spouse suspects that you were cheating and then you accidently tell them about another incident when they were cheating. This is why I never tried to date two women at once even though I had the opportunity to do so at least 3 times.

[Person Man]

[Person Man]

https://twitter.com/bluestein/status/1577858344777400320?s=20&t=uClATU_WwSOP...

It's always Republicans who aren't running for reelection or who don't hold office who are free to "speak their minds", since they don't have to worry about Republican voters or about Trump. That's true between this man and Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Chris Christie, to give a few other examples.

But yes, it's hard for me to see Walker's campaign recovering from this. I believe Warnock is going to win reelection at this point; it's just a matter of if he wins outright or if he wins in the runoff.

The reactions to this scandal by conservatives has been rather disappointing and I honestly don’t blame democrats for pointing out the hypocrisy. It’s up to the voters to decide if they value policy over candidate quality, but at the very least the media outlets should not be acting  like it’s a nothing burger. I do wish Walker the best, but it might be a good thing if this cycle is characterized by some of the more incompetent and unprofessional candidates losing badly so we can get back to having higher standards for the leaders.

What about when the candidate in question thinly implies he thinks murder is OK? I guess his stance on abortion, or really issue like it, is “don’t get caught”?

[Person Man]

My sense is Republicans are not going to stop supporting Walker (my very R dad even told me it's a non-issue since it has nothing to do with policy-making), but I don't think that's particularly surprising. Where there is actually quite a bit of movement on the ground in my neighborhood and family / friend circles is among a good number of undecided, mostly unaffiliated, voters for which Walker's scandals have either resurfaced the issue of abortion as top of mind or feel like Walker can't be trusted. I can name at least 3 such people I talked to this week that fall into this camp. I suspect the impact of this week might be that late deciding voters break disproportionately towards Warnock rather than many voters actually switching their votes.

Following the 2016 Post-Access Hollywood Trump playbook, the Christian Right is taking a strictly transactional stance, making clear it doesn't care about the allegations so long as Walker delivers the goods if he is elected:

Walker’s Christian fans unfazed by abortion revelations
The anti-abortion GOP Senate nominee's supporters say they care more about his policies than about his behavior.

Wasn’t that how Trump over-performed twice?

[Person Man]

Following the 2016 Post-Access Hollywood Trump playbook, the Christian Right is taking a strictly transactional stance, making clear it doesn't care about the allegations so long as Walker delivers the goods if he is elected:

Walker’s Christian fans unfazed by abortion revelations
The anti-abortion GOP Senate nominee's supporters say they care more about his policies than about his behavior.

This isn't really surprising. The Christian Right has always been built on hypocrisy. Do as I say not as I do. 

The Christian Right isn't a religious movement. It is a Nationalist movement.

[Person Man]

This guy is addicted to abortions! He’s not in love with you. He’s in love with abortions!

[Person Man]

And yet I’ll bet $10,000 that we don’t see the kind of abandonment that we saw about Roy Moore.

I mean yes, being a hypocrite about abortion is nowhere near as bad as pedophilia, so this is probably a fairly safe bet.

I mean for Republicans the former is a crime while the latter is an accepted practice, so we'll see.

They really don’t have human morals or ethics so….who the hell knows.

[Person Man]

Is there a point where we put this in the Roy Moore tier of campaign implosions?

I mean, Walker never sexually assaulted minors (I hope), so no.

It doesn’t really need to be to be that severe. If he did rape kids, Warnock might get to 53-54%. He probably already gets to 52%.

[Person Man]

Walker will still get votes from the Christian Right because of his policies, not his actions

This is why I think Walker will still get ~45% or so of the vote in Georgia at the end. This is not a Todd Akin situation, where he would lose by double digits - a scenario that might have happened 20 or 30 years ago, but is not possible now, due to increased polarization. But I think that this move on the part of evangelicals could be one of the reasons why religiosity in the United States is declining, as many younger people view them as hypocrites who don't actually live up to their moral standards.

Even a victory in the 4-6% range, could be considered a rebuke. I think Georgia might be pretty blue by 2026. By 2028, it could be a state that Democrats can rely on or at least need.

[Person Man]

Is there a point where we put this in the Roy Moore tier of campaign implosions?

I mean, Walker never sexually assaulted minors (I hope), so no.

Wouldn’t be too shocked given that era in sports.

If he wasn’t a savant  at something, he’d be in prison.

[Person Man]

https://twitter.com/baseballot/status/1580213759640862721

Which is about what you would expect in this environment.

[Person Man]

Really hate when idiot candidates go into a debate, (for the most part) talk in complete sentences, and everyone screams "debate bounce!"

These debates rarely get more than 100k viewers. And only a small portion of those viewers are up in the air.

Now, if something goes viral, say one candidate waving around a fake police badge and being scolded, that could have an actual effect.

So yeah. That was the knockout blow. He looks retarded. Literally intellectually disabled. And the way moderators talked down to him was too much.

[Person Man]

Honestly just feels like everyone was ready to declare that Walker won the debate unless he just started pissing all over himself on stage, and all these articles were pre-written before the debate.  The media loves a horse face and loves to bash Democrats, and the story about how Walker forced the mother of his bastard children to get an abortion, while simultaneously claiming that abortion is murder, is now a week old and the media's gotten bored of it.  Just like they got bored about the story where Herschel Walker put a gun to his wife's head and threatened to kill her, or lied about literally his entire biography.  The new story is "Walker resurgent?  Strong debate performance reinforces Republican ranks."

The message from Republicans is, "yes, he forced his wife to murder his unborn illegitimate child, but I was also expecting him to be a blithering retard on stage, and that didn't happen in the way I anticipated, so I'm comfortable letting him represent me in the Senate.  Unlike John Fetterman, who uses a screen reader for his disability, and thus is far too mentally unwell to represent anyone."

Actually, I don't know why I said Republicans, I meant members of the media, who are all setting the tone of the Republican Party in these races and doing everything they can to help out.  The actual Republicans themselves are voting for Walker because they're hoping he will institute the death penalty for being trans, cut aid to the nazis in Ukraine, declare any elections won by Democrats to be fraudulent and illegal, and thinks stealing nuclear secrets from the military and selling them to foreign adversaries is a good thing to do (if someone were to do that, which they definitely haven't!).

But the media has to just pretend that's not what the Republican Party is, so they can keep the horse race both-sidesing alive.

If they succeed, the Democratic Party really needs to reconsider its relationship to the media. Maybe if the Democratic Party is destroyed between 22/24, it will allow a populist reconstitution.

[Person Man]

I'm not sure where the narrative is coming from that Walker was ever in danger of losing Republicans. We've literally got how many articles about the GOP "sticking with him" over the last two weeks.

NYT literally has a new story out this weekend that's called "How Republicans Came to Love Herschel Walker."

I mean come on.

No matter how Walker did in this debate, it was always going to be framed as him "exceeding expectations" because everyone needs this to be a horse race, just like in PA.

The copium though from Republicans acting as if Walker actually won when there is a video of Walker looking like an idiot pulling out a fake police badge that has millions of views on social media is... something

This is another ignored wake up call.

[Person Man]

I moved from supporting nobody to supporting Walker after this debate.

I genuinely don’t know how this debate could improve your opinion of Walker, can you please elaborate?

I can understand if it didn’t change your opinion, or if you were supporting him before and continue to do so, but to go from undecided to pro-Walker? How?

DTC is a crazy person, that's how.

To me, what is crazy is completely ignoring how big of an issue inflation is in this country. One of the biggest reasons why I voted for Joe Biden is democrats have traditionally had a better record on inflation, and Trump contributed a lot to the national debt. But the second Joe Biden came into office, he implemented many policies that contributed to inflation an exacerbated it, such as the American Rescue Plan, the rent moratorium, expanded unemployment, $400 billion student loan debt removal, among other poorly thought out policies. But I suppose looking good in your circle is more important than being able to afford basic goods and services.

What are Republicans going to do to alleviate inflation?

Keystone XL pipeline, tax cuts to top brackets

Subsidies to polluters.

[Person Man]

Was pleasantly surprised by some of Walker's performance. Obviously there was a still a good deal of idiocy to go around - the solution to rising insulin prices being cheap gasoline, the prop stunt, etc- but I entered with literally zero expectations, and he held Warnock's feet to the fire incredibly effectively on the abortion issue, he declared with no reservations that he would accept any outcome in November, and he didn't completely sh*t the bed. Obviously, accepting the result of an election is not something for which someone should be given much kudos, but it was still pleasing to hear in this day and age.

Somehow I don't think one side saying the issue should be with a woman and her doctor and the other side saying "why are you aborting babies instead of baptizing them" is going to be seen at parity with most rational people

Walker responding "You want taxpayer funding for abortion, so you're bringing the government right back into the room" upon Warnock saying the doctor's room was too small for a woman, her doctor, and the government was a fantastic rebuttal, and one that Warnock didn't even deny.

Warnock's position on abortion is something that I've always been very uncomfortable about with him. He's adopting the generic Democratic position on the issue, and I don't think I've ever heard him say that he was personally pro-life or that he didn't morally condone the practice. Yes, he's a Democrat, but he's also a pastor, and I've always struggled with how a man of God can support a practice such as that.

Because you're a pastor, you should be automatically be pro-life? Come on, that is some gross stuff. It's 2022, and there is nothing morally wrong with abortion. Stop it.

You need to stop it. Don't expect me to bend to your desires on this issue. I've been very clear about my stances with regards to abortion policy, but I'll reiterate my stances again, and note how they are at odds with those of the Democrats. I don't support taxpayer funding of abortion (which Warnock does), I support a 15-week ban on the practice (which Warnock and other Democrats don't), and I support strictures such as parental consent, parental notification, and licensing/safety requirements for abortion providers, as well as a mandatory waiting period.

I am a strong supporter of the Hyde Amendment. I don't think abortion should be entirely banned, and I also support the exceptions for rape, incest, and life/health of the mother. But I think the Democrats have become too extreme on this issue, and I surely don't support the Women's Health Protection Act. All of this weighs on how I decide to vote, and who I decide to vote for. On this issue, I don't agree with Warnock.

Yes, abortion is morally wrong, and yes, it should be permitted, at least to a certain extent, but not without limits, and it should not be regarded with praise.

I agree on this.

At the end of the day, abortion is mainly a medical/scientific issue.

While morals def have a role in the discussion Republicans sort of abused the morals of “killing” a fetus. They use this to paint anyone who disagrees with them as heartless.

On the flip side, democrats have made abortion synonymous with women’s rights and have used that to say if you disagree with our position, then you don’t support women and are sexist.

Very few countries have no restrictions on abortion but most countries have basic guidelines to allow it in most cases. Relative to the world, both sides are quite extreme on this issue which imo has gotten way more attention than it needs or deserves. Both sides just use it to get attention and messaging.

Again, I don’t mean this in the wrong way, but I feel like abortion doenst rise to the level of issues such as the economy/inflation, climate change, energy, taxes, general healthcare, gun violence+crime, LGBTQ rights, democracy, ect in terms of actually shaping our society. Yet it sucks up so much Oxygen.

And it's likely because you're a man.

Why is so hard for people to grasp that abortion rights is not just about abortion - it's about a fundamental right of a person (women) to make a CHOICE about THEIR body?!

So yes, for WOMEN, it's likely a little more important than taxes for gods sake. Jesus christ, this should not have to be explained still.

This is definitely a very important question about what a person and what a society is.

[Person Man]

https://twitter.com/acyn/status/1581784765941719041

Will this be like that Clint Eastwood stunt? I have no idea how this election could get more window lickin' good!

[Person Man]

None of this matters. We live in the darkest timeline, so Walker will win.

If Oz or Walker win, the Democratic Party will be forgotten until the end of the Decade barring a rapid comeback.

If they both win, there just isn’t a way forward.

I’m not saying either are going to win but if they do, either Democratic officials are really that socially inept/dumb or voters are looking at them like they are on the wrong planet.

[Person Man]

These two clowns, for people trying to avoid this issue, are literally immolating themselves on this.

[Person Man]

Again. A race that offers a major datum regarding the long term viability of American society.