PA-SN 2022 megathread: Shrek vs. The Wizard of Oz

[DaleCooper]

Republicans in Pennsylvania are not going to surrender this seat. Expect them to attack him over his Islamic faith.

[DaleCooper]

Hasan Piker is uninformed on all political issues.

[DaleCooper]

Hasan Piker is uninformed on all political issues.

He’s also a parody of the “sex work is work” crowd. Visiting a brothel in Germany is not something you brag about for political brownie points, especially if it’s a place we’re human trafficking was confirmed to have occurred.

He also represents capitalism at its most pathetic, where everything is just a tool to build his brand.

[DaleCooper]

Hasan Piker is uninformed on all political issues.

He’s also a parody of the “sex work is work” crowd. Visiting a brothel in Germany is not something you brag about for political brownie points, especially if it’s a place we’re human trafficking was confirmed to have occurred.

He also represents capitalism at its absolute worst, where everything is just a tool to build his brand.

I wouldn’t go that far. He represents a particularly grim strain of internet “activism”, but even that kind of grifting is mostly harmless compared to some of the other forms capitalism can take. Banal talking points are better than dangerous quack medicine, PMC warfare, predatory lending, etc.

It’d be a mistake to confuse the loud and obnoxious with the dangerously effective.

Yeah, I realized that after posting, so I quickly edited it to say capitalism at its most pathetic, but I was too slow.

[DaleCooper]

This seems like a where there's smoke there's fire sort of thing. I don't believe conservative media, Republicans, and Trump himself would be so scared of this lady if they didn't have reason to believe that she's going to truly crash and burn in the general election. I suppose it is very possible that they are simply out of touch and don't get that Pennsylvania votes to the right of the nation these days, but still, to form such a united front against her would be over-the-top if it's purely that she's less electable than Oz.

[DaleCooper]

This seems like a where there's smoke there's fire sort of thing. I don't believe conservative media, Republicans, and Trump himself would be so scared of this lady if they didn't have reason to believe that she's going to truly crash and burn in the general election. I suppose it is very possible that they are simply out of touch and don't get that Pennsylvania votes to the right of the nation these days, but still, to form such a united front against her would be over-the-top if it's purely that she's less electable than Oz.

Yes this race is getting extremely bizarre. Between the Oz Turkish election fiasco, the Barnette saga, and Trump/Toomey’s weird behavior, I don’t know what to think

Toomey's line in particular makes it seem like he's aware of some kind of opposition research bomb that's going to drop on her any day now. It doesn't sound like speculation. Again, I've been wrong before, but she doesn't seem like the type of candidate everyone in Republican world would get so worked up over if it was purely a matter of her making a winnable race a little closer.

The Barnette stuff is also interesting because it once again reveals Trump to very much be an establishment Republican at odds with the #populist (in other words, crazy) base. Who knows if or when anti-establishment Republican voters will ever be smart enough to recognize that.

[DaleCooper]

Who would have thought that the Trump candidate is relying on a late midnight vote drop from the Philadelphia area and is benefitting from a constantly increasing amount of voters?

Trump's endorsements are overrated.

[DaleCooper]

Oz does have a benefit that Mastriano doesn't and that's that governors are still, even in 2022, seen as less of a partisan choice than Senators are. There are a lot more people who want a particular party to control the Senate than there are people who desperately want a person from a particular party to be in the governor's mansion, so that on its own will help Oz amongst the base.

[DaleCooper]

I think the mainstream media still has a lot of respect for Oz as one of their own, plus Fetterman doesn't fit in with the intolerable Democrats that they like, so I'm not surprised they're going all in against him.

[DaleCooper]

Easy to say Lamb would beat Oz when he hasn't faced negative press since the primary.

It's ridiculous. Fetterman is a great candidate aside from the health issues, sadly. Lamb's only advantage over Fetterman is that he didn't have a stroke, but he's worse on everything else. My instincts are wrong plenty of times, so take this with a grain of salt, but I strongly suspect that if Fetterman didn't have the health concerns at such a bad time, this election wouldn't even be competitive.

[DaleCooper]

Oprah is responsible for Dr. Oz, yes.

[DaleCooper]

The big questions are how does the vote break down in Philadelphia itself and also how much of an increase are we seeing in the red parts of the state? I'm not comfortable making predictions based solely on turnout without seeing at least some results.

[DaleCooper]

The big questions are how does the vote break down in Philadelphia itself and also how much of an increase are we seeing in the red parts of the state? I'm not comfortable making predictions based solely on turnout without seeing at least some results.

Very true, Fetterman would be much more comfortable with a 2018-type split (87-13) rather than 2020 (81-18)

And it seems like it would be more likely to be less than 2020.