The Republic Is Saved.

[spenser1058]

Awwww, did Sarah Palin lose her special election to Congress from Alaska? You betcha!

She’s getting a do-over for the November race. Stay tuned…

Note to @jack: don’t know if this is just Alaska, but figuring out the winner in a ranked-choice race seems to take forever. If we go that way, I hope we can use a more streamlined version.

[spenser1058]

Fun Fact for today:

In the largest Medicare fraud trial ever, then HCA exec Rick “Skeletor “ Scott pleaded the 5th Amendment 75 times.

Republican voters were so impressed they elected him governor!

[orange87]

11 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

Awwww, did Sarah Palin lose her special election to Congress from Alaska? You betcha!

She’s getting a do-over for the November race. Stay tuned…

Note to @jack: don’t know if this is just Alaska, but figuring out the winner in a ranked-choice race seems to take forever. If we go that way, I hope we can use a more streamlined version.

Am I wrong in thinking that this is a really good sign for Democrats for November? A not widely known Democrat flipped a Republican U.S. House seat against someone who used to be the Governor of Alaska and was the GOP candidate for VP in 2008.

[spenser1058]

12 minutes ago, orange87 said:

Am I wrong in thinking that this is a really good sign for Democrats for November? A not widely known Democrat flipped a Republican U.S. House seat against someone who used to be the Governor of Alaska and was the GOP candidate for VP in 2008.

Alaska’s just weird so don’t bank on it but it’s certainly better than the alternative. You can’t really go by special elections but the fact we won all five since Dobbs is promising.

It  looks a lot better than it did in January.

One thing making me laugh is how the national media decided Florida was officially red after 2020. Wisely or not, in 2020 due to COVID the Dems abandoned the ground game when the Repubs didn’t. The result, particularly in Dade, where face to face contact is critical, was predictable.

Now, in 2022, we’re seeing the senate and gubernatorial races heading back to within the margin of error as usual.

National pundits and reporters have a hard time with Florida even though it’s not as unpredictable as they make it. Turnout is everything - old people vote as long as they’re breathing - younger folks are less reliable. It’s up to Democrats to get our voters out.

[spenser1058]

“Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and the right to an abortion in June, Democrats have closed to gap to Republicans in polling and projections for the 2022 Midterms. FiveThirtyEight now gives Democrats a 68% chance to retain the Senate, a margin that grew throughout August.” Still working on the House…

[jack]

15 hours ago, orange87 said:

Am I wrong in thinking that this is a really good sign for Democrats for November? A not widely known Democrat flipped a Republican U.S. House seat against someone who used to be the Governor of Alaska and was the GOP candidate for VP in 2008.

Hard to game out when Palin was one of the options. It could be more about her than anything else. Many of the voters did not pick a second candidate on the ballot. Many those voters were Republicans. The theory is they did not understand RCV but it also could be they were turned off by their options and was a form of protest. "if I can't have my number one choice, I am not voting for anyone". 

Regardless, this seat is back on the ballot in November. As @spenser1058said, Alaska is different and don't really fall under the traditional left right dichotomy. Look at Murkoski. 

[orange87]

U.S. adds 315,000 jobs as participation jumps and wages rise!

Article: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-02/us-adds-315-000-jobs-as-participation-jumps-and-wages-rise?fbclid=IwAR3WVwPP5ymuawmJKMKILl9vpAnEAD9y8AfYjQ3NuyWgOQ5-MTjQgL0kMvQ

[spenser1058]

24 minutes ago, orange87 said:

U.S. adds 315,000 jobs as participation jumps and wages rise!

Article: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-02/us-adds-315-000-jobs-as-participation-jumps-and-wages-rise?fbclid=IwAR3WVwPP5ymuawmJKMKILl9vpAnEAD9y8AfYjQ3NuyWgOQ5-MTjQgL0kMvQ

IT’S JOEMENTUM!

[spenser1058]

Former Trump AG Bill Barr in an interview with the New York Times:

‘Asked what he thought of the argument for the appointment of a special master, an independent arbiter to review the material that could delay the investigation, Mr. Barr laughed.

“I think it’s a crock of s**t,” he said, adding, “I don’t think a special master is called for.”’

Oh so slowly, sanity returns to D.C. as some Republicans at last acknowledge the truth.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/02/us/politics/barr-trump-special-master.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
 

[JFW657]

 

[spenser1058]

It used to be the GOP always loved to tell us just how evil lawyers were and how we needed to be rid of them. Nowadays, guys like Cheetohead and DeSatan are always suing everybody. Fascinating.

[spenser1058]

Skeletor’s up to his old tricks again but this time he’s fleecing Republicans:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/03/us/politics/senate-republican-committee-funds.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

From The New York Times 
 

[spenser1058]

Top Tier gas today (regular): $3.45

7-Eleven:                                          $3.39

JOEMENTUM!

[aent]

5 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

Top Tier gas today (regular): $3.45

7-Eleven:                                          $3.39

JOEMENTUM!

 Gas price last November before Biden won: $2.18/gallon

 

Yay, gas prices are only up $1.27 per gallon under Biden!!!! Its no longer more then doubled!

 

[JFW657]

1 hour ago, aent said:

 Gas price last November before Biden won: $2.18/gallon

 

Yay, gas prices are only up $1.27 per gallon under Biden!!!! Its no longer more then doubled!

 

So, what are Biden h8rz gonna say when gas prices are back or nearly back to those pre-Biden levels?

Are they going to give him the same amount of credit as they gave him the blame?

Or will they figure out some doublespeak method of claiming that rising gas prices are all the fault of whoever is in the WH while falling gas prices have nothing to do with whoever is in the WH, but only when that person is a Demmycrat?

And if they go down to around $2.30 a gallon, will we hear nothing out of them but "Dang 'ol Biden has caused gas prices to rise 11¢ a gallon!!!!!" 

 

[spenser1058]

3 minutes ago, JFW657 said:

So, what are Biden h8rz gonna say when gas prices are back or nearly back to those pre-Biden levels?

Are they going to give him the same amount of credit as they gave him the blame?

Or will they figure out some doublespeak method of claiming that rising gas prices are all the fault of whoever is in the WH while falling gas prices have nothing to do with whoever is in the WH, but only when that person is a Demmycrat?

And if they go down to around $2.30 a gallon, will we hear nothing out of them but "Dang 'ol Biden has caused gas prices to rise 11¢ a gallon!!!!!" 

 

Not to mention, the gas prices go down when the economy collapses. “Hey, I ain’t got any money but gas is real cheap… perfect!”

[JFW657]

39 minutes ago, spenser1058 said:

Not to mention, the gas prices go down when the economy collapses. “Hey, I ain’t got any money but gas is real cheap… perfect!”

Well, of course they blame the economy collapsing on Biden, too.

Completely oblivious of how the situation in Ukraine and two years of pandemic restrictions played into it. 

[aent]

1 hour ago, JFW657 said:

Well, of course they blame the economy collapsing on Biden, too.

Completely oblivious of how the situation in Ukraine and two years of pandemic restrictions played into it. 

Thats likely because Ukraine and and extending the pandemic restrictions to 2 years was literally democrat policy. Don't forget about how the democrats were calling Trump crazy for trying to control what Ukraine was doing with massive corruption, that ultimately led to the war. Trump's 4 years had no new wars start, for the record, and hew as working towards ending the wars we were in. Trump was calling to open up after just a couple months, he recognized that shutting down the economy for 2 years would of course cause a collapse. Biden instead spent more money then Trump, even though Trump's spending was to get a vaccine and early spending directly related to the shutdowns and Trump said no more spending, its going to collapse the economy, time to open up, and went against the bipartisan spending bill before the election, likely costing him the election.

Its also unlikely we hit Trump level numbers on gas prices, according the Biden administration themselves. Remember, prices right now are low as a direct result of continued strategic oil reserve releases. We've released many millions of barrels to get prices down. Even if the price of a barrel going back to what it was, prices can't go back to what they were until we replenish the strategic oil reserve, which is necessarily going to cause increases in the price of gas.

[JFW657]

5 hours ago, aent said:

Thats likely because Ukraine and and extending the pandemic restrictions to 2 years was literally democrat policy. Don't forget about how the democrats were calling Trump crazy for trying to control what Ukraine was doing with massive corruption, that ultimately led to the war. Trump's 4 years had no new wars start, for the record, and hew as working towards ending the wars we were in.

No, the reason why Putin didn't invade Ukraine during Trump's one failed term, is because he and Trump were both expecting Trump would win reelection. If that had happened, Trump would have stepped aside and stopped sending Ukraine military aid, which would have allowed Putin to walz right in, virtually unobstructed.

Even John Bolton has publicly stated that Putin was waiting for Trump to withdraw from NATO in a second term. Had that happened, it's almost a certainty that all military aid to Ukraine would have ended.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/596985-john-bolton-putin-was-waiting-for-possible-us-withdrawal-from-nato/

https://www.businessinsider.com/bolton-putin-waiting-for-trump-to-withdraw-from-nato-in-2nd-term-2022-3

And if Russia took back control of Ukraine, it would have put all of Eastern Europe at risk, and eventually, parts of Western Europe. 

Face it. Trump was in Putin's back pocket.

The payoff for Trump holding the door to Ukraine open would have probably been a Trump Tower Moscow paid for by generous loans from Russian banks.

5 hours ago, aent said:

Trump was calling to open up after just a couple months, he recognized that shutting down the economy for 2 years would of course cause a collapse. Biden instead spent more money then Trump, even though Trump's spending was to get a vaccine and early spending directly related to the shutdowns and Trump said no more spending, its going to collapse the economy, time to open up, and went against the bipartisan spending bill before the election, likely costing him the election.

Trump sat on his thumbs in 2020 as the pandemic was beginning, telling us all that it would be gone by summer. It's very possible that if Trump hadn't dawdled because he was more interested in his poll numbers than doing his job and protecting the health and well being of the country, this stuff might not still be hanging around today.

5 hours ago, aent said:

Its also unlikely we hit Trump level numbers on gas prices, according the Biden administration themselves. Remember, prices right now are low as a direct result of continued strategic oil reserve releases. We've released many millions of barrels to get prices down. Even if the price of a barrel going back to what it was, prices can't go back to what they were until we replenish the strategic oil reserve, which is necessarily going to cause increases in the price of gas.

Drawing from the strategic oil reserves had a minor effect on gas prices as did states suspending fuel taxes. 

What drove petroleum prices up to begin with, despite the right's attempt to pin it on Biden, was mostly that oil companies were nervous over Putin's invasion and the West's retaliation by cutting back on Russian oil imports.

Now, because economic growth forecasts in major oil consuming countries are not as high as projected, and as such, demand projections are lower, oil producers are lowering their prices.

And of course, this time of year always sees gas prices fall. 

[aent]

14 hours ago, JFW657 said:

No, the reason why Putin didn't invade Ukraine during Trump's one failed term, is because he and Trump were both expecting Trump would win reelection. If that had happened, Trump would have stepped aside and stopped sending Ukraine military aid, which would have allowed Putin to walz right in, virtually unobstructed.

Even John Bolton has publicly stated that Putin was waiting for Trump to withdraw from NATO in a second term. Had that happened, it's almost a certainty that all military aid to Ukraine would have ended.

And if that was the plan, why didn't Trump just do that in the first term? Why wait till close to the end of Trump's term limit? Also, why did Trump renegotiate with NATO countries to get them to contribute more if he was planning to pull out right after? Trump was already president, why not do it at the beginning instead of waiting for him to be out

 

14 hours ago, JFW657 said:

And if Russia took back control of Ukraine, it would have put all of Eastern Europe at risk, and eventually, parts of Western Europe. 

 

Isn't that the case now?

 

14 hours ago, JFW657 said:

Trump sat on his thumbs in 2020 as the pandemic was beginning, telling us all that it would be gone by summer. It's very possible that if Trump hadn't dawdled because he was more interested in his poll numbers than doing his job and protecting the health and well being of the country, this stuff might not still be hanging around today.

Trump wanted to close our borders to stop COVID from coming in and the democrats were calling him xenophobic. I don't think it would have worked, but what country was able to successfully prevent it from hanging around today? Infact, knowing what we know now, it appears the best chance we had was to open up before summer, slowing the spread appears to have made it more difficult to obtain natural immunity, which was probably our best chance.

 

14 hours ago, JFW657 said:

And of course, this time of year always sees gas prices fall. 

Well, at least we can agree on something!

[orange87]

According to the latest Rasmussen poll, Biden's approval rating is at 45%. Also, Dems now lead the RCP average for the generic congressional ballot for the first time in about eight months.

Edited September 5, 2022 by orange87

[spenser1058]

JOEMENTUM!

[JFW657]

1 hour ago, aent said:

And if that was the plan, why didn't Trump just do that in the first term? Why wait till close to the end of Trump's term limit? Also, why did Trump renegotiate with NATO countries to get them to contribute more if he was planning to pull out right after? Trump was already president, why not do it at the beginning instead of waiting for him to be out

Politics 101.

Presidents are allowed two terms. If one wants to increase one's chances of being reelected, one doesn't engage in risky, potentially unpopular behavior during a first term. Once reelected to a second term, the constraints come off and they are more unfettered.

Politics dictated that if Trump was going to pull us out of NATO, he had to wait until a second term. 

There was no downside to demanding more money from NATO allies. The right-wing Trump base hates NATO anyway. That was likely as much for propaganda purposes and to set up a scenario for his second term plans to pull out. A built in reason if you will.

"They didn't pony up more dough like I asked them to, so I'm pulling us out." 

Not hard to figure that out.

1 hour ago, aent said:

Isn't that the case now?

Not really. Certainly not to the extent as it would be without the US as a member.

Russia is highly unlikely to start invading other European countries especially our NATO allies as long as they know they'd have us to deal with.

Without the US, NATO is toothless. If it even managed to stay together.

I believe that was Putin's wet dream. A disbanded or toothless NATO and Europe without official guaranteed US military support. 

The old iron curtain would have started falling over all the old Soviet satellite and Eastern block countries.

Then, who knows?

Meanwhile Trump is making a killing from Trump Tower Moscow, St. Petersburg. Etc, etc.  

1 hour ago, aent said:

Trump wanted to close our borders to stop COVID from coming in and the democrats were calling him xenophobic. I don't think it would have worked, but what country was able to successfully prevent it from hanging around today? Infact, knowing what we know now, it appears the best chance we had was to open up before summer, slowing the spread appears to have made it more difficult to obtain natural immunity, which was probably our best chance.

Closing the borders was another useless plan he cooked up just to excite his hardcore base. The COVID bug was already here. Locking out foreigners might have helped a little, but it still required other, unpopular actions Trump was unwilling to take especially in an election year. His failure to institute mask mandates and close or restrict certain public indoor areas, likely helped give the virus a stronger foothold.

When Biden came in, the damage had been done. Then when he did the mature adult things which weren't popular, the equivalent of making the kids eat their Brussels sprouts and go to bed early, the right conveniently piled on him.

Same with the resulting inflation, supply chain issues and fuel prices.

No mature, intelligent person can expect a two year pandemic in which social distancing restrictions cut into every aspect of life, to not include economic consequences.

1 hour ago, aent said:

Well, at least we can agree on something!

Hard to believe, in'nit?   

 

.

Edited September 5, 2022 by JFW657

[aent]

28 minutes ago, JFW657 said:

one doesn't engage in risky, potentially unpopular behavior during a first term.

Are you saying Trump  didn't do that? Really?

My argument isn't that we should abandon NATO, nor was Trump's... just that members should pay their fair share, just like the democrats always say. He was successful in getting others to pay more instead of entirely reaping the benefits from the US.

36 minutes ago, JFW657 said:

Closing the borders was another useless plan he cooked up just to excite his hardcore base. The COVID bug was already here. Locking out foreigners might have helped a little, but it still required other, unpopular actions Trump was unwilling to take especially in an election year. His failure to institute mask mandates and close or restrict certain public indoor areas, likely helped give the virus a stronger foothold.

 

So what you are saying is Trump tried to do bold moves early on to slow or stop the virus, but you disagree with them and think they wouldn't work. I happen to agree it wouldn't have helped, but he tried, and democrats weren't even making an argument it wouldn't work or why, just that it was xenophobic.

Speaking of the mask mandates, why did Biden remove the mask mandates when COVID was at an all time high? What was the scientific, courageous reason for that? Or was it because at that point, everyone realized masks did not work and his approval rating was just dropping down the tank and trying to save face?

The entire strategy of the democrats is its an election year, lets use all of our reserves to get oil prices down, lets give free money to young voters even though the democrats themselves admitted its unconstitional to do that without an executive order, and whatever else it takes to get a temporary boost to not get slaughtered in the election, nothing else matters and the ends justify the means.

[JFW657]

30 minutes ago, aent said:

Are you saying Trump  didn't do that? Really?

My argument isn't that we should abandon NATO, nor was Trump's... just that members should pay their fair share, just like the democrats always say. He was successful in getting others to pay more instead of entirely reaping the benefits from the US.

No, I am saying there was nothing politically risky about Trump demanding more money from NATO countries.

His base loved it. Made them adore him even more. He could have walked out into 5th Avenue and shot a dozen people at that point and his supporters would have begged him to shoot another dozen.

But that has nothing to do with my point.

My point was that, according to John Bolton, Trump was very likely planning to pull us out of NATO which would have left all of Europe wide open for Russia to invade. 

And with Trump in the WH holding the door open for them, it would have been a walk in the park. 

30 minutes ago, aent said:

So what you are saying is Trump tried to do bold moves early on to slow or stop the virus, but you disagree with them and think they wouldn't work. I happen to agree it wouldn't have helped, but he tried, and democrats weren't even making an argument it wouldn't work or why, just that it was xenophobic.

I never called Trump's weak-ass piddly moves "bold" anything.

He was too worried about his poll numbers in an election year to do his job and protect America.

Whatever you claim the argument against it was, is neither here nor there.

I'm sure the Democrats made both arguments, but I'm not going to spend any time looking it up right now.

It doesn't matter anyway.

The point remains that Trump dropped the ball and his lackeys are blaming Biden for the consequences.  

SSDD.

38 minutes ago, aent said:

Speaking of the mask mandates, why did Biden remove the mask mandates when COVID was at an all time high? What was the scientific, courageous reason for that? Or was it because at that point, everyone realized masks did not work and his approval rating was just dropping down the tank and trying to save face?

When did that supposedly happen? As I recall, vaccination rates were rising and as such, masks were not as critical as they were in the pre and early days of the vaccines. 

43 minutes ago, aent said:

The entire strategy of the democrats is its an election year, lets use all of our reserves to get oil prices down, lets give free money to young voters even though the democrats themselves admitted its unconstitional to do that without an executive order, and whatever else it takes to get a temporary boost to not get slaughtered in the election, nothing else matters and the ends justify the means.

Good.

And I hope it works, too!!!!!  

It's about time Democrats started fighting fire with fire and using the right's own style of low-ball, gutter tactics right back on them.

I'm not saying the Dems have never played politics before, but we are like the minor leagues compared to the major league, world series of sleaze GOP..