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Mr blob's avatar

It fundamentally comes down to the larger debate playing out with the party writ large: Run any candidate who might build a fan base of their own, even if it might upset a single Republican voter? Or find the most non descript unflavored gruel who promises nothing and offends no one, assuming “reasonable people” will chose unflavored vanilla over the chocolate flavored poison and crazy Republicans pump out.

Weird how option two never seems to work!

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Dina's avatar

I actually let loose with a giggle at the comparison of Stevens' voice to that of Lina Lamont! 🤭 Too bad that clip didn't continue to include "Moses Supposes" just for entertainment's sake.

McMorrow sounds like a leader herself. I've got my fingers crossed for her, she doesn't just 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 smart, competent, and caring, I do believe she really is.

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Michael Baker's avatar

I donated to McMorrow before she even ran for senator. As part of the Michigan government, she made an impassioned speech and basically told the Republicans to go to h*ll. I'm not in Michigan but she is my choice.

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Gary Seven in Space's avatar

Chuck S. Needs to wake up and step aside - follow Pelosi’s example and GTFO, let the Party fight over that seat.

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SethTriggs's avatar

Well she's not an Old, right?

Anyway I guess this probably would be solved once McMorrow becomes a favorite.

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Revenant's avatar

Another classic, Mr.Robinson. ",and unlike Abdul Sayeed, she is not named Abdul Sayeed" slays me. Never heard of him before, but I'd bet money (if I had any) that he is no Barack Hussein Obama. It will take another generation or two before America's ingrained Islamophobia abates enough that a name like his is no longer a lightning rod anywhere outside the rather restricted boundaries of Islamic America.

Ms. Stevens on the other hand is afflicted with that god-awful suburban accent that makes any a into eea, the a being harsh and apparently emanating from infected sinuses. It may even be a more potent signifier of "less than" than the dopiest Alabama drawl, the sound of which effectively halves your estimated IQ in the ears of anyone not born in the land of cotton. The suburban accent will be found all over the Midwest, and I probably had it as a child, but it really isn't all that hard to drop once you've heard the dulcet tones of BBC English.

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vorpal 🚫♔'s avatar

You cannot convince me that Reeves Oyster is not a rejected Great Gatsby character...

'Heir to treacle millions, Reeves Oyster, or 'Shelly' to his friends was a regular at Jay Gatsby's parties and was often seen speeding through East Egg in his Stutz Bearcat causing people to scramble out of his way'

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Stephen Robinson's avatar

I was considering a Gatsby reference when writing that passage! I love this.

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Linda1961 is woke and proud's avatar

I hadn't even heard of Stevens until reading your post. I've heard of both McMorrow and of El-Sayed, probably because of Wonkette. Stevens would be better than any repub as Senator, but based on the videos you posted, I agree - she doesn't inspire. McMorrow and El-Sayed do inspire.

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Lynn Fuller's avatar

Mallory is awesome, her speeches thrilling! The country needs more leaders like her. Schumer’s failure to recognize her talent and support her is political malpractice.

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Cateck's avatar

Did Schumer ask his imaginary republican friends who to endorse? That guy really needs to go. I like McMorrow but I like El-Sayed too. Is his name really that big of a negative in Michigan?

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belfryo's avatar

That was my question too. I mean it's Michigan. Doesn't Michigan have the largest Middle Eastern Muslim community outside of the Middle East? I would think that people had become well accustomed to Islamic names at this point, lol

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Suzie Greenburg's avatar

I thought Michigan was smart enough to not vote for Rump but here we are.

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belfryo's avatar

fuck. I forgot about that for a second.

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BrandoG's avatar

Is “gentlelady” a real term now?

I actually liked her unhinged meltdown on the House floor. Show some realness!

Beyond a certain point, fundraising has diminishing returns (Hillary and Kamala raised a ton, for all the good it did them). You need enough, and beyond enough, it doesn’t really help. The key is to connect to enough voters, and for those you can’t win, to at least not inspire them to vote against you. Besides that, I think whoever looks most like an outsider will have an advantage next year because voters are sick of anyone on the inside.

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Late Blooming's avatar

Hillary Clinton was the safe bet in '16 and look how that turned out, and it isn't even just in terms of electability that the safe bet often falls short. Joe Biden was the safe bet in '20, and while he won, his time in office was a mess and led directly back to Trump. I was a Bernie supporter both times, and while he was never going to be the safe choice, he could not have done worse than the ones who were. I say, go Mallory. If I lived in Michigan I'd vote for her.

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Linda1961 is woke and proud's avatar

Hillary won the popular vote. I know that it takes winning the undemocratic electoral college to win the presidency, but clearly she did something right. What did she do wrong? Not stopping Comey from breaking precedent and not stopping Putin from helping trump get just enough votes to "win" the electoral college. As for Biden, his time in office wasn't a mess, the mess was failing to pass the torch to his VP - Kamala Harris, to run in 2024. He insisted upon running for reelection in 2024, and most can agree THAT was a mess. Harris ended up running anyway, and even with a shortened campaign, almost pulled it off. Yeah, almost doesn't count with elections, but you are right - Biden's mess led to trump winning again.

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Late Blooming's avatar

She didn’t do anything wrong. Nominating her was wrong, considering that half the country already detested her. The only reason she was even competitive was that she was running against a loon. Even Ted Cruz would have wiped the floor with her. She’s also probably the one Democrat who could have lost that election. Had we nominated Martin O’Malley that year, he would have won for sure and Trump would be a distant memory by now.

I’m not really into long debates on the merits of the ‘16 Clinton debacle anymore, so I’ll just say that is my opinion and leave it at that.

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Gordon's avatar
6hEdited

Total agreement about JRB’s successful tenure 2000-04, and hubris regarding Campaign ‘04.

This following is all from memory; I humbly invite correction:

In the final days before that heartbreakingly sickness-inducing 2016 election night, HRC campaign, in a stunningly remarkable lack of leadership, on the advice of traditional Establishment pollster/consultant/vampire “experts” Mook & Penn (and backed up most regrettably by WJC) failed to fortify — via money for GOTV and local media saturation, and a few more appearances on the campaign trail — the traditional Dem strongholds of MI, WI, and OH. Instead they chased a fever-dream: the hallucinatory, entirely speculative last-minute effort to flip some already beyond margin-of-error Red states. The campaign lost the three by fewer than 100,000 votes combined in those “safely in-the bag” rust belt states.

What HRC did wrong:

At least a little effort in the rust belt during those final days likely would’ve rendered Comey and Putin irrelevant regarding the final outcome and might’ve saved us all that horrifying feeling in the pit of our collective stomach that night/following morning.

But, again: “experts.”

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Late Blooming's avatar

Mark Penn should be exiled. He has caused a tremendous amount of damage to the party.

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Linda1961 is woke and proud's avatar

Amen the that!

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Late Blooming's avatar

I’d add James Carville to that list as well.

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Linda1961 is woke and proud's avatar

Yes!

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Suzie Greenburg's avatar

She also had no penis. Say what you want, but there is indeed internalized misogyny, and you can see an example of it when someone says 'there's just something about her I don't like/ trust.'

It's because society is trained to not like or trust women. Women are trained to not like themselves or other women. The only time a woman is deemed trustworthy is when you tell children that if they are lost to find a woman, preferably one with children. Only mothers are trustworthy, you see.

Just ask Fantine and Cosette.

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Stephen Robinson's avatar

Yes, but if institutionalized misogyny is so ingrained it helped elect a fascist, then what good came from not acknowledging this -- especially in 2024 -- given the stakes?

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