I was never so happy to be wrong. I had all but given up on my state (WI) and resigned myself to watching a Hong victory party last night. Evidently enough people paused just long enough to see that there was no pathway forward with the far left fork in the road.
It was also a good night for outgoing Governor Evers and his legacy, helping his candidate over the finish line and validating his message.
And, yet again, though some will not want to hear it, it is a reminder that relying on young people in particular to turn out en masse and make a big difference is fool's gold. For all of the idealism and enthusiasm of the most faithful among them, too many are simply unreliable to match what they do to what they say and think.
So, it is a good morning for those with a left agenda but not an irrational one. Still, there is much work to do. Crowley needs to introduce himself on a larger scale -- an opportunity in some ways, but also something of a drain of his time and energy away from other necessary campaigning. He also must bring the factions on the left together and create a united front, not an easy task by any means. And after regrouping, the dark forces on the right will hit him hard, on every imaginable front -- and don't think that some subtle racism won't come into play by people and groups that DJT has only emboldened over the past decade to speak out and foment prejudice-based discord.
Nevertheless the pure spring water in Wisconsin tastes a little sweeter this morning. Enjoy the moment, but then roll up the sleeves and quickly make the campaign not only about Tiffany's extreme baggage and DJT's many failures, but also what viable game plan the Democrats have to make our lives better and retake the state legislature with the best opportunity to do so in a decade and a half. We are back in a game that we feared we had lost. Now let's go for the win.
Deutschmeister - great post, so well said. Happy for ya! Now let's see Hong & her supporters stay engaged and demonstrate their commitment for change by staying engaged & helping Crowley on to November
Taking over the State legislature has to be almost equal to electing Crowley. If electing Evers and Bashear show anything it's how little Dem governors can accomplish, as opposed to prevent, when they don't have at least one chamber of a state legislature.
You and me both! It’s really telling how bad it had to be for Evers, who’s not exactly out and about a lot (or exciting) to get behind Crowley like he did. And Hong way underperformed in Dane County, where she should have run up a lot more votes. Crowley’s Milwaukee results were not awesome but a lot of other factors at play there.
Like that he dropped out just as early voting stepped up and normies started paying more attention to the race. Had he never dropped out this would have been a 4-5 point win or better. And think of all those folks who voted without ever knowing about the anti-Thanksgiving and "proximity to whiteness" stuff.
Young people were never going to save us, except by accident. There is a wide gulf between what they say and what they do and they tend (in my experience) to be even more greedy (in certain ways) and more narcissistic than Boomers--at least when push comes to shove.
My impression of young people is that they're resigned to their fate. They know that Boomers, GenXers, and elder Millenials left them with a shitty future so why bother. I think the majority of them are just biding their time until the majority of those generations die off. Some, but not enough I fear, are getting involved.
Thanks for referring to my excellent and effective, liberal, progressive county executive as a "mainstream liberal" rather than a "moderate" as I keep seeing. He has overseen an increase in taxation and strong, effective improvements in public services in Milwaukee County. He had a voting record in the state assembly to the left of the average Democrat in the body. Moderate perhaps compared to Francesca Hong, but that is not a sensible benchmark. David Crowley has been an effective, pragmatic liberal executive for my county, the most left-leaning county executive we have had in decades, and also the best and most effective. Hopefully he will become governor and do just as well.
To be fair, the previous county executive, Chris Abele, was better than many people give him credit for. Some of the initiatives Crowley has seen to fruition came from seeds planted while Abele was in office. Abele, though, was a true centrist and had a fiscally conservative (maybe almost anti-government) streak that kept him from doing much other than undoing a bit of Scott Walker's damage (both from his tenure as county executive and as governor). The improvements to public transit, parks and infrastructure have been notable. This was only possible because David Crowley understood the revenue side of the problem had to be fixed to move forward.
"National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya, a Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ally, made the rounds on a host of conservative media platforms yesterday to further disseminate this week’s moral panic."
Last August, Nick Catoggio wrote the following:
"Saving Americans from their own terrible choices again, after they doubled down on the president [in 2024], feels a bit like restarting a dying patient’s heart only to have him immediately light up a cigarette. At some point, you’re under no further obligation to restrain someone who’s bent on destroying himself from doing so.
"Voters didn’t make a “mistake” this time by electing Trump. They watched him mismanage the pandemic and plot a coup in broad daylight, and they chose to bring him back. Nor were they blindsided when Kennedy, one of his most prominent surrogates on the trail, landed in the administration. The president’s campaign was quite enthusiastic about RFK’s program and how it might be implemented.
"Populists wanted Lysenkoism, and imbeciles were willing to tolerate it as a trade-off for cheaper groceries. So what’s left to talk about?...Let them learn their lesson the hard way."
"Populists wanted Lysenkoism, and imbeciles were willing to tolerate it as a trade-off for cheaper groceries. So what’s left to talk about?...Let them learn their lesson the hard way."
Here's the thing: cheaper groceries were NEVER coming. NEVER. Most of these "kitchen sink" reasons for voting for Team R (or Team D) are a cover for the real reasons (partisanship, tribalism, various prejudices).
I don't disagree with you in the main, but it's also true there are plenty of idiots out there that really believe POTUS can flip a switch and make the price of goods cheaper.
The vast majority of Americans are economically illiterate. Another huge chunk who actually have not the slightest clue as to how things (in general) actually work...and a huge overlap in the Venn diagram between the two.
This sort of thing is one of the reasons I wish when we had "debates" that they simply spent more time on fewer topics.
With more time it would be easier for a politician to just go scorched earth honesty sometime when encountering this kind of thing and say "We can make things more affordable (as a percentage of your income) slowly over time through economic policy and I look forward to explaining why my policies would be better at doing so... but no one can magically bring prices down quickly and durably without wrecking the economy. Anyone who says they can is either lying or doesn't know what they are talking about. For example, my opponent. Please tell us sir how you will reduce prices? I cede the rest of my time to watch him flail explaining exactly how he will do the impossible or admit he is trying to fool you."
Not even a trade off for cheaper groceries, but for stoking hate at Muslims and foreigners. They noted the way he lied about the dangerousness of the virus, but forgave him that because of the dispensation to be their worst selves.
Yes, Trump tells his voters that it's okay to hate, that it's good to be racist. That's why they vote for him. Talking about cheaper groceries is just cover.
Also, reactionaries wanted an autocrat to carry out their cultural counterrevolution - and they applauded him when he deceived voters about his connection to their scheme.
I'm very happy to see Wisconsin Democrats get the memo and find the most electable candidate out there especially after suffering under 15+ years of Scott Walker's rule and legacy. Now let's beat Tom Tiffany and win back the Wisconsin Legislature.
I can't figure that guy out. He's broke. His company is in shambles. He's got all kinds of judgements against him. He's treated like the loon he is by everyone. I don't see him palling around with Trump anymore. He runs for office and gets beaten really badly.
How's he paying the rent? Why doesn't he just slink off somewhere and live quietly like so many people Trump has ruined?
This is just another example of mainstream elites rigging the system by expressing their support for candidates whose views and positions align with their preferred views and positions.
Me too Mike. At the national level I keep hoping the GOP loses a few more House members so Jefferies can take over the gavel before the new House members are sworn in....just so they will be sworn in.
Yeah, but the Courts take time. Dragging out a legal battle in the Courts gives political cover to the VP while delaying the Senators taking their seats. Remember Norm Coleman's challenge of Al Franken? That cost the Democrats 8 months of a Democratic vote.
Another ugly thought. Maybe JD will be too busy being the actual president, can't figure out who he trust as his VP so hasn't appointed one, and Cheif Justice Roberts will give the new Senators their oath of office.
I'm just trying to keep up my excitement about how my beloved Tigers have clawed their way out of the trap they set for themselves in May, and are now going to mow down Cleveland, Minnesota, and Chicago (no offense to the Pope) and take the American League Central.
I love when Bill quotes words from old Poets and when he brings up old historical facts that I never new, and Bill so perfectly gives them to us right in the middle of talking about today’s issues-
I think people like Bill posses a dying art - How many people on Fox, NewsMax or Joe Rogan read poetry or can talk historical facts in this moment??
People want fighters and the majority of the centrist and progressive wings agree on most things. Your colleague Sarah Longwell’s focus groups illustrated that. So what you said here is right on” So it turns out you can be a centrist and for change. You can be a moderate and a fighter. You can be competent and combative. Not a bad model for other Democrats.”
People hate Chuck Schumer not because of his centrist vs. progressive views (he might be for Medicare for All: who knows?) but because he keeps getting steamrolled by Trump. His version of fighting is leading a bunch of colleages in a chant of defiance while angrily waving their canes and walkers in the air.
Isn't it "strongly worded memo?" He got with the times, you know, finally watching Office Space last year and realizing memos were the future of communication.
The winning democrats practice active listening and with all their potential constituents. That skill and an extended major grass roots effort are the big keys to their success.
I think you're right. There are congressional districts in very red areas where their elected officials never even show up. Why would they bother? They're going to win by Saddam Hussein margins, right?
It's the smart Democrats that jump in the car, put up a few flyers, let people know they're running, rent the Community Center for a couple of hours and listen to people who can win these races. The numbers of voters are small in rural districts. It's actually possible to meet with constituents. And if those candidates sound normal, they can win.
The Wisconsin result was, I must say, a great relief to me (and bad cess to the Republicans who funneled dirty money into the state to promote Hong). Crowley seems to be an excellent candidate, as well as an immense relief.
Now let's hope progressive voters don't go all Susan Sarandon and sit out November in hopes of creating some kind of Great Leap Forward by turning the state over to a Trumpista madman.
As for the polls: I must retreat into the cliche that the only one that matters happens on election day. In any case, the kind of effort and detail that must go into creating a reliable poll aren't compatible with the requirements of something as volatile as political opinion polling, especially in a time when so many of the basic assumptions have gone, as my father might rudely have put it in one of his less scholarly moods, "arse over tits."
We don’t need more centrists! They are Republican-lite. They have failed us. Yes, I’ll vote Blue no matter who, but my heart is with true progressives. Nothing will really change for the better without them.
I was never so happy to be wrong. I had all but given up on my state (WI) and resigned myself to watching a Hong victory party last night. Evidently enough people paused just long enough to see that there was no pathway forward with the far left fork in the road.
It was also a good night for outgoing Governor Evers and his legacy, helping his candidate over the finish line and validating his message.
And, yet again, though some will not want to hear it, it is a reminder that relying on young people in particular to turn out en masse and make a big difference is fool's gold. For all of the idealism and enthusiasm of the most faithful among them, too many are simply unreliable to match what they do to what they say and think.
So, it is a good morning for those with a left agenda but not an irrational one. Still, there is much work to do. Crowley needs to introduce himself on a larger scale -- an opportunity in some ways, but also something of a drain of his time and energy away from other necessary campaigning. He also must bring the factions on the left together and create a united front, not an easy task by any means. And after regrouping, the dark forces on the right will hit him hard, on every imaginable front -- and don't think that some subtle racism won't come into play by people and groups that DJT has only emboldened over the past decade to speak out and foment prejudice-based discord.
Nevertheless the pure spring water in Wisconsin tastes a little sweeter this morning. Enjoy the moment, but then roll up the sleeves and quickly make the campaign not only about Tiffany's extreme baggage and DJT's many failures, but also what viable game plan the Democrats have to make our lives better and retake the state legislature with the best opportunity to do so in a decade and a half. We are back in a game that we feared we had lost. Now let's go for the win.
Deutschmeister - great post, so well said. Happy for ya! Now let's see Hong & her supporters stay engaged and demonstrate their commitment for change by staying engaged & helping Crowley on to November
Taking over the State legislature has to be almost equal to electing Crowley. If electing Evers and Bashear show anything it's how little Dem governors can accomplish, as opposed to prevent, when they don't have at least one chamber of a state legislature.
Too many Ds do seem to regard securing the top office as the be all and end all. It isn’t. It means nothing if there’s no bench.
Yep. Karl Rove spent a lot of time focusing on the smaller, more local elections, to build the GOP. The Dems need to do that as well.
Evers has been awful on many fronts.
You need to name them as a serious statement in times like this need to be explained.
💯
You and me both! It’s really telling how bad it had to be for Evers, who’s not exactly out and about a lot (or exciting) to get behind Crowley like he did. And Hong way underperformed in Dane County, where she should have run up a lot more votes. Crowley’s Milwaukee results were not awesome but a lot of other factors at play there.
Like that he dropped out just as early voting stepped up and normies started paying more attention to the race. Had he never dropped out this would have been a 4-5 point win or better. And think of all those folks who voted without ever knowing about the anti-Thanksgiving and "proximity to whiteness" stuff.
Young people were never going to save us, except by accident. There is a wide gulf between what they say and what they do and they tend (in my experience) to be even more greedy (in certain ways) and more narcissistic than Boomers--at least when push comes to shove.
And we (Boomers) made them that way.
My impression of young people is that they're resigned to their fate. They know that Boomers, GenXers, and elder Millenials left them with a shitty future so why bother. I think the majority of them are just biding their time until the majority of those generations die off. Some, but not enough I fear, are getting involved.
Two people have reasons to celebrate this morning: David Crowley and Ann Selzer.
Selzer's polling in November of 2024 showing Harris narrowly beating Trump in Iowa looks pretty good compared with this summer's polling in Wisconsin.
Thanks for referring to my excellent and effective, liberal, progressive county executive as a "mainstream liberal" rather than a "moderate" as I keep seeing. He has overseen an increase in taxation and strong, effective improvements in public services in Milwaukee County. He had a voting record in the state assembly to the left of the average Democrat in the body. Moderate perhaps compared to Francesca Hong, but that is not a sensible benchmark. David Crowley has been an effective, pragmatic liberal executive for my county, the most left-leaning county executive we have had in decades, and also the best and most effective. Hopefully he will become governor and do just as well.
Thank you for talking about Crowley’s record and how his choices have impacted your life for the better.
To be fair, the previous county executive, Chris Abele, was better than many people give him credit for. Some of the initiatives Crowley has seen to fruition came from seeds planted while Abele was in office. Abele, though, was a true centrist and had a fiscally conservative (maybe almost anti-government) streak that kept him from doing much other than undoing a bit of Scott Walker's damage (both from his tenure as county executive and as governor). The improvements to public transit, parks and infrastructure have been notable. This was only possible because David Crowley understood the revenue side of the problem had to be fixed to move forward.
"National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya, a Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ally, made the rounds on a host of conservative media platforms yesterday to further disseminate this week’s moral panic."
Last August, Nick Catoggio wrote the following:
"Saving Americans from their own terrible choices again, after they doubled down on the president [in 2024], feels a bit like restarting a dying patient’s heart only to have him immediately light up a cigarette. At some point, you’re under no further obligation to restrain someone who’s bent on destroying himself from doing so.
"Voters didn’t make a “mistake” this time by electing Trump. They watched him mismanage the pandemic and plot a coup in broad daylight, and they chose to bring him back. Nor were they blindsided when Kennedy, one of his most prominent surrogates on the trail, landed in the administration. The president’s campaign was quite enthusiastic about RFK’s program and how it might be implemented.
"Populists wanted Lysenkoism, and imbeciles were willing to tolerate it as a trade-off for cheaper groceries. So what’s left to talk about?...Let them learn their lesson the hard way."
And there you have it.
"Populists wanted Lysenkoism, and imbeciles were willing to tolerate it as a trade-off for cheaper groceries. So what’s left to talk about?...Let them learn their lesson the hard way."
Here's the thing: cheaper groceries were NEVER coming. NEVER. Most of these "kitchen sink" reasons for voting for Team R (or Team D) are a cover for the real reasons (partisanship, tribalism, various prejudices).
I don't disagree with you in the main, but it's also true there are plenty of idiots out there that really believe POTUS can flip a switch and make the price of goods cheaper.
The vast majority of Americans are economically illiterate. Another huge chunk who actually have not the slightest clue as to how things (in general) actually work...and a huge overlap in the Venn diagram between the two.
Assuming idiocy is a realtively safe assumption.
This sort of thing is one of the reasons I wish when we had "debates" that they simply spent more time on fewer topics.
With more time it would be easier for a politician to just go scorched earth honesty sometime when encountering this kind of thing and say "We can make things more affordable (as a percentage of your income) slowly over time through economic policy and I look forward to explaining why my policies would be better at doing so... but no one can magically bring prices down quickly and durably without wrecking the economy. Anyone who says they can is either lying or doesn't know what they are talking about. For example, my opponent. Please tell us sir how you will reduce prices? I cede the rest of my time to watch him flail explaining exactly how he will do the impossible or admit he is trying to fool you."
Not even a trade off for cheaper groceries, but for stoking hate at Muslims and foreigners. They noted the way he lied about the dangerousness of the virus, but forgave him that because of the dispensation to be their worst selves.
Yes, Trump tells his voters that it's okay to hate, that it's good to be racist. That's why they vote for him. Talking about cheaper groceries is just cover.
Also, reactionaries wanted an autocrat to carry out their cultural counterrevolution - and they applauded him when he deceived voters about his connection to their scheme.
I'm very happy to see Wisconsin Democrats get the memo and find the most electable candidate out there especially after suffering under 15+ years of Scott Walker's rule and legacy. Now let's beat Tom Tiffany and win back the Wisconsin Legislature.
My hypothesis: Milwaukee is 38% black. Black voters came to the rescue the democratic party from itself once again.
This! ☝️
As I was reading about Mike Lindell, I was thinking, "I wonder if he's admitted he was beaten."
Of course not.
I can't figure that guy out. He's broke. His company is in shambles. He's got all kinds of judgements against him. He's treated like the loon he is by everyone. I don't see him palling around with Trump anymore. He runs for office and gets beaten really badly.
How's he paying the rent? Why doesn't he just slink off somewhere and live quietly like so many people Trump has ruined?
Self-delusion and, having lost everything, what more is there to lose!?
Look at Giuliani...there's a long, long way to fall and, like a addict, they seem to think "there's just a chance" they might flip the script.
Trump playbook.
I hope he does as much for himself as he did trying to save Tina Peters from being thrown in jail.
This is just another example of mainstream elites rigging the system by expressing their support for candidates whose views and positions align with their preferred views and positions.
I'm more concerned with the Democrats' ability to fill the new seats they win in the face of false fraud accusations.
Me too Mike. At the national level I keep hoping the GOP loses a few more House members so Jefferies can take over the gavel before the new House members are sworn in....just so they will be sworn in.
That would go a very long way in the House.
It's my understanding that the VP swears in new Senators. What are the odds that JD winds up being very concerned about "fraud" in a few races?
That's an ugly thought. Maybe the states certifying their election will have some weight with the courts.
Yeah, but the Courts take time. Dragging out a legal battle in the Courts gives political cover to the VP while delaying the Senators taking their seats. Remember Norm Coleman's challenge of Al Franken? That cost the Democrats 8 months of a Democratic vote.
Another ugly thought. Maybe JD will be too busy being the actual president, can't figure out who he trust as his VP so hasn't appointed one, and Cheif Justice Roberts will give the new Senators their oath of office.
I'm just trying to keep up my excitement about how my beloved Tigers have clawed their way out of the trap they set for themselves in May, and are now going to mow down Cleveland, Minnesota, and Chicago (no offense to the Pope) and take the American League Central.
The Phils are finding out that it's hard to win games when you don't score. Ano shut-out last night.
An incredibly valid concern!
I love when Bill quotes words from old Poets and when he brings up old historical facts that I never new, and Bill so perfectly gives them to us right in the middle of talking about today’s issues-
I think people like Bill posses a dying art - How many people on Fox, NewsMax or Joe Rogan read poetry or can talk historical facts in this moment??
Many people on Fox, NewsMax, along with Joe Rogan, can't read.
Rogan is a living LLM.
People want fighters and the majority of the centrist and progressive wings agree on most things. Your colleague Sarah Longwell’s focus groups illustrated that. So what you said here is right on” So it turns out you can be a centrist and for change. You can be a moderate and a fighter. You can be competent and combative. Not a bad model for other Democrats.”
People hate Chuck Schumer not because of his centrist vs. progressive views (he might be for Medicare for All: who knows?) but because he keeps getting steamrolled by Trump. His version of fighting is leading a bunch of colleages in a chant of defiance while angrily waving their canes and walkers in the air.
Don't forget his "strongly worded letters"! They're a key arrow in his quiver of useless "weapons".
Isn't it "strongly worded memo?" He got with the times, you know, finally watching Office Space last year and realizing memos were the future of communication.
Yes, I stand corrected! (I still have an email address that's .net! LOL!)
It might have something to do with AIPAC as well.
The bar is low. Be normal. Sound normal. Suggest doing normal things.
Any Democrat that can do that will win.
A lot can't, but there may be enough that can to turn this government over to sanity.
The winning democrats practice active listening and with all their potential constituents. That skill and an extended major grass roots effort are the big keys to their success.
I think you're right. There are congressional districts in very red areas where their elected officials never even show up. Why would they bother? They're going to win by Saddam Hussein margins, right?
It's the smart Democrats that jump in the car, put up a few flyers, let people know they're running, rent the Community Center for a couple of hours and listen to people who can win these races. The numbers of voters are small in rural districts. It's actually possible to meet with constituents. And if those candidates sound normal, they can win.
The Wisconsin result was, I must say, a great relief to me (and bad cess to the Republicans who funneled dirty money into the state to promote Hong). Crowley seems to be an excellent candidate, as well as an immense relief.
Now let's hope progressive voters don't go all Susan Sarandon and sit out November in hopes of creating some kind of Great Leap Forward by turning the state over to a Trumpista madman.
As for the polls: I must retreat into the cliche that the only one that matters happens on election day. In any case, the kind of effort and detail that must go into creating a reliable poll aren't compatible with the requirements of something as volatile as political opinion polling, especially in a time when so many of the basic assumptions have gone, as my father might rudely have put it in one of his less scholarly moods, "arse over tits."
There are enough reasons to be critical of Thanksgiving without playing the racist/imperialist card. Start with the menu.
The greasy fingers of Big Turkey behind it all? 🤔
Re: "Fox News’s Martha MacCallum asked Bhattacharya."
Yep. That's where he goes, Fox News, to be interviewed by someone whose job it is to make him look good.
And those millions of viewers will come away thinking (or be reinforced in thinking) those COVID-19 vaccines are dangerous.
How I wish there was some way to hold Fox News accountable for all this crap they pump out.
post on twitter :-
*Abdul wins by 15k votes*
Media: Devastatingly close. He has to become more centrist now.
*Hong loses by 3k votes*
Media: ITS JOEVER FOR THE LEFT. COLLAPSE IS IMMINENT. FULL CENTRIST MANDATE.
[sighs]
We don’t need more centrists! They are Republican-lite. They have failed us. Yes, I’ll vote Blue no matter who, but my heart is with true progressives. Nothing will really change for the better without them.