“It is vain to do with more what can be done with fewer.”
–William of Occam
You must be logged in to post a comment.
BY: Air Slash
IN: Weekend Open Thread
BY: Air Slash
IN: Weekend Open Thread
BY: harrydoby
IN: Weekend Open Thread
BY: Duke Cox
IN: Weekend Open Thread
BY: Maeton Jameson
IN: New Democrats Look to Challenge in Historically-Republican District
BY: harrydoby
IN: Weekend Open Thread
BY: Marla Robbinson
IN: Weekend Open Thread
BY: harrydoby
IN: Weekend Open Thread
BY: harrydoby
IN: Weekend Open Thread
BY: JohnInDenver
IN: Friday Open Thread
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay in the loop with regular updates!
War for Public Opinion: Dems are Over-performing by 15% in Special Elections.
From Heather Cox-Richardson:
A New Democratic Playbook
Winning by Answering America's Call
This is interesting. I don't know the source of the raw data.
Seriously? Dude, I hate to keep doing this, but if you don't know the source, couldn't it wait? This looks like propaganda, it could've been generated on Grok for all we know, but what's presented here certainly lacks context and the headline cries out for the probing question "Sez who?".
Amen …
Given the MANY studies showing increased partisanship in Congress and the tighter range among Republicans than Democrats, I don't have much faith in a pretty picture without a source or definition of "Right" and "Left."
A quick search for the term "extracted attitude network" finds a reference to Adrian Lüders, Dino Carpentras, Michael Quayle. "Attitude networks as intergroup realities: Using network‐modelling to research attitude‐identity relationships in polarized political contexts" British Journal of Social Psychology. July 2023.
Their participants:
Good find – it's in the British Journal of Social Psychology. They have a good reputation (Grok):
I couldn't find the part listing the self-identified political party (full study here). I looked because those percentages you list show it heavily weighted to Democrats.
I don't find the absolute differences that surprising because the Republican party is a cult and any beliefs are fine as long as Trump is your god. While the Democratic party is based on ideas and so by definition will allow for less divergence of those ideas.
David seems to feel the need to chime in every day lately with some obscure, complex study that claims to prove that Democrats are doing it all wrong. It is getting tiresome.
Guessing the research did not ask if there was a diversity of opinion over goons wrestling a duly elected U.S. Senator to the ground at a Kristi Gnomester press conference: https://www.nbcnews.com/video/sen-alex-padilla-forcibly-removed-from-noem-press-conference-241463365681
I hear your frustration, and I understand why my posts might feel like they’re piling on. But let’s be clear: if Kamala Harris had won against Donald Trump, you’d have a strong case for dismissing these critiques as overblown. If Trump hadn’t swept every battleground state, leaving Democrats reeling from a near-total electoral collapse, we could perhaps call it a tough cycle and move forward. But that’s not our reality. The stark truth – a resounding defeat across key regions – points to a deeper issue. Dismissing my posts, however complex, risks missing the bigger picture: our current approach isn’t just faltering; it’s failing us.
Even in a different scenario, the red flags persist. Had Kamala lost to a traditionally qualified Republican – like a governor with a solid record or a senator with wide appeal – your irritation might carry some weight. A close loss to a strong opponent could be framed as a tactical error, not a systemic crisis. But losing to Trump, a polarizing figure with a well-known history, isn’t a minor misstep. It’s a wake-up call. Voters didn’t just reject our candidate; they rejected our messaging, our priorities, and our assumptions about what connects. We can’t keep pretending small adjustments will reverse this tide.
The studies I’m highlighting, however intricate, underscore a critical reality: Democrats won’t win future elections unless we make fundamental changes. Our coalition is unraveling – working-class voters, minorities, and young people are slipping away. We’ve leaned too heavily on coastal elitism, policy jargon, and moralizing rhetoric that alienates potential allies. The battleground state rout isn’t an anomaly; it’s a verdict. We’re losing touch with the heart of the country, and sticking to the same playbook will only deepen our losses.
It’s time for a bold overhaul. We need to rebuild from the ground up – embrace economic populism, streamline our message, and focus on kitchen-table issues over niche cultural battles. We must meet voters where they are, not where we want them to be. My posts might feel relentless, but they reflect a party wrestling with its own obsolescence. Let’s channel that urgency into transformative reform. If we don’t, we’re not just risking another defeat – we’re risking irrelevance.
Great. Now scroll back up to ParkHill's first post of the day and see what those numbers say. For young people, 47's underwater on universities; for the working class he's underwater on the economy and trade; for minorities he's underwater on immigration and deportation. Even the headline – if Dems can't win future elections, why are they overperforming by 15% in special elections?
Agree with all that. But winning against Trump's policies in actions only works when Trump is President. It got Biden elected. It got us great results in the mid terms.
But Trump out of office, voters turn back to the Republicans. That's why Harris lost, Trump was 4 years in the rearview mirror.
From FDR to Reagan Democrats owned the federal government. Eisenhower, Nixon, & Ford administered as Democrat-lite. We mostly owned Congress. We need to rethink things to get that clear majority again.
I for one appreciate your calling for an overhaul. I think I have expressed my position that this new "abundance" agenda, which is just trickle down economics repackaged as deregulation, is not going to work. The party should definitely embrace economic populism, and the message should be that we are going to tax billionaires out of existence.
We need messaging like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hphgHi6FD8k
I'm aware of some of the corrupt practices of Huey Long, but this is the message we need.
Wow, it's been a long time since I heard it, but Huey had the rizz!
Indeed. HL was gifted in oratory and had a great message. Interesting to contemplate where he might have gone had not corruption and a bullet brought him down.
One of the favorite stories that I heard was that he had engineers lower the height in the design of the bridge across the Mississippi at Baton Rouge so that larger ships would not be able to continue upstream, which advantaged shipping from BR to the south. I don't really think that was a good idea, but it's just so bold.
David, you're confusing the folks in here with historical facts. Harris lost against a convicted felon which attempted to a coup in 2021.
These good people cannot accept the fact that the dogs aren't eating the dogfood which the Democrats nationally are offering.
They point to successes in low-turnout special elections. The party out of power historically wins these elections. Think Glenn Youngkin and the really close call Phil Murphy had in 2021.
The problem is that in presidential races, the turnout explodes and the Dems lose because – altogether now – the dogs aren't eating thhe dogfood Dems are serving.
They cannot accept the fact that voters at large were uninterested in Kamala Harris' Politics of Joy (whatever the hell that meant) when Trump was offering cheap gasoline and cheap eggs. Defending Hamas and fixating on pronouns were not going to appeal to the vaste majority of voters who don't really care about those things..
But by all means, double down on what you did last year, folks. JD Vance needs your help in 2028.
I don't know who "the folks in here" are, but your revisionist view of Harris "defending Hamas" is HILARIOUS.
Kamala Harris did not herself defend Hamas but she was saddled with the members of the Odd Squad and their defense of Hamas.
Example: she looked at Josh Shapiro (who has been a vocal critic of Netanyahu) as a running mate but the Squad issued a Fatwah (presumably because Shapiro only crticized Netanyahu and not the entire state of Israel) so Harris caved and went with Coach Walz who turned out to be a disaster.
thank you
I had a great Dr. visit at the VA this morning. My doctor appointment was on time. I only had to wait four minutes for a walk-in lab. Everybody at the VA was happy. I know Sergeant Dan wants everybody to think that the VA is in terrible shape, but it's not. Poor Sergeant Dan. Just like the majority of the losers in the Democrat party, Sergeant Dan is happiest when he can spread discontent.
Good that you had a positive experience.
Worth mentioning: the VA layoffs have not yet happened.
Without knowing who will be going away, we don't yet know what consequences will be. Thus far, impacts have mostly been from not hiring. Expectations among the VA employees are pretty clear
I guess we will see what happens after next month.
Good to know your daddy didn't fuck over the VA. Yet.
I had a great Dr. visit at the VA this morning. My doctor appointment was on time. I only had to wait four minutes for a walk-in lab. Everybody at the VA was happy. I know Sergeant Dan wants everybody to think that the VA is in terrible shape, but it's not. Poor Sergeant Dan. Just like the majority of the losers in the Democrat party, Sergeant Dan is happiest when he can spread discontent.
Nice! I trust all's well for you health-wise.
Now to find someone to teach you how to internet. 😀
Doing well at 75.
So, at least the IQ is pretty much still hanging in there close to the same . . .
Has the Trump administration "jumped the shark" with their manhandling of a US Senator in California? Nah.
No they just jumped a loser.
Pear, that's pathetic.
He’s never been the sharpest bulb in the laundry basket.
He has been posting here a long time and has never escaped the suspicion about his microcephalic limitation.
They don't call him Pathetic Pear for nothing.
duplicate. please delete
You do know that you could be jumped like that too. But no one would give a shit if you were thrown to the ground, ziptied and renditioned. If you don't think that's bad, well then you truly are beyond hope. As for what a loser is, you have to look in the mirror every morning and see one.
Colorado's House delegation voted on party lines on a Recission bill, with Republicans supporting clawback of money on a variety of programs. Among them: The Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
"Rural radio and tv stations that receive at least half of their total direct revenue from CPB funding" includes one in Colorado: radio station KRZA in Alamosa..
If the Senate agrees before July 18, the money will be back in the US Treasury and the stations will be figuring out what operations and programs will be cut.
Gov. Newsom may be on to a good idea — "Donor" states like California withhold federal tax receipts and use it to backfill the money Trump is withholding from the states. Colorado, unsurprisingly, is among the "donor" states to the tune of $1.7 billion
Wanna-be Dictator. Josh Marshall at TPM:
I continue to wonder if the OD will militarize his appearance at his "Tinpot Parade". How can he resist? Maybe he sees his blue suit and red tie as a uniform since so many of his minions wear it.
America is experiencing a litigation disaster tourism Golden Age. That Lindell trial in federal court is hilarious!
"We are Not going away". TPM Again:
What am I supposed to take from her statement? I have to watch as they dismantle democracy covered by racism? If I don't they will what put me in a camp in a foreign country? Am I already marked because of the DOJ reviewing voter records? Do I have have anything to lose when they are promising a hell?