Midterm Elections 2: Surfing the Wave?

[Audrey2]

2 hours ago, MarblesMom said:

No kidding.

Not only was there not a PPE, it takes TWO stamps to mail it back in here.  People have been posting like crazy on FB to let voters know. 

Oregon doesn't do postage paid envelopes either. We are an entirely vote by mail state. There are many ballot collection boxes in my area, usually at libraries and town/city halls, so you can turn in your ballot without paying postage. It's not by precinct, so if a location is more convenient, you may turn your ballot in there, as long as it's the correct county.

[GreyhoundFan]

"These Republicans are misleading voters about our Obamacare fact checks"

Spoiler

Somewhere, somehow, a memo must have gone out to Republican lawmakers who voted for the American Health Care Act (AHCA), the Republican bill to repeal and replace Obamacare: If you are attacked for undermining protections for people with existing health problems, jab back by saying the claim got Four Pinocchios from The Washington Post.

That’s not true. Republicans are twisting an unrelated fact check and are misleading voters. We have found at least seven politicians who have done this.

Rep. Peter J. Roskam (Illinois’s 6th District): In a debate on Oct. 22, he said: “Sean [Casten] has falsely accused me of being against protecting people with preexisting conditions and that was fact-checked by The Washington Post, who gave that four Pinocchios."

Rep. Rodney Davis (Illinois’s 13th District): In a debate on Oct. 18, he said: “The lies about preexisting condition coverage being taken away have been scored a Four Pinocchio by The Washington Post. Read the bill. In the bill, it specifically says, ‘Nothing in this bill shall allow insurance companies to deny anyone coverage for preexisting conditions.’”

Rep. Mike Kelly (Pennsylvania’s 16th District): In a debate on Oct. 8, he said: “The other thing, listen, that is unbelievable when you talk about preexisting disease or conditions. The New York Post [sic] gave that a Four Pinocchio that it was absolutely false. We have always kept preexisting conditions in there. … Watch your nose that if you keep talking this way, that nose is going to be go the whole way out the back. If you could just stick to the truth, it’ll make a big difference.”

Rep. Erik Paulsen (Minnesota’s 3rd District): In a debate on Oct. 22, he said: “We guaranteed in language — it was given Four Pinocchios to anyone who claims that preexisting conditions was not covered by the nonpartisan fact check in The Washington Post — it covers preexisting conditions. There is a specific sentence in the legislation to make sure no insurance would be able to deny that.”

Rep. John Faso (New York’s 19th District): In a Sept. 24 news release, the campaign displayed Four Pinocchios: “Claim: Faso voted to take health care away from constituents with pre-existing conditions. Rating: False. A Washington Post Fact Checker Analysis gave this claim Four Pinocchios.”

Rep. Jeff Denham (California’s 10th District): An ad sponsored by the Congressional Leadership Fund displayed Four Pinocchios and declared: “The ads attacking Jeff Denham? Independent fact-checkers say the charges aren’t true. Denham’s vote does not change the guarantee of coverage for those with preexisting conditions. Why the lies?”

Rep. Dave Brat (Virginia’s 7th District): In an Oct. 15 debate, he said: “Her [Abigail Spanberger’s] ads, which are running today, she got Four Pinocchios for the lies on my votes on preexisting conditions.”

There’s a slight difference in the references made by the first six lawmakers and the one by Brat, which we will explain below.

The Facts

Health care is a complicated topic. We find that the more complex an issue is, the more susceptible it is to misleading claims by politicians. Fact checks are intended to expose misleading rhetoric, but now these politicians are using fact checks to mislead voters even more.

In sum, the first six lawmakers are referring to a fact check that: a) focused on how many people had preexisting conditions, not whether the bill harmed them; b) was published before the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office issued a critical report about the possible impact on people with preexisting conditions if the bill they supported had become law.

Several lawmakers referred to a sentence in the AHCA. Rep. Davis even misquotes it as: “Nothing in this bill shall allow insurance companies to deny anyone coverage for preexisting conditions.”

Actually, the sentence said: “Nothing in this Act shall be construed as permitting health insurance issuers to limit access to health coverage for individuals with preexisting conditions.”

This sentence was mostly a public-relations exercise, but notice the difference? It says “limit access to health coverage,” not “deny coverage” as Davis claimed. Everyone has “access” to buying a Tesla, but it makes a difference whether you can afford to buy it.

The CBO later concluded that states that took advantage of certain waivers in the bill could have blown up their individual insurance markets, resulting in spiraling costs for people with preexisting conditions. Moreover, the agency said, the bill did not provide enough funding for states to aid people who could not afford insurance.

Contrary to usual practice, Republican leaders rushed the AHCA through the House without waiting for the budget office to make an assessment. The AHCA narrowly passed by a vote of 217 to 213 on May 4, 2017, with 20 Republicans voting against it, in part because of their uneasiness with the changes proposed for the preexisting-conditions provisions. That unease was confirmed when the critical report was published three weeks after the vote.

Let’s back up a moment and explain some of the nuances of the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, and the Republican replacement.

Before the ACA, insurance companies could consider a person’s health status when determining premiums, sometimes making coverage too expensive, or even unavailable, if a person was already sick with a problem that required costly treatment. The ACA prohibited that, in part by requiring everyone to purchase insurance. The AHCA would have ended that mandate (and President Trump’s tax bill essentially did so).

Under ACA, there are two other key parts that work together to assist people with preexisting conditions: guaranteed issue, which means insurance companies must sell insurance to anyone who wants to buy it; and community rating, which means that people who buy similar insurance and are the same age pay similar prices. This made insurance affordable for people with, say, cancer. Before passage of the ACA, even minor health problems could have led an insurance company to deny coverage.

One AHCA waiver for states would have allowed insurance companies to take one year to consider a person’s health status when writing policies in the individual market if that person failed to maintain continuous coverage. Another waiver, also limited to the individual and small-group markets, would have allowed a state to replace a federal essential-benefits package with a more narrowly tailored package of benefits.

The theory was that removing sicker people from the markets and allowing policies with skimpier options would result in lower overall premiums. But the CBO was skeptical that it would work without harming people with preexisting conditions, in part because of inadequate funding.

It is worth recalling that during the debate over the Senate version of repeal, which did not pass, Trump said the House version was “mean” because it did not go far enough to protect individuals in the insurance markets. He urged the Senate to add more funds to cover people with preexisting conditions. “I want to see — and I speak from the heart — that’s what I want to see, I want to see a bill with heart,” Trump told “Fox & Friends” on June 25, 2017.

Trump’s second thoughts about the House legislation is certainly a problem. But the odd thing is that these lawmakers could counter a Democratic attack on the AHCA with a conservative critique of the ACA, arguing that the focus on preexisting conditions has undermined care because sicker patients pay the same premiums as everybody else. Some experts on the right have argued that the preexisting-condition requirements — in addition to raising premiums substantially — are already causing insurers to discriminate against sick people by restricting access to care. The AHCA could be cast as a step in the right direction to balance the situation.

Republicans also could have emphasized that the changes were limited to the individual market — 22 million individual and small-business policies sold on the exchanges or directly to consumers — which is one-seventh the size of the employment-based market where most Americans get their health insurance. But, frankly, Republicans rarely made that distinction when attacking Obamacare.

Instead, these lawmakers have chosen to hide behind our Pinocchios, falsely claiming that our fact checks showed the AHCA left that aspect of the law untouched. But that was not the point of the fact check they are citing.

The May 10, 2017, fact check concerned a tweet by Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) after the AHCA passed the House: “Once again, 129M people with pre-existing conditions could be denied coverage and insurers could charge sick people more money.” Most of the fact check was on whether 129 million people really would be affected — and we concluded that figure was much too high to be credible. As a secondary matter, we looked at the question of whether people with preexisting conditions would be denied coverage.

At the time, there was no Congressional Budget Office report on the legislation. As we noted, the office later found that in states that sought the waivers — estimated to contain about one-sixth of the U.S. population — people might end up being priced out of the market.

The core of the fact check, however, was about Harris’s estimate of 129 million, not the guarantee of coverage. So these lawmakers are cherry-picking the Pinocchio rating, even though the fact check mostly examined an entirely different issue — the 129 million number. They ignore the fact that the CBO showed that the AHCA did undermine the guarantee in states that sought waivers; they just conveniently pretend the critical analysis was never issued. (A spokesman for Kelly insisted he thought his opponent, Ron DiNicola, was referring to the 129 million figure because DiNicola said the AHCA would “marginalize and eliminate coverage for preexisting conditions.”)

Brat’s case is a bit different, though it also concerns preexisting conditions. He claimed that a Four-Pinocchio rating we gave to an ad attacking Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) on preexisting conditions also applied to an ad aired by his opponent, Abigail Spanberger. But Fitzpatrick was one of the few Republicans who voted against AHCA, whereas Brat voted for it. That obviously is a very different situation.

The Pinocchio Test

We asked these lawmakers whether they would be willing to withdraw the citation of the Pinocchios. None agreed to do so.

That’s dismaying. These lawmakers have been put on notice that they are peddling a falsehood — and politicians who care about their reputation should acknowledge they made a mistake and offer an apology.

Instead, they apparently believe it is politically advantageous to continue to deceive the voters in their districts. It is especially galling because many accuse their opponents of spreading lies — and then cry Four Pinocchios.

We urge news organizations in the districts to highlight the brazen misappropriation of our fact checks. Sunlight is sometimes the best disinfectant.

Four Pinocchios

 

[GreyhoundFan]

This is an excellent op-ed from Sully: "We saved 155 lives on the Hudson. Now let’s vote for leaders who’ll protect us all."

Spoiler

Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger is a safety expert, author and speaker on leadership and culture.

Nearly 10 years ago, I led 154 people to safety as the captain of US Airways Flight 1549, which suffered bird strikes, lost thrust in the engines and was forced to make an emergency landing on the Hudson River. Some called it “the Miracle on the Hudson.” But it was not a miracle. It was, in microcosm, an example of what is needed in emergencies — including the current national crisis — and what is possible when we serve a cause greater than ourselves.

On our famous flight, I witnessed the best in people who rose to the occasion. Passengers and crew worked together to help evacuate an elderly passenger and a mother with a 9-month-old child. New York Waterway took the initiative to radio their vessels to head toward us when they saw us approaching. This successful landing, in short, was the result of good judgment, experience, skill — and the efforts of many.

But as captain, I ultimately was responsible for everything that happened. Had even one person not survived, I would have considered it a tragic failure that I would have felt deeply for the rest of my life. To navigate complex challenges, all leaders must take responsibility and have a moral compass grounded in competence, integrity and concern for the greater good.

I am often told how calm I sounded speaking to passengers, crew and air traffic control during the emergency. In every situation, but especially challenging ones, a leader sets the tone and must create an environment in which all can do their best. You get what you project. Whether it is calm and confidence — or fear, anger and hatred — people will respond in kind. Courage can be contagious.

Today, tragically, too many people in power are projecting the worst. Many are cowardly, complicit enablers, acting against the interests of the United States, our allies and democracy; encouraging extremists at home and emboldening our adversaries abroad; and threatening the livability of our planet. Many do not respect the offices they hold; they lack — or disregard — a basic knowledge of history, science and leadership; and they act impulsively, worsening a toxic political environment.

As a result, we are in a struggle for who and what we are as a people. We have lost what in the military we call unit cohesion. The fabric of our nation is under attack, while shame — a timeless beacon of right and wrong — seems dead.

This is not the America I know and love. We’re better than this. Our ideals, shared facts and common humanity are what bind us together as a nation and a people. Not one of these values is a political issue, but the lack of them is.

This current absence of civic virtues is not normal, and we must not allow it to become normal. We must rededicate ourselves to the ideals, values and norms that unite us and upon which our democracy depends. We must be engaged and informed voters, and we must get our information from credible, reputable sources.

For the first 85 percent of my adult life, I was a registered Republican. But I have always voted as an American. And this critical Election Day, I will do so by voting for leaders committed to rebuilding our common values and not pandering to our basest impulses.

When I volunteered for military service during wartime, I took an oath that is similar to the one our elected officials take: “I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” I vowed to uphold this oath at the cost of my life, if necessary. We must expect no less from our elected officials. And we must hold accountable those who fail to defend our nation and all our people.

After Flight 1549, I realized that because of the sudden worldwide fame, I had been given a greater voice. I knew I could not walk away but had an obligation to use this bully pulpit for good and as an advocate for the safety of the traveling public. I feel that I now have yet another mission, as a defender of our democracy.

We cannot wait for someone to save us. We must do it ourselves. This Election Day is a crucial opportunity to again demonstrate the best in each of us by doing our duty and voting for leaders who are committed to the values that will unite and protect us. Years from now, when our grandchildren learn about this critical time in our nation’s history, they may ask if we got involved, if we made our voices heard. I know what my answer will be. I hope yours will be “yes.”

 

[formergothardite]

This house election hasn't gotten any publicity, but one of NC's House representatives Patrick McHenry has pretty much run unopposed for almost 8 years. His district goes from Asheville all the way to parts of Charlotte. Well he finally has a strong person running against him. I'm not sure if David Wilson Brown will be able to defeat him, but he is drumming up a lot of support. One big thing is that McHenry won't listen to his constituents. He is rude at the few town halls he had and when parents of children with special needs confronted him with how the health care programs McHenry supported hurt their children he essentially shrugged and said he didn't care. 

Wilson has going for him that he also is willing to criticize top democrats when he doesn't agree with them. People like that. Well McHenry decided to send out letters saying that Wilson was handpicked by Nancy Pelosi. During the debate they had Wilson pointed out that this was total fabrication and that he has never even met Pelosi. He asked McHenry to admit that this was false and apologize. McHenry sullenly refused to even respond. 

Fingers crossed that McHenry will lose! Also, yesterday a student brought a gun to school in Charlotte and killed another student. Right as the news was breaking McHenry was tweeting about being humbled that the NRA supports him and how he is all for gun rights. At some point one of his interns realized how bad this looked and pulled it but it was too late, people already saw it. 

[GreyhoundFan]

Birds of a feather: "Former Trump strategist Bannon to appear for Rep. Brat in polarized Va. district"

Spoiler

RICHMOND — Stephen K. Bannon will try to whip up support for Rep. Dave Brat (R) this weekend in a central Virginia congressional district where ties to President Trump’s controversial former chief strategist could cut both ways.

Bannon, who grew to prominence as leader of the hard-right Breitbart News Network, said he will screen a pro-Trump movie he has made — “Trump @War” — with the hope of inspiring the president’s supporters to help Brat get out the vote in the final days before Tuesday’s election.

The latest poll shows Brat, a former economics professor who won the seat four years ago after a shocking primary upset over then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R), virtually tied with Democrat Abigail Spanberger, a former CIA agent, in the race for the 7th Congressional District seat.

“I know how to get the base jacked up, and that’s what needs to be done here,” Bannon, who announced his plans on the “John Fredericks Show” on Tuesday, said afterward in an interview with The Washington Post.

Bannon has been traveling to numerous congressional battlegrounds with his movie, appearing under the auspices of a nonprofit organization that cannot by law coordinate with political campaigns. Details for his visit to central Virginia were still being worked out.

Bannon, who grew up in Richmond, said he might also appear in Virginia’s 2nd District, which encompasses a large swath of Hampton Roads, where Rep. Scott W. Taylor (R) faces Democrat Elaine Luria.

“This is just another example of the mainstream media distorting the facts as we have no idea what Steve Bannon may be trying to do to help our campaign,” Brat campaign spokeswoman Katey Price said. “By law, the campaign cannot coordinate with outside groups, but of course, that doesn’t make catchy headlines for The Washington Post.”

Taylor spokesman Scott Weldon said he knew nothing about Bannon’s plans.

“This visit from the mastermind of Dave Brat’s 2014 campaign, Alt-Right propagandist Stephen K. Bannon, shows just how much Brat’s reelection campaign is failing,” Jake Rubenstein, a spokesman for the Democratic Party of Virginia, said in an email. “Virginians have had enough of the Bannons and Brats. It is time for leadership, unity and results — not more divisiveness and fearmongering.”

Bannon helped Breitbart become an influential voice for anti-establishment Republicans, a faction that critics said courted white nationalists. Bannon once described Breitbart as “the platform for the alt-right,” a term that became associated with white separatism, anti-Semitism and racism. Breitbart’s editors insisted that the site did not endorse those views.

Breitbart helped Brat pull off his unlikely primary win over Cantor, lavishing coverage on the underdog who was attacking the majority leader’s efforts to overhaul immigration laws.

Bannon left Breitbart to become Trump’s campaign manager in August 2016 and went on to serve as chief strategist in the White House. He was forced out of the White House post after seven months, after encouraging and amplifying the president’s divisive remarks in the wake of a deadly white supremacist demonstration in Charlottesville. He rejoined Breitbart after that but left in January amid an uproar over comments he made about Trump and his family to author Michael Wolff for Wolff’s book “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.”

Brat cruised to a 15-point reelection win two years ago but faces a strong challenger in Spanberger, a former federal law enforcement agent and CIA operative whose résumé may appeal to swing voters and moderate Republicans turned off by Trump.

They are vying to represent a sprawling district that is a mix of Richmond suburbs and rural areas stretching from Culpeper County in the north to Nottoway County in the south. Trump, who has endorsed Brat, is popular in the rural areas, but he has greatly energized Democrats in the suburbs.

Republican strength in the district has been waning, with victory margins shrinking. Presidential candidate Mitt Romney won the 7th District by 11 percentage points in 2012. Trump won it by six points in 2016. In the 2017 governor’s race, Republican Ed Gillespie beat Democrat Ralph Northam there by less than four points.

Bannon said Virginia elections could play an outsize role because polls there close relatively early on Election Day.

“The polls close at 7 o’clock [in Virginia]. If NBC comes up and [Rep. Barbara] Comstock, Taylor and Brat are not doing well, that will affect votes out west,” he said. He mentioned three competitive Virginia races — in the 7th, 2nd and 10th, where Comstock (R) faces tough odds against state Sen. Jennifer Wexton (D) in a Northern Virginia swing district that is hostile to Trump.

Bannon’s movie, “Trump @War,” mixes snippets of prominent Democrats and Hollywood figures lambasting the president with footage of violent anti-fascist protesters — all set to a stirring action-movie soundtrack to suggest the country is one midterm away from mob rule.

He said the film is not meant to persuade independents or even Republican moderates. “The movie is literally a movie to motivate the base,” he told The Post.

 

[fraurosena]

Sweet Rufus. How scared must they be of those Native American votes?

 

[Audrey2]

I'm going to rant as a white woman, with no Native American ancestors, according to my brother's 23 and Me results (so, technically, I don't have a dog in this fight).

Oh hell no! First, we stole their land. Then, we stole their lifestyle and culture.  Next, we stole their children and forced them to go to boarding schools, to "Americanize" them (or some equally awful term.) I'm absolutely LIVID that we are taking their right to vote away from them! (If you could only know how furiously and hard I'm pounding the keyboard as I'm writing this. If there were something beyond being irate, furious, and livid, that's how I'm feeling now.)

[fraurosena]

@Audrey2, I'm not even an American and I'm furious about it. Would it be possible to take this to court? I know it won't help much for the midterms, which are less than a week away. But could they? And would the results (if in their favor --- and how could it not be) alter the results of the midterms?

This guy made me feel slightly better. 

 

[AuntK]

Despite the potential Russian interference, Republican vote suppression and other dirty tricks, I am encouraged by all the young blood finally stepping to the forefront in the Democratic Party. Abigail Spanberger in Virginia, Mallory Hagan in Alabama, Stacey Abrams in Georgia, Beto in Texas, and, of course, Andrew Gillum, in my home state of Florida. They all appear to be intelligent, highly articulate, and eager to do the job they are running for, representing the PEOPLE, not corporations or other interest groups. I wish I could vote for all of them, at best, all I can do is donate a few dollars here and there, but I have high hopes for all of them! 

I have been very impressed particularly with Gillum, who Trump has singled out in his Twitter attacks, and Andrew has responded to each attack in a pointed, intelligent, articulate manner. No name-calling, no insults, and no bullying.   In a battle of wits, the orange douchebag needs to leave Gillum alone - he is clearly outmatched.

[GreyhoundFan]

Repugs will stop at nothing: "Democrat says Project Veritas infiltrated her campaign in Va.’s tight 7th District"

Spoiler

RICHMOND — A conservative group that creates undercover “sting” videos infiltrated the campaign of Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat in a tight race with Rep. Dave Brat in Virginia’s 7th District.

The campaign said a young woman working for Project Veritas posed as a Democratic volunteer and spent every day over the past several weeks in Spanberger’s suburban Richmond campaign office, performing basic office tasks — and peppering her office mates with questions that eventually raised red flags.

Campaign staffers on Wednesday confronted her and asked her to leave, a video released by the campaign shows.

“Dirty tricks like these are the worst part of politics, and this is exactly what Abigail is running to change,” Spanberger’s campaign manager, Dana Bye, said in an email. “We are proud of the campaign we have run, and wonder if Congressman Brat and his allies can say the same. While others may scrape the bottom of the barrel out of desperation, Abigail and our campaign will remain focused on talking to our neighbors on their doorsteps about the issues that matter to our community — that’s the campaign voters deserve and it’s the campaign that we believe will carry us to victory.”

Brat spokeswoman Katey Price said the Republican congressman’s campaign had no involvement.

James O’Keefe, founder of New York-based Project Veritas, suggested that the undercover work had borne fruit but also lamented that it was cut short by the ouster of the mole, whom the Spanberger campaign identified as Marisa Jorge.

“As you know our reporters have been releasing videos in Arizona, Tennessee, Missouri, North Dakota and these videos have had extraordinary reactions from many of the candidates themselves,” he said in an email.

O’Keefe released two videos, both capturing conversations between Jorge and Spanberger staffer Michael Phelan. In one, Phelan says Spanberger thinks President Trump’s proposed border wall is “stupid” and a waste of money. Spanberger has publicly opposed the wall, saying there are better ways to enhance border security.

In the other video, Jorge marvels at the “diversity” of Spanberger donors, noting that they include former FBI director James B. Comey and Jonathan Soros, the son of billionaire philanthropist George Soros, who has become a frequent target to the right.

“I feel like those [donors] would be cool selling points if you were doing phone banking,” Jorge says. “But then you wouldn’t want to, like, tell people.”

Phelan replies, “No, definitely not.” But he soon adds: “They can look it up in public record. It’s not a secret.”

O’Keefe, in an interview, said the exchange shows the campaign is sheepish about the Comey and Jonathan Soros donations. “They’re talking about how this is not something they really want people to know, which is interesting to us,” he said.

Spanberger’s campaign said Jorge showed up a few weeks ago and said her name was Monica Nelson. She said she was five months’ pregnant and looking for something to do after overcoming an illness early in her pregnancy.

In an email sent to the campaign’s deputy director Sunday, she pressed for a one-on-one meeting with Spanberger so she could pitch her idea for a website “to encourage moms to follow their political passions.”

The campaign grew suspicious and found her image on a website that identified her as Marisa Jorge, a veteran of several previous Project Veritas stings.

In a video provided by Spanberger’s campaign, Bye confronted Jorge on Wednesday.

“We understand that you are here under false pretenses, and that we need to ask you to leave, and that your name is Marisa Jorge, and that you’re with Project Veritas,” Bye says.

Jorge calmly says, “Okay, thank you,” and leaves immediately.

Jorge did not respond to a message seeking comment.

Project Veritas, an organization that targets the mainstream news media and left-leaning groups, uses false cover stories and highly edited covert video recordings meant to be used in exposés.

Last year, a woman who worked for Project Veritas falsely claimed to The Washington Post that Roy Moore, then the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Alabama, impregnated her as a teenager — an apparent effort to trick The Post into publishing an untrue story.

O’Keefe was convicted of a misdemeanor in 2010 for using a fake identity to enter a federal building during a previous sting.

Spanberger and Brat are locked in a tight race in the district, a onetime GOP stronghold that appears to be up for grabs in the Trump era. The 7th is a mix of Richmond suburbs and rural areas stretching from Culpeper County in the north to Nottoway County in the south. Trump, who has endorsed Brat, is popular in the rural areas but has energized Democratic opposition in the suburbs.

The latest poll shows Brat — a former economics professor who won the seat four years ago after a shocking primary upset over then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R) — virtually tied with Spanberger, a former CIA agent and federal law enforcement officer.

Brat cruised to a 15-point reelection win two years ago but faces a strong challenger in Spanberger, whose résumé may appeal to swing voters and moderate Republicans turned off by Trump.

Republican strength in the district has been waning, with victory margins shrinking. GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney won the 7th District by 11 percentage points in 2012. Trump won it by six points in 2016. In the 2017 governor’s race, Republican Ed Gillespie beat Democrat Ralph Northam there by less than four points.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[fraurosena]

This is NOT shocking. Not anymore. We all know he's a racist shit. He's be dog-whistling for as long as he's been in politics. Why anyone thinks it's shocking that he's now openly blowing the bull horn is beyond me.

Trump shocks with racist new ad days before midterms

Quote

In the most racially charged national political ad in 30 years, President Donald Trump and the Republican Party accuse Democrats of plotting to help people they depict as Central American invaders overrun the nation with cop killers.

The new web video, tweeted by the President five days before the midterm elections, is the most extreme step yet in the most inflammatory closing argument of any campaign in recent memory.

The Trump campaign ad is the latest example of the President's willingness to lie and fear-monger in order to tear at racial and societal divides; to embrace demagoguery to bolster his own political power and the cause of the Republican midterm campaign.

The web video -- produced for the Trump campaign -- features Luis Bracamontes, a Mexican man who had previously been deported but returned to the United States and was convicted in February in the slaying of two California deputies.

"I'm going to kill more cops soon," a grinning Bracamontes is shown saying in court as captions flash across the screen reading "Democrats let him into our country. Democrats let him stay."

The ad recalls the notorious "Willie Horton" campaign ad financed by supporters of the George H.W. Bush campaign in the 1988 presidential election. Horton was a convicted murderer who committed rape while furloughed under a program in Massachusetts where Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis was governor.

The ad has since come to be seen as one of the most racially problematic in modern political history since it played into white fear and African-American stereotypes. It was regarded at the time as devastating to the Dukakis campaign.

Trump's web video, while just as shocking as the Horton spot, carries added weight since, unlike its 1988 predecessor, it bears the official endorsement of the leader of the Republican Party -- Trump -- and is not an outside effort. Given that Trump distributed it from his Twitter account, It also comes with all the symbolic significance of the presidency itself.

In a first reaction, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez said the ad was a sign of desperation and suggested that Trump was losing the argument over health care that is at the center of the Democratic campaign.

"This is distracting, divisive Donald at his worst," Perez said on CNN's "Cuomo Prime Time."

"This is fear mongering. ... They have to fear monger and his dog whistle of all dog whistles is immigration. This has been Donald Trump's playbook for so long."

"Family unification to invasion"

The Trump ad also flashes to footage of the migrant caravan of Central American asylum seekers that is currently in Mexico, which Trump says is preparing an invasion of the United States, implying that everyone in the column of people fleeing repression, poverty and economic blight is bent on murder and serious crime on US soil.

"Who else would Democrats let in?" a caption asks.

A source close to the White House told CNN's Jim Acosta that the web ad was produced by Jamestown Associates for the Trump campaign for the midterms and was designed to fit into Trump's broader immigration push and to change the argument from "family unification to invasion."

"It's clearly working. We are all talking about it and not health care," the source said.

Trump has repeatedly warned that the caravan is laden with criminals or also includes Middle Eastern terrorists. He has offered no evidence for such claims, however, and even admitted last week there is no proof to support them.

The President has also often used racially suggestive rhetoric in his tweets and launched his presidential campaign in 2015 with a tirade against Mexicans. But he accuses the media, which points out his frequent falsehoods and flaming rhetoric, of being to blame for national divides.

Controversy over the new ad is certain to explode across the final days of the election in which polls suggest Democrats could take back the House of Representatives but Republicans could keep or even expand their Senate majority.

The new campaign web video was the culmination of a day on which the President staked out ever more extreme positions.

He took advantage of his role as commander-in-chief to promise to triple the number of troops to 15,000 that he has pledged to send to the southern border to repel the caravan -- which is still hundreds of miles away.

He also made a dubious claim of presidential power to reinforce his vow to change the Constitution on his own to end birthright citizenship that is guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.

A sign of weakness?

Trump's combustible strategy is coinciding with an energetic final campaign swing featuring 11 rallies that opened in Florida on Wednesday night.

His increasingly inflammatory tactics are allowing him to refocus next Tuesday's election on his chosen issues, after a week of serial bombings and shootings that drowned out his closing argument.

Still, Democrats are increasingly confident five days out that they will take back the House, which they lost in the 2010 midterms.

"Up until today, I would have said, 'if the election were held today, we would win," former and possibly future speaker Nancy Pelosi said on "The Late Show" on CBS Tuesday.

"What now I'm saying is, we will win."

One way of looking at Trump's increasingly frantic approach is that it is a sign of political weakness, because it seems to be a bid to drive up turnout in red state Senate races but might imply that tight House elections, that could be affected by such rhetoric, are out of reach.

However, everyone wrote Trump off in 2016, and it's possible his combative approach could defy pollsters again.

In another extraordinary development on Wednesday, the sitting President lashed out at the House speaker of his own party five days before an election, in a possible preview of a post-voting blame game.

Paul Ryan had dismissed the President's birthright gambit, but Trump told him in a tweet to do more to save the House.

"This is a great way to screw up the message a week before the election," a senior GOP aide told CNN's Acosta.

"First the birthright comment itself and now attacking the top Republican in Congress who is trying to save our majority."

The President insisted he would not blame Ryan if Democrats won the House, though sounded less confident about Republican prospects in that chamber than in the Senate.

"I know we're doing well in the Senate and it looks like we're doing OK in the House. We're going to have to see," Trump told reporters.

Critics have accused Trump of abusing his power by sending troops to the southern border as part of a campaign stunt on a mission that has yet to be defined and he has implied will feature combat troops, but will in fact be made up of support forces.

But Defense Secretary James Mattis said Wednesday "we don't do stunts" and said the troops were being sent to offer "practical support" at the request of the Department of Homeland Security.

However, Democratic Rep. Jackie Speier of California accused Trump of squandering taxpayer funds in a desperate bid to buy votes, and predicted the American people would see through the plan.

"We are sending 10 to 15,000 troops, which means we are going to spend between $100 (million) and $150 million so he can have, I guess his surprise, his October surprise," she said on CNN's "The Situation Room."

Trump will Thursday press on with his pre-election blitz in Missouri, where he is trying to take out Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill in the first of two rallies in the state in the next few days. Before Tuesday he will also visit West Virginia, Indiana twice, Montana, Florida again, Georgia, Tennessee and Ohio.

But two senior GOP sources told CNN's Jeff Zeleny that the President had been asked to steer clear of Arizona and Nevada amid concern he could hurt rather than help Republicans locked in tight Senate races.

 

[fraurosena]

Whoo hoo! 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

From conservative writer Max Boot: "Vote against all Republicans. Every single one."

Spoiler

“I am sick and tired of this administration. I’m sick and tired of what’s going on. I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired, and I hope you are, too.”

— Joe Biden

I’m sick and tired, too.

I’m sick and tired of a president who pretends that a caravan of impoverished refugees is an “invasion” by “unknown Middle Easterners” and “bad thugs” — and whose followers on Fox News pretend the refugees are bringing leprosy and smallpox to the United States. (Smallpox was eliminated about 40 years ago.)

I’m sick and tired of a president who misuses his office to demagogue on immigration — by unnecessarily sending 5,200 troops to the border and by threatening to rescind by executive order the 14th Amendment guarantee of citizenship to anyone born in the United States.

I’m sick and tired of a president who is so self-absorbed that he thinks he is the real victim of mail-bomb attacks on his political opponents — and who, after visiting Pittsburgh despite being asked by local leaders to stay away, tweeted about how he was treated, not about the victims of the synagogue massacre.

I’m sick and tired of a president who cheers a congressman for his physical assault of a reporter, calls the press the “enemy of the people ” and won’t stop or apologize even after bombs were sent to CNN in the mail.

I’m sick and tired of a president who employs the language of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about Jewish financier George Soros and “globalists,” and won’t apologize or retract even after what is believed to be the worst attack on Jews in U.S. history.

I’m sick and tired of a president who won’t stop engaging in crazed partisanship, denouncing Democrats as “evil,” “un-American” and “treasonous” subversives who are in league with criminals.

I’m sick and tired of a president who cares so little about right-wing terrorism that, on the very day of the synagogue shooting, he proceeded with a campaign rally, telling his supporters, “Let’s have a good time.”

I’m sick and tired of a president who presides over one of the most unethical administrations in U.S. history — with three Cabinet members resigning for reported ethical infractions and the secretary of the interior the subject of at least 18 federal investigations.

I’m sick and tired of a president who flouts norms of accountability by refusing to release his tax returns or place his business holdings in a blind trust.

I’m sick and tired of a president who lies outrageously and incessantly — an average of eight times a day — claiming recently that there are riots in California and that a bill that passed the Senate 98 to 1 had “very little Democrat support.”

I’m sick and tired of a president who can’t be bothered to work hard and instead prefers to spend his time watching Fox News and acting like a Twitter troll.

And I’m sick and tired of Republicans who go along with Trump — defending, abetting and imitating his egregious excesses.

I’m sick and tired of Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) acting like a caddie for the man he once denounced as a “kook” — just this week, Graham endorsed Trump’s call for rescinding “birthright citizenship,” a kooky idea if ever there was one.

I’m sick and tired of House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), who got his start in politics as a protege of the “bleeding-heart conservative” Jack Kemp, refusing to call out Trump’s race-baiting.

I’m sick and tired of Republicans who once complained about the federal debt adding $113 billion to the debt just in fiscal year 2018.

I’m sick and tired of Republicans who once championed free trade refusing to stop Trump as he launches trade wars with all of our major trade partners.

I’m sick and tired of Republicans who not only refuse to investigate Trump’s alleged ethical violations but who also help him to obstruct justice by maligning the FBI, the special counsel and the Justice Department.

Most of all, I’m sick and tired of Republicans who feel that Trump’s blatant bigotry gives them license to do the same — with Rep. Pete Olson (R-Tex.) denouncing his opponent as an “Indo-American carpetbagger,” Florida gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis warning voters not to “monkey this up” by electing his African American opponent, Rep. Duncan D. Hunter (R-Calif.) labeling his “Palestinian Mexican” opponent a “security risk” who is “working to infiltrate Congress,” and Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio) accusing his opponent, who is of Indian Tibetan heritage, of “selling out Americans” because he once worked at a law firm that settled terrorism-related cases against Libya.

If you’re sick and tired, too, here is what you can do. Vote for Democrats on Tuesday. For every office. Regardless of who they are. And I say that as a former Republican. Some Republicans in suburban districts may claim they aren’t for Trump. Don’t believe them. Whatever their private qualms, no Republicans have consistently held Trump to account. They are too scared that doing so will hurt their chances of reelection. If you’re as sick and tired as I am of being sick and tired about what’s going on, vote against all Republicans. Every single one. That’s the only message they will understand.

 

[AuntK]

54 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

From conservative writer Max Boot: "Vote against all Republicans. Every single one."

  Reveal hidden contents

“I am sick and tired of this administration. I’m sick and tired of what’s going on. I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired, and I hope you are, too.”

— Joe Biden

I’m sick and tired, too.

I’m sick and tired of a president who pretends that a caravan of impoverished refugees is an “invasion” by “unknown Middle Easterners” and “bad thugs” — and whose followers on Fox News pretend the refugees are bringing leprosy and smallpox to the United States. (Smallpox was eliminated about 40 years ago.)

I’m sick and tired of a president who misuses his office to demagogue on immigration — by unnecessarily sending 5,200 troops to the border and by threatening to rescind by executive order the 14th Amendment guarantee of citizenship to anyone born in the United States.

I’m sick and tired of a president who is so self-absorbed that he thinks he is the real victim of mail-bomb attacks on his political opponents — and who, after visiting Pittsburgh despite being asked by local leaders to stay away, tweeted about how he was treated, not about the victims of the synagogue massacre.

I’m sick and tired of a president who cheers a congressman for his physical assault of a reporter, calls the press the “enemy of the people ” and won’t stop or apologize even after bombs were sent to CNN in the mail.

I’m sick and tired of a president who employs the language of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about Jewish financier George Soros and “globalists,” and won’t apologize or retract even after what is believed to be the worst attack on Jews in U.S. history.

I’m sick and tired of a president who won’t stop engaging in crazed partisanship, denouncing Democrats as “evil,” “un-American” and “treasonous” subversives who are in league with criminals.

I’m sick and tired of a president who cares so little about right-wing terrorism that, on the very day of the synagogue shooting, he proceeded with a campaign rally, telling his supporters, “Let’s have a good time.”

I’m sick and tired of a president who presides over one of the most unethical administrations in U.S. history — with three Cabinet members resigning for reported ethical infractions and the secretary of the interior the subject of at least 18 federal investigations.

I’m sick and tired of a president who flouts norms of accountability by refusing to release his tax returns or place his business holdings in a blind trust.

I’m sick and tired of a president who lies outrageously and incessantly — an average of eight times a day — claiming recently that there are riots in California and that a bill that passed the Senate 98 to 1 had “very little Democrat support.”

I’m sick and tired of a president who can’t be bothered to work hard and instead prefers to spend his time watching Fox News and acting like a Twitter troll.

And I’m sick and tired of Republicans who go along with Trump — defending, abetting and imitating his egregious excesses.

I’m sick and tired of Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) acting like a caddie for the man he once denounced as a “kook” — just this week, Graham endorsed Trump’s call for rescinding “birthright citizenship,” a kooky idea if ever there was one.

I’m sick and tired of House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), who got his start in politics as a protege of the “bleeding-heart conservative” Jack Kemp, refusing to call out Trump’s race-baiting.

I’m sick and tired of Republicans who once complained about the federal debt adding $113 billion to the debt just in fiscal year 2018.

I’m sick and tired of Republicans who once championed free trade refusing to stop Trump as he launches trade wars with all of our major trade partners.

I’m sick and tired of Republicans who not only refuse to investigate Trump’s alleged ethical violations but who also help him to obstruct justice by maligning the FBI, the special counsel and the Justice Department.

Most of all, I’m sick and tired of Republicans who feel that Trump’s blatant bigotry gives them license to do the same — with Rep. Pete Olson (R-Tex.) denouncing his opponent as an “Indo-American carpetbagger,” Florida gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis warning voters not to “monkey this up” by electing his African American opponent, Rep. Duncan D. Hunter (R-Calif.) labeling his “Palestinian Mexican” opponent a “security risk” who is “working to infiltrate Congress,” and Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio) accusing his opponent, who is of Indian Tibetan heritage, of “selling out Americans” because he once worked at a law firm that settled terrorism-related cases against Libya.

If you’re sick and tired, too, here is what you can do. Vote for Democrats on Tuesday. For every office. Regardless of who they are. And I say that as a former Republican. Some Republicans in suburban districts may claim they aren’t for Trump. Don’t believe them. Whatever their private qualms, no Republicans have consistently held Trump to account. They are too scared that doing so will hurt their chances of reelection. If you’re as sick and tired as I am of being sick and tired about what’s going on, vote against all Republicans. Every single one. That’s the only message they will understand.

YES. YES. YES!! Best opinion piece I've read in eons!! I could not agree MORE. Vote BLUE all the way down the ballot!!! I'm sick and tired of this shit too! The last 2 years have been a nightmare beyond my wildest expectations. It needs to end. NOW.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"The Daily 202: Democratic challenger defies gravity in Upstate New York district Trump carried by 16 points"

Spoiler

ROME, N.Y.—More television commercials have aired this fall in New York’s 22nd Congressional District than any other House race in the country, but they haven’t moved the needle at all. It’s an illustration of how much individual candidate quality still matters even in a nationalized political environment.

Two years ago, President Trump won this blue-collar district by 16 points after Mitt Romney carried it by less than half a percentage point in 2012. He remains popular, with a job approval rating in the mid-50s.

But a Siena College poll conducted at the end of August found Democratic Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi leading Rep. Claudia Tenney (R) by two points, which is within the margin of error. That survey was conducted shortly after a presidential visit to the district.

Between mid-September and mid-October, both parties spent almost $3 million to air 12,426 commercials in the district, according to the Wesleyan Media Project.

Another Siena poll conducted after that barrage showed Brindisi still ahead by one point, not a statistically significant change. Internal polling by both parties shows the race remains a toss-up.

“I’ve represented this area for the last seven years in the state assembly, and I was born and raised in this community, so when people see some of the lies being told on television, it’s hard for them to believe because they know it’s not my record,” Brindisi said in an interview Wednesday afternoon. “People here are not talking about impeachment … but the enthusiasm level on our side is through the roof. I don’t think I’ve been asked once at a town hall meeting about Nancy Pelosi.”

-- Senior Democratic strategists say candidates like Brindisi have been an under-covered element of their strategy to win the majority. There are several moderate white men who have deep roots in their local communities that have positioned them well to pick off Republican-held districts, but they’ve gotten less national attention than minorities, females and military veterans who in many cases are poised to make history and tend to make for better copy. Others in this category include Paul Davis in Kansas, Ben McAdams in Utah and Brendan Kelly in Illinois.

-- In the neighboring 24th Congressional District to the west, which includes Syracuse, Trump lost by four points in 2016. Yet Democrat Dana Balter trails Rep. John Katko (R) by 14 points in the latest Siena poll. Brindisi, 39, was one of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s top recruits this cycle while Balter defeated the DCCC’s preferred candidate in the June primary. (That was overshadowed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s upset of Rep. Joe Crowley the same night.) The 42-year-old Balter is an unabashed progressive who decided to run last year after being involved with the anti-Trump protest movement. She moved to the area in the mid-2000s for graduate studies and then stayed to teach at Syracuse University.

-- The primary results set the stage for a fascinating tale of two districts. Brindisi is a stronger challenger, and Tenney is a weaker incumbent. Balter is a weaker challenger on paper, and Katko is a stronger incumbent. One of the questions going into next Tuesday is which matters more in 2018: Will midterm races like these be decided more by the candidates or the demographics of the districts? In an environment where races have become so nationalized, to what extent do voters return to their partisan corners as they make final decisions? It is still possible both Brindisi and Balter win – or lose – next Tuesday. It seems more probable, though, that a Democrat could win in a district Trump carried by 16 points but lose next door in a district he lost by four.

-- One ground truth of 2018 is that it’s much easier for incumbents in either party to defy the partisan lean of their district or state if they have a well enough established brand that predates Trump. West Virginians remember Sen. Joe Manchin (D) as a moderate governor, for example, which is partly why he’s favored to get reelected in a state Trump carried by 42 points.

Brindisi has never held statewide office, but he’s developed a strong local identity in Utica, which is at the heart of the district. He worked at McDonalds during high school and went to Mohawk Valley Community College before transferring to a four-year university. Then he ran for school board soon after his first child was born and two years later got elected to the legislature, where he was soon being recognized as a rising star.

-- On the campaign trail, Brindisi emphasizes his independent streak –including times in Albany that he broke with Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on education and economic development and examples of when he’s worked with his GOP counterpart in the state Senate to bring home the bacon for Utica. He’s pledged not to support Nancy Pelosi.

He’s also sought to localize the race as much as possible. Several of his ads highlight his fight against the unpopular local cable company when it raised rates.

Brindisi has eschewed surrogates from outside the district. While NRA President Oliver North, most famous for his role in the Iran-contra affair, stumped with Tenney on Monday, Brindisi rolled out an endorsement from the firefighter’s union. To bracket a high-dollar fundraiser the president hosted for his opponent in August during his visit to Central New York, Brindisi held a small-dollar event at a popular restaurant in Utica where supporters could chip in $10 for his campaign.

While GOP commercials say that a vote for him is really a vote for Pelosi, Brindisi’s ads highlight endorsements he’s received from Republicans. One features the Republican mayor of Frankfort praising him for bringing jobs to the city. The other stars a volunteer firefighter who credits Brindisi with getting him disability benefits.

-- Several local elected Republicans who have not endorsed Brindisi nonetheless like the guy and have kept their power dry as a result.

As you might guess, in a city called Rome, there is a massive Italian-American community. You might not know that bocce ball remains hugely popular locally. So popular, in fact, that Rome, N.Y., has been hosting the World Series of Bocce for 45 years now.

After Brindisi joined the state assembly in 2011, he entered a four-man team for the competition. “It wasn’t pretty,” he said. “We lost in the first round, and then we were out of it. Bocce is not as easy as it looks. You’ve got to really practice a lot of be good, and I didn’t practice.”

Every year since then, Brindisi has come by to shake hands and greet participants. The weekend event is a local homecoming of sorts every summer, where you can get $2 draft beers. As they waited to take the stage for the opening ceremony, Brindisi yukked it up with three elected Republicans: the mayor of Rome, the state senator who represents the area and Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente.

In addition to sharing the same first name, the conservative county executive has an uncanny resemblance to Brindisi, and people confuse the two all the time. Despite being in different parties, the two men have a good rapport. Picente, who has stayed neutral in the congressional race, told Brindisi that a man on the street had recently walked up to him and asked if he was running for U.S. Senate. “Congress actually,” the county executive replied, not telling the guy that he wasn’t actually Brindisi.

The candidate thought that was hilarious. “Sometimes the Democrats accuse me of being a Republican,” Brindisi joked.

“Democrat or Republican, it doesn’t really make a difference to us locally,” said Jacqueline Izzo, the GOP mayor of Rome. “We’re more interested in the people and what we can accomplish. We’re a united front when it comes to fighting for the area.”

-- Brindisi treads carefully around Trump. “I think he still maintains pretty strong popularity in this region, and I’ve said all along my goal when I get to Washington will be to try to find areas that I can work with the president,” he said yesterday, citing infrastructure and prescription drug prices as examples. “But people in this area are not looking for a rubber stamp of any agenda, and they want their representatives to fight for this community as opposed to always being in lock step with the administration.”

In contract, Balter doesn’t hesitate to hit Trump. “Trump is not particularly popular here, and people are frustrated with him as always and angry that John Katko doesn’t stand up to him,” she said in an interview last night. “Donald Trump is doing a yeoman’s job of trying to distract us from [pocketbook] issues, but we can’t take the bait. We have to talk about the things that are happening that are putting residents at risk.”

-- Balter has turned out to be a much stronger candidate than national Democrats initially feared when she won the primary. She’s raised a good amount of money, and her progressive bona fides – especially in a college town – have motivated a grass-roots army of more than 1,200 volunteers. She’s also gotten establishment support. Yesterday she campaigned with House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 in Democratic leadership. “Everything is going as well as we could possibly want,” Balter said.

Some in the consultant class have complained that Balter focuses excessively on national issues, such as special counsel Bob Mueller’s probe, which do not move persuadable voters. But she pushes back that people want to make sure there’s a check on the president, and that many see a culture of corruption in Washington. “To me, the issue isn’t national vs. local,” Balter said. “It’s understanding that the national issues have local impacts, and that’s why people care about them.

“In terms of how long I’ve been here, it means something to people that I am here because I chose to be here,” she added. “I chose to make it home because I love it here, I love the history, and I love everything about Central New York. I am running for Congress because I want to do everything I can to make this a better place for all of us.”

Balter argued there’s no way that the only recent public poll of the race is accurate. She correctly observed that, if she was actually down double digits, outside Republican groups would not still be pouring in money and launching fresh attack ads against her this week. “It’s the same polling outfit that had me 13 points down two weeks before I won by 25 in the primary,” she said.

-- Candidates matter on both sides: Tenney is gaffe prone while Katko has been disciplined and on message. Tenney attracted widespread criticism in February for saying after the shooting in Parkland, Fla., that Democrats are more prone to be mass shooters. “It's interesting that so many of these people that commit the mass murders end up being Democrats,” she told a local radio station. “But the media doesn't talk about that.”

In a March radio interview, Tenney blamed the “deep state” for Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson acquiring a $31,000 dining set bought for his office.

On another call-in show last month, the congresswoman said: “Any dairy farmer that supports my opponent is not a legitimate business owner.”

Last week, she referred to Colgate University, her alma mater, as “a left-wing crazy school.”

Tenney declined an interview request for this story.

-- Tenney was elected in 2016 to replace Republican Rep. Richard Hanna. Tenney had challenged Hanna from his right in a 2014 primary, attacking him among other things over his support for gay marriage, and he beat her by seven points. Hanna retired in 2016 to avoid another primary challenge. He said his internal polling showed he could have won a three-way race as an independent.

Hanna has endorsed Brindisi. “She declared herself all things Trump before Trump. She’s unabashed, unqualified and unreserved in her support of him,” said Hanna, an outspoken Never Trumper, in an interview yesterday. “In 1519, Cortez’s Navy was invading Mexico and he said burn the ships. That’s Claudia. She’s burning the ships. She’s all in for Trump in every imaginable way. … She’s had almost every member of the Trump family up here. The guy doesn’t own a dog, so she didn’t have that. But everything else.”

Meanwhile, Hanna also endorsed his former GOP colleague Katko. “If I had to pick 10 people that I think could actually get things done and work across the aisle in the House, Katko would be one,” he said.

I agree that emphasizing local issues goes a long way. Danica Roem became the first elected transgender member of Virginia's house of delegates by emphasizing traffic and other items that are of major concern in her district. She beat a long-entrenched far right jerk who made a bathroom bill the centerpiece of his life. Hopefully some of the Dems can do the same way and win next week.

[GreyhoundFan]

This is a scary thought:

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[fraurosena]

What a great way to combat voter suppression efforts.

 

[Cartmann99]

TX-31 is one of the races I will be anxiously following as results come in on Tuesday night.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Bill Maher's New Rules had some great lines, but was also deadly serious:

 

My favorite line: "I'm not saying Trump is Hitler.... Hitler volunteered for the army."

[GreyhoundFan]

"Obama rips hecklers: Why are the people who won the last election ‘so mad all the time?’"

Spoiler

For former president Barack Obama, it was a spontaneous response to a parade of hecklers — not a teleprompter remark that had been vetted for maximum effect — but it still seemed to sum up the final weeks of a searing midterm election campaign characterized by incendiary rhetoric, politically motivated package bombs and hate.

“Why is it that the folks that won the last election are so mad all the time?” Obama asked a crowd of 4,000 as the fifth interrupting protester was escorted out of a Miami rally on Friday. Any further shouts were drowned out by the crowd’s roar.

Obama was using his star power to drum up votes for Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and other Democrats in the Sunshine State.

“It’s an interesting question,” he continued, turning around to address the people behind him. “I mean . . . when I won the presidency, at least my side felt pretty good. I don’t know why . . . it tells you something interesting, that even the folks who are in charge are still mad, because they’re getting ginned up to be mad.”

His argument that stoking anger is a politically motivated decision was underscored by the messages that went out in the days before he spoke.

On Friday, federal economists reported that the nation had produced 250,000 new jobs in October, the 97th straight month of gains, as The Washington Post’s Heather Long and Danielle Paquette reported. The average worker’s earnings rose by 3.1 percent since last year and unemployment remained at 3.7 percent, the lowest percentage in half a century.

While some Republicans have seized on that economic talking point, including President Trump, touting the economy was one positive message among a crowd of fear- and anger-laden ones.

Trump, for example, tweeted videos on Halloween. More than 1.72 million people saw a Trump tweet that featured burning cars, antifa violence and the words “the left’s America,” among statements by Hillary Clinton, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and former Obama-era attorney general Eric H. Holder Jr.

And another video featured Luis Bracamontes, who was deported twice and sentenced to death for killing two police officers in 2014. The video also features scenes from a migrant caravan that’s moving toward the United States, and pivots to a political point: “Who else would Democrats let in?”

A manifested version of that negative sentiment was on display for a week at the end of October as prominent Democrats, CNN and liberal figures received packages filled with suspected pipe bombs.

Cesar Sayoc, a former strip club worker with a lengthy criminal record and a Trump supporter, allegedly sent more than a dozen packages containing possible bombs, prosecutors said. One of those packages was sent to the Obamas, and two were destined for Obama’s vice president, Joe Biden, who is mulling over a presidential run.

Sayoc lived out of his van, which was adorned with pro-Trump stickers and angry images of prominent Democrats, including some shown in crosshairs.

Speaking in Miami, the same city where Sayoc is being held while he awaits transfer to New York for trial, Obama offered an answer to his rhetorical question about the politics of fear.

“It’s like the con where a door-to-door salesman says you need a security system while his buddy sneaks in the back and steals your stuff,” Obama said, according to the Associated Press. “But it’s not just the practical effect in terms of policy. When words stop meaning anything, when truth doesn’t matter, when people can just lie with abandon, democracy can’t work.”

I didn't paste images of Dumpy's hateful tweets in the spoiler, since we've all seen them and they are nauseating.

[GreyhoundFan]

From Dana Milbank: "We have no excuses now. Our eyes are wide open."

Spoiler

This time, our eyes are wide open.

Exactly two years ago, many Americans held their noses and voted for Donald Trump. Some were conservatives willing to tolerate his vulgar excesses in hopes of getting tax cuts, a repeal of Obamacare and a friendlier judiciary. Others had Clinton fatigue. Sure, they were concerned about Trump’s words about Mexican “rapists” and what he liked to do to women — but maybe those were just words. Maybe Trump could build a coalition across traditional party lines to get things done.

Now, all Americans have seen the results with their own eyes:

Trump defended neo-Nazis who marched in Charlottesville.

He oversaw a policy separating young children from their parents and warehoused the kids at the border, including some who have yet to be reunited.

He took Vladi­mir Putin’s word over that of the U.S. intelligence community, accepting Russia’s denial that it interfered in our election.

He implemented a ham-handed attempt at a “Muslim ban”: a travel ban that caused chaos and, in its early incarnations, was struck down as unconstitutional.

He then challenged the legitimacy of a “so-called” judge who temporarily blocked the ban.

He swung erratically from the verge of nuclear war with North Korea, threatening “fire and fury . . . the likes of which the world has never seen before,” to declaring he had fallen “in love” with dictator Kim Jong Un and pronouncing the nuclear threat ended — though no agreement had been reached.

He fired the FBI director, attacked the attorney general and his deputy, and undermined the rule of law by portraying the Justice Department and the FBI as “corrupt.”

He lied about hush money paid to an adult-film actress, as recounted in a guilty plea by the lawyer who arranged the payment.

He had hired Paul Manafort and three other senior campaign advisers who eventually pleaded guilty or were convicted in a sprawling and ongoing criminal probe of Russia, Trump and the 2016 election.

He attacked the news media as the “enemy of the people.”

He befriended some of the world’s most loathed autocrats, including Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, whose extralegal death squads have killed thousands; and he refused to take serious action after the Saudi regime murdered and dismembered a Post contributing columnist in Turkey.

He opened personal rifts with the leaders of Britain, Germany, Canada and other countries that had been stalwart allies.

He has released an unending stream of invective on Twitter and in speeches, often in vulgar and misogynistic terms.

He insulted John McCain after the Arizona senator’s death, initially not ordering flags to be flown at half-staff.

He has established a whole new level of mendacity, averaging 30 false or misleading statements a day now, and totaling 6,420 such bogus claims during his presidency.

And he has exploited and worsened divisions among Americans, coarsened public discourse and used racial hatred, resentment of women’s gains and fear of immigrants and minorities as political weapons.

Now, we are seeing Trump close the midterm campaign with openly racist appeals:

He derided “globalists” to fuel a conspiracy theory about Jewish billionaire George Soros invisibly working against America, even after Trump was urged to stop using anti-Semitic tropes.

He fabricated an “emergency” about a caravan of Central American asylum seekers, hundreds of miles from the U.S. border, and ordered a massive mobilization of the military, declaring that the troops should be able to fire on unarmed people.

He declared that he can unilaterally revoke the Constitution’s guarantee of citizenship for anyone born in the United States.

He offered more conspiracy theories even after a crazed Trump supporter sent pipe bombs to CNN and a dozen of the president’s oft-cited enemies, and when a lunatic apparently motivated by the Trump-inspired paranoia about the caravan murdered 11 Jews worshiping at a synagogue in Pittsburgh.

And he closed the campaign with a vile ad showing a Mexican man who killed two police officers, accompanied by the message: “Democrats let him into our country. Democrats let him stay” — though the killer came to the United States during the presidency of George W. Bush.

On Tuesday, voters will make a decision in what is the purest midterm referendum on a sitting president in modern times:

Will we take a step, even a small one, back from the ugliness and the race-baiting that has engulfed our country?

Or will we affirm that we are really the intolerant and frightened people Donald Trump has made us out to be?

If we choose the latter, 2018 will in some ways be more difficult to take than 2016. This time, we don’t have the luxury of saying we didn’t really know what Trump would do.

Our eyes are wide open.

 

[AmericanRose]

Georgia's Secretary of State is accusing the Georgia DNC of hacking voter registration. This does not surprise me.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/georgias-republican-secretary-of-state-alleges-state-democratic-party-hacked-registration/ar-BBPjW0F?ocid=spartanntp

[Cartmann99]

Ms. Hardy is an amazing woman: