2022 Congressional & State Elections

[andydp]

I’m in Atlanta for my 55th High School Reunion.
Plenty of commercials for candidates. I noticed the GOP Senate ads only badmouth the Reverend Warnock(sp?) No mention of Hershel and what he could promise.

Interesting fact, there will be a debate.

[LFC]

Turns out JD Vance is the same brand of grifter as Trump, and his opponent just called him out on it during their debate.

He also pointed out that Vance provided aid and comfort to America's enemies.

[pnwguy]

Oct 11, 2022 17:02:59 GMT LFC said:

Turns out JD Vance is the same brand of grifter as Trump, and his opponent just called him out on it during their debate.

He also pointed out that Vance provided aid and comfort to America's enemies.

That's a feature to the GOP base.  Grifting for God-ordained outcomes (oligarch / theocrat control) is the reward for such righteousness!  

[LFC]

Interesting data point. Is the abortion issue coming home to roost in Texass?

The Travis County voter registrar reports the county now has 875,000 people registered to vote in time for the November 8 elections, and they're hoping to cross 900,000 by next month's deadline to register. And voter registration drives across Texas are adding to the statewide total.

If you have not registered to vote... You have only until October 11 to do so. Luckily there are still a lot of friendly people out here to help make it happen.

Susana Carranza is a volunteer for the local voter advocacy group Habla y Vota. in English it’s speak up and vote. They've been setting up once a week in front of the popular Joe’s Bakery in East Austin since August answering questions about registering to vote in Texas and getting people excited about voting in November. Carranza says, “A lot of voters in Texas don't know that if they move, they have to update their address, if they move across county lines it's a whole new voter registration.”

We asked for statewide numbers from the Texas secretary of state's office. They report 17,590,584 people are registered to vote in Texas as of Thursday morning. That's 400,000 new registered voters since the March primaries and 600,000 more Texas voters since the 2020 presidential election.

[pnwguy]

Not living in Pennsylvania any more, I missed this clever ad.

[LFC]

"Doctor" Oz and the right-wing propaganda machine continue to attack Fetterman over his stroke recovery. What a sick son of a bitch.

I wrote in my lengthy profile of Fetterman this week about how open he has been about his ongoing stroke recovery, and how awful it is to watch not just Fox but mainstream media push for “transparency” even as he offers just that.

Watching tv news/online pundits leer over clips of an interview in which he’s completely engaged and communicative is stomach-turning and a super depressing example of what I was trying to describe:

“Every week, Fetterman’s public engagement has increased, & nothing about his increasingly frequent rallies & media interactions is at odds with what doctors suggest would be normal for a 53-year-old four months out from a serious stroke and expected to make a recovery.”

“Yet legitimate newspapers are pushing for further documentation with some of the energy once applied to Hillary’s emails, while the right-wing carnival barkers treat complete medical records as they did Obama’s birth certificate.”

Fetterman speaks about what it’s like to have a doctor (Oz) mock his recovery—a gross irony, yes. Also ironic is news media clamoring for transparency then themselves offering distortion: implying challenges are cognitive when they’re not, failing to contextualize accommodations.

Anyway, I think JF offering an open view of his recovery is fascinating & potentially very powerful in a period when this whole nation is struggling to recover from…a lot. Callous and contextually loose treatment of that recovery process is striking.

A few reactions to this.

Kyla in the Burgh 🏴‍☠️🔥 (KylaInTheBurgh)

John Fetterman is successfully recovering from a stroke. That doesn't change his vote to protect women's rights. It also doesnt stop him from fighting for veterans, guaranteeing healthcare & supporting the working class.

Mehmet Oz will never recover from being a fraudulent fuck.

Jeff Tiedrich (itsJeffTiedrich)

John Fetterman occasionally gets a word wrong. Mehmet Oz occasionally tortures small animals. any questions

[goldenvalley]

I heard a snippet of an interview with Fetterman who said he’s still recovering and will be better in January when he would take office than he is now. However, he said Dr Oz will be the same as he is now… a fraud.

[LFC]

Right after Tulsi Gabbard announced she was no longer a Democrat, making her perhaps the last person in America to know, she went full blown Republican nutjob by embracing a full blown Republican nutjob.

Gabbard Now Shilling For Bolduc; It’ll Be Interesting Tulsi How This Goes

(Okay, that’s the last stupid name pun in today’s Morning Memo.)

Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii is off to a great start in her non-Democratic career: About 24 hours after Tucker Carlson’s BFF made her earth-shattering declaration that she was leaving the Democratic Party, New Hampshire GOP Senate nominee and election denier Don Bolduc announced that Gabbard will be joining him on the campaign trail.

[pnwguy]

Oct 13, 2022 14:41:11 GMT LFC said:

Right after Tulsi Gabbard announced she was no longer a Democrat, making her perhaps the last person in America to know, she went full blown Republican nutjob by embracing a full blown Republican nutjob.

Gabbard Now Shilling For Bolduc; It’ll Be Interesting Tulsi How This Goes

(Okay, that’s the last stupid name pun in today’s Morning Memo.)

Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii is off to a great start in her non-Democratic career: About 24 hours after Tucker Carlson’s BFF made her earth-shattering declaration that she was leaving the Democratic Party, New Hampshire GOP Senate nominee and election denier Don Bolduc announced that Gabbard will be joining him on the campaign trail.

Maybe we can swap Gabbard for Brittney Griner.  Putin will want one of is own back.

[LFC]

Another quality Republican candidate. This utter nutter was all in on the litter boxes in schools hoax, until he wasn't. Now he's trying to walk back a comment where he basically called fisheries managers child rapists. A person this unstable and with this poor level of judgement has no business being anywhere near government.

Republican candidate for Maine's first Congressional District Ed Thelander is apologizing for statements he made at a Maine lobstermen's rally on Wednesday.

"NOAA wants to rape you and your family, and they're saying pick a child," Thelander said during the rally.

On Wednesday evening, Thelander walked back his remarks during the first debate between him and incumbent Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree on Maine Public, saying his passion got the best of him.

"My comments were over the top, and I apologize for that. I'm very passionate about it. I mean, I love those families," Thelander said during the debate. "I've been in and around them since we moved to Maine, and I've been working with them for the past 14 months more so. And I'm seeing the struggles they have. I'm seeing that nothing's been done."

[goldenvalley]

Oct 14, 2022 16:10:30 GMT LFC said:

Another quality Republican candidate. This utter nutter was all in on the litter boxes in schools hoax, until he wasn't. Now he's trying to walk back a comment where he basically called fisheries managers child rapists. A person this unstable and with this poor level of judgement has no business being anywhere near government.

Republican candidate for Maine's first Congressional District Ed Thelander is apologizing for statements he made at a Maine lobstermen's rally on Wednesday.

"NOAA wants to rape you and your family, and they're saying pick a child," Thelander said during the rally.

On Wednesday evening, Thelander walked back his remarks during the first debate between him and incumbent Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree on Maine Public, saying his passion got the best of him.

"My comments were over the top, and I apologize for that. I'm very passionate about it. I mean, I love those families," Thelander said during the debate. "I've been in and around them since we moved to Maine, and I've been working with them for the past 14 months more so. And I'm seeing the struggles they have. I'm seeing that nothing's been done."

Ah. I just see someone who is really bad at metaphors...blame the evil government for taking away one's livelihood is what he meant.  The litter box crap...that's the utter nutter part.

[LFC]

There's no way this asshat should be this close to a Senate seat. As a reminder this badge he's showing is literally given out to children who visit the police or who do something good that the police want to reward them for. It's ... for ... CHILDREN!

[LFC]

More on the litter box hoax. The count is now up to at least 20 Republican politicians who have brought this up as if it was real. These people are stupid and gullible at level 11.

The week before, on Sept. 29, Minnesota GOP gubernatorial nominee Scott Jensen asked during a campaign stop, “Why do we have litter boxes in some of the school districts so kids can pee in them, because they identify as a furry?”

And during a legislative hearing last month in Tennessee, two Republican state lawmakers discussed the “growing crisis” of public schools providing litter boxes for children who identify as cats, and claimed it’s happening across the state.

At least 20 conservative candidates and elected officials have claimed this year that K-12 schools are placing litter boxes on campus or making other accommodations for students who identify as cats, according to an NBC News review of public statements.

Every school district that has been named by those 20 politicians said either to NBC News or in public statements that these claims are untrue. There is no evidence that any school has deployed litter boxes for students to use because they identify as cats.

But the claim has taken on a life of its own among a growing number of Republicans, conservative influencers and political commentators. In an episode of Spotify’s “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast this week, host Joe Rogan told former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard that a litter box was installed in a school that his friend’s wife worked at for a girl who “identifies as an animal.” A clip of the discussion quickly began to circulate on social media. Rogan did not name the school, and his publicist did not respond to a request for comment.

[AnBr]

The stupid! It burns!!!

[goldenvalley]

Oct 16, 2022 1:47:22 GMT LFC said:

More on the litter box hoax. The count is now up to at least 20 Republican politicians who have brought this up as if it was real. These people are stupid and gullible at level 11.

The week before, on Sept. 29, Minnesota GOP gubernatorial nominee Scott Jensen asked during a campaign stop, “Why do we have litter boxes in some of the school districts so kids can pee in them, because they identify as a furry?”

And during a legislative hearing last month in Tennessee, two Republican state lawmakers discussed the “growing crisis” of public schools providing litter boxes for children who identify as cats, and claimed it’s happening across the state.

At least 20 conservative candidates and elected officials have claimed this year that K-12 schools are placing litter boxes on campus or making other accommodations for students who identify as cats, according to an NBC News review of public statements.

Every school district that has been named by those 20 politicians said either to NBC News or in public statements that these claims are untrue. There is no evidence that any school has deployed litter boxes for students to use because they identify as cats.

But the claim has taken on a life of its own among a growing number of Republicans, conservative influencers and political commentators. In an episode of Spotify’s “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast this week, host Joe Rogan told former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard that a litter box was installed in a school that his friend’s wife worked at for a girl who “identifies as an animal.” A clip of the discussion quickly began to circulate on social media. Rogan did not name the school, and his publicist did not respond to a request for comment.

People don't understand and/or don't want to grapple with the intricacies of actual policy...oil market operations, what power a president or a governor actually has over the economy.  Much easier to bitch about litter boxes.  They know what those are for and what animals use them.  Simplicity is the key.

[LFC]

Oh, Herschel. He quadrupled down on his kiddy sheriff badge. This has now gone way beyond sad. It's like mocking an Alzheimer's patient.

100 Percent!

Georgia GOP Senate nominee/abortion funder Herschel Walker will have you know that the “not a prop” police badge that he whipped out during his debate with incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) on Friday is a real “honorary” badge and absolutely not a prop, okay?

• The badge came from, uhhh, “all over Georgia,” Walker told NBC News correspondent Kristen Welker when she asked in a pre-taped interview who gave him the not-a-prop badge.

• To be clear, Walker has never once worked in law enforcement, despite the claims he’s made.

They have video of him flashing his "badge" at the debate.

He's also now admitting the blatantly obvious fact that the check he wrote for an abortion was his but he says he doesn't know why he wrote it.

A woman’s allegation that Georgia Republican Senate nominee Herschel Walker, the father of her child, paid for her to have an abortion in 2009 is a lie, the ex-NFL player insists. In fact, he doesn’t even know her!

…..Okay yes, he knows her. But that $700 check she’s provided with his signature on it is fake!

…..Okay yes, that’s a real check that he gave her. But he doesn’t know what it was for!

Walker made that last admission during a pre-taped interview on the “TODAY” show that aired on Monday.

“Yes, that’s my check,” he said when NBC News correspondent Kristen Welker pulled up a copy of the check after he argued that “it doesn’t matter if it’s my signature or not.”

However, “I have no idea what that [check] could be for,” Walker claimed.

The GOP nominee also insisted that the woman’s account was “still a lie” because “she’s the mother of my child” and therefore it would be normal for her to receive checks from him.

The woman who came forward told NBC News that the $700 check was the only time Walker gave her money before she had their baby in 2012 (the woman has alleged that the ex-NFL star had tried to pressure her into terminating that pregnancy too, though she refused).

That $700 check that Walker now admits to sending apparently didn’t come easily; the woman said last week that she had to repeatedly press him to pay for the abortion even though he was the one who had wanted her to get the procedure.

[LFC]

Oh, Tulsi. You really are a worse piece of trash than people realized just a few years ago. She is now a pure Republican, accusing the other side of doing exactly what she and her side are in the midst of doing.

In her first weekend on the campaign trail in a new alliance with New Hampshire GOP Senate candidate and on-again-off-again election denier Don Bolduc, Tulsi Gabbard compared President Joe Biden to Adolf Hitler.

Speaking at a Bolduc town hall event in a town outside of Manchester on Sunday, the former Hawaii congresswoman and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate stipulated that she’s “pretty sure” both Biden and Hitler share a “mindset” of good intentions to justify authoritarian behavior, according to audio obtained by The Daily Beast.

“And this is something that is, you know, throughout history, we look at authoritarian leaders and dictators in other countries,” Gabbard said in a tangent about Biden’s Philadelphia speech from September on anti-democratic extremism among “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans.”

“I'm pretty sure they all believe they’re doing what’s best,” Gabbard continued. “Even Hitler thought he was doing what was best for Germany, right? For the German race. In his own mind, he found a way to justify the means to meet his end. So when we have people with that mindset, well, you know we’ve got to do whatever it takes because, as President Biden said in that speech in Philadelphia, that those who supported Trump, those who didn't vote for him are extremists and a threat to our democracy.”

Representatives for Gabbard and the Bolduc campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

[LFC]

A good and very valid question.

[LFC]

This ... thing ... wants to run the state I live in. The fact that he won the primary tells you volumes about today's GOP.

[goldenvalley]

Oct 20, 2022 21:18:23 GMT LFC said:

This ... thing ... wants to run the state I live in. The fact that he won the primary tells you volumes about today's GOP.

Is this Mastriano guy genuinely delusional or just a liar?  Or both?

[indy]

Oct 20, 2022 21:24:42 GMT goldenvalley said:

Oct 20, 2022 21:18:23 GMT LFC said:

This ... thing ... wants to run the state I live in. The fact that he won the primary tells you volumes about today's GOP.

Is this Mastriano guy genuinely delusional or just a liar?  Or both?

This is the question that has been on my mind for literally hundreds of Republican candidates running for every conceivable office in the land. Are they genuine idiots or just playing to people's worst instincts in order to be elected? I'm really not sure which answer I would prefer.

[LFC]

Good advice.

Mark Hertling
@markhertling

Do not doubt this: The failure of Britain to stabilize, the elections of autocrats in several European countries & the surge of US @gop performance artists gives Putin hope of future NATO/western division.

The US can put a stake in that by not electing idiots in 3 weeks.

Vote!

[LFC]

The MAGAt brown shirts are already getting started in their efforts to threaten and intimidate voters.

Last night the ABC affiliate in Phoenix reported this incident of what appears to be harassment of a voter at a ballot drop off box. The parking lot is crawling with “activists” who are the legally prescribed number of feet from the ballot box. But one guy drives up in a car and allegedly accuses the voter of being a “mule.” Here’s video the ABC15 posted last night on Twitter.

As Marshall says...

Ugly stuff. We’re going to see a bunch of it in the lead up to November 8th.

[LFC]

An explanation of Herschel Walker from a black man. "You see, in the annals of the Republican brain, Herschel Walker is the perfect representation for black people."

Here's the opinion piece:

Herschel Walker embodies every negative stereotype Black Americans have fought against for decades

[goldenvalley]

Here we are in the height of election debate silliness...national media breathlessly reporting on "debates" between candidates, pundits chortling about mistakes, misstatements, and outright lies.  Where is the voter in all this?  I doubt many are watching. Are you in PA or FL watching the various performances that are happening this week?