2022 Congressional & State Elections

[LFC]

He sounds like a nice boy.

A New Hampshire man facing charges for taking part in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot is now hoping to head back to Washington as a member of Congress.

Jason Riddle said he is still working on the details of his campaign for office.

“I guess, ‘Let’s get back to work,’ that’s going to be the slogan I go with,” he told NBC10 Boston on Sunday.

Riddle, from Keene, admitted in an interview with NBC10 Boston in the days after the attack, which left five people dead, that he entered the Capitol building and chugged from a bottle of wine he found in a Senate office. He provided NBC10 Boston photos and said he had no regrets about joining the mob that entered the Capitol, but criticized those who committed acts of vandalism and violence.

He was arrested by FBI agents, with the help of Keene police, in February. Riddle was charged with knowingly entering a restricted building, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, and theft of government property, according to a criminal complaint that was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

But the supporter of former President Donald Trump doesn't think his riot case will hurt his campaign. In fact, just the opposite.

“In the long run, if you’re running for office, any attention is good attention, so I think it will help me,” Riddle said.

[pnwguy]

Jun 16, 2021 14:04:50 GMT LFC said:

He sounds like a nice boy.

But the supporter of former President Donald Trump doesn't think his riot case will hurt his campaign. In fact, just the opposite.

“In the long run, if you’re running for office, any attention is good attention, so I think it will help me,” Riddle said.

He is correct.  That will endear him to GOP voters.  Washington, Jackson, Grant, and Eisenhower rode their patriotic battle service all the way to the presidency.  Riddle stormed the beaches of the Capitol, which was Occupied Territory (by Democrats), just like the Nazi control of Paris.

[LFC]

Jun 16, 2021 16:12:55 GMT pnwguy said:

He is correct.  That will endear him to GOP voters.  Washington, Jackson, Grant, and Eisenhower rode their patriotic battle service all the way to the presidency.  Riddle stormed the beaches of the Capitol, which was Occupied Territory (by Democrats), just like the Nazi control of Paris.

Fascists never see themselves as the bad guys. They can always proudly justify anything they do.

[LFC]

New York Republicans held a straw poll on who they preferred as their candidate for governor. Andrew Giuliani was ... well, on the list. So much for running on nothing but name recognition and daddy's (alleged) accomplishments.

Republican leaders from across New York gathered Monday to name their preferred choice to run for governor next year: Rep. Lee Zeldin, a Long Island Republican known as an ally to former President Donald Trump.

County GOP chairs and state committee members gathered at a hotel in suburban Albany for a closed-door straw poll on the 2022 gubernatorial race, when embattled Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo would be up for a fourth term should he decide to run.

The county leaders overwhelmingly voted for Zeldin, who took 85% of the vote, which was weighted to favor those counties with a higher population of GOP voters, according to the state Republican Party.

Former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, making a second run for governor after Cuomo defeated him in 2014, received 5% of the weighted vote.

Andrew Giuliani, a former Trump administration official who is the son of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, did not receive any votes despite seeking the GOP nod. Nor did Michael Carpinelli, the Lewis County sheriff.

[indy]

What the GOP voters want may be a bit different. I think the younger Giuliani released a poll the other day showing him up 8 points over Zeldin. There are infinite reasons to be skeptical about that poll, of course, but what GOP voters want may be a lot different from what GOP 'leaders' want.

[LFC]

Running as a Republican but bashed Trump in the past? Step 1: Delete the evidence, drop to your knees, and start Trumpsucking furiously. How does it feel to have no pride or self-respect?

J.D. Vance, the author of “Hillbilly Elegy,” a memoir aimed at presenting himself as a conservative intellectual who rises above toxic hyperpartisanship, is apparently scrambling for the approval of MAGAland as he jostles for outgoing Sen. Rob Portman’s (R-OH) seat in the packed-GOP primary.

CNN reporter Andrew Kaczynski flagged that Vance’s tweets from 2016 expressing disgust for then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and boosting Evan McMullin, an independent candidate in the 2016 presidential election, have been deleted:

[see deleted tweets]

The formerly anti-Trump conservative’s scrubbing of his Twitter timeline of traces of his anti-Trumpiness reflects a broader theme among Republicans: the understanding that running for office, at least in the upcoming midterms, means kneeling at the alter of the ex-president – even after writing an autobiography that attempted to sell an overly simplified and mostly apolitical analysis of poverty in Appalachia in order to appeal to a broad electorate.

[Deleted]

Jul 2, 2021 15:34:17 GMT LFC said:

How does it feel to have no pride or self-respect?

Feels like a 2022 general election winner. Feels like a member of a party in power.

[goldenvalley]

Jul 2, 2021 15:38:25 GMT @probabilistic3 said:

Jul 2, 2021 15:34:17 GMT LFC said:

How does it feel to have no pride or self-respect?

Feels like a 2022 general election winner. Feels like a member of a party in power.

I don't know.  He's got competition in the form of the guy that burned the mask, Josh Mandel.   Vance looks like one of them elites with his fancy education, lived in the Bay Area awhile, and his wife doesn't "look" American though she clerked for Roberts and Kavanaugh.  

[LFC]

The 2022 Republican clown show continues.

The infamous former Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) is sauntering back to the stage.

LePage, who was term-limited from running for reelection in 2018, filed on Thursday to challenge incumbent Gov. Janet Mills (D) in the state’s 2022 gubernatorial election.

LePage has yet to officially announce his bid, but the Press Herald notes that a countdown on his campaign site seems to signal that he will do so on Monday.

The former governor, who swore he would move out of Maine if Mills were elected in 2018, threw a tantrum when the Democrat won her race and made good on his vow, storming down to Florida. However, he apparently decided to un-banish himself last July and is now living in Maine again.

[LFC]

Jul 2, 2021 15:34:17 GMT LFC said:

Running as a Republican but bashed Trump in the past? Step 1: Delete the evidence, drop to your knees, and start Trumpsucking furiously. How does it feel to have no pride or self-respect?

OMG, now he's turned his tongue into Trump's personal bidet. This is beyond sad. It looks like the lack of moral fiber he wrote about really does come from a deep personal place.

“Hillbilly Elegy” author and Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance is real sorry about the mean stuff he said about Donald Trump, who was actually a wonderful president who did wonderful things and oh God please don’t be mad at me Mr. Ex-President, sir.

In a mea culpa transparently crafted for an audience of one man perched in Mar-a-Lago, Vance admitted during a Fox News interview on Monday that yes, he did criticize Trump in 2016 but “I ask folks not to judge me based on what I said in 2016, because I’ve been very open that I did say those critical things and I regret them, and I regret being wrong about the guy.”

“I think he was a good president,” he continued. “I think he made a lot of good decisions for people, and I think he took a lot of flak.”

Vance also argued that “the most important thing is not what you said five years ago,” but “whether you’re willing to stand up and take the heat and take the hits for actually defending the interests of the American people.”

The candidate’s backpeddling comes after CNN flagged that he had deleted several old tweets in 2016 in which he slammed Trump as “reprehensible” and announced that he would be voting for independent candidate Evan McMullin in that election.

“Fellow Christians, everyone is watching us when we apologize for this man,” Vance wrote in another now-deleted tweet on the day the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape came out. “Lord help us.”

[LFC]

Trump is going to make 2022 the Insurrection Election. You know there will be plenty of Republicans right there with him. We're already seeing it. The GOP is now so corrupt and morally bankrupt that their platform is support of insurrection, treason, and fascism. Welcome to the end of American democracy if they're given power.

One thing that was clear to me when I read about Trump’s comments on the January 6th defendants and the death of Ashli Babbitt is that he intends to make these claims and demands centerpieces of the 2022 midterm election. For Trump everything is the Big Lie, everything is the “rigged election”, which is to say everything is payback, retribution and grievance about being driven from power.

The insurrectionists are the symbols of grievance, the symbols of absolute loyalty to Trump and the angry and aggrieved victims who are at the center of every Trump political demand, every argument. They are inseparable from the Big Lie because they are the ones who fought hardest to vindicate Trump’s claims. They are the new version of the brawny but tearful factory workers calling Trump “Sir” and asking for justice. They are, in a word, the new mascots of Trumpism.

As we noted yesterday, the conventional GOP, while all publicly loyal to Trump, wants to ignore and coverup January 6th as much as possible. They have a conventional culture war and big government campaign they are eager to run. Meanwhile Speaker Nancy Pelosi has finally created her select investigative committee to investigate January 6th. She has designed it to really investigate. Democrats have both profound civic and patriotic reasons to get to the bottom of what happened on January 6th as well as obvious political interests.

The investigation commences now. It will get down to work properly toward the end of the summer. It will need to be prepared to conclude by the end of 2022 for the simple reason that if the Democrats lose power in the House – more likely than not – it will be brought to a speedy conclusion. All of which tells us that the January 6th investigation is more or less coterminous in time with the 2022 election cycle. And this confirms that the two efforts – Trump’s and the select committee’s – are on a common trajectory and certain to collide.

[LFC]

This could have gone under multiple topics but I put it here because I think it helps illustrate how Republicans are going to campaign in the upcoming elections. Sorry, BactPhd, but DeSantis is once again the example of awfulness.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is selling merchandise on his campaign website taking shots at Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious diseases expert, and other coronavirus restrictions.

The merchandise includes drink koozies and shirts that say “Don’t Fauci My Florida” and flags that closely resemble former President Trump’s style saying “Keep Florida Free.”

[goldenvalley]

Jul 15, 2021 15:17:46 GMT LFC said:

This could have gone under multiple topics but I put it here because I think it helps illustrate how Republicans are going to campaign in the upcoming elections. Sorry, BactPhd, but DeSantis is once again the example of awfulness.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is selling merchandise on his campaign website taking shots at Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious diseases expert, and other coronavirus restrictions.

The merchandise includes drink koozies and shirts that say “Don’t Fauci My Florida” and flags that closely resemble former President Trump’s style saying “Keep Florida Free.”

And childishness.  Sticking his tongue out at public health experts...you can't make me!

[jackd]

I don't think there's any dispute about DiSantis being an asshole; he is!

[pnwguy]

Jul 15, 2021 17:38:12 GMT jackd said:

I don't think there's any dispute about DiSantis being an asshole; he is!

It's getting to the point where it's easier to count the GOP elected officials who are NOT assholes.  A-Holiness is THE biggest requirement for Republican candidates now.

[Bact PhD]

Jul 15, 2021 15:17:46 GMT LFC said:

This could have gone under multiple topics but I put it here because I think it helps illustrate how Republicans are going to campaign in the upcoming elections. Sorry, BactPhd, but DeSantis is once again the example of awfulness

No apology necessary. This sort of awfulness, not only on his part, but also on the part of many who propelled him into office, is one of the reasons I am openly bringing up the possibility of leaving this state once Dear Son graduates HS (among other things that are distinctly possible between now and mid-2023). I am figuring DeMinimis will win re-election fairly easily next year.

[Bact PhD]

Jul 15, 2021 17:38:12 GMT jackd said:

I don't think there's any dispute about DiSantis being an asshole; he is!

The only dispute is which Trumpist governor is more awful, DeMinimis, Abbott in Texass, Noem in SD,…

[LFC]

Another top Republican candidate.

According to a report from the Daily Beast's Roger Sollenberger, a Republican state senator running for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives has been accused of stealing passages from an op-ed her opponent wrote for the Wall Street Journal and then using them in an email appeal for donations to her campaign.

Sen. Jen Kiggans (R) is making a run for the seat currently being held by Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA) and recently sent out an email in the hopes of bolstering her campaign against the incumbent lawmaker.

As the Beast's Sollenberger wrote, critics of the GOP challenger quickly spotted some passages in her email that appeared to be lifted from the Luria op-ed published just four days prior.

"The op-ed, which ran this month, advocates for a beefed-up defense budget to meet the threat posed by China's military build-up. Luria, whose district is home to the world's largest naval base, took an uncommon position for a Democrat, chiding top military brass for an anemic budget request and for their contradictory statements about the seriousness of the threat posed by China," the Beast report states. "Kiggans, a Virginia state senator, makes the same overall argument—many of them in strikingly similar language to Luria's. She claims this stance sets her apart from elected Democrats who 'don't seem to share that perspective,' while ignoring that Luria does, in fact, share that perspective. Sometimes down to the very word."

[Deleted]

Jul 15, 2021 20:05:00 GMT Bact PhD said:

Jul 15, 2021 17:38:12 GMT jackd said:

I don't think there's any dispute about DiSantis being an asshole; he is!

The only dispute is which Trumpist governor is more awful, DeMinimis, Abbott in Texass, Noem in SD,…

The competition is stiff, but why do you have to make up your mind today? They have plenty of time to show off their mettle. 

[pnwguy]

Jul 18, 2021 14:27:21 GMT @probabilistic3 said:

Jul 15, 2021 20:05:00 GMT Bact PhD said:

The competition is stiff, but why do you have to make up your mind today? They have plenty of time to show off their mettle evil.

FIFY

[LFC]

They continue to bow and scrape in hopes of being blessed by the tiny hands of Dear Leader.

Though Donald Trump is no longer the president, he’s still the de facto leader of the Republican Party. While in office, Trump made it clear that the best way to get into his good graces is by spending money at his properties. Now attempting to transition to the role of political kingmaker, Republican candidates from across the country have flocked to Trump properties to seek a coveted endorsement from the former president. Just like as president, Donald Trump has found a way to tie political futures to his personal fortune, channeling money into the Trump Organization.

In the months since Trump has left office, at least 46 candidates for federal and state office have made 63 visits to Trump properties, according to CREW’s analysis of campaign finance reports, news articles, and social media posts. Most of these visits have been made at Trump’s home base, Mar-a-Lago (35), although in recent weeks they have shifted to Trump National Golf Club Bedminster (17) in New Jersey, where Trump is spending the summer.

[LFC]

Chuckles Gr-Assley, age 88, just announced he's running for reelection. This dude needs a hobby.

[AnBr]

Democrats edge toward dumping Iowa’s caucuses as the first presidential vote

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/iowa-caucuses-democrats/2021/10/08/1402aafa-2770-11ec-8d53-67cfb452aa60_story.html

[AnBr]

David Shor Is Telling Democrats What They Don’t Want to Hear

[Traveler]

Oct 10, 2021 3:39:53 GMT AnBr said:

David Shor Is Telling Democrats What They Don’t Want to Hear

Good link, but sure could have been shorter...

Democrats are often trapped in an echo chamber of their own making — a problem Twitter has made immeasurably worse — and they are too quick to dismiss evidence that their ideas and messages are alienating voters. The political system is stacked against them, and unless they are going to change it by adding states and reforming election laws, they need to campaign with the constant recognition that the pivotal voter is well to their right and skeptical of everything they say. On all of that, Shor is offering a warning Democrats should heed.
[...]
This, to me, is the most important part of Shor’s argument: He is right to insist that the Democratic Party is an institution that is composed, at the top, of a narrow group of people and that is afflicted by many of their blind spots. Whether he is right about what those blind spots are or his critics are right that he is adding some of his own is a secondary concern. For the Democratic Party to chart any course out of the peril it faces, it must first accept that in the minds of most Americans, it is a party, a singular entity. And before that party can shape what voters think, it must find a way to see itself clearly and act collectively.

This.  Dems have done absolutely NOTHING to address the elephant in the room.  That was the looting and violence of the Floyd protests.  Subliminally racist white folks (the vast majority) are seriously scared of those black people with guns, even if they wont even admit it to themselves.  Even though the rioters represent a minuscule minority, and is one that is largely killing its own community. And since Dems that wont address it, and never have, it lurks in the background in all those "independents".  Like Manchinema, they control the votes. And they don't like brown people.  Even Hispanics, strange as that seems  

ETA: BTW, when I said vast majority, that includes most, if not all, of us.  Maybe not as pejorative or dismissive as the deplorables, but prejudice is everywhere.  Always has been.  Progressives ignore this reality too.