American Politics VII: Virginia Reel

[Antipatros]

Got this from 538's live blog: These guys are projecting a 50-50 split in the Virginia House. That would be something.

[Ispravlennaja Tsekovija]

Trans Rights has seen a consistent increase in support throughout America.

the fact that concerns over trans schoolchildren was one of the wedge issues used by youngkin notwithstanding?

I know that hysteria is part of the San Lumen brand, but holy shit dude chill out.

Why? If someone who leads with 50 plus in every poll loses why should I have any hope left?

everyone agreed that it was a tight race, you just decided to put all your eggs in this one weird basket for some reason. losses happen. the outcome of this race wasn't actually going to affect your life either way outside of the emotional weight you gave to it.

[Meretica]

That's a cause, certainly. The other is the incoherent stance the party has on solutions for systemic racism and how the Republicans are using it to wield the CRT club.

who has been holding up the infrastructure bills, remind me

Snakema and Mansion.

[Ispravlennaja Tsekovija]

who has been holding up the infrastructure bills, remind me

Snakema and Mansion.

:|

[Untecna]

Alright, so I'm going to ask this right now.

Who thinks we should fix up the National School Lunch program and make it actually do what we need it to do, instead of looking appealing on the outside but failing miserably on the inside? I personally do.

[Antipatros]

On the whole "who is to blame" thing, I don't think progressives should be singled out here.

They've been compromising a lot on the reconciliation bill. If we don't get anything done, it's because we didn't win enough Senate seats in the 2020 election.

[Shrillland]

data reporting error n the state's here-HOD might not have flipped after all
hold off on that one

Now projected to be a tie (50/50)

Oh dear...there's no provision in the Commonwealth Constitution for a tied House, just a tied Senate.

[Corrian]

Got this from 538's live blog: These guys are projecting a 50-50 split in the Virginia House. That would be something.

Who breaks a tie in that regard?

[Antipatros]

Got this from 538's live blog: These guys are projecting a 50-50 split in the Virginia House. That would be something.

Who breaks a tie in that regard?

They're going to have to come up with some kind of power sharing agreement to work this out.

[Ispravlennaja Tsekovija]

Alright, so I'm going to ask this right now.

Who thinks we should fix up the National School Lunch program and make it actually do what we need it to do, instead of looking appealing on the outside but failing miserably on the inside? I personally do.

i'm sure your school's lunch period is long enough that you can go to the nearest restaurant and get something nicer if you have an issue with the food they're giving you.

[Shrillland]

Got this from 538's live blog: These guys are projecting a 50-50 split in the Virginia House. That would be something.

Who breaks a tie in that regard?

There's no provision in the Constitution for such a measure, though as Antipatros has suggested, they would need to form some sort of power-sharing arrangement like they did after the 1997 election.

[Meretica]

Sinema (D), Manchin (D), Romney (R), Collins (R), Murkowski (R), and McConnell (R) are to blame. Had many of the bills that have been held up in recent months been passed, McAuliffe would've had substantially more to campaign on. HOWEVER, McAuliffe himself is also to blame as he wasn't exactly inspiring and he was focused on an anti-Trump platform, which is hardly enough to run on at all.

[Ngelmish]

Progressives didn't lose this election per se, or even particularly, but it is a fundamental problem of American politics that demagogues like Trump or Youngkin get in striking distance to eke out a win in the first place -- and that is something that could be prevented if more people voted more consistently against the possibility, which does necessarily include certain groups of progressive voters.

the blame game here is less bitching out progressives for not turning out in VA (iirc Princess Blanding underperformed quite a bit vs. expectations) and more blaming them for the stalling of the infrastructure bills (which in turn is alleged to be the primary cause of McAuliffe's defeat)

Well yes. Lumen jumped straight to it as soon as the numbers went south, and it's obviously a pretty silly argument in the first place -- McAuliffe didn't lose because of legislation he didn't have a hand in (and that centrists are responsible for not having passed yet, yes), although it may have helped him a bit at the margins. But I think my formulation includes a broader coalition of voters than just progressives who are at least open to voting for Democrats most of the time just not doing it consistently in non-marquee races, and usually for frustratingly unsophisticated or just dumb reasons. For a different example of the same phenomenon: it's less alarming in itself that George Bush barely got into the White House 20 years ago than it is that almost half the country voted for that. Republicans in many ways are divided and unpopular, but that doesn't do the rest of us a lick of good when we don't reliably turn out either.

As for Virginia, my (non scientific) sense of things is that McAuliffe spectacularly self-owned with that comment about parents not dictating to school boards. He's not wrong on the merits of course, but it gave Youngkin's demagoguery some specific teeth, and he didn't need to have said it. Without that, and perhaps a bit more luck, we'd be looking at a narrow win here.

[Untecna]

Alright, so I'm going to ask this right now.

Who thinks we should fix up the National School Lunch program and make it actually do what we need it to do, instead of looking appealing on the outside but failing miserably on the inside? I personally do.

i'm sure your school's lunch period is long enough that you can go to the nearest restaurant and get something nicer if you have an issue with the food they're giving you.

The fact that many students go off campus, which by the way is usually only in high school, and go to fast food restaurants doesn't solve the problem. You can't get fine dining in 45 minutes. Trust me, I know from experience.

[Corrian]

Sinema (D), Manchin (D), Romney (R), Collins (R), Murkowski (R), and McConnell (R) are to blame. Had many of the bills that have been held up in recent months been passed, McAuliffe would've had substantially more to campaign on. HOWEVER, McAuliffe himself is also to blame as he wasn't exactly inspiring and he was focused on an anti-Trump platform, which is hardly enough to run on at all.

Yeah I actually think McAuliffe was a really poor choice of candidate.

[Dresderstan]

Okay NOW safe blue areas in NJ are coming in.

[Shrillland]

Okay NOW safe blue areas in NJ are coming in.

Yep, I'm seeing it now. Ciattarelli's down to a 15,000 vote lead and it's only going down for him.

[Senkaku]

Sinema (D), Manchin (D), Romney (R), Collins (R), Murkowski (R), and McConnell (R) are to blame. Had many of the bills that have been held up in recent months been passed, McAuliffe would've had substantially more to campaign on. HOWEVER, McAuliffe himself is also to blame as he wasn't exactly inspiring and he was focused on an anti-Trump platform, which is hardly enough to run on at all.

I mean we could also discuss Menendez, Tester, Gottheimer & co., Pelosi... but yeah, it's also attributable to McAuliffe himself shitting the bed in his own state

[Zurkerx]

Okay NOW safe blue areas in NJ are coming in.

Correct. Essex county is 90% reported; Passaic is 30%. This will be very close.

[Senkaku]

Trans Rights has seen a consistent increase in support throughout America.

the fact that concerns over trans schoolchildren was one of the wedge issues used by youngkin notwithstanding?

there is no transphobia in Gee Oh Pee

[Corrian]

Okay NOW safe blue areas in NJ are coming in.

Correct. Essex county is 90% reported; Passaic is 30%. This will be very close.

Why the hell is NJ close.

[Thermodolia]

I present an Ad

(Image)
(Image)

Exactly what did these idiots think would happen?

[Shrillland]

Correct. Essex county is 90% reported; Passaic is 30%. This will be very close.

Why the hell is NJ close.

NJ's always been closer on the state level than they like to advertise, but as to Ciattarelli specifically, I actually don't know myself. NYT hasn't really mentioned it.

[Ispravlennaja Tsekovija]

i'm sure your school's lunch period is long enough that you can go to the nearest restaurant and get something nicer if you have an issue with the food they're giving you.

The fact that many students go off campus, which by the way is usually only in high school, and go to fast food restaurants doesn't solve the problem. You can't get fine dining in 45 minutes.

you shouldn't be getting fine dining for lunch on school days LMAO

Trust me, I know from experience.

that much was clear. not a lot of people with school-aged children on nsg and they're the only other people who might remotely care about this.

[Lord Dominator]

I present an Ad

(Image)
(Image)

Exactly what did these idiots think would happen?

The goal was to make it another referendum on Trump - they rather failed at driving D turnout based on that