#426 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Wednesday August 10)
Good morning,
Some will say this is a political Musing. But I would like to think of it as “all-in to protect democracy from election deniers…”
From Andrew Tobias, who noted in his periodic blog that the Democrats have a decent chance of maintaining control of the House (which I dispute) and maintaining or increasing their control of the Senate (which I think is distinctly possible). He points out that Democrats came out in large numbers in Georgia, even when the nominees for Senate and Governor were pretty well known. He believes this Fall will not be the bloodbath pundits expect. In his words:
“I totally get that the odds are against us.
But I also get that . . .
. . . if all the women who are outraged by Republicans wanting to control their bodies . . .
. . . and all the men who love them (and don’t want to be forced to be fathers) . . .
. . . and all those who feel threatened by a party that attracts 100% of the white supremacist vote* . . .
. . . and all the young people who care about climate change . . .
. . . and gun violence . . .
. . . and all the union members . . .
. . . and non-union members who want a decent minimum wage . . .
. . . if all the moderate Americans uncomfortable with a party whose leader “would like to punch him in the face” (or “grab ’em by the pussy”) . . .
. . . if all those small-d democrats appalled by autocracy — whether Putin bombing hospitals or Republicans voting to overturn a presidential election . . .
. . . who believe that the Washington Post, even if more liberal than they, is not the enemy of the people . . .
. . . but rather that, as the Post says, “democracy dies in darkness” . . .
. . . if all those people go out and vote five months from now, we will win enormous House and Senate majorities.”
Well, I’m not sure about enormous majorities (or even, in the case of the House, a majority at all). But the Biden record thus far has been extraordinary, with the bill for Veterans (nearly stopped by Republicans pouting over Joe Manchin negotiating the compromise with Chuck Schumer), the scaled-down build back bill, the strengthening of NATO, the killing of the al-Qaeda leader, the law making us more competitive with China in computer chips and other manufacturing, then infrastructure bill, and presided over an economy with the lowest unemployment rate and job growth in decades. And even gas prices are now declining. Not so bad for an old guy…
SOME ENDORSEMENTS AGAINST THE ONSLAUGHT OF ALTERNATIVE TRUTH AND ATTACKS ON DEMOCRACY
At this point, we should see it as our patriotic duty to send postcards to voters in swing states and contribute money to candidates running against those who have subscribed to the “big lie” and legislation to manipulate elections. I’m focused on the Senate only right now. This is not a complete list of all the important races, but a selection of those candidates running against Republican candidates who are among the most demonstrably unfit for public office:
Mark Kelly in Arizona. He will be running Blake Masters, described in Vanity Fair as the [Peter] Thiel protégé, who most recently made headlines for blaming America’s “gun violence problem” on “black people, frankly” He is determined to impeach and remove Joe Biden from office (on unclear grounds). He opposes Obergefell v. Hodges, which established the right of same-sex marriage. He has all but stated that he supports the “great replacement theory,” based on the notion of White supremacists that Democrats are trying to bring in immigrants to replace god-fearing white Americans. He maintains “it’s really hard to know” who won the 2020 election. He said the January 6 insurrection may have been a “false flag” operation orchestrated by the FBI, and that one-third of the people at the Capitol were FBI agents. In the meantime, election-denying Kari Lake is running for Governor of Arizona and could have a major say in the 2024 Presidential election…oy! And then there’s the GOP candidate for Secretary of State, Mark Finchem, who rejects the last election’s results and pledges to conduct the 2024 election differently…
Raphael Warnock in Georgia. He’s running against that intellectual juggernaut, Herschel Walker, who has denied parentage of two young men, has been accused of domestic violence, lied about having worked with the police and the FBI, and supports the lie that Joe Biden wasn’t elected president. Here’s what the distinguished Mr. Walker has to say about gun violence. See if you can make sense of it: “Cain killed Abel and that’s a problem that we have,” said Walker. “What we need to do is look into how we can stop those things. You know, you talked about doing a disinformation — what about getting a department that can look at young men that’s looking at women that’s looking at their social media. What about doing that? Looking into things like that and we can stop that that way. But yet they want to just continue to talk about taking away your constitutional rights. And I think there’s more things we need to look into. This has been happening for years and the way we stop it is putting money into the mental health field, by putting money into other departments rather than departments that want to take away your rights.”
John Fetterman in Pennsylvania. He faces the TV huckster, Dr. Mehmet Oz, who votes in Turkey. Oz is a Trump boy, as well, and has been the target of numerous lawsuits regarding his false or inflated medical claiims. Oz admits to getting advice from Sean Hannity… Here’s an analysis of Oz’s unfitness for office, from an op-ed in the Scientific American: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/dr-oz-shouldnt-be-a-senator-or-a-doctor/?amp=true Oz is Trump’s candidate in this state where the Republican nominee for Governor participated in the insurrection on January 6th. Oh boy…
Tim Ryan in Ohio. Tim faces the “never Trumper” J.D. Vance who, when faced with the political expediency of supporting Mr. Trump and appealing to his base immediately turned coat and went all-in on MAGA and election denial.
Catherine Matso in Nevada. She faces Adam Laxalt, a Trump endorsee who claims the 2020 election was fraudulent.
Wisconsin. Ron Johnson, the incumbent, is one of the biggest Trump supporters in the Senate. This is a winnable seat. He’s vulnerable, as he should be. Here’s from Urban Milwaukee: “Ron Johnson has attracted headlines and liberal criticism for saying taking care of children isn’t society’s responsibility…and for calling a GOP proposal that would cut Social Security and raise taxes on seniors “a positive thing.” Further, “The Oshkosh Republican…courts conservative media and often seems to thrive on being a polarizing figure. For months, he has been stridently opposed to the efforts to promote the COVID-19 vaccine, making false or misleading statements about the vaccine and highlighting misinformation about vaccination efforts.”
And, while a longer shot, and her opponent is not as whacky as the ones above, it’s hard not to like Val Demings. She faces an uphill battle in Florida against former Trump nemesis but now shameless Trump apologist Marco Rubio. But anything can happen in Florida.
THE BIG LIE AS AN ELECTION STRATEGY
The insurrectionists and their apologists will be out in force this November—not just Marjorie Taylor Greene and her ilk, but substantial numbers. Here’s a breakdown from the good people at FiveThirtyEight of all the folks in the Republican primaries who are running for office either under the claim the 2020 election was fraudulent or questioning the results: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/at-least-120-republicans-who-deny-the-2020-election-results-will-be-on-the-ballot-in-november/
In pertinent part, the article says:
“…340 Republican nominees for Senate, House, governor, attorney general and secretary of state so far, 120 are full-blown election deniers (35 percent).2 This includes people like Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, who said in a campaign ad that “the fake news, big tech and blue-state liberals stole the election from President Trump,” and Indiana Rep. Greg Pence, who voted not to certify the 2020 vote (defying his brother, former Vice President Mike Pence) and hasn’t spoken out on the issue since. It also includes at least four people who attended the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol: Pennsylvania gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano, Ohio 9th Congressional District nominee J.R. Majewski, Oregon senatorial nominee Jo Rae Perkins and North Carolina 1st Congressional District nominee Sandy Smith.”
It has come to this. Election deniers and insurrectionists. What would the luminaries of Republican days-gone-by have to say about their nominees today?
Have a great day,
Glenn
From the archives: