Yes, that’s very fair. I guess I’m lamenting that they aren’t going all the way, because it makes me believe that they really aren’t reformed. There are a number of people pointing out that these same never-Trumpers themselves used the Confederate flag and racism to win votes for Republicans for decades. It’s nice that they’re attacking that now, but I don’t really believe that they repent of their sins or won’t repeat them again at the next opportunity.
Nah, this isn’t why.
The former GOP folks know how GOP folks think. These guys are good at what they do. They know how to push those buttons. They’re a big reason the GOP took power.
And now they are pushing all those buttons to end Trump.
Also, this part is absolutely true:
This is totally accurate… It’s also a key to ending things like the Confederate flag. Don’t worry about calling them racist… because a bunch of those assholes don’t care about being racist.
Call them losers. Because they can’t handle that.
Confederates were not only racist fucks. They were also losers, and traitors.
Yea, you don’t need to call them racists. They were traitors, plain and simple.
Exactly, PACs often skirt the rules about coordinating. The original purpose of PAC was to advocate for a position (pro-choice/pro-life environmental) I think the Lincoln Project is honor the spirit of PAC, advocating for a position getting rid of Republicans rather than a thinly disguised PAC to elect a candidate.
Given the amount of absolutely insane and abhorrent GOP candidates that have popped up in state and national races since Trump’s election (the list is too big to cite here), I suspect that there may be some less vile, more run-of-the-mill Republicans out there who have been content to stay in less visible roles lower down in state governments and/or are simply waiting to run for office until after 2020 sorts itself out. That would be a sound strategy, as if Trump wins you still have the magic “R” next to your name, but if Biden wins then suddenly you can emerge as a more moderate choice when the inevitable wave of “oh shit, we really fucked that up, time to take back the House/Senate/Presidency with some candidates with greater mass appeal” wave of remorse hits Republican voters.
Of course, that actually assumes Republican voters are interested in swinging back the other direction instead of just thinking “oh shit, we really fucked that up, time to take back the House/Senate/Presidency with some EVEN MOAR RACIST AND INSANE candidates.”
These are also talented political consultants and ad makers with decades of experience. I think they are making smart ad buys and have clearly gotten into the presidents heads. But they have only raised in the low millions, so there are ads are not all that widely seen. So please do share them on social media, going viral is big way they are going to make an impact.
They have a couple podcast discussing their background.
As to what happens to the Lincoln Party next, I think it’s anyone guess. I want to see a conservative party come back, because having lived in one party state state for 20 years, I know competition is good.
However, there is nothing good about the Trump’s Republican so it pretty much needs to be destroy which won’t happen in a single election.
I kinda agree. California was less wacko when the GOP at least had a presence in state politics. Even Gov Brown vetoed a few bills past by his own party cause he knew they were crazy.
The thing about being a traitor is if you want to be one, it’s best if you also win. George Washington was as traitory as traitors get, but he won. If he hadn’t he surely would have dangled at the end of a rope. The 1860s were a more genteel time and Lee and Davis got to live out their lives.
Think about the cult of personality that would have developed around Lee had he been hung for treason.
Lee didn’t get his citizenship restored until … 1975.
Given the terms of surrender at Appomattox, I imagine Grant himself would have vociferously opposed any attempt to execute Lee.
Davis, on the other hand… I think he was pretty lucky to get off with a stint in chains.
Well I’m sure we can all agree that people like Devin Nunes, Duncan Hunter, and Kevin McCarthy have been nothing but a blessing on us all. Definitely need more GOP around here.
I’ve long thought this is the simplest way to oppose Trump. Dems should always just matter-of-factly refer to Trump as weak and as a loser. Over and over and over.
On the other hand, ‘whiny little bitch’ never got any traction, despite Bill Maher’s pushing it for longer than that girl in Mean Girls pushed ‘fetch.’
On further reflection, I guess that’s not matter-of-fact, though. That’s trying to out-epithet Trump, which is a fool’s game. Epithets are one thing he actually does pretty well.
So your argument is that no one right of Biden could have run because no one right of Biden had won?
By that same token, no one to the left of Biden could have won because no one to the left of Biden won. So we got the perfect candidate.
But without Biden in the game, yes, I think an even more conversative candidate could have unified the party against Bernie Sanders. If it wasn’t for the impeachment or Pete, I think the Democrats could easily have unified around Amy.
She has a great ground game, and could have picked up steam in Iowa. Without Warren, I think Michael Bloomberg might have surged more.
So yes, I do think in 2020, we could easily have had a more conservative standard bearer then what Biden is turning out to be.
Remember, Biden was vocally in favor of Gay Marriage before Obama was.
It has the benefit of being supported by the data ;-)
Unlike this.
Our opinions about a minor point differ. I’ll put it another way: Is there any Democrat the never-Trumpers as a group would openly embrace and support and vote and make ads for for who could also win the Democratic nomination?
Well, at that point they would be Democrats, wouldn’t they? Their whole identity is being not-Democrats who are allied with the Democrats because of their repugnance at what they perceive (and I know you disagree on this point, but take it up with Rick Wilson) to be a hostile takeover of the GOP by Trumpism.
I don’t know Hunter but the other 2 are in the US Congress, which really has nothing to do with what I said. The Dems own the state so much that in most the state there may as well not be a GOP. There are Dem state legislators now who would probably leave the union if they had the votes. There are some real leftists who need a balancing voice. When you have someone like Jerry Brown having to temper them you know they are well out there.
As for Nunes, I know all about that idiot. He is my congressman.
I’m saying the GOP is full of bottom of the barrel morons and pieces of shit. I don’t see how their presence in state politics would improve things at all. They’ve proven that their reprehensible policies and beliefs should be shunned and completely ignored. How would having little Devin Nunes clones in California state politics be of any benefit?
I’m sure you’ve heard of Duncan Hunter - the douchebag GOP rep that threw his wife under the bus when he was caught using $250k+ of campaign funds for his personal fun.
Most important politics is done at the local or state level. While I agree at the national level, Republican recently seem to have a near monopoly on the slimiest pols. At the state and local level simply having a (D) behind your name, doesn’t mean you will be honest, honorably or have any other virtue.
I left California at the tail end of the Willie Brown era. The CA speaker for the Assembly who was notorious for graft and corruption that made California just a tad better than Illinois or the Sopranos.
Hawaii is one party state. typically one out of 26 senators, and 2-5 House member are Republican. Just in the last years, they’ve been caught allowing their friends and family to flip taxpayer subsidized low-income housing, getting kickback from the union and contractors working on the Rail projects which 5 years behind schedule, and well over twice the original budget. Meanwhile the Chief of Police and his wife the city prosecutor have been subject to FBI investigation for laundry list of crimes, wrongful prosecution and boat load of bribes and kickback. They are all Democrats.