US Politics XV: Time to Mull Mueller Mania

[Jerry Dunk]

Unsurprisingly, the whole 10 minute version shows Harris responding emotionally and beautifully, they may have some disagreements, but it’s far from the squirmy gotcha moment we were initially presented with.

https://youtu.be/feb62JOutHw

What about her response is it that resonates with you?

 

[Jerry Dunk]

It is insane to me that Democrats would mourn the loss of John Bolton from this administration. Are we truly this poisoned by Trump that anyone that gets on his bad side is a good guy? Bolton's the guy who has been most actively trying to get Trump to start a war.

 

[Irvine511]

What about her response is it that resonates with you?

throughout the video she is warm and personal, raw and honest, and she tells a good story. in terms of the content of her response, she acknowledges the complexity of the system, the notion of health care as a right, and how government has a role to play, and she specifically says "I have a medicare for all plan." he specifically asks her about Bernie's bill and says that her plan is better because there is an option for a public plan or a private plan and elucidates the differences. she wants coverage for all -- that's what she wants. she doesn't want to get rid of all private insurance, and neither do most Americans. she wants to restructure the role they play in the health care system. this is the crux of the current debate amongst the Democrats. good people can disagree, and they are and they will and will continue to do so.

i also disagree with his assumption/observation/anecdote that there's a massive, energetic "grassroots" movement out there that will make any sort of real political difference. that's not based in any sort of evidence, nor does it acknowledge the backlash abolishing private insurance could provoke.

it's the dishonesty of the 1 minute edit of this as some sort of "gotcha" moment that's disappointing. given how sympathetic and kind the overall video is, i think Ady himself wouldn't like the framing. they disagree on one specific point of policy, and that's fine. liberals like to debate and persuade and hash out differences. they don't like totalizing narratives.

she honestly comes off great in the whole video. it made me like her more. i'm glad you posted the 1min video, otherwise i wouldn't have found the 10 min video.

i hope Kamala has a great debate and regains her footing. she has tremendous political skills.

 

[Irvine511]

It is insane to me that Democrats would mourn the loss of John Bolton from this administration. Are we truly this poisoned by Trump that anyone that gets on his bad side is a good guy? Bolton's the guy who has been most actively trying to get Trump to start a war.

literally who is "mourning" this?



many are noting that his departure is an example of the chaos and instability of the Trump administration. this is the 3rd NSA in as many years.

 

[anitram]

i hope Kamala has a great debate and regains her footing. she has tremendous political skills.

I get the sense too that she does, but I question whether she has the right people working on her campaign. It seems like from the beginning they have been operating like they want her to be an "all things to all people" candidate which has resulted in multiple iterations of the same plan, so-called flip-flopping, watering down of her initial views and so on. Somebody there needs to take the reigns and stick with it.

 

[dazzledbylight]

apparently trump has called henry kissinger to try to get him out of retirement to be his next NSA.

god help us all.

Dave, Dave, Dave. Dave. You’ve obviously mistaken an Onion article for actual news. There’s no way that’s actually tr—

...

Fuck.

It is insane to me that Democrats would mourn the loss of John Bolton from this administration. Are we truly this poisoned by Trump that anyone that gets on his bad side is a good guy? Bolton's the guy who has been most actively trying to get Trump to start a war.

I haven't heard any one (Dems).

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

It is insane to me that Democrats would mourn the loss of John Bolton from this administration. Are we truly this poisoned by Trump that anyone that gets on his bad side is a good guy? Bolton's the guy who has been most actively trying to get Trump to start a war.

Nobody is mourning the loss of Bolton.

Pointing out the sheer and utter incompetence of this administration is not a nod of approval for the dude who got shit canned.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

“Most Americans don’t want to get rid of private insurance” is a total farce. Most Americans don’t understand the insurance system, and employed people in the middle class tend to *not care* because they don’t see that money anyways.

 

[dazzledbylight]

9-11-19

18 yrs later, wow.

i ran out of my apt building in just half a mile from Downtown Brooklyn at 10am to head to Manhattan. I never watch tv in the morning. But I usually flick my (then) walkman tape player and radio on as get ready to leave - i didn't that morning.
It's gorgeous, blue sky , happy sumner cloud. I turn on my radio in the middle of the convo -hear about 'firemen covered in ash', "like a movie- but not!' I had NO idea what building and where this is happening. They all suddenly went silent. "Dead air" as it's called for ?20+ seconds? Finally one says The Twin Towers are gone. I'm walking westward. I spin 180° around, stare at my walkman as if it's turned into a squawking monster. I start putting 2 + 2 + together. I slowly turn back westward, stare what i at what thought was a bright sumner cloud partially hidden behind local closer buildings.
It was actually a light beige-yellow-grayish cloud - and much denser. I realized it was a cloud of the collapse/destruction. I clapped my hands over my mouth and ran screaming back home. I flung myself on my bed and cried hard into my for about 10 mins (didn't know if my roomate(s) knew as their bedrooms were closed). I was too afraid to turn on the tv because from Sept 1980 - mid-August 1981 I spent that time along with other provisionals working in Tower Two (South) on the 73rd flr NE corner of it. The view was incredible, like being on a small mountain. Wasn't sure how i'd react, so i listened to public radio all day and evening. Then I turned on the tv late at night.

I never really cried again until going to the first post 9-11 U2 concert. Danced, sang and cried. Cathartic. But i had gone many times to the ever growing sad, deeply moving, beautiful memorial up in the south plaza of Union Square Park, as soon ad i could get back into Manhattan; since below 14th St only residents were allowed to go there Union Sq was the closest people could get.

Later on The Tribute In Lights remains one of the most beautiful and sublime pieces of art/memorial ever created. Been there many tines, as well WTC area each 9-11 till just a few yrs ago.

So much horror, then so much kindness that outflowed from that harrowing day. Strength for all affected.

 

[dazzledbylight]

Headache - you were in Long Island, right? Were you working there on 9-11? Or in one of NYC Burroughs?

 

[womanfish]

i also disagree with his assumption/observation/anecdote that there's a massive, energetic "grassroots" movement out there that will make any sort of real political difference. that's not based in any sort of evidence, nor does it acknowledge the backlash abolishing private insurance could provoke.

I think this is a reality that too many are ignoring. And unfortunately it also points to the biggest problem we have with our Dem candidates.

Do we want to energize the Democratic base? Yes we do. We learned from Clinton that we have to. But to get wrapped up in the progressive bubble and think that everyone feels like you do, and Sanders or Warren got some big crowds at some of their events, so it means that there's an army of progressive voters ready to win this thing - is just not reality.

We got that lesson just last night in North Carolina. The Democrat lost by two points in a district that went for Trump by 12.
Where was the big turning of the tide for votes? Did a sea of young people swarm the polls? LMAO!!! of course not. The southern suburbs of Charlotte. 35 - 55 year old, college educated adults. I think in that area it was a 13 point shift in what party they voted for.
That middle, moderate, independent voter is a reality. And THAT is what is making the movement and shift from red to blue from 2016 to 2018 to now and hopefully 2020.

I love Warren. Starting to overtake Biden as my first choice. But my gut tells me she would get clobbered in a district like this. And that scares the shit out of me. That is what the current problem is with our choices. You have Biden the moderate, swallow your medicine and vote cause its what's good for you - but will probably most easily win in the general.

And you have Sanders and Warren. The big policy changes and ideas, but will turning out more already reliable blue voters in already blue cities and states mean anything???
We need to win the midwest swing states, the North Carolinas, the Virginias, the Georgias, the Floridas, the Arizonas, hell, Texas!

So I am torn, and hope the debates and time will give us the candidate that we need to pull this out handily. I don't just want Trump to lose. I want him humiliated.

That is all.

 

[Irvine511]

If the threat of 4 more years of Trump isn’t enough to “motivate the base,” then nothing will ever be enough.

There was the working assumption that Clinton would win. I think that allowed some people to get all precious. I sincerely hope they won’t make the same mistake again.

 

[BEAL]

Exactly. There’s literally no place you could be hiding and not know, and understand the crisis the USA and world face with a Trump win. You would have to come from such a spoiled, rich, and frankly nihilistic mindset to not be motivated to vote. You’d actually want the world to burn so you can have something to blame on others

I still want Warren, but a part of me is saying fuck it, nominate Sanders and let’s see if this works.

We hear about the grass roots, this progressive voting block that’s ready to take over. I’d rather have Sanders get it and prove it than have Biden and the constant bickering and infighting that’s going to happen.

 

[DaveC]

We got that lesson just last night in North Carolina. The Democrat lost by two points in a district that went for Trump by 12.
Where was the big turning of the tide for votes? Did a sea of young people swarm the polls? LMAO!!! of course not.

surely the fact that it was a one-off special house election on a random tuesday in september has nothing to do with the turnout, so let's use this one tiny solid-red district in north carolina that has elected nothing but republicans since JFK was alive to jump to some conclusions about the electability of left politics in a national election.

 

[anitram]

surely the fact that it was a one-off special house election on a random tuesday in september has nothing to do with the turnout, so let's use this one tiny solid-red district in north carolina that has elected nothing but republicans since JFK was alive to jump to some conclusions about the electability of left politics in a national election.

Also the district DID shift pretty materially. A 10 point swing is not nothing.

The newest ABC/WaPo poll has all the major candidates beating Trump by 6-16 points. The Emerson poll has Andrew Yang, who I'm pretty sure most Americans wouldn't be able to pick out of a line up, beating Trump by 8 points. The guy is massively toxic.

And I totally called this:

MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell said Wednesday that ousted national security adviser John Bolton "is not leaving quietly" and will return to TV to voice his displeasure with President Trump.

"He was tweeting his objections. He was texting reporters including our own reporters at the White House immediately," Mitchell told the network's "Morning Joe" program. "I was on the air when this all happened. It happened one minute before we started our show, so we blew everything out and just went wall-to-wall for the hour, and people were texting in and showing me their texts from John Bolton as we were rocking back and forth."

"The fact is he is going to be very outspoken," the veteran Washington reported added. "He is not leaving quietly at all.”

Let them go at each others like two pigs wrestling in the mud.

 

[dazzledbylight]

Heh, yeah.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

He's fine

https://twitter.com/HelenKennedy/status/1171887010015059968?s=09

 

[anitram]

What, you don't talk about your son the same way?

 

[DaveC]

this sounds like all the ingredients for an episode of maury.

 

[dabiggestu2fan]

It is insane to me that Democrats would mourn the loss of John Bolton from this administration. Are we truly this poisoned by Trump that anyone that gets on his bad side is a good guy? Bolton's the guy who has been most actively trying to get Trump to start a war.

This! As much as I hate trump (and I truly truly despise him) I am actually glad he fired Bolton! This guy was itching to start a war at all costs. I’m glad he is gone! But given trump’s record of picking people, I’m not too hopeful for Bolton’s replacement either.

 

[dabiggestu2fan]

9-11-19

18 yrs later, wow.

i ran out of my apt building in just half a mile from Downtown Brooklyn at 10am to head to Manhattan. I never watch tv in the morning. But I usually flick my (then) walkman tape player and radio on as get ready to leave - i didn't that morning.
It's gorgeous, blue sky , happy sumner cloud. I turn on my radio in the middle of the convo -hear about 'firemen covered in ash', "like a movie- but not!' I had NO idea what building and where this is happening. They all suddenly went silent. "Dead air" as it's called for ?20+ seconds? Finally one says The Twin Towers are gone. I'm walking westward. I spin 180° around, stare at my walkman as if it's turned into a squawking monster. I start putting 2 + 2 + together. I slowly turn back westward, stare what i at what thought was a bright sumner cloud partially hidden behind local closer buildings.
It was actually a light beige-yellow-grayish cloud - and much denser. I realized it was a cloud of the collapse/destruction. I clapped my hands over my mouth and ran screaming back home. I flung myself on my bed and cried hard into my for about 10 mins (didn't know if my roomate(s) knew as their bedrooms were closed). I was too afraid to turn on the tv because from Sept 1980 - mid-August 1981 I spent that time along with other provisionals working in Tower Two (South) on the 73rd flr NE corner of it. The view was incredible, like being on a small mountain. Wasn't sure how i'd react, so i listened to public radio all day and evening. Then I turned on the tv late at night.

I never really cried again until going to the first post 9-11 U2 concert. Danced, sang and cried. Cathartic. But i had gone many times to the ever growing sad, deeply moving, beautiful memorial up in the south plaza of Union Square Park, as soon ad i could get back into Manhattan; since below 14th St only residents were allowed to go there Union Sq was the closest people could get.

Later on The Tribute In Lights remains one of the most beautiful and sublime pieces of art/memorial ever created. Been there many tines, as well WTC area each 9-11 till just a few yrs ago.

So much horror, then so much kindness that outflowed from that harrowing day. Strength for all affected.

Thanks for sharing this! I will never forget that morning and I can remember literally where I was standing. I was in college near Toronto and remember hearing rumours that the CN tower was also a target and the subway system I believe closed? I remember spending the whole day glued to the TV they had at at the student lounge along with pretty much everyone else on campus. No school work got done that day, we were all in utter shock. And I remember going home that afternoon and not seeing a single plane in the sky. It was all very surreal. What a horrible day and it’s also hard to believe it’s been 18 years. I remember everything as if it happened yesterday.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Republicans dominating a nearly half-empty North Carolina House chamber used an unexpected vote Wednesday to override Democratic Governor Roy Cooper's veto of the state's two-year budget, prompting accusations of trickery and deception from Cooper and other Democrats, many of whom were attending 9/11 commemoration events during the sudden vote.

Republican leaders had spent months trying to persuade enough Democrats to meet the threshold for an override, and finally seized a moment when most opposing Democrats weren't at their seats. The few Democrats who were on the House floor moments before the 55-9 vote erupted in protest, accusing Republican Speaker Tim Moore of tricking the chamber about the day's plans.

According to reporting by local station ABC 11, many Democrats were at 9/11 commemoration events. House Democrats charge that Republicans had deliberately misled them by saying there would be no votes on the morning of 9/11. ABC 11 reporter Jonah Kaplan posted the schedule sent by the Democratic minority leader to his caucus, confirming that there were no votes scheduled until 1 p.m.

The override isn't complete — the Senate still must hold a vote on the issue, but Republicans there need only one Democrat to join them to secure victory. Senate absences also could make that easier.

"This is a tragedy. This is a travesty of the process and you know it," State Representative Deb Butler, a New Hanover County Democrat, yelled at Moore just before the vote began. "Mr. Speaker, how dare you, Mr. Speaker!"

Moore told her that he "did not advise that there would be no votes this morning." Moore's office provided audio from Tuesday's floor session from House Rules Committee Chairman David Lewis saying recorded votes would occur Wednesday, specifically identifying two different spending measures.

Still, in a fiery early-afternoon news conference, Cooper maintained that Democrats had been misled.

"You look at the number of people who were in that chamber and how many of them were Republicans and how many of them were Democrats. There's no confusion about what happened here. This was a lie, and we know why they were not there because they were told that there were not going to be votes," Cooper said. "And the Republican caucus was laying in wait, ready for this."

"They used lies, bribes and illegal districts because their policies damage our state and can't pass on their own merit. Today, on the 18th anniversary of 9/11, while the state was honoring first responders, Republicans called a deceptive surprise override of my budget veto," Cooper said.

However, Republican Jason Saine, who called for the motion to vote, claimed that the GOP House members were fulfilling their patriotic duties by holding the vote.

"As a former firefighter and an American, I am appalled that anyone in our country would stop going about their normal business on this day. When we stop being a beacon of freedom, hope and democracy, then the terrorists win," Saine said in a statement, according to ABC 11.

It wasn't immediately clear how many Democratic lawmakers may have been attending memorials during the vote.

The House budget override vote has been on the daily floor calendar since early July, and from time to time the Republican leadership had announced that there would be no recorded votes on certain days. There was nothing in the chamber rules to prevent such action Wednesday.

Wednesday's vote also came as lawmakers focus on redrawing legislative maps following a court ruling striking down dozens of districts due to extreme partisan bias.

It also marks the latest battle in a decade-long fight between Republicans who took over the General Assembly in 2011 and Democrats whose party had largely controlled state government for over a century. Democrats have regained some power with Cooper's election in 2016, and ended the GOP supermajority in the House last year by gaining enough legislative seats to prevent veto overrides when the chamber is full.

Cooper vetoed the budget on June 28, saying the two-year spending plan lacks Medicaid expansion for hundreds of thousands of low-income adults, contains paltry raises for teachers and unnecessarily gives corporations additional tax reductions. The veto and lack of an override had led to an 11-week budget impasse. Republicans have said Cooper won't negotiate unless Medicaid expansion is approved, too. Cooper said he just wants the topic to be on the table.

Wednesday's vote was called quickly, giving dozens of Democrats little time to reach the floor. House Minority Leader Darren Jackson of Wake County also said that several Democrats who were on the floor didn't vote and were denied the chance to debate the measure.

Moore "kept talking over us. He turned off our mics," State Representative Mary Belk, a Mecklenburg County Democrat, said at a news conference. She and others went to other desks to use the microphones. As Butler and others continued to blast Moore's actions from the floor, the speaker threatened that he could order Butler removed. Several Capitol police officers entered the chamber, and Democratic lawmakers surrounded Butler, who refused to yield.

"The unseemly lack of leadership is incredible, absolutely cowardice, childishness," Butler said as Moore called for an override vote, on a separate Cooper veto, which also succeeded. That funding measure is needed to prepare for North Carolina's forthcoming shift to a Medicaid managed-care system. It doesn't contain any Medicaid expansion provisions, but Cooper said in his veto message that health care policy should be done comprehensively — a likely reference to expansion.

First published on September 11, 2019 / 2:25 PM

#neverforget

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

This! As much as I hate trump (and I truly truly despise him) I am actually glad he fired Bolton! This guy was itching to start a war at all costs. I’m glad he is gone! But given trump’s record of picking people, I’m not too hopeful for Bolton’s replacement either.

Could somebody please provide some examples of all these democrats who are just heartbroken over the loss of John Bolton?

Pointing out the incompetence of the administration that promised "only the best people" firing yet another senior level official - a third NSA while his first NSA was literally in court hearing when he's be sentenced to prison - is not an endorsement of John Bolton.

 

[anitram]

#neverforget

Why were only the Democrats attending 9/11 events? That’s the most baffling part of the story, since I fully expect the Republicans to be liars.

 

[BEAL]

No one is sad that John Bolton is gone. Dude has been itching for a war and I’m honestly surprised we didn’t actually start one with him there.

The only thing keeping us from bombing Iran or North Korea is Trumps obsession with the Nobel Peace Prize. He wants it and he’s shown he’ll give in to any dictator or enemy of the state to get it.

He’s given NK free reign to do whatever they want cause Kim flatters him

He was going to bring the fucking Taliban to Camp David during 9/11

All for his ego. Me. Me. Me.

Bolton was fired because he went against Trumps ego. He wasn’t pro NK, pro Taliban enough.

Sounds like the mustache isn’t gonna go quietly like the others.

It’s also baffling why congress hasn’t called in a single former cabinet member to testify publicly

 

[Vlad n U 2]

No one is sad that John Bolton is gone. Dude has been itching for a war and I’m honestly surprised we didn’t actually start one with him there.

The only thing keeping us from bombing Iran or North Korea is Trumps obsession with the Nobel Peace Prize. He wants it and he’s shown he’ll give in to any dictator or enemy of the state to get it.

He’s given NK free reign to do whatever they want cause Kim flatters him

He was going to bring the fucking Taliban to Camp David during 9/11

All for his ego. Me. Me. Me.

Bolton was fired because he went against Trumps ego. He wasn’t pro NK, pro Taliban enough.

Sounds like the mustache isn’t gonna go quietly like the others.

It’s also baffling why congress hasn’t called in a single former cabinet member to testify publicly

Being a warmongering prick didn't stop Kissinger from winning a Nobel Peace Prize. It's a hollow award.

 

[BEAL]

It is hallow. Trump wants one cause Obama got one

 

[womanfish]

surely the fact that it was a one-off special house election on a random tuesday in september has nothing to do with the turnout, so let's use this one tiny solid-red district in north carolina that has elected nothing but republicans since JFK was alive to jump to some conclusions about the electability of left politics in a national election.

Well, i think you said it. A district that has gone red since JFK, almost went Blue. And its not just that one district. You see the same shift of support in major suburban areas across the country, notably the south. Suburbs of Dallas, Houston, Charlotte, Nashville, Atlanta, etc...

The approval rating for Trump is shifting in the double digits among 35 to 55 year old, moderate and independent voters in the suburbs, led by college educated women.

Its called extrapolation. If you want to minimize one election in a red area that shifted 13 points in 3 years to justify whatever it is you want to justify, go ahead. But it isn't reality.

It was made completely clear during the midterms. This wasn't a one off election in a tiny red district. This was nationwide shift in suburban areas.

See below

Atlanta
Two counties near Georgia's largest city flipped from red to blue this election: Cobb and Gwinnett. Cobb County, which spans three congressional districts, voted 54-46 for Democrats across those districts. In 2016, Cobb County voted 61 percent Republican. Gwinnett, which also spans three congressional districts, voted 56-44 for Democrats.

Austin
Adjacent to Texas' most liberal major city, Democrats picked up majorities in two counties that voted for Republicans last election. Hays and Williamson counties voted by close margins for Democrats. Williamson County, which falls in Texas' 31st District, split 50-48 against Republican incumbent John Carter, who ended up winning the district by fewer than 10,000 votes.

Though no counties flipped from red to blue in the Charlotte area, Democrats made gains in several of them. In Union County, for example, the Democratic share of House votes went from 32 to 39 percent in the past two years. In nearby Cabarrus County, the share went from 38 to 44 percent. Democracts picked up 10 seats in the state house.

Houston
Fort Bend County, southwest of Houston, changed from red to blue in the midterms. Sitting in the 9th and 22nd districts, Democrats went from 48 percent of the county's votes in 2016 to 54 percent this year.

Memphis
Just across Tennessee's state border with Mississippi, Marshall County voted 52-47 for the Democratic candidate challenging incumbent Republican Trent Kelly, who won re-election. Two years earlier, the county voted for Kelly 48-47.

San Antonio
South of the city, Atascosa and Wilson counties flipped from red to blue. The counties voted overwhelmingly for Democratic incumbent Rep. Henry Cuellar over his libertarian opponent.

Oklahoma City
Each of the suburban counties surrounding Oklahoma City voted for Republicans, but the margins were tighter than they were in 2016. Democrats went from receiving 32 percent of House votes in Cleveland County to 41 percent and from 20 to 24 percent in Lincoln County.

Chicago
In 2016, six of the seven suburban Illinois counties around Chicago voted Republican. This year, all of them voted for Democrats. One of the most dramatic turnarounds in the region was in McHenry County, where Democrats went from earning 40 percent of the House vote in 2016 to 51 percent this year. This helped propel Democrat Sean Casten, who knocked off Republican incumbent Peter Roskam.

Denver
Arapahoe County, just east of Denver, voted mostly in the state's 6th Congressional District, where Democrat Jason Crow unseated Republican incumbent Mike Coffman. The county, which voted mostly for Republicans in the last election, went for Crow by a 17-point margin, 57-40 percent.

Nearby Douglas County, which favored Republicans, went from casting 30 percent of its votes for Democrats two years ago to 41 percent this year.

Los Angeles
Even though Orange County is just outside Los Angeles, the CDC's urban-rural scale technically doesn't consider it a suburb but a large central metro. Still, something big happened there that's worth noting. Orange County has traditionally had been an area dominated by Republicans, or at least a place where the GOP did well.

Consider that before these midterm elections, Republicans held four of the six congressional seats in Orange County. Come January, Democrats will control all six. What's more, every single congressional district that touches the Pacific Ocean was won by Democrats, except one in Washington state.


Minneapolis
Washington County, east of the Twin Cities, cast 53 percent of its House votes for Democrats this year — up from 45 percent in 2016. The county is part of the state's 2nd Congressional District, where Democrat Angie Craig beat Republican incumbent Jason Lewis.

Portland
In the cross-state suburb, Washington's Clark County voted 51-49 against incumbent Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler. Yamhill County, southwest of Portland in Oregon, voted 50-45 in favor of Democratic incumbent Suzanne Bonamici. Both incumbents won their re-election bids.

New York
Democrats made big progress west of the Big Apple in Morris County, N.J., where they went from receiving 37 percent of the vote in 2016 to 52 percent this year. This contributed to the defeat of incumbent Rep. Leonard Lance, as well as the Democrats' flipping the state's 11th Congressional District from red to blue. That seat was previously a Republican stronghold represented by retiring Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen.

Pittsburgh
None of the suburban counties around the Steel City flipped from red to blue, though they did move more in Democrats' direction. Beaver County, for example, went from voting 41 percent to 48 percent Democratic. And Fayette County went from 37 to 42 percent Democratic.

Philadelphia
Of the four suburban counties neighboring Philadelphia, only one — Delaware County — cast most of its House votes for Democrats in 2016. And even that was close; Delaware County voted just 52 percent for Democrats. This year, though, three went for Democrats.

And Delaware County? It went from being barely blue in 2016 to solidly Democratic this year at 62 percent.

Rochester, N.Y.
Democrats flipped two suburban counties surrounding the Western New York city of Rochester: Niagara and Ontario counties. They also made a 15-point gain in Livingston County in the state's 27th Congressional District, where Republican incumbent Chris Collins is under federal indictment for alleged insider trading.

Washington, D.C.
Democrats strengthened their lead in already-blue suburbs and took back others around the nation's capital. In Frederick County, Md., for example, Democrats went from receiving 44 to 50 percent of the vote, and in Prince William County, Va., they went from 46 to a whopping 63 percent. Prince William contributed to Democrats' success in beating incumbent Republican Barbara Comstock in Virginia's 10th Congressional District.



So there ya go. Not just one little red district in NC.

 

[DaveC]

absolutely nobody is disputing that suburbs all across the country are generally shifting to blue right now.

my post was in response to you making sweeping, mocking conclusions about a "progressive bubble", and young people's drive to vote for left candidates and progressives in a national presidential election as being "just not reality" ("Where was the big turning of the tide for votes? Did a sea of young people swarm the polls? LMAO!!! of course not"), based on a special election held in september, in which no progressive candidates with even a slight hope of winning were running (the democrat's main campaign promise was to cut taxes, ffs), in a small, solid-red (R+8), wealthy suburban district in the deep south in which there are no universities at all.

 

[womanfish]

absolutely nobody is disputing that suburbs all across the country are generally shifting to blue right now.

my post was in response to you making sweeping, mocking conclusions about a "progressive bubble", and young people's drive to vote for left candidates and progressives in a national presidential election as being "just not reality" ("Where was the big turning of the tide for votes? Did a sea of young people swarm the polls? LMAO!!! of course not"), based on a special election held in september, in which no progressive candidates with even a slight hope of winning were running (the democrat's main campaign promise was to cut taxes, ffs), in a small, solid-red (R+8), wealthy suburban district in the deep south in which there are no universities at all.

I see what you mean. Although I would disagree that this was a wealthy suburban district. That made up one small sliver of that district, most of it is rural.
I guess my main point is that we have actual conclusive evidence a particular voting block (moderate/independent college educated, 35-55 yr olds) that we know are shifting in a significant way to the left. Or at least voting for Dems that they view as "better than Trump Republicans".

This has now been borne out and proven over 2 years. What hasn't been proven is a surge of young, progressive voters hitting the polls in big numbers to elect Democrats in Red/purple areas. I hope that we see this happen in 2020, but if you had to appeal to a group that you can bank on in 2020, the safer choice is the one we have already seen take place in dozens of areas across the country.
The candidate/s obviously have to try and court both for best effect, but going for the youth vote or farther left is a riskier proposition.

You see some of these state primary voter polls that show Biden beating Trump by 8 and Warren tied or even behind a bit. That is a problem. I am behind Warren. She's working her ass off and can lay out her plans in a way that Bernie and others cannot or just don't.
I just hope as the primary goes on that her exposure to more and more of the public will get her stronger for the general.