What we are witnessing today in the House

[CanonRay]

is the result of winning elections through gerrymandering.

[ck4829]

1. Indeed. K&R

Last edited Thu Jan 12, 2023, 11:30 AM - Edit history (1)

Class disparities

[pirsquared]

53. map of McCarthy's gerrymandered district!

https://www.congress.gov/member/district/kevin-mccarthy/M001165

For an example of extreme gerrymandering, this should win a prize.

I thought Calif had reformed its districts...

[Shipwack]

54. Sorry, I don't see it...

Extreme gerrymandering, that is.

Maybe around the northern edge, but that could very well be some natural boundary. All in all it seems reasonable, though I suppose if we laid some population data over it I would feel diffferent.

There are far worse drawn maps:

https://images.app.goo.gl/YDe8t2CEEQogK7RG8

[crickets]

2. Excellent point. nt

[H2O Man]

3. Recommended.

Good point!

[Blue Owl]

4. It's akin to inbreeding...

Just look at MTG...

[GenXer47]

6. no thanks!

I confuse her with post-surgery Mickey Rourke all the time.

[Joinfortmill]

40. Rofl

[yellowcanine]

5. Yes. And lips stuck to TFG's posterior.

[Initech]

7. Yeah the GOP is about to learn that land does not equal people.

All the votes are in the blue areas, not the red.

[Maru Kitteh]

58. YES INDEED! They are. They're also about to find out white will no longer always equal right

anymore.



Eat it, crunk stains. Ima be over here with Initech, enjoying the popcorn.

[Initech]

59. Pass the butter!

[Maru Kitteh]

61. I've got some lovely cannabutter in the fridge, I'll go get it!

[Initech]

62. Nice!

[Upthevibe]

8. CanonRay,,,,,,,,,,,,

Yep..............

[RevBrotherThomas]

9. Watching the GOP eating their young...

[StClone]

10. Elect trash expect garbage

[Kittycatkat]

13. yes, garbage in garbage out

[calimary]

36. Exactly.

Last edited Tue Jan 3, 2023, 07:58 PM - Edit history (2)

What on earth did they expect? Seriously! Reasonable governing or a zoo full of baboons and other banana cases?

[markodochartaigh]

44. Elect kkklowns, expect a cirkkkus. n/t

[calimary]

45. No kidding!

[AlexSFCA]

11. It's like a constitutional crisis on day 1 of gop control of the house

[The Roux Comes First]

12. Or Could We Call It "Winning" Despite Losing the Popular Vote?

[MarcA]

39. Unfortunately, Rs had 3 million more House Votes.

So, while Gerrymandering is a Big Problem, it is not the only one. I don't know what the totals were for just the contested elections. Cook and Politico have detailed info.

[yardwork]

14. Very good point.

Gerrymandering breeds extremism with no accountability.

[Comfortably_Numb]

15. The pardon posse is extorting the sedition party. Love it!!

[BadGimp]

16. You are in largely correct. But gerrymandering is only a major part of it.

I believe the real reason is the complete and total GOP Surrender that has occurred over many years but dramatically accelerated during Trump's campaign and since.

[ShazzieB]

23. +1

It's definitely not all due to gerrymandering. That plays a role, but only a secondary one, imo.

[Lonestarblue]

17. How do we get rid of gerrymandering? The courts have refused to do anything about it in spite

of it destroying democracy. Gerrymandered districts in Republican states have led to the most extreme candidates imaginable who are only interested in fostering their own power. They are not interested in governing or addressing any real issues facing the country.

[CanonRay]

18. I wish I knew

Some states have independent boards.

[True Blue American]

29. We do, voted on it twice. DeWine put himself on the board

Cheated right out in the open.

[yankee87]

19. Even Racial Gerrymandeering

SCOTUS has allowed racial gerrymandering, There is no hope with the current SCOTUS, Need to expand

[Tarc]

30. Win more governorships and state legislatures back

I think 2022 was a turning of the tide in those areas, now we need to build off of that.

[MarcA]

37. Some of the State Legislatures are heavily gerrymandered. n/t

[FakeNoose]

56. Every state has its own fight against gerrymandering

To put it on simple terms, it's the Repukes taking advantage whenever the Dems aren't looking. They are always finding ways to put their thumb on the scale, because they know they can't win in a "fair fight." That is, the Repukes are outnumbered by the Democratic and Independent voters in almost every state. If gerrymandered maps get approved (after each US Census) it's difficult and time-consuming to get them struck down.

There are ways to beat gerrymandering, and in Pennsylvania we managed to overturn a very unfair District map in 2018 and replace it with a fairly drawn map. It made all the difference in our elections of 2018, 2020 and now 2022. It was a tough fight in Pennsylvania, but we took it to the equivalent of the Supreme Court in PA and we got it ruled in our (Democrats') favor. A lot more districts are evenly split now, and Democratic candidates have won many more times in the last 3 elections.

Every state needs to set up an impartial (nonpartisan) committee for Fair Districting and support it in every way possible. It takes a lot of work and some very good smart lawyers, but it can be done.

[IronLionZion]

20. Most of the GOP pickups were in blue NY state

that's frustrating since our party has a 2:1 registered voter advantage in that state.

[Thunderbeast]

21. No. What we are witnessing is a continuation of January 6, 2021.

[Warpy]

22. It's also the result of having no plans or policies

beyond leaping from manufactured outrage to manufactured outrage to play to the morons back home so they can stay in office.

The work will not be done over the next two years and I'm afraid it will show rather badly.

Will the morons notice? Nah, they'll just blame Biden, as usual. The press will be supine, of course.

[Septua]

26. "..play[ing] to the morons back home so they can stay in office."

IMO, that's what it's all about.

[OldBaldy1701E]

52. That is exactly what it is.

And, they are well aware that the 'craziness' plays well to their base. They can claim the things that their base likes and blame the Democrats for everything that fails... even as they control the House. What amazes me every time is that there are people who still fall for this 'theatre' while the country is stumbling.

[Permanut]

46. Precisely stated.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

24. TFG is probably at Mar-A-Lego, sitting by the phone waiting for the "We need you!" call.

More than likely he's watching television while scheming with his squad how to grab the gavel. He'd want his own 747, however, painted in the airliner colors he had demanded for the new AF 1.

[ShazzieB]

25. Commentators on MSNBC think Kev is finished.

They don't see a way forward for him. He may resist throwing in the towel, butthe consensus is it's just a matter of time.

Some are saying that one reason he can't get the votes is that not enough people trust him. He has promised a lot of things to a lot of people in return for supporting him, but people don't feel like they can trust him to keep his word.

Kevin, otoh, thinks he should get the Speakership because he "deserves" it. Good luck translating that into votes, Kev!

P.S. The 3rd vote was a bust, and the House is adjourned until noon tomorrow!

[sunonmars]

27. McCarthy's team is going to shiv back anyone who comes forward from that maga lot.

This fight is gonna drag out.

[True Blue American]

28. You said it and our state is the worst!

I have never seen as corrupt of a Governor as Mike DeWine. He used illegal maps, appointed himself to the independent committee we voted for.

[Evolve Dammit]

31. Yes indeed. And paying homage to a red meat, burn it all down 11% "base."

[Historic NY]

32. I call it the Lord of the Lies...

w/o adult supervision they eat their own trying to pick a leader. They all have their spears and war paint on.

[bucolic_frolic]

33. Gerrymandering enables radical fringe candidates to win elections they otherwise would lose

[CanonRay]

34. Exactly!

[roamer65]

35. I'm enjoying it. It's like a hung parliament!

[COL Mustard]

38. Welcome to day 1 of GOP non-governance.

They said they didn't believe in government, now they're showing it. Complete with The Honorable George Santos. They own it. Tie them to it!!!

[orangecrush]

41. It's all they have left

[diva77]

42. There are other factors as well

-Massive Voter purging (eg Georgia)
-Voter intimidation (eg Florida, Texas - arresting ex-felons who thought it was legal for them to vote)
-under-deployment of dropboxes for early voting (eg Harris County, Texas had only 1 dropbox for a dem leaning area with 4.7 million people)
-under-deployment of voting machines in dem districts
-Corporate owned & run non-transparent voting equipment that outputs votes that cannot be truly verified (eg BMDs & DREs in several states. Massive disinformation that has caused machines to be normalized by both dems & rethugs)

and probably yet more factors as well...

[czarjak]

43. If you're not cheating, you're not trying. They mean it.

We're supposed to lay back, relax and enjoy it.

[DFW]

47. Very true. The gerrymandering of Texas, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania is enough

Those three states alone send such a disproportional number of Republicans to the House as to give them an undeserved current majority that in no way represents the voter preferences of those states or the nation.

[mnhtnbb]

49. NC actually fixed the Republican gerrymandering enough

after years of court battles, that we are sending 7 Dems and 7 Republicans to the House for the first time in about 10 years. But, that may not last since the NC State Supreme Court was taken over by Republicans in the last election, increasing chances they will now allow the Republican controlled State legislature to gerrymander districts once again.

I don't know what it's going to take to get Democrats to turn out for midterm elections in this state. It's very frustrating to know the numbers are there. Beasley could have easily been elected to replace Burr in the open Senate seat if Dems had turned out. Control of the NC Supreme Court could easily have been retained if Dems had turned out.

[Ford_Prefect]

48. ...Along with the thorough and complete corruption of the Republican Party, which is now beholden

to TFG and the Dark Money lords who foisted him and massive gerrymandering upon us.

[calimary]

50. That's why we have to start work, right now, to take the House back.

And build in the Senate.

And keep the White House.

Big jobs, but we’ve done it before. And we’re smarter and more experienced now.

[Ford_Prefect]

51. A few well documented arrests wouldn't hurt either.

[LaMouffette]

55. WWMMD? What Would Mitch McConnell Do? If the courts were majority Democratic-president-appointed,

he would expand the courts quicker than Ginni Thomas can fire off a democracy-destroying text message.

President Biden and the Dems should expand the courts as quickly as possible. I have no idea what that would require, but that's the only way that the extreme gerrymandering can be reversed, and Roe v. Wade, too.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

57. Texas gerrymandering gave the GOP its narrow "majority"

Link to tweet

[Zeitghost]

63. That's part of it

But when you do the same math on Illinois and California...

[certainot]

60. many are not gerrymandered but all GOP pols depend heavily on their local & state RW radio stations

[LetMyPeopleVote]

64. The GOP's "majority" is due to gerrymandering

Link to tweet