Maybe the country is just reactionary

[BainsBane]

We lose with moderates, and we lose with progressives. We lose to buffoons and people who say they don't support a living wage. Maybe the country is just too damn RW.

[we can do it]

1. Too damn stupid and bigoted. Good night.

[RegexReader]

31. drank too many beers already

and gonna wake up to the same shitty morning

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. Republicans voted for a Republican in a Republican district.

The result should not have been a big surprise, and it should not be interpreted as meaning anything significant for the entire country - in my district one of the leftiest guys in Congress wins every time without even breaking a sweat.

[bench scientist]

7. so much this. Very red district. n/t.

[drray23]

3. my wife is retiring end of this year.

I was planning to work a few more years but the way its going it may be time to sell everything, pack up and go retire in costa rica or belize or other such place with low costs and an american expat community.

[jberryhill]

21. Costa Rica is the better value

The folks I know who've done the Costa Rica thing really enjoy it. More varied climate and geography in Costa Rica.

[roamer65]

4. A large portion of this country is ignorant and stupid.

A deadly mix.

[Binders Keepers]

17. I work with a woman who didn't know whether Trump was a Republican or a Democrat

until she asked me. And of course couldn't be bothered to vote.

[roamer65]

23. Sounds all too familiar.

...and welcome to DU.

[Hoyt]

5. That's my opinion. Too many white wingers scared of changes.

[JoeOtterbein]

6. Or Russia wins again. We need paper ballots and ALL elections, even if we win, must be audited.

or accept losing elections we are ahead in.

[BainsBane]

10. I seriously doubt Russia cares about a GA congressional race

[JoeOtterbein]

19. Why not? They want to prop up their golden boy with another big win. They don't have much else to do

[Hekate]

8. "For my people are a Stupid people": God

"The White House is (now) adorned with a downright moron": H.L. Mencken

[Initech]

9. Let's face it: We're Charlie Brown. And they're Lucy.

[BainsBane]

12. Sure feels like it. nt

[BeyondGeography]

11. That, plus money

Of the dark variety:

But Ossoff was able to shatter fundraising records in part because his election was one of a tiny number going on right now, at a time when Democrats are particularly furious over Trump. Nobody knows if the hundreds of House Democratic candidates can rely on such an outpouring in 2018.

And Handel almost totally neutralized it. Crushing the grassroots donor surge from across the country, she benefited from out-of-state groups tied to private industry. Ossoff received $22 million, but outside groups spent $18 million for Handel. The US Chamber of Commerce, Donald Trump, and the National Republican Congressional Committee have all directly raised money for Handel’s campaign, which may in turn be used to fund the anti–outside money attacks.

Moreover, Handel has been helped by groups like the Congressional Leadership Fund, closely associated with Speaker Paul Ryan, which spent $2 million on the race. Not only are CLF’s donors outside Georgia’s Sixth, but campaign finance experts can’t even find its funders because the groups that are funding it do not have to disclose their donors.

Some Democrats like Ossoff may get lucky and again catch fire with the grassroots donor base in 2018. But even if they do, Republicans are likely to have private industry to bury them in a mountain of cash.

https://www.vox.com/2017/6/20/15843864/jon-ossoff-special-election

[BainsBane]

14. They were both flush in cash

I think nationalizing elections backfires for Democrats running in red districts. I think we should let them be to feel out their own constituents.

[BeyondGeography]

15. That link has some good analysis

Cultural/tribal stuff; catnip for white Republicans...they amped it up pretty good down the stretch and it worked.

[fallout87]

16. Good point

And that's exactly what Im afraid of. The midterm elections will not have this kind of money in each race

[dlk]

13. We Lose Because the Other Side Cheats

Voter suppression works. Purging voter rolls works. Gerrymandering works. Voting machines that are easily hacked and not able to be properly audited work. As long as they are winning, they will continue to cheat. Make no mistake, this cancer has metastasized.

[Initech]

18. And it will be a fatal tumor if SCOTUS rules in favor of gerrymandering.

[JoeOtterbein]

20. How many more "close" elections do we need to lose before we insist on paper ballots & audits?

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

22. We lost in a district in the suburban South that is 70% white

Unreformed George Wallace couldn't have won this for us.

[Willie Pep]

24. Gerrymandering and voter suppression are part of the problem.

But it should never have come to this, to the point where the Republicans have so much power they can gerrymander so many districts and pass voter suppression laws.

The 800-pound gorilla is that our natural constituents, poor and working-class people, are increasingly alienated from politics and don't vote often enough or at all. The GOP's affluent base is more active politically and more likely to vote. This is our biggest problem.

[luvallpeeps]

37. David and Goliath

I agree Willie. The working class, and especially the working poor are too damn tired to keep up with all this kind of thing. I imagine the average person doesn't even know the half of it. And even if they were inclined to pay attention, they aren't even aware that Faux News is an entertainment show, and not hard news. The right has all the advantages, and in addition to our standard of living going down, we have to take care of our elders on the same $ we are struggling to take care of ourselves and kids with. Fucking citizens united. Corporations are people and money is speech. Pretty neat little trick there ay?

[BainsBane]

25. I'm also tired of hearing

people say every election we lost is stolen. It's like the boy who cried wolf.

[Kilgore]

26. Thank you

It does get tiring.

[Fait Accompli]

27. Historically/dialecitcally speaking the only thing to beat reaction is to move more to the left

Let's face it, Ossoff wasn't the most, well, populist of candidates. He cared more about small businesses than, say, recent graduates stacked with debt - and people between the ages of 25-34 make up the second largest voting bloc in the state (a demo he himself belongs to). Would love to know how many of them in the district stayed home.

Just calling it how I see it.

[BainsBane]

29. Where has that worked?

In this country? Every single candidate anointed by the self-proclaimed progressives has lost. Every one.

Interesting how you manage to ignore Montana, Omaha, Pennsylvania, and all of the races in November.

[Fait Accompli]

33. Speaking of Montana

If the DNC put 10 percent of the money into Quist's campaign that they did Ossoff's there's a high likelihood that Quist would have won. But then a successful Berniecrat in power would pose a direct challenge to the party's centrist narrative for 2018 and beyond...

I really don't want to this to cause more fractures, especially when unity is needed now more than ever, but boy is stuff like this frustrating when you see it coming miles away.

[BainsBane]

40. I thought money was the source of all evil

and why Democrats lost? My, how the arguments change on a dime. All I've heard is that money doesn't win elections, that Clinton and the rest of the Democrats need to stop raising money "from corporations," which of course they don't because it's fucking illegal. But that doesn't stop the mantra. And now you claim the problem is that the MT guy didn't get enough money from the DNC. When the fact is Ossoff raised most of the money himself because the DNC is broke, just as they were in 2016. They raised only 1/5 of what Bernie did, and that was after lifting the ban on corporate donations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_National_Committee

Not one Berniecrat has won anywhere, ever. Not last Nov. or since. You want to take over the party, win somewhere first. You deny the Berniecrat loses, blame them on party, then insist people voted for Republicans because they really wanted a Berniecrat. You have a batting average of zero, even in districts Clinton won, under performing the party as a whole. Your insistence that you have all the answers clearly has no evidentiary basis.

And if you want to move to the left, promote something that is actually leftist. Reject efforts to de-prioritze abortion rights. Point out that denying access to abortion significantly increases poverty for women and children. Argue that economic equality has to include everyone, which means not ignoring the way policies and priorities effect the majority of the population. Denounce efforts to expand the caucus system on the basis that it restricts the franchise and limits voter participation. Don't sign on to ideas just because you think they favor a particular political faction.

[betsuni]

42. [phone]

[Motownman78]

28. 25% of Repub voters in the 2016 GA-06 race

voted for the Dem this time. We are getting there.

[BainsBane]

30. Really?

That's larger than their registration advantage. How does that turn out as a Dem loss?

[Motownman78]

32. My math in my head is off and it is 20% n/t

[Fresh_Start]

34. I'm increasingly thinking there is no longer any reason for a blue state

to remain in the USA. The red states are an anchor drowning all of us.

[roamer65]

36. There is a distinct divergence.

That is definite.

[Fresh_Start]

43. I don't see a way to bridge the gap with people who refuse to see science and

facts as better than gut feelings and wishful thinking.

[flor-de-jasmim]

44. A gerrymandered country - that would be a first!

[luvallpeeps]

35. So Ga. says "fuck that livable wage shit".

Maybe all that dark money buys more than we know. We had to blow a huge wad just to stand still, let alone advance. And let's not forget the churches on every corner down there telling everyone how Jesus wants them to vote. Just seems so David and Goliath anymore. The right is also relentless when it comes to staying on message. When you have so much loot, you get think tanks, lawyers, and so many tools at your disposal. We have to outsmart them. The answer is there, we just gotta find it? (I am talking myself off the ledge here)

[BainsBane]

41. I didn't think that was the gaffe everyone else did

Because people view that as about looking after people of color and the poor who don't, in their view, deserve it.

[KPN]

38. Country? No. Georgia? Yes.

We should not lose the WH in 2020. But we damned we'll better be prepared to ensure a secure election or fight just as effectively on their terms. Is our leadership up for this? I wish I could say yes, but I just don't know.

One thing seems certain to me. The future is ours if the young are with us. We need to figure that out.

[JI7]

39. the only reason Ossoff and Clinton did as well as they did

was the increasing number of minorities who had moved to the district. otherwise it's the same place gingrich was repeatedly elected. NEWT FUCKING GINGRICH.