Your take on the elections ?

[steve2470]

In case someone stumbles in here by accident, this is the African-American group, nuff said.

I think it was a serious mistake for any Democratic candidate to even subtly disassociate themselves from President Obama. He is an excellent President and has accomplished a lot despite the Koch brothers and 100% non-stop Republican opposition.

Did those candidates seriously piss off and alienate the AA voting population ? If so, I can understand very easily.

Thanks all, a sincere question as always.

Steve

[bravenak]

1. Having your concerns ignored is alienating.

It seemed to me that this time the party forgot that the 'Obama Coalition' was not owned by the party and they come out to the polls because they were given reason when he was running. Treating the president of record black turnout like he has the black plague did not bring people to the polls.
Our party constantly ignores their own base to try to pull in the slightly racist vote that they will never steal from the republicans.
Our party forgot that Millennials and genxers are a large groups of diverse people, and just saying 'middle class', 'small business owner' leaves a whole lot of those folks out. We constantly try to do things for seniors and business owners, but all we give Millennials is more debt, less safety net, poor wages, taxes, and a drug war that targets younger people. We seem to only care about boomers,veterans and people who already own things, not people trying to make it. I wonder why noone realizes that our low wage earners will have to pay for social security that they worry they may not receive.

I understand that voter id and abortion rights are major issues, but we need more than that to bring people out.

[steve2470]

2. would you say that the "distancing self from PBO" strategy lowered AA turnout ?

That would be my guess.

[bravenak]

3. It sure doesn't seem to have brought people to the polls.

My landlord did not vote. He's 70. I was yelling at him. He said he's off the plantation, don't nobody own him.

[steve2470]

4. hopefully the DNC will listen to you

We need to strongly inspire our natural base to VOTE. That's the ONLY way we're going to win elections and steer the country slowly to the left.

[bravenak]

5. Yes, we do need to inspire our base to vote.

Progressive legislation won the day on Tuesday. Our politicians need to look at that and ask themselves why so many conservatives voted for minimum wage.
Pretending to not be democrats and pretending not to know the democratic president was stupid. Many of those races were close, but our candidates sounded too wishy washy. No fight in them. And we need to get younger candidates who understand the lives of Millennials and genXers. Nobody seems to care about us.

[steve2470]

6. That's why Charlie Crist in Florida lost and MMJ lost also

My son is a late millenial, and you're very correct. I worry for his generation.

[bravenak]

8. Us older ones are worrying for ourselves.

Many of us are liberals. We get ignored so that the party can go after older moderates. Who to choose? Those who actively despise us or those who don't even notice we exist. For some folks, negative attention is better than none.
I find it kinda shocking that even though the Koch's are donating to the United Negro College Fund, democrats don't worry about them stealing our voters, we think we can steal theirs and ignore ours.

[HoosierRadical]

31. Inspiration is good and all, but if our

natural base, needs someone to inspire them, instead of inherently wanting to make their lives better by claiming their power, than they/we will continue to be doomed and live at the mercy of a rightwing ruling minority.

[BronxBoy]

7. LOL.....

I can picture an old Black man saying that.......LOL

[bravenak]

10. Haha!

It was funny! I think he said black ass. But he did stay up all night to make sure weed passed. He needs it. It's his medication.

[BronxBoy]

12. Stop......

you're killing me.....an old weedhead fussin at you.

[bravenak]

13. He harasses me for it, but won't vote.

Drives me crazy. He's an old horndog and needs to keep some for the 'ladies' that stop by. I keep my eye on him to make sure he's not overdoing it with the blue pills. I have had to send him to the hospital for the more than four hour problem. Men!

[steve2470]

14. wow serious about the four hour thing ????? nt

[bravenak]

15. It happens!!

And it is painful as hell. At least it was for him, I don't know how long he waited to tell me. He was embarrassed but, better to just get help.

[steve2470]

16. wow poor guy...hope he learned his lesson

Very kind of you to take him to the hospital, I bet you kidded him very gently Did you ?

[bravenak]

17. I told him to slow it down.

I never pass up an opportunity to mess with him about it. I mean, goodness gracious!! How much sex do you need at that age? Acting like a teenager.

[steve2470]

18. I guess dying in bed is better than dying in front of the TV :)

I better stop now Very kind of you. He's lucky to have you as a tenant. If my downstairs neighbor came to my door with that problem (he's 70 also), it would take all my strength to NOT laugh and just put on my clothes and take him to the hospital. Good on you !!!!!!

[bravenak]

19. Oh, I laughed!!

It was quite noticeable!!! Apparently they do NOT shrink with age! LOL!!! He made me get my husband to help him decide what to do. No girls allowed! So, I called my mother to discuss. She grins at him every-time she comes over and he grins at her. He cracks me up and has a billion stories. I can see why.

[HoosierRadical]

30. Little does he know...

that by choosing not to vote, he only aided and abetted his own oppression.

[bravenak]

33. He remembers segregation.

The democrat ran against Obama. He loves Obama. He figured we would pass weed and the minimum wage without him. We did. Republicans and independents helped us pass them. We even got the bristol bay measure passed. Democrats worked around the parties to pass things democrats wanted passed. He felt insulted by the disrespect and sat at home even though I yelled at him. He got his way without voting.

[HoosierRadical]

36. I see, but, by not voting he help elect a Republican

who in the long run will do significant damage. The Democrat made a huge error running against President Obama, tell your neighbor he may have just helped elect someone who will try and impeach our President.

[BronxBoy]

9. And as bad as that was.....

they Democrats did something even worse.....They didn't claim their victories. This country was fucked up when President Obama took office. REALLY fucked up.

And you would think everything was hunky dory when 2008 rolled around. pathetic if you ask me.

[bravenak]

11. That was some sorry ass shit!!

They were like, 'Obama who?' 'Voted for healthcare? Me? With Obama? Never met the guy.' Bunch of losers.

[JustAnotherGen]

25. Well now we know!

We know who and what they are brave. I really hope we see some new candidates in 2016. I really want to see some aggressive primaries this time around. Like even people going up against Pelosi.

And if Grimes runs again - I will pledge now to donate at least 1K to any primary challenger to her who has been a Democrat since at least 2006. She shouldn't be anointed because she already ran once.

Because you know what? If Christie runs for President - I'm not giving one red cent to our Democratic Candidate who I'm pretty sure is going to be Sweeney - the traitor against Buono.

I want this shit ugly late next year - when it all starts up again.

[bravenak]

26. Hell yeah!

We need a battle royale this time around. There are no inevitable candidates. We have a chance to get some new blood into congress, people who understand what we are dealing with now, not 30 years ago. Some people forget about the people and get caught up in popularity contests and donation drives and their own egos.

[HoosierRadical]

29. ?

but all we give Millennials is more debt, less safety net, poor wages, taxes, and a drug war that targets younger people.

More reason to vote. I don't understand how, people think not voting is the better option. If candidates or elected officials are not addressing your issues, than you run candidates and get elected those that that will. The Democratic base are in no position to wait around for officials to "speak to our issues", we must organize and take power.

[bravenak]

32. Our senator did a commercial saying he fought Obama and would go back to fight him some more.

The Republican said he would go to Washington and fight Obama. Who to choose?

[HoosierRadical]

37. The one who is only talking bs to appeal to the demographics of a midtern electorate,

as oppose to the candidate who believes the bs and who will do any and everything to destroy President Obama and his constituency.

What state do you live in?

[bravenak]

38. Alaska.

Not everyone feels like sifting through the bullshit. We need people we can trust not to bs just to get votes. It would be nice if they said where they actually stand. People need a clear choice, not 2 people saying the same things and trying to guess who is sincere and who is bsing.

[HoosierRadical]

39. I completely agree, but that is the environment we live in,

and until we start running and electing true progressives, that is how it is going to be.

[bravenak]

40. Better start running them soon if we want our base to come out.

Things can't go on like this. Progressive policies got votes in my state, democrats not so much. Democrats were too busy trying not to be seen as liberals or to know Obama. It was disingenous and it did not work. Better to just be a shameless liberal than a shameful bullshitter.

[HoosierRadical]

41. The base is going to have to come out regardless and push our agenda

of social and economic justice, not voting is only benefitting the rightwing.

[bravenak]

42. They are not coming unless we convince them.

And besides that we need people to actually join our party. We have to push our own agenda with conviction otherwise we won't have an agenda to push. We have to show what we stand for.

[JustAnotherGen]

20. I just asked a friend for some help on this

She was canvassing and calling in Kentucky - she sent me a link and asked me to do some math. Stand by . . .

[JustAnotherGen]

21. Ahh - they didn't like Grimes in KY

Now she (see my earlier post) canvassed in KY - and made calls and specifically volunteered for black neighborhoods. . . She is caucasian.

The narrative/anecdote- she could get people excited about making life really hard for Rand Paul - i.e. a commitment to vote and keep the State House Democratic. And they did.

But she thinks a lot of people just simply didn't press a button for Grimes because of her backhanded slaps at Obama. And it wasn't JUST the 'who did she vote for' question - it was about actively running a campaign against Obama and being a hypocrite by bringing in his former Secretary of State.


Again - this is someone is an active GOTVer. Not an internet warrior.

She sent me this link. . .

http://www.kentucky.com/2014/11/05/3521136_full-state-wide-election-results.html?rh=1

It has all of the races with D's v R's from State House to Senate, Judges, US House, US Sen etc. etc. Right at the top:


U.S. Senate

Mitch McConnell, R 806,679

Alison Lundergan Grimes, D 584,622

David M. Patterson, L 44,230



For the State House - I arrived at 386,568 Democratic ticket votes

For the US House - I arrived at 508,092 Democratic ticket Votes

For the US House I arrived at 889,343 Republican and Independent (one district had about 2 K votes) ticket Votes.



The total number of US house Republican ticket votes exceed the total number of votes cast for Addison McConnell.

Enough left voters showed up to give Rand hell (he can't run for two offices at the same time in KY - their state doesn't allow it at this time) should he decide to run for President.

Enough showed up to cast votes for a Member of the US house that they wanted.

But they just didn't show up for the woman who ran - at the end of the day - from the black man.

That's just one race.

I was heavily on the ground in the NJ 7th - but we had Booker - and everyone loves Booker. I don't think the average nj conservative even knew Jeff Bell was on the ticket.

Here - I think having someone polite with national recognition is imperative so everyone in the rest of the country doesn't think we are all just like Christie. And Booker at no time ran against Obama - but he also didn't have a long history in the Senate - as he was only elected in a special election last year.



And you know who won big as a new candidate (granted she was running against the foaming at the mouth Teapartier)
NJ, District 12 - 100.00% reporting
Bonnie Watson Coleman 60.89% Democrat 86,699
Alieta Eck 36.57% Republican 53,875

Lookie lookie how Coleman won!

This one is better - look at the image behind 'pay equity' - it's directly asking blue collar voters to vote for her. It's not just women - it's about a fair and living wage. And the money shot at the end.

Now - this is Rush Holt's seat - but can we just look at numbers? Because the first BLACK CONGRESS WOMAN FROM NJ whooped her opponent by running DIRECTLY AT the President in extremely wealthy 74% caucasian community.

Distribution
93.17% urban, 6.83% rural
Ethnicity
75.4% White, 11.7% Black, 9.1% Asian, 5.5% Hispanic, 0.1% Native American, 0.2% other

You are asking this in the AA group so I wanted to give you a miss and a hit.


I think the next time around one doesn't have to be so radical - and one doesn't have to be a moderate who appeals to knuckle draggers who are never going to vote for you anyway.


Me - I'll get out and vote and canvass and give money to (I did give to this campaign and Cho's) anyone who states their focus with clarity. And in the 7th? Our candidate was adamantly against the Penn East Pipeline. No retreat - no surrender.

Janice lost HONEST.
Cho lost HONEST.
Coleman and Booker won HONEST.


Can the folks down in Kentucky say the same thing about Grimes?

Who IS she.

What are her CORE values.

And does she have one iota of respect for President Obama - because looking at her ads on YouTube - she kind of came off as a step down from Sister Sarah Alaskastan.

Where is the glory in that?

[steve2470]

22. thanks for your hard work on this post, good research !

Your post and others proves that our candidates should have stood with the President, and stood up clearly for progressive values. If Crist in Florida had been more exciting, he might have won. He did hug PBO at one appearance a few years ago and caught hell from the Republicans over that. He was too much Republican-lite for we Democrats, so our turnout was not good enough.

[JustAnotherGen]

23. You know what's really sad?

People in Horse Country NJ - voted for Bell and Lance.

The same people who were whining about NOT wanting the Penn East Natural Gas line running through their yards with their well water.

The same people who whine that we should just let Keystone happen.

I'm going to be real evil here since I'm not as far out and I'm on borough water - it's not going to impact me.

May ALL of their wells get contaminated and they have to pay on average 10K each to have drinkable water.

They absolutely fucking deserve it.

They DESERVE it for voting for someone who is on another borough's water and who also will not be impacted other than the lining of his pockets.



Do I believe the Democrats in the South deserve the horrors that they are surrounded by?

Hell to the NO!

But north east rural Republicans who just voted FOR getting their water contaminated deserve every single rotten drop!

[steve2470]

24. yes, that is really sad :/ nt

[heaven05]

47. wow

great stuff, especially on democratic nominees and their hypocrisy. I always felt uneasy about her, but the alaskastan sister bit, priceless. Our POTUS has not had unified support on anything from the Democrats in both houses since he was elected.

[JustAnotherGen]

48. Oh don't forget

Their new sweetheart Ernst is another gun toting castrating kind of woman too!

What was the leadership going for here - an Educated Alaskastan?

[upaloopa]

27. I am having a hard time with the idea that

someone would vote or not vote depending on whether the Dem stood with President Obama or not.
We no darn well the opponent did not stand with Obama. Like Grimes and McConnell,
Would you stay home because Grimes would not say she voted for Obama? Seems like a rather rediculous to do.

[JustAnotherGen]

35. Just look at the numbers

They didn't stay home.

They voted.

They just couldn't bring themselves to vote for her.

There was an 8% drop in black voters per the Senate exit poll - yet they managed to keep the state House Democratic.

I'm going to see if Am can find early voting and mail in ballot stats.

Grimes was a loss. But they gave America a gift with the State House.

Go Kentucky Democrats!!!!!!! I applaud them and don't blame them for anything.

They saw a hypocrite who was going to throw them under the bus the first time she had to - in order to hold onto her seat.

[HoosierRadical]

28. Total disgust and disappointment is my take on the recent elections.

Last edited Fri Nov 7, 2014, 07:35 AM - Edit history (1)

I do believe many AAs felt personally offended at the way many candidates were distancing themselves from President Obama. To his credit, President Obama took it all in stride and did everything he could to relay to AAs that he didn't feel betrayed that the election was not about him, but more so about the country. I hoped that AAs in KY & GA could heed the President's advice, but, I can't say I blame them, for not supporting those candidates.

President Obama is the best president in my lifetime (I'm 43) especially with all the problems he inherited, not to mention with all the vitriol and obstruction he has had to deal with. Many AAs probably felt, if you are willing to distance yourself from President Obama after all he has accomplished, they wouldn't hesitate to cave on issues important to the base.

If Hillary plays the same game, she will not have a snowball's chance in hell of being President. I really hope Elizabeth Warren runs, she's awesome.

[JustAnotherGen]

43. I was personally offended

And now I'm vindicated - because a lot of them lost . . . trying to appeal to people that were never going to vote for them in the first place.

[HoosierRadical]

44. So was I,

I'm not shedding any tears for those candidates, because if they had, they would have viewed it as a winning strategy, and NOT the base excusing their rhetoric to get votes. Until the demographics of the midterms is more like a general election, too many Dems will continue to court people who will never vote for them.

[heaven05]

46. ten four

on that!

[Number23]

34. I agree with your OP

What I said about the "wisdom" being tossed around here since Tuesday:

Conventional Wisdom: "Dems lost because they ran from the success of their own damn party, particularly its leader. And they did that because Obama and the Democratic party are viewed as too liberal by large swaths of Americans, despite their successes."

DU "Wisdom": "Obama and the Dems' crypto-fascist Republican-lite policies caused voters to elect people even more conservative!1"

[1StrongBlackMan]

49. Amaizing, isn't it. eom.

[heaven05]

45. I found the desertion

Last edited Mon Nov 10, 2014, 12:24 PM - Edit history (1)

typical of Democrats since the election of Barack Obama. I can't stand the hypocrisy of our Party. Racial and otherwise. I did vote, straight D. I've been pissed since 2008 and Pelosi and Reid showing no fight. They were saying 'no mas' before the first punch was thrown.