IM STUNNED!! are voters stupid?

[mgcgulfcoast]

we need to regroup and kick some ass in 2016

[MFM008]

1. YES

yes they are.

[Z_California]

54. Yup

D's need to find candidates who can appeal to complete morons. Like people in Alaska and South Dakota who vote FOR minimum wage increases and AGAINST Democratic candidates. Let's find a way to win in the age of Idiocracy.

[HERVEPA]

2. OK. I'll bite. Why are you stunned.

This is pretty much what was expected.

[mgcgulfcoast]

6. not me

i expected to lose 2 senate seats

[HERVEPA]

7. Then you weren't p[aying any attention.

[Reter]

11. Then maybe it wasn't the voters that were...

Two seats?

[still_one]

10. because mostly red states voted for rebukes? oh, wait, that is what they usually do

[CAG]

3. Never underestimate the rich's power to control the propaganda

[JC4145]

43. Indeed, look at the funding for 594 in WA

[mgcgulfcoast]

4. i cant believe Grimes lost by 15

fraud??

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

25. I can. She alienated black voters in large, urban populous areas when she stupidly listened to the

Clintons and distanced herself from Obama.

The irony should not be lost on us. Seems that Dems didn't learn their lesson when Gore distanced himself from Clinton who had a stellar record.

When Dems don't stand for anything...

...well, you know he rest.

[still_one]

52. She lost because they were afraid they would lose their coal jobs under a Democrat

It really isn't any more complicated than that. You do realize that KY has been as red as they come for some time. CO is more perplexing, but even there it is understandable, the gun nuts believed Udhal would take away their guns

Not much we can do about misinformed people who refuse to listen

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

53. Why can't both be true. Please. That coal shit is a smokescreen.

I know the real reason and I'm not naïve or stupid. Coal has always been a concern and yet they have a Democratic governor who didn't scare people away and is doing quite well.

Again, I know what the real reason is. No reason to deflect from that.

Thanks for playing, though.

[still_one]

55. Governor is different. Grimes was a delegate for Obama and they knew that in spite of the game the

Sleeze press was trying to play. Whether Clinton came or Obama came to campaign the results would be the same in my view

Sorry I was not implying or did not mean to give the impression you were naive. People who are at du are not naive

We just don't entirely agree on the mechanism that caused her loss

[BlueDemKev]

65. Grimes lost because Kentucky is a red state with a huge redneck population...

...there was simply no way a Democrat was going to be Mitch McConnell this year, especially when the guy was poised to become the Senate Leader. Grimes was destined to lose in the end, and when she alienated Democratic voters by refusing to say that she voted for President Obama, it ensured her defeat would be a landslide.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

70. Red necks are often racist fucks!

Deny all you want. Fine. The truth is apparent whether you choose to admit it or not!

[bravenak]

5. I thought this was predicted to be a big loss for us.

I actually expected worse than this.

[Nite Owl]

8. It certainly seems

That the public cannot remember what went on with thre republicans in power. It wasn't long ago
Either.

[still_one]

12. Then they will get a refresher course, and when the government gets shut down again, and people

start losing their jobs maybe they will then pull their heads out of their asses and figure it out

[MaggieD]

9. One of the questions that need to be asked is....

Why is someone like Skinner, who calls himself a Democrat, creating a site like Discussionist that specializes in being freepervile junior? How does that help elect Democrats?

[still_one]

13. money

[MaggieD]

14. Yeah, and it's BS.

We need a real Dem website. Non profit.

[former9thward]

48. Maybe you should start a website instead of trashing the people who run this one.

[BlueDemKev]

15. OMG...we lost the Illinois governor's race

One of the bluest states in the country.

[mgcgulfcoast]

18. we havent lost that one yet!!!

[GGJohn]

42. Yeah, we have!!!

[Arthur_Frain]

16. Unfortunately yes

And they are easily swayed by false propaganda which the Koch brothers paid for quite generously. I think the end result will be quite worse than I thought, I vainly hoped the Republicans would not win the senate, but it appears they are going to. I've lived in Utah and Alaska all my life, but it might be time to move. Told the woman today that for once in my life I'd like to live someplace other than a conservative stronghold.

No, really! What is it like to live someplace like Portland or somewhere else where the sheeple don't all have Bush/Cheney bumper stickers proudly displayed on their cars, like they participated in something that was good for America?

[Blaukraut]

17. The sooner you disabuse yourself of the notion that the US has an informed electorate, the better

American voters are fickle and uninformed. Each midterm, the party that holds the executive office - the Presidency - loses an average of 7 senate seats. This is because Americans need instant gratification, and can't think beyond who is president. "Oh, a Democrat is President? Things aren't going the way I want them to? Let me go ahead and vote for a Republican in the House and Senate. They'll fix everything".

These morons don't remember who broke it in the first place and is continuing efforts to keep it from being fixed.

So yes, voters are stupid.Live with it.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

26. The problem is that they don't hold Republicans to that same standard. Since ReThugs aren't

expected to govern, they know that they can sit back while the Dems are forced to make all the tough decisions. When voters get mad at the Dems for those decisions, Dems lose.

[Cosmocat]

31. correct

This is absolutely spot on ...

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

32. As a political scientist, I've been screaming this point for many years.

Until there's no more double standards things will change but as long as Americans fail to hold Republicans fully accountable for failing to govern, then we'll continue to go through this.

[Cosmocat]

35. it isn't going to just magically happen

Democrats need to get in the damn game.

They just cannot stand by and allow republicans to frame their leaders and ideas, and they HAVE to, in a simple way, present the raw truth about republicans.

It really is this simple - they HAVE to start saying the plain truth:

Republicans hate:
Minorities
Blacks
Hispanics
Women
Gays
Teachers
Hard working americans
AMERICA AS IT IS
100 other peoples

Just say it like that ... Force THEM to have to explain and defend themselves.

The problem here is they progressively, over the last three decades, they have learned that they can say and do anything and get away with it, while democrats have exponentially lost their sand, they have no interest in taking a stand or standing up for anything. They just go cower in a corner and wait for the big personality to save to day.

[Fuhrmantime]

40. I'm sorry

If President Obama made some tough decisions we would not be in this mess.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

50. Actually he did. He made very tough decisions. It's just that you don't agree with them.

That's the problem. He made incredibly tough decisions. Trust me. I work for the federal government. He made very tough decisions!!

[awake]

19. Not just "Voters" but a shit load of NONvoters

Americans are getting the government that they payed for and will be paying for for a long long time to come, it is a shame how stupid so many people are to let this happen but if they did not vote then they need to keep there mouth shut for the next two years.

[Historic NY]

20. no they just don't give a fuck....and they keep saying it.

[workinclasszero]

21. Well they elected rayguns twice and bush jr twice

I rest my case. May God have mercy on us all.

[cheezmaka]

22. YES

In Michigan, people re-elected a Republican governor who has TAXED the Seniors pensions! If that's not stupid I dont know what is...

[Amonester]

23. I bet they don't even know that...

and that they couldn't care less if they happened to learn it tomorrow.

The only time they will ever care about it will be from the day it will happen to THEM.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

27. They're happy that the ReThugs stripped democracy from voters in Detroit and Flint.

[lunasun]

30. Michigan should of been a hammer to the dead heads of the zombie voters but no

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

33. I had colleagues doing work in Flint who are supposedly Democrats defending

Snyder and telling me that he wasn't that bad. Of course these Democrats don't live in Detroit or Flint and have no clue how much Synder has fucked up the state.

[workinclasszero]

24. Insane

Proves brainwashing works..

[Carolina]

28. YES!

Some swallow the MSM bait hook, line and sinker
Some are truly dumb
Some are racist misogynists.

However, we cannot escape the fact that Democrats have not helped with their acquiescence to Reagan and Bush II policies, never challenging the Reagan myth with the nation's reality since his terms, never challenging the SCOTUS selection of Bush II (except for the Black Caucus), never supporting the anti-war protesters or the treatment of Occupy Wall Street protesters...

Dems allowed the word liberal to become a dirty word. Dems yawed to the right. Clinton gave us NAFTA, signed the commodities modernization act which overturned Glass-Steagall and was sponsored by such repukes as Phil Gramm (hence its other name Gramm-Bliley-Leach Act), and gave us the telecommunications act which has wrought the consolidated, corporate owned MSM we have today.
And Obama is owned by Wall Street, thought Reagan was transformational (fed that fucking myth) and has repeatedly tried to work with repukes despite their vociferous loathing of him.

We no longer have a TRUE Democratic Party, we have cowards, acquiescers, third-wayers and blue dogs. Harry Truman was right and he's spinning in his grave.

I am so disgusted... I hope all the idiots who keep people like McConnell in office get just what they deserve. And as for women who vote for these fetus-loving misogynists, I have no words. They want to turn back the clock to back alley butchers, they entrust power to men who don't really think there's such a thing as rape etc. Let them see the consequences.

Fuck it all. The country is on a speed train to hell.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

34. Thank you! THIS RIGHT HERE!!

And calling Bill Clinton out in particular.

[Fuhrmantime]

41. A f'ing men

[Enthusiast]

59. Yay! Great post! You win the internets today!

"The country is on a speed train to hell."

And that is the only high speed mass transit we are likely to have in the foreseeable future.

[btrflykng9]

67. +1

Couldn't agree more, Carolina!! Well said.

[lunasun]

29. Yes but my friend said it would be more polite to call them unenlightened

[Paladin]

36. Your friend must be a play-by-the-rules Democrat.

Sounds like it, anyway......

[lunasun]

37. 2005 expatriate .they live in England now. Guess they picked up the politeness over there after

10 yrs.
votes Labour Party

[Paladin]

46. England's the suitable place for such a viewpoint.

Politeness hasn't given U.S. Democrats anything but kicks in the teeth from an increasingly radicalized and empowered right wing. I hope the results of these recent elections cause everybody to wake up, President Obama very much included.

[lunasun]

49. They have UKIP - bad enough there for concern

UKIP is now an overtly racist and extremist party.
Over the past year UKIP has gone beyond raising general concerns about immigration to directly targeting and stigmatising individual national groups. Poles, Romanians, Bulgarians and Albanians are amongst the favourite targets. There leader believes that’s fine because they represent national, not racial stereotyes .

[Paladin]

63. Depressing, having to deal with the same sorts of problems, over and over. (nt)

[Rosa Luxemburg]

38. If they are fed propaganda

and if we don't blow our own trumpet no one will know.

Watch over the next few months how bad things will get.

[MillennialDem]

44. The 2014 voters are stupid - they are a mortally wounded beast thrashing about

See... there are these racist shitstains.... who hate Obama. There are a decent amount of them, but nowhere near the majority of the electorate.

They feverishly wanked and came out to vote against Obama in 2010 and 2014 (even though they knew they couldn't beat him in 2008 or 2012)... while the young stayed at home.

Again, the racist, homophobic, misogynistic, xenophobic shitstain populace turned out in force LAST NIGHT. But again, they are a mortally wounded beast (it's only a matter of time before they start losing off year elections too) thrashing about. Unfortunately, we let the beast thrash us harder than we needed to by letting it.

[Recursion]

45. Calling people stupid is usually a great way to get them to vote for you (nt)

[steve2470]

62. agree with your sarcasm ! nt

[treestar]

47. Yes or apathetic

Republicans don't have to be cajoled to vote. they get it that offices below the Presidency matter.

[ladjf]

51. Sometimes I wonder if there is some sort of environmental toxin that is making us all crazier than

we used to be. nt

[tridim]

56. I can only speak about Kansas voters. Yes, they are stupid.

As they have been my entire lifetime. It NEVER CHANGES.

They would elect Satan if he had an (R) next to his name.

[JoePhilly]

57. I think this video explains it best ...

[cheyanne]

58. Calling voters "stupid" is a dead-end. You can't change stupid.

In all the hullabaloo I haven't seen any one actually try to understand why the voters accepted the Republicans. These people are our family, friends and coworkers. Did they change to stupid overnight?

Can you write a paragraph explaining the rise of stupid? From the viewpoint of the stupid?

If you can't, then you won't understand what is happening.

[steve2470]

61. yep, we have to stop with the stupid meme nt

[steve2470]

60. Apathy and ignorance really explain it all

Apathy - Many people don't vote. That's a fact. Many have not even REGISTERED to vote. Voting is the bare minimum requirement of a democracy. You spend, what, at most a few hours every 2 years ? If there's a special election or municipal/county election, a few hours at most for that ?

Many don't bother to read up on issues or candidates, which leads me to my second point....

Ignorance - Over 99%+ of the voting population do NOT read DU or even, ugh, Freeperville or Redstate or Discussionist or any of the other political websites/discussion boards out there. I'd vastly PREFER that they read DU, but we all know that's not going to happen any time soon.

As a result, they catch a few minutes on hate radio or cable news shoutfests or the evening news corporate media subtly-republican-slanted broadcasts. I still think NPR does a pretty decent job of being impartial but I know many at DU don't agree with me.

You CANNOT be well-informed from reading corporate media headlines. It's hard enough to come to DU, read for hours (like I do and many others at DU), and come to rational decisions. 99%+ of the voting population of the USA is NOT going to do that, or cannot do that, a combination of both.

Yes, there are profoundly stupid people out there, but most of the voting population are APATHETIC and IGNORANT. Ignorant is not a horrible word, I'm ignorant of some things myself. It simply means not being informed of something.

We need to start saying apathetic and ignorant. Do they have good reasons to be apathetic and ignorant ? Arguably, yes, but still..... it's OUR freaking country. Being apathetic and ignorant only makes it WORSE.

My $0.02 / fraction of a euro or yen or pound.

[KamaAina]

64. No. Non-voters are.

And they were the clear majority.

[CBHagman]

66. First, register new voters.

Second, make sure that said voters know the gig is every two years (and off years, if you live in a state such as Virginia), not just during presidential campaigns. The midterms are a self-inflicted wound we keep delivering.

Third, recruit can-do candidates.

Fourth, go bold or go home. It's better to ask forgiveness than ask permission. Be who you are, be a Dem, not some freeze-dried, reconstituted thing.

[btrflykng9]

68. +1

[Old Nick]

69. Yes!

Next?