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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

CrimsonZephyr Would that it were so simple. from Massachusetts Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
Would that it were so simple.
#261551: Nov 12th 2018 at 6:44:46 PM

There are different kinds of Blue Dogs — they can range from Democrats with essentially spotless voting records who make Republican noises to appear centrist, to DINOs, with solid conservative bona fides, local political inertia being the typical reason why they're Democrats.

Edited by CrimsonZephyr on Nov 12th 2018 at 9:46:17 AM

"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#261552: Nov 12th 2018 at 6:47:59 PM

I don't even particularly mind having to run Blue Dogs, but after the Kavanaugh vote to say I'm displeased with the guy would be an understatement.

Which is why I'd be fine with Ojeda if he was trying to primary Manchin and stood a good chance of winning the actual general election. After all, the only thing worse than a Blue Dog like Manchin in that Senate seat would be a WV Republican in that same seat.

But if Ojeda really thinks he'd be able to get enough votes from the rest of the country outside of WV...I'm sure as hell not going to vote for him in the primaries.

Edited by M84 on Nov 12th 2018 at 10:49:29 PM

Disgusted, but not surprised
Hylarn (Don’t ask)
#261553: Nov 12th 2018 at 7:18:34 PM

I wonder why Ojeda is even running? He can't think he actually has a chance

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#261554: Nov 12th 2018 at 7:36:47 PM

Spite?

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#261555: Nov 12th 2018 at 7:47:20 PM

Sheer ego and a narcissistic belief that he and only he knows the ONE TRUE PATH for the Democratic Party and the country.

Disgusted, but not surprised
kkhohoho (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
AzurePaladin She/Her Pronouns from Forest of Magic Since: Apr, 2018 Relationship Status: Mu
She/Her Pronouns
#261557: Nov 12th 2018 at 8:01:39 PM

He's Bernie Sanders, if any nuance or redeeming qualities were excised and replaced with sheer tribalism. By which I mean he's essentially a strawman version of Sanders animated by the powers of populism and spite.

The awful things he says and does are burned into our cultural consciousness like a CRT display left on the same picture too long. -Fighteer
RJ-19-CLOVIS-93 from New Zealand (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#261558: Nov 12th 2018 at 8:12:48 PM

Can any third party realistically win? I'm wonder that if they get enough to throw it to the House of Representatives, they could try to pull it off. For example if George Wallace got enough fifty years ago, what would he have to do to win the whole hog?

DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#261559: Nov 12th 2018 at 8:16:02 PM

[up] Realistically? No, not without one party completely crumbling (and the Republicans might if 2020 is a bloodbath against them). You'd need to change a lot with the system to have 3rd Parties have any power in this country.

Also, right now most 3rd Parties are single issue parties, and the few 3rd Parties that aren't share a lot of values with both Major Parties as the Major Parties act like Tents (The Constitutionalists are just more extreme Reagan Republicans, the Greens are more extreme Democrats, and the Libertarians take ideas from both parties but mainly the Reagan Republicans; I can't think of which 3rd Party shares value with Trumpeteers that matter). Heck, George Wallace was a single issue politician who only wanted to end integration and desegregation (and everything else on his platform was just Pre-Reagan Reaganism), which is why he got votes only from certain Southern States.

Edited by DingoWalley1 on Nov 12th 2018 at 11:17:15 AM

AzurePaladin She/Her Pronouns from Forest of Magic Since: Apr, 2018 Relationship Status: Mu
She/Her Pronouns
#261560: Nov 12th 2018 at 8:16:45 PM

In the USA, a third party has two main options: 1. Try to play kingmaker 2. The old 2nd party is dead, long live the new 2nd party

A viable third party could in theory exist, but in practice one of the three would give eventually...

Edit: [nja] The post above does a better job explaining why

Edited by AzurePaladin on Nov 12th 2018 at 11:17:19 AM

The awful things he says and does are burned into our cultural consciousness like a CRT display left on the same picture too long. -Fighteer
Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#261561: Nov 12th 2018 at 8:19:52 PM

Any candidate who announces their run at this juncture simply isn't serious, it's far too early and thus they should be paid no heed.

The fact that he's a Blue Dog DINO simply compounds that simple fact, I would advise people to not waste their energy thinking about him beyond the barest minimum possible.

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
Protagonist506 from Oregon Since: Dec, 2013 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#261563: Nov 12th 2018 at 8:39:45 PM

[up] That's when I plan to Run.

MrHellboy The Shadow from A world of my own Since: Dec, 2017 Relationship Status: Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free
The Shadow
#261565: Nov 12th 2018 at 8:46:15 PM

https://twitter.com/MarthaMcSally/status/1062144676822577152

Mc Sally has conceded. Looks like we've got another one

The hardest thing in this world is to live in it.
Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#261566: Nov 12th 2018 at 9:00:20 PM

Congrats to Sinema!

And good-bye to Kirstjen Nielsen. According to White House aides, Trump is pissed that nothing she does at his orders has slowed down immigration, so he's planning to get rid of her.

MrHellboy The Shadow from A world of my own Since: Dec, 2017 Relationship Status: Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free
The Shadow
#261567: Nov 12th 2018 at 9:15:27 PM

God, that man is such a shitclown.

How does he still have a 42% approval rating?

The hardest thing in this world is to live in it.
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#261568: Nov 12th 2018 at 9:22:21 PM

Because the Republican base is largely composed of servile peons who only care if the targets of their ire get it worse than they do?

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
BearyScary Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: You spin me right round, baby
#261569: Nov 12th 2018 at 9:29:10 PM

Republicanism is the perfect crime.

Do not obey in advance.
AzurePaladin She/Her Pronouns from Forest of Magic Since: Apr, 2018 Relationship Status: Mu
She/Her Pronouns
#261570: Nov 12th 2018 at 9:29:23 PM

[up][up] I'd say its made up of people that have lots of money and would do damn near anything to avoid losing it. Even or especially playing into their own and other's bigotry.

Edited by AzurePaladin on Nov 12th 2018 at 12:30:11 PM

The awful things he says and does are burned into our cultural consciousness like a CRT display left on the same picture too long. -Fighteer
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#261571: Nov 12th 2018 at 9:40:36 PM

[up]That's the donors and the higher-ups. I was referring to the rank and file voters.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#261572: Nov 12th 2018 at 10:33:01 PM

Due to the nature of First Past the Post voting, a sufficiently popular third party candidate running in a general election is more likely to end up splitting the vote so that no candidate gets a plurality of voters, more than anything else. (See the election of 1912)

I have heard of a few regional or statewide alternative parties that have had some success, but only on a local or state level.

Edited by megaeliz on Nov 12th 2018 at 1:35:24 PM

Savini24 Since: Nov, 2012
#261573: Nov 12th 2018 at 11:01:42 PM

I think we can't really afford another business-before-environment President, so I'd pass on Ojeda too.

Still, I can't say it wouldn't be satisfying to see a Trump supporter like that tear Trump a new one over the economy. It would be like Trump having to put up with Trump. That, and policies aside, I could stomach him much better than "better be a white man" Avenatti. We all know he wants to be the Democratic Trump, whereas Ojeda wants to be what Trump claims to be. Say all you want about his signalling, messages like these hit the right note, even if the conclusion should be obvious:

“That is when I realized — families in Logan, West Virginia, were going through the same struggles as families in the Bronx, San Francisco and Houston,” he wrote. “This was not a West Virginia problem. This is an American problem and it has to change.”

Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#261574: Nov 13th 2018 at 12:57:16 AM

I look foward to Ojeda dropping out early and getting the nominee for the 2nd of West Virginia’s seats in the senate, which happens to be up in 2020 and is certainly not his real target with this move.

Edited by Silasw on Nov 13th 2018 at 8:57:54 PM

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
TerminusEst from the Land of Winter and Stars Since: Feb, 2010
#261575: Nov 13th 2018 at 4:34:53 AM

Cheeto Benito's opinion on Macron's EU military integration idea:

Emmanuel Macron suggests building its own army to protect Europe against the U.S., China and Russia. But it was Germany in World Wars One & Two - How did that work out for France? They were starting to learn German in Paris before the U.S. came along. Pay for NATO or not!

Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele

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