The thread where I make Democrats angry- why we lost in 2024!

[JoeB131]

Since 99% of my posts make Republicans Angry, I thought I'd do a post where I antagonize Democrats with hard, cold truths. Because it seems to me most of the Democrat discussion is "We weren't radical enough!"

So here is my list, 11 reasons why Democrats got their asses handed to them in 2024.

1) Joe Biden – completely and utterly screwed his party. It should have been evident to everyone around him that, at 81, he didn’t have the acuity or stamina to wage a campaign against Trump. He maybe never did, but the unique nature of the 2020 election gave him a pass. In 2020, he promised to be a transitional president. A second term never should have been in the cards.

In any event, Biden should have withdrawn after the 2022 midterms, and the Democrats did better than they deserved to because Trump insisted on extreme MAGA candidates for winnable races. A vigorous primary campaign would have tempered the steel of the eventual nominee.


2) Kamala Harris – In one aspect, it’s easy to be sympathetic; she had to hop in and pick up a ball that had been fumbled. That said, she was a poor candidate. She was a weak candidate in 2020 when she dropped out before the primaries, and she did little to distinguish herself as Vice President. But the Democrats were painted into a corner. Passing over her to pick someone more electable would have been seen as an insult to women and minorities. Additionally, there was the issue of who could legally use the money that Biden had raised to that point.

Harris should have done a self-evaluation and realized that she probably wasn’t the best candidate. She didn’t. We got the result we should have expected.

3) Tim Walz- a lousy pick. He brought nothing to the table. Minnesota hasn’t gone Red since 1972. If the Democrats are seriously fighting for MN, they need to rethink their party. Shapiro, Warnock, anyone who could have helped in a Swing state would have been better.

4) The Corporate Media didn’t do its job- The Corporate Media has this weird symbiotic relationship with Trump. They know he’s repulsive, but he’s good for ratings. He’s reality TV incarnate, normalizing lousy behavior because it’s entertaining. Joe Biden could look a bit confused trying to find the exit, and you’d get speculation about his mental acuity. Trump could rant about Haitians eating cats and Arnold Palmer’s….er… attributes, and nope, nothing to see here.

5) Abortion wasn’t the magic bullet – The initial shock of Dobbs probably saved the Democrats from worse results in 2022, but it was a hand Harris overplayed. Most Americans are ambivalent about abortion. They don’t think it should be illegal, but they don’t like it much, either. Making it the centerpiece of your campaign was a bad idea.

6) Taking Asians and Hispanics for granted – This is the untold story of 2024. Trump didn’t improve his numbers with white voters. He lost a percentage point among them. He only slightly improved his standing with black voters. The two big groups that he gained were Hispanics (+14) and Asians (+6), despite the toxic and racist language coming from Trump on Immigration.

Part of the reason was that the Harris team took them for granted, whereas Trump made genuine outreach. The other part of the problem is that immigration is affecting these communities, and muddled messaging didn’t help.

7) Immigration – Immigration has become a significant crisis, which Biden and Harris did not effectively manage. Part of the problem is immigrants figured out the Asylum loophole and abused the heck out of it. The other part of the problem is that Biden did very little to discourage immigration. While they deported more people than Trump did during his first term, they didn’t like to talk about it because they thought it wouldn’t play well with the Hispanic Community.

8) It’s the economy, stupid. The Biden economy was pretty good. Record stock market growth, record job growth, and low unemployment. The fly in the ointment, of course, was high inflation, driven by global commodities, labor shortages, and, yes, the Trillions in Stimulus That both Trump and Biden pumped into the economy to keep it afloat during COVID-19. The problem was, the Democrats did a poor job talking up the good stuff, and really weren't proactive enough on inflation, other than "Just let the fed handle it by putting home prices out of reach".

9) Transgender rights - Failure to Communicate. Democrats let Republicans run the table with this one. Every time the Republicans dragged out some college girl whining how she didn’t get a trophy, the Democrats should have brought out a transgender girl who transphobic people have abused. They didn’t do this, and the GOP got away with dehumanization.

10) Not holding Trump to account for COVID (or anything else!) – It is MIND-BOGGLING to me how Democrats weren’t reminding people at every step about how Trump mismanaged the COVID crisis (and subsequent recession).

11) Israel and Palestine- trying to thread the needle. This is where they should have taken a stand. Instead, they tried to please both sides and ended up pleasing neither one. So now you have these Arab-Americans in Dearborn, MI, who stayed home. How are things better for you now? ,

 

[TemplarKormac]

This is actually compelling and well worded. Good on you.

 

[Harry Dresden]

Since 99% of my posts make Republicans Angry, I thought I'd do a post where I antagonize Democrats with hard, cold truths. Because it seems to me most of the Democrat discussion is "We weren't radical enough!"

So here is my list, 11 reasons why Democrats got their asses handed to them in 2024.

1) Joe Biden – completely and utterly screwed his party. It should have been evident to everyone around him that, at 81, he didn’t have the acuity or stamina to wage a campaign against Trump. He maybe never did, but the unique nature of the 2020 election gave him a pass. In 2020, he promised to be a transitional president. A second term never should have been in the cards.

In any event, Biden should have withdrawn after the 2022 midterms, and the Democrats did better than they deserved to because Trump insisted on extreme MAGA candidates for winnable races. A vigorous primary campaign would have tempered the steel of the eventual nominee.


2) Kamala Harris – In one aspect, it’s easy to be sympathetic; she had to hop in and pick up a ball that had been fumbled. That said, she was a poor candidate. She was a weak candidate in 2020 when she dropped out before the primaries, and she did little to distinguish herself as Vice President. But the Democrats were painted into a corner. Passing over her to pick someone more electable would have been seen as an insult to women and minorities. Additionally, there was the issue of who could legally use the money that Biden had raised to that point.

Harris should have done a self-evaluation and realized that she probably wasn’t the best candidate. She didn’t. We got the result we should have expected.

3) Tim Walz- a lousy pick. He brought nothing to the table. Minnesota hasn’t gone Red since 1972. If the Democrats are seriously fighting for MN, they need to rethink their party. Shapiro, Warnock, anyone who could have helped in a Swing state would have been better.

4) The Corporate Media didn’t do its job- The Corporate Media has this weird symbiotic relationship with Trump. They know he’s repulsive, but he’s good for ratings. He’s reality TV incarnate, normalizing lousy behavior because it’s entertaining. Joe Biden could look a bit confused trying to find the exit, and you’d get speculation about his mental acuity. Trump could rant about Haitians eating cats and Arnold Palmer’s….er… attributes, and nope, nothing to see here.

5) Abortion wasn’t the magic bullet – The initial shock of Dobbs probably saved the Democrats from worse results in 2022, but it was a hand Harris overplayed. Most Americans are ambivalent about abortion. They don’t think it should be illegal, but they don’t like it much, either. Making it the centerpiece of your campaign was a bad idea.

6) Taking Asians and Hispanics for granted – This is the untold story of 2024. Trump didn’t improve his numbers with white voters. He lost a percentage point among them. He only slightly improved his standing with black voters. The two big groups that he gained were Hispanics (+14) and Asians (+6), despite the toxic and racist language coming from Trump on Immigration.

Part of the reason was that the Harris team took them for granted, whereas Trump made genuine outreach. The other part of the problem is that immigration is affecting these communities, and muddled messaging didn’t help.

7) Immigration – Immigration has become a significant crisis, which Biden and Harris did not effectively manage. Part of the problem is immigrants figured out the Asylum loophole and abused the heck out of it. The other part of the problem is that Biden did very little to discourage immigration. While they deported more people than Trump did during his first term, they didn’t like to talk about it because they thought it wouldn’t play well with the Hispanic Community.

8) It’s the economy, stupid. The Biden economy was pretty good. Record stock market growth, record job growth, and low unemployment. The fly in the ointment, of course, was high inflation, driven by global commodities, labor shortages, and, yes, the Trillions in Stimulus That both Trump and Biden pumped into the economy to keep it afloat during COVID-19. The problem was, the Democrats did a poor job talking up the good stuff, and really weren't proactive enough on inflation, other than "Just let the fed handle it by putting home prices out of reach".

9) Transgender rights - Failure to Communicate. Democrats let Republicans run the table with this one. Every time the Republicans dragged out some college girl whining how she didn’t get a trophy, the Democrats should have brought out a transgender girl who transphobic people have abused. They didn’t do this, and the GOP got away with dehumanization.

10) Not holding Trump to account for COVID (or anything else!) – It is MIND-BOGGLING to me how Democrats weren’t reminding people at every step about how Trump mismanaged the COVID crisis (and subsequent recession).

11) Israel and Palestine- trying to thread the needle. This is where they should have taken a stand. Instead, they tried to please both sides and ended up pleasing neither one. So now you have these Arab-Americans in Dearborn, MI, who stayed home. How are things better for you now? ,

thats a good post joe....im sure people like IM2 will say you are just a white racist....

 

[okfine]

Since 99% of my posts make Republicans Angry, I thought I'd do a post where I antagonize Democrats with hard, cold truths. Because it seems to me most of the Democrat discussion is "We weren't radical enough!"

So here is my list, 11 reasons why Democrats got their asses handed to them in 2024.

1) Joe Biden – completely and utterly screwed his party. It should have been evident to everyone around him that, at 81, he didn’t have the acuity or stamina to wage a campaign against Trump. He maybe never did, but the unique nature of the 2020 election gave him a pass. In 2020, he promised to be a transitional president. A second term never should have been in the cards.

In any event, Biden should have withdrawn after the 2022 midterms, and the Democrats did better than they deserved to because Trump insisted on extreme MAGA candidates for winnable races. A vigorous primary campaign would have tempered the steel of the eventual nominee.


2) Kamala Harris – In one aspect, it’s easy to be sympathetic; she had to hop in and pick up a ball that had been fumbled. That said, she was a poor candidate. She was a weak candidate in 2020 when she dropped out before the primaries, and she did little to distinguish herself as Vice President. But the Democrats were painted into a corner. Passing over her to pick someone more electable would have been seen as an insult to women and minorities. Additionally, there was the issue of who could legally use the money that Biden had raised to that point.

Harris should have done a self-evaluation and realized that she probably wasn’t the best candidate. She didn’t. We got the result we should have expected.

3) Tim Walz- a lousy pick. He brought nothing to the table. Minnesota hasn’t gone Red since 1972. If the Democrats are seriously fighting for MN, they need to rethink their party. Shapiro, Warnock, anyone who could have helped in a Swing state would have been better.

4) The Corporate Media didn’t do its job- The Corporate Media has this weird symbiotic relationship with Trump. They know he’s repulsive, but he’s good for ratings. He’s reality TV incarnate, normalizing lousy behavior because it’s entertaining. Joe Biden could look a bit confused trying to find the exit, and you’d get speculation about his mental acuity. Trump could rant about Haitians eating cats and Arnold Palmer’s….er… attributes, and nope, nothing to see here.

5) Abortion wasn’t the magic bullet – The initial shock of Dobbs probably saved the Democrats from worse results in 2022, but it was a hand Harris overplayed. Most Americans are ambivalent about abortion. They don’t think it should be illegal, but they don’t like it much, either. Making it the centerpiece of your campaign was a bad idea.

6) Taking Asians and Hispanics for granted – This is the untold story of 2024. Trump didn’t improve his numbers with white voters. He lost a percentage point among them. He only slightly improved his standing with black voters. The two big groups that he gained were Hispanics (+14) and Asians (+6), despite the toxic and racist language coming from Trump on Immigration.

Part of the reason was that the Harris team took them for granted, whereas Trump made genuine outreach. The other part of the problem is that immigration is affecting these communities, and muddled messaging didn’t help.

7) Immigration – Immigration has become a significant crisis, which Biden and Harris did not effectively manage. Part of the problem is immigrants figured out the Asylum loophole and abused the heck out of it. The other part of the problem is that Biden did very little to discourage immigration. While they deported more people than Trump did during his first term, they didn’t like to talk about it because they thought it wouldn’t play well with the Hispanic Community.

8) It’s the economy, stupid. The Biden economy was pretty good. Record stock market growth, record job growth, and low unemployment. The fly in the ointment, of course, was high inflation, driven by global commodities, labor shortages, and, yes, the Trillions in Stimulus That both Trump and Biden pumped into the economy to keep it afloat during COVID-19. The problem was, the Democrats did a poor job talking up the good stuff, and really weren't proactive enough on inflation, other than "Just let the fed handle it by putting home prices out of reach".

9) Transgender rights - Failure to Communicate. Democrats let Republicans run the table with this one. Every time the Republicans dragged out some college girl whining how she didn’t get a trophy, the Democrats should have brought out a transgender girl who transphobic people have abused. They didn’t do this, and the GOP got away with dehumanization.

10) Not holding Trump to account for COVID (or anything else!) – It is MIND-BOGGLING to me how Democrats weren’t reminding people at every step about how Trump mismanaged the COVID crisis (and subsequent recession).

11) Israel and Palestine- trying to thread the needle. This is where they should have taken a stand. Instead, they tried to please both sides and ended up pleasing neither one. So now you have these Arab-Americans in Dearborn, MI, who stayed home. How are things better for you now? ,

This must be one of those threads where you want to be liked.

 

[Thinker101]

Since 99% of my posts make Republicans Angry, I thought I'd do a post where I antagonize Democrats with hard, cold truths. Because it seems to me most of the Democrat discussion is "We weren't radical enough!"

So here is my list, 11 reasons why Democrats got their asses handed to them in 2024.

1) Joe Biden – completely and utterly screwed his party. It should have been evident to everyone around him that, at 81, he didn’t have the acuity or stamina to wage a campaign against Trump. He maybe never did, but the unique nature of the 2020 election gave him a pass. In 2020, he promised to be a transitional president. A second term never should have been in the cards.

In any event, Biden should have withdrawn after the 2022 midterms, and the Democrats did better than they deserved to because Trump insisted on extreme MAGA candidates for winnable races. A vigorous primary campaign would have tempered the steel of the eventual nominee.


2) Kamala Harris – In one aspect, it’s easy to be sympathetic; she had to hop in and pick up a ball that had been fumbled. That said, she was a poor candidate. She was a weak candidate in 2020 when she dropped out before the primaries, and she did little to distinguish herself as Vice President. But the Democrats were painted into a corner. Passing over her to pick someone more electable would have been seen as an insult to women and minorities. Additionally, there was the issue of who could legally use the money that Biden had raised to that point.

Harris should have done a self-evaluation and realized that she probably wasn’t the best candidate. She didn’t. We got the result we should have expected.

3) Tim Walz- a lousy pick. He brought nothing to the table. Minnesota hasn’t gone Red since 1972. If the Democrats are seriously fighting for MN, they need to rethink their party. Shapiro, Warnock, anyone who could have helped in a Swing state would have been better.

4) The Corporate Media didn’t do its job- The Corporate Media has this weird symbiotic relationship with Trump. They know he’s repulsive, but he’s good for ratings. He’s reality TV incarnate, normalizing lousy behavior because it’s entertaining. Joe Biden could look a bit confused trying to find the exit, and you’d get speculation about his mental acuity. Trump could rant about Haitians eating cats and Arnold Palmer’s….er… attributes, and nope, nothing to see here.

5) Abortion wasn’t the magic bullet – The initial shock of Dobbs probably saved the Democrats from worse results in 2022, but it was a hand Harris overplayed. Most Americans are ambivalent about abortion. They don’t think it should be illegal, but they don’t like it much, either. Making it the centerpiece of your campaign was a bad idea.

6) Taking Asians and Hispanics for granted – This is the untold story of 2024. Trump didn’t improve his numbers with white voters. He lost a percentage point among them. He only slightly improved his standing with black voters. The two big groups that he gained were Hispanics (+14) and Asians (+6), despite the toxic and racist language coming from Trump on Immigration.

Part of the reason was that the Harris team took them for granted, whereas Trump made genuine outreach. The other part of the problem is that immigration is affecting these communities, and muddled messaging didn’t help.

7) Immigration – Immigration has become a significant crisis, which Biden and Harris did not effectively manage. Part of the problem is immigrants figured out the Asylum loophole and abused the heck out of it. The other part of the problem is that Biden did very little to discourage immigration. While they deported more people than Trump did during his first term, they didn’t like to talk about it because they thought it wouldn’t play well with the Hispanic Community.

8) It’s the economy, stupid. The Biden economy was pretty good. Record stock market growth, record job growth, and low unemployment. The fly in the ointment, of course, was high inflation, driven by global commodities, labor shortages, and, yes, the Trillions in Stimulus That both Trump and Biden pumped into the economy to keep it afloat during COVID-19. The problem was, the Democrats did a poor job talking up the good stuff, and really weren't proactive enough on inflation, other than "Just let the fed handle it by putting home prices out of reach".

9) Transgender rights - Failure to Communicate. Democrats let Republicans run the table with this one. Every time the Republicans dragged out some college girl whining how she didn’t get a trophy, the Democrats should have brought out a transgender girl who transphobic people have abused. They didn’t do this, and the GOP got away with dehumanization.

10) Not holding Trump to account for COVID (or anything else!) – It is MIND-BOGGLING to me how Democrats weren’t reminding people at every step about how Trump mismanaged the COVID crisis (and subsequent recession).

11) Israel and Palestine- trying to thread the needle. This is where they should have taken a stand. Instead, they tried to please both sides and ended up pleasing neither one. So now you have these Arab-Americans in Dearborn, MI, who stayed home. How are things better for you now? ,

You know better than that, Democrats feel they have all the answers. It's just the questions they have trouble with. Kamala is a prime example.

 

[JoeB131]

This must be one of those threads where you want to be liked.

Do I come off as a person who gives a shit about whether or not he's "liked"?

No, I'm just a little frustrated, in that I'm seeing what the Democrats did in the 1980's, where their response to each loss was to nominate a candidate that was even worse than the last.

They finally smartened up and nominated a sensible moderate from the South in 1992, but that was halfway because all the name Democrats took a pass because Bush looked unbeatable after the Gulf War.

 

[westwall]

Since 99% of my posts make Republicans Angry, I thought I'd do a post where I antagonize Democrats with hard, cold truths. Because it seems to me most of the Democrat discussion is "We weren't radical enough!"

So here is my list, 11 reasons why Democrats got their asses handed to them in 2024.

1) Joe Biden – completely and utterly screwed his party. It should have been evident to everyone around him that, at 81, he didn’t have the acuity or stamina to wage a campaign against Trump. He maybe never did, but the unique nature of the 2020 election gave him a pass. In 2020, he promised to be a transitional president. A second term never should have been in the cards.

In any event, Biden should have withdrawn after the 2022 midterms, and the Democrats did better than they deserved to because Trump insisted on extreme MAGA candidates for winnable races. A vigorous primary campaign would have tempered the steel of the eventual nominee.


2) Kamala Harris – In one aspect, it’s easy to be sympathetic; she had to hop in and pick up a ball that had been fumbled. That said, she was a poor candidate. She was a weak candidate in 2020 when she dropped out before the primaries, and she did little to distinguish herself as Vice President. But the Democrats were painted into a corner. Passing over her to pick someone more electable would have been seen as an insult to women and minorities. Additionally, there was the issue of who could legally use the money that Biden had raised to that point.

Harris should have done a self-evaluation and realized that she probably wasn’t the best candidate. She didn’t. We got the result we should have expected.

3) Tim Walz- a lousy pick. He brought nothing to the table. Minnesota hasn’t gone Red since 1972. If the Democrats are seriously fighting for MN, they need to rethink their party. Shapiro, Warnock, anyone who could have helped in a Swing state would have been better.

4) The Corporate Media didn’t do its job- The Corporate Media has this weird symbiotic relationship with Trump. They know he’s repulsive, but he’s good for ratings. He’s reality TV incarnate, normalizing lousy behavior because it’s entertaining. Joe Biden could look a bit confused trying to find the exit, and you’d get speculation about his mental acuity. Trump could rant about Haitians eating cats and Arnold Palmer’s….er… attributes, and nope, nothing to see here.

5) Abortion wasn’t the magic bullet – The initial shock of Dobbs probably saved the Democrats from worse results in 2022, but it was a hand Harris overplayed. Most Americans are ambivalent about abortion. They don’t think it should be illegal, but they don’t like it much, either. Making it the centerpiece of your campaign was a bad idea.

6) Taking Asians and Hispanics for granted – This is the untold story of 2024. Trump didn’t improve his numbers with white voters. He lost a percentage point among them. He only slightly improved his standing with black voters. The two big groups that he gained were Hispanics (+14) and Asians (+6), despite the toxic and racist language coming from Trump on Immigration.

Part of the reason was that the Harris team took them for granted, whereas Trump made genuine outreach. The other part of the problem is that immigration is affecting these communities, and muddled messaging didn’t help.

7) Immigration – Immigration has become a significant crisis, which Biden and Harris did not effectively manage. Part of the problem is immigrants figured out the Asylum loophole and abused the heck out of it. The other part of the problem is that Biden did very little to discourage immigration. While they deported more people than Trump did during his first term, they didn’t like to talk about it because they thought it wouldn’t play well with the Hispanic Community.

8) It’s the economy, stupid. The Biden economy was pretty good. Record stock market growth, record job growth, and low unemployment. The fly in the ointment, of course, was high inflation, driven by global commodities, labor shortages, and, yes, the Trillions in Stimulus That both Trump and Biden pumped into the economy to keep it afloat during COVID-19. The problem was, the Democrats did a poor job talking up the good stuff, and really weren't proactive enough on inflation, other than "Just let the fed handle it by putting home prices out of reach".

9) Transgender rights - Failure to Communicate. Democrats let Republicans run the table with this one. Every time the Republicans dragged out some college girl whining how she didn’t get a trophy, the Democrats should have brought out a transgender girl who transphobic people have abused. They didn’t do this, and the GOP got away with dehumanization.

10) Not holding Trump to account for COVID (or anything else!) – It is MIND-BOGGLING to me how Democrats weren’t reminding people at every step about how Trump mismanaged the COVID crisis (and subsequent recession).

11) Israel and Palestine- trying to thread the needle. This is where they should have taken a stand. Instead, they tried to please both sides and ended up pleasing neither one. So now you have these Arab-Americans in Dearborn, MI, who stayed home. How are things better for you now? ,

Most of this is accurate. The media is not friendly to Trump, that's silly. But the rest has some truth to it.

 

[okfine]

Do I come off as a person who gives a shit about whether or not he's "liked"?

No, I'm just a little frustrated, in that I'm seeing what the Democrats did in the 1980's, where their response to each loss was to nominate a candidate that was even worse than the last.

View attachment 1094918

They finally smartened up and nominated a sensible moderate from the South in 1992, but that was halfway because all the name Democrats took a pass because Bush looked unbeatable after the Gulf War.

Only you know that question.

 

[JoeB131]

You know better than that, Democrats feel they have all the answers. It's just the questions they have trouble with. Kamala is a prime example.

I think Harris was a poor candidate.

But one of the problems in American Politics is that since the 22nd Amendment, the Vice-President becomes the "Heir-apparent".
Nixon (Twice), Humphrey, Mondale, Bush, Gore, Biden, and Harris. 8 Nominatons, but only 3 wins.

 

[progressive hunter]

Since 99% of my posts make Republicans Angry, I thought I'd do a post where I antagonize Democrats with hard, cold truths. Because it seems to me most of the Democrat discussion is "We weren't radical enough!"

So here is my list, 11 reasons why Democrats got their asses handed to them in 2024.

1) Joe Biden – completely and utterly screwed his party. It should have been evident to everyone around him that, at 81, he didn’t have the acuity or stamina to wage a campaign against Trump. He maybe never did, but the unique nature of the 2020 election gave him a pass. In 2020, he promised to be a transitional president. A second term never should have been in the cards.

In any event, Biden should have withdrawn after the 2022 midterms, and the Democrats did better than they deserved to because Trump insisted on extreme MAGA candidates for winnable races. A vigorous primary campaign would have tempered the steel of the eventual nominee.


2) Kamala Harris – In one aspect, it’s easy to be sympathetic; she had to hop in and pick up a ball that had been fumbled. That said, she was a poor candidate. She was a weak candidate in 2020 when she dropped out before the primaries, and she did little to distinguish herself as Vice President. But the Democrats were painted into a corner. Passing over her to pick someone more electable would have been seen as an insult to women and minorities. Additionally, there was the issue of who could legally use the money that Biden had raised to that point.

Harris should have done a self-evaluation and realized that she probably wasn’t the best candidate. She didn’t. We got the result we should have expected.

3) Tim Walz- a lousy pick. He brought nothing to the table. Minnesota hasn’t gone Red since 1972. If the Democrats are seriously fighting for MN, they need to rethink their party. Shapiro, Warnock, anyone who could have helped in a Swing state would have been better.

4) The Corporate Media didn’t do its job- The Corporate Media has this weird symbiotic relationship with Trump. They know he’s repulsive, but he’s good for ratings. He’s reality TV incarnate, normalizing lousy behavior because it’s entertaining. Joe Biden could look a bit confused trying to find the exit, and you’d get speculation about his mental acuity. Trump could rant about Haitians eating cats and Arnold Palmer’s….er… attributes, and nope, nothing to see here.

5) Abortion wasn’t the magic bullet – The initial shock of Dobbs probably saved the Democrats from worse results in 2022, but it was a hand Harris overplayed. Most Americans are ambivalent about abortion. They don’t think it should be illegal, but they don’t like it much, either. Making it the centerpiece of your campaign was a bad idea.

6) Taking Asians and Hispanics for granted – This is the untold story of 2024. Trump didn’t improve his numbers with white voters. He lost a percentage point among them. He only slightly improved his standing with black voters. The two big groups that he gained were Hispanics (+14) and Asians (+6), despite the toxic and racist language coming from Trump on Immigration.

Part of the reason was that the Harris team took them for granted, whereas Trump made genuine outreach. The other part of the problem is that immigration is affecting these communities, and muddled messaging didn’t help.

7) Immigration – Immigration has become a significant crisis, which Biden and Harris did not effectively manage. Part of the problem is immigrants figured out the Asylum loophole and abused the heck out of it. The other part of the problem is that Biden did very little to discourage immigration. While they deported more people than Trump did during his first term, they didn’t like to talk about it because they thought it wouldn’t play well with the Hispanic Community.

8) It’s the economy, stupid. The Biden economy was pretty good. Record stock market growth, record job growth, and low unemployment. The fly in the ointment, of course, was high inflation, driven by global commodities, labor shortages, and, yes, the Trillions in Stimulus That both Trump and Biden pumped into the economy to keep it afloat during COVID-19. The problem was, the Democrats did a poor job talking up the good stuff, and really weren't proactive enough on inflation, other than "Just let the fed handle it by putting home prices out of reach".

9) Transgender rights - Failure to Communicate. Democrats let Republicans run the table with this one. Every time the Republicans dragged out some college girl whining how she didn’t get a trophy, the Democrats should have brought out a transgender girl who transphobic people have abused. They didn’t do this, and the GOP got away with dehumanization.

10) Not holding Trump to account for COVID (or anything else!) – It is MIND-BOGGLING to me how Democrats weren’t reminding people at every step about how Trump mismanaged the COVID crisis (and subsequent recession).

11) Israel and Palestine- trying to thread the needle. This is where they should have taken a stand. Instead, they tried to please both sides and ended up pleasing neither one. So now you have these Arab-Americans in Dearborn, MI, who stayed home. How are things better for you now? ,

so basically what youre saying is you guys were to honest nd need to lie more??

 

[Luckyone]

Since 99% of my posts make Republicans Angry, I thought I'd do a post where I antagonize Democrats with hard, cold truths. Because it seems to me most of the Democrat discussion is "We weren't radical enough!"

So here is my list, 11 reasons why Democrats got their asses handed to them in 2024.

1) Joe Biden – completely and utterly screwed his party. It should have been evident to everyone around him that, at 81, he didn’t have the acuity or stamina to wage a campaign against Trump. He maybe never did, but the unique nature of the 2020 election gave him a pass. In 2020, he promised to be a transitional president. A second term never should have been in the cards.

True but he beat Trump in 2020 and there was no other viable candidate. As such, it was not the fault of his or the Democrats

In any event, Biden should have withdrawn after the 2022 midterms, and the Democrats did better than they deserved to because Trump insisted on extreme MAGA candidates for winnable races. A vigorous primary campaign would have tempered the steel of the eventual nominee.

Not necessarily. It is "speculative" on your part.

2) Kamala Harris – In one aspect, it’s easy to be sympathetic; she had to hop in and pick up a ball that had been fumbled. That said, she was a poor candidate. She was a weak candidate in 2020 when she dropped out before the primaries, and she did little to distinguish herself as Vice President. But the Democrats were painted into a corner. Passing over her to pick someone more electable would have been seen as an insult to women and minorities. Additionally, there was the issue of who could legally use the money that Biden had raised to that point.

Harris should have done a self-evaluation and realized that she probably wasn’t the best candidate. She didn’t. We got the result we should have expected.

True, but it goes against human nature

3) Tim Walz- a lousy pick. He brought nothing to the table. Minnesota hasn’t gone Red since 1972. If the Democrats are seriously fighting for MN, they need to rethink their party. Shapiro, Warnock, anyone who could have helped in a Swing state would have been better.

True

4) The Corporate Media didn’t do its job- The Corporate Media has this weird symbiotic relationship with Trump. They know he’s repulsive, but he’s good for ratings. He’s reality TV incarnate, normalizing lousy behavior because it’s entertaining. Joe Biden could look a bit confused trying to find the exit, and you’d get speculation about his mental acuity. Trump could rant about Haitians eating cats and Arnold Palmer’s….er… attributes, and nope, nothing to see here.

Media is not supposed to be political. They are there to make profits for their company and Trump is/was a moneymaker.

5) Abortion wasn’t the magic bullet – The initial shock of Dobbs probably saved the Democrats from worse results in 2022, but it was a hand Harris overplayed. Most Americans are ambivalent about abortion. They don’t think it should be illegal, but they don’t like it much, either. Making it the centerpiece of your campaign was a bad idea.

The parties have to be faithful to their platform and ideals. If they are not, they become like Trump

6) Taking Asians and Hispanics for granted – This is the untold story of 2024. Trump didn’t improve his numbers with white voters. He lost a percentage point among them. He only slightly improved his standing with black voters. The two big groups that he gained were Hispanics (+14) and Asians (+6), despite the toxic and racist language coming from Trump on Immigration.

Part of the reason was that the Harris team took them for granted, whereas Trump made genuine outreach. The other part of the problem is that immigration is affecting these communities, and muddled messaging didn’t help.

Hm, perhaps but it is not clear

7) Immigration – Immigration has become a significant crisis, which Biden and Harris did not effectively manage. Part of the problem is immigrants figured out the Asylum loophole and abused the heck out of it. The other part of the problem is that Biden did very little to discourage immigration. While they deported more people than Trump did during his first term, they didn’t like to talk about it because they thought it wouldn’t play well with the Hispanic Community.

That was their biggest mistake

8) It’s the economy, stupid. The Biden economy was pretty good. Record stock market growth, record job growth, and low unemployment. The fly in the ointment, of course, was high inflation, driven by global commodities, labor shortages, and, yes, the Trillions in Stimulus That both Trump and Biden pumped into the economy to keep it afloat during COVID-19. The problem was, the Democrats did a poor job talking up the good stuff, and really weren't proactive enough on inflation, other than "Just let the fed handle it by putting home prices out of reach".

Absolutely correct. They failed to let the people clearly know of the positives

9) Transgender rights - Failure to Communicate. Democrats let Republicans run the table with this one. Every time the Republicans dragged out some college girl whining how she didn’t get a trophy, the Democrats should have brought out a transgender girl who transphobic people have abused. They didn’t do this, and the GOP got away with dehumanization.

They needed to support transgender rights but not to the extent they did. Other things were MORE important.

10) Not holding Trump to account for COVID (or anything else!) – It is MIND-BOGGLING to me how Democrats weren’t reminding people at every step about how Trump mismanaged the COVID crisis (and subsequent recession).

Absolutely true

11) Israel and Palestine- trying to thread the needle. This is where they should have taken a stand. Instead, they tried to please both sides and ended up pleasing neither one. So now you have these Arab-Americans in Dearborn, MI, who stayed home. How are things better for you now? ,

It is an issue that has two sides. Taking both sides was right. It is Hamas that created the problem

 

[JoeB131]

Most of this is accurate. The media is not friendly to Trump, that's silly. But the rest has some truth to it.

Actually, the media made Trump. They just assumed that if they showed Trump acting like an ass, the electorate would see he was an ass.

The problem is that while most reporters are liberal, the media is still a business, and running Trump saying crazy stuff is good for ratings.

 

[JoeB131]

Only you know that question.

I think anyone who has followed me over the last 14 years I've been here can tell you otherwise.

 

[Independent thinker]

Since 99% of my posts make Republicans Angry, I thought I'd do a post where I antagonize Democrats with hard, cold truths. Because it seems to me most of the Democrat discussion is "We weren't radical enough!"

So here is my list, 11 reasons why Democrats got their asses handed to them in 2024.

1) Joe Biden – completely and utterly screwed his party. It should have been evident to everyone around him that, at 81, he didn’t have the acuity or stamina to wage a campaign against Trump. He maybe never did, but the unique nature of the 2020 election gave him a pass. In 2020, he promised to be a transitional president. A second term never should have been in the cards.

In any event, Biden should have withdrawn after the 2022 midterms, and the Democrats did better than they deserved to because Trump insisted on extreme MAGA candidates for winnable races. A vigorous primary campaign would have tempered the steel of the eventual nominee.


2) Kamala Harris – In one aspect, it’s easy to be sympathetic; she had to hop in and pick up a ball that had been fumbled. That said, she was a poor candidate. She was a weak candidate in 2020 when she dropped out before the primaries, and she did little to distinguish herself as Vice President. But the Democrats were painted into a corner. Passing over her to pick someone more electable would have been seen as an insult to women and minorities. Additionally, there was the issue of who could legally use the money that Biden had raised to that point.

Harris should have done a self-evaluation and realized that she probably wasn’t the best candidate. She didn’t. We got the result we should have expected.

3) Tim Walz- a lousy pick. He brought nothing to the table. Minnesota hasn’t gone Red since 1972. If the Democrats are seriously fighting for MN, they need to rethink their party. Shapiro, Warnock, anyone who could have helped in a Swing state would have been better.

4) The Corporate Media didn’t do its job- The Corporate Media has this weird symbiotic relationship with Trump. They know he’s repulsive, but he’s good for ratings. He’s reality TV incarnate, normalizing lousy behavior because it’s entertaining. Joe Biden could look a bit confused trying to find the exit, and you’d get speculation about his mental acuity. Trump could rant about Haitians eating cats and Arnold Palmer’s….er… attributes, and nope, nothing to see here.

5) Abortion wasn’t the magic bullet – The initial shock of Dobbs probably saved the Democrats from worse results in 2022, but it was a hand Harris overplayed. Most Americans are ambivalent about abortion. They don’t think it should be illegal, but they don’t like it much, either. Making it the centerpiece of your campaign was a bad idea.

6) Taking Asians and Hispanics for granted – This is the untold story of 2024. Trump didn’t improve his numbers with white voters. He lost a percentage point among them. He only slightly improved his standing with black voters. The two big groups that he gained were Hispanics (+14) and Asians (+6), despite the toxic and racist language coming from Trump on Immigration.

Part of the reason was that the Harris team took them for granted, whereas Trump made genuine outreach. The other part of the problem is that immigration is affecting these communities, and muddled messaging didn’t help.

7) Immigration – Immigration has become a significant crisis, which Biden and Harris did not effectively manage. Part of the problem is immigrants figured out the Asylum loophole and abused the heck out of it. The other part of the problem is that Biden did very little to discourage immigration. While they deported more people than Trump did during his first term, they didn’t like to talk about it because they thought it wouldn’t play well with the Hispanic Community.

8) It’s the economy, stupid. The Biden economy was pretty good. Record stock market growth, record job growth, and low unemployment. The fly in the ointment, of course, was high inflation, driven by global commodities, labor shortages, and, yes, the Trillions in Stimulus That both Trump and Biden pumped into the economy to keep it afloat during COVID-19. The problem was, the Democrats did a poor job talking up the good stuff, and really weren't proactive enough on inflation, other than "Just let the fed handle it by putting home prices out of reach".

9) Transgender rights - Failure to Communicate. Democrats let Republicans run the table with this one. Every time the Republicans dragged out some college girl whining how she didn’t get a trophy, the Democrats should have brought out a transgender girl who transphobic people have abused. They didn’t do this, and the GOP got away with dehumanization.

10) Not holding Trump to account for COVID (or anything else!) – It is MIND-BOGGLING to me how Democrats weren’t reminding people at every step about how Trump mismanaged the COVID crisis (and subsequent recession).

11) Israel and Palestine- trying to thread the needle. This is where they should have taken a stand. Instead, they tried to please both sides and ended up pleasing neither one. So now you have these Arab-Americans in Dearborn, MI, who stayed home. How are things better for you now? ,

I'll like about half of your post. But, you do get brownie points for slapping democrats with several truths that they refuse to acknowledge.

 

[JoeB131]

so basically what youre saying is you guys were to honest nd need to lie more??

I think you need to work on your reading comprehension.

 

[1srelluc]

Since 99% of my posts make Republicans Angry, I thought I'd do a post where I antagonize Democrats with hard, cold truths. Because it seems to me most of the Democrat discussion is "We weren't radical enough!"

So here is my list, 11 reasons why Democrats got their asses handed to them in 2024.

1) Joe Biden – completely and utterly screwed his party. It should have been evident to everyone around him that, at 81, he didn’t have the acuity or stamina to wage a campaign against Trump. He maybe never did, but the unique nature of the 2020 election gave him a pass. In 2020, he promised to be a transitional president. A second term never should have been in the cards.

In any event, Biden should have withdrawn after the 2022 midterms, and the Democrats did better than they deserved to because Trump insisted on extreme MAGA candidates for winnable races. A vigorous primary campaign would have tempered the steel of the eventual nominee.


2) Kamala Harris – In one aspect, it’s easy to be sympathetic; she had to hop in and pick up a ball that had been fumbled. That said, she was a poor candidate. She was a weak candidate in 2020 when she dropped out before the primaries, and she did little to distinguish herself as Vice President. But the Democrats were painted into a corner. Passing over her to pick someone more electable would have been seen as an insult to women and minorities. Additionally, there was the issue of who could legally use the money that Biden had raised to that point.

Harris should have done a self-evaluation and realized that she probably wasn’t the best candidate. She didn’t. We got the result we should have expected.

3) Tim Walz- a lousy pick. He brought nothing to the table. Minnesota hasn’t gone Red since 1972. If the Democrats are seriously fighting for MN, they need to rethink their party. Shapiro, Warnock, anyone who could have helped in a Swing state would have been better.

4) The Corporate Media didn’t do its job- The Corporate Media has this weird symbiotic relationship with Trump. They know he’s repulsive, but he’s good for ratings. He’s reality TV incarnate, normalizing lousy behavior because it’s entertaining. Joe Biden could look a bit confused trying to find the exit, and you’d get speculation about his mental acuity. Trump could rant about Haitians eating cats and Arnold Palmer’s….er… attributes, and nope, nothing to see here.

5) Abortion wasn’t the magic bullet – The initial shock of Dobbs probably saved the Democrats from worse results in 2022, but it was a hand Harris overplayed. Most Americans are ambivalent about abortion. They don’t think it should be illegal, but they don’t like it much, either. Making it the centerpiece of your campaign was a bad idea.

6) Taking Asians and Hispanics for granted – This is the untold story of 2024. Trump didn’t improve his numbers with white voters. He lost a percentage point among them. He only slightly improved his standing with black voters. The two big groups that he gained were Hispanics (+14) and Asians (+6), despite the toxic and racist language coming from Trump on Immigration.

Part of the reason was that the Harris team took them for granted, whereas Trump made genuine outreach. The other part of the problem is that immigration is affecting these communities, and muddled messaging didn’t help.

7) Immigration – Immigration has become a significant crisis, which Biden and Harris did not effectively manage. Part of the problem is immigrants figured out the Asylum loophole and abused the heck out of it. The other part of the problem is that Biden did very little to discourage immigration. While they deported more people than Trump did during his first term, they didn’t like to talk about it because they thought it wouldn’t play well with the Hispanic Community.

8) It’s the economy, stupid. The Biden economy was pretty good. Record stock market growth, record job growth, and low unemployment. The fly in the ointment, of course, was high inflation, driven by global commodities, labor shortages, and, yes, the Trillions in Stimulus That both Trump and Biden pumped into the economy to keep it afloat during COVID-19. The problem was, the Democrats did a poor job talking up the good stuff, and really weren't proactive enough on inflation, other than "Just let the fed handle it by putting home prices out of reach".

9) Transgender rights - Failure to Communicate. Democrats let Republicans run the table with this one. Every time the Republicans dragged out some college girl whining how she didn’t get a trophy, the Democrats should have brought out a transgender girl who transphobic people have abused. They didn’t do this, and the GOP got away with dehumanization.

10) Not holding Trump to account for COVID (or anything else!) – It is MIND-BOGGLING to me how Democrats weren’t reminding people at every step about how Trump mismanaged the COVID crisis (and subsequent recession).

11) Israel and Palestine- trying to thread the needle. This is where they should have taken a stand. Instead, they tried to please both sides and ended up pleasing neither one. So now you have these Arab-Americans in Dearborn, MI, who stayed home. How are things better for you now? ,

Don't forget messing with the Amish in PA over raw milk and butter.....That turned the tide in PA.

Of course, the dems try to say it did not matter but when they got political "The English" took notice and went to the polls in their support.

 

[JoeB131]

True but he beat Trump in 2020 and there was no other viable candidate. As such, it was not the fault of his or the Democrats

As Woody Allen once said, 90% of success is just showing up. Biden wasn't showing up for 2024.

Not necessarily. It is "speculative" on your part.

Okay, let's do some speculation. Biden announces in 2022 he won't seek a second term, and specifically cites the demands of the job on a man his age. Since Trump is just as old (if he makes it the full four years, he'll be our oldest President) this makes it a valid issue.

Now, yes, a primary race is always a risk, but it frequently makes a candidate stronger. Look how much Obama was boosted by his campaign fight against Hillary.

True, but it goes against human nature

Probably. Now here's the gut-check for Democrats. Do they let her run again in 2028, or do they say, "We really need to go with someone who can win."

The parties have to be faithful to their platform and ideals. If they are not, they become like Trump

What "ideal" are we talking about here? The right to use abortion as birth control? I get very frustrated with both sides in the abortion debate, because I think both sides are fairly dishonest. The Pro-Choice people just can't stop talking about rape and incest (which are rare) and the Pro-Life side can't stop talking about "Late Term" abortions, which are also rare.

I think abortion should be legal because outlawing it would be impractical (think Prohibition), but it's hardly something to be celebrated.

 

[JoeB131]

It is an issue that has two sides. Taking both sides was right. It is Hamas that created the problem

Hamas created the problem, but the Palestinian people were the ones suffering.

This wasn't an issue in the rest of the world. The rest of the world saw that Israelis overreacted and were causing a lot of untold misery.

Biden should have been working for a cease-fire long before he did.

 

[Michael1985]

I still contend that Harris' only arguments for voting for her was that she'd let women have abortions and wasn't an a-hole like Trump. Not only did she have no real plans for the economy, but she defended Biden's economic record which voters thought left it in shambles. That simply wasn't good enough, so she lost.

 

[westwall]

Actually, the media made Trump. They just assumed that if they showed Trump acting like an ass, the electorate would see he was an ass.

The problem is that while most reporters are liberal, the media is still a business, and running Trump saying crazy stuff is good for ratings.

In the beginning. Then they turned on him like they were ordered to do.