PA-18 Election Thread: GOP Doubles Down on Identity Politics

[Garnier Fructis]

Before the election they were calling him Pelosi-Lite. Now they're saying he ran as a Republican. It's rather gobsmacking but very definitely demonstrates that they think their base are morons who can't remember yesterday.

If Trump ever does get impeached, I wonder how they're going to spin a House full of "Basically Republicans" doing it.

[Kaleredar]

Trump's rabid fanbase is trying something, anything, to somehow convince themselves they didn't make a mistake.

We're out of Denial, and into Bargaining. Have been for a while, this is just another facet. "Oh, I'll accept a Pelosi Liberal, he's clearly siding with Trump so that means Trump wins"

As far as I'm concerned they can lie to themselves as much as they want, so long as they keep losing power and political traction.

[PACOX]

But how many times can they tell the same lie?

Its funny how everytime these people don't win it turns out to be someone Trump didn't actually want to endorse or the candidate wasn't good enough even though just 24 hours before the election Trump would be going on and on about how great the candidate was. So even if all the above is true, the logical conclusion is still whoever Trump champions is probably going to lose.

[Daethz]

I hear they turned away thousands of voters claiming the new district rules applied, when they didn't, the entire vote needs to be thrown out and redone.

[Orbitus]

I hear they turned away thousands of voters claiming the new district rules applied, when they didn't, the entire vote needs to be thrown out and redone.

Have a source for that? Because of the sources that I see for it, it was people that weren't in the district that was voting, but people that were like 300 miles away from it.

[Jtbrig7390]

I hear they turned away thousands of voters claiming the new district rules applied, when they didn't, the entire vote needs to be thrown out and redone.

Site your source.

[Mormolyce]

This is truly a hilarious bit of reality editing: "oh sure our opponent won, but he was totally doing it our way so in a way we won anyway".

That is one hell of a stink of desperation.

[pathora44]

Site your source.

r/The_Donald, Breitbart, and Infowars the most truthful of news sources.

[Flarelaine]

Good point. But it also illustrates why Lamb won. You need to put forth a candidate who has a good chance to win. In Tenn, it was dumb to run a Democrat candidate ( maybe any candidate ) who openly professes to be a atheist. Just as it would have been dumb to have a Pelosi radicalism candidate to run in that part of Penn.

BBC had a good point on that.

Another interesting thing about Mr Lamb was his campaign pledge not to support Nancy Pelosi as Democratic leader in the House of Representatives.
...
Ms Pelosi, who has long been a villain for Republicans and unpopular among some independent voters, brushed aside a modest challenge to her leadership in January 2017.

Republicans tried to link Mr Lamb to her, but his disavowal of the Democratic leader may have immunised him.

Will other Democratic challengers in Republican-leaning districts follow his lead? If they do, it could put Ms Pelosi on shaky ground even if her party triumphs in the mid-term elections.

The skinny: Democrats have been criticised for the age of their party's leadership. Ms Pelosi, along with potential presidential front-runners Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden, are all in their late 70s. Mr Lamb, at 33, could represent a new generation flexing its muscles.

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Not only that but Lamb seems like an individual I would trust.

Conor Lamb is an is an American attorney, former federal prosecutor, Captain of the United States Marine Corps. He would probably do a better job then Trump.

He'll be of age in 2020.

[PACOX]

I hear they turned away thousands of voters claiming the new district rules applied, when they didn't, the entire vote needs to be thrown out and redone.

LOL. Arguing voter suppression against Republicans in a district thats being redrawn in a couple of months due to Republicans suppressing votes.

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This is truly a hilarious bit of reality editing: "oh sure our opponent won, but he was totally doing it our way so in a way we won anyway".

Thats why they spent $9 million on the loser, because they wanted the Democrat, their real candidate, to win.

[Thoughtful Trolli]

Many people, even some of my ardent leftist friends, said calling people deplorable was a step too far.

But they used the last year of the half to prove they earned that label.

My favorite meme was the one with the black guy, and she goes "Thanks for the vote fam" and then fades away, and its fucking hilarious because the dems didn't win and look there's no help for the black people or other minorities because it was a true meme, they never intended to help they just wanted the votes LOL

[Flarelaine]

I like how the narrative of "LOL, Dems barely won how embarrassing" has been resoundingly defeated by the GOP itself.

“We got our ass kicked. It’s what the political prognosticators called a good ol’ fashioned ass-kicking."

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA)

Actually, Kennedy may not be in the headlines much, but he seems level-headed and reasonable (not as if being the voice of reason was much of a challenge on the GOP side these days). Remember that judge candidate he practically obliterated in the Senate hearing?

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Before the election they were calling him Pelosi-Lite. Now they're saying he ran as a Republican. It's rather gobsmacking but very definitely demonstrates that they think their base are morons who can't remember yesterday.

And they may just be right. I live in a country where the governing party is kept in power by exactly those methods - and people who eat up all the lies.

[Slybak]

Actually, Kennedy may not be in the headlines much, but he seems level-headed and reasonable (not as if being the voice of reason was much of a challenge on the GOP side these days). Remember that judge candidate he practically obliterated in the Senate hearing?

The right has various obsessions that don't always overlap. Hatch and Grassley, for instance, are still sore over the fact that Robert Bork, that old lunatic criminal, wasn't confirmed to the Supreme Court back in the 80s so they're obsessed with transforming the entire judiciary into the comments section of a Brietbart article as an act of revenge. Kennedy only took office last year so he doesn't have quite their level of extremism.

[Felya]

BBC had a good point on that.

He is just parroting GOP’s reactionary lying. Trump and GOP own site were calling him a Paloci radical. Within 48 hours, Trump called Lamb a liar and a Palosi radical, then took credit for him winning, by saying Lamb copied him.

[Breccia]

He is just parroting GOP’s reactionary lying

“We had an interesting time because we lifted [Saccone] seven points up. That’s a lot. And I was up 22 points, and we lifted seven, and seven normally would be enough, but we’ll see how it all comes out. It’s, like, virtually a tie.”

Trump said this at a fund raiser yesterday. Nobody knows what the seven points refer to. There are no polls with Lamb up by seven points in 2018.

[Stormspark]

I mean is it really a bad idea not to back Pelosi if the Democrats reclaim the House?

The funny thing, when Mueller sets the hounds loose so to speak, she will probably end up being president (due to everyone in line above her being in jail).

[cubby]

This PA seat - am I reading the news correctly? Is it only valid until 2018- later this year?

[Breccia]

This PA seat - am I reading the news correctly? Is it only valid until 2018- later this year?

Yes, this was a special election. The regular one will still happen.

EDIT: Also, it's an excuse the GOP is telling themselves to try to get past this being a humiliating loss.

[cubby]

The funny thing, when Mueller sets the hounds loose so to speak, she will probably end up being president (due to everyone in line above her being in jail).

It's interesting that Mueller is holding off the Obstruction reveal until later. If the House flips, we could see a Dem Speaker of the House. I do hope they don't vote in Pelosi again.

But that won't happen - the Dems would need the Senate as well to block confirmations in order to game the system and get the Speaker seated as President. Assuming even that both Trump and Pence resign/jailed.

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Yes, this was a special election. The regular one will still happen.

So Lamb is a Rep for not even a year, and he has to run again, in a different district because this one won't even exist, right?

[Breccia]

in a different district because this one won't even exist, right?

The current legal trend suggests such, yes. It's not 100% official but there doesn't seem to be any traction to GOP efforts to keep the current map.