2024 Presidential Election thread

[Edman85]

41 minutes ago, romad1 said:

All that made my head hurt.  Is the Jason Mendoza depiction of Jacksonville from "the Good Place" that accurate?

In 2020 when I was ostracized for staying home and not partying, it was.

[mtutiger]

9 hours ago, Edman85 said:

In 2020 when I was ostracized for staying home and not partying, it was.

Always curious how the ostensible views of the "muh freedoms" crowd never did seem to extend to those choosing to stay home during a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic. 

[chasfh]

4 minutes ago, mtutiger said:

Always curious how the ostensible views of the "muh freedoms" crowd never did seem to extend to those choosing to stay home during a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic. 

When it comes to fascists, it’s not about your freedom to choose how to live your life. It’s about their freedom to tell you how you’re gonna live your life.

Edited May 19, 2023 by chasfh

[oblong]

29 minutes ago, chasfh said:

When it comes to fascists, it’s not about your freedom to choose how to live your life. It’s about their freedom to tell you how you’re gonna live your life.

and their freedom to not see, hear, or be otherwise exposed to anything that offends them in the slightest.

 

[mtutiger]

17 hours ago, Edman85 said:

 

I left my mayor vote blank, but that is because I am friends with Donna's ex-husband's best friend, and on the golf course have heard dozens of stories about how big of a piece of **** she and her now husband are.

...

Background here, that divorce was very very public. She was the news anchor of the NBC affiliate, married to the sports anchor for the same affiliate, was caught banging the weatherman who she is now married to. it was ugly in public, and behind the scenes even uglier and makes her and especially the weatherman look awful. She is a 3X breast cancer survivor, which is a good story. She started a charity for it, which is good PR. There's a marathon named after her where everybody wears pink and thinks they are helping. The tax forms for the charity don't paint that great of a picture, but I have yet to find the smoking gun where it is just fraud. Best case, she just runs a bloated organization that doesn't really do much of what it says it does. Anyways, back to the divorce and her cancer. The story I heard involved the weatherman kicking her out after the affair was found out when she had one of her bouts with cancer. The sportscaster took her back and took care of her, and when she got better, she left for the weatherman again. Personal **** like that shouldn't affect me politically, but there's just too much about her character and leadership that raised questions.

...

More background, Jacksonville has a jungle primary for local positions. Everybody runs in March, if somebody gets 50% they win. Top 2 runoff in May.

...

I answered a poll back in the fall asking me about the mayor race. At the time, believe it or not, of the five people, I said Daniel Davis. I have a MAGA friend who thinks I'm still right wing and gives me his endorsements. He called Davis a RINO around that time, and it piqued my interest. He wasn't perfect by any means. He was head of the Chamber of Commerce, and the young professional organization i was a part of in my 20's that was a branch of the Chamber was doing happy hours in December 2020, for example. On the other hand, the Chamber has been LGBT friendly, helped get the city vaccinated, pushed for confederate statues to be torn down, so at the time he wasn't too extreme at all. Of the other candidates, I have mentioned Donna (D). Leanna Cumber (R) was a councilwoman who was trying the right flank. She raised a lot of traditional R money, had some troubling negative ads. And when she tried to steer to the middle, she was sure to use her maiden name, Gutierrez. Al Ferraro (R) was the right wing wacko candidate. And finally Audrey Gibson (D) was a term limited state senator. I ended up voting for Gibson, despite a fuax paux a couple years ago that came off as antisemetic.

Davis and Cumber had a very negative primary while Donna basically sat on the sideline. The negative ads between Davis and Cumber got to be a joke. Both calling the other woke and liberal, etc. I think they did eachother more harm than good. Once Davis made the final 2, he really went downhill. Aligned with some questionable right wing groups. Hosted some insurrectionists a couple weeks ago. I should note, my no vote was sent in early April. I may have swallowed my pride and voted Donna if I waited until election day. Donna ran a very positive campaign. Davis ran ads saying Donna was an anarchist because she attended a BLM protest. Also, google Kent Stermon. Easy to tie him to Davis. (VERY easy to tie him to DeSantis)

I don't know how much of a Desantis rebuke this is. Davis was a lot closer with the incumbent Mayor, Curry. And there has been a definite schism between Curry and DeSantis for a while now. I don't know the origin. A notorious Curry-aligned campaign manager, Tim Baker, ran Davis's campaign. Baker is a definite rat****er who plays to the worst common denominator. DeSantis' endorsement of Davis was tepid at best. The smaller race, property appraiser, included a MAGA former state rep vs. a black city councilwoman. That seat has been Republican for as long as I can remember. The MAGA rep's street signs include a photoshopped picture of him with DeSantis. The fact that he lost is a bigger DeSantis rebuke, IMO. But still, the city council is 14R-5D (One R endorsed Donna).  Five of those seats are city-wide, and all were won by R's (one decided yesterday).

Still kind of hilarious Davis had a 4X funding advantage and lost though...

From what you have said, I do think where there could be a lesson in what happened to Davis comes down to authenticity; he came into the race as the kind of Republican that shouldn't have too much of an issue winning a place like Jacksonville and, because of the demands of a fractious primary process with a MAGA candidate, ended up completely shedding his brand while turning himself into something that he wasn't.

Just from my experience who (at least for the time being) works in and resides nearby to Fort Worth (soon to be the largest city in America with a Republican mayor), the fact that remains the case is because the Mayor is very moderate (to the point of being openly critical of state government at times) and has gone to great pains to carry on the more moderate image and appeal of her predecessor, who she used to work for. If she did a heel turn and did what you have described from Davis, she'd be at serious risk of a credible Democratic challenger and absolutely could lose. The same is true in Arlington, where I live.... the past two Republican mayors have even participated in events with the Biden White House surrounding more bipartisan issues, such as infrastructure investment in part because in the city they represent, it's good politics for them to present a more moderate or bipartisan image.

In any event, it's a tough balancing act for Urban Rs these days, probably not unlike the issues that Rural D pols can have.... their goals and the goals of the national party are often at odds.

Edited May 19, 2023 by mtutiger

[Edman85]

It is worth noting Jax has a consolidated government. That is, it includes the whole county. There's no suburbs. That's how a Republican has been able to win at all.

[mtutiger]

12 hours ago, Edman85 said:

It is worth noting Jax has a consolidated government. That is, it includes the whole county. There's no suburbs. That's how a Republican has been able to win at all.

No doubt. But I assume that even though the city is consolidated with Duval County, there are parts of Jax that are more suburban in nature as well, and those areas have seen a drift away from MAGA style Republicanism over time. Certainly the fact that Biden carried Duval (first D to do so since 1976) would suggest that.

I guess my only point, even with the diversity in settings within the city/county proper, it probably isn't the best strategy to lean heavily into the culture wars and that being a more traditional business-style Republican is probably the more platonic ideal.

Edited May 20, 2023 by mtutiger

[Motown Bombers]

I just remembered my aunt lives in Jacksonville. We don't talk to her anymore because she went fall MAGA and is a complete hypocrite. 

[chasfh]

12 hours ago, Edman85 said:

It is worth noting Jax has a consolidated government. That is, it includes the whole county. There's no suburbs. That's how a Republican has been able to win at all.

Two of the American fascists’ favorite words when it comes to elections is “at large”.

[Edman85]

3 minutes ago, Motown Bombers said:

I just remembered my aunt lives in Jacksonville. We don't talk to her anymore because she went fall MAGA and is a complete hypocrite. 

Not talking to somebody because politics is not a healthy way to live life.

[Motown Bombers]

1 minute ago, Edman85 said:

Not talking to somebody because politics is not a healthy way to live life.

I don't know, when she rants about immigrants should go back to Mexico when her parents were Italian immigrants and immigrated the right way, how do you talk to that? Or when she complains about her tax dollars (she doesn't pay taxes, she's been living off the government for 40 years) going to blacks, how do you talk to that? 

[1984Echoes]

2 hours ago, Edman85 said:

Not talking to somebody because politics is not a healthy way to live life.

Actually it is healthy.

If someone continuously lies to your face... Steams BS and bigotry and hatred in your ear with every word coming out of their mouth... Brings you down emotionally and mentally with all the constant Conspiracy/ BS/ Hatred/ Poisonous Negativity...

I think it is decidedly healthy to remove that poisonous personality from ones' life.

IMO.

[1984Echoes]

2 hours ago, Motown Bombers said:

I don't know, when she rants about immigrants should go back to Mexico when her parents were Italian immigrants and immigrated the right way, how do you talk to that? Or when she complains about her tax dollars (she doesn't pay taxes, she's been living off the government for 40 years) going to blacks, how do you talk to that? 

I had one aunt (my mom's sister) who would spew a stream of N-word, N-word, N-word, I hate N-word...

I told her EXACTLY what I thought of her.

Got kicked out of her house...

And I've never looked back.

I told her exactly what I thought of White Trash Bigotry, that she was exactly that (using different, more colorful words)... and since I have no interest in having any of that element in my life, in my circle of family and friends, I never spoke to her again. And I don't care if the feeling is mutual.

[Edman85]

38 minutes ago, 1984Echoes said:

Actually it is healthy.

If someone continuously lies to your face... Steams BS and bigotry and hatred in your ear with every word coming out of their mouth... Brings you down emotionally and mentally with all the constant Conspiracy/ BS/ Hatred/ Poisonous Negativity...

I think it is decidedly healthy to remove that poisonous personality from ones' life.

IMO.

Or talk about something other than politics and find common ground. It is healthier... I had a falling out with some family over COVID, and one of the most cathartic parts of 2023 has been burying the hatchet.

And we wonder how the world has become more divided. Because I'm sure they feel the same way about people on the other side and their poisonous attitude.

[Motown Bombers]

38 minutes ago, Edman85 said:

Or talk about something other than politics and find common ground. It is healthier... I had a falling out with some family over COVID, and one of the most cathartic parts of 2023 has been burying the hatchet.

And we wonder how the world has become more divided. Because I'm sure they feel the same way about people on the other side and their poisonous attitude.

Last conversation I remember having with my aunt was when I bought my house in Warren the first thing she said was I hear there are a lot of blacks there now. What am I suppose to say next? 

Kind of rich being lectured by you about ignoring people over politics. What happened to this?

"Back to my ignored list..."

 

[Tiger337]

4 hours ago, Edman85 said:

Not talking to somebody because politics is not a healthy way to live life.

You can not talk to them about politics and still be friends.  I have friendships like that.  If they turn out to be horrible people, then that's another story.    

[chasfh]

Right. If you try to ignore certain topics and they keep throwing it back in your face even after you ask them not to, that demonstrates a basic level of disrespect on their part, and you can’t base any kind of healthy relationship on such lack of respect.

[chasfh]

Flip side, if you are at a function where the other person is present (e.g., family holiday or work function), it is your job to make nice with them, if not exactly be friendly with them, out of respect for everybody else in the room. That doesn’t mean you have to seek them out for conversation, but you do need to avoid provoking them. And if they start in on their nonsense, then, if you can’t comfortably remove yourself from their presence, you just need to ignore them and concentrate on something or someone else.

[oblong]

This is a guy very uncomfortable outside of his zone. 

[smr-nj]

Oy vey.

[Tiger337]

Remember when DeSantis was going to be the smart version of Trump?  

[oblong]

I first saw that video from a pro trump account. I read the replies and I agree with them, then I notice the MAGA hats in the avatars. Surreal experience. 
 

I think the GOP strategy among the other candidates is to knock off Desantis and hope some external factor keeps Trump out of the race and leave the rest for a Scott of Haley or Hutcheson to pick up the leftovers with Trump giving a half assed endorsement.  I think now the only path for a GOP win is to go for the middle and hope Trumpies stay home.  Too many Trump fans will not vote for another Republican politician. 

[CMRivdogs]

14 hours ago, oblong said:

This is a guy very uncomfortable outside of his zone. 

This is like a scene from Succession. Replace DeSantis with Roman Roy and the dialogue is the same..

[pfife]

I'd imagine you'd have to add some excessive f-bombing too

[chasfh]

15 hours ago, oblong said:

This is a guy very uncomfortable outside of his zone. 

Deploy RonBot bleep blorp