2y ago

'A complete failure': Senate Republicans on a punishing election night

abcnews.go.com

Senate Republicans on Wednesday took a hard look at Tuesday night's punishing election results in some key battleground states, and they're not pleased with what they're seeing.

"Yesterday to me was a complete failure," said Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina.

Republicans were handed a string of rebukes, from red-state Kentucky's projected move to reelect Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear to Virginia projected to elect Democratic majorities in both chambers of its state Legislature, likely thwarting GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin's election promise to enact a 15-week abortion ban.

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"Abortion is a matter of conscience and so it's not just something you change based on political gain. But this is something each individual candidate has to try to figure out for themselves and every part of the country is a little bit different," Cornyn said.
Translation: Abortion was never a matter of conscience for the GOP. It has always been about political gain.
- Abortion to me isn’t a matter of conscious or morality to me at all. It’s about looking at the facts and making a logical decision based on the current available information.
  People who are against abortion rights are in my opinion imbeciles who don’t know how to interpret factual information and believe they have the imperative to make life or death medical decisions for other people.
  I don’t give a fuck what your religion says about the morality of other people. People who try to make decisions for other people based on their religion can go sodomize themselves with their religious texts.
  The only person’s actions your religious belief gets to dictate is your own.
  
  I agree absolutely, healthcare choices are a very personal matter and should never be restricted or abolished. People don't have abortions because they want to murder kids; they have them because of personal healthcare issues and complications that often arise. Even nature itself causes spontaneous abortion, quite often in fact. So for any group of men to delude themselves that they are morally superior for taking abortion off the table is not just ludicrous but in fact as immoral and unnatural as anything people can ever do.
  
  As a Christian, I think like this: who am I tot tell you what values you should have? I have my (Christian) values, you can have yours. Anyone who goes against that is against freedom of religion.
  
  This.
  Also, if you are a biological male you have no right to any opinion about abortion whatsoever, much less the ability to make it illegal.
- Abortion is a medical matter and none of the government's fucking business. Their only arguments are religion based and therefore have no business in government consideration, but these fascists have forgotten their place as 'public servants' and have decided to just roll on like their little insurrection had worked. It's really hard to not say anything to get put on a watch list.
  
  I don't even understand why it would be a religious argument. I don't remember Jesus spending so much time at pro-life rallies.
- Could mean other things. Like that they need to get better at voter suppression and lying to voters about the content of ballot initiatives.
  
  Oh they’re still on it. It’s actually working great. They’ve scored a ton of wins with that shit.
- Bingo.
- Correct. You know each of these men have some Saucy mistress or a teenage daughter with an active sex life that they had to pay for the abortion of.
  You talk to Donald Trump about an abortion bill in 2016 and he's probably gonna tell you "Oh Putin already paid that for me"
  I mean I'm not exactly in support of abortion, but it's pretty obvious that the Republican Party are a bunch of heartless monsters and hypocrites
- I can sympathize with that attitude though. Sometimes in order to get anything you want you have to compromise your morals. I morally align more with the greens on most issues, but I vote democrat holding my tongue where needed because some is better than none.
  They believe it’s immoral to allow people to have abortions, but it’s now clear they’re not going to succeed at stopping it, so instead they’re going to focus on the other people they believe it’s immoral not to hurt.
But Republicans don't see losses like this, realize they're unpopular, and adjust their ideas to better represent their constituents. Invariably, in the days and weeks following these losses they make pushes to change voting maps to further gerrymander districts, or alter polling places and times, or just screw with the process. Because no matter the rebuke, the problem must be with the voters, it cannot possibly be their policies.
- If conservatives become convinced that they can not win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy.
  —David Frum
- They always just double-down on their fascist tactics such as gerrymandering and taking away more and more voters' rights. And yet still act surprised when people aren't pleased with their actions.
- Republicans have always seen elections as a litmus test for the people of america, not a process of American selecting the policies they want enacted.
  A republican didn't win, the problem is not with policy, the problem is that the people were wrong to not side with them and opposing parties were wrong to be opposing parties.
  I mean hell look at when Pat McCrory lost his re-election campaign in North Carolina because he made hb2, the big bathroom law, the centerpiece of his legacy.
  State Congress immediately passed rules saying that the governor of North Carolina had no political power and was mostly just a figurehead, and we had a lot of comments from supporters of McCrory in North Carolina congress saying that although they lost on hb2, "That they still refused to acknowledge wrong as right"
  And basically put up a bill saying that we could repeal hb2 as long as we agreed that hb2 was the best idea anyone ever had and we should probably never go against it again.
  The person, Roy Cooper, who ousted McCrory was a lawyer who had none of it and basically counted the fucking ways that all of this was not only unconstitutional, but incredibly pathetic
I think the only takeaway the Republicans will have is that they allowed many people to vote. Republicans don't like it when people vote.
- For republicans, elections are not a way for Americans to select their representatives or to show support for certain policies. It is a litmus test to see how loyal America is to the GOP.
  The idea is that Republican rule is just and noble, and the only allowable outcome. Everything else is a deviation from what is right in the world.
It could not happen to a better bunch of traitors.
I have just the right size violin for these fascist losers:
- Lol I love this I also love tardigrades
  
  Big same! Favourite extreme condition lifeforms for sure 😁
- Noob here, how does one post a picture for a comment as you've done here with your Tardigrade Virtuoso?
  
  Under the big space where you write the text of your comment, there's a row of icons.
  The one for uploading a picture looks like two triangles of different size in a square on most apps and an eye with similar background in Jerboa.
  Hope that helps 🙂
Maybe change your stance on policy? No, its the voters who are wrong!
It's amazing that these republicans are totally surprised by these results and "not pleased" with what they're seeing. What they're seeing is the aggregate voice of the American people who have for years been crying out for restoration of women's healthcare rights and for protections for all groups - and somehow they still don't hear that cry or understand it. Talk about willful ignorance and choosing to ignore reality in favor of self-delusion!
- You are looking at them wrong, you need to understand their in mindset. They don't see them losing an election and think that their policies need to be reworked or that certain topics are just too taboo to run on..
  They see it as a failure of the American people to acknowledge their rightful rulers. They didn't see an election, they saw a litmus test of the Peasants' loyalty.
  
  And they're already vowing/trying to ignore the votes, just like they did in Florida and Utah.
"We have to have a compelling message that appeals to the suburban voters no question about that," Thune said. "So, I think that's economy, jobs, cost of living, public safety the border. I think those are the issues that really resonate with people across the country and our candidates this year are going to be on offense on that issue."
Except all those suburban voters know that electing you means their precious princess will have to carry her baby to term and ruin her chances at college, so they still won't vote for you.
- Even if we ignore abortion and only look at what Thune is talking about, suburbanites would still be stupid to vote for them.
  Economy? Republicans will cut taxes on the super wealthy and screw over everyone.
  Jobs? They'll cut regulations that keep me safe at work.
  Cost of living? They'll subsidize fossil fuels more, and screw everyone in the long run. They'll probably just lie about everything else.
  Public safety? They'll give cops more money so cops continue to be shit while being paid more. And/or they'll toss more people in jail without providing any sort of treatment which will make the whole situation worse.
  The border? They'll waste money to build some stupid wall and prevent desperate people from seeking asylum. Plus, the border "situation" does affect the vast majority of Americans.
  Unless you're an evil billionaire cackling in your hollowed out volcano, voting Republican is voting against your best interests.
Thoughts and prayers
I hate that the focus is on an issue that is overwhelmingly unpopular and not on the practical outcomes of the various elections. It's a no brainer that most states will repeal bans on abortion brought about by tricky policies and not wanted by the majority of citizens.
Virginia getting democratic majorities in their state house and senate is a big effect but votes on allowing abortion have zero effect on upcoming policy.
What other effective wins were there? Tell me about major changes that will un-gerry-fuck voting districts because of major seat changes. As it stands it seems like this has only happened in Virginia which is still hamstrung by a republican governor who will veto simple majority laws. The end result is that it is avoiding any real change to the status quo which although better than a continuing drive towards oppressive law is still only a pause to that end.

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