The Beast

And as soon as Biden takes office, he needs to be the focus and Trump needs to be given the cold shoulder, unless they believe they will lose some of their listeners by not talking about Trump. Still, it’s time to move on and let the angry elephant be lowered into his political coffin slowly.

Do you want to put money on the GA senate races Greg? I’d put good money on it that Biden doesn’t win the majority, given how the house is trending to be more divided with what happened in this election. I bet they win one seat of the two, if any at all. 2022 will probably be worse for democrats, even if they pick up seats in the senate, because historically they will lose seats in the house. I also say book it that none of what you fear will happen. Keep in mind that Kaepernick isn’t aligned with the Democratic Party and neither is Antifa, at least financially. As I have repeatedly stated, his members who want progressive ideas are not in the majority and any legislation that gets worked on needs to pass through the senate. In divided government there needs to be compromise instead of spooning one way of government down the other party’s throat, plain and simple. Joe Biden discussed compromise in his speech, we will just need to see how that plays out. He still will probably fight with members of the freedom caucus anyway. It will be interesting to see which republicans will go all Trumpian in Congress and if Mitch McConnell’s strange adversarial yet productive relationship with Joe Biden yields anything or if he remains obstructionist just like in Obama’s second term.

Are McEwing and Boston as good as gone then?

I’ll take the vaccine as long as it has been vetted, fully tested and made available. We need complete transparency which I think we are getting. Now if only a good amount of the population would take it we would be in business...I hope.

Thanks to all for the suggestions, I’ve got them on my list for Binny’s. I have had plenty of hopped up wheat beers and I have had the banana flavors. I have had wheat beers that don’t really have a fruit flavor or much of any flavor before. Since I am going to Binny’s and am putting in a six pack for a virtual beer tasting, where we get one of each beer for the tasting, I wanted something different and good. I like Gumballhead but am always looking for something different that is lighter and has some flavor to it. I’m open to other possibilities as well.

https://thebulwark.com/what-a-president-biden-could-do-with-a-gop-controlled-senate/ I thought this was worth sharing since is a the political reality we live in.

At least they have nothing to do with the Ball family. I thought they were going to pick the dude from Israel. I am so far beyond understanding the modern NBA game so I don’t know who they will dump and what they need.

Any wheat beer suggestions with some flavor?

Not good, he’s no spring chicken either.

So let me get this straight. Some fans want to fire Matt Nagy with his win percentage being the best since Lovie Smith? Why not pick tackles and a quarterback high in the draft since they finally have a first round pick and see what happens since fans believe the Bears have an “elite” defense? Wouldn’t it set them back to hire another head coach and GM in terms of roster turnover and yet another scheme? I’d give Pace and Nagy one more year. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/chi/coaches.htm

So is the strategy to discredit the election results to drive out their voters in January, or are they just being assholes about losing that state to Biden? They were tied to the looting and BLM even though there isn’t involvement there. I don’t even know if the so called squad and progressives came up with legislation for defunding police or if it was something BLM raised and a progressive commented on it. White people may have voted Republican, but eventually thorny issues will need to be dealt with, something compromise should be able to help with in the Congress. Like I said to Greg, there was a fairly interesting podcast on “The Daily” that had an AOC interview and a Conor Lamb interview. It speaks to some of the issues the Democratic Party is going to have to grapple with.

There is no way under the current environment and in our government that the Green New Deal gets passed, in addition to court packing. These are all talking points that you need to assess the reality of. I split tickets and know a lot of ticket splitters. The data supports ticket splitting in 2020 and so it isn’t party lined voting. The justice you mention is fine as a human being, even if I wanted more out of her judicial background to understand where she is on issues, if she is a Clarence Thomas or John Roberts. I had more of an issue with the senate ramming her confirmation through than I did with her. Even with a 50-50 senate, there is no way that all members will do what you have mentioned and moderates won’t go along with it, given their constituents. Either there are compromises or there is a divided government where McConnell doesn’t call bills or works with Biden to get things done. Read something other than cable news for starters. Read the Bulwark, National Review, the Chicago Tribune, New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Commentators are the worst that you can listen to, news requires context and commentators should be what you consider your opinions with, not formulate them with. Listen to today’s episode of “The Daily” about the divisions in the Democratic Party and you will see how the progressive wing and the moderate wing don’t agree on policy, how the debate of the future of the party is being discussed and what the new administration needs to consider about what voters want. It’s more fascinating and insightful than cable news and the commentary that leads to fear mongering. Right, because the policies being proposed are not about defunding, that is just the street term. Instead, reforming policing is what it is. Resources are going to both policing and to social services. They need to change the name and ignore the rhetoric of what is being mentioned and seized upon. It could happen, but not in the way that progressives have proposed. Instead, he is offering $10,000 of student loan forgiveness for those who work in national or community service for a certain amount of time or forgiven at a certain amount of time worked. https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-cb-biden-economic-plans-20201116-rg7qrywaxjfobfkimf7wybad7e-story.html

Those who mention socialism or are Trump republicans truly believe that the progressive agenda will get passed if the Democrats got the majority. They do not have the numbers to outnumber the other members of Congress and get them to go along many of their policies. There are probably 95-105 members at most between the house and senate, all in different states and unlikely to have constituents that all want M4A, the Green New Deal, court packing or free college. I don’t think many people even know about what these policies even are, they just know “radical policies bad.”

The latter. It is amazing how people can’t debate policy and accept facts. When fact checked on camera some of them spew the crap he feeds to them and have nothing else to go off of in their arguments.

What degrees are real majors? What if someone is smart enough to get a liberal arts degree, but is unable to attain a STEM degree? More importantly, how would you define socialism? What policies are socialist and why do you think they are socialist, not with links but in your own words?

I saw that previously but I can’t see enough support for that party or any of the independent parties being viable. I doubt they could peel off enough voters to win elections. Also, I have heard “Democrats being Republicans” quite a bit, when did that become a thing and why is that the case? Then we have to hope McConnell does something. I don’t know that Biden has to deny progressive ideas but I have always thought that taking elements of different ideas and proposals made sense as opposed to things like M4A and the Green New Deal (something that seemed more aspirational than realistic). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_Security,_Economic_Opportunity,_and_Immigration_Modernization_Act_of_2013 It is already out there, the dumbass politicians should just bring it up for a vote and pass it already, with some modern day modifications to make it stronger. This bill had support in the senate but Boehner let it die. Greg, there is no way that the progressive policies as they are written will get passed and signed into law. Even if the Democrats get a 50-50 split in the senate, what makes you think that progressives will get their way and pass the legislation that they want? I don’t think they even have the majority in Congress. The media should ignore Trump, if they continue to cover him it’s their own fault that the distraction continues. Biden should continue to say no comment and move on from anything Trump or the soon to be former administration says. It’s time for the adults to get to work and restore a sense of normalcy and let the screaming elephant go into his political coffin slowly.

Thanks for these thoughts, I have been trying to think through what they can get done. Assuming they can at least pick up one seat, I think McConnell gets the stimulus package done with Biden. I obviously would love to see the Gang of Eight’s immigration legislation to be brought up again with some tweaks to modernize it but it is entirely up to McConnell if he wants to allow Biden to get some wins. Hopefully he does because republican members get things in the process. I do wonder what they will get from negotiations that they want. What are your thoughts on McConnell blocking legislation from being voted on since 2013? This isn’t meant to be partisan, there are some legitimate bills that have died when they have reached his desk. What do you feel is the best way to make moderates and progressives play along together? I know there is a shelf life to this thread, but I hope that you see that some of us legitimately want to learn from the discussion and that some of this conversation has been productive. I’m trying to behave.?

I would have voted in Illinois for someone else but if I were elsewhere in a battleground state I would have had to vote for Sanders just to beat Trump. One other thought on the parties. Caucuses like the Freedom Caucus and the Congressional Progressive Caucus can have all the agendas they want, but I would prefer that we have legislators who combat problems together, like those who are in the Problem Solver’s Caucus (or groups like the Blue Dog coalition or the Republican Main Street Partnership). It is a stretch given how our politics work in terms of how partisan they have become, but I’m still convinced the way to make lasting change is through bipartisan legislation and not just parties coming into power. I also can’t see a progressive party or far right party forming any time soon, instead we might see a battle within the two parties about the direction of progressivism and Trumpian policy. With that being said, I’m also curious as to what the Biden administration’s agenda will be if Warnock and Ossoff win in GA. The coronavirus relief bill would seem to be the top priority legislatively but I wonder if he would focus on the public option next, or something else. Certainly I don’t believe he will do anything Greg suggested that AOC said in his post.

If progressivism was as popular as people think, Biden wouldn’t have won the nomination, Warren or Sanders would have. It’s quite possible that they could have lost moderates, independents and republicans that voted for Biden of one of them were the nominee. As for policies, defunding the police and Medicare For All wouldn’t get passed in this Congress, even if they got the majority in the senate. A public option makes more sense and alienates fewer voters in terms of not displacing workers and the cost. And clearly the branding for “defunding” the police is wrong, instead it should be something like “reforming modern policing” since that is what the bill actually would be. He won’t “vote Republican,” he will vote as a moderate which is who he has been for years. You are so focused on AOC that you miss the point that their caucus doesn’t make up the majority of the Democratic seats in the legislature, at least not yet. Even so, it’s not likely the progressive caucus will become the Democratic Party given the needs and differing views of voters across the country. There will not be a vote for “defunding the police,” but there could be incremental reform.

What do I need to know about Biden and Harris? AOC isn’t my favorite but I don’t believe she is representative of the Democratic Party. Also: Please also explain how the president’s most ardent supporters would work to get moderate policies enacted and what those might be.

Please provide examples of well sourced hate from Kamala, AOC and Biden (not from cable news but other sources). Please also explain how the president’s most ardent supporters would work to get moderate policies enacted and what those might be.

What about during the Clinton, Bush and Obama years? What was bipartisan then? The nurse I spoke to at the hospital said that she felt like our country was respected more and there was more love for the country with Trump in office, though I think she meant that our military was respected more. I don’t love or hate the country more after the election, but what I have come to strongly dislike is how I can’t agree with people on facts, the whataboutism of what parties didn’t and didn’t do and arguing with people who make the choice not to listen to another side and engage in healthy debate. I also do not like how when there is a divided Congress, the Senate Majority Leader won’t even call legislation that may or may not get the votes and could benefit American lives. I could reference bills from when Obama was in office that just died in Congress as well as some bills from the last Congress.

Correct, or someone like McCain or Kasich or my favorite for 2024 - Larry Hogan of MD. It does make me wonder where the moderate Republicans (voters and lawmakers) go from here with Trump’s influence in the party. I also wondered what has changed since 2008 when McCain graciously conceded and voters accepted it, was it anger at Obama and now feeling like Trump somehow got cheated? I’d have to ask some Trump voters to fully understand. Like my neighbor across the street who put out a Trump sign even after Biden was called the president elect. I’m not sure if he’s showing support for the lawsuits and recounts or if he hasn’t accepted that Trump lost. I also got to talking politics with the nurse in the hospital since we watched the results come in on CNN. I asked her when she last felt the country wasn’t divided and when there was dealmaking in congress. She said Reagan. What do you all think?

Fixed.

In the short term, I am not too concerned about Trump getting any results overturned. Biden clearly won the electoral college and we are not a nation that elects presidents based on the popular vote. In the near term, I think the Georgia senate races will be competitive, even though I don’t see the Democrats getting both of the seats. They could net one if turnout goes their way, although they haven’t had a Democratic senator since 2003. The prize would be Ossoff winning since the special election is only for two years. In the long term, I’m a bit disturbed by the fact that Trump can power super PACs, continue to spread misinformation about voter fraud and cast doubt on our elections and that his party has bought into this and Trump as their approach moving forward.