Monday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Monday, January 23, 2023
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37 comments
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored
A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
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‘There is no plan. There’s nothing’: Florida Democrats in despair over future
Florida Dems are just recognizing this now? Its been obvious to national Dems for several years.
I’m a snowbird and in Florida 6 months a year. I am a member of the local Democratic club. The club meets monthly and at every meeting what I hear is two main points:
1. The national Democrats have abandoned us
2. If we just had the right message the Democrats would win (or the right candidate or more money, etc.)
The first is probably true, but right now I don’t see the second as being true at all. Other than the SE coast, Jacksonville and Tampa, Florida is hard right Republican. I don’t see a magic message that will win over current Republicans. And nationally, outside of the northeast and the pacific coast, the Democrats will either struggle or have no chance. When bussing migrants in the middle of the winter and dumping them on people’s front door turns into a plus for your party it speaks volumes about the character of the people who applaud that decision. The Republicans devote most of their energy to demonizing groups of people (immigrants, whether legal or not and trans people are their current boogeymen), and it works.
I can see not liking the Democrats, but the Republicans have not even pretended to care about governing for decades. But the only thing that really works for the Democrats is that Republicans have such god-awful candidates.
@senyordave: As an outsider my impression is that the Florida Democratic Party is a total mess. How about from your inside perspective?
‘Fox News in Spanish’: Inside an upstart media company’s big plans to impact the 2024 election
But of course…
@MarkedMan: I think it is a mix of reality and perception. The party seems to be very insider, and they definitely are tone deaf in many ways. For example, the party clearly favored Charlie Crist as their candidate of choice for governor. He came off as your kindly grandfather who should be playing golf in his retirement. No one would have beaten DeSantis, but Crist was a poor choice.
But the perception seems to be that Florida is a toss up state that might lean republican. I think that’s way off, Florida is a solid Republican state. The population has grown more than 30% in the last 20 years, and I believe it is far more conservative than it once was. We talk about the “crazy” stuff DeSantis does in this forum, but it is generally popular within the state. Outside of the liberal areas there seems to be a strong anti-intellectual strain in Florida, and DeSantis has tapped into that.
IMO at this point a severe economic downturn is the only thing that would make Florida attainable for the Democrats.
The plan was for fettuccine with chicken strips in a creamy garlic and mushroom sauce. But I got some leftover turkey from my mom, so I went with that.
For a starter I made a stew with onions, bell pepper strips, soybean sprouts, lentils, beans, chickpeas, and hot dog slices.
@senyordave:
The Interior/Mountain West now has more Democratic Senators in Washington, DC than the entire Midwest.
@Michael Cain: Indeed. New Mexico is now completely blue in Congress, and we have nary a coastline.
At age 27, Mahomes is the oldest quarterback still in the playoffs. Two are less than 25. Is this a generational thing or a reflection of the development of the game?
@Slugger:..generational thing…
Might have something to do with DNA. Check to see if their moms played Powder Puff Football.
@Slugger:
Several long-time starters have retired in the past five years, and several new QBs have come up in the same time frame. Plus many teams have been playing musical chairs with the position.
So, chance and distribution of talent.
Gregory Morey, George Santos’s former roommate, says Santos told him he only wanted to be elected to Congress for one term because then he’d get a pension and health care for life.
It doesn’t work that way.
@CSK:
When he goes to prison, he’ll get the healthcare and 3 squares a day plus all the orange clothes he needs.
@Sleeping Dog:
Plus a charming six by eight studio apartment rent-free!
4 more Oathkeepers convicted of seditious conspiracy.
Check me on this but I think the DOJ has a 100% conviction rate on Jan. 6 cases that go to a jury trial.
@Mister Bluster:
@daryl and his brother darryl:
I expect that their attorneys will be having serious conversations with them about giving up whoever they were speaking to in the WH and Roger Stone, Eastman and others outside the WH in exchange for short time in the hoosegow.
@reid: “New Mexico is now completely blue in Congress, and we have nary a coastline.”
You should get one. They’re great!
@Sleeping Dog:
The proud boys’ Defense Team is pretty much demanding Benito be held accountable for his part in the insurrection.
This is a defense tactic, so his clients may not mean it.
In any case, while he’s not wrong, the fact that they were lower down on the pecking order does not absolve them.
I think the Mountain West is swinging blue on two issues: Climate Change (there’s no snow on the mountains, this is obvious to someone who works the land, they know what it should look like), and immigration.
Why immigration? Well, no less a person than Cliven Bundy said of his fellow Republicans, “They are wrong about Mexicans. They are good people.”
@Jay L Gischer: And the other reason for bluing of the west is outmigration from California, and to some extent Seattle. Not sure about Portland.
@Sleeping Dog:
Why? Have either the AG or the Special Prosecutor ever suggested an interest in having such a conversation? Forgive my cynicism, but having the conversation could play hob with running out the clock on prosecuting the people the system usually protects from prosecution. We can’t be putting the people in the corridors of power in the clink. What would the other nations think?
@Kathy: “The proud boys’ Defense Team is pretty much demanding Benito be held accountable for his part in the insurrection.”
Ah ha! The acid test of my question may be in the offing. This could be interesting. Bwa ha ha ha ha ha.
Trump has hired Joe Tacopina to go after Mark Pomerantz, the NY ADA who quit when Alvin Bragg declined to go after Trump.
You may recall that Tacopina, who’s often called “the most hated lawyer in NY,” represented the loathsome Joran van der Sloot, murderer of Natalee Holloway and Stephany Flores.
@wr: Are you suggesting they annex parts of Texas (or Arizona and California) to get to a coast, or a Superman movie scenario of sinking large chunks of land into the ocean?
I might suggest annexing the Old Mexico into New Mexico, but I think we should check in with the folks living there first.
While I’m thinking about redrawing lines, we could solve the DC statehood issue by ceding the district to Wyoming.
There’s a precedent for geographically separate states (upper and lower Wisconsin, or is it Michigan?), and it would give DC some rural interests along with urban, so it would be a much more diverse state, eliminating complaints that it would be the only state without a car dealership.
And Wyoming would get an urban center, which can only be good for its tax base.
It wouldn’t increase the number of Senators, so we wouldn’t need any more desks in the Senate — a big savings on office furniture! Office space too!
And it preserves the song “Fifty Nifty United States” although some might say that the song is roughly akin to a war crime.
@Jay L Gischer:
Jay, nobody is sure about Portland. Motto: The City that Doesn’t Work. Or, as I noted to Cracker 38+ years ago, “Cracker, I think the state motto is ‘Things Sure Are Different Here’.” Although I’ll admit the personal ads in Willamette Week are a lot tamer than they were then.
Filed under “Oh, my merciful Dawg”
Ayup, Maya’s bound to be pretty non-polarizing, especially to Tucker & Co (snark emoji insert)
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/mms-spokescandy-controversy-just-publicity-stunt-rcna67032
@Flat Earth Luddite: I STILL think that Willamette Week should have given their new state motto prize to “I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore, Toto.”
@Mister Bluster: Good.
Minnie Riperton sang this song to her infant daughter Maya Rudolph.
So, Benito was photographed with a mobster.
The media is reporting on it. The campaign, such as it is, issued some disingenuous denial. Me, I think a candidate for office is meeting with a prospect for Attorney General.
@Mister Bluster: I didn’t know that. My mother died of breast cancer also. I can’t listen to that song without tearing up. Tearing up in a good way. I watched the 30 by 30 about North Carolina State last night for maybe the fourth time. A day on which you laugh, a day on which you think, a day on which you cry…that’s a good day. Thanks Jimmy V, thanks Minnie. I’ve had a good day today.
@Mister Bluster: @Slugger:
If you listen to her ad libs at the very end of the song you will hear her sing Mayas name
Many early 90s New York Hip Hop groups sampled Minnie Riperton, which is how I learned of her. I eventually started listening to her albums directly. That era of Hip Hop introduced an entire audience of its most devoted fans to 60s-80s R&B, Soul, Jazz, and Rock and Roll
@MarkedMan: @senyordave:
Florida is not a lost cause to Democrats and more than Georgia was lost. The Florida Democratic Party is old, incestuous, and lazy.
Seriously, the nomination of Charlie Christ was exhibit #1. He suppressed Democratic voters. No one save the hardest Democrat was going be inconvenienced to vote for him. “Flori-duh man syndrome does not stop with Republicans. It’s cultural. Andrew Gillum, a B-list mayor, made Desantis look silly—basically by impersonating Obama. Imagine what an actual authentic candidate would do to him?
But the Party apparatus here is cliquish to a fault, they will continue to lose with the Party in-crowd and blame everything else but themselves—Instead of recruiting a fresh charismatic candidate and designing an authentic message that resonates in the suburbs.
No Democrat is going to win in Florida with a message crafted for California in New York. Hell, even the GA Senators didn’t do that. The Democrats are here, but they have a conservative bend to them, and are going to trip over themselves to vote for stiff after stiff who thing the last loser “wasn’t liberal enough”.
*This does not include Val Demmings who stuck the right chord but simply could not mute the Desantis noise machine and had a boulder name Christ tied around her neck.
@Jim Brown 32:
Given the success of Sherrod Brown, John Tester and John Fetterman, I think the exact level of liberalness isn’t the problem*, but the genuineness. Plus, Charlie Crist rolling around in loser stink.
(That said, triangulating weasels have also had success in the past, as measured by Bill Clinton.)
Ok, the genuine candidate might also have to be a white man.
*: and any more liberal than Manchin and Sinema is kind of irrelevant for Senate or even the House — it’s a nice to have, sure, but for the time being it isn’t going to make a difference.
@Gustopher: ” Are you suggesting they annex parts of Texas (or Arizona and California) to get to a coast, or a Superman movie scenario of sinking large chunks of land into the ocean?”
I’m a big picture guy. I let others fill in the details!