Sunday, August 07, 2022

8.7.22: In Consideration of the Midterms, Good Week for the President But a Huge Week for Democrats

Well, we guess it is that time to talk about the mid-term elections. If you noticed, we try and hold off on commenting about all the hypotheticals the pundits throw out there because most of them end up poor conjecture. 

Case in point: Kansas' referendum vote on a state constitutional amendment to ban abortions in the state. That measure was shot down 59 percent to 41 percent with double the normal turnout you see for an off-year election. Republican state legislators were as shocked as the rest of the country by the result. However, one has to agree with Democratic strategist Cornell Belcher when he explained that suburban women who may be against abortion but do not like Republican overreach in legislating women's bodies. With that, as Punchbowl New's Anna Palmer described, the culture wars have shifted i favor of the Democrats, at least on this issue.

Of course the economy is top of mind for everyone, but will women's health autonomy also be on the ballot? Considering that over half of registered voters are women, it will be a certainty.

Will it be enough for Democrats to maintain a majority in the House, we'll have to wait and see. However, Representative Nancy Mace (R-SC), bless her heart, spoke on moderation on both sides on the aisle to come to an agreement on abortion, but the fact remains that her party will not and can not negotiate in good faith. Any compromise will have dire political consequences for Republicans from the evangelical rightwing of the party. She spoke about her objection to the idea of women not being allowed to travel out of state to receive an abortion, but her state of South Carolina wants such a restriction, the constitutionality of which strongly comes into question.

Another factor in determining the mid-term outcomes will be President Joe Biden's approval rating, or will it be? What ever factor you think it will have on November, it will be less than that. Trump hovers over the midterms even more than the president and they have both have an equally poor approval rating, which renders their influence a moot point. As the panel agreed, candidates on the trail from both parties aren't embracing either man. 

It was a big week for President Joe Biden as it was a huge week for the Democratic party behind him. Rights for women's reproductive freedom, which the Democratic party espouses won a big victory. Under the president's leadership, the CIA took Al Qaeda's mastermind of 9/11 - Ayman Al-Zawahiri, with a missile that didn't explode but had shredding blades mounted to the front that cut him to pieces on a balcony while no one else in the house was injured... by the way. The Democrats made jerks out of Senate Republicans in a two-for. First, the Veterans' PACT Act passed in which Republicans first voted against it only to vote for it four days later after being shamed. Since Senators Manchin (D-WV) and Schumer (D-NY) outmaneuvered Mitch McConnell, the Democrats are going to pass a reconciliation bill with the biggest investment in climate in U.S. history, not to mention it will also lower Medicare prescription drugs prices and overall energy costs. Something in there for the young, old and in the middle. 

And lastly, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) with praise from both sides of the aisle didn't cancel her trip to Taiwan and rightly stuck it in Xi and China's face. As Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) explained in his support of the trip, China should not be able to dictate where U.S. leaders choose to travel and who to visit. Xi is so thin-skinned that he thought it necessary to fire off military hardware, a temper tantrum on a national scale. But what that means back home is that Democrats are projecting strength internationally.

It was a good week for the president but more importantly, considering the midterms, this was a huge week for Democrats.


Panel: Anna Palmer, Punchbowl News; Susan Page, USA Today; Cornell Belcher, Democratic Strategist; Pat McCrory, fmr. Governor of North Carolina (R)


 One more thing...

You gotta love this, like an icing dagger decorating Donald Trump's moldy cake...



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