Georgia GOP House candidate: 'I do not support a livable wage'

[Frank Underwood]

The Republican candidate in Georgia's special House election on Tuesday said she does not support a livable wage.

“This is the difference between being a liberal and a conservative. I do not support a livable wage," Karen Handel said during a debate with Democrat Jon Ossoff.

“What I support is making sure that we have an economy that is robust with low taxes and less regulation,” she added.

Handel was responding to Ossoff's remark that Americans are having trouble "making ends meet" and deserve a livable wage if they are working 40 hours a week.
Handel and Ossoff are facing off in a June 20 runoff to replace former GOP Rep. Tom Price, who left the House to become President Trump's secretary of Health and Human Services.

The district has long been under GOP control, but polls have shown a tight race, with a number of them showing Ossoff in the lead.

Election analysts say Ossoff winning would portend well for Democrats in 2018, when they will try to win back control of the House.

Source: http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box...-georgia-race-i-do-not-support-a-livable-wage

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

My sister was born without an esophagus.

 

[Frank Underwood]

My sister was born without an esophagus.

Any particular reason you keep posting that?

 

[Frank Underwood]

My sister was born without an esophagus.

Any particular reason you keep posting that?

I'm glad I decided to Google that phrase: Democrat Jon Ossoff criticized Handel for backing a bill “that would gut the protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions.” He also brought up his opponent’s role in the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s decision to cut off its funding for Planned Parenthood.

Handel hit back hard, saying that her sister has a pre-existing condition as she was born without an esophagus. She said it was “outrageous” for Ossoff to “suggest that I would do anything that would negatively affect her.”

I see. So she supports a bill that will hurt people with pre-existing conditions, while denying that fact because her sister has a pre-existing condition. Yet another reason why she's a piece of crap.

 

[Gabriel Maxwell]

 

[Frank Underwood]

Against a living wage, against protections for pre-existing conditions, and against gay rights. And yet there are people who still support trash like her.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

This Ossoff/Handel race in Georgia has been getting national attention, becoming the most expensive congressional race in American history, because it's seen as a litmus test for the country's mood regarding Trump and the GOP.

The local TV ads are ubiquitous and eternal.

Against a living wage, against protections for pre-existing conditions, and against gay rights. And yet there are people who still support trash like her.

Yes, many people. But a lot of folks see bullying as "strength" and if they're invited to join in the bullying of others, they can be tricked into not realizing that they themselves are also the targets.

And Handel could win.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Rather predictably, Trump got a slight poll boost in the wake of the baseball gunfight in DC, and Karen Handel apparently hopes for the same -- her poll numbers dipped after her debate with Jon Ossoff, so one of her "supporters" put out a TV ad this weekend connecting Ossoff nakedly to the shootings.

Handel insists she is "disgusted" by the ad she claims ignorance of and innocence about. But so did Ted Cruz about those robocalls claiming Dr. Ben Carson had withdrawn from the primaries when he hadn't, and like Trump's claim he knew nothing about the ads comparing his wife's hotness to Cruz' wife's alleged piggery.

The Ossoff/Handel vote wraps up in 48 hours.

 

[Frank Underwood]

An unhinged liberal shoots some Republicans, so naturally that means every liberal "endorses and applauds" that kind of behavior. Talk about a disgusting, transparent attempt to score some cheap political points. Can right wingers even stick to a narrative? Liberals can't be both anti gun AND want to shoot every Republican at the same time. But why let that pesky contradiction get in the way of connecting every liberal to a lone nut?

Of course, you can suggest that the "second amendment people" take care of your presidential rival and still win the presidency if you're a Republican. Many of the people who voted for Greg Gianforte in Montana did so because they liked that he body slammed a reporter. Rush Limbaugh salivated over it, while calling Gianforte "studly" and "manly." In contrast, he ripped Kathy Griffin to shreds over a photo op with Trump's fake head.

It's clear to me that Republicans lack self awareness. They bitch about liberals "politicizing" tragedies, yet are the first to do so when it suits them. And they do so in the most disingenuous ways imaginable.

 

[SueEllenRules!]

Trump’s agenda on the line in a hard-fought Georgia House race
SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — President Trump faces a high-stakes political test Tuesday in a special congressional election that has turned into a referendum on his leadership and could have significant consequences for his stalled agenda on Capitol Hill.

• On the eve of the vote to fill a House seat in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District, Trump acknowledged that a Republican defeat in the district, which the party has held for nearly four decades, could have wide implications.
• “The Dems want to stop tax cuts, good healthcare and Border Security. Their ObamaCare is dead with 100% increases in P’s. Vote now for Karen H,” the president tweeted, referring to Karen Handel, the GOP contender.
• Handel, a former Georgia secretary of state, is locked in a tight battle against Democrat Jon Ossoff, a 30-year-old first-time candidate who lives just outside the district boundary. “Karen Handel’s opponent in #GA06 can’t even vote in the district he wants to represent,” Trump pointed out in another tweet.
• Handel and Ossoff are vying to fill the seat vacated by Tom Price, who had held it from 2005 until he joined Trump’s Cabinet as health and human services secretary this year.
• In the first round of voting, on April 18, Ossoff nearly topped the 50 percent threshold that would have given him an outright victory in an 18-candidate primary field. Falling just short, he has found himself in a runoff against Handel, who is scrambling to consolidate the Republican vote.
• Though the two contenders rarely mention Trump, the national significance of the contest has brought forth a flood of advertising and organization.
• Spending in the race by the campaigns and outside groups has topped $50 million, making it by far the most expensive House contest in U.S. history.
• One low point came in the final days of the race, with a super PAC attack ad that showed footage of a bloodied House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) being taken off a baseball field on a stretcher after last Wednesday’s shooting in suburban Washington.
• As the sound of gunshots echoes, a narrator says: “The unhinged left is endorsing and applauding shooting Republicans. When will it stop? It won’t if Jon Ossoff wins on Tuesday.”
• Both candidates have denounced the ad.
• While the affluent district has long been solidly red territory — Price breezed to a 23-point victory in November — it has not been quite as friendly to Trump’s brand of populist Republicanism. He won it over Hillary Clinton by only one percentage point in last November’s general election and had lost it to Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) in the GOP primary.
• The race is also being watched as a possible harbinger of the national dynamics ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, though strategists on both sides note that the amount of resources and attention it has received cannot be replicated across the map.
• “The likelihood is the margin is going to be one or two points either way, so it is very easy to over-interpret the outcome,” said Matt Bennett, senior vice president of the centrist Democratic organization Third Way. “But a 20-point swing in a House vote between November and June — that’s a lot.”
• For Trump, the consequences could be far more immediate.
• A Democratic victory in this traditionally conservative and wealthy swath of suburbia would probably rattle Senate Republicans as they try to jump-start legislation to overhaul the nation’s health-care law by the end of this month. And it would raise questions about whether Trump has retained a strong hold on his party’s base as he turns to other policy ambitions this summer.
• “I think this race is a wake-up call to the party and the political arm of the administration to pay attention to what they are doing and not doing that could potentially impact future success for the party at the ballot box,” said former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele.
• Inside the West Wing, Trump and his advisers have paid increasing attention to the race and have been briefed regularly on Handel’s standing in private polls, GOP ground efforts and early-vote totals, according to a White House official. In particular, the official added, strategist Stephen K. Bannon and chief of staff Reince Priebus have been involved in discussions about the race and possible ramifications.
• Associates of Trump — who have said he is already furious over the focus on his handling of investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 election — warned that an Ossoff win could spark new rage toward Handel’s campaign and the way the GOP handled the race.
• “The Trump White House, in that situation, could certainly point to how Handel’s candidacy was always problematic,” said Sam Nunberg, a former Trump campaign adviser. “What was her message? Was she running a local or national race? It has never been clear, and she has a history in Georgia as a right-winger.”
• Yet her biggest problem may be Trump. Handel hosted two of his Cabinet secretaries over the weekend at a rally but did not talk up the president. She instead tore into Ossoff as a liberal with “San Francisco” values who identifies with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). It was a classic tactic to rouse Republicans but also a sign of her uneasiness with how to handle Trump.
• Meanwhile, a Republican victory would be demoralizing for Democrats, especially after they lost recent special elections in Montana and Kansas.
• The results will provide a frame for the argument going on within the Democratic Party as it struggles to find its way back to power, having been shut out in Washington and decimated on the state and local levels. That its candidate in this race is the unseasoned Ossoff is evidence of how thin its ranks have become.
• While many in the party’s energized liberal base are arguing for an aggressive approach that would emphasize their disdain for and differences with Trump and the Republicans, Ossoff has lately taken a more conciliatory tack. He speaks of his intention to work across party lines and has made cutting federal spending a signature campaign promise.
• Ossoff has run as a “relatively optimistic moderate,” Bennett said. “In red or purple districts, [that stance] seems a lot more promising.”
• Ossoff’s final sprint across the district focused on the seemingly contradictory dictates of trying to drive up as much energy as possible to turn out his supporters — but in the most polite manner possible.
• His early stops came with another 30-something Democrat at his side: Jason Kander, the former Missouri secretary of state who lost a close Senate race in deep-red Missouri last year and became an icon for a party starved for stars not eligible for AARP membership.
• Kander and Ossoff addressed several dozen volunteers and supporters at a field office in this suburb north of Atlanta, standing underneath three signs that attempted to capture the tone this campaign is trying to thread: “Humble, kind, ready to fight.”
• Ossoff needs Republican votes to win, so in the closing days of the campaign there were no signs of leading liberal antagonists such as Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), nor were there any party elder statesmen to vouch for Ossoff. Former vice president Joe Biden, for example, spent the weekend in South Florida raising money for Democrats.
• Across the district in Roswell, at Handel’s final campaign rally, Republicans demonstrated their own split-image vision of the current political mood. In the era of Trump — a first-time candidate who violated countless political norms last year — Handel and her backers castigated Ossoff for lacking experience and breaching norms by living a few blocks outside the congressional district.
• “Karen has the background, the experience, the know-how,” Gov. Nathan Deal (R) told a crowd inside a bar.
• In her speech, Handel touted “experience” again and again, boasting of her time on a county commission, on the local Chamber of Commerce and as the state’s top election official.
• “I’ve actually done it,” she said.

Trump’s agenda on the line in a hard-fought Georgia House race - The Washington Post
https://apple.news/AE3jtAhkOQae-zR8ZpXn6eQ

 

[SueEllenRules!]

Georgia special election: 7 things to watch
Voter turnout is expected to be sky-high, and both parties are watching for clues about how to fight the 2018 elections.
It’s Election Day in Georgia, where a House special election has put President Donald Trump’s popularity back on the ballot, turned suburban Atlanta into a battleground for the first time in a generation and obliterated campaign finance records.

• Democrat Jon Ossoff has had a slight advantage in public polls against Republican Karen Handel, but the race could not be much closer after six months and $50 million spent to replace Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price in Congress. And both parties are closely watching the biggest House race ever for clues about how to fight the 2018 elections.
• Handel and Ossoff both tried to make the race about their own candidacies, with Handel touting deep roots in the district and Ossoff casting himself as a “fresh, independent voice.” But, ultimately, “This race is a referendum on Republicans and the Trump administration nationally, no question,” said Phil Kent, a Republican political commentator based in Georgia.
• Here are POLITICO's seven things to watch as the results roll in Tuesday night:

How high will turnout go?

• Early voting soared ahead of Election Day, with more than 140,000 voters casting their ballots early, some before embarking on summer vacations. Total turnout in the April primary topped 192,000, and 2014 midterm levels (about 210,000 voters) are not far beyond.
• Higher turnout often benefits Democrats — but in a year when Democrats were already unusually enthusiastic, it could give Republicans a boost instead. Many more GOP voters showed up early this time than in the April all-party primary, which has some Republicans feeling good and some Democrats nervous.
• “This is still a Republican-leaning district, and Republicans of all stripes have rallied around Karen,” Kent said. One national Democratic strategist added: "There’s been an effort to include and activate some of the Republican base that wasn’t around [in April], and we’ve seen evidence of that."
• But there's a big question outstanding for Handel: Did the push to get Republicans to vote early just accelerate GOP voting instead of adding to it? Handel will almost certainly do better in the early vote than Republicans did against Ossoff in April, but the Democrat could still win the election anyway.

Ossoff's moderate message

• Ossoff and Handel both played to the middle in the runoff. Ossoff kicked off his campaign in January by asking voters to “Make Trump Furious,” but he’s departed from the progressive playbook with a centrist message aimed at attracting disillusioned Republican voters.
• It paid off in the primary, with one Republican firm estimating that at least 8 to 10 percent of GOP voters backed Ossoff, and Ossoff needs more than the Democratic base to win this district. But by rejecting a single-payer health care system and occasionally praising Trump, Ossoff could risk alienating hardcore progressives.
• Nevertheless, most public polls show Ossoff almost completely unifying his party. “There is no room to worry about who is the most progressive right now,” said Michael Owens, chairman of the Cobb County Democratic Party. “We understand that there is a spectrum, and this district is on the more moderate end. Ossoff fits that bill.”
• Meanwhile, Handel has accepted fundraising help from Trump and Vice President Mike Pence in the district, but she regularly says that she is “not an extension of the White House.” It’s a move that some Republicans said may not excite the GOP base. But it also appeals to voters in a longtime Republican district that swung harder against Trump in 2016 than all but five House seats in the entire country.

The national stakes

• Trump won the district by under 2 points in November, and he is no more popular there now. That is the single biggest factor that made this race a nationally watched battleground, and Democrats are hoping the same backlash in affluent suburbs will help them in districts from California to Virginia next year.
• “Republicans have to deal with the balancing act of the traditional suburban GOP voter and the more conservative, rural voters,” said Craig Kidd, the first vice chairman of the Fulton County Republican Party. “Georgia’s 6th District is to Trump what the rural districts were for Bill Clinton in 1993. As soon as Clinton was seen as a liberal, Democrats got crushed in those seats and in 1994, Republicans gained them.”
• But Trump is not the only national figure intruding on this local special election. Republicans have wielded House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who is also widely disliked in the district, against Ossoff. Ads from Republican groups have cast Ossoff as a puppet of liberal interests and a “rubber stamp [for] Pelosi’s failed agenda,” said Corry Bliss, the executive director of the GOP super PAC Congressional Leadership Fund.
• Some Republicans argue the anti-Pelosi message has gotten stale after seven years, but if Handel wins Tuesday night, that will only reinforce the idea that she remains a potent driver of votes for the Republican base — just as Trump animates Democrats.

Will last week's congressional shooting affect the vote?

• An Illinois man opened fire on GOP lawmakers, staffers and lobbyists practicing for the congressional baseball game last week, seriously wounding Majority Whip Steve Scalise and several others. The shooter had a long history of posting anti-Trump comments online, and the wall-to-wall coverage has Democrats worried about “the impact of the shooting” on driving GOP turnout, said one national Democrat involved in the race.
• The Republican Party chairman in Georgia’s 11th District echoed that sentiment. “The shooting is going to win this election for us,” Brad Carver told The Washington Post. “Because moderates and independents in this district are tired of left-wing extremism.”
• Meanwhile, Handel and Ossoff’s campaigns both said they received threats following the attack in Virginia. "Suspicious packages” were delivered to Handel’s home, per a statement from her campaign last week.

Recruitments and retirements

• Candidates and incumbents eyeing the high-profile Georgia race (and the circumstances that led to it) are inevitably asking the question: Should I jump in or should I jump ship?
• “You will see more and more Republicans who are having private conversations — and more who will say it publicly — about their concerns over the administration and the direction of the presidency,” said Chip Lake, a Republican consultant in Georgia. “A lot of members are going to start thinking: Do I want to deal with this, or would I rather retire and relax?”
• Several Democrats have already cited the Georgia race as inspiration for their own campaigns, including Andy Kim, a former Obama administration official who launched a campaign against Republican Rep. Tom MacArthur on Monday in a tricky New Jersey district.
• “When I see Jon Ossoff is able to raise millions in a matter of months and weeks, that makes me feel like, if I find the right message and I’m the candidate I hope to be, I’m someone who can take on someone as rich as MacArthur,” Kim said. “People are fired up, and we need to harness that energy.”

Special elections are still special

• Win or lose, the Georgia special election is a snapshot of a single Southern suburban district, 18 months away from 2018. If Democrats win, it’s not a guarantee they will steal Speaker Paul Ryan’s gavel. If Republicans win, it won’t change the circumstances that made this previously unlikely district competitive.
• “We know what we’re up against in 2018,” Lake said, adding that Republicans “have our work cut out for us.”
• A loss for Ossoff could puncture the Democratic enthusiasm, but the anti-Trump fervor that fueled the financial machine behind Ossoff won’t go away, according to Democratic supporters on the ground in Georgia.
• “People will find another candidate to latch on to,” said Donna Aranson, a 66-year-old preschool administrator and an Ossoff supporter. “Once this is over, I’ll just find the next candidate who I want to support. Win or lose, this isn’t going away. Ossoff created a movement.”

The other special election

• Georgia isn’t the only state with a special House election Tuesday night. Republican Ralph Norman and Democrat Archie Parnell are also facing off in South Carolina’s 5th District, which was left open by another Trump appointee, OMB Director Mick Mulvaney.
• However, Norman is a heavy favorite in a more Republican-friendly district. Trump won the district with 57 percent of the vote in 2016; crucially, he even improved on Mitt Romney’s share there.

Georgia special election: 7 things to watch - POLITICO
https://apple.news/AbV1RXWrJSBqVsumhHY95ow

 

[SueEllenRules!]

Trump slams Dem Ossoff as Georgia voters head to the polls
President Donald Trump began his last minute pitch to Georgia voters just before 6 a.m. Tuesday, warning them that Democrat Jon Ossoff wants to raise taxes and is “weak on crime and security” while his GOP opponent, Karen Handel, is just the opposite.

• “Democrat Jon Ossoff, who wants to raise your taxes to the highest level and is weak on crime and security, doesn't even live in district,” Trump wrote on Twitter early Tuesday morning, the start of a two-post flurry. “KAREN HANDEL FOR CONGRESS. She will fight for lower taxes, great healthcare strong security-a hard worker who will never give up! VOTE TODAY.”
• Voters in Georgia’s sixth Congressional district will choose Tuesday between Ossoff and Handel, the two candidates vying for the suburban Atlanta seat left vacant by Tom Price, Trump’s secretary of health and human services. Tuesday’s election is a runoff that follows one last April in which Ossoff finished well ahead of a multi-candidate GOP field but did not hit the 50 percent threshold that would have allowed him to win the seat outright without a runoff.
• Price won the seat last November by more than 23 percentage points, but Democrats, eager to win a seat last held by a member of the president’s cabinet, have poured money into the race, making it the most expensive House election on record.
Polls show the race essentially even heading into Election Day, with Handel holding a lead of less than a quarter of a point according to the Real Clear Politics polling average.
• Ossoff, running for office for the first time at 30-years-old, has faced criticism from Trump and others that he does not live in the sixth district, a situation the Democrat has explained by saying that he is currently living with his girlfriend while she completes medical school at Emory University just outside the district’s borders.
• He has said he intends to move back into the district once his girlfriend’s studies are complete, an explanation that has not insulated him from attacks from the president, who has noted Ossoff’s residency issue more than once in posts to Twitter.
• “Karen Handel's opponent in #GA06 can't even vote in the district he wants to represent because he doesn't even live there!” Trump wrote on Twitter Monday evening. “He wants to raise taxes and kill healthcare. On Tuesday, #VoteKarenHandel.”


Trump slams Dem Ossoff as Georgia voters head to the polls - POLITICO
https://apple.news/A86cUMxZqQsyCpV3yFc7RkA

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

TheYoungTurks discuss the GOP smear tactics of Ossoff, etc...

Ossoff interviewed last night by MSNBC:

 

[SueEllenRules!]

Republican Karen Handel wins Georgia House special election, CNN projects
Republican Karen Handel defeated Democrat Jon Ossoff in a high-stakes special election for a Georgia House seat on Tuesday, denying Democrats their first major victory of the Donald Trump era.

• Handel led Ossoff by 4.8 percentage points with more than three-fourths of the 6th District's precincts having reported their results at 10 p.m. ET.
• It was a much closer margin than the 20-plus point wins typically posted by former Rep. Tom Price — whose departure to become Trump's health and human services secretary created the vacancy.
• But it wasn't what Democrats who pumped $23 million into Ossoff's campaign so desperately craved: A win.
• Handel's victory showed that even with Republicans in power, the GOP's message in recent election cycles — focused largely urging voters to reject House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi — remains potent.
• The successful execution of that playbook could calm congressional Republicans' ruffled nerves as the GOP advances major legislation to overhaul the nation's health care system and eyes a massive reform of its tax structure.
• It also calls into question whether Democrats can sustain the energy fueling the party's anti-Trump resistance after losses in four consecutive special elections — including Kansas, Montana and South Carolina.
• At a Hyatt Regency in northern Atlanta, more than 100 Handel supporters packed into the hotel's ballroom. The crowd was buzzing after Handel's 8 p.m. appearance onstage to pump up her supporters about early vote numbers — at the time, she was ahead of the GOP's forecast.
• "Everything we're seeing is incredibly encouraging," she said.
• Otherwise, though, attendees kept an eye on the televisions, which were tuned to Fox News at Handel's event — and CNN at Ossoff's election night party nearby.
• At Ossoff's party, the mood was different. "We already have so much to celebrate," his fiancee told supporters, as the DJ cued "I Will Survive."
• A Republican involved in the race made a point of emphasizing that "there are no moral victories." The GOP is trying to pre-but potential Democratic arguments that a narrow loss in a district that's historically been so heavily Republican can in any way can be billed as a success.
• In terms of potential voting irregularities and hiccups, DeKalb County extended voting to 7:30 p.m. ET in two precincts after logistical mix-ups with electronic voting machines early in the day. But the Democrat and the Republican involved in the race said they haven't seen any other signs of trouble.
• Ossoff and Handel faced off Tuesday in what has become the most expensive House race in history, with the candidates, their parties and super PACs pouring more than $50 million combined into the effort to win a single House seat in the northern Atlanta suburbs.
• More than 140,000 voters cast their ballots early — an astounding number for a special election, and one that nearly matches presidential contests.
• The race is being viewed nationally as a gauge of whether President Donald Trump's sagging approval ratings are a drag on Republicans that could threaten the party's control of the House in the 2018 midterm elections.
• Democrats, meanwhile, see in Georgia an early test of their strategy of trying to win typically Republican seats in suburban areas — districts that are relatively highly educated, wealthy and diverse.
• Trump weighed in on Twitter late Monday and early Tuesday, attacking Ossoff for living just outside the district, claiming Ossoff will raise taxes and calling Handel a hard worker "who will never give up!"
• With the inflated price tag and the 15-month lag time between the special election and the November 2018 midterms, the contest might not hold much predictive value.
• But it could be a huge psychic boost for the winner's party — and a blow for the loser's.
• If Ossoff were to win, Democrats would have a clear victory that could help keep the party's hyper-engaged base — and donor community — energized. A loss, though, would be a major disappointment.
• If Handel were to win, Republicans on Capitol Hill could feel they are on the right track — helping the GOP's push for health care and tax reform legislation. It could also show House incumbents that they can separate themselves from Trump effectively on the campaign trail, and stave off a potential wave of retirements.
• Ossoff and Handel were the top two finishers in an April 19 primary, advancing to the one-on-one runoff election.
• The district has historically leaned heavily Republican. Former Rep. Tom Price, whose departure to become Trump's health and human services secretary led to the special election, won each time he was on the ballot since 2004 with more than 60% of the vote. Mitt Romney carried the district by more than 23 points when he faced former President Barack Obama in 2012.
• However, it was Trump's collapse — besting Hillary Clinton by just 1.5 points in the district in 2016 — that led Democrats to believe it could be in play.
• It's the best shot the party has of the four House special elections this spring to win a seat that now belongs to Republicans. But in November 2018, Democrats are expected to have many better pick-up opportunities. According to the Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index, there are 71 Republican-held districts that have less GOP-leaning electorates than Georgia's 6th District.
• Georgia is not the only special election that happened Tuesday. CNN projected just after 9 p.m. ET, Republican Ralph Norman will win the special election in the South Carolina 5th Congressional District, defeating Democrat Archie Parnell in a closer than expected race to fill Mick Mulvaney's seat.

Republican Karen Handel wins Georgia House special election, CNN projects - CNN
https://apple.news/A8bNAvdPvTO-11QpylaGdEQ

 

[Frank Underwood]

Very disappointing. I hope everyone who voted for her enjoys their stagnant wages and lack of health care. The next time a Christian bitches about being "oppressed," they need to know it's politicians like Handel who cite their religion as an excuse to discriminate against people. Can you imagine if a politician said "As a Muslim" as an excuse to defend inequality? They'd likely end up in Gitmo, never to be heard from again.

It's great that this was a closer race than in years past. Unfortunately, the depravity of the people behind the attack ad linking Ossoff to the baseball shooter likely swayed those who can't see through blatant propaganda.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Very disappointing. I hope everyone who voted for her enjoys their stagnant wages and lack of health care. The next time a Christian bitches about being "oppressed," they need to know it's politicians like Handel who cite their religion as an excuse to discriminate against people. Can you imagine if a politician said "As a Muslim" as an excuse to defend inequality? They'd likely end up in Gitmo, never to be heard from again.

It's great that this was a closer race than in years past. Unfortunately, the depravity of the people behind the attack ad linking Ossoff to the baseball shooter likely swayed those who can't see through blatant propaganda.

Democrats worried about “the impact of the shooting” on driving GOP turnout, said one national Democrat involved in the race. The Republican Party chairman in Georgia’s 11th District echoed that sentiment. “The shooting is going to win this election for us,” Brad Carver told The Washington Post.

 

[Frank Underwood]

Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks offers an interesting take on Ossoff's loss.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Trump is gloating, naturally, over his 4-for-4 win yesterday in those special elections.

But the people who support him are amazingly sad. It's like a mass suicide, the way they support him.

The TV news has been interviewing a lot of them today, regarding the "validation" of his presidency that yesterday's elections supposedly reflect.

It's like listening to children who don't know they're children talk, completely detached from reality. They're totally convinced that all the scandals and Russian stuff is 100% made up and fake, that "everyone just needs to leave him alone so he can focus on his agenda" (an agenda, by the way, which is to destroy the remainder of their lives and eliminating their health care), and that "just look -- now the world respects us again!" (based on what, I shudder to ask what their sources are).

While they toss back one final handful of opioids.

It's mass suicide, they're so far gone.

 

[Frank Underwood]

Trump is gloating, naturally, over his 4-for-4 win yesterday in those special elections.

But the people who support him are amazingly sad. It's like a mass suicide, the way they support him.

The TV news has been interviewing a lot of them today, regarding the "validation" of his presidency that yesterday's elections supposedly reflect.

It's like listening to children who don't know they're children talk, completely detached from reality. They're totally convinced that all the scandals and Russian stuff is 100% made up and fake, that "everyone just needs to leave him alone so he can focus on his agenda" (an agenda, by the way, which is to destroy the remainder of their lives and eliminating their health care), and that "just look -- now the world respects us again!" (based on what, I shudder to ask what their sources are).

While they toss back one final handful of opioids.

It's mass suicide, they're so far gone.

Yes, that's the sad reality of Trump fans. Someone on Twitter posted a sign that said "Liberals, what the hell are you 'resisting'? More jobs? Less taxes? Destruction of ISIS? Protection of Constitutional rights? Protection of our immigration system?" I was astonished that anybody could believe such blatant bullshit. Fortune.com rates Trump's various job creation claims from misleading to false. In many cases, he's trying to take credit for the creation of jobs that were in the works before he became president. The rest is even easier to debunk, since it amounts to less taxes for the wealthy, increased bombing of Middle Eastern civilians as part of our decade and a half "war on terror," cherry picked Constitutional rights, and an illegal Muslim travel ban struck down by the courts. As for the wall, neither Mexico nor Congress seem willing to pay for the unnecessary monstrosity.

Of course, Cenk Uygur makes a good point that running as Republican lite isn't a great strategy either. I still think Ossoff was the better choice, but if you're making a case for Republican talking points while distancing yourself from progressive positions, why wouldn't people simply vote for the Republican? At least she embraces the ideology of her base, depraved as it may be. Republicans don't run from their base like Democrats do.

 

[SueEllenRules!]

For those disappointed in the outcome, keep in mind:

1) This makes four special Congressional elections that were Republican strongholds that almost fell into Democratic hands:

• Kansas - 4th district (won by Mike Pompeo in November by 31.1 points, but only by 6.8 points in April by Ron Estes)
• Montana - at-large district (won by Ryan Zinke in November by 15.6 points, but only by 6.1 points in May by Greg Gianforte)
• Georgia - 6th district (won by Tom Price in November by 23.4 points, but only by 3.8 points in June by Karen Handel)
• South Carolina - 5th district (won by Mick Mulvaney in November by 20.5 points, but only by 3.2 points in June by Ralph Norman)

2) In November 2018, Democrats are expected to have many better pick-up opportunities. According to the Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index, there are 71 Republican-held districts that have less GOP-leaning electorates than Georgia's 6th District.

3) Democrats need to pick up just 24 of those districts to gain control of the House.

4) 23 of those Republicans represent districts won by Hillary Clinton in the presidential election (14 of whom committed political suicide last month by voting for Trumpcare).

5) Republicans should be worried. Very worried.