How many Republican Senators will be sent home?

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Sunburn74

Diamond Member
Oct 5, 2009
5,037
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I am torn on Romney. He was a decent Governor but he did flip flop a lot.
I am confident he is a good man, I am confident his businessman side is ruthless.
I am not sure if this is the right time for Romney. He is a responsible conservative, he isn’t the guy to sell the country out to a dictator. He is too well educated to speak effectively to the common person.
I'm really not confident he's a good man. This is the guy (millionaire btw) who was directly trying to sell to people who make $20K a year that raising the death tax threshold (which currently is at 11.5 million dollars) is in their best interest. Doesn't really sound like an honest fella if you ask me.

Just put these words together "millionaire mormon". Does that seem right? Do those words go together?
 
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sportage

Lifer
Feb 1, 2008
11,492
3,161
136
The nutty thing with polls is that most people don't really decide or become involved or pay much attention until the last few days, so polls tighten and newcomers that appeared as far ahead suddenly slow to a snails pace. Newcomers up by 10 - 15 points in the beginning fall back into a neck to neck race days before the end. You really can't trust the polls, and the TV ads DO HAVE AN IMPACT on many voters especially those uninformed and uneducated. My own 91 year old father, a hard core democrat, now wants to vote for Trump. I said WTF dad??? He says, Biden will raise taxes and Biden is too chummy with the black lives matter BS. His words, not mine. SO race is certainly having an impact on my dad. He see's the ads against Joe Biden and the rioting and looting the ads associate to Joe Biden, and my dad eats it up. I just hope I don't lose my mind when I'm 91 years old.

I would love to see the republicans lose the senate however politicians like little Lindsey and McConnell and for iOwa Joni Ernst are powerful politicians and powerful senators and I think they get reelected because the voters want their state to retain that power in the best interest of their state. Whether a president or senator, incumbency packs a real punch in the end. I do expect Ernst to hang on to her seat, and also Lindsey, and definitely McConnell. I don't like it not one bit, but I expect it.
 

trenchfoot

Lifer
Aug 5, 2000
14,939
7,459
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Predict 5 pickups and 1 loss, so 51.

First order of business is end the filibuster. Second is pass DC statehood and pick up 2 more seats.


Sounds good to me on all points, I hope it goes that way. Oh and add in expanding Robert's court enough to give the Dems a fighting chance to keep the Repubs from litigating their way into minority party control over the nation.
 
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Feb 4, 2009
35,246
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I'm really not confident he's a good man. This is the guy (millionaire btw) who was directly trying to sell to people who make $20K a year that raising the death tax threshold hold (which currently is at 11.5 million dollars) is in their best interest. Doesn't really sound like an honest fella if you ask me.

Just put these words together "millionaire mormon". Does that seem right? Do those words go together?

the two Mormons I’ve known were both very successful people.
 

SteveGrabowski

Diamond Member
Oct 20, 2014
7,428
6,157
136
While I don’t agree with many of his policies he was the only Republican to vote to remove Trump and I’ll always respect his integrity for that.

Assuming Biden wins we only need 50 seats so long as Kamala is okay with basically camping out in the senate for the next few years.

Fuck Romney. He's another rich piece of shit who looted wealth from the middle class and lower class at Bain Capital. He's like one step away from Trump on the scumbag meter. His conviction vote was also completely meaningless, but his vote for COVID Barrett was what got that piece of shit confirmed. Romney is a worthless piece of shit, fuck him.
 

manly

Lifer
Jan 25, 2000
11,849
2,806
136
At this point in time it’s a good thing. Parties need to be held accountable to do something and turds who want to overturn everything need to be accountable for doing so.
I am all for eliminating the filibuster
At this point in time, assuming the Dems do flip the Senate. But as 538 explained a few weeks ago, the GOP has essentially a structural advantage in winning Senate elections (and this carries over to the Electoral College, but that's a separate problem) because of less-populous rural states.

We've seen that Harry Reid used the nuclear option because the GOP was obstructing President Obama's appointments. OTOH, MoscowMitch has used it to re-shape our federal courts, including SCOTUS. Unless you believe that the Democratic party will durably overcome its structural disadvantage in winning and holding a Senate majority, eliminating the filibuster can cause more grief than the short-term gains.

Let's conjecture, how many justices would Chuck Schumer add to the Supreme Court? I'm guessing just 2, so "conservatives" would still have a bare majority for now. Adding 4 seems ambitious. But my point is how many justices would a future version of Mitch McConnell add? The GOP has proven it doesn't care about institutional or democratic norms, or the rule of law; so do we really want to get into a pissing contest with them?

Fuck Romney. He's another rich piece of shit who looted wealth from the middle class and lower class at Bain Capital. He's like one step away from Trump on the scumbag meter. His conviction vote was also completely meaningless, but his vote for COVID Barrett was what got that piece of shit confirmed. Romney is a worthless piece of shit, fuck him.
I'm by no means a Mitt Romney supporter, but this comparison is pretty unfair to Romney.
 

fskimospy

Elite Member
Mar 10, 2006
85,634
50,860
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At this point in time, assuming the Dems do flip the Senate. But as 538 explained a few weeks ago, the GOP has essentially a structural advantage in winning Senate elections (and this carries over to the Electoral College, but that's a separate problem) because of less-populous rural states.

We've seen that Harry Reid used the nuclear option because the GOP was obstructing President Obama's appointments. OTOH, MoscowMitch has used it to re-shape our federal courts, including SCOTUS. Unless you believe that the Democratic party will durably overcome its structural disadvantage in winning and holding a Senate majority, eliminating the filibuster can cause more grief than the short-term gains.
That’s why you add more states too - to decrease this long term advantage.

Regardless, there is a very good reason Republicans haven’t eliminated the filibuster. The senate rules already let republicans pass their type of bills (tax cuts) with a simple majority. They don’t care about much else so the filibuster is used only to block things like the expansion of health insurance. It should have been eliminated long ago but we can still do it now.

Let's conjecture, how many justices would Chuck Schumer add to the Supreme Court? I'm guessing just 2, so "conservatives" would still have a bare majority for now. Adding 4 seems ambitious. But my point is how many justices would a future version of Mitch McConnell add? The GOP has proven it doesn't care about institutional or democratic norms, or the rule of law; so do we really want to get into a pissing contest with them?
If they don’t care about norms then why does it matter what Democrats do?

I'm by no means a Mitt Romney supporter, but this comparison is pretty unfair to Romney.
I agree. I wouldn’t vote for him personally but he clearly has at least some integrity that other Republicans lack.
 

Paratus

Lifer
Jun 4, 2004
17,117
14,484
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While I don’t agree with many of his policies he was the only Republican to vote to remove Trump and I’ll always respect his integrity for that.

Assuming Biden wins we only need 50 seats so long as Kamala is okay with basically camping out in the senate for the next few years.

Of course the major benefit to being above 50 of course is the party isn’t beholden to any single senator. So less chance of a Lieberman/ACA public option type issue.
 
Feb 4, 2009
35,246
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That’s why you add more states too - to decrease this long term advantage.

Regardless, there is a very good reason Republicans haven’t eliminated the filibuster. The senate rules already let republicans pass their type of bills (tax cuts) with a simple majority. They don’t care about much else so the filibuster is used only to block things like the expansion of health insurance. It should have been eliminated long ago but we can still do it now.


If they don’t care about norms then why does it matter what Democrats do?


I agree. I wouldn’t vote for him personally but he clearly has at least some integrity that other Republicans lack.

This and that’s why I say no more filibuster
and as I said earlier it makes lawmakers accountable.
Imagine 2017 where all the republicans bitched for years about ACA and they didn’t have the filibuster to prevent them from killing ACA. They either kill it and today deal with the consequences (see Corona) or they don’t and we can all tell them to shut the fuck up.
 

fskimospy

Elite Member
Mar 10, 2006
85,634
50,860
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This and that’s why I say no more filibuster
and as I said earlier it makes lawmakers accountable.
Imagine 2017 where all the republicans bitched for years about ACA and they didn’t have the filibuster to prevent them from killing ACA. They either kill it and today deal with the consequences (see Corona) or they don’t and we can all tell them to shut the fuck up.
Ironically none of the bills the Republicans put forth to scrap the ACA were defeated by the filibuster - they simply failed to gain majority support. This is why the threat of Republicans using a majority rules senate is so empty.

Sure there’s bound to be times here and there it will help them but the filibuster is used WAY more often to stop progressive legislation than to stop conservative.
 

SteveGrabowski

Diamond Member
Oct 20, 2014
7,428
6,157
136
That’s why you add more states too - to decrease this long term advantage.

Regardless, there is a very good reason Republicans haven’t eliminated the filibuster. The senate rules already let republicans pass their type of bills (tax cuts) with a simple majority. They don’t care about much else so the filibuster is used only to block things like the expansion of health insurance. It should have been eliminated long ago but we can still do it now.


If they don’t care about norms then why does it matter what Democrats do?


I agree. I wouldn’t vote for him personally but he clearly has at least some integrity that other Republicans lack.

I was with you until you started talking about Romney's integrity. He's a looter who puts on a nice face and pretends not to be total scum. Yeah he showed a lot of integrity by leading the charge to get COVID Barrett installed a week before the election when he was the one who could have killed it. Being not outwardly abrasive is a pretty poor substitute for actually having integrity.
 

Maxima1

Diamond Member
Jan 15, 2013
3,538
759
146
Of course the major benefit to being above 50 of course is the party isn’t beholden to any single senator. So less chance of a Lieberman/ACA public option type issue.

Which will almost certainly happen under 52 Senators. And it's still an open question what Biden's intention is. The most important is reforming top court. 6-3 conservative court with Kavanaugh & Gorsuch as swing vote is bad. I don't believe Mitch is an idiot; he probably thinks there's at least a coin toss or better chance that the outcome after the election (whether the election itself or the weak Democrats after achieving a trifecta) leads to their SCOTUS majority remaining, yet everything indicates a Democratic landslide. Hmm...

 

SteveGrabowski

Diamond Member
Oct 20, 2014
7,428
6,157
136
Which will almost certainly happen under 52 Senators. And it's still an open question what Biden's intention is. The most important is reforming top court. 6-3 conservative court with Kavanaugh & Gorsuch as swing vote is bad. I don't believe Mitch is an idiot; he probably thinks there's at least a coin toss or better chance that the outcome after the election (whether the election itself or the weak Democrats after achieving a trifecta) leads to their SCOTUS majority remaining, yet everything indicates a Democratic landslide. Hmm...


That's why you add DC and Puerto Rico as states too. Hell split them just like the Dakotas were.
 

Sunburn74

Diamond Member
Oct 5, 2009
5,037
2,615
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I was with you until you started talking about Romney's integrity. He's a looter who puts on a nice face and pretends not to be total scum. Yeah he showed a lot of integrity by leading the charge to get COVID Barrett installed a week before the election when he was the one who could have killed it. Being not outwardly abrasive is a pretty poor substitute for actually having integrity.
Agreed . I don't think any reasonable person on both sides of the aisle would say rushing her at this time in this environment was good for the country and will be good for the future of the senate. Romney himself knew that and hinted at that in his statements. Yet he knew what he was doing.
 

SteveGrabowski

Diamond Member
Oct 20, 2014
7,428
6,157
136
Agreed . I don't think any reasonable person on both sides of the aisle would say rushing her at this time in this environment was good for the country and will be good for the future of the senate. Romney himself knew that and hinted at that in his statements. Yet he knew what he was doing.

It's who Romney is, a cold-blooded piece of shit with no regard for peons like us who aren't in his club of millionaire looters who drain our resources while providing nothing of merit to society. It's why he went and killed companies and stole peoples' livelihoods with his leveraged buyouts at Bain. It's why he ran for president on the platform of making us all pay for the boomers' Medicare while snatching it from everyone younger. I hate seeing Romney's image rehabilitated because he made some empty complaints about Trump's tweeting and such and cast a completely meaningless impeachment vote because he knows he's more popular than Trump in his state. Fuck Romney. He's as hard right as anyone in the GOP senate.
 

hal2kilo

Lifer
Feb 24, 2009
24,222
10,877
136
Agreed . I don't think any reasonable person on both sides of the aisle would say rushing her at this time in this environment was good for the country and will be good for the future of the senate. Romney himself knew that and hinted at that in his statements. Yet he knew what he was doing.
I don't know what the popularity number used to be, but in my opinion, the SCOTUS as now assembled for a purpose well known to Republicans, no longer deserves any more respect than your typical politician.
 
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soundforbjt

Lifer
Feb 15, 2002
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I don't know what the popularity number used to be, but in my opinion, the SCOTUS as now assembled for a purpose well known to Republicans, no longer deserves any more respect than your typical politician.
I'm sure it's just a coincidence that 3 of the SC judges are alumni of the Bush v Gore case.
 

MtnMan

Diamond Member
Jul 27, 2004
8,960
8,191
136
There are many that really need to be sent home, for the future of the country. The one that if he loses will give me the biggest smile is Leningrad Lindsey, from neighboring SC.

He is such a fucking cry baby, and I wouldn't be surprised if he lashes out as Trump, as Trump has basically tuned him out as far as helping him by campaigning for him. It would warm my heart to see this.
 

Sunburn74

Diamond Member
Oct 5, 2009
5,037
2,615
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I'm sure it's just a coincidence that 3 of the SC judges are alumni of the Bush v Gore case.
Yes. I too found that absolutely remarkable. Its uncanny and disturbing that the best way to get on the SCOTUS is to help the absolute highest levels of a political party stay in power.
 

Wreckem

Diamond Member
Sep 23, 2006
9,461
996
126
Dems have the advantage in term with the map in 2022. 2024 will be the year they struggle.