2024 US Presidential Elections Megathread

[Tonitrus]

I absolutely cannot put my finger on why...but my gut is screaming that Walz will turn out to be a bad pick.

[Jacob]

Can you identify the general region of feeling that the "bad pick" vibes are coming from?

Too good to be true?

Secret skeleton in the closet?

Anti-Minnesotan prejudice?

Too socialist?

Secretly on Xi Jinping's payroll?

[DGuller]

I just looked into the couch thing for the first time, and learned that it was a hoax.   

[Tonitrus]

Can you identify the general region of feeling that the "bad pick" vibes are coming from?

Too good to be true?

Secret skeleton in the closet?

Anti-Minnesotan prejudice?

Too socialist?

Secretly on Xi Jinping's payroll?

Hmmm...not most of those.  But maybe a mix of...

- Minnesota is not really a battleground state.
- Not-so-secret skeletons that can be exploited, regardless of severity/seriousness...the DUI, his nature of his leaving military service, handling of George Floyd events.
- catering more to the Bernie Sanders side of the political spectrum than a move towards the middle.

The DUI will likely hurt the most...because that is actually serious.  If he ends up having to answer for it in a debate...and does so poorly, he will become an instant millstone.

[Valmy]

Dude it happened 30 years ago. That's insane.

Anyway Minnesota and the whole Midwest is absolutely a battleground.

[Tonitrus]

Dude it happened 30 years ago. That's insane.

Anyway Minnesota and the whole Midwest is absolutely a battleground.

Not in politics, it isn't.

And Minnesota...

From 1932 onward, the state has primarily voted Democratic, last voting Republican during Nixon's landslide victory in 1972. Outside of Washington, D.C., it is the longest Democratic streak in the country.

[Valmy]

Yeah and it has been close for many years. It was the next state to go red for awhile and Walz did what he did with a tiny majority of one in the statehouse.

I mean the election is in 2024, not 1964. What happened 60 years ago doesn't factor here.

[grumbler]

Walz is not from a swing state, but he has broad appeal in the swing states around Wisconsin.  He's handled the backlash from his DUI pretty well for 30 years, so I'm not worried about that. He is somewhat vulnerable to the "socialist" charge, but the Republicans are going to have to work hard to turn feeding children into a crime. 

[Zanza]

It's bizarre how a DUI thirty years ago might be an issue when the opponent is a felon.

[Tamas]

It's bizarre how a DUI thirty years ago might be an issue when the opponent is a felon.

But that's the Deep State, man!

[Admiral Yi]

I don't think it will be an issue unless he was a dumbass after he was pulled over.

[Tamas]

Harris puts "pro-Palestinian" hacklers in their place, removing the last vestige of Otto's excuse to vote Trump:
https://www.newsweek.com/kamala-harris-shuts-down-rally-hecklers-michigan-im-speaking-1936225

The Democratic presidential nominee was speaking to supporters about the infamous Project 2025 conservative policy initiative when a group of pro-Palestinian spectators could be heard chanting, in part, "We won't vote for genocide."

Harris paused her speech to tell the group, "You know what, if you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I'm speaking."

The crowd erupted into cheers after Harris addressed the interruptions, as supporters then countered with their own chant: "We're not going back."

[Norgy]

So this Project 2025 is now "infamous". To quote the great philosopher Dr. Evil: Well, it's a start. 

[Habbaku]

Can you identify the general region of feeling that the "bad pick" vibes are coming from?

Too good to be true?

Secret skeleton in the closet?

Anti-Minnesotan prejudice?

Too socialist?

Secretly on Xi Jinping's payroll?

Hmmm...not most of those.  But maybe a mix of...

- Minnesota is not really a battleground state.
- Not-so-secret skeletons that can be exploited, regardless of severity/seriousness...the DUI, his nature of his leaving military service, handling of George Floyd events.
- catering more to the Bernie Sanders side of the political spectrum than a move towards the middle.

The DUI will likely hurt the most...because that is actually serious.  If he ends up having to answer for it in a debate...and does so poorly, he will become an instant millstone.

This is the kind of ultra-pessimistic logic that I've seen of way too many Democrats of late--at least, prior to Walz's nomination. Everything about the Democratic candidates is a fatal wound, but nothing about the Republican candidates matters.

It's flawed logic, and is being proven wrong in the polls and, like 2020, will be proven wrong in the election itself.

[frunk]

This is the kind of ultra-pessimistic logic that I've seen of way too many Democrats of late--at least, prior to Walz's nomination. Everything about the Democratic candidates is a fatal wound, but nothing about the Republican candidates matters.

It's flawed logic, and is being proven wrong in the polls and, like 2020, will be proven wrong in the election itself.

Yeah, I was skeptical of Biden withdrawing, primarily because I wasn't sure the Democrats would be able to unite behind a new candidate.  However they got their shit together and the response has been much better than I expected.  The campaign is finally doing many of the things it should have been doing with Biden, so I'm much more hopeful than I was.