4 ms·

All this hustling and bustling about doing something big to help people out, and we ended up with a highway bill that includes some telecom pork. The Democrats

All this hustling and bustling about doing something big to help people out, and we ended up with a highway bill that includes some telecom pork. The Democrats are DOA at midterms after this.

unclebucknasty 5y ago
You and GP might prove to be right, but let's give it like 15 minutes or so before declaring it dead.
bryanlarsen 5y ago
This is just the bill that some Republicans could get on board with. The Build Back Better bill that actually helps people is supposedly going to be voted on in the house tomorrow, and then it has to get through the Senate.
smt88 5y ago
There are other massive bills in the pipeline and also next year's legislative session. Democrats are DOA at midterms, but it will likely be due to the normal pendulum of politics (backlash against party in power) and unfavorable demographic shifts.
- jonny_eh 5y ago
  And even more extreme gerrymandering by GOP controlled state legislatures.
  - _-david-_ 5y ago
    There is extreme gerrymandering on both sides. When the Democratic party wins they gerrymander as much as the Republicans.
    - smt88 5y ago
      > When the Democratic party wins they gerrymander as much as the Republicans. Absolutely false. Democrats do it far less, in fewer places, and with much less effect on outcomes. Please don't "both sides" this issue. In fact, Democrats changed laws to try to end gerrymandering in three states they won: Oregon, Virginia, and Colorado[1]. They did this against their own self-interest and likely ended up helping Republicans[2]. Multiple independent, transparent measures of extreme gerrymandering have found that Republicans do it more[3]. Republicans have also been found by courts to be using racial gerrymandering to dilute the votes of minorities over[4] and over[5]. That shouldn't be surprising, because we now know that racial gerrymandering was an explicit tactic that Republicans illegally pursued[6]. 1. https://apnews.com/article/redistricting-579984fa53d997956749eb3d3820276b https://apnews.com/article/redistricting-579984fa53d99795674... 2. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/10/democrats-redistricting-gerrymandering-majority-midterms/620403/ https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/10/democra... 3. https://election.princeton.edu/2012/12/30/gerrymanders-part-1-busting-the-both-sides-do-it-myth/ https://election.princeton.edu/2012/12/30/gerrymanders-part-... 4. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-gerrymandering/virginia-republicans-lose-in-u-s-supreme-court-racial-gerrymandering-case-idUSKCN1TI1TN https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-gerrymandering/... 5. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/05/north-carolina-gerrymandering/527592/ https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/05/north-c... 6. https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-secret-files-of-the-master-of-modern-republican-gerrymandering https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-secret-files-of...

All this hustling and bustling about doing something big to help people out, and we ended up with a highway bill that includes some telecom pork. The Democrats are DOA at midterms after this.

unclebucknasty 5y ago

You and GP might prove to be right, but let's give it like 15 minutes or so before declaring it dead.

bryanlarsen 5y ago

This is just the bill that some Republicans could get on board with. The Build Back Better bill that actually helps people is supposedly going to be voted on in the house tomorrow, and then it has to get through the Senate.

smt88 5y ago

There are other massive bills in the pipeline and also next year's legislative session. Democrats are DOA at midterms, but it will likely be due to the normal pendulum of politics (backlash against party in power) and unfavorable demographic shifts.

jonny_eh 5y ago
And even more extreme gerrymandering by GOP controlled state legislatures.
- _-david-_ 5y ago
  There is extreme gerrymandering on both sides. When the Democratic party wins they gerrymander as much as the Republicans.
  - smt88 5y ago
    > When the Democratic party wins they gerrymander as much as the Republicans. Absolutely false. Democrats do it far less, in fewer places, and with much less effect on outcomes. Please don't "both sides" this issue. In fact, Democrats changed laws to try to end gerrymandering in three states they won: Oregon, Virginia, and Colorado[1]. They did this against their own self-interest and likely ended up helping Republicans[2]. Multiple independent, transparent measures of extreme gerrymandering have found that Republicans do it more[3]. Republicans have also been found by courts to be using racial gerrymandering to dilute the votes of minorities over[4] and over[5]. That shouldn't be surprising, because we now know that racial gerrymandering was an explicit tactic that Republicans illegally pursued[6]. 1. https://apnews.com/article/redistricting-579984fa53d997956749eb3d3820276b https://apnews.com/article/redistricting-579984fa53d99795674... 2. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/10/democrats-redistricting-gerrymandering-majority-midterms/620403/ https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/10/democra... 3. https://election.princeton.edu/2012/12/30/gerrymanders-part-1-busting-the-both-sides-do-it-myth/ https://election.princeton.edu/2012/12/30/gerrymanders-part-... 4. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-gerrymandering/virginia-republicans-lose-in-u-s-supreme-court-racial-gerrymandering-case-idUSKCN1TI1TN https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-gerrymandering/... 5. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/05/north-carolina-gerrymandering/527592/ https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/05/north-c... 6. https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-secret-files-of-the-master-of-modern-republican-gerrymandering https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-secret-files-of...