Virginia/New Jersey Governor races

[Belsnickel]

(11-03-2021, 12:10 PM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: I followed it closely, mainly because I lived there as a kid (Fort Lee) and because I was interested in your prediction about election results following a strong Dem push on gun rights, etc.  Your take on McAuliffe is spot on, he literally couldn't stop stepping in it.  His comments about parents essentially having no say in their children's education were just mind blowingly stupid.  I think that tiki torch stunt really hurt him as well.  It wasn't just Lincoln Project idiots (btw could that organization be more tarnished at this point?), there were Dem operatives in there as well.  I think people really found that stunt distasteful.  But, of course, I'm not there to see that firsthand.

Honestly, I almost ignored this race entirely. I don't even know what tiki torch stunt you're talking about. But I'm also one of those that votes on stated policy positions and not the dog-and-pony show that is political theater. But yes, the Lincoln Project is a shit organization and I have been warning those around me on the left of them from the beginning. They had some funny memes and they did some good work, but they aren't our friends.

(11-03-2021, 12:10 PM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: Bel can certainly correct me if I'm wrong, but that's pretty much how VA elections run in general.  The suburbs are really the only "swing" areas.

Yup. So, you have the urban areas of NOVA, Richmond, and a good chunk of the tidewater areas that run blue, and the rest of the state runs red. But the suburb areas around those cities can be swayed. It is 100% an urban and rural divide in this state with suburbs being that "no-man's-land."

(11-03-2021, 12:17 PM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: I think the most interesting takeaway from VA, and it will be an enormous issue going forward, is the issue of what's being taught in public schools and how. The Dems are really going to have to find a message other than "white fragility" to counter concerns about race and how it is taught/discussed in school. In theory the idea of teaching children about the full scope of American history, and how race has played into that history, shouldn't be controversial. However, and as someone who has multiple friends who are public school teachers I can confirm, it only takes one teacher going overboard on the subject to make it a problem. I can further guarantee you that it will be far more than one teacher and the issue will reoccur across the nation. By framing concerns about lessons that go too far, or a teacher making inappropriate statements, as white people being too "fragile" to take the truth is a losing argument all day.

I said it a long time ago, the Dems have way overplayed the race card and people are sick of hearing about it. And by people, I mean people of all ethnicities. Accusations of racism are very powerful, and thus should be used sparingly and only when it's plain to all watching that its use is appropriate. That has absolutely not been the case for the past several years and we're starting to see the results.

Honestly, I'm ready for a complete overhaul of our education system in general. But in the meantime, it is tough here in Virginia where we have a history that is so drenched in racial issues. It's hard to teach about the first slaves landing here in 1619 and the way in which the idea of "whiteness" and "blackness" were cultivated almost entirely to justify the chattel slavery that was kicked off during that century without really getting into that. Living in rural Virginia as I do, I will say that a lot of the time people tend to have a problem with something a teacher did when they really didn't go overboard. I've seen it here so often. We have people disrupting school board meetings in the county, here, over an issue that isn't even happening in their schools. They just want to be outraged over something and the astroturfing by Koch organizations is usually the reason for it.

(11-03-2021, 12:18 PM)Nately120 Wrote: If McCauliff blew it big time then the democrats need to learn and move on. Only idiots would double down on a losing hand. Youngkin saw others talk the Trump game and suffer for it, and he learned from their mistakes.

Gotta play the game.

Pfft. Our state Democrats responded to learning the lesson about ignoring rural Democratic voters by completely shutting out rural Democrats from leadership in the party.