Good guys win.

Georgia, and the country, dodged a bullet on Tuesday. I’m sure others here felt the way I did when I looked at the still-whisker-thin margin and thought: Lord, there were that many people willing to gamble on Herschel Walker? I can’t even look at photos of him for more than a few seconds; seldom has such a dim light shone from a man’s eyes. Of course, now the off-the-record rats are scrabbling to the nearest reporter:

Interviews with a dozen campaign staff members and Republican operatives working with the Walker campaign suggest that it wasn’t just the candidate who had flaws — the campaign itself was hampered by poor decision-making.

Some said that Walker and his wife, Julie Blanchard Walker, never fully empowered his team to make decisions, frequently questioning suggestions and plans by veteran campaign operatives. The pair insisted on spending what aides described as an “excessive” amount of time poring over proposals for every campaign stop, bottlenecking planning. That included wanting to spend significant time in heavily Democratic areas to woo Black voters, a problem that worsened in the runoff when staff wanted Walker to focus exclusively on mobilizing Republicans who had just voted for him in the general election.

Staffers said Blanchard Walker even suggested her husband should be winning as much as 50 percent of the Black vote in Georgia, regularly commenting that the campaign needed “to be getting him in front of his people, in front of his community,” as one person working on the campaign recalled.

A Republican victory in the Georgia Senate race — even with a Black nominee — was unlikely to involve the party winning over droves of Black voters. The overwhelmingly Democratic demographic propelled Warnock to office two years ago.

So farewell, Herschel. Go back to Texas and live out your life.

Meanwhile, in Germany:

The plan was to storm the German Capitol, arrest lawmakers and execute the chancellor. A prince descended from German nobility would take over as the new head of state, and a former far-right member of Parliament would be put in charge of a national purge.

To facilitate the coup, the electricity network would be sabotaged. Satellite phones to communicate off grid had already been bought.

That is what German prosecutors and intelligence officials say a nationwide far-right terrorist network was plotting before 3,000 police officers and Special Forces fanned out across the country on Wednesday to raid 150 homes and arrest 25 suspected co-conspirators. They included an active duty soldier, a former officer in the elite special forces, a police officer and at least two army reservists.

The prince looks like… about what you’d expect a member of German nobility to look like, which is to say, not exactly an übermensch, but rather a doughy Bavarian lout. And there’s this line, toward the end:

Germany’s intelligence services have for years said that the greatest threat to the country came from domestic, far-right extremist groups.

That’s what our intelligence services have been saying for a while, too, but not very loudly, because it might upset Jim Jordan.

Finally, this: BRITTNEY GRINER IS FREE. Hallelujah.

Posted at 9:01 am in Current events |
 

29 responses to “Good guys win.”

  1. alex said on December 8, 2022 at 9:34 am

    I think the GOP learned its lesson when it lured carpetbagger Alan Keyes to Illinois to take on Barack Obama, believing Keyes would fragment the Black vote. It didn’t happen, and White Republicans didn’t vote for Keyes either. These days, only Herschel Walker would be stupid enough to think Black voters are stupid enough to vote Republican.

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  2. Deborah said on December 8, 2022 at 9:43 am

    Good news about Griner, I hadn’t yet heard that until I read it here. I had read about Ted Cruz’s daughter hurting herself. Really sad, I feel for her, I hope she gets the help she needs, and her whole family too.

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  3. Peter said on December 8, 2022 at 10:18 am

    Alex, I think Walker’s wife was smarter than his campaign staff.

    I think the general election showed that the traditional Republican vote was going to Herschel no matter what – they would have voted for a day old half eaten burrito before they would vote for Warnock. Perhaps more of them would have voted for the burrito.

    He only needed to get a few more votes to win. I think if he had just done low key events, like greeting people outside a grocery store or shopping center in the hood, he would have gotten more votes. There’s no way he would have won the Black vote, but he didn’t need to – he just needed to do better than last time. A nice handshake, a warm greeting, a little reminiscing about the college days, who knows what would have happened.

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  4. Jenine said on December 8, 2022 at 10:40 am

    So glad to hear about Britney Griner being released and on a plane.

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  5. jcburns said on December 8, 2022 at 10:42 am

    Peter, why do you think your strategy—if that’s what you’d call it—would have made enough of a difference? I think we Georgians knew what the game was all the way along.

    Oh, Herschel was nice to me outside the grocery store?

    Naaah.

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  6. Jeff Borden said on December 8, 2022 at 11:41 am

    The Illinois QOP did indeed run Alan Keyes against Barack Obama utilizing the same language the Georgia QOP did, i.e., “We’ve got a black guy, too!” Keyes rented a one-bedroom apartment in Calumet City to satisfy his residency issue and ran the kind of looney tunes campaign you’d expect. Nonetheless, he received 27 percent of the vote, a shockingly high number for a bumbling carpetbagger to draw. Some people hate Democrats so much they will vote for a Jeffrey Dahmer or a Charles Manson rather than a D.

    Re: Brittney Griner. The right-wing rage machine is aflame with anti-Griner rhetoric upon her release. She’s unworthy of release because she refused to participate in the national anthem before games which, while a Constitutionally protected exercise of free speech, is a bridge too far for the white commentariat. I hate to think about the release of a horrible merchant of death, but we’ve done worse in the past and probably will in the future.

    Kudos to Georgia. Now, let’s start flooding the federal courts with liberal judges to counteract the hundreds of right-wing loonies installed by tRump and McConnell. And let’s pray Alito, Gorsuch and Thomas fail in their efforts to throw complete control of federal elections to state legislatures. Jesus, what a fucking disaster that will be. . .

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  7. Deborah said on December 8, 2022 at 11:53 am

    I finally got on Post.news, my niece who has been on it for a couple of weeks forwarded an email from the guy who started Post to get people who had signed up before Nov 26 but hadn’t yet gotten on. It’s not great yet, but it’s just starting and hopefully will get better. Are any of you on it?

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  8. Mark P said on December 8, 2022 at 12:10 pm

    1.7 MILLION Georgians voted for Herschel Walker, despite knowing exactly who and what he is. “… we Georgians knew what the game was all the way along”? I’m afraid you’re living in a bubble. A sane bubble nearly filled with decent people, but a bubble nevertheless. If Walker had been controllable, or if Republicans had nominated a normal-acting person like Brian Kemp, I think the election might well have gone the other way. I really like and respect Raphael Warnock, but there’s a whole hell of a lot of Georgians who will vote Republican if they are given half a chance.

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  9. alex said on December 8, 2022 at 12:46 pm

    JeffB, 27 percent in a Senate race is pretty pathetic no matter how you look at it. And remember the Republicans first tried to recruit Mike Ditka and then Ted Nugent and neither one of them could be persuaded.

    That only 27 percent voted for Keyes compared to 49 percent for Walker reflects pretty well on the people of Illinois.

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  10. Dorothy said on December 8, 2022 at 12:58 pm

    I just got on Post yesterday, Deborah. Haven’t spent much time on there yet but it seems to be a very obvious work in progress. I can be patient!

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  11. Sherri said on December 8, 2022 at 1:17 pm

    Britney Griner coming home is great news. The women’s basketball community has worked endlessly to keep her situation prominent.

    Of course the right wingers are unhappy. A Democratic President secured the release of a female 6’8” black lesbian basketball player; they hate the very existence of Democratic presidents, black women, lesbians, women basketball players, and probably women who are taller than them.

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  12. Bob (not Greene) said on December 8, 2022 at 2:23 pm

    Dorothy, I signed up for Post on Nov. 24 and was notified I was on the wait list, but I haven’t heard a word from them since.

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  13. Peter said on December 8, 2022 at 2:40 pm

    Alex, I had thought the GOP tried recruiting Ditka for a different election, but I checked and you’re right. Can you imagine what it would have been like if he won? Ai yi yi.

    JC, I don’t question the average Georgian’s intellect or intelligence. If Herschel Walker was outside my grocery store shaking hands, it wouldn’t change my vote either. And I’m not implying that this tactic only works with low information voters. It’s just that a lot of people don’t vote, and a lot of those people claim (honestly or not…) that they don’t vote because they’re sick of the whole process, both sides are to blame, etc. etc. Standing outside a grocery store shaking hands isn’t going to result in an avalanche of new voters, but he didn’t need that many. And, bottom line, I think he would have gotten more votes doing that than what they were doing.

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  14. David C said on December 8, 2022 at 2:45 pm

    I’m on Post. So far, I like no character limit and paying a small charge to read articles. I think Reuters is the only news organization signed up, but it’s a start. I haven’t found anything I didn’t like that I couldn’t say is only from growing pains.

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  15. Suzanne said on December 8, 2022 at 4:01 pm

    My son & I were discussing people voting for Walker and concluded that my elderly mother & father-in-law, probably my sister-in-law & her husband, and my husband’s elderly aunt would all vote for a similar candidate who played football for Indiana U. These are all college educated people but that IU connection would be all they needed.

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  16. Dorothy said on December 8, 2022 at 4:30 pm

    I had to scroll back through my emails to remind myself when I signed up, Bob. It was 11/26. Here’s part of the email they sent me on Tuesday:

    Some things to remember before you sign up – this is a VERY early version and is missing LOTS of features and functionality. We are working around the clock to catch up. If you are not into early betas and want a finished product, please wait a while. If you want to participate and help – please come on in.

    We have decided to let in many more people than we can handle operationally as build out our back office. This means that if you have problems signing up or receiving our emails (which some users do), it will take us a long time to get to you. Please be patient and try the following workarounds to solve the issue yourself. To manage expectations, it will take us several days to get back to you when you email us.

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  17. Jeff Borden said on December 8, 2022 at 5:25 pm

    Well, huzzah! Old Clarence Thomas and Strip Search Sammy Alito can eat a bag of salted dicks as the House approved landmark legislation enshrining marriage equality. Overturning Obergefell won’t matter any more, assholes!

    It’s too bad this wasn’t done for reproductive rights. Reports from Carbondale, Illinois, home to Illinois State University and the nearest abortion clinic to Kentucky and southern Missouri, are that women are arriving in droves from those two states. Carbondale is actually a pretty conservative town and this isn’t sitting well with some residents, but the point is clear: Banning abortions at the state level will not prevent them. It will only limit them to those who can afford to travel.

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  18. Julie Robinson said on December 8, 2022 at 8:06 pm

    Obviously I haven’t been paying attention, because I never heard of Post. Uncle G is no help, but do I surmise it’s a Twitter alternative?

    Tonight on Jeopardy a contestant said they lived in a Sears house, and my mom said her parents’ home had also been one. Uncle G did help me on this one, and in very short order I found the model: http://www.searsarchives.com/homes/images/1921-1926/1921_0227.jpg
    She said there were a few differences, but basically, it’s her childhood home.

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  19. Deborah said on December 8, 2022 at 9:09 pm

    That is so cool Julie, that you found your Mom’s childhood Sears home. The price of it listed in the link is crazy.

    Also yes, Post.news is a Twitter substitute that is just getting off the ground. Mastodon is another one I joined but I can’t figure out how to log on to my account. It’s confusing.

    I no longer have a Twitter account but I have cheated a bit to read some people on Twitter that I miss. But Twitter doesn’t let me do that anymore starting today. Probably for the good that I leave it alone.

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  20. Julie Robinson said on December 8, 2022 at 9:31 pm

    She just told me the backstory. The previous owners of the farm built the house only a couple of years before they sold the farm. Except: they didn’t sell it, the bank took it, and my great grandfather bought it as a wedding gift for his darling daughter when she was married in 1929. So that house, cheap as it was, may have been what pushed them over the edge. I was thinking about my grandparents’ dreams when they moved in; now I’m also thinking about the dashed dreams of the precious family.

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  21. Deni Menken said on December 8, 2022 at 11:50 pm

    Oh my gosh! That model was my grandma’s house on Normal Ave. in Normal Illinois. The Illinois State Library sits over the site now. She was widowed as a young farm wife. She left the farm when my oldest aunt graduated from Dana HS, taking her three girls into this house with money she made by selling the farm back to her in-laws. She arranged to work mornings as a telephone operator, serve hot lunches to a group of ISU students in her dining room for some extra bit of cash, then walk the railroad tracks to work at The Baby Fold in the afternoons. All three daughters received college degrees. She had an eighth grade education. I loved that square house. And I loved her.

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  22. Dexter Friend said on December 9, 2022 at 2:51 am

    Brittney Griner looked healthy enough to smile as she boarded the plane from the UAE where she was flown to for the prisoner exchange. Bout was interviewed as well and he said he didn’t know what was going to happen to him when he was , without warning, taken from his cell. He seemed stunned. Brittney now is in San Antonio getting checked out physically and mentally and probably chugging a few Gatorades.
    I had no advance feeling that Griner was about to be sprung, but now I have a bad feeling that Whelan is there for a long while, until we capture a Russian spy…hey! When Trump, Putin’s agent, gets jailed shortly, let’s throw him in the package for the Whelan prisoner swap. Send that fucker to Russia and throw in Melania and Jared and Donnie and Eric and Ivanka. Mary Trump can stay. She’s OK.
    And if you want to try to figure out exactly what Jeff Borden was writing about, here’s an explanation…pay attention to what Neal Katyal says.
    https://idahocapitalsun.com/2022/12/07/future-of-u-s-election-law-at-stake-as-supreme-court-hears-north-carolina-case/

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  23. David C said on December 9, 2022 at 5:57 am

    Sounds like a good plan to me Dexter.

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  24. Julie Robinson said on December 9, 2022 at 7:48 am

    Deni, I posted it on FB and someone else lived in that same model too. Another friend’s parents bought a Sears kit and put it together themselves, can you imagine? I’m no good at IKEA furniture.

    Last sentence should be previous family, not precious.

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  25. Peter said on December 9, 2022 at 8:07 am

    Dexter, your proposal has a fatal flaw – Putin knows Trump has no money and no future.

    Now, if we were to say send back Whelan OR we’ll send you the Trumps, that will be a slam dunk.

    Which brings me to this – where will Trump fly off to when the indictments come in? My money’s on Saudi Arabia – Idi Amin did OK there. I think Hungary and Turkey are out – the EU can put the screws to those two.

    People are saying Turkmenistan is lovely this time of year. And they could use a luxury hotel.

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  26. Jeff Gill said on December 9, 2022 at 8:24 am

    Can we trade Trump for Whelan?

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  27. Dexter said on December 9, 2022 at 8:55 am

    Kyrsten Sinema just deserted the Democrats to become an Independent. Says nothing will change, she’ll caucus same as always. THEN WHY? I do not trust her… who or what ($$$$$) got to her?

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  28. David C said on December 9, 2022 at 10:28 am

    Sinema is as much a narcissist as TFG. Senator Warnock was getting the attention she had to do something to get her name on TV. That and she’s a former Green. Never trust a Green.

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  29. Suzanne said on December 9, 2022 at 11:06 am

    Sinema won because the GOP candidate she ran against was a complete whack job. She’s a publicity hound and her name hadn’t been in the news lately so she had to pull a stunt. All publicity is good publicity but I truly doubt she can be re-elected.

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