I'm a Democrat in Alabama. Life is interesting here! I generally can find good information to combat right wing talking points. One area that I am having difficulty finding the counter argument is immigration. My elected officials (all republicans besides Rep Terri Sewell) keep harping on illegal immigration. I would love to say something about this, but I can't find the resources or talking points. If anyone has any ideas, please reply with the info. It would be greatly appreciated.
Hope this okay to share it here. I shared it with my FB friends group in Chattanooga, Tn. Here is what happened today at Costco in North Georgia, just on borderline of Chattanooga Tn. I don't think this is book banning, it is a real threat.
"Dear Costco,
As a long-time Executive Member and frequent shopper at the Costco in Northwest Georgia in Fort Oglethorpe, GA, I was disappointed and offended to see several stacks of a book called “The Democrat Party Hates America” by Mark Levin. The store where this is sold is Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene’s district and is probably the QANON capitol of this country. This area has several extreme Republicans, such as State Senator Colton Moore, who recently called for a Civil War over Trump’s indictments in Atlanta, GA. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene herself has called for violence and Civil War against the Democrats. Selling this book and especially in this hotbed area, you are enabling these extremists.
There are still Democrats and Never Trump voters in this area. Families and friends have been divided because of the extreme Rightwing Trump followers. We do not deserve to be a target of violence because of this untruthful and incendiary book.
I live on Signal Mountain, Tennessee. It is a college- educated area in the suburbs of Chattanooga, Hamilton County, TN (Chattanooga area) is a large customer base for Costco. We could have used those tax dollars from Costco here rather than driving to Marjorie Taylor Greene’s district. I will not return to the store until this book is removed. I will notify my Democratic friends about this situation.
Greetings from a trip to Plains, Georgia where even Jimmy & Rosalynn made it out to the Peanut Festival yesterday. Are you as optimistic about Democratic prospects in South Texas/border/hispanic areas? It seems to me that better performance there could finally tip Texas.
I do hope someone will tell the force multiplier folks - and Simon - that there are six house races in New York that are among the country's most winnable and will net us 5 new house seats (one less than we need to flip paint the House Blue!). Why is Democratic power and money looking under obscure rocks, when the golden door to House Victory is consolidated in the Empire State - America's Blue Beating Heart. Why aren't these six New York seats in force multiplier's top 13?? If anyone is interested, and no one appears to be, the six seats are the 3rd, 4th (both LI - 3rd is Santos who won by only 20,000 votes ), 17th, 18th, 19th (Hudson Valley - 18th is Pat Ryan, the sole Dem winner, by 2,000 votes), and 22nd (Syracuse - where Sarah Klee Hood is going to flip that seat!) Simon, I know you are busy, but this is where the win is - why aren't you paying attention?
Joseph, aren't all 435 House seats of equal value? Are you arguing the ones in New York - the state where I was born - are more important than others? "Why is Democratic power and money looking under obscure rocks?" So House seats in Nevada, or Arizona, or PA are not important? Obscure places? Places where it is much harder to raise money than New York? Seriously, while we know what you are trying to say here I cannot let post go without commenting. You may want to take a second run at it, and be more careful when you post here in the future.
Goes to ease of victory in flippable seats but no state-wide party organization - these six house seats were among the closest in the country - the margins were only 2,000 to 20,000 out of about 250,000 votes cast with more than 200,000 NOT VOTING in each district. The narrowest margin of victory was Pat Ryan who needs to be defended and the biggest winner of the six was George Santos - an easy win for us if anyone was working on it. "Harder to raise money" elsewhere you say? You need organization to spend and allocate money, and then to deploy volunteers. But there is no organized Democratic Party in New York, it is a desiccated husk - the exact opposite of the states that you name. We need to work on Voter Registration right now to activate many of those voters who did not vote, and after that we have to Get Out the Vote, Poll Watch, and Ballot Cure -- but there is no one helping us. It's just atomized grass roots groups with no funding and no resources. If we can activate 10% of those 200,000 who stayed home in each district, we sweep the contest. We're so used to thinking of New York as impregnable, but the new reality is we lost big in 2022 so it is time to turn attention to these races, and yet we can't seem to get it in our heads that the fight is here. I don't mean the other states are "obscure" (you misread the metaphor), I mean we are going all over the country picking places to allocate resources when the easy win is right in front of us - six seats in Blue New York, five to flip one to hold (plus one elsewhere) and we get the house back. Are you really finding tight close districts that could be more easily flipped, geographically bunched with shareable media markets, and the POTENTIAL for money-raising and volunteers? Tell me what they are. Unlike each state that you name, we have no organization in this state, Simon, none, and we need national help, and your focus. Second run the charm?
A good article by John Nichols in The Nation. Behind a paywall, but good nonetheless. Democrats Are on a Winning Streak That Could Transform Our Politics https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/democrats-state-legislature-victories/
Excited to be back together Tuesday 😊 Others in the Hopium Cavalry having fun supporting the VA elections? Where on Day 2 of voting, right?
I'm a Democrat in Alabama. Life is interesting here! I generally can find good information to combat right wing talking points. One area that I am having difficulty finding the counter argument is immigration. My elected officials (all republicans besides Rep Terri Sewell) keep harping on illegal immigration. I would love to say something about this, but I can't find the resources or talking points. If anyone has any ideas, please reply with the info. It would be greatly appreciated.
Hope this okay to share it here. I shared it with my FB friends group in Chattanooga, Tn. Here is what happened today at Costco in North Georgia, just on borderline of Chattanooga Tn. I don't think this is book banning, it is a real threat.
"Dear Costco,
As a long-time Executive Member and frequent shopper at the Costco in Northwest Georgia in Fort Oglethorpe, GA, I was disappointed and offended to see several stacks of a book called “The Democrat Party Hates America” by Mark Levin. The store where this is sold is Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene’s district and is probably the QANON capitol of this country. This area has several extreme Republicans, such as State Senator Colton Moore, who recently called for a Civil War over Trump’s indictments in Atlanta, GA. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene herself has called for violence and Civil War against the Democrats. Selling this book and especially in this hotbed area, you are enabling these extremists.
There are still Democrats and Never Trump voters in this area. Families and friends have been divided because of the extreme Rightwing Trump followers. We do not deserve to be a target of violence because of this untruthful and incendiary book.
I live on Signal Mountain, Tennessee. It is a college- educated area in the suburbs of Chattanooga, Hamilton County, TN (Chattanooga area) is a large customer base for Costco. We could have used those tax dollars from Costco here rather than driving to Marjorie Taylor Greene’s district. I will not return to the store until this book is removed. I will notify my Democratic friends about this situation.
Sincerely,
Sandy Lusk
I don't have a sub stack, I'm just a follower. I seem to have problems here.
Greetings from a trip to Plains, Georgia where even Jimmy & Rosalynn made it out to the Peanut Festival yesterday. Are you as optimistic about Democratic prospects in South Texas/border/hispanic areas? It seems to me that better performance there could finally tip Texas.
I do hope someone will tell the force multiplier folks - and Simon - that there are six house races in New York that are among the country's most winnable and will net us 5 new house seats (one less than we need to flip paint the House Blue!). Why is Democratic power and money looking under obscure rocks, when the golden door to House Victory is consolidated in the Empire State - America's Blue Beating Heart. Why aren't these six New York seats in force multiplier's top 13?? If anyone is interested, and no one appears to be, the six seats are the 3rd, 4th (both LI - 3rd is Santos who won by only 20,000 votes ), 17th, 18th, 19th (Hudson Valley - 18th is Pat Ryan, the sole Dem winner, by 2,000 votes), and 22nd (Syracuse - where Sarah Klee Hood is going to flip that seat!) Simon, I know you are busy, but this is where the win is - why aren't you paying attention?
Joseph, aren't all 435 House seats of equal value? Are you arguing the ones in New York - the state where I was born - are more important than others? "Why is Democratic power and money looking under obscure rocks?" So House seats in Nevada, or Arizona, or PA are not important? Obscure places? Places where it is much harder to raise money than New York? Seriously, while we know what you are trying to say here I cannot let post go without commenting. You may want to take a second run at it, and be more careful when you post here in the future.
Goes to ease of victory in flippable seats but no state-wide party organization - these six house seats were among the closest in the country - the margins were only 2,000 to 20,000 out of about 250,000 votes cast with more than 200,000 NOT VOTING in each district. The narrowest margin of victory was Pat Ryan who needs to be defended and the biggest winner of the six was George Santos - an easy win for us if anyone was working on it. "Harder to raise money" elsewhere you say? You need organization to spend and allocate money, and then to deploy volunteers. But there is no organized Democratic Party in New York, it is a desiccated husk - the exact opposite of the states that you name. We need to work on Voter Registration right now to activate many of those voters who did not vote, and after that we have to Get Out the Vote, Poll Watch, and Ballot Cure -- but there is no one helping us. It's just atomized grass roots groups with no funding and no resources. If we can activate 10% of those 200,000 who stayed home in each district, we sweep the contest. We're so used to thinking of New York as impregnable, but the new reality is we lost big in 2022 so it is time to turn attention to these races, and yet we can't seem to get it in our heads that the fight is here. I don't mean the other states are "obscure" (you misread the metaphor), I mean we are going all over the country picking places to allocate resources when the easy win is right in front of us - six seats in Blue New York, five to flip one to hold (plus one elsewhere) and we get the house back. Are you really finding tight close districts that could be more easily flipped, geographically bunched with shareable media markets, and the POTENTIAL for money-raising and volunteers? Tell me what they are. Unlike each state that you name, we have no organization in this state, Simon, none, and we need national help, and your focus. Second run the charm?