They abandoned it because the people it was working with we’re already committed to voting for them, but weren’t numerous enough to win the election.
I guess people are free to question the predictive value of their internal data or their ideas of what to do with it, but they have been pretty clear that in this election a huge portion of this electorate was already locked in and committed by the time she got into the race. They pivoted to the degree they did to try to speak to the small sliver of people who were remaining as winnable - Republican leaning voters who didnt want to vote for Trump. Maybe it would have worked had they doubled down on Walz’s approach. Maybe their pivot would have been better had they had Shapiro from the start (this group would not have been put off by his pro-israel stance), but they didnt think that was the race they were going to have to run then, and he didnt want it anyway
It’s impossible to say whether the Dems would have won with Shapiro. I’m not down on Walz, either. He had his appeal in some quarters. He did not do well in the VP debate. He looked nervous to me, but he grew into it as it progressed.
On the other side, for all his faults as a mewling, weak sycophant, JD Vance is an educated lawyer, and it is well within his skill set to stand up and debate. Even if he lies out of his arse, he will look confident and polished, and he is well capable of exploiting any situation with a sound bite and an untruth.
My take on the man is that he is an appalling specimen. There’s no way he can actually believe the shit he says, and sides with, given his education. He’s not stupid, like his boss. So what is it? Naked ambition for me, Clive. He is a chameleon and will do whatever it takes to be near to power, and ultimately to get it.
That’s really simplistic. Pick Shapiro, and you pretty much lose many progressives because he’s just pro-genocide at this point. You also lose Michigan anyway because of the Arab vote.
I think it’s the exact opposite. There was a lot of energy around Walz in progressives, from what I observed.
Your entire post simply reads as though you’re cherrypicking things to support the narrative you already had in mind.
It was decided when Trump’s team accepted postal voting imo. Getting shot in the ear gave him the popular vote.
Harris being a woman didn’t help and she wasn’t white enough.
Add to that the culture war RW propaganda and media lies. Policies vs promises. It was all over except hope.
Is it really worth debating this so long after the vote anyway?
Even smart people “know” most of what they know because of a heuristic that suggests the thing in question is true not because they know it to be true. Fuck, this applies probably more to smart people who are simply better at developing better heuristics - see morons using what they heard on Joe Rogan as a heuristic
The problem is when you allow you heuristic to be influenced by disdain of someone or a group it leads you to some pretty dumb places pretty damn quickly
I still refuse to believe that the “Proud Boys” are a real thing. It sounds like an all-gay, leather-fetish marching band. Maybe the highlight of the pride parade, but surely just parody Nazis.
