The GOP's Only Path To Victory: Flood The Airwaves With Negative Ads So People Get Disgusted And Don't Vote

This year, the Republicans will do anything-- and apparently everything-- to avoid talking about issues. (Unless you consider the Ron DeSantis ad above-- yes that is a real ad than ran on television statewide in Florida-- an "issues" ad.) Kara Eastman and Beto O'Rourke had punk rock bands in high school and college. Jared Golden got a tattoo (with his unit fighting on the front lines in Afghanistan). Beto also skateboards and likes women with dyed hair... and eats BBQ-ed tofu... This is all crazy. In Wisconsin, Lyin' Bryan Steil dug up Randy Bryce's hate-filled, estranged brother to make an ugly ad against Randy that caused their ailing mother a serious health alarm.

The Republicans claim the issues are on their side but they don't bring any of them up on the campaign trail. Ted Cruz would rather claim Beto O'Rourke hates the national anthem. Mimi Rogers thinks she's disparaging Katie Porter by pointing out she went to Harvard. Paul Ryan's Adelson-funded SuperPAC is running the most personal and hate-filled smear ads across the country, the real purpose of which are to drive down turnout. And when they do mention an issue or two, they just lie. Yesterday, at New York Magazine, Jonathan Chait pointed out that "Republican leaders have been insisting that their policy agenda is widely loved by the public. For weeks, they have been planting the excuse that the only reason they might lose the midterm elections is Donald Trump’s erratic personality." Really? Not this?



Or this? Bruce Poliquin needs to do a public, televised debate with Democratic challenger Jared Golden about healthcare, the top issue for the folks who live in ME-02. But he never will. Isn't way easier to talk to the brainwashed Trumpist base about Golden's tattoos and other irrelevant nonsense that doesn't have anything whatsoever to do with what might make Mainers' lives better?



You don't see Republican ads like that-- just crazy lies and smear. "Americans," said Chait, tongue firmly placed in cheek, "would remember how much they love and cherish the accomplishments of the Republican Congress, if the president would just pipe down. Of course, if voters like the Republican policy agenda, there is nothing stopping candidates from trying to remind them of all their good works. If you recall, during the debate over the tax cut, Republican leaders continually insisted the tax cuts would be popular, and if enacted into law would provide the basis for their candidates to campaign. But the tax cuts remain unpopular, and Republicans have stopped talking about them... In fact, the Republicans’ own polling confirms... that voters are not actually onboard with the party agenda. The survey found 'increasing funding for veterans’ mental health services, strengthening and preserving Medicare and Social Security, and reforming the student loan system all scored higher than Trump’s favored subjects of tax cuts, border security, and preserving the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.'"

The popular ideas, in other words, all involve higher domestic spending. The Republican survey also warns that a “challenge for GOP candidates is that most voters believe that the GOP wants to cut back on these programs in order to provide tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy.”

...[T]his explains why Republicans have stopped touting their tax cuts. And while Trump’s constant scandals-- or “noise,” as his co-partisans euphemistically put it-- may not be helping, they are not obscuring some kind of underlying winning message. That’s why Republican candidates are not trying to focus on domestic policy, but instead running as mini-Trumps of their own, emphasizing symbolic cultural fights designed to whip up ethno-nationalist fervor.

That helps explain why Ryan's SuperPAC is spending millions and millions of dollars attempting to smear Democratic candidates. They just dumped another $1.5 million into Ryan's own district to try to drive down Randy Bryce's favorables. They know that Wisconsin is swinging blue this year-- and they hate it. It's driving Ryan out of his mind and he'll spend millions trying to destroy the man who drove him into retirement. ITuesday the new Marquette poll came out-- another bucket of cold water in the face of Scott Walker and his reactionary team. Democratic gubernatorial challenger Tony Evers has increased his lead over Walker and is now up 49% to 44% among likely voters. It's even worse for the Republicans' Senate candidate, Leah Vukmir. Tammy Baldwin has increased her lead among likely voters and his now beating Vukmir 53% to 42%. And all the issues seem to be going towards the Democrats and away from the Republicans:

Forty-eight percent of registered voters think the state is paying more than the Foxconn plant is worth, while 39 percent think the plant will provide at least as much value as the state is investing in the plant. Thirteen percent say they don’t know if the plant will be worth it or not. In the August poll, 44 percent said the state was paying too much and 41 percent said it was worth it.

...Fifty-nine percent say that protection of the environment should be given priority even at the risk of curbing economic growth. Twenty-seven percent would give economic growth priority even if the environment suffers to some extent.

Forty-seven percent of registered voters say they have a favorable view of the Affordable Care Act, also called Obamacare, while 45 percent have an unfavorable view.

Asked what should be done about the ACA/Obamacare health reform, 4 percent say keep the law as it is, 55 percent say keep and improve the law, 25 percent say repeal and replace the health reform law and 10 percent say the law should be repealed and not replaced. Opinion on the health reform law has changed little since June 2017, when 6 percent said keep as the law, 54 percent said improve it, 27 percent said repeal and replace and 7 percent said repeal and not replace the law.

U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has a 29 percent favorable rating while 29 percent have an unfavorable view and 41 percent are not able to give a rating. In July, when last asked, 27 percent gave a favorable rating while 22 percent had an unfavorable view and 50 percent were unable to rate him. All but 152 voter interviews for the poll were completed before Sunday, when details emerged of an alleged sexual assault when Kavanaugh was in high school.

Thirty-one percent think increased tariffs on steel and aluminum imports will improve the U.S. economy while 52 percent think tariffs will hurt the economy. Seventeen percent say they don’t know. In the August poll, 34 percent said tariffs would improve the economy while 48 percent said tariffs would hurt the economy.

...There has been an increase in support for a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants in the years since 2012. Sixty-eight percent say undocumented immigrants should be allowed to stay in the U.S. and eventually apply for citizenship, 15 percent say undocumented immigrants should be allowed to stay as temporary guest workers but with no path to citizenship and 14 percent say such immigrants should be required to leave the country. When first asked in September 2012, 51 percent supported a path to citizenship, 23 percent favored a guest worker status and 20 percent preferred requiring undocumented immigrants to leave.

...In the new poll results, President Donald Trump has a 42 percent approval rating, with 54 percent disapproving. In the previous Marquette Law School poll in August, his approval was 45 percent with 51 percent disapproving. [Among independent voters 54% disapprove and just 41% approve.]

...Asked if Trump has changed the Republican party—and if so, how—23 percent say he has changed it for the better, 49 percent say he has changed it for the worse and 23 percent say he hasn’t changed it much either way.

...Overall, 62 percent of registered voters say they are very enthusiastic about voting in this year’s elections, with 24 percent somewhat enthusiastic and 13 percent either not very or not at all enthusiastic.

Among Republicans, 64 percent are very enthusiastic, while among Democrats 75 percent are. Among independents, 49 percent say they are very enthusiastic about voting this year. In August, 69 percent of Republicans and 67 percent of Democrats were very enthusiastic, along with 56 percent of independents.

That's the reason for the millions of dollars is negative personal ads, not just in Wisconsin but everywhere from Maine to California. While Democrats are trying to introduce themselves and talk about policies and how they differ from their opponents, the GOP is turning the airwaves into an open sewer.

UPDATE: Lyin' Bryan Ad Angers @IronStache's Mom

Randy Bryce's mother-- who was made famous in his introductory video-- wrote a letter to the local press denouncing the ad Paul Ryan's PAC put up with her right-wing son attacking Randy. "I’m used to my sons getting into disagreements with each other-- every mom is. And I understand that my boys see the world differently when it comes to politics. There is now a group of people from Washington who consider it a good idea to pit my boys against each other for their own political gain. But they didn’t consider a mother’s pain at seeing her children used as tools in a political fight, splashed with millions of dollars of ads across the airwaves. I was proud of my son Randy when he enlisted in the Army, I supported him through his battle with cancer, and I supported him when he became an ironworker and started fighting on behalf of working families. I am also proud to be the wife of a law enforcement officer, and I am proud of the way we raised all our children. And when Randy told me he was running for Congress, I was so proud and eager to support him.

She added that she's also proud of how her children formed "independent, albeit different, world views."

"Unfortunately some political operatives see it as a chance to exploit those differences for their own benefit," she wrote.

The James Bryce ad is the second attack ad in as many days released by the super PAC, which is endorsed by House Speaker Paul Ryan.

"I might be getting up in years, but I still have some fight in me, and I’m not going to let these people take cheap shots at my boys. I think it might help for people to know the truth," she wrote. "Randy and James’ father was a police officer, and Randy is proud to come from a family of law enforcement officials. He also stands for justice and fairness, and speaks up when he sees a wrong being committed."

Nancy Bryce didn't criticize her son James in her letter, but rather took aim at the Republican Party, as well as Ryan and Steil.

"I am disappointed and, frankly, disgusted that we are at a point where the Republican party is so focused on sowing division in our families and communities, with such little regard for the truth," she wrote. "Shame on this 'super PAC' for running these ads, shame on its leader Paul Ryan for funding them, and shame on people of good conscience who choose to sit idly by and watch this pain inflicted upon a family in the name of partisan politics."

She called on Steil to disavow the ad and demand it be taken off the air.

"If my son's opponent Bryan Steil wants to prove that he is a man of good conscience, and above these Washington DC gutter tactics, he should come out and disavow this disgraceful attack ad," she wrote. "If he does not, he has no business representing anyone in any office."

She added, "My family deserves better than this. All families deserve better than this."

Her letter ends with a direct message for Steil.

"Bryan Steil, demand this ad be taken off the air. This goes too far," she wrote. "However the election turns out, politics should not be handled like this."