The Democrat’s ads “attacked” Gibbs by pointing out his support of Donald Trump, his election-denying, etc. In a Republican primary, these things actually helped him, but absolutely also serve to start defining him for a general electorate who finds these things repulsive. This is completely consistent with what NPR and the Washington Post reported.
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The “Overton Window” is already nailed as far right as it can go for the Republican party. Not recognizing this and the direct threat to American democracy if republicans take over the House and Senate is incredibly, dangerously naive.
With all due respect, I cannot disagree strongly enough. If the last generation of Republican politics have taught us anything it’s that there is ALWAYS room for things to get worse.
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Winner, winner, chicken dinner!
It should also be pointed out that Tudor Dixon has close ties to the DeVoss family. She’s the Republican candidate for governor, and is endorsed by Stable Genius 45.
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What I hear you saying, with all due respect, is that it’s better for Peter Meijer to win Michigan’s 3rd district, and make Kevin McCarthy speaker of the House, than for Hillary Scholten to win but at the cost of you feeling ambivalent about campaign tactics. That sort of personal purity approach to politics is how Trump won the first time. You have also made it clear that you haven’t seen the ads the Dems ran here, nor do you understand the district or strategy involved.
That’s not what I’m saying and you know it.
You’re acting like the only feasible way for Democrats to win elections is if they ensure the Republicans field far-right candidates in the general elections. I say that’s bullshit and ultimately hurts our nation’s political discourse over the long term.
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This primary wasn’t a moderate vs. a far-right candidate contest, though. It was one far-right candidate vs another far-right candidate. The less viable far-right candidate won.
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It was a far-right candidate against a farther-right candidate. So the Democrats helped push the Overton window in the wrong direction.
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I disagree. Meijer isn’t further left. He’s just more respectable-seeming in his pursuit of the same goals.
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There is literally no right answer when the Democrats are held to higher standards of decorum, but doing so screws them over, and the Republicans get to do shit like literally try and overthrow an election and still get a fucking pass.
But hey… both sides, I fucking guess… 
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The Overton Window isn’t a window anymore so much as the missing side of a building. The right wing in America has shifted so far right that center-right Democrats look practically Marxist by comparison. All the while, Republican voters are wishing that their candidates could be more extreme.
In some ways it’s even hard to call whatever the Republican party has become as “right wing”. The entire party platform has become so inconsistent and flexible that it has essentially become a sentient blob of nihilist putty that only serves to hurt others (even their own supporters) and enrich those in power (as long as they fall in line). Policies don’t really matter, they are just chasing whatever fleeting meme of the moment that can be used whip up anger over whatever/whoever today’s “enemy” is.
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I regret to inform you that we live in an era when “respecting the outcome of an election and supporting the peaceful transfer of power” is enough to distinguish a Republican candidate as being to the left of his colleagues.
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“The only feasible way”
Nowhere did I say that. I AM saying, again, that in Michigan’s new 3rd district, the ads the Dems ran attacking Gibbs for being too conservative are completely fine. Attacking Democrats for this does the Republicans work for them. Again, please watch the ads (I am in the same TV market as the 3rd) and familiarize yourself with this situation, then you can lecture me about the importance of having good-faith upstanding Republican candidates, a lovely issues based campaign discourse, and any other fairy tales you’d like.
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Fixed that for you.
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Any way you slice it the Democrats spend ad money in a gamble to help put the farther-right candidate on the ballot because they thought he’d be easier to beat in the general election. That’s a really bad idea.
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That fact is causing heads to explode on our local Facebook groups. Tudor Dixon was evil because she was endorsed and funded by the Devos family and not endorsed by trump. Then when trump did endorse her they all turned on trump.
There are many posts from hard core trump followers saying they are done with him because he teamed up with Devos to endorse Dixon.
It’s very difficult to follow these people because not a single one looks at the candidate, the candidates record, or the candidates stated position on issues. They only look for who endorses or doesn’t endorse a candidate.
It’s ironic that I was repeatedly called a sheep for following the science and recommendation from my doctors on covid. These people are the biggest sheep around but it looks like maybe their shepherd is losing credibility.
Their heads also exploded this morning because the Devos backed candidate in our district beat out trump endorsed Jacky ban contraception Eubanks.
They are already on a sharpie conspiracy that caused her to lose. It wasn’t a close loss, it was a not a chance at winning loss, but they’re still accusing their own party of cheating.
Several people said hopefully they will a better choice of candidates in November. They really have no clue what a primary is.
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If two Republican candidates are fighting to turn America into a Christo-fascist state then we’re still better off fighting the one who will accept the results of an election loss than we are fighting the one who will try to burn the country down rather than concede.
This is why I’m so sick of everybody lionizing people like Mike Pence for … doing his fucking job and nothing more. He quite literally met the absolute minimum bar that was expected of him on January 6. And now he gets to be some kind of hero for that? He still won’t even outright criticize Trump for literally trying to get him killed, instead hand waving it away as “differences of opinion”. What a fucking worthless person.
Same with Liz Cheney. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad she is one of the few Republicans that isn’t trying to burn down the State (well… at least with regard to the 2020 election)! Beyond that, surely the bar should slightly be higher than that before Democrats start with the effusive praise?
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Trying to find the difference between Hillsdale College white supremacists and Michigan Militia white supremacists and Q-anon nutters is a futile exercise. One isn’t more right than the other. They just pursue different tactics.
(Edited to add a third (bad) option)
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I don’t need to slice anything!! Gibbs IS EASIER TO BEAT IN THE GENERAL, in fact this is now an almost certain pick-up, whereas Meijer had a real chance because of his money, 1 vote against Trump, and his name recognition (his grandfather’s philanthropy). This is just objectively true. There is almost no downside risk, it is absolutely the right thing to do. Sheesh.
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