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Takeaways for Republicans from this election:

* Leave our bodies alone. This goes for abortion and vaccines.

* “Vote for me because the other guy had a stroke” isn’t a winning message.

* Talking about “cutting spending” to reduce inflation while continuously writing blank checks to Ukraine isn’t a winning message.

* Mitch McConnell & Kevin McCarthy would rather lose with Democrats they like than win with Republicans they don’t.

* Donald Trump can’t win a national election.

* Ron DeSantis is the future.

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I’m editing a previous comment.

Not sure what you hoped to accomplish by writing this article? It seems basically like a dunk on the people of Arizona who hoped for change. You sound like every other coastal elite who looks down on people who worry about silly things like inflation, the border, jobs, and crime. 

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As a moderate, I liked some outcomes last night and was bummed about others. But, all in all, it was a good night for someone like me who is concerned about the excesses of both the right and left.

However, one outcome was really bad: the Democrats who cynically supported MAGA candidates in Republican primaries were rewarded for that effort. This outcome is a disaster, and it makes me hate such Democrats even more -- which I didn't think was even possible.

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At least the Republicans took the House. I don't have to see Pelosi as speaker of the House, thank God. And hopefully Biden's agenda is DEAD for the rest of his term. The Republicans are honestly their own worst enemy. I hope I never set foot in PA. 70% of the country believed the country is heading in the wrong direction but pretty much kept the Senate as is. Truly amazing. I hope DeSantis stays in Florida to keep it a great state.

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founding

My fav Dem talking point right now is that they lost to Rubio badly because they needed a candidate like Fetterman and instead they had a “conservative cop”. I’m not kidding. This is what they are saying.

So Val Demmings, an accomplished liberal black woman, is a bad candidate. But a lumbering impaired skinhead who chased a black man with a shotgun, is a good candidate.

Why? Because Fetterman is a true communist and Demmings isn’t.

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Let me see if I understand this election: A bi-partisan record low approval rating for the President, 2 of 3 Americans say the country is on the wrong track, 10% inflation, declining wealth, a wide open border with 108,000 drug OD deaths last year, we are no longer energy independent, our kids are being indoctrinated while our education scores plummet... and Americans voted for... MORE OF THE SAME! Nope, I guess I don't understand it.

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I hate to be the Tone Ranger here, but gosh! "I flew somewhere and I talked to people who were stupid and wrong, and quoted some of them." I know that essays aren't "news" but ..

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Good stuff. I think you have it right. Trump must go. He’s an idiot. Some of what he stood for was good and some was bad, but he was a train wreck of a person. A young child in a man’s body. Petty, spiteful, and only interested in himself and not the country. I hope the final nail in the coffin is everyone realizing the quality of the candidates that he propped up, and hopefully we can move on to a more heterodox world where the idiots on the right and the left are somewhat neutered. I really enjoyed and appreciated your article.

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“…but at least he was a reprieve, a break from the crazy, the vitriol.”

Have you listened to Biden’s unhinged ranting speeches?

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founding

So you went to Arizona to write an election day article, and the place you picked is one where apparently they don’t count votes anymore. That’s funny.

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I've voted Republican for 30 years and will continue to do so. But even I know the best thing the RNC can do is to ignore Trump and get on board with pro-choice. Do that and they will be unstoppable.

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Make America Florida

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Nov 9, 2022·edited Nov 9, 2022

I was at a wake last night, and during the socializing near the end, a small group were talking about the election. One was saying that it was easy and pleasant to vote, not too crowded. Pretty innocuous really. I was about to chime in and say I had a similar experience, but then the man started talking about how the Republicans apparently were trying to suppress the votes in some region, by making Democrats all vote in one site, so they would have to wait in line longer.

I told him, "This is starting to sound like politics. It really feels like the wrong place to be talking politics, and you might possibly piss some people off. Perhaps you could talk in a lower voice or move into another room." They got the message and shut up.

What gets my goat is that liberals generally feel quite free to spout their opinions about anything, anywhere, but conservatives are expected to remain silent or suffer cancellation.

It's like a generation of people have lost their minds, have reverted to elementary school levels of immaturity, and spend their time hating on anyone who disagrees with them even in the slightest ways.

I'm fed up with it. What can be done about it? Not sure. One thing is that I tend to confront people like that and patiently but firmly let them know that they are stepping on my toes, or on someone's toes. Most of them are abject cowards and will back down (though, behind my back, they'll be even worse). I try to be diplomatic. I just don't want to hear this crap at a wake, or at a shiva, or in a religious service, or in the workplace.

It was a standard adage of barbers back in the day, to avoid discussing politics and religion. And back in those days, politics was far less extreme than it can be today. People had a lot more shared values; the majority of men and women married and raised children, for example, most men held down jobs, and served in the Army, and believed in God and country.

Not so much, today.

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Some irregularities?? Are you f-ing kidding me?? I was here in N Scottsdale and experienced the obviously orchestrated chaos, that was coincidentally in all of the reddish areas (here, N Peoria, Anthem, Chandler) but somehow was magically absent in my friends' blue areas like Central Phx. The fact that you glossed over this huge issue, which was international news, makes my head spin.

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founding

Peter,

This is a "clever" caricature of people who voted Republican. It is insulting, especially on this platform.

This reminds me of fable but instead of animals representing "types" you have placed two-dimensional figures with predictable stories so that you can have your moral.

In short, this essay discounts the many Republican and Independent voters who are sincerely concerned with the direction being taken.

This essay should have been titled, " The Pain Hasn't Gotten Great Enough Yet" because that is the moral of the story and this midterm election.

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The most alarming aspect of the results of the mid-term election is how willing voters were to affirm authoritarian candidates in New York, Michigan, California and Minnesota. What did those citizens like about the high taxes, lockdowns, vaccine mandates, homelessness, criminal assaults, and preference for criminals over victims? And how do you reason with a voter who approves of a candidate’s vow to release dangerous criminal psychopaths back on the streets?

The election did serve, once and for all, to demonstrate Trump’s inadequacy as a statesman, as a judge of candidate quality, and as a decent human being. But it also showed in painful relief the mendacity and cynicism of Democrats, interested only in power and not any version of making America a successful, honorable country.

Neither a Democrat nor Republican, I had hoped for gravitation to a moderate middle. But gains in the numbers of “Squad” extremists pretty much put that aspiration to bed.

In the end, tribalism, identity politics, and ignorance won yesterday.

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