The special election for the Senate seat in Alabama was held yesterday, after what felt like months of drama, decades of child molestation and hours of sh-tty horseback riding. Alleged pedophile, bigot and misogynist Roy Moore rode his horse, Sassy, to his polling station. Horse Twitter hates his form. Horse Twitter’s criticism of Republican Moore would become a harbinger of things to come throughout the day and evening.
I tried not to watch cable news all day. I went to see a matinee of Lady Bird. I turned off the TV at 10 pm before the election was called, because I didn’t want to jinx it. Good news: I didn’t jinx it! DOUG JONES WON. The Democrat won in deep-red Alabama. It was the first time a Democrat won in a statewide election in Alabama in decades. Granted, Jones only won by about 20,000 votes. But it’s still HUGE. It’s a political reckoning. It means that in every major election in the past two months, voters around the country have slapped back at the neo-Nazi-in-Chief. They’ve rejected white supremacy and misogyny and Trumpism. This Alabama race was a particular low point for Steve Bannon, who did “the most” for Roy Moore. Crawl back under your rock, Bannon.
This was also an election that saw African-American Alabamians turn out in record numbers for the Democrat, even with the shady voter suppression tactics employed by the Alabama Republican establishment. African-American voters once again save the day. Black women in particular. Oh, and here’s a fun fact: Roy Moore is such a f–king baby that he refused to concede. Hahaha.
Some celebratory tweets:
There’s a special place in hell for people who still think Steve Bannon is a master political strategist
— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) December 13, 2017
Congrats to two-shirted strategic genius Steve Bannon who deftly maneuvered the GOP into a crushing senate loss IN ALABAMA
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) December 13, 2017
ICYMI: 97 percent of Black women voted for Jones while 65 percent of white women voted for Moore. We won't always be there to clean up the mess.#Alabama #DougJones #BlackWomen
— renee dupree (@rdp) December 13, 2017
— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) December 13, 2017
This is literally the only acceptable image for that *record scratch* ur prob wonderin how I ended up here joke pic.twitter.com/qNwqumbNVm
— Rachel Wenitsky (@RachelWenitsky) December 12, 2017
"We won't be silenced anymore."
Tina Johnson, who accused Roy Moore of sexual misconduct, weeps after Doug Jones is named apparent winner of the Alabama election. pic.twitter.com/c9nQn9DEgw
— NBC News (@NBCNews) December 13, 2017
Photos courtesy of Getty.
let’s all laugh today!
hahahahahhahahahah
I agree! I love Kaiser’s laugh in the title of the article!!!! Hahahaha!
I laughed out out loud reading it. I was holding my breath turning on the news this morning. First thing I saw was JONES WINS. Sweet.
Mabs, my phone actually sent me an alert at 10:50 last night announcing the win. I’ve never set my phone to send me news alerts, but I’ve never been happier to get one.
Ha! I’m really enjoying that too 🤪
Me too: ha, ha, ha, ha!! 🙂
Thank you, God!!! I was too afraid to turn on the TV this am. It was when I got a news alert on my phone about Doug Jones’ victory, I was literally at my desk mouthing “Thank you Jesus!” My faith in the voting process has been restored! Thank you Alabama!!!!
I had been avoiding News entirely for a few hours, so I didn’t know Jones won. My brother called at about 11:45pm EST Tuesday and mentioned at one point that the pedophile won in Alabama, so (always believing anything my big brother says), I didn’t realize otherwise until I saw someone mention it in a CB post later that night. I guess it was running so close when he had last checked, someone must have said the predator won.
The highlight of my evening was my dad’s stunned high five when I told him. He had come home sure that Roy Moore was going to win.
Yep! Me and the Geto Boys were dancing and singing “Still” while that ole bastard was giving his non-acceptance speech. No doubt I will be laughing at his hateful a$$ ALL DAY today.
I laughed several times while watching those bigger blocks of votes come in after 10 last night.
It was a pleasant experience versus 13 months ago, when the national election turned into a late evening nightmare.
I kept looking up until about 9 CST and stopped looking as the numbers weren’t in Jones’ favor at the time. Woke up at one point and was going through FB and saw that he had won. Also saw the expect response from Moore about wanting a recount but also saw that he would have to pay for it as the race was not close enough to have an automatic recount. Way to go Alabama.
I am probably a glutton for punishment, but I was determined to stay awake and watch till the (not so) bitter end.
The wonderfully hyperactive stats guy on MSNBC kept showing key counties where there were large numbers of votes not counted, yet many of those areas were showing a significant percentage advantage to Jones. There seemed to be a chance in those metro areas, and sure enough he took the lead. It was exciting, but it certainly could have gone the other way.
Went to bed depressed and defeated last night and woke up at 2AM to see that Jones had won. It was hard to go back to sleep after that.
THANK YOU, Black Alabamans (oh, and wealthy whites)!!!
I think it was educated and young whites who went Democratic, no?
Yes I’m sure you are correct Betsy, but I just meant that wealthy white women who would have voted for a Bush or Romney-style Republican candidate decided that Moore was just repulsive enough to make them vote blue. I’m not sure where their personal line in the sand is in terms of morality but hey, at least they voted their conscience for once. And they did make a difference in that Moore and his ilk counted on their vote.
My husband woke me up (risky, as I am pregnant and foul tempered at the moment) to tell me the good news. MWAHAHAHAHA
@Kitten, I know you mean well, but what, truly, is the purpose in differentiating here? I understand that there are white women who don’t want to be lumped in with the ones who voted for a pedophile, but don’t you think that it would be much more prudent for them, as a group, to start asking the tough questions? How much longer will it be possible for sane white women to continue insisting that they’re “not like the rest of them.” It serves no one to do that.
I’m not interested in the people who voted for their conscience. Good for them for passing such a low benchmark. But they are in a better position than most people to confront why white women are falling so desperately short when it comes to these issues. That’s the real work they need to be doing here.
Originally from Alabama and just want to reach out and thank African American men and women especially women for making this miracle possible.You have my deepest gratitude.Without you we would all be having a very bad day.
Was about to go to bed feeling depressed then I got a news alert on my phone and it said Doug Jones won. I nearly fell out of my bed! I was so happy!
The exit polls I saw showed that blacks and people under 40 (covering all races) are what pushed Doug Jones over. Black turnout in Alabama was actually higher for this election than for last year’s Presidential election which surprised me. That is very troubling for the GOP because it is showing that even in blood-red Alabama young white people (millennials and college students) are starting to abandon the GOP.
HaaaaaaHaaaaahahaHaHa
#freeSassy
Free Sassy 😂
God Bless the African American vote, without them, we’d have been sunk. Thank you blue voting Alabaman’s
The Black Woman will FREE THE WORLD!!!
I almost teared up last night…Christmas came early, Y’ALL!!!!
So many inspiring women from Alabama on Pantsuit Nation. Loved reading their stories. If you can get an invite, it is a great community!
Not hahaha – near 600,000 people still voted for an accused child molester, who thinks Muslims are evil, slavery was a good thing and that religion>the constitution.
A HUGE % of white men and women voted for Moore. We are not out of the woods.
I mean, this is an enormous relief, in terms of what this means in the senate etc, but the electorate is still f*cked up. I’m finding it hard to be to ecstatic, given the statistics…
Even in benighted Alabama, there are still more good people than bad and the promise of democracy can be fulfilled. The is a Democratic tide swelling across the country and the good people are no longer complacent. Only action carries the day; there is no excuse not to vote in 2018.
I think it’s a shock for anyone here to think a single person could justify voting for this hateful heap over someone who prosecuted child murderers from the klan ..the only tiny bit of light in the dark is that huge % was a lot lower than last year. I won’t feel it’s safe to stop worrying until headlines read ‘impeached`.
It’s soooo much more complicated than just saying “why would you vote for this person?” We’re talking deep-rooted indoctrination, both religious and cultural, and voters are being told who to vote for by ecclesiastical leaders, employers, etc. It’s terrifying. Blaming voters for being stupid and cruel won’t get us anywhere. They are ignorant and they are being controlled. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to realize that. Roy Moore was a damn state official, let’s not forget that. For a very long time he has been telling people what to think and what to do, and has “sworn on the Christian Bible” enough to convince himself that he’s justified in his behavior. The people who voted for him truly believe that if they don’t vote for him, they are disappointing Jesus, and their families will be punished. They actually believe that. It’s not a joke. It’s not funny. It’s really sad and it’s really scary. If Americans don’t wake up to the reality of the theocracies that run the Mountain region and the Southern US, there really is no hope for a safe compromise or growth.
@AV, what’s more likely is that they’re choosing to vote in line with an ideology that rewards them for their bigotry and their prejudiced behaviour.
I apologize in advance if this sounds ranty, and I promise you this is nothing personal, but just how much longer are we going to continue to let white women off the hook? Using adjectives like “brainwashed” in order to describe their behaviour makes it sound like they’re pre-programmed automatons who have absolutely no responsibility for their behaviour. We all know that’s not true. Why do we assume that they’re just indoctrinated, when the reality is that many of them have been confronted with the facts and the truth and they continue to choose to prioritize their bigotry?
@A
While I agree with you to some extent, I don’t think shouting people down is going to make them vote differently/the way you want them to. It usually has the effect of making them dig their heels in on the issue.
I personally blame the evangelicals. While I’m Christian, I’m starting to see the real damage, (yes damage) that the church is inflicting on society. I can’t for the life of me understand how anyone, much less a purported follower of Christ can justify the behaviour of one of the least Christ-like people that has ever existed.
A mean spirited, corrupt, corrupted, corrupting, thieving, serial liar and sexual predator…….. and yet he apparently has the full support of the church. (mainly in America, thankfully). It’s really making me ask myself some very difficult questions.
If we need to be shouting anybody down, and publicly asking them very difficult questions, I actually think it’s the heads of the Churches supporting this soulless man we need to take to task.
Yeah, this election kind of underlines that the problem IS with white women. It’s a sad thing to see one’s own demographic do that. At least Moore’s wife helped the cause by outing their prejudices with such classy phrases as “our lawyer is a Jew”. The election upset makes me very hopeful. The fact that it was even this close still has me very worried. Lot’s of work still to be done, and there’s a constituency down there whose minds will not be changed. The post-election analysis has to look at what influenced people to change their vote to Jones. Thank you, Black voters/Black Women of Alabama.
Even though so many people still voted for that POS we’re riding the high and staying positive here in bama. Our voices were finally heard over the Trump loving rednecks and it feels good.
I saw that more African Americans voted in this election than they did for Obama, THANK YOU. I can’t express how happy I am that deep red Alabama went blue, first time in a long time. I hope this helps other people realize that Alabama isn’t all ignorant rednecks who fly confederate flags and love Trump, there are normal people here but our voices aren’t heard. This is my home and I like being a part of the changes I see going on around me.
You should be proud-Roll Tide!
Be proud! (From a neighbor the one state north of you…)
A million upvotes!
Congratulations! What happened in Alabama last night gives hope to us here in Texas. It must feel wonderful to wake up where you are this morning and yes, the African American population deserves all the thank-yous in the world for this. That one woman who was crying after her first vote and saying “My vote counts”? Oh, she must be weeping with joy today.
Congratulations, Alabama, and thank you!
YES! Good work Jess and Jerusha and every other Alabaman who voted for the good guys.
As a middle aged white Christian woman I took myself and my 22 year old daughter who can vote down to the polls and we cast our vote for decency. My 17 year old daughter danced at the victory. It’s a good day in Alabama!
Bless you, good people. As I say below, WAR EAGLE AND ROLL TIDE!!
What choice did we give them? They wanted to put a guy in office who thought America was better with slavery! The stakes are so much higher for minorities right now. It’s part of why the GOP is so desperate to suppress their vote.
Jess, we have to turn this energy into action. We can’t sit back and take a deep breath. We have a coalition of forward looking activists, Black, White, young, and yes, many of us silver hairs who have been active for decades. We need to start taking back city councils, county commissions, school boards, the Alabama legislature. And we need more POCs, especially women in those positions. Our best state senator is Vivian Figures, a beautiful Black woman. Our best county commissioner is Merceria Ludgood, a lawyer who worked with Ms. Figures’ late husband, Michael. We need more of this statewide. Let’s keep on. ROLL TIDE/WAR EAGLE!
Alabamian people with decency and rational values won today! kudos to you and our hardworking Jerusha. You showed the country it’s possible. hope wont die as long as good people keep fighting.
i’m not american but you have my gratitude.
Jerusha you are so right, and I want to thank you again for getting out there and volunteering and making this happen. I need to do more than throw a sign in my yard and a sticker on my car, and talking to my small group of friends and coworkers.
Jerusha you are so right, and I want to thank you again for getting out there and volunteering and making this happen. I need to do more than throw a sign in my yard and a sticker on my car, and talking to my small group of friends and coworkers.
Thank you everyone for all the love and support!! This is a good thing for us all and I’m excited:)
I Thank all the people who decided decency was more important than party and all the hard work our lovely Jerusha and Meija and Jess. History will always remember, and I hope this shows Alabama your state is essential and can be a part of the change.
I guess there is no hope for cult extrication- the people hypnotized by extreme evangelicals and putin have just been poisoned. The only hope is to unify progressives. I understand the Black Lives Matter movement advised on -not- voting for Hillary last round because she was too “status quo”. I guess compared to the orangeApocalypse, “status quo” is at lease WORKABLE.
Black people, once again saving the day… Hopefully they actually get something out of this election, because I’m frustrated for them.
I can’t fully celebrate this, knowing that black people are still put of the backburner, only important during election times, from both parties and knowing that If it was up to the white people of Alabama, Moore the predator would have won.
+1
+1000000000000. I saw mostly African-Amercians at the polls yesterday. My family and friends all voted for Doug Jones. This is a happy day, but I don’t want to get too comfortable. We’ve still got a looooooooooooooong way to go.
Yeah. THIS is a discussion that needs to be had. WTF is going on with WW in America? Those exit polls continue to be amazing to me. I have no words seeing that 65/35 split for Moore among white women. WHAT?! He thought the 19th Amendment was problematic and he was a pedophile.
It’s great that BW saved the day or whatever but it’s an unfair burden with little reward. They were 18% of the electorate but 10% of population in AL. Christ! I’m super emotional right now.
All I can say is that from the pictures I saw, those particular WW all looked past 70. So this is a group that will be gone in the next 15 to 20 years and good riddance. For anyone who thinks that is cruel, I give you the example of my racist grandfather from Mississippi . Nothing would have changed his beliefs, but with his death the “younger” generation in my family took over, and it’s been lovely.
I saw that in ww under 45, Jones was leading by a 22 point margin. So it’s just the older generation (SURPRISE!) that wants to fudge everything up.
I was relieved to see the video feed from RM headquarters last night. The audience was mostly women 70-plus who go to the beauty parlor every week. Very old school types that will be replaced by more progressive/moderate voters in the near future. Have hope!
I completely agree with everyone here. I just wanted to point out that while black people make up 20% of the voting base in Alabama (which is HUGE!) that wealthy whites who usually vote for Bush or Romney-style Republicans miraculously found their conscience during this election as well.
But yes, white women in the south-particularly states like Alabama that are traditionally and consistently red-tend to vote Republican. It’s absolutely a problem, just not a new one.
Man, did Hillary ever call it in 2016 where white women were concerned. White women like to play at being independent and successful, but many of them gladly fold to the more conservative views of their male friends and family. The definition of having just enough privilege to hang yourself with.
If there’s a lesson to be learned from the past two years, it’s that feminism needs to hand the mic over to minority women. It is not white women who are leading the way of progress right now. We’re apparently the morons handing our vote over to a guy who says woman’s suffrage was a mistake.
@Kitten, I’d understand the need for the distinction between Red/Blue State white women voters if 53% of WW electorate nationwide didn’t vote for Trump. WW voted for Trump with same zeal they voted for McCain – Two men who couldn’t be more diametrically different if they tried. I’m not a white woman, so I don’t know what’s going on. Only thing I can think is it doesn’t really matter who it is as long as they’re Republican men.
I’m not out here trying to hate on WW. I just want to know what’s up? And to ask the more progressive of ya’ll to talk to your kin.
@ Reef- I completely 100% agree with you. I have no problem with anyone hating on WW right now because I feel the same way about my fellow whites.
And not to push back too much, but just to point out: tiny Massachusetts has a population of 6.82M while Alabama has a population of 4.86 million. We have millions and millions of white women in our small but densely populated state who consistently vote Dem by an extremely large margin. Again, I’m not trying to undercut the overall message which is one I agree with (wtf is UP with WW) but I just wanted to point out that a lot of us blue state whites are consistently voting Dem by and large. We are with you.
However, that doesn’t change the fact that we need to do much, MUCH more and we need to get rural whites to get on-board–I know that’s the responsibility of whites. I’m trying to do what I can but have found that I’m more useful attending protests and town halls than I am at convincing ignorant whites. I’ve tried countless times but it always feels like talking to a f*cking wall. I usually give up out of sheer frustration. The religious and political indoctrination and hate runs incredibly deep with these folks.
@Reef – my friends and family are nearly entirely progressive and or liberal. I just don’t get white women who vote conservative. And I get stabby hands when I think about their idiotic anti-choice vote, which is usually the reason given. Anti-choices have abortions at the same rate as those who identify as pro-choice. And there is nothing “pro-life” to their vote, there is only forced birth.
Most of the supporter interviews and Moore voter exit poll interviews were white women over 60. So I’m hopeful that it’s a generation thing. Oh what am I saying… there are plenty of women in their 20s, 30s and 40s who feverishly defend Trump. White women don’t care about anyone but white women.
It needs to be had.
This is why the Dems frustrate me because they put white women out there as leaders when it is Maxine Waters and Frederica Wilson and black women across the country who should be a large part of the conversation. Everyone else needs to take several seats. That is why when they made the statement on stage about who should resign it irritated me. I want to know what black people want to do. Keith Ellison, what do you think? Black Caucus what is your advice? They rescue the left time and time again. Not white people. Not the white people they keep pandering to either. Black people and Millenials are the future of the left and truly the base.
Personally, I think it has to do with religion. An older white woman who has grown up believing her church and religion are everything will vote for the more “conservative Christian” candidate. It’s not their place to judge the pedophile, God will do that.
The GOP has brainwashed that demographic into believing Democrats and Liberals are the devil. I saw a meme on FB where Conservatives are actually comparing Liberals to Nazis because Liberals want the Confederate statues to come down, much as Hitler taking down statues he didn’t want across Europe . I laughed so hard. That took a lot of mental gymnastics to come up with that one. But that’s what the GOP does.
Thank you WOC for this! I’ve been correcting any and all who say Jones won because of the “women vote”.
Technically, he isn’t a pedophile. He is a sexual predator who is abnormally attracted to young teenagers, post-puberty. He claims he asked their mothers if he could date them and he probably did. Helpful hint, guys: If you’re in your thirties and you still have to ask for their mother’s permission, she’s too damn young for you in today’s world. Helpful hint, mothers: Don’t consider a guy banned from the mall who is stalking your daughter as a perfect match.
In previous times, 14 was well within the accepted age of consent and it was common for much older men to marry young teenagers. I’m sure that’s a big part of why older women especially did not see him as immoral but rather voted for his obnoxious positions on various issues.
And they would not vote for Doug Jones because they disagreed with him on issues of importance to them. They do not see the difference between having no legal penalty for abortion and actually forcing women to have abortions. There is nothing preventing a woman from choosing not to abort, and there are laws protecting medical personnel who can’t in good conscience assist in abortions in any way. There are laws or can be laws ensuring that their own tax money won’t go for abortion (I want that for the weapons of mass destruction, too.) Everything important from a moral standpoint is covered. If you want to really get them off the delegalizing abortion obsession, you need to take their beliefs seriously and approach it this way. It’s hard because they are also in an environment where their particular version of Christianity should be dominant and enshrined in law. But that’s a different issue. City dwellers are probably less prone to that kind of thinking not because they are smarter, but because they are more likely to know a variety of people with very different religious beliefs.
Statistics are pretty clear that making abortion illegal doesn’t make a dent in the abortion rate. I remember back in the 1970s, the US abortion rate was significantly lower than the rate in overwhelmingly Catholic countries such as Portugal where abortion was totally illegal. American Catholics were actually more likely to have abortions than American Protestants. White Americans were more likely to abort than black Americans, and it was suspected that the difference was due to better community support.
The advantage to opponents of abortion when it is kept legal is actually high, because it allows for free discussion of it. If it is illegal, they can pretend it doesn’t happen and don’t have to look at Abortion Services listed in phone books. The sad thing is that too many people morally opposed to abortion are also opposed to social support programs that are likely to give women a true choice, because often the decision to abort is financial. One Catholic state administrator in the 1980s said that she thought just giving pregnant women $300 would make quite a few choose to carry the baby to term. Things can be that marginal for people.
Vogue.com has written a great article about this. https://www.vogue.com/article/doug-jones-won-alabama-white-women-lost
I have been reading up on the issue and the conlusion seems that a large number of WW value white supremacy over women’s rights and interests.
63% of WW voters in Alabama voted for a child molester and 53% for the sexual deviant in the White House.
@Sam, For clarification we’re talking about Republican WW right? I mean almost all WW Alabama voters are Repubs.
Cranberry
White Supremacists tend to vote Republican, I don’t think this includes Democrats.
I don’t want you to think I am bashing WW. I don’t think we would be having this discussion if it wasn’t for the brave WW who came forward.
I’m a Brit who is fascinated with American politics.
I don’t want to hear shit about “low-information voters” ever again.
And I don’t want any more NYT articles about understanding all those “economic anxiety” voters.
Oh my god yes. That narrative had me punching a wall when they first tried to float that out there.
Yep. My friend tried to tell me it was unfair to call Alabama voters who went for Moore “trash,” but I refused to back down. The man was accused of sexual harassment, outright stated that America was better with slavery, and stated that most of the amendments after the tenth (you know, most of the ones that gave everybody but wealthy white men basic rights?) would make America better. I am done making excuses for my fellow white people. Poverty and ignorance are not excuses. Plenty of minorities in Alabama live in poverty and suffer from lack of access to good education. You didn’t see them voting for Moore last night.
You are correct, Veronica. A lot of the canvassing I did was in largely minority neighborhoods, ranging from upper middle class to heartbreakingly poor. I had some wonderful conversations with men and women in some of the poorer neighborhoods. They knew the issues. They knew what each candidate stood for. They knew trump and bannon. They may have been poor, but they weren’t ignorant, maybe because they didn’t watch Faux News 24/7. Poor and white is NOT an excuse.
They need to stop trying to win over people and listen to the base they have, and it outnumbers them by a wide margin. This is what messes the left up every single time, and it is why they are vulnerable to dirty tricks. Stick with your own base, and you win. End of. Economic anxieties for minorities and if some white people want to join in fine, but if not then over there is your curb.
I saw the stats are they are shocking – white women, wtf? How are women voting for people like this? Women of colour saved the day, but they shouldn’t have to shoulder the burden of saving America from the Deplorables. White folks, it’s time to step the eff up.
I am originally from Ga. In Va. now. My guess for those misguided white women [polite term] is that since childhood they have been indoctrinated by their churches and the men who run them that having a legal abortion is the one unforgivable action. Add this to internalized sexism, and there you have it. Thank God for WOC, and I don’t want to hear any more crap from Democrats about abandoning so-called “identity politics” and catering to those salt of the earth working class whites. Garbage!!
I agree, social conditioning and social conformity are extremely powerful and it takes a strong character to stand against it, these women have been weakened by conditioning/conformity in the first place. This is not excusing them by the way, it’s just trying to understand their lack of gumption particularly in comparison to disadvantaged WOC who basically saved the day.
“Women of colour saved the day, but they shouldn’t have to shoulder the burden of saving America from the Deplorables.”
Completely agree. I hope this doesn’t come off as excuses or derailment, but I kind of wish we could acknowledge the difference between red state white women and blue state white women. There are a lot of us who consistently vote Dem, but nobody notices because it’s happening in states like mine that always go blue anyway. This is not to say that as white women, we don’t have to share the burden of our failure to vote Dem, it’s just to say that not all of us are like Alabaman WW.
(sorry was that too #notallwhitewomen ?)
I kind of agree Kitten, but honestly…2016 was a wake up call for me. Trump was the first time my state went red in forty years. Plenty of the people who voted for him here were white women. White women who I’d thought were otherwise liberal people. Racism is a disease that goes down to America’s core. I don’t want to be associated with Moore voters, but I’m not patting myself back for basic decency.
@ Veronica-You are completely right. I apologize if my comment came across as self-congratulatory and yes, I’m 100% with you about 2016 being a wake-up call. I’m also disappointed in myself taking so long to see how f*cked we (WW) are.
@ kitten, same here…#notallwhitewomen. I live in a blue state too & consistently vote Democrat. I don’t vote the way my fellow white sisters vote in red states and I’m tired of being of grouped in with them. They don’t speak for me, that’s for sure.
I am in one of those states too and consistently also vote Democrat – I am never gonna vote like a rich ass white bitch. Well, I will also never be a rich ass, so there you go. #UNITY
I’m in Mississippi and am a white women who consistently votes blue. Sometimes I want to wear a sign to let people know I am not one of the bad ones. I know that is nothing compared to the issues others face but it does cross my mind sometimes.
Indoctrination is a good word for it. I’ve noticed a lot of far right, Trump (and Moore) supporting women have Republican parents and husbands who have far right views as well (this is just me here in NY, I imagine it’s even more extreme in other parts of the US). The Italian American community can tend to sway very conservative. I can see those white women saying Doug Jones wants to take away our guns and kill the babies and even if Roy Moore was so called “inappropriate” teenage girls 40 years ago, we still need that senate seat to be red. Whereas I can see black women who voted for Jones saying… yeah no we aren’t going to vote for a pedo, bigot, homophobe who will work against our best interests.
Moon Beam that is one thing that bugs the hell out of me. I was raised SUPER conservatively. I wasn’t allowed to watch Blossom of Clarissa because they weren’t respectful of their parents. I couldn’t believe in santa because he “took the glory from God”. My folks voted Bush and supported trump in the beginning. But I managed to grow up and think for myself. Why can’t others?
Gatorebait; because it’s hard, it takes deep self reflection, it requires spirit and a willingness to be cast out of the group. My father left the fundamentalist church as a young man and questioned everything he was raised to believe; the uproar it caused was incredible. If he hadn’t been the eldest son, I think my grandmother would have disowned him. That’s too much for many people to shoulder. How much safer is it to follow the herd? Thinking for yourself is difficult and sometimes painful. It’s imperative, of course, if we are to achieve any kind of growth, but so many people take the easy way out.
@kitten
My feeling is that liberal white women have issues too. I don’t think we can be a hashtag until some liberal white women stop thinking it is their place to be the voice of the Democrats. Gillibrand irks me so much I can’t breathe sometimes, and I have met her. Very smart and very capable. We already went down that road twice, and America said N.O.P.E
As a blonde white woman, I can say the last thing we need is a blonde white woman taking over in her Peak white feminism. No. Women of color need to be in leadership positions. She is everything black women rail against. Loads of privilege including her ivy league education and assumption she should be the nominee for president in 2020. So much of what she has done is about that. Including taking over the press conference about Franken when it should have been Klobuchar from MN to make that decision especially since she is up for reelection in 2018.
@Kitten, yes, that comes off as #notallwhitewomen. That’s the epitome of #notallwhitewomen. Deflecting, differentiating, and failing to understand that this isn’t criticism of red state WW vs. blue state WW, but white women as a group in this country.
The number of moderate Republican white women who voted Democrat this time around don’t change the fact that out of every 100 black women who voted, 98 of them voted for Doug Jones. This victory rests on their shoulders.
I get that this sucks. I get that white women who are doing their best to do the right thing are at a complete loss to explain what the problem is. But please realize that this isn’t about you. Centering this on the fraction of white women who-voted-Doug-Jones-but-otherwise-would-have-voted-Romney is an attempt to hijack a narrative that, by and large, doesn’t belong to white women in this election at this moment. Not only is this somewhat unkind, it’s also extremely unhelpful.
What is helpful is grass roots organization that is specifically directed towards countering voter suppression measures in Southern states. What is helpful is solidarity with Black women that goes beyond just thanking them on social media and actually doing things that are helpful to them that address their concerns. Alabama is only one state in the deep South. Mississippi is a state that is 41% non-white. If Alabama can go blue, every state in the South can go blue. Focus on doing the work to get there.
That is what we, Black women, have done for centuries. Carry the burdens and endure the evils of this society with grace and dignity. I am thankful for the strength and resolve of the WOC in Alabama and look forward to a day when the burden will lighten on them… on all of us.
This.
First thing I thought when I woke to NPR reporting Jones’ win is that Black voters came out and saved the US Congress and our nation from a despicable, lazy, arrogant predator.
Renee Dupree’s tweet says it all.
I agree. Thank you so much to the black women and men for this turnout and this Senate seat. I hope Mr. Jones keeps them in mind when he gets to Washington,
Amen.
Jones should revisit black communities in the next few days to thank them. He owes them big time.
I saw the stats and almost vomited. Over 60% of white women voted for a pedophile and child molestor. Just utterly disgusting. They would vote for an ISIS member if he said he was a Republican. These women have lost any moral high ground when it comes to women’s issues. I don’t want to hear one word out of the mouth of a Roy Moore supporter about anything.
You know the GOP saw the stats too and they will be doing their damndest to pass voter ID laws and voting restrictions before the 2018 midterms. That is my biggest fear – that blacks are going to be targeted for voter suppression (more than they already are).
20,000 is not enough but I’ll take it! Can this be the beginning of getting our country back?
It’s a shame it was even a close race to begin with . I think that some voters who would normally vote GOP could not in good conscience stayied away rather than vote Dems PLUS the very high turnout of black voters who also overwhelming voted for Dems
I agree. I would not look to this race as a harbinger to 2018. Moore was a deeply flawed candidate. Even the senior Alabama Senator said he wrote in a candidate rather than vote for Moore.
People who normally vote GOP either stayed home or wrote in another candidate.
Regardless, I am thankful there were enough people in Alabama who recognized Roy Moore was a completely unacceptable choice for the Senate.
THIS.
It’s a great day, and we should have smiles on our faces. But I saw one stat showing only 50%-55% of suburban voters in red counties voted yesterday as compared to 70%-75% in 2016. Many suburban republicans stayed home. On top of that over 22K republicans wrote in their choice which likely was some republican or libertarian.
It’s hard to know how much AL is really in play with this election. IF Bannon and McConnel hadn’t squared off in the primaries, would Moore have come out ahead? The bar is set pretty low in AL. Just about any republican can win as long as he’s not a pedophile. Still, scarlet-red AL showed Bannon they’re not his b*tch. There is hope for you yet AL.
There was an analyst on one of the cable channels last night that said Jones was polling within 5% of Strange before the primary, and was within 5% of Moore even before the allegations against Moore were made public. I’m going to live in my optimistic bubble for a few more days and believe there is a growing backlash against Trump/Bannon Republicans that bodes well for the 2018 mid-terms.
Black women get it done don’t we?!?!?!?!? On to 2018. There’s still a ton of trash to collect.
Thankdogforblackwomen.
Tipping my (imaginary) hat to black women (and men, too). This is awesome.
On a side note: He came to vote … On a horse … Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah
ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahaha
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhah
ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah
ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah
ahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
Yeah.
Hey Roy, F you and the horse you rode in on.
Yeah, it’s not often that you can use that phrase literally.
Pedro I’ve never seen a more perfect use of that saying! Hahahaha!
Can I march in your trash collecting army?
Me too! I’m in a red state and voted against Trump and all that is not right in that party.
Yes, ma’am!
Sign me up! I can march in the Canadian chapter of the trash collecting army! we have plenty of deplorables up here too
YES THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!
Sending standing ovations to Alabama’s black women from Germany 👏👏👏👍
The AL NAACP worked it’s tail off for this election. Without their support and tireless efforts, Jones would not have won. This morning I donated to the NAACP as a way to say thank you (and sorry I did not donate during the election – will not make that mistake again!). If you are able to, please join me in donating. We need to support each other and work together to make sure this momentum continues in 2018.
Yes, Tiffany, yes!!! Black women get it done! Thank goodness for black women who made all the difference. They are the change we need to be.
Yes. Is it too much to have a parade in front of the white house honoring black women? Rosa Parks is smiling and saying NOW you finally get it don’t you.
Years ago in the 90s at an activist event, I met her with my mother, and she was a tiny, soft-spoken woman, and she changed the world. But she had been brave before she came to the national spotlight. Jones prosecuted the klan for the church bombing of the four little girls who were robbed of a chance to grow up to be strong, beautiful black women.
Angela Davis badass who refused to be railroaded by a white racist justice system. I worship her. I wish I could meet her one day.
Black women have been there all along, but no one was listening or looking.
Yea let’s take a second to thank black voters for saving everyone else…again. Even though as a group we deal with voter suppression and intimidation to cast a ballot. Even though the DNC forgot we existed until two weeks ago and all of the sudden wanted to meet with voters. Even though last week places like NYT were already blaming black voters for the eventual loss because of “low black turnout”
Black voters win elections. Period. End of. Without black voters white people would’ve overwhelmingly elected the racist child predator to the Senate.
Drop the tea, Nicole!
Black people can’t be expected to come and be the “savior” every time. White people need to do better, because this is exhausting (and I’m not even American). I noticed so many black people go through HOOPS to vote yesterday..
While black women “saved you”, they’ll still be marginalised, still be forgotten until the next elections where SUDDENLY black issues matter to politicians.
Why do white people need to be better when history has shown time and time again that you are given chances to and never do.
There will always be forgiveness and excuses for white people when they show their backside. So, why would they ?
It seems Dem politicians are stuck in the 1960s mode of begging for black votes in exchange for promises of something later but never following through on any of those promises. This must change if the Democratic Party is to win in the future. Dems can not take Black voters for granted anymore.
Yes for starters drop the white working class narrative. Maybe Dems could, you know, start catering to their loyal base instead of trying to court selfish, racist whites who would never vote for them anyway.
I would like to see more white Dem politicians working on issues that affect black communities rather than tip toeing around around some of their racist constituents.
Also, it disgusts me that some republican politicians completely disregard their liberal constituents just because it’s a conservative area. My friend lives in a red part of Maryland and the lady who ran for (and lost) Senate last year, some horrid woman named Kathy Szeliga, constantly posts Brietbart type articles on her fb page and made a sweeping insult of liberal women while defending Sarah Sanders. She’s a state delegate who represents some liberal women whether she likes it or not. Also the local sheriff there, Jeffrey Gahler, wants to put concealed carry guns in churches and she was at this press conference grinning like a fool.
Moore would have been the senator for black people, Muslims, and LGBT people even though he OUT LOUD said vile things about them. White people don’t seem to care about this. White women need to get it together.
YES! That is why they get under 45’s skin because he is in awe and is afraid of black women. He is afraid of black people because he knows they see him and have seen him all along.
Kamala should be the party up and comer, she isn’t as progressive as I am, but I don’t believe in purity tests and think it is about the entire country and she has the whole package. Her mother was a doctor from India, so she has concerns for the immigrant population, and her sister Maya is impressive. She went to an HBCU, Howard University, (the school in This is Us) and her brother in law is Tony West who worked in the justice department and championed Native American causes among other things and has ties to Eric Holder and Obama.
I don’t want to hear about a white woman. She needs to be on the ticket.
Maxine Water’s tweet last night was hilarious.
I love Auntie Maxine. So magical
Let’s pump the brakes on anointing Kamala Harris just yet. Same with Cory Booker and Joe Biden. Please. Please.
I love her too. She is a gift.
I hear you Reef. Corey is fine for NJ but not nationally. Joe Biden meet Anita Hill. No anointing just want to make sure she is included on the national stage.
PREACH Nicole.
There was a poster on here I interacted with – would have been weeks ago, months maybe, since it was before the Moore molesting stuff broke.
She lives in Alabama and was mentioning the race. A few people said it was a long shot, no hope, no chance.
Granted, at the time, it DID seem like a long shot. Like no chance. But she wasn’t giving up.
I’m thinking about that Celebitchy poster today. I’m also thinking about the black men and women who voted, despite clear attempts at voter suppression, and won this thing.
If you’re in the US, don’t give up hope, even if it seems hopeless. VOTE. Remind others to vote – do the best you can.
AND HOPE.
Yes! Thank you to her and to all the people who voted against Moore.
Thank you for sending us a little hope. My country is in deep sheeeet as well. But I’m hoping a butterfly effect is coming from the US and brings positive change to us too.
Whoever that poster was, I salute her. I hope she reads this.
That would be Jerusha who worked her heart out to get out the vote. I raise my glass to her and all Alabamians who voted the BEST, sanest and most qualified DEMOCRAT to the Senate!!! I also heard this morning that child molestor, chief hypocrite and loser Moore wants a recount!!!! SMH Thank you to black Alabamian women- you all did it again!
Yes! Jerusha. Thanks Chrissy.
Jerusha is a HERO!!
Right! I thought of her last night and was so happy for her. Jerusha, I hope you celebrated until the early hours. You, and all the various coalitions of people who actually think, brought it home.
Yes, Jerusha has been working tirelessly to get the vote out for Jones. I thought of her, too, last night.
As for Moore demanding a recount, F that. Imagine if the shoe were on the other foot and Jones had lost. Moore and Trump and all the other GOP goons would be screaming fake news. The deplorables wouldn’t allow it.
Raising glass to Jerusa and crew. Well done.
Expected that response from Moore. He will not go quietly into the good night. Also read, IIRC, that there will not be an automatic recount because the margin between the votes of the two candidates was too large and if Moore wants a recount he would have to pay for it. If I’m wrong, please correct me.
Well, your post has made me want to be less of a negative grinch about this. Humph. (Thanks)
There are things to be unhappy about. There are things to be furious about. There are things to despair about. But that won’t help.
A Good Thing happened today. If we want good things, we gotta get into the trenches and fight. Fight against hate and complacency and hopelessness.
@Jerusha Thank you for proving me wrong and electing a Democrat in Alabama.
Very happy for Jeru!
And America
Jeru the Damaja! I will listen to old school hip hop in celebration of the Alabama Jeru.
I am so happy for her. She held the faith and worked so hard for the cause and is always strong and steady in her beliefs.
I LOVE Jeru The Damaja.
Ya Played Yaself, Roy.
Come Clean!
Thank you too kitkat for being strong in your beliefs and being vocal. Your ability to debate and concede is great on these threads. But I admit your feisty side makes me smile. I did want to ask where you found your baby folds?
My faith in humanity is back! Woo hoo!!! I have never been so interested/invested in an election that didn’t directly involve my state (other than the Presidential ones..of course). This is a big deal!
The GOP is f*cked in 2018. Trump has a year left, at best. Have a holly jolly christmas, asshole, it’ll be your first and last in the White House!!
I’ve always had to believe that there are forces for good stronger than the slime running our country right now, but I can breathe a little easier with this small reassurance.
Most importantly: thank you black women of Alabama for essentially saving the country last night. I’m forever disgusted with white women and I commit to doing better. I’ll start by holding democratic lawmakers accountable to ensure they don’t take black voters for granted. Last nights true lesson: white evangelicals are disgusting, broken creatures and we should listen to black women, always.
The Senate will be a fight. We can’t sleep on it, or become complacent.
Even if Mueller has taken out the trash and we have President Pence/Ryan/Sassy the Horse by then, Dems have a tough road ahead. It’s going to take work and money and HOPE. But it can be done.
hahaha@ Sassy the Horse, she’d be better than any of those other fools.
God. Sassy the Horse would be an amazing President, and she’d get away from Roy Moore.
Sassy is getting her own reality show, on which she will spill ALL the tea!!!
Given her obvious unhappiness with her rider, I’m pretty sure Sassy is, at least, an independent, if not a democrat.
It will be a big fight. My relatives in Florida say that Rick Scott is going to run and we can’t let that fool win and a woman is running for governor. I think Tester in Montana is going to need some help. Arizona is doable, and if we could take down Ted Cruz, I would be happy for life. We need to focus on state and governors too. Sweep it and take back the districts. I think some progressives should run as Independents. Alaska is not out of the question, but the key is choosing the best candidates that fit their state.
White evangelicals…. are basically the devil.
Although it is trivial, I enjoyed the MORNING JOE crew’s critique of Moore’s riding skills. My guess: Moore saw himself as Lee riding Traveler, but he was really Lee Marvin in CAT BALLOU [young folks may have to look this up].
They are and they don’t know it. They don’t realize that while they might follow some of the rules, ethically they’re morally bankrupt, and power is what that organization is after. The ends justifies the means and the evangelical church has used radio/tv to convince members that racism/misogyny/murder(ie:murder of doctors whose practice includes abortion)/pedophilia((Roy Moore) is ok, just as long as the person claims to be a Republican/christian. It’s sick, that they’ve swallowed this kind of wickedness (which is what it is) thinking they’re going to get a come up when what they’ve actually done is exchanged their moral compass for a power that doesn’t exist.
Thir ginger – made my day with the Cat Ballou reference! Lee Marvin’s horse ride was the best.
They are the most sanctimonious, hypocritical, ignorant people on the planet. Go ahead and read the New Testament again because you ARE NOT doing what Jesus would have done guys.
I love Cat Ballou!
As a horse person, watching that child molester flop around like a sack of potatoes and haul on that poor horse’s mouth made me think “oh fuck him doubly”. Let’s add some animal abuse and cow posturing to the mix because this guy sucks that hard.
The GOP is not f*cked unfortunately if the DNC doesn’t pull their heads OUT of their @$$es.
Here’s why:
Black turnout in the last election was lower. Esp in key states that the DNC neglected to go to until the last weeks.
Saying “the other guy is bad” is not a message for black voters. Because for us most candidates suck. They don’t do much for black voters after the election. So you’re not getting people to the polls on that message
The apparent obsession with winning the “economic” voters or the white vote that will never vote blue. It won’t wont happen. Ever. So stop following Bernie’s stupid logic on that train and start investing in your actual base.
Grassroots campaigns. People like Jerusha were out on the streets before the election. That should be happening NOW. Getting people registered. Getting IDs. Checking voter rolls. They need to devote a chunk of money doing that TODAY.
This is one win but it’s an uphill battle from here. I think it shows that if we get people out there, voters will show up. But this entire philosophy of showing up right before elections will not help them win.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Spot on Nicole. I don’t want to hear another damn word about the “economic anxiety of the white working class.” I’m sick to death of black voters (especially black women) being used and discarded every election cycle. Called upon to save the country from the absolute mindless stupidity of people who vote against their own best interests.
I’m a left leaning Independent and so are my children. The younger generation is done with the Democratic Party and refuse to be taken for granted. And Dems can’t win without them.
Yeah, I’m a true blue Democrat, but it baffles me with a capital b that the DNC was willing to look at Bernie and his “identity politics” and “abortion rights aren’t that important” baloney as any sort of a savior. Gross gross gross. Play to your base, DNC. African Americans. Educated people. Young people.
The DNC didn’t make that mistake, though. Remember, they were the evil establishment that totally forced Hillary on the rest of us! (And not the, y’know, millions of voters who chose her over him.)
The college-aged, primarily white liberal voting base is who set Bernie Sanders up as their “savior.” I think a lot of them are learning the hard way right now what happens when you exercise purity politics privilege.
@Betsy, Labor used to be a huge part of the DNC base. I’m very surprised that dems are willing to hand over Labor to Bannon and the Tea Party. And I don’t know what campaign you were watching, but Hillary ran solely on “Identity politics”, not Bernie. B ran on social economics like single payer healthcare and labor. Enormous issues in both red and blue states.
ITA with all you said, Nicole, and that’s why I made it a point to say we have to hold Democrats feet to the fire. They have to start WORKING for black voters, not just showing up right before the election to use them for votes.
@ Cranberry- nobody is “handing over” Labor to the GOP. Blue collar whites starting veering away from the Dem party in late 60s and early 70s after black people rose up in protest of whites getting SS and Medicaid while black people were left to languish in economically depraved areas without any government assistance. Dems supported social programs to assist POC and as soon as working class whites saw that POC were getting a piece of the “pie” too, they quietly started veering away from the party. Working class whites haven’t been the core voting base of the Dems in a very long time.
The white working class narrative is nothing more than a racist dog whistle. WCW hope that by voting against racial justice and inequality that they will be more closely aligned with the wealthy white people that they long to be. It’s been that way for a long time and does not show any sign of changing. Let them go vote against their own interests and let’s start supporting the people who show the eff up for the left. Let’s start rewarding our core constituents like poc and other minorities as well as marginalized members of our society who don’t get the support they need from the Democratic party. It’s time to be better and do more.
You misunderstand, Cranberry. Bernie only acknowledged white working class people – rather like the GOP – and dismissed black primary voters for Hillary as not being sufficiently aware. He’s the one who considers acknowledging issues important to minority and women voters to be “identity politics” and that’s not good enough for me. The Democratic base is women and minorities. Acknowledging us isn’t “identity politics,” It’s recognizing that we’re worth the same rights as white men have and have taken for granted.
@Betsy, last time I looked single payer healthcare and labor issues were also the issues of working class poc and women. My point is if you just think DNC can just “cut out” and dismiss Bernie and the issues he spoke directly to, they’re not going to have the victories you think in red states when up against a far less flawed republican candidate than Moore.
@kitten, the DNC still retained a vast amount of blue collar whites despite the GOP’s strategy to alienate white southerners and evangelicals from the labor parties starting in 70s. DNC has been losing white blue collar as well as poc-blue collar over the past 30 years because of it’s complete favor of the financial class and Neoliberalism over everything else including fighting for and protecting labor unions which have dwindled to maybe 5% in US. (I could be wrong about %, but I know it’s very, very small now – maybe even smaller).
Yes, they are issues of the working class POC and women. The point is that Bernie Sanders did not extend his message of working class unity in a meaningful way to minorities within the working class. That is why they didn’t come for him in the primaries. He dismissed “identity issues” within the campaign, as if minority identity was a coat that most of us could take off when necessary. He stated that abortion rights were negligible (because reproductive choice isn’t essential to women’s economic stability??). He called Hillary Clinton “establishment” with absolutely no sense of irony. He harped on single payer and college costs without ever explaining to the American people how exactly he was going to pay for that or get any of that legislation through. (What does college matter to the working class, anyway? Most of them are struggling just to get decent primary school education!) He did this all while positioning himself as the face of progressive reform, while doing absolutely jack all to help build the legislative base he would need to get anything through Congress.
I am not here to stan for Hillary Clinton because God knows she made her mistakes and is hardly a perfect person, but it is literally infuriating to me that her ENTIRE F*CKING CAREER of working for the people, whether it’s for health care (SINCE THE 90s) or women’s right to choose or going undercover to examine racial discrepancies in education in the 1970s, all of that gone thrown out the window through Republican witch hunts and Democratic male opponents who exploited that media representation to further their own careers. It is mindblowing to me how utterly thankless it is to be a woman and a Democrat.
Bernie Sanders was a single issue candidate who rode a wave of anti-establishment sentiment to get where he is. Those of us who were more politically savvy and experienced understood that his approach was not going to work without proper support behind it. People compared Trump and Hillary as two sides of the same coin, but you who is really more comparable in terms of their overall campaign tactics? Bernie and Trump. Because they are selling a promise of salvation to people who are too disinterested in actually doing the legwork and grassroots organizing required to see that progress. They want somebody to save them and make things better rather than taking responsibility for their own democracy.
Do I think the DNC needs to address those economic and racial disparities? Absolutely. Do I think Bernie Sanders was the one to do it? lol no
YESSSSS Veronica. Nicely done, my friend. I think you covered it all.
“Because they are selling a promise of salvation to people who are too disinterested in actually doing the legwork and grassroots organizing required to see that progress.”
^^This comment for DAYS.
Sorry Cranberry but my IDENTITY is not politics its my life. I can’t undo my blackness so YES it will be upfront and center with everything.
Saying people play “identity politics” is a dog-whistle used to erase minority voters. Why shouldn’t we demand people take into account black voters? We are the first in line for the slaughter when white voters elect a trump.
Edit: Just saw Veronica’s comment…YES
@Versonic, so does that mean that Hillary and the Neoliberal DNC are not going to even try for single payer healthcare? Do they think that ObamaCare was the solution? It had some good aspects to start, but even before Trump started dismantling, it was mostly a big win for insurance industry and big pharma, not a long term solution.
For me SP, like SS and Medicare would be far more helpful to working class and women both poc and white. I think poor poc and woc and working poc want to see real policies that are going to serve their needs. Are the dems going to stop sitting on the fence and seriously champion poor and working peoples’ issues, which means poc? They can’t do this if they’re beholden to corporatism and wall street. For all the accomplishments you listed, Hillary and dnc didn’t ‘champion’ these issues in the campaign. Why would any liberal, not just blacks, have thought things would really change?
@Cranberry – horsefeathers. Hillary’s campaign website is now gone, but she had dozens of specific ideas and papers on ideas to help the poor and working class – all colors included, not just Bernie’s preferred whites – with specificity that Bernie lacked. The DNC has been banging the gong for labor, unions, and workers rights. Bernie just kind of hangs there. He has no legislative accomplishments (although he was one of two senators to vote against Russian sanctions, curiously) and he hasn’t changed anything in the DNC.
If you want money out of politics as I do, wer’e going to have to get rid of Citizens United. Bernie’s pathetic warbles aren’t going to do squat. Except alienate Democrats like me.
Nicole is right about identity politics and offends me when people dismiss it. The GOP plays identity politics, but it is white Christian identity politics. I am Jewish, and I absolutely take that with me to the polls. Contrary to what some people seem to think about Jewish people part of the religion is about social justice for ALL people so that matters to me.
I don’t want Bernie to run, but the defense of HRC does get old when it comes to race and is ridiculous. 2016 is over, but that myth needs to go in the trash. The Clintons did more to harm the black community in the 90s with mass incarceration which in turn set up the private prison problem among other things. They race baited in the 2008 election. Bernie was tone deaf but in a different way. So it is time to get real with this whole issue. HRC wanted the white suburban vote in both elections. Tim Kaine oh he speaks spanish. *eyeroll*
Past players were ALL problematic.
Minorities in poverty have additional burdens that have to be addressed, and I believe Bernie’s economic ideas were right (higher min. wage, free college, univ. healthcare), but they need to be expanded and improved to target minorities and immigrants. Yes, union issues have to be included to stop abusive workplace practices and sure working class people are important but not exclusively or primarily the white working class. Rural white people who stay with the GOP can stay there. I don’t care about them.
It took me a moment to get it, but I clearly see the bigoted ones are more concerned with that than anything else, even if they voted for Obama. The ones that aren’t racists will either know that they benefit too or be stupid. I don’t care about the stupid ones either.
We are our identities no matter what the right tries to say to catch the bigot vote. For them only white identity matters. Our base doesn’t give a damn what their pundits or operatives have to say.
It is time we stop excusing white Democrats just because they throw some black people behind them on the podiums. Legislation is what counts. Judgeships. Education. Agendas. Electing POC. POC in administrative positions.
You will never. get single payer. if democrats. don’t start taking responsibility. for their own. vote.
If you don’t give them the legislative seats to do it, the DNC cannot magically save us. The Clintons tried to push through single payer reform in the 90s. The Republicans tore Hillary apart and used her to undermine the entire campaign.
In the 2000s, Obamacare STARTED as a single payer plan. That was its entire intent. But voters didn’t give them the Congressional numbers to get it through, so the ACA is what results when Democrats literally have to scrape a piece of legislation through with a barebones majority given to them by (at that time) independent Joe Lieberman. That whole exhausting, drawn out mess was a microcosm of the larger problem with the progressive base. They want change, but they don’t want to do what actually needs required to push that through.
These are all extremely valid issues, but you’re framing this situation as though the DNC has the ability to fix all of this. That’s not how democracy works. Voting is a RESPONSIBILITY, not a privilege. If we aren’t willing to put our money in donations, do the legwork to get newer, more diverse voices into the mainstream party, we’re never going to effect that change because nobody is disrupting the status quo. These people don’t magic themselves into office. We put them there. And until voters accept that and acknowledge that a political system is something that requires CIVILIAN ACCOUNTABILITY, it’s not going to get any better.
“The DNC has been banging the gong for labor, unions . .”
@betsy, That’s just it. They haven’t been “banging the gong” at all and for a very long time. The DNC has only assumed the presentation of the labor/union party because the there is no other choice. But they haven’t “fought” and campaigned for unions since the eighties.
@Veronica, I agree Hillary is much more accomplished stateswoman than Bernie. And I agree 100% about civilian accountability, but that is only partially culpable to the political situation we have now. The DNC is also guilty of laziness and relying on wealthy, corporate, and wall street donors. Like you said it takes $ and out reach and an active electorate to bring about progressive changes. But if one of the two major national parties doesn’t utilize their $ and resources to organize around some of these issues then they become part of the problem.
I’m not saying the DNC can “fix” everything on their own, but I don’t agree that they’ve put ENOUGH $ where their mouth is either. They’ve got the $$, no doubt. But their wealthy donors don’t want to support these issues. Sure they want diversity, like Obama, but they don’t want any serious discussion of single payer.
Many people are not inspired by the dems conflict of interests to get up and start organizing for the DNC because of this. They have no faith in them. But generally I agree with the activism and changes you mentioned and agree the DNC has to be made to recognize more progressive and diverse leaders. If she’s not going to run again, I’d really like to see Hillary support SP or at least address it and help Re-galvanize the movement as a DNC issue.
Believe me, Veronica, HRC would have been a much better President than Bernie. I do not doubt that. Truly.
The Dems are the party in place, so we do need the party to be healthy. Independents who caucus with the Dems are essential in races where the electorate is progressive and independent.
The old guard has to step aside.
As we see in these elections, the winners have been new faces from the grassroots. The OGs are steeped in the old model of not entirely embracing the base and reacting to the GOP instead of focusing on what their base needs. Wall Street reflects no one but wealthy people mostly white people and people who have no real skin the American economy game. And as we see the shareholders pocket the profits and it does not turn into jobs or higher wages for anyone.
Single payer could pass or else Bernie would not have been able to attract so much passion. The 90s were not the time but by no means a predictor of the future. Millenials were in elementary school or cradles but are overwhelmingly interested in the issue. It would be a gift to small business owners, women and children, minorities and the economy.
Obama was magical because he was inspiring. Doug Jones is a hero for the black community and engaged with the black community for real. Black people were blamed for the loss in 2016, but the problem was the candidate. It was an insult to our own base yet they still try.
50 state solution is the only solution, but it comes down to quality candidates and paying attention to the base.
I hear you about not being able to do it alone, but they didn’t even run in thousands of races across the country for years forgoing the chances to build coalitions and voting infrastructures. We need to fight voter suppression and restoring voting rights to felons. No more shying away from the issues because white people might get upset or become turned off.
Only F’ed if people actually show up to vote as they did in Alabama.
Yesterday night felt like Christmas. First time I cried tears of joy for political results in so long! Alabama, you showed up! Seriously still in disbelief Jones won! Thank you, voters who showed up! And shame on those who still voted for Roy Moore with the “Christian” excuse. I am sorry but that is not what Christianity is about. Suck it Trump, suck it Bannon, suck it racist pedophile Moore! Jerushaaaa talk to us and tell us how is it in Alabama right now!!
I was so nervous to check the result, but when I saw that Moore lost, I actually teared up – I was so happy. I’m not American, but I needed this to happen. I needed to feel like SOME level of humanity was being restored.
Today, I’m happy. Salute to all those men and women who showed up and made a difference.
Yes, these are our real heroes.
http://twitter.com/trueblueraleigh/status/940812944333516800
Jerusha! There you are. Mentioned you above, couldn’t remember your posting name. Congrats. You deserve this.
Congratulations Jerusha! I hope you screamed, and danced, and hugged all your friends last night.
Yes. Jerusha, congrats and thank you. I hope you get to enjoy a moment of rest after all your work.
I thought about you last night when I heard Jones won! Congratulations and thank you for leading the way!
From IL thank you so much for all your hard work.
Jerusha, I was screaming your name watching the returns as Jones pulled ahead “Jerusha, you pulled it off!” My husband was laughing though he probably thinks me crazy for thinking of you guys like old friends! Our holiday charity giving was to the Doug Jones campaign (honestly I thought it was probably lost money, but we wouldn’t have regretted for a second if he had lost)
It was a therapeutic election night, though sobering to think how this should not have been close at all. But when you think that Sessions took 90% of the vote (according to one pundit) for this seat, that’s a HUGE swing back for the needle.
I have a question (as a WOC married into a white liberal Jewish family); what is the deal with white women who vote Republican? How can over 95% woc vote one way, and only about 30% of ww vote liberal (I think I saw that breakdown among the numbers somewhere from last night). What is the cultural thing that makes woc come together politically as a whole, and prevents ww from coming together more? I think there is a key somewhere in this issue to the next level of feminism. I went to a women’s college in the 80s and even there, I would see the anxiety among straight white women to figure out which male they were dating and going to marry! And this was at a liberal, feminist, East Coast college! I didn’t grow up in the US, so it was surprising to me. My overseas impression of American white women till then (since in those days, white American women was what you tended to see racewise on news and the movies) had been of emancipated strong women who could do anything, etc. It took a while to readjust that thinking. And it was a shock to see how patriarchal they are!
Congratulations!
Can’t believe 65% white women voted for him…. I think it’s the Christian vote-with-my-husband syndrome but still.
Great news though- however I read he is refusing to concede until the tax vote. Is that true and if so is that even allowed? I thought the result was over the error margin. There’s no way he should be allowed to stay, right?
There is an automatic recount if the vote difference is less than 0.5%.
This is around 1.5%
HOWEVER, any candidate can call for a recount in any race IF THEY PAY FOR IT.
So Moore is saying this, but the RNC is going to slink away and have already washed their hands of him (months too late, but anyway).
He’s dreaming. There won’t be a recount.
But can he stall and stay where he is until his self-funded recount takes place?
It won’t. He won’t have the funds. The Alabama Republican Party has said they won’t support Moore’s push for a recount. He’ll talk big for a day or two, then mutter about devils and sin and fraud and maybe blame his “Jew lawyer”, and disappear.
Alabama Attorney General has already shut this down from his perspective. Moore is counting on Jesus. I heard Jesus tweeted “You’re kidding, right?”
The Secretary of State last night didn’t seem to be ready to fight for Moore. He explained the automatic recount trigger mechanism but indicated the results were three times beyond the .5% trigger. He discussed the uncounted military and absentee ballots that Moore claimed would push him over the top and explained that there weren’t enough to change the overall outcome although they could trigger the recount if they altered the margin but, again, he didn’t think that would happen. He did say that any candidate could request a recount, if he paid for it, but said that had time restraints and he intended to comply with his statutory duty to confirm that election in a timely manner.
Jesus said “I don’t know him.” And then rode off on his horse into the sunset.
It’s not vote with the husband. It is vote for ANYONE, even a predator and a racist, who is anti-choice. Frankly, it’s disgusting. They care more about that than actual living, breathing, children living in poverty.
I am torn: I want to be happy about this since Doug Jones is a decent guy, several thousand new people exercised their right to vote in Alabama, and Steve Bannon and Dump are now 2x scabby-faced losers, but I am not 100% happy about this. Roy Moore NEVER should have been an option. The fact that over 500,000 people voted for that pig is gross.
I also don’t like how black people have to be used to save whites from themselves every single time. My twitter tl is full of people recognizing that black people-us black women in particular at 98%- put in the work, but what happens now that we put out the fire that white people started. We put in the work and get little to nothing in return other than empty words.
I guess I will just enjoy Steve Bannon and Dump taking another L and then go back to figuring out how black women can leverage this to gain more power. We deserve it.
Lastly, white women need to get their shit together. The white women who voted for Moore are functioning morons who voted for a man who wanted to take away their voting rights away. In the next few days/weeks I better not find one article that victimizes those white women. They are not victims and should not be treated as such.
p.s. Steve Bannon is a loser.
I’m never sure what to do to be an ally, like I don’t know the concrete actions I can take. I’ve always voted Democrat, think the Berniebros’ attempt to delegitimization black voters as unimportant and uninformed is as stupid as the rest of his self-involved politics – and I let the DNC know, I try to do my bit in supporting intersectional feminism…. but I am a stay at home parent whose present interactions are largely limited to those within my home and onthe internet.
Well this white woman would rather have you and your sisters of color as allies than that majority of WW who voted for Moore. Those women are beyond hope, IMO, and certainly beyond any interest I have in converting them. At this point, I believe white men may be more reachable. It’s very disheartening.
and let’s not use the ‘vote with your man’ excuse. In the booth they are by themselves and could vote anywhich way. Which judging by the numbers they do not.
At the end it feels very strange how excited everybody is when at the end of the day the black voters saved the day. This is their victory and nobody elses.
I have this massive question mark hovering over my head today (it made its first appearance after DT won). WHY? What is up with white women? I’m not buying this internalized sexism as an explanation. That only goes so far. Is it ONLY race? Because black women seem to be immune to that sh*t. At least in elections. Does whiteness make you stupid?
I would maybe understand if the GOP had done ONE good thing for anyone recently. But they haven’t. I would get it if they had shoveled more privilege towards white people. But they haven’t. They are making everyone’s lives more miserable, what exactly is it that white women (or anyone) have gained?
I ask myself the same! what the hell is up with white women who support this crap?
In a nutshell: religion, poverty, insularity, and lack of education is what is wrong with white women. In states that have a largely college-educated population, more diversity, economic success, and a more secular white population they by and large vote Dem.
I guess that makes me sound like a coastal elite but the demographics still support what I say here so…meh.
Also worth pointing out that religious and economically struggling POC still by and large vote Dem, but this is the difference between having white privilege and not.
@Kitten, no they don’t. A huge portion of the white people (not just white women) who voted for Trump were college educated, middle to upper middle class people who live in areas with enough diversity. That was the whole problem. White people, including white women, across EVERY metric voted for Trump. That surprised me enormously.
Granted, that’s likely not true for the Alabama Senate race. I’ll have to take a look at the stats when I can for that.
Honestly, I’m going to tell you why they voted for Moore. Because of their husbands. Many Christian s believe in the man being the head of the house hold. So the women probably vote the way he votez
THE HEAD OF THE HOUSEHOLD??? I realize that I’m probably just never going to understand this but I would do a lot to sit down with one of these women and have a serious talk. Because I don’t know any. I’m liberal by German standards which probably makes me a damn communist by US standards. My girlfriends and I all grew up with working moms who would NOT have this crap. I know one guy whose mother goes a little in that direction but even she would NEVER obey her husband in the damn voting booth. I know this for a fact.
Is it a cultural thing? It frustrates me to no end that I cannot grasp this concept. In 2017.
It is most definitely a cultural thing. It is a right wing evangelical thing. You can bet that most women in the crowds cheering Roy Moore believe that the man is the head of the household. It is taught and preached in numerous churches. Is it bat shit crazy? Of course, it is.
@littlemissnaughty – that’s okay, it confuses many of us Americans, too. It’s cultural inculcation from the cradle forward. One of my aunts who married into the family grew up in a fundamentalist family with thirteen kids. The girls served their brothers, literally. They served them and then they ate after. And that’s just the most visible symptom of women being debased and not understanding the extent to which they have been religiously brainwashed.
I know it sounds misogynistic, but I know a few women who I grew up with or worked with that were dumber than a box of hair and have very little knowledge of what’s going on in the world and how politics work who were VERY anti Hillary and pro Trump (and still are). Coincidentally they all have husbands who are very right wing and pro Trump (and also very anti Hillary and shout Benghazi and Pizzagate to refute Trump criticism). One girl I grew up with, who literally only ever talks about sports, I don’t think she could identify many other countries or any current events, posted a picture of herself and her kids on election day saying it was her first time voting and captioned it with I’m on the TRUMP train baby choo choo. Followed by an elephant and train emoji. I think it has a lot to do with being ignorant and being swayed. They bought into the anti Hillary stuff and have husbands who probably bashed her left and right. It’s a sad patriarchal fact because I can’t think of many cases of husbands being swayed by their wives.
It’s the Deep South. It’s a…… different world down there. An elderly female friend of mine is from the south but has lived on the west coast for more than 30 years, and the beliefs she holds about gender roles and relationship dynamics are, uh, archaic to put it as nicely as possible. It might as well be Victorian times for her.
In her world, the man is the head of the house and makes ALL decisions. Even if he’s an abusive drunk. She finally left her ex husband because he was an abusive drunk and that was a Big Deal. This happened 30 years ago and she still talks about it with pride and something like awe. Like she can’t believe she was brave enough to leave him and live on her own, because that was Not Done, and that she did very well living on her own because that should not have been possible.
I didn’t mean to imply that none of these views exist over here, btw. But it’s a level of deference to men that I personally have not encountered and I’m pretty sure does not exist on that scale. As in, whole communities. As I said, I have seen one “case” firsthand and both my bff and I are always completely floored. But we are floored because it’s so rare and it’s not the same level.
I attended my cousin’s wedding (not that long ago) and was shocked when the minister went on and on about how the bride was vowing to revere her husband as the head of the household, would defer to his wishes in all things, and be the ever-supportive helpmate, etc. etc. This wasn’t in the Deep South, but in the very progressive state of Oregon. I wanted to stand up and object on her behalf, but my cousin was raised in a very devout household and to her this was an entirely normal way of thinking. She felt blessed to have found a decent, god-fearing man who would protect and provide.
It’s sucks that this whole “woman’s place” nonsense is still such a thing and how women are supposed to be blah blah blah but men are just kinda left to figure out the whole leadership thing on their own and if they never do then oh well, no big deal, they still get to be in charge. Because penis.
In my book, if you want to be revered as the head of the household and make the decisions then you earn that shit and you earn it good. Respect is earned, not given, as is trust. Taking care of others means putting their needs, if not ahead of yours at least equal to them. Being a leader isn’t fun and games and playing king. It’s a burden. If you can’t shoulder that burden then you have no right to demand any kind of service or loyalty from others.
But there’s a difference between following blindly and voting with your husband out of meekness, ignorance, fear, whatever, and actually being a woman who is out there stumping hard for Moore or Trump. Women who believe wholeheartedly in the things that they vote for (racism, anti-choice, anti-immigration, guns everywhere, taking healthcare and any kind of welfare away from women and children and poor people in need). Women who go to battle to tear down and discredit and shame the women who came out about Moore’s sexual assault and pedophilia. What is wrong with these women? What is their excuse? And why is it that black women who attend evangelical Christian churches in the south are somehow completely escaping the fanatical right-wing conservatism that is afflicting white women?
I emailed my senators from Michigan, both Dems, to ask them what they, and the DNC, and Democrats in Congress could do for people of color. I told them that we need to stop courting white women, rural whites, blue collar whites, and start turning to our actual base: black people, people of color. I said that we have a consistent block of Democratic voters in people of color and that when they vote, we win, and when they don’t vote, we lose, and it is our job to provide them with candidates they want to vote for! We can’t ignore people of color throughout the entire year and then come to them a week or two before the election and ask for their vote. We need to make policies that help them, we need to provide candidates that represent them (Obama worked so much better than Bernie or Hillary), we need to fight voter suppression laws. Because we can’t rely on every Republican opponent to be as obviously despicable as Roy-pro-slavery-Moore. And we’re not going to be able to flip racist, misogynistic, white rural voters by talking about the economy. We don’t need to flip white working class voters, we need to rally our current base that wins us elections when they vote! When they save us from having a pro-slavery, anti-votes-for-women, real life actual pedophile in the Senate, they should get some representation and some policies that can help them in return. I intend to reach out to all my Democratic elected official and the DNC in the coming days because black people voting almost as a single block to flip Alabama(!!!) in spite of our supposed “Democratic base” of white women did, is a major, major wake up call.
I saw an interesting stat here in Alabama: it’s true white women overall went for Moore. But when you break it down into evangelical WW vs non-evangelical WW: 70% of non-evangelical WW voted for Jones.
Hanukkah miracle 2017.
I said the same thing last night.
I said it all over the Internet last night, but this victory is allllllll the African American voters. Own it, revel in it, and know that we’re smiling and clapping at your win.
Other good signs:
– White ladies still voted in disappointingly high numbers for a man who actually said he doesn’t think women should vote, but I think about ten percent shifted to Jones. Not perfect, but better.
– This is a bold repudiation of Trump and Bannon and Putin
– Rock on, Washington Post. This is what good investigative reporting does!
– But seriously, have you looked at that map of Alabama? I’ve never seen an Alabama so blue!
Today is the first day since Nov 20, 2016 that I have felt happy and hopeful. Thank you Doug Jones voters of Alabama and thank you Jerusha and all of the other people who helped to make this outcome possible. It can be done!
Congrats to Alabamians for this historical victory. Congrats to the black community in AL. See democrats?! They are the strength of your party.
Ps: Can i just congratulate Charles Barkley for working tirelessly in support Of Doug Jones?! Congrats, Mr. Barkley!
We were laughing last night at how “And now for some political analysis, we go to Charles Barkley” is a sentence that makes sense in 2017. I thought he did wonderfully
Charles Barkley has always been so entertaining with his quick wit – it’s awesome to see him get in on politics.
I thought he was so eloquent and expressed himself so clearly to the folks over there.
Kudos to him and all the people who worked behind the scenes that we don’t know.
Alabama: 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Watching Charles Barkley dance with joy as the results became known in that room was a highlight and one of the first signs that this was truly happening as most of the networks hadn’t called it yet.
BTW, I was channel flipping waiting for the results and landed on Fox where Laura Ingraham was lecturing democratic women against reporting sexual harassment because men could lodge fake charges against us, when they interrupted her to announce that Jones had won. She looked like she was just told she had 3 weeks to live.
I missed that golden moment. If there is anyone who can twist herself into a pretzel to deny the truth, it’s Laura with that always noticeable cross she wears around her wretched neck!!
I know. My mother called me and was laughing so hard she could barely speak. She loathes Laura to the point I worry for her sometimes. lol
Laura peeped their next play, and it will be a guy saying a woman grabbed his butt and it will be a Dem. I dare them.
@magnoliarose-my parents loathe Ann Coulter to an unhealthy point. I can’t blame them-but I try and avoid watching her or listening to her.
He’s talked about running for governor of Alabama. Come on, Charles! We need to get rid of Kay-I believe the women and I’ll vote for him anyway-Ivey. Pathetic,
My husband said last night, “Maybe Charles Barkley will run for President.”
Sir Charles, late of Auburn University. He was the ROUND MOUND OF REBOUND!!!!
Jerusha you are my spirit animal. Just saying. 🙂
I don’t know if I would have donated to Jones if it hadn’t been for you here every single day and you inspired me to get other people and to tell some do-gooders not to interfere in the process in there.
It was not only Black women who voted, many of them were campaign leaders. Here in Mobile, our efforts were directed by Taylor, a young African American woman from Birmingham. She lived in Mobile for months, only going home for two days at Thanksgiving. We’ve never had a campaign so organized before. I hope we carry it over to 2018 and 2020. And I trust that Doug knows who put him over the top and acts accordingly.
Thank you, Jerusha for all your posts on this election.
Jerusha, I cried when I heard Jones won. I admire you more than I can say. WAR EAGLE AND ROLL TIDE!!!
Thank you, Sis and thank Ms. Taylor as well. Tell her I love her and appreciate her.
Thank you, Jerusha. Thank you, black women of Birmingham, Mobile, Selma and all throughout Alabama. May Doug Jones serve you and your state well.
I also cried! happy tears at first then I saw that 65% of white women voted for Moore and the tears became angry ones.
Thank you. You talked about being out on the ground and that’s the grassroots we need for next year. So count yourself among the heroes because I know I’ve seen your posts about this election numerous times.
As Crissle said yesterday “believe in black women. Invest in Black women.”
It’s clearly time.
It is time.
yes! black women are saving America from itself. Its time to listen, believe and invest in them!
Thank you Jerusha for tireless work in what seemed in an impossible race—courage and endurance, your team changed the political landscape of hate and stupidity. As a TX voter, I am inspired by you and will do my best to honor what you started and get rid of Cruz in 2018.
Serious gratitude to African American voters who dealt with insanity to get to polls and Black Women who do so much and are owed much more than gratitude NOW, and Alabamans who made a Hanukkah miracle happen.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Here’s a link to Stacey Abrams, candidate for Governor of Georgia—her vision and experience are true leadership: https://staceyabrams.com
I’m also a Texan and all I could think last night was “we can get rid of Cruz.” If Alabama can elect a Democratic Senator, surely Texas can.
Cheers, Jerusha!
I am up here in Nashville, and I thank you very much for all your efforts!!! We are excited here about running Karl Dean for Governor and Phil Bredesen for Senate–both Democrats. I am more hopeful we can win now!!
We also can all help black women by supporting their campaigns in 2018!
Except maybe Mia Love. Sorry if that crossed a line, but she is WAY too anti choice.
Agreed. Here in Boston during our local elections a month ago we elected six women of color to city council seats. It’s a start, but we need to continue to do more.
Thankful for the sane citizens of Alabama today.
Where is Jerusha? Shout out to the only citizen of AL i know, even if only from here. After all her work for this election, I hope she is taking a well deserved rest today.
Thanks, I wish! Wednesday is one of the days I take dogs to visit a. nursing home.
And as has been stated, it was our A-A citizens who saved us from ourselves, just as they did with the Bus Boycott and the Selma March so many years ago. They need all our gratitude and support.
You’re a gem, Jerusha. I hope you and your puppers bring lots of love and joy to the people you visit.
agreed, your work bring good to the people in so many ways. may you always be blessed in your efforts.
pupperrssssssss just the idea of them visiting some old folks makes me smile
Thank you to everyone in Alabama who voted for Jones. Like Kaiser, I went to bed without checking the election results. I cried this morning learning Jones won. Hopefully, this means Bannon’s power base goes bye-bye. As a Jew, that man scares me like no other. A Hanukkah miracle indeed.
“Bannon’s power base” are basically overgrown teenage boys (to be fair, some are probably also actual teenage boys. And some are Russian bots). They hate to lose, they hate to be seen as losers. Some will slink away, others will get angrier, and that’s what we need to fear. Because they’ll be willing to do anything, defame anyone, lie and cheat and become angry and possibly violent, to grab back what they feel has been “taken away” from them.
Two Shirts is full of it, and now has egg all over his face (which is an improvement). Mister Well Educated Political Strategist Genius is probably doodling mean cartoons of everyone he blames on his whiteboard this morning.
Eating some vegan latkes with the Moore’s Jew lawyer. He says Hi, and he voted for Jones. lol
Lol. Clinking glasses with you guys too. I’ll pass the gelt.
🙂
This is what it’s going to be like: we’re in a siege; the very nature of our country is at stake; every election has become a battle.
Get your nutrition. Take moments for sanity breaks. Have a healthy outlet for your angst/frustration/grief/anger. Be vigilant. They won’t stop, so we can’t either.
Exactly. I came here to say that this is great news and all but…..CONTACT THE FCC AND YOUR CONGRESS REPS, TIME IS RUNNING OUT ON NET NEUTRALITY!!!
Another day, another trash fire.
I give up sometimes. I am ashamed to admit it, but I need to become more optimistic again. I received the best Channukah gift last night, and it was a lighter heart. You are right for sure. Time to get to work and practice self-care.
A well deserved defeat. We won’t be fooled again. Woman are resisting and are going to take back our country. No Moore, trump we’re coming for you!
Thanks to Jerusha and all the other Alabama Celebitches that put in the good fight for Doug Jones!!
And thank you to African American voters, particularly black women, who once again have saved their fellow idiot Americans from themselves. Dear Doug Jones – be better than your party and make sure you serve and recognize the people who helped you secure an unlikely win.
I know it isn’t over and I know that this momentum HAS to be sustained until the mid-terms and long after, but for just a moment it feels awfully sweet.
38 year old white woman from Mobile, AL. I am proud to be 1 of the 35% that voted for Jones and disgusted at the other 65%. Disgusted but not shocked. A huge thank you to the African American women and men for carrying this election on your backs. Such a statement to AL, USA and the world.
Yay!!
Someone needs to dump him in a heap of Sassys shit! Congrats to the people of Alabama who were smart enough to keep this perverted pedophile pig out of office.
I hope his “Jew” lawyer quits and tells him to go fu*k himself.
The cover of The New York Daily News is hilarious.
I’m thinking the Jew lawyer doesn’t exist or just claimed to be Jewish to avoid having to spend any extra time with the Moores. “Dinner tonight… I can’t. Something… yamulke related”.
Free Sassy the Horse!
Horse Twitter galloped to Sassy’s defense.
http://splinternews.com/horse-twitter-comes-for-roy-moore-1821227717/amp?__twitter_impression=true
Won’t someone think of Sassy?
He rode a different horse to vote in the primary. Both horses are beautiful. They remind me of my gaited horse, a Paso Fino. I am not a good rider, really, but even I could see that Moore had a poor seat and was holding the reins wrong. Then he also yanked on Sassy’s mouth too hard when she panicked at the crowd of reporters. It was a terrible way to treat her. And did he even have any saddle blanket under that awful, cheap-looking saddle? He epitomizes the phrase “all horse no cattle.”
And shame on whoever allowed a rank beginner to get on that poor horse with a curb bit. Leverage bits belong in educated hands only. Period. No ifs ands or buts. But since the bridle is so ill fitting and the bit not even remotely in the proper position, maybe he did it himself. Then shame on him for inflicting his ignorance and poorly fitting tack on that animal. That horse is a saint.
White women: GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER!!!!! Why would you ever think that voting for that predator would even be in YOUR own interest??? I don’t get it. OBVIOUSLY I’m happy about the outcome (which honestly, I didn’t expect), but I find it difficult to really want to congratulate Alabama for so narrowly determining that they don’t wish to be represented by a racist, predatory asshat.
Because all that matters is their Christian faith, anti abortion views and maintaining their Southern heritage.
Sad, but true, Ilsa.
Yes pretty much this. Said something similar upthread.
From an online community I “know” a white middle-class mom who lives in Alabama. Her feeling was that the race “stunk” and she was holding her nose while she voted, but that abortion is her ONE issue. So even though she found Doug Moore disgusting, she’d vote for him over a Democrat who is pro-choice.
SMDH…yeah this is something I hear often. I wonder if it is religion or internalized misogyny or both. Either way, it is both sad and infuriating to witness.
It’s their “ticket to heaven.” Worship the unborn: to hell with the born.
The ‘powers that be’ have been preaching/brainwashing white evangelicals to think this way for the last 40 years. They actually preach about how you should vote and why, and if you don’t do this you’re not a good Christian. It’s sick and it needs to go. It’s one of the many reasons I left the church.
The thing is many black voters are against abortion. But they have the common sense to look beyond that single issue and see big picture and vote accordingly.
Kitten, it’s both, and they feed each other. Their religion teaches them that women are subservient to men, men are the decision makers because they’re better, and that women have one job and one job only: raise more believers. So it’s no surprise at all. I wish they would realize all the harm and suffering they cause, but alas, as long as they think they’re doing the Right Thing, nobody else matters.
Good to see some hope in the world
And women who were sexually abused can see a tiny bit of Karma return back to the abuser
I was stationed in Alabama for a few years.
It has a lot going for it.
Great food, beautiful flowers,soft winds with moss in the giant trees, beaches, lower cost of living, Huntsville, “where geek is chic”…
They normally get bad press like when the news reporter finds the toothless, shirtless guy who describes what the tornado sounded like but, overall, good people.
I’m glad Moore went down.
You gotta stand up and the reason Trump is pres is because a lot of people didn’t even bother to vote says this retired Veteran.
I was jumping with joy last night—felt hope for the first time in forever. A GOPer said before the results were in that if a Democrat could win in Alabama, they could win anywhere. Well, baby, we can win anywhere!!
Thank the goddess for African Americans who once again led the way. Now here’s my prayer to the goddess: For once, can those African American voters be rewarded with policies that protect and uplift their families, instead of being forgotten till the next race comes up?
“For once, can those African American voters be rewarded with policies that protect and uplift their families, instead of being forgotten till the next race comes up?”
Well said. I may be naive but as more states flip blue I hope that’s exactly what we will see.
Yes, please!
That’s what i’m saying. Because judging by black twitter last night it won’t be easy to convince people to vote with no results.
Also it would be nice if people cared about us during other times that were not around elections.
I can dream i guess
Sometimes I think politicians are afraid to address “black issues” (things like police brutality, inner city crime mostly due to the drug trade, fixing up city playgrounds and gardens, building up communities with stores to avoid food deserts etc, hate crimes, medical issues unique to the black community and so on) because they might piss off white people. Well guess what? These white people will get pissed off regardless and still vote R. I’ve seen programs aimed at black youth and these fools scream what about white kids. Linda, why don’t you start a program or volunteer with some poor white youth? Oh right, you gotta post 100 memes bashing liberals all day. Maybe if the crack epidemic was addressed like the opioid epidemic, things in inner cities would be different. I can’t quite put my finger on the difference hmm. Also something that these people seem to forget is that a lot of the drug trade of heroin in cities like Baltimore, Detroit and Chicago is what is leading to shootings and gang violence. But who is buying that heroin?? Oh right, white people from the burbs.
What are your top 3 policy wishes?
I am so relieved. I literally cried last night when it was official, after watching the early results and expecting to hear we had elected a racist predator, AGAIN. But thanks to all of the people who worked so hard, and the black men and women who showed up and voted, and the conservatives who couldn’t stomach Moore and stayed home or did a write in, we can move forward with our heads a little higher today.
I would like to say to my fellow white women in Alabama…what is wrong with you!?!? That man doesn’t even think you should have the right to vote, and you went and voted FOR HIM. It’s just appalling.
To all of Moore’s victims who came forward, remember your fellow white women still voted for this predator, in droves.
Sincerely,
A black woman
so disgusted at that 65% of white women who voted for a sexual predator
*sips tea*
I was stationed in Alabama for a few years.
It has a lot going for it.
Great food, beautiful flowers,soft winds with moss in the giant trees, beaches, lower cost of living, Huntsville, “where geek is chic”…
They normally get bad press like when the news reporter finds the toothless, shirtless guy who describes what the tornado sounded like but, overall, good people.
I’m glad Moore went down and let’s not forget that trump is the pres because a lot of people didn’t vote.
Sincerely, a white, female, career military veteran
“I’m glad Moore went down and let’s not forget that trump is the pres because a lot of people didn’t vote.”
And there you go. Jones won because YOUNG PEOPLE (black and white, men and women) didn’t sit at home this time. People under 40 voted Jones. Over 40 for Moore. The same thing happened with Trump. People over 40 made up 64% of voters.
All this backpatting for a certain voter bloc is going to backfire, people. Younger generations need to band together instead of hating on gender, color and sexuality. Otherwise you are staying right where you are.
Not to take anything away from what you’ve said, but Alabama’s election also had over 50% of red county, suburban voters stay home yesterday. Also 22K republicans wrote in their non-democrate candidate. Just saying, we’ve won one battle, but the war’s not over by far. But it is a good sign that ‘enough’ people in AL care about decency more than tribal politics.
@cranberry
Exactly. Imagine if all those write-ins didn’t and voted party line?
All this is is a sign that even Repubs in the South have a line. It shouldn’t be taken as more than that. It’s not as though Moore was a strong candidate. That’s why I say the young people need to stay united instead of taking a dump on each other, which is what is happening.
No, no mirth here. That was an extremely close call. This should have been a shut and close case but it wasn’t. It was a close call and Americans who are anything other than very right wing should be extremely worried about why so many people still voted for an Ephebophiliac.
Congratulations to Doug Jones and the state of Alabama.
That old saying about “being sick and tired of being sick and tired” is so appropriate. Why do those who benefit the least, always have to shoulder the burden on their backs? The crushing weight of just existing in the U.S. suffocates you at times you can hardly breathe. And yet we persevere, we look forward, hoping to make things better for the next generation…knowing that just as our ancestors bore the whip and lash for us, we have to do it for our children. In the hope that their futures will be better and brighter. And in spite of the absolute mindless stupidity and hate of those who despise our existence, we press on.
There is a reckoning coming and to paraphrase MLK, America will still resist “cashing the check.”
you brought tears to my eyes. those words and their historical truth, especially in the deep red south, is heartbreaking.
So true of being sick and tired. Young African Americans don’t see the return on investment of supporting the Democratic Party. Going forward their votes won’t be easily given to support a Party that only pays lip service and refuses to look out for their interest. The Democratic establishment and current party leaders are out of touch and need to step aside. That day of reckoning may be sooner than folks realize
Fannie Lou Hamer is the one who said, “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.” A black woman from Mississippi who lead the civil rights movement there in 1964.
Roll Tide! I can’t begin to share how happy I am with the voters of Alabama. Black women and men came through!!!!
That clip of Tina Johnson is so moving
Black people have been saving the little human decency that America claims to possess, since they first put their feet on American soil. Shout out to black women for their integrity and patience, the real American hero! They’re the only ones who care about protecting children, no matter their race, from predators.
Jerusha- thank you.
Jerusha – thank you from us in Canada. We gave some $$$ to the Doug Jones campaign (dual citizens) and maybe it helped you do what you did, so well!
I hope you stay involved in politics and advocacy work.
THANK GOODNESS!!!! But why in heck was it so close???!! It should have been 70 percent for Jones or more but I’ll settle for anything. It was a win!!!! If Moore won I think I would have expected an evil curse to hit Alabama hard.
I bow to you, Jerusha! Good job.
ETA and all the rest of you who worked tirelessly and continue to do so. I dont mean to slight anyone by any means, I just havent been able to read news lately, it has been way too stressful so forgive me for forgetting anyone involved.
First time poster, but a longtime lurker on CB. I have tears in my eyes now even though I found out the results last night (last night was all high 5’s and hugs). Shoutout to Jerusha for all the hard work that paid off, and to all the black men and WOMEN that stepped up and saved the day! In a more decent world it would have been a landslide victory, but I’ll take what I can get these days. Cheers, bitchies!
I was so disappointed in those exit poll questions showing at the bottom of the screen. But joy washed over all that once Jones pulled ahead in the larger counties.
So yeah, much to unpack with this, but he won! So much for “off cycle election low turnout” and predictions leaning toward RM having it in the bag.
Sometimes I’m ashamed to be a midwestern white woman, and my life has not at all been easy. I just think the people who call “reverse racism”, say stupid crap about all lives matter, and tote around how things have become so unfair for white people are COMPLETELY and UTTERLY in the dark about the reality of things. Like…maybe you specifically grew up poor and struggling but overall, historically speaking, you didn’t. You didn’t have life setbacks before you were born due to the color of your skin, etc. So please, in response to the tweet about 65% of white women voting Moore and black voters not always being there to clean up the mess…please…keep sweeping. They won’t wake up out of their delusions without a major upset. Like bigger than Roy Moore.
Shame and guilt are unhelpful here. And you can’t rely on black women or non-white women in general to continue to sweep up the messes. White women aren’t children to be looked after. They’re adults who have to learn, and actively make an effort to be better. Don’t you think that there’s something rather backward about assuming black women are there to be caretakers for helpless white people and sweep up their messes? That’s not what they’re there for. They’re people too, and the best way to help them is through reciprocating and by doing better for yourself.
This gives me hope here in Texas! Beto O Rourke for Texas Senate!!
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.elpasotimes.com/amp/774132001
OH MY JESUS!!! I refused to watch the news last night…. Turned the TV off around 7pm…. Just woke up to THIS!!!!!!!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to my sisters of color for once again saving the day! My heart aches for what you must be feeling this morning…. As a white woman (under 45), I swear my older white sisters need to GET IT TOGETHER and STOP disappointing me/us!!!
I’m gonna go cry happy tears for a minute….
We’re in California-and one of my kids who was online shouted out that Doug Jones won, we thought he had misread. We all got online immediately and were screaming with joy.
That is great. I love it.
Well done Alabama. I was watching it all the way from Australia.
Omarosa was fired. LOL They are letting her say she’s stepping down to take other opportunities.
Bwah ha!
More good news to make me laugh. As long as I live I will never figure out what Micheal Clarke Duncan saw in her.
Very odd couple, weren’t they? He seemed so nice and sweet, and she seems so…ugh.
I didn’t realize she still worked for him! She’ll likely hit the interview circuit now.
https://twitter.com/letmicahdown/status/940962101840900096
Of course. A black woman has to go because black women hate him and defeat him over and over.
31 year old WW from Alabama (Opelika). Proud to be in the 35%, and on the correct side of history.
Thank you and congrats!
<3
I'm pretty disappointed overall by how WW in general voted, but I'm hopeful that things will continue to change as the older generations die out.
I got a notification on my phone as I was going to bed last night. Hallelujah!!
I woke up in a bad mood and expected it to get worse by reading that Moore won… BUT….BUTTTTT… HE LOST! My faith in humanity is somewhat restored after this. Thank you rational, sane Alabamians!
Now we need to focus on defeating their shameful tax plan. Regroup and keep fighting!! We are winning!!! #stopthetaxplan
Good Luck. Mitch just announced that he’s going to wait a month to seat Jones until after the tax bill is passed.
I can’t stop the happy tears from flowing. It had been such a politically depressing year and I’m so happy to see this ray of hope. I’m sad to know that so many people still voted for the crazed lying predator but change isn’t always sweeping. It happens one step at a time. May we all be poised to take that next step forward.
I’m not even American but even I was terrified of hearing that people had elected a pedophile. It’s telling that even with all the evidence and accusations, he carried on with his campaign as if nothing had happened, just like Trump had done.
Congratulations to black men and women, I hope you can take your country back.
This gives me HOPE! I know it’s kind of sad to be excited by this…the bar has been set so low. But the fact remains that the better man won. Let’s take a minute to celebrate that!
This makes me so happy!
This broke my heart:
https://twitter.com/VaughnHillyard/status/940366306016223232
A father standing outside the polls with a pic of her daughter, who was gay and committed suicide, speaking up against Roy Moore, he used to be in the same line of thinking as the wanna be senator.
It is heartbreaking. It’s also the only thing that has a chance of changing peoples’ minds when they are so deeply entrenched in their beliefs. If every single one of those Moore voters could experience the pain beyond pain of losing a child, knowing it was a direct result of their supposed values, I think there would be a whole lot less of them. It’s easy to be sanctimonious when you’re not actually personally affected. As long as it’s “they” who are hurt, as long as it is “they” who suffer, then you can still be Right.
Feel compelled to say that calling for a recount isn’t being a baby. It’s an important part of our system, and especially important in these troubled times. Double checks are good, not bad. They should be automatic in any election. When I was in school, we wouldn’t elect a class treasurer without counting the ballots in the shoe box at least twice. The problem is even more acute with those damn machines. Democrats today have to win big enough to get past the hackers, who at least in national elections have been selectively contaminating our votes since 2004 (when the damn machines appeared in so many places, making true recounts impossible which of course was the idea after the 2000 election), but everybody can be hurt by machine malfunctions.
Manual recount of paper ballots, which should be mandatory backup for every damn machine, is the easiest way to protect our elections from tampering at all levels. We know how to monitor the safety of paper ballots and the recounts themselves in a bipartisan manner. Besides, it creates jobs….
In any case, hope if there are recounts that Jones maintains his lead and even increases it. I think Moore will have to pay for the recount himself since state law kicks in only for a 0.5% margin, and the margin here is 1.5%. Absentee ballots are already counted, but there are still military and provisional ballots to count (but they won’t affect the outcome of the election — wouldn’t it be nice if they increased the margin, though?). But the predator might have trouble getting the money for a recount since his loss actually solves a problem for the national Republicans, even though it adds a Democratic vote in the Senate. A significant number of Alabama Republicans voted for Jones. That probably scares the Republican Party more than anything, it means Alabama is no longer safe.
I really didn’t think this was possible. I’ve been actively avoiding the coverage and polls because I didn’t want to get my hopes up. I cried when CNN projected a Doug Jones win last night. I am so happy and so proud of everyone who worked tirelessly to get him elected. And I have so much hope for 2018.
I know Moore was a terrible candidate, but Alabama is so deeply red, this is still huge. I hope it inspires Democrats in other red states.
I only came here to say this.
@Jerusha, if you are reading, I want to thank you for all your hard work. From the bottom of my heart. I would not have even had an inkling that Doug Jones could have won if it hadn’t been for your comments. I had the strangest feeling of calm as I was scrolling through Twitter yesterday, even when things were looking bad earlier in the evening. I just knew somehow, and I realize now that I knew because I saw your enthusiasm and figured that everyone who was volunteering for him would have felt the same way, and that would be enough. So thank you. <3
Shocked and happy to have been WRONG:)
I’m still disappointed to see so many WW (not the progressives on this site) vote for another white male who prays on *them*. This is the true voting against your own interest. I don’t buy the “for abortion” defense. Most Black women are very religious, they are also Evangelicals. They may be against abortion but they don’t try to legislate it and furthermore they understand that freedom and equal justice trump’s everything. Their votes are often about survival and escaping death by a racist society.
I think until WW fight racism as strongly as they fight sexism, our society will continue to stall. Black women have the burden of having to fight both fronts daily, WW can too. It was so disappointing watching Morning Joe and Mika focusing on Trump’s sexist statement yesterday as the reason for Doug Jones’s win. It was the White male -Joe- that pointed out that it was Black women coming out in force that lead to the win. I think this is a blind spot for her. Even her feminism is wrong as she points fingers at the women of the WH and HRC as the problem with male pigs in power. Gees!
It is a big problem, and it is like talking to a brick wall. Even coming from a white to another woman I get blank stares. They don’t get it. I can’t figure it out.
I was guilty of it because I have never been a racist and didn’t grow up in a white bubble. The household I grew up in is left and socially active, and there is diversity in my family and always in our social circles.
Yet it was precisely that reason that I was blind. It created a false sense of the world and a cocoon of color blindness that isn’t realistic. I was seeing through a prism of self and not stepping back and removing my privilege before looking at the issue as a whole. It is a new way of addressing the problem, but it takes a little time to begin to understand it.
I am sure there are many reasons, but I can only speak to my perspective.
“I think until WW fight racism as strongly as they fight sexism…”
Keep hoping. Many, many, many MANY of my fellow white women are so snowed when it comes to sexism. They do not believe it exists. They do not believe that their lives have been altered because of it. They do not think it is anything to fight because they do to acknowledge its existence. Or they think it’s biblically ordained. Either way isn’t great.
Wow. I am beyond happy this man didn’t win after all!!! So thankful and kind of shocked people did the right thing. Yay!!!!!!! I’m not done with him though, he needs to move to Mars….then I will be happy. Also, the insane thing his wife said, ‘our lawyer is A JEW!’ ?! Ummmmmm, go home, you are ignorant.
BEST NEWS OF 2017!
Got this off Elle today:
“”What’s a 10-letter phrase to explain Doug Jones’ victory that isn’t ‘black women?'””
Christmas came early this year!