AMA - IceSpear

[Skunk]

Would you rather live in Oklahoma or West Virginia?

[IceSpear]

Favorite #populist ?

Jason Kander and Conor Lamb

[IceSpear]

Would you rather live in Oklahoma or West Virginia?

Option 3: Bullet in the head

But I guess West Virginia if forced to choose. It has a lot of natural beauty if you avoid the locals, unlike the flat desolate tornado prone hellscape that is Oklahoma. Plus I'd be much closer to my family/old friends.

[Atlas Force]

Booth Goodwin or Carte Goodwin?

[OSR stands with Israel]

- Why do you think West Virginia should vote Democratic if they were voting on economic reasons, I mean WV was controlled by Dems for more than 80 years up to 2014 so if any party deserves the blame for WV its the Dems not the GOP.

- Ronald Reagan or Robert Byrd(1980s Version)

Well for one thing, federal policies tend to have a bigger impact on individual states than the state's policies do. With that said, WV's problems are/were largely unavoidable regardless of who was/is in control, but that doesn't change the fact that they'd be better off with an expanded social safety net, which is what the Democrats support and the GOP opposes.

With or without hindsight?

- Both with and without hindsight

- To be fair I can concede some of GOP policies wouldnt work in WV , but I think they need to implement a tax and regulatory structure which is as business-friendly as Texas and the Federal Government in return does an infrastructure project there. That I believe would help. The problem with the Dems is they dont wanna do that and plus they are anti coal as well so that makes their economic policies a negative for that state

Byrd with hindsight, who repented for his past and basically became a generic D in his final decades, along with the fact that I now see Reagan's destructive legacy. It's hard to mentally place myself in the 80s, but I definitely wouldn't have supported the KKK member who filibustered the Civil Rights Act. So Reagan.

Last Question:


- What would be your opinion of Pre 2008 Orange County, and the Suburbs during the 1980s

I had no strong opinion on Orange County. To the extent I thought of it, it was as a bunch of delusional RINO Toms who are Democrats at heart that disagree with the GOP on mostly everything but still vote them because they wanted more tax cuts.

Not really since Orange County literally was the one who kickstarted the Reagan Revolution , was a hub of the John Birch Society, and even in the later where prop 187 was kickstarted. Orange County also was considered very socially conservative, and really were the place where the modern GOP was born.

[Calthrina950]

What are your thoughts about the midterm results in the Senate? What do you think about the underperformance of virtually every Senate nominee on the ballot this year, with a few notable exceptions? How severe will the urban/rural divide become?

[IceSpear]

Booth Goodwin or Carte Goodwin?

I don't know much about either of them, but Booth prosecuted Blankenship and also ran against POS Jim Justice, so he sounds like a massive FF to me.

[IceSpear]

What are your thoughts about the midterm results in the Senate? What do you think about the underperformance of virtually every Senate nominee on the ballot this year, with a few notable exceptions? How severe will the urban/rural divide become?

I'm relatively satisfied with R+2. I wish we could've held Florida and made it R+1 instead, but it could've been much worse, so overall I'm fine with it.

The underperformance doesn't surprise me. Polarization is a hell of a drug. I think the urban/rural divide is only going to continue growing for the forseeable future.

[MT Treasurer]

If you could choose one state to do retail politics in (with 5 or less EV, cuz that’s where retail politics is most effective), which one would it be?

Montana obviously. Lots of beautiful sights, I could visit all 100 people that live in the state and convince them to vote for me (including you, Steve Bullock, and Jon Tester, might want to avoid Gianforte though), and I could finally see Garfield County and convince all the local #populists to support me with doorknocks and handshakes. I'd need to get a flat top first though...

Great honer! I’d love to join you in your Garfield County retail campaigning tour.

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Opinion of the new U.S.A.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement?

[SATW]

What type of republican would appeal to you as a candidate, even if you wouldn't vote for them?

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Assuming Sherrod Brown is not the Nominee, should Dems try to win Ohio in 2020? Yes it's trending R, but no one has won the election without it in 60 years.

[IceSpear]

Opinion of the new U.S.A.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement?

No opinion. Of all the "major issues", trade has always been the one I'm least interested/invested in.

[IceSpear]

What type of republican would appeal to you as a candidate, even if you wouldn't vote for them?

Massive RINOs who could easily pass as Democrats like Charlie Baker, Phil Scott, Knute Buehler, Lisa Murkowski, Charlie Dent, Pearl Kim, RINO Tom, etc.

If you want a more realistic answer, then a Republican who is socially moderate and legitimately fiscally responsible. As in doesn't support irresponsible deficit busting tax cuts and isn't so far off in Ayn Rand land that they oppose reasonable policies like Medicaid expansion.

I did vote for a relatively moderate/sane Republican for the PA state Senate in 2014, but only because his Democratic opponent was a hot mess lying deadbeat dad like Joe Walsh/Randy Bryce. He won in 2014, but lost by 8 points this time. That was the only time I've ever voted Republican. But I likely would have voted for Baker and Scott this year if I lived in MA/VT, and I would've voted for Murkowski in 2016 if I lived in AK.

[OSR stands with Israel]

- Kasich or Bernie in 2016

[SATW]

What type of republican would appeal to you as a candidate, even if you wouldn't vote for them?

Massive RINOs who could easily pass as Democrats like Charlie Baker, Phil Scott, Knute Buehler, Lisa Murkowski, Charlie Dent, Pearl Kim, RINO Tom, etc.

If you want a more realistic answer, then a Republican who is socially moderate and legitimately fiscally responsible. As in doesn't support irresponsible deficit busting tax cuts and isn't so far off in Ayn Rand land that they oppose reasonable policies like Medicaid expansion.

I did vote for a relatively moderate/sane Republican for the PA state Senate in 2014, but only because his Democratic opponent was a hot mess lying deadbeat dad like Joe Walsh/Randy Bryce. He won in 2014, but lost by 8 points this time. That was the only time I've ever voted Republican. But I likely would have voted for Baker and Scott this year if I lived in MA/VT, and I would've voted for Murkowski in 2016 if I lived in AK.

Makes sense. Charlie Baker and Phil Scott definitely seem like the type of Repubs who'd get a decent amount of Dem support.

Thoughts on Larry Hogan?

[IceSpear]

Assuming Sherrod Brown is not the Nominee, should Dems try to win Ohio in 2020? Yes it's trending R, but no one has won the election without it in 60 years.

No, it's a waste of time and money. Ohio might flip in a Democratic tsunami, but by then it's just gravy anyway. It will be nowhere in the tipping point vicinity.

[IceSpear]

- Kasich or Bernie in 2016

Kasich would definitely bring the GOP back in the right direction (from my perspective, which is an irrelevant perspective considering I'm a liberal Democrat) but he's too conservative for me, so Bernie. Even if Bernie did turn out to be the insane communist a lot of people think he is (which I am skeptical of considering how many decades he's been working within the system), Congress would act as a check on him anyway.

[IceSpear]

What type of republican would appeal to you as a candidate, even if you wouldn't vote for them?

Massive RINOs who could easily pass as Democrats like Charlie Baker, Phil Scott, Knute Buehler, Lisa Murkowski, Charlie Dent, Pearl Kim, RINO Tom, etc.

If you want a more realistic answer, then a Republican who is socially moderate and legitimately fiscally responsible. As in doesn't support irresponsible deficit busting tax cuts and isn't so far off in Ayn Rand land that they oppose reasonable policies like Medicaid expansion.

I did vote for a relatively moderate/sane Republican for the PA state Senate in 2014, but only because his Democratic opponent was a hot mess lying deadbeat dad like Joe Walsh/Randy Bryce. He won in 2014, but lost by 8 points this time. That was the only time I've ever voted Republican. But I likely would have voted for Baker and Scott this year if I lived in MA/VT, and I would've voted for Murkowski in 2016 if I lived in AK.

Makes sense. Charlie Baker and Phil Scott definitely seem like the type of Repubs who'd get a decent amount of Dem support.

Thoughts on Larry Hogan?

I don't know much about him honestly. My interpretation is that he hasn't been a strident conservative but also hasn't been an overt RINO either. Is that accurate?

[Co-Chair Bagel23]

Upon seeing this, what was your reaction?

[IceSpear]

Upon seeing this, what was your reaction?

My reaction is that it's very Bagel.

[SATW]

What type of republican would appeal to you as a candidate, even if you wouldn't vote for them?

Massive RINOs who could easily pass as Democrats like Charlie Baker, Phil Scott, Knute Buehler, Lisa Murkowski, Charlie Dent, Pearl Kim, RINO Tom, etc.

If you want a more realistic answer, then a Republican who is socially moderate and legitimately fiscally responsible. As in doesn't support irresponsible deficit busting tax cuts and isn't so far off in Ayn Rand land that they oppose reasonable policies like Medicaid expansion.

I did vote for a relatively moderate/sane Republican for the PA state Senate in 2014, but only because his Democratic opponent was a hot mess lying deadbeat dad like Joe Walsh/Randy Bryce. He won in 2014, but lost by 8 points this time. That was the only time I've ever voted Republican. But I likely would have voted for Baker and Scott this year if I lived in MA/VT, and I would've voted for Murkowski in 2016 if I lived in AK.

Makes sense. Charlie Baker and Phil Scott definitely seem like the type of Repubs who'd get a decent amount of Dem support.

Thoughts on Larry Hogan?

I don't know much about him honestly. My interpretation is that he hasn't been a strident conservative but also hasn't been an overt RINO either. Is that accurate?

Yea, pretty much. He's focused mostly on local issues, supporting education funding and opposing tax increases.

[Bidenworth2020]

why did Kim get btfo so bad? she lost by way more than trump in the special, and lost by the same as him in the normal ge.

[IceSpear]

why did Kim get btfo so bad? she lost by way more than trump in the special, and lost by the same as him in the normal ge.

Performing on par with Trump isn't really that bad of a result during a Democratic wave environment in an inner ring suburban district. Just look at PA-06 where the Republican candidate did like 20 points worse than Trump, or PA-07 where the Republican candidate did like 10 points worse than Trump, or PA-17 where the INCUMBENT Republican candidate did like 15 points worse than Trump.

Kim was about as good of a fit for the district as you can get for a Republican, but ultimately she fell victim to the same suburban trends that were present all across the country. A lot of these areas were just in no mood to vote for Republicans. Kim was mostly just a random lady, she didn't have her own brand and recognizable family name like Fitzpatrick did, and she lacked the financial resources to make one for herself, since obviously no Republican big money groups were going to go tilting at windmills in a Clinton +30 district during a Trump midterm, lol. The implosion of Wagner and Barletta at the top of the ticket certainly didn't help matters either.

[Calthrina950]

Which states do you think are trending towards the Republicans? Are Democrats done for in Appalachia and the Interior West? And what do the results in Colorado say about Cory Gardner's chances at winning reelection in 2020?