Wednesday open thread: Sure, Raphael Warnock won, but it wasn't a blowout! We're doomed!
As our good friend Rational Left messaged me:
Warnock won convincingly in a state that was solid red until 2 years ago, but IT WASN'T A LANDSLIDE AND THAT PROVES WE'RE DOOOOOMED!!!
Can we please, for the love of all that is sacred and profane, cut the goddamned fucking doom and gloom shit?
My God, we won a massive victory last night. Democrats fully control the Senate. The GOP majority in the House is as secure as a house of card. But that's never good enough for the pundits. No. We are always on the precipice of imminent catastrophe, held back only by their oh-so-wise nostrums and their exhortations to keep being afraid. (And to buy their books and watch their appearances on the tee-vee.)
I've absolutely fucking had it. On a night when we should be celebrating, the usual suspects are again raising the flag of surrender and despair. Do you want to know one of the reasons we don't have bigger majorities? That right there it is.
Have we devolved so much that good news is actually cause for continued anxiety? No, it won't be smooth sailing for the next two years. But the idea that this is actually something to mourn is ludicrous. As our Robert Denby said last night: Republicans win by 0.1% and declare it a mandate. Meanwhile Democrats are on track to win Senator Warnock's seat by 2-4 points once all the votes are tabulated, and for some it may as well have been as if he had lost. Either we trumpet our victories and act like winners, or we are, in fact, losers.
Pundits on the left offer nothing but despondency and discouragement. Rather than sticking the knife into our opponents, they stick the knife into their own side. And I'm done. And you should be too. Just don't listen to them. Ignore them. Give them no thought. They constantly seek to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. It's why no one in Democratic politics listens to them. Far from attack dogs for the party, they're skittish chihuahuas, jumping at every shadow and sound.
We live in anxious times. And these pundits trade on that anxiety. It's how they stay relevant. And it's disgusting. Rather than offering hope and plans, they declare that fascism is inevitable and we can do nothing about it. I shudder to think of how World War Two would have turned out with people like them.
We won last night. I, for one, will act like it.