In a way the Texas senate race is looking how the 2016 presidential election should have looked like.

there, fixed it for you. Perhaps you forgot where you were posting.

#TeamTalarico

You should delete your post.

including your statement: "The problem isn't the right wing saying this things"

You know what, it is a problem when the right wing LIES all day long, every day. And then people repeat their lies. Talarico is not vegan, and heaven forbid he uses his decent vocabulary and knows words like "cisgender" - as opposed to right-wing morons who haven't progressed beyond 2nd grade.

a Talarico supporter takes umbrage.

I will make no apologies for supporting the democratic candidate on a democratic message board. YMMV.

They didn't blame or accuse the Democratic candidate of any wrong doing. My milage is costing me an arm and a leg. (Sorry couldn't resist)

He could have framed it as:

"Ken Paxton is already exemplifying everything wrong w/this country"
or
"Republicans in Texas are exemplifying everything wrong w/this country"


Democrats in Texas work very hard, and I know we need to work even harder on registering new voters and getting the base out to vote. It has been a major issue for me on the entire time I've been on DU (since I was walking door to door for Obama all those years ago). I watched during the Wendy Davis race when the DNC pulled their funding. We are seen as a lost cause, and I really don't think we are so outnumbered here. We are outvoted, and we need much better messaging with our Latino population.

We're going to be hearing lots of anti-vegan, anti-trans, open boarders illegals pouring across idiocy until the election.

Oh, and Paxton is smarmy. The very definition of smarmy.

The rightwing echo chamber will repeat the absurd lies against Talarico and at the same time gloss over the really criminal and a-moral behavior of Paxton.

*Every Democratic candidate a Republican faces is the most radically left candidate in history when they're not. ECHO

* Two tours in Vietnam volunteer John Kerry was the bad guy, mocked for his purple heart, but AWOL National Guard Duty
dodger and "Mission Accomplished " W Bush was a hero. ECHO

* Hillary's email's non- scandal was the biggest scandal since Watergate, but the pussy grabber being aided by Putin was given a pass. ECHO

*Joe Biden's supposed dementia made him unfit for office, while the guy who tried to overthrow the government, Trump, was never confronted or pushed on that in 2024. ECHO

The oligarch own media will treat Talarico harshly, even repeating GOP lies about him, while criminal Paxton's behavior will be normalized.

they always define the terms, draw the lines , move the overton window etc etc etc

murc's law.

"only nixon can go to china." or "yikes, he is wearing a tan suit."

My observation is that the cycle goes something like this: Democrats tend to improve the economy and make people's lives better, but they do not get rewarded for this -- instead, people just assume that things won't get any worse, and this causes a decline in turnout for Democrats. Why go out and vote if things are generally fine? When this happens, the Republican playbook of targeting some out-of-favor minority group works to rile up enough of their voters that they overcome Democratic apathy. During this phase of the cycle, Republicans also tend to get an assist from disgruntled third-party left-wingers who have their own cultural and economic issues with the Democratic Party.

But then once Republicans get into power, they massively overreach, both on cultural issues where they expose themselves as truly cruel and heartless, and also typically by tanking the economy thanks to tax cuts for the rich and bad economic policies. After a while, voters realize that their financial security is in danger, and the cultural issues lose traction because voters have a reason to come out en masse to protect their own wallets. They give power back to the Democrats, who fix the mess the Republicans have created, and then the cycle repeats.

If this is true, then we are at a point in the cycle where the cultural issues, which crested with the anti-trans campaign of 2024, will start to lose traction. Trump's approval rating on the economy is going through the floor, and his administration is the most corrupt of all time. People can feel this administration's policies affecting their own personal finances, and as things get worse, they can see clearly that Republicans are not going to make things any better. Voting for the status quo means voting for a continuing decline in America's economic fortunes.

As usual, Republicans will continue to run their bigoted cultural campaigns -- the problem (for them) is that they are at the wrong point in the cycle for those issues to help them win.

Because the right isn't going to hold back. All they can do with Talarico is call him a vegan (he isn't.) Paxton is a crook that cheats on his wife. That needs to be plastered on every ad starting now.

but the first ad is already on "Team Talarico" on Bluesky and it does exactly what you suggested. "Meet Ken Paxton — the most corrupt politician in America." - summarizes his affairs, corruption, etc.

I say that as a Texan born and raised, so hold your fire there, Texas hyperpatriots.

Backward, provincial, anti-education, violent, reactionary, petty, mean-spirited, pick your epithet.

And I know the cities are largely progressive, and represent the idea of a Texas that could be: forward-thinking, intellectually ambitious, science-supporting, welcoming, community-minded, and so on.

But the people who support everything that’s bad about Texas outnumber those who support everything that’s good about Texas.

So here I sit, safe in deep-blue Western Washington, hoping against hope for a Talarico win. Because right now, a win is what we need.

Talarico needs to keep reminding voters that he won’t give trump a pass at their living expense.