Do the people of Tennessee really want a Senator who is unable to tell the truth.Marcia Blackburn often appears on TV always to parrot the party line. Given the opportunity to discuss an issue, she comes up with a predictable answer and sticks to it, right or wrong. It has been so refreshing to have Mr.Corker speak up and give honest and incisive opinions.I would think Tennessee would opt for more of that honesty.
3
“Everybody also knows” that because of “wingnut welfare” as Paul Krugman named it, if Blackburn loses, she will still experience a soft landing with a high paying job and other economic perks arranged for her by the right wing donor class. One word against Trump, win or lose, and she loses that insurance policy. Even if she wins the election, if she opposed Trump in any way, she would face abuse by tweet from Trump.
2
Tennesseans don't need my opinion to come to the conclusion that the Fake President is a traitor; they just need to hear his own words coming from Helsinki. They don't need another Putin wannabe in the Senate, either.
2
A few months ago, Senator Corker used the phrase "everybody knows" when describing how his fellow Republicans feel about Trump. The implication was that his fellow Republican Senators and members of Congress all understand that Trump is an ignorant and dangerous "moron," to quote his former Secretary of State. Despite the widespread understanding of Trump's true nature, these Republicans have decided that they have no choice but to go along with him because that's what their base wants and because of "...but Gorsuch" (and now "...but Kavanaugh").
I think that these craven Republican Trump toadies like Marsha Blackburn think that Trump will eventually go away and they will all pretend he never existed and get back to business as usual. This is misguided thinking, since Trump's reign can only end in two ways, both of which would be catastrophic to the GOP as it existed before Trump. One option is that Trump leaves office in disgrace, either through impeachment, resignation, or losing an election. In that case, his stink will linger on the GOP (especially on sycophants like Blackburn) for a generation. The other option is that Trump succeeds in consolidating power to such an extent that the GOP simply becomes the Trump Party, fully beholden to his every idiotic, rambling dictatorial whim.
All of this is obvious, which is why so many prominent Republicans (Ryan, Gowdy, Corker, Flake, etc) are calling it quits. I just wish a few of them had the guts to stand and fight.
3
I've spent more time than I should have listening to videos of Rep. Blackburn "speak". I'm sorry, but I'd vote for a bag of hammers before this woman. Moral, ethical and intellectual bankruptcy is rampant in the republican party, top to bottom.
5
As a Tennessee transplant I see a weak republican candidate who can't run on her own merits. As a woman how can she endorse a man who has 19 and counting credible allegations of sexual misconduct against him. To endorsing a traitor who just committed treason on the world stage in Finland by believing Putin over his own intelligence agencies. Blackburn is complicit in selling out our country and our local industries to a quisling.
7
the republican party is not lashed to an unpredictable president. the republican party is lashed to a predictably tratorious president.
3
Hopefully, it will backfire!!!
2
Breseden will beat her in a landslide. Trump, for roadies like Blackburn, is quicksand. The more you struggle, the quicker you sink.
2
Blackburn has been on my list of bad actors for many years. Surprising that it has taken so long for responsible media to focus on her. G-d help us if she, another morally bankrupt Republican, is elected to the Senate.
3
I don't get who would want to ride the coat tails of a treasonous traitor. I mean really, if there was any doubt about where Trump stands in regards to Russia, there should be none now. How can the President of the US disparage his own country to the face of the very person who has attacked this country? Is that really someone who anyone should hook his/her wagon to? Incredible.
1
She can follow him right to prison, when he gets convicted of Treason.
4
She is simply awful. Is Tennessee still a state behind the moon?
3
Not mentioned here is the fact that Blackburn is a crazy
fundamentalist/evangelical who majored in Home Ec in college.
3
Nothing wrong with majoring in home ec.
1
She risks being tarred with the same brush as Benedict Donald. #BenedictDonald.
4
Ms Blackburn one of the despicable members of the House of Representatives.
3
“Republican” is both a noun and an adjective; “Democrat” is a noun and “Democratic” is an adjective. So it is correct to say “44 percent of voters identify as Republicans and 29 percent identify as Democrats” or “44 percent identify as Republican and 29 percent identify as Democratic.” When the Times uses “Democrat” as an adjective you are sounding a right-wing dog whistle. You may say I am quibbling, but it shows how the right wing is taking over the language.
2
Blackburn is one of a handful of people whom I refuse to even listen to. Every statement that I have heard her make, every soundbite, has been ignorant, racist, insane, or some combination thereof. She'll probably win
1
This is the same Marsha Blackburn who supported the bill that passed to make it easier for people to get opioids on the black market. I might add that Obama signed the bill. Pretty disgusting and so typically Republican. You forgot to mention this in your article.
1
I really have a problem with a woman so in thrall with Donald Trump. She thought he should win the Nobel Prize??? What about the Access Hollywood tape (where he bragged about assaulting women), the scores of women who have accused him of sexual misdeeds, the serial adultery, the way he's talked about his own daughter, his treatment of his own ex-wives, of the young women in his Miss America contests, his association with Stormy Daniels and the LIES - so many lies.
1
no no no. democrats cannot be reasonable. that is a losing strategy. it is the hearts that vote. not the mind. they must go back in time just like the republicans have. i pinpoint them at around 1939. when they were iffy on defending europe and when white men ruled both the kitchen and the fields. that has been the aim of the republican party ever since .....1942 or so. so we must look to will rogers. whom "everyman" loved. he wasnt mad or angry. he didnt talk about stats or republican graft. let the republicans talk of gangs of infiltrating breeding animals, which is republican-speak for hispanics and how much they hate non white, non wealthy, hopefully-purged-from-the-rolls voters. lets allow our love for this country to show through and shine a light on republican darkness. their deception and their traitorism and make a joke about it. joke them out of office or the jokes wont be funny anymore. Trump and putin walk into a bar and order a .......
1
Ms. Blackburn reminds me of another clown, the one from Minnesota and the one from Alaska - forgot their names. During my College years and later working years, I have met some incredibly strong, intelligent, great America women, but can not understand why these imbeciles get elected again and again- that goes for the men too. Can't help but believing that they are selling themselves to the highest bidders.
"Tennessee needs a senator who is going to support Donald Trump."
- Marsha Blackburn
Uh, Ms. Blackburn, are you sure about this? Does Tennessee REALLY need a senator who's "all in" with a "President" who as of today has publicly pledged allegiance to Vladimir Putin?
1
While I appreciate the Times' restrictions on comments as to civility, it's hard to remain civil when commenting on this self-described knuckle-dragger. What would be pejorative about others is no more than descriptive about Ms. Blackburn. I'll just leave it at this. If the great state of Tennessee (my native home) elects her, they deserve her.
1
There is no doubt in my mind that the entire freedom caucus and the NRA are up to their eyeballs in this. They are all complicit traitors who should be thoroughly investigated
Want to run for office? Then you should submit to a thorough audit and intelligence clearance. Every year.
3
"This is the dance that many Republicans must do in 2018: Sidestep the specifics of Trumpism, but embrace Trump."
Is it just me or does this statement seem to indicate that Trump's base are, for the most part, too dumb to know what the specifics are? They only see a smirking, screaming, racist at a rally, bellowing all the things they want to hear. Yes, they are a cult and Ms. Blackburn does not have to dance around them. They will always vote for her type. That is, if they bother to vote.
1
"Tennessee needs a senator who is going to support Donald Trump, and I am going to be there to stand with President Donald Trump and take your Tennessee values to Washington, D.C.,” Ms. Blackburn told the cheering crowd."
Enjoy your future perp walk Ms. Blackburn, trump is a traitor and he is going down. We will enjoy watching you go down with him.
5
Blackburn should remember the old hillbilly proverb - 'I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.'
1
She is the epitome of ignorance and self righteousness. I've watched her for years, long before Trump was president. Remember when she tried to get the names of each University Researcher that worked on embryos/stem cells? She wanted to publically shame and punish them. Tennessee has no future except ignorance if they elect her senator.
3
After Donald Trump's humiliating performance in Helsinki today, accepting Vladimir Putin's unsupported word that Russia had nothing to do with then 2016 cyberattacks, and blaming the United States for the tension between the two countries, Ms Blackburn may want to put away her cheerleading pompoms. The stain of that Trump's surrender will not easily fade away. This is Nevelle Chamberlain's 'Peace in Out Time' on steroids. When the anger finally sinks in, and the blowback begins, Republicans will have the Devil to pay; and the price will be very high. Ms Blackburn might better spend her time and resources looking for a new line of work, one that keeps her out of the public eye, and her mouth firmly shut.
2
A cultist indeed. Every single acquaintance and family member I know who supports Trump is also a member of a cult-like religious organization. This cultism is the key to the Republican’s evil genius methods: Identify those in society who are the least capable of thinking critically and corral them to their twisted cause with hot-button, knee jerk issues.
Perhaps America will come to its senses, but so much damage to our standing in the world has been inflicted. Trump is the figurehead, but it is the Republican Party that is responsible. The Republican brand must be eliminated, wholly, from power everywhere. The Republicans must be repudiated and punished. And the next administration must not shy away from indicting members of Congress and the current administration for their crimes and violations of their Oath of Office.
Supporting and enabling Trump has now reached the criminal level, and Republicans are the one’s committing the crimes.
Vote Republicans out of office. Everywhere.
3
This is a cult, and only traitors and sycophants like Blackburn need apply.
"Tennessee needs a senator who is going to support Donald Trump, and I am going to be there to stand with President Donald Trump and take your Tennessee values to Washington, D.C.," Ms. Blackburn told the cheering crowd. "
The article, far too kindly, discusses Republicans getting boxed in by "the president’s ad hoc, often extreme agenda." Trump's agenda is not ad hoc. Republicans only need ask, as Trump does; what does Vladimir Putin want? Trump's has been doing Putin's bidding his entire time in office, so as all Republicans like Blackburn get with Trump’s traitorous program, they will very quickly and easily know what treacherous turncoat positions they must adopt. Blackburn simply needs to say that she is going to join Trump it committing treason and pledge, like Trump, to become an asset of Russian intelligence and do whatever Vladimir Putin commands. Isn't that so much simpler than trying to mimic Trump's alleged policy positions?
1
Support for Donald Trump is the least of Ms. Blackburn's problem and that is because she is an airhead par excellence. She constantly shows a lack of vision, any depth of understanding. Her feelings and beliefs are robotic at best. She perfectly fits an analysis of the white female voters that supported Trump in 2016 and that profile is in itself an embarrassment for any women who aspires to gender equity.
2
If "Tennessee's values" include giving Putin a free pass for attacking our election systems, then she is definitely the right choice for Tennessee.
1
Excellent and perceptive analysis. But one predicated - at least as far as the possibility of favorable electoral outcomes for Democratic candidates like Phil Bredesen - on the assumption that votes - entrusted to the tender mercies of DREs, opscans, and their GOP-affiliated programmers - will be counted as cast. Here's what Trump operative Roger Stone wrote in "The Hill": “Both parties have engaged in voting machine manipulation. Nowhere in the country has this been more true than Wisconsin, where there are strong indications that Scott Walker and the Reince Priebus machine rigged as many as five elections including the defeat of a Walker recall election. . . The computerized voting machines can be hacked and rigged and after the experience of Bernie Sanders there is no reason to believe they won’t be.” The question now becomes what the pathological liar Trump and his cult will do to hold Congress and so fend off the investigations that would spell an end to his circus. Given the vulnerabilities, and the open invitation to computerized vote-counting fraud, can any voter - in Tennessee and other critical elections - be confident that his or her vote will be counted as cast? That the voters, and not the programmers or hackers, will determine the fate of Trump and the direction of our country? If we don't act decisively and immediately to restore public, observable vote counting and audits to our elections, we will get the "democracy" and the cult we deserve.
That the same people who worship Trump are also the folks that support the continued dominance of a particularly violent strain of white Protestant culture - at all costs - should come as no surprise. The Cult of Trump is really just the Lost Cause 2.0 and is catering to the descendants of wounded-ego confederate traitors with a collective chip on their shoulders passed down to each new generation of Dixie waving racists. Fox News makes sure they never question their legitimacy by filling their heads with self-aggrandizing conservative lies much the same way the Daughter's of the Confederacy put the falsehood of Confederate nobility into their textbooks and immortalized it with statues in their home town squares. Traitors supporting a traitor in the name of a false narrative is what a good number of Trump supporters have done for generations.
4
Hate to say it, but the South has always been crazy. The nation's original sin, slavery, scarred the psyches of white southerners and made them so paranoid, defensive, and willfully ignorant that generations later most of them still can't shake it off. The irony is that they've thrown themselves in with the ultimate carpetbagger, a Yankee who is hidebound to pick their pockets every which way he can while picking up their votes merely by pushing red-button issues that have little basis in reality and virtually no real affect on their lives. So the most shameful section of our country continues to be just that. Marsha Blackburn is just another in a long line of dingbat dodos who's fallen for the grifter Trump's outrageous lies and antidemocratic tendencies.
1
Well Central Casting has sent us a cookie cutter trump supporter who will sell her soul to be part of this soulless Congress. I see John Bolton in the photo which gives me great heart that she will join the other traitorous Republicans in D.C. Vote GOP and Make Russia Great Again.
1
The Nashville Scene is a left-wing paper that is a known antagonist of President Trump. Cavendish should be ignored.
So, Ms Blackburn, are the values of Tennessee that you want to take to Washington the same as the values of Moscow and Putin ?
1
Marsha Blackburn is an opportunistic shape-shifter with no moral core or slightest semblance of honor. She proves this every time she speaks. She is also a political five letter word that can be published here. In this way, she's a lot like trump.
I was raised in the deep south. We're not all a bunch of stubborn, backward confederate flag wavers. She is, unfortunately one of many who give the rest of us a not so undeserved reputation.
I hope Tennesseans see her true colors, and realize they deserve better than a chameleon who has no more concern for them than a lizard does a fly.
2
If the good citizens of Tennessee want their very own ‘trump-et’ they should by all means have one!
1
Fortunately, this Trumpster is currently 5.2% behind Mr. Bredesen in RCP's poll average. More exposure like this well-done Op-Ed piece can seal the deal.
It's refreshing to see the NYT leading the charge in exposing today's horrid displays of utter disgrace by Trump and his opportunistic sycophants.
More, please!
2
Every single person who supports him and rides his coat tails, works for him, feeds his grotesque ego, and fails to speak out against him have sold their souls to the devil for 15 minutes of fame. Some day he will be gone and the nightmare we are now living will end. These people will have to live with their conscience the rest of their lives. When the annals of history are written, they will be on the wrong side.
1
No Taxation (and Tweetation) without Representation. Let the Red States enjoy their second world economy, third world education and dark ages morality. It is time for The Enlightened States of America to separate. SECESSION NOW.
2
Wr are evil, and it shows in who we vote for and support.
I could see this coming from a long way off... all thats left after this scorched earth guy, are the extremists and the rest of us..the Badlands has come to America.
The Trump cult is as big a problem as Trump. He(and Fox news) have put these people to sleep big time. I don't recall ever seeing anything like it, other than the wacko religious cults we see in the news now and then. But this is infinitely bigger and more dangerous. I have no doubt large swaths of these people are ready for some type of armed insurrection should Trump get indicted or impeached.
1
Having seen Rep. Blackburn on numerous shows over the years I am amazed by her ability to have conflicting opinions on the same topic. The term 'word salad' comes to mind when listening to her explain her position on this or that all the while maintaining that fake smile perhaps exuding Southern Charm of a Lady. When the piece is done I'm left wondering 'what did she just say?' Blah, blah,blah.
Thats what I thought.
2
I do not buy that Tennessee voters will not elect this sycophant.
She is the epitome of an empty vessel bringing nothing to the table.
After the performance of Trump this week there may be a very small coattail to run on. If I remember correctly
Tennessee has a large veterans citizenry that will not take kindly to Putins Pet.
It seems a bit unlikely, but maybe a mature, sensible, moderate Republican will challenge Trump for the party nomination in 2020 - and win. Everyone needs a vacation.
3
As a western transplant to the South some fifteen years ago, I am a champion of Tennessee and its many splendors that you, who don't live here, can scarcely imagine: wide open, beautiful spaces, magnificent parks, lovely nature trails, friendly people, spectacular music and food. But, when it comes to politics, this is a dismal place. Phil Bredesen is the only candidate that will help us remain in the 21st century. Marsha Blackburn takes us back to the Old South -- preindustrial, backward, uneducated, poor, racist, and convinced that all problems are caused by "outsiders" and the federal government. We are also praying and voting for Karl Dean as governor, rather than the Blackburn-Trump clone, Diane Black.
5
It is time for the Democrats to take the immigration issue off the table. Scrap the asylum law. It is too easy to lie about ones circumstances. And if it is done for the sake of family, then lies are to be expected.
If the Democrats want to take a stand then do so on behalf of the DACA kids we have invested in. The NYT story on July 9, titled, "Deporting The American Dream" is the best argument I have heard for granting citizenship for DACA kids who excel. Or do Americans really believe the future of our country is standing on a street corner with a pack, and a dog, and a panhandling sign?
Most of all we have to be realistic. I am tired of being tied to the mast for the sake of left wing dreams. Must we really have Bernie Sanders' incessant hectoring? Or Schumer's? Or Warren's? Isn't one insufferable ego in Washington enough?
Let's simplify the issues.
2
This is a bad idea. Democrats have to be for something, and nearly all of us are descendants of people seeking asylum. The right answer is to focus on the problem, which is crime and disorder in places like El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. What we really need is (I) to lower the stakes of the disorder by reducing the high profit margins in illegal drugs; (ii) much more security assistance to these and other countries; and (iii) multilateral agreements with our neighbors in Canada, Mexico, and Central and South America to share the burden of the asylum seekers. Surely, it must be cheaper to provide the assistance necessary to break the back of the disorder south of the border than to maintain a military style system of deterring people from entering the U.S. And it also has the benefit of sparing U.S. xenophobes from seeing more brown people in their communities while maintaining core American values.
Oh, and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to use ICE to crack down on businesses who have attracted undocumented aliens to violate our immigration laws. Stricter enforcement of immigration laws on the demand side of the equation would make the U.S. a less desirable place for people who come here illegally for economic reasons. And, just think of all the back taxes and penalties these employers would have to pay.
1
Having spent a fair amount of time in Tennessee I know that there are many independents and moderate Republicans who cannot stand Marsha Blackburn as a person or a politician.
3
The outrages of trump, especially his latest, have to be pinned to every republican, especially those running this year. They are to blame as much as he is and they have to be put on the hot seat to justify his actions.
Alas, it's the democratic party who would be responsible for this strategy and they aren't capable of doing it. That, letting him get away with it, is as bad as what he is doing.
1
Having grown up an American and patriot in Indiana, and it’s sad to see that a number of people in Tennessee now have their heads full of Trump’s (and Russia’s) lies and would even consider voting for a person like this.
I’ve lived and watched Trump lie and swindle here in NYC since the 1980’s. Sorry my friends in Tennessee, you’ve been conned.
4
After today's news from Helsinki where Trump proved himself to be the real life 'Manchurian Candidate', we may actually see Ms. Blackburn and a few other Trump lackeys running for cover. Too little too late. Dog catcher is an office too high for them to aspire to as I see it.
3
Ms. Blackburn supports treason as do all his supporters. Today was a monumental day for the GOP: Those left supporting Trump are against this country and in favor of Putin. Those opposed to Trump are on the right track. Blackburn should wear a shirt, "Make Russia Great Again."
2
When Tennessee farmers and residents are hurt economically by trade tariffs (crops and whiskey) and have to pay more for cans of beer, perhaps they will have a "come to Jesus" moment.
4
I am a democrat and would love to see Blackburn lose. But when I read comments that are full of terms like “white supremacy,” “ fascism,” racism,” and “confederate” to describe the other side, I wonder how many of you really think this helps win over independents, moderates, and yes, perhaps even a few of the more reasonable conservatives. Maybe the Corker approach should concentrate on economic reality, Trump’s inane trade policys and what they mean for the state, and avoid inflaming and alienating his supporters, which will only motivate them to come out and vote.
1
Isn't Congress a government branch independent of the President?
3
I lived in Blackburn’s gerrymandered Congressional district. There is unfortunately really not a Democratic Party in that district. She has only the ideas lobbyists pay her to have. I still cannot understand her supporters reasoning. They think gun control means taking away all your guns. They think repealing ACA means cheaper broader healthcare when it really means more expensive insurance with less coverage. We had many helpful Mexican immigrants come to Williamson County in the 1990s early 2000s but not since then; so what is the problem with reasonable immigration policy. Many in the district are evangelical and anti-abortion; but I personally know those who have or will have family need for safe family planning through reasonable and safe abortion. In any case her panel to take down Planned Parenthood was based on false information and a real travesty. A Kentucky Congressman had a good bill to oversee the Walking Horse group in Shelbyville which blatantly abuses their animals by siaring to get the high stepmperformance. Marsha would not support the bill. I read the Walking Horse industry contributed $100,000 to her. She is a climate change denie. I believe Exxon was akso a large contributor to her. Then the opioid issue... We have her cohort Diane Black running for governor. There are better leaders for our government.
4
In the 1960s public school children got to tour the Wonder Bread factory and the county penal farm.
I remember seeing giant hogs tended by black men at the penal farm. All the inmates were black men.
I'm sure we all processed that information in our own ways, depending of course, upon our parents. In my elementary school I remember seeing one black girl and she disappeared a few weeks later.
I remember this woman when she had the "debate" on climate change with Bill Nye (the science guy). She said we should take a "wait and see" attitude on whether the climate is changing. As oceans rise and polar ice caps melt that's what she thought. Tells you all you need to know about her.
3
Blackburn purports to represent Tennessee vslues?
Does Blackburn support DJT disparaging and debasing US intelligence ?
Does she believe the bi-partisan Senate Intelligence Committee that, yes, there was , and is, a Putin effort to derail our elections and erode our democratic institutions?
Does she wonder if DJT is hiding anything in his tax returns? (No other POTUS has ever refused to release)
Does she endorse locking up babies and toddlers to prove ones "toughness"?
Please answer the questions Ms B.
And when you are through with those, I have more
I am thinking that the good people of TN do too.
2
Tennessee has lost a thoughtful, capable, honorable politician in Bob Corker. Let us hope that Mr, Bredesen has similar substance and that Tennessee voters choose him over the obviously very different and inferior Ms. Blackburn.
2
@DLS Maybe the time has come to revive the Democratic-Republicans. Bob Corker, Jeff Flake, a few moderate southern Democrats, and voila...a brand new party that has integrity as a founding principle.
Yet, when a candidate here in NYC jumps headlong into leftist politics and openly identifies as a democratic socialist, that is worthy of adoration for the voice she gives her base?
@From Where I Sit
I think we're at a point where we need to define our terms.
"Leftist", for example. What do you mean by that? You speak as if its the fifties and you're still in thrall to the red scare.
We haven't had leftist politics in this country for thirty years. Maybe your glad, maybe not, but you should at least speak plainly.
By the way, the leftist politics that sends you hiding under your bed was most influential during the '50s and '60s, the period of time you boys want to go back to to make America not ridiculous again. So there's that...
Or "socialist". That one sends a pretty good shiver up your spine; I can tell from here.
Again, what do you mean by that? The socialism of Republican nightmares which is in reality hardcore Mao/Stalin corrupt communism...because you guys so love your hyperbole?
Or do you mean modern, widely implemented Nordic socialism, more successful than our fake 'free market'. Socialism that based in democracy which adheres to the tenets of capitalism without going down the free-market bunny hole that is bringing our own economy to ground?
Socialism like the kind that provides insurance to your sternly conservative representatives, your honored military, your revered golden-agers.
Because if you're speaking of the latter, yes indeed, a little political love for of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would be a very good thing.
Certainly better than the slavering devotion you accord our current President.
1
Mr. Cavendish's Op-Ed piece is well done and spot on. There are many of us who know Marsha Blackburn's record and couldn't support her if our lives depended on it. But Cavendish neglected one aspect of Mr. Bredesen's achievements. In addition to two terms as Nashville's mayor, he also served two terms as Tennessee's governor.
5
I guess I’m missing something.
Since Trump was elected the only changes I’ve experienced is a small pay raise and a small tax break.
Cops still patrol my neighborhood.
Fire fighters still barbecue on the deck behind the firehouse.
I was called to jury duty and it was handled exactly how it was handled 4 years ago when I was called.
The doctor, dentist and teachers all still working like they were before.
My house loan closed as anticipated.
My mechanic installed a new water pump in my car just like he installed a timing chain in my wife’s car a couple years ago.
My kids are volunteering at a summer camp for disabled kids with other neighborhood kids and apparently having a good time as they have for the last three years.
My neighbor and I coach Little League baseball like we have the last 4 years.
I don’t agree with a lot Trump says - I do agree with some - but I haven’t believed a politician since I was 16 anyway.
I just don’t see what all the excitement is - if you all hate Trump so much - vote him out of office.
3
The tone of most analysis seems to under-appreciate that Trump won in the most recent nation-wide elections. There has been no nationwide general elections validating ongoing support for the current government. The few special elections since then have not been kind to his supporters. The Republicans have to sell accomplishments instead of campaign promises now, and these seem underwhelming to put it mildly.
Even before today's predictable-but-shocking statements, Trump's defenders were on a sinking ship. They can win the primaries but have very little hope of winning a contested general election. Even if 90% of Trump voters still support Trump, it seems safe to say he has not won too many people over, and 90% of barely enough is not enough to win a general election in most contested regions.
Signing up for someone else's scam usually leads to being left holding the bag, trying in vain to defend it or taking the blame for those who initiated it. Ignoring some of the reprehensible rhetoric and policies, such lack of foresight should be disqualifying for a seat in Congress.
6
This woman is a lemming. She just follows along mindlessly to an unknown conclusion. She will do anything ..say anything.. be anything.. go anywhere.. to continue feeding off of the federal teat. She is a moronic politiical hack and people like her because she will say whatever they want to hear True or false. Typical Republican political hack. No standards, no plan... Lots of talk , but no walk...
20
Nobody should be surprised by this.
After all, 53% of white women voted for trump as they have for every republican presidential candidate since 1968, except for Bill Clinton in 1996 (48-43% against Bob Dole).
Just like white men, they drifted away from the Democratic Party as it became more popular with minorities.
11
So why is Senator Corker smiling up at her from the crowd (along with the likes of John Bolton)? I thought he denigrated the Party of Trump and the foreign policy of Trump.
8
Are you sure that the smile does not mean "wow am I glad that is not me"?
Blackburn is a staunch supporter of those who sell and distribute highly addictive opiates, leading to record levels of addiction and death in our state. When the FDA tried to put the brakes on this plague, she fought back in favor of corporate drug pushers.
Many of my neighbors blindly support Trump and his party. It's hard to understand, as many of them are good, caring people, even to those with whom they disagree.
Fear of strangers and "others" is what seems to drive their devotion to the Trump cult.
26
Spicoli said “ people on ludes should not drive cars”. People on opioids should not vote.
I am interested to see how she can defend her alliance with this man now. He has just shown the world that he is afraid of Putin and is willing to throw his government , his intelligence agencies that defend our way of life, our allies and most importantly the people of this country under the bus and into a less secure position in service of not upsetting the very man who attacked our democracy and has just been given a pass to continue to do so. He has loudly and completely sworn an allegiance to Putin and Russia. His supporters have now found them selves bound to a traitor who has obviously done something he does not want Russia to share. What other possible explanation could there be? Absolutely nothing else makes sense. Vote.
16
After today's love fest in Helsinki, Ms. Blackburn might want to think real hard about how much time she wishes to spend on the Titanic alongside its captain.
18
Couldn't agree more. The only problem is the base of the party has run primary challenges against people like Bredesen. Not relevant now, but it will be in 6 years. The D's need to learn that coastal liberalism will not win them the House, Senate or the Presidency.
The left also has to learn that ramrodding major legislation (the ACA) down the throats of America is why we are here right now. I get that R's weren't doing much on healthcare, but we should have taken what they gave us and thrown in Medicaid expansion and left out open enrollment, healthcare.gov, exchanges, etc. If we had done that, we wouldn't have lost the Senate and House in the first place. And since Medicaid expansion is the primary reason more American's have coverage, we would have gotten the same result.
And we'd have Justice Garland on the Supreme Court right now.
Bottom line, the left of the party needs to stand down and let moderates run for President without being forced to tack left in the primary while wholeheartedly supporting D's who don't sound like a D in "flyover" country. Or we can get 4 more years...
9
@Clelland Green
There is always complaints about the ACA being “ramrodded” down America’s throat. In reality the ACA was based on a conservative model; President Obama tried several times to get cooperation from Republicans; and instead the GOP decided that health care could be Obama’s Waterloo. They voted lockstep against the ACA not because it was bad policy, but because they were determined not to give Obama a win. Party over country, the GOP stand-by. Yet the tax bill passed by the GOP was written without any Democratic input. This was done deliberately and openly; and the bill was passed with no Democratic votes. The tax bill was by your own definition truly ramrodded down America’s throat. Why no outrage over this? What Mitch McConnell did to Judge Garland’s nomination was an infamous disgrace and a stain on our history. Do not blame the Democrats for trying to do their jobs by attempting to solve America’s health care issues or seating a highly qualified jurist on the Supreme Court. Blame the Republicans for their maniacal adherence to power and their complete disdain for the majority of Americans who oppose them.
1
As you point out, Blackburn was a rare early supporter of Trump. His espoused views and disdain for civility or empathy matched her own infamous record. She has no ethical reason to distance herself from him now; as she has demonstrated, she has no ethics. Like Trump, she is all and only about personal advancement. Tennessee? Just a conveniently pliable constituency at her disposal.
13
Donald is a marketer,he and Mrs. Blackburn understand its the image not the facts that sway voters,Donald projects he protecting america by building a wall, locking up illegal aliens and their children,raising tariffs and reducing american forces and commitments abroad.Its a winning image and Mrs.Blackburn is latching on to Donald.
1
Why is it that just one quick look at some people shows the vacuum between their ears? Marsha Blackburn is one example, Sarah Palin right in there, and then there is Louie Gohmert, just to cite two others. Oh well, if they manage to get elected, as all three of them have, they must be doing something right. It's just that we then have to put up with their inanities on the political stage.
5
I'm chair of my Tennessee county's Democratic party. Democrats, independents, and even republicans have been coming out of the woodwork to participate in the most massive rallies this state has seen for decades, our community service, social, and fundraising events, and volunteering for the campaigns of democratic candidates at all levels.
There are many more independents in Tennessee than most people would think. They often vote for Republicans due to lack of quality Democratic candidates, but 2018 is very, very different. This year Democrats have excellent candidates at all levels.
Four years ago the prospect of my senator, governor, and member of congress being Democrats was unthinkable. The polls are now saying what we can plainly see with our naked eyes, that a blue wave is forming in the Volunteer State.
28
It’s clear she does not have a clue or an opinion of her own. If Tennessee chooses to elect her it will reflect on their own judgment and in the long run tarnish Tennessee for along time, good luck with that.
14
There was a time when working with solid Republicans from any of the "flyover states" was enjoyable, and productive.
Level headed, cautious, fact-based, hard working, results-oriented, personally honest, good sense of humor, they were usually able to work as productive team members, making the team better.
Swearing an oath of unconditional loyalty to an unstable con man who is likely either a witting or unwitting agent of an adversary has the opposite characteristics of what I once saw and valued.
Are they so afraid of the power of the tweet and Fox News?
Are they so used to truth-tellers they are simply incapable
of believing that most of what they hear from Trump is lies?
For the sake of the country and my grandchildren, I hope they wake up.
16
In the Trump cult, like any other, dissent is forbidden. All respect and obedience is owed to the Fearless Leader. Trump said as much when talking enviously about Kim Jong-un. The Republican Party is in the process of imposing totalitarian rule, "primarying out" anyone who dares disagree with the President. Based on the rulings handed down last month, a majority of the Supreme Court is all in too. Our country is in a very dangerous place.
13
If Trump were a woman, he'd be Marsha Blackburn. She really deserves her own reality show, but we've already had Sarah Palin in that role so it would be redundant.
Can you imagine:
Palin/Blackburn 2020?
Oh, well, we've had Nixon/Agnew, Bush/Cheney, and Trump/Pence, so it is possible. What a nation!
7
Bredesen isn't "positioning himself" as anything by describing the tariffs as an attack on Tennessee.
He's just telling the truth. The tariffs will hurt. Maybe Bredesen is just sane.
If that's considered gamesmanship by anyone, NYT included, then we're far past the point of no return.
8
As a native New Yorker, I have always been somewhat leery of the South -- and Marsha Blackburn just gave me one more reason why.
It's bad enough that we now have a president who deliberately ignores an entire segment of the population of Americans who disagree with his racist and bigoted views, but to have a candidate for the Senate so unabashedly claiming them (and him) as her own, is just as reprehensible as it is frightening.
How this country can allow itself to swept along in a tide of nativism, intolerance and white supremacy, is a dark fate one might have hoped we'd escape after enduring so many years of Jim Crow laws and unequal rights for too many Americans.
And if Ms. Blackburn should win the election by campaigning on the same old oft-repeated tropes of hatred, that will say far more about us as a country, than about her as a Senator.
11
Well said. Trumpism is the lost cause 2.0 for the wounded-ego ancestors of southern traitors who are struggling desperately to preserve the dominance of a culture built on white male Protestant (false) Christian supremacy.
Or about Tennessee.
The Republican Party has been replaced with the Putin-Trump Party; the party once known as the Party of Lincoln has perished, and those doubting that were not paying attention to the Putin-Trump news conference today.
Blackburn, like so many of her Republican colleagues in Congress, is a Trump apparatchik. She has contributed to the redifining of patritotism, equating patriotism with the defense of Trump rather than American values and our Constitution. Electing Blackburn to the Senate would add a priestess to the Trump cult, and it would most certainly lower the intelligence quotient of the upper house of Congress.
11
@Robert Stewart, the only thing that unites all these disparate fools is alarm at the prospect a correct interpretation of "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" will cut off their only outlet to force themselves on everyone else.
2
You allow no room for agreement.
I made a mistake. Ms. Blackburn represents the 7th District in Tenessee, not the 8th. That's been Republican for generations.
Both Blackburn and Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi will prove if the Deep South (excluding Louisiana) will elect a female for the first time in a statewide vote. My bet is that, given a reasonable alternative, the female candidate will get hosed.
2
If somehow an audio recording of the private Tump-Putin meeting in Helsinki could be made public, Trump would be impeached on Tuesday and convicted on Wednesday.
17
Yessss! If only. I’m still waiting.
1
Wishful thinking, Mr. Cavendish. Trump's brain-dead supporters will faithfully worship him no matter what. It matters not one iota that Tennessee's economy will suffer greatly under Trump's idiotic and belligerent trade policies. And Trump's sheeple simply outnumber everyone else in Tennessee as well as the entire deep South. The only way progressive and rational candidates will win the South is through robust voter turnout. Vote. Everyone. Please.
13
Imagine what Congresswoman Blackburn would be willing to do in a casting call for Harvey Weinstein?
Remove "Trump" from this conversastion, honestly imagine Weinstein+Blackburn paired, and then vote?
3
Take a drive through Wiiliamson County surrounding Franklin, TN, and you will see the overwhelming support for Marsha Blackburn. This area is hardly an area of country bumpkins but rather stately homes and expansive horse farms. One has to drive to the suburbs surrounding Vanderbilt University to see a yard sign for her opponent Phil Bredesen, which hardly exist outside of Nashville. The author of this opnion is the former editor of the Nashville Scene, a weekly arts and entertainment guide to Music City honky tonks, hardly an example of respectable hard hitting journalism.
3
Even among republicans, Marsha Blackburn is an awful candidate, trying to win a senate seat by defending a misogynous sexual predator. As they say, "show us who you go out with...and we'll tell you who you are". This woman is a disgrace to womanhood, and a disgusting human being when dealing with the poor and disadvantaged. She, along with her boss in the Oval Office, should be sent packing.
13
The Perils of the Trump Cult........now threaten the, very, Democratic institutions of the United States of America.........the MYOPIC concern for its significance to the two-faced dance of local politicians......."sidestep the specifics of trumpism but embrace trump".....and ......"he can pivot between criticism and agreement with the white house"............is WHY "modeling".......OPPORTUNISTIC POLITICAL CORRUPTION has become institutionalized in America................a la Don the Con ,the best model ever!!!
1
Actual proof that some Women are as vile, self-serving, duplicitous and grotesque as some Men. Progress, or something. Do better, Tennessee.
28
Trump is going to Guantanamo Bay for treason. Blackburn can get the cell adjacent to him.
18
Trump is nobody's friend. I think that it is clear that he has not much cared how his actual policies affect his base constituency. Even as he continues to express their attitudes he takes actions which materially disadvantage them. It's pretty clear by now that cutting taxes does shift more and more of new wealth created to the most wealthy and that they invest where they make the most money in the shortest time with the least risk or the greatest returns. Expanding an economy just by having rich people in residence does not happen. By themselves, rich people do not create jobs for the great middle and lower classes.
Tariffs have always hurt agriculture and have been used to protect domestic manufacturing but only when the production of goods was not sheltered not affected by those tariffs. Most of Trump's supporters are going to be negatively impacted by these tariffs. How long the tariffs remain will determine how much that these people are affected.
I tend to think that Trump will retain his supporters and his control of Republican politics no matter what he does. He can openly give Putin all of our strategic top secret information and his supporters will praise him for improving relations with Russia. He can trip off a deep recession and blame it on Obama, and his base will curse Obama and demand that he be tried for treason and jailed for life. It will not be until 100 millions of them come to the conclusion that Trump's acts bankrupted them for them to reject him.
6
Marsha Blackburn is now and has always been a far right robot. Her district in West Tennessee is also exclusively agricultural and (one could say) economically backward. She benefits from a gerrymander that (if I remember correctly) moved a good bit of Memphis and the Memphis suburbs out of the 8th District.
Bredesen, on the other hand, is a former governor who was widely respected as a sort of Blue Dog democrat all across the state. He's the epitome of a pragmatist whose first instinct is "the middle way." And he's male.
As far as I know, Tennessee has never elected a female to statewide office. Nor have they ever supported a female in a national election. It will certainly be a paradox for the record if this deeply sexist state goes for a female far right robot who has never had the least credibility on issues that matter to the "three states of Tennessee". If she is able to carry Tennessee, Trumpism is as deeply ingrained as Jacksonianism was in the 1800s.
Turnout will be all important in Tennessee as in all the states this mid-term election.
6
@vineyridge
Made a mistake. She represents the 7th District in Tennessee, not the 8th.
Eat your heart out, Steve.
1
The Republicans running for office in states or districts in which a significant percentage of the voters have a modicum of intelligence are making a serious error in identifying with Trump his policies and his character.
Trump and HRC both were the most unpopular candidates for POTUS in modern times. His victory was as much due to HRC, her errors and reputation as it was to Trump's virtues. If the Democratic Party can field reasonable, active candidates with adequate funding they can prevail.
8
Tennessee values: the last time I was there, just over five years ago, Memphis had a three month waiting period to take the driver's license test, an item critical for getting a job in Tennessee since I had to drive to many different places and take temporary work. Public transport wouldn't have gotten me to jobs in N. Mississippi.
I got on the phone and found out I could take it in Savannah, Tenn. that week but it took driving 140 miles to get there, something many people could not do, plus the commodities markets were way up so I sold all my gold and silver to a smelter in California who paid market prices minus a small fee to assay the metals which allowed me to garner enough funds to get by while I worked those temp jobs there.
It took a year working temp jobs there to save up enough money up just to drive to California but it could have taken twice as long if I didn't have the resources and the desire to get out as fast as possible.
One temp job offered workers permanent jobs if they worked 12 hr shifts (plus any extra as needed) sorting and packing items purchased online from a week before Thanksgiving to Christmas. I left after four weeks when their software for orders broke down and it just became a dangerous circus on their floor. In truthfulness I wouldn't have wanted their permanent job anyway but people on my line wanted me to stay since my shipments were usually packed well and contained fewer mistakes.
I was born there but I'll never go there again.
2
Bredesen has a real shot at it, even in this red state. There are several big urban areas in the state, and he has nicely placed himself right in the middle. His "I am not just going to rubber stamp what the president proposes, but I will listen to his arguments" add, is working well. The GOP governor candidate race has been absurdly negative and is not just hurting the GOP but also turning people off from negative campaigning. The standard GOP red state playbook of accusing the democrat of being a liberal [bad word, bad word] may just backfire this time.
12
I live in Ms. Blackurn's district while I won't vote for her, I sure wouldn't bet against her. I feel that Mr. Bredsen's only chance is turning out the urban vote heavy like they did in Alabama. They might pull it off, I hope so time will tell.
11
"Tennessee’s Marsha Blackburn wants to ride the president’s coattails to the Senate. But will her plan backfire?"
Well, is there a big voter bloc of Tennesseans willing to have American elected officials proudly and loudly support the leader of a foreign country that's attacked our election system? Will she campaign to open our voting systems to all foreign nations, or just Russia?
12
Marsha Blackburn and Tom Marino (R) of Pennsylvania should both be indicted for what they did in 2016.
The DEA was trying their best to at least in some way slow down the opiate epidemic. They were going after irresponsible prescribers, prolific distributors and more.
Sadly, Blackburn and Marino fashioned a bill, ostensibly under the guise of making sure Americans in pain could get the medications they so desperately needed.
But here's the thing: the DEA wasn't going after legitimate pain patients and their prescribing physicians. They were only interested in getting the "bad actors" out of the supply chain.
After Blackburn's bill passed unanimously through BOTH houses, the DEA lost much of its authority to stem the tide of what has become a historic health crisis.
Now, in part due to the bill that opened the floodgates, the DEA is going after anyone and everyone. Those of us in severe chronic pain have been made got feel like criminals, and even people who undergo major surgery can expect to receive a mere three days worth of pain meds when they leave the hospital.
The heroin addicts will still find their heroin. Real people in real pain? This Bud's for you! (PS - "Lock HER up!")
11
@Maurice S. Thompson
I remember 60 minutes had a piece on this.
Why would any responsible citizen vote for this pusher?
Trumpublicans like blackburn are mean-spirited, and their constituents vote for who their preacher tells them to vote for. I know. I lived in her area a few years ago. Mean, and she will get in, if the heavily funded billionaires that run Tennessee have anything to say about it.
9
Will her plan backfire? I hope so as I do for every person running for office anywhere who thinks that trump's coattails are a ticket to victory.
8
As a resident of Tennessee, I can say that she's unqualified to be elected. Unfortunately, that's been true in her other electoral forays and we see how that turned out. Maybe this year is different -- we can only hope -- and this is a statewide election, plus Phil Bredesen is fairly popular due to his tenure as governor. Likewise, this is a somewhat "moderate" state when it comes to state-wide elections (local ones are a different story), although we've got some other Trumpists running for governor this year, so we shall see if that holds true. My fingers are crossed and my spouse and I went to cast our ballots for Bredesen in the current primary as well. We're not her target demographic, since we are urban dwellers who probably qualify as "not sharing Tennessee values" due to that alone. On behalf of Tennessee, I apologize in advance if we end up with Ms. Blackburn in the Senate.....she will be as shamelessly divisive in the future as she has been in her current office.
20
As someone who has canvassed for Phil, my political leanings are evident (for sake reporting conflicts). This is the first time in my over half century life to volunteer for any political campaign, and I grew up just down the road from Al Gore Jr. But, when Bredesen entered the race, I volunteered to knock on doors in the >100 heat index TN summer. Telling all the newcomers to Nashville who this guy is and isn't.
Blackburn is a darling of the talk radio circuit and an early adopter of the Tea Party. Both are strong platforms for rural and culture war voters here. Immigration, as a core republican issue that Trump is effective on, has good traction in Tennessee. The party's pivot from separating families to its efficacy in deterrence as policy propaganda may wash away the images of the Trump White House's crying toddlers. You can still find cows and field corn in Davidson county (metro Nashville), so rural is pretty much everywhere outside downtown Nashville, Chattanooga and Memphis.
In short, Bredesen has to play a pitch perfect campaign to win in this very uphill battle. To date he has done so. When the Republican senator you're replacing donates to your campaign and remains silent in supporting his party's candidate, speaks volumes. Hopefully, the old school, conservative Democrats, independents and Howard Baker republicans (of which I'm one) will be enough.
17
I can only go by what I see. What I see are both of my parents, who voted for Trump are voting for Bredesen. He is a known quantity and governed in a way the people of Tennessee approved of. Marsha Blackburn has few allies in the state republican party. That's the result when your political career is based on flame throwing. In, fact, she isnt known for much else.
28
American politics; chose between:
(1) right-wing, bourgeois liberals, who call for free-trade and open borders.
(2) right-wing, aristocratic reactionaries, who call for reducing their taxes to zero and abolishing the welfare state.
Those are our two choices. Workers' rights, environmental protection, a public option for healthcare, and subsidized education and training aren't even on the table. How could they be, when those things aren't in the interest of the right-wing donor class that controls both parties?
I honestly think we'll be headed for another revolution in this country if the two parties don't start to concern themselves with the interests of those Americans who aren't rich. Either a revolution or a fascist coup.
12
Today’s GOP has yet to come to grips with the fact that younger generations don’t just find it obsolete, they find it obscene. Dinosaurs like Trump and Blackburn are simply marching together into the tar pit of history.
23
Trump won and so will she. So much for "obsolete".
3
Trump did win in the electoral college, though his claims to have won a millions of votes majority in the popular vote are just more gaslighting.
Blackburn may or may not win. Unlike Pono, I have no crystal ball on this race. We do know that she is an evil worshipping sycophant. She is also extremely inexperienced, and since (as the article gives examples) she lacks both a moral compass (support for Trump is an immoral whirligig) and a backbone, if she wins she will perform atrociously as a US Senator.
I doubt that Red states will be less Red in Nov. as the specter of Waters, Booker and Harris envelop the party.
6
@Ray
Because they are black?
Just say it.
Give us a glimpse of your racism or that of Red state voters...
5
My hope is that We the People will finally become outraged enough to stop support for Trump's sycophants! We must wake up to his & his complicit GOP`s treasonous behavior & rhetoric. If we can make it uncomfortable enough for our Congress, then they will have no choice but to file Articles of Impeachment against Trump! Perhaps those who claim fealty to the USA will awaken to his support for our adversary, Putin's Russia!
6
We already are. But republican lack is spine currently prevails.
Blackburn is the worst of the worst. A puppet for this disgraceful, inept president. Hoping and praying that we Tennessean's are enlightened enough to elect Phil Bredesen, but not counting on it.
27
I think it's even worse when female politicians lick Trump's boots this way. He has done nothing but denigrate and objectify women his entire life and women like Blackburn are helping him to do it! America has been taken over and the idiots have surely won.
19
Unbeknownst to the good people of Tennessee who think they are in the center of God's universe, they are actually in Timbuktu. The auto companies relocated there. because of favorable tax rates and lower wages than in the heavily unionized states. If the tariffs hurt their business they can relocate elsewhere per Harley Davidson.
8
Well the thinking world changed today for Trump supporters in this country who listened to this president slam the American people and our institutions. It is not about red vs blue it is about America. Ms. Blackburn has a horrible voting track record and when she speaks she is clueless about the country, her state and the world. Arguing a point as if it was still 1960. she is no Bob Corker.
Five time draft dodger, Trump has put us in a horrific position and if she supports him then she needs to get a job on talk shows where she can not harm people. Birds of a feather flock together.
13
For years Marsha Blackburn has competed with Louie Gohmert to be the worst member of Congress. It makes perfect sense she would run for the Senate seat. The House's loss will hopefully become the Senate's loss, but since this is Tennessee, probably not.
14
No matter how far right a GOP congressperson is, there will be someone willing to run further to the right of them. There is no way to criticize Trump as a result. Now that Trump's rhetoric has become normalized among both conservative politicians and voters, there is room to safely say even more abhorrent things. And they will be said until there is a penalty for saying them. That time could be 10 years away.
The only out here is for Republican congress persons with faith in the country switch parties, thus handing congress to the Democrats for the remainder of Trump's term. That would at least provide a check on him and would also provide cover for other Republicans to go against him.
6
The fate of Marsha Blackburn and other Republicans around the nation is in our collective hands as voters. If we don't reject them in large numbers this November, we have only ourselves to blame. It shouldn't need much intelligence to understand the the GOP does not have our individual interests at heart. And as became even more obvious in Helsinki, neither does it have the national interest at heart.
The trump rump will stick with him. It's just up to the rest of us to show up at the polls.
11
This is advice to the writer and NYTimes: Because you highlight Marsha Blackburn in the lead-in photo, I am not sending it to my friends here in France because I fear that they would think I am for her and not read any further. I am for Phil Bredesen although I am a Democrat and he is a Republican. I respect very much Bob Corker and just hope that someone can replace him in the Senate who can stand up for the good of Tennessee and the US in general.
2
Actually, Bredesen is a democrat.
I have held off on broad opinions on Trump voters and the Rs although I have expected since the election that the Rs would do everything they could to grind the heel down across the board. With the today's event in Finland it is hard not to see supporters of Mr. Trump as on the line of betraying their country. The fact is the South did this once before, treason in regards to secession, and we ended up in a brutal conflict. Seems like we are headed that way again.
14
So just how do Tennessee Republican voters take the president: literally or seriously? If literally, they are willing to forego jobs and profits for their auto industry so they can thrill to his big hands and macho declarations. If seriously but not literally, they must like tough talk but don't want to see it backed up by action. Is that serious? Or fantastical. Marsha Blackburn has been interviewed several times on television and she comes across as a college cheerleader, flirty and perky, not particularly up on the issues, but never willing to concede a point. If the voters choose her, they deserve what they get, literally and seriously.
6
Marsha Blackburn.
Promoting birtherism back in 2009.
Demonizing Planned Parenthood over the sale of "baby body parts".
That is all I need to know.
22
This is Tennessee. GOP = win. They love Trump there.
The only thing Dems can do is try to reduce the margin a tiny bit.
4
Too depressing for words. This woman has the IQ of a forever postage stamp.
28
Made me laugh! Thank you
@Steve Singer
wow,that's good!
Marsha Blackburn, real tragedy for the state of Tennessee. She has never met a poor person for whom
She has stood up. There is so much grinding poverty—yet she, like Mitch McConnel, speaks only for the wealthy. I am not being arrogant or a “coast snob”—
I own a farm in the middle of Ms. Blackburn’s district— the mantra is no taxes—at least and until your kid needs special education attention or a road needs to be developed. If you are poor or middle class in Tennessee she is not your friend.
14
Bredesen has been ahead in all of the polls, until the most recent Axios poll that all of a sudden had Blackburn up by 14. This article would be more credible if there were greater clarity on the polling. If it's true that Bredesen is ahead, then, yes, this would be an indictment of her. But if it looks like she is going to win easily here, and not long ago, a Politico poll had Trump with a +20 approval rating in Tennessee, (among the toss-up states, only West Virginia was higher) then this election is all about nothing. The candidates won't really matter. I was in Nashville and environs not long ago. My bet is that this is probably a Republican hold.
4
This idiot will get elected in Tennessee. Uneducated whites in the South have been voting against their own interests for years and will continue to do so. Mississippi is the #1 recipient of federal dollars in the country, yet they continue to disparage government, "welfare".
26
When I go to the gym I'm able to watch multiple news stations at the same time on a line of TVs. I'm always shocked by the dissonance between Fox News and everyone else. All of the other stations will be covering whatever major policy issue is in the news. But Fox will have some blather about MS-13 or the war on Christmas. Even when Fox is covering the same story as the rest of the stations, its anchors and guests are so biased that it comes across as laughably over-the-top propaganda.
And here's the thing: there are plenty of folks in deep red states like Tennessee who only watch Fox, and only listen to Rush, and only read conservative papers. And most of their neighbors do the same thing, because anyone in their town who may have harbored liberal sentiments has fled to bigger cities or migrated north.
For people in that kind of ideological echo chamber, it doesn't matter if Blackburn has weaknesses, because they will never hear about them. It doesn't matter if she's sold out to the Trump cult, because as far as they know Trump is the greatest president in history.
32
Marsha Blackburn is the poster child for what is wrong with the Republican party. It puts itself ahead of our country. Americans need health insurance, environmental protection, consumer protection, better education, better trade agreements... all the things that Trump opposes. She is supporting a disgraceful person in the White House.
23
In the Border and Deep South states, it's hard to believe that any Democrat could win a state-wide position like senator today.
Of course, it happened just a few months back in Alabama, where Doug Jones beat out Roy Moore 50.0%-48.3%. But Moore had a personal scandal of the worst kind dogging him. There's no doubt he would have won if there were no credible accusations of a sexual nature against him, despite his Trump-supporting rhetoric, crazy political positions, and even zanier behavior.
Blackburn is an absolute rock of virtue and consistency placed side-by-side with Moore. She'll win easily in Tennessee unless it turns out that she's the southeastern regional director for MS-13 or some other easily digestible, hot-button issue makes the news.
6
When I think of Marsha Blackburn, I think of a recurring nightmare I've had since my teen years: waking up to the sound of gum popping.
That admitted, she could win. Bredesen is ahead, but only marginally. Whether Trump's coattails will be enough come November (and the Tenn. election will hinge very much on Trump's coattails) will depend on how he is seen to perform before now and then. He's already done very well indeed by his base's lights with Kavanaugh. If something pops with Kim Jong-un and Trump is able to make trade a win, she could be unstoppable.
6
@Richard Luettgen, No self respecting woman would take that position with that crotch grabbing predator.
4
Cult 45. We know what happens to cult leaders and their followers. This will not end well.
9
Today the talk of treason is in the air. If we allow this act of treason to stand then treason, like gerrymandering, will become just another tool to retain power. We have watched in agony, Republicans shrink from their duty into a wall of silence from the Senate and into an orgy of hysteria and vitriol within the House. Both actions are designed as delaying tactics to thwart the will of the majority. The hyper partisanship displayed, this time by the Republican party, has poisoned our democracy. These actions look more and more like a coup. Something is very wrong. Whether there are traitors inside the Republican party currently steering the members away from their Constitutional duties we don't know and frankly it will take too long to ferret out the truth. But we do know we are in serious trouble. It is time for the People to take back some of our power we have entrusted to our Representatives. Clearly the Constitution can not withstand the overlay of party hierarchy. Congress is now answering soly to head of party and not to the Constitution. The Constitution was written before and without ever mention political parties. I am calling for a Constitutional Convention to reaffirm the principles laid down by our Framers. We need to divest the political parties of their government apparatus. I would like consideration for an Amendment. The People need the ability to directly impeach a President much like we can recall a governor.
8
Given the insanely treasonous press conference Trump just had with Putin I think the slogan for Blackburn and Trump should be "Make Russia Great again".
10
Too funny! Thanks for making me laugh.
Germany is trying hard to make Russia great again.
one can only hope that the citizens of tennessee will reject her efforts and leave her to the private sector looking for a job.
she was one of the most toxic and dishonest members to serve during the obama years.
gosh, i wonder why.
13
Marsha Blackburn. We think we remember her for her infamous support of 'soring' horses with caustic chemicals and sharp objects to create the famous Tennessee walking horse gait - high stepping in a futile attempt to escape the extreme pain in their hooves and legs. We hope she loses.
19
Maybe she will invite Putin to campaign for her in TN...seens like GOP loves Putin as much as they love Putin's puppet occupying the WH!
15
As of today's (Monday's) televised press conference with Vladimir Putin and his pet pony, Donald Trump, she'll need to redesign her campaign. Bigly.
9
The mid term elections are going to tell us of Trump was a one-off or if this is an actual thing.
We will find out if the brainwashed MAGA hat wearers are going to control the future, or people who can actually think for themselves.
10
A fine argument for why the Democrats should never nominate a presidential candidate from the Northeast.
4
Blind allegiance to an aberrant political personality has unsavory historical references. Adolf Hitler comes to mind and 90 years isn’t such a long time when human history is measured.
The danger that elected office-holders—such as Marsha Blackburn—represent is a severe, aggressive lack of clear-headed moderation. Donald Trump is an extreme representation of the absence of moderation and that Ms. Blackburn would blindly—with all that the unsavory connotations that fanaticism implies—follow. One can only wonder at his appeal and her willingness to venture down a very dark and tangled path toward...what?
This president is the incarnation of Ronald Reagan’s “government is the problem,” a siren that, unfortunately, has beguiled millions of adherents who can’t possibly understand what dangers that call to tribe threaten—unless that’s what they want as well.
Donald Trump’s presidency is already on a destructive road that may have no turning. If it ends in indictment and/or impeachment and removal, would Ms. Blackburn be so quick to disavow her role as a major water-carrier for a Republic-defining disaster?
Conservatives should, if they love the country that they’ve always professed that they do, may wish to consider a more cautious approach to government and governing. Would they be willing to help in the rebuilding of a Republic ruined by a heedless allegiances to the extremes that presently threaten it?
We’ve been through this as a nation once before. We’ve not recovered.
7
Who would want to ride the coat tails of a morally bankrupt admirer of totalitarian regimes?
13
Unfortunately, the answer to your question "Who would want to ride the coattails of a morally bankrupt admirer o totalitarian regimes" is FAR TOO MANY.
7
Apparently Trump cultism is also wearing thin in the Midwest. Let's hope this works make Trump impotent. We in the US are in dangerous territory as Putin easily manipulates Trump and his uninformed followers. Very scary times!
16
‘If Trump is pushing some things that are going to be good for the people of Tennessee, I don’t care where it came from. I’m going to be all for it.’
Sure thing. Mussolini made the trains run on time; Hitler built the Autobahn. So Bredesen would have been all in for that, too? Why let six million Jews - or caging children, fomenting resentment and vituperation among Americans, trashing our political, military and trade alliances around the globe - stand in the way if Trump throws Bredesen a sop that’s ‘good for Tennessee’?
Just toss basic human decency out the window. Who needs it. Think of all the construction jobs he could bring to Tennessee with a fat, grift laden federal contract to build migrant detention centers in moribund mining towns.
13
SO you'd rather have Blackburn in the Senate then?
This is how the left always screws it up, and I fear will again in November. How's the view of SCOTUS from up there on your self-proclaimed, center-denying moral high ground?
2
Ms. Blackburn, despite my complete disapproval of her strategy, is trying to become a US senator. She must understand that "Trumpism" is likely a pacing fancy of the GOP. But this is her chance, and she sees backing the President as a ticket to the Senate.
Numerous House and Senate members have changed with the political times. How else could one survive politically when occupying a seat for many decades?
So while Ms. Blackburn has hitched her political wagon to a thin-skinned, sophomoric, and unqualified president, she is merely playing the hand she has been dealt: cozy up to Trumpism to succeed in the election. If she wins, she will not have to stand for election until either President Trump has returned to private life or is finishing his second term. She likely figures a little groveling is worth it.
This sort of political strategy is well worn, not only by Americans, but by others. Various Democrats did cart wheels to rationalize President Clintons misogyny decades ago to keep their seat. French king Henry IV even converted to Catholicism in the 16th Century to shore up support from the largely Catholic French population, famously saying, "Paris is worth a Mass."
Cynical, yes, but just as Henry likely did things that are much worse, I bet this will be one of the least egregious compromises Ms. Blackburn makes as a politician. Who knows. She might even believe what she is saying. If that is the case, I would actually be more concerned, her honesty aside.
Look at her record as a rep in the Obama years. She was a trumpeter before Trump was a candidate-- all in on birtherism and blind Obama obstruction.
I'm not excited about Marsha Blackburn. I like what Bredesen says.
I'd vote for him in a heartbeat if he would take a pledge to vote for any qualified (meaning has the legal chops) Supreme Court nominee and not put a 'political' test on the nomination.
Unfortunately, I don't think that's likely.
Most recent polling has Bredesen up by 6 points which is an improvement from the previous polling done 3 months ago.
7
The current Supreme Court nomination will be settled before the election, so put that out of your mind.
7
Blackburn is a mindless Palin model drone. She's a white supremacist religious bigot. If she wins it will be another victory for America's growing fascist state.
Putin and Kim are now our heroes. NATO is the axis of evil.
These are strange days indeed.
37
This revolting person lies as much as trump. I've fact checked her while watching hearings. TN better get its act together.
24
In 1942 France, Marsha Blackburn would have been called a collaboratrice by the Resistance to the Nazi occupation. In 1944 with the Liberation, she would have gotten what she deserved.
Trump's joint news conference with Putin has revealed Team Trump treason for all to see--and GOP collaboration.
What side are you on?
23
What makes the New York Times look amateurush here is that Ms. Blackburn was saying all these things before President Trump even decided to eun for the White House.
What happened to the editing process here?
4
Ms Blackburn is sadly placed into the position of relying on others to do the brunt of her thinking, as she seems singularly incapable of doing much of it on her own. As a Tennessean, it is quite a contrast between her and Mr. Bredesen, a highly intelligent, capable, and proven public servant and someone running on a 'platform' of subservience to the president.
15
Wow. There's something to brag about. So she's a lying bigot all on her own?
15
As of today, she's riding the coattails of an outright traitor, so there's that.
24
As a Tennessee resident, I tremble at the thought
of being represented by this awful, small minded,
bigoted, ambition-crazed drawling' Michelle Bachman clone.
Will be working my neighborhood for Phil.
Slogan: Only Phil........can save us now
29
Same goes for the completely interchangeable candidates for TN governor. Every one of their ads touts themselves as being the "Trumpiest" with healthy sprinkling of building the wall, ending sanctuary cities, "family values" (we know what that means) and something something 2nd Amendment. Steve, I wish I shared your optimism. I've lived here long enough to see how many people would willingly shove a sharp stick in their eye if they thought it would upset a "coastal liberal elite."
21
But will her plan backfire? we can hope and VOTE!
5
After the first few weeks of Trump I wondered in these columns whether, if he had enough rope, he would hang himself.
We are not there yet. November may be a start to getting him on the scaffold.
7
Steve Cavendish writes: "So it’s easy to understand Ms. Blackburn’s fealty. But that fealty comes with a price..."
The loss of a democratic republic in the United States.
11
Hitching your wagon to a traitor generally isn't a winning political strategy.
24
It is if you are a republican.
12
MAYBE she's got a 'thing' for the so-called president.
I have a 'thing' for the so-called president, but I can say with certainty, HER 'thing' for the so-called president is not the same as MY 'thing' for the so-called president.
Her 'thing' for the so-called president makes her want to walk hand-in-hand into his offer of a white nationalist, cruel, un-American future.
My 'thing' for the so-called president requires him to wash his hands before touching anyone and stop touching those who don't ask for it.
Her 'thing' makes her want to bask in his luminescence.
My 'thing ' wants to extinguish (legally and non-violently) this pitiful pin-head of ugly, snot-colored dimness.
But then, HER 'thing' and MY 'thing' always will be
distinctly different.
7
Ms. Blackburn has attached herself to Trump..the equivalent of a modern age Hindenburg...the hot air filled dirigible which exploded in a cataclysmic explosion or . As Germany's "head of state" prior to Hitler, Hindenburg broke virtually every bond he entered into. He was not the man of dogged, faithful service, but the man of image, manipulation and betrayal". Take your pick. Blackburn may win...and serve a term or two. But then she will be remembered as part of Trump's marrow deep ineptitude.
3
Marsha has been a good GOP tool for a long time.She doesn't have an original thought of her own. She is a shameless hack for the president, and hopefully, she will pay for it in November
13
We need to vote these disgusting people out of office before they destroy our nation and its laws.
7
Term limits can end all of the problems. Our political system was not set up to have career politicians. Nothing will change until we stop electing the same political hacks over and over again.
2
What's wrong with nominating Trump for a Nobel Prize for meeting with the DPRK? Obama got one for showing up.
4
President Trump is a wimp. He is morally bankrupt; he doesn't have the guts to stand up to Vladimir Putin. He admires and would like to emulate dictators like Putin, Turkey's Erdogan, Philippines' Duerte -- people who win fake elections because they jail or murder any contenders. Surely the United States of America is better than that and deserves better representation!!
12
If she thinks that endorsing Trump is the way to get elected then the good people of Tennessee need a new candidate.
7
Based on this article, I'm far to the left of the Democrats in this race but still would love to see him undo Blackburn who is one of the true faces of all that is wrong with our politics.
13
Her plan will backfire if people start listening to and thinking about what she and her great leader are saying. Today the great leader declined to comment on 12 indictments for Russian hacking during the last election. However, in another venue he felt no constraint in commenting that it was Obama's fault for not stopping it. How does that add up? It doesn't. Here's hoping that people give the larger issues some serious thought -- all over the USA.
3
Cult is the perfect description of his base. You can see it in their responses today to Trump refusing to side with his own security agencies - they support him 100% against their own nation.
America is entering a very dangerous period.
16
This 'servant of the Donald' took six figure donations from opioid manufacturers and has done as she promised them...took down defenses to allow Tennessee to be high on the list of opioid addiction of its citizenry.
She also took six figure donations from the telecoms to push the ability to be able to monetize customer's private information as well as end Net Neutrality.
As vile as a snake but lower. Zero shame. Zero concern other than her own scaly skin. She's got to go.
27
So, the task for Trumpolytes running for national office seems to be to walk away from what "Trumpism" really means, in terms of voters' actual lives, and to emphasize what "Trumpism" claims itself to be. Why respond to true consequences when you can get your fear-and-loathing fix simply by aping the talking-point rhetoric?
1
As a Floridian raised in N. Carolina, I can see a kind of schizophrenia developing in the Southern GOP. To be sure, there are plenty of die-hard Republicans who would vote the straight GOP ticket even if an orange orangutan ran for a Senate seat (or a bald crash test dummy such as we have running here in Florida), but the sense I get is that more and more Republicans are hoping for moderates to surface. Trump has had that effect. There's a growing feeling that Trump is a wild card (well, duh!, I say to myself privately), not a Republican at all, but rather a half-baked opportunist whose only skill is playing to his audience with whatever line works at the moment. Ms. Blackburn would do well to bear that in mind. You can only change your tune so many times before you run off the end of the keyboard.
10
Blackburn waits to see which way the wind blows before she commits to anything. Right now Trump is the (windbag) source of the wind. Does anyone want a government representative that makes it clear she/he has no basic principles of her own? (And those soybean farmers must really love her now for NOT standing up for them in Trump's trade war.)
1
"She was one of 15 House Republicans who signed a letter nominating Mr. Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize before he ever met with the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un..."
This is the state of the Republican Party in 2018. The delicate snowflakes are still crying about Obama being president for eight years. Now fully in control of the White House, Congress, the Supreme Court, and the majority of state governments, they still can't get over Obama. They can't lead, let alone govern.
Can any of you name one idea that has come out of the Republican Party in recent years that isn't a direct contradiction to something done by Obama? Taxes, immigration, the environment...I can't think of a thing. If Obama had passed a law granting discount bus passes for war widows (tip of hat to The Simpsons) they would make revoking those passes a major party platform.
There are five year olds running the country.
13
The last part of this article summarizes my entire issue with Congress.
Donald Trump is an objectively terrible person, a worse president and a downright liar. Most of us know this, but it doesn't seem that the Republican party does.
It is a firm belief of mine that if the Republican party stood up for their states instead of the President, Donald wouldn't be nearly as empowered as he is. They keep drooling over everything he does in a desperate attempt to legitimize his victory, and his complete lack of political knowledge, even if the roof is burning.
All I want from the whole of Congress is that the House and Senate disagree when he's wrong, making a bad decision or praising an enemy nation, and agree when...
Well whenever Donald actually does something worthwhile.
4
Blackburn has repeatedly defended some of Trump's most "racially insensitive" rhetoric.
At the end of the day, Blackburn has little to worry about. She does not need to defend Trump policies. Even in Tennessee, Trump's tariffs or the sale of TVA transmission lines won't move Trump's base the way some good old-fashioned race-baiting will. MAGA.
8
More chutzpah is needed in many, many places.
2
Marsha Blackburn plays the cutesy big-haired Southern belle who values church and family over all else. Her election signs all say 'conservative' and she preys on the fears that got Trump elected in the first place.
But make no mistake. She's a calculating, cold politician, very good at deflecting and changing the topic when things get a bit … warm. This is military country so she's careful to refer to Trump as the commander-in-chief — very handy if you want to give the illusion of obedience when agreeing, or pretending to agree, with policies people don't like.
Phil Bredesen is her polar opposite: an open-minded, fair gentleman who speaks the truth and who wants the best for all Tennesseans and all Americans. He's a thinker and a doer, not a button-pusher and biter. He's exactly the kind of senator our country needs.
6
there are several strategies to win in a red state: 1) be a republican lite, try to peel off voters in the middle and center right; and, 2) focus on improving turnout, sending a positive message of support to core disenfranchised groups who do not often vote. bredesen has heavily invested in strategy #1, to the point that his primary messaging appears to be "tariffs are bad" and "i'm tired of the partisan gridlock". however, i would argue that this message is so watered down that he has not sufficiently energized voters in cities like Memphis and Nashville. Peeling off folks in the middle isn't enough if you can't turnout your own base. for example, his campaign has devoted lots of tweets & messaging around the issue of invasive asian carp and the impact on waterways and fishing-- ok fine, but then he won't utter a peep about the new supreme court justice? does he think progressives in Memphis and Nashville are going to get out of bed on election day for asian carp? Bless his heart. and personally, i think there is some evidence that his strategy isn't working as well as you suggest -- this op-ed doesn't mention the recent Axios poll showing Blackburn now up +14.
2
Isn't this the same Marsha Blackburn who was instrumental in derailing the DEA effort to thwart huge distributors of opioids from doing so without the DEA being able to prosecute them because Blackburn and another pol, Marino of PA, got in their way via changes instituted by the two? Blocking efforts to control opioids and prosecute those corporations and individuals who promote is against the best interests of the citizens of Kentucky. Blackburn has survived too long on "pretty" and her malleable Christianity. Now she wants to ride the coattails of one of the most divisive and mendacious of men. Good luck. One can only wonder: WWJD? Or think?
4
The same. But now she gets all weepy for those affected and wants to lock everyone up in the same breath.
If we have a future, history will judge these people very, very badly. We assume (though I'm not sure why) that they're pandering to the fanaticism & ignorance of Trump's followers because they think that the political power they gain will enable them to accomplish something positive. But they are only empowering Trump & his treasonous fascism. They are putting themselves and the country in his power, and nothing else.
3
Unfortunately, it's far from certain that sticking to Donald Trump like a remora to a shark is a risky strategy at all. There are enough naive and ignorant Trump supporters concentrated in particular states who will vote for any candidate as long as he/she supports Trump, and plenty of candidates who will sell their souls to get elected. Such is the current state of demoracy in this country. And to think that we in the US used to complain about democracy in places like Algeria leading to the election of fundamentalist Islamic governments.
3
Tariffs on her state's auto plants and selling TVA assets are bad enough, but Is Blackburn willing to follow her dear leader on his path of treason? Trump's support of Russia has got to be the bridge too far even for Tennessee Trump people, right?
9
Unfortunately, this woman stands a good chance of getting elected. With small exceptions, they love the Mandarin Menace here.
5
Lie down with dogs - get fleas.
4
45% of voters have left the surly bonds of reason to touch the face of fraud....and they love it !
They're all earning their new and improved Trump University degrees.
Reasonable people will have to outvote these clueless cultists who love the taste of snake oil and 'beautiful', delicious, nutritious coal.
D to go forward; R for Russian-Republicanism.
November 6 2018
75
Put enough chocolate on it, and Kochs' Klean Koal is almost consumable ... pretty dang tough to chew, however....
1
Finally, after Trump's comments during his press conference, some Republicans are starting to stand up for the country. Maybe the tide has turned, and people who support the President will be swept away.
16
Marsha Blackburn is making a mistake. Voters tend to shy away from candidates who box themselves in. And independents are playing a bigger role in elections that ever before...
"Already, 69 percent of the state’s independents have a favorable view of Mr. Bredesen, compared with just 44 percent for Ms. Blackburn..."
Independents make up one-third of Tennessee's electorate. My hunch is that they will lean Dem. With Bredesen's high name recognition, solid reputation among TN's establishment and centrist orientation, I think he can win.
6
Anyone running for congress who doesn't have the chutzpah to challenge their own leadership will not uphold their constitutional duties to be a check on the balance of power. It really is that simple.
57
In a political system remodeled to make "leaders" extremely wealthy, I would imagine many would like to ride Trump's coattails to more money than they ever thought they would be privy to. But the willingness to jump on the runaway train that is Trump should automatically send up alarm bells for anyone thinking of voting for these people. Such candidates are devoid of the character necessary to be a good leader. Their motives are not egalitarian or noble or magnanimous. The Trump backers are self-interested and self-motivated. Self before country. It says everything we need to know.
26
The Tennessee is emblematic of the whole USA. The central issue we all face is whether we stand for catharsis, for reason, or for morality. Trumpists want catharsis. It feels good. Rarely does it solve anything. Can those of us who see the country as needing reason and morality, rather than catharsis, prevail? It's easy to suppose we can, but that may be blind optimism.
16
Yes, Trumpism is not a political movement but a personal movement, composed of people who see someone supposedly liberating them to act freely and say what they want, with no restrictions or concessions to other people or morality, or as they frame it "political correctness". Hate blacks, browns, all foreigners, anyone who disagrees with you and want to mock disabled people? Go right ahead, it's any normal person's right and anyone who says otherwise is a liberal hypocrite.
3
Watching Rep Blackburn, it obvious, that not only is she from the radical right, but the power at any cost caucus.
61
It was a REPUBLICAN who brought the auto industry to Tennessee...NISSAN...she better remember and better remember that today in Helsinki Trump performed his most treasonous speech to date..maybe he should join Snowden in exile
3
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-putin-summit-20180716-st...
The relentless partisanship of this administration and the GOP Congress is paralyzing and damaging all of us daily. Democrats and Independents are Americans, too, and a president is elected to represent all of us, not just his base. So are senators.
I don't expect Ms. Blackburn to fairly represent the 58% of Tennesseans who are not registered Republicans. She will loyally follow whatever she believes this president wants her to do. Cynical, power-obsessed, ideologically extreme. Unless we reject these people and elect people with ideals, not just ideology, we're in deep trouble.
45
When I first learned some years ago that the U.S. was on its way to becoming a majority-minority country, with more people of color than white people, I thought: "Well, if we are still a nation that follows civil rights, and the Bill of Rights, and the right to vote, then we are still America."
But I now realize that there are people who are willing to abandon voting rights, and the press ("fake news"), and the right to due process (kids in cages) -- as long as white people are dominant. That is their version of the "real America." Everything else is negotiable.
It's important to understand that their fears about Latino immigrants are not entirely wrong. Whites are on their way out of power. They are truly fighting for their version of "real America" -- the version with brown people as slaves, or virtually slaves, imprisoned and made to work for free in camps instead of plantations.
These people aren't naive rubes. They know what they're fighting for. We have to fight back. We already did it in 1865. Let's make it last this time.
63
No self-respecting woman would have anything to do with Trump.
278
Or man either. Trump is not a man. There is nothing "manly" about Trump's despicable behavior towards women. I condemn him and all his behavior.
3
Then why did 53 percent of women vote for him?
Making no assessment of the positions of the candidate, the strategy makes perfect sense. Any candidate can choose to be linked to a president as strategy, the point then being to find how the president is regarded in Tennessee.
3
"[U]nlike many national Democrats, he has not demonized the president. 'He’s the president of the United States and if he has an idea and is pushing some things that I think are good for the people of Tennessee, I’m going be for it. It doesn’t matter where it came from,' Mr. Bredesen says in a TV ad that has run on heavy rotation in the state since March. 'And likewise, if I think it’s not going to be good for Tennessee, I’m going to be against it. I think that’s what senators ought to do.'"
Hmm, let's call roll.
Racism; misogyny; jingoism; Nazi praise; a $1.4 trillion tax heist sold on the now-proven lie that it would benefit workers; trashing of allies, warm embrace of dictators; attacks on American intelligence and agnosticism on Russian interference in the 2016 election which stuffed this comically unfit thug into the presidency; repudiation of science; Cabinet members skilled only at grifting; tariff trade wars that may make the consequences of Smoot-Hawley look like a Sunday picnic; packing the judiciary, particularly the Supreme Court that may have to opine on his ability to pardon himself to escape accountability for his collusion with Russia and his accompanying obstruction of justice. Migrant family destruction. BABY PRISONS.
Let us know when an idea is hatched by this very sad circus that's good for Tennessee and/or the nation.
85
Reading comprehension, please.
He said, "If."
Reality comprehension, please.
He said "if" because there's no other path to political victory in Trump-adoring Tennessee. That 'if" is the size of Mount Everest.
Benedict Arnold is now our POTUS
Meets with King George didn’t you notice?
With warmth, bonhomie
Compliments run free,
Despite ravages King George showed us.
"T’was Washington’s fault" says good Ben
“And it will not happen again,
It’s pure disaffection,
About my election,
I’ll make this all clear with my Pen.”
The Summit meeting went off well
The meddling talk King George did quell
Done with ease and speed
Benedict agreed
Intelligence findings all fell.
38
Very well done although I would have chosen the names Benedict Trump and King Putin instead! Even so it was a splendid metaphor.
2
@Larry Eisenberg
Bravo!!!!
We are at a pivotal moment in American history. Will the Trump base continue to dominate statehouses and Congress, or will people finally say, "Enough is enough."? Will those who supported Trump realize that they got much more than they bargained for, or will they continue to support a racist, treasonous, poisonous presence in the White House? Will those who stayed on the sidelines in 2016 come out in November, 2018 and repudiate the hijacking of America's political system and its very soul?
Will the Blackburns get a big thumbs down, or will they become even more entrenched?
For the sake of my country, for the sake of my children and grandchildren, for the sake of the environment, for the sake of humanity, for the sake of decency I pray that we will come to our senses and reclaim our nation in November and in 2018. Time will tell.
96
*and in 2020
It often astonishes me how so many women (both voters and politicians) whom Trump would describe as "eating machines" or sexually repulsive (in the most graphic terms) are eager to debase themselves by sidling up to him.
Imagine how Trump would describe Ms. Blackburn to Howard Stern.
142
Trump has indeed described Ms. Blackburn in X-rated terms
1
"...he eschews culture-war fights as a distraction..."
If only this would become the national strategy for Democrats!
By following it, not only could Trump and Trumpism be defeated, but the Democrats might become nationally dominant again. It's time that liberals accept the fact that they won the culture a very long time ago, that it's all over but the shoutin' - or rather, all over but for the GOP constantly ginning up undue resentments and hysteria which keep middle class traditionalists voting for them.
10
Can it be as simple as racism? Other candidates have many issues, but with Trump in the Deep South, it really does seem to be a unification of the white people's party politics.
Hugh
39
Tennessee needs a Senator that's going to support TENNESSEE and the UNITED STATES against our enemies, foreign and domestic.
30
What Rep. Blackburn shares with President Trump is the tendency to engage in incendiary rhetoric, us-vs.-them polemics that warn of dangers to the American way of life, and focus on a few (often unattainable) policy goals to protect our values against these dangers. After two years of this, many voters might reasonably turn to candidates who project competence, prudence, and a promise to go to Washington and work for their constituents. The money, though, will continue to flow to the Trump candidates, because the money likes the spectacle. The spectacle helps hide what the money is doing in the background.
30
And in 2013: "Republican congresswoman Marsha Blackburn said on Sunday that women “don’t want” equal pay laws.
During a roundtable discussion on NBC’s Meet The Press, former White House advisor David Axelrod asked if the Tennessee lawmaker would support a law promoting workplace gender equality. Blackburn responded:
“I think that more important than that is making certain that women are recognized by those companies. You know, I’ve always said that I didn’t want to be given a job because I was a female, I wanted it because I was the most well-qualified person for the job. And making certain that companies are going to move forward in that vein, that is what women want. They don’t want the decisions made in Washington. They want to be able to have the power and the control and the ability to make those decisions for themselves.”
Blackburn voted against the 2009 Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, a landmark bill for women’s rights in the workplace. The law makes it easier for women to file wage discrimination suits against employers. She also voted against the Paycheck Fairness Act of 2009.
220
After today's news, Marsha is going to have some 'splainin to do. President Trump just declared that Russia had no incentive to interfere with the 2016 election, so that means that they didn't do so. Putin agreed.
Plenty of people in that part of the world have common sense, and by November Trump could be so discredited by the latest news and everything else he says that many Republicans will be running away from him. Blackburn will be in a tough spot, and if she tries to parse her way out of it, Tennesseans will smell a rat- and vote for her opponent.
79
OK, I live in California and San Francisco no less, so I'm used to hearing how we out here live in a bubble. Even we say that. But I'm increasingly convinced that it's not we that live in a bubble, it's various other parts of the country that do and dangerously so. Ms Blackburn has hitched her trailer onto the wrong side of history and is feeding a movement that doesn't seem to be aware of the consequences it's sowing.
396
Why not say she has hitched her trailer to a bubble?
And what the democrats need to do is focus on regional issues. Don’t campaign crying ‘Don’t vote for the other guy’, but setting out why the electorate should vote for you.
73
I have been saying this same thing ever since HRC launched her presidential run. Trump also says this very thing himself - "All the dems said was 'don't vote for Trump. He is a bad man: racist, anti-immigrant etc'"
The dems had nothing else. HRC referred people/voters to her website to explain her plans/policies. Trump had a one page bullet point list of what he was going to do in his first hundred days as president. And I heard his voters repeating these bulleted points to interviewers, verbatim, as they waited in line at Trump rallies. I remember listening to regular people in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania lined up outside the Mohegan Sun Arena. I knew HRC was going to lose, because those voters could only hear the dems talking about how bad Trump would be as president.
Tragic error.
Does Marsha Blackburn exhibit “fealty” or simply calculation? Beating a drum in Trump’s parade as the new Messiah may attract the worshippers, but won’t solve any problems. So the calculation is that there are so many of the entranced that the scoffed-at remainder of voters just can be ignored.
31
If I recall correctly, Tennessee is in the South, so the candidate for assault rifles, against abortion, who talks tough, and invokes God, wins. That's about it.
159
I don't know, I think Trump could come out against all of those shiboleths and still be revered as the "Greatest".
Marsha Blackburn is only slightly more intelligent than Louis Gohmert or Steve King. If the people in TN really think she has their best interests at heart, they are truly clueless...
284
They voted for Trump. What more proof do you want that they are clueless?
8
How could it backfire with Comrad Trump on her side? She could also be granted honorary Russian citizenship, with all the rights and hacked emails and boot-licking thereto.
69
She is a stone cold manipulator and quite the actress. I wouldn’t trust a single word spewing from her mouth, including her own name. Watch her on the “ news “ shows. She NEVER answers a direct question, dancing around the issues and regurgitating the talking points. Go ahead and elect her, Tennessee, and you’ll get exactly what you deserve. Seriously.
336
PD-"Watch her on the “ news “ shows. She NEVER answers a direct question, dancing around the issues and regurgitating the talking points. "
I saw her in an interview with Chuck Todd about a year ago. She didn't answer a single question and when pressed by Todd to answer threw a hissy fit and walked out of the interview. She has dangerous, backward and idiotic beliefs.
Here's some highlights-
She produced a bill that would privatize Social Security.
She has spoken out against the EPA, criticizing the fact that they have the authority to regulate greenhouse gases.
She downplayed the need for federal disaster relief funding, pooh-poohing, of all the disasters that might have been exploited for assistance… HURRICANE KATRINA.
She voted against the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, openly admitting that she did so because it included protections for LGBT, Native American, and undocumented victims of domestic violence.
June 2013, roundtable discussion on “Meet the Press” about Republicans trying to pass laws to circumvent the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, Rep. Blackburn decided to speak on behalf of all XX chromosome holders, and claim that “women don’t want equal pay”.
She ran a campaign ad in 2010 that referred to the Affordable Care Act as “SlaughterCare”.
Blackburn falsely claimed on CNN that Obamacare violated patient privacy laws, such as HIPAA
And more.
https://republicinsanity.tumblr.com/post/99423573738/marsha-blackburn
Yet she'll probably win. We are done.
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She has been a crazy for years. On par with Michelle Bachmann, who thankfully, is gone. She has dangerous, backward, bigoted and idiotic beliefs. Here's some highlights-
She produced a bill that would privatize Social Security. She has spoken out against the EPA, criticizing the fact that they have the authority to regulate greenhouse gases.
She downplayed the need for federal disaster relief funding, pooh-poohing, of all the disasters that might have been exploited for assistance… HURRICANE KATRINA.
She voted against the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, openly admitting that she did so because it included protections for LGBT, Native American, and undocumented victims of domestic violence.
June 2013, roundtable discussion on “Meet the Press” about Republicans trying to pass laws to circumvent the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, Rep. Blackburn decided to speak on behalf of all XX chromosome holders, and claim that “women don’t want equal pay”.
She ran a campaign ad in 2010 that referred to the Affordable Care Act as “SlaughterCare”.
Blackburn falsely claimed on CNN that Obamacare violated patient privacy laws, such as HIPAA .
And more. https://republicinsanity.tumblr.com/post/99423573738/marsha-blackburn
She talks the talk and walks the walk and has since elected. She is as crazy, ignorant, dangerous and repulsive as trump. And she'll probably win. Heaven help us all.
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Trump/fox so-called news CULT is right. How in the world can sane, intelligent people buy into their lies?
Ms. Blackburn is a conservative, attractive blonde woman so she will get plenty of votes in Tennessee. However, she is not a socially conscious woman. She is one of those women who drank the "conservative" kool aid and wants to help destroy democracy in OUR United States of America.
Good People of Tennessee, please elect a progressive democracy-loving spiritual Woman for Congress. Save yourselves from the Robber Baron/radical religion cabal who wants to destroy you - and the rest of us.
Thank You.
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Actually, there is a ray of hope for Bredesen, though for an ironic reason.
The Christian conservative base does not like to see uppity women in power--because they belong at home. Marsha has a handicap, due to her gender; some GOPers here will vote against her for that, or not vote. Republican power down in TN is very dependent on religious conservatives.
Of course, her election would be a blow for women, children, families, since she is all about big corporate money and not people. So it's hard to feel bad about this on her behalf.
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@njglea Tennesseeans are going to have to vote for someone on the ballot. Aside from Ms. Blackburn, the choice is Mr. Bredesen.
Marsha Blackburn’s blind devotion to the president could be her undoing, even in red Tennessee. Blackburn is willing to support the president unconditionally but doesn’t want to offend and alienate the state’s auto industry either. She wants to have it both ways and now she’s caught in a net of her own making.
It’s easy to savage gang members and blame the Democrats for the separation of children from their parents but she backed off that position only when the president had to retreat from his “zero tolerance” policy. Blackburn doesn’t appear to have a mind of her own. She wants whatever the president wants but at least Phil Bredesen understands what’s important to Tennessee voters.
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There is also the fact that Rep. Blackburn, as exposed in a CBS "60 Minutes" investigative report, supported a change in federal law that makes if much harder for the DEA to regulate and shut down major suppliers of opioids. She did this despite the facts that Tennessee had "a rate of 18.1 deaths per 100,000 persons—higher than the national rate of 13.3 deaths per 100,000 persons" and "1,186 opioid-related overdose deaths" in 2016 (NIDA). No Tennessean who cares about such staggering loss of life should let Ms. Blackburn escape being challenged for not having the best interests of her constituents as her guide, rather than kow-towing to the pharmaceutical companies who support her.
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@Stephen Cleghorn
Interesting info. The question is: Will her Democratic opponent use this argument in his campaign?
But, there's millions and millions to be made, bilking Citizens.
(I almost wrote 'consumers') You would sacrifice all that potential money for what? Human beings?!
How quaint.
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@Stephen Cleghorn ...The numbers don't lie. She has blood on her hands. So do her supporters and the lobbyists she kowtows to.
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Blackburn sounds like a neophyte hack that appeals to the slash and burn crowd - the crowd that thinks casting a radical vote actually means something constructive for their lives. Bredesen on the other hand is what any state needs - pragmatic, low key and effective. If Tennessee's voters can't tell the difference they deserve way they get.
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@Mahalo
What if everything is rigged and voters no longer determine the outcomes? My biggest fear because it sure seems to be the case in America.
Except, the rest of us then get her, too, and we do NOT deserve that.
Gee, the Republican Party looks more and more like Neo-Confederates, those 'Lost Cause' clowns who tried to make us believe that the Civil War was not about their effort to extend slavery to the new states of the West.
When LBJ pushed the Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts through, the Conservative Democrats of the Solid South switched overnight to the Republican Party, disguised as Evangelicals, and continuing the Civil War as the Culture War.
Marsha Blackburn may as well be waving the stars and bars in public - at least we'd see her true colors.
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We're guessing this Stepford Wife can't see Russia from there.... Hopefully the Good People of Tennessee nevertheless will.
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Blackburn represents everything that is wrong with today's political landscape. She's an idea-less opportunist without an ounce of understanding of public service. She will contort her morals and ideology into any shape that will get her elected and advance her personal ambitions.
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I think you are lost in a Alice thru the Looking Glass world.
"A candidate who has promised to do everything to implement the president’s agenda is not very convincing when she tries to walk away from the specifics."
This is only because those "specifics" deal with locking up children, betraying our allies, and committing treason.
If Republicans don't start impeachment proceedings immediately upon Trumps return, they need to be tried for treason as well.
Anyone--like Ms. Blackburn--who continues to support Donald Trump after today has sided with a traitor of the United States and should be prosecuted as a co-conspirator.
The Spectacle in Helsinki illustrates one thing. The American President is clearly in the pocket of Putin.
I sincerely hope the residents of Tennessee come out en mass and elect their former Governor Phil Bredesen.
Each state has to stand up for America and all Americans to save our country from ruin.
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For the sake of her constituents and the nation, let us hope that Ms. Blackburn loses her seat. It shouldn't bear repeating but the nature of fascism is a single voice uniting business and government as one and brooking no other opinions. For all intents and purposes we now have a government that is captured and owned by the business interests in our nation. All "legal," Mr. Siegel but definitely no longer a government that represents the collective will of individual voters. It is awash with dark money and their lobbyists thanks to Citizens United. And today we saw the shameful display of a President who doesn't even stand up for the honor of his own nation which is under attack from Russia because he can't believe that everybody doesn't love him! (The Mueller investigation for him is a personal attack.) Why is there silence from the Republicans? Because fascists don't dissent from their leader.
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@B. Rothman
Because they are drunk on power and lacking in moral courage. They have also embraced some really bad interpretations of history.
Thank you for calling it what it is, NY Times: a cult. We have family in Tennessee. None of them subscribe to Ms. Blackburn's "Tennessee values" of racism, outright lies, white supremacy, trade wars, xenophobia, tariffs, the wall, and the like. I cannot say enough how much we all appreciate Senator Corker's standing up and speaking out for what is right and decent. Mr. Bredesen is cut from the same cloth. The last thing Congress needs is Blackburn who would be yet another Trump Republican cesspool of bottomless bad faith and immoral opportunism.
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@Robert
We in Tennessee are in peril from the very real possibility of not only the election of Blackburn, but also other extreme republicans. I call on all fellow Tennesseans to not only vote, but importantly help get out the vote for Bredesen and sane candidates for Governor such as Karl Dean and Craig Fitzhugh, as well as Rene Hoyos to replace Jimmy Duncan as the U.S. Representative for Tennessee's 2nd Congressional District. I further call upon Senator Corker to continue using his remaining days in office standing up for the truth and best interests of all US citizens in the face of Trump's despicable Putin bromance.
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Corker is just a loud sycophant. His senate voting record is 95% pro-trump and he voted to confirm all of his appointees, even shockingly unqualified like Betsy Devos, Scott Pruitt and Ben Carson.
He’s just like Jeff Flake and Susan Collins.
@Robert
The problem is that Corker waited until he was no longer running for re/election to speak up against Trump’s idiocy. Doesn’t really count now, does it?
If we were sinking into outright fascism, what would be the first sign? Oh, wait. I think we got it today with Trump and Putin standing side by side, all but french kissing each other and Trump blaming America for Russia hacking our elections.
Isn't that what Republicans and the far right have been accusing the liberals of for decades? "Blame America first"? Now, when their unguided hero does it, no problem. Let's celebrate his brilliance! If a car crashes into one parked beside the road, it is the fault of both of them: the guy should never have left is car parked there. Its our fault the Russians wanted to hack our election because we weren't nice enough to them, right?
To live inside of Trump's mind or just to have the wade daily through the delusional, counterfactual nonsense that flows like effluent from his puckered mouth and Twitter feeds is to fall into a kind of madness ourselves. We constantly have to keep checking back with facts and reason, hoping gravity will keep use tethered to planet earth, continually battling to stay somewhat sane day by day. He has blasted away at our brain cells and entrapped us into weirded out world. How do we escape? How do we survive?
Why is there no method whereby citizens can recall from office an American president? The founders of this nation were great men of learning and wisdom, but they put too much power in the hands of the powerful and too little in the hands of "we, the people".
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This is so well stated, I am going to quote you. Your last two or three paragraphs are terrific.
Thank you.
Four out of ten Tennesseans are not white, but in this phote everyone trumpeting their support for this woman is white.
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For an example of the disaster Blackburn would be you need look no farther than the disgraceful House Republican Karen Handel of Georgia. Two peas in a pod, swooning for the treasonous Trump. At a time when Tennessee needs a steady hand in the Senate they may wind up with Sarah Palin, without the charisma.
Blackburn is a doorknob in the House who has accomplished little of significance. Helping Trump dismantle America and our allies will be here witless claim to fame. Reject this candidate.
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