Don't get me wrong: I'm not saying that #BIF + #BBB (assuming it gets passed) will be enough for Dems to win in 2022 (even if they get the word out etc.); but dismissing them as minor accomplishments is just horrible framing from a journalist who I usually respect.
NOTE: @sahilkapur is actually a pretty good journalist, and I usually find his reporting to be pretty unbiased. I don't think he intended his wording to be dismissive of the significance of #ARP, #BIF or #BBB...but it clearly is being *perceived* that way by a LOT of people.
I've posted my share of tweets which have been perceived COMPLETELY differently from what I was trying to say. When that happens it's generally a good idea to take another look at the original and accept that, yeah, that sounds pretty bad if you look at it from a different angle.
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He’s shocked that the SDs didn’t automatically vote for the candidate who won the state, but the ENTIRE POINT of SDs was to give them a level of veto power over a potentially extreme candidate. If the GOP had a similar system in 2016, Trump may not have gotten the nomination.
And that was hardly a “dirty trick.” The SD system had been around for decades, was well-known, and it had even been partly designed BY BERNIE SANDERS’ CAMPAIGN ADVISOR.
📣 For statistical analysis types, note that after increasing continuously from March - September, the red/blue vaxx rate R^2 has plateaued around a month or so ago:
For those wondering:
—bubble size indicates county population size
—data is thru yesterday (11/12/21).
Several people are accusing me of “cherry picking” by starting on 6/30/21 instead of going back to the start of the pandemic. It’s hardly breaking news that the first wave in March/April 2010 slammed densely-populated blue areas far heavier than sparsely-populated red areas. 1/
Even more remarkable: NEW enrollment is only down 2.5% y/y when adjusted for fewer days & fewer states being hosted on the federal exchange...this is AMAZING considering over 2M people already enrolled via the COVID Special Enrollment Period!
Also noteworthy: Active renewals are up 26% year over year, which is good because it suggests more people are wising up to the merits of ACTIVELY re-enrolling vs auto-renewing.
Meanwhile, South Dakota’s Attorney General killed a man, lied about it (he claimed he thought he’d hit a deer even though the man’s glasses were found in his car after his head smashed through the windshield) and is facing impeachment over it. #BothSides!