A combined IQ of...? Credit: Peter Zay/Anadolu/Getty
The actor and inveterate gambler Omar Sharif threw away his career for the pleasures of the casino. Asked how he felt after a particularly disastrous binge in which he lost almost everything to his name, the star of Dr Zhivago is said to have replied, “Clean.”
I thought of Sharif while in Georgia this weekend, trying to get to grips with the Senate race between incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker. People outside the state seem incredulous that anyone in their right mind could vote for Walker, a former football star whose personal history is littered with the sorts of scandals that, while not so shocking for ex-NFL players, would normally sink a Senate candidate — abortions for multiple mistresses, a parade of illegitimate and unacknowledged children, gruesome domestic violence allegations, and claims that he once threatened a shootout with Texas police. According to a Quinnipiac poll from mid-October, a majority of Georgians agree that Walker is “not honest” and “does not have good leadership skills”.
And yet, polls in the state remain deadlocked, with the latest average from RealClearPolitics showing Walker leading Warnock by a margin of 1.5%. Everyone, it seems, agrees that Walker is a flawed candidate and a flawed human being, and that Warnock, a well-spoken preacher with a penchant for funny campaign ads, is charming and relatable. The result is that this is a remarkably “clean” campaign, at least from the Republican side — there is little effort to convince people that he is “suitable” for office. Voters know that Walker is a bit of a joke. But the GOP is asking them to ignore Walker’s personal characteristics and focus on the pure, friend-enemy core of partisan politics: do you want the Senate to be controlled by Republicans or Democrats? On the strength of this issue alone, Walker might win.
That’s because Georgia, despite having two Democratic senators, is still a Republican state. For at least a decade, Democrats have been hoping that migration into the Atlanta metro area, which has nearly doubled in size since 2000 and now accounts for more than half of the state’s population, would turn Georgia purple if not blue. That has been happening — the white share of Georgia’s electorate dropped from 68.7% in 2004 to 52.7% today — but not quickly enough. Donald Trump won the state handily in 2016, and it took the chaos of 2020 — the coronavirus pandemic, the “racial reckoning”, Trump’s alienation of affluent white suburbanites, and especially his instigation of an intra-Republican civil war in Georgia between the November 3 election and the January 2021 Senate runoff, which induced his supporters to stay home — for Democrats to eke out two Senate victories by margins of 1% and 1.8%. Before Walker won the Republican Senate primary, Warnock’s seat was expected to be one of the easiest for the GOP to recapture in the midterms.
Added to which, our national electoral environment massively favours Republicans. As a general rule, the president’s party does poorly in midterm elections, even under relatively popular presidents. Biden is not popular, and the issues the election is being fought on all benefit the GOP. Inflation hit double digits in Atlanta this year, higher than the national average, and the city had more homicides in 2021 than in any year since 1996 and could end 2022 with even more. Asked about the most important issues facing the country, 36% of Georgians said cost of living or the economy, 14% said immigration, and 6.8% said crime. By contrast, the top “Democratic” issues were “threats to democracy” at 17%, guns at 10%, and abortion — widely expected to doom Republicans among college-educated women — at 5.2%.
It is a testament to Walker’s weaknesses as a candidate, and to Warnock’s relative strengths, that the race is close at all. I was in Athens, Georgia, on Saturday for the Georgia–Tennessee football game — the place Walker became a star, and where his name and college number hang on the inside of the stadium — and even there, signs of Walker the politician, as opposed to the player, were few and far between. I counted, easily, three dozen people wearing pins and stickers for Brian Kemp, the incumbent Republican governor, but most laughed or declined to speak to me when I asked about Walker. “He’s a Republican,” shrugged one woman in a Kemp pin who declined to give her name. I finally found a group of young white men wearing Walker pins, but when I asked for their thoughts on the race, they told me, in a vaguely aggressive manner, that voting was a private matter and that I shouldn’t be walking around asking those sorts of questions.
Walker’s critics, on the other hand, were happy to talk. A black man in his early 30s named Rashad, who said he’d already cast an early ballot for Warnock, told me bluntly that he suspected Walker had brain damage from CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease that’s known to affect football players. Keith, a middle-aged white man working in corporate communications in Atlanta, told me that Walker could hardly string a sentence together and was clearly being used as a puppet. “You’re not even voting for him, you’re voting for whoever is controlling him. The whole thing is an embarrassment to the state of Georgia.”
For Georgia Democrats, the race largely comes down to voters like Keith — suburban moderates whose distaste for Trump and the Trumpian elements of the GOP helped deliver surprise victories to Warnock and Jon Ossof in 2020. There is constant talk of “ticket-splitting” — the hope is that enough independents and Republican-leaners will vote for Brian Kemp for governor but choose Warnock for Senate, or else vote third-party. In my parents’ own leafy Atlanta suburb, a Republican stronghold that flipped to the Democrats in 2018, and where the average home price exceeds $660,000, I counted perhaps a dozen houses with Warnock yard signs. There were a few for Kemp, but only one that I saw for Walker. Warnock radio ads urged listeners to vote for the candidate with “good moral character”, even if they didn’t agree with him on every issue — a concession to the fact that many of these voters would probably prefer a Republican senator in policy terms.
But it seems increasingly likely that distaste for Biden and frustration with the state of the economy will be too much for Warnock to overcome. Over the summer, Democrats and many in the media entertained the idea that some combination of the Dobbs abortion decision, the January 6 hearings, and a brief bump in Biden’s approval ratings might save the Democrats from a wipeout. But in recent weeks, the mood — and the polls — have shifted hard toward the GOP. Once-tight races have turned into apparent Republican blowouts, and once-lopsided Democratic leads have become tight races. A story broke late Friday about how Democrats in New York are bracing for a potential loss in the governor’s race — a race that Andrew Cuomo won by more than 23% in 2018. In Georgia’s governor’s race, Kemp, a fairly generic Republican without any of Walker’s personal problems, went into election weekend leading Democratic media darling Stacey Abrams by 7.6%.
The major problem is that for all of Walker’s flaws, voters are angry at the Democrats for a whole host of reasons, and none of the Democrats’ messaging — which has largely focused on abortion and the dangerous extremism of the Republicans — is responsive to this anger. The chances are that Walker will win, and if he does, it will be because of people like the young, suburban Atlantan I spoke to who said, frankly: “Walker probably has an IQ of about 60. But at least he’s not a Democrat.”
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Subscribe“Warnock, a well-spoken preacher with a penchant for funny campaign ads, is charming and relatable”
This sounds like a campaign ad for a man who has made a cottage industry of peddling race hate both within the church and beyond. A vocal supporter of defunding the police, Warnock has repeatedly denied that skyrocketing crime is a natural consequence of this policy and pivots to race theory and calls to end cash bail to solve the problem. The man’s a genius!
As for Walker’s support. Something is better than nothing. The Democrat’s cause is not helped by regular gaffes & outright lies from a president who clearly doesn’t have much of a brain left, let alone an IQ; not to mention daily foot-in-mouth performances from the hopelessly out of depth White House press secretary. Throw in denials from DP leading lights about open borders, gender insanity, spiralling crime and absurd claims that there is no “real” inflation (one media DP shill actually made the claim that “inflation” is just a “Republican talking point”) and it’s difficult not to conclude that the Democrat Party is now taking refuge in delusionary nonsense.
Walker’s IQ may not be impressive, but I’ll wager that the man in the street in Georgia would prefer at least someone in touch with reality rather than the unhinged garbage being offered by his alternative. We shall see. But isn’t is a pity that there is no third party in the US?
Thank you. I was going to comment on this shabbily written hit piece by an obvious Democrat supporter, however your excellent response made my 2 cents worth redundant.
Wonder how he felt about mandates??? I want every know commentator and reporter to come clean and tell us exactly where they stood during one of the most despicable passages in the media worlds history.
On the covid front, Warnock of course squawked for “relief” cash for his state as soon as he got into office. But regarding mandates, he was never going to abandon his core business of race-baiting to become a mandate fanatic.
Nor would he want to, because of course this is a man who knows where his bread is buttered and his position depends on his overwhelmingly black constituency.
One of the great ironies of the covid drama was that the population segments who stood up & resisted the covid “vaccine” mandates most stridently were ethnic minorities, immigrants (from Eastern Europe right through to poorer 3rd world countries) & the less well-off in Western countries. Their main reasons for not doing so were illuminating too: the vaccine was a “Western plot”, “anti-Muslim”, “makes you sterile”, “inserts a chip in your body”, “makes you die of another disease” and so on. Of course none of this (non-PC) information was ever collated and disseminated widely; unpleasant truths shall not see the light of day in our Western media landscape.
To your final point, I agree with you wholeheartedly about the disgraceful role of the corporate mass media which to a man effectively became the propaganda arm of the “apocalyptic pandemic” narrative. But I would go much further than just naming/shaming which media personnel stood where on mandates. There needs to be accountability at a higher level: who gave the orders & on the basis of what facts? Why was censorship of ANYTHING not 100% in line with the narrative – even the most reasonable, intelligent opinions put forward by highly qualified people – applied right across the entire internet? How on earth was a “vaccine” which was never tested properly, & has proved demonstrably to be not safe, allowed to be marketed across the planet and then mandated in open mockery of the Nuremberg code?
The question of a tribunal to determine facts and establish accountability about the covid event has been floated over the past year. Of course we were never going to get any traction from the Democratic Party which has abandoned its old core support and aligned itself with corporatism and big-money interests who have vested interests in the “pandemic”. But if the Republican Party can get control of the Senate and House this week they will have the chance to instigate investigations which could provide some answers to the above questions, and serve as a first step to setting up a Nuremberg style tribunal. Let’s hope they do.
Nothing more I am able to add, except fervently hope that the Republican are successful on Tuesday and take back both houses of congress and then go onto repeating (and improving their majorities) in the next at least six election cycles.
Your description of population segments who most resisted Wuhan flu shot mandates caught my eye. I am wondering, how did you arrive at your conclusion?
In the US whiter states adopted fewer mandates to begin with, (with the exception of some very white states in New England). It was mostly very white states that sued the government over federal Wuhan flu shot mandates.
Yes, I noticed that (non-Asian) immigrant neighborhoods were, mercifully, less likely to enforce shot and mask mandates where these existed, in, say, job sites or restaurants. Indeed I frequented a certain Yemeni restaurant as mask-wearing was an unknown practice among its pan-Muslim staff and clientele. Quite a bit of “Irish democracy” going on in general in these pockets of common sense.
But as far as protests and people losing their jobs, in NYC, these were diverse, yes, but mostly white. And the police and firefighters unions vocally protesting have mostly white leadership.
Whereas heavily black cities with black leadership dependent on racial politics for support, which give out municipal jobs to blacks in return for votes, seemed to have little problem getting their employees to get the shot. Meanwhile, the first people I saw back on the otherwise mostly empty roads in these places in 2020 were white and Latino contractors in pickups and vans, rushing to and fro working on houses in the neighboring wealthy suburbs.
Perhaps another measure of compliance, mask-wearing, has always seemed to me most often ignored or outright protested by white people, especially white men. While blacks–perhaps more likely to be caring for an elderly relative and so more easily frightened, or else dependent on a government job or having adopted racialized aspects of mask wearing and so on–are obviously more likely to wear masks in public or on the job. (With the exception of the black underclass, though these will do so apparently to escape identification, such as the teenagers in balaclavas and hoodies in summer, under the pretext of “masking up.”)
I did hear from the underclass such rationale as you describe, microchips and experiments on black people and so on; but as far as I can tell most people who refused the shot or protested mandates did so because they resented the arbitrary nature of the shot mandates, the negative effects on the economy and the government overreach into citizens’ private lives.
I am finding over time that the number of people who used fake vaccination cards must be even higher than even I imagined, including many female health care professionals. I wish these people had been more vocal in the face of the pressure to adopt absurd and predictably destructive measures to combat the mostly harmless Wuhan flu.
First, some full disclosure: I live in Europe, although I worked periodically in the US right up to 2020 – and still work for US organisations. And I follow and stay in touch with US events fairly closely.
Regarding “In the US whiter states adopted fewer mandates to begin with ..”
I was not judging regional authorities which were loath to enforce mandates, like Florida in the US. I was referring to regions where attempts were made to enforce strict mandates, with consequences, and had access to first hand info via friends/colleagues (e.g. California in the US). And actually, in many parts of Europe (e.g. France, Benelux) there WERE no regional authorities (i.e. “states”) adopting different strategies. It was one size fits all!
I can certainly tell you that in virtually all the countries I moved about here in Europe (Benelux countries, France, UK … but not Germany or Austria) I would stand by my statements about immigrant communities. “Vaccine” uptake was conspicuously lower amongst these demographics. Listening to locals – and reading – my understanding was that the trend was similar in the US, although I would concur that a lot of the info I received about blacks in the US was indeed mainly about the poorer communities, including especially what you term the “underclass”. Masking here was superficially practiced by immigrant communities if serving whites, but as soon as it was understood that you were not in on the BS they were quick to abandon them. And if you went into a solidly immigrant suburb (say Turkish) compliance was very low. Regarding local whites, I did mention the “less well-off in Western countries” which includes a lot of white, working class people. But outside of this latter category, a clear majority of the middle classes (from lower to upper) were depressingly docile in their acceptance of restrictions, with some of them taking it upon themselves to become snitches or citizen enforcers.
Regarding the rationale for not taking the shot. The examples I cited were mainly to illustrate the “conspiracy theory” irony (a theme in another article I wrote). The point being that the vast majority of the Left supported the lockdowns & mandates enthusiastically and any (Western) folks who did oppose restrictions and mandates, however reasonably, were instantly smeared as “conspiracy theories”. Yet these immigrant communities, so often championed by the Left and regarded as one of their default core constituencies, frequently adhered to far more off-the-wall theories as to why they were being coerced into taking the “vaccine”. The truth is that the level of “deep conspiracy” depended on the individual communities. Many in the Muslim community, for example, did indeed see the “vaccines” as an effort to attack against their religion and race. Many other individuals in the demographics I detailed had a far healthier outlook: they simply saw the “vaccine” as completely unnecessary and an affront to their personal autonomy, and had no need for long-winded intellectual explanations. These folks, as you succinctly put it, simply “resented the arbitrary nature of the shot mandates”
As for your discoveries about “fake vaccination cards”, I had a good chuckle, as I have my own experience with fakes. In fact I know several people who had fake certificates/tests. And who can blame them: one way or another one had to get on with one’s life. But the number of fakes must be very high.
Consider … in France around mid-2020 a survey found that if/when a covid vaccine was available some SIXTY-FIVE percent of the population (yes, you read that number right: 65%) would NOT want to take it. There were historical reasons for this deep scepticism. Yet just over a year later Macron was touting an 85% vaccination rate in the country!
I would love to know the real number of fakes: I think it is very high.
In many countries covid testing and vaccination centres were attacked or suffered arson attacks. And as you point out, a surprisingly high number of health care professionals were involved in issuing false certificates. In France again, there was a hilarious episode involving (stolen) encryption keys used to generate valid passes (valid because the keys were valid of course). The ruse was rumbled in October 2021 only because the (new) owners of the keys issued some 2000 certificates in the name of one “A. Hitler” born in 1900 ! But God knows how many perfectly valid passes were issued before then. In fact one point of view suggests that the “boosters”, which started being pushed in late 2021, were necessary to allow the authorities to reissue passes with new uncompromised keys. In my view this theory is indeed the reason, as everyone knows now that the “vaccines” are perfectly useless.
One last anecdote. The trick when using a fake, borrowed or valid certificate was to always print it out. There is no law which says you have to have a smartphone. With a printed certificate cross checks were less likely & less comprehensive. Also, if you took a long time extracting your printout from a deep pocket and unfolding it you were frequently waved through by impatient scanners who had more important things to do. I saw this – and tried it myself once – and it worked like a charm. By the end of 2021 the people tasked with policing these absurd restrictions were easily persuaded to look the other way.
Of course people are only finding out about a lot of this now (if at all) because very little of this was reported; it suffered the same blanket censorship as all other things perceived as detrimental to the “apocalyptic virus” covid narrative.
Finally, I take your point that it would have been better if people involved in producing fake cards had been more vocal. But recall the fear-mongering, the threats & the propaganda onslaught we endured throughout 2021 and bear in mind that many of these people worked for the government. The bottom line is this kind of overreach must not happen again. And the best way to ensure this is to vote out the jerks who pulled this stunt and regain democratic control of our institutions!
I wonder why you didn’t mention the reverend’s slum lord bona fides. The apartment buildings owned by his religious organization are filthy even by New York standards.
It is remarkable that this can be written so casually and without comment.
“Democrats have been hoping that migration into the Atlanta metro area… the white share of Georgia’s electorate dropped from 68.7% in 2004 to 52.7% today”
That is “cracking” gerrymandering: diluting the voting power of the opposing party’s supporters. In this case, shipping people across borders to change the electorate rather than changing the borders. Changing ethnic make up to secure power, a practice used by those totems of democracy the Soviets and the CCP of China.
The way I read it this isn’t gerrymandering, but population that moves about. A bit like the Californians moving to Texas; is that gerrymandering too?
Wilful ignorance just makes you look like a fool Arkadian. Nell is talking about foreign migration, not domestic. The non-whites arriving in Georgia aren’t coming from Maine or Arizona.
You are exactly correct Arkardian – gerrymandering is the deliberate redrawing of constituency boundaries to bring about a political result. It is not ‘hoping’ that a demographic change will favour your party. The scores of upticks that R Wright and Nell Clover got, and the downtick you got is a depressing indication of widespread ignorance, or of a hate so strong it clouds judgement, probably both.
The Democrat internship community moves belatedly to the front.
Some have said that the media skews left because the truth skews left. I don’t know about that – but it is clearly true in this case. Wright and Clover have completely misunderstood a fundamental aspect of American politics – so basic that I learned it aged 17 in a British School. I tolerate different opinion, I do not tolerate willful, cretinous ignorance,
The racists are out in force today!
You share a common misconception that “demography is destiny”, that if the white population retreats, more Democrats will be elected. Not true as we’ve seen in Texas.
Democratic leadership continues to race-bait by screaming “Jim Crow 2.0” in response to minor changes in how elections are handled in Georgia, as Joe Biden did. We have 3 weeks of early voting including Saturdays and easy access to mail-in voting.
If Democrats can overcome their fixation on race and trans issues, they will have better results at the polls.
No, no, no. You can’t say that. When the BBC-MSNBC-DNC-Times-NYT-Guardian-FT-Indie cite these facts favourably, it’s ‘changing democraphics’, a non-partisan historical inevitability that just happens to favour the ‘progressive’ ‘liberal’ parties over myopic dead end of uneducated nationalist backwardism, with its pathetic ‘centering’ of culture and history, identity and, er, a decent standard of living for the general public and a heathy, cohesive and functioning society.
But if anyone mentions the same facts in a less-than-positive way, hey, they’ve falling victim to the troubling and problematic tropes and ideological ‘rhetoric’ of white replacement theory (!), a sick fantasy ‘peddled by’ extreme wight-wing wacists.
Go figure…
It’s pretty simple: Ralph Warnock is an unapologetic racist. Why would anyone vote for him?
Keith, a middle-aged white man working in corporate communications in Atlanta, told me that Walker could hardly string a sentence together and was clearly being used as a puppet. “You’re not even voting for him, you’re voting for whoever is controlling him.
Couldn’t the same be said for Mr. Biden?
You’re 100% correct of course. The same applies to Kamala Harris whom I’m convinced is a certifiable half-wit. The difference, though, is that people like Walker don’t have armies of “corporate communications” shills minimizing, walking back or simply ignoring their blunders in the corporate media.
It could and it has.
That could make a funny campaign ad. “It seems like I have an IQ of 60. But I won’t talk down to you and I’ll faithfully carry your vote to the Senate.”
And that, frankly, would be good enough for me. Aren’t the Dems supposed to value ‘diversity’. Mr Herschel might be on the cusp of becoming a certifiable moron in a Senate whose Democrat ranks comprise largely of 80-90 IQ dullards, but at least he’s not an imbecile (25-49) like David Lamy or Stacy Abrams or an idiot (sub-25) like Diane Abbott or Dawn Butler. And unlike them, at least he’s actually earned an honest living with the sweat of his back and has a friendly smile.
But why is this Walker guy the candidate?
The only answers are that it is to do with perverse psychology.
Bill Maher made the point that “we’ll vote for Walker because we hate you. ” I found that, in England, voting for Boris Johnson. He was so hated by the English liberal elite that he became more appealing.
That may be so – but if so it’s a very immature way to act.
It’s part of the continuing transition of the Republican party from being a conservative party of business/affluence to a more blue-collar anti-globalist, anti-establishment party. The old elites are being pushed out of the Republican party in favor of people who fit the new party goals and policy. Trump is an idiot who doesn’t understand what a ‘good’ candidate looks like or that he can be disruptor of the status quo without being an insufferable jack ass at the same time, but the Republican base hates the establishment and the status quo so much that they’d nominate a trained chimpanzee over someone like Romney/Cheney in a lot of places, so the result is that sometimes when the choice is either a badly disguised technocrat or a neocon vs. a complete moron endorsed by Trump, the complete moron wins.
“That’s because Georgia, despite having two Democratic senators, is still a Republican state.”
Lol. Makes you think, no? Keep going….
Warnock is a Leftist subversive with his own history of spousal abuse. I believe he is masquerading as a “pastor” but is unbelievably out if touch with biblical Truth.
Add to that his affiliation with the party of death, gender confusion, pandemic manipulation, economic malfeasance, drug crisis, open border, disastrous end-of-engagement in Afghanistan, prenatal murder, and you have the most despicable of human beings asking U.S. to let him represent U.S. in DC.
ABSOLUTELY NOT.
“…personal history is littered with the sorts of scandals…”
Voters know perfectly well that this is also true of any number of Dem candidates all thoroughly white-washed by a complicit press. A vote for Walker, other Trump backed candidates, and for Trump himself, is really a vote against the horrifically corrupt media and the elite ruling class that controls it. Expand your focus.
LOL, no mention of Maxine Waters’ or Joe Biden’s immense gaffs and apparent cerebral disabilities.
‘….which has largely focused on abortion and the dangerous extremism of the Republicans…’
That phrase ‘dangerous extremism’ should be in BBC-style sneer-marks. On crime, transgenderist child-mutilation, draconian and pointless Covid measures, immigration, the economy, foreign policy, Net Zero, in their contempt for the Constitution and rule of law and in their implementation of a foul Big Tech Corporate Security State, it’s the Democrats who are the extremists, and they are very dangerous indeed.
“Walker probably has an IQ of about 60. But at least he’s not a Democrat.” Well, at least that puts him ahead of Sleepy Joe, Cacklin’ Kamala, AOC and the political staff of MSNBC.
Like them or not – only a halfwit would suggest that Harris and AOC aren’t extremely clever. Isn’t that what makes them so dangerous?
I like the NPR-style setup with the compelling but totally unrepresentative anecdotes. Unherd has, to my disappointment, acquiesced to the new opinion journalism which is really just a dude telling you what he thinks instead of a dude putting some effort into formulating a compelling argument. Social media is the cause, I think. It’s the same phenomenon that has defiled the creative arts. Everyone with a laptop can be a musical artist, pundit, talking head.
I have noticed a–yes, predictable–change in editorial standards at Unherd.
For one thing, one iron-clad rule of the internet is, produce more new content, all the time. Opinion (like a**holes, everybody has one) is the simple way to do this. Opinion also drives engagement, an easy way to quantify and qualify the audience when it’s time to sell ads (another iron-clad rule of the Internet).
I don’t mind the cheap content subsidizing as it were the good stuff. But it is disappointing to see this writer in particular, Park Macdougal, watered down, as he is capable of honest, quality reporting on important issues (the realities of Wuhan flu hysteria in NYC to name one example).
…because Trump endorsed him.
In his poorly concealed eagerness to promote Warnock over Walker, the author makes two mistakes.
One, he fails to explain, given that Senate terms are for 6 years, why there is an election for Warnock’s position now when the man has served only two years. If I lived in Georgia I would have known, but living at the other end of the country I don’t. After some research I discovered that Warnock was filling out the 6-year term of a Georgia Senator who had resigned, but I can’t believe I’m the only one who was mystified. Seems like poor journalism to me.
His second mistake is another failure of omission: he never highlights that “charming” Warnock has been a total Warlock fighting for the Democrats’ destructive social agenda, lock, stock and barrel — somewhat strange for a black preacher, but then, he’s not the only political opportunist shouting from a pulpit. Instead the writer concentrates on Walker’s personal flaws, which may include the effects of what Lyndon Johnson accused Jerry Ford of having, because he “played too much football without his helmet on”; and, presumably as a result, Walker’s grammar is poor. Uh — may I mention that when it comes to that, he is just like the Democrats’ Great Leader Joe Biden, whom they promoted for the highest office in the land despite his obvious cognitive flaws? What’s good for the goose …
I think it’s pretty obvious that Biden is losing his mind due to age. Sadly that will come to all of us – unless we die young!
This chap looks like he’s half Biden’s age.
“Warnock, a well-spoken preacher with a penchant for funny campaign ads, is charming and relatable”
This is bunk and the people of Georgia see it. He’s the preacher at MLK’s church, and yet on Easter Sunday this year (the most revered holiday for the Christian faith), Warnock made this ridiculous statement from the pulpit.
“The meaning of Easter is more transcendent than the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” declared Warnock. “Whether you are Christian or not, through a commitment to helping others we are able to save ourselves.”
Well spoken?? My 12 year old understands the gospel better than he does, and would be a better senator to boot.
I would offer in defense of Mr. Walker a once commonly known injunction: “Never tempt an honest man.” We keep our garage doors closed for just this reason. For famous athletes, however, no garage doors are kept closed. Years ago, I heard Bill Russell speak, and he openly admitted to the power of temptation. He told a story about a particular reporter who was irked to learn just how much temptation Mr. Russell failed to resist. It excited even a bit of racial animus on his part, or so Mr. Russell gathered. The reporter asked him: “Why did you buy a Rolls Royce?” Mr. Russell explained that a Rolls Royce is very nice car. The reporter then asked: “There are lots of nice cars, why did you have to have exactly that one?” Mr. Russel then paused and said: “You know, you’re right, I have to admit it. I bought that Rolls Royce for only one reason. It was the only car are I could find with a glove box big enough for my watermelon.” There were no further questions from this reporter.
How many voters fear escalation of the Ukraine war and want a Republican Congress for this reason, despite being Progressive Democrats, and are afraid to say so openly?
Walker is a terrible candidate, and he probably is brain damaged, but then again, that doesn’t stop them from pushing Fetterman in Pennsylvania, or our lost old man President. Granted, Fetterman is a more sympathetic figure who had an accident, but it’s somewhat hypocritical to say, don’t vote for this guy cause he’s an idiot but do vote for the guy who had a stroke five months ago and can hardly put together a sentence. Walker is also no worse than Biden in that regard. Uncle Joe can’t even find his own way off the stage. The things in Walker’s past are scandalous, but that’s not really new either. Both sides do this and have done it pretty much throughout America’s history. When party nominees were decided in smoke filled lounges, it was about influence, connections, favors, and money. There were plenty of scoundrels who got nominated because they were related to so and so, or ran an important political machine in a key state/city, or bought the nomination with personal fortunes. Grover Cleveland had an illegitimate child and this was in the 1880’s when such things were still taboo. Kennedy had multiple affairs and everyone knew it. So did Clinton. Nothing that is alleged of Walker is any worse than these examples, or Donald Trump. It doesn’t take a great orator or a strategic genius to vote yes or no when you have a small army of secretaries, aides, and a national party apparatus behind you. It never has. Welcome to American politics.
This article shows with dazzling clarity why three-quarters of Americans in a recent Gallup Poll said the mainstream media is so untrustworthy as to be a threat to democracy.
How about this, they are both appalling candidates. Utterly. But when voting is based on tribal affiliation and not policy or anything fundamental this is the outcome. People are voting their tribe. America needs new tribes.
“Walker probably has an IQ of about 60. But at least he’s not a Democrat.”
Exactly. I would for a potato over a Democrat. Voters in PA appear ready to vote into the Senate a real life Mr, Potato-head who clearly cannot think or articulate as well as Walker simply BECAUSE he is a Democrat – that’s a bigger story
I was in Georgia yesterday for the day, and I did not hear one mention or see one reference to the campaign. I joined UnHerd to get away from “Identity Politics”. Seems like the writer slipped in from The NY Times.
Freddie – This post-Covid era needs some adjustment at UhHerd.
Now the Trump bubble has truly burst, Warnick will walk it in the run off.
Oh good Lord, Warnock is a conman, as are most black preachers. They’re political (Democrat) not Christian. The only reason he was elected in the first place was because of dubious election officials in the Atlanta metro area. He’s even worse than Walker.
Down with the white people! (I don’t know if anyone mentioned it, Rory, but that includes you. Run, Rory, Run!)