Putting Pundits in Context & Learning From Labour's Loss
9 May 2016 - This week on Hopping Mad we had two guests for an extended interview which we dubbed our Pundit Primer. Greg Dworkin (DemFromCT at dKos and Twitter) and Driftglass ( his own blog and Mr_Electrico on Twitter). Greg starts most weekday mornings on the popular Netroots Radio show and podcast, Kagro in the Morning with David Waldman. Driftglass joins Bluegal on the podcast The Professional Left, which also airs on Netroots Radio. These are both shows I can honestly say I never miss and I encourage you to give them a listen if you have not done so in the past. Both Greg and Driftglass are long-time pundit watchers and they both put various pundits into context and make us laugh. Just perfect.
[Note: at the bottom of this blog post we have included some links Greg sent us which evidence the work of some of those pundits we discuss.]
Will took a look at the Scottish election results which show what might happen to the Democratic Party if we decide to slide to the right. Scottish Labour is in trouble because they aren't fighting for the things the Scottish people actually care about. Scotland was once a country run by Labour with its largest city, Glasgow, called the "Citadel of Socialism" by pundits. But the red and gold "Vote Labour" signs have been replaced with the SNP's black on yellow Clootie Dumpling symbol. Glasgow's constituencies are held almost entirely by the SNP. Labour has fallen into third place as the battle in Scotland becomes one between the SNP and the Tories.
Meanwhile, the SNP won a historic third term as the government of Scotland but lost their overall majority despite their vote share increasing. That's because the D'hondt method of vote counting is intentionally designed to prevent any one party from having an overall majority. However, the SNP were also the victims of inflated expectations and that's where another lesson applies to our own country. The Democratic Party looks as if it will sail to victory in November. But can similar inflated expectations hurt us here?
Carrots! - Arliss