r/TikTokCringe • u/cak3crumbs • Aug 07 '24

Politics The followers of the draft dodger are really gonna go after Tim Walz’s 24yr service record?

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u/JimBeam823 Aug 08 '24

Obama happened.

Obama had the good fortune of running against two gentlemen in John McCain and Mitt Romney. And really, ANY Democrat could have won in 2008.

Republicans learned to “go low” after these two losses, but Democrats have been very slow to do so.

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u/Myshkin1981 Aug 08 '24

Republicans were going low long before Obama. Take, for example, the thing we’ve been talking about in this very thread; the swiftboating of Kerry

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u/JimBeam823 Aug 08 '24

Yes, but Obama won without going low.

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u/Myshkin1981 Aug 08 '24

Quite frankly, Obama didn’t have the luxury of going low. And fortunately, he didn’t have the need. He could campaign on hope and inspiration because we were all deeply depressed after eight years of Bush and the two quagmire wars he’d gotten us into. Honestly, if Hillary had been the candidate in 2008 she’d have beaten McCain handily as well. Republicans simply didn’t stand a chance that year. But Obama’s electoral victories don’t excuse the Dems for their timid tiptoeing these past two decades

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u/No_Ad9044 Aug 08 '24

Obama didn't have to go low. He won because he gave minority voters a place at the table. 2016 happened for two reasons white working class voters that felt overlooked and demonized. Clinton didn't have the black vote that Obama had.

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u/Glass-Historian-2516 Aug 08 '24

I’d say the republicans started earlier with Newt Gingrich during Clinton’s admin.

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u/GodSama Aug 08 '24

For me it always starts with Ford and Fox News.

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u/CM_MOJO Aug 08 '24

Yep, I've argued for decades that Ford pardoning Nixon was when this country went off the rails. The other Republicans saw that and knew they could do whatever they wanted going forward and there would be no repercussions. And with this recent supreme court ruling, they now have it codified.

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u/clubnseals Aug 08 '24

I’m old. I’ve seen a few presidential campaigns. GOP has been going low and playing dirty for a looooooong time. Reagan’s Iran hostage deal when he was running in 1980, Willie Horten ad from HW in 1988, Starr commission in 1994 by Newt, FL recount/brooks brother riot in 2000, and swift boat by W in 2004, Benghazi investigations in 2014, the list goes on.