the_dunk_tank
It's the dunk tank.
This is where you come to post big-brained hot takes by chuds, libs, or even fellow leftists, and tear them to itty-bitty pieces with precision dunkstrikes.
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Sure, that's not a non factor...but I think you'd be hard pressed to quantify that in any sort of objective/concrete way.
At that point you're basically saying "If more people had shown up and voted for Kamala, she would have won". Like...no shit. Cool story bro. The fact is: they didn't show up and you can't really definitively say why. I actually wish I could say it was because of Gaza but I think that's extremely wishful thinking. The reality is there were probably a whole host of reasons people didn't turn out.
You are not wrong, however I think it is a bad decision to say that they would have lost even without us, or that they did not have a chance of winning if they did not support genocide. I think that it is an important naritive that our witholding of votes prevented her win, especialy if we once agan squander this chance to organize effectivly
My response would be, that's a cynical tactic you could opt for but I don't think it's a winning message both because:
A) while you can spin it that way: I don't think the data we have really bears that out and I think it's easy to call out as spin.
B) this cycle has left me especially cynical about converting the democratic party. Even though the spoiler effect wound up not mattering in the grand scheme, the Democrats definitely were nervous about it and they still opted for this direction. Given the choice between losing and shifting left, it seems to me like they will choose losing.