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Elephants and Jackasses...

Discussion in 'Permanent Threads' started by Nettdata, Oct 14, 2016.

  1. Binary

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    So it's supposed to be a good thing that it's only been a ~decade-plus of complete Republican degeneracy? The absolute shitheads in the party extend far beyond just their presidential nominee - they've been electing complete lunatics across congress, local government, and the judiciary.

    I have some sympathy for normal conservatives who are losing their platform, but the party is in a downward spiral across the board - at least, if you consider the embrace of anti-science, anti-education, anti-medicine, book-banning, attempting to undermine constitutional law, the absolutely wild hypocrisy around "small government" etc. to be a bad thing.

    It's not like I think everyone in the democratic party is a rocket scientist with perfect opinions on policy, but let's be real here. If we're talking about Adults In The Room, it's not even close.

    Even if you assume Harris is a bimbo, which I don't agree with, a bimbo with morality and decent opinions who will listen to smart people around her isn't exactly nothing.
     
  2. dixiebandit69

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    If Kamala does win, do y'all think the Dems will stop with the DEI bullshit and pick someone who is actually likeable AND qualified?
    Or are we going to have to wait for Mayor Pete to get his turn, so that they can finally check off the "Alphabet" box on their bingo card ?

    I was listening to Ben Shapiro a couple of days ago, and he speculated that if Kamala wins this year, it would (hopefully) be the end of his political career.

    It's very obvious that he WANTED to run for president, but he couldn't. If she makes it, he's out of the running for the next eight years, which is an eternity in political time.

    EDIT: If she wins, do y'all think that they will replace Karine Jean-Pierre? Because God damn, that woman is terrible.
     
  3. Juice

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    Yeah KJP is one of the worst press secretaries in a long time, and that's really saying something because they're usually worthless. To be fair, she has been running interference for someone who is actually mentally retarded for 3.5 years, so it wouldn't surprise me if she would rather take the usual cushy gig in the private sector and cash in after that. It's not unusual for a new President to just bring in their own people regardless if they were in the same administration.
     
  4. downndirty

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    He's promising, but will rot on the vine. California will have some things that don't go well nationally, like their tax rate, housing situation, and by most states standards' onerous regulation. I see Newsome being the Dem version of TX's Governor Hot Wheels: he'll angle for a cabinet post, but will fall short because the boring reality in his home state looks positively nightmarish nationwide and him on your cabinet doesn't deliver anything special. It's why the governors who do well hit a ceiling if they're not from a swing state.

    The "DEI bullshit" isn't going anywhere, unless all of the sudden middle-aged white men gain all the economic, social and political power again. I go back to for the past 30 years, almost all income gains have gone to women. The tiny sliver that didn't went to ethnic minority men, the fewest income gains have gone to white men. Meaning their economic power has been effectively stripped, and alongside it, their social and political power. It's not like they are written off into serfdom, but the idea that the main demographic somehow keeps the majority doesn't track. So, it becomes a big fucking deal if all of the sudden your platform looks lily white, when there's been a wholesale stripping of privilege and power for 3-4 decades.

    The idea that Harris has to be likeable is also....I dunno, it doesn't sit right. I think she's fine, and you don't get more qualified than Vice President, for fuck's sakes. I don't think she had a path to that job that was more or less objectionable than anyone else I can recall. That said, I'm one of her core targets, I'd better fucking like her. I think I'd go back to Carter for a "likeable" president. I'd love to hang out with some of them, sure, but you know it'd be performative. I don't see why Harris is any different. I don't want to like her, I want her to deliver. Thus far, she has.

    There will never be a populist Dem candidate. The closest we'll ever get is Bernie.
     
  5. Juice

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    How dare you throw shade at William Jennings Bryan.
     
  6. Aetius

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    He's working on it, but those problems took a long time to create, and will take a long time to solve. COVID also threw a wrench in pretty much everyone's plans; you can't exactly take a transient population with poor health and hygiene practices and cram them together in a shelter during a pandemic.

    Among the steps he has taken so far include signing SB 9 and SB 10, in order to allow more housing, as well as dropping the hammer on cities like Beverly Hills and Huntington Beach for trying to submit bullshit housing growth plans.

    On the homeless front he has used a recent SCOTUS decision to order state agencies to start clearing homeless camps.
     
  7. Aetius

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    Most press secretaries don't last a single Presidential term, much less span multiple. Biden has had two, Trump had four, Obama had three, W had four, Clinton had 5. Marlin Fitzwater is the only press secretary who was chosen by two separate Presidents (untimely deaths have pressed a handful of others into the service of two Presidents before, but only in a transition capacity). Harris will definitely bring her own.
     
  8. xrayvision

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    I don’t really get the “must be likable” thing either. It feels like something that only applies to democrats. Republicans have never had a problem holding their nose and pulling that lever. Every person supporting Trump that I know personally, openly says they don’t like the guy but they care more about x,y,z policies. Whether it’s true or not, I don’t know. At the very least, they know he’s not a good dude. At worst, they actively like that he’s a bad actor and wish for the politicians on their side to punish the people they don’t like.

    It also applies to the same reason I hate the televised debates. People use them as a proxy war against a person who represents a segment of the population they don’t like or wish ill on. “I hope Kamala destroys and humiliates Trump.” That’s cool, but I don’t see how that cathartic feeling ultimately helps anything. And actual facts and exchanging of ideas doesn’t even happen. Treating politics like UFC destroys meaningful discourse and only causes people to say crazier and dumber shit. Each side then digs in their heels further and we become more divided.
     
  9. Fiveslide

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    Of course not. I can see I was vague as hell, and really struggle to get a point across when I've had a few beers.

    Net asked why the democrats needed to be the adults in the room. I meant that this BS the Republicans have turned into is relatively new and the worst thing the democrats can do is follow their lead, putting up candidates that should otherwise be unelectable in better circumstances. Like Hillary, Biden, and now Kamala, whom nobody wanted to be president just a couple months ago.
     
  10. xrayvision

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    I mean, if it were up to me, I’d have Sheldon Whitehouse be the president but no one knows who he is and because it’s important that the candidate be something of an entertainer, he would get no where.

    People want entertainers and showmen(showwomen?). Politicians generally aren’t that. And that’s why Trump remains popular. JD Vance has the charisma of a wet fart. Look at idiocracy: we aren’t exactly too far from that.
     
  11. Aetius

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    He was my pick for 2020, but alas, no attention. ::sad bazinga noises::
     
  12. Nettdata

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    As a Canadian, I have honestly never heard of him.
     
  13. Juice

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    As someone from Massachusetts I have a strong policy of not elevating any politician from Jersey North.

    You should be ashamed of yourself.
     
  14. Revengeofthenerds

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  15. Aetius

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  16. Juice

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  17. Fiveslide

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    Who do you think set us on that path? Obama, Bill Clinton, Reagan? It certainly wasn't Jimmy Carter, or either Bush.

    Probably Bill, with his saxophone and blowies from interns
     
  18. Aetius

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    JFK
     
  19. Crown Royal

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    Nixon won that debate against JFK, but America could not get enough of the handsome young newcomer who just got rimmed out backstage by Marilyn Monroe. Then he decided to fuck up every country that was south of him.
     
  20. Juice

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