Follow TV Tropes

Following

The General US Politics Thread

Go To

Nov 2023 Mod notice:


There may be other, more specific, threads about some aspects of US politics, but this one tends to act as a hub for all sorts of related news and information, so it's usually one of the busiest OTC threads.

If you're new to OTC, it's worth reading the Introduction to On-Topic Conversations and the On-Topic Conversations debate guidelines before posting here.

Rumor-based, fear-mongering and/or inflammatory statements that damage the quality of the thread will be thumped. Off-topic posts will also be thumped. Repeat offenders may be suspended.

If time spent moderating this thread remains a distraction from moderation of the wiki itself, the thread will need to be locked. We want to avoid that, so please follow the forum rules when posting here.


In line with the general forum rules, 'gravedancing' is prohibited here. If you're celebrating someone's death or hoping that they die, your post will get thumped. This rule applies regardless of what the person you're discussing has said or done.

Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

kkhohoho Since: May, 2011
#133576: Jul 30th 2016 at 2:07:27 PM

[up][up][up]...Well shit.

edited 30th Jul '16 2:07:39 PM by kkhohoho

Protagonist506 from Oregon Since: Dec, 2013 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
#133577: Jul 30th 2016 at 2:45:40 PM

I would say that the democrats really didn't help their case with their mascot choice, but apparently it's an appropriated insult. Critics of Andrew Jackson (first Democrat president) called him a Jackass.

On a side note, while this is almost certainly a coincidence, the first Republican president (Lincoln) was offered a bunch of war elephants by a Siamese king to fight the Confederates with. (He politely turned them down, explaining they wouldn't be very useful)

edited 30th Jul '16 2:47:46 PM by Protagonist506

"Any campaign world where an orc samurai can leap off a landcruiser to fight a herd of Bulbasaurs will always have my vote of confidence"
pwiegle Cape Malleum Majorem from Nowhere Special Since: Sep, 2015 Relationship Status: Singularity
Cape Malleum Majorem
#133578: Jul 30th 2016 at 2:47:09 PM

Hey, just remember the old saying: "An elephant is a mouse built to government specifications."

This Space Intentionally Left Blank.
TheHandle United Earth from Stockholm Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
United Earth
#133579: Jul 30th 2016 at 3:13:56 PM

[up][up]Talk about a Missed Moment of Awesome. I mean, yeah, they're Awesome But Impracticle, but they're very awesome!

Asses are stubborn because they're smart. Unlike horses, it's impossible to work or walk them to their death; they know when to stop and disobey. Also, they're hardy, sober, and not picky eaters.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
AmbarSonofDeshar Since: Jan, 2010
#133580: Jul 30th 2016 at 3:17:03 PM

[up][up][up]I've considered an alternate history in which the elephants are accepted. Just because it would hilarious to write.

Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#133581: Jul 30th 2016 at 3:18:50 PM

Trump is bitching about the debate schedule, and is possibly implying that he might skip some/all of them. This is despite the fact that the schedule by formulated by a bipartisan, independent group last year.

http://money.cnn.com/2016/07/30/media/donald-trump-presidential-debates-schedule/index.html

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
TheHandle United Earth from Stockholm Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
United Earth
#133582: Jul 30th 2016 at 3:20:34 PM

Once a coward...

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Elle Since: Jan, 2001
#133583: Jul 30th 2016 at 3:25:00 PM

The party animal symbols came out of political cartoons, IIRC. (http://www.infoplease.com/askeds/donkey-elephant.html)

Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#133584: Jul 30th 2016 at 3:26:08 PM

They way I heard it the elephants would have been used for transporting instead of fighting. Still not very useful though.

On the other side though, Jefferson Davis once tried to establish a Camel Corp for the army before the Civil War.

AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#133585: Jul 30th 2016 at 3:27:06 PM

It'd be a lot harder for him to skip the general debates and come out looking good. In the primary everyone was still talking about him on the stage. In this case, all Clinton would have to do is point out that he was refusing to debate her. Sexism wouldn't even have to be implied. And yes, cowardice. No matter how he would try to spin it as a matter of principle and courage, there are many who would just seem him as feckless and cowardly for skipping a general debate.

Jesus Christ, he's succeeded so far on bluster and "fuck your rules" in this cycle, and even if he starts faltering here I don't think he would see any reason to stop doing what usually has worked for him.

Elle Since: Jan, 2001
#133586: Jul 30th 2016 at 3:28:56 PM

His supporters will probably take it as an FU to Hillary.

smokeycut Since: Mar, 2013
#133587: Jul 30th 2016 at 3:29:07 PM

"I'm gonna really start being mean to Hillary!!!!1!!"

"Also I'm never gonna debate her"

AmbarSonofDeshar Since: Jan, 2010
#133588: Jul 30th 2016 at 3:29:52 PM

I'd get into how people are underrating the utility of the elephant as a weapon of war, but that would be off topic. Suffice it to say, elephants were a weapon for thousands of years for good reason.

[up][up][up]Trump will do whatever he feels like doing at any given moment.

edited 30th Jul '16 3:30:09 PM by AmbarSonofDeshar

Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#133589: Jul 30th 2016 at 3:32:52 PM

I think it would be a lot more damaging if he got destroyed in a first debate and then refused further debates. If he just refuses to do any it would be easier to spin.

Euodiachloris Since: Oct, 2010
#133590: Jul 30th 2016 at 3:33:45 PM

[up][up]Never mind the effect on the elephant... -_-

[down]I was thinking more about the stress and PTSD with the related fertility problems noted in active and retired war-elephants for centuries. :/ Nobody much seemed to twig that depression = shorter lifespan, either. <_<

edited 30th Jul '16 4:32:12 PM by Euodiachloris

AmbarSonofDeshar Since: Jan, 2010
#133591: Jul 30th 2016 at 3:34:48 PM

[up]Or the horse or the dog or the camel...we've been getting animals killed in our wars for millennia.

IFwanderer use political terms to describe, not insult from Earth Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
use political terms to describe, not insult
#133592: Jul 30th 2016 at 3:56:20 PM

@Trump whining about debate's date: this series of tweets presents an interesting hypothesis (I'll copy&paste the tweets bellow)

1: Apropos of this {Trump's tweet}

2: I've long thought there was a decent chance Trump wouldn't show for the debates. What I cldnt figure out was how he'd pull it off. You...

3: can see already that he has a need to assert dominance over the process, create conflict and drama. Yet I think there's a decent ...

4: chance he'll try to skip out on the whole thing. But how without seeming like a coward? I think it will go like this. Next month Trump...

5: will start complaining that the process is rigged because Stein and Johnson aren't allowed in. They can be if they get to 15% in the ...

6: polls. That seems unlikely for Johnson, impossible for Stein. But Trump will say that's not fair and he won't participate in a rigged ...

7: process. Trump know he's better in a multi person debate. Because aren't really debate like a one on one is. He also knows that Stein ...

8: wld likely join him tag teaming Clinton. But the debate commission has had these rules for years and won't be inclined bend them.

9: Clinton won't agree because it amounts to being bullied and rule breaking and disadvantages her. So you can easily see a chain ...

edited 30th Jul '16 3:56:56 PM by IFwanderer

1 2 We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. -KV
KarkatTheDalek Not as angry as the name would suggest. from Somwhere in Time/Space Since: Mar, 2012 Relationship Status: You're a beautiful woman, probably
Not as angry as the name would suggest.
#133594: Jul 30th 2016 at 4:42:27 PM

Might it be worth noting that Ohio went to Kasich in the Republican primaries? That might indicate that Republican voters here were turned off by the likes of Trump and Cruz and/or were loyal to Kasich. If that's the case, maybe they'd end up switching to Clinton this time around?

I suppose I'm mostly asking because as resident Ohio for the past 12 years, it's something of a point of pride for me that neither Cruz nor Trump won the state then, however much I disagree with Kasich.

Oh God! Natural light!
DocJamore Since: Jul, 2014
#133595: Jul 30th 2016 at 4:45:08 PM

[up][up] Why does the Go P insist on treating PA like a swing state? It is a fantasy. Trump has no chance in hell of winning Pennsylvania.

As a resident I can tell you that as long as Philly and Pittsburgh agree on a candidate, they will drag the rest of the state kicking and screaming.

edited 30th Jul '16 4:45:41 PM by DocJamore

Ogodei Fuck you, Fascist sympathizers from The front lines Since: Jan, 2011
Fuck you, Fascist sympathizers
#133596: Jul 30th 2016 at 4:49:50 PM

Trump needs *every* swing state, if you don't count PA as a swing state (and you shouldn't. Check the scorecard, people. Who else elected a new Dem governor in 2014?)

DocJamore Since: Jul, 2014
#133597: Jul 30th 2016 at 4:55:11 PM

We elected a hardliner whose refusal to compromise with the state congress meant that that we couldn't even pass a budget for almost a year. Sigh.

Demographically our state is friendly to republicans. The state congress is mostly republican. It is only for the general or senate elections that the democrats are able to win seats.

edited 30th Jul '16 5:07:29 PM by DocJamore

tricksterson Never Trust from Behind you with an icepick Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
Never Trust
#133598: Jul 30th 2016 at 5:04:14 PM

Not sure Ohio should be considered a swing state either because I will bet that Kasich will do everything in his power to sabotage Trump behind the scenes.

Trump delenda est
TheHandle United Earth from Stockholm Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
United Earth
#133599: Jul 30th 2016 at 5:04:33 PM

VOTE ON STATE LEGISLATURE ELECTIONS! THEY'RE EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#133600: Jul 30th 2016 at 5:39:53 PM

Colorado has single payer healthcare on its ballot and Maine has ranked choice voting.


Total posts: 417,856
Top