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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
I think the GOP's attacks on Biden wouldn't be about his handling of women but whatever they make up instead.
People assume they need facts for their attack ads.
Instead, they tend to accuse people of being part of a secret pedophile conspiracy.
Edited by CharlesPhipps on Dec 26th 2018 at 9:30:49 AM
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.I'll admit that I don't think that sexual misconduct will be a big part of the GOP propaganda machine. After Trump, Kavanaugh, Moore et al. I suspect their strategists will worry about their dirty laundry being highlighted.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard FeynmanEvery scandal the Republicans throw at the Democrats tend to be No, You.
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.Yeah. Republicans are not worried at all about their dirty laundry being highlighted. Bald-faced hypocrisy has always worked out for them before; why rock the boat?
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.One wonders why in the 2016 primaries we didn't see Republicans highlighting the unsoundness of Trump's economic policies, then. Or why in 2018 we didn't see a campaign focused on the budget deficits caused ("caused") by Democrats.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard FeynmanThe 2016 election for Republicans is something that was very interesting to study from a conservative perspective and I've enjoyed reading their write-ups on it, even when they come from professional assholes like Rick Wilson.
But boiled down to it, Trump won because he was the perfect Tea Party candidate writ-large.
The Republicans had been stoking them for years and losing more and more control over their own party to them until Trump put that momentum into place.
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.I hate that we live in a world where Trump stealing money from starving orphans is barely a blip on the radar of the investigations being done into him.
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.![]()
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Because they first and foremost wanted to win.
They're not going to tear down a candidate that brings people to the polls for them, even if they and their base are degenerate.
Regarding debt specifically: because even a cursorily data-driven reading of the national debt would reveal that GOP government leads to systematic ballooning of the deficit. The old, establishment GOP might decry anything that doesn't fit their worldview as false, but they do have a talent for outright avoiding fights where they would be backed into a corner by sheer reality.
Edited by CrimsonZephyr on Dec 27th 2018 at 10:42:12 AM
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."In other news I just found out that the Vermont Legislature
is the only one in the US which has had a third party represented for a long time - the Vermont Progressive Party to this day.
This. I don't really see any reason to be excessively concerned if O'Rourke came from nothing and was successful then others can be too. There isn't really any reason to worry just yet.
Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Dec 27th 2018 at 11:23:22 AM
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang![]()
Minnesota has a kinda similar situation, they had a strong Farmer-Labour party for a long time that eventually merged with the state democrat party to become the “Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party”, which is the banner under which all Minnesota democrats run (North Dakota has a similar situation with the “nonpartisan league” party having merged with the democrats).
It’s going to be interesting to see what happens in Maine in 2020-2022, once ranked choice voting is used for local elections we could see a growth in third-party candidates trying for seats and maybe winning.
If the Vermont progressives are smart they should both push for ranked choice in Vermont and look at expanding into Maine and becoming something like the “New England Progressive Party”.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranAnd by 'Bold' I mean a [Citation Needed] so big it develops its own gravity well.
"You can reply to this Message!"Trump was criticized for not visiting the troops, but maybe it was a good thing he didn't.
Iraqi lawmakers demand U.S. withdrawal after Trump visit
Politicians from both blocs of Iraq’s divided Parliament called for a vote to expel U.S. troops and promised to schedule an extraordinary session to debate the matter.
“Parliament must clearly and urgently express its view about the ongoing American violations of Iraqi sovereignty,” said Salam al-Shimiri, a lawmaker loyal to the populist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
Trump, making his first presidential visit to troops in a troubled region Wednesday, said he has no plans to withdraw the 5,200 U.S. forces in the country.
Containing foreign influence has become a hot-button issue in a year that saw al-Sadr supporters win the largest share of votes in May elections. Al-Sadr has called for curbing U.S. and Iranian involvement in Iraqi affairs.
U.S. troops are stationed in Iraq as part of the coalition against the Islamic State group. American forces withdrew in 2011 after invading in 2003 but returned in 2014 at the invitation of the Iraqi government to help fight the jihadist group.
But after defeating IS militants in their last urban bastions last year, Iraqi politicians and militia leaders are speaking out against the continued presence of U.S. forces in Iraqi soil.
Qais Khazali, the head of the Iran-backed Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia that fought key battles against IS in north Iraq, promised on Twitter that Parliament would vote to expel U.S. forces from Iraq, or the militia and others would force them out by “other means.”
Khazali was jailed by British and U.S. forces from 2007 to 2010 for managing sections of the Shia insurgency against the occupation during those years.
His militia is represented in Parliament by the Binaa bloc, a rival coalition to al-Sadr’s Islah. Binaa favors close ties with Iran and is aligned with Tehran on regional political issues.
Trump spent three hours at a U.S. air base meeting with American troops during his visit. The president defended his decision to withdraw 2,000 U.S. forces from neighboring Syria, saying the U.S. military had all but eliminated IS-controlled territory there.
He left without meeting any Iraqi officials, though he spoke to Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi by phone.
The prime minister’s office said in a statement after Trump’s visit that “differences in points of view” over arrangements led to a face-to-face meeting between the two leaders to be scrapped.
Al-Shimiri said Trump’s visit “violated several diplomatic norms.”
Not that Trump didn’t cock up making his visit (he also handed out MAGA hats and leaked the location and identities of special forces) but dear god can the Iraqi government get bent.
This is why you don’t throw unrestricted democracy at a country with no democratic norms, because you end up with idiots like this in power.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranI mean, surprise Visits on Foreign Soil (even if its your Base) without giving the country some forewarning is quite rude. Normally its expected that a Foreign Head of State gets at least pro forma permission.
I kinda doubt the German Foreign Ministry is happy either about his visit to Ramstein.
"You can reply to this Message!"If you take the story at face value, it seems just so golly great: "Oh, he visited the troops on Christmas! And a surprise visit, no less! He really cares!"
...Then you look at the story more and find all sorts of problems: Using the visit as another excuse to have a rally (i.e. bashing his opponents, which raises all sorts of ethical concerns regarding politicizing the military), doing things that would normally be a violation of the Hatch Act for anyone else, not telling the foreign governments that he was going ahead of time, and there's the usual gaffes/lies while he was there (America is not the "suckers of the world" anymore; saying he gave the troops a pay raise).
If I had to guess, he took the impromptu trip because he was bored as hell in the White House on Christmas. Which is understandable, but hey, HE'S the one who shut down the government because he didn't get his precious wall money.
Edited by speedyboris on Dec 27th 2018 at 2:50:57 PM
Do any of you guys remember how way back in April, Mc Clatchy reported that Mueller had obtained evidence that Cohen had gone to Prague in late summer as alleged in the Dossier?
Turns out he accidentally left his cellphone data on.
During the same period of late August or early September, electronic eavesdropping by an Eastern European intelligence agency picked up a conversation among Russians, one of whom remarked that Cohen was in Prague, two people familiar with the incident said.
The phone and surveillance data, which have not previously been disclosed, lend new credence to a key part of a former British spy’s dossier of Kremlin intelligence describing purported coordination between Trump’s campaign and Russia’s election meddling operation.
The dossier, which Trump has dismissed as “a pile of garbage,” said Cohen and one or more Kremlin officials huddled in or around the Czech capital to plot ways to limit discovery of the close “liaison” between the Trump campaign and Russia.
The new information regarding the recovery of Cohen’s cell phone location doesn’t explain why he was apparently there or who he was meeting with, if anyone. But it adds to evidence that Cohen was in or near Prague around the time of the supposed meeting.
Both of the newly surfaced foreign electronic intelligence intercepts were shared with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, people familiar with the matter said. Mueller is investigating Russia’s 2016 election interference and whether Trump’s campaign colluded in the scheme. Mueller also is examining whether Trump has obstructed the sweeping inquiry.

@wisewillow: Good point. I didn't know who Barack Obama was before he ran for president.
I feel like the candidates getting the most buzz are the ones with some of the most obvious PR disasters waiting in the wings. You have what Biden said during the Anita Hill hearings, you have Bernie being a racist old fool, you have Booker admitting to groping someone in his past...
While Booker and Biden have moved on from their past misconceptions regarding gender and sexual consent, it would also give a lot of red meat to the right-wing propaganda machine.
Edit: Yaaay, pagetopper.
Edited by BearyScary on Dec 26th 2018 at 8:24:27 AM
Do not obey in advance.