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

Soban Since: Aug, 2009 Relationship Status: 700 wives and 300 concubines
#273401: Mar 5th 2019 at 8:41:41 PM

Joe Biden Gets Duplassed

To have a person address you as a human being and acknowledge your basic good nature is inherently rather heartwarming. To have that judgment summarily rejected thanks to political blowback is just as stomach-churning.

...

This week, Biden spoke in Omaha, Neb., where he called Mike Pence a “decent guy.” This was, of course, a grave sin — a sin so grave that radical-leftist actress and failed New York gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon chided Biden publicly. Nixon tweeted, “@Joe Biden you’ve just called America’s most anti-LGBT elected leader a ‘decent guy.’ Please consider how this falls on the ears of our community.”

...

Whatever the rationale, Biden quickly complied. He tweeted, “You’re right, Cynthia. I was making a point in a foreign policy context, that under normal circumstances a Vice President wouldn’t be given a silent reaction on the world stage. But there is nothing decent about being anti-LGBTQ rights, and that includes the Vice President.”

Pence, in other words, didn’t agree with Nixon; this made Pence a non-person. And Biden had to participate in Pence’s un-personing in order to purchase an indulgence from Cynthia Nixon and her Wokescolds.

...

Here’s the truth: We have large-scale disagreements in this country. Very few of those disagreements are rooted in animus. By casting all disagreement as hate-based — and by destroying those with whom we disagree on a character level — we worsen both hate and politics. Enough with the Duplassing. Enough of the moral cowardice. It’s just fine for Joe Biden to think Mike Pence is a decent guy. And it’s pretty indecent to disagree.

TheRoguePenguin Since: Jul, 2009
#273402: Mar 5th 2019 at 8:45:09 PM

Somehow I don't think a Ben Shapiro article is going to come across as an unbiased source.

Ingonyama Since: Jan, 2001
#273403: Mar 5th 2019 at 8:45:40 PM

I always knew there was a reason I didn't like the National Review.

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#273404: Mar 5th 2019 at 8:49:11 PM

Ah, National Review. A rag that makes Reason look, well, reasonable.

And Reason is not reasonable.

Edited by M84 on Mar 6th 2019 at 12:49:35 AM

Disgusted, but not surprised
LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#273405: Mar 5th 2019 at 8:50:28 PM

Well, is there anything that can be done to stop blatantly obstructionists tactics like the ones Mc Connell apparently used to keep so many positions from getting filled?

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#273406: Mar 5th 2019 at 8:52:12 PM

Aside from depriving Mitch of the position of power that lets him do it, not much.

Getting a Democratic Senate majority may be the only way.

Edited by M84 on Mar 6th 2019 at 12:52:47 AM

Disgusted, but not surprised
Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#273407: Mar 5th 2019 at 8:52:47 PM

Yeah I'm sorry, but in Pence's case, it is a hate-based thing. You can't support gay people going to conversion camps and still get to be called a decent person. Moral cowardice is pretending otherwise for the sake of "civility".

Edited by Draghinazzo on Mar 5th 2019 at 12:53:25 PM

TheRoguePenguin Since: Jul, 2009
#273408: Mar 5th 2019 at 8:52:49 PM

Not now. I think they've already changed the rules to limit debate time. For the next two years it'll be nothing but this, because it's all McConnell cares about.

[nja]'d

Edited by TheRoguePenguin on Mar 5th 2019 at 8:53:08 AM

AzurePaladin She/Her Pronouns from Forest of Magic Since: Apr, 2018 Relationship Status: Mu
She/Her Pronouns
#273409: Mar 5th 2019 at 9:15:12 PM

>Above article on Joe Biden

I much prefer Elizabeth Warren's response to his, which was essentially "no he's not". Seriously, Michael Pence supported fucking Conversion Therapy if I remember correctly! He is not "decent".

Edited by AzurePaladin on Mar 5th 2019 at 12:15:59 PM

The awful things he says and does are burned into our cultural consciousness like a CRT display left on the same picture too long. -Fighteer
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#273410: Mar 5th 2019 at 9:17:39 PM

We shouldn't be surprised that Ben Shapiro would take offense at Joe Biden being called out (and Biden apologizing). Ben Shapiro is himself a total transphobe.

Disgusted, but not surprised
Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#273411: Mar 5th 2019 at 9:18:28 PM

And moreso, conservatives hate admitting that they're wrong because they view it as a sign of weakness. To them, you always win more by doubling down.

DrunkenNordmann from Exile Since: May, 2015
#273412: Mar 5th 2019 at 9:19:30 PM

[up][up] He's also highly supportive of ethnic cleansing. That this guy still gets treated like he's got any credibility is beyond me sometimes.

Edited by DrunkenNordmann on Mar 5th 2019 at 6:20:06 PM

We learn from history that we do not learn from history
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#273413: Mar 5th 2019 at 9:20:51 PM

That's because, in comparison to some of the USA's rightwing pundits, he can come across as almost rational. Almost.

Edited by M84 on Mar 6th 2019 at 1:21:31 AM

Disgusted, but not surprised
Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#273414: Mar 5th 2019 at 9:22:17 PM

He's also highly supportive of ethnic cleansing. That this guy still gets treated like he's got any credibility is beyond me sometimes.

Does he at least try to cloak it by pretending "peaceful relocation" is a thing?

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#273415: Mar 5th 2019 at 9:24:41 PM

Look up his 2003 op-ed "Transfer is not a dirty word" and cringe in disgust.

Disgusted, but not surprised
Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#273416: Mar 5th 2019 at 9:42:09 PM

Yeh I’m not a fan of pretending that those who want to torture children are in any way “decent”.

Biden wants to pretend that the other side are good people one can have a reasonable disagreement with, he can try and pretend that because as a strait, cis, white, old, man it’s not his life on the line.

Biden has the privillage of not being someone Mike Pence wants to see tortured, he needs to recognise that his privillage is not shared by everyone.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
DrunkenNordmann from Exile Since: May, 2015
#273417: Mar 5th 2019 at 9:44:18 PM

Does he at least try to cloak it by pretending "peaceful relocation" is a thing?

Well, there's this quote, for example:

The Arab enmity for Jews and the state of Israel allows for no peace process. The time for half measures has passed. Bulldozing houses of homicide bombers is useless. Instituting ongoing curfews in Arab-populated cities is useless… Some have rightly suggested that Israel be allowed to decapitate the terrorist leadership of the Palestinian Authority. But this too is only a half measure. The ideology of the Palestinian population is indistinguishable from that of the terrorist leadership. Half measures merely postpone our realization that the Arabs dream of Israel’s destruction. Without drastic measures, the Arab dream will come true… If you believe that the Jewish state has a right to exist, then you must allow Israel to transfer the Palestinians and the Israeli-Arabs from Judea, Samaria, Gaza and Israel proper. It’s an ugly solution, but it is the only solution… It’s time to stop being squeamish.

Found it in this article debunking the image Shapiro likes to present of himself. The guy also implicitly endorsed the idea of subjecting Palestinians (or Arabs in general) to genocide.

It'd be funny how far these "rationalists" are divorced from what they claim to be, if it wasn't so disgusting.

Edited by DrunkenNordmann on Mar 5th 2019 at 6:47:23 PM

We learn from history that we do not learn from history
Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#273418: Mar 5th 2019 at 9:54:49 PM

On the impeachment thing, no it’s not possible come 2020 even with a big win, the Democrats would need to sustain senate victories over almost a decade to be able to took at impeaching the people Trump has appointed, expanding voting would help enable such victories to happen, but even then it’s unlikely.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
Gilphon (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#273419: Mar 5th 2019 at 10:34:54 PM

I don't know what 'Duplassing' means, but given how absurd it is to claim that 'Pence hates LGBTQ people' isn't a hate-based issue, I kinda feel like knowing would just annoy me.

Edited by Gilphon on Mar 5th 2019 at 1:36:20 PM

PushoverMediaCritic I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out. from the Italy of America Since: Jul, 2015 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out.
#273420: Mar 5th 2019 at 10:44:36 PM

Ben Shapiro is the kind of whiny bitch who, in the same sentence, asks for his side to be treated with "civility" and demands that the other side get rid of their "political correctness". All while completely ignoring the massive hypocrisy of that stance.

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Mar 5th 2019 at 11:44:54 AM

TVRulezAgain Since: Sep, 2011
#273421: Mar 5th 2019 at 10:50:35 PM

All while saying "Facts don't care about your feelings" (A statement he rarely, if ever, upholds)

Edited by TVRulezAgain on Mar 5th 2019 at 10:50:44 AM

Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#273422: Mar 5th 2019 at 10:51:45 PM

It's basically just the same old "I want to do and say whatever I want without any kind of consequences or criticism, except that doesn't apply to anyone I dislike or disagree with."

TheRoguePenguin Since: Jul, 2009
#273423: Mar 5th 2019 at 10:55:23 PM

[up]x4 It's referring to actor Mark Duplass, who tweeted "Fellow Liberals: If you are interested at all in 'crossing the aisle' you should consider following @benshapiro. I don't agree with him on much but he's a genuine person who once helped me for no other reason to be nice. He doesn't bend the truth. His intentions are good".

Understandably, that got a backlash.

RedSavant Since: Jan, 2001
#273424: Mar 5th 2019 at 11:04:35 PM

On the plus side, that gives a good baseline of what constitutes "crossing the aisle" and does a good job of pointing out why it's a bad idea (namely, that you have to deal with Shapiro and his ilk).

He's a smug, intellectually dishonest snake, and so are his fans.

It's been fun.
TVRulezAgain Since: Sep, 2011
#273425: Mar 5th 2019 at 11:06:12 PM

Ben Shapiro is the kind of guy who thinks talking really fast and using big words makes you look smarter.

His shtick relies on the gish gallop tactic: spouting as many bullshit claims as possible to overwhelm your opponent so that they can't keep track of what to refute.

Also, his voice is annoying.


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