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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
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I think it would do US politics more good if he ran for the Republican nomination and got it, because that might deliver a moderate and sane Republican Party. Christie/Huntsman, for instance, would be a Republican ticket I could get behind. Of course, I can't vote in US elections, but if I could, a Christie/Huntsman ticket would actually make me think about voting Republican. I wouldn't be over-upset if they won either.
edited 2nd May '13 5:05:57 AM by Achaemenid
Schild und Schwert der Partei@Achaemenid: It would. Only problem is that Republican primaries are controlled by the loony bin.
The conservatives can't purge the reactionaries, because the reactionaries are strong enough and organized enough to purge them.
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Hey, he's not much more red than Obama is.
edited 2nd May '13 5:23:32 AM by Ramidel
They can't. If they did, the only way to keep the Democrats out of office would be for the two Repub factions to form a coalition government, something which I don't believe has ever happened in the US system - and then what would be the point of splitting?
edited 2nd May '13 5:50:08 AM by Achaemenid
Schild und Schwert der ParteiWhat Ramidel said. The first mention that Christie allowed FEMA and federal aid money into New Jersey will make the people who elect the Todd Akin and Richard Mourdocks of the party vote for the others instead. That and with Mc Cain and Romney, both "soft" conservatives, losing, I don't think 2016 will allow for a non crazy to be elected in the primaries.
The Inmates, effectively, run the asylum.
edited 2nd May '13 5:55:09 AM by PotatoesRock
From the first Facebook comment on this article I posted
, an example of why I actually read the comments on Esquire, from a fellow named David Grover:
In the US however they get their own news channels and one-half of the political power, because for some reason around 1980 we all started feeling sorry for the narcissistic fantasists and sentimentalists that call themselves "movement conservatives," who told us they felt bad because they were left out of what they called "the Liberal consensus."
The Liberal consensus was really just an agreement not to let the aforementioned narcissists do what they do best, which is to monopolize the conversation and claim its all about *me* and *my pain* and what about *my people*, which in general prevents us from confronting actual real live reality, like genuinely poor people and genuine disasters like climate change. And we let down our guard, forgetting that these 30% always feel bad, because they really have nothing more to their belief system than a heightened sense of persecution coupled to a heightened sense of their worth. Everything else - their politics, economics, religion, sociology - is an attempt to rationalize those two basic principles: "I oughta be in charge, but my inferiors won't let me."
30 years later people in the media think they're entertaining and sell eyeballs so they give them a seat at the table, and they don't realize the fascists want all the seats and have bad table manners besides. And while the rest of us would like to pay attention to the reality we've ignored since Reagan first pretended he was President, the media and the conversation is dominated by these 30%, who refuse to give up their fantasyland, just as we should have known they would.
I'm not normally reductive when it comes to people, but that these 30% would hallucinate that they're hard done by and at the same time threaten the rest of us over their perceived injury is as predictable as flowers blooming in spring.
The only thing that exceeds their sense of shared conservatism is their xenophobia. In fact, I'd say that xenophobia is the primary driver of their political beliefs, as opposed to the other way around.
edited 2nd May '13 8:27:57 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Re lightbulb: Wow, that's some mind-boggling stupidity. Really? A knee-jerk "IT'S A LIBRUL TRAP" whenever environment is mentioned? These are the kind of people who'd pick up a light grenade if you wrote "I'm a pollutant" right below the "pick me up" label...
"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."@Handle: Not really possible. The remaining old-line conservatives are fairly secure in their individual power bases and don't need to actually break with the Republican Party, or else they've already defected to the Democratic side (again, Obama) because the Democrats encompass every worldview from far-left to mid-right.
I expect 2016 to ultimately decide the future of the Republican Party.
With Rubio, Paul, Ryan, Christie, Walker, Santorum, J. Bush, Carson, Huntsman, Perry, and Cruz(?) all throwing around the possibility of running; 2016 is turning into a real slugfest for the Republicans.
It'll pit the Libertarian, Moderate, Neo-Conservative, Reactionary, Social Conservative, and Country Club Republicans in a duel for supremacy of the party.
EMILY's List begins campaign for female president
Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) demands answers for CIA ‘ghost money’ to Afghanistan
edited 2nd May '13 6:51:20 PM by DeviantBraeburn
Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016Somehow I feel like 2016's "Who can out crazy the other candidates" contest will be even more fun to watch than last year's. I hope a real nutcase like Bachmann or Perry gets the nomination just to see them get clobbered.
Romney was a terrible candidate but people also hated what he, and by extension the Republicans, stood for. We know what you're selling and we don't want it. When are they going to realize this?
edited 2nd May '13 6:39:10 PM by Kostya
The problem I have with that is that if they're sane they have a chance at winning. A Republican winning the presidential race at this point would be seen as a vindication of their insanity and they'd think the public is on their side. While them being insane gums things up they'll eventually get kicked out or will be forced to change.
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer vetoes bill making gold, silver legal currency
edited 2nd May '13 7:16:12 PM by DeviantBraeburn
Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016![]()
My fear is that if they're not stopped now they could tone it down for a time and then turn on the crazy once more when it's convenient.
Also I'm not doing this to be partisan. I believe that they are a danger and that them being as insane as possible is the quickest way to remove it. I don't want a one party dictatorship when they're gone. Rather I'd like it if the Democrats became the conservative party while we get a true liberal party to be the opposition.
Not the exactly words I would use to get the message across.
edited 2nd May '13 7:39:40 PM by DeviantBraeburn
Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016

Vile traitor or no, I don't feel that Christie is blue enough for that.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman