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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Of course it does. The GOP has swum into the deep end, willingly, and there's no going back. It's a classic example of the trap of pandering to a group's most extreme elements.
At this point, only massive electoral defeat will stand any chance of smacking them back to reality.
Edit: It's worth noting that the Democrats have mainly avoided that trap by refusing to admit groups like Greenpeace and the anti-vaxxer movement to the governing table. It's something that they could easily fall into, though, given sufficient incentives.
edited 4th Nov '15 7:12:55 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"They are environmental terrorists, in a similar vein to PETA. They are deeply radicalized and have become almost completely unsympathetic.
edited 4th Nov '15 7:24:35 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"I didn't get any kind of literature about votes in my district, so I will have to assume that either there wasn't anything to vote on or there was a really weak canvassing effort. And yes, Tom Asshole Corbett did a hell of a lot to revitalize the spirit of the Democratic party in Pennsylvania thanks to his antics.
edited 4th Nov '15 7:59:04 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Isn't Greenpeace the group that was spiking trees and blocking oil exploration vessels with kayak fleets? I could be misremembering.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Years ago they did. Lately they've mostly done protests and banners and stuff. Once in a while they still physically block things but I don't think they've done tree spiking since the 80s or 90s.
They also do really stupid things like leaving a bunch of footprints around the nazca lines while putting up a protest banner
edited 4th Nov '15 8:12:11 AM by Joesolo
I'm baaaaaaackSo, apparently Chris Christie's social media cred has been exploding over a video released by the Huffington Post that captures him having a frank and remarkably intellectually sound conversation about addiction at a recent town hall meeting. Link.
He makes the case that addiction is a thing that can happen to anyone; it does not indicate a moral unworthiness on the part of the addict, and it deserves treatment, not contempt, using anecdotes about his mother and about a lifelong friend that he met in law school. He even pulls out the "I'm pro-life, but I am for the whole life, not abandoning the child once it's spent its obligatory nine months in the womb" line.
Dammit, Christie, I'm trying not to like you and you do this! A world in which he can't sell himself as a Presidential candidate with common-sense positions on some of the GOP's pet issues is a truly sad one, despite his jerkass behavior in other aspects of his career.
My father died of his smoking addiction, claiming to the end that it was "his choice". I know firsthand how terrible our national discourse about this problem is.
edited 4th Nov '15 11:06:59 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Yeah, I have something of a soft spot for Christie (notwithstanding Bridgegate, which is the kind of thing which I think disqualifies someone to hold higher office). He and Jeb seem like the only candidates whose presidency I wouldn't look at with complete dread- which is why there's no way they are going to get the Nomination.
I mean it kind of makes sense (although maybe it shouldn't)- any Republican candidate a Democrat would be okay with is not a candidate a Republican would want (and I guess vice versa).
ALF is straight up eco-terrorists. Bombings, break ins, arson, whole nine yards.
PETA, to steal a term, be cray, but the main organization these days just makes ridiculous campaigns and stupid online games trying to make a point.
They also are against no-kill shelters and actually euthanize many of those who arrive at their animal shelters.
They've even taken animals from no-kill shelters and killed them themselves hours later.
And they're the ones behind the whole "rather wear nothing than fur" campaigns with the naked women just holding protest signs. So you know, they're not all bad.
HOWEVER, they also send money to ALF, ELF, and other actual eco-terrorists.
edited 4th Nov '15 11:09:17 AM by Joesolo
I'm baaaaaaack

Which seems like it creates a perverse incentive to be as anti-civil rights as possible to fire up the voter base.
"Yup. That tasted purple."