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

speedyboris Since: Feb, 2010
#106376: Dec 10th 2015 at 7:25:02 AM

[up][up] And yet Obama is supposedly the "pussy". tongue

edited 10th Dec '15 7:25:20 AM by speedyboris

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#106377: Dec 10th 2015 at 7:27:02 AM

Heh, Obama himself called them out on that a few weeks ago, saying that their claims to be able to "stand up to Putin and ISIL" seem more than a little hypocritical when they run home crying in the face of some "tough" questions from a debate moderator.

edited 10th Dec '15 7:27:13 AM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
LogoP Party Crasher from the Land of Deep Blue Since: May, 2013 Relationship Status: You can be my wingman any time
Party Crasher
#106378: Dec 10th 2015 at 7:27:06 AM

Moving away from Trump for a moment, I heard that Ted Cruz has been making some pretty inane statements regarding climate change lately. What's up with that? Why is this even still an issue in 21st century America?

When you think about it, such toxic positions can be much more damaging, in the long run, than most nonsense Trump might spew.

It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane.
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#106379: Dec 10th 2015 at 7:28:08 AM

[up] Cruz is a homophobic, fundamentalist climate-change denier. He's made that abundantly clear, and his current second-place status is only slightly less toxic to the GOP than Trump's first-place status.

However, it's worth noting that not a single Republican candidate who has been out of single digits in the polls has expressed anything other than absolute climate-change denial; it's part of the party's litmus test for viability. Cruz's stupidity in this regard is only notable by degree, not by kind.

edited 10th Dec '15 7:29:22 AM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#106380: Dec 10th 2015 at 7:28:47 AM

Because money and Republicans deciding that the truth is subjective.

Oh really when?
FFShinra Since: Jan, 2001
#106382: Dec 10th 2015 at 7:29:31 AM

Why only slightly less toxic? I honestly fear Cruz more than Trump. because unlike Trump, Cruz actually knows how the system works and can make it work to his own...madness.

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#106383: Dec 10th 2015 at 7:30:35 AM

[up] I said toxic to the GOP, not to the country as a whole. Cruz would be terrible for the country and the world as President, too, but not in quite the same ways as Trump, and the ways in which he is terrible align more closely with standard GOP doctrine than Trump.

edited 10th Dec '15 7:31:04 AM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
LogoP Party Crasher from the Land of Deep Blue Since: May, 2013 Relationship Status: You can be my wingman any time
Party Crasher
#106384: Dec 10th 2015 at 7:36:45 AM

x5 [up] Certainly but, what I'm afraid of, is that some american (and not only) big polluters might try to stand/hide behind these statements just so they can cop-out from the dreaded environmental regulations.

We can't have that sort of backpedalling from the world's greatest industrial power on a time where even China is trying to cut down its emissions.

edited 10th Dec '15 7:38:20 AM by LogoP

It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane.
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#106385: Dec 10th 2015 at 7:41:11 AM

[up] Let's not mince words. If we get a Republican President in 2017, we can kiss any meaningful climate change action goodbye. If we don't at least take the Senate for Democrats (the House is a long-shot thanks to gerrymandering), we can certainly look forward to another administration faced with insurmountable gridlock over the issue.

Cruz becoming President would be awful, to be sure, but only slightly more so than Rubio or Bush or Paul. Mainly, his administration would be notable for a mass rollback of gay rights and possibly the eradication of scientific curricula in schools. Trump, for his part, would be notable for destroying all our international alliances, interning/deporting minorities, and starting multiple wars. Choose your apocalypse; they're on sale this week!

edited 10th Dec '15 7:44:37 AM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
LogoP Party Crasher from the Land of Deep Blue Since: May, 2013 Relationship Status: You can be my wingman any time
Party Crasher
#106386: Dec 10th 2015 at 7:44:49 AM

True, and that's very worrying. The anti-climate change lobby is as sociopathically scary as it is short-sighted.

At least, when it comes to everything else, most damage can be undone if a saner president follows. World climate, not so much...

edited 10th Dec '15 7:46:01 AM by LogoP

It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane.
Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#106387: Dec 10th 2015 at 7:51:18 AM

Climate Change might be the one issue that annoys me the most. We can fix a lot of damage even if it takes time but we can't do that if the ecosystem is destroyed.

LogoP Party Crasher from the Land of Deep Blue Since: May, 2013 Relationship Status: You can be my wingman any time
Party Crasher
#106388: Dec 10th 2015 at 7:53:11 AM

I wonder who they'll shift the blame at if one day Manhattan goes underwater.

It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane.
TheWanderer Student of Story from Somewhere in New England (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
Student of Story
#106389: Dec 10th 2015 at 7:56:22 AM

It'll be the fault of us godless, heathen, barbarian New Yorkers, and equated with Sodom and Gomorrah.

I wish I was joking.

| Wandering, but not lost. | If people bring so much courage to this world...◊ |
BonsaiForest Since: Jan, 2001
#106390: Dec 10th 2015 at 8:18:21 AM

Multiple articles are coming out saying that the Pew Forum did a study finding that the middle class is no longer the majority in the US.

Sounds like it's time for the poor to vote in their best interest. And for condemnation of the poor to stop.

LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#106391: Dec 10th 2015 at 8:23:50 AM

Yeah but here's the problem. A great deal of poor people don't realize they're the poor people and think Republicans have the answer.

Oh really when?
BonsaiForest Since: Jan, 2001
#106392: Dec 10th 2015 at 8:33:05 AM

That's a good way of putting it.

Meanwhile, An interview of some of Trump's supporters show that they're willing to follow him all the way to a third party.

The group watched videos of some of Trump’s more contentious statements and his support only grew. Luntz said the more Trump is challenged, by his rivals and especially by the press, the more his supporters like him.

And although fewer than half believed Trump’s largely unfounded assertion that “thousands and thousands” of Muslims in New Jersey celebrated the 2001 terrorist attacks, they gave him a pass.

“We all exaggerate,” one woman said, adding, “we want someone to take a stand. We want someone to say ‘Yes, here’s what we’re going to do,’ even if it offends everybody.”

There was widespread agreement that the media is biased against Trump and accentuates his provocations while downplaying his attributes. “He’s a great family man,” one man said of the thrice-married Trump.

They know he's full of shit but keep giving him excuses because they see him as decisive and different from all the usual politicians.

TheHandle United Earth from Stockholm Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
United Earth
#106393: Dec 10th 2015 at 8:43:55 AM

Like Sarkozy, then?

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
PotatoesRock Since: Oct, 2012
#106394: Dec 10th 2015 at 8:45:13 AM

Rachel Maddow reported last night on how the Republican candidates are all desperately dancing around the question of whether to actively condemn Trump for his statements. Contrary to what seems to have been reported, most of them have yet to issue a definitive statement about it, and all have indicated that they would "support whoever is the eventual nominee", without any sort of "except Trump" qualifier.

It is clear that the entire body of candidates is scared shitless of Trump's voters — of what might happen if he left the party and took them with him.

Vox has a great article on this:

"Trumpism"

Trump is saying what a LOT of the GOP candidates and rank and file politicians and so on agree with.

The issue with him isn't what he's saying. It's that they have a very precise way of doing the same thing. Trump just does it with all the finesse and grace of a bull in a china shop.

And also, Trump is tapping into the missing white voters: White Conservative Americans from more rural areas who can't stand overt left liberalism but hate the elitism that Romney stank of. They're basically older, poorer, more rural than most Republicans.

And they love Trump.

(Hilariously these people are also basically the Perot Voters of 1992)

TheHandle United Earth from Stockholm Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
United Earth
#106395: Dec 10th 2015 at 8:49:10 AM

What is it with poor people disliking liberalism?

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#106396: Dec 10th 2015 at 8:50:09 AM

A lot of media manipulation and flat out brainwashing from Republicans.

Oh really when?
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#106397: Dec 10th 2015 at 8:51:55 AM

Because a number of liberals tend to be fairly dismissive/arrogant towards this particular underclass, often religious or more socially conservative.

Using "Underclass" because I suspect a number of these earn just enough to live in the places they live.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
TheHandle United Earth from Stockholm Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
United Earth
#106398: Dec 10th 2015 at 8:52:18 AM

Insufficient explanation. Can't Democrats communicate just as persuasively?

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Greenmantle V from Greater Wessex, Britannia Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Hiding
V
#106399: Dec 10th 2015 at 8:52:21 AM

@ Trump: Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned Trump's comments on Muslims, leading to Trump cancelling a trip to Israel.

[up] They start at a major disadvantage — the Democrats are perceived as being the Globalist Elites they rail against.

edited 10th Dec '15 8:53:57 AM by Greenmantle

Keep Rolling On
PotatoesRock Since: Oct, 2012
#106400: Dec 10th 2015 at 8:53:00 AM

What is it with poor people disliking liberalism?
IIRC, the generalization is that liberalism smacks too much of tones of intellecutalism: "We know better than you how to take care of yourself".

i.e. Liberal policies tend to come off as condescending.


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