TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

Following

The General US Politics Thread

Go To

Nov 2023 Mod notice:


There may be other, more specific, threads about some aspects of US politics, but this one tends to act as a hub for all sorts of related news and information, so it's usually one of the busiest OTC threads.

If you're new to OTC, it's worth reading the Introduction to On-Topic Conversations and the On-Topic Conversations debate guidelines before posting here.

Rumor-based, fear-mongering and/or inflammatory statements that damage the quality of the thread will be thumped. Off-topic posts will also be thumped. Repeat offenders may be suspended.

If time spent moderating this thread remains a distraction from moderation of the wiki itself, the thread will need to be locked. We want to avoid that, so please follow the forum rules when posting here.


In line with the general forum rules, 'gravedancing' is prohibited here. If you're celebrating someone's death or hoping that they die, your post will get thumped. This rule applies regardless of what the person you're discussing has said or done.

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

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#111026: Feb 4th 2016 at 6:18:55 AM

Mark your calendars. The next Democratic Presidential debate will be on MNSBC tonight (Thursday, Feb. 4) at 9 PM EST.

Edit: Corrected the date. Sorry!

edited 4th Feb '16 7:26:41 AM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
SolipsistOwl Since: Jan, 2016
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#111028: Feb 4th 2016 at 7:27:19 AM

Aw, crap. That's what I get for timeshifting news programs; I watched Maddow this morning and got "tomorrow" mixed up. Fixed.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
SolipsistOwl Since: Jan, 2016
#111029: Feb 4th 2016 at 7:40:06 AM

"Too many of us, including members of the Register editorial board who were observing caucuses, saw opportunities for error amid Monday night’s chaos."

The Register notes that the party's refusal to provide additional accountability "confirm[s] the suspicions, wild as they may be, of Sanders supporters."

"Their candidate, after all, is opposed by the party establishment — and wasn’t even a Democrat a few months ago," the board writes.

Des Moines Register calls for audit of Sanders-Clinton result in Iowa

Elected to the NAACP post in 2008, [Ben] Jealous was the youngest person to head the civil rights organization. Credited with re-invigorating the organization and making it more politically relevant, Jealous served for four years.

First on CNN: Former NAACP head to endorse Bernie Sanders

edited 4th Feb '16 7:40:22 AM by SolipsistOwl

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#111030: Feb 4th 2016 at 8:12:25 AM

Sigh. Whenever a race is close, people call fraud. It doesn't make it true.

However, there is a story brewing over something the Ted Cruz campaign did in Iowa: apparently, the campaign sent out knowingly false tweets and emails claiming that Ben Carson was quitting the campaign and urging his supporters to caucus for Cruz instead. Trump had a hissy-fit over it, and Carson issued a rebuttal in his usual sleepy-eyed tone.

Linky to that story.

edited 4th Feb '16 8:54:42 AM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Demonic_Braeburn Yankee Doodle Dandy from Defective California Since: Jan, 2016
Yankee Doodle Dandy
#111031: Feb 4th 2016 at 9:13:13 AM

Rick Santorum endorses Marco Rubio.

And he somehow manages to screw that up.

Any group who acts like morons ironically will eventually find itself swamped by morons who think themselves to be in good company.
FFShinra Since: Jan, 2001
Bense Since: Aug, 2010
#111033: Feb 4th 2016 at 9:30:27 AM

If Carson's Iowa vote total had under-performed the polls, maybe he would have a case that Cruz's campaign hurt him (or someone else), but he over-performed. The rumor that he was suspending his campaign doesn't seem to have made any difference.

SolipsistOwl Since: Jan, 2016
#111034: Feb 4th 2016 at 9:37:47 AM

[up][up][up]The Des Moines Register endorsed Secretary Clinton, so I think it's significant.

NativeJovian Jupiterian Local from Orlando, FL Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Maxing my social links
Jupiterian Local
#111035: Feb 4th 2016 at 9:48:06 AM

Sigh. Whenever a race is close, people call fraud. It doesn't make it true.
After all the sausage-making that was broadcast nationwide during the 2000 election, I find it really hard to blame anyone for calling for extra scrutiny on a close election. Calling fraud is a bit much, but calling for a closer look is entirely reasonable when you're looking at votes that close.

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.
BonsaiForest Since: Jan, 2001
#111036: Feb 4th 2016 at 10:23:45 AM

Martin Shkreli, the drug price-hiking asshole with the punchable face, is using his punchable face to smirk and laugh rather than answer questions to Congress. Then he goes on Twitter and mocks them. If we needed a villain to point to as an example of how fucked up business can be and how little business interests care about humans, this boy is fitting that role nicely.

FieldMarshalFry Field Marshal of Cracked from World Internet War 1 Since: Oct, 2015 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Field Marshal of Cracked
#111037: Feb 4th 2016 at 10:34:56 AM

can't we just... kill him? I'm certain it will be considered a public service...

advancing the front into TV Tropes
Aszur A nice butterfly from Pagliacci's Since: Apr, 2014 Relationship Status: Don't hug me; I'm scared
A nice butterfly
#111038: Feb 4th 2016 at 10:37:06 AM

Didnt you hear his lawyer? He is actually a hero

It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes
Greenmantle V from Greater Wessex, Britannia Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Hiding
BonsaiForest Since: Jan, 2001
#111040: Feb 4th 2016 at 10:45:55 AM

I think open scumbags serve a legit purpose. We can point to them and the things they say and do, and use them to harm their cause or promote an opposite cause.

Krieger22 Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018 from Malaysia Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: I'm in love with my car
Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018
#111041: Feb 4th 2016 at 10:52:59 AM

Kill him and some dipshit somewhere will make him a martyr. A lot of very public Repulsive People have this one trait in common.

I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiot
Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#111043: Feb 4th 2016 at 11:46:17 AM

I must point out that the guy is stopped-clock correct. Congress deserves to be mocked wherever possible.

(And Shkreli's face still needs to be punched in, of course. Not disputing that!)

FFShinra Since: Jan, 2001
#111044: Feb 4th 2016 at 11:47:30 AM

Mocked by their betters, not by the pot just as black as them.

NativeJovian Jupiterian Local from Orlando, FL Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Maxing my social links
Jupiterian Local
#111045: Feb 4th 2016 at 12:07:55 PM

Or you could actually try to make actually useful criticism, rather than just saying "lol congress is dumb" and leaving it at that.

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.
Aszur A nice butterfly from Pagliacci's Since: Apr, 2014 Relationship Status: Don't hug me; I'm scared
A nice butterfly
#111046: Feb 4th 2016 at 12:10:24 PM

Why? You can't hack the price of criticism up, silly.

It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes
Bense Since: Aug, 2010
#111047: Feb 4th 2016 at 12:14:39 PM

“You know I did make a mistake [in voting for the war in Iraq], and I admitted that I made a mistake. And in large measure that mistake really arose from the Bush administration’s approach to what they thought they could accomplish in Iraq.” - Hillary Clinton yesterday

Aside from the lame "It's not my fault" attitude, one has to wonder, what did she think the war was going to accomplish? What did Hillary Clinton then feel would warrant invading another country, and what would she think would justify it today?

Oh for reporters willing to ask the right follow-up questions...

LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#111048: Feb 4th 2016 at 12:16:53 PM

What else is someone supposed to say in a situation like that?

ironballs16 Since: Jul, 2009 Relationship Status: Owner of a lonely heart
#111049: Feb 4th 2016 at 12:21:54 PM

With the fraud, is there anything to call it other than fraud? Namely if it was a legitimately honest mistake?

That said, the entire idea of the Caucus for primaries is kind of inherently fucked up, as it's literally doing a head-count of everyone in the State that wants to vote in a particular way, which is wide open for honest error. Hell, a school trip consisting of ~50 kids, and I wound up getting left behind in an Albany, NY bus station because the person doing that headcount miscounted.

"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"
FFShinra Since: Jan, 2001
#111050: Feb 4th 2016 at 12:25:02 PM

[up][up][up]Well, the reasons given for the original vote in the first place were later found to be utterly false, which made what happened in Syria a cry wolf scenario in which the evidence was quite clear and we said no anyway.

She's at fault for not just sticking to the apology and using it to take a shot at Bush (much as Republicans are when they do the same to Obama), but I don't see how her apology isn't straight forward enough to require any magical follow up question.

edited 4th Feb '16 12:25:12 PM by FFShinra


Total posts: 417,856
Top