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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
@Fighteer - Well said.
Absolute loyalty for all time does not exist in either party. Plenty of dems will vote GOP locally if said GOP will provide what their district requires. Swerving right (or rather, center) is not for that purpose. It's to win that particular election and hope your performance in office will get some people to think better of you for the next time.
Case in point: Charlie Baker in Massachusetts. Granted, Martha Coakley is the Memetic Loser in MA politics, but his electoral invincibility (>70% approval in a state where the GOP in general is Deader Than Disco) makes me doubt whether it's even worth it for the Democrats to field a candidate — Baker being re-elected is a Foregone Conclusion, and any challenge is just a waste of money.
edited 10th Jun '16 8:59:44 AM by CrimsonZephyr
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."The issue is that Trump and Sanders are both signs of the same problem... There are a lot of people, perhaps even a majority, who are currently pissed off at the post 2008 economic conditions which has pretty much harmed the middle class in favor of a divide between the extremely rich and the extremely poor. The only difference between the Trump Platform and the Sanders Platform is the enemy they aim at... Trump aims at outsiders to the great nation. Sanders aims at the corrupt bourgeoisie who control the nation.
So long as the middle class in America is in decline, there will be more like Trump and Sanders, and eventually one of them, either a fascist or an actual communist, will win an election if the situation does not improve. It's already too late for the Republicans, but the Democrats have a chance to nip the revolution in the bud by taking on some of Sanders' political platform and working with him and other progressives to keep some sense of order.
Wizard Needs Food Badly![]()
Because in terms of gubernatorial elections, the Democrats are pretty much dead. To take back the House, the Democrats need governors to gerrymander districts in their favor, and it looks like we aren't getting any (and might be losing some in 2016). Plus, specific to Massachusetts, appointing Elizabeth Warren to a Cabinet-position of any kind is completely out of the question while Baker is there to put a Republican in that vacancy.
Not really news but saw this about a Republican senator "praying" Psalm 109.8 toward President Obama
. As the article discusses, it is a popular meme in far right Christian circles. For those who don't know, it starts out "may his days be few" but then goes on to wish that the subject's wife be widowed and children orphaned- and that those children live a life of such deprivation that they do not go on to reproduce.
Cheerful stuff.
It's sort of a Getting Crap Past the Radar in that people like the Senator will refer to the Psalm or just quote the first line.
One other reason I bring it up is that this meme is sort of Older Than They Think- it shows up in M.R. James' story "An Uncommon Prayer Book", wherein this Lady Sadler had a prayer book made that sarcastically has this Psalm in honor of Oliver Cromwell. What's kind of funny though is that the story (while not necessarily sympathetic to Cromwell) implies this was an evil and blasphemous thing to do.
edited 10th Jun '16 9:14:48 AM by Hodor2
@Fighteer: Thank you! I think a major problem with politics these days is the tendency to flanderize the other party as a monolithic evil. In fact, I'd argue this is why Trump has half the supporters he does-the Democrats are viewed as a monolithic evil. Trump is a Lighter Shade Of Black to them-the Imperium of Man to their Tyranids, if you will. I'd also argue there's a sort of "cry wolf effect" caused by stereotyping that's blinded the Republican party. The right tends to dismiss claims of bigotry due to an assumption that the left just calls their opponents bigots on principle.
Leviticus 19:34He'll be a talking head on Faux, probably ghost write a book, maybe start his own talk radio program.
If the stars align and we offer up enough bad hair pieces to the Elder Gods, maybe he'll go to prison for fraud.
edited 10th Jun '16 10:14:05 AM by Rationalinsanity
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.The Southern Strategy pretty much exhausted all credibility that they aren't, and their reactions to SSM, Trans rights, BLM, etc, don't help their case either.
New Survey coming this weekend!His behavior has made it normal to sling slurs and mockery based on race and religion. Kids are mimicking what the adults do.
Jesus.
Hillary's going to have a tough job ahead of her. This isn't going to end in November, even in the best-case scenario where Trump loses and somehow grows enough maturity to let it go, make no fuss, and go home. Hillary's first job as President is going to be to bring America back from the brink of madness Trump's put us on and undo the damage he's caused to literally decades of civil rights momentum.
Revolution.
n. a forcible overthrow of a government or social order in favor of a new system.
Sanders and Trump have both garnered a lot of attention from violent folks because the word "revolution" is something a lot of people in America have been waiting for. There's a bunch of people eagerly looking forward to a Second American Revolution in which they get to whip out their guns, water the tree of liberty in the blood of patriots and tyrants, and be admired as heroes.
When you start throwing "revolution" around in your campaign and talking about how the system is broken, these people pop their heads out of their gopher holes and go, "Is it time? We finally doing this? Hey guys, they're saying it's time!"
I've been hearing Second American Revolution crap since the Bush presidency, when people were certain that Bush was going to abolish elections and declare himself Pope-Emperor of America, and they were all getting ready for the inevitable climactic battle where the heroic champions of the Second Amendment must duke it out the Holy Death-Army. I'm sure it's been going on for longer; that's just the point I first started paying attention to politics.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Hrm. I keep seeing more and more people saying they'll write in Bernie's name on the ballot in November, or that they'll vote for Jill Stein, just because they have some weird hatred of Hillary. God damn it Sanders, when you tell everyone that you're the only honest candidate and that Hillary is in the pocket of the banks and wall street, they're going to cost us the election.
Can someone please show me proof that Hillary can still win without these people?
He's probably going to slink away into seclusion and nurse his bruised ego.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Or throw a fit about how the system is rigged and rally his fanbase around "the TRUE President".
"First, the crooked system handed Hillary the primary when it was clear that everyone in the Democratic party wanted Sanders to face me, and now her cheating got her the general! Are we going to stand for these obviously crooked shenanigans?"
edited 10th Jun '16 10:49:01 AM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.When Obama was winning by electoral college in 2012, Trump called for an armed takeover of the United States. Thankfully he shut up when Obama got the popular vote too.
edited 10th Jun '16 10:49:19 AM by Discar
Writing a post-post apocalypse LitRPG on RR. Also fanfic stuff.As much as I'd like to see Trump's humiliating downfall as soon as possible, I'm kind of worried/expecting that the Republican Party is ultimately going to back him in full force, especially if he's smart enough (which he probably is) to keep saying negative things about the Clintons and not say anything glaringly racist.

And swerving right is pointless in the long game.
There will be disgruntled Republicans who would hold their noses and vote for her now. But that doesn't mean they will vote for Democratic Congressmen two years later. Let alone vote for her 4 years later