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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Also Gore and Romney. They were just sort of materialising in the centre of every conversation, no matter how unrelated to the election. Now, maybe they're not quite as meme-tastic as Trump, but how about this: what if McCain had won? Would we still be talking about Obama? Because Obama was huge in the 'net at the time - easily the top topic of conversation for the entire duration of the campaign.
My guess is that we wouldn't be talking about Obama a whole lot. Obviously he'd be a fairly senior figure in the Democrat party and famous because of that, but by 2010 he wouldn't have been the primary topic of conversation even when people were talking specifically about the Democrats.
Trump is more "viral" and so on - basically more controversial, and thus more interesting (and, let's face it, funnier) - than any other recent politician, but that's not going to be in the headlines two years from now. The comparison to Palin is a good one: remember how freaking weird and hilarious it was that she was on the ticket? Still, we don't talk/joke about her all that much these days. I'd suggest that even if the ticket had been reversed - with her as the Presidential candidate and McCain for VP - we'd still have sort of mostly forgotten about her by now.
Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.![]()
Donald Trump was a fad, too. He became popular (very briefly) back in The '80s, and has somehow managed to stick around for the last thirty years, no matter how much we would like for him to go away!
He came back in the 00's with The Apprentice and "You're fired" memes but the whole beef with Rosie O'Donnell gave everyone a taste of his true colors. I remember my parents remarking on how thin-skinned he was. For the anti-Hillary people who believe he's overacting in order to hand her the election, no, he's always acted like that.
http://election.scholastic.com/vote/
Just for fun: The Scholastic (as in the kids' magazine) had a mock election. Clinton won 52% - 35%. In their electoral college/state votes, only about 16 states went red, and Washington, D.C. itself went third party.
Hmm...that's pretty interesting. I wonder if that means that there's a disconnect between kids and their parents in states like Idaho and South Carolina.
Anyone here know why that might be?
Oh God! Natural light!We got confirmation that Ecuador did cut off Assange's Internet because he was trying to influence the US election
I'm pretty sure no Latin American nation wants to be in a position where they can be accused of messing with American elections, since they really don't want sustained negative American attention. They've had that and it didn't turn out well for them.
Also, people keep accusing Ecuador of interfering with Assange's 1st amendment rights. Ecuador's constitution was only written in 2008 so it doesn't actually have any amendments, but it's first article states that Ecuador is a republic where sovereignty rests with the citizens, pretty much. So, no, Ecuador is not violating the constitution, because only the Ecuadorian constitution applies in Ecuadorian territory, and they are not interfering with their own existence as a Republic.
edited 18th Oct '16 7:06:23 PM by Zendervai
Precisely what I was thinking - none of this is subject to the U.S. Constitution.
Unfortunately, it would seem many Americans forget that America does not, in fact, own the world.
Oh God! Natural light!To be honest, if I had more time I'd write an article for my student paper or something about political news/issues, that [i]aren't[/i] about Trump and this childish mess of an election. Because there's really a ton of other things going on that I feel aren't really getting the attention they deserve, all because some jerk with a reality show thought he could be president.
Edit: Okay, to be fair, the Republican Party has been a mess for a while now. Refusing to accept Obama's Supreme Court nominee stands out especially as being super fucking childish.
totally unrelated to the thread: Hey, that Twitter link is from Eric Geller! He's on some Star Wars podcasts I listen to.
edited 18th Oct '16 7:17:00 PM by Pseudopartition
In fairness, the news cycle always drops everything else the month before a Presidential election.
Regarding Ecuador and Assange, they undoubtedly are taking the prudent course of not being seen to abet an attempt by Russia to suborn American democracy through a proxy housed in their embassy. Slow Clap.
edited 18th Oct '16 7:18:41 PM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"re: cutting Assange's internet access, what exactly does that accomplish? Wikileaks (as pointed out by the official statement) can still do everything they do, it's just Assange personally that weigh in on Twitter or whatever. It seems like an odd decision on their part, honestly. They've put up with Assange for years to supposedly protect him from US attempts to silence him based on his political journalism... only for Ecuador to prevent him from doing his political journalism during a US presidential election season? That whole thing is just bizarre.
edited 18th Oct '16 7:25:10 PM by NativeJovian
Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.Given how things are heating up between the US and Russia I imagine Equador is covering their ass so they don't get caught in the crossfire. At most, this is a gesture; it won't actually stop Wikileaks but it demonstrates Equador is willing to act in good faith toward us.
Also, what Assange has been doing lately is a pretty poor excuse for "journalisim".
edited 18th Oct '16 8:18:40 PM by Elle
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The funny thing is that nobody on the Democrats' side has so much as hinted at trying to silence his "political journalism" that I know of. I don't even think there are any statutes under which he could be arrested. Libel, maybe, but that'd be a major stretch given how broadly the First Amendment is applied when it comes to journalism.
I suppose that when you live in a state of constant paranoia, you start believing the bogeymen you conjure up to justify your fears.
edited 18th Oct '16 8:20:55 PM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Foreign inference in their elections is something Americans can get a bit psychotic about, even if there wasn't any truth to it. So I can understand why Ecuador would want to pre-empt any such accusations.
Also, @the kids voting map: It's interesting to me that Iowa, and Iowa alone, has the kids favouring Trump and the adults (currently) favouring Clinton. And, on a separate note, I do have to commend the aesthetic taste of the collective conscious of American Youth, though- they produced a really nice looking map. A stripe of red down the middle, with blue on either side.
Dean Obama?
Arch-chancellor Obama?
Do US unis have Arch-chancellors?
Obama is already a former law professor. He taught Constitutional Law from 1996-2004. The GOP tried to frame him as an out-of-touch ivory tower academic back when he was running for president.
I'm sure there are hundreds of people by now who regularly called him Professor Obama when he was their teacher.
edited 18th Oct '16 9:06:48 PM by Clarste
A thought that hit me: As had been mentioned many a time, the GOP has, for decades now, been trying and failing to discredit Hillary Clinton. I've started to wonder now, after all this time, how many of those Republicans are just cynically maneuvering, how many believed their claims from the start, and how many have been at it so long they've started Believing Their Own Lies

edited 18th Oct '16 5:53:36 PM by DrunkenNordmann
We learn from history that we do not learn from history