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tricksterson Never Trust from Behind you with an icepick Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
Never Trust
#241426: May 7th 2018 at 7:02:58 AM

[up][up] Or, to coin a phrase, I didn't leave the Republican Party, it left me.

Trump delenda est
Larkmarn Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Hello, I love you
#241427: May 7th 2018 at 7:14:10 AM

[up] I'm stealing that.

Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#241428: May 7th 2018 at 7:18:56 AM

Didn't Regan already coin the phrase re: the Democrats?

edited 7th May '18 7:19:04 AM by sgamer82

AmbarSonofDeshar Since: Jan, 2010
#241429: May 7th 2018 at 7:28:36 AM

"Essentially" that's questionable - to me and to Wikipedia "Young Turks" is principally the group that succeeded the Ottomans and gave Turkey much of its present structure, the Armenian genocide is perhaps the second not the first thing they are known for.

Excuse me? The Young Turks didn't succeed the Ottomans. They were Ottoman. The triumvirate of Enver, Talaat, and Cemal took power in 1913 and held it until the empire collapsed at the end of World War I. That's the regime that the term is indelibly associated with.

Mustafa Kemal is the one who took power after World War I and the fall of the Ottomans, and while he was a former member of the CUP he was never a member of the ruling Young Turk coalition—Enver disliked him too much for that, which is why he's stuck in a divisional command when WWI breaks out.

Crediting the Young Turks with modernizing Turkey is like crediting the Nazis for getting us to the moon. The fact that former member or members were involved doesn't mean the organization as a whole gets any credit for it.

Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#241430: May 7th 2018 at 7:28:36 AM

Yes that's a repurposed quote from Reagan, which makes it delightfully ironic.

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#241431: May 7th 2018 at 7:30:40 AM

"It left me" is actually from Zell Miller, Senator of Georgia in 2000-2005 and very conservative despite being a Democrat.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#241432: May 7th 2018 at 7:39:02 AM

Interesting.

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#241433: May 7th 2018 at 7:47:11 AM

My favorite tweet from today has to be this one:

The 13 Angry Democrats in charge of the Russian Witch Hunt are starting to find out that there is a Court System in place that actually protects people from injustice...and just wait ‘till the Courts get to see your unrevealed Conflicts of Interest!

13 angry Democrats!

edited 7th May '18 7:47:25 AM by megaeliz

ironballs16 Since: Jul, 2009 Relationship Status: Owner of a lonely heart
#241434: May 7th 2018 at 7:59:55 AM

Ugh, as if the Democrats needed this sort of controversy.

Levi Tilleman, a Democratic candidate in Colorado hoping to unseat Republican Mike Coffman, recorded a conversation in which Minority Whip Steven Hoyer told him to drop out of the Primary in favor of Jason Crow.

The secretly taped audio recording, released here for the first time, reveals how senior Democratic officials have worked to crush competitive primaries and steer political resources, money, and other support to hand-picked candidates in key races across the country, long before the party publicly announces a preference. The invisible assistance boosts the preferred candidate in fundraising and endorsements, and then that fundraising success and those endorsements are used to justify national party support. Meanwhile, opponents of the party’s unspoken pick are driven into paranoia, wondering if they are merely imagining that unseen hands are working against them.

Hoyer bluntly told Tillemann that it wasn’t his imagination, and that mobilizing support for one Democratic candidate over another in a primary isn’t unusual. Rep. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., chair of the DCCC, has a “policy that early on, we’d try to agree on a candidate who we thought could win the general and give the candidate all the help we could give them,” Hoyer told Tillemann matter-of-factly.

“Yeah, I’m for Crow,” Hoyer explained. “I am for Crow because a judgment was made very early on. I didn’t know Crow. I didn’t participate in the decision. But a decision was made early on by the Colorado delegation,” he said, referencing the three House Democrats elected from Colorado.

“So your position is, a decision was made very early on before voters had a say, and that’s fine because the DCCC knows better than the voters of the 6th Congressional District, and we should line up behind that candidate,” asked Tillemann during the conversation.

“That’s certainly a consequence of our decision,” responded Hoyer.

“Staying out of primaries sounds small-D democratic, very intellectual, and very interesting,” said Hoyer. “But if you stay out of primaries, and somebody wins in the primary who can’t possibly win in the general,” the Maryland representative said, citing the surprise victory of Democrat Doug Jones over Republican Roy Moore in the Alabama Senate election, “I’m not saying you’re that person.” But staying out of primaries, he argued, is “not very smart strategy.”

Shit like this, especially after the contentious Presidential Primary, doesn't help the optics for the Democrats, and I've seen it myself in regards to my own district. Dana Balter managed to secure the nomination from all 4 County chairs, but the DCCC has proclaimed support for Juanita Perez, despite her entering the race very late in the process and having a surprising number of signatures deemed invalid, though enough to qualify for the Primary ballot.

And for what it's worth, I've actually met with reps from Balter's campaign - not one from Perez' has visited my County, to my knowledge, and ours tends to be the "make or break" area of the District, though Syracuse gets the most attention for obvious reasons.

edited 7th May '18 8:00:30 AM by ironballs16

"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"
NativeJovian Jupiterian Local from Orlando, FL Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Maxing my social links
Jupiterian Local
#241435: May 7th 2018 at 8:07:48 AM

Politicians play politics. News at 11.

Seriously, this sort of thing is not a scandal. The Democratic Party is not a neutral third party with no interest in the primary results. They want to win the general election, and they're going to make decisions based on that. There's absolutely nothing wrong with this, and acting like there is is just shitstirring.

edited 7th May '18 8:09:24 AM by NativeJovian

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.
ironballs16 Since: Jul, 2009 Relationship Status: Owner of a lonely heart
#241436: May 7th 2018 at 8:12:25 AM

[up]

I realize that - but that's why I said the optics of it are particularly bad, as people are still up-in-arms over the "establishment" doing so; so the DCCC might actually be shooting its candidate(s) in the foot by pulling this sort of stunt. That said, I'd be lying if I said it didn't bother me - I didn't like Balter going on about being the "true Progressive" after that news broke, but nor do I like the idea of the parties playing Kingmaker even if it's how it's always been done. Appeal to Tradition holds as much water for me as Because I Said So.

edited 7th May '18 8:16:56 AM by ironballs16

"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"
NativeJovian Jupiterian Local from Orlando, FL Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Maxing my social links
Jupiterian Local
#241437: May 7th 2018 at 8:23:42 AM

I never said that it was okay because that's always how it's been done. I said it's okay because the Democratic Party has a vested interest in its own primary. The idea that the Party aparatas should stand aside as a purely neutral position without favoring one candidate over another is an unwarranted assumption. Why the hell shouldn't the Party have an opinion for who they want running under their ticket?

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.
DrunkenNordmann from Exile Since: May, 2015
#241438: May 7th 2018 at 8:26:45 AM

[up]

Why the hell shouldn't the Party have an opinion for who they want running under their ticket?
Which is actually how it's handled across the pond - if you're not a registered party member, you have no business running for them in any capacity.

We learn from history that we do not learn from history
SciFiSlasher from Absolutely none of your business. Since: Dec, 2011 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
#241439: May 7th 2018 at 8:30:15 AM

Dallas restaurant that supports gun control receives shooting and arson threats after NRA tells supporters to boycott it.

"We’ve had people calling and say they’re going to shoot the place up, one that implied he would be burning us down today. Ridiculous people," Joe Groves, owner of Ellen's restaurant, told Buzz Feed.

"Somehow the hated have to walk a tightrope, while those who hate do not."
Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#241440: May 7th 2018 at 8:31:51 AM

This is certainly harmless and bad optics, but outside of its effect on the local race (whatever that may be) I think I'm going to withhold judgement on its importance until I see a larger impact. Because this is exactly the sort of thing that I can imagine having little effect on the national stage.

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
TheWildWestPyro from Seattle, WA Since: Sep, 2012 Relationship Status: Healthy, deeply-felt respect for this here Shotgun
TerminusEst from the Land of Winter and Stars Since: Feb, 2010
#241442: May 7th 2018 at 10:56:33 AM

Oliver North to be NRA's new president

Washington (CNN) - Oliver North, the Fox News contributor and central figure in the Iran-Contra scandal, will be the National Rifle Association's new president, the group announced Monday.

"Oliver North is, hands down, the absolute best choice to lead our NRA Board, to fully engage with our members, and to unflinchingly stand and fight for the great freedoms he has defended his entire life," NRA executive vice president and CEO Wayne La Pierre said in a statement on the pick. In his statement, La Pierre compared North favorably to Charlton Heston, the Hollywood icon who was once president of the group. North will become president "within a few weeks," the group said. He will retire from his position at Fox News.

There's something so...deeply ironic about this I can't even...

edited 7th May '18 10:57:17 AM by TerminusEst

Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#241443: May 7th 2018 at 10:57:38 AM

[up]Oliver North is, hands down, the absolute best choice to lead our NRA Board,

May I add, "He embodies the sort of integrity, honor, and values which the NRA stands for."

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#241444: May 7th 2018 at 10:58:27 AM

Why? North has nothing to his name beyond being the Iran-Contra fall guy.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
TerminusEst from the Land of Winter and Stars Since: Feb, 2010
#241445: May 7th 2018 at 10:59:45 AM

[up]

Probably due to his military service and his willingness to kind of commit treason.

edited 7th May '18 10:59:53 AM by TerminusEst

Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele
archonspeaks Since: Jun, 2013
#241446: May 7th 2018 at 11:00:41 AM

Right Wing views are inhenrently bigoted, right?

Repeating this over and over again doesn’t make it any less wrong. You can’t generalize the entire political right based simply on the American far right.

[up]x5 What those people don’t really understand is that the reason gun rights are being scrutinized so much is the NRA itself. The NRA has taken a zero tolerance, scorched earth approach to gun legislation and its coming back to bite them.

edited 7th May '18 11:01:15 AM by archonspeaks

They should have sent a poet.
LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#241447: May 7th 2018 at 11:03:28 AM

Right-wing/social conservative views definitely seem more predisposed to bigotry, but I don't think they inherently have to go together, and the opposite (more left-wing automatically equals less bigoted) certainly isn't true.

sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#241448: May 7th 2018 at 11:05:18 AM

It it were Bernie Sanders would have a lot fewer problems about being "tone deaf".


What The Fuck Just Happened Today, Day 473: Fighting back.

I'm on the tail end if my lunch break so I can't do my usual full dump this time.

edited 7th May '18 11:08:45 AM by sgamer82

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#241449: May 7th 2018 at 11:08:14 AM

[up]Why? North has nothing to his name beyond being the Iran-Contra fall guy.

North is actually a fairly famous figure for multiple things aside from the Iran Contra fall guy.

Basically, he's a VOLUNTARY fall guy and did so for Reagan so he's become a Martyr of the Far Right who took the fall to protect his president.

He's also the guy responsible for a huge number of murderous black ops.

Oliver is also a known Confederate apologist and famously wrapped himself in the stars and bars.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1994/10/04/oliver-north-and-the-confederate-flag/1116e284-0b6c-4893-81ed-e41e21bc7218/?utm_term=.264166571f41

edited 7th May '18 11:09:29 AM by CharlesPhipps

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
Grafite Since: Apr, 2016 Relationship Status: Less than three
#241450: May 7th 2018 at 11:10:45 AM

@archonspeaks: Agree and also, the whole thing is just turning into argumentum ad nauseam. To add a counter-example, my cousin has always been sort of a Granola Girl, yet supports the right-wing party of my country (the typical pro-austerity european kind).

edited 7th May '18 2:38:53 PM by Grafite

Life is unfair...

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