Political Discussion Thread (With Rules)

[Cygnia]

Mitt Romney, John McCain And The Myth Of The 'Good Republicans'

Quote

Even beyond his ties to Trump (remember how he lusted after becoming Trump’s Secretary of State), Romney showed himself as no hero. This is a vulture capitalist in its most pure form, willing to upend the lives of the working class so he could pose with his private equity bros. Romney, a self-described “severe conservative” filled his 2012 presidential campaigns with endless lies, claiming that Obama called those killed at Benghazi “bumps” on the road and lamenting Obama’s decision to quit the Iraq War (for Romney, thousands of Americans dead for George W. Bush’s lies were not enough, he wanted more).

The pattern is the same with the late John McCain, who mocked the notion that there should be abortion available in instances where the life of the mother was threatened, sung rapturously about bombing Iran, and was happy to campaign with another bigoted goon — Sarah Palin — when he seemed on the verge of presidential success.

And George W. Bush? The butcher of Baghdad. The man who lied us into a war, let the man responsible for 9/11 escape, installed religious ideologues in the government, watched on as Katrina drowned Blacks in New Orleans, tried to pass a constitutional amendment to block same-sex marriage, pushed to disqualify Black voters, and —oh— helped to set in motion the Great Recession.

That isn’t even getting into the major Republican figures of the last two decades who tore down America while propping up the conservative movement: Newt Gingrich, Paul Ryan, Tom DeLay, John Boehner, and convicted pedophile Dennis Hastert, among so many others.

Trump is the leader of the modern conservative movement and the likely next presidential nominee of the Republican Party, making him the biggest symbol of the right’s rotten excess and hate. But his existence doesn’t negate what the Republican Party and conservatism has been for decades, ever since Dr. Martin Luther King warned about the dangers of Barry Goldwater in the 1964 election. Just because Trump is so terrible and particularly blunt about being terrible, doesn’t undo the damage that people like Romney, McCain, Bush and beyond have done to the country. None of these men had the fortitude to openly oppose Trump’s ascension within the ranks of the Republican Party nor did they use their positions to openly endorse the only viable alternatives to Trump in the presidency— Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020.

No, these men all went along with either Trump himself, or in the era before Trump was a major figure, the same destructive ideas and rot that are the foundations of Trumpism.

 

[Pattern Ghost]

You know what they say: The Devil you know is better than the narcissistic sociopath who wants to be dictator for life.

[unclevlad]

3 hours ago, Pattern Ghost said:

You know what they say: The Devil you know is better than the narcissistic sociopath who wants to be dictator for life.

 

Which one?

[Old Man]

Tribble, maybe?

[unclevlad]

Well, probably not.  I mean, sociopath only makes sense in the context of one's native society and culture, and we don't know how DT behaves when among the rest of the fuzzballs.

[Lord Liaden]

Well, we do have the recording of Trump showing off the classified documents he kept to his cronies. He sounded pretty much like the same a-hole as every other time.

[Pattern Ghost]

I hope you bleached your ears after hearing a recording of Trump, LL.

[death tribble]

7 hours ago, Old Man said:

Tribble, maybe?

Face facts. I could do a better job than some elected officials and I have no political background.

 

But I am touched that you think I am a sociopath. I do, however, draw the line at being called a narcissist.

[Old Man]

6 hours ago, death tribble said:

Face facts. I could do a better job than some elected officials and I have no political background.

 

I was just going off your history as NGD President, since you got rid of the elections. 

 

And don't sell yourself short, you'd be better than the overwhelming majority of elected officials. 

[Cygnia]

https://crimereads.com/face-in-the-crowd/

 

Quote

“A Face in the Crowd,” directed by Elia Kazan and written by Budd Schulberg based on his own short story, is startling in how it predicts the rise of a new type of American public personality. Years before “Network,”  “A Face in the Crowd” eerily portrays the fusion of show business and politics.

There have been a lot of political thrillers about demagogues rising to the top. “All the King’s Men,” released in 1949, does an expert job of telling this story. And besides “Network,” a handful of thrillers looking at the excesses of the media have made us think twice about what we watch and read. The 1976 film’s conceit of a network putting insincere, unbalanced and downright dishonest people on the airwaves seems quaint now. Of course, networks and cable channels would do that, we think: They do so every day.

But I can’t think of a movie that does a better job than “A Face in the Crowd” of marrying politics and media to tell the story of a poisonously dishonest man in a prominent position of trust and, yes, adoration, by the American people.

 

You don’t have to use your imagination to see that the dire predictions made by “A Face in the Crowd” more than 60 years ago have become reality. We all know the “news” channels that would readily make a spot on their schedules for the folksy and totally insincere central character of the film. You know the political candidates who have refined this character into a platform, persona and rallying cry.

That “A Face in the Crowd” still has so much dramatic and social impact all these decades later is extraordinary.

 

[BoloOfEarth]

4 hours ago, Old Man said:

And don't sell yourself short, you'd be better than the overwhelming majority of elected officials. 

 

In fairness, a brain-damaged sloth would be better than the overwhelming majority of elected officials.  

[unclevlad]

We're saying this as the Freedom Caucus is perfectly content to force a government shutdown if they can't get everything they want.

 

[Lord Liaden]

If they do, and if the Democrats are smart (always a big "if"), they'll hammer home that a shutdown with all the consequent lost income and services to Americans, is the result of Republicans not being able to get their act together and unite their own party, except for pursuing an impeachment over wrongdoing they can't even define, much less find evidence for after years of searching.

[unclevlad]

I think forcing the impeachment hearings, which is part of the demands of the Freedom Caucus, will bring the point front and center, that it's the far right fringe that's fundamentally responsible.  Ads run by the DNC and general party PACs, not linked to any candidate, will likely hammer this, and in many places, Tuberville's blockage of all senior military promotions.  Both of these should play well on the national stage....how about "pro defense?  They let one of their number damage military readiness and endanger national security" as a message?

[Old Man]

3 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

If they do, and if the Democrats are smart (always a big "if"), they'll hammer home that a shutdown with all the consequent lost income and services to Americans, is the result of Republicans not being able to get their act together and unite their own party, except for pursuing an impeachment over wrongdoing they can't even define, much less find evidence for after years of searching.

And no Republican voter will hear any of that because they’re locked into the conservative media bubble. 

[Lord Liaden]

1 hour ago, Old Man said:

And no Republican voter will hear any of that because they’re locked into the conservative media bubble. 

 

That's not a monolith any more. Prominent Republicans are publicly rebuking the Freedom Caucus for their antics, and even admitting they don't have the evidence to impeach Biden. Tommy Tuberville has been sharply criticized by his GOP senate colleagues for holding up military promotions. Fox News have been covering these stories, and have even started asking more sharply critical questions of their Republican interviewees, calling out some of their lies and failures. Occasionally they'll even admit, with reluctance and pain, that Joe Biden has had some successes.

 

The Republican ship of state is showing cracks, and the rats have started swimming.

Edited September 16, 2023 by Lord Liaden

[Old Man]

3 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

 

That's not a monolith any more. Prominent Republicans are publicly rebuking the Freedom Caucus for their antics, and even admitting they don't have the evidence to impeach Biden. Tommy Tuberville has been sharply criticized by his GOP senate colleagues for holding up military promotions. Fox News have been covering these stories, and have even started asking more sharply critical questions of their Republican interviewees, calling out some of their lies and failures. Occasionally they'll even admit, with reluctance and pain, that Joe Biden has had some successes.

 

I hope you're right, but all I see here from the Republicans is words.  Let me know when they start to vote differently, or actually impeach and expel some of the more obviously corrupt members of Congress and the Supreme Court.

[unclevlad]

4 hours ago, Old Man said:

 

I hope you're right, but all I see here from the Republicans is words.  Let me know when they start to vote differently, or actually impeach and expel some of the more obviously corrupt members of Congress and the Supreme Court.

 

I'll settle for voting differently.  Expelling a Congressman or SC justice is, and should be, HARD.  Even just reining in the Freedom Caucus is very tough;  there are few mechanisms to cope with a bloc that prefer near-anarchy to budging on their objectives.  It's actually the opposite...only 1 member is needed to bring forth a motion to vacate the Speaker, AND, it's a privileged motion...it takes precedence over normal business.  

Until the '24 primaries kick in...they're untouchable.  First thing would be to see how many fall in their primaries.  Heck...could even say, how many face a real challenge in their primaries.  Then, for those seats that might be close to contested in November, if they make it to the general...how many lose there.  Yvette Harrell was Freedom Caucus, and very hard right...and lost in '22.

 

 

[Cygnia]

Library bomb threats prompt closings citywide, special police attention

[Lord Liaden]

So the war against knowledge and education may be turning from cold to hot.

 

"Replacement theory" is a ridiculous lie, but damned if some people don't make it sound almost appealing.

[wcw43921]

The Right-Wing Conspiracy-Fest Is More Openly Bloodthirsty Than Before

[1corpus christopher]

I recently watched a documentary series on Hulu called "Hitler: The Lost Tapes of the Third Reich" that came out this year, 2023.

 

A couple excerts from this series:

 

"I think it's hard for us to imagine someone being on trial for treason, and just less than a decade later, being made Chancellor of the country."

 

Quote of an on-camera historical expert speaking about the appointment of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany by President Von Hindenburg in 1932.

 

 

"We must make Germany Great again!"

 

 

Common used slogan words of Adolf Hitler as he was rising to power during his speeches of the mid-1920s.

 

 

i say, "No, it's not hard to imagine this Chancellor appointment today. 

 

And doesn't that slogan sound verrrry similar to someone we hear about today who's running for U.S. President again?"

Hitler was thought of as a clown by many German Nazi Party opponents until 1934, and the "Night of Long Knives" occurs. And by much of the rest of the world until 1936, when he tears up the Versailles Treaty and re-militarizes the Rhineland.

 

 

This is a phenomenon that historians call "The Underestimation Syndrome"

 

My point being:

 

Adolf Hitler did not make all those political moves on his own back in the 1920's and 30's. Nor of course the military maneuvers.

 

 

November 8-9 is the 100th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch.

[Lord Liaden]

Anyone with a passing knowledge of history can recognize what's happening in America today. It's happened a hundred times around the world over the past century. We know the signs, and we know where the road leads. The only ones not afraid of it are the ignorant, and those who actually want it.

[DShomshak]

Heck, historians of totalitarianism, such as Timothy Snyder, have been shouting warnings from the rooftops for years. See, for instance, Snyder's On Tyranny: 20 Lessons from the 20th Century.

 

Dean Shomshak

[DShomshak]

No more Florida, for one thing. Which mneans all the deranged Floridians have to go somewhere else. Uh oh!

 

Fortunately, this degree of ice melting and sea level rise is expected to take more than a c entury.

Dean Shomshak