2021 Politics: The New Era

[scottydog]

If he had run for president, I might have voted for a Republican for the first time ever.

I was thinking the same thing -- a moderate Republican willing to criticize his own party and work with the other party. He'd have been a good President.

[Lupine]

^Agreed. I was saddened when the Bush Administration destroyed his credibility with the WMD speech at the UN.

[scottydog]

^Agreed. I was saddened when the Bush Administration destroyed his credibility with the WMD speech at the UN.

I was willing to overlook that gaffe. One could argue that everyone was getting bad intelligence about Saddam's alleged WMDs.

[RJDiogenes]

Everybody was getting bad intelligence about Iraq's WMDs because Iraq was doing its best to make everybody think they had WMDs. They wanted to look tough to their neighbors and didn't think the US would really do anything. Meanwhile Saddam had killed off thousands of Kurds and other friendlies, and had violated the terms of his surrender literally every day for however-many years it was. I really don't have a bunch of sympathy for him.

[RJDiogenes]

I was surprised to see this little Op Ed on CNN. It seems like I've seen more and more tidbits like this lately. Could CNN finally be wising up to the problems it's been helping to create for the last several decades? Maybe the tearing down of a statue of Thomas freakin' Jefferson has finally tipped them off that these people are a hundred yards over the rim of sanity.

[scottydog]

I was surprised to see this little Op Ed on CNN. It seems like I've seen more and more tidbits like this lately. Could CNN finally be wising up to the problems it's been helping to create for the last several decades? Maybe the tearing down of a statue of Thomas freakin' Jefferson has finally tipped them off that these people are a hundred yards over the rim of sanity.

Agree. The fact that anyone is arguing for a more "nuanced" discussion is huge progress. Don't people realize that the world is not a dichomotized right/wrong, my team/your team place?

[Lupine]

Nuance? What unholy madness is this?
But this is an increasing problem, especially as Smirconish points out at the end it just gives the far-right fuel.

[RJDiogenes]

Agree. The fact that anyone is arguing for a more "nuanced" discussion is huge progress. Don't people realize that the world is not a dichomotized right/wrong, my team/your team place?

They don't. They only realize that they are holier than thou.

Nuance? What unholy madness is this?

But this is an increasing problem, especially as Smirconish points out at the end it just gives the far-right fuel.

That's exactly it. All they do is drive Right-Wing recruitment. This is how The Donald got elected.

[scottydog]

Our Gubernatorial election is now upon us. I fear the GOP candidate Youngkin will win

[Lupine]

It's not looking good poll wise (Real Clear Politics is putting Youngkin at +1.7). McAuliffe's best hope is that there's enough "baked in" votes to overcome Youngkin's lead.

[RJDiogenes]

It seems to be very close, but they're saying that about 20% of eligible voters took advantage of early voting and that usually weighs Democratic.

Meanwhile, here's another amazing interview from CNN, with revelations that should have been obvious twenty or thirty years ago:

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/202 ... merica.cnn

This Smerconish guy is becoming interesting. It could be that CNN now has two talking heads worth listening to.

[scottydog]

^^ I'll watch that clip tomorrow - thanks.

[Lupine]

I came across mention of this guy just the other day- in reference to his book. The video isn't working right now.

[Lupine]

And a wake up call for Democrats after yesterday's election.

[RJDiogenes]

^^ Democrats are very adept at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

That link seems to be working now, at least for me. I've read the first couple of chapters of the book and it's pretty impressive so far. I've been watching the degeneration of the Left Wing with increasing horror since the early 90s, and this is the first guy to really have a grasp of the big picture in detail. I've got a couple of quibbles. First, he seems to think that it's a new phenomenon, as in the past ten years or so. Second, he denies that there's a profit motive, even while mentioning a specific influencer who gets $20k per Zoom appearance. I'll read on.

I came across mention of this guy just the other day- in reference to his book.

In a positive or negative light? It's unusual for CNN to publicize something like this.