The Politics Thread

[DRW50]

Maybe this will finally get liberals to stop oohing and aahing over this misogynist blowhard.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/bill-maher-rand-paul-2016

[Max]

DRW, I am not surprised in the least that Maher would support Rand over Hillary. The anti-war left (of which Maher is a part) still hasn't "forgiven" Hillary for her Iraq War vote, and they have long been attracted to isolationists such as the Pauls. Single issue voters (or even those voters for whom staying out of wars is the #1 issue) will be willing to cross party lines if the candidate in the other party is far more appealing on their issue (despite the fact that they would agree with Hillary on many other things).

But with some on the far-left, the appeal of Paul over Hillary isn't just because of foreign policy. They also don't like her ties to big corporations, while they actually agree with the Tea Party's willingness to stand up to the corporate wing of the GOP. That being said, I don't think that Rand is electable against Hillary, because the number of independents he will alienate will be greater than the number of discontented liberals that he will attract.

[DRW50]

In the last primary night of this election year, scandal-plagued MA Dem John Tierney somewhat unexpectedly lost to Shane Moulton. The idea was that Moulton would do well and make it a real race, but most thought TIerney would pull through and then retire in 2016.

http://www.gloucestertimes.com/news/article_c4d883e4-38f4-11e4-aa6c-001a4bcf887a.html

Moulton is 35, which perhaps means more people who aren't entrenched in DC and out of touch with the real world are going to have a voice now.

Interesting article from a few days ago.

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2014/09/05/seth-moulton-curious-case-john-tierney/

[Max]

What most intrigues me about the MA primaries is why the Dems were foolish enough to nominate Martha Coakley for governor.

[DRW50]

She wasn't the choice of the establishment. I guess she just knew what her campaign should be. The results were much closer than expected so that may not bode well for November.

There's been a lot of talk in their papers about how this election every Democrat running statewide but one is a woman or a gay man. So I do wonder if that may get any backlash.

Edited September 11, 2014 by DRW50

[marceline]

I don't think Maher has been considered a liberal darling in ages. I know some of the leftiest lefties who ever left-ed and most of them think Maher is basically a dick who occasionally/frequently makes good points. Personally, I kind of wrote him off after he got all butthurt on Rush Limbaugh's behalf because he thought it wasn't fair for us to contact sponsors after the Sandra Fluke comments. It became clear then that he's he's just another hypocrite who loves the power of free speech but doesn't want to deal with the consequences of using it poorly.

Edited September 12, 2014 by marceline

[ellabelle]

^ This, pretty much. I'm very much a liberal Democrat, and "a dick who occasionally makes good points" is how I'd describe Maher. Some of my libertarian friends really like him.

[DRW50]

When I went to sites like Daily Kos some of the people there would go gaga over him. I'm not sure if that's the case now, but the belief that he's somehow "brave" enough to speak the truth, and his being an atheist, etc. tends to give him a free pass among some. I think some people see him as cool or hip.

He's always kind of made my skin crawl.

[marceline]

It may make me a terrible person but I am going to enjoy every minute of what is clearly going to be a lengthy and embarrassing meltdown on the part of Mark Sanford.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/09/12/mark-sanford-s-epic-facebook-overshare.html

I just want to give him a bottle of vodka, cue up Carl Thomas' "So Emotional" and get this show going.

[DRW50]

I read some of that. How tacky to keep mentioning God when you're whining about how you can't marry your mistress because the pressure is just so tough.

Gerrymandering has meant that clowns keep getting put back in. It's disgusting. Like this horrible person.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_DesJarlais

[DRW50]

Disgusting. And frightening that these people have such ties to power.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/chris-murphy-cory-gardner-sandy-hook-truther-event

[marceline]

I think it's pretty obvious Sanford has a serious personality disorders. The grandiosity, narcissism, inability to acknowledge the affect his behavior has on other people, unwillingness to accept consequences, etc... I'd be fascinated to see what he'd be diagnosed with by a real mental health professional.

[I Am A Swede]

What a nightmare!

We've had parliamentary elections here in Sweden today, and the results spell chaos! The Swedish Democrats, a party with its origin in racist and neo-nazi movements have received 13% of the votes, the reigning right-wing parties have all lost a lot of ground while the left-wing parties have only made minor gains. It's going to be very difficult to get a functioning government. Neither the right nor the left wants anything to do with the Swedish Democrats, but at the same time the four parties that have governed Sweden the last 8 years are very unwilling to co-operate with the Social Democrats. It's a complete mess, and I think we're in for a bumpy ride.....

[ThePrinceOfSunspear]

Quietly it might be best for the Democratic nominee if the Republicans do take over the Senate in November...it makes much more easier to paint and tag the dysfunction in Washington on the Republican Party and their eventual nominee. Esp if it ends up being a Republican Senator such as Cruz, Paul, or Rubio.

That being sad I still don't want that to happen cuz I wouldn't be able to choose which Democratic Senators to sacrifice.....if up to me it'd probably be Begich and Pryor since I love Landrieu and Kagan.

[quartermainefan]

I forget who it was on this forum that was basically telling me I was delusional when I said antisemitism was on the rise in Europe. Europe is a festering mess of right wing wannabe nazis just lurking waiting for an opportunity to come out and play.