The Politics Thread

[Gray Bunny]

 

 

They should've been creative and wrote 27, in reference to the $27 average contribution  

[marceline]

I'm torn. He's my governor and I'm more than happy to keep his sorry carcass out of the state but I'm sick of Ohio taxpayers footing the bill for his security.

 

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2016/02/09/travel-fund-john-kasich-security-tops-350k/80048046/

[Juliajms]

I think any one of the Republican's will be tougher than Bernie. Bernie basically gave Hillary a pass on the email. Hell, he ran an ad defending her against Trump's sexism in Iowa. Christie is not the only mean person in this race. Not by a long shot. Trump would have a lot to say about the past scandals as he already has.

 

Sure, people are always coming for the Clinton's, but that's because the Clinton's keep giving them things to come after. They don't get a pass just because they've always got a scandal of some kind brewing. It gets old even for those of us who are on their side. Personally, one of the things I've appreciated about no drama Obama is not wondering what craziness I was going to wake up to every morning.

Edited February 9, 2016 by Juliajms

[ThePrinceOfSunspear]

Clinton in a general election against any Republican won't be a cake walk but I think she'd prevail. Yes it would get ugly (esp if it's Trump) but I think she can handle it.

 

Bernie Sanders may not have any baggage at all but he'll be a total disaster for democrats and up and down the ballot. His policies are a total fantasy. 

Edited February 10, 2016 by ThePrinceOfSunspear

[quartermainefan]

Clinton will need a better premise than "your silly naive dreams can't win.  Vote for the depressing facts of life and vote for me."  
 

I imagine Hillary will still win, but all Bernie has to do is make inroads in minority communities, not win them outright.   It would be a fascinating election if Sanders vs Trump, certainly one for the history books. 

[Soapsuds]

More like a nightmare. 

[ThePrinceOfSunspear]

Lol...it would be an effing circus. IF not for the disappointment and sadness I'd feel over Hillary losing I'd be all for it. The problem is that you end up with President Trump or President Bernie....

 

The Clinton support among African Americans is strong...I for one won't betray them. Virginia is HILLARYCOUNTRY. Chris Matthews and that witch Rachel Maddow will continue to hate and doubt but her speech fired me up and I know she's in the game for the long haul. And with my bae Robby Mook behind her I know she's gonna do it.

Edited February 10, 2016 by ThePrinceOfSunspear

[Juliajms]

Especially since whichever Democrat wins, they are going have to do a hell of a lot of compromising to get anything at all done.  The best thing Hillary Clinton said to rebut Bernie for me was "I'm not going to raise your taxes to pay for Donald Trump's kid's to go to college".  Thank you. Still,  it doesn't matter because no one is getting free college through. At best one of them might get increased grants for poor kids. That's as likely to be Bernie as HRC, imo.

[DRW50]

 

Didn't Chris Matthews just give a gushy interview with her not long ago? Some of her donors are supporting his wife's Congressional campaign.

 

I don't think the basics have changed - I think that she will get the nomination as Bernie Sanders has done nothing to draw an audience beyond white college kids and big white liberals - but I do think she and her campaign have repeatedly shown how much they're going to struggle going into a general election. She isn't good at finding a message or at responding clearly to attacks. And that's going to hurt her. 

 

As for the GOP side, I wasn't expecting media darling Marco to be that far down the rankings, but I imagine this will be spun as ripe for a comeback, as he is still more of an appealing establishment candidate than Kasich or Jeb. That debate actually did him and his campaign a big favor, but the question is if he can actually change. He's a pampered pretty little doll who breaks once he's taken out of the china cabinet. Fortunately for him, in a year like this that may not matter.

Edited February 10, 2016 by DRW50

[DramatistDreamer]

Bernie Sanders is in Harlem today, which should be interesting since downown Harlem was once the location of Bill Clinton's office.  I have thoughts but I'm going to hold my tongue and juust wait to see how this goes...

[marceline]

What did Rachel do? She just did what seems to be a very thoughtful interview with Hillary. (Disclaimer: I haven't watched the whole thing so maybe it went south at some point.)

 

It will be interesting to see what happens when the blacks and browns get to start voting. If it goes the way I suspect, it will be interesting to see the Berniacs add racism to their rampant online misogyny. We already got a taste of it when the BLM activists interrupted his speech. That's when we started seeing a lot of that "why don't the coloreds realize how great he is?" condescension.

Edited February 10, 2016 by marceline

[Juliajms]

At least Sanders has come out and disavowed his sexist followers. Hillary was up on stage with her cronies telling women that there's a special place in hell for them if they don't fall in line. Not sure how it gets more condescending than that. Sanders can't control a few dozen online nutters, nor is he responsible for them,  but Hillary can control the message on her own stage.  Too bad she was smiling, clapping and agreeing.  I won't really let it turn me against HRC, when the threat of Trump and Cruz looms, but it was a ridiculous blunder.

[ThePrinceOfSunspear]

Rachel like most of the MSNBC hosts likes to downplay the enthusiasm of Hillary's crowds and supporters. She tried to belittle her speech. And then throughout the night they were trying to make Sanders victory (which I won't deny the margin was pretty big) as something extraordinary. I mean the guy is from the state right next door. He's running on a ridiculous platform that of course appeals to those who just don't give a dam about the budget.

 

In short I find Rachael Maddow to the be the worst and I fully understand why conservatives loathe her. She's not fair at all. 

 

Madeline Albright has been saying that for decades...and its meant to provoke reaction which is what it did. And frankly I think its hilarious. And depending on the circumstances it might even be true. 

 

I think the main point her and others are making is that the younger generations (and this is applicable to gay rights and civil rights) just don't feel the same intensity or passion as the original founders do. We've never had to experience the level of struggle that previous generations had to endure. For my part I fully understand what my forebearers went thru and I respect the hell out of them. Because of people like Rosa Parks or Harvey Milk, I don't face the same type of open blatant racism or homophobia that I might have had to deal with back then. But others may not fully comprehend that hurt or the ramifications of that type of experience. So its hard for people like Albright to see these young girls running around screaming "Bernie!" when for the first time in a long ass time we have the first viable female presidential candidate.

Edited February 10, 2016 by ThePrinceOfSunspear

[marceline]

 

When you said this I thought he was just doing a campaign visit. I didn't realize he was meeting with Al Sharpton. Ugh. 

 

Unfortunately that's the reality with the current generation. The young women don't know what it's like to not be able to get a credit card on their own or need men to co-sign a mortgage. They don't know what it's like to simply not be able to get an abortion. They take these things for granted. The same was true for young black people until recently but I think seeing the reaction to Obama's election woke a lot of them up. It's the irony of having made great strides that the people who benefit most from them don't recognize them as such.

 

I do wish we could get away from talking about Hillary in terms of her gender. I'm not supporting her because she's a woman just like I'm not disgusted with Bernie because he's a man. I'm judging them on their words and actions and on who I think can get more done. It's interesting that Ted Nugent has gone anti-Semitic. I think we'll see more of that the longer Bernie stays in the race. I'm dreading a whole "blacks vs. jews" thing.

Edited February 10, 2016 by marceline

[marceline]

Both Christie and Fiorina dropping out on the same day? Perfection.