The Politics Thread

[ThePrinceOfSunspear]

He's selling books and lots of them...and he's probably writing the next book as I type this.

 

This is all about filling his coffers and in a way I can't hate on his game. If it weren't for the fact that he's so shameless and totally embarrassing himself plus black people I'd admire it. 

[DRW50]

That's a big part of it. The other part is pride. He was incensed at Ted Cruz's camp spreading rumors that he was dropping out after Iowa. 

 

I'm surprised to see some Beltway media, like Chris Cilizza, actually saying that McConnell made a big political mistake with how he handled replacing Scalia. I don't agree, but I wish I did.

 

And here's this dumbass:

 

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/02/15/3749689/rand-paul-scalia-supreme-court-obama-nominee/

 

I can't help being a bit amused that Scalia's passing has saved unions:

 

http://gawker.com/by-dying-antonin-scalia-saves-public-sector-unions-1759175874

 

Well, they always said Jesus was a liberal.

[DramatistDreamer]

I hope people realize that the GOP Senators' strategy of delaying Obama's nomination picks is neither new nor is it just about the Supreme Court.  They've been blocking Obama's picks to lower courts, mainly the appellate court since 2013.  Obama probably has the lowest number of lower court judges appointed of any President in modern U.S. history.  It's well known that the appellate courts are often a stepping stone to consideration to the Supreme Court, which is why Republicans have conspired to block even pre-approval of judges for consideration. 

Just how long are these stall tactics supposed to be tolerated?

 

E.T.A- Obama has had more success appointing judges at the District Court level.  And in the Appeals court, I misspoke, he actually has made up some ground and has had made slightly more appointments than Clinton but still less than Bush but this is still due to Republicans systematically blocking any hint of a nominee- case in point, Obama still lags way behind both Clinton and Bush in regional judges appointed.

Edited February 16, 2016 by DramatistDreamer

[DRW50]

Wow at this treacly prose over media darling Marco...even by Politico standards. How embarrassing, if not surprising, that he can have a huge comeback by saying, "Look mommy, I did well in the debate!"

 

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/marco-rubio-south-carolina-219310

 

Meanwhile, it's morning in Vancouver:

 

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/marco-rubio-morning-again-ad-vancouver

[DramatistDreamer]

I saw that Morning in Vancouver thing earlier this morning on a news segment.  Pretty lazy and sloppy by the Rubio campaign.

[marceline]

Lazy and sloppy is pretty much the definition of Marco Rubio.

[Juliajms]

I enjoyed President Obama's press conference today. He really went in on the Republicans for being science deniers. Saying the American people are too sensible to elect Trump. Then pointing out that Rubio put forward an immigration bill and is now running away from it as fast as he can. If only he had named Rubio directly it would have been even better.

[ThePrinceOfSunspear]

I know Dubya wasn't the greatest president and let himself get swallowed up in Dick Cheney's bs but watching and listening to him campaign for Jeb I honestly couldn't help but feel little twinge of empathy and fondness for the man. Regardless of his decisions I do believe he thought he was doing the best he could to protect our country  And more than that I think he's a decent human being/guy. I mean not once to this very day have I heard him say one negative critical word about President Obama. He's truly a class act despite that Texan accent and his wife Laura seems very sweet as well. 

 

But poor Jeb..despite all that good will it's not looking good at all for him down in South Carolina. I really wonder if he wants to go all the way to Florida and be embarrassed in his own home state after losing SC as well...

[marceline]

I despised Bush as a politician but never really as a person. He was weak and not too bright but I don't think of him as morally bankrupt like I do Cheney, Rumsfeld, and/or the dearly departed Scalia. I can think of several times he managed to break through my brittle little shell for a minute or two: that weird moment when he was touring Africa and started dancing on stage, his quick reflexes when that shoe came at him, but especially the photos I saw of him at his daughter's weddings. Plus I've always adored Laura Bush. If you like her I recommend watching the video the Bushes did for the Ice Bucket Challenge. She's got a flair for comedy.

 

 

Not just unions. There's a bunch of politically motivated cases on the docket that conservatives basically engineered so that the conservative SCOTUS cabal could destroy them: the contraception mandate, challenges to Obama immigration actions, a Texas redistricting case, etc... a lot of them will be dead in the water. This also might mean that Former Gov. Bob McDonnell might finally have to serve his time because he was appealing his case to the SCOTUS.

 

As far as I'm concerned, the GOP can drag their feet on confirmation as long as they want.

Edited February 17, 2016 by marceline

[DRW50]

Just ugh. Even if a woman said it, there's no need to repeat it.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/02/17/sanders-surrogate-killer-mike-sparks-controversy-with-uterus-comment-at-atlanta-rally/?tid=pm_politics_pop_b

[Juliajms]

Yeah, that was a bad one for Sanders. Both these camps are having some trouble with their "surrogates". I like it better when they aren't attacking each other. Let the Republicans continue to destroy each other while looking completely unhinged, while Clinton and Sanders stay civil. 

[Juliajms]

This cartoon made me laugh, especially the pope holding up the cross like he's confronting Satan.

http://www.politico.com/gallery/2016/02/matt-wuerker-political-cartoons-february-2016-002194?slide=0

[quartermainefan]

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[DramatistDreamer]

I don't think that it's a coincidence that Trump's latest poll numbers in SC have shown a noticeable drop.  In SC the evangelicals may far outnumber the Catholics but they don't call Charleston the "Holy City" for nothing!  The idea of a politician tangling and trying to put down the Pope (especially one as popular as Pope Francis) is an aspect that many South Carolinians probably find distasteful.  

 

Trump's numbers dropping are no surprise but the numbers in SC speak very loudly and there seems to be a correlation between his remarks in response to the Pope's statement.  Trump is still leading but his lead in SC is not nearly as wide as it once was.

[DRW50]

That cartoon is hilarious.

 

Some think it will help Trump in SC, but who knows.

 

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/donald-trump-pope-south-carolina-219462?lo=ap_c1

 

I think SC was never going to be big for him, and I doubt his W-bashing helped either. Jeb may not be popular there, but it's not a state that's likely to hate on a former conservative God-fearing President.