The Politics Thread

[DramatistDreamer]

[DRW50]

Obama is now more popular than Reagan was at the end of his Presidency. After so many Reagan leg-humpers seething and seething and claiming Obama was ripping off their hero, this puts a smile on my face.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/07/barack-obama-is-now-viewed-more-positively-than-ronald-reagan-was-in-1988/

[DramatistDreamer]

Maybe Obama's popularity has something to do with Glenn Beck declaring that Obama has made him a better man?

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Could some of these people be trying to get their 'souls right' at the 11th Hour? What's the deal here???

 

GLENN BECK TRIES OUT DECENCY

[Juliajms]

This is a really good Vox article about the problems Trump has exposed in our democracy. I think they really nailed it.

http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/11/7/13532178/donald-trump-american-democracy-weakness

 

A narrow Trump loss is another way of saying a near Trump win. A 3-point victory for Clinton implies that if Trump were merely a bit more self-disciplined, if he had not bragged about sexual assault while wearing a microphone, if his opponent’s pneumonia had lingered a bit longer, America would be ruled by a cruel narcissist with authoritarian ambitions. It will mean that if unemployment were a few percentage points higher, if the man who murdered two police officers last week had been brown rather than white, if Trump’s odd-bedfellows alliance of Russian hackers and angry FBI agents had been a bit more effective, Trump would have won.

Perhaps, on Tuesday, we will dodge the bullet. But we will still need to understand how we came to be standing in front of a gun.

[Vee]

I think Beck is likely a savvy operator looking for a new angle now that the Blaze is going under. Arianna Huffington also changed her spots. That being said, he has been consistently anti-Trump. When his beloved Ted Cruz betrayed him, Beck's rhetoric turned increasingly sympathetic and reasonable towards the Obamas, and very very slowly perhaps towards Hillary now.

 

I don't trust him and I think he holds a share of responsibility in creating the Trumpist white supremacist movement. If Lee Atwater or George Wallace can repent then I am potentially willing to believe Beck, someday, not yet. I think he's looking out for his bottom line. But I have found myself stunned to hear him giving reasonable commentary in recent media appearances. If it is his new act he's good at it.

[DRW50]

I think Beck is both a huckster and messianic. It's much more like the '30s (which we may be back to soon enough anyway...) than most modern day shills. It makes him out of touch and confusing and also dangerous. I do think he's out of step with the Breitbart wing that now controls most of the GOP, and I wonder if he may eventually be part of a third party movement. 

[JaneAusten]

I wonder what people think is going to happen to conservatives and I mean people who are real conservatives after this election. And to me a real conservative goes back to someone like Nixon minus the racism, southern strategy, and paranoia. More like a Rockefeller type. And I do think there are many out there who do believe in less government, lower taxes, but still believe in investing in our country. I have found myself paying attention a bit more to Evan McMullin. He's obviously too conservative for me, but I do like how he talks about America first, wants to reach out to disenfranchised Americans(minorities), not that his policies necessarily jive, but I wonder if there is a place for more thoughtful reasonable conservatives.

[Vee]

If there is they have to find the balls to fight for it. Despite learning the same lesson three elections running they still can't kick the habit of being obsessed with short term wins. They're addicted to those and therefore unable to accept or expunge their racist base. Unless they're prepared to lose some elections for at least 4-8 years - and I mean more than the presidency - they'll never recover.

[dragonflies]

LOL
 

 

[Vee]

Ana Navarro, who had previously suggested she would write in anyone but Trump, is voting for Hillary.

Edited November 8, 2016 by Vee

[DramatistDreamer]

[DRW50]

 

A lot of things will be masked thanks to gerrymandering, luck (the Senate 2018 map is tough terrain for Democrats), and general anti-Clinton fervor. I guess the question is whether raging misogyny will be as potent as fear and rage toward a black man, which helped the GOP ignore their identity crisis over the last 8 years. And media involvement. The media worked overtime to push the Tea Party and try to convince voters that they weren't extreme or dangerous (even though they were), that they were just everyday people who wanted less government and lower taxes. The same is likely to spring up again now. 

 

The other question is how much power the Koch Brothers, who powered so much from 2010-2014, will have after they took a powder this year and are clearly at odds with the Breitbart wing. 

[Vee]

Bruce Springsteen is live on MSNBC. Eat it, Christie!

[Vee]

Obama and the positivity of the people.

 

Reflections from Obama staffers on their win in '08.

Edited November 8, 2016 by Vee

[Vee]

Stevie Wonder: "Voting for Trump is like asking me to drive"