The Politics Thread

[DramatistDreamer]

At this point, the only hope left is the Southern District of New York.

[Juliajms]

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[Khan]

Verily, I say unto y'all, I have NO idea why people expected Paul Manafort would receive a harsher prison sentence than he did.  After all, this IS America, Charlie Brown; and IN America, there are two kinds of justice: one for the rich, and one for the rest of us.  I'm just glad he'll do SOME time and not receive some wimpy probation-and-a-fine-and-maybe-community-service sentence.

[DRW50]

How do people manage to deal with this from Mika without just walking out? The smugness, the vacuousness, and worst of all, that terrifying perma-smirk from the hackwork done to her face? She is just worthless. 

 

Elizabeth Warren is a better person than me. And I'm glad that she isn't falling for the traps the media set about how much we need to respect hatemongers.

 

 

[DramatistDreamer]

 

I think that it's probably more xenophobia more than racism (although for a percentage of 'little Britain', the two are co-mingled).  Just after the referendum two years ago, I was surprised to see there were pockets of POC, a few young who voted to Leave the EU.  Admittedly, a few of them felt remorse the next day, claiming they didn't realize what they were actually voting for.

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I think the divide is also a function of region (with the Metropole London and other big cities that have diverse populations generally voting in favor or Remaining in the EU and rural and outlying areas voting to Leave)  When I speak of diversity, I don't just mean color, I mean the fact that in London and Birmingham, you can find residents who come from other parts of Europe making London and Birmingham their home.

 

Much of the Leave campaign was xenophobic, about not allowing any more Polish or Romanian migrants in to "take" jobs.  Never mind the fact that many Eastern Europeans were working in jobs that many British did not want to apply for (sandwich shops and cafés), or filled positions with the National Health Service that desperately needed filling (similar to the way that nurses and health care pros were lured from the West Indies in the late 1950s, early '60s, to the early 1970s).

 

The Leave campaign was promoted for almost as long as Britain has been in the European Union, with many of GB's most widely read tabloids propagandizing it within their pages.  Unfortunately, British tabloids became intertwined with British politics as the numbers of their former reporters have been known to join the political ranks or become very cozy with politicians.  Boris Johnson himself used to edit a tabloid.  The coverage in the tabloids was usually skewed to make Europeans from the Continent look like Barbarians At the Gate. 

Also, from my time there, I got the distinct notion that the British liked to think of themselves as distinctly apart from the rest of Europe.  They had an air of exceptionalism, similar to the way many Americans think of the U.S. as being exceptional to other countries.

Couple all this with the fact that many Conservatives/Tories sought to blame some external source for all the pain, poverty and hardship that austerity caused and you find a toxic stew of economic hardship, xenophobia, political power grabs and desperate measures (e.g. referendum).

[marceline]

It's weird watching the reaction to Beto O'Rourke declaring. It 's still amazing to watch how quickly people on the left will build someone up then tear them down.

[DRW50]

 

He missed his timing. He should have announced months ago if he wanted to run. 

 

He still would have gotten a somewhat similar reaction, probably, just because the left is so thrilled to eat its own. Everyone who has announced, aside from St. Bernie of course, has been chewed up and spat out. Many of his groupies are just awful people, and they are only a few rungs above Trump supporters. If he doesn't get the nomination I genuinely think most of them won't bother to vote, or will just vote third party. Some may even vote for Trump out of spite. 

 

I'm just damn tired of the whole thing. I don't care anymore, if I ever did. If I have any preference right now it would be Kamala Harris but I just want it over. 

[Vee]

IMO Beto should've waited. His behavior over the last few months has also been, well, stupid.

Edited March 14, 2019 by Vee

[marceline]

I didn't want Beto to run but watching the Berners lose their collective [!@#$%^&*] over him makes me glad he did. He can siphon off a lot of Bernie's youth support and anything that kneecaps Bernie is good for Dems.

[Juliajms]

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I hear that.

I imagine so. Isn't that what the Bernie Bros did last time? Hopefully, we won't need them this time.

[DramatistDreamer]

I hope Remington gets sued to the highest degree possible.  It seems money is the only way to obtain a measure of justice in America these days.

 

[DramatistDreamer]

Uh, Cory Booker is dating Rosario Dawson?  I thought he and Mindy Kaling were getting close?

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Is she still pledged to vote for Bernie?  Two candidates that seem almost to be on opposite sides of the Democratic political spectrum. Hm.

[marceline]

 

I haven't run across those people but I suspect that's because Beto's been a non-issue for me. Even during his Senate race, I pretty much ignored him. I know he has a cult around him but so do a lot of the 2020 contenders. (I think the world of Kamala Harris but the cult that has risen up around her is offputting to say the least.) The difference I see is that Beto doesn't see the Democratic Party as his enemy. Bernie does. The Berners are assholes because Bernie's an [!@#$%^&*]. His whole shtick is about appealing to white male grievance. O'Rourke is all about channeling the hopey changey/JFK vibe. If he loses, I don't see him being the vengeful little prick Bernie is.

[DRW50]

 

I was talking about Bernie supporters. Sorry for the mixup.

 

Not to be overly cynical but I just find his various romance attempts to be extremely forced.

[Khan]

 

Which is exactly what they did do in 2016, I think.  Berniebots didn't get their way, so they chose to take it out on the rest of the country.

 

I still believe letting Bernie (and his followers) have the nomination is the best course of action for the 2020 election.  If he runs against Trump and loses, then maybe -- just maybe, even if it's just a pipe dream of mine -- but maybe, his followers (and the media) will have to accept that their guy can't win elections.  

 

OTOH, if Bernie runs and actually wins, then he will HAVE to put his money where his mouth is, so to speak, and prove once and for all whether his so-called vision for this country is doable and sustainable.  Believe me, if he were to flame out as president, the rest of the country (and the world) will let him know about it.

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