The Politics Thread

 

I hope this is not true, but if it is true, I'm glad it's coming out now.  We'll see if there are more in the coming weeks.

 

There were attacks on "Uncle Joe" for years over behaving inappropriately with women at the swearing in ceremonies. I told myself it was just right wing hypocrisy and that it was being exaggerated. I still think that's true, but in the last few years I've started to realize more that if I was a woman and a man was treating me that way in a situation where I can't really argue, I would be upset about the experience.

11 hours ago, DRW50 said:

There were attacks on "Uncle Joe" for years over behaving inappropriately with women at the swearing in ceremonies. I told myself it was just right wing hypocrisy and that it was being exaggerated. I still think that's true, but in the last few years I've started to realize more that if I was a woman and a man was treating me that way in a situation where I can't really argue, I would be upset about the experience.

Yeah, I would be disgusted too.   Trump has nearly 20 women accusing him of grabbing them, but Democrats just don't get the same leeway, so I do see this as a potential problem.  I guess we'll see. I'm terrified of an October surprise.

We might get some leeway, though, if some of us on the left would quit participating in the Purity Olympics.

 

I'm starting to think cutthroat Berners are working BTS to pick off the other contenders and leave the field completely open for their guy (who I still say will never win against Trump, no way, no how).

53 minutes ago, Khan said:

We might get some leeway, though, if some of us on the left would quit participating in the Purity Olympics.

 

I'm starting to think cutthroat Berners are working BTS to pick off the other contenders and leave the field completely open for their guy (who I still say will never win against Trump, no way, no how).

But is it really the purity Olympics to say that stuff like this isn't ok? Maybe men could just learn to keep their hands to themselves. I hate that women might have to accept this just to be rid of a monster like Trump. And yeah, you bet I would if that's the choice, but I'm not going to like it.

 

Writing in “The Cut,” Flores said she was standing at the side of the stage at a campaign rally when she felt Biden approach her from behind and lean in to smell her hair.

“He proceeded to plant a big slow kiss on the back of my head,” Flores wrote. “My brain couldn’t process what was happening. I was embarrassed. I was shocked. I was confused.”“I couldn’t move and I couldn’t say anything. I wanted nothing more than to get Biden away from me,” she added. “My name was called and I was never happier to get on stage in front of an audience.”

1 hour ago, Khan said:

We might get some leeway, though, if some of us on the left would quit participating in the Purity Olympics.

 

I'm starting to think cutthroat Berners are working BTS to pick off the other contenders and leave the field completely open for their guy (who I still say will never win against Trump, no way, no how).

 

I agree with you, but I think there are a lot of issues with Biden that are going to exist whether they're addressed now or not. It's not the same for me as the way some of the younger candidates are being treated, like, say, Kamala Harris, who has been subjected to all kinds of racist, vicious attacks by people on the left who are clearly terrified of her.

According to news reports, the Trump cabal has decided to cut off aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

I've got no energy to discuss how stupid, cruel and blind-sighted this is.  It will not achieve his goal of deterrence of migrants, it is more likely to backfire.

Trump says he is is cutting off $500 million in aid to El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. But critics say he lacks authority to cut funds and measure will undercut efforts to stop migration north from Central America. https://t.co/sTU0dJpT3x

— Robbie Gramer (@RobbieGramer) March 30, 2019

2 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

According to news reports, the Trump cabal has decided to cut off aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

I've got no energy to discuss how stupid, cruel and blind-sighted this is.  It will not achieve his goal of deterrence of migrants, it is more likely to backfire.

Trump has a lot of policies that are in conflict with each other.  That's what happens when you rule from a place of malice and spite.

15 minutes ago, Juliajms said:

Trump has a lot of policies that are in conflict with each other.  That's what happens when you rule from a place of malice and spite.

 

Not to mention stark stupidity.

I guess we have to take these victories where we can get them.

 

A judge has ruled in favor of environmental groups in their effort to block the Trump administration’s push to reopen large portions of Arctic waters to oil drilling. https://t.co/8GpW4HrBdm

— NPR (@NPR) March 30, 2019

I feel very cynical about the Mayor Pete boomlet (I feel like some people just want to feel cool about briefly taking a look at a gay candidate even though he's otherwise very mainstream), and I am even more cynical about his canned answers (especially the one about Chick Fil A), but this response from one of Hillary's campaign people - a full two months after Pete made comments about her (comments that were not even that bad) reminds me of how narcissistic and petty the people around her often were. I did feel that her campaign over time became more and more about how awful Trump was and not about anything she could do. Some of that was only natural - she was so well known and so polarizing that many were never going to care about her policies, no matter how much she talked about them - but it was a huge drain in the last months of her campaign, and I will always feel that decisions like having Tim Kaine talk entirely about Trump during the VP debate were a mistake. The idea that her campaign can't be criticized and people need to go on and on about how outraged they are on her behalf (when it's really all about themselves) gives me Bernie vibes. I have no desire to be anywhere around that type of entitlement when so much is at stake. The part about 66,000,000 people who disagree is entitled beyond belief. I voted for Hillary, but I don't disagree with what he says. 

 

 

The idea of a fourth white man potentially taking up space in this primary (which I don't think will happen, but is a possibility of course) has brought out so much of the identity politics knife fighting. I have seen some Elizabeth Warren fans who are especially upset about his recent poll climbs and the people who praise his intellect or abilities while not having enough to say about her. I can understand that - I would say Warren is far more qualified than he will ever be - but the truth is that Warren badly damaged herself last year and that is likely always going to haunt her in this primary. Her moment has come and gone. 

She spelled Suzana wrong but I thought the gist of what she tweeted to be notable.

 

As Susana Caputova is elected Slovakia's first female president she says: "I am happy not just for the result but mainly that it is possible not to succumb to populism, to tell the truth, to raise interest without aggressive vocabulary" https://t.co/4FbcFG1crt

— Lynda Harford (@2whit2whoo) March 31, 2019

Edited March 31, 20196 yr by DramatistDreamer

I feel less cynical about Buttigieg I guess than you do @DRW50. I actually think there is an authenticity that you don't see a lot today. I actually supported him for head of the DNC along with Jehmu.Greene. I like him and I do think it's important to have a millennial on that debate stage. Andrew Yang is another one, although not a millennial, he is a gen-exer but  seems to have detailed plans on solutions he is proposing. I want to see these people on the debate stage.

 

Saying that, I agree with you entirely on Warren. I honestly feel she's close to the top of the list in terms of qualifications and ideas. And she's always IMO very authentic. Sanders gets all the oxygen in the room when it comes to progressive policies but Warren actually has them with implementation details and initiatives she actually recommended and were implemented like the Consumer Financial Protection Board. And she's far more astute IMO then he will ever be. Is she damaged? Yes. But I am hoping whoever the democrat is that may become our next president selects her as a member of their administration. Sec of State is the flashy role but she's be must more effective IMO as Sec of Treasury.

 

Yes a lot of 2016 became about Trump but I am tired of people, mostly the media, but also candidates like Biden and now Buttigieg dragging us back there by commenting on and  relitigating this.  Maybe they are not really doing it but the media seems to fixate on these comments and want to make it a wedge yet again. As a Clinton supporter who wants to move on, it's not me or many of us who don't want to move on.

 

 I get the Clinton team being annoyed.  Sure there were mistakes made by the campaign, but can we stop with the it's all Clinton's fault. It wasn't her team that refused to discuss policy, that deciding covering empty podiums at Trump rallies, salivating at the next terrible comment Trump would make about any marginalized group spending days discussing it, while poking fun at Clinton's speech in Reno on the rise of White Nationalism. She was right by the way as they all said it was overblown. So the media can f-off. And  the white men running flapping their gums over it certainly need to stop this. I don't hear any of the women or men of color making stupid remarks like this, which is just another indication of lack of awareness on the part of these white male candidates because none of it ever touches them personally. 

Edited March 31, 20196 yr by JaneAusten

34 minutes ago, JaneAusten said:

Yes a lot of 2016 became about Trump but I am tired of people, mostly the media, but also candidates like Biden and now Buttigieg dragging us back there by commenting on and  relitigating this.  Maybe they are not really doing it but the media seems to fixate on these comments and want to make it a wedge yet again. As a Clinton supporter who wants to move on, it's not me or many of us who don't want to move on.

 

 I get the Clinton team being annoyed.  Sure there were mistakes made by the campaign, but can we stop with the it's all Clinton's fault. It wasn't her team that refused to discuss policy, that deciding covering empty podiums at Trump rallies, salivating at the next terrible comment Trump would make about any marginalized group spending days discussing it, while poking fun at Clinton's speech in Reno on the rise of White Nationalism. She was right by the way as they all said it was overblown. So the media can f-off. And  the white men running flapping their gums over it certainly need to stop this. I don't hear any of the women or men of color making stupid remarks like this, which is just another indication of lack of awareness on the part of these white male candidates because none of it ever touches them personally. 

 

I can see why people who supported Clinton would be annoyed, and I agree that white men have a privilege that no one else does (and I think that is another reason so many resent and dislike Pete, because they don't feel he has done enough to accept his privilege). It's just that in this case, when the comments are brought up two months after being said, and are brought up by a white man no less, then it feels less like genuine anger on behalf of Hillary to me and more like someone either not being able to have their campaign tactics criticized, or, possibly, someone who has an issue with Pete or is more inclined to support another candidate, and chooses to make this a topic just as Pete is gaining in the polls. 

 

All he's done is just yet again expose Hillary to negative media conversation and attacks, even as she has tried to move on. It gives me bad flashbacks to the way that Bill, Mark Penn, and so many others on her two campaigns behaved. 

Edited March 31, 20196 yr by DRW50