The Politics Thread

[DRW50]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/house-speaker-mike-johnson-had-a-love-fest-with-a-far-right-zionist-group

Mike Johnson's virulently anti-lgbt screed in a fundraising letter earlier today is another example of how much his longstanding loathing and activism against queer people is present and thriving, no matter how many Beltway reports tell us how "easygoing" he is.

[Khan]

Mike Johnson is so in the closet, it's not even funny.

[JaneAusten]

I'm wondering thoughts on here.

I'm generally a glass half full kind of person and generally tend to be an optimistic person. 

So I want to be honest. I am worried about 2024 as it relates to Biden. Don't get me wrong.  He's exceeded my expectations by 1000%. But I think there just might be too much damage to have to worry about deflecting or answering for.  

First is what's happening with Ukraine and some of the information surfacing is that they were pushed into a war with Russia when they were close to a peace deal. And now it looks like NATO and the US are going to abandon them.

Israel is the other one and I don't know how there is going to be a resolution there. 

Last item are gas prices which we know the Saudis will orchestrate slowing production so gas prices increase right before the election.

I am slowly coming to the conclusion Biden should not run.  That said then who and how? So many things remind me of 1968 with johnson.

[DRW50]

I do think inflation and gas prices are something that have become so overused by the media that we almost forget they do have an effect. 

The heavy astorturfing and trying to con young voters and left wing voters into not voting for Democrats because of Palestine (huge efforts in Michigan in particular to brainwash voters on this topic) also make me wary. Longtime GOP operatives are getting the red carpet from the press and from the "progressive" left as they go around Dearborn saying to never support Biden.

I also don't really feel like Biden should run again. Unfortunately I also don't think there is anyone else (I think Gavin Newsom has a glass jaw and Kamala Harris would lose as so many have a deep, irrational hatred of her rooting in so many flavors of sexism and racism), so I'm just gearing up to expect the worst next year, as I always do. I've been proven wrong before, so hopefully I will be again.

Edited December 7, 2023 by DRW50

[DramatistDreamer]

Russia’s latest propaganda project is utterly bizarre. This is a gift article.

Russia’s Latest Disinformation Tactic Exploits American Celebrities

[marceline]

I don't know when people decided that the Democratic base shouldn't be allowed to choose our nominee, especially when our nominee is the incumbent. Why are people acting like the Democratic base doesn't exist? We already beat Trump once. We can do it again. I don't mean this to you personally but do you have any idea how insulting it as a Black woman and active Democrat to have people act like they can just throw away the man we put in the White House? Do you expect us to do that work then sit by and watch people replace our nominee? Anyway...

All this talk about Ukraine and Israel ignores a basic fact about the American electorate: they don't care about foreign policy. We have an enormously selfish electorate that for the most part simply doesn't care about the rest of the world. We were in Afghanistan for 20 years and no one gave a damn. And as the wars continue, Americans will only care less. As long as we don't have to put boots on the ground, they don't care.

Also, as much as the press wants to ignore it, next year is all about abortion. Every election is about abortion until the composition of SCOTUS changes. Ignore the polls and look at the actual elections. Dems have been sweeping special elections. Andy Bashear got re-elected in Kentucky. Ohio made abortion a constitutional right and as of yesterday we have legal weed. Voters in Pennsylvania swept out an entire school board full of right wingers. We are winning and people act like we're not.

Dems have the money, the energy, and actual policies to run on. We just have to stay focused and do the work.

[Khan]

Democrats have long had what I call a "Chicken Little complex."  To us, the sky is always falling, no matter what.  We could win every single election between now and next November - heck, we could keep the WH and take back the House! - and we'll still be convinced that our party is on the verge of collapse.

This is why I have learned to ignore the polls, ignore the media, ignore the naysayers and doom-and-gloomers on social media and ignore the grifters on the far-left who keep telling us that Biden is too old and feeble to run again.  Because, they have their agenda - namely, to make us Democrats feel like less than dirt - and the more seeds of doubt they sow in voters' mind about Biden's capabilities, the more they succeed.

In other news, I'm moving to Ohio, because if I have to survive all the idiots on the left AND the right, I might as well do it where I can stay high 24/7.

Edited December 8, 2023 by Khan

[Vee]

It's the truth. Most people offline just don't care about foreign policy. They do care about abortion. I've seen nothing to change that and frankly neither has the Beltway, which is why so many stories are run to try to change the narrative and handicap Biden. The horserace is all, and they do miss Trump.

Edited December 8, 2023 by Vee

[Khan]

I agree.  Most people in the world agree that Trump is one of the worst human beings ever to live.  Nevertheless, the man sells newspapers and magazines and boosts TV ratings, because people just. Can't. Stop. Talking about him.

(Now I know how white radio listeners felt when stations started having "Bee Gees Free Weekends.")

[marceline]

What I've seen here in Ohio - where we've had two actual elections - showed me that the press is wrong about everything.

I really want people to understand how epic it is that this state has spent the year fighting back.

 

Edited December 9, 2023 by marceline

[Wendy]

And a stark reminder of just why Democrats keep over-performing in elections: The Christo-Fascist right-wing Texas Supreme Court - at the urging of criminal Texas AG Ken Paxton - has blocked the ruling of a lower court judge who allowed a Texas woman, carrying a fetus with Trisomy-18 and certain to die, an abortion.

And doctors have stated if this is not done, the woman could lose fertility, face sepsis, and worse.

Instead, a criminal AG and the Texas Taliban are in control. (The stay is "temporary", with "no regards to the merits of the case", meaning this is ongoing, but no time line was given for when the stay would be revisited, and the woman is already 20 weeks along.)

In the end? THIS is what is driving voting turnout, and the media is frantic to try to shrug off abortion because Dump means money.

But so far, it's not working. And may that continue. And may this story above keep in the headlines to remind so many just what is at stake if the GQP and/or Trump prevails again.

Edited December 10, 2023 by Wendy

[Vee]

They've wishcasted so hard for it to go away ever since Dobbs (in large part because most Beltway journalists on the coasts feel no one they care for will be materially affected by this or anything Republicans do). It is not going to go away.

[I Am A Swede]

I read about that case, and it makes me sick.

We're not at that point here, yet. But we're on our way. The far-right is on the rise all over Europe, and even though I don't think the abortion issue has taken any prominent place in the political discourse it's there in the background and anyone who thinks otherwise is sadly mistaken. Here the major talking points are xenophobia and the increasing racism we're seeing.

[Khan]

As someone who believes that freedoms of speech and of the press are the bedrocks of a true democracy, I am heartbroken to see what has become of the so-called "fourth estate" in this country, as the media is corrupted more and more by dollars.  There was a time when you could count on journalists reporting the facts while simultaneously speaking truth to power, but no more.  Now, it's all about what raises the numbers, or what gets the most clicks or likes online.  In the process, the media is delivering this country straight into the hands of fascists on a [!@#$%^&*] silver platter.

America owes you an apology, Paddy Chayefsky.  We thought you were being ridiculous when you wrote this movie.  We didn't know you were, in fact, warning us about the future.

 

So, they're gonna jeopardize a woman's health and life, to protect a fetus that probably will die anyway.

Why doesn't the GOP admit that this is not about protecting unborn lives, but controlling women's bodies?

Edited December 9, 2023 by Khan

[Ponds]

She should move to one of the West Coast States and never go back to Texas again!