The Politics Thread

[Wendy]

Bad things happen in politics, then the news cycle finds a new shiny object, and on to the next.

Look, I realize the right has perfected immoral outrage and lies du jour, but if we highlight every misadventure, every burp, we'll all end up in the mental ward. All we can do, realistically, is vote as if the country's life depends upon it. It does.

And we just ride this out until the next Big Thing. Because there will be plenty more.

[marceline]

This a bit of happy news.

 

[Vee]

 

[marceline]

It's been amazing to watch the disconnect between the GOP/press and the American people. You can tell they had a very simple and predictable narrative. This was supposed to be Biden's Katrina. It was supposed to be the crisis that finally brought him down. You could see the Cilizzas and Scarboroughs salivating at the thought.

But the truth is 1.) America hasn't cared about Afghanistan in years except when people can use it as a slogan and 2.) Americans, especially veterans, trust Joe Biden. 

 

[AdelaideCate007]

I know a lot of military and foreign service/UN workers and they're all thrilled it's over. A lot of them are worried about the women and refugees, but say it was always going to end this way. The media is extremely wrong on this one.

[JaneAusten]

They're wrong on so much.

If anyone actually reported on the Afghanistan Papers that WAPO published they would see what a cluster*uck this has been since the beginning.  The media ignored that - gee can't imagine why. They have too many "unnamed sources" they never apparently fact check at the Pentagon.   We all remember the debacle of WMD's in Iraq. Nicole Wallace was the only one I know of in the MSM that acknowledged that Biden's speech yesterday would land well with most Americans. It did.

This just makes me throw even more money at independent news publications. We have a great one locally in Chicago that has done some phenomenal reporting.  Establishment journalists are sellouts and fans of chasing the latest shiny object.

[DaytimeFan]

Yes, that is the consensus with everyone I know who is informed, including a family member who did 2 tours of duty in Afghanistan. 

[DRW50]

Sadly, it's not even just the media - it's also warmongers in the party (even though Menendez was heavily bailed out by Democratic leadership, especially in 2018). They will throw us all under the bus for the sake of "above it all" posturing and defense contractors.

 

[Wendy]

And it still won't mean jack schitt to the average American, Carl. This is the usual kabuki theater. It's what self-important politicians do.

[DRW50]

Bipartisan and media dogpiling that stretches on for months and into an election year will have some type of effect, not just on this issue but possibly on all Biden's plans - whether it just ends up going into the already likely losses or causes more, we'll have to see. It depends on whether the gutless people in the party who mostly exist based on whether or not NATO says mean things about us while taking our money hand over fist. 

This type of huffing and puffing tends to get reaction in the richer suburban districts which flipped due to Trump,  and are starting to flip back in some  cases (this one is a special case as there was a former Democrat on the ballot as a third party spoiler, so whether it's a harbinger, there's no way to know yet). 

 

[JaneAusten]

Yeah I am going to wait on those so called ":Rich" suburban districts where people are finally getting fed up with the anti maskers and Governors ripping money away from their schools because they are requiring kids to wear masks. 70% of people want masks and that's an awful lot of suburban districts.  Despite the hyperventilating over Afghanistan, COVID is still the major issue. Our Governor put a mask mandate in place for schools here in Illinois and I am still worried about it. We have the same nuts in these suburban school districts here who are raising a stink over it insisting their kids won't mask up and making fools of themselves at School Board Meetings.

[DramatistDreamer]

The most interesting aspect of this Op-ed is the reminder that the Taliban have already been governing swaths of Afghanistan for years.

 

[DRW50]

It's not a surprise how quickly the sociopathic and self-loathing Republicans who have destroyed this country fall behind their masters, but it's still pathetic:

Biden's drop in approval ratings (7 points per the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll) is more of an example of how the middle also tend to fall for these games, and why Democrats will probably continue to be easily attacked and suffer in the eyes of the public. This thread sums it up:

 

[Vee]

The middle is not going to care for long, and those polls will recover from last weekend's images. As others have said, it's still strong approval for leaving and will bump right back up. Wringing our hands over every single poll and automatically assuming 'the GOP wins again!' is pointless when it often simply is not happening.

[marceline]

Let's revisit Afghanistan polling in a week.