The Politics Thread

[ThePrinceOfSunspear]

Again I'm a Democrat and I'm not giving Sanford a pass. I'm just saying that his situation is not nearly as bad as Anthony Weiners. The affair he engaged in was a private matter which took place within the confines of 4 walls. He didn't film a sex tape and post it to all 4 corners of the world.

As for playing the voters of South Carolina...I honestly don't see it. He apologized. Repeatedly he said that he had made a mistake, asked God for forgiveness and that he had learned his lesson. More to the point he was out and about in the district and unafraid to answer the questions that were put to him.

I think Weiner does have his wife and child to lose. If he keeps this up and embarrasses her one more time I'd hope she'd leave his butt immediately.

Again the bottom line is that Sanford didn't commit the same mistake twice. Nor did he lie about it a second time or try to mince words about a "timeline".

Edited July 30, 2013 by ThePrinceOfSunspear

[DRW50]

Bob Filner has resigned. San Diego can't catch a break with their mayors. I hope the next one will be better.

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/08/bob-filner-resignation-letter-reports-95852.html?hp=f1

[Winchester91]

2016 talk:

*We already know Hillary got the Dem nomination on lock. How about from the GOP? Scott Walker might be a good candidate. He's got Koch $$$ behind him, but struggles with name recognition. Marco Rubio can get the Latino votes for sure, and Christie pretends to be a moderate (and thus, garner some crossover appeal). Thoughts?

*Will the electorate be too pissed at Obama or would they focus their anger on the incompetents in the House?

[quartermainefan]

Obama's speech was terrible, as are so many of his speeches. "We have to send a limited response to discourage the use of chemical weapons". Yeah, that sounds like a rousing speech FDR or Churchill would have given...

I will never understand how he got this rep as a great orator. His speaking style is like a limp fish, he has no passion in anything he says, and he just blabs away in this monotone delivery.

[DRW50]

I feel like there was an assumption that people would be behind the war because it's the 'right thing to do' or because a lot of people will always support a war, or whatever, but they underestimated the number of people tired of this stuff, and they may have also wrongly assumed Republicans would go along. Not with a Democrat in the White House. If this was W they would be banning Saran Wrap because it sounds too much like Syria.

After months of breathless media coverage on how scandal-plagued politicians can still thrive, Weiner (to no one's surprise) and Spitzer are both down. Mark Sanford lucked out being in a district with people who didn't care about his past.

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/weiner-and-spitzer-lost-heres-what-we-learned-96606.html

In Colorado, the two Democratic senators who were put on the ballot for gun control legislation were recalled. Once again it looks like for all the talk of the public supporting gun control, the other side usually has the motivation and power.

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_24064007/colorado-recall-morse-says-turnout-lower-than-he

[DRW50]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/11/nyregion/luck-and-a-shrewd-strategy-fueled-de-blasios-ascension.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

[marceline]

I blame that on turnout. The right wing always does better when fewer people vote. That's why the NRA decided to go after a recall election instead of organizing against Giron in the next election. Morse was term-limited. Plus there were new voting regs that severely limited mail-in voting which a lot of the electorate uses.

The gun safety side needs to be in this for the long haul. We're not just talking about legislation, we're talking about culture change. It took decades for tobacco to lose it's grip on the culture, the same is true for guns.

[DRW50]

I feel like a lot of people hate gun violence but most people don't put in the work, compared to people who oppose gun control and make this their litmus test for everything.

[marceline]

That's very true.

[DRW50]

I also don't think Bloomberg is a good spokesperson for this.

[quartermainefan]

which shows the narrow mindedness of conservatives. "He's a jew from NY...!@#$%^&*] him."

Meanwhile the NYers see Bill Clinton and love him. They see Bloomberg and go into that "I don't want these New Yorkers telling me what to do!" bullshit.

Bloomberg is the perfect spokesman, its just prejudiced conservatives and their unamerican "real american" bullshit don't want to listen.

[DRW50]

I don't know if it's just about that, it's also his very elite image - he obviously has money and power and comes across as a rich uncle dropping in to tell the little people some type of truth he doesn't think they can understand.

[marceline]

No he's not. He should do what conservatives do and just write the checks. Let Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly be the face of this movement.

[DRW50]

Rand Paul is the cattiest senator I can remember.

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/cory-booker-mocked-by-rand-paul-96689.html?hp=l2

[quartermainefan]

I will be sorry to see Bloomberg go. He had a huge impact on this city and all the complaints that he has a mommy complex are true, but on every one of his issues he turns out to be right. The average lifespan in NYC has risen during his term. If that isn't the bottomest of bottom lines I don't know what it.