The Politics Thread

[quartermainefan]

I think this is explained by something I said a while back: America as a culture tends to hate women. When the choice became the black man vs the white woman, two different prejudices collided and we see which won out. If it is Hillary vs Christie it will be the woman vs another prejudice and I think we will see the woman win. Just look at who does the news, acts in tv shows, who is even in studio audiences of tv shows handpicked by the producers to be right by the camera: thin people. I don't think Christie can win at his current weight and his positions are beside the point. There has been no obese president in the electronic age, why would there be one now? He is going to go on camera and look cosmetically bad next to whoever his opponent is, and it will be a Kennedy vs Nixon moment.

Hillary has her own problems. She should take some voice lessons and lower it an octave. Thatcher had a very deep voice and I suspect the deeper the voice the easier it is for politician to win.

[DRW50]

Given the news of yet another school shooting earlier today, I thought this was an interesting article. It's on how the NRA won.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/15/magazine/inside-the-power-of-the-nra.html?_r=0

Edited December 14, 2013 by DRW50

[DRW50]

What a surprise that the woman hyped as being new and different for Fox News is actually just an idiotic, blundering race-baiter.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/12/14/megyn_kelly_on_santa_being_white_it_was_tongue_in_cheek.html

[marceline]

I consider the fact that the loathsome, hate-mongering shrew had to backtrack - even as poorly as she did it - to be the real victory.

[DRW50]

Apparently people who objected just don't have a sense of humor.

What gets me is that she actually was very serious. There was no "joking."

[ThePrinceOfSunspear]

Happy to see that NJ Democrats are finally digging in Chris Christie and exposing this bully for what he truly is...a loudmouth who yells to get what he wants and then throws tantrums when people disagree with him until he gets his way.

He won't play well in Iowa and a lot of states throughout the nation. Of that I'm certain. And only by the grace of Sheldon Adelson and zillionaires will he ever get the nomination.

[juppiter]

Christie has really disappointed me. I thought he was a different Republican, but the George Washington Bridge scandal paints him in an extremely ugly light. He is willing to use the government to settle personal scores. Just what we need, another Nixon.

[Huntress]

This movement against homophobia is currently the hottest topic in German media: Straight male celebrities kissing each other in front of the camera.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/12/mundpropoganda-german-gq_n_4432878.html

https://www.facebook.com/gqmundpropaganda

Could a campaign like this happen in the US as well?

[DRW50]

That's a good campaign. I can't see that happening here, sadly.

The news out of India is so distressing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/12/world/asia/court-restores-indias-ban-on-gay-sex.html?_r=0

[quartermainefan]

Obama calling up Billie Jean King to head the Olympic delegation was genius. There literally is no one else who can make the point the way she can.

[quartermainefan]

He won't get the nomination. First he is from NJ and republicans only tolerate you if you are from the south or west (except Mitt Romney but they were desperate). Then he is unlikable and unfriendly and comes off as angry, and no one wants an angry president. Third he is obese, and the track record of obese presidential candidates since the advent of TV speaks for itself. His bigmouth combative style is perfect for the NY tristate area, but nowhere else in the country. This guy, Rudy, Ed Koch, Bloomberg...these guys all make for great press comments and they have their sights set high, but America wants no part of it.

[marceline]

Christie was never different. He was just at the lower end of the crazy scale mainly. Any Republican who is really different i.e. John Huntsman get purged from the party. The only reason Christie isn't a complete pariah is because he's in charge of a state above the Mason-Dixon line. Remember we're talking about a party that began to turn on him because he placed a higher priority on taking care of his state and residents after Sandy than snubbing Barack Obama. Think about that. To these Republicans the fact that Christie didn't behave like a sociopath made him a RINO.

The only hope for the GOP to regain any measure of sanity is to stand up to the crazies but they can't even really do that because the very gerrymandering they did to disenfranchise others now puts moderates and electable Republicans at a disadvantage. I would enjoy watching them suffer the consequences of their arrogance and corruption if the rest of us didn't have to suffer with them.

[Max]

For those of you who don't know, this is a continuation of a conversation that began on the Status Updates. Wingwalker thought it looked bad for UT to legalize gay marriage before MI, and sarcastically wondered if AL would do the same. Marceline then trashed her home state of OH for being homophobic and then called it a "shithole." I responded that it made little sense to be so critical towards a state that voted for Obama twice. Marceline then stated:

First of all, before the left talks about how bad hatred of Obama is, maybe they need to stop the hypocrisy, since they also hate plenty of politicians from the opposite party (e.g., Bush, Cheney, Romney, and Ryan). Anybody who rises to such a high level will be hated by the other side, and it's because of his views (and possibly because of his tactics/personality), not his race. For instance, the hatred against President Clinton was so intense that people accused him and Hillary of murdering Vincent Foster (a charge much worse than the birtherism absurdity). (Note: I just want to make clear that Marceline did not say anything about race in our heated disagreement. I am mentioning it though because there seems to be a belief that Obama is subject to extra intense hatred because of his race.)

I have no problem with people believing that banning gay marriage is a form of homophobia. What I have a major problem with, however, is the tremendous double standard that let Obama and every other Democrat off the hook for opposing gay marriage (prior to "evolving" in 2012) while demonizing Republicans for holding the same views on the matter.

Marceline, I am sorry about my point about OH twice voting for Obama was lost for you (in fairness to you, there wasn't much room for me to elaborate), but here's why I (1) don't understand why a liberal should criticize such a state and (2) think it is a bad idea for progressives to do so. First off, from a liberal perspective, there should be such gratitude to OH for giving its many electoral votes to Obama (regardless of the states other "flaws"). States like OH, FL, VA, and PA are absolutely critical in presidential elections. Second, it is an awful idea to criticize such a state, because it could be easily interpreted as an insult to independents (in OH) who voted for Obama in 08 & 12. I know that you're just one person on a message board, but if there is enough criticism from the liberal base, it will make it so hard to win OH in future elections. Obviously, hardcore progressives prefer the politics of states such as CA, MA, NY, and VT, but those states don't add up to 270 electoral votes.

Given the above logic, I am all the more puzzled why Wingwalker would criticize MI. Yes, I know the state doesn't pass the progressive purity test, but MI is still a solidly Democratic state and hasn't voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 1988. It at least makes sense for a liberal to condemn UT and AL (just as conservatives do the same for the ultra liberal states), but it does stand in contrast to a certain stirring speech given at the 2004 Democratic National Convention where a politician said he was about bridging the red state/blue state divide.

Edited December 21, 2013 by Max

[Max]

Because my previous post was so long, I want to continue my thoughts in a second post.

All My Shadows wrote (in the Status Updates):

Again, a liberal hating LA actually makes sense, and expressing such sentiments won't harm future Democratic presidential candidates. I live in NJ, so I suppose that "I have more of a right" than you to say that NJ is a shithole (despite the fact that gay marriage is legal). NJ, of course, is one of the most Democratic states in the country, and we have massive corruption and sky high taxes and unemployment. Of course, we did elect Chris Christie--every liberal's favorite Republican (until he actually became a serious presidential contender)--but (despite the hype) he has accomplished very little. Part of this is due to the fact that the legislature is controlled by Democrats, and the other part is that Christie has been running for president ever since he became governor (thus taking time away from the job he was elected to do).

I am not at all surprised that liberals have turned on Christie now that he is a serious threat. (After all, the exact same thing happened with John McCain, and you can bet the very same thing would happen with Jon Huntsman.) Perhaps some need to be reminded at just how gushing the left's praise for Christie once was. For instance, take a look at this article, in which Jennifer Granholm stated that Christie was her new favorite Republican:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1012/83119.html#ixzz2AzRAqXKS

I also remember Chris Matthews being "so glad" that Hurricane Sandy occurred:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/07/chris-matthews-hurricane-sandy-storm_n_2089216.html

Juppiter, I'll be honest with you and say that it would not surprise me in the least if the GWB scandal accusations against Christie were true, given that he is such a vindictive SOB. (Since there is no concrete proof, however, this scandal won't currently hurt his chances, which obviously is also the case with Hillary and Benghazi.) To be consistent--in as much as a pattern exists whereby Christie acts with the bests interest of himself in mind--I really believe that he acted so over-the-top with Obama during Sandy so as to boost his chances in 2016 as well. (I would have had no problem if he had shaken President Obama's hand and thanked him for his help, but the hug was uncalled for, and certainly not needed to get federal aid to hurricane victims. Furthermore, Christie's no dummy; he knew that the optics would really help the Obama campaign.) The hug boosted his presidential chances in two ways: First, it killed any remaining chance of Romney winning the election. (Given the final election results of a Romney four point loss, Mitt would have lost even without the hug. However, I believe that the huge positive press Obama got from the hug and lavish Christie praise boosted his victory by 1.5 to 2 points.) And secondly, the Obama photo-op turned Christie's 50-something approvals into over 70%, resulting in a 2013 landslide re-election victory.

I waited a long time to state my belief that Christie's Obama/Sandy behavior was deliberately designed to hurt Romney and help Christie, but I knew if I stated it earlier (back when Christie was a "good Republican") it would immediately be dismissed. I know that even now some will dismiss my critique (as perhaps a "paranoid" belief that the right holds), but I have also stated my belief that Christie may very well have sought revenge against the Fort Lee, NJ mayor (who refused to endorse him for re-election) by ordering lane closings on the George Washington Bridge (which may be a "paranoid" belief that the left holds). My underlying belief is that Christie is a self-serving piece of s#it who should be trusted by neither the right nor the left.

Edited December 21, 2013 by Max

[DRW50]

This is a pretty interesting, lengthy article, about the life and times of the "welfare queen" Ronald Reagan railed against in his 1976 and 1980 campaigns. She had a long and complicated history of crime, most of it reading like one of those Lifetime TV-movies.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history/2013/12/linda_taylor_welfare_queen_ronald_reagan_made_her_a_notorious_american_villain.html

Edited December 23, 2013 by DRW50