The Politics Thread

[Ms. Quartermaine]

Awesome PA news! I hear what you're saying... It's not liberal in the sense that Brietbart is right-winged.

 

Meanwhile, Obama on voting turnout: If African-American voter turnout is low, Obama says, "I will consider it a personal insult. An insult to my legacy."

[Vee]

In case anyone is wondering, the explosion in Chelsea seems relatively minor: A pipe bomb, an IED, a possible gas leak or construction accident which is more common than people realize in New York. There is suspicion it could be connected to a pipe bomb in NJ earlier today. There are mostly 20-25 minor injuries, but I am not expecting 9/11 Part 2. Still sobering; used to spend a lot of time right at the site of the explosion.

Edited September 18, 2016 by Vee

[Ms. Quartermaine]

^^^ Thanks for the information.  I've just been getting bits and pieces from Twitter. Refuse to turn on the news because I'm assuming the coverage, especially on the cable networks, isn't good. 

[JaneAusten]

Yeah I had heard that tonight and the person reporting it said it was in no place noteworthy which I thought was an off comment until they said that it could be a lot of things as you said, because it didn't necessarily happen somewhere you'd expect a bomb to be planted. They did also mention a lot of the changes made in NYC after 9/11 including the street cameras so if someone planted something they'd likely have an image of that person available at some point. They did say minor injuries which is great but yeah still too close if it does turn out to have been a bomb

By the way in terms of voting, I guess they are again going to run a Rock the Vote campaign although this year they are going to call it. Ba-Rack the vote and get younger people to vote partially in honor of the first black president.  I think they did something similar in 2008 and 2012 but this effort is supposed to be more wide spread.

 

Also, Al Gore is going to be joining the campaign to help drive younger people to vote. He's well known as an environmentalist and they are going to use that aspect of his background, as younger people are mega concerned with the environment and climate change. 

[quartermainefan]

The media made Trump, it's a little late in the day for all of them to be mad that he manipulates them in his three ring circus.

 

Hillary is a sucky candidate who wouldn't know charisma if it stepped up and married her, and I think she is making a mistake not deploying Bill to the blue collar states.   He was on TV the other night on The Daily Show or something, and he was on top of his game just explaining the election in very conversational terms.  He's older now and can't rouse up a crowd the way he used to, but he can explain the issues far better than anyone.  Obama has become the better campaigner.  

 

I still think when all is said and done Hillary will win.   Yes, she has a lot going against her but even with the best few weeks Trump could have asked for he has yet to even once this entire year pull ahead.   Her ceiling seems higher than his and I have to assume the young people will come home eventually.    That debate could be the biggest tussle since Ali-Frazier, I just don't see how she will pin him down when he bobs and weaves changing his position even mid-debate.   The guy has chutzpah, I give him credit for that.   The gall to say that it was he who settled the birther issue she created was something worthy of PT Barnum.   And he says it with a straight face no less.   You have to respect the chutzpah and laugh.  She's going to have her hands full.

[marceline]

The sad truth is that even when she wins she'll still be unable to get anything done because of Congress. Unless the Dems can get a supermajority on Congress the Repubs will just keep doing what they did to Obama. That's what pisses me off so much about third party voters. They bitch about nothing getting done then do something that assures more of the same.

[DramatistDreamer]

The dumpster explosion that happened in Chelsea happened not far from the Flat Iron building, not one of the best known landmarks but a landmark building nonetheless.

There was an explosion that happened in New Jersey earlier yesterday near a race site and authorities are wondering whether there is a link. If there is some link, I wonder whether it is more along the lines of the Unibomber's playbook rather than an attack attached to any religion or 'terrorist' attack. Many may not recall this but there was also an incident that happened in Central Park a few months ago and I don't know whether the NYPD ever found out who was responsible.

Very curious times.

 

One wonders why there isn't more discussion about things like this:

 

 

 

 

Edited September 18, 2016 by DramatistDreamer

[Vee]

 

No, I don't. He's a vacuous narcissist. He's sick.

 

And I don't think it will be the same as Obama's struggle with or without the Senate, for a lot of reasons. But one of those is that Hillary is definitely not Obama. She has no compunctions about a knifefight.

Edited September 18, 2016 by Vee

[Ms. Quartermaine]

https://news.vice.com/article/were-suing-the-irs-for-audits-of-donald-trumps-tax-returns

 

Vice News (are they a respected new site?) is suing IRS for Trump' audits of Trump's tax returns.

 

They are also asking the FBI for any documents that may exist regarding Trump's 2nd Ammendment comment and encouraging Russia to get Hillary emails. 

Edited September 18, 2016 by Ms. Quartermaine

[Chris B]

That is very interesting from Vice and yes that is a respected site to my knowledge. Just thinking about their main point, can you imagine a scenario where he wins and then somehow his taxes leak and everything said is proven to be true about him? It would be frightening, not because it's shocking, but because people fell for his lies when they had the truth in front of their face. He is one of the most transparently dishonest people ever covered by the media, yet you still have many people who support him and a network (Fox News) that can somehow create 24 hour coverage that spins the things he does into a positive. It's sick and shocking.

[Ms. Quartermaine]

I just heard a couple kids shout my name from outside (I'm in the library at work - I'm a middle school teacher), and then one kid in a DONALD TRUMP mask waved at me... WTF is going on... She literally just raised my heart rate with that terrifying mask.

 

Debate 1 Topics: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Csvm1bVWAAA59ps.jpg:large

 

Someone on Twitter joked that Holt forgot to list, "Make America Great Again."

 

Edited September 19, 2016 by Ms. Quartermaine

[JaneAusten]

Anyone who isn't following needs to follow @Propane_Jane on twitter. She has an interesting perspective on how nothing has really changed in terms of demographics for this election other than less white voters, more minorities and more Latinos. Clinton is actually polling 11 points higher with Latino voters than Obama did in 2012.

 

Her perspective is interesting in that the people voting for Trump are the same people who have voted GOP for years. And why are people being conned by the Main Stream White Media. She says that black and latino networks and radio have been lambasting Trump for months and that as much as he seems to be riling up white voters(a shrinking demographic) he's also having the same impact on black and latino voters. In fact latino voter registration this year is higher than it was in 2012. Romney got 27% of the latino vote in 2012. Trump is polling at around 16%.

 

She doesn't get why white Clinton supporters are panicked because it's the same people who voted GOP for the past 50 years and its a shrinking demographic. She said the only thing demoralizing white liberal voters is that they blinded themselves to the racism that has existed in the GOP for years and why expect voters to change because the candidate is openly racist. The GOP has been racist for years. And as always, voter turnout is key. She thinks based on Trump's rhetoric the minority turnout is going to be higher than even under Obama 2008. Plus the demographics have shifted since 2008 - more minority voters.

[DramatistDreamer]

A few months ago, I read that Muslim voters have been registering in droves, so that'll be interesting, won't it?

 

I also read that Democrats had lost some White voters but these were Democrats in name only that have been voting Republican for many years and over the last election cycle decided to make it official and register as Republicans.

 

That same article (or perhaps a different one) mentioned the number of Latino voters and immigrants who had become newly registered.

I'm not sure if all the hand-wringing about possible voter apathy among African-American/Black voters is supposition or fact-based but no one I know believes that Trump could ever be good for their finances or their personal safety nor have they bought his fake outreach. Many of us are exasperated by the media coverage and wish to tune in as little as humanly possible (while still remaining informed) until the election. Also, me personally, I think while there is still our current President in the White House, one that I really like, I'm not ready to ignore Obama and make this season all about this election nonstop. I think when the day comes, registered Afro-Am voters will get out there and vote and it won't be for Trump.

[Ms. Quartermaine]

A daughter of Robert Kennedy, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, said in a Facebook post that former Republican President George H.W. Bush told her he's voting for -- wait for it -- Hillary Clinton.

 

Townsend, a Democrat who served as Maryland lieutenant governor for eight years and goes by Hartington online, posted a photo with the former president to Facebook: "The President told me he's voting for Hillary!!" wrote Kennedy Townsend, a niece of President John F. Kennedy.

 

Jim McGrath, a spokesman for Bush, did not confirm nor deny the claim.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/19/politics/george-hw-bush-voting-hillary-clinton/index.html

[DRW50]

What a silly thing to say publicly. No wonder she lost that 2002 election so easily.