2024

[Shirley]

I don’t think Reagan would have recognized what Pence represents. Pence represents the Ayottallah faction of the Republican Party - Pence being the Christian part of the Christian White Nationalism movement that dominates the Party.

I had a problem with that comparison too, and almost didn't include that summary by the makers of the video. I went ahead and posted it because imo, Reagan was the Shining Christian Light On the Hill, the realization, the tool for republicans to even more aggressively drive a wedge between Americans on the basis of religion. You couldn't be alive in the 70's and not be aware of how republican "conservatives" were actively, fervently promoting their virtuous Christian selves with the help of pricks like Jerry Falwell and the "Moral Majority". Their message was on a 24/7 loop that God was a republican, and if you weren't a republican, then you were suspect, you were lesser. You hated America, you wanted to kill babies, and you wanted to tear apart "the family" by promoting the equality of women, gays, Blacks, etc. I could go on...and on...and on... #dontgetmestarted

Fuck Mike Pence, and all the other delusional Christo-Fascist bigots who make so many American lives more difficult than they would be otherwise.

Mike Pence dropped out of the race for the GOP nomination because his campaign was going nowhere. He will be remembered mostly for voting to certify the results on January 6, 2021, but we should also remember him for being a right-wing bigot who spent most of his vice-presidency being an obsequious, sycophant to his cult leader Donald Trump.

October 29, 2023-]Mitchell Minute 1706-Mike Pence Drops Out of the Republican Primary

[DCHawk1]

Obama he ain't.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1718671488876785918

[jfish26]

Former Vice President Mike Pence suspends his 2024 presidential bid

The former vice president’s campaign never gained traction as he confronted a GOP that has moved beyond the Reagan-era conservatism he embodied.

I, personally, think he should have been required to carry his failed campaign to full-term.

[japhy]

Obama he ain't.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1718671488876785918

The kid flopped! He will play at Duke some day.

[jfish26]

young people tend to vote democrat. then they grow up. move out. get a job. pay taxes. get married. start a family. become a republican.

About that.

Millennials and Gen Z Are Tilting Left and Staying There

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/24/opin ... icans.html

There is an old saying that if you’re not a liberal when you’re young, then you have no heart, and if you’re not a conservative when you’re old, you have no brain.

The idea, of course, is that liberalism is a game for the youth and that age brings security, stability and a natural resistance to change. The upshot, in American politics, is that while most voters might start on the center-left, with Democrats, they’ll end their political journey on the center-right, with Republicans. One party represents disruption and change; the other party represents a steady hand and the status quo.

Or at least that’s the story. The reality is a little more complicated. Not only does our narrative of political change over time exaggerate the degree of rightward drift among different people as they age, but there’s also good evidence that for the youngest generations of Americans, it is hardly happening at all.

The evidence comes from a new Wall Street Journal analysis of the latest data from the General Social Survey, a comprehensive examination of American attitudes and beliefs, conducted since its creation in 1972 by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.

[...]

The case of millennial voters is where things start to get interesting. As children of Sept. 11, the war on terror and the 2008 financial crisis, millennials — born between 1981 and 1996 — entered the electorate much more Democratic than their immediate predecessors. But while they have gotten a little more conservative in the years since, it has been at a much slower rate than you’d expect.

What’s more, the gap in the number of millennials who identify as Democrats rather than Republicans is huge, with more than twice as many self-identified Democrats as Republicans. The next cohort on the roster, Gen Z, is even more liberal and Democratic than millennials and shows no indication of becoming substantially more conservative as it ages.

[...]

In addition to the events of the 2000s, there are those of the 2010s, specifically the slow and grinding recovery from the 2008 recession and the rise of a right-wing populist movement that continues to threaten the rights of many different people all over the country. The slow recovery, in particular, produced a broad dissatisfaction with life in the United States among many young people, energizing phenomena like Senator Bernie Sanders’s two campaigns for the Democratic presidential nomination and prompting many younger Americans to express their open dissatisfaction with capitalism as an economic system.

There’s something else to consider. For the past 15 years, neither the Republican Party nor political conservatism has stood for stability and a steady hand. Just the opposite: From the Tea Party onward, it has stood for chaos, disruption and instability.

People who turned 18 in 2008 lived through, over the next decade, an economic crisis that erupted during a Republican presidential administration, a government shutdown instigated by Republican legislators and a Republican presidential administration that was, from beginning to end, defined by chaos and turmoil.

Now, as they enter the middle of their fourth decade, they are witness to a Republican-led Supreme Court that has ended the constitutional right to an abortion and a Republican congressional party that is so dysfunctional that it can’t even elect a speaker of the House, rendering Congress inert at a time when it needs to act.

[...]

Millennials and Gen Zers may well age into more conservative views, but that doesn’t mean they’ll vote for Republicans. And if you want to understand the Republican Party’s growing hostility to free and fair elections — to the idea that the party should abide by the will of the majority — you should look no further than its extraordinarily poor standing with the two youngest groups of Americans.

When you’re no longer sure you can win on a level playing field, it’s harder to sustain any enthusiasm for democracy.

In other words:

young people tend to vote democrat. then they grow up. move out. get a job. pay taxes. get married. start a family. become a republican.

That’s old thinking. The math has shifted a bit. Especially now thanks to Dobbs.

[japhy]

OK, fine.....but Biden is old.

Donald Trump bragged during a campaign speech about threatening to abandon U.S. allies, even if Russia attacked one of them.

Trump appeared in Sioux City, Iowa, on Sunday. During his speech, he made a series of bizarre comments, including mistaking the city for Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and pronouncing Canada as “Canya.”

But he notably also said he had threatened to withhold U.S. military aid from NATO members unless they paid the bloc more. He said, at one point, he told member state leaders, “We’re not going to protect you any longer.”

“The head of a country stood up, said, ‘Does that mean if Russia attacks my country, you will not be there?’ That’s right, that’s what it means,” Trump said to applause. “I will not protect you.”

“And the money came!”

Trump’s refusal to step in even in the case of a Russian attack is notable considering how much he loves Russia’s leader, Vladimir Putin. Trump and Putin enjoy a particularly cozy relationship, and Trump has repeatedly praised the Russian president.

Given the fact that Republican support for the war in Ukraine is on the wane, Putin must be overjoyed that the party’s presidential front-runner is actively advocating letting Russia attack whichever countries it wants.

Trump falsely claimed throughout his presidency that the other NATO members had failed to make sufficient contributions to the alliance. In 2018, he accused other countries of owing the U.S. “a tremendous amount of money from many years back, where they’re delinquent as far as I’m concerned.”

He also threatened to withdraw the U.S. from NATO over the other countries’ supposed unpaid dues. But in reality, the U.S. has never been shortchanged by NATO allies.

“There is no ledger that maintains accounts of what countries pay and owe,” Aaron O’Connell, a former Obama administration National Security Council staffer, told NPR in 2018. “NATO is not like a club with annual membership fees.”

That fact hasn’t stopped Trump from resurrecting his NATO falsehoods during his current campaign. Trump also bragged about his threat to abandon NATO allies to Russian attacks during an early October campaign stop in Waterloo, Iowa.

[jfish26]

OK, fine.....but Biden is old.

Donald Trump bragged during a campaign speech about threatening to abandon U.S. allies, even if Russia attacked one of them.

Trump appeared in Sioux City, Iowa, on Sunday. During his speech, he made a series of bizarre comments, including mistaking the city for Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and pronouncing Canada as “Canya.”

But he notably also said he had threatened to withhold U.S. military aid from NATO members unless they paid the bloc more. He said, at one point, he told member state leaders, “We’re not going to protect you any longer.”

“The head of a country stood up, said, ‘Does that mean if Russia attacks my country, you will not be there?’ That’s right, that’s what it means,” Trump said to applause. “I will not protect you.”

“And the money came!”

Trump’s refusal to step in even in the case of a Russian attack is notable considering how much he loves Russia’s leader, Vladimir Putin. Trump and Putin enjoy a particularly cozy relationship, and Trump has repeatedly praised the Russian president.

Given the fact that Republican support for the war in Ukraine is on the wane, Putin must be overjoyed that the party’s presidential front-runner is actively advocating letting Russia attack whichever countries it wants.

Trump falsely claimed throughout his presidency that the other NATO members had failed to make sufficient contributions to the alliance. In 2018, he accused other countries of owing the U.S. “a tremendous amount of money from many years back, where they’re delinquent as far as I’m concerned.”

He also threatened to withdraw the U.S. from NATO over the other countries’ supposed unpaid dues. But in reality, the U.S. has never been shortchanged by NATO allies.

“There is no ledger that maintains accounts of what countries pay and owe,” Aaron O’Connell, a former Obama administration National Security Council staffer, told NPR in 2018. “NATO is not like a club with annual membership fees.”

That fact hasn’t stopped Trump from resurrecting his NATO falsehoods during his current campaign. Trump also bragged about his threat to abandon NATO allies to Russian attacks during an early October campaign stop in Waterloo, Iowa.

The presumptive GOP nominee for the presidency is pro-Russia, anti-NATO and anti-Israel.

But please, continue to tell me this isn't a cult.

[MICHHAWK]

it's good to remind those freeloaders that they are just that, freeloaders.

[Sparko]

Former Vice President Mike Pence suspends his 2024 presidential bid

The former vice president’s campaign never gained traction as he confronted a GOP that has moved beyond the Reagan-era conservatism he embodied.

I, personally, think he should have been required to carry his failed campaign to full-term.

Spewed coffee. Spewed.

[jfish26]

it's good to remind those freeloaders that they are just that, freeloaders.

You continue to both (1) not know the facts, and (2) not be within an area code of the point.

[KUTradition]

Kinzinger: this is a single issue election…you either support democracy or you don’t (paraphrasing)

(he also compared magamike to isis…lol)

[jfish26]

Kinzinger: this is a single issue election…you either support democracy or you don’t (paraphrasing)

He's not wrong.

Obviously we've been talking a lot about asymmetry around here, and the 2024 election is no different.

One side has historically-ordinary flaws, and is worthy of historically-ordinary criticism, skepticism and challenge.

The other side openly defies the Constitution and does not desire to follow it any longer.

This is the perniciousness of bothsides arguments: the FACT that there are worthy criticisms of both sides does NOT mean that the flaws of one side are as weighty as the flaws of the other.

[KUTradition]

Kinzinger: this is a single issue election…you either support democracy or you don’t (paraphrasing)

He's not wrong.

Obviously we've been talking a lot about asymmetry around here, and the 2024 election is no different.

One side has historically-ordinary flaws, and is worthy of historically-ordinary criticism, skepticism and challenge.

The other side openly defies the Constitution and does not desire to follow it any longer.

This is the perniciousness of bothsides arguments: the FACT that there are worthy criticisms of both sides does NOT mean that the flaws of one side are as weighty as the flaws of the other.

apparently he’s got a new book, hence the interview i was listening to (WBUR’s On Point)

his retelling of conversations with fellow pubs that were two-faced, saying one thing to him in private yet saying/doing the opposite in public, was just fucking sad. people unwilling to do the right thing for the sake of maintaining their facade of power

[jfish26]

Kinzinger: this is a single issue election…you either support democracy or you don’t (paraphrasing)

He's not wrong.

Obviously we've been talking a lot about asymmetry around here, and the 2024 election is no different.

One side has historically-ordinary flaws, and is worthy of historically-ordinary criticism, skepticism and challenge.

The other side openly defies the Constitution and does not desire to follow it any longer.

This is the perniciousness of bothsides arguments: the FACT that there are worthy criticisms of both sides does NOT mean that the flaws of one side are as weighty as the flaws of the other.

apparently he’s got a new book, hence the interview i was listening to (WBUR’s On Point)

his retelling of conversations with fellow pubs that were two-faced, saying one thing to him in private yet saying/doing the opposite in public, was just fucking sad. people unwilling to do the right thing for the sake of maintaining their facade of power

All of which is so fundamentally temporary. The damage already being done will outlive all of them. The damage that MIGHT be done would outlive their grandkids' grandkids.

[Sparko]

There is only one sin: selfishness. Everything else etched in stone or in the republican platforms stems from that

[Shirley]

There is only one sin: selfishness. Everything else etched in stone or in the republican platforms stems from that

What is this "republican platform" you speak of?

[twocoach]

There is only one sin: selfishness. Everything else etched in stone or in the republican platforms stems from that

What is this "republican platform" you speak of?

"If it's good for me then it's good for thee"

[jfish26]

The Republican Party, as presently constituted, is sort of a microcosm for the social/economic/political order that would result from the pubs being in control. A bunch of warring, self-interested factions with no guiding principles, no guardrails or accountability and no concern for anything beyond their immediate power and comfort.

The Rs handed the Ds a gift the last few weeks - and Biden and the Ds must find a way to communicate to voters that the chaos and lunacy of the last few weeks is how EVERYTHING will look if the Rs have their way.

[jfish26]

The *other* lesson I hope the Ds are taking from the speaker debacle is to not be caught off guard by a last minute change in Biden’s opponent. Don’t find yourself running an anti trump campaign, only to get checkmated by a replacement of trump with someone much more dangerous.

[MICHHAWK]

if by dangerous you mean "can/will beat uncle in a general election." i agree. there is a lot of dangerous out there.