by "Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
Published 06/23/2017 at 18:12
by "Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
Published 06/23/2017 at 18:12
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STARS: 1
Contemporary liberalism now expresses itself chiefly in the language of
self-affirmation and moral censure: of being the party of the
higher-minded; of affixing the suffix “phobe” to millions of people who
don’t appreciate being described as bigots.
"Audistein" (Audistein)
06/23/2017 at 18:38, STARS: 14
This is such a load of nonsense. A 20 point lead was shrunk to under 4 points while a long held Republican seat is now contested and this guy is arguing that that the Dem lost because just they are too aloof? Why did the lead shrink so much then?
Just because all these “conservative” columnists discovered a thesaurus of more polite ways to try to call out Dems to doesn’t make their opinions any more wrong than they were before the election. Even proper criticisms coming from people on the left who complain about identity politics don’t think that calling out homophobia and xenophobia are the problem. Columnists aren’t doing their research, are conflating two different issues, and then are acting extremely smug while trying to call out other people for being smug. It’s not getting anyone anywhere.
Also Pelosi hasn’t been the true face of the Democratic Party for like 10 years. I think she serves more as a “straw man” or a punching bag to absorb off-base criticism of the platform more than anything else. She’s also a through moderate (not to say thats a good thing), but god forbid anyone spouting criticism check a voting record or the facts might disagree with their rhetoric. I keep hearing about these radically-left-wing militant-feminist democrats who go around handing welfare checks to muslim illegal immigrants, taking away guns, and performing abortions on gay people while destroying our nation, but they’re certainly not in Congress or State Legislatures anywhere, especially when you look at the legislation drafted and the way leading Democrats vote.
Clinton was a moderate candidate and she won the popular vote. As much as people want to play this down, it’s important. While a better candidate would have done far better with less effort, it really seems like her loss had more to do with individual problems with the candidate and poor campaign strategy than a complete problem with the message of the Democratic Party. Statistics show that very, very few people swapped from voting Dem in 2012 to voting Rep in 2016, it’s just that Clinton didn’t excite the Democratic base and they stayed home/went to work, especially in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Florida. This election was way more about Clinton doing worse than Obama than it was about Trump doing better than Romney.
It really just seems like a lot of more right-wing Republicans are upset that they won the election but the tide of public opinion is still against them on issues like gay-rights, sweeping anti-muslim sentiment, and the government providing social services. They’d rather prop up the Democrats, trying to accuse them of being the hateful ones, than recognize that their own rhetoric is toxic and is out of touch with the majority of the population on many critical issues.
"wiffleballtony" (wiffleballtony)
06/23/2017 at 19:12, STARS: 4
The fact of the matter is that at this point the parties are so antithetical that you could run trained apes against each other and people would vote down party lines.
"wiffleballtony" (wiffleballtony)
06/23/2017 at 19:13, STARS: 0
I’d rather avoid an electoral college discussion but the popular vote isn’t a good metric.
"Audistein" (Audistein)
06/23/2017 at 19:27, STARS: 3
The popular vote serves to prove that the Democratic platform doesn’t have these sweeping ideological flaws and message issues which some columnists keeping thinking they’re pointing out. Even with such a highly contentious candidate and the worst voter turnout in a decade they still won the popular vote. That’s important to consider.
Also it’s ideologically important because the electoral college is inherently undemocratic on principle. The Senate is far worse.
"Spridget" (dustbustervans)
06/23/2017 at 19:37, STARS: 2
Regardless of how she lost, Hillary should have won. Trump may have been THE most flawed general election candidate in American history, with the possible exception of McGovern.
"wiffleballtony" (wiffleballtony)
06/23/2017 at 19:55, STARS: 1
The demo could have pulled another 10 million votes out of CA and NY and it wouldn’t change how popular the message is in other places. Which is what makes the popular vote not viable.
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
06/23/2017 at 19:58, STARS: 2
It’s certainly not a topic worthy of investing one’s time in discussing, though if I ever got close enough to shake Donald Trump’s hand, I’d say just loudly enough for him to hear, “Three million votes.”
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
06/23/2017 at 20:09, STARS: 3
The author is entirely correct and it’s time for new leadership. Clinton’s loss is indefensible and she was unelectable and no amount of hand wringing changes that. It’s the people in the middle — like me — who don’t have time for arguments about the sign on the bathroom door or who they pee next to, and who have family members in rural America who are solidly anti-DiFi, anti-Pelosi, anti everything Liberal, it’s those people who see themselves in Mrs. Clinton’s basket of deplorables; people who see themselves as destined to lose either way, so why not roll the dice? People like me who voted twice for Barack Obama and begged and pleaded for someone other than another Clinton, a candidate who could be more inclusive of my family members and their guns and the coal dust they [used to] brush off their clothing and wash from their hands and face after work. The Pelosis and the DiFis and the Schumers and the Wasserman-Shultzes of the world don’t get that.
The nonsense, Sir or Madam, is your own diatribe, which shows that you don’t get it either.
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
06/23/2017 at 20:13, STARS: 4
The Dems could have broken out of that mold by running Bernie against Trump, but they were too arrogant to see it and Pelosi, with her “I’m worth the trouble,” shows that the people at the tippy-top still don’t get it. That’s why the story that I share so resoundingly hits home with me. Oh, that Mitt Romney were the candidate this year, but Mr. Romney was clever enough to see that Trump was going to bully his way to a win and Mitt stayed out and kept his clothes largely clean. Big of Mr. Romney, though, to dine with Mr. Trump after the fact. Very big.
"wiffleballtony" (wiffleballtony)
06/23/2017 at 20:27, STARS: 2
Bernie Trump debates would have been great.
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
06/23/2017 at 20:29, STARS: 0
I couldn’t take Bernie as a serious candidate at the time, but he might have been less unelectable than Hillary Clinton was. And I do not think Bernie would have been fazed by any of Donald Trump’s bullying nonsense and Bernie wouldn’t have given Trump anywhere near the amount of fodder for Mr. Trump’s cannon fire.
"boxrocket" (boxrocket)
06/23/2017 at 20:34, STARS: 1
I’m tired of primary bipartisanship, and have been since I was in high school and learned more about other systems of government and how other countries treat their flavors of democracy. Break up the Dems & Reps into at least 2-5 parties each, and see how it plays out.
"wiffleballtony" (wiffleballtony)
06/23/2017 at 20:43, STARS: 2
Those are all good points. However the hidden gem would be their hair getting more out or control.
"gmporschenut also a fan of hondas" (gmporschenut)
06/23/2017 at 20:47, STARS: 0
After 8 years of fox news calling Obama a socialist, I’m still undecided how he would have done. I definielty think he would have gotten more traditional democrats to vote. Would Fox news have a meltdown, and rouse up the GOP base to huge levels not seen before, or would the GOP base be like the boy who cried wolf and have the same reaction dems had to hillary?
"R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet" (r-saldana)
06/23/2017 at 21:01, STARS: 1
Yassssss
"R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet" (r-saldana)
06/23/2017 at 21:01, STARS: 1
Also Bernie v Trump cage matches would be great too.
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
06/23/2017 at 21:07, STARS: 0
The parties take turns doing the same crap to each other.
"wiffleballtony" (wiffleballtony)
06/23/2017 at 21:49, STARS: 1
10/10 would youtube
"Audistein" (Audistein)
06/23/2017 at 23:21, STARS: 3
I’m sorry, but some conservative columnist who clearly has an agenda doesn’t get to define liberalism and anyone who “gets it” would immediately see through that. I mean you can’t even describe that article as anecdotal because the author wasn’t even up to providing an anecdote let alone any real evidence of their sweeping claims about the way the democrats supposedly talk and act. He pulling all of his talking points out of nowhere and just told a small number of people what they already wanted to hear. A few carefully chosen soundbites shouldn’t be enough to persuade a person with something between their ears and their mouth anyway.
Clinton was absolutely electable and she lost because a few thousand centrist-but-liberal-leaning voters didn’t go to the polls in four key states. That’s what the statistics show. She could’ve won without anything changing except a shift in geographic and demographic strategy if the campaign hadn’t been so stupid.
So what if people get called deplorable? Get over it. If people are constantly aggressive about being called deplorable or being called bigoted, that says as much about the person responding as it does about the person calling them out. Anyone who “sees themselves” as a deplorable should reconsider that. If someone on the right was talking about deplorables, my response would be “they’re not talking about me”. See the difference?
Also conservatives constantly go around saying that liberals aren’t American and how they are more American than others. That’s far, far worse than anything ever said by Clinton. I live in a coastal city and I’m not white but I was born in the US and I’m just as American as you and any of those people living in “the middle”. Even telling naturalized immigrants or other citizens who are different that they aren’t American or don’t matter as much is way worse than any line from the middle of one speech by a Democrat.
As for arguments about bathroom signs, I think you’ll find that those happen exclusively in conservative States. Liberal States are the ones who don’t have time for that and solved that stuff quickly.
When it comes to guns, find me one Democrat who has ever asked to take legal guns away from lawful citizens. Oh wait, there aren’t any. No one in government has ever said that. It’s just a straw man tactic by politicians on the right to get reelected. Universal background checks had massive public support from both sides of politics but the NRA opened their checkbook and made sure it didn’t get passed. That doesn’t help anyone.
Families in rural America can whine about Pelosi, Schumer, and Feinstein all they want, but at the end of the day liberals have done far more for their communities than whatever backwards conservative congressman they keep electing. You know who pays the healthcare for retired coal workers? It’s not some free-market corporation, it’s the federal government. Who subsidizes healthcare in rural communities? The federal government through ACA and Medicare subsidies. The government even helps pay for commercial flights into and out of rural communities which can’t support those routes with normal market forces. You know who doesn’t get anything from the government? “Liberal costal elites” like me. My family pays hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax every year and a big portion of it goes to those people in “the middle”. Do you “get” that?
As for coal jobs, the coal industry laid off far more people in the 80's and 90's than under Obama. The prospects of coal jobs have been in decline for over 30 years, and environmental/health concerns are just the tip of the iceberg. When Republicans deregulate the coal industry more people get fired because looser regulation means the companies use less staff to operate and increase profits. It was never sustainable, it was killing the workers; just because it paid relatively well doesn’t mean it was a good job. Even while Trump was making speeches about how he’s bringing back coal, the actual CEOs of coal companies were on Fox News saying the jobs aren’t coming back. Look it up. You were lied to and drank every last drop of that that cool-aid. But oh no, why not blame the Democrats for trying to make sure they have healthcare after inhaling all that coal dust?
Meanwhile thousands of people are losing their jobs in retail and the president does nothing. The 80,000 coal workers remaining in the entire country are more important than the millions of retail workers because they make better political pawns.
Do you realize what either the House or Senate Republican healthcare plans would do to Medicare in Midwestern states? Most of those states would see their Medicare programs go completely broke within 5-10 years if not sooner, leaving many people without any care at all. The money for healthcare is going to run out for some States, and people are going to die. THAT is what you voted for. My liberal state will do fine under the new plan, but because I’m a true American that’s not good enough for me.
Why not roll the dice? This election is about to put the nail in the coffin for working-class Americans. Unaffordable unregulated private healthcare, no medicare, less welfare, layoffs in fossil fuel industry from deregulation, rolling back social security, loosening workers’ rights... That’s what you voted for.
Between the GI bill, Medicare, Social Security, farm subsidies, public schools, the interstate system, and welfare the government has done far more for the quality of life for rural Americans than the free market ever has or ever will. You can listen to conservatives complain about who-called-who what all day and night but it doesn’t change any of those facts.
I know I’m American and I promote the values which I know will help this country, and not just some of the people but all of the people. I don’t need you to tell me if I get it or not.
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
06/24/2017 at 00:51, STARS: 0
You must have a lot of time on your hands. And you don’t get it. You’re all transmit and no receive. Enjoy your president; your attitude helped get him elected.