American Politics the 2016 edition

micky wrote: SteveG wrote: Warren? The age of reasonable politics is over. Time to get someone that appeals to blacks and latinos on a virseral level or have Trump rule for eight long years. Seriously. *spits coffee on the screen* I think we have differing views on Warren Steve.  She is a tiger man, and her politics.. exactly the type the that will appeal to the youth, minorities, and the emerging ascendant leftist wing of the party. As well as inpire them. She sure does for this old jaded soul.. I'd go through a brick wall for her... or toss any nativist bigoted bible thumper through a wall for her. She is like Bernie.. just more electable.... with much more personality and a hell of a lot more fire. Remember man.... .populism cuts for both sides.  If the party learns anything from 2016 it is that the age of middle of the road policis are over. As I said, if Warren goes in 2020... they will likely win... the numbers and demographics favor us.  As long as we don't repeat the mistake we made (in hindsight ) in 2016, but would foolish to ignore the lesson of moving forward, competent experienced uninspiring middle of the road dull politicians will lose in today's polarized and irrational country of ours.

*spits coffee right back and despairs*

Edited by SteveG - February 04 2017 at 08:43

Over simplified, my ass. When you have a hate monger that claims for years that the African American President is not an American citizen, in order to play up to a supposedly forgotten majority, fails to apologize for it when he drops his accusation 6 years later and is eventually voted in as President himself, then that's racism in it's most lethal and covert form.

Edited by SteveG - February 04 2017 at 09:27

@SteveG. As one of the ilks I think you've misunderstood something. If I may suggest: go back five pages or so and find out what's been said, and by whom

By the way: who is that ponce with the sunglasses? Probably someone famous, but he looks like a reject from the Love Beach cover


Edited by npjnpj - February 04 2017 at 09:44

npjnpj wrote: @SteveG. As one of the ilks I think you've misunderstood something. If I may suggest: go back five pages or so and find out what's been said, and by whom By the way: who is that ponce with the sunglasses? Probably someone famous, but he looks like a reject from the Love Beach cover

Not someone famous but if you have to ask, he's beyond you. 

Edited by SteveG - February 04 2017 at 09:52

@SteveG. Aw, that's so mean! What have I ever done to you?

SteveG wrote: Over simplified, my ass. When you have a hate monger that claims for years that the African American President is not an American citizen, in order to play up to a supposedly forgotten majority, fails to apologize for it when he drops his accusation 6 years later and is eventually voted in as President himself, then that's racism in it's most lethal and covert form. If you also would be more comfortable hiding behind the power elite's theory, then please be my guest. It does have some merit, as the Dems are guilty of not pointing out to the American working class that it was the Obama administration that save the American auto industry, and hence, auto manufacturing jobs, but that's little to hold on to when you're not blind to the bigger picture. As I said, your ilk can either wake up or continue to have Trump as King. It's your choice.

first of all  I have no idea who my "ilk" are supposed to be.

second you are in my opinion confusing two things. Trump's claim had nothing to do with the color of Obama's skin. his claim was that Obama was not a natural American citizen meaning he was not born in the USA (being born in the USA is a prerequisite to becoming president).

actually Obama was born in the state of Hawaii 2 years after Hawaii became the 50th state of the USA while Trump wrongly assumed he was born before Hawaii joined the USA. that was what the claim was about

@Baldjean:Jean, if you do not see a link between Obama's skin color and an unpresidented attack on his right to hold American office, then I'm afraid that you are of the ilk of which I'm refering. Your own class of liberal dems that still think everything is the way it was polictically proir to Obama having been voted in as President. 

Edited by SteveG - February 04 2017 at 10:15

@JJLetho: I think you're quite right with that Hitchhiker's Guide comparison, and on another level too:

A lot of the discussion here as well as the 'official' political reactions to Trump remind me of one section where a load of bureaucrats crash land on a planet and can't manage to invent the wheel because they can't decide on the color. That seems so very reminiscent of what's going on right now.

I sometimes forget that I'm conversing with people half a world away and are not necessarily American citizens. I'm American and split my time between the US and the UK for business reasons, mainly.

SteveG wrote: Over simplified, my ass. When you have a hate monger that claims for years that the African American President is not an American citizen, in order to play up to a supposedly forgotten majority, fails to apologize for it when he drops his accusation 6 years later and is eventually voted in as President himself, then that's racism in it's most lethal and covert form.

Might be worth your time to start reading about why conservatives are vulnerable to this sort of manipulation. I don't really care to argue whether Trump himself is a racist (he's said a lot of rather offensive things in the past, and since he never laughs, it's hard to give him the benefit of the doubt), but it is certainly not necessarily applicable to the population at large.

The real issue is the cult of personality underlying it all. The Republican party hasn't just been goaded until they froth at the mouth; they have been conditioned to believe in not ideas but people. Trump supporters don't talk about how they are going to implement Social Security reform; they don't even have any reforms on offer. Instead, they talk about how Trump is going to fix things, writ large, and how liberals -- often pronounced as a portmanteau with insults, such as libtard or liberast -- are the root of all evil and want enact some straw man dastardly motive. You can chip away at ideas, like racism. Ideas have some fundamental basis in logical or moral reasoning. You can't chip away at a personality. That is what makes Trumpism truly dangerous.