Election 2018

[Eric the Green]

Real clear politics advantage of Democrats in House elections is down to +6. Not good. On the plus side, some polls are now giving the generic advantage to Democrats in double digits again.

[pbrower2a]

Some pollsters assumed that Democrats would be dispirited after the rush of Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court, and adjusted their model of the electorate accordingly (more Republicans would see themselves as winners andvote, and Democrats would see themselves defeated and unable to change anything.

[David Horn]

(10-11-2018, 09:05 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: Some pollsters assumed that Democrats would be dispirited after the rush of Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court, and adjusted their model of the electorate accordingly (more Republicans would see themselves as winners andvote, and Democrats would see themselves defeated and unable to change anything.

It could play the other way as well.  Nate Cohn, the statistics guru of the NY Times, admitted that the data are too limited and frankly too unreliable to trust.  That the GOP has decided to abandon all hope in some races and go all-in on others seems a bit desperate, but may work. We'll know in 26 days when the results are all in.

[pbrower2a]

(10-12-2018, 09:12 AM)David Horn Wrote:

(10-11-2018, 09:05 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: Some pollsters assumed that Democrats would be dispirited after the rush of Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court, and adjusted their model of the electorate accordingly (more Republicans would see themselves as winners and vote, and Democrats would see themselves defeated and unable to change anything.

It could play the other way as well.  Nate Cohn, the statistics guru of the NY Times, admitted that the data are too limited and frankly too unreliable to trust.  That the GOP has decided to abandon all hope in some races and go all-in on others seems a bit desperate, but may work. We'll know in 26 days when the results are all in.

America is so politically polarized that elections hinge more on who votes and who does not than upon the quality of political candidates. Demographic factors matter more than do merit and scandal.

[Galen]

I think this video sums up the Dims 2018 midterm campaign.

[pbrower2a]

(10-25-2018, 02:43 AM)Galen Wrote: I think this video sums up the Dims 2018 midterm campaign.

It's a right-wing parody. You just do not get it.

[Galen]

(10-25-2018, 05:51 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: It's a right-wing parody. You just do not get it.

Actually, I do get it.  First, you have no sense of humor.  Second, that parody exists because that is pretty much what the Dims sound like at the present.

[Bob Butler 54]

(10-25-2018, 03:29 PM)Galen Wrote:

(10-25-2018, 05:51 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: It's a right-wing parody. You just do not get it.

Actually, I do get it.  First, you have no sense of humor.  Second, that parody exists because that is pretty much what the Dims sound like at the present.

A nitpick.  That is what the Democrats sound like when you listen through certain filters, when your world view centers around certain straw man stereotypes.  If you could really listen, the Democrats might sound like...  Democrats?

This observation should not preclude other stereotypes spinning the other way.  See your average late night TV talk show for examples of opposing 'humor'.

Building something real between believers of these stereotypes?  You gotta count on a need to solve very real problems. The stereotypes can not hold up to reality.

[Eric the Green]

(10-25-2018, 05:51 AM)pbrower2a Wrote:

(10-25-2018, 02:43 AM)Galen Wrote: I think this video sums up the Dims 2018 midterm campaign.

It's a right-wing parody. You just do not get it.

I don't know, but I think she's too pretty and looks too smart to be a real Republican.

[Eric the Green]

(10-25-2018, 07:37 PM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote:

(10-25-2018, 03:29 PM)Galen Wrote:

(10-25-2018, 05:51 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: It's a right-wing parody. You just do not get it.

Actually, I do get it.  First, you have no sense of humor.  Second, that parody exists because that is pretty much what the Dims sound like at the present.

A nitpick.  That is what the Democrats sound like when you listen through certain filters, when your world view centers around certain straw man stereotypes.  If you could really listen, the Democrats might sound like...  Democrats?

This observation should not preclude other stereotypes spinning the other way.  See your average late night TV talk show for examples of opposing 'humor'.

Building something real between believers of these stereotypes?  You gotta count on a need to solve very real problems. The stereotypes can not hold up to reality.

The very real solutions to the real problems are dealt with by Democrats, and not by Republicans.

[pbrower2a]

(10-25-2018, 03:29 PM)Galen Wrote:

(10-25-2018, 05:51 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: It's a right-wing parody. You just do not get it.

Actually, I do get it.  First, you have no sense of humor.  Second, that parody exists because that is pretty much what the Dims sound like at the present.

For one thing, I don't consider abortion funny. It's a desperate choice in the sense that alcohol or drug rehab is.

[Galen]

(10-25-2018, 11:52 PM)pbrower2a Wrote:

(10-25-2018, 03:29 PM)Galen Wrote:

(10-25-2018, 05:51 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: It's a right-wing parody. You just do not get it.

Actually, I do get it.  First, you have no sense of humor.  Second, that parody exists because that is pretty much what the Dims sound like at the present.

For one thing, I don't consider abortion funny. It's a desperate choice in the sense that alcohol or drug rehab is.

To someone who is anti-abortion that is precisely how Dims sound.  It was done to highlight what they see as the Dim disregard for human life.  Come to think of it the whole video was done to show how clueless Dims are in general.

[Galen]

(10-25-2018, 09:06 PM)Eric the Obtuse Wrote: The very real solutions to the real problems are dealt with by Democrats, and not by Republicans.

The only solutions a typical Dim can come up involve spending someone else's money which then turns the problem into an even bigger one.

[Bill the Piper]

If I were American, I would vote for any third party, never for the Big Two. The US party system is so stuck in the 18th century, it's sad.

The Modern Whig Party seems a good choice.

[pbrower2a]

(10-26-2018, 01:56 AM)Galen Wrote:

(10-25-2018, 11:52 PM)pbrower2a Wrote:

(10-25-2018, 03:29 PM)Galen Wrote:

(10-25-2018, 05:51 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: It's a right-wing parody. You just do not get it.

Actually, I do get it.  First, you have no sense of humor.  Second, that parody exists because that is pretty much what the Dims sound like at the present.

For one thing, I don't consider abortion funny. It's a desperate choice in the sense that alcohol or drug rehab is.

To someone who is anti-abortion that is precisely how Dims sound.  It was done to highlight what they see as the Dim disregard for human life.  Come to think of it the whole video was done to show how clueless Dims are in general.

More troubling is the extent to which the Hard Right seems brainwashed. Donald Trump seems more like a cult leader than a polished politician. Trump exemplifies the doctrine "my way or the highway".

Add to that, Republicans seem willing to price people out of healthcare and into the grave, start wars for profit, accelerate global warming to enhance profits of the fossil-fuel industry, and keep the death penalty or even extend it. That is pro-death.

[Eric the Green]

(10-26-2018, 05:47 AM)Bill the Piper Wrote: If I were American, I would vote for any third party, never for the Big Two. The US party system is so stuck in the 18th century, it's sad.

The Modern Whig Party seems a good choice.

Well, but isn't the Whig Party an 18th century party? The liberals of 18th century England?

Actually, the Republicans are stuck in the worst economic aspects of 18th century liberalism, with none of its graces. It is also beholden to social conservatism, having taken over the legacy of Dixie and the Bible Belt, thus ditching its original purpose totally.

The Democrats are watered-down socialists, born of the late 19th century genuine populist movement, which took over the Jacksonian southern party at that time, and is sometimes given to compromise too much with the regressive Republicans, because the Republicans have the power.

In the USA, I belong to the Green Party, which is a progressive alternative, born of the greenpeace vision of the 1960s, but sometimes given to impractical exaggeration.

Libertarians are the same as Republicans in the economic sphere, but with some 18th century liberal graces, and sometimes responsive to the peace movement.

[Bill the Piper]

(10-26-2018, 11:34 AM)Eric the Green Wrote: Well, but isn't the Whig Party an 18th century party? The liberals of 18th century England?

There should be an Extropian party, but I see none. Maybe there is one on some planet in the Andromeda galaxy? So I'm looking for a lesser evil. Whig liberalism is like the Republicans without the theocratic idiots. If the Whigs gained popularity, the only people left in GOP would be Trumpy nationalists and evangelicals. Similarly, SJWs could move from the Dems to the Green party, while rational progressives like American equivalents of Nick Clegg would stay in the Democratic Party. Whigs plus purged Democrats could be a stable coalition for reason.

Libertarians are market fundamentalists. They sometimes look as if they worshipped the market as a deity. I'd never consider supporting them.

[Eric the Green]

(10-26-2018, 11:59 AM)Bill the Piper Wrote:

(10-26-2018, 11:34 AM)Eric the Green Wrote: Well, but isn't the Whig Party an 18th century party? The liberals of 18th century England?

There should be an Extropian party, but I see none. Maybe there is one on some planet in the Andromeda galaxy? So I'm looking for a lesser evil. Whig liberalism is like the Republicans without the theocratic idiots. If the Whigs gained popularity, the only people left in GOP would be Trumpy nationalists and evangelicals. Similarly, SJWs could move from the Dems to the Green party, while rational progressives like American equivalents of Nick Clegg would stay in the Democratic Party. Whigs plus purged Democrats could be a stable coalition for reason.

Libertarians are market fundamentalists. They sometimes look as if they worshipped the market as a deity. I'd never consider supporting them.

Republicans are also market fundamentalists. That remains the primary platform of their party.

There are no Whigs in the Republican Party. It is nothing but market fundamentalists, loony nationalists and theocratic idiots.  The only thing America needs for a stable-minded politics is the end of the Republican Party.

[pbrower2a]

It looks as if the Feds got the creep who mailed bombs with the return address of Representative "Debbie Wasserman Shultz (sic!)", and he was definitely some left-winger trying to blame the Right. He had been at Trump rallies, attired as one would expect.

No, President Trump is not culpable of this directly, but he has yet to recognize that hostile rhetoric can push people on the margin to do extreme violence.

To be sure, most Trump supporters are good, decent people even if they believe in a horrible person. But take away the homophobia, and the members of Westboro Baptist Church aren't so horrible, either.

It is time for the President to unequivocally condemn violence against his opponents and rivals in a way that does not fault people for being targets of such violence. Had even one of those pipe bombs gone off we would have had ugly consequences beyond personal tragedy.

[Eric the Green]

(10-26-2018, 06:37 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: It looks as if the Feds got the creep who mailed bombs with the return address of Representative "Debbie Wasserman Shultz (sic!)", and he was definitely some left-winger trying to blame the Right. He had been at Trump rallies, attired as one would expect.

No, President Trump is not culpable of this directly, but he has yet to recognize that hostile rhetoric can push people on the margin to do extreme violence.

To be sure, most Trump supporters are good, decent people even if they believe in a horrible person. But take away the homophobia, and the members of Westboro Baptist Church aren't so horrible, either.

It is time for the President to unequivocally condemn violence against his opponents and rivals in a way that does not fault people for being targets of such violence. Had even one of those pipe bombs gone off we would have had ugly consequences beyond personal tragedy.

When Trump sends his people, he's not sending his best. The people he pushes to do his bidding bring their problems with them. They bring hate, they bring crime, they're violent; and some, I assume, are good people....