December 31, 20231 yr comment_2938034 Republicans are terrified of losing MAGA voters if they ditch Trump. But they can't win a general election with just those -- they need to attract the moderates, which they can't do if they appeal to the extremists. The GOP served themselves this meal. I hope they choke on it.
December 31, 20231 yr comment_2938042 "Moderates" in the GOP? No such thing. They might as well appeal to the chupacabra vote.
January 1, 20241 yr comment_2938083 They don't have to be moderate, to tailor their sales pitch to sound like they are. Politicians have been pretending to be other than what they are for generations. But I do agree, the GOP have driven all genuine moderate conservatives out of their party. The clown show they've made of themselves has been increasingly obvious to anyone paying attention. I don't know if they'll ever be able to fool enough moderate voters to retake the Presidency, but probably not this upcoming election.
January 1, 20241 yr comment_2938086 35 minutes ago, Lord Liaden said: They don't have to be moderate, to tailor their sales pitch to sound like they are. Politicians have been pretending to be other than what they are for generations. But I do agree, the GOP have driven all genuine moderate conservatives out of their party. The clown show they've made of themselves has been increasingly obvious to anyone paying attention. I don't know if they'll ever be able to fool enough moderate voters to retake the Presidency, but probably not this upcoming election. I'm not saying there are no moderate GOP candidates--that's a given. I'm saying there are no moderate GOP voters. No moderate could vote for this GOP, what with its platform of overt racism and ending democracy.
January 1, 20241 yr comment_2938126 20 hours ago, Lord Liaden said: Republicans are terrified of losing MAGA voters if they ditch Trump. But they can't win a general election with just those -- they need to attract the moderates, which they can't do if they appeal to the extremists. The GOP served themselves this meal. I hope they choke on it. Things like this are are why I believe that the Republicans have lost the vision that they got when they became a solo party under Lincoln. If they don't act fast, they will self-destruct and leave everyone with a power void and solo party nation. This is something that scares me more than a Trump dictatorship. I really hope that some other party comes forward that will be a better voice for the people than any current party has proven to be.
January 1, 20241 yr comment_2938151 17 hours ago, Old Man said: I'm not saying there are no moderate GOP candidates--that's a given. I'm saying there are no moderate GOP voters. No moderate could vote for this GOP, what with its platform of overt racism and ending democracy. I don't think that's true. The longstanding demonization of anything and everything Democratic has the effect of making any Democrat totally anathema...that even the racism and fascism are bad choices...but the Democratic alternatives are far WORSE. The problem is that the primary process tends to favor the extremists, so by the time the general election comes around, even the moderate Republicans feel they HAVE to support the extremist, warts and all.
January 1, 20241 yr comment_2938152 3 hours ago, Asperion said: Things like this are are why I believe that the Republicans have lost the vision that they got when they became a solo party under Lincoln. If they don't act fast, they will self-destruct and leave everyone with a power void and solo party nation. This is something that scares me more than a Trump dictatorship. I really hope that some other party comes forward that will be a better voice for the people than any current party has proven to be. Hey, the Republicans themselves replaced the old "second party" in America, the Whigs. There are a lot of disaffected genuine conservatives in America who feel they no longer have representation. At the same time, there are several prominent former members of the GOP who are poised to coalesce those conservatives around them when the Republican Party crumbles (and I'm convinced it's a matter of "when," not "if"). I'm not worried about being left with only one major party, for two reasons. One, the Democrats attract people who have been shown to be notably reluctant to throw their weight around, even when that would help them advance their agenda. I don't think any of their influential members have any desire for outright dictatorship. Two, the Democratic Party is actually a coalition of disparate groups with distinct philosophies and agendas, with varying degrees of liberalism or conservatism. If the worst case leaves America with only that one party, I fully expect the traditional and progressive wings of the Dems to split into separate parties.
January 1, 20241 yr comment_2938165 Even in California, one in four voters identifies as Republican. Nationally it’s quite a bit higher. Those people aren’t leaving the nation, and we’ve been hearing for decades nationally about demographic transformation and shifting politics but every cycle it is a razor thin margin. And often more about individual candidates or issues than general policy. We all tend to be in echo chambers these days, seeking confirmation of beliefs that are comforting in their consistency with our own. I wouldn’t expect that trend to reverse soon, and this upcoming cycle is going to be difficult to predict until sometime later next year (not only for the POTUS, but the Senate as well with Manchin retiring and other changes… there’s a number of seats where the candidate won’t be back or hasn’t declared). I don’t know how it will go, but it’ll be contentious.
January 1, 20241 yr comment_2938167 15 minutes ago, Iuz the Evil said: I don’t know how it will go, but it’ll be contentious. I'm afraid this is going to go down as one of the Great Understatements of the 21st Century.
January 2, 20241 yr comment_2938213 Reports on Maine's secretaty of state ruling Trump ineligible to be on the ballot don't generally say anything beyond that fact -- at least, most of what I've seen in passing hasn't -- which sounds awfully arbitrary. But today she appeared on All Things Considered to explain exactly what she did and how Maine law operates in this respect. Short take: Yes, she acted under the authority of Maine law; but this is only the first step in a long court process to *actually* keep Trump off the ballot. Trump is receiving due process. https://www.npr.org/2024/01/01/1222405966/maine-secretary-of-state-discusses-decision-to-disqualify-trump-from-primary-bal Dean Shomshak
January 2, 20241 yr comment_2938218 A little good news: In the last year, New Jersey has reduced its population of unsheltered homeless people by 23%, and its latgest city Newark has done so by 58%. Here's a brief story on how they're doing it. https://www.economist.com/united-states/2023/12/20/newark-may-have-found-a-fix-for-chronic-homelessness Evidence that government cansometimes solve social problems if the people in government want to do so. Dean Shomshak
January 2, 20241 yr comment_2938219 11 minutes ago, DShomshak said: Reports on Maine's secretaty of state ruling Trump ineligible to be on the ballot don't generally say anything beyond that fact -- at least, most of what I've seen in passing hasn't -- which sounds awfully arbitrary. But today she appeared on All Things Considered to explain exactly what she did and how Maine law operates in this respect. Short take: Yes, she acted under the authority of Maine law; but this is only the first step in a long court process to *actually* keep Trump off the ballot. Trump is receiving due process. https://www.npr.org/2024/01/01/1222405966/maine-secretary-of-state-discusses-decision-to-disqualify-trump-from-primary-bal Dean Shomshak Trump is receiving what he has outright stated he would deny to his perceived enemies.
January 2, 20241 yr comment_2938223 And Trump has a complete hair trigger when it comes to perceiving anyone as an enemy. In this regard, he's about as stable as azidoazide azide.
January 2, 20241 yr comment_2938225 1 hour ago, DShomshak said: A little good news: In the last year, New Jersey has reduced its population of unsheltered homeless people by 23%, and its latgest city Newark has done so by 58%. Here's a brief story on how they're doing it. https://www.economist.com/united-states/2023/12/20/newark-may-have-found-a-fix-for-chronic-homelessness I read the article and it turns out it's not Soylent Green after all!
January 2, 20241 yr comment_2938238 6 hours ago, Old Man said: I read the article and it turns out it's not Soylent Green after all! Oh, okay, I see where the confusion comes in. The sign says "people," not "homeless." . . . Always good to see the guy who hangs out in our underground parking all night shaking himself violently for hours on end so as to not die of hypothermia.
January 2, 20241 yr comment_2938264 10 hours ago, Old Man said: I read the article and it turns out it's not Soylent Green after all! Well, yes. I should have added, "...And the solution isn't to shoot them in the head or force them somewhere else," but I was in a hurry. Dean Shomshak
January 4, 20241 yr comment_2938452 The Middle East never remains calm for too long. First Palestine, now... https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/04/world/middleeast/us-isis-iran-general-suleimani.html?unlocked_article_code=1.LE0.qs0-.uV0-HMNxnhio&smid=url-share
January 5, 20241 yr comment_2938494 It's not just Trump that needs to be beat now. It's the entire hysterical right wing segment of the population.
January 5, 20241 yr comment_2938511 Florida Venue Cancels Marjorie Taylor Greene Event After Learning Of Its Jan. 6 Focus
January 6, 20241 yr comment_2938654 The President's speech was aired live on cable news but not on regular TV for some reason. https://www.meidastouch.com/news/president-biden-hits-loser-trump-in-powerful-speech-in-defense-of-american-democracy
January 7, 20241 yr comment_2938668 1 hour ago, tkdguy said: The President's speech was aired live on cable news but not on regular TV for some reason. https://www.meidastouch.com/news/president-biden-hits-loser-trump-in-powerful-speech-in-defense-of-american-democracy If Trump was a major part of it? Then it's a campaign speech. CBS had college hoops, NBC had high school football then golf, and ABC had the NFL. Not yanking those for a campaign speech.
January 7, 20241 yr comment_2938670 Why is the mainstream media failing to report accurately on the upcoming election?
January 7, 20241 yr comment_2938672 17 minutes ago, unclevlad said: If Trump was a major part of it? Then it's a campaign speech. CBS had college hoops, NBC had high school football then golf, and ABC had the NFL. Not yanking those for a campaign speech. My local ABC station had the regular noontime show. I didn't check the others, but they usually don't show sports during the weekdays at lunchtime.
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