Re: A couple of Wonks since the last board is closed for bidness
 

Given we were initially talking about getting to a flat tax, this is less mythically idyllic and more what we were aiming for. And this isn't about economic distribution. It's about everybody paying tax based on what they earn. What's wrong with that?

Re: Not Bob's new politics thread
 

Labi Siffre is no Trump fan either.

https://twitter.com/labisiffre/statu...44618908143616

In 1975, he put out a sweet little funk/soul number that had two fairly distinct segments. The second section of the song, starting at about 2:08, is immediately recognizable as the sampled track for Eminem's "My Name Is" and stands on its own as a great soulful groove. Your Daily Dose:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Cp58rWCR8Y

Re: A couple of Wonks since the last board is closed for bidness
 

Nothing. But it should be about economic distribution, too.

But you don't really expect me to stick to the point, do you? Sometimes the mind wanders.

Re: Not Bob's new politics thread
 

This isn't the name Not Bob chose for the board, is it? It's just placeholder, right, bilmore? RIGHT, BILMORE?

TM

Re: Not Bob's new politics thread
 

Just a placeholder until he gives us a name.

Re: A couple of Wonks since the last board is closed for bidness
 

It's about economic distribution, but in a really meta sense. Changing the marginal utility of paying an excessive salary vis. paying more to a lower-echelon worker (you know, the folks that actually DO things) and using additional tax revenue to re-build infrastructure and create new jobs. That sort of thing.

Perhaps you might fix that hole where the rain gets in?

Re: Not Bob's new politics thread
 

Yglesias thinks Hillary should pander to the Berners to win Congress. This makes no demographic sense whatsoever. Bernie's voters are relatively unimportant in retaking Congress - the northern student vote and the educated middle class white male vote at the core of his support is already concentrated in Blue districts. Hillary's core constituencies - minorities, poor and working class voters, women - are key to winning congress.

Granted, there are some Wonks in Georgia. But there are a lot more of Hill's core constituents who we just need to get out.

Re: Not Bob's new politics thread
 

Polls don't mean much right now, but in the spirit of amusing ourselves, here's another: http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2016/0...llary-clinton/

Re: Not Bob's new politics thread
 

File under "Cuckoo Pants."

My longest meanderings don't ramble that badly, or attempt to connect so many disparate items and theories.

Re: Not Bob's new politics thread
 

I don't think we'll know the landscape really until after the conventions. That said, I'm going to be surprised if it is the traditional landscape where it all comes down to whether a Dem can win either Ohio, Florida, or a combination of smaller purple states. I think we'll see a very different mix of states in play.

Clinton, for example, seems weak in Michigan, but might well surprise in Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Arizona, and Georgia.

And widespread misogyny is her greatest problem, and one thing about misogyny is it crosses all class and racial lines.

Re: Not Bob's new politics thread
 

In the battle of the meaningless polls (that have been crappy this whole election season) my current favorite as one who is both #NeverTrump and #NeverHillary is the Dartmouth poll out of New Hampshire:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epo...nton-5596.html

In a direct matchup, it shows Hillary up over Trump 34 to 29. It doesn't show up on the RCP chart, but when you dig into the polling data, both Hillary and Trump are losing to "Unsure" at 36%.


http://rockefeller.dartmouth.edu/sit...016_report.pdf

These are the two best known candidates in history in terms of name recognition, and yet "Eh, whatever" gets more votes than either one of them. I don't know who will win in November, but every single American is going to end up a loser.

Re: Not Bob's new politics thread
 

Well maybe it wouldn't it Hillary were not such a strident bitch. An interesting note about yesterday's Daily Dose, which I just learned yesterday: Labi Siffre, who is gay, refused to license the sample to Eminem unless he removed certain homophobic and misogynistic lyrics, which Eminem agreed to do. Here's a groovy Sly cut for today's Daily Dose. "Im Time":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Mld7eSaydI

Re: Not Bob's new politics thread
 

high unsure numbers are common coming out of primary season, when all the supporters of the dead candidates are still unhappy at the idea of supporting the victor. As summer approaches, most of the sanders supporters will move to Hillary and most of the supporters of the various vicious dwarves on the Republican side will move to Trump, and the interesting thing will be to see how many "most" really is.

Re: Not Bob's new politics thread
 

But in the Hill v. Cruz question, "unsure" was in third, and in a matchup against Kasich, only 21% was "unsure", also in third place. I am aware that a relatively high rate of uncertainty is not unusual, it just is not usually the lead vote getter.

I will refuse to debate this further with you, but you do Hillary a disservice to blame her high unfavorables on the fact that she is a woman. But then again, I have learned my lesson that voters are clearly not as I believe them to be.... so never mind.

Re: Not Bob's new politics thread
 

I hope to hell she's pissed off enough people to have unfavorables from those who disagree with her. I'd be disappointed if she didn't.

But there is a residual sexism that is going to heavy color this race and is one of her biggest liabilities. A lot of so-called progressive Bernie Bros are really misogynist shits under it all.

My point was more to catalog what to watch, not to disagree. I suspect we agree more than disagree on some of the horserace aspects of the race. All of these things, though, will be issues of degree.

I happen to not believe a ton of former Cruz supporters and Sanders supporters who say they won't be with their nominee in November. I think especially the men among the Cruz supporters will slowly and reluctantly make their peace with the Donald, and most Sanders supporters, especially the younger voters and women, will make their peace with Hillary. But I think those who don't and who bolt, supporting a third party or the other party's candidate will still be higher (and you may well be among those in this category). I just have no idea yet how much higher.