Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Europe's religious wars and the modern Middle East -- it's a parallel I've drawn before, and I think there's a lot in this piece.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Extra points to the first reporter who gets a Republic Presidential contender to say he'd love his dead gay son.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

Europe's religious wars and the modern Middle East -- it's a parallel I've drawn before, and I think there's a lot in this piece.

Historical comparisons are always fun. I think you can productively compare today's ME to a lot of different times in Europe, including the warring periods of the 19th and early 20th century.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Wow. That's nuts.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

Wow. That's nuts.

2. Back when you were persecuting me I didn't take my fight to your family. I simply hired a PI to follow you around. As you agreed, I have enough dirt to keep you in line from that.

[Hank Chinaski]

watching Rambo 3. it occurs that we should not have supported the Afghans against the Soviets.

Did Jimmy Carter make even 1 good decision?

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

watching Rambo 3. it occurs that we should not have supported the Afghans against the Soviets.

Did Jimmy Carter make even 1 good decision?

Yes. Deciding to tell this nation of infants to get its shit together during the Malaise Speech: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KCOd-qWZB_g

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

Yes. Deciding to tell this nation of infants to get its shit together during the Malaise Speech: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KCOd-qWZB_g

uhhh, we did, we voted him out. (though I voted for him)

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

uhhh, we did, we voted him out. (though I voted for him)

You asked if Carter made any good decisions. He did.

We didn't do anything he recommended in that speech. We shit on his every suggestion.

We don't like advice. We like cheerleaders with credit cards, like Ronnie. In a twisted sense, our perpetual adolescence may protect us. But it also turns us into shitheads.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

You asked if Carter made any good decisions. He did.

smh

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

You asked if Carter made any good decisions. He did.

We didn't do anything he recommended in that speech. We shit on his every suggestion.

We don't like advice. We like cheerleaders with credit cards, like Ronnie. In a twisted sense, our perpetual adolescence may protect us. But it also turns us into shitheads.

In retrospect, Carter's reputation as President should continually improve in the nation's mind. As a young 'un at the time I was an active part of the Kennedy effort, and that was a huge mistake, a total fuck up.

Carter's governmental reorganizations and deregulations made it ok in the Democratic party to talk about a bunch of basic government management and budgetary issues in a sensible way and laid the groundwork for Clinton and Obama. He was vastly more successful at containing spending than Reagan was after him.

SALT II was a big deal; the Camp David accords are one of the few Middle Eastern peace processes that has resulted in a lasting solution to a part of the problem (the ongoing Peace between Egypt and Israel); the Vietnam amnesty was important to getting us to move on.

His biggest and most lasting screw up was Iran. The Shah was a deeply unfortunate and tragic inheritance going back to Truman and even Roosevelt, and Carter should have jettisoned support for him on day 1 and been part of a more orderly transition, but he had his eye elsewhere in the world and didn't realize the instability there. He also never got control of the recession that came out of the oil shock. And he wasn't the most politically adept guy, in part because he was fundamentally honest.

He may not be a Johnson or an Obama, or even a Clinton, but among the Presidents from Kennedy to Bush I, only Johnson stands clearly above him in retrospect since Nixon's very significant accomplishments get overshadowed by his absolutely epic fuck-ups.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

...made it ok in the Democratic party to talk about a bunch of basic government management and budgetary issues in a sensible way...

Sorry if I nodded off there. What was that again?

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

Sorry if I nodded off there. What was that again?

Pretty much the Clinton administration.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Missouri is just fucked-up.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

This describes a big part of the problem, but I'd like to see someone get at who conservatives are and why they feel strongly about what they do. Also, the solution proposed is no solution.