Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

I learned what a true ground game looks like during Bernie's mayoral campaign back in 1981. It was absolutely incredible in its detail, energy, thoroughness, and just downright folksy Vermont niceness. I have still never seen anything like it.

But a national campaign needs a whole nother level. I don't think Hillary has quite the people power Obama had, but she's got all the pros.

Re: Paranoia strikes deep.
 

We've been cleaning the house out. My wife gave several bottles of my best single malt, 25 year old stuff, to a guy who helps around the house. He plans to throw a very big party.

I have no idea if he knows what he has or not, but it's clear he's going to enjoy it.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

I saw that Donald Trump is copying Ted Cruz now and has hired the data/microtargeting operation that Cruz used so effectively. I suppose this could be considered evidence that he is actually trying to win, a topic of much debate lately in GOP circles. It is too little far too late, but it's probably enough for Reince to delay turning off the spigot and funding down ballot races only until late September.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Properly, Reince should have had a national ground game in place the day the convention ended. The RNC should take some of the heat for the disorder. Things like targeting voter lists are best done by the Party, since it takes many months and even years of data work to do it, but on the R side it's outsourced to consultants instead.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

I am normally not reluctant to place blame on Reince at ALL, but I think this epic failure is on Trump. He had no organization, and because he's Trump, most of the experienced campaign operatives of his vanquished foes were unwilling to work for him (if they had aspirations of future work in the party). It's not the GOP's job to set up field offices and coordinate his ad buys. Reince had to argue with Trump, who for his ego wanted things like offices in all 50 states (when it is a waste of resources in places you *should* definitely win (Idaho) and definitely lose (Hawaii)). Trump also couldn't even be bothered to make the 25 fundraising calls Reince required and got bored after 3 calls.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Progress. Now if we could get you to come to a slightly broader understanding of racism that takes into consideration that the past matters and has an ongoing effect on inequality today, you'd be that much closer to being a former conservative too.

Re: Paranoia strikes deep.
 

My condolences on your pending divorce.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

I'm assuming this was written before the news that Trump hired the Brietbart guy as the new head of his campaign.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Yes. Another instance in which Trump mistakes flattery for competence. But, honestly, Trump was blaming Russian mob-fixer Manafort for all of his recent missteps, and reports were that Manafort had given up on trying to make Trump act, well, like not an insane person and was just cashing his checks.

Re: Paranoia strikes deep.
 

Thankfully, I never acquired a taste for the stuff. I don't drink my cousin's single malt (unless he insists, which he sometimes does), but I appreciate that he offers it. Very unlike his father, who my dad (a Stanwix* on draft with a Segram's 7 on the side kind of guy) used to call the cheapest** drunk he knew.

Dad didn't hang with WASPs much, or he would have called Uncle Not Charlie "the cheapest drunk I know, other than those gin-swilling golfers on the other side of the lake." In defense of my uncle, he was always nice to me and used to let me read his collection of Louis L'Amour paperbacks.

I did have a client give me a very nice bottle of 25 year old Japanese scotch-styled whiskey once. Not at all peaty. He had received it at a closing in Japan and had stopped drinking (heart attack) before he had a chance to open it. I probably was viewed by him as "the help," too. :-)

Anyway, carry on.

*Sniff. I miss Ironweed.

**They also served store-branded soda at family gatherings, but since we never had the stuff in the house (Kool Aid was where it was at), it never bothered me.

Direct Democracy Party?
 

I'm sure this has been tried in the past, but was deemed too cumbersome. Given the state of tech, it's pretty easy now, so... How soon before we see this "hack" appearing:

"Good evening. My name is Tom Roberts, and I'm running for Congress. But you could call me Tim, or Bill, or Ethel, or even call me by number. Call me 278 if you like. It doesn't matter because I'm nothing but a voting instrument.

If you elect me I promise to do nothing but vote exactly as you, my constituents, tell me to vote.

How?

Well, we've set up a website and database which all constituents of this district can join. You can register just like you would a Pay Pal or Amazon account. Nothing compulsory. If you want to participate, great; if not, that's fine too.

Three days before any vote in Congress, we'll allow you to vote at my website, using your registered account. When your voting is done, we'll put up the result on the website. (Your vote will of course remain anonymous.)

I will then vote whatever the majority of you have told me to vote.

You will have all of the power. No lobbyist or special interest group will corrupt the vote by getting to me. They'd have to get to you.

All analytics regarding my website will be public, for you, or your friend who works in IT, to audit.

Total transparency, and direct democracy. You the people, skipping the middlemen - taking complete control."

This is coming. Somebody in tech is going to do this, just for the sheer academic kick of disrupting the current model.

Re: Paranoia strikes deep.
 

WTF? Have you lost your goddamned mind?

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

The "correctness" is annoying. BUT... Trump has been a uniquely enormous douchebag, and done nothing to repudiate the actual bigots at his rallies. Lay down with dogs...

AND, the polls are so bad that, mathematically, the hidden Trump vote - which is very real - will not come close to bridging the gap.

Trump's biggest problem is with people like us. We could vote for almost any GOP candidate because, why not? I mean -- Hillary's a fine centrist at heart, and probably won't raise taxes... but why take a chance on her if you've got a sure thing? But Trump? He's just too fucking stupid. He's potentially worse than Hillary, so those of us who would've voted GOP are forced to use the same calculation on Trump... "I don't know what that guy's going to do, but there's a solid possibility it'll cost me more than what Hillary might, so why take a chance?"

I don't give a stale fuck about his claptrap on walls or his idiot stance on Muslims.* That's all bullshit for the lowest common denominator voter. What's rendered Trump unqualified for my vote is his sheer stupidity. It's one thing to be an outsider with a disruptive plan. I'd welcome that. It's quite another to be a fool with no clear agenda or understanding of the job he's seeking.

Trump will lose with people like you and me, and without us, he's not winning the popular vote.

I'm voting Johnson in the desperate hope he and Weld get enough traction to vault the Libertarian Party to a level where it will significantly inform D and R platforms in the future.

______________
* I do recoil at his Nixonian "law and order" pitch, but again - that's just bullshit for the Archie Bunker voters.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Here's why: http://spectator.org/39326_americas-...ls-revolution/

And here's old Aunt Peggy on the why of it: http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-glob...men-1470959258

Re: Direct Democracy Party?
 

You realize that this person will not get elected, right?

If voters are remotely rational (arguable), they will know that you can't hand someone power and then expect them not to use it because they promised. A rational voter would likely also realize that their fellow voters are not sufficiently informed to be the best way to decide.

If voter are irrational (also arguable), this person gives then next to zero emotional appeal.

And then there's the logistical problem that you don't know about lots of votes - e.g., amendments - three days in advance.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Wow is this condescending. Must one leave any group that has objectionable people in it?

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Yes, this. I think Trump didn't like the stories coming out in the last few days that said that people in the campaign were going to get him under control. No one gets him under control. He is the alpha male. One of the jobs of a campaign manager is to spin the media with an off-the-record narrative that guides their coverage. But Trump controls his own message, and won't tolerate a campaign manager who thinks they're actually running something. The new guy can be counted until to shill for him, until he can't, and then he can be canned too.

Re: Direct Democracy Party?
 

Some would. Some wouldn't.

That'd be a cynical rather than rational voter.

Any more than their representatives are well informed, or voting without undue influence from lobbyists, or based on self-interest? A rational voter would realize it's much easier for a single vote to be corrupted than a mass of them.

The appeal is to honesty and transparency. "I'm not 'with you,' and you don't have to be 'with me.' I am you. Literally. You vote through me!" There's a huge emotional argument there about giving democracy back to the people.

Nothing's perfect. Where a vote couldn't be held in advance, the candidate would promise to abstain.

It can and will be done. All processes will be hacked inevitably. Whether it'll be good or bad for us is another matter.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Okay.

Huh? I think one probably wants to leave any group that they disagree with.

Re: Direct Democracy Party?
 

I don't think you have any understanding at all of politics.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

No thanks. I still sincerely believe that conservative solutions like school choice would do more for underserved communities than the Dems have in the last 40 years.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Read that first link I cited in response to you above. The "do as I say, you troglodyte" attitude is a huge cause of elitist hatred.

You can't talk down to or ignore a person without creating deep responsive hatred. We've done that to roughly half the country. And we're only making it worse calling them all bigots and racists.

Yes, Gallup showed a lot of Trump voters aren't voting solely because they're economically screwed. But other polls have shown a different picture. And even if we accept Gallup's recent poll as more than "noise" - as some breakthrough poll that finally shows us the "real" Trump voter... Still, it is not a basis to discard these people exclusively as racists and xenophobes. It simply states that these people do not live in areas with a lot of different races and ethnicities. To jump to exclusively "racist" and "xenophobe" is lazy and reckless.

Seriously, read that piece. It predicted exactly what's happening... What occurs when those of us who know better tell half the country to fuck off, or ignore them. The less enlightened tend to still live in "honor culture." Their essential currency, more than actual currency, is respect. And they aren't going to simply accept us derisively telling them how to think and live any more than the honor cultures of fundamentalist Islam abroad have done.

They demand respect, and a seat at the table. We're making it a zero sum game. This is understandable, of course, as a lot of what they believe is regressive and unscientific, and we feel they need to be forced to think differently. But they won't, and they aren't going away any time soon, and we need to find a more effective way to deal with them than broad brush name-calling.

Re: Direct Democracy Party?
 

This is making me laugh on so many levels.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

In the spirit of bipartisanship, you will be glad to know that Paul Manafort shared his Ukrainian cash with John Podesta, Clinton money man, in a way so as to circumvent disclosure of the foreign influence.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/0...bbyists-227101

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Non-elites, whoever they are, are just as likely to be dismissive of views they don't share. You're describe the effects of elitist hatred, not the cause.

I don't know who your "we" is, but I prefer not to talk down to or ignore people, and I have met plenty of people in flyover country who talk down or ignore me, and yet I don't hate them.

Also, there are many bigots and racists out there.

Uh, false. Plenty of blacks and Hispanics, for example, have been economically screwed and yet they aren't Trump voters. The word "solely" is doing a lot of work in what you just said.

If you read what I linked, I'll read what you linked.

Who can argue with that?

What?

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

I would just like to note the absurdity and lack of self-awareness in this paragraph:

eta: I tried to read it, but I give up. That is a load of twaddle. I can't believe you think it's insightful or well written. I suppose it is amazing that the man can write prose with such a massive chip on his shoulder, but that's no reason to go and read it.

Re: Direct Democracy Party?
 

It is rather amusing to read you talking about the fee fees of the poor bigots, and how that makes them Trumpists, immediately after arguing that people would give that all up for honesty and transparency.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Or at least to John Podesta's brother's lobbying firm.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

I could put together and implement a school choice program that would do a ton, but have never seen such a policy proposed by Rs. Instead, their proposals usually serve a few special constituencies of theirs, like Christian home schoolers and private schools with a segregationist past being the most objectionable of them.

I was a kid who escaped from deeply crappy public schools (triple sessions, anybody?) thanks to the generosity of rich Yankees who funded a private school scholarship. Yes, they took smart poor kids like me in to burnish the reputation of a school that served mostly dumb rich druggies, but it worked for both of us.

I think there could be bipartisan solutions to education that cut through a lot of the crap on all sides.

Except for the fact that there isn't a constituency to support those solutions anywhere. Especially among conservatives. Bush really drove that home when he worked with Kennedy on no-child-left-behind and then gutted its funding after passage.

Someday, if we ever meet IRL, I will tell you about my youthful discussions on the topic with James Buckley, brother of Bill.

Re: Paranoia strikes deep.
 

I have more, and he deserves it.

But I don't think my wife intended to give him as big a gift as she did.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

I'd love not to call people racists. It should be done sparingly and carefully.

But, you know, there are a lot of people making that very, very tough these days. And it's frightening.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Because I love you like whatever the fuck NotBob was talking about when he said he loves you, I'm going to assume that you are engaging in exquisite irony when you chastise whoever it is you are chastising for using broad brush name calling.

I've fallen down on the funk a bit, and I am going to get back to it with a departure from my usual early 70s fare. I just saw the Rebirth Brass Band, who always know how to get things jumping, but I want to talk about openers Cha Wa. Based on a familial relationship with the Wild Magnolias, this band is helping to keep the Mardi Gras Indian tradition alive, and the band is tight. As an example, I bring you perhaps the most cliched (but still wonderful) of the traditional New Orleans songs, Jack-A-Mo:

http://www.tubman.org/events/wing-ding.html

Oh this tune can get anyone dancing, from the hardcore N'Awlins music heads to those Deadheadhippiepotsmokers. It has a storied history, so as a bonus for failing the funk the last couple of days, I will present you with a few favorite versions throughout the years.

Dixie Cups. So minimalist it is sublime:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5GzVZjd0iI

Dr. John. If you don't own this album, you have made some serious strategic errors in your life:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_UYPu5RFXI

Sugar Boy and his Cane Cutters. The original?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgOrIar_qGk

The Wild Tchoupitoulas' Brother John:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvMofiuaW98

I'm not sure what the fuck this is, but I kind of like it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMQRfliyznQ

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Like the cousin who doesn't hide the fancy booze. I may have also previously compared him to the cousin who likes to play for me drum solos from bootleg jam ban recordings.

You, in contrast, are totally like the cousin who introduced me to weed and Frank Zappa ("Titties and Beer," IIRC) one fine summer afternoon in the Anvesteal Homeland.

Indeed. She don't say nothing, but baby make her blue jeans talk.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Watching Fox News on Trumps new team, it strikes me that the entire Republican Party has forgotten how to run a national campaign. It's like Lee Atwater never existed.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

There are a lot of Republicans who know how to run a national campaign, but Trump does not want to turn over control to someone else.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Charter schools are very popular with Rs, and are generally vehemently opposed by Democrats and teacher's unions. Most every voucher program I can recall has been geared towards low-income communities with failing schools. Remind me who it was that wanted to withhold funding from the DC voucher program that significantly increased high school graduation rates?

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Two problems. First, Fox News is an alternate reality, so I would assume anyone that is talking on that network not named Dana Perino is on crack. Second, there are many Republicans that do know how to run campaigns. If you recall, Ted Cruz had assembled a very effective operation. No one competent wants to work for Trump, and a number of RNC staffers have left after they were told to get on the Trump Train or head out. The joke in R circles is that anyone with a suspiciously timed gap in their resume is probably likely to want to explain it with rehab or prison time rather than the truth.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

I see four types of Trump voter:

1. Bigots;
2. People who just want to "blow it all up;"
3. The economically fucked/anti-globalists; and,
4. People who are a combination of 1 through 3.

In the MidAtlantic, you don't hear much support for Trump's anti-Mexican messages. I've not heard a single person I'd categorize as a Trump voter express such sentiment. That's partly because both geographically and socially, I'm running into a somewhat more educated Trump voter than one might see in real flyover land. What I have noticed, however, is open hostility toward Islam. That seems to be a binding thread in groups 1-4. It's not a fear thing. The repeated criticism is cultural: "Look how they're fucking up Europe. We can't let them do that here." And it's more snobby than angry... "Oh, fuck, there'll go the neighborhood."

Re: Direct Democracy Party?
 

You see a lot of mutual exclusivity among concepts. Very binary.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

We have charter schools here in deep-blue Massachusetts. It just took some intelligent negotiation with the teachers union instead of political point-scoring to get them.

We have also experimented with schools run by universities (BU ran the city of Chelsea's schools for over a decade), and various programs that use private schools (this is particularly heavily used for kids with disabilities). None of these things are panaceas.

What almost none of these programs really address is that the single biggest determinant of educational success is class size (once you are under 18, above 18 it doesn't matter as much) and second is quality of teaching (and the teachers colleges for the most part really suck in this country).

We have good schools by national standards here, even in low income areas. Very good schools.

IMHO, they still suck.