Re: Cut the Bullshit
 

Cuomo has dirt in his past.

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

Well played, sir. But the Eye of Thurgraun has now turned your way.

TM

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

The proof is that someone who (1) is not a small government lib (i.e., has advocated for government programs abhorrent to them), (2) does not appear to be particularly anti-tax (see, same), and (3) is not a Christian conservative (see, e.g., his personal life), is about to win the nomination.

Which shows you don't need those groups to win the nomination if you're a big enough asshole.

She sure isn't going to campaign on letting all the criminals out of prison in this environment. But she sure as shit is going to do more on criminal justice reform than Trump, in part because there's a real constituency for it in her party.

Whatever you have to tell yourself to sleep at night.

Re: Cut the Bullshit
 

Thank, Bernie Bro, but that's bullshit and you know it.

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

Agree and disagree. They don't matter to the base, which has always been small-minded bigots who want to stop progress on social issues. The problem is, the base has awoken and realized they have all the power when it comes to the red territories. So, yeah. None of the people you mention matter when it comes to the nomination or even in the local elections. But they sure as hell matter if you want to win a national election.

TM

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

Right. They don't matter in the party.

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

Strangely enough, I don't disagree with much of anything in this post.

The problem is, if the right were in charge, we would get huge tax cuts for the wealthy, absolutely zero regulation to address the rich raiding this country, defunding of regulatory agencies that are already way too overwhelmed to police the shitty laws we have in place, more war for no fucking reason, gutting of social programs, and, at best a freeze on any social progress (or, at worst, the unraveling, through small-minded legislation, of the progress we've made for a number of different groups over the last 50 years).

The issue with the way you look at things is that you think the Republicans and Democrats are both in favor of the status quo (or both don't want to address the issues you've outlined in your post in a meaningful way). But that's absolutely not true. I'll take your point (to a certain extent) when it comes to a Democratic party lead by Hillary. But that's where it ends. The Republicans want to turn us into India right now per what I just said.

TM

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/05/up...pgtype=article

TM

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

Strangely, I don't disagree with much of this. Except I think the GOP (or at least Trump) and Hillary are reversed on war. He's more isolationist. She's a hawk. I also don't think the social gains in LGBT rights, civil rights, women's rights, Roe, etc. will be rolled back under the GOP or Trump. Tolerance and progressive policies in those arenas are irreversible at this point.

But that aside, yes, the GOP happily wants to let us fiscally slide back to a pre-New Deal world (or as close as they can get to it). And the Democrats do want to arrest the slide. But not too aggressively to anger their moneyed benefactors.

I see the logic in postponement. It may be my only choice. And that really sucks.

(And if I could "jump off" for a moment, what sucks more is to hear sages tear Sanders a new ass on these boards. Yeah, he's unrealistic. And I'd never vote for him. But in suggesting we need a reset, he's starting the conversation we need to have. It's not wise or mature to bag the guy or his followers for a bit of naivete. It's cynical and cheap. Trust me on this. I know cynicism.

This last bit is not directed at you. I have not heard you attack Sanders in this manner.)

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

If you mean me, it is not the case. I gave up disagreeing with anything Dem here, but not because of
Thurgreed. It was just the piling on of everyone who remains here. I used to post pleas for someone, anyone, to break rank and agree with me that some small point someone posted was stupid- that was all I wanted, affirmation that I was not crazy- eventually I gave up. Maybe we need the internet equivalent of court ordered busing to drag some Rs here?

Still, I wouldn't fail to support you if I do agree with some of what you write, but you post long things that go in several directions, so it is hard to "agree."

I will however agree with one thing you wrote- In our primary Hillary promised to "bring manufacturing jobs home!" I remember the Dems promising the same 8 years ago. Of course they won't be able to. So they do lie and anyone who believes it is not thinking too hard.

But that is not equivalent to promising to kick all latinos out and seal a wall behind them AND stop any muslims from immigrating. My DIL is a Haitian immigrant. Looking at her and my son all I can think is "what if he had fallen in love with a Saudi girl?" Watching Trump through her eyes, I'll tell you, it does not make me proud to be American.

The people who support Trump are stupid plus evil.

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

You left out the justice(s) who would be put in place to, at minimum, roll back reproductive rights, and also likely do significant further damage to an array of other civil rights and liberties.

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

I'm not sure how you reach this conclusion. The Voting Rights Act has been outright repealed (at least the part with any teeth), which has resulted in numerous jurisdictions instituting ID requirements solely aimed at suppressing votes. Roe has been chipped away so significantly that it's all but been overturned in a number of states already. The same is being done with LGBT rights in the guise of supporting religious freedom. All this bullshit is coming from the right, not he left.

Agree. But we're going to have deal with it sooner or later. The more the money flows to the top, the more a guy like Bernie will resonate with more people.

I haven't attacked Sanders because I like him. I do think that he jumped into the race with no real plan, hoping to push Hillary to the left of the issues he thinks are important, and was surprised by his success. But you can't just ride that wave on superficial proclamations. It's not fair to the people who are supporting you and it's not fair to the candidate you will eventually lose to. Develop a plan on 3 items. Talk about how you plan on bringing in the independents and first-time Democratic voters to the political process so you can build the support necessary to develop your ideas. If he outlined a process that would take years to implement and required the participation of all his fervent supporters in the local and non-Presidential elections, I would be inclined to give him more of a chance.

But "We need to break up the banks and stop being beholden to the millionaire and billionaire class" cannot be the answer to every single actual policy question.

TM

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

Yeah. The most important part.

TM

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

I agree with this. Those jobs are gone. But whenever anyone on the left tries to say something like, "Let's be the world leader in alternative energy by investing in big projects," it's nothing but crickets.

If you ask me, one of the biggest threats to the middle class is the Amazon-ing/Walmart-ization of our entire country. In NYC, it's not as much of a problem and small businesses are able to survive based on pure need (and the expense of opening huge box stores makes it impractical here, even though we have a few). These places destroy small businesses and then, in the case of the big box stores, hire the people who used to have their own businesses at meager wages. Everyone has to shop there because they have no money (I bet their employees are their best customers). And we all subsidize this bullshit by paying for their healthcare, food stamps, etc. But if you talk about doing away (or limiting) these places somehow, you're a communist who hates success!

TM

Re: Implosion
 

Not my circus, not my monkeys.