Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

We were meeting friends at the Moth (hi Thurgreed!) in Soho one Tuesday. The occupy folks did a march up 2 avenues towards central park. Taking out two avenues , hell even one, destroyed traffic. My friend never made it. He cleans pools on Long Island. I'm 1% but they didn't bother me, butmy friend forever hated them.

In Detroit they set up in a place where they only bothered poor, hell the homeless. They were fuzzy brained rich kids, think Adder as he was thinking about whether law school made sense-

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

It was a radically different experience here, where none of that kind of rioting occurred. I think it had something to do with the way they were dealt with; to the extent I saw images of people getting out of hand, I saw more police misbehavior, certainly in NY but in a lot of other cities too. It seems pretty clear to me that NYPD caused many more problems than they fixed in the way they handled it - if you want angry protesters, try penning them in and then macing them randomly once they're trapped. How were the Oakland police handling the whole thing?

Re: Hank's first world problems
 

Yeah, man, traffic in NYC sucks.

Traffic around here is going to be way worse tomorrow than it was even in the middle of the Ferguson protests, when they were intentionally trying to shut down traffic in the city. But it'll be a good day anyways.

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

The republican primaries are looking to be a serious goat rodeo. Is there any candidate in the mix who doesn't seem just primed for a melt down?

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

They were worse than NYPD.

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

I wish I were more surprised.

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

Well, my initial impression is that Jeb has the skillset to give a good impression of a competent mainstream candidate. He might still melt down by being pulled too close to one of the many black holes presented by the field, but we'll have to see how it plays out.

Doesn't mean I won't still enjoy watching Jeb and a couple others trying to navigate the shoal between, say, Cruz and Graham on some debate stage in Des Moines.

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

He's really unpopular.

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

Has Rove taught you nothing? Total % is meaningless. Yes Hillary will win NY and Cali BY A LOT! So what?

Some folks are born silver spoon in hand.
 

Word. Apropos of this, Jeb! currently leads* HRC head-to-head in Florida.

His big problem right now isn't that he has bad national numbers; his big problem right now is that he doesn't seem to be all that popular with GOP primary voters. Fixable? What do I know? I ain't no Atwater's son, no.

*As does Marco Rubio, fwiw.

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

http://www.freep.com/story/news/loca...-cop/26067097/

Two police beatings, one justified one leading to prosecution. The saddest thing is that 25 years ago Kym Worthy was fucking hot:(

Re: Some folks are born silver spoon in hand.
 

Being only a few points ahead in one's home state this early ought to be worrisome for each of them - the whole point of a Bush or Rubio ought to take Florida out of contention. Likewise, Walker is actually behind in Wisconsin, so dreams of inroads into the upper midwest, which would be perfectly reasonable for a centrist GOP, don't seem to be going too well at this poitn.

Generally, yes, Bush is the closest thing to an adult in the GOP field. But he has the baggage not just of his brother (and maybe people are starting to forget how much they hated his wars or how badly the economy sucked on his watch) but also of Florida politics. There's going to be some real melt-down potential there. I don't think he's immune.

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

Most of us were a bit svelter and a touch less ravaged a quarter century ago.

Re: Some folks are born silver spoon in hand.
 

I don't know. Our GOP voters don't seem remotely interested in centrism. Or at least the politicians they elect don't. I don't think a centrist GOPer could carry enough of the base to do much in Minnesota (probably also true in Wisconsin, maybe to a lesser degree in Iowa).

Re: Some folks are born silver spoon in hand.
 

Interesting. Walker obviously got to 50% in his last election, but that wasn't during a Presidential year. When the masses come out to vote in a Presidential year are the Rs just doomed in Wisconsin? How do they get to 50% if they don't take some votes in the center?

Note: I still live in a state where Republicans can win (like Charlie Baker) by playing to the center. Are we just an anachronism?

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

Perception becomes reality. People want to vote for a winner.

But what's really important is that Obama beat her like a drum on the ground. She ain't making that mistake again. That's where she's going to win this time.

TM

Re: Some folks are born silver spoon in hand.
 

He's also very much not a centrist.

Maybe. I guess I think in Minnesota, a centrist Republican could win a statewide election if he/she could get himself into position to run for one, but it's an uphill battle to do that because (a) the non-statewide offices you typically need to hold first do not elect centrists, (b) the party does not allow centrists into leadership positions, (c) caucuses ensure that centrists will not get nominated for statewide office, and (d) winning a primary challenge is particular hard for a centrist.

All that said, Dayton ran a similar gambit from the other direction to get elected governor. I just don't think things are symmetrical.

You know how people say Pennsylvania is Philly and Pittsburgh and Alabama in the middle? I think that's about as true of Wisconsin, except it's Madison, Milwaukee (and to some degree Chicago-landish lakeshore) and Alabama.

Minnesota is blue Twin Cities metro (and traditionally Iron Range, although maybe that's fading), purple transition area in the suburbs, and red everywhere else, with swings being entirely about turnout in the metro and it's fringes.

The one potential exception is Rochester, where Mayo reigns and the combination of prosperity and education still produces actual, sane, moderate republicans. Maybe someday one of them can break through, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Re: Some folks are born silver spoon in hand.
 

Yes. And a happy (belated) Patriots Day to you.

Re: Some folks are born silver spoon in hand.
 

Thanks. I still get irrationally unhappy on the day, but a good day despite it.

Talking about irrationality, this feud blows the republican primaries out of the water.

Re: Some folks are born silver spoon in hand.
 

And yet, the contest for "who can be more extreme" does have a familiar ring.

Re: Some folks are born silver spoon in hand.
 

I trust all the republicans are getting inundated with invites to gay weddings.

Do we think al-Baghdadi or Mullah Omar would go to a Shiite wedding?

Re: Some folks are born silver spoon in hand.
 

Re: Some folks are born silver spoon in hand.
 

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

Re: So should we talk to Hillary instead of you?
 

On a call with Koch's AFP today, Rubio emphasized that Hillary would be seeking funds from big dollar corporate donors looking to influence legislation.

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

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.

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

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

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

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.

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

Wow. That's nuts.

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

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.

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

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

Did Jimmy Carter make even 1 good decision?

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

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

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

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

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

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.

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

smh

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

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.

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

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

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

Pretty much the Clinton administration.

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

Missouri is just fucked-up.

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

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.