To think of it, Clinton lost the election to the most unpopular candidate in (maybe) the whole history of America. Unless blaming the Russians works out this is a serious food for thought.
Sangoma wrote:To think of it, Clinton lost the election to the most unpopular candidate in (maybe) the whole history of America. Unless blaming the Russians works out this is a serious food for thought.
She has profoundly shitty political instincts. The anti-Obama: very experienced and knowledgeable, but stiff and awkward with a crowd, and with a knack for saying the wrong thing. She also had >25 years of the opposition shaping her public image for the electorate (anyone remember the White House Christmas tree decorated with syringes and condoms?). I personally underestimated how utterly decisive that was all by itself.
Supposedly Bill advised the campaign to hit with more of an economic & populist message, and they blew him off. Bet there's been some second-guessing about that. She still won the popular by a significant margin. It's a pretty unique set of circumstances. I don't think there's as much to be learned from it, except tactically, as you suggest.
“War is the remedy our enemies have chosen. Other simple remedies were within their choice. You know it and they know it, but they wanted war, and I say let us give them all they want.”
― William Tecumseh Sherman
Sangoma wrote:To think of it, Clinton lost the election to the most unpopular candidate in (maybe) the whole history of America. Unless blaming the Russians works out this is a serious food for thought.
She has profoundly shitty political instincts. The anti-Obama: very experienced and knowledgeable, but stiff and awkward with a crowd, and with a knack for saying the wrong thing. She also had >25 years of the opposition shaping her public image for the electorate (anyone remember the White House Christmas tree decorated with syringes and condoms?). I personally underestimated how utterly decisive that was all by itself.
Supposedly Bill advised the campaign to hit with more of an economic & populist message, and they blew him off. Bet there's been some second-guessing about that. She still won the popular by a significant margin. It's a pretty unique set of circumstances. I don't think there's as much to be learned from it, except tactically, as you suggest.
No email server in the basement, and she's the President. All the good and bad (forward leaning on the job, arrogant on who rules are for, etc.) are on display right there in microcosm.
One thing I am hoping Trump does is bring about a shift of power back to the legislative.
Sangoma wrote:The Trump saga fascinates me. If you think of it his election should be a good thing: in spite of every media outlet being against him, in spite of being an outsider, non-professional politician, his own party not being particularly enamoured by him and not having nearly as much financial support Trump managed to win. This event takes me - cold blooded cynic - aback: this myth called democracy actually can sometimes work!
What the fuck is wrong with everybody? Does anybody really think that Clinton is a valid alternative to Trump? Or is it the fear of the unknown - swapping a professional two-faced (rather ten-faced) liar for someone who speaks his mind? Or is it the insecurity complex that set in since primary school when a bully took your lunch money?
Charles Bukowski said: "The common vote guarantees a common leader who then leads us to a common apathetic predictability." Once in a while this pattern breaks up, and that's what happened now. But instead of at least being curious everyone is terrified of the President who doesn't fall into the familiar. Or are you guys simply brainwashed by the media that has been consistently one-sidedly anti-Trump? (Not that anybody would ask the obvious why).
Chill, everyone. Where is famous American optimism? Nothing bad is going to happen. For the first time in many years your president is actually a controversial and therefore interesting figure. There is actually some uncertainty about the near future. It's good, idiots!
I concur.
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
First minute or so should tell you where the plantation coastal elite party is going. The last couple of seconds are hilarious.
Will the disaffected white Dems who voted Trump be persuaded to go back into the fold by this? Especially after Donny gets the union workers believing that he put them back to work?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04I-ni5utPA[/youtube]
Mao wrote:Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. Our principle is that the Party commands the gun, and the gun must never be allowed to command the Party
DrDonkeyLove wrote:First minute or so should tell you where the plantation coastal elite party is going. The last couple of seconds are hilarious.
Will the disaffected white Dems who voted Trump be persuaded to go back into the fold by this? Especially after Donny gets the union workers believing that he put them back to work?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04I-ni5utPA[/youtube]
syaigh wrote:I believe that only 40% of the American population voted so he was elected by roughly 20%. The media tells us who's winning so everyone decides their vote doesn't count and then they don't show up.
I wasn't a fan of Hillary. But, I am a fan of public education, leaving everyone's personal lives the fuck alone (as long as those people can consent due to age, infirmity, intoxication, or being of the same species), and egalitarianism (kind of like a meritocracy, but not requiring one to prove that one deserves basic human rights).
It was just so very telling when Rick whats-his-face, who spend the past five years lobbying to dismantle the dept. of energy, stated in his confirmation hearings that (rough paraphrase) "now that I finally know what the DoE does, I think its important". Wow. The depth of absolute idiocy there is just mindblowing.
The thing is, the people screaming the loudest don't really represent most of us. Who is going to speak for the moderates, anyone? Anyone? I think the nature of a moderate leads one to not seek public office and that's a goddamned shame.
The Democratic party could have elected Jim Webb. But noooooooooooo.
syaigh wrote:I believe that only 40% of the American population voted so he was elected by roughly 20%. The media tells us who's winning so everyone decides their vote doesn't count and then they don't show up.
I wasn't a fan of Hillary. But, I am a fan of public education, leaving everyone's personal lives the fuck alone (as long as those people can consent due to age, infirmity, intoxication, or being of the same species), and egalitarianism (kind of like a meritocracy, but not requiring one to prove that one deserves basic human rights).
It was just so very telling when Rick whats-his-face, who spend the past five years lobbying to dismantle the dept. of energy, stated in his confirmation hearings that (rough paraphrase) "now that I finally know what the DoE does, I think its important". Wow. The depth of absolute idiocy there is just mindblowing.
The thing is, the people screaming the loudest don't really represent most of us. Who is going to speak for the moderates, anyone? Anyone? I think the nature of a moderate leads one to not seek public office and that's a goddamned shame.
The Democratic party could have elected Jim Webb. But noooooooooooo.
I was lobbying hard for Webb as Dem candidate. I am a huge fan. But those days are gone.
