a clown car full of millionaires: the 2016 presidential primary thread

nothing can be learned from that place

it's like Camden NJ

All those people on bikes look so miserable as they are playing with their fucking LEGOS.

sterile promontory's what i heard

And don't get me started on those tins of cookies!

I was confused for a moment trying to figure out what gabbneb had said about the Bureau of Land Management

what a piece of work, this man

so horrible to eat your Danish by the riverside as a smiling horse-riding constable passes by with no pollution cloud overheard choking you

why would we want to spend public funds upholding history buildings when we can build a new hotel there instead?

guys guys it's incredibly clear that Sanders' constant references to Denmark are a subtle appeal to the large Danish-American immigrant population in Utah, where Bernie hopes to achieve a crucial primary victory in June

Weird Al was in Copenhagen recently, posted photos from Christiania on is Instagram. Of course HE could get away w that.

One of the reasons that I don't really like Bernie Sanders is because I know how shitty Denmark is. He really should look at American radicalism, and today, that means of course BLM most of all.

― Frederik B, Thursday, October 22, 2015 12:01 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

god shut the fuck up

^^^^

Everyone knows that Denmark is clean, prosperous and comfortable and healthy. Therefore it is an enormous, country-sized Potemkin village and you can't trust appearances.

Ha-ha, we were on a trip recently, which meant spending time with cable TV, which meant all these reality shows, half all of which were survival, the other half some variation on home makeover. There was one in particular that was people flipping houses. But then there was what appeared to be I think a Danish equivalent of the house flipping show, and no joke, everybody was riding a bike and the place did indeed look kind of miserable! Possibly because the episode just happened to be rainy and windy, and the people participating particularly humorless.

One of the reasons that I don't really like Bernie Sanders is because I know how shitty Denmark is. He really should look at American radicalism, and today, that means of course BLM most of all.

― Frederik B, Thursday, October 22, 2015 12:01 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

god shut the fuck up

― k3vin k., Thursday, October 22, 2015 12:31 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^^^

― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Thursday, October 22, 2015 12:33 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^^^

can you imagine some dumb american like me condescendingly telling a bunch of french politicians 9and implicitly a bunch of french people interested in politics) which french social movements were authentically radical and thus they should pay the most attention to?

the eye rolling would be heard around the world

ooh la la!

have considered starting a Danish politics thread just so all of us could post our misinformed opinions in it

we could start by expressing dismay that they haven't murdered their royal family yet

All informed by watching the Pusher movies.

i would have plenty to say on an apple danish thread, not so much on a cheese danish thread

oh, frederik is danish? i thought he was french. maybe i have him confused with a frederic.

Just wait for Frederik to return and berate you for not knowing his backstory.

don't really get the pile-on here; social democracy has some great successes in the nordic countries, but the politics over there aren't any less gross than they are here

iirc Frederik's major beef with Denmark is its Islamophobia

don't think bernie's advocating an emulation of the politics of denmark. it's more like, look like there are many examples of laws and policies that lead to universal health care, cleaner energy, higher quality education, etc. Scandinavian countries like Denmark are full of policy success stories - perhaps we could learn something from them.

but on the other hand, denmark is apparently a shithole so what do i know

The reason I am tempted to pile on is because Frederik is starting to cross the line from "someone who is concerned that BLM is going unheeded" to "someone who is using BLM as a hobby horse to complain about the establishment", largely because it seems he is ignoring or is unaware that Sanders and Clinton have both met with BLM and incorporated large chunks of their concerns into their respective platforms, as outlined by the article I linked the chronicled their meetings and how their talking points were represented in the Democratic debate.

yeah Frederik has bought into some superficial narrative from like 6 mos ago that Bernie is 'ignoring' BLM

bernie's strong and unambiguous response re: BLM was one of the best moments of the debate imo

don't think bernie's advocating an emulation of the politics of denmark. it's more like, look like there are many examples of laws and policies that lead to universal health care, cleaner energy, higher quality education, etc. Scandinavian countries like Denmark are full of policy success stories - perhaps we could learn something from them.

― 1999 ball boy (Karl Malone), Thursday, October 22, 2015 7:55 PM (23 minutes ago)

yeah, that's why i sort of differ with eric foner on this although i see where he's coming from -- there is a long and honorable tradition of american radicalism, but there are also a lot of other countries that are demonstrating that these are sensible and realistic policies which are entirely achievable. plus it's very rare that any candidate dares suggest that america could stand to learn any lessons from countries that aren't america.

agreed totally, just it'd also be nice to honor the americans who fought and died for X and Y, and politically it may be a more useful tactic for building new coalitions around these policies - "this is the party of franklin roosevelt, of social security" etc. while i don't want to accept the xenophobia as a given, maybe there is something to making it clear that a critique of unregulated market forces is not some alien idea, but deeply rooted in american political culture with benefits we take for granted today. five score years ago, your great-grandparents said, enough is enough, that while capitalism can build great wealth it cannot by itself guarantee justice. and they fought for the five-day work week, they fought for the eight-hour work day, they fought to end child labor... etc. etc.

yeah, i don't think talking about American predecessors and pointing to existing policies that have worked in other countries are mutually exclusive. he does a good job of talking about the latter, but not the former.

Foner's pointing out that our history isn't Denmark's. Also, while I know he died hundreds of years ago, but it's absurd that Democrats don't claim FDR's mantle the way the GOP does Reagan.

they don't?

I mean we aren't reanimating his corpse and fucking it on national television like the GOP do w Reagan but idk if I'd be into the Dems adopting that tactic

I can def recall Obama, Bubba, Hillz namechecking FDR

now i have a vision of the dem debates taking place at the fdr library with each candidate clamping a cigarette holder in his or her teeth and striving to sound as mid-atlantic as possible

they are all in wheelchairs

moderated by edgar bergen and charlie mccarthy

kind of amazed FDR's ghost hasn't gone all poltergeist on the Clintons

Dems might occasionally mention FDR, but Reagan gets mentioned by republicans 100x more frequently
Xpost

yes but also in a v superficial and historically inaccurate way - half the time they're praising him for things he didn't do. He's just a totem, "the last popular Republican President" that has positive associations in the country's cultural memory. They're just trying to exploit that, not genuinely emulate his policies or approach to governing.

whereas the only people who really remember FDR are nearing death. Any positive association with him requires accompanying history lesson.

at which modern Dems are so skilled, right?

xpost
yeah, i agree with that. i don't think raising FDR up to Reagan levels of worship would do much for democrats. you're lucky if people can remember even know what the new deal was

That's my point: creating a narrative that shows the evolution of labor relations, Social Security, banking protections, etc through the eighties before Reagan and Clinton started gutting them.

haha would be awesome if HRC said "I want to RESTORE the protections my husband destroyed!"

aw man that would lead to awkward pillowtalk between the two of them

which they're strangers to?