US Politics, December 2019: Profound procedural deficiencies

oh fuck off

Everything the asshole does is so beyond the pale I wish people like her stopped being so fucking solemn about it and just repeatedly kicked him in the nuts, literally and rhetorically. As if anxious hand wringing is going to get impeachment any more support.

Impeached or not, the most likely outcome of all of this is that asshole will ... ask another foreign power to interfere in the election for personal gain.

Crikey, our impending authoritarian hellscape is gonna have to swing for some pretty weird extremes to achieve 'previously unimagined' status. Like forcing all registered dems to become furries, shit like that.

“Previously unimagined hellscape” pretty rich for a country built on the enslavement of millions

allegedly

Can I just say what garbage it is for anyone to say "we take no joy in this, this will tear the country apart." The "country" really doesn't give a shit, and those that do get to vote in a year. Is the 2020 election any less likely to "tear the nation apart?" Would Trump winning/losing be any less "divisive" than any candidate winning/losing, or any less divisive than it was in 2016?

I feel like a sizable chunk of people voted Trump in 2016 simply because he was not Hillary, and thought we should "give him a chance." Since then he has vacillated between moronic and evil, and his entire administration is corrupt and venal, so a vote for him in 2020 *is* more divisive, because the voter wants to perpetuate even more of this shit.

butt > her emails

ask another foreign power to interfere in the election for personal gain

lol he'll do it DURING the impeachment trial

When you're president, they let you do it.

spotlight needs to impeachment BRIGHT because this shit will only get worse

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/25/us/politics/russian-hacking-elections.html

https://www.salon.com/2019/12/03/russian-owned-company-caught-trying-to-hack-ohio-voting-systems-on-election-day/

During the hearings I was annoyed that the democrats would verbatim read their wooden, prewritten corny speeches where it sounded like they were all competing in a high school inspirational essay contest. I just kind of feel like in context the speeches being so rigidly tailored contrasting the republican delivery helped the GOP sound more conversational and this arguably would help their dumb premise about how the whole thing being a fabricated means to an end to get Trump out any way possible. Ultimately means nothing just irritated at the optics and how GOP get to use it to strengthen their dumb narrative.

Personally i’m not disappointed that the Democrats aren’t emulating the yahoos in the GOP. Best to stick to the truth and not try to game the optics too much.

I appreciate the dems' adherence to norms and procedure but it would be nice if a greater number of them were better capable of demonstrating to the public-at-large why one would aspire to those aims. Because to the casual observer it increasingly appears that behaving like an unhinged two-year-old is the most effective way to get things done (or bring them to a screeching halt) in government.

I mean, optics aren't everything but they certainly aren't nothing. Particularly in the age of President Reality Show.

Not saying they need to emulate GOP, but it would be nice if they sounded more down to earth. Their righteous speeches one after another just came off like they were all desperately vying to be quoted in future history books.

Fantasizing about one of their quotes making it on a history class chalkboard someday

They didn't sound like they were actually interested in interviewing the scholars; everything was canned. It helps make the whole process look like theater.

There is no power on earth that can stop a Congressional Representative in front of a television camera from acting out their favorite role-playing character.

positive norms have value, but only if the just result is achieved. if he ends up "re-elected," any good behavior along the way seems for naught to me.

Fantasizing about one of their quotes making it on a history class chalkboard someday

nah. I'm just here to chat with people who are able to respond in kind.

I'm here for the blow

plus bennies

Imagine thinking the message "the president of France is laughing at us" won't make Americans more likely to want to continue down this path

— 'Weird Alex' Pareene (@pareene) December 5, 2019

It's easy if you try.

it would be nice if they sounded more down to earth

Bernie's good at this

(of course NOT A DEMOCRAT)

doesn't the Grifter's "do it now, fast" sound like Big Pussy on the boat before the crew whacked him?

Imagine thinking the message "the president of France is laughing at us" won't make Americans more likely to want to continue down this path

Trump literally campaigned on "the rest of the world is laughing at us and I'm gonna make them stop"

buuuut that won't mean anything to his malleable fans

Trump completely understands that the subtext of what he says is what's important to his supporters, not the literal meaning. His communication to them is almost entirely made up of postures, attitudes, and signifiers, not articulate sentences reflecting his thoughts and ideas. He gets it. They get it. That's what matters, not the criticism of outsiders.

Xxxpost "not in the face"

Trump literally campaigned on "the rest of the world is laughing at us and I'm gonna make them stop"

they were laughing at Obama because he was so weak and ineffective. they're laughing at Trump because they're jealous of his commanding presence and physique

And his shrinky dink

"malleable" means "dying to be hit with mallets," right?

Yes

pareene should be slapped for that smug-ass tweet

worthless punditry

really pointless point but i guess that's why he's on twitter

frogbs has it - "they're laughing at us" is just another way to say "Obama's bad, amirite folks?" It's not like anybody was actually won over by the citation of foreign opinion as an appeal to something they cared about before or after.

buuuut that won't mean anything to his malleable fans

nothing won't mean anything to his malleable fans.

next meaningless topic...

BUT DID YOU HEAR WHAT THEY SAID ABOUT BARRON

https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-the-cell-where-a-sick-16-year-old-boy-died-in-border-patrol-care

rmde that the best the Dems can do in the race for the open Senate seat in GA is fucking Joe Lieberman's son?!? I mean maybe he's okay/different from his dad but...

Did anyone think to double check that it isn't just Joe dressed up like a young?

tv ads are just de-aging CGI a la Irishman

I'm Joe Lieberman and I heartily endorse the candidacy of my 'son' Low Jeeberman.

rmde that the best the Dems can do in the race for the open Senate seat in GA is fucking Joe Lieberman's son?!? I mean maybe he's okay/different from his dad but...

― Οὖτις, Friday, December 6, 2019 11:56 AM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Never forget the weird guy with the hat who was the 2016 Senate nominee in Georgia. Now he's a Tulsi stan:

Debate Watch Party - Please join me! These days, we need Character & Courage. Tulsi has shown both. Standing up FOR American interests, and AGAINST the moneyed and foreign interests pushing us into unending wars. Let’s invest in America again! Valuing Growth | Growing Values pic.twitter.com/S1nRYHGEkL

— Jim Barksdale (@jimbarksdale) November 17, 2019

He runs a “health care consulting business” I’m sure he’s much better than his father