The Political Junkie Thread

[Phredd3]

As for bipartisanship, I think the perception is ahead of the reality. The key target is Joe Manchin; picking up Republicans would be nice but is not a major consideration for the current administration. That’s how it seems to me at least.

I'm curious why that is your perception. Everytime I hear about bipartisanship, it is coming out of the mouth of a Democrat. I only hear McConnell, in particular, saying, "We oppose that." I very seldom hear him offering an alternative. If that happened behind closed doors, I would still expect leaks on those things (which can be strategic, if you are actually seeking a deal), but there's remarkable silence. In the case of the COVID plan, Biden proposed a $1.3T plan, and the Republicans came back with about 25% of that and said they were done negotiating - on a plan that had 70-80% popular support and was even supported by a majority of the Republican electorate. On the infrastructure package, I haven't heard anything about the Republican policy position at all outside of "no tax increases". I haven't even heard them try to make any kind of budget restructure plan to support infrastructure at all.

Honest question: What more would you have Biden do, and would you expect anything similar from the Republican side?

[OPK]

As for bipartisanship, I think the perception is ahead of the reality. The key target is Joe Manchin; picking up Republicans would be nice but is not a major consideration for the current administration. That’s how it seems to me at least.

I'm curious why that is your perception. Everytime I hear about bipartisanship, it is coming out of the mouth of a Democrat. I only hear McConnell, in particular, saying, "We oppose that." I very seldom hear him offering an alternative. If that happened behind closed doors, I would still expect leaks on those things (which can be strategic, if you are actually seeking a deal), but there's remarkable silence. In the case of the COVID plan, Biden proposed a $1.3T plan, and the Republicans came back with about 25% of that and said they were done negotiating - on a plan that had 70-80% popular support and was even supported by a majority of the Republican electorate. On the infrastructure package, I haven't heard anything about the Republican policy position at all outside of "no tax increases". I haven't even heard them try to make any kind of budget restructure plan to support infrastructure at all.

Honest question: What more would you have Biden do, and would you expect anything similar from the Republican side?

Excellent questions and analysis. I will try to respond tonight when I have a bit more time.

[CameronBornAndBred]

I agree that Joe has worked to restore dignity to the White House, and I think he has done well in that respect.

That wouldn't be too hard for any POTUS, from either party. I'd like to think that, anyway.
Speaking of dignity, has anyone read about MTG's verbal assault on AOC?

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., tried to "aggressively confront" Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Wednesday, shouting questions about why the New York Democrat supports "terrorists and antifa," according to a report.
Two reporters from the Washington Post said they witnessed the interaction outside the House chamber. The report said Greene yelled to Ocasio-Cortez, and the Democrat continued walking. Greene reportedly tried to catch up and continued to ask questions. Greene also brought up her desire to debate Ocasio-Cortez, the paper said. At one point, Greene reportedly shouted, "You don’t care about the American people."

This is not how Congress works.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/greene-tries ... p_deeplink

[OPK]

This is not how Congress works.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/greene-tries ... p_deeplink

This is why Congress doesn’t work. She’s not an isolated nut — she’s just more vocal about being one.

[CameronBornAndBred]

This is not how Congress works.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/greene-tries ... p_deeplink

This is why Congress doesn’t work. She’s not an isolated nut — she’s just more vocal about being one.

The literal halls of Congress have become equivalent to the halls of any high school.

[OPK]

This is not how Congress works.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/greene-tries ... p_deeplink

This is why Congress doesn’t work. She’s not an isolated nut — she’s just more vocal about being one.

The literal halls of Congress have become equivalent to the halls of any high school.

Spork!

[ArkieDukie]

Greene is crazy and has no business in the House. At what point to do they vote to kick her out? They can do that, right? My representative (Cori Bush) had her office moved because she was originally across the hall from Greene and was being harassed constantly. Seems like she has verbally assaulted others as well.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Greene is crazy and has no business in the House. At what point to do they vote to kick her out? They can do that, right? My representative (Cori Bush) had her office moved because she was originally across the hall from Greene and was being harassed constantly. Seems like she has verbally assaulted others as well.

That would require a majority vote from the same side of the aisle that just kicked Liz Cheney to the curb for speaking common sense and truth.

[OPK]

Greene is crazy and has no business in the House. At what point to do they vote to kick her out? They can do that, right? My representative (Cori Bush) had her office moved because she was originally across the hall from Greene and was being harassed constantly. Seems like she has verbally assaulted others as well.

That would require a majority vote from the same side of the aisle that just kicked Liz Cheney to the curb for speaking common sense and truth.

This.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

Greene is crazy and has no business in the House. At what point to do they vote to kick her out? They can do that, right? My representative (Cori Bush) had her office moved because she was originally across the hall from Greene and was being harassed constantly. Seems like she has verbally assaulted others as well.

They will only kick her out if the great and powerful Trump tells them it is OK to do so.

[ArkieDukie]

Greene is crazy and has no business in the House. At what point to do they vote to kick her out? They can do that, right? My representative (Cori Bush) had her office moved because she was originally across the hall from Greene and was being harassed constantly. Seems like she has verbally assaulted others as well.

That would require a majority vote from the same side of the aisle that just kicked Liz Cheney to the curb for speaking common sense and truth.

Therein lies the problem. It’d be nice if they all had collective rectal craniectomies, but I don’t see that happening.

Someone I used to respect posted a quote from Newsmax, saying it has now been proven that there was massive voter fraud in AZ and Trump won in a landslide. This came from Newsmax’s White House reporter. I thought getting Trump out of office would help, but the delusions are still there and they are hurting the country.

[dudog]

I suppose you will either find this statement by a lawyer for the QAnon Shaman hilarious, or be offended:

"A lot of these defendants - and I'm going to use this colloquial term, perhaps disrespectfully - but they're all f---ing short-bus people... These are people with brain damage, they're f---ing retarded, they're on the goddamn spectrum"

But now I know how all those people voted for Trump.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... li=BBnb7Kz

[Phredd3]

Greene is crazy and has no business in the House. At what point to do they vote to kick her out? They can do that, right? My representative (Cori Bush) had her office moved because she was originally across the hall from Greene and was being harassed constantly. Seems like she has verbally assaulted others as well.

That would require a majority vote from the same side of the aisle that just kicked Liz Cheney to the curb for speaking common sense and truth.

BTW, this is not true. To remove a sitting member of the House, the Constitution requires a 2/3rds majority vote. Since the Dems hold a slim majority, and assuming they all agree (which, as we know, among Democrats is not a given), that means it would take roughly a third of Republicans to kick her out of the House entirely. Of course, getting even one in three of the Cheney-kickers to buck the leadership is still probably an unscalable mountain, but it is well short of a majority.

[Phredd3]

I suppose you will either find this statement by a lawyer for the QAnon Shaman hilarious, or be offended:

redacted

If anyone finds this hilarious, you have a deep misunderstanding of intellectual disabilities. This is, categorically, offensive in the extreme. If you aren't sure why that might be, I urge you to reach out to me about it, and I'll be happy to politely explain it to you. And I will actually be polite, I promise. It's not my first time down this road and most people, especially folks my age and older, have a very poor frame of reference. But just to reiterate, it most definitely is offensive. Period.

[CameronBornAndBred]

15 to 20 percent of Americans have proven to be batshit crazy.

Those are the findings of a poll released Thursday by the Public Religion Research Institute and the Interfaith Youth Core, which found that 15% of Americans say they think that the levers of power are controlled by a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles, a core belief of QAnon supporters. The same share said it was true that “American patriots may have to resort to violence” to depose the pedophiles and restore the country’s rightful order.

And fully 20% of respondents said that they thought a biblical-scale storm would soon sweep away these evil elites and “restore the rightful leaders.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/qanon-now-po ... 14464.html

[CameronBornAndBred]

FYI, within that 15% of Americans are 25% of Republicans.
So one full quarter of that party is completely delusional.

About one-quarter of Republicans, 23%, agree with a set of conspiratorial beliefs linked to the QAnon movement, according to a PRRI report released Thursday. These believers said they mostly or completely agreed that "the government, media, and financial worlds in the U.S. are controlled by a group of Satan-worshipping pedophiles who run a global child sex trafficking operation," that "there is a storm coming soon that will sweep away the elites in power and restore the rightful leaders," and, finally, that "because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country."

https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/28/politics ... index.html

[dudog]

Well, Matt Gaetz is in power. And then you have Dennis Hastert, who was even Speaker of the House. Hmmm, both those guys are Republicans...

[CameronBornAndBred]

Trying to be a third party is tough business.

The Constitution Party of North Carolina and North Carolina Green Party have failed to garner enough signatures to remain official political parties in the state for now...
That means their parties’ 9,600 or so combined registrants will now be re-designated as unaffiliated voters.

https://www.witn.com/2021/06/15/north-c ... ignatures/

I didn't know there was a Constitution Party, but I was aware of the Green folks and I'm surprised that their numbers were THAT low.

[ArkieDukie]

I paid a visit to Trumplandia recently, and I learned that my dad has swallowed all the right wing conspiracy theories hook, line and sinker. He believes the insurrection was justified because the election was stolen from Trump. Amy logical explanation for alleged election fraud drew derisive scoffing. He also recites the right wing line that the BLM demonstrations were worse. Part of me wants to go in and block Fox News and all other right wing media on his satellite, but they would know who did it. It is truly sad to see what those wing nuts have done to this country.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

I paid a visit to Trumplandia recently, and I learned that my dad has swallowed all the right wing conspiracy theories hook, line and sinker. He believes the insurrection was justified because the election was stolen from Trump. Amy logical explanation for alleged election fraud drew derisive scoffing. He also recites the right wing line that the BLM demonstrations were worse. Part of me wants to go in and block Fox News and all other right wing media on his satellite, but they would know who did it. It is truly sad to see what those wing nuts have done to this country.

I am so sorry you are dealing with this. I cannot imagine having a close family member brainwashed like this. Did you ask him why he thought the election was stolen and what proof he had? That is the thing I truly cannot figure out - other than "because Donald says it was" there is no explanation for it (obviously that is not a good explanation either) - just taking his word on some things doesn't really seem to work too well. Is your father vaccinated?

I am very fortunate to largely live in a blue bubble but I am having dinner tomorrow night with one of my few Trump-supporting friends. I haven't seen him since pre-covid but we e-mail occasionally. I don't think he believes the election was stolen, though I'm not sure. There will be 8-10 of us in the group so I will try to sit at the other end of the table. Another member of the group who occasionally shows up is a fairly prominent expert in election rights and constitutional law who was very pro-Biden. He is smarter than I am and is able to just ignore the village idiot when politics comes up, which we actively try to avoid (though the idiot often brings it up and doesn't know when to shut up).