USPOL Nov: I would've preferred Huckabee have said nothing at all

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > USPOL Nov: I would've preferred Huckabee have said nothing at all

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ellie the beep: Jun 15, 2007; Vaginas, my subject.
Plane hulls, my medium.

Anchor Wanker posted:

So this has been getting a lot of play from the right recently. How long can we expect to see this posted on lovely comment threads?

http://freebeacon.com/issues/neil-cavuto-asks-student-protestor-how-us-will-pay-for-socialist-wish-list/

hahahahah what a lovely article

the article posted:

When pressed, Mullen said that the top one percent of earners needed to pay tax rates upwards of 90 percent, a rate 10 percentage points higher than that proposed by socialist Thomas Piketty.

Lunch with the FT: Thomas Piketty, FT.com posted:

Piketty says his interest in inequality crystallised after the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the first Gulf war. He recalls visiting Moscow in 1991 and being struck by �the lines in front of shops�. He came back vaccinated against communism � �I believe in capitalism, private property, the market�

# ? Nov 14, 2015 01:59

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# ? May 30, 2024 04:20

Jackson Taus: Oct 19, 2011

Joementum posted:

That would probably come as a surprise to these people and the 54 field offices Obama for America staffed in Pennsylvania in 2012.

The Romney campaign did a late pivot to PA in the last couple weeks of the campaign because they had good rally attendance and some of the polls showed Obama's lead there narrowing. It's the same trap the Republicans usually fall into there. PA is about whether the cities turn out and polls that assume they won't will trick the GOP.

Colorado is half the size (9 CDs vs 18 CDs in PA) and had 62 field offices. Other comparisons: 131 field offices in Ohio (which is 10% smaller) or 60 field offices in VA (which is 40% smaller). Compared to that, it was relatively under-campaigned-in. Extrapolating by number of CDs, it would have had 100-150 field offices if it was a battleground state. And like you said, the ad buys were only in the last couple of weeks. Compared to swing states getting pounded for much longer. I could have phrased that better, but I think my point (that a PA which saw action comparable to VA/OH/CO would have been bluer) still stands, if a little wobbly.

# ? Nov 14, 2015 02:02

ManlyGrunting: May 29, 2014

Edminster posted:

hahahahah what a lovely article

Well to give the article the benefit of the doubt, socialism doesn't equal communism. Hell, George Orwell was a self-identified socialist.

# ? Nov 14, 2015 02:11

Fried Chicken: Jan 9, 2011; Don't fry me, I'm no chicken!

Shifty Pony posted:

The SCOTUS has historically reversed/vacated more often than they affirmed. Even affirming it there there are many ways that they could be awful, and many ways that they could be amazing.

One thing that would be great would be if they smack down Texas's claim that all medical restrictions on abortion only needs to meet a rational basis standard. Holding them to a higher standard would require there to be some sort of proof that there is a problem and that the law would solve it - both hurdles that these TRAP laws can't manage to clear because regulating the screws used in the door frame is only connectable to women's health via seriously twisted logic and hypotheticals that never happen in the real world. Who knows how likely that would be though.

Which unless they write the ruling very narrowly (and probably still even then) will open the door to companies challenging and getting tossed all sorts of local and state level regulation on businesses

# ? Nov 14, 2015 02:19

Evil Fluffy: Jul 13, 2009; Scholars are some of the most pompous and pedantic people I've ever had the joy of meeting.

PhazonLink posted:

The SCOTUS thread is dead on page three, so I'll ask here, what's the current odds on the SCOTUS being terrible with the Texas issue?

It rests entirely on Kennedy and IIRC he's not a fan of abortion. It'll be 5-4 and the only hope pro-choice people have is if Kennedy or someone else decides to rule against Texas because their requirements are just dumb bullshit and if they want to ban abortion they need to just come out and try to do so directly.

# ? Nov 14, 2015 02:30

Shifty Pony: Dec 28, 2004; Up ta somethin'

Fried Chicken posted:

Which unless they write the ruling very narrowly (and probably still even then) will open the door to companies challenging and getting tossed all sorts of local and state level regulation on businesses

Hell they just made it up and said that the birth control mandate was special only in the case of things you think cause abortion so why not?

I don't think Kennedy is a fan of abortion but I also don't think he would be willing to go down in history as having effectively nuked roe v wade.

# ? Nov 14, 2015 02:56

Zoran: Aug 19, 2008; I lost to you once, monster. I shall not lose again! Die now, that our future can live!

Evil Fluffy posted:

It rests entirely on Kennedy and IIRC he's not a fan of abortion. It'll be 5-4 and the only hope pro-choice people have is if Kennedy or someone else decides to rule against Texas because their requirements are just dumb bullshit and if they want to ban abortion they need to just come out and try to do so directly.

Kennedy got cold feet and joined the opinion in Casey v. Planned Parenthood that (mostly) reaffirmed Roe. So there's a little bit of hope.

# ? Nov 14, 2015 03:01

computer parts: Nov 18, 2010; PLEASE CLAP

Magres posted:

Given GOP control of the house and senate and (heavily) dominant control of state governments, why is it wrong?

Like, actual question - it's increasingly seeming like the Democrat party has the Presidency well in hand and is completely screwed everywhere else.

As the bolded shows, the only thing you've bought into is Republican propaganda.

# ? Nov 14, 2015 03:09

Nintendo Kid: Aug 4, 2011; by Smythe

I still don't get how Democrat is supposed to be an insult

# ? Nov 14, 2015 03:18

YOLOsubmarine: Oct 19, 2004; When asked which Pokemon he evolved into, Kamara pauses.

"Motherfucking, what's that big dragon shit? That orange motherfucker. Charizard."

Nintendo Kid posted:

I still don't get how Democrat is supposed to be an insult

It's not, but the word democratic has positive connotations in this country based on the civic religion we inculcate in people from near birth, and Luntz wanted to try and break the association between the positive word democratic and the capital D Democratic Party.

# ? Nov 14, 2015 03:21

Nintendo Kid: Aug 4, 2011; by Smythe

NippleFloss posted:

It's not, but the word democratic has positive connotations in this country based on the civic religion we inculcate in people from near birth, and Luntz wanted to try and break the association between the positive word democratic and the capital D Democratic Party.

That's the thing, there's no way that democrat doesn't sound just as positive - it's just the noun form of "Democratic" really. Heck that's how they used to praise people back a century ago or so.

Just because some moronic conservative thinks it should scare people doesn't mean it scares people under age 30.

# ? Nov 14, 2015 03:24

Proust Malone: Apr 4, 2008

It sounds like bureaucrat. But really there's no reason. It was focused grouped and people didn't like it.

I think there's also history of it being a regional thing in the south that wasn't necessarily a pejorative until the civil rights party switch in the south.

# ? Nov 14, 2015 03:34

Fuckt Tupp: Apr 19, 2007; Science

I'm pretty sure it's just so right win politicians and media personalities can emphasize the last syllable in anger.

But if you grew up listening to right wing radio with your parents it very much seems like a slur. Not much more than emphasizing them as an Other but it can be a bit like brainwashing.

# ? Nov 14, 2015 03:36

Nintendo Kid: Aug 4, 2011; by Smythe

Ron Jeremy posted:

It sounds like bureaucrat. But really there's no reason. It was focused grouped and people didn't like it.

I think there's also history of it being a regional thing in the south that wasn't necessarily a pejorative until the civil rights party switch in the south.

Democratic sounds like bureaucratic though. If that was the thing, it works for either.

# ? Nov 14, 2015 03:36

Islam is the Lite Rock FM: Jul 27, 2007; by exmarx

Democrat. gently caress it's that simple.

# ? Nov 14, 2015 03:39

Iowa Snow King: Jan 5, 2008

It's not a complex thing; people respond more negatively to Democrat party than Democratic party, so that is why there has been a concerted propaganda effort on the part of conservatives to use the former. Why is this so? Who knows, people are weird.

# ? Nov 14, 2015 03:40

Nintendo Kid: Aug 4, 2011; by Smythe

Iowa Snow King posted:

It's not a complex thing; people respond more negatively to Democrat party than Democratic party, so that is why there has been a concerted propaganda effort on the part of conservatives to use the former. Why is this so? Who knows, people are weird.

Do you mean people or do you mean conservatives? Like seriously I've seen "democrat" on its own used plenty in leftist or even centrist places without people being put off by it.

# ? Nov 14, 2015 03:43

trilobite terror: Oct 20, 2007; BUT MY LIVELIHOOD DEPENDS ON THE FORUMS!

Fried Chicken posted:

By sitting down and negotiating to a more reasonable compromise. How are you sitting in the USPOL thread and not seeing the value in making absurdly ideological demands because it shifts the Overton window in your direction even when you lose?

As a NESCAC alum I'm actually not too pissed about what's happening at Amherst- or even some of the 'whinier' stuff coming out of places like Yale and this is why. For all that they're considered liberal incubators, elite private schools are still super boys' clubby and they produce budding FYGM-minded aristocrats in the same way that they do high-information lefties that buy kale. Just imagine like a 2015 version of Tom from The Great Gatsby (so replace the 1920s race/sex/classism with this year's model) and you've basically got the sociopolitical flavor that I'm describing.

Private colleges are rife with this kind of prep school conservatism and it's constantly being fostered by and reflected in the way that trustees and governing officials at these schools enact policy and maintain (or fail to maintain) discipline. It also forms the beating heart of the wealthiest and arguably most powerful contingent of the GOP's establishment wing.

That's why I can't help but get behind what these kids are doing and I'm happy to see its momentum spreading to schools all across the country. They need to push as hard and as far as they possibly can and deform as much of the current status quo as possible, not only to affect the way these schools are run but also the graduates that come out of these places. They need to push the fringe of their argument so far to the conceptual left that the centrist line of thought left in its wake is no longer "is a rowing team-hosted "ghetto yacht club' blackface party really all that bad?"

When I was a student a few years ago, my college tried to institute a bimonthly "Meatless Monday" at one dining hall (of two) on campus as a carbon footprint experiment. Within about 12 hours, a collective of white dudes had counter-protests going. People's property got defaced with raw meat and somebody scrawled racial and sexual epithets on one of the organizers' (female of color) door. By the end of the week, some of these guys had been interviewed by the WSJ and (I believe) FOX News and some radio stations as a textbook example of college liberalism run amok and oppressing rights (did I mention that meat was still amply on the menu everywhere but in that one dining hall?). By that point, the school folded and decided that the negative attention wasn't worth it.

To add insult to injury, about a year later, this incident became one of several central narratives in a giant, scathing National Review paper that used my school as a case study in ELITE PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS ARE TOO LIBERAL (although the college's response has been great and basically amounts to :boom:

).

For all that we may roll our eyes at the excesses of the Tumblrati and their many pronouns, I would much rather that the Overton window move toward their rhetoric than its conceptual opposite. And for all that 'PC activists' draw attention, one should really never underestimate the power of aggrieved, well-connected young men to make a stink until they get what they want. The fact that large numbers of establishment GOP backers have broken with the Right on issues like gay marriage is attributable, in part, to the rhetoric and policies adopted by schools in the '80s and '90s while they were students/young. So anything that makes the D&D opinion on class issues look agreeably centrist to the future fat cats of tomorrow is a win in my book.

mdemone posted:

I always find myself wondering how far they can go before they provoke a truly next-level response from the West.

I'm terrified of the political fallout that this is gonna have for France and for the rest of Europe by extension. I'm just imagining a National Front wave in the election and what that would do to France's domestic and international politics.

# ? Nov 14, 2015 03:44

Joementum: May 23, 2004; jesus christ

"Democrat" vs "Democratic" is just another thing that the messaging experts of internet posting obsess over that has never shown any measurable difference.

If your argument is, "Well, according to Frank Luntz..." it might be time to re-evaluate your beliefs.

# ? Nov 14, 2015 03:47

Wistful of Dollars: Aug 25, 2009

Election 2016: Making me literally miss Nixon.

# ? Nov 14, 2015 03:52

WhiskeyJuvenile: Feb 15, 2002; by Nyc_Tattoo

I make it a point to say democ rat

# ? Nov 14, 2015 03:55

Magres: Jul 14, 2011

computer parts posted:

As the bolded shows, the only thing you've bought into is Republican propaganda.

So are you willing to actually discuss why you think that article is entirely off the mark? I asked because I'm actually interested, and I don't really get why you're being a dick about it.

# ? Nov 14, 2015 03:57

Proust Malone: Apr 4, 2008