Thank you.
I think.
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Not trying to damn you guys with faint praise. Itās just that I almost find the competence issue more important than policy. But on second thought, maybe it goes deeper than that. Itās also a certain level of trust that I donāt have in Trump. I think that part of competence as a president is the desire to represent and serve the interests of all Americans. I think that despite my political differences with say, @Mister44, I think I could trust him to at least try to do the best he could for everyone involved. With Trump, thereās a genuine and well-founded sense that he just plain does not give a shit about large swathes of the country. Though heās mercurial, and so what those swathes are tend to change rapidly.
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You bastards are never gonna let me live that down, are you?
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Isnāt this what Ross Douthat was talking about (I guess this inspired the Slate article?)
I think thatās the point. Democrats (and other lefties) are suggesting that sane Republicans should vote for Clinton, because Trump is unthinkable, but the counter argument is that if the boot were on the other foot, youād still pick the left wing choice over this putative sensible GOP nominee.
Edit: I was looking for the Douthat article earlier, and found this response to it, from a right wing POV.
In the spirit of Ross Douthatās thought experiment, letās consider that the hypothetical candidate Santorum promised to nominate judges that would overturn Roe, overturn Obergefell, strengthen corporate interests, give Christian businesses the right to turn away gay customers, and basically reject all that you most value. What if you were confident that President Santorum would likely be able to replace the late Antonin Scalia, the aged and ailing Ginsburg, the aged Breyer, and the aged Kennedy, with younger justices from the cream of the Federalist Society, creating a 7-2 conservative majority that would last a generation. Would you still be able to vote for Santorum because he wasnāt Al Sharpton?
(doesnāt really work again, because if I was choosing between Santorum and Sharpton, of course Iād vote for Sharpton).
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I already told people here I am not voting for Trump. Unless I pull a Carlin and just stay home and play with myself all day, I will be voting 3rd party.
People who vote 2nd Amendment first will be voting Trump. Some of them are that dumb, some of them know he is horrible, but are worried mainly about Supreme Court nominations. And Trump isnāt even that 2nd Amendment friendly. But what ever.
I have seen some support for Johnson both in 2nd amendment circles, moderates, and right leaning people. Who knows how much steam he can get.
I see the cognitive bias machine at Full Steam Ahead for both sides already on face book.
It is a shit show and I have never been more discouraged. Like I said, who ever loses has no one to blame but their party.
I feel like Vizzini. I can clearly not choose the glass in front of me, and I can clearly not choose the glass in front of you. So I am going to go have a Mt. Dew.
Night.
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Yep. 'Cause I havenāt seen a āsensible GOP nomineeā in waaaay too long.
That was fun to read Douthatās article. I wish HRC were really going to end up as leftist as he paints her there. 'Cause those poor, troubled conservative voters would just have to choke it down the way the left has for too long.
But no. Sheāll be too centrist for that. Squawk though they will, the right will get more of what it demands, but will never acknowledge that.
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Iām having a Mt Dew right now. I hoist it in your honor this evening.
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Only because we like you.
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It gives you an idea what youād be feeling. If I was a die hard X and I saw āa trumpā hijack the nomination, weāll Iād be upset and it would be REEEALLLLY difficult to vote for the other side. Itās a tough call when if you think the other side is pure evil and against everything you believe.
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Look, Ma! Iām trending! Iām trending!
(Thatās a bit of an inside joke at work.)
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On paper, my heart goes out to 'em. But in meatspace, in real life, itās hard to feel any sympathy. The GOP has become what it is now in relative slow motion, getting worse year by year for most of my lifetime. Itās not like the love for Trump arose in a vacuum. The GOP (in particular its Tea Party wing) has been embracing a fearful, racist, every-man-for-himself mindset for years and years now, and those chickens have come home to roost. āSensibleā conservatives are badly outnumbered now.
They really did do this to themselves.
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Yep.
Ironically it is the Rs that should have rigged the primaries, and the Ds which shouldnāt have.
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Iām struggling to think of a left wing analogue to Trump; the best I can come up with is Che Guevera.
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While I am not a fan of Che, I would vote for him just to be on the right side of history, electing the first Zombie president. And his campaign slogan of āBraaainnnssssā could be seen as a pro-science stance.
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Yes, but @japhroaig or @OtherMichael for court jester?
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Is the jester allowed to excoriate the court for not following Robertās Rules of Order?
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Well said. And I agree.
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[quote=āDonald_Petersen, post:1, topic:82536ā]
Stevenson posits Rick Santorumā¦[/quote]
Most of what I know about Santorum is gleaned from pro-LGBT news sites so take this with a chunk of salt: my impression is heās a one or possibly two-issue figure largely disliked by his own party. Even though marriage equality and LGBT rights make a lot of āconservativesā unhappy it seems to be an issue most of them want to avoid because they canāt afford to keep alienating people, but the anti-gay gospel has become Santorumās bread and butter. His emphasis on it may be why he barely even placed in the primaries. He appeals to a shrinking number even in his own party.
Stevenson could just as easily have substituted Ben Carsonāa candidate who, being African American, could put people on both sides in a pickle. There are plenty of Republicans who wouldnāt vote for him purely because of his skin and some Democrats might feel uneasy voting against him for fear of being seen as racist.
Depends. Which one knows the chalice with the palace has the pellet with the poison while the vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true?
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Iād definitely take Kanye over Cruz. I would take Trump over Cruz. Well, except that I now Trump is going to let Mike Pence make all the decisions, and I would take Cruz over Pence, I think. Iād also support Kanye over Clinton.
If someone wants to say this is hypocrisy, they donāt understand what is going on. Do you know why I would support Kanye or Penn over Cruz? Because Cruz is a racist, misogynist, theocrat. To me, the most important issue in US politics today is discrimination. People say Trump is erratic, they say heās unfit, inexperienced, whatever. Trump is racist and misogynist. It would take a huge amount of other crap for me to not support less racist candidate.
The whole premise of this article is that Trumpās racism isnāt really that big a deal. If someone wants to say, āLook, instability and unpredictability arenāt actually game breakers, right?ā then I would say, āYeah, but if weāre being serious, racism is. Isnāt it for you?ā
Yeah, no kidding. If the democrats were running pretty much anyone else it would be an easy win. I donāt have the sources study but itās like 52% of Trump Supporters are voting Trump just so that Clinton doesnāt get elected and 56% of Clinton supporters are voting Clinton just so that Trump doesnāt get elected? If you even reduced the level of hate directed at the Democrat a little bit it would mean a runaway victory.
