All Purpose News and Politics Thread Part IV: The Center Cannot Hold

[Tami]

As Elizabeth Warren Rises, the G.O.P. Deploys an Old Tactic

An email from the Republican National Committee on Tuesday offered a clear preview of how the party would seek to undermine her if she becomes the Democratic nominee: “It’s not just her heritage Fauxcahontas has been lying about to get ahead,” the subject line said. A spokeswoman for the committee, Liz Harrington, said on Wednesday, “Like her false claim of Native American status, this is another example of Warren seemingly shifting the facts of her life story for personal gain.” (Ms. Warren has said she did not advance her career by identifying herself as Native American, an assertion backed up by an extensive Boston Globe investigation.)

“The more examples like this that surface, the more it will stick with voters that this is someone who cannot be trusted,” Ms. Harrington said.

“One of Senator Warren’s great strengths is her ability to connect her biography to her record to her plans for the future,” he said. “That gets undermined if she can’t rely on her biography as the foundation of that progression.”

All year, Ms. Warren has framed her personal story to voters as one of perseverance, focusing on her upbringing in Oklahoma, her family’s financial struggles and her winding path to an eventual career as a law professor. Voters often praise her biographical story as a powerful part of her pitch, which centers on bringing about big change to an economic and political system that she describes as rigged against ordinary people.

As part of that story, Ms. Warren tells crowds that at the end of her first year as a public-school teacher, she was “visibly pregnant” and lost her job. A retired teacher from Ms. Warren’s school in New Jersey told CBS News, “The rule was at five months you had to leave when you were pregnant.”

Ms. Warren told CBS News that she had not revealed her pregnancy when the contract was approved, and that two months later, when she was showing, the principal told her that she would not be welcomed back. Addressing the 2007 interview, she said: “After becoming a public figure I opened up more about different pieces in my life and this was one of them.”

The attacks are the latest evidence of how Republicans are reviving tactics Mr. Trump used to caricature Mrs. Clinton, whom he branded as “Crooked Hillary,” as dishonest.

Attacking authenticity has been a common strategy targeting women running for office for decades: Long before Mrs. Clinton, Geraldine Ferraro faced it in 1984, when she was the first woman to appear on a major party’s presidential ticket.

“This is a tried and true tactic when it comes to women candidates and elected officials, because women pay a much higher price when their honesty and integrity is called into question,” said Amanda Hunter, research and communications director at the Barbara Lee Family Foundation, which supports women in politics.

“Our research shows that voters historically give women what we call a virtue advantage, but then the other side of that is they punish them for any real or manufactured ethical infraction,” she said. “And once women are knocked off that pedestal, it’s a lot more difficult for them to climb all the way back up.”

[Theleviathan]

Prediction: Judge Napolitano will be out, Kilmeade will stay but will tone down or stop criticizing trump.

We've reached a point at which Brian Kilmeade is one of the three least reprehensible people at Fox News. Let that soak in.

[Theleviathan]

Calling Warren a 'fauxgressive' sounds pretty delusional to me.

Not to mention all the conspiracy parallels about the DNC being out to get him, never willing to concede anything, repeating the same talking points all the time, etc.

There are a lot of parallels between Trump and Bernie and many of the same disturbing trends in those who support them. Of course, Bernie does actually mean well, but nevertheless many things about his candidacy last time brought out the worst in a segment of the electorate.

I'm still worried he won't concede no matter how much Warren surges and might ultimately cause her to lose.

[numberthirty]

Sanders is overrated in terms of how left he is, and I don't like that he calls himself a Democratic Socialist but I got to hand it to him for staying in office for long as he has while renaming an Independent.

Running for the Democratic nomination but not being a pathetic Democrat, props for that.

Sanders is essentially "United States Hard Left..." Which is "Actual Just Left Of Center..." in most places.

[Celgress]

....There are a lot of parallels between Trump and Bernie and many of the same disturbing trends in those who support them. Of course, Bernie does actually mean well, but nevertheless many things about his candidacy last time brought out the worst in a segment of the electorate.....

An excellent point. I've been saying this for years but many people I know some of whom support Bernie don't want to listen. At the end of the day extremism of every shade has many disturbing aspects in common: a love of myth-making, hatred of outsiders or "enemies", a leader they deify, a disdain of the established order, exact. See the seminal work "True Believer" by Eric Hoffer for further reading -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_True_Believer

https://www.amazon.ca/True-Believer-.../dp/0060505915

[numberthirty]

Calling Warren a 'fauxgressive' sounds pretty delusional to me.

Unless you can refute this...

Victor Tiffany, an activist from New York, describes himself as the godfather of the #BernieorBust campaign, which started back in 2015. He even co-authored a book on it: Bernie or Bust: Pioneers of Electoral Revolt. And he has plenty of reasons for never voting Warren even in a two-horse race with Trump.

"Take your pick: She's 'a capitalist to her bones,' consulting with Hillary Clinton, a warmonger who's been voting for Trump's defense budgets, not especially honest, not progressive but a 'fauxgressive' Obamawannabe, and more," Tiffany tells Newsweek.

He does not believe that Warren is a strong enough candidate to defeat Trump. Or, if Trump is removed from office through the current impeachment efforts, Vice President Mike Pence. Why? The economy is performing too well.

"In 2016 Bernie or Bust was a prediction. This time, it's bigger and better organized. #BernieOrBust is a foregone conclusion whether Warren's supporters like it or not," Tiffany said. "Only Bernie has the coalition to defeat Trump unless there's a recession. Then Mickey Mouse could defeat Trump."

"Delusional" is a bit of a stretch.

While I could easily vote for her, I can't really argue with the idea that she isn't legitimately progressive.

[numberthirty]

An excellent point. I've been saying this for years but many people I know some of whom support Bernie don't want to listen. At the end of the day extremism of every shade has many disturbing aspects in common: a love of myth-making, hatred of outsiders or "enemies", a leader they deify, a disdain of the established order, exact. See the seminal work "True Believer" by Eric Hoffer for further reading -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_True_Believer

https://www.amazon.ca/True-Believer-.../dp/0060505915

Or...

They are simply realistic about how much change is likely to happen if you keep working inside of the same paradigm.

[kidfresh512]

Or...

They are simply realistic about how much change is likely to happen if you keep working inside of the same paradigm.

Not realistic to know that trump is worse than any Democratic candidate. And any policy they are passionate about will NEVER move forward with him or any GOP candidate.

GOP only win now if Democrats do not show up to polls. That's reality. They will probably never get the popular vote anymore from basic demographics. But if we don't overwhelm the gerrymandering and voter suppression with support for the Democratic nominee they can get the Electoral Votes as we have seen.

[Kirby101]

Unless you can refute this...



"Delusional" is a bit of a stretch.

While I could easily vote for her, I can't really argue with the idea that she isn't legitimately progressive.

That is utterly silly. She is a progressive in every sense of the word. Quoting someone who is obviously delusional about her doesn't help make your case.

[InformationGeek]

Looks like Rudy's time is limited.

Asked if Rudy Giulaini is still his personal attorney, Trump says, "I don't know" https://t.co/Wct6DzW6cK

[numberthirty]

That is utterly silly. She is a progressive in every sense of the word. Quoting someone who is obviously delusional about her doesn't help make your case.

"This Guy Is Delusional..." doesn't actually refute anything.

It's what you say when you don't want to talk about what is actually happening.

Has Warren voted for Trump's military budgets or not? It's not like that is hard to refute if it is not true.

Has she said she is a capitalist? Again, it's not hard to refute if it isn't true.

Those two things get you a ways away from being legitimately progressive. "American Left..."? Sure. That said, she is absolutely, provably not progressive in every sense of the word.

If she is, tell me about the "Nuts"/"Bolts" of her progressive policy on dealing with Israel.

If you can't do that, it is just silly to say she is "A Progressive In Every Sense Of The Word..." Acceptable? Sure. Particularly progressive? Come on.

[mathew101281]

Not realistic to know that trump is worse than any Democratic candidate. And any policy they are passionate about will NEVER move forward with him or any GOP candidate.

GOP only win now if Democrats do not show up to polls. That's reality. They will probably never get the popular vote anymore from basic demographics. But if we don't overwhelm the gerrymandering and voter suppression with support for the Democratic nominee they can get the Electoral Votes as we have seen.

Exactly. This kind of “all or nothing,” mentality many on the left have is probably why they loose so much. Their slogan is “making perfect the enemy of the good,” for all intensive purposes. Conservative seem to play the long game more.

[numberthirty]

Not realistic to know that trump is worse than any Democratic candidate. And any policy they are passionate about will NEVER move forward with him or any GOP candidate.

GOP only win now if Democrats do not show up to polls. That's reality. They will probably never get the popular vote anymore from basic demographics. But if we don't overwhelm the gerrymandering and voter suppression with support for the Democratic nominee they can get the Electoral Votes as we have seen.

Politely...

You are choosing to ignore that "Republican Voter..."/"Democratic Voter..." is not the entirety of the potential votes in a Presidential General Election.

The idea that it was all about "Democrats..." went off in their face like an Acme Kit last time. Internalizing that actual reality would be a good first step.

You want a realistic strategy to dealing with gerrymandering and voter suppression? It will probably involve voters outside of just Democrats.

[PwrdOn]

Exactly. This kind of “all or nothing,” mentality many on the left have is probably why they loose so much. Their slogan is “making perfect the enemy of the good,” for all intensive purposes. Conservative seem to play the long game more.

Conservatives snipe at each other all the time over being RINOs, and I'm sure there are vicious forum wars being raged daily on right wing forums about whether all the brown people should all be shot, or merely deported, supported by detailed ramblings about the feasibility of doing each along with helpful cost estimates. The difference is that the Republican party figured out long ago that seizing and maintaining power had absolutely nothing to do with whether or not people voted for you, and are completely unapologetic about using every trick in the book to that end.

[Kirby101]

"This Guy Is Delusional..." doesn't actually refute anything.

It's what you say when you don't want to talk about what is actually happening.

Has Warren voted for Trump's military budgets or not? It's not like that is hard to refute if it is not true.

Has she said she is a capitalist? Again, it's not hard to refute if it isn't true.

Those two things get you a ways away from being legitimately progressive. "American Left..."? Sure. That said, she is absolutely, provably not progressive in every sense of the word.

If she is, tell me about the "Nuts"/"Bolts" of her progressive policy on dealing with Israel.

If you can't do that, it is just silly to say she is "A Progressive In Every Sense Of The Word..." Acceptable? Sure. Particularly progressive? Come on.

She is not a pure socialist, she is a progressive. She is a champion of consumer rights. She did not vote on the last Military bill, neither did Sanders. To not vote for her against Trump is pure foolishness. If that is your position, you are beyond reason.