All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[worstblogever]

You may not have to worry about him, though. He failed to file the proper paperwork.

https://bluevirginia.us/2020/06/ive-...t-of-elections

Oh man... imagine of the GOP have to reverse course and declare Riggleman the winner. What a clusterf***.


(EDIT: Washington Post has it that Good turned in his missing paperwork on Friday afternoon and should be allowed to proceed.)

[Tendrin]

Oh man... imagine of the GOP have to reverse course and declare Riggleman the winner. What a clusterf***.


(EDIT: Washington Post has it that Good turned in his missing paperwork on Friday afternoon and should be allowed to proceed.)

It's a frigging mess.

(EDIT: WEll, there we go then! I assumed it'd probably get worked out, but...

(Link is broken, WBE.)

[worstblogever]

In both 2015, 2016, as well as 2017, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" published profiles of the U.S. Senator from Arizona, John McCain, who is now serving in his sixth term in office. We ran an exhaustive timeline on, doing our best to give the man his due where he could, before we raked him over the coals, going all the way back to his earliest days serving in the House, when he found himself a member of the Keating Five. We covered his prolific flip-flopping on issues, whether changing his mind over the Confederate flag flying on state grounds within 72 hours, or reversing position on same sex marriage on Hardball with Chris Matthews within 11 MINUTES of coming out in favor of it. While those reversals were jaw-dropping in their suddenness, Sen. McCain’s reversal on immigration policy from a would-be reformer in 2006, to his “Fix the Danged Fence” ad in 2010 make more sense, when you consider he changes positions out of convenience depending on which party looks like they’ll do better in that election year. McCain was pilloried during the 2008 presidential campaign for voting for the Iraq War, which back in 2002, he described the upcoming conflict would be “easy” (so easy it went on for about a decade and we’re still fighting ISIS there fifteen years later). His hawkish nature knows no bounds, as he spoke in New Hampshire in 2008 about keeping our troops in Iraq for up to a “hundred” years, and it would be fine because there were “no casualties there” (when they were approaching four thousand) and he gleefully discussed conflict with Iran by way of singing a parody of the Beach Boys tune “Barbara Ann”. McCain immediately called for the United States to send our armed forces to both Syria, and then Ukraine at the first sign of diplomatic strife within a few months of each other in 2014. Shockingly, McCain voted against banning “enhanced interrogation” techniques in 2008, as well, in spite of having endured torture himself. He has proven clueless on any number of issues, being stumped by reporters when asked if condoms or other contraceptives could help prevent HIV (which might explain why he joined the rest of the GOP in trying to defund Planned Parenthood in 2015), and declaring the “fundamentals of our economy are strong” in the midst of the 2008 Wall Street meltdown. In recent years, he has whined about the Obama administration “politicizing the death of Osama bin Laden” while, simultaneously claiming that the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi, Libya was “a worse scandal than Watergate”. He’s become so bitter that he even voted against the nomination of former Republican senator and fellow Vietnam veteran Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense, calling him an “unimpressive candidate”, and called President Obama a “lame duck” with a full year left in his term when it came time to find a new Supreme Court Justice to replace Antonin Scalia. Oh, yeah, he also picked Sarah Palin as his running mate in 2008, foisting her upon the American consciousness. That’s something he’ll definitely never live down. To his credit, McCain spent many of his last days as the closest thing Republicans had to someone who would stand up to Donald Trump, at one minute reversing his stance on torture (again) to explain why Drumpf’s suggestions on the subject are “disappointing”, but then turning around and telling folks that Trump could be a “capable leader” if he would be elected president. Which is amazing, considering Trump attacked McCain’s reputation as a war hero because “he was captured”. McCain openly chastised Trump for his attacks upon Khzir and Ghazala Khan, a Gold Star family, adding that Humayan Khan was “an example of American greatness” and that we are a greater country because of them and after the Access Hollywood footage of Donald Trump bragging about committing sexual assault emerges, Sen. McCain unendorsed Trump for president. McCain joined Lindsey Graham to criticize Donald Trump’s Muslim Travel Ban, calling it “a self-inflicted wound” in our war on terror and responded to Donald Trump calling the American media “the enemy of the people”, saying that such talk is “how dictators get started”. Sen. McCain lost his battle with brain cancer, and passed away in September of 2018, yet still is being besmirched by Donald Trump to this day.

On this date in 2018, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled Bill Fawell, the Republican challenger who was vying to unseat incumbent Democratic Congresswoman Cheri Bustos, to represent Illinois’ 17th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. CNN’s K-File did some research about Bill Fawell, and learned interesting details like that he’s a 9-11 Truther, and that on his blog a few years back, he called on people to boycott watching the Super Bowl because Beyonce would be the halftime show performer, and that she had ties to the Illuminati. That should have been enough to make him un-electable, but we’ll add he also theorized that former First Lady Michelle Obama was a man, Hillary Clinton campaign operative Tony Podesta wore red shoes, and is therefore a Satanist, and that the Deep State would destroy all of New York City in a false flag operation as justification to go to war. Fawell also has stated his belief that Donald Trump can “restore the Judeo-Christian ethos of Western Civilization to America.” (which is an amazing thought about one of the most immoral people alive), and after CNN reported on all this and asked him for comment, Fawell stood by his theories and added that Taylor Swift also espoused support for the Illuminati in her videos. In spite of him being a deranged conspiracy theorist, he won 38% of the vote because Republicans really will vote for anything with an “R” next to it. Still, we don’t think he’s getting elected to office anywhere anytime soon.

[worstblogever]

Martha McSally

On this date one year ago, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” unveiled its original profile of Martha McSally, the junior U.S. Senator from Arizona, a position to which she was appointed by shady-as-hell Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, after the predictable resignation of Senator Jon Kyl in early 2019, who himself was appointed to finish out the six-year term that John McCain was elected to in 2016. The fact that she is now a Senator defies most respect for Democracy, considering Arizona voters rejected the thought of her as their Senator in the 2018 elections, choosing Democrat Kyrsten Sinema over her after she spent almost two years sucking up to Donald Trump and adopting his racist demagogue stances. It was one thing(including fearmongering about MS-13 and calling for a border along the U.S./Mexico border, but Martha McSally actually was caught up in xenophobic euphoria that she called for a border wall to be built between Arizona and California, too.

As McSally began to trail behind Sinema in polls, she started pushing a disgusting barrage of campaign ads where McSally claimed that Sinema’s anti-war protests against the Bush administration’s invasion of Iraq in 2003 featured her “denigrating the troops” (Sinema’s criticism was for the war pigs ordering the invasion, not the brave Americans asked to carry it out). That still failed to put Mcsally in the lead, and as final polls began to show that McSally would end up on the losing end of the race and allow Arizona to have a Democratic senator for the first time in decades, she responded with a Hail Mary, accusing Sinema of “advocating for treason” in their debate in October of 2018. Because accusing your opponent of a capital offense is totally reasonable.

Martha McSally was never a candidate the people of Arizona rallied behind, as even with a gerrymandered map helping her try and win Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District in the House of Representatives, she still lost in 2012, and even in the 2014 elections with Republican tail winds behind her, she only won over Democrat Ron Barber by 161 votes. She inspires the people of Arizona so much that she got caught during the campaign using sock-puppet accounts to post compliments to herself. She has a U.S. Senate seat for now… but will have to defend it in a special election 2020 just in order to finish the term that was originally won by John McCain
in 2016 to last until 2022 (more on who she will face in November 2020 later).

McSally’s voting record so far in the Senate shows she’s on pace with the conservative extremism that embodies the Republican caucus over the past decade:

• February 14th, 2019: McSally votes to approve the nomination of William Barr to be the country’s Attorney General, even though he was involved in the Iran-Contra scandal in the 1980s. (SPOILER ALERT: He’s still crooked as a snake with scoliosis).
• January 31st, 2020: Sen. McSally votes against witnesses being allowed in the impeachment trial of Donald Trump, effectively making it a “trial”.
• February 5th, 2020: Martha McSally votes against the impeachment of Donald Trump, in spite of the mountain of evidence showing that he solicited foreign assistance in the 2020 elections.
• February 25th, 2020: McSally votes for the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, an insane piece of anti-choice legislation that would ask abortion providers to try to admit aborted fetuses to a hospital if they were “alive” after the procedure, which is medically impossible given the age that abortions can be performed at.

Since arriving in the Senate, McSally has continued to rubber-stamp every Trump appointee who comes in front of her, no matter how unqualified, for every judge’s seat, ambassador post, or other Cabinet position. She was already unloved at the polls, but now as an incumbent, maybe momentum would swing in her favor?

Heh heh. NO. Martha McSally is already shaking in her boots at the prospect of facing former NASA astronaut Mark Kelly. If McSally couldn’t beat a Democratic candidate like Kyrsten Sinema, against Mark Kelly… even her attack strategy of using her military service as a fighter pilot to attack her opponent as “treasonous” isn’t just moot, it’s dwarfed by the guy who has that on his resume, and then went on to go into space. They were polling dead even a year ago, with and McSally has firmly placed herself as an acolyte of Donald Trump… whose fortunes have decidedly taken a turn for the worse in polls throughout 2020 so far. Which leaves McSally scrambling to try and crawl back to the center in Arizona, and tethered to all the stupid decisions Trump makes that affect her state, like say, threatening Mexico with tariffs that would cripple Arizona’s economy.

And then there was Sen. McSally’s moment where she let her mask slip, and showed everyone how bitter and petty she truly is. Manu Raju, a reporter for CNN, was asking McSally her opinion on if the Senate should consider new evidence in the impeachment trial and she dismissed him with sheer contempt, saying:

”You’re a liberal hack. I’m not talking to you. You’re a liberal hack.”

So now she’s embraced Trump enough to start attacking the media. Outstanding. She had the nerve to try and spin the incident as if she was the victim, doubling down and saying she called him a hack because “it’s the truth”, and that the media reacting to her disgusting behavior was somehow just sexism directed at her because she’s a woman and not supposed to say things like that. Revolting. Man or woman, it’s inappropriate. But it’s revolting to mock the media with that defense.

Martha McSally as the lead candidate for U.S. Senate in two consecutive elections looks to result in the Republican Party seeing both of Arizona’s seats in the Senate flip blue, a feat that seemed impossible only a few years ago. Historic precedent for a losing candidate to avenge a loss in a Senate race two years later among candidates since 2002 is not good, with any candidate from either party attempting it losing, and all getting less of a percentage of the vote than they did in their prior attempt. McSally only garnered 47% against Sinema, and looks to be going far lower of a percentage against Mark Kelly. Recent polls have her down double-digits, potentially losing this time by as much as 13 points. Trying to claim Mark Kelly is puppet of the Chinese government in campaign ads without any explanation might have something to do with that.

Democrats are almost definitely going to end up with Mark Kelly in John McCain’s old Senate seat. We will now throw back our heads and laugh for the next hour, if you’ll excuse us.

[worstblogever]

It's a frigging mess.

(EDIT: WEll, there we go then! I assumed it'd probably get worked out, but...

(Link is broken, WBE.)

I'll just go direct:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local...940_story.html

[Mister Mets]

If Democrats manage to hold the Senate and the House, they might finally make Puerto Rico and DC states and there never will be Republican control like we suffered through from 2016 to 2018 ever again. Not to mention that several states will be trending blue by then because of old white racists dying off.

If Puerto Rico and DC became states, the greatest impact would be in giving Democrats four more Senators. The Republicans would hold the Senate right now, although the margin would be less (53 to 51, rather than 52 to 47.)

There wouldn't have been a time in recent memory when giving Democrats five more seats in the House would have changed which party had control, although it would have been pretty close after 2000.

Trump would still be President even if Democrats had six or so more electoral votes thanks to Puerto Rico.

There are still going to be complications in adding DC or Puerto Rico as states, which is one reason it didn't happen last time Democrats had the White House and Congress. Puerto Rican statehood is largely up to Puerto Ricans. It's also worth noting that these aren't necessarily guaranteed votes for Democrats. The Governor, Speaker of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives and President of the Puerto Rico Senate are all affiliated with the Republican party (It's an odd system where there are two main parties; the dominant New Progressive Party has members affiliated with both the Republican and Democratic parties, whereas the Popular Democratic party is largely affiliated with Democrats.)

As for DC statehood, that arguably requires a constitutional amendment, a tall order that goes well beyond majorities.
https://www.rollcall.com/2018/04/16/...for-statehood/

As for demographic shifts, many people do get more conservative as they get older.

[worstblogever]

As for demographic shifts, many people do get more conservative as they get older.

Many older conservatives are literally dying because of a botched Covid-19 response right now, and are starting to poll that they're supporting Biden.

All signs are pointing towards everything from Gen X on leaning further left.

So get used to disappointment as a Republican. Your party has literally let its own support base die and done everything they can to alienate themselves from the survivors.

[PaulBullion]

As for demographic shifts, many people do get more conservative as they get older.

No, they don't. They get more afraid of things.

[The Cool Thatguy]

As for demographic shifts, many people do get more conservative as they get older.

That was true when they became wealthier and able to retire securely.

That's not true anymore on so damn many levels.

[Tami]

Whatever you do, don't retweet this, or it might crack @realDonaldTrump's fragile ego.

Twitter Link with Video: Joe Biden can run and drink water

[aja_christopher]

"'Why Am I A Republican?' Conservative Analyst Questions GOP's Response To Protests"

"Shermichael Singleton isn't sure where he fits in the Republican Party anymore.

That didn't used to be the case. Singleton is an experienced conservative political analyst who has worked for plenty of prominent Republicans, including Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and Ben Carson.

But as a black man, he says he has watched with grief and disappointment as the GOP and many of its supporters have struggled to grapple with the recent protests over racial injustice and policing in the U.S. under President Trump.

"It leaves me wondering: Why am I a Republican?" he said in an interview Saturday with NPR's Weekend Edition. "What is the Republican Party even attempting to conserve that I believe is consistent with my values as an American, with my values as an African American, with my values as a Christian? And unfortunately ... I hate to say this, but I don't know anymore."

For example, both before and after George Floyd's killing by Minneapolis police officers incited protests nationwide, Trump has made it clear that he supports and defends the Confederate memorials that have reemerged as flashpoints of controversy in the demonstrations. Earlier this week, he vowed to block bipartisan congressional efforts to rename military bases that bear the names of Confederate generals, saying they stand for "a history of Winning, Victory, and Freedom."

Here is how Singleton — who has been a vocal critic of Trump — explained how he came to feel he is in a "no-man's land," alongside "many right-leaning and conservative individuals who are slowly finding themselves in that same position.

What are your feelings right now, as a human being, as a black man in America?

I am gravely disappointed about this moment in time we find ourselves in. I often have been taught by my parents ... that despite our differences — differences of race, that is — that our hopes and dreams in this country have always been the same. And that is to be free and explore every opportunity and to do things that those before us weren't capable or able to do.

And it appears to me in this particular moment that there still remains a significant percent of people who are traveling on a road so far removed from where I think many of us are, that it's heartfelt, it makes me grieve, it makes me sad, it makes me confused..."

Has the Republican Party, which after all, founded in 1854 to expose the expansion of slavery, the party of [Abraham] Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Jackie Robinson, Sen. Edward Brooke, Colin Powell and you, how did they become the party that defends the Confederate flag?

Again, this just goes to the greatest disappointment that I have and I think a lot of people in the Republican Party have become so reactionary in their views.

To be a conservative doesn't necessarily mean that one wants to go backwards. To be a conservative is to understand that there are certain things that we have inherited that are good, that we must preserve as we move forward, because to move forward is an innate part of human nature. But it is also to understand, Scott, that there are some bad things that we have inherited, such as the Confederacy, and that those are things that we should throw away, that we should discard, things that we recognize we cannot keep if we are to move forward in the right direction.

And it seems that the Republican Party under President Trump doesn't seem to recognize that. That is not conservative; that is reactionary. And I don't think we can tolerate those types of sentiments as we move forward.

I just don't see how it's consistent with a country that's becoming so diverse demographically."

https://www.npr.org/sections/live-up...proval-ratings

[godisawesome]

I think I'll put a list of Northern Perspective films from the Civil War.

Glory - this is probably the best known of them, while the unit (and Matthew Broderick's Col. Shaw) is real, the majority of the characters in the film are fictional.

The Red Badge of Courage - based on a book written before the Lost Cause took root.

Horse Soldiers - yes, a John Wayne film actually makes it onto the list.

There is a civil war segment in How the West Was Won, featuring Harry Morgan as Grant and John Wayne (!?) as Sherman. That part of the film was directed by John Ford.

Gettysburg shows both sides, but also has an epic scene on Little Round Top.

There are other films set against the war but not really about it, like Lincoln and Gangs of New York.

This is another thing we can blame Jim Crow for - early in the silent era most civil war films were told from the Union perspective, but then D. W. Griffith happened, and that was pretty much the end of that.

Horse Soldiers shows the general treatment the Civil War got in westerns, as a pseudo-romantic and vaguely defined conflict where the South absorbs most of the “romanticism” ideals, which has always been the thing that annoys me the most. Other films, like The Searchers, the Undefeated, and all the Jesse James movies, try their hardest to insist on portraying Southern veterans as being more skillful, cunning, and “romantic” than the often more bland Union veterans.

Part of the reason I really enjoy Gettysburg is because it actually throws a bit of romanticism onto the Union without becoming fantastical, while injecting enough cold, hard reality onto the Southern perspective to bring it back down to earth (Not perfectly, and it shows some of the “states’ rights argument more than it should, but it’s still got Chamberlain eloquently explaining his reasons for fighting)... and part of the reason I can’t stand Gods and Generals is that it’s so obsessed with the mythos of Stonewall Jackson it storms straight into Southern propaganda, and blandly romanticized propaganda at that.

Maybe the weirdest “Civil War” film, though?

Major Dundee.

It’s a Sam Peckinpah film (!) starring Charleston Heston as a Union commander who describes to chase Apaches into Mexico (!) during the French Intervention (!) leading an army pulled together from his own Union unit, combined with a African American unit, and “galvanized” Southern troops under Richard Harris as an Irish rebel turned Confederate rebel (!) where the final battle is between his army and French lancers (!). it does have a scene trying to address some of the issues f the civil war, but it really feels more like a giant Western “What if?” story.

[worstblogever]

We've seen polls where Trump's lead has narrowed to the margin of error in polls in Texas, Utah, and Alaska...

Same's true right now in Arkansas. If he's only up by two there... he's utterly f***ed in November.

[Darkspellmaster]

This discussion about movies reminds me very much of the whole southern belle idea for women and how Nothern ladies were not refined and the like. There are good books out there from the Union perspective, but none have been turned into tv shows or movies. Also reminds me that the show runners for GoT wanted to do a what if the south won tv series.

[mogwen]

Just to broaden our views here's the footage of the UK far-right protesters who were supposedly there to protect the monuments (which ended with one of them pissing on the commemorative plaque of a policeman who died protecting citizen from terrorists) but ended up fighting the police, and went into Hyde Park to harass people that were picnicking, even kicking a young woman after insulting her.
This is everywhere, in France where I live too. Far-right is enboldened, in part thanks to trump's election.

https://mobile.twitter.com/Tom_Norm/...32403070377986