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

[WestPhillyPunisher]

When it could have been an easy win for him. Trump was just bad at it, at all parts of it other than stoking racism.

Deep in his heart of hearts, Trump knows his hamfisted handling of the virus led to his having lost. Of course, being the malignant narcissist he is, Trump will NEVER admit he screwed up, in his mind, the election was “stolen” from him by Democrats and the so-called deep state, delusions he’ll take to his grave.

The narrative for the Trump years was utter dysfunction. The media has become used to McConnell's will being done and that "nothing gets passed".

A lot got cut out of this bill, but people needed to calm the f*** down in the press the whole time, because at the end of the day, Joe Biden knows how to get something through the Senate.

That, at the end of the day, is the story. To a lesser extent, the story is, "F*** Manchin and Synema for aiming so low and selling out to corporate interests so more wasn't in there". She, at least, will be toast when she's up for re-election in 3 years.

Regarding the bill, sure, it didn’t have everything everyone wanted, but, in my mind, better 50 percent of something than 100 percent of nothing.

[worstblogever]

The level of control the Clinton campaign had over the DNC, prior to the 2016 primary, is kinda nuts.

And yet, you're silent about the level of control they've given Trump over the RNC, currently. Which is far scarier.

[JB]

Pelosi definitely deserves some credit since the vote originally failed and she called for a debate which brought in more votes. I'm sure some headlocks were in play. But I agree with numberthirty in that it's a partial win compared to what was intended to be in the bill, and it's okay to want more from the politicians we pay.

[Gray Lensman]

Which ain't exactly a safe assumption.

Those folks that did not?

If you not only do not deliver BBB with a bunch of the worthwhile stuff hacked off but do not deliver it at all?

All of the infrastructure in the world might not make that right with those folks.

You are talking about two groups - the first never voted for Biden to begin with because he doesn't have an R after his name, and the second was probably lost the moment the very first thing had to be rolled back to get Manchin's vote, see the F Democrats flow chart for details.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

You are talking about two groups - the first never voted for Biden to begin with because he doesn't have an R after his name, and the second was probably lost the moment the very first thing had to be rolled back to get Manchin's vote, see the F Democrats flow chart for details.

The infrastructure bill passed because it is corpation friendly and big businesses and millionaires/billionaires are getting contracts and money for licenses. The BBB bill was the one most middle and lower class people would be directly impacted by. That is not a guarantee anymore and will probably get gutted more without leverage. There are also some objectively shitty parts of the infrastructure bill that were only agreed to in principle because the BBB bill was designed to rectify some of that.

This is going to be another ACA where the Democrats bent over for the rich and got their shit done, and now the Dems will probably pass a stripped down BBB bill that is a dissapointment compared to what was in it and the Republicans will attack a massive spending spree and Democrats will be luke warm or apathetic at best because they know how mediocre it became.

[worstblogever]

The infrastructure bill passed because it is corpation friendly and big businesses and millionaires/billionaires are getting contracts and money for licenses. The BBB bill was the one most middle and lower class people would be directly impacted by. That is not a guarantee anymore and will probably get gutted more without leverage. There are also some objectively shitty parts of the infrastructure bill that were only agreed to in principle because the BBB bill was designed to rectify some of that.

This is going to be another ACA where the Democrats bent over for the rich and got their shit done, and now the Dems will probably pass a stripped down BBB bill that is a dissapointment compared to what was in it and the Republicans will attack a massive spending spree and Democrats will be luke warm or apathetic at best because they know how mediocre it became.

And we have to keep our fingers crossed to see how many times the Senate can revamp this sucker if at all via reconciliation, and hope Manchin and Synema aren't dips***s when those moments come up.

With the latter, she's seemingly been voting against things she campaigned on for corporate interests, but does so in ways solely for the theatric value. She's trying to make an impression so she can either run as a Republican in 2024, or an Independent. The latter is far more likely, because Arizona's GOP is way too bats*** and extreme to trust her to vote as conservatively as they would demand.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2014, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” we looked at Bill Armistead, who has cranked up the Wayback Machine in Alabama to take political rhetoric back fifty years whenever possible. Armistead spent most of the first seven years of the Obama presidency campaigning hard for increased Voter ID laws, insisting that voter fraud was rampant, even offering a $1000 bounty to anyone in his state who came forward with an example of it. As you might guess, no one came forward with any. But that's really the tip of the iceberg, as Armistead has hosted various propagandists pushing the Birther Conspiracy around Barack Obama to speak to Alabama Republicans, from Allen West, to airing the "Dreams of My Father" Birther documentary and claiming it was "factual". Armistead also called President Obama a "sociopath", claimed Rev. Al Sharpton was "race-baiting" for campaigning against Alabama's new Voter ID laws, and criticized the Supreme Court for their rulings on gay marriage as an "affront to Christian principles". Armistead stepped down as the head of the Alabama GOP in 2013, but apparently found work on Marco Rubio's 2016 presidential campaign committee in Alabama, so it remains to be seen if he has any influence on American politics.

On this date in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, as well as in 2019, that we published our first two “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day" profiles of the U.S. Senator from Georgia, Johnny Isakson, who for all his supposed "concessions", also has had some of the most anti-gay voting records in Congress during his tenure, has voted repeatedly against womens' issues from their right to choose to equal pay legislation, and has consistently voted against raising the debt ceiling. Isakson met with some controversy where he met with the candidate challenging Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for his seat in Nevada, Sharron Angle, and described her speech to the Senate Republican Caucus as the kind of speech “she wouldn’t give to the unwashed back home”, but still won re-election in 2010 through having the luck to have been suddenly hospitalized with an irregular heartbeat and a blood infection. In his long Congressional career, Isakson has voted for displays of the Ten Commandments to be placed on government property, a Constitutional ban on same sex marriage, the Iraq War Resolution, and the 2013 Government Shutdown. Meanwhile, he has voted against “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” being repealed , voted against the Franken Amendment (a dedicated assist to defense contractors who want to be able to sexually assault or help cover up the sexual assaults of female employees by Isakson) voted against various equal pay measures as well as Hurricane Sandy relief funding, and since President Obama took office in 2009, has voted against every debt ceiling increase, despite the fact that not doing so would be catastrophic to not just the U.S. economy, but the global economy. As early as August of 2015, Sen. Isakson was calling for investigations into Hillary Clinton’s e-mail server, and admitting the end goal of those inquiries was to “end her presidential candidacy”. Sen. Isakson pledged to support votes on all judicial nominees back in 2005, but since Barack Obama was elected president reneged on that deal, and has blocked not just the nominations of District Court and Circuit Court judges, but now defending how the GOP have chosen to spend over 7 months avoiding hosting confirmation hearings for Merrick Garland as a ninth Supreme Court Justice. Isakson was, of course, re-elected in 2016, after announcing he had Parkinson’s in 2015, the second consecutive re-election campaign where he announced a chronic health problem prior to the vote, which we’re in no way cynical enough to think would be him trying to garner sympathy from the electorate. That sympathy did not last long after his re-election, in the current state of politics in the country. After how in this term of the Senate, Isakson voted to confirm every member of Donald Trump’s “Cabinet of Horrors” and voted for the “skinny repeal” of the Affordable Care Act, he turned up at one town hall, and even though he’s a 73 year old man with Parkinson’s, the minute he uttered, “All Lives Matter”, the crowd booed and heckled him out of the building. Isakson announced his retirement in August of 2019, and hung around the Senate enough to bastardize the makeup of the Supreme Court before going to convalesce with a disease that if anyone else got it, would have their healthcare taken away as a pre-existing decision because of his confirmation of justices.

On this date in 2020, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day”, where we’ll be discussing Kanda Calef, a 2018 candidate for District 2 of the Colorado House of Representatives. She already was infamous around the capitol as a pro-gun lunatic and unapologetic Trump supporter, to the extent on the latter that she pulled her endorsement of failed Senate candidate Daryl Glenn prior to the 2016 election and supported the Libertarian candidate… and her reason was that Glenn dared to criticize Donald Trump for talking about “grabbing women by the p***y” on the Access Hollywood tape. The Colorado Republican Party took Glenn’s side at the time, and called for her to recant or resign and she did neither, seeking to elevate herself based on her Trump loyalty and love of guns. She aimed at upsetting the incumbent state legislator in her District, Shane Sandridge, in 2018 to further her rebellion against the mainstream GOP, but lost the election by double digits. However, none of that saga is the reason we’re talking about Kanda Calef. She’s worth mentioning because she was arrested in June of 2019 after going full “road rage” and flashing her gun at another driver in traffic. Who just so happened to be an off-duty U.S. Marshall. When he pursued her to make an arrest, she fled going 90 MPH, only to finally get pulled over when the red and blues were flashing. She entered a guilty plea to avoid jail, and ironically is now a guns-rights advocate who due to a felony on her record, can’t have a concealed carry permit. The last news item we saw on her was she was struggling to figure out how to file the proper paperwork to end her 2020 campaign for the Colorado state legislature, acknowledging she was too toxic to ever win office again. As she is no longer going to be running for office, we will set aside her profile at this time to cover another kooky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 1041-50, since this was established in July 2014.


Thomas Nelson

Welcome to what is the 1041st original profile here at “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day”, where we’ll be profiling Thomas Nelson, who was a 2020 candidate for U.S. House of Representatives in Alaska’s “At-Large” District, running in the GOP Primary against political Methusaleh, Congressman Don Young. Now, as much as it’s past due time for Young to have been shown the door by someone in Alaska, it’s a relief it wasn’t Nelson, who is yet the latest in our staggeringly long lie of Republicans who ran for Congress in 2020 while touting the Qanon conspiracy theory. Nelson also claimed social media companies were committing “treason” and “sedition” for not allowing Donald Trump to post lies in his social media accounts.

Thomas Nelson only got 18% of the vote in the primary, which is 18% more than he deserved.

[Gray Lensman]

And we have to keep our fingers crossed to see how many times the Senate can revamp this sucker if at all via reconciliation, and hope Manchin and Synema aren't dips***s when those moments come up.

With the latter, she's seemingly been voting against things she campaigned on for corporate interests, but does so in ways solely for the theatric value. She's trying to make an impression so she can either run as a Republican in 2024, or an Independent. The latter is far more likely, because Arizona's GOP is way too bats*** and extreme to trust her to vote as conservatively as they would demand.

Or go into corporate lobbying, but I wonder if most Dems might refuse to treat with any company that would hire her given how two faced she has become.

The only way to get Sinema on board whole on Congress might be to organize mass boycotts of the companies she meets with, since that seems to be who she listens to above all others.

[Mister Mets]

Who said they were opposed to it?

They voted against it.

And yet, you're silent about the level of control they've given Trump over the RNC, currently. Which is far scarier.

Well I did vote against Trump in both general elections in which he a candidate.

When he was in control, he was an incumbent, and it is normal for incumbent Presidents running for reelection to have control over political parties. The unusual thing about the DNC's relationship with the Clinton campaign is that it was roughly equivalent to how they treated Obama had when he sought a second term.

This is probably a mistake. The political party apparatuses should be neutral in intraparty fights.

Or go into corporate lobbying, but I wonder if most Dems might refuse to treat with any company that would hire her given how two faced she has become.

The only way to get Sinema on board whole on Congress might be to organize mass boycotts of the companies she meets with, since that seems to be who she listens to above all others.

Have they thought about chasing her into the toilet again?

[worstblogever]

They voted against it.

Well I did vote against Trump in both general elections in which he a candidate.

When he was in control, he was an incumbent, and it is normal for incumbent Presidents running for reelection to have control over political parties. The unusual thing about the DNC's relationship with the Clinton campaign is that it was roughly equivalent to how they treated Obama had when he sought a second term.

This is probably a mistake. The political party apparatuses should be neutral in intraparty fights.

Yeah, I might not be a member of your party, but maybe it would be a good idea to focus less on what control Hillary had on the DNC five years ago, and take a look at how Trump was grifting and pooling all the money for ALL Republican candidates through his own PAC in 2020, and still seems to be doing that going forward. If he's a "kingmaker" (and boy is he picking some dangerously flawed candidates doomed from the start), it's only because Ronna Romney-McDaniel was dumb enough to allow him control of the RNC's purse strings.

To say nothing of trusting Donald Trump with other people's money... that f***wit can bankrupt a casino, he'll do it to your party, who are currently only morally bankrupt He'll make them financially bankrupt as well.

[CSTowle]

Interesting question.

There would not be room for Trump since part of his appeal was the idea that Republicans needed someone willing to fight to win the White House (rather than parties naturally losing power after two terms.)

There might be a political movement for Obama to make a comeback. He has always been popular among the Democratic base. Sanders might've been more appealing to primary voters if they felt the party lost by not going far enough, although the 2016 primary would likely be much more crowded.

Romney would've been a standard Republican, except with more managerial competence than Trump.

I'd agree Obama would have run again, and I don't think Sanders would have been a thing if Obama was running. It would have been Obama vs Hillary 2. I like Sanders, I agree with far more of what he says than centrist/Clintonite Triangulation Democrats who tend to control the party to this day, but as I've said before I believe he's the kooky Kucinich-style candidate who gets on the stage and polls at under 5% in a normal election cycle because most of the country is nearer that center. It was only the thoroughly unsatisfying prospect of having the most hated politician in my lifetime as the only choice available (vs an openly racist, misogynist, and unqualified Republican as opposed to a more centrist one like Romney or McCain some might have held their nose and voted for) that allowed Primary voters to take a hard and serious look at a candidate who never would have gotten more than a few moments in the debates in a normal cycle. The silver lining to the '16 election is that he moved the conversation further to the left in Democratic politics and some things that were considered off the table are now openly talked about.

And yet, you're silent about the level of control they've given Trump over the RNC, currently. Which is far scarier.

Wouldn't have one without the other.

[worstblogever]

Wouldn't have one without the other.

As proven for 30+ years now... the Republican Party can dupe its supporters by just going, "OH NO, LOOK OVER THERE! HILLARY!"

She's been a scarecrow to distract from whatever issues they might have... even if they literally are doing the thing they're baselessly accusing her of.

[babyblob]

As proven for 30+ years now... the Republican Party can dupe its supporters by just going, "OH NO, LOOK OVER THERE! HILLARY!"

She's been a scarecrow to distract from whatever issues they might have... even if they literally are doing the thing they're baselessly accusing her of.

The GOP is great at scaring their base for votes. First Obama and the socialist scare, then Hillary, then Dems are taking your rights by making you wear masks, then Defund the Police, and the always popular the Big Steal, then they are taking your rights away with Vaccine mandates, not CRT, and they always have the old stand by of Oh No Immigrants!

They are not a party of policy, but a party of fear and lies. "We have nothing valid to say so lets do smoke and mirrors. And as we have seen in the media and a coupe people in this board people are buying and thanking the GOP for turning them into cult members .

Even those of us who hate the GOP cant deny they are great at whipping up their base and controlling the narrative because they go dirty and The Dems really cant match that even most of the time. They are fine letting the GOP control the narrative in the media because they try so hard to work together and take the high road. And unless there is a really hot button issue going on The Dems just dont seem as excited or fired up as the core base of the GOP is day to day.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

... I believe he's the kooky Kucinich-style candidate...

That's a weird adjective. Sanders is bigger and more impactful than Kucinich ever was. Sanders was the runner-up in two consecutive election cycles, whereas Kucinich never got that close. Sanders is also far more famous and well known than Kucinich ever was.

Hypotheticals are weird by nature. To me Obama not winning in 2012 is inconceivable. And if Obama lost his first term, I don't see him getting a second shot. African-American politicians are not known for getting many second chances after all. Obama would be regarded as Jimmy Carter 2.0 if at all. Whereas Obama has in fact become the defining political figure of the last 2 decades and has overshadowed Clinton's legacy without breaking a sweat.

And I don't think butterflying Trump's Presidency is enough to think Romney becoming President would somehow have been a good thing. Not to mention that Romney is not a great politician. He's not as good as John McCain even.

At the same time, I will agree that Obama losing in 2012 will likely relegate Sanders into a more marginal figure. Obama made it possible for out-of-the-box candidates and ideas. Once you have an African-American President bringing in healthcare, and other ideas into the national conversation, a Jewish Socialist isn't so disagreeable or out-there anymore. AOC is quite critical of Obama but it would be hard to deny that Obama made her arrival into politics more likely rather than less. That's the big paradox of Obama, he may not have intended it or he might have backtracked but his success and his presence pushed the Democrat party further to the left. Further than he intended but he did it nonetheless.

[Tami]

Kind of beyond nutsy

The City Commission of Oroville, CA voted 6-1 to declare itself and independent “constitutional republic,” vowing not to follow federal and state covid policies.