All-purpose news and politics thread: Two Steps Beyond!

[bert]

All three Republican Speakers during Clinton's impeachment were adulterers. Haskert, did so with underage boys. Gingrich did it while his wife was in the hospital with cancer and Livingston was a serial adulterer.

yep. . but they were Hypocrites too (as most Republicans are).. .prosecuting the man for an affair while all of them were doing WORSE

*underage boys? WORSE
*wife in hospital whileyou are cheating on her? WORSE

[Stony]

Stick with the topic and no discussing other boards.
Thank you

[Malvolio]

some normal supporters. some acting just some hillary supporters did in '08, and because those are the type to keep going on and on, even if they're in the minority, they turn people off

All right. Fair enough. If Hillary is the nominee come November 2016, I will vote for her. However, as long as Bernie hasn't dropped out of the race by the time the NY primary comes, I will vote for him with a clear conscience.

[worstblogever]

Though I generally agree with your take on Clinton, I don't agree that JFK was "open" about his action on the side. From what I've read, his peccadillos were common knowledge to Washington insiders, but the rest of the country at that time was so damned innocent that it didn't even occur to them that a president might be cheating on his wife. Of course other 20th-century presidents had done the same and I don't think any of their affairs came out either, so I suppose you could argue that up until Clinton most of the presidential peccadillos were protected by the press-- which may have well been an "old boy's network" during most if not all of that time.

I remember Monroe singing "Happy Birthday" to JFK in the day, and for years I never saw any newspapers or magazines assert that the two of them were bumping uglies.

And then there was LBJ, who was boning everything to try to outdo JFK, and whipping his junk out all over the place.

Basically Clinton got caught at what numerous other presidents did and has to bear the brunt of all the other's indiscretions.

All three Republican Speakers during Clinton's impeachment were adulterers. Haskert, did so with underage boys. Gingrich did it while his wife was in the hospital with cancer and Livingston was a serial adulterer.

That's the most staggering thing. The 1990s "family values" GOP were the most full of s*** group of phony hypocrites.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

All three Republican Speakers during Clinton's impeachment were adulterers. Haskert, did so with underage boys. Gingrich did it while his wife was in the hospital with cancer and Livingston was a serial adulterer.

Pot, meet kettle. Of that terrible trio, Gingrich was clearly the worst.

[Shawn Hopkins]

Ellen Pao is out at Reddit, so it looks like the kind of people who really like message boards dedicated to hating on fat people got their wish in the short term. In the long term it seems like her resignation is more due to the fact that as a despised figurehead she couldn't commercialize Reddit fast enough to meet the board's desires than the fact that a portion of the site's traffic recently became racist and sexist attacks on her. So the celebration might be short lived because I suspect coontown and the like will be burnt to the ground as Reddit continues to go mainstream.

[CSTowle]

We can all agree that while Republicans prosecuting him while doing the same or worse and the fact that he's just the latest in a long line of adulterers is all true, it's still wrong and truly disturbing what he did to women under him using (at least in part) the power of his office? "The other side is just as bad", and "they all do it" aren't arguments I'm willing to take on just so we can have a President with a D- next to her name. Are we really going to take solace in the fact that he's not as bad as Newt Gingrich or a pedophile?

[Tendrin]

Let's not forget Bob Barr. :P

[Dalak]

We can all agree that while Republicans prosecuting him while doing the same or worse and the fact that he's just the latest in a long line of adulterers is all true, it's still wrong and truly disturbing what he did to women under him using (at least in part) the power of his office? "The other side is just as bad", and "they all do it" aren't arguments I'm willing to take on just so we can have a President with a D- next to her name. Are we really going to take solace in the fact that he's not as bad as Newt Gingrich or a pedophile?

I think using Bill against Hillary in this way, sex-issues that have nothing to do with her in the slightest, is a silly tactic that makes no sense. Of course that doesn't discount it's use politically in a national arena as sillier things have been successfully used before, but it's something that has never mattered to me. I mean: How does her husband's libido affect anything she'll do as President in any meaningful way?

Let's not forget Bob Barr. :P

And to end with a pun: I make it a point never to forget that Bob Barr cur.

[JCAll]

And to end with a pun: I make it a point never to forget that Bob Barr cur.

Remember to have your presidents spayed or neutered.

[CSTowle]

The reason it bothers me from her angle (the reason it bothers me from him should go without saying) is that I'm a lefty and I want the next President to be closer to me in worldview and policy than to Donald Trump. Aside from the fact that I'm not sure if I'm getting that if I put down a vote for Hillary (on the rare occasion she's deigning to speak to the media these days, she sounds a lot more to the left than she has in the past but you'd expect that in the primaries), there's a perception (as I've said before, whether real or not) that her staying with Bill was more about wanting to hold onto the currency that name gives her than about love. And given the long, long history of his infidelity and terrible record keeping it quiet it equals a level of acceptance on her part of some pretty disgusting behavior against other women that she seems willing to ignore to hold onto that name and the power that comes with it.

I'd agree the land deals involving her from their days in Arkansas, the pardons and favors done for her family members and friends (and Bill's) during his Presidency, her stands on issues "evolving"/devolving depending on the temperature of the room or which way the wind is blowing, etc., etc. are much higher on the list of reasons not to have her represent the left in the general. But it is one of the many issues. And even if she is truly in love with Bill and trying to make it work, and there's nothing cynical or calculating at all about the situation, perception does matter.

[Kirby101]

We can all agree that while Republicans prosecuting him while doing the same or worse and the fact that he's just the latest in a long line of adulterers is all true, it's still wrong and truly disturbing what he did to women under him using (at least in part) the power of his office? "The other side is just as bad", and "they all do it" aren't arguments I'm willing to take on just so we can have a President with a D- next to her name. Are we really going to take solace in the fact that he's not as bad as Newt Gingrich or a pedophile?

My point was that making what he was accused of an impeachable offense was ludicrous, not to condone his behavior. Let's also remember that Ken Starr was appointed to investigate Whitewater, not Monica Lewinsky, and that Clinton asked that the SCOTUS postpone the Civil law suit that was at the base of this because he said it could lead to a big distraction to the Office and duties of the President. They said it would never interfere with his duties, guess they got that one wrong.

[Agent Z]

Female genital mutilation banned in Nigeria

https://instagram.com/p/3pCEqZy4jQ/

[worstblogever]

We can all agree that while Republicans prosecuting him while doing the same or worse and the fact that he's just the latest in a long line of adulterers is all true, it's still wrong and truly disturbing what he did to women under him using (at least in part) the power of his office? "The other side is just as bad", and "they all do it" aren't arguments I'm willing to take on just so we can have a President with a D- next to her name. Are we really going to take solace in the fact that he's not as bad as Newt Gingrich or a pedophile?

No, it definitely was messed up that Bill Clinton treated women that way. At least, though, I'm confident that it will be the last time a president is running around like a horndog trying to poke everything within reach. For all their griping about the "new-PC culture" and Rush Limbaugh complaining about "Feminazis"... I really feel like in this era, where attitudes about how women are treated are changing (sadly, not online), and where there are a multitude of cable news networks looking to "break a story" about a womanizing politician...

I don't think anyone can successfully run for president if they've been a dirty dog. Sure, this year we have the repugnant misogynist Donald Trump in the mix, but he ain't winnin'. And he knows it. Four years ago, we had Herman Cain, and he managed to only lead in the polls for a couple weeks before flaming out (and stood no chance in the main against Obama). The Democrats had John Edwards in '04 and '08, but he never was really close to getting there, either. It's just not possible to keep that sort of thing hushed up and win.

Female genital mutilation banned in Nigeria

https://instagram.com/p/3pCEqZy4jQ/

Well, there's some good news, and one more thing Boko Haram is going to get the business end of the stick over.

[worstblogever]

A couple years ago, the mystery was how Sarah Palin could have become a NY Times Bestselling author. Eventually, the secret leaked... Palin had used SUPERPAC campaign money to buy 30,000 of her own books, and then turn around and give them away to Tea Partiers at events as free giveaways. The sad side effect to that story was that when Borders books went under, they had thought they saw a market trend, and also bought thousands of "Going Rogue" to put in their stores. As friends of mine working for Borders in its last days attested, "We have boxes of them unopened, and stacks of them on clearance tables or $0.99, and people STILL won't buy them. Someone at corporate just orders based off of the NY Times Bestseller list, and the company got burned blindly following it, not realizing that dingbat had just bought a ton of her own book."

The NY Times just discovered another unpopular Republican trying to boost their own credibility the same way, and are having none of it. Still not a NY Times Best-Selling Author, I present... Senator Ted Cruz.