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

[Tazirai]

No.

It is proof that a party has bout into the idea that just throwing money at a race is the most important aspect of said race.

What I believe Tazirai is talking about is that the party in question needs to see that for the lie that it is.

Thank you. Somehow that is being lost. The Lie of More money wins everything.

[Kevinroc]

Just being "In Opposition To" isn't cutting it anymore.

While I don't find a bit of fault in what she did, everything in this post except that is where the focus should be.

As for "Knows How To Win An Election"...

Hillary Clinton, John McCain, and John Kerry also knew how to win an election. That didn't keep them from losing one as well as winning a few. Being realistic about that is of the utmost importance.

Doesn't change the fact that Gabbard is a horrible person and not someone who should be held as some kind of "progressive hero."

[ed2962]

Thank you. Somehow that is being lost. The Lie of More money wins everything.

More money certainly didn't help Jeb Bush.

[Carabas]

More money certainly didn't help Jeb Bush.

Nobody ever said money is all you need to win an election, but you still do need it.
The playing field is uneven enough as it is without giving up having a full war chest.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

You can't run an election, especially one for president on a shoestring, or only with donations from John and Jane Q. Public. That simply isn't feasible these days, or realistic. Like it or not, you have to have well heeled donors, PAC's and/or corporations backing you. Is that a good thing? No, it's not, I won't deny that, but it's the awful truth. The only way to keep fat cat money out of elections and return donations to the people is to legislate it out of existence, and that ain't happening anytime soon, if at all.

[ed2962]

Nobody ever said money is all you need to win an election, but you still do need it.
The playing field is uneven enough as it is without giving up having a full war chest.

I wasn't suggesting that. Just agreeing that money can't be the cure all. Trump didn't win because he spent the most money.

[Tami]

I wasn't suggesting that. Just agreeing that money can't be the cure all. Trump didn't win because he spent the most money.

He's too tight fisted with his money to do that. Like with everything Trump does, he mooched off of the News Media by creating a 'Reality TV' climate that the News Media couldn't resist covering.

Normal politicians, by comparison, aren't nearly as interesting to cover ... though something can be said for good ole boring.

Trump is an outlier, an exception to every rule. You can't compare norms to him because he isn't normal.

[Gray Lensman]

More money certainly didn't help Jeb Bush.

True, but Trump also had the benefit of a lot of free press time, effectively a gift of hundreds of millions of dollars from the so-called liberal media.

[Tami]

How Russia Is Using LinkedIn as a Tool of War Against Its U.S. Enemies

One night in mid-March, Alan Malcher, a British military veteran, dropped into the Queen’s Arms, a working-class pub in north London. He took a seat at the bar and ordered his customary pint of Foster’s. Within a few minutes, a stranger sidled up, ordered a drink and started a conversation. He soon brought up Russian President Vladimir Putin and began saying positive things about the Moscow-backed separatist civil war in Ukraine.

“He was going on about Putin being a strong leader,” Malcher recalls. “Somebody to admire.” The stranger’s comments, delivered with a thick Slavic accent, made Malcher’s security antennae vibrate: He had recently joined a Washington, D.C.–based think tank involved in combatting Russia’s stealthy infiltration of American social media. So when the stranger made passing reference to Malcher’s army service, he felt a twinge of apprehension. “There’s no way he could have known that except via LinkedIn,” Malcher says, referencing the professional online networking site where he and other critics of Moscow had been active in international affairs discussion groups. An expert in information warfare, Malcher reasoned that the Kremlin had dispatched the stranger to the Queen’s Arms with a message: We know everything about you. Watch your step.

Experts have increasingly called attention to Russia’s use of covert “propaganda factories” to subvert democracy, flooding Twitter and Facebook with millions of computer-generated bots posting under false names (often unwittingly picked up and amplified by supporters of Donald Trump). But its battle on LinkedIn to neutralize enemies has gone largely unnoticed. There, however, Newsweek has found that pro-Moscow forces have put constant pressure on the company to suspend or permanently evict a number of its adversaries, many with long, distinguished careers in the U.S. military or its intelligence agencies. Not only has this muzzled credentialed critics and damaged professional reputations, but if Malcher’s suspicions were right, the Kremlin’s campaign to combat its adversaries on social media may have moved beyond cyberspace and into the streets.

[Tami]

Paul Ryan: Intel leaks 'the problem of the leaker, not the journalist'

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) defended journalists Friday, saying that while intelligence leaks compromise national security, it's "the problem of the leaker, not the journalist."

"Leaks are concerning because leaks can often compromise national security, but that’s the problem of the leaker not the journalist," Ryan said at an event in Muskego, Wis., on Friday afternoon.

Ryan's comment comes just hours after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a governmentwide crackdown on leakers.

[PaulBullion]

Non-Issue.

The issue.

[ed2962]

He's too tight fisted with his money to do that. Like with everything Trump does, he mooched off of the News Media by creating a 'Reality TV' climate that the News Media couldn't resist covering.

Normal politicians, by comparison, aren't nearly as interesting to cover ... though something can be said for good ole boring.

Trump is an outlier, an exception to every rule. You can't compare norms to him because he isn't normal.

True. Him being a celebrity plus purposely spewing the most outrageous things he could think of guaranteed him coverage normal politician can only dream.

[ed2962]

True, but Trump also had the benefit of a lot of free press time, effectively a gift of hundreds of millions of dollars from the so-called liberal media.

it's funny that when he was running he would brag about all the press coverage he got, now that he's president, he wants the "fake news" to stop picking on him.

[Mister Mets]

Ossoff was in a race where record amounts of money wound up being spent.

What did he wind up winning?

It was in a seat the incumbent Republican won with 61 percent. If Democrats can improve on those numbers to the same extent Ossoff did in the 2018 midterms, they'll take back the House and possibly the Senate.

[Mister Mets]

Just being "In Opposition To" isn't cutting it anymore.

While I don't find a bit of fault in what she did, everything in this post except that is where the focus should be.

As for "Knows How To Win An Election"...

Hillary Clinton, John McCain, and John Kerry also knew how to win an election. That didn't keep them from losing one as well as winning a few. Being realistic about that is of the utmost importance.

Hillary, Kerry and McCain ran in political cycles that weren't in their favor, and kept it relatively close. All had made it to the Senate, winning several statewide elections.

Nina Turner lost by 25 points in a bid for minor statewide office.