Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

So many bastards, so little time.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

The words do not have to be perfect.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

You cannot shame the shameless.

Bad news for Ron DeSantis is great news for America.

In after Baud. Damn.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

“Why isn’t this Snickers bar only a nickle?”

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Consistently wrong since 2002

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

I really should read my own blog.

You are here: Home / We Have Found the Red Menace, And It Is Us

We Have Found the Red Menace, And It Is Us

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Interesting piece on Bernie Sanders in the Politico of all places, and there is some good stuff as well as some stuff to quibble with, and the title gets on one of my pet peeves

How Bernie Sanders’ ‘radical’ ideas entered the municipal mainstream

Clearly the author is noting that his past ideas are NOT radical for the municipal mainstream, but neither are any of his current ideas radical nor were they ever radical. They’ve long been well within the mainstream. It is only within the media environment that we live in this delusional center-right nation. Much like the ACA in which the individual components are rated extremely popular by the public but they hate the overall bill, liberal and progressive ideas across the spectrum have long been the preferred policy choices of the majority, but you slam the name “Democrat” or “liberal” or “progressive” (FSM forbid “socialist,”), and they become toxic.

This isn’t something new. Marc Crispin Miller and the good folks at the Media Education Foundation (here’s a .pdf transcript of the linked video, Constructing Public Opinion: How Politicians & the Media Misrepresent the Public) and countless others have been pointing this out for years, but for some reason it never sinks in with the bobbleheads and the Democrats continue to be the worst salesmen in the world.

It’s just maddening. Not only are left-leaning policies better, but they are actually more popular. It’s enough to make you scream.

Reader Interactions

85Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    Not only are left-leaning policies better, but they are actually more popular.

    Except for that one policy, which is unique to each voter but is the reason not to support liberal Democrats.

  2. 2.

    srv

    It’s hard to keep up with liberals, they have faith in so many things.

    But I do appreciate that you are opening up to other venues like Politico.

  4. 4.

    Bill Arnold

    @srv:

    It’s hard to keep up with liberals, they have faith in so many things.

    OK, that was funny.

  5. 5.

    mtiffany

    …liberal and progressive ideas across the spectrum have long been the preferred policy choices of the majority, but you slam the name “Democrat” or “liberal” or “progressive” (FSM forbid “socialist,”), and they become toxic.

    Republicans: “Our ideas suck, and you don’t like them, but at least they aren’t librul.”

  6. 6.

    JPL

    @srv: The overton window has moved. I find myself going to Politico sometimes. Who woulda thought?

  8. 8.

    Baud

    @JPL:

    I don’t know who you are anymore.

    @JPL:

    Should have named one of those bills the Puppies Act. Who doesn’t love puppies?

  10. 10.

    JPL

    @Omnes Omnibus: Just wait until Paul wins and he names his across the board tax cuts, Cutting the deficit to save our grandchildren and their puppies.

  11. 11.

    David Koch

    @JPL: no, they voted to move the Freedom Act to a floor for a vote (77-17), but because of length of debate rules, the vote won’t occur for 26 hours. the Freedom Act is an update and rebranding of the Patriot Act.

    eta: there’s more on the reforms here.

  12. 12.

    JPL

    Someone is on CSpan saying that he has been a strong Obama supporter and has voted for him and won’t make that mistake again. OKAY.. don’t.

  15. 15.

    srv

    @JPL: Puppy Vouchers for everyone.

    I would worry you people might extend Obamacare to pets though. Why aren’t liberals out marching for that?

  18. 18.

    David Koch

    @JPL:

    My sense is that either McConnell is a bigger idiot than any of us could have imagined by letting it procedurally expire for one day, or more likely, he cut a deal with Baby Doc for his endorsement last year, in return Turtle would let the terriers win for one day, allowing Baby Doc to grandstand and declare victory.

    there’s more on the reforms here.

  19. 19.

    MomSense

    The problem is the opinions of those in the likely voter category ( they show up for midterm elections) skew more conservative than the voters who show up (with much GOTV effort) for Presidential elections.

  21. 21.

    Baud

    @JPL:

    Terrorist: It’s 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, 26 hours of debate, it’s dark… and we’re wearing sunglasses.

    Jake: Hit it.

  23. 23.

    JPL

    @David Koch: He supports Rand for president. I think he cut a deal. Thanks for the link to the article but I’m not sure it’s enough. The FBI is still going to be chasing down a lot of pizza delivery guys.

  28. 28.

    Baud

    From GOS. Stay tuned.

    The Senate will come back to the legislation on Tuesday or Wednesday, and McConnell will allow at least amendments. Whether the two that Paul has been insisting on will be among them is unclear, as McConnell is apparently insisting on a 60 vote threshold for amendments and Paul objects. There will, however, almost certainly be amendments from Intelligence Committee Chair Richard Burr that reflect his supposed “compromise” legislation that rolls back six years worth of reforms of the NSA programs.

  30. 30.

    JPL

    @Baud: My favorite thing about the Patriot Act is you might not be able to fly but you sure can buy a gun. 2nd Amendment trumps all.

  31. 31.

    Jim, Foolish LIteralist

    carl hulse @ hillhulse
    Sen Paul said he suspects that some colleagues “secretly” hope for a terror attack so they can blame it on him.

    Who’s got McCain’s pills?

  35. 35.

    JPL

    @David Koch: In 2008 he mentioned the time he asked Jill to become his mom and she got teary eyes. He lost his mother at such a young age, that she was a mother, not just a step-mother.
    The Biden’s have a strong family but it will be awhile before they smile, I fear.

  38. 38.

    NotMax

    From EFF, re: USA Freedom act:

    The bill is far from ideal. But it does shift the status quo towards more privacy and, if passed, will be the first time since 1978 that the NSA has had its activities scaled back by Congress. It substantially limits the scope of collection by the government for tangible things under three different laws, and it offers small but real institutional reform to the FISA Court that only Congress can create.
     
    We’ve been clear that we must end mass surveillance under all surveillance authorities. We’re disappointed that this bill does not do more toward that end, but the new USA Freedom Act serves as a welcome first step and should be seen as such. Source

  42. 42.

    Gvg

    @dmsilev: That….may pass demon sheep as the most unintentionally hilarious political add. WWW does politics, my lord that is dumb. it may however show that at least one pac is actually not coordinating with the campaign it claims to support. that add does not make Rand look like a real candidate. sometimes I hope foreigners don’t watch us too closely.

  44. 44.

    Davis X. Machina

    Not only are left-leaning policies better, but they are actually more popular.

    What if people like them, but don’t like them enough — enough to change their voting behavior?

    People appear to be content with getting to watch other people’s lives be made worse, rather than having their own lives made better. In a majority of House districts this appears to be the case. Ditto the states, based on who their US senators are, controls the state houses, and who the governors are.

    When people vote their party, race, region, religion – or its lack – or how their neighbors vote, or the way their parents vote, then biography, and then, maybe, at the end, policy, that bargain works.

  45. 45.

    Ruckus

    @Gvg:
    sometimes I hope foreigners don’t watch us too closely.
    You know they don’t, if they did you could hear the laughter without any electronics.

  46. 46.

    muddy

    @David Koch: I’ve been breaking down in tears over Beau Biden all day. Got into an email fight with Josh Marshall over it which bizarrely made me feel a little better. He’s a snotty fucker.

  47. 47.

    Valdivia

    @dmsilev:

    That ad is definitely something. Rand the manly man against all the feminized wimps against liberty? The pink car for Lindsey was a nice touch.

  48. 48.

    Tree With Water

    Until reading this today, I had assumed all this talk about the Clinton Foundation to be so much hot air, a tempest in a teapot. Now I’m not so sure. The question is: will those willing to overlook H.C.’s record and the War in Iraq extend her the same courtesy now, in light of the facts Sirota presents in his report? Although I tend to think so, who knows? It certainly won’t win her any more supporters, I wouldn’t think.

    http://www.salon.com/2015/05/31/the_cash_donations_hillary_simply_has_no_answer_for_partner/

  49. 49.

    Chris

    Clearly the author is noting that his past ideas are NOT radical for the municipal mainstream, but neither are any of his current ideas radical nor were they ever radical. They’ve long been well within the mainstream. It is only within the media environment that we live in this delusional center-right nation. Much like the ACA in which the individual components are rated extremely popular by the public but they hate the overall bill, liberal and progressive ideas across the spectrum have long been the preferred policy choices of the majority, but you slam the name “Democrat” or “liberal” or “progressive” (FSM forbid “socialist,”), and they become toxic.

    People vote tribal. Not all of them, but enough to put a hell of a lot of pressure on the scale.

    And Democrats are The Party Of These People. Have been since long before their public face stopped being white, even.

  51. 51.

    muddy

    @efgoldman: They have been itching for something all along so they could blame it on the president, so why not a little extra hope for schadenfreude through the tribble-pated one.

  53. 53.

    muddy

    @David Koch: I objected to their big main article getting into details of a couple of murder cases that Biden didn’t win. Seemed like some petty details to get on about in the first moments.

    I could post it? Not sure of rules of sharing emails publicly? It’s not like we’re personal friends or anything, he’s just responding to an email to their contact addy. I will say that he has not replied at all to me when I praise the site, but if it’s not praise then he replies right away and says some snippy shit like a mean girl. What do people think?

  54. 54.

    Jim, Foolish LIteralist

    @muddy: The whole point of the on-going Benghazi tantrum is to somehow cancel out 9/11, the killing of Bin Laden and to prove Obama made us less safe. And fund-raising. And driving off a Tea Party challenge to Lindsay Graham.

  55. 55.

    Elizabelle

    @muddy: Interesting.

    Have been so sad and shocked for the Biden family, all day. Mind you, I did not pay that much attention to Beau in life. But I am so sorry for VP Joe. It’s cruel to lose a second child too young.

  56. 56.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @dmsilev: I got nothin. Other than WTF? They let 4th graders make campaign videos now? I did kinda like THE CANADIAN though.@Valdivia: And also the lilac car for Huckleberry J. Butchmeup, as Peirce calls him.

  60. 60.

    muddy

    @Elizabelle: It’s especially tragic as they are so close as a family, and such decent people. Then you think about Rand Paul and Huckabee’s sons and goddamn I hate the universe.

  61. 61.

    Tree With Water

    @Jim, Foolish LIteralist: The Wurlitzer is what is is, i.e., beneath contempt were it not for the fact that it is so dangerous. But I don’t think the facts as presented in Sirota’s article (posted today at Salon.com) can be dismissed as just another unhinged, reckless charge… just another one of the ceaseless attacks of the barbarians Hillary has suffered throughout her political career. It’s not. She’s got some explaining to do- which is probably why a few weeks ago Bill copped to mistakes having been made vis a vis the Foundation.

  62. 62.

    muddy

    @David Koch: Apparently his skin is a micron thin. I found his little tirade pretty unprofessional. I’m just a blog rando, he’s supposed to be a real journalist now isn’t he? It’s not just his little personal opinion blog anymore.

    I’m not feeling more aggravated from discussing it now, it was so ridiculous and childish that it actually improved my mood.

  66. 66.

    Zinsky

    Great post. This is why our friends on the right side of the aisle never want to discuss policy. It’s because their policy choices not only result in poor outcomes – they also are unpopular. So, they appeal to fear and hatred – which evoke limbic system responses and short-circuit people’s ability to think rationally and intelligently.

  67. 67.

    muddy

    @muddy: Maybe he reads Balloon Juice or secretly posts here. He just a moment ago emailed me again to say I was obsessed.

    Alrighty then…..

    I did say to him earlier that people who always accused others of projection might look to themselves. I will now say the same about coming back repeatedly in order to remark on obsession.

  68. 68.

    Tree With Water

    @Jim, Foolish LIteralist: The Benghazi “story” has been consistently trumpeted on the aforementioned Wurlitzer from day one. I thought that connection more apparent than it obviously was.

  71. 71.

    Steeplejack

    @dmsilev:

    I think that’s a spoof. It’s the only thing posted by “America’s Liberty PAC,” and the account was created Thursday.

  73. 73.

    Jim, Foolish LIteralist

    @Omnes Omnibus: ah, thanks.

    Peter Daou, David Sirota, pixel-q-2, Armstrong has sort of restarted MyDD…. it’s like every day brings another flashback

  74. 74.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Valdivia: @dmsilev: None of it makes any sense, but it may outdo the demon sheep, as someone’s already mentioned. Carly’s gonna be pissed – she’s quite competitive!

    BTW, I do actually now how to spell Charles Pierce’s name. It’s habit that makes me spell it Peirce, because that’s my doc’s name. His first name (we’re kinda casual that way.)

  75. 75.

    Heliopause

    the Democrats continue to be the worst salesmen in the world.

    No, Democrats suffer from the dissonance of knowing who their benefactors are and what their nominal political beliefs are supposed to be..

  77. 77.

    Brachiator

    @Tree With Water: Wow. Very odd article, almost like an old school Hillary hit piece. Lots of talk about Clinton’s State Department, as though it were her personal fiefdom. And then the sly assertion that despots and enemies of America are getting good deals. And I really like that end piece about fundamental questions of judgment, without specifying whether the author is talking about Bill or Hillary or both. I still don’t know what Hillary’s connection to the Clinton Foundation might be. But as far as I can tell, the author of the piece doesn’t know, either.

  79. 79.

    catclub

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    “Fire-Breathing Eagle vs Sharknado.”

    I was saying “When are the eagles coming” at the end of San Andreas. Every adventure needs to end with eagles.

    Of course, some smart aleck pointed out that if the eagles were available, why didn’t they fly Frodo TO Mordor and save a lot of effort.

  81. 81.

    VFX Lurker

    @catclub:

    Of course, some smart aleck pointed out that if the eagles were available, why didn’t they fly Frodo TO Mordor and save a lot of effort.

    “…you don’t want to be riding one when it gets hungry.”

    WARNING — the above link is safe, but other comic strips on that site are Not Safe For Work.

  83. 83.

    Paul in KY

    @catclub: You wouldn’t want a sentinent eagle to have the Ring of Power. Never get it back. The Ring only has to exist for Sauron to win. He wants it bad, but doesn’t really need to have it to win. That’s why it has to be destroyed.

  84. 84.

    J R in WV

    @muddy:

    He sent it to you, not knowing who you are, so it’s your now. Do it. Any time someone’s an asshole, and in this case about a dead guy who worked hard, fuck him.

  85. 85.

    muddy

    @Paul in KY: @J R in WV: Thanks for the support. I would have posted it last night had anyone expressed an interest, seems silly in a dead thread now.

    Get this though – he kept on emailing me with his psychiatric diagnoses this morning. Can you imagine? I thought he’s trying to be a professional journalist? He just could not drop it after I said I was done? Be a grownup, dude!

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