Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

“And when the Committee says to “report your income,” that could mean anything!

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

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

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

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

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Bark louder, little dog.

You are here: Home / Politics / Politicans / David Brooks Giving A Seminar At The Aspen Institute / Slap you on the back and say “please, please”

Slap you on the back and say “please, please”

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David Von Drehle has written the most idiotic centrist hot take in the history of idiotic centrist hot takes. Some highlights:

Wanna-be Nazis parading by torchlight through Charlottesville was a radical moment. Masked leftists marauding through Berkeley was another radical moment. Radical politics are the most dangerous kind, whether they arise from the right or the left.

[….]

The ostensibly conservative Republican Party was taken over by a man who stands against core conservative values such as prudence, order, tradition and free markets. Meanwhile, the ostensibly liberal Democratic Party was nearly hijacked by a socialist.

[….]

Principled liberals and conservatives need to wake up to this peril. The solid center that has defined American politics for generations is under assault by empowered radicals on both sides.

And closes with a predictable Houston-themed cliche:

There’s no time to waste. The water is rising.

Top this one, Ron Fournier. I don’t think you can do it.

Reader Interactions

141Comments

  2. 2.

    Cermet

    Typical bull$hit that the WP has to publish to appear fair and unbalanced so neo-nazi’s can hate in a justifiable manner. What this a$$wipe is doing is simply destroying the country so the averagemiddle-class amerikans can feel good about hating liberals and being racist.

  3. 3.

    mainmata

    Bothsiderism is the laziest form of opinion journalism. Requires no analysis much less historical context or proportionality.

  5. 5.

    Nicole

    David Von Drehle: “Both the arsonist and the firemen who put out the fire were equally at fault for the damage done to the house.”

  6. 6.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    …core conservative values such as prudence, order, tradition and free markets…

    I think this wistful fantasy is at the core of his problem.

    Back when I identified as conservative, my ideology was to want to analyze public policy from the standpoint of cost and benefit. What would be the end result, and would that result be worth the expenditure of time, effort and money, and would it comport with what I perceived as core principles of equal protection, due process and fair play?

    Somewhere along the way, that changed into “what upsets liberals, changed daily”.

  9. 9.

    charluckles

    It’s a complete farking mystery how the “Oval Office radical” could crush the entire field in the primary given the moderation and centrism of todays Republican party.

  10. 10.

    Kay

    It’s time to come together around lowering taxes. I listened to a long piece on Michigan radio in the car yesterday. It was on road maintenance which was (oddly!) interesting because there are actual experts on this subject. Roads are a big topic in Michigan these days because Snyder cut taxes and the roads in Michigan are falling apart. Literally. Enough so people notice.

    They looked at Trump’s “infrastructure plan” (such as it is). The ordinary guideline for federal/state funding for major road upgrades is 80/20 federal/ state. Trump’s team flipped that- it’s 80/20 state/federal. Team Trump know the infrastructure state money isn’t there- states have cut taxes over and over since 2010. They know this “plan” is pretend. There’s no funding for it. The expectation is they’ll blame state lawmakers when the road upgrades never materialize.

  11. 11.

    But her emails!!!

    Do these “journalists” map out articles like this? Do they start out with a list of Republican transgressions and then try their hardest to come up with things that are at least something like they listed with at least some tenuous connection to Democrats?

    I mean seriously, Republicans nominating and election a protofascist, pussy grabbing, white supremacist curious, moron who has apparently violated all the tenets they supposedly hold dear is the almost the same as Democrats nearly nominating a Social Democrat whose positions lined up 90+% with the more center left candidate who won the nomination.

  13. 13.

    Betty

    @Kay: How long, how long until this misery is over? People have to wake up at some point and understand that you get what you pay for.. Too many are still saying taxes are bad, the money is all wasted. So much misinformation. How long?

  14. 14.

    Peale

    @Kay: future archeologists are going to have a big debate over how it is that we collectively lost the ability to build roads during our dark ages.

  17. 17.

    geg6

    Myself, I think Brooks might be able to take a run at it.

    ETA: Sully has been giving it the old college try, too.

  18. 18.

    Kay

    @Betty:

    It takes a long time because the problem has to hit each conservative individually before they consider it a problem. One of them called in and said the soil berm along a road he uses had eroded and now it’s a drop-off. Roads aren’t just roads- they have to shore up areas to keep them level or you fall off the road. I guess he though this was just naturally level forever- not aware that water runs off and creates trenches. There’s no recognition that people DO these things- that they’re not gifts that fall from the sky. Now that ONE conservative knows but this could take a while. Each one teach one may not be the best approach. It’s just crazy. My state taxes went down $200 dollars a quarter. What am I gonna do with $800 if the infrastructure is falling apart? Get together with some other people and create a big pool of money? Like…taxes? We’re just going around and around in circles on this. There aren’t an unlimited number of ideas around the concept of “pool your 800 dollars with others and build a road”. There are no “ideas” that will get around that.

  19. 19.

    Kay

    @Betty:

    It’s this false promise, this hope that they can “innovate” around paying for things but all they do is move money around. How is Trump innovating on infrastructure? He switched 2 numbers. Because the FACT remains it has to be paid for.

    There aren’t endless ways to pay for things- there’s one or two or three ways and it’s the same one or two or three ways.

  21. 21.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay:

    What am I gonna do with $800 if the infrastructure is falling apart?

    Offset the increased costs of car repairs

  22. 22.

    Peale

    @Kay: you could propose that he buy the road and charge a toll to travel that road. He can figure out whether he wants to pocket the money or repair it himself.

  23. 23.

    Ladyraxterinok

    Re Osteen: search adviseshow on joel osteen at youtube. They’re reporting that Osteen’s church has armed guards blocking flooding victims’ access to the massive amount of donations of supplies the church has received. They have posted cell-phone videos of church corriders lined with supplies in bins and boxes.

    I have never heard of this group before and have no idea how reliable they are.

    (I wonder how many of Osteen’s church members have been flooded out. I read Osteen lives in River Oaks, the area where Rice is. A video of the campus that I saw early on showed little flooding.)

  24. 24.

    Kay

    Also, “volunteers” aren’t free either. Every one of those rescuers in a jon boat wasn’t at work because they were in Houston. Their time costs and their equipment costs and their travel costs. It’s all money. It’s a nice idea that you can have “free” emergency services but nothing is free. It’s more moving costs around and pretending they go away. A real estimate of what one of these disasters costs would include donations.

  26. 26.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Seriously, does Von Drehle think the Holocaust was caused by the Jews not compromising enough with Hilter? Exactly how stupid is that man?

  27. 27.

    Kay

    @Peale:

    We had a conservative run our school levy campaign. His pitch was were paying less in state taxes so could afford an increase in property taxes. I just marvel that these things. “Okay so they send my 200 dollars back from Columbus and then I give it to the county auditor to make up the state share of school funding they cut to give back the 200?” What was the point of this, again? It’s not an ideological position- it’s bookkeeping. It’s dumb bookkeeping.

  30. 30.

    Kay

    The Nazi thing really rattled political media though. It’s a measure of how rattled they were by how they immediately came up with “point/counterpoint!” on antifa.

    I was shocked by it and I feel like I’m hard to shock. Some of those people were enrolled college Republicans. There’s some GOP list somewhere with their names on it. The college Republicans and college Democrats are NOT the radical fringe. It should scare the shit out of the GOP that these people are running official chapters on campuses under the national brand of a political Party. That’s fucked up.

  32. 32.

    msdc

    @Nicole: I don’t think the black bloc types are putting out any fires. They’re fanning the flames of idiotic bothsides hot takes like this one, and giving cover to the racists who thrive on false equivalencies to distract us. They are not our friends.

    But the idea that the Democratic and Republican parties are equally at risk of takeover by the extremes – or that the GOP has any interest in preserving any political norms whatsoever that stand in the way of their abuse of power – is bullshit.

    This is the same version of the column that Broderists have been writing since 2010 at least. It just looks more insane with each new atrocity.

  34. 34.

    WereBear

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Back when I identified as conservative, my ideology was to want to analyze public policy from the standpoint of cost and benefit. What would be the end result, and would that result be worth the expenditure of time, effort and money, and would it comport with what I perceived as core principles of equal protection, due process and fair play?

    But I see this AS a liberal value; we have this social problem, what is the best way to fix it?

    Perhaps you also see at that way, now :)

    I was a small child during the ferment of the Sixties, but when I got old enough to read about it instead of overhearing incensed adults spout off about it; I agreed with the hippies. They made more sense.

  36. 36.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:
    The running of the video from Charlottesville, without commentary, is what rattled people. Listening to the words-THAT THEY SAID- rightly freaked a lot of people out.
    Told you..I had to listen to a lot of cable news the time that my sister was in the hospital…I saw the uninterrupted tape of the Nazis marching over and over.??

  38. 38.

    Weaselone

    @msdc:

    Black bloc is a bunch of anarchists, they don’t really fall on either end of the political spectrum. They just tend screw up liberal protests and now get to pretend they’re antifascist instead of just asshats so the media groups them with the left.

  39. 39.

    danielx

    @geg6:

    Well, Brooks did write a column this week about how racism has become prevalent in the Republican party since 2005. Never mentioned the Southern Strategy, Reagan’s 1980 speech in Neshoba County…etc. Does that count?

  40. 40.

    WereBear

    @Kay: There’s no recognition that people DO these things- that they’re not gifts that fall from the sky.

    I am constantly amazed that such people function at all. Indeed, they must have been propped up their entire lives to be so happily clueless about How Things Work.

  41. 41.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @msdc:

    I don’t think the black bloc types are putting out any fires. They’re fanning the flames of idiotic bothsides hot takes like this one, and giving cover to the racists

    Truth. The difference which the bothsiderists invariably fail to note is that the Nazis, KKK and other extreme right-wingers are significant in number and have GOP (not to mention presidential) support, while the black bloc are few in number, quite possibly ratf*ckers, and have NO backing by the Dems. Apart from that, they’re both the same.

    Edited.

  42. 42.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @msdc:

    This is the same version of the column that Broderists have been writing since 2010 at least. It just looks more insane with each new atrocity.

    Easily the mid 80s, That’s why it’s so relexive with these twats. It’s all they know how to do.

  44. 44.

    mai naem mobile

    So I am watching FOX so you don’t have to. It’s a huge sacrifice. Anyhoo, Dolt’s Bimbo wife is wearing a dress and stilettoes. They look higher than Tuesdays. I thought she would wear those fuck me stilleto boots circa Purple Rain Appolonia but nope Bimbo FLOTUS wears stilletoes. I hope when she does the per walk for being Dolt’s Russian handler she’s wearing 6 inch stilletoes.

  45. 45.

    MomSense

    No, David Von Drehle both sides don’t.

    Both siderism has become a religion for these assholes. Use your powers of observation for a change.

  46. 46.

    Immanentize

    @rikyrah: Legacy admits are a problem, for sure. But worse yet — and more racially skewed — are bought seats like Jared Kushner’s. Both practices should end.

    ETA. Legacy admits are simply a method of perpetuating de facto (even de jure) segregation/discrimination.

  49. 49.

    MomSense

    @Immanentize: @rikyrah:

    Have you read the book Ebony and Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of America’s Universities?

    EYE OPENING! I guarantee you this history is not shared in the prospective student tours. It’s a must read.

    The author, Craig Wilder was interviewed on Code Switch four or five years ago. I happened on that interview and had to buy the book.

  53. 53.

    O. Felix Culpa

    How is the Orange Abomination’s behavior a surprise? What did Kelly think he was signing up for?

    According to a report by the New York Times, Kelly reportedly told sources close to a fight between the president and his chief of staff in August that he won’t tolerate such behavior again.

    After lashing out at Kelly when staffers “gently suggested [Trump] refrain from injecting politics into day-to-day issues of governing after last month’s raucous rally in Arizona,” he lashed at Kelly, who happened to be “the most senior aide in his presence.”

    Kelly “reacted calmly, but he later told other White House staff members that he had never been spoken to like that during 35 years of serving his country,” three sources close to the fight told the Times. “In the future, he said, he would not abide such treatment.”

    http://www.rawstory.com/2017/09/he-wont-abide-such-treatment-gen-kelly-said-nobody-has-spoken-to-him-like-trump-in-his-35-year-career/

  56. 56.

    Tilda Swintons Bald Cap

    According to the HuffPo, FBI and DHS have declared Antifa a domestic terrorist threat.

  61. 61.

    Hal

    Conservatives can never just embrace their own awfulness. They always have to justify it with some bullshit compare/contrast where “The Left” always has some convenient, matching awfulness, just with a different focus. This is part of the reason why we are where we are now with Trump. How many voters decided both sides suck, how many times do people say that in general towards our politics? Doesn’t mean there aren’t huge issues in Government and Politics with corruption, and the influence of money, but people don’t vote for a clearly better candidate because hey, they both stink! Then they spend the next 4 years worrying about nuclear war. But ok, the same would have happened with Hillary Clinton. Wash, rinse, repeat.

  64. 64.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @raven: Interesting. I had heard of such activity by agents provocateurs, but not of Tommy the Traveler specifically. I was somewhat younger then.

  65. 65.

    Hellbastard

    It’s one of the more insidious notions in politics today that the right and left are mirror images of each other… likes armies in Warcraft 1.

  69. 69.

    PPCLI

    @Kay: as far as Michigan is concerned, something else that worries me is the desperately needed second bridge across the Detroit river. Matty Maroun, the owner of the creaky, inadequate Ambassador bridge, has delayed it for decades now by spreading around money to buy state politicians. Snyder did an end run around him, basically by getting Canada and Ontario to front the money that would be Michigan’s share. (To be paid back out of tolls when the bridge finally gets built). So the entirely impossible task of getting the Michigan Legislature to approve the money for the bridge is finessed. But they also negotiated a big chunk of federal money. Any day now I expect to see the headline of the Trump administration is canceling that, so it’ll be another decade before the bridge is built.

  71. 71.

    Mel

    @Kay: This is the obstacle. There’s this magical thinking that everything will somehow self-maintain and always just “be there”. I have a neighbor who lost his job in the recession, and might have lost the house that has been in his family for three generations if it hadn’t been for his unemployment check. His granddaughter, whose parents struggle with drug addiction, is able to access decent health insurance because of CHIP, and was temporarily cared for and then placed with another grandparent by children’s services when her parents were deemed unfit.

    One of his closest friends is fighting the return of a likely fatal cancer, but is able to have at least a small bit of income and have health insurance because of SSDI.

    And yet: “They steal my money and give it to moochers!!” “Taxes are just those liberal thieves giving away MY money!”

    No amount of reality can get through. No “You drive to work every day. How do you think those roads are built and repaired?” “Why do you say thst people who have worked hard but gotten sick, or people born with serious illnesses are moochers if they need SSDI to survive? Your best friend and two of your favorite neighbors rely on it to survive their illnesses…” “How is unployment insurance ‘catering to lazy scum’? You used it when you lost your job, and it kept you from losing your house. How is that bad or wrong?”

    There’s always an excuse to avoid looking at the truth. “No, no, it [SSDI] ought to be there for people like [his friend and neighbors]. But most people on it are just sucking the teat.” Never mind that 3 out of the 3 people he knows personally who are on SSDI are absolutely unable to work, and 2 out of three worked hard for decades before becoming too ill to wotk. Somehow, nobody else out there could possibly be deserving of even that minimal safety net, in his mind.

    There’s this fantasy in their heads that somehow, cutting taxes will benefit them (not the rich who actually benefit) and that cutting public spending will never touch or hurt them, only others that they don’t know personally, and who are almost certainly “lazy”, “bad”, “moochers”, “fakers”.

    Years ago, I had an argument with a coworker who was proudly announcing that he was voting against a levy to maintain local spending on sewer / water infrastructure, because it would knock about $20 off of his property taxes if the levy failed. I asked him what he could possibky do with $20 that could be more important than his family having clean drinking water and functioning toilets. He rolled his eyes and said that “they” wouldn’t “take our sewers! It’s just a bluff. If we kerp paying, they’ll keep taking!” This was a guy with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and a master’s degree in mathematics, so lack of education can’t stand as a reason for his not comprehending basic science. On top of that, his big investment that he planned to make with his “rescued money”? A carton of cigarettes…

  73. 73.

    Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)

    @Gin & Tonic: Per SatanicPanic on LGM: “That Lawrence thing was pretty much the last straw for me. I used to think of it as a decent magazine that I rarely read. Now it’s a joke magazine for cranks.

    EDIT- the linked article above obviously excluded, but if anything this makes them a stopped-clock magazine for cranks.”

  74. 74.

    worn

    The ostensibly conservative Republican Party was taken over by a man who stands against core conservative values such as prudence, order, tradition and free markets. Meanwhile, the ostensibly liberal Democratic Party was nearly hijacked by a socialist.

    This formulation makes no sense. A more accurate way of describing what happened is:

    The ostensibly conservative Republican Party was hijacked by a man who stands against core conservative values such as prudence, order, tradition and free markets. Meanwhile, the ostensibly liberal Democratic Party was not hijacked by a socialist.

    The choosing of a Presidential candidate is nothing like hand genades or horse shoes. There is only do and not do. How in the fuck the Democrats nominating a middle-of-the-road, milquetoast candidate equates to the Republicans ELECTING DONALD FUCKING TRUMP AS PRESIDENT is an exercise in gymnastic flexibility of a style recently attributed to Steve Bannon.

  75. 75.

    Mike J

    @Kay:

    I just marvel that these things. “Okay so they send my 200 dollars back from Columbus and then I give it to the county auditor to make up the state share of school funding they cut to give back the 200?” What was the point of this, again? It’s not an ideological position- it’s bookkeeping. It’s dumb bookkeeping.

    Your taxes are staying local so rich counties will have good schools and poor counties will have bad schools, the way god intended.

  76. 76.

    smintheus

    @rikyrah: Many of his charts and stats are dubious, the guy doesn’t seem to be too careful about facts or context. But one of his charts is especially revealing about family income at “Ivy plus” universities. Students from families in the bottom 50% of income in the US represent only about 13% of students, whereas the top 1% make up 14% of the student body.

  77. 77.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: The both-sides angle there is “Stalin was just as bad as Hitler.” (In body count that may well be true, but as Matt White once pointed out, Stalin’s killing was maxed out–Hitler was just getting started.)

    The Buchanan-type paleocons even like to suggest we were on the wrong side or should have stayed out of it.

  78. 78.

    chopper

    Meanwhile, the ostensibly liberal Democratic Party was nearly hijacked by a socialist.

    that “nearly” is doing a lot of heavy lifting.

  79. 79.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Mel: I was just reading a discussion of Hurricane Irma and if and where it might hit the East Coast, in which several participants just couldn’t let go of the idea that statements from the National Weather Service were tainted because it was a government organization. There were fake forecasts that took one of the tracks from one of the computer models the NWS was using and treated it as if it were a prediction. Somebody else comes back with a statement from the NWS that, no, you just can’t trust those things two weeks out; the models are always all over the place at that range. But you can’t trust them, they’re the government, better pay attention to random guy instead.

  83. 83.

    Walker

    @smintheus:

    I suspect the charts come from institutional research and planning. I was just looking that the data for my Ivy-plus university. We do better than Harvard, but not by much. 10% in the top 1%.

    I was really confused by the ethnic reporting because there was no multi-racial, and our white population was down to 36% these days. I suspect that what they did was use the statistic for “what ethnicity do you identify with” to remove the multiracial. When we do that, our numbers are very similar to Harvards (whites jump to 50%+).

  85. 85.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Baud:

    Clearly, the Holocaust happened only because European Jews refused to compromise with Hitler.

    A little known fact: Singing “Kum-Ba-Ya”, “We Shall Overcome” and “Michael, Row the Boat Ashore” at Nazis while holding hands in peace and solidarity actually inspires Nazis to abandon the ideology of exclusion, oppression and genocide, and creates an environment where the Nazis will come to the table of reconciliation and peaceful unity with open minds and loving hearts.

  86. 86.

    schrodingers_cat

    Here is what you can do to save DACA right now.
    The artificial DACA deadline repeal was brought about by 10 (now 9, since the TN AG has withdrawn from this exercise) State AGs threatening to sue the government by Sept 5 if DACA was not rescinded. Call your state AGs if you live in these 9 states.
    TX, AL, AR, ID, KA, LA, NE, SC, WV.Or Tweet, if that’s your thing.
    ETA: Can some FPer put this is on FP? Thanks.

  88. 88.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @debbie:

    Josh Barro‏Verified account @ jbarro 4h4 hours ago
    HA. Of course Omarosa’s primary job has been exactly what it was on The Apprentice: stirring things up among the contestants.

    Jonathan Swan‏Verified account
    You’d struggle to find anyone in WH – w possible exception of POTUS – who would protest this firing.

    and one more

    Preet Bharara‏Verified account @ PreetBharara
    Retired four-star Marine general John Kelly wonders how his life became a mediocre Onion headline
    John Kelly Pushing Out Omarosa for ‘Triggering’ Trump
    The new chief of staff is trying to cure the chaos that infected the West Wing. And Omarosa is ‘Patient Zero’ for unfettered access to the Boss.

  91. 91.

    khead

    The only good thing about that article is that someone is in the comments using the name “TrumpIsBiff”. Chuckled at that. Had a decent comment too.

  92. 92.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Baud: Lovely Churchill, had his own little genocide on the side,
    He killed millions of Indians through neglect and hubris
    While their countrymen were fighting to keep Britain free.

    ETA: Of course, Dunkirk ignored the Indian troops fighting in Europe. To the British they were just cannon fodder like the Jem Hadar were for the Founders.

  94. 94.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Baud: That’s definitely a plus.

    ETA: 2.5 million Indians were mobilized in the armed forces in WWII. I have not read a single line acknowledging this contribution in the American media but have read endless paeans to the bald and belligerent British PM. Allied war effort would not have been successful without Indian contribution.

  99. 99.

    msdc

    @Weaselone:

    Black bloc is a bunch of anarchists, they don’t really fall on either end of the political spectrum. They just tend screw up liberal protests and now get to pretend they’re antifascist instead of just asshats so the media groups them with the left.

    I agree for the most part, but I’m not interested in no-true-Scotsmanning the problem away (and I don’t think we’ll be able to). If the media lumps them in with the left, they’re a problem for the left.

    And frankly, it’s not just the media doing it. My social media feed is filled with very woke leftists who have suddenly decided they’re great fans of people who show up to political protests with masks and long guns.

  102. 102.

    debbie

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I see red whenever I am reminded that Trump thought it was a good idea to run a country like he ran The Apprentice.

    I remember Omarosa being interviewed prior to the election and saying this:

    “Every critic, every detractor, will have to bow down to President Trump,” she said. “It’s everyone who’s ever doubted Donald, who ever disagreed, who ever challenged him. It is the ultimate revenge to become the most powerful man in the universe.”

    I hope someone shouts out, “How’s it feel to be the one to bow down, bitch?” when they’re escorting her out of the building.

  104. 104.

    hueyplong

    @debbie: Every time I’ve seen her name in print I’ve thought “bow down.” Not having watched The Apprentice myself, it’s the only thing I associate with her name. Looks like that’s locked in now.

  107. 107.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @rikyrah:

    Third, legacy admissions probably don’t do tons of harm. Many legacies are also probably qualified. Qualified correlates with wealth.

    Fourth, legacy is antithetical to democratic values. It is an explicit inheritance system and it should go away. Do better, @Harvard

    Legacy admits need to end. Like the thread notes, qualifications correlate with wealth, so the wealthy scions shouldn’t need guaranteed seats.

  111. 111.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @debbie:

    “Every critic, every detractor, will have to bow down to President Trump,” she said. “It’s everyone who’s ever doubted Donald, who ever disagreed, who ever challenged him. It is the ultimate revenge to become the most powerful man in the universe.”

    Omarosa revealed herself as an authoritarian with that statement. Nobody’s bowing down to Trump. Wonder if that drives her up a wall? Also, I know she specifically said “most powerful man in the universe”, implying human, but I have to say that’s the most arrogant thing to say. The universe is a pretty big, unknown place, that doesn’t care one shit about humans. If Omarosa had read some Lovecraft she’d understand that.

  116. 116.

    ThresherK

    David Gergen has long since been renamed “Gurgle” in my home.

    Does “David von Dribble” have a good ring to it for anyone else?

  117. 117.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    As to why the Centralist are wrong; the left equivalent of the Fascists are Communists who want to overthrow the government, force collectivism on everyone and murder anyone who earned over 40K a year. Equating Benri Sanders with that is ludicrous and the typical Slippery Slope fallacy that Conservatives so very much love.

  119. 119.

    kindness

    The whole thing is a false equivalence. Those AnitFa people aren’t Democrats. They are anarchists. There is a whole contingent that shows up at any Bay Area demonstration and all they want to do is start fights and break stuff. They aren’t liberals.

    Where as crazy right wing Nazis & white supremists are a core component of the Republican party. Yea, no. Both sides aren’t the same.

  121. 121.

    p.a.

    Jim Crow-enforcing terrorism = Medicare for All; it’s so clear to our centrist advocates I’m surprised I haven’t understood it sooner. Mea culpa, mea culpa…

  124. 124.

    Bill Arnold

    That David Von Drehle is a parody, right? Right???

    [IMO, before starting to look at the literature on centrism, e.g. see below]
    Reflexive centrism is for the mentally lazy.
    Sometimes, the wisdom of crowds is wrong and/or dubious ethically.
    Sometimes, crowds need to be prodded (OK kicked in the ass) to encourage them to move, faster, in a better direction.
    e.g. Slavery abolition. Woman’s suffrage. Civil rights for all minorities. Universal health care. (Future wishes include: Serious climate change mitigation. Flattening of wealth distribution (e.g. low Gini or optimizing against a similar metric). Obsolescence of greed as an organizing principle of society. Collapse of consumerism.)

    Does anyone know of any recent and interesting academic treatment of centrism, and/or of the dynamics of political parties competing for the center in a tightening spiral? This seems relevant but surprisingly uninformative:
    Do all roads lead to the centre? The unresolved dilemma of centrist self-placement (Toni Rodon Casarramona, 2012)

    In conclusion, as developed here, centrist self-placement can be the product of different factors: 1) A centrist genuine position, which is taken for individuals that have ‘moderate’ values or attitudes, in-between left and right. 2) A product of the individual’s preferred party position. 3) A position resulting from the lack of political information. 4) Finally, a by-product of the importance given to new dimensions and the consideration that the left-right schema is of little use to understand today’s politics.

  125. 125.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @debbie: I think he’s pretty much a lobbyist now, but he’s one of those people trump calls when Kelly is out of the room

    the Beast is in Texas, trying to show human connection with people. Melanie is wearing a hat that says “Texas”. I wonder if they’ve put a donation button on their campaign website

  127. 127.

    trollhattan

    @debbie:
    Wow, wonder if she’ll now get the Barron treatment over the photos showing him wearing regular kid clothes instead of a bespoke suit?

  130. 130.

    Citizen Alan

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I was literally shocked that Mississippi was not on that list, and then I realized that the only Democrat in our entire state government is the AG. Who to be fair is a preening conservative jackass on many issues but certainly has enough Party Loyalty and Common Sense not to go along with the Trump trash.

  131. 131.

    TenguPhule

    @Kay:

    It’s time to come together around lowering taxes.

    FUCK OUR STUPID DEMOCRATIC SENATORS FOR FALLING FOR THIS SHIT AGAIN!

    Stop cutting taxes you stupid fuckers.

    /Personal Pet Peeve

  132. 132.

    CarolDuhart2

    @schrodingers_cat: I know you are disappointed,but it wasn’t the lack of caring about Indians that led to the lack of coverage. There were few Indian immigrants here at the time, and few were allowed to immigrate, so there were no images of them as Veterans and few to speak up about their contribution to the war. Even groups that were here had to fight for their share of recognition-Japanese/American, blacks, Latinos, West Asians by a Jim Crow world.

    Instead of accusing us, tell the story that wasn’t told to us about that help

  133. 133.

    burnspbesq

    @TenguPhule:

    If you ake a look, Ithink you will find that not a single Democrat in either house is on board with any of the current Republican “proposals,” sech as they are.

    My personal view–and I have skin in the game because I do this for a living–is that it’s highly unlikely that there will be a bill this year. If Ryan/Brady put forth anything “sensible” (defined as “not batshit crazy and destructive”), they lose the Freedom Caucus and won’t get enough defectors to offset the loss. If they give in to the Freedom Caucus, the resulting bill will be a revenue-loser that the Senate can’t consider under reconciliation.

  134. 134.

    ? Martin

    I’m old enough to remember when antifa were largely considered to be anarchists. Apparently centrism is now defined as fascist-curious.

  135. 135.

    CarolDuhart2

    What happens to a reality show winner who can’t get a gig anywhere else? That’s Omorosa. Think, everybody else gets at least a minor outside gig-modeling, commercials, a short-lived singing career, some time on a soap opera. How are you stuck with the Donald for a career? Either she has no talent, or she’s too toxic for anyone to pick up. I think the former. It’s hard to get the latter, and even wrestling heels can do a few paid appearances with fans.

  136. 136.

    burnspbesq

    My working hypothesis is that if you put a GPS tracker on the average Berkeley Black Bloc member and followed him home, you’d find yourself on Fraternity Row. They seem to have no agenda beyond beating people and breaking shit. Post-adolescent thrill-seekers.

  138. 138.

    Shalimar

    @debbie: I had forgotten her full quote. Someone should tell Trump that Omarosa refers to him as “Donald” rather than “Mr. Trump”. I have read that he hates that

  139. 139.

    Shalimar

    @kindness: I don’t think that is fair to AntiFas. They do seem to have mostly began as an offshoot of Black Bloc anarchists on the West Coast, but a far larger group has taken on the anti-fascist label in the last year who don’t identify as anarchists and don’t believe in initiating violence. They are younger liberals who see themselves as there to protect protesters, not burn shit to the ground as Black Bloc groups have done.

    They aren’t the same thing anymore. Black Bloc continue to be destructive whenever they turn up. AntiFas mostly aren’t lately.

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