Opinion | Dragging out Trump and 2020 https://t.co/cs1GD4p72e
— Ann Telnaes (@AnnTelnaes) December 25, 2020
(Absolutely worth the click!)
Why is Trump the worst President ever, you ask. It's actually pretty easy to prove. Much easier than most proofs in my Geometry class.
(Thread)
First of all, let's agree on this. With the exception of only a few Presidents, most are remembered for one or two things. No more…— Slava Malamud (@SlavaMalamud) December 21, 2020
Twitter-stripped from a longer thread:
First, let’s look at all the Great Accomplishments he and the cult love to boast about. The wall? If it doesn’t fall down into the Rio Grande by 2025, it will be forgotten by 2026. The economy? Sorry, this shit’s gone to trash with the pandemic. Trade wars? Already forgotten…
Jerusalem and the Great Tremendous Abraham Accords? Give me a fucking break. The Wonderful Very Talented Highly Respected Justices? Depends on what they do, but even so, justices are not remembered for who appointed them. Who appointed Taney? Who appointed Marshall? Nobody cares.
Likewise, you might hate Trump, but history won’t remember most of his stupid tweets, his embarrassing behavior at the rallies, his constant lies and name-calling, the tax break for the rich, “shithole countries”, “fine people on both sides” and defending Confederate statues…
Even the Russiagate and the Ukraine impeachment will be mostly curiosities for history buffs (like the Andrew Johnson impeachment, Teapot Dome or the Petticoat Scandal) than some universally acknowledged presidency-defining event, akin to Watergate…
And as much as I want the Summer of George Floyd to become a major watershed event in the history of US race relations, we probably have an extremely long and arduous road to cover on that front, with many, many more events like this ahead. So Trump’s flirtation with racism? Par.
So, when your grandkids are sitting in their virtual Social Democratic Republics of America History classes in 2080, what they’re likely to know about the Trump era is:
1) 100s of thousands died of a pandemic he badly mismanaged
2) he refused to concede and undermined elections..He’s treated every issue, every assessment of every crisis and every personnel move based on what it does for him personally.
Trump mismanaged COVID not because he believed wrong things about how the pandemic works but because he made it about his own reelection chances…Trump made his entire presidency about proving how great his was to his own damaged ego, to the ghost of his daddy, to New York elites who have always despised him, to Obama and to tragically deluded yokels who just loved how he hated the “right” folks…
Trump is the worst president ever because he was never the President of the United States. He was the Supreme Commander of His Own Fucking Demons. It was all, all of it, every single thing, every second of the way, about him. About making him feel great. All of it. As we died…
He’s undermining our democracy not because he worries about election integrity and not because he cares about what happens to the country under Biden. He’s simply lashing out because the country refused to affirm his own delusions of grandeur. The asshole was dreaming of Rushmore.
That’s truly it. Nothing more. Nothing more is needed. For the first time in history, the nation has not only elected a person who was unqualified, dangerous and immoral, but a person who was the absolute polar opposite of what a President should be.
Nobody is close, frankly. Fin
LongHairedWeirdo
I think the impeachment *will* be remembered for the absolute partisan refusal to acknowledge his crimes.
History will judge the Republican Party very harshly, if there’s any justice and actual, honest-to-goodness, objectivity – rather than attempts to be “balanced.”
OzarkHillbilly
Truth.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Thing is, he doesn’t command his demons. They command him, and he constantly gives in.
On another note, I highly recommend the Christmas movie “Fatman” – it’s a tale about Santa in the same vein as a violent Coen Bros. movie. Mel Gibson is Santa, reaching deep within to drag out his inner psychotic to portray as jolly old St Nick. Walt Goggins is a truly vile hit man hired by a junior Donald Trump-type kid to kill Santa.
There’s a helluva body count in this one, too – rated R for language and violence. There’s somebody-coital afterglow between Mr and Mrs Claus.
Baud
The Supreme Court will likely be a problem for some time.
Apologies for the blackmail.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Baud:
Just like a liberal – blackmailing True Progressives into selling out their principles over the Supreme Court…
Baud
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
That’s neoliberal to you, bub.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Here’s the trailer for Fatman. Gibson is really evocative of Jeff Bridges’ Rooster Cogburn in his portrayal of Santa.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DWfPGIMDhNw&feature=youtu.be
SiubhanDuinne
Telnaes is a treasure.
There are noises that Trump may sign the Covid Relief/Stimulus bill tonight. At least, CNN reported a while ago that Mar-a-Lago staff were again setting up a “signing table” for him in one of the ballrooms. But they did that a few nights ago, and he bailed. OTOH, he sent out a “good news on Covid bill, info to follow” tweet an hour or so ago. But maybe his idea of “good news” is a veto. Who even knows with him?
geg6
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
I’m sure it’s great, but Gibson is another one of a string of actors who I have found out are such vile and disgusting people that I can’t watch them anymore. I can’t get past who they are to separate the character from the actor. Besides him, the others I can think of off the top of my head are Tom Cruise and Kevin Spacey. I just can’t watch them.
burnspbesq
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Progressives don’t have principles, any more than Republicans have principles. All they have are shibboleths, litmus tests, and butthurt.
geg6
@SiubhanDuinne:
I’ll believe it when I see it.
SiubhanDuinne
@SiubhanDuinne:
And I guess it’s happening.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/12/27/trump-stimulus-shutdown-congress/
Everything with him has to be a fucking reality show.
JPL
@SiubhanDuinne: Someone told him that if he didn’t the government would shut down. He would then not be able to have his big, beautiful rally in Dalton. Maybe he thought that if the government was shut down, Joe couldn’t be sworn in. Then someone said, well say hello to President Pelosi.
That is what I think happened.
burnspbesq
Today’s playlist has been all Tony Rice, all the time, but I’m now gearing up for a two-hour livestream replay of The Bad Plus. It’s a very different band with Orrin Evans on piano, but it’s still one of the most interesting piano trios out there.
namekarB
I hope Trump will be remembered for the DJ Trump 28th Amendment to the Constitution that:
1) Eliminates the Electoral College
2) Eliminates dark money in elections
3) Enshrines a new voting rights act
4) Creates State non-partisan committees to draw congressional districts.
5) Sets the transfer of power in Presidential Elections to soon as possible after the votes are certified but not later than December 31
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@SiubhanDuinne: he’s holding a rally in GA and I’m sure wants the applause line of “I signed that bill, even though I wanted more for you…”
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@burnspbesq:
What happened to proudly calling ourselves progressives?
Parfigliano
@SiubhanDuinne: If he signs the Covid Relief Bill after all his posturing about how he wouldnt sign it it will show what a spineless little puke he really is.
Baud
@Parfigliano:
I don’t think he said he wouldn’t sign it. He just criticized it.
Ruckus
I think Slava has it about right. Many of us have lived through a number of presidencies and really what are the things that you remember? We remember LBJ – Fuck LBJ, for building up Vietnam, getting a lot of men killed for what? Well Medicaid for one. A good trade off? NFW but still that’s what he did. Nixon – Watergate. Remember China? And the first president not to be impeached and thrown out but to resign and then be pardoned. Not going through the list of the last 50 yrs. We remember them for the big things, often the big bad things but really what has trump done that you are going to remember. I’d bet the lack of any thing is more important to remember than the douchebag he is, even if he’s, at least in my lifetime the biggest one by far. It might be the racism, but tell me that others haven’t been as racist, even if not as noticeable. Slava is right his worst accomplishment was his shitty personality, that and his wanton stupidity.
SiubhanDuinne
@JPL:
It’s a far more plausible scenario than anything WaPo, CNN, or NYT have come up with.
UncleEbeneezer
I would only add that Babies-In-Cages will be part of his legacy.
West of the Rockies
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
So he pisses off millions of people, then caves and signs the bill. That makes him a heartless moron AND a loser.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Well, the House will still vote for more tomorrow, and Mitch will still kill it.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
He originally said (Tuesday night?) that he wouldn’t sign it without changes.
WaterGirl
@Baud: I’m hoping that kills the R chances in Georgia.
germy
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne:
Thanks. I missed that ultimatum.
SiubhanDuinne
@WaterGirl:
This is my big hope. For sure he hasn’t been doing Perdue and Loeffler any favours recently.
Baud
@WaterGirl: ?
hitchhiker
@geg6:
Susan Sarandon is on that list for me. Can’t even look at her without wanting to punch her in the face.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Ruckus:
I was incredibly disappointed to read about “Operation Wetback”:
This happened during Eisenhower’s term. Not to mention the 1953 Iranian coup which led to the Islamic Republic
germy
rikyrah
TRUTH
TRUTH
rikyrah
There’s too much in this country that has been done because of ‘ norms’ and ‘ traditions’.
phuck that shyt.
put it into PHUCKING LAW.
PERIOD.
rikyrah
I miss Kay.
Hope you had a good holiday, Kay.
SFAW
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Proudly? I thought people started calling themselves “progressives” because they were a-skeered of being called “Lllllliberals” by the RWMFs.
I’m nobody special, nor particularly courageous, but I’m a goddam liberal, not a “progressive.” And I miss Steve Gilliard
dmsilev
@SiubhanDuinne: Hope nobody shows him the sub headline for that story: “The president had demanded changes to the stimulus bill but on Sunday signaled he would release the stimulus funds after all”.
In other words, threw a temper tantrum, got nothing for it.
germy
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Poe Larity
It’s like we’re numbed to a Daily Katrina. Perhaps the Lincoln Project should have brought out those W “Miss Me Yet?” billboards.
Baud
@dmsilev:
And later this week, Congress will override his veto for the first time.
Elizabelle
@Ruckus: We remember LBJ for the Civil Rights Act.
dmsilev
dmsilev
@Baud: Tomorrow in the House, I think.
germy
bluehill
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Guess he gets a scoop of ice cream now
Jay
Martin
Society would be a safer place is more well trained, disciplined gun owners were out there.
Oh. Well, he was probably some paper pusher.
Oh. It’s almost like guns are only safe at the gun range and other places that the rest of us can avoid. Not the bowling alley. Or, uh, Florida.
germy
@dmsilev:
Or 2001. I keep expecting Trump to start singing “Daisy Daisy give me your answer do.”
*Like HAL the computer.
Elizabelle
@dmsilev: Heh.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Today is the day Trump became president of the United States.
SFAW
@Poe Larity:
Saw a “top” ten list of most American deaths in one day. COVID accounted for three or four of them, and I think had more than Antietam and Gettysburg (not combined — yet).
germy
@bluehill:
Two scoops.
Everyone else gets half a scoop.
germy
One of my least-favorite Republicans:
debbie
I think history will remember Trump and will be unforgiving, thank you very much.
geg6
@hitchhiker:
Yes! I should have added her!
burnspbesq
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Speak for yourself. I’ve never had any illusions about Our Self-Anointed Progressive Betters.
SFAW
@germy:
The only problem with comparing the Murderer-in-Chief to Charlie Gordon or HAL is that those two actually had some intelligence. And the pre-op Charlie Gordon was about on a par with Trump, I’m a-guessing.
geg6
@SFAW:
Come sit next to me. Teddy Roosevelt called himself a progressive. Fuck if I’m hitching my hide to a Republican. I’m a liberal and I welcome their hate, to paraphrase the Roosevelt I prefer to hitch myself to.
SFAW
@geg6:
OK, but can I defer that until after I get vaccinated? Plus it’s something like an eight-hour drive to State College. But other than that …
ETA: Isn’t that area somewhat redneck-y?
Punchy
@Baud: He just signed it.
SFAW
@hitchhiker:
As much as I hate her (and won’t watch her on screen any more since 2016), I don’t put her in the same class as Mel Gibson. He’s truly a vile person; she’s just a self-important moron.
Cheryl Rofer
planetjanet
@Ruckus: He will be remembered for kids in cages.
Dopey-o
Doesn’t anyone remember Nixon for torpedoing the ’68 truce in Viet Nam, taking the White House on the promise of his “Secret Plan” to end the war, then extending the war to insure his re-election in ’72, at the cost of 23,000+ american casualties? God only knows how many innocent southeast asians he was responsible for killing….
And he unleashed that fat fuck Patrick Buchanan on America.
geg6
@SFAW:
I’m not at the main campus in State College. I’m at one of the Commonwealth campuses, a small one about 30 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. Just about 15 miles to the SE OH border (East Liverpool) and maybe 20 miles to the WV panhandle (Wheeling). It takes me three hours to get to State College!
SFAW
@Cheryl Rofer:
I was thinking the same thing, re: Rethugs telling him about the impending vote on Monday.
Of course, he’s shown little interest in helping them when it conflicts with his self-aggrandizement.
SiubhanDuinne
@dmsilev:
Oh, he got something for it. He got people/the media to talk about him (“Will he? Won’t he? Whatever will he do? And when?”), which is THE single most important thing in his life. He kept everybody guessing, and stayed in the headlines.
Remember the way he pulled out the Gorsuch SC nomination? He dangled the names of the various nominees, played the “we’ll see what happens” game, and basically treated the whole thing like a suspense-filled cliffhanger episode of The Bachelor. As I said elsewhere, everything he does is treated like a fucking reality show.
I don’t think he gives a rat’s ass about a single provision in the bill. He needs to be front and center of the conversation, and that’s what he got. (And yes, I’m acutely aware I opened up the conversation here in the first place. Feeding the über-troll, I am.)
PIGL
@burnspbesq: well having an enormous great embittering chip on your shoulder is a *kind* of an illusion.
SFAW
@geg6:
OK. You’ve probably mentioned that before and I’d forgotten. As a Certified Old Fart, I’ll blame it on only being able to remember the “Penn State” part.
ETA: I was also going to talk about all them rednecks attending Juniata College, but the reference might be too obscure. [Although, considering you’re in the University system/environment, I guess it’s an even bet you’re familiar with it.]
TheronWare
Damn, that piece was well written and oh so very spot on!
geg6
@SFAW:
No problem. I have that same ailment. ?
ETA: No, I don’t know it but now you have to tell me.
dmsilev
@Cheryl Rofer: Needs more “Sir”.
TS (the original)
@JPL:
He realised his big covid spreading event would not go down so well if the government was shut down, unemployment stopped & no check from the president*
Even now – he refuses to stop spreading the virus that was a large part of his election defeat.
geg6
@dmsilev:
I had the same thought. LOL!
Another Scott
@germy:
dick_nixon is worth reading for several reasons, including seeing the flamethrower he frequently uses on Rubio.
Cheers,
Scott.
Ian
@namekarB: Not to quibble, but that’s like 5 separate amendments there, all of which will be damn near impossible to pass and ratify
MisterForkbeard
@Cheryl Rofer: Can’t Pelosi still bring a $2000 stimulus bill?
McConnell will probably just avoid it, but even so.
Cheryl Rofer
@MisterForkbeard: I think what is most likely to happen is that there will be a relief bill in the next Congress, to go to President Biden after January 20.
The Georgia election will make a big difference.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
He thinks he can make them undo the bill, or if he doesn’t believe it now, he will by lunchtime tomorrow
strongly, very strongly strongly
SFAW
@geg6:
Juniata College (Huntingdon, PA, about 40 min south of State College) is an extremely lefty college. My daughter almost went there; one of her cousins graduated from there. This cousin — whom I love dearly — thinks Nancy Pelosi is right-wing. It’s not my cup of tea, but it’s a good school, and I would have been OK with my daughter going there
ETA: OK, the cousin doesn’t REALLY think the Speaker is right-wing, but she thinks Speaker Pelosi is not nearly liberal enough.
WaterGirl
@Cheryl Rofer: I am thinking Nancy will go for the 2,000 on Monday, and pass something, and then McConnell will block it. Which may be political theater because we can be 99% certain he will block it, but I imagine it could help with the messaging in Georgia.
SFAW
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
So he’s DEMANDING to be impeached and convicted?
Gvg
@SFAW: I am a liberal too. I still don’t know what a progressive really is. And yes I remember when people started trying to run away from the liberal label. Reagan and all the unearned conservative wins…well I am stubborn and I knew bullshit when I heard it. Progressive seems to mean different things to different people so I could never be sure I understood.
Just One More Canuck
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Per wiki, the kid is described as “an amoral rich kid who is neglected by his father and cannot stand to lose” – kind of on the nose, I’d say
dmsilev
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’m sure Nancy Pelosi will get right on that, sometime after the 15th of never.
Edit: I guess he still hasn’t realized that empty threats that everyone knows are empty just makes him look weak.
brantl
@geg6: Teddy Roosevelt was a decent man. (In contrast to current republicans.)
gwangung
@SFAW:
Well, duh….but consider that she’s more liberal than 2/3 of the party she’s leading.
She ain’t the problem; it’s the rest of the country that’s the problem.
Punchy
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: wait…..wut? He thinks he can sign the bill into law, and then AFTERWARDS have parts of the passed bill removed? Did I misunderstand that tweet?
Jay
The
encephalopath
That is certainly true, but how is it a thing that history remembers more than colluding with Russia to ratfuck the 2016 election and trying to blackmail Ukrainians to ratfuck the 2020 election?
dmsilev
@Punchy: I mean, Congress can (in theory) pass another bill changing the spending priorities and so forth. That (in theory) is doing a lot of work however.
Here’s how the Post described it:
M31
the death panels are finally here, thanks to Trump!
trollhattan
Pro tip:
If you, live in Tennessee and have scheduled an outdoor sporting event, at night, in Wisconsin between Christmas and New Year, do not get on the plane.
End of pro tip
trollhattan
@Dopey-o:
Yes, yes, yup, and yes.
Nixon burns in hell, assuredly.
Ksmiami
@germy: I’m thinking that the future for Republican Congress people should be made uncomfortable- they should be looking over their shoulders and never going out to eat for the rest of their pathetic lives
dmsilev
Here’s the details of his “message to Congress”. Apparently someone managed to teach him a new word (“rescission”):
Another Scott
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
He’s not fooling anyone who is paying attention.
Cheers,
Scott.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Just One More Canuck:
They costumed the boy in a blue suit, white shirt, red tie. Had him obsess over winning.
Amir Khalid
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
This Trump person, it seems to me that his vocabulary might not be very big.
debbie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I believe it was his administration that submitted those wasteful items.
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: What am I missing?
trollhattan
@M31:
The county doesn’t update the COVID dashboard on weekends and it will be interesting to see what’s happened since Thursday. We still had about a hundred ICU beds open, roughly 20%. I’m expecting that number to drop tomorrow because even if we don’t have a local uptick we’ll get transfer patients.
Hope to heck everybody stayed home for Christmas. Thanksgiving triggered a huge increase.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Dump’s “I’m a great negotiator” shtick was always fraudulent.
Ruckus
@Elizabelle:
That too, I was just trying to make a point, not list every good or bad thing. And my point was that a lot of people paid a very large price for the votes for that. Which is why I put the fuck LBJ in there. We got something for it, my question is, Was the price too high? If you weren’t one of the people that had to upturn or even have your life ended for that I’m not sure how to answer you. I want to be snarky but I see both sides, we made progress, abet very slowly, at a horrible cost. I also see that cost, or another one like it, was likely not avoidable, especially with the vision that LBJ had of what it would cost for passage. Could he have tried different tactics? We’ll never know. At least I’m here to have the discussion. Over 58,000 people are not. I see at the VA a large number of people who’ve paid a rather higher price over time for similar deals or ideals. I enlisted for twice as long as I would have been drafted for. A large percentage of those I see are people of color and a lot of them paid a far higher price than me. I get healthcare with them, so I’m one of the very lucky people to have been a pawn in the concepts of American exceptionalism – the exchange of lives for votes. Some are less lucky than I was.
burnspbesq
@PIGL:
‘Hilarious.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@SFAW:
@burnspbesq:
I don’t mind calling myself a liberal. I just always got the impression that progressive was an acceptable alternative
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@WaterGirl: the Titans-Packers Sportsball broadcast, in living color.
or perhaps an ice-fishing debacle
I don’t think I get the ice-fishing channel
Mike in NC
Placed a Happy New Year call to our friends in Tampa tonight. Were told her Trumpy brother will not get a COVID vaccine because Bill Gates put microchips in it.
Jay
@Gvg:
up here, the Liberals are Federally, somewhat socially liberal, somewhat economically conservative.
provincially, the Liberals are our corrupt party of ogliarchy and wingnuttia.
”Progressive” means you get on the bus that get’s you closest to where you want to go.
trollhattan
Powered up the phone this a.m. and “5G” popped up on the display for the first time in evah. My life is now complete.
WaterGirl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Because it’s cold out? Because of the event in Nashville? Something is flying right over my head.
debbie
@dmsilev:
No. He’s thinking about the other kind of redlining. ?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: a cromulent twitter thread from a lawyer who worked with trump in the 90s. The only part I don’t get is why Conseco wanted him in on the deal
Said lawyer predicted last week that trump would eventually sign
Another Scott
@Mike in NC: Of course, that’s what Teh Deep State wants people to believe…
Cheers,
Scott.
Steve in the ATL
@rikyrah:
Describes W Bush pretty well too, n’est-ce pas?
trollhattan
@WaterGirl:
Sportsball competition between the sportsball teams from Tennessee and Wisconsin. The Tennessee team, one half of one game from the last Superbowl, is playing like a D2 college team at the bottom of their conference. In snow.
Ain’t pretty.
dmsilev
@Amir Khalid:
Not true at all. It includes “big”, “bigly”, “huge”, “YUUUGE”, and several others.
Citizen_X
Lol. That is not a thing, Donnie. (But nobody tell him!)
SiubhanDuinne
@dmsilev:
That letter is laughable.
trollhattan
@dmsilev:
TBF he has 20 words for rape.
Honus
@SiubhanDuinne: who gives a fuck? I mean, yeah, it could mean a lot to a whole lot of people, but fuck him. Any good will have to get done in spite of his selfish ass. Fuck depending on him to accomplish anything positive.
SFAW
@Jay:
One of the replies to that tweet was something like “Donald Trump gave up his wealth for America. Joe Biden gave up America for his wealth.”
I am ceaselessly amazed at the lying and moronitude of his followers.
Ruckus
@Dopey-o:
See my answer to Elizabelle at #106 about that.
Wasn’t trying to write or re-write history, just show some examples. Not everyone will be happy with my comments about this but I think we need to have the discussion because our government is based upon quid pro quo to work – likely as all democratic governments are to a degree but we have a history of solving things with force and we often use force to pay for those decisions. I think it’s time to grow up and look for other solutions,
Steve in the ATL
@geg6:
May God have mercy on your soul
M31
look who’s sending strongly worded letters now
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: Thank you for the detailed explanation.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yup.
Jay
@SFAW:
I’m not.
Keep in mind, a huge crapload of it is a performative, ritual posting of the words of the faith,
Just One More Canuck
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: My viewing for tomorrow evening is now all set – thanks
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I’ve never called myself a progressive, I’m a Liberal.
WaterGirl
@Citizen_X: I’ll bet somebody told Trump that was a thing. And since he has no idea of how the government works, he fell for it.
Ruckus
@Elizabelle:
I also need to apologize that I’ve been reading your name here as Elizabeth all this time, Elizabelle is rather different. I need to learn to read better. Unless there are two of you with different endings to your names. In any event, sorry I didn’t notice it before.
SFAW
@Jay:
“Liberal” is not an equivalent of “purity pony,” at least not in America. I realize you folks in the Frozen Tundra sometimes have different meanings for words than we do, eh? And, maybe I’m imagining it, but I think Bern-or-Bust-ers call themselves “progressive.”
ETA: Of course, REALLY old folks will remember Phil Ochs’s pejorative use of “liberal.”
WaterGirl
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I thought progressives were more liberal than liberals? I cannot keep up.
Baud
ETA:
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Sound and fury, signifying nothing (except to his dimwit cult)
Ruckus
@germy:
Well if it’s so bad maybe he shouldn’t get the second shot…..
I’m voting no, anyone else?
Baud
@SFAW: I thought they were Brogressives.
Punchy
@WaterGirl: turn on NBC
WaterGirl
@Ruckus: @Elizabelle:
I thought Odie Hugh Manatee was “Old Hugh Manatee” until I was checking nyms for the pet calendar and went back to a thread to make sure that “Odie” was a typo. oops.
My other good one, and by good I mean I totally messed it up, was The Thin Black Dude. Who obviously wasn’t the Thin Black DUDE at all. Double oops.
Our brains see what they expect to see.
Suzanne
@germy: I think Marco Rubio should be shot into the sun or thrown into Kilauea to appease the Corona god.
I mean that’s probably bullshit but better safe than sorry
Splitting Image
@encephalopath:
What historians tend to remember about each administration is a single-sentence “Doctrine” which they can use to frame all of an era’s events into a coherent narrative. Consider the “Monroe Doctrine”, the “Truman Doctrine”, and the like.
The fact that historians do this tends to enhance the reputation of politicians, even the terrible ones, because all of the stuff they do makes sense within the confines of the “Doctrine”; and since the doctrine is usually based on popular prejudices of the time, the worst decisions of a President often get excused by the fact that every other major politician of the era more or less agreed with the same doctrine. Think of Cold War era politicans and their belief in the “domino theory”.
Trump isn’t going to get this benefit from historians because he had and has no discernible beliefs which could be called the “Trump Doctrine”, other than “doing what is best for me today and every day”. Colluding with the Russians would be forgiveable for some people if the current state of geopolitics made an alliance with them a better policy than the alternatives, but Trump didn’t do it because he believes such a thing. It involved a momentary gain for him, so he did it. Simple as that. Blocking effective COVID relief? There was a momentary gain for him, so he did it. Simple as that.
Frankensteinbeck
@SFAW:
I assure you that Rose Twitter does. Their accepted gospel is that she and McConnell are working together, she uses McConnell to shoot down everything liberal after saying she wants it, and all final legislation is exactly what she was aiming for.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
What am I missing? The allcaps?
Punchy
@Baud: can you translate that into IANAL-speak? Mooch grass.
WaterGirl
@Baud: He is the Thin Black Duke, not Dude.
Citizen Alan
@SFAW:
Since 1987, I made it a tradition to watch Rocky Horror Picture Show at Halloween. I can’t bear to watch the original motion picture now. The moment she shows up as Janet Weiss, I want to scream obscenities at her. Thankfully, I downloaded the excellent British stage version from a few years ago.
Baud
@Punchy: That was IANAL speak.
Basically, rescissions don’t mean shit.
Baud
@WaterGirl: Gotcha.
ETA: I prefer Dude.
Ruckus
@Amir Khalid:
That comes from his IQ matching his age.
He finally got old enough to say that.
Except he’s not smart enough to figure this out.
Honus
@Dopey-o: pat Buchanan? Roger Stone has his face tattooed on his back. How sick do you have to be to do that?
@Dopey-o:
Gin & Tonic
An old friend of my parents’ called me today, to say he appreciated the Christmas cards we sent him over the years, and apologized for not reciprocating. And when I say old, I mean old – my father died nearly 40 years ago, my mother nearly 10. This friend is now 98, lives by himself in NYC.
I often recall when I was young, my parents would sometimes take me with them and visit him – his apartment was always filled with the most interesting art and books, and adolescent me couldn’t quite figure out why a grown man would have a (male) roommate. Yeah, I figured things out later. Roommate was from old Southern “aristocracy” – had a wonderful Charleston accent, but also a serious drinking problem. Don’t know what ever happened to him.
Anyway, no point to this story, just touching. I suppose when you’re 98 you reach out just to reach out. I hadn’t heard of or from him in many years, and wasn’t sure he was still alive.
Citizen Alan
@trollhattan: Name a Republican of any importance who died in the last 50 years and is not in Hell.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Steve in the ATL
@Baud: nah, he doesn’t abide
SFAW
@Gin & Tonic:
Thanks. That was a nice story.
Gin & Tonic
@Citizen Alan: Jacob Javits?
raven
@Gin & Tonic: Do you know Albhy Galuten?
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I wonder what Hawley will do.
ETA: I guess it’ll never be brought up for a vote, so he’s off the hook.
raven
@Citizen Alan: Everett Dirksen
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Citizen Alan:
Dwight Eisenhower? Oh wait, the 1953 Iranian coup. And “Operation Wetback”. I shit you not, that’s what it was actually called
Steve in the ATL
@Gin & Tonic: FYI, since you’re not from around here, old southern aristocracies and serious drinking problems are inseparable
SFAW
@Citizen Alan:
George Romney
Gerry Ford
Nelson Rockefeller
Ed Brooke
Margaret Chase Smith
usw.
But I get your point, and 95-percent agree.
ETA: And I’m chagrined that I forgot to mention Javits. Thanks, G&T!
Gin & Tonic
@Steve in the ATL: And probably seriouser if you’re gay.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@SFAW:
I hope you don’t think I’m a Bern-or-Buster. I really didn’t think this was a big deal
debbie
@Gin & Tonic:
We never know the effect we have on others. It was nice that he let you know.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@Honus: And he’s a Jew idolizing a virulent anti-Semite
Gin & Tonic
@raven: I do not. Until two minutes ago I’d never even heard of him.
Suzanne
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Did you not know about Operation Wetback before? I mean, it’s not like it was a secret. Perhaps because I lived amongst so many Mexicans/Americans of Mexican descent that I knew about this since I was a kid.
America has been anti-Mexican for a long time, yo.
WaterGirl
@Baud: I think it was in one of the threads after Bowie died that i saw the light and realized that I had been seeing Dude instead of Duke.
debbie
@Honus:
Nixon is on his back; Buchanan is in his soul.
raven
@Gin & Tonic: We just finished the Bee Gee’s doc and he was one of their producers and a Berklee guy.
The Thin Black Duke
@WaterGirl: There is only ONE dude, and he abides.
ETA: Damn you, Steve!
WaterGirl
@Gin & Tonic: That is a touching story, and it made me cry. He wanted you to know what your cards have meant to him. I hope you had a lovely phone conversation.
Baud
@Suzanne: Right. There was that whole war thing.
SFAW
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
I hadn’t.
Until now. Interesting that YOU brought it up. Methinks the Goku doth protest too much …
PS: I’m just messing with you (re: you being a Bern-or-Bust-er).
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Suzanne:
Nope. Never learned about it in school OR college. Just read about it today on Wiki. Absolutely disgusting. And the Mexican government fully participated in it because it suited their interests
Baud
@SFAW: He’s probably also the CIA plant, since it’s definitely not me.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Well, hopefully in Georgia the Dems are making it clear that with MicConnell’s obstruction, nothing will get done if the Rs keep the senate.
If they are already primed to understand that, and I hope they are, maybe that will help peel away some of the “divided government is good” peeps. These are not their father’s republicans, nor the republicans they have been voting for – for years or decades themselves.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Gin & Tonic: that is a nice story, a useful reminder how much small gestures can mean
@Steve in the ATL: if the Crown is to be believed, also in British aristocratic families, and a few of them nonetheless live to be 98, or more
alas, poor Margot. I guess it was the cigarettes that got to her
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@Baud: that reminds me, I forgot to water my office plants at Langley.
mrmoshpotato
Break it down for us, Steve, at this snowy, snowy game!
Honus
@SFAW:tow of my dearest friends, and some of the finedt people I’ve ever known, Duck and Joyce Snyder, parents of a high school classmate, were Juniata alumni. I will tolerate no disparagement of that fine institution.
We always called it Juanita just to mess with them.
patrick Il
It will take years to unwind and understand all of the harm Trump has done and exactly how bad of a president he has been. But he has stood on the shoulders of the giants of the destruction of American democracy — the Republican party.
WaterGirl
@The Thin Black Duke: I believe I have confessed that sin to you before, and have been forgiven. I like to think so, anyway! :-)
edit: Now forgiving Steve, that’s a whole other thing!
Suzanne
@Baud: Yeah, that whole war thing…. the one where we got a bunch of territory that used to belong to Mexico, then decided we didn’t really want the people that lived there to be Americans. It was slightly more complicated than that, but not much.
burnspbesq
It’s a good time to be an Everton supporter.
SFAW
@Suzanne:
In college, a number of my freshman-year friends were what was then called “Tex-Mex.” In the dining hall one day, they spotted one of our friends — a Mexican, but who was more Anglo-looking than any of us (and I’m pretty Anglo-looking) — looking to find our table. His back was to us, and one of the guys yelled “Hey, mojado!” He turned around, looking to kill whoever yelled that. When he saw where it came from, he started laughing.
But that was the day I found out how bad an epithet it was.
WaterGirl
@patrick Il: I remember saying that it was going to take 20 years to undo the terrible things Reagan had done.
edit: I was clearly an optimist.
Steve in the ATL
@The Thin Black Duke:
Jeez, you sound like my wife!
@WaterGirl:
Jeez, you sound like my wife!
J R in WV
@geg6:
So you’re closer to being a Mountaineer than to being a Nittany Lion, except for working for Penn State, then??? I’m joshing a little bit. … ;~)
SFAW
@Honus:
No disparagement intended. As I said, not my cup of tea — I went to a tech school — but I thought their programs were pretty interesting. And the cousin I mentioned has done a lot of good stuff (some of which had those of us who love her fearful for her safety) since she graduated, a significant part of which I attribute to her having gone to Juniata.
WaterGirl
@Steve in the ATL: Well then you already know what my mother’s frequent refrain:
“They wouldn’t tease you if they didn’t like you.”
SFAW
@Steve in the ATL:
Literally?
PS: I’m sorry, but I can (almost) never resist the temptation. Well, not literally, but … you know …
patrick Il
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I want to congratulate whichever aide pitched that line.
burnspbesq
Gustavo Arellano’s take on the Padilla appointment is worth a read.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-12-23/arellano-column-alex-padilla-california-senator-first-latino
WaterGirl
This has been a nice evening at BJ, with three threads going at once, just how I like it.
Yutsano
I just noticed something. Dolt45 signed the bill just late enough that the $600 payments won’t arrive until after the Senate runoff elections. He just made Perdue a fool in his own ad.
SFAW
@WaterGirl:
OT, but: it appears that the Back button is now functioning A-OK. At least on my desktop. Thanks!
[Of course, you probably fixed it two weeks ago, and I hadn’t noticed.]
WaterGirl
@burnspbesq: Kind of a mixed review, I’d say.
Hard to please everyone, especially with all the competing interests.
Ruckus
@Gin & Tonic:
I wonder how someone might find me if they were even looking. In this century I’ve had 4 different phone numbers, from moving states, from having land lines (one place I lived in LA didn’t have cell service) or before you could keep your phone number if you changed cell providers.
CaseyL
@WaterGirl: Oh, if we’re including all the cumulative damage that the GOP has wreaked on the country – never mind the world – since Reagan, then the answer to how long it will take to undo is, “40 years, give or take.” IOW, the same amount of time it took to get to where we are today, 1980-2020.
ETA: And, no, quite a few of us won’t be around to see that day.
WaterGirl
@CaseyL: Even if we ignore all the harm since Reagan, we still haven’t undone a lot of the harm that Reagan actually did with things he set in motion.
LongHairedWeirdo
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Not *entirely*. It’s just, his skill with deals was finding a way to skin the mark for his personal benefit. For example, he’d make sure he’d pay a contractor the minimum possible up front, and then, refuse to pay, and “make a deal” for a partial payment (“unless you litigation to go on for years, and maybe never get anything”).
Basically, he considers himself a good deal maker, because, once he puts your testicles in a vise, he knows that tightening it will hurt more.
You’re right: any other person would call him a terrible deal maker, but they don’t have the same perspective. Trump is the perfect example of solipsism.
Hey… solipsism would explain why he thinks *HE* developed a vaccine. Hm… but Trump probably couldn’t understand solipsism, in the same way a deep water fish probably can’t understand water.
(Interesting metaphor – you might be able to explain water to a fish that occasionally surfaces, but the deeper in they are, the harder it will be to explain.)
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Shit, it’s kind of breezy outside, which makes the dog act like an asshole, convinced that zombies are banging on the walls to get in.
Nelle
@Ruckus: In 2006, I answered the phone in the small town in New Zealand where we were living. “May I speak to X?” I answered, “This is she.” “I’m a detective with King County.” I mistakenly heard King Country, just up the road where the Maori Queen had just recently died. But I was confused by the American accent. “No, King County, Washington State, in the USA.”
The man who had assaulted me in 1979 was going to trial again and they were tracking previous assault victims as they were building a case for serial sexual assault under a sexual predator act.
But since then, I had lived in Alaska, Illinois, Maryland, Kansas, and was then in New Zealand. “How did you find me?” “Ma’am, I’m a detective. I find people,” he answered in the most deadpan voice.
(They flew me to Seattle to testify, even though I had been able to fight him off and was relatively unscarred by it all. I was part of their strategy of identifying how his cycles of attacks began. His attacks on other women were horrific. The man was convicted as a violent sexual predator and sentenced to life in prison.)
CaseyL
@WaterGirl: Reagan did enormous damage. Enormous. Just a few: ripping out the WHI solar panels and eliminating the alternative energy program, firing the PATCO air traffic controllers and launching the War on Unions, ending the federal Aid to Cities program that overnight ended most of the programs that helped give people in poverty a leg up – and that’s just off the top of my head. That’s not even going into the AIDS pandemic, the Contra scandal and arms-for-hostages (that unleashed crack cocaine into the US), and FFS I can’t keep going because the litany is so heartbreaking.
Most of that we will never recover from, because he changed the vectors of history, and you can never regain lost time and lost momentum.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: Wouldn’t work. His wife (partner?) is Fat White Duchess. They were on Zoom at Thanksgiving.
Patricia Kayden
@LongHairedWeirdo: Tbh, Republicans keep winning elections so I’m not sure if they’ll be remembered badly for supporting Trump. When a spineless joker like Susan Collins is able to easily win re-election, you can see that Republicans have a future.
LongHairedWeirdo
@Steve in the ATL: I would half-agree. The thing is, we could easily imagine W being “okay, fine, probably no worse than any other Republican.” How deeply he violated the trust of the nation was a bit of a surprise.
In Trump, anyone in tune with objective reality – able to participate in the “reality based community” in good faith – knew what Trump was; if he’d tried to be a good President, *that* would have been the surprise.
Patricia Kayden
@patrick Il: Yep. I feel sorry for Biden and everyone who has to fix Trump’s mess — much of which has been hidden from our view.
satby
@SFAW: Yes exactly what you said. People started using “progressive” as Rush Limpballs poisoned the airwaves against the word liberal.
I’m a proud liberal.
WaterGirl
@CaseyL: Yes, all of that. Plus he took a hatchet to programs for the mentally ill, and essentially turned them out into the streets. How many of the homeless would not be homeless if those programs were still in place?
I simply could not believe that people were stupid enough to vote for him a second time, so maybe we have always had a near majority of stupid, ignorant people who only want to be sure that other people get screwed more than they do. Ugh.
Patricia Kayden
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yes. The answer is yes.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: She could be the white dudette. :-) Plus, I believe she’s trying to come up with another nym.
LongHairedWeirdo
@Patricia Kayden: Yes, but I’m being specific to history. 100 years from now, if we still have a functioning democratic republic, historians will say “why could Trump do so much damage? It was the unprecedented, and breathtaking, corruption of his allies in Congress. To be fair, there was a large group of journalists and opinion writers insisting that this corruption was merely ‘loyalty’, and these forces helped make the breathtaking corruption seem almost benign to the uninterested, uninformed, observer.
“Thankfully, in the year (please_let_it_be_soon), things started to change; if they hadn’t, we would not still have the republic of today, which we can look on with pride.”
SWMBO
@SFAW: Thank you for reminding me of a great blogger. I miss Gilly.
Steeplejack
@germy:
Genius!
Bill Arnold
@Frankensteinbeck:
Rose Twitter is a bunch of pro-Fa Republican operatives, right?
Or is there believable proof otherwise?
(1/4th-hearted /s )
Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
@Suzanne: Madame Pele would Urp him right back up and do something worse for the insult.
Volcano Goddesses have standards don’t you know.
Mike in NC
Can we all agree that Joe Exotic would have been a better “president” than Donald Fucking Trump?
Yutsano
@WaterGirl: Reagan made white people feel like they were back on top again. After the massive social changes white straight Christians had their reassurance under Reagan that they were indeed in control again.He was the first President the burgeoning political Evangelical movement could latch on to. He more than any other politician brought the Evangelical right into the political fray. Remember Paul Weyrich? He got his start by supporting Reagan and the Moral Majority got its start then.
That and he exploded the debt while instituting terrible tax cuts that undercut the federal budget so far it’s never recovered not even under Clinton’s reforms. Republicans kept accusing Democrats of “tax and spend” when they were just spending. Reagan started the tradition of breaking the budget only to have Democrats fix it under Clinton 12 years later.
Jay
@SWMBO:
Me too.
Steve wrote a very powerful blog post about “The Talk”, that I haven’t found yet.
dmsilev
@Suzanne:
Wouldn’t work. A sacrificial offering has to be of something you’d regret losing.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
OT:
Should I be disturbed that the 2nd suggested search on Google for “Nashville explosion” was “Nashville explosion voting machines”? “Nashville explosion dominion” is also another top suggested search
different-church-lady
But he’s not, really, because they refused his command. He has no authority over them. And he is doomed to lose every battle with them over and over and over again for the rest of his miserable life.
But at least we will no longer be required to pay for those losses with him.
SFAW
@SWMBO:
I can’t truthfully say that I think of him every day, but I certainly think of him often. I can’t believe he’s been gone almost 14 years.
Ruckus
@Nelle:
First, sorry about the lessor half of the human race.
Second, it’s not that someone couldn’t find me or that I’m hiding all that well it’s just that even with computers and search engines it’s still not that easy. I’ve been somewhat more open on BJ about some of my history than some but I’ve still kept a pretty tight rein on my identity. Very few here even know my name, which is the same for many of us. That detective had solid ways to look, prior information that most people wouldn’t have, and most people I’ve known wouldn’t either.
And just on general principals, a small town in New Zealand. I am extremely jealous. Extremely. I would love to be able to live there. An absolutely beautiful country.
SFAW
@different-church-lady:
I think you’re operating from a faulty assumption set. He did not command them, nor try. He did not battle them. As with Putin/Russia (since 1987 or so, and Roy Cohn and his father before that), he does/did whatever they tell him to do.
different-church-lady
@SFAW: Christ, remember when we thought Bush was the dumbest one they could come up with?
SFAW
@Ruckus:
Once you clear out all them yrch.
different-church-lady
@SFAW: Correct, and while you were noting that I was revising my comment with a similar thought.
moonbat
I hated Reagan, even as a child, with the heat of 1,000 suns, but if we are going to be honest here a lot of our current woes were helped along by the Clinton administration and Bill’s triangulating desire to be loved by both sides of the political divide. 1. Weakening of Glass-Stegall = welcome to the 2008 collapse. 2. 100,000 more cops on the streets = the proudly militarized police forces we have today. 3. “Welfare reform” 4. Reducing the size of the federal workforce, particularly weakening the IRS. 5. NAFTA = sorry it did suck. 6. Building more prisons to hold the three strikes you’re out offenders.
Clinton did more to advance conservative causes than the Bushes ever did and they STILL impeached his ass.
Some our most grievous wounds have been self inflicted because of that Limbaugh-esque “liberal” is a dirty word discussion above. He tried so hard to prove he wasn’t a dirty liberal that he cut our throats.
SFAW
@different-church-lady:
Yeah. I also remember my brother telling me, 10 years before that, that GHWB chose Dan Quayle because he reminded him of W.
Gravenstone
@Punchy: No misunderstanding. He’s just that stupid to not realize that signing it ends the formal process. And so fixated on his ego protecting lies about the election being “stolen” from him that he’s convinced everything has to relate to those lies in some fashion.
Gravenstone
@Mike in NC: Someone should ask these geniuses how the docs are supposed to ensure just one microchip per patient when they’re getting 5-6 doses per vial. I mean it’s not like you can actually see the little bastards.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@SFAW:
LOL!
danielx
@Steve in the ATL:
Drinking and more. Check out the Ravenel family of Charleston some time.
patrick II
@Mike in NC:
Joe Exotic’s pardon request has hit Trump’s desk. Kindred spirits. If it’s granted maybe we’ll get to see tigers at Trump’s next rally.
danielx
@Citizen Alan:
Richard Lugar
different-church-lady
@burnspbesq: Their deconstruction of “Heart of Glass” is more like a demolition.
Achrachno
@Citizen Alan:
Pete McCloskey Not dead, but over 90 and no longer in office — and thus illustrating that there used to be some good ones
Sally
@WaterGirl: McConnell could agree to pass the $2000, win Georgia based on – look we can work with Democrats, we’re nice people who only want to help y’all, so trust us when fat bastard has gone. Then on Jan 21 start blocking everything and whining about expenditure and The Debt.
No One You Know
@burnspbesq: This.
Bill Arnold
@moonbat:
Perhaps Congress had something to do with Bill Clinton’s legislative agenda?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_divisions_of_United_States_Congresses
(He had 2 good years, then 6 years opposed by Rs)
WaterGirl
@Sally: Let’s hope they are not that smart. We already know they are that devious.
moonbat
@Bill Arnold: Most of the items on that list were enacted his first two years in office.
It’s no wonder that the punditocracy began to fetishize bipartisanship during this period. Bipartisanship was getting the Rs everything they wanted.
gwangung
@Bill Arnold: Personally, I think anybody complaining about triangulation in the 90s misses the point. Triangulating got you WINS at the ballot box…and the coinage of politics is winning. You can’t do ANY policy unless you win.
frosty
@Nelle: @Ruckus: My brother has worked as an investigator for law firms for over 20 years, going so far as to get his PI license. Several years ago a high school classmate organizing one of our reunions asked if he could help locate people. He found all but half a dozen. There are lots of databases out there.
Mary G
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): There was a set of Parler posts copied on Twitter. One person said Domino’s (meaning Dominion voting machines co) had stored the corrupt machines there and were covering their destruction. Another said ANtONy Quinn Warner was a secret message from Anon and Q. There were more. They seemed so ridiculous I thought they were jokes, but you never know what his fans will fall for.
Kent
@Mary G: The absurdity is that each state election is managed separately. Any machines stored in Nashville would have been used in the TN election which Trump won soundly.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@WaterGirl: They did a dry run of that here in California, it was a bi-partisan clusterfuck. I idea was to move folk from the state hospitals and move them to halfway houses. The halfway houses never happened(too expensive and NIMBY).
?BillinGlendaleCA
@moonbat:
Nope, they were all after 1994.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@gwangung: It’s better to be powerless and pure. //
?BillinGlendaleCA
@frosty: The folk that tracked down people for my 10 high school reunion thought I was dead(my father and I had the same name and he died four years after I graduated from high school).
frosty
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Did they figure it out and find you?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@frosty: No, the only way I knew of it, was a friend from high school showed up at my mom’s services later that year and told me about it.
ColoradoGuy
My memories of Reagan was as governor of California, where he did a bang-up job of destroying the UC system, and demonizing “radical liberals”. When that monster was President, I remember the malign and deliberate neglect of the AIDS catastrophe, because his fundamentalist base were thrilled to see gay people die in agony. Then as now, cruelty on a Nazi scale was exactly the point. In that sense, Reagan created the modern Republican Party. He also fused the Ayn Rand business wing with the Southern fundamentalists, a feat most would have seen as impossible.
The sneaky thing none of us saw coming, and probably his most lasting legacy, was the removal of the FCC Fairness Doctrine. This opened the door to Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, and a host of far-right broadcast media that would be illegal in any other modern democracy. The insane GOP of today would not exist without Rush and fellow AM-radio compatriots.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@WaterGirl:
I am old so at least that’s right. ?
Gvg
@moonbat: oh brother. Clinton did the best anyone could at that time. The backlash against liberals was really bad then and he didn’t have the votes for better. Also democrats were losing more and more elections and getting really gun shy. Clinton vetoed some of the worst laws then.
as for three strikes your out and more police and prisons, crime was rising then and poor black democratic voters were the ones asking for those thing. They were hit hardest and were the most desperate. Clinton wasn’t the only one who didn’t foresee how those laws would be misused.
i knew repealing glass stegal was a mistake then, but I am pretty sure there were enough congressional votes to override a veto and that includes plenty of Democratic votes. It was more than a generation and people had forgotten the need. Took longer than I feared to reap the results too.
There were much worse things that he managed to prevent, but since they didn’t happen people forget. I regarded him with gratitude because he vetoed things I was afraid of. He was the last safety net. It was not a good time at all.
moonbat
@?BillinGlendaleCA: So basically you are saying he endorsed nothing that was passed during his presidency? He campaigned on more cops on the streets, welfare to work, NAFTA, etc.
Just because we have the worst ever before us now doesn’t mean all our guys were awesome. We didn’t feel the effect immediately of all the things that were enacted in his administration but that doesn’t mean we haven’t been feeling them for a while now.
moonbat
@Gvg: Oh brother, yourself. He gave in to the GOP rationales on everything not just legislatively but also in the public conversation.
Yes, there were lazy shiftless people on welfare that need to be made to prove that they can’t find a job or get kicked off.
Yes the problem wasn’t the lack of social programs but we didn’t have enough prisons.
Of course having more law enforcement would solve the nonexistent super predator problem.
No person could see all ends, I’ll grant you that, but he basically surrendered the liberal argument that our way is better for society.
WaterGirl
@Odie Hugh Manatee: :-)