I think the CIA was given the task of finding evidence of WMD by Cheney. That they more or less manufactured something to please, is not the way the CIA should work.
The intelligence community had solid & correct info on Iraq/WMD.
The warmongers didn't care, propagated their propoganda, and then pointed fingers when the falsehoods were exposed.
See: aluminum tubes
It's simply another case of anti-instituitionalist propoganda among elites building a narrative for a decade, and then losing control of the narrative because there are no elites or institutions to tether it.
I think Romney saw how vacuous and dangerous this phenomenon was in '12, and he knew how combustible things were after he lost.
Romney has been voraciously railing against Trump because Romney understands how uncontrollable this "twilight of the elites' is.
Trumpism is a belief that every non-partisan entity of the government (society?) is both corrupt and incompetent.
How can it's proponents be expected to accept the rulings of the Electoral College or the Supreme Court, if fundamental pillars of the system (CBO, BLS, CIA, ATF, POTUS) are 'untrustable.'
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There's always two sides to an argument, and it's always a tie.
The above is further complicated because I believe the DNC is corrupt; every super delegate casting their vote with one candidate in the race, bizarre primary eligibility (NYC) calcifying the status quo, and the ugly smear-merchants and de-legitimizing of dissentors
The vicious well-poisoning Clinton team is now needed to champion the legitimacy of elite institutions.
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There's always two sides to an argument, and it's always a tie.
The incoming consultants will establish whether the Trump campaign receives more money. The people brought in do not appeal to the money men. Trump is on his own. The GOP and the god makers will be investing money down ticket.
I agree it won't help him get the GOP money but that wasn't really what I meant. With the move he'll get an immediate injection of Mercer's cash. Given it was at his (or rather Mercer's daughters) insistence they change gears and Bannon has been the guy that essentially blesses where the Mercer's spend the money. He's increased the extreme right wing nature of his campaign but also likely brought in some money.
Romney....the GOP made a huge mistake in forcing Romney to the right to satisfy the Tea Party base. Had they allowed him to remain center-right (where the party should be) they are in much better shape today.
Last edited by ernie; 08-19-2016 at 11:38 AM.
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In November, Maine voters will decide whether they want to become the first state in the U.S. to implement ranked-choice voting. If a ballot initiative is approved, future Maine voters in primaries and general elections will be allowed to rank their choices for governor, Congress and statehouse races instead of voting for just one. If no one gets a majority in a race, the candidate who came in last is eliminated and the second choices of their voters are redistributed, in much the same way that a runoff election works. That process continues through multiple rounds until a single candidate reaches a majority.
The state has long struggled with elections that end without a clear mandate from the voters. In nine of the past 11 races for governor, the winner has received less than a majority, including as low as 35%. (The two exceptions, in 1982 and 1998, involved popular governors running for re-election.) Current Gov. Paul LePage, who won 38% in a four-way race in 2010 and was re-elected with 48% in a three-way race in 2014, remains one of the most unpopular governors in the country.
Dissatisfaction in the voting systems seems to be on the rise in the US. It'll be interesting to see if something comes of it.
Dissatisfaction in the voting systems seems to be on the rise in the US. It'll be interesting to see if something comes of it.
Unlike in Alberta where we got non-offensive candidates who didn't stand for anything this could be a good thing in the US where the most extreme Candidates tend to get pluralities of votes.
Interesting approach by Trump here to try and change his support among blacks from 1% to 0%. I think it's got a chance to work. Of course his real goal here isn't actually to appeal to black voters considering his two speeches appealing to them have taken place in 99 and 93% white communities.
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"Think I'm gonna be the scapegoat for the whole damn machine? Sheeee......."
Last edited by Senator Clay Davis; 08-19-2016 at 05:22 PM.
Trump -- speaking to an overwhelmingly white audience that featured only a smattering of African-Americans and other minorities -- also promised that were he to run for re-election at the end of his first term, he would win 95% of the black vote.
Because this tire-fire couldn't possibly burn any brighter, former Rep and now Trump adviser Jack Kingston makes a, uh, defense of Trump's poor showing with Black voters...
“But the reality is he’s going there and he’s taking it to them. He’s giving them a proposal. He’s saying, ‘You know what? I’m interested, I went to Milwaukee, I’m here tonight, I want to talk to you,'”
Quote:
“I mean, maybe it would have been nice if he went and had a backdrop with a burning car, but the reality is—”
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Settle down there, Temple Grandin.
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Because this tire-fire couldn't possibly burn any brighter, former Rep and now Trump adviser Jack Kingston makes a, uh, defense of Trump's poor showing with Black voters...
I still can't believe one of these two will be president. If I was American I don't know if I would laugh or cry.
I've been trying to come up with a proper historical comparable to Donald Trump, and it was proving to be more difficult than I thought.
Originally, I fell into the same trap as many others and went with Hitler. A populist demagogue who rode a wave of hatred to power. Trump's not Hitler. Hitler wrote his own book. Hitler was a war hero. He may be the most monstrous human being who ever lived, but World War One does things to a person.
Trump has been called "the last President of the United States" by many pundits and comedians, so my next thought was Tsar Nicolas II, who presided over the collapse of the Romanov dynasty. This one seemed a little more appropriate - prior to World War One, Russia would've been considered the single most powerful nation on the planet, so it might be that similarly weak men would be in charge of their collapses. Nicolas was heavily influenced by Rasputin, and while I could see Donald Trump falling under the spell of a single imbalanced man, I think that man is Donald himself. Finally, Nicolas II isn't the right choice because he loved ALL his kids, and he did that while not wanting to bang any of them.
I had to look inward, and if you wish to find the American soul in 2016, you have to look at football. It was there I found my man.
Tim Tebow is a famous quarterback who can't throw a football or read a defense. He rose to prominence under one of the best college coaches ever, and got to dump the ball off to freak athletes like Percy Harvin and a yet to be convicted of murder Aaron Hernandez. Tebow himself is a great athlete, there's no denying that. But much the same way being a great athlete doesn't make you a great quarterback, being rich doesn't make you a great businessman.
Tebow busted in Denver hard (phrasing). One game, the Broncos ran the ball more than 40 times and passed 8 because the guy who throws the ball couldn't. He bounced around the league for a few years after, and the stories would all be the same in the off season. 'Tebow's throwing motion looks so much better'. 'His footwork is much improved'. 'He gives them an option out of the Wildcat'. 'All he does is win'.
The last coach to keep Tebow on a roster passed training camp was Rex Ryan. Rex Ryan is a fool. No matter how much fans loved him and owners wanted to sell his jersey, it was impossible to watch tape of real quarterbacks like Brady, Rodgers, or really anybody who knew what they were doing and conclude Tim Tebow was fit to play that position every Sunday.
Meanwhile, you have Hillary. Overshadowed by a famous family member who does the same job, and a woman to boot. Nothing Hillary does will ever be good enough, despite a long, accomplished career that anyone would be proud of. She's in the Situation Room with Obama on 5/11, FFS.
Perpetually uncool, constantly undone by awful candid photographs of stupid expressions on her face, and so unrelatable you wonder if her own teammates even like her. Hillary Clinton is Eli.
In 2016, Eli isn't your first overall pick. In a perfect world, he's not who you build a franchise around. But nobody in their right mind would ever take Tim Tebow ahead of Eli Manning.
Vote for Eli.
__________________ ”All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you.”
Rowan Roy W-M - February 15, 2024
Last edited by GreenLantern2814; 08-22-2016 at 12:46 AM.
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Not as exciting unfortunately, but probably more accurate.
I don't think any comparison to those historical dictators works because they were actually interested in running the country and were true believers. I'm still not convinced Trump really cares about this job.
Not as exciting unfortunately, but probably more accurate.
I don't think any comparison to those historical dictators works because they were actually interested in running the country and were true believers. I'm still not convinced Trump really cares about this job.
I agree. I think it started off as a stunt but the unexpected popularity kind of snowballed to where we are today. Today I see a presidential candidate that never really game planned at the beginning to be in this position today. Making things up as you go along will only take you so far and even in losing he will get his name embedded in history that will likely be followed by at least one major motion picture. He's going to come out a winner in defeat and it's probably his realistic outlook.
Not as exciting unfortunately, but probably more accurate.
I don't think any comparison to those historical dictators works because they were actually interested in running the country and were true believers. I'm still not convinced Trump really cares about this job.
Not a fair comparison to Berlusconi, he is/was a really skilled politician. Longest serving PM in post-war Italy. As crooked as they come, but totally able to do the job.
