American Politics 3.0 - Back to Brunch

[Cappy]

Originally Posted by Matata

So now the goal posts have shifted to "sure hes a complete degenerate who's actively collecting corruption money from America's enemies, but it has nothing to do with his dad, dont be silly". Its like drinking koolaid straight out of a fire hose.

The article i cited was from the time these allegations came to light. It was always known that Hunter Biden was a degenerate.

Of course the whole finding emails on a lap top seemed far fetched and im surprised its real, but it doesnt change the fact that there is no evidence that Joe Biden was implicated at all. In fact, where the Republicans have tried to insert Corrupt Joe Biden into the story (the demand for firing the corrupt prosecutor) was clearly not related.

To be fair, Vox did a pretty good rebuke recently of the way media reacted to the story and how some immediately labeled it as misinformation. This is the world we sort of live in at this point and it's certainly sad.

But the story itself, is just not a good story:

There were two supposed “smoking guns” about Joe Biden that conservatives touted in the materials. The first was an email the Post called a “blockbuster,” in which an executive at the Ukrainian gas company Burisma thanked Hunter for the “opportunity to meet your father” in 2015. If you’re steeped in Trumpworld lore, this was damning because of the theory that Biden had the corrupt prosecutor general of Ukraine fired to benefit Burisma, and Biden had said he knew nothing about Hunter’s Ukrainian work, but look, a meeting! (Apparently, it was a dinner at Cafe Milano that Hunter had organized, with about a dozen people.) This appears to amount to Vice President Biden seemingly going to one dinner.

The second involved a business venture that Hunter tried to set up with a Chinese energy tycoon in 2017 (after Joe Biden was no longer vice president). One email mentions that the equity split would include “10 held by H for the big guy ?” A former business partner of Hunter’s named Tony Bobulinski came forward to claim “the big guy” was Joe Biden. But a subsequent email from Hunter says his “Chairman” gave him “an emphatic no,” and a further email clarifies that the chairman is his dad.

So this amounts to Joe Biden apparently refusing some deal Hunter tried to enmesh him in. An alternative possibility is that Joe was not actually ever involved and that Hunter had just been throwing his name around. By Bobulinski’s own account, he briefly met Joe Biden the day before and after an event, and the former vice president only said vague things to him (and the proposed deal never came together in the end).

All of this was indeed covered in the press in October 2020 (I wrote about it at the time). So the real objection from

https://www.vox.com/22992772/hunter-biden-laptop

[Dion]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1516869454432550914

[Fuzz]

Ugh. The unbearable vs the insufferable.

[Wormius]

The promo looks like it was edited by History Network’s Ice Road Trucker guys.

Guaranteed to no substance and in reality it’s just Morgan being a suck up, with stuff like, “Your highness, when some nasty other reporters said ‘blahblahblah’, how did you feel?” and they edited out the surrounding to make him sound hard hitting for that promo.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Dion

https://twitter.com/user/status/1516869454432550914

Frost vs. Nixon for morons.

[Swift]

Not exactly news to anyone, but yet another example of why politicians are a bunch of craven ####bags - https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...capitol-attack

NYT reports that McCarthy blamed Trump after Jan 6 and would ask him to resign. McCarthy gives the usual GOP answer attacking the media -

In a statement on Thursday morning before the clip was released, McCarthy made a blanket denial of the New York Times report saying that it is “totally false and wrong”.

“It comes as no surprise that the corporate media is obsessed with doing everything it can to further the liberal agenda,” the statement read. “The corporate media is more concerned with profiting from manufactured political intrigue from politically-motivated sources.

“Our country has suffered enough under failed one-party Democrat rule, and no amount of media ignorance and bias will stop Americans from delivering a clear message this fall that it is time for change.”

And so of course NYT releases the audio and it's crickets from McCarthy.

[photon]

There used to be a time when such a blatant lie would be so shaming the person would have to resign.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by photon

There used to be a time when such a blatant lie would be so shaming the person would have to resign.

Maybe. But there was also a time when you couldn't so easily find out someone was lying. I largely think that's why all these people are so easily exposing themselves, because they are from a time when people weren't just carrying recorders around in their pockets, and their written correspondence was being collected en masse, and the general public didn't have access to all the worlds information and history. And so the lies they could get away with 30 years ago, they just can't anymore, and it's confusing to them, this responsibility thing.

[White Out 403]

apparently the interview is edited to be more controversial than it actually is.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by White Out 403

apparently the interview is edited to be more controversial than it actually is.

You don't say.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

Originally Posted by Coach

Maybe. But there was also a time when you couldn't so easily find out someone was lying. I largely think that's why all these people are so easily exposing themselves, because they are from a time when people weren't just carrying recorders around in their pockets, and their written correspondence was being collected en masse, and the general public didn't have access to all the worlds information and history. And so the lies they could get away with 30 years ago, they just can't anymore, and it's confusing to them, this responsibility thing.

We're also living in a time where a segement of the population will not believe what's in front of their eyes if the logo on the screen is one they don't like.

*sees live footage*

MAGAs: It's from CNN, mainstream media, can't believe it

*plays recording proving lie

MAGAs: It's on mainstream media, can't believe it

[FlamesAddiction]

It's crazy to think, that for all his faults as a politician, Mike Pence may have been the unsung hero at preventing the attempted coup by Trump.

https://www.newsweek.com/pence-refus...raskin-1700341

"[Pence] uttered what I think are the six most chilling words of this entire thing I've seen so far: 'I'm not getting in that car,'" Raskin said. "He knew exactly what this inside coup they had planned for was going to do."


"I'm not getting in the car, Tim," Pence said, in response to Giebels' insistence that he enter the armored vehicle. "I trust you, Tim, but you're not driving the car. If I get in that vehicle, you guys are taking off. I'm not getting in the car."

When you line that up with what Sen. Grassley said just before the insurrection, it seems pretty obvious that the plan was to try and make it so Pence would not be there:

https://politicalwire.com/2021/01/05...certification/

January 5, 2021 - Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), the Senate president pro tempore, says he and not Vice President Mike Pence will preside over the certification of Electoral College votes, since “we don’t expect him to be there,” Roll Call reports.

[Dion]

Even diehard critics of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) were taken aback Friday by the overwhelming number of times she claimed she couldn’t remember things that seemed startlingly memorable.

When you're testifying under oath I guess it's best to say a lot of "I don't remember"

https://twitter.com/user/status/1517570648905641984

https://twitter.com/user/status/1334870718878801926

https://twitter.com/user/status/1452464537869897728

[the_only_turek_fan]

US GDP shrank by 1.3% annualized in Q1.

With a potential of 5-6 rate hikes this year it could get ugly.

[Bagor]

I'm posting this not sure if it's real or not. It's just so hard to tell anymore.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1519045888039178244

[Itse]

Originally Posted by Bagor

I'm posting this not sure if it's real or not. It's just so hard to tell anymore.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1519045888039178244

I miss the times when you could tell parody from reality.

[Dion]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1519757373363077121

[direwolf]

That woman might be the biggest jackass I've ever seen in U.S. politics in my lifetime. Right up there with Trump, Jim Jordan, DeSantis, and Abbott. The fact that people actually vote for these clowns is beyond frightening.

[GhostCookie]

Originally Posted by Itse

I miss the times when you could tell parody from reality.

Everyone the writes at The Onion probably does as well.

[Cappy]

Originally Posted by Dion

Even diehard critics of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) were taken aback Friday by the overwhelming number of times she claimed she couldn’t remember things that seemed startlingly memorable.

When you're testifying under oath I guess it's best to say a lot of "I don't remember"

https://twitter.com/user/status/1517570648905641984

https://twitter.com/user/status/1334870718878801926

https://twitter.com/user/status/1452464537869897728

I mean you can certainly you say you don't remember; but it's a pretty big issue with respect to credibility. I don't remember sending a text message doesnt absolve you