The Many Faces of US Politics...

[seafoid]

I'd be more of a Christie or Kasich supporter, but I dont live in a swing state so my vote doesn't count

Christie withdrew from the race last week.

Kasich-( is I think anyways) a dark horse in the Republican race. I don't believe that Cruz Rubio or Trump can win the nomination, and I think Bush is carrying too much family baggage.

The level of vitriol against Clinton is a sight to behold. I thought the Republicans were fired up against Obama, but this time around its a whole new ball game. Stew is seen here as very heavy handed with his remarks, but he is tame compared to some folks I was chatting to this weekend.

As a non voter resident alien in the US, the campaigns being waged in the press are interesting, but they have been more or less the same the last 3 presidential cycles, what you don't see is the campaign being fought in the social media.

The PACs are spending tens of millions of dollars in big data analysis, and the creation of "news" stories in some cases around their clients, but more usually the positioning of outrageously fake stories around the opposition. The campaigns candidates are waging against other nominees is a sight to behold. Some of the brightest techies are having money thrown at them by PACs for 6 month contracts.

And then there are the attack campaigns being fought against the two Democratic nominees by some of the Republican PACs, and let me tell you, you ain't seen nothing yet. Wait for the timing of the release of a bunch of "stories" against to a lesser extent Saunders, but the weaponry being drafted in the anti- Clinton campaign is absolutely frightening.

The social media campaigns have no need for truth, or factual representation of any kind, and they are enormously effective in swaying voters, they become incredibly localized and tailored very explicitly by locality and habit, Facebook and twitter feeds as influencers, very personalized. This summer and autumn/ fall you will see a lot of technology let loose that you have seen in (bad) movies and science fiction. It will be  social experiment for the ages, but my view (again) is that the funding on the Republican side will give them an edge in deployment, the question will be whether the Dems will have enough time/ resources to begin to dispel the effect.

The other issue that is very relevant, is that I think the Republicans need to be very, very careful about how they handle the Supreme Court nomination. If it is seen as going too far, they will further reduce the slim chance they have of an elephant in 1600 any time soon.

The interesting thing is that they do not have (as yet) any data from voters as to how far they can push the court issue, however the polling and Facebook and twitter feeds are being crunched as we speak to start to find out just exactly what the lay of the land is. And just so you know, this forum gets crunched. And millions just like it. If there were enough american IPs on this board, that were in swing states, new members would be arriving, creating polls, ads would appear, and it would look like we got popular, but there wouldn't be a human in sight...

The rise of the machines. We often wondered about the lifting of the contribution caps, and just how much money in ads and campaigns could sway the vote, and til now it has been interesting, but the next 6 months, the application of all of that (not) hard earned (or taxed) money is about to change the shape of elections in the US.

Great post. Citizens United means GOP money is unlimited. But the economic situation means this election is limited. One third of Americans now work without permanent contracts. Average earnings $28 per hour which isn't much. Real wages are 10% lower than in the 70s. Wages are being driven down. Muintir Trump feel this and resent it. Trump plámáses them. Sanders talks about the big picture. Clinton is disadvantaged. Trump can't attract the 20% of floating voters. I just don't think the GOP can address the big issue of income inequality.

Hmmmmm........The old Citizens United line

No mention of the Billions and Billions Democrats get pumped in by the Unions. Citizens United merely leveled the playing field


http://www.forbes.com/sites/kylesmith/2012/07/10/if-big-money-in-politics-offends-you-then-you-must-loathe-labor-unions/#2bfa184049c1

CU is deplorable in a democracy. Facilitated by Scalia of course. but it won't help the GOP this time around.

[whitey]

Do you find it equally as deplorable that Unions do the same, or is that okay because they support Democrats

[seafoid]

Do you find it equally as deplorable that Unions do the same, or is that okay because they support Democrats

not really. the GOP is run for the benefit of billionaires who are parasites. US capitalism is fuckd because they have too much money and won't invest it.

[J70]

rhet·o·ric
ˈredərik/
noun
the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the use of figures of speech and other compositional techniques.
synonyms:   oratory, eloquence, command of language, way with words
"a form of rhetoric"
language designed to have a persuasive or impressive effect on its audience, but often regarded as lacking in sincerity or meaningful content.
"all we have from the opposition is empty rhetoric"
synonyms:   bombast, turgidity, grandiloquence, magniloquence, pomposity, extravagant language, purple prose; More

Your use of the word rhetoric alone implies an idle threat

Really?

By your own post, that is one of several interpretations. And your example even has to include the word "empty" to illustrate that interpretation.

From OED: rhetoric, n. 1. a. The art of using language effectively so as to persuade or influence others, esp. the exploitation of figures of speech and other compositional techniques to this end; the study of principles and rules to be followed by a speaker or writer striving for eloquence, esp. as formulated by ancient Greek and Roman writers.

But fixate on a selected meaning if you want.

My point stands, and I'm pretty sure you understand what I meant.

I understand exactly what you mean.....Republicans are bad and Democrats are good

Not really.

The Democrats are typical full of shit politicians with mostly pragmatic, middle of the road policies.

The GOP, on the other hand, have descended into a petulant rabid rabble, lashing out against change in society, whether women, minorities, immigrants, muslims, gays, dealing with environmental degradation and so on. And they're insistent on using scorched earth tactics to achieve their aims.

[J70]

Stew, I don't think I was picking anyone's bones, but I'm not exactly heartbroken given his judicial decisions.  If I thought his family we're regulars on this board I would probably temper my remarks.

Sorry, too, that I gave the impression that I would vote for a conservative.  Not a chance of that happening. Better chance of the Browns winning Super Bowl LI (and, given this field, I'd love to know what a decent conservative is).

Can't wait for the Senate to drag its heels when Obama nominates a new justice,  as is his constitutional duty.  They do love the Constitution.

Hope you're not freezing in the Great White North.

He is w**king himself to throw a lib would be nominee under the bus, tell the truth, when was the last time a supreme court judge got elected when a sitting president had ten months left to f**k up the country? A hundred maybe?

So is his term only really seven years then? Are the rest of his duties to be similarly curtailed in his last year?

How about the Senate? Shouldn't those 24 GOP senators whose terms are winding down be similarly told to f**k off and forget about their duties, thus leaving their opinions on this issue irrelevant?

When was the last time the issue came up? Besides Reagan and Anthony Kennedy. And LBJ and his failed pick, who at least got a hearing.

As for "f**king up the country", things are a hell of a lot better than they were when he took over.

No thanks to the GOP.

Get off the drugs son, more people live below the poverty line than when he took office, Putin has him in his pocket and he us the main reason europe is flooded with Muslim refugees, some of whom are terrorists, worldwide he is seen as a weakling and to be he will go down as a disastrous president due to his inability to Govern, well in fairness, he did cut his teeth in the most corrupt liberal shithole in the USA, Illinois, he fit right in there.

The right need to get back in and kick these bleeding hrsrt, nsmby pamby liberal fuckwits to the curb and right the ship, eight mire years of a balloon like we have had under Obamination and the country is proper fucked.

Yeah, its amazing that poverty increased on the back of the worst economic catastrophe in 80 years, with 3/4 million jobs being lost a month when he took over! Yet, people like you never stop whinging about government spending and actually trying to help the people affected. Spare us the crocodile tears.

How has Putin got him in his pocket? Or, better still, what should he be doing with respect to Putin? And how the f**k is Obama the "main reason" for the refugee crisis?

[J70]

Obama is the reason Europe is "flooded" with refugees... Wow. I know you struggle to grasp a lot of the stuff that goes on here, but that one was breathtaking.

Tell me more about how you'd move to Switzerland where, of course, you'd be such a wonderful cultural fit.

For a man who was so out of touch with American politics, ( think about trump self funding )it makes perfect sense that you cannot see that obamination  failed to take up the advice of his own Generals and have a safe haven for Syrians in their own country, under a no fly zone strictly enforced by the us military.

See Gallstone, if a Republican had have been in the white house not one Syrian would have left the country, no Paris attacks, no rapes and molestation on German women and other women in countries around the world.

Galls Russia has a leader called Putin, your hero Obama is afraid of this former kgb alleged rapist and that is why we have Muslims from all over the middle east converging on Europe, take your time son and let that info sink in.

The Paris attacks were mostly conducted by French and Belgians FFS.

And where and when did the Republicans call for the creation of safe zones in Syria back then? What form would they have taken? Were the Republicans lamenting the fall of Qadafi at the time, something that in retrospect was maybe NOT a good thing? By that standard, was it wrong to take out Saddam?

And why would Obama NOT be afraid of what Putin is capable of. One is a responsible leader. The other is not.

But, again, tell us what Obama should be doing with Putin?

[heganboy]

Hmmmmm........The old Citizens United line

No mention of the Billions and Billions Democrats get pumped in by the Unions. Citizens United merely leveled the playing field

Not what I'm saying at all, the republican pacs have spent more on this technology and the people to run it and have a lot of stuff ready to go, that simply is not there on the Dem side. I am saying that based on who I know working there, and who has been approached (and by whom) rather than any press reporting, Press has been very quiet on the subject.

The CU ruling sets the rules clearly, not necessarily levels the playing field. The same on behalf of the Unions, rules are clear- in each case just one side better favored than the other.

[naka]

Stew, I don't think I was picking anyone's bones, but I'm not exactly heartbroken given his judicial decisions.  If I thought his family we're regulars on this board I would probably temper my remarks.

Sorry, too, that I gave the impression that I would vote for a conservative.  Not a chance of that happening. Better chance of the Browns winning Super Bowl LI (and, given this field, I'd love to know what a decent conservative is).

Can't wait for the Senate to drag its heels when Obama nominates a new justice,  as is his constitutional duty.  They do love the Constitution.

Hope you're not freezing in the Great White North.

He is w**king himself to throw a lib would be nominee under the bus, tell the truth, when was the last time a supreme court judge got elected when a sitting president had ten months left to f**k up the country? A hundred maybe?

So is his term only really seven years then? Are the rest of his duties to be similarly curtailed in his last year?

How about the Senate? Shouldn't those 24 GOP senators whose terms are winding down be similarly told to f**k off and forget about their duties, thus leaving their opinions on this issue irrelevant?

When was the last time the issue came up? Besides Reagan and Anthony Kennedy. And LBJ and his failed pick, who at least got a hearing.

As for "f**king up the country", things are a hell of a lot better than they were when he took over.

No thanks to the GOP.

Get off the drugs son, more people live below the poverty line than when he took office, Putin has him in his pocket and he us the main reason europe is flooded with Muslim refugees, some of whom are terrorists, worldwide he is seen as a weakling and to be he will go down as a disastrous president due to his inability to Govern, well in fairness, he did cut his teeth in the most corrupt liberal shithole in the USA, Illinois, he fit right in there.

The right need to get back in and kick these bleeding hrsrt, nsmby pamby liberal fuckwits to the curb and right the ship, eight mire years of a balloon like we have had under Obamination and the country is proper fucked.

go on you definitely are too liberal for my liking

[muppet]

[Hound]

The GOP, on the other hand, have descended into a petulant rabid rabble, lashing out against change in society, whether women, minorities, immigrants, muslims, gays, dealing with environmental degradation and so on. And they're insistent on using scorched earth tactics to achieve their aims.

Not in the Hilary or Trump camp and haven't any great knowledge of US politics. So I was just looking at many of the candidates to see would anyone strike a chord with me. But I found the extraordinary nugget that every single one of the Republican candidates think climate change is a hoax!

[Oraisteach]

Yes, Hound, for most Republicans climate change refers only to adjusting your thermostat.

[seafoid]

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2012/05/24/how-republicans-got-way/

But true believers at the party's base think differently. They don't see a competition between two parties, with the prize to be won in the handful of battleground and swing states. They see instead an eschatological crisis, and the forces of darkness include not only Obama and the Democrats, but also "Republicans in Name Only," ideologically suspect enemies within the gate

[Oraisteach]

The End Times are always just around the corner, and for many on the right Barack Obama seems to be the anti-Christ.  So, maybe, this election is Armageddon.  It's all making sense now. It's in fact Armagh-geddon and the righteous are being led Trumphantly by an angel in orange (hair).  Armagh's time is here, a second coming.

[whitey]

As insane as a Trump presidency would seem to many, having lived here for 20+ years, the thoughts of "Democratic Socialist" getting electedresident is almost as unbelievable.

[screenexile]

Classic... the Top Christian in the world says the majority of American Christians are not Christian!!

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-trump-pope-idUSKCN0VR277