Countdown to Extinction: The 2016 Presidential Election

[snyprrr]

You're an interesting fella.  You used to be more self-controlled, but over the course of this election, you've lost your shit, rather like Richard Engel on election night.  You're one of the most entertaining of all posters on any forum I frequent.  Keep it up!

I can't tell, is this Thread getting more awesome, or less awesome? So confusing...

[snyprrr]

hup- Que's in the house... is it that bad here???

[Todd]

You don't seem to have figured out that one of those categories is a subset of the other.

A rather weak rejoinder, I must say.  Of course I understand one is a subset of the other.  That's why I made the distinction and used the phrase "in general".  Democrat tears are delicious.

[ahinton]

Democrat tears are delicious.

I'll have to take your word for that, never having tasted any; are they supposed to substitute for tonic in a G&T?

[Todd]

I'll have to take your word for that, never having tasted any; are they supposed to substitute for tonic in a G&T?

Like whiskey, they taste best neat.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

  Democrat tears are delicious.

Here's a yuge helping for you:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/cp/opinion/election-night-2016/her-loss

I got up on Election Day and burst into tears — not a genteel twin trickle but a great heaving burst, zero to firehose. Tears spattered the inside of my glasses, dripped from my lips, and left mascara-tinged rosettes blooming black in my cereal milk - and on and on, in the same vein

[ahinton]

Like whiskey, they taste best neat.

I don't drink whiskey; only whisky.

That said, revenge is a drink best served cold, maybe with a splash of Democrat tears...

[Herman]

Because CNN, BBC or any of their good buddies will not take up such a story. They do a media blitz on every time a black teenager is killed by police but not when the converse happens or even when children are attacked by thugs.

First, rioting teenagers aren't shooting people, or strangling them in broad daylight. They're just rioting. The recipe is to try and restrain them and after a couple of days they'll go home.

Second, it's sad you don't see the difference between a bunch of kids yelling and being obnoxious, and police officers who have sworn to uphold the law, shooting black folk in the back and planting guns.

[Herman]

I agree with Todd, the most puzzling and frustrating thing is hearing about what a marvellous Ground Game Hillary had going. Trump was a mere amateur compared to her. And hearing her say in her concession speech that her team was the best, well sorry, she couldn't say anything else, but clearly they got a bunch of things very very wrong.

And, yeah I know she won the popular vote. By two hundred thousand. That is not enough.

Throughout the campaign I kept hearing or reading that Trump was making a big mistake. He didn't have a Ground Game; he did big celebrity rallies. Hillary, one kept hearing, didn't do as many public events, but did a lot of fund raising.

I'm the first to say that Hillary is a much nicer person than Trump. You can see it in all the footage. She lingers after a debate, rally or whatever and meets people, smiles at them whole heartedly. Trump clearly hates meeting people, let alone shaking hands; he's out of there immediately. She should've done a lot more hand shaking and talking.

It's unbelievable that these immense teams the Dems had put together were thinking they were at a point were they could do wild and weird stuff and try to take Arizona or Georgia. Start nibbling at the House majority. She should've done MI and WI.

I'm no fan of Michael Moore, but the Dems could've saved millions of dollars in useless work and just read his five point why Tump was going to win.

Again, I like Hillary; I think she's a much maligned person. But hearing that Chelsea is thinking of running for public office drives me nuts. Don't these people understand enough is enough?

[zamyrabyrd]

First, rioting teenagers aren't shooting people, or strangling them in broad daylight. They're just rioting. The recipe is to try and restrain them and after a couple of days they'll go home.
Second, it's sad you don't see the difference between a bunch of kids yelling and being obnoxious, and police officers who have sworn to uphold the law, shooting black folk in the back and planting guns.

First, the kids are 'only' burning cloth and smashing windows and cars.

http://www.newsmax.com/US/students-american-university-protest-trump/2016/11/10/id/758221/
Hundreds of students at American University gathered on campus to protest Donald Trump's presidential victory and used matches and lighters to torch several American flags.

Second, while there may be abuses by police officers, it is no excuse to, again, destroy property and smash windows and cars.  This kind of anarchy doesn't benefit anyone except those who would destroy society.

[PerfectWagnerite]

Again, I like Hillary; I think she's a much maligned person. But hearing that Chelsea is thinking of running for public office drives me nuts. Don't these people understand enough is enough?

Chelsea just strikes me as extremely phony, can't see myself voting for her for anything.

It's easy to bash Hil now that she lost. We often don't see it takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there running for highly publicized office. Your entire life is under the microscope, everything you have ever done is under scrutiny. It is so easy for the rest of us who to stand on the side and criticize.

[Madiel]

A rather weak rejoinder, I must say.  Of course I understand one is a subset of the other.  That's why I made the distinction and used the phrase "in general".  Democrat tears are delicious.

I don't really care whether you think my rejoinder is "weak". It's logical. My point is simply that when you claim that "in general" you don't think other human beings are here for your amusement, you are engaging in an exercise of self-justification to mask the true answer that you do in fact think this.

You just want to claim that somehow it makes you a better person that you pick and choose whose emotions you toy with. That you're discriminating in who you decide to behave like a jerk towards.

I can think of any number of offences, either moral or criminal, where the cry "but I didn't do it to EVERYBODY I met" wouldn't cut the mustard. You do do it. There's really no point to attempting a justification by saying that you don't spend every waking moment doing it. For anyone you choose to troll, the situation is not improved by the knowledge that there are other people you decide not to troll.

[Todd]

It is so easy for the rest of us who to stand on the side and criticize.

Sure is, but never forget that people who run for president choose to get in the arena, that they are not wallflowers, and that they are wildly ambitious.  Public scrutiny and criticism comes with the territory, and Clinton knew that all along after almost forty years in public life, and longer if you count her youthful work.

[Todd]

For anyone you choose to troll, the situation is not improved by the knowledge that there are other people you decide not to troll.

Ah, yes, there it is.  Trolling.  I got it now.

[Madiel]

Ah, yes, there it is.  Trolling.  I got it now.

Actually I don't think you do. I don't think you have made any attempt to grasp the nuance between the parts of what you've written that I consider completely legitimate commentary, and the bits where you've openly admitted to trying to poke and prod people's emotions because it's fun.

[Todd]

Actually I don't think you do. I don't think you have made any attempt to grasp the nuance between the parts of what you've written that I consider completely legitimate commentary, and the bits where you've openly admitted to trying to poke and prod people's emotions because it's fun.

Gee whiz, mom.

[Madiel]

Gee whiz, mom.

Accountability's a bitch, isn't it. What was that you said? Oh yeah. "Words have consequences". I agree.

[Todd]

Accountability's a bitch, isn't it. What was that you said? Oh yeah. "Words have consequences". I agree.

Huh? 

[Tritone]

First, rioting teenagers aren't shooting people, or strangling them in broad daylight. They're just rioting. The recipe is to try and restrain them and after a couple of days they'll go home.

Second, it's sad you don't see the difference between a bunch of kids yelling and being obnoxious, and police officers who have sworn to uphold the law, shooting black folk in the back and planting guns.

A wonderful cartoon in our national daily today..."groups of protesters carrying placards saying 'peace, love, respect, tolerance and compassion' running after a man holding a "democracy" sign while the crowd screams "kill the fascist". 

Personally, I agree with these sentiments expressed today:

The left is sensing that people are no longer meekly following the script as they used to. After the disappointment of Obama, the fetish of minorities has lost its shine. Being black hasn't turned out to be the magic elixir that brings social harmony and eliminates resentment. Now the idea that a woman just for being a woman will also revitalise a nation is just not credible anymore. It's merely another novelty item and the customer is no longer buying.

People have seen a link with Brexit and they are correct in fearing that connection. What we are seeing is the gradual collapse of the progressive project and the complete mental separation between ordinary people and the elites. The function of elites is to articulate the aspirations of the people and give them an intellectually coherent form, that's what the Greeks called a demagogue (he who speaks with the voice of people). But demagogues often become insincere manipulators and eventually they don't even bother hiding their contempt for the common man (the deplorables). The elites PC religion is falling apart and shown for the emotional blackmail that it is. Their cult of environmentalism is increasingly rejected. No one has talked about green issues during the campaign even though this is supposed to be the issue of our times. Multiculturalism and internationalism are not believable as ways to seek social concord anymore. People sense they are attempts of uprooting the individual and denying him his birthright. Finally, the gender madness reveals the sick consequences of treating the human being as a toy of your desires.

The left is panicking and this can only be good;  even if Clinton had won, the authority is gone and the legitimacy would have been contested by a people who no longer obey.

[Todd]

What we are seeing is the gradual collapse of the progressive project

Beware of triumphalism.  The Dems will regroup and come back with a redesigned message and new messengers.  (New at the national level.)  Rove once talked of permanent majorities and Clinton was thought inevitable.  "[T]he dream shall never die", and all that.