Countdown to Extinction: The 2016 Presidential Election

[Madiel]

I'm sure you are heartily sick of it. That tells me more about you than the merits of the case.

Yeah, I'm sure that if people keep digging for another 5 years there'll be something there.

[Ken B]

Yeah, I'm sure that if people keep digging for another 5 years there'll be something there.

I'm not going to debate you. That response shows enough about your commitment to impartial discussion.  There was a recent government report. You should check it out.

Hillary said she and her staff co-operated. That also was a lie, since the report noted they refused to be interviewed.

[Karl Henning]

I'm not going to debate you. That response shows enough about your commitment to impartial discussion.  There was a recent government report. You should check it out.

Hillary said she and her staff co-operated. That also was a lie, since the report noted they refused to be interviewed.

Pleading the Fifth doesn't really tally as "coöperation" ....

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[Ken B]

Why should that disqualify him?

That's a good question! Gore Vidal said a profound thing "Presidents are the men we elect to make the commercials." The image projected by a leader is a huge part of why he is or is not elected. So whether it should matter, it will.

What bothers me about Trump's manner isn't the boorishness, it's the sense of emotional fragility. That may be a completely wrong impression. People who know him don't talk of him as if he were flighty.  But it worries me. I think the boorishness will abate if he's elected.

I do not have a fix on his foreign policy yet except it looks worryingly like the "america first" stuff from the 30s.
One example of how: a friend from eastern Europe asked if the US would protect his country if invaded. Well, if he lived in Poland the answer is yes, any president any time. But for a small country near Russia with President Trump? If there was a surprise that cost Trump or America to lose face I think Trump would act, but what if there were "negotiations" and a trade on some issue.

[Madiel]

I'm not going to debate you. That response shows enough about your commitment to impartial discussion.

Does it?

I'm not an American. I don't have an allegiance to an American political party.

My skepticism is a direct result of the length of time this topic has been in the public arena without anything leading to criminal charges. Okay, so there's been a recent report. Before that, there were hearings. This issue has been raked over, for far longer and in far more detail, than most criminal investigations would ever be. The average prosecutor would go weak at the knees at the thought of having these kinds of resources available.

And for what? For any actual effect? Where's the meaningful legal outcome?

The political outcome is, of course, huge. The chance to say over and over again that Clinton is a crook is as far as I can see the entire purpose of the exercise.

And heck, it's hardly unique in that regard, Australia has its fair share of similar cases where the political benefits are of much more interest to the players than any legal result of a trial or conviction. I don't like it any more when it happens here.


In short, if you think my reaction has something to do with party politics, you are sorely mistaken. My reaction has to do with Politics, period. As a lawyer dedicated to the rule of law, I find this kind of use of the legal process to be highly objectionable, not to say tiresome. If they'd found something she would have been charged by now. The fact that she's not been charged would not, in any normal case, be the cue to continue looking.

[Karl Henning]

[...] I think the boorishness will abate if he's elected.

Oh, I hold no hope for that, at all.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Oh, I hold no hope for that, at all.

Indeed. When boorishness is your main selling point, why give it up?

[Ken B]

Oh, I hold no hope for that, at all.

Well my reasoning is that it's partly a tactic. Once elected it is no longer a useful one. There are precedents: Truman was actually pretty nasty in the 48 campaign.

Indeed. When boorishness is your main selling point, why give it up?

As I said, no longer useful.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Well my reasoning is that it's partly a tactic. Once elected it is no longer a useful one. There are precedents: Truman was actually pretty nasty in the 48 campaign.

As I said, no longer useful.

That's the Prince Hal approach I mentioned months before: once in office, my immaturities will melt away and you'll see the fine figure I truly am.

Difference was, Hal had the job sewn up from day one.

[Ken B]

That's the Prince Hal approach I mentioned months before: once in office, my immaturities will melt away and you'll see the fine figure I truly am.

Difference was, Hal had the job sewn up from day one.

I'm not predicting a maturing. I think what we see now is partly an act.

[Ken B]

I hate "survey science", and recall mocking this study when it came out. Now I must exactly reverse all my mockery 

he authors regret that there is an error in the published version of "Correlation not Causation: The Relationship between Personality Traits and Political Ideologies" American Journal of Political Science 56 (1), 34–51. The interpretation of the coding of the political attitude items in the descriptive and preliminary analyses portion of the manuscript was exactly reversed.

Exactly reversed. Exactly reversed.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2016/06/epic-correction-of-the-decade.php

Who knew that nonsense on stilts was exactly the same after your reverse it??

[28Orot]

It's not much more substantial than Obama being a Kenyan Muslim, frankly. It's all about attempting to delegitimise a person, rather than engaging with the substance.

Da Bush Years...
Remember what those so called substantive dems did to him?

[28Orot]

After winning the California primary Hillary declared in somehow typical Tolkinian Lord of the Ring style rhetoric the following outburst:


"Thanks to you, we've reached a milestone," she said during a speech in Brooklyn. "Tonight's victory is not about one person. It belongs to generations of women and men who struggled and sacrificed and made this moment possible." CNN    http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/07/politics/primary-results-highlights/

Looks like someone was watching Aragon's speech at his crowning just a few many times:

https://www.youtube.com/v/4FPkVl_aeOM

[Todd]

"Thanks to you, we've reached a milestone," she said during a speech in Brooklyn. "Tonight's victory is not about one person. It belongs to generations of women and men who struggled and sacrificed and made this moment possible."

It's a communal effort, something bigger than herself, something that everyone can share in.  It's collectivist.  Democrats eat that shit up.

[28Orot]

It's a communal effort, something bigger than herself, something that everyone can share in.  It's collectivist.  Democrats eat that shit up.

Of course

[Ken B]

After winning the California primary Hillary declared in somehow typical Tolkinian Lord of the Ring style rhetoric the following outburst:


"Thanks to you, we've reached a milestone," she said during a speech in Brooklyn. "Tonight's victory is not about one person. It belongs to generations of women and men who struggled and sacrificed and made this moment possible." CNN    http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/07/politics/primary-results-highlights/

Looks like someone was watching Aragon's speech at his crowning just a few many times:

https://www.youtube.com/v/4FPkVl_aeOM

It's the moment the seas start to recede, the planet starts to heal.

[28Orot]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Hilary_(2011)

The similarities are staggering...

Hurricane Hilary (2011)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Hurricane Hilary was a very powerful and intense hurricane that developed during the 2011 Pacific hurricane season. The fourth Category 4 and major hurricane, seventh hurricane, and eighth tropical storm of the season, Hilary developed from an area of low pressure off the Pacific coast of Central America in mid-September. Organizing quickly, the system became a tropical depression on September 21, after gaining enough organization to be declared as such. While moving towards the west-northwest, the depression continued to gather strength, and was subsequently upgraded to a tropical storm just several hours later. On September 21, Hilary was declared as a Category 1 hurricane, while located close to the Mexican coastline, where the storm brought heavy rainfall and flooding. Undergoing rapid intensification, Hilary strengthened into a Category 4 hurricane on September 22, recognized with a distinct eye feature. Beginning to enter cooler Ocean temperatures, Hilary began to weaken by September 25, but briefly restrengthened into a Category 4 the following day. Atmospheric conditions became increasingly unfavorable late on September 26, and the system began to weaken. During the afternoon hours of September 30, Hilary became a remnant low, while located several hundred miles away from any landmasses.

[Mookalafalas]

It's a communal effort, something bigger than herself, something that everyone can share in.  It's collectivist.  Democrats eat that shit up.

  Right. Republicans prefer prostration to an overlord. I loved the Putin-envy thing last year "Why can't Obama be a real leader, like him"

[28Orot]

  Right. Republicans prefer prostration to an overlord. I loved the Putin-envy thing last year "Why can't Obama be a real leader, like him"

Yea right, its not about her . Do you really believe even for a second that she did this for anyone but herself?

A dignified human being would have escaped the public life and restored herself to private life just from the sheer shame and humiliation of what her husband did. But the media together with the democratic establishment had unsurprisingly prostrated at the Clinton Family, trying to exonerate bill of any wrong doing, as if he was totally clueless at what he was doing with that intern. Some people even suggesting :" oh come on, what did he already do". To his great credit at that time Joe Lieberman had not prostrated and I believe he was the only one and he publicly rebuked clinton for his grave behavior and the terrible role model he has become for young people, and the cheapening of the office of Presidency.

So if you ask me, I would say that the Dems have invented prostration.

[Mookalafalas]

I'm not predicting a maturing. I think what we see now is partly an act.

  Ken, weren't there a lot of people saying the same thing after he clinched the nomination--and then expressing shock when there was no change at all?  I assumed he would be capable of a huge pivot--after all, he's been a wildly successful TV performer for years.  But if he can adjust his style, why isn't he?  His reading off the teleprompter the other night didn't strike me as a changing of hats; it was more like seeing a bear wearing a muzzle.  Or an ADD kid dosed with prozac.  King Kong chained up on stage.  I don't think it's going to last very long--especially if Hillary gets a big bounce, and more attacks are made against him.