Political Theatre category archive

It’s thing.

Despite what Republicans say, persons are not poor because they want to be poor. Persons are poor because they have no other choice.

Furrfu.

Hedrick Smith points out the the Republican House of Representatives is under the control of Gerry Mander and his entire staff. A bit:

Gerrymandering? Mention it and most of the current generation of political reporters roll their eyes, dismissing it as an age-old and therefore irrelevant political malady.

But they are missing a central point: One root cause of the mutiny that ousted Speaker John Boehner and blocked House Majority leader Kevin McCarthy is the Great Republican Gerrymander of 2011, which helped elect and now protects the 45 ideological insurgents in the House.

Via Michael in Norfolk.

What Noz said.

That’s pretty much why I don’t waste my time watching candidate debates. They are theatre–at this point, they are the worst kind of theatre, institutionalized kabuki theatre–not discourse.

Ethan Strimling unifies Portland’s only Republican.

Daniel Ruth muses about why Paul Ryan is reluctant to become Speaker of the House. A snippet:

Why would a smart political operative like Ryan standing on the very precipice of being handed the levers of influence — balk? Quite simply perhaps Ryan has looked at the job description and concluded, “Why would anyone want a position where you have to suck up to the likes of the tea party clucking hucksters and the right-wing talk radio Torquemadas all for a nice office with a view?”

(snip)

. . . .it might be more accurate to suspect Ryan has surveyed today’s political landscape and sees a GOP nuclear winter meets the Star Wars bar scene on the horizon.

In their most recent podcast, Bob and Chez go on at length that politics should not be entertainment and that treating it as entertainment opens the door to clowns and morons.

Ya’ think?

It’s all about the merch.

Shaun Mullen.

He’s quite correct, you know.

The next time you hear someone lament that the “Republican base” is pulling Republican candidates to take extreme positions, remind yourself that the candidates are not innocent victims of sinister forces.

The Republican party has the base it chose for itself. If the Republican Party wishes to identify a sinister force, well, it can look in the mirror.

Tony Norman puzzles it out.