Political Theatre category archive
Haters Gotta Hate 0
Jack Ohman strugges to understand the Hillary haters. A nugget:
She might even lose to a guy who runs (enables) beauty pageants, which is the human equivalent of a stockyard auction for women. Last poll I saw, 65 percent of GOP women will vote for this sexist clown in November.
Do read the rest.
Frankly, I don’t see “likeability” as a qualification for anything, except perhaps game show host. Con artists are always likeable; being likeable is essential to the con. A significant percentage of voters found President George the Worst likeable, and you know how well that worked out.
Hillary Clinton has been the target of an almost three-decade campaign of conservative calumny. Persons view her through a veil of Republican lies, unable to tell where the lies end and the person begins. In the meantime, they choose to support Donald Trump, who is a veil of lies.
Words fail me.
Rules 0
I was at a political function this past weekend. One of my acquaintances was kvetching about complaints from Sanders supporters about some primaries, specifically, complaints that they “had not been allowed to vote,” when, in fact, the issue was that they had not ensured that they were properly registered to vote.
Virginia is an open primary state, but many states have “closed primaries,” which means that, if you wish to vote in a party primary, you must be a registered to vote as a member of that party. If you wish to vote in the Democratic primary, you must be registered as a Democrat; in the Republican primary, registered as a Republican; in the Green Party primary, registered as a Green, and so on. Delaware, where I used to live, was a “closed primary” state.
This is nothing new.
Sanders supporters who were not registered as Democrats were not allowed to vote in Democratic primaries in closed primary states, and, frankly, that was their own damn fault.
“How simple would it have been,” fumed my acquaintance, “for Bernie to tell his supporters to register to vote.”
For more about rules, see Balloon Juice.
National PTSD 0
(Embed fixed.)
Thom rambles his way to a damn good point.
Listen up, y’hear.
Kristolizing #NeverTrump 0
Shorter Dick Polman: Bill Kristol is always wrong.
Earned or Deserved? 0
At The Charlotte Observer, Eric Frazier looks at Donald Trump’s campaign and wonders whether Americans really are as dumb as their international reputation. A snippet:
When I asked why that’s a bad thing, she said the foreign exchange kids tend to presume Americans are stupid unless proven otherwise. They assume Americans aren’t as well-traveled, or as fluent in foreign languages or as knowledgeable about world cultures.
I said what any Good American would: Why don’t they stay home, then?
Oh, she replied, they don’t think our colleges are stupid. Just the people.
Slip Sliding Away 0
In my local rag, Phil Terrana marvels at the multitude uses of the “slippery slope” argument to justify inaction and asks,
Is never doing the right thing our only defense against the wrong thing?
Follow the link to see why he asks that question.
Unlikely Likelies 0
Dan Simpson finds eerie similarities between the behavior of Donald Trump and that of Kim Jong Un.
Read it. It’s spooky.
Hibernation’s Over 1
Grumpy Bear reminds the polity that ain’t nobody going to do it for you. A nugget:
Read it.
Taking the Fight to the Enemy 0
Dick Polman explains Elizabeth Warren’s Twitter feud with Donald Trump. A snippet:
Warren isn’t just doing this for the sheer pleasure of venting. She’s hitting Trump where he lives, on his favorite platform, because it’s smart politics.
Follow the link to find out why Polman considers this “smart politics.”