LOL where is that like button?
Kappa
I laughed at this, nice one.
I had no idea that was a thing. I need someone to text this kind of stuff to me so that I can keep up on the code words. I will have to remember to never use that term regards men again.
Just to spinn back to Pelosi, I think in large part it does have to do with her being a woman. While the right dislikes/disliked Harry Reid, he didn’t get half the ire thrown at him that Pelosi does. She has been completely demonized to the right. To the degree that she is one of the top 3 GOP boogeymen - Clinton, Pelosi and Soros.
Additionally, with regards to Pelosi’s “Hyper-partisanship”, I’d argue that it’s less than most of the GOP leaders in Congress, and that it developed as a reaction to the GOP’s shift towards “Hyper-partisanship” since Gingrich and DeLay’s move of the GOP to zero-sum politics. I believe that Pelosi is and has been far more open to compromise than just about anyone in the GOP has been for decades, it’s just that the GOP hasn’t been interested in that foundation of our Union for a loooong time.
Well, Reid caught quite a lot of flack, but I agree Pelosi gets more.
When I say she’s hyper partisan, I’m talking about how she constantly turns everything into an us vs. them struggle. Like, everything. At some point in every speech she turns to castigating “The Republicans”.
Like I said, at this point I can hardly say I find it unwarranted, and the right wing engages in exactly the same sort of thing… But I believe it definitely contributes to the polarization of our politics. It turns the discussion away from the issues and policy, and makes it into combat against enemies. And at that point, you start getting folks who stop looking at the facts at all, since all that matters is that “their team” beats the “other guys”.
I agree that it contributes to the polarization, but I’d argue that it’s a function of 2 things.
- The transformation of the GOP into a party which can win elections but cannot govern due to an inability/unwillingness to even acknowledge that half the country thinks differently and compromise is necessary in all things. At some point calling out the ludicrosity of that position and taking a stand is necessary, and that point was over a decade ago.
- More importantly - $$$$ (I don’t think I can put enough dollar signs here). The necessity of raising money makes hyperbolic partisan statements fundraising gold for both sides (as well as right wing radio/media). It also creates an entire ecosystem of people dependent upon keeping the hyper-partisanship drum beating for financial gain.
I blame Trump.
Yes, Trump wasn’t the start of the path that led us here, but he brought one very important thing to office that really dealt a ton of damage to our democracy. Donald Trump normalized the acceptance of open corruption and flaunting of laws/morality.
In the past, politicians on both sides would feel some shame, embarrassment or fear of getting caught with their hand in the cookie jar. Trump just does not and it is spreading.
This is totally true, and I’ve harped about it for ages. Folks like Kasich have proven that they actually understand this and can work with democrats to do shit. But folks like the “Freedom caucus” are pure assholes who have not even the barest grasp of this. And Kasich is basically a lone voice in the wilderness at this point, constantly attacked by his own party for being a RINO.
What I fear is that you’re going to start seeing the same thing on the Dem side. Hell, you already are starting to see it, with folks who refused to vote for Clinton because she wasn’t pure enough for them.
The thing is, it gets stuck in a feedback loop, because these guys are being bigger and bigger assholes to each other, which then justifies that demonization in their minds, which causes them to act even worse and reject compromise even more.
Oh god. Could you imagine if George Soros had a vagina?
EDIT: Uhhh… that sounded way less weird in my head.
I think as we have seen with the current congress the GOP itself is so fractured as to be unable to govern. The GOP is not a single voice crying out for the same thing. Look at the AHCA, you would have thought that would have been passed and done with by now, but elements within the GOP can’t even agree what to do with it.
On another thread there was a conservative who joked (he was joking) about all the liberals disappearing. I replied that today even the GOP couldn’t agree because of it’s left and right wings, and his reply is one I have seen often over the last few years, that the RINO’s are basically liberals so they would disappear as well.
No, I cannot.
You pervert.
These two things conceptually do not belong in the same paragraph. And therein lies the problem. How can you expect any compromise from Democrats when there is zero compromise from Republicans and there hasn’t been in a very long time? Look at the senate handling of the current health care plan to see exactly what I mean. I don’t think you can compromise with most of the congressional Republicans. They will just see it as weakness and roll over you for it. There is little hope of compromise when it’s a one way street.
Oh, it’s a single voice crying out, it just happens to be crying out for a purge of liberals/democrats/anyone who disagrees with the corporate/religious/militaristic agenda. It’s not “for” anything, just against whatever the manufactured hate is targeting.
I would argue this is more due to how disliked the AHCA is. Republicans are breaking ranks out of fear of political consequences.
Trump is digging such a deep grave for himself that I think the problem will fix itself soon; at least that’s what it looks like across the Atlantic.
I think the Trump campaign helped the start of the inner fighting a lot, which is always a great thing in politics - single-mindness drives corruption and cronyism.
People keep telling me I deserve Trump and all the shit that’s been wrong in this country for however many decades, so I guess I blame myself.