2902

Yeah, that’s who he is marketing the idea to. His audience is the GOP base. No other audience is relevant to the GOP. That’s sad, but that’s where they are as a party. I’m just trying to point out that this idea doesn’t make him some kind of religious crusader or other undesirable sort.

If it comes to pass, and the actual broadcasts talk a lot about Jesus and the holy trinity, then it turns into a counterproductive and terrible idea. I just didn’t get the sense that he proposes to do that.

2903

I like to call it, all the opinion porn you can shake a stick at. It does a good job of aggregating the topics of discussion. There are even some browser extensions/plug-ins which will color the various sources on the scale from deep red to deep blue.

I use it to see what both sides are bitching about, but one of the meta things I’ve noticed lately is that there aren’t many discussions where you get a good sampling of the gamut of political opinion - you tend to see the blue/liberal sources talking about blue meat topics, and red/conservative sources talking aobut red meat topics. It’s no wonder politicians can’t work together, they’re talking past one another to their base and not listening much.

2904

Honestly, regarding the religious spin that Kasich uses, while it’s not my bag, I actually find it kind of refreshing.

I actually like the fact that he cites religion, not as a justification for treating people like shit, but rather as a reason to actually care about your fellow man.

It’s sad that such a thing requires justification at all, but it’s good to have someone actually willing to simply state the simple truth that Jesus’ whole freaking message was about helping and loving your fellow man. Because really, that’s what the religions folks in this country need to come back to, and not the religious zealotry that is obsessed with trying to oppress everyone while simultaneously not caring at all about people.

It Kasich is going to say, “were supposed to help poor people because that’s what Christians are supposed to freaking do” then more power to him. Because he’s right. Christianity isn’t about hating gay people and stopping abortions. It’s about helping people.

2905

Maybe, but what he actually said was “We’re going to push Western values in cultures with different belief systems, because that’s what Christians are supposed to freaking do”. Which is more dubious.

2906

Yeah, dude, it’s like totally new to hear a Republican politician pander to his evangelical base. It’s been too many years since GWB stood in PA in front of a crowd of Quakers and claimed that God literally spoke through him.

2907

No, what’s weird is WHAT he’s using the religion to push. Like when he was criticized for things like accepting medicaid stuff, and he was like, “last I checked, Christians are supposed to help poor people”.

Maybe, but what he actually said was “We’re going to push Western values in cultures with different belief systems, because that’s what Christians are supposed to freaking do”. Which is more dubious.

I’d agree that’s dubious, I don’t know what that’s about. I was talking more about some of his prior statements.

2908

If Kasich meant a media agency promoting American values like freedom, then he is an idiot because we already have that. If he meant an agency pushing Christian religious values, then he’s an asshole.

I’m fine with either interpretation.

2909

Exactly. He could’ve actually impressed moderate independents with a thoughtful press release on the importance of democratic ideals and human rights, setting himself apart from a Republican party so obviously willing to trample on our traditions and ideals out of rank fear, but instead choose to remain in campaign mode and pander to the Christian Right.

2910

You realize he is running to be the Republican nominee and not the Democratic one, right?

2911

I can only imagine how the refugees will be treated if the feds force resettlement into those states now that they’ve been so wonderfully demagogue’d by today’s apocalyptic cult of fear and hate posturing as a political body.

2912

The ideal of who we are is decidedly far from who we actually are in reality. WaPo has graphs of American attitudes toward Jewish refugees in the 30’s. We’ve learned nothing from history and it’s shameful.

Shep Smith (yes I know, liberals favorite Fox news anchor) phrases it pretty eloquently:

In the face of terror, will we panic, or be calm and deliberative in approach? Confronted with those who want to change our way of life, will we abandon our freedoms and the rights granted to us by the Creator, or will we welcome huddled masses yearning to breathe free?…

Our shining city on a hill is vulnerable. We’ve always known that. If we change it to accommodate the savages, have they won? And what then would be left to protect? We profess to stand as an example for all the world — our unique experiment in freedom, tolerance, openness, and equality is our gift to societies and peoples everywhere.…

We must not let the rhetoric of potential and political extremists among us lead us to self-destruction. When there’s panic, we show resolve. When there’s call for extremism, we resist. We are America. We must lead.

2913

Yeah, pretty much. I wonder if anyone would have predicated that with the proliferation of the Internet this would be the result of information being instantly available.

2914

Ben Carson’s campaign puts out map with states in the wrong place.

I don’t even.

2915

Fuck Vermont, says Carson.

2916

Hey hey hey, those states are making a break for Canada! Somebody stop them!

2917

Vermont. Has a kind of Frenchy sound to it. I’m just saying.

2918

Oh, I see there is a new gun-shaped state in New England, too. You’d think it would be red, though.

2919

Haha, that map is awesome.

2920

Let’s be fair here, though: New England is nothing but a bunch of messy scribbles over various bays and islands that someone decided to apply names to once.

2921

At least our bays and islands are staying more or less where they are for now. As opposed to those off the Carolinas…