The Seriously? Theatre of Absurdity, Ignorance, and Bad Posts V

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The prevailing babble surrounding Governor Jeb Bush's "last name problem" is fundamentally flawed. For years, Condoleezza Rice has said that the Bush administration will not be judged by the headlines of his time in office. History, not headlines, create legacies.

We've seen a sort of vindication of the Bush administration in recent years. The idealistic, hopeful civil libertarian Barack Obama took office, sat down for an intelligence briefing, and, after hearing what he did, flip flopped on virtually every major civil liberties and foreign policy position. President Obama expanded W's faith-based initiative. Thanks to Bush-era intelligence, President Obama got to walk out in front of the cameras and declare Osama bin Laden was dead.

Additionally, we can now look back on the Bush administration's attempt in 2003 to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which would have avoided the global financial crisis. Great champions of financial reform like Barney Frank ripped Treasury Secretary John Snow for pushing government to regulate itself. If only we had listened. If only we had acted.

The vindication of the realistic, but principled foreign policy of the Bush administration rings especially true. While President Obama moves on Cuba to try to recover some semblance of authority on foreign affairs, his intervention in Libya unraveled the nation. Iraq went unanswered in their calls for help for months before any action was taken. Foreign policy is a major source of "I told you so" for the Bush administration.

Onto the much-derided tax relief, the entire dialogue changed. In the discussion of the fiscal cliff deal, the middle class tax relief that Democrats once said wasn't worthwhile was haggled over as a vital interest to the middle class. After the Bush tax cuts, the top 5% actually paid more of the taxes, up to 60% in 2005 from 44% in 1990. Revenue also increased somewhere around 20% above inflation, in no small part due to the highest rate of GDP growth in two decades.

Saying this will upset a lot of people: TARP worked. The economy was riddled with bad debt. Toxic assets threatened the integrity of the entire financial system. The decades of work and savings by middle class families hung in the balance. The rescue of the financial industry also returned a profit for the taxpayer.

Culturally, George W. Bush seemed real to a lot of people. He seemed genuine. He seemed like he cared. President Obama is actually having a bit of a likability problem now. The chart at the top of this post, favorability numbers, is actually what carried him to re-election, not his job approval. Being five points underwater is very bad news for the President. W is remembered as connected, likable, and, yes, hilarious.

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I'm trying to make a point. This forum, specifically this board, is dominated by overly subjective analysis. The Obama Campaign gained prominence for throwing out trash conventional wisdom and replacing it with objective, data-driven analysis. The Atlas should strongly consider doing something similar.

A fundamental concept in American politics is this: voters matter. The most recent example is in a congressional thread, someone stated Toomey is going to be a strong contender for re-election because of reputation to have a moderate, bipartisan tendency. That simple statement was met with the rebuttal that "Toomey is not moderate."

That isn't the point. It doesn't at all matter what he is or isn't. It's about what the voters think he is or isn't. The bottom line is, the Dubya Derangement is not nearly as big of a deal as people think. One George Bush is +8 in opinion, the other is +31 in opinion.

That's what matters. Throw out the garbage conventional wisdom.

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Not to mention that Rape is much worse than being falsely accused of rape.

This is very, very debatable. An argument could be made that there are actually more long standing ramifications of being falsely accused.

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Jesus Christ, just ban this guy already.

Yeah, people have a right to hold terrible opinions. We call it freedom of speech.

This is a private forum. Cory is a cancer. He needs to be eliminated.

I understand it is a private forum, but that is a decision for Leip and Leip alone to decide on. And judging by what I know of Mr. Leip, I don't see him banning Cory over this. It took years for Opebo to be banned, keep in mind.

Actually, that is decision for Nym, since Dave delegated his authority to him.

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What is KittenAdam?

A post-post-modern masterpiece in internet flirting. Do a Google search for: atlas forum worst post

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Being a Jew means being a minority. When they became a majority, they stopped being Jews.

To quote Tsar Nicholas II's last words: "AYY LMAO"

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No. Coffee looks and smells disgusting, and I never wish to try it.

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Stop being mean to politicuSS

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The Teutons have a very stiff sense of humor and no sense of irony.

Teutons? Where?

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The Teutons have a very stiff sense of humor and no sense of irony. Because they think they earned everything they have. As an Irish you learned this the hard way.  Politicus thinks Ireland needs more England whether she'll admit it or not.  But thats because the Irish have infiltrated everything and seduced the people with spirits and music. (You can take our land...but we'll take your souls!)  she's mad that rule following and brute force didn't work.

Danes are not Germans (or Swedes for that matter) irony is an integrated part of our humor and we use it all the time, but oakvale is not good at it. It is the principle - bad irony = bad post.

He didn't say German, he said Teutonic, which is another word for calling the Germanic people and Danes are the North Germanic people.

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So, the BS Bob is back.

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I love the new Snowguy.

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Unborn babies apparently still subject to DP. what the Nebraska unicameral did today should get them primaried out.

Physically sickening betrayal of the electorate

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Massive HP. She is an absolutely filthy, degenerate, blasphemous harlot who despises Jesus Christ and has made a living off of mocking and denigrating Him; in addition to promoting and encouraging sin amongst the populace (which is all Hollywood ever does). The American entertainment industry is an abomination, and nobody should allow their children to consume what it produces.

http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Evils%20in%20America/Hellivision/comedians.htm

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MAJOR FF!!!!! Only reason he got squashed in NH = media desire for one less person on the debate stage.

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Jesus F**king Christ...

Charles de Gaulle was a military leader who led the Free French Forces during World War 2.  After the war he became the leader of France, and pushed through a new economic system, but quit when he was sick of all the petty bickering and cheap politics.  He came back into power fifteen years later and passed constitutional amendments to reorganize France with the president as the most powerful figure.  His foreign policy revolved around restoring French glory and establishing French autonomy at the expense of many of her allies, particularly Britain and the United States.  He withdrew from NATO and developed nuclear weapons for France to pursue these aims.  He also tried to keep up good relations with the Soviet Union and various communist states, seeing France as an independent global power rather than on any particular side in the Cold War.  He granted Algeria, a French colony, self-determination rather than engaging in a long, bloody struggle to keep it.  Economically, he boycotted the European Economic Community as it was trying to move towards what the EU is today, and vetoed the UK's desire to join the EEC.  Perhaps most significantly, he killed Bretton Woods by exchanging all French US dollars for gold in protest of the dollar's global power, which led Nixon to switch the dollar from a gold-backed currency to a fiat currency.

Essentially, he was a non-politician who swept into power on his personal popularity, which was largely based around the perception that he was a strongman who was above petty politics.  His foreign policy wasn't exactly isolationist but more of an extreme pragmatism, and he was highly nationalistic and determined to protect his country's strength and interests, at the expense of many of his allies.  Economically he was a bully who smacked other countries around, including an assault on a highly impactful economic pact, to protect his country's financial interests.

Sound familiar?

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That endorsement was surely a display of extreme courage

John Bel Edwards supports Hillary Clinton.

https://twitter.com/elizabethcrisp/status/705813437071265792

What a brave FF!

Glad to have the high energy Vitter-crusher on Hillary's side rather than the low energy attention whore LOSER Jim Webb!

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FL is a blue state when it comes to Senate races.

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FL is a blue state when it comes to Senate races.

Ummmm yeah, it's much easier for a Democrat to win a Senate race in FL than it is for a Republican.

I must disagree.

First, the Democratic bench in Florida is extremely limited. If you're referring to Bill Nelson, well, he's extremely lucky. He ran for reelection in 2006, benefiting from a nationwide wave, as well as having a terrible opponent, while 2012 was also Democratic-friendly year. Imagine him running in either 2010 or 2014.

But he's a veteran incumbent. Democrats capturing an open Senate seat in Florida is much diffrent story. They failed to do it since 2000 while Republicans did it a couple of times.

If you're claiming that Democrats have better prospect at the Senate in Florida, as opposed to other state elections, I may agree, but a "blue state"? Come on. It's swing at the very best.

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Mandatory Carry of a Firearm for anybody but a criminal , National Concealed Carry, Simple Background Check and Abolishment of most firearm laws.

Lol mandatory.

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Libya is Hillary's mess and it is going to dog her in the general.
Obama had nothing to do with it. It was all Hillary and Obama playing along.

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Now, that's a bad post:

Looks like something good came out of the Sanders scampaign after all.  LOL

Yeah. Indictment and deportation of Antonio V.

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I prefer the one word version: Socialism

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Can we please just drop that matter?

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So, jfern is trying to say that Hillary beats Trump and then, after less than a year, appoints him her Vice President and die?

MAKES PERFECT SENSE

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As a millennial and a progressive, I will be voting Trump in the GE if Hillary is nominated. Frankly, right-wing progressivism is more welcome to me than corporatist stagnation. And there is the very real chance Trump just played all the Republican voters and is actually more liberal than Hillary. I'll take a fascist moderate over center-right Hillary.

#NeverClinton

I honestly think this may be one of the worst posts in Atlas Forum history.

A fascist what?

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It gets worse:

At the best, Trump is a revolutionary fascist moderate with both liberal and conservative values. At the worst, he's a revolutionary fascist right-wing Progressive. Overall, that works out better than Hillary.

Would the OP kindly explain to us all the differences between a "moderate fascist", "progressive fascist" and "conservative fascist"? Bonus point if he'll elaborate on a "moderate hero fascist" issue.