McCain (on Trump): Dictators 'get started by suppressing free press'

[(Still) muted by Kalwejt until March 31]

Guess that's why McCain voted for the Portman-Murphy anti-press law:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countering_Foreign_Propaganda_and_Disinformation_Act

[(Still) muted by Kalwejt until March 31]

The recent glorification by the left of the warmongering/neocon/evil to the core segment of the GOP simply because they oppose Trump is pathetic.

-Agreed. These people are sick. Cults of anti-personality (or cults of personality!) are never my cup of tea.

[(Still) muted by Kalwejt until March 31]

www.cnn.com/2017/02/18/politics/john-mccain-donald-trump-dictators/index.html

McCain understands that this country was founded on ideas, and protecting the First Amendments protects us far more than blocking nonviolent immigrants from coming here.

-Ideas without people suitable for their exercise are dead ones. McCain is a strong enemy of the First Amendment, and only desires this country to transform into one totally unsuitable for any real freedom.

America's ideas must be applied without regard to race, creed, or religion, otherwise they are completely empty. To argue that Americans are unsuitable for freedom just because they happen to be Muslim or of Mexican descent is misguided. McCain is imperfect but he understand this better than Trump.

-How's Mexico doing these days? Not well.

Mexico's institutions are the problem. So long as we keep our institutions (such as a free press, being one of those institutions) strong, Americans of Mexican descent can become good citizens. Just look at that Judge Curiel guy who Trump made that remark about. By all means, a very successful and productive member of society.

-Institutions are the product of people. Take a look at this:
https://thinkprogress.org/fbi-arrests-nearly-every-single-elected-official-in-a-texas-town-2ca19a2517a5#.rf9wd8eti

[(Still) muted by Kalwejt until March 31]

www.cnn.com/2017/02/18/politics/john-mccain-donald-trump-dictators/index.html

McCain understands that this country was founded on ideas, and protecting the First Amendments protects us far more than blocking nonviolent immigrants from coming here.

-Ideas without people suitable for their exercise are dead ones. McCain is a strong enemy of the First Amendment, and only desires this country to transform into one totally unsuitable for any real freedom.

America's ideas must be applied without regard to race, creed, or religion, otherwise they are completely empty. To argue that Americans are unsuitable for freedom just because they happen to be Muslim or of Mexican descent is misguided. McCain is imperfect but he understand this better than Trump.

-How's Mexico doing these days? Not well.

Mexico's institutions are the problem. So long as we keep our institutions (such as a free press, being one of those institutions) strong, Americans of Mexican descent can become good citizens. Just look at that Judge Curiel guy who Trump made that remark about. By all means, a very successful and productive member of society.

-Institutions are the product of people. Take a look at this:
https://thinkprogress.org/fbi-arrests-nearly-every-single-elected-official-in-a-texas-town-2ca19a2517a5#.rf9wd8eti

Um, the people in that story reported their town officials to the FBI, recalled them, and installed new leadership.

"Institutions are the product of people."

That explains why North Korea and South Korea have such similar institutions?

-North Korea was a Soviet puppet government which remained dancing long after its master had passed. It is the product of people, but of very few people. Dictatorships are always more variable in their acts than democracies. One should generally look at democracies for present purposes.

[(Still) muted by Kalwejt until March 31]

www.cnn.com/2017/02/18/politics/john-mccain-donald-trump-dictators/index.html

McCain understands that this country was founded on ideas, and protecting the First Amendments protects us far more than blocking nonviolent immigrants from coming here.

-Ideas without people suitable for their exercise are dead ones. McCain is a strong enemy of the First Amendment, and only desires this country to transform into one totally unsuitable for any real freedom.

America's ideas must be applied without regard to race, creed, or religion, otherwise they are completely empty. To argue that Americans are unsuitable for freedom just because they happen to be Muslim or of Mexican descent is misguided. McCain is imperfect but he understand this better than Trump.

-How's Mexico doing these days? Not well.

Mexico's institutions are the problem. So long as we keep our institutions (such as a free press, being one of those institutions) strong, Americans of Mexican descent can become good citizens. Just look at that Judge Curiel guy who Trump made that remark about. By all means, a very successful and productive member of society.

-Institutions are the product of people. Take a look at this:
https://thinkprogress.org/fbi-arrests-nearly-every-single-elected-official-in-a-texas-town-2ca19a2517a5#.rf9wd8eti

Um, the people in that story reported their town officials to the FBI, recalled them, and installed new leadership.

"Institutions are the product of people."

That explains why North Korea and South Korea have such similar institutions?

-North Korea was a Soviet puppet government which remained dancing long after its master had passed. It is the product of people, but of very few people. Dictatorships are always more variable in their acts than democracies. One should generally look at democracies for present purposes.

But if institutions are the product of people, how did North Korea end up as a dictatorship, and South Korea an eventual democracy? Are these people of different ethnicities?

-Again, North Korea ended up as a dictatorship due to the decisions of very few people (Stalin, Kim il-Sung, etc.). In any case, North Korea is obviously qualitatively different from similar one-man Marxist-Leninist totalitarian states. Look at its Index of Economic Complexity (of goods exports) -it is roughly at the same level as Mauritius and Greece, not Cuba, which ranks far lower.

[(Still) muted by Kalwejt until March 31]

Yes.

And dictators get their way because of people like McCain who do nothing to stop them.

-Not "nothing to stop"; actively encourage government to become a dictatorship. Take a look at the measures McCain has voted for and disagrees with Trump on.

[(Still) muted by Kalwejt until March 31]

www.cnn.com/2017/02/18/politics/john-mccain-donald-trump-dictators/index.html

McCain understands that this country was founded on ideas, and protecting the First Amendments protects us far more than blocking nonviolent immigrants from coming here.

-Ideas without people suitable for their exercise are dead ones. McCain is a strong enemy of the First Amendment, and only desires this country to transform into one totally unsuitable for any real freedom.

America's ideas must be applied without regard to race, creed, or religion, otherwise they are completely empty. To argue that Americans are unsuitable for freedom just because they happen to be Muslim or of Mexican descent is misguided. McCain is imperfect but he understand this better than Trump.

-How's Mexico doing these days? Not well.

Mexico's institutions are the problem. So long as we keep our institutions (such as a free press, being one of those institutions) strong, Americans of Mexican descent can become good citizens. Just look at that Judge Curiel guy who Trump made that remark about. By all means, a very successful and productive member of society.

-Institutions are the product of people. Take a look at this:
https://thinkprogress.org/fbi-arrests-nearly-every-single-elected-official-in-a-texas-town-2ca19a2517a5#.rf9wd8eti

Um, the people in that story reported their town officials to the FBI, recalled them, and installed new leadership.

"Institutions are the product of people."

That explains why North Korea and South Korea have such similar institutions?

-North Korea was a Soviet puppet government which remained dancing long after its master had passed. It is the product of people, but of very few people. Dictatorships are always more variable in their acts than democracies. One should generally look at democracies for present purposes.

But if institutions are the product of people, how did North Korea end up as a dictatorship, and South Korea an eventual democracy? Are these people of different ethnicities?

-Again, North Korea ended up as a dictatorship due to the decisions of very few people (Stalin, Kim il-Sung, etc.). In any case, North Korea is obviously qualitatively different from similar one-man Marxist-Leninist totalitarian states. Look at its Index of Economic Complexity (of goods exports) -it is roughly at the same level as Mauritius and Greece, not Cuba, which ranks far lower.

Are you seriously arguing that North Korea is better off than Cuba?

-Not in living standards, but in the diversity and rarity of its goods exports. Likewise, Qatar is substantially better off than Bulgaria, but certainly not in the diversity and rarity of its goods exports.

Take a look:
http://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/profile/country/prk/
http://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/profile/country/cub/

It requires quite a bit more knowledge to have the industries North Korea has than to have those which Cuba has.

[(Still) muted by Kalwejt until March 31]

The recent glorification by the left of the warmongering/neocon/evil to the core segment of the GOP simply because they oppose Trump is pathetic.

I always had a relatively high opinion of John McCain.

This goes back to his opposition to some of George W. Bush's policies though... like his opposition to torture.

Foreign policy-wise, McCain is indeed way too much of a hawk for my taste. This is why I wouldn't want to see him as president.

Still, he was probably the most decent man the Republicans nominated for president in the past 20 years.

-I find nothing decent about either McCain or Romney as politicians.

[(Still) muted by Kalwejt until March 31]

The recent glorification by the left of the warmongering/neocon/evil to the core segment of the GOP simply because they oppose Trump is pathetic.

How many people heaping praises to McCain/Graham, or wanting Evan McMullin to run for Senate, also said Bernie shouldn't be the nominee because he's "Not a real Democrat?"

-Like, half, probably. Major HPs, these guys.

[(Still) muted by Kalwejt until March 31]

-Not in living standards, but in the diversity and rarity of its goods exports. Likewise, Qatar is substantially better off than Bulgaria, but certainly not in the diversity and rarity of its goods exports.

Take a look:
http://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/profile/country/prk/
http://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/profile/country/cub/

It requires quite a bit more knowledge to have the industries North Korea has than to have those which Cuba has.

North Korea started with the advantage of containing the industrial areas of the pre-WW II Korea, yet on a per capita basis, Cuba's exports are 25% higher than North Korea's.  Hmm, so much for the superiority of Best Korea over what should have been our 51st State.

-This is due purely to Cuba's obvious and massive advantage in agricultural exports.

Cuba should probably not have become the Fifty-First State, but the abandonment of the Monroe Doctrine in the late 1950s was a disgrace.

[(Still) muted by Kalwejt until March 31]

I've said many times that it was actually John McCain's presidential campaign in 2008 that first inspired my interest in politics, and it's great to see that McCain continues to be a terrific American leader -- a true man of the people, if I may say so

The man of the people that got 45 percent of the popular vote. Ayy.

-That's not a good indicator for whether a man is one of the people. Rather, one must examine his primary constituency. When one examines this, one gets mixed results, with Huckabee generally having a more "man of the people" (though, really, rural Greater Appalachian) vibe. McCain is definitely a man of the North, despite him representing Arizona (where Romney came close in 2008). Romney was the candidate in 2008 who can least be described as a man of the people.

[(Still) muted by Kalwejt until March 31]

The recent glorification by the left of the warmongering/neocon/evil to the core segment of the GOP simply because they oppose Trump is pathetic.

I always had a relatively high opinion of John McCain.

This goes back to his opposition to some of George W. Bush's policies though... like his opposition to torture.

Foreign policy-wise, McCain is indeed way too much of a hawk for my taste. This is why I wouldn't want to see him as president.

Still, he was probably the most decent man the Republicans nominated for president in the past 20 years.

-I find nothing decent about either McCain or Romney as politicians.

What do you dislike about the only 2 decent people that have been nominated by major parties in this country in this century?

-Their support for the Iraq War, for a start. McCain's support for McCain-Feingold. Romney's support for Romneycare. I still don't see anything decent about them as politicians.