The Good Post Gallery

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

To the left. Most of the potential democrats are to Obamas left but Cuomo.

Cuomo is also to the left of Obama on social issues. All of these candidates will have an easier job espousing liberal talking points now that the president has "evolved".

Cuomo is demonstrably to Obama's right on economic issues, however.

Yep, nothing wrong with that. Social issues are what the candidates are going to hang their hats on in the primary, however. Martin O'Malley certainly won't be trumpeting his fiscal record.

I'm certainly socially liberal, but I honestly have a problem with the Democratic Party abandoning its New Deal and Great Society principles while doubling down on social issues. It wins elections (I doubt it helps in your state, though ), but it feels like we're forced right and end up losing our ideological souls. Andrew Cuomo, based on his record as governor, would be the most right-wing Democratic nominee in over 90 years.

Hell, I oppose Cuomo because I think he's too right-wing economically, and I'm me. You know, I'm all in favor of spending and tax cuts, but you can really do that without proposing to throw thousands of homeless youth onto the streets, or what he did to the public employees, or his crazy-ass teacher evaluation deal, which won't work. He's to my right.

[traininthedistance]

I think he means this:

Naw, man, clearly Oldies has this map in mind:

Most of the Romney states lean blue here instead!  What's not to like!

[Northeast Rep Snowball]

I think he means this:

Naw, man, clearly Oldies has this map in mind:

Most of the Romney states lean blue here instead!  What's not to like!

I haven't followed this, but I thought that red was dem and blue was republican?

[Simfan34]

It is. It's 1964 inverted.

[Antonio the Sixth]

What is twitter and tweet?

A way for hep youngsters to talk to each other that a lot of people who aren't hep youngsters use. It's designed in such a way as to hinder, but not necessarily render entirely impossible, the development of complex thoughts.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

It is. It's 1964 inverted.

Yeah, sort of.  I mean "blue" as it normally is used (i.e. Democrat).  In other words, they would be red on the Atlas. Your earlier map is more what I was thinking.  However,  Republicans need to be strong everywhere, including the South, to succeed.

[Simfan34]

It is. It's 1964 inverted.

Yeah, sort of.  I mean "blue" as it normally is used (i.e. Democrat).  In other words, they would be red on the Atlas. Your earlier map is more what I was thinking.  However,  Republicans need to be strong everywhere, including the South, to succeed.

Not really. Even with this map, Dems lose 313-225. Looks like something from 1920, to be honest.

Maybe this in a lucky year? Oh dear, I've just reversed the colours; thanks to the map I still see it correctly!

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

What's inane about that? It's a great point, it serves as a deterrent, creates jobs, and isn't as harmful to those being processed as jail time or exuberant fines.

[Badger]

True. But it was Lewis who was being quoted, and his point was perfectly valid.

True. I misread it as part of Tweed's half-assed defense of driving under the influence. I've accordingly deleted my related posts as dreck.

[minionofmidas]

I've accordingly deleted my related posts as dreck.

While that's a good start - only 8196 more to go - I want to know what all this is about.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

A reply to a quoting of your posts about the benefits using 12 step programs on drunk drivers even if the drivers aren't actual alcoholics.

[Antonio the Sixth]

eegads man....the fear is stong with this one


Ok, how's about something you think might actually have a change at getting passed?

But that's the issue: Nothing that would seriously help solve the problem has even a remote chance of being passed.

[Platypus]

This thread on South Africa's political history is among the vry best the forum has ever had.

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=167844.0

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Context necessary

Is it Sam Spade's ego?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

RFK was really overrated when it came to civil rights.
Please watch the documentary "Freedom riders".  RFK called the Freedom Riders foolish, and thought they deserved to be taught a lesson (apparently for making him and his brother look bad) when the Mississippi police arrested them.  He only really began to care about civil rights when he realized that not doing anything made him look bad.
Also, lets not forget that his brother gave speeches to segregated (white only) audiences in the South while other prominent Democrats such as Stuart Symington refused to do so.
Ted was the only truly liberal Kennedy, fully capable of articulating progressive positions (because there's more to being a good politician than casting a vote) but he had his demons too.

[memphis]

You seem to be under the opinion that because your belief is principled or because it's a logical extension of existing, commonplace reasoning (i.e., that life begins at conception), it's not radical.

But in this society, it is. We're at a standoff regarding abortion rights in general, but very very few people seriously believe that raped women should be forced to have their baby. It's absolutely radical, and it's not a light decision. After having a man strip away her right not to be raped, we as a society believe that a group of men shouldn't then force her to carry her rapist's baby.

A lot of us are very conflicted on the issue of abortion. We know the facts -- we know what happens at conception, at what point a fetus is viable outside the womb, and we know the dangers of late-term abortions for both baby and mother. We try to create a patchwork of laws and rules to do the least amount of harm over an issue that no one will ever agree. I'm largely pro-choice, but not in 100% of situations. Just as some people are largely pro-life, but make exceptions for the life of the mother or rape.

It's not just about the baby, dude. It's about the woman. A woman who was just forcibly raped. And this woman is living in a highly discriminatory culture -- one where rape victims are frequently blamed for their own attack. One where, behind closed doors, high school football players in Ohio joke about raping and killing a classmate. It's a crime where perpetrators are almost never brought to justice. You can pretend that our culture abhors rape all you want -- the truth is that men in our culture are just a little bit too okay with it.



Why is that chart important? Because it's shows a side of rape we'd rather not see. Rape babies are often seen as the woman's fault. It's because the woman didn't fight hard enough to set off that mythical "in-body rape defense." It's because the woman "raped so easy." It's because the woman is trying to use being drunk as a defense about the sex we all know she probably wanted anyway. It's because the "rape" didn't happen -- it's just an excuse for the woman to get her abortion and escape the shame of being called a slut. Because isn't that what women who have sex with people who aren't us are? Sluts? These arguments are a very pervasive part of the ultra-conservative Republican culture right now. And they're abhorrent.

Being forced to choose between abortion and raising a rape baby is a pretty terrible thing for anyone -- pro-life or pro-choice. Our society believes that the woman -- the victim, forced to carry her attacker's child -- has the right to make the terrible decision on her own. What good can forcing this woman to carry her child have? You're just guaranteeing a terrible life for the child, a terrible life for the mother (who is obviously going to be unprepared to raise a child), and a "victory" for the genetic line that was somehow able to rationalize and commit one of the most heinous of crimes.

This isn't a question about intelligence. It's a question about culture and a question about empathy. And for those in the public who see good arguments on both sides of the abortion issue, there's really no middle ground here. Of course you err on the side of the mother here, rather than force her to live a nightmare for the rest of her life and birth/raise a baby she'd rather have aborted. Of course. Anything less is radical.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Came here to post that.

[Antonio the Sixth]

First off, the district is D+5, no Democrat with that high of a PVI district should be voting against necessary aid to those effected by Sandy, it's totally unacceptable. It's not like Republicans are winning that sort of seat, so a primary isn't a risk.

This little attempt to flip the script is a fail, which is no surprise coming from the poster. Your party threw out a 30 year senator for being too conciliatory and ended up with the nominee that believes that rape is a gift from God, who went on to lose.

[dead0man]

I don't normally post in the echo chamber, but I thought this was brilliant.

I'm a postmoderate.  We pomos are different from traditional moderates.  We place everything on a political matrix in the shape of a sphere.  We place any sentence that can be identified as a "political stance" on the surface of said sphere as an extremist position.  We then fill the rest of the sphere with empty space and place our position at the center.

The centered position is formed by collecting all the statements of the sphere surface, breaking them down as words, and finding the ten most common words spoken.   These ten words the form the ten word sentence of our belief on any said issue.

[Napoleon]

This thread is not meant to be used as an echo chamber.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

wait memphis is a racist and misogynist?  did i miss something?

He is neither a racist nor a misogynist. Unless you think there are no differences between men and women. In that case, Memphis is certainly a misogynist.

[Maxwell]

Try finding a source for any of those quotes.

Sure thing.

#1: http://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/21/books/on-the-way-with-lbj.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

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#2: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-relentless-conservative/the-democratic-partys-two_b_933995.html

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#3: http://www.fdfny.org/blog/2011/09/18/these-uppity-negroes-lbj/

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These sources enough for you? Sorry to break it to you, but LBJ was no great lover of the black man. I do this out of no love for Oldiesfreak- just that I didn't think you shouldn't be able to get away with claiming that what I knew were three very real quotes were fabrications.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

I was with my niece yesterday, and My Little Pony was on, and I really can't see how any adults are watching this. At no point, did this look like it was meant for anyone over the age of 10. No adult humor, no nothing.. it was just creepy

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Adults who like the for boys Adventure Time are just as lame as the bronies.  There's nothingIn these shows that an adult with no children can find useful.  Read a book. Expand your knowledge.

I'm not really interested in the ponies and I still don't know what Adventure Time actually is, but I find the idea that 'proper adults' should be able to divine some kind of utility-value (however defined) out of things they read or watch, and that the extent to which they admit of doing so has a direct correlation to the ostensible target audience age, a little questionable.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

No, no.  Are you being sarcastic?  You do realize this is a terrible thing to do to someone - to ghettoize them.