Nutjobs Ranting About Politics.

[SlaveNoMore]

sgtclub
If you didn't catch him tonight, you really missed out. He's a fucking rockstar. I thought his call out to immigrants, like himself, was particularly effective and genius.

I suspect that the once bi-partisan efforts to change the constitution to allow a foreign born person to be POTUS, was indefinitely quashed tonight.

Your take on the Twins?

Not nearly as bad as some of the bloggers are suggesting (I thought it added a young, human side to the campaign - and the Hamster line was really funny) - but the timing was absolutely atrocious.

Totally drained the hall.

[bilmore]

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
Um, how does disclosing that he is gay "demonize" him? I think that's a very poor choice of words, and a veiled effort to rationalize for those who asked him to step down. If it's enough that his constituents and your party think he's a demon based on that information, well, then nobody should come out of the closet.

I don't like involuntary outing, but what motivates it is not an effort to "demonize" the outee, as you say. Rather, it's a desire to humanize the characteristic of being gay. It often works, but at too high a personal cost for my blood. I'm not a high stakes gambler.

Hopefully, you read a later post that points out that the demonization, while not the goal of the outers, is essentially what happens in the eyes of lots of people. All they're gonna see is, he had to quit because it got out that he was gay. I submit that the effect of that is a demonization because of his gayness.

[bilmore]

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[sgtclub]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
Your take on the Twins?

Not nearly as bad as some of the bloggers are suggesting (I thought it added a young, human side to the campaign - and the Hamster line was really funny) - but the timing was absolutely atrocious.

Totally drained the hall.

I missed them. Was on a call so I had the sound down.

[baltassoc]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
Your take on the Twins?

club got it right: the twins are better seen and not heard.

They just aren't (yet) good speakers. I question bringing up their history of partying, especially the way they phrased it, which basicly was, hey, ya, public, we were young and wild, but we came to it naturally: remember dad really used to like to PAR-TAY.

It was still good for the Republican's to bring in some young blood.

But it was nice that Jenna could stop by on her way home from the gym to show her support for dad.

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by bilmore
Maybe, like AG said, I see the wrong things - or a less-than-representative view - from my "Minneapolis Hammer & Sickle Daily" environment.

But, still, looking to the big newspapers with huge circulations, I think my rant still stands. The Groinpimple Ledger may well be endorsing Reps, but that provides little relief from the readers of the big-city dailies, which are, in the last several years, expanding rapidly in the out-in-the-sticks places that used to be served by the Groinpimple Ledger.

Chicago Tribune. Chicago Sun-Times. 'Nuff said.

[Secret_Agent_Man]

Originally posted by sgtclub
If you didn't catch him tonight, you really missed out. He's a fucking rockstar. I thought his call out to immigrants, like himself, was particularly effective and genius.

I suspect that the once bi-partisan efforts to change the constitution to allow a foreign born person to be POTUS, was indefinitely quashed tonight.

I heard his speech on the radio, and agree that it seemed quite effective. (You could tell by the number of times I muttered: "F--- you, Arnold.") Given who he is, I'm sure the visual impression was even better. I also caught the last few minutes of the speeach by our local guy -- Lt. Gov. Steele, and thought that sounded good.

It is striking to me how the GOP is hiding its base in terms of the notable speakers to date -- McCain, Giuliani, Schwarzenegger, Romney. Not exactly core GOP as it is elected and governs on a national level stage -- not exactly representative of the delegates. But, I'm sure all the Republicans watching the Democratic convention thought the same.

S_A_M

[bilmore]

Originally posted by Secret_Agent_Man
It is striking to me how the GOP is hiding its base in terms of the notable speakers to date -- McCain, Giuliani, Schwarzenegger, Romney. Not exactly core GOP as it is elected and governs on a national level stage -- not exactly representative of the delegates. But, I'm sure all the Republicans watching the Democratic convention thought the same.

After Bush's illegal alien amnesty, his wild spending, his tariff-imposing, it was nice to see some harder-core Republicans up there. Bush acts more like a Democrat every day.

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by bilmore
I don't know. I (finally) hooked up to coverage last night on a streaming site, and saw some shots - quite a lot of shots, actually - of some very violent action on the protesters' behalf. I saw people running past other poeple waiting in a line and smacking them and yelling things at them. I saw tons of people fighting cops. I saw a parade float burning. Overall, my impression was that there was a very significant amount of violent demonstration going on. But, even watching a work TV today, with just network channels, this is being downplayed.

Bias? I don't know for sure. What I do know is, some sites are showing video, and those videos show a great deal of violence. Other sites and stations are talking about how peaceful everything is, and interviewing Grandmas for Kerry. This dichotomy nicely matches how I would classify them based on a lib-conserv continuum. If the cons were simply saying "wow, look at the violence", I might be suspicious. But, unless they're faking the vids, well, they're showing me things that the lib-associated media aren't bothering to show me.

I'm back to the Andy Rooney thing - why is it that, when a supermarket scanner screws up, it's always for a higher price?

Bilmore, you were the first to point out how, when you attended a Bush event in your town, the crowd was both pro- and anti-Bush and yet everyone was well-behaved and civil. why is it that you automatically assume people protesting in New York are primarily being violent?

Your initial post was not that you had seen evidencxe of widespread violent protest. You acknowledged that you had not seen much evidence of violent protest at all.

[sgtclub]

Originally posted by Secret_Agent_Man
It is striking to me how the GOP is hiding its base in terms of the notable speakers to date -- McCain, Giuliani, Schwarzenegger, Romney. Not exactly core GOP as it is elected and governs on a national level stage -- not exactly representative of the delegates. But, I'm sure all the Republicans watching the Democratic convention thought the same.

S_A_M

I've heard this take from a lot of quarters. I read it differently. The GOP is a big tent. While the left would like (or more appropriately, love) to characterize it as a bunch of Southern Born Again Rednecks, that is simply not the case. The convention is an advertisement, so why wouldn't they put there best foot forward and use their most poplular figures to pitch the party? That's how I see it.

[Say_hello_for_me]

Originally posted by Secret_Agent_Man
I heard his speech on the radio, and agree that it seemed quite effective. (You could tell by the number of times I muttered: "F--- you, Arnold.") Given who he is, I'm sure the visual impression was even better. I also caught the last few minutes of the speeach by our local guy -- Lt. Gov. Steele, and thought that sounded good.

It is striking to me how the GOP is hiding its base in terms of the notable speakers to date -- McCain, Giuliani, Schwarzenegger, Romney. Not exactly core GOP as it is elected and governs on a national level stage -- not exactly representative of the delegates. But, I'm sure all the Republicans watching the Democratic convention thought the same.

S_A_M

So many topics, so little time.

John Kass covered your "representative" topic in a decent Chicago Tribune column yesterday. Bauer (former Repub. Pres. Candidate) was commenting how its only an issue now in the media, nobody said a thing when 90% of the Democratic delegates were opposed to the war in Iraq etc. I hasten to note that I'd actually heard that about the Democratic convention at the time too.

Someone or other was saying that he thought the Repubs could actually make hay playing to their party on some (repeat: *some*) social issues, like gay marriage. In particular, their party represents the vast majority of public opinion on some issues (partial birth abortion, don't call gay marriage "marriage"), and there is no reason to avoid emphasizing where they stand.

Regarding the politics of newspapers, I always thought it was interesting that the Tribune is pretty quick to criticize Israel (remnants of McCormick?), whereas the Suntimes is pretty consistently defensive and supportive of Israel.

Another related topic from recent threads.

The NYT has what can only be called a "bizarre" description of the NYC streets last night. They describe dozens of small riots, but manage to blame the police (by only quoting the ACLU and arrestees etc.) for enflaming numerous different crowds and violating an informal agreement to allow marching. Bizarre that it was the only description I've seen, and bizarre in the shrill characterization.

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
a board full of malingerers and the sexually ambivilent who fuck off all day and aren't productive

This is entertaining as hell coming from a guy with one of the highest post counts.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by taxwonk
This is entertaining as hell coming from a guy with one of the highest post counts.

W-A-T-E-R

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by sgtclub
If you didn't catch him tonight, you really missed out. He's a fucking rockstar. I thought his call out to immigrants, like himself, was particularly effective and genius.

I agree that Arnold's a rockstar. I was convinced that the guy would be a complete lightweight, and I've actually been impressed with him so far, that he's avoided the apparent wackiness of other celebrity public officials like Ventura (Bilmore, correct me if I'm wrong there.)

His call out to immigrants was effective, but I don't know if it's genius. It's his main story -- what did you think he was going to talk about?

I suspect that the once bi-partisan efforts to change the constitution to allow a foreign born person to be POTUS, was indefinitely quashed tonight.

By whom? Dems, or the Bill Frist wing of the GOP?

Speaking of, if you wanted to see the opposite end of the spectrum at the RNC, listen to Frist's speech (which was just before prime time). The man was awful -- hawking Bush's health care plan (admittedly, a tough sell under any conditions) -- but the man sounded like a street vendor selling snake oil.

Slave, what happened with the twins, anyway? What's the hamster reference?

[sgtclub]

Originally posted by Gattigap
His call out to immigrants was effective, but I don't know if it's genius. It's his main story -- what did you think he was going to talk about?

That's true, but I can't recall either party ever reaching out to immigrants so directly. And his pitch is very enticing. "I left a horrible place, came to America with just the shirt on my back, didn't speek the language, and now look at me . . . I became Mr. Olympus 7 times, the biggest movie star in the world, married into royalty, got a college education and a masters degree, became governor, and now I'm knocking on the door to the presidency . . . isn't America great?"

It's the same story of countless immigrants to this country over the last 400 years, albeit, on steroids.

etft -- t.s.