President Trump: The NEW one and only politics thread

The only way voting for a person who lost can be considered voting for the "wrong candidate" is if the person who won did a good or even great job, right? So what's to regret? Your vote, even if it was a "wrong" choice, didn't stop a good leader from being elected. Enough American citizens made the "right" choice, so no harm, no foul.

If the person you voted against did a lousy job, you'd have nothing to regret because you cast your vote for someone you ostensibly thought would do better and events proved you were "right."

"Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos!" and all of that.

The only choice worth regretting is voting for a candidate who wins and does a lousy job. Anything else is pointless self-flogging. You make each vote with the information you have available at the time and if your guy/gal loses, you move on and root for the victor to be good at their job. If they aren't, you say "I told you so," and try to convince people that the next candidate is the right one. If you vote for the eventual winner, you move on and root for the victor to be good at their job. And if they aren't, THAT'S when you regret it.

 

Yeesh. Is he really going to punt an hour on CNN to O'Rourke? Guess he's not planning another run at the Presidency. Make no mistake, a nationally-televised prime time CNN debate probably won't move the needle in Texas in 2018. But an unopposed hour of nationally-televised airtime could lay the groundwork for a Presidential candidacy in 2020.

 

The money graph — literally — that describes the "progressive activists":

"So what does this group look like? Compared with the rest of the (nationally representative) polling sample, progressive activists are much more likely to be rich, highly educated—and white. They are nearly twice as likely as the average to make more than $100,000 a year. They are nearly three times as likely to have a postgraduate degree. And while 12 percent of the overall sample in the study is African American, only 3 percent of progressive activists are. With the exception of the small tribe of devoted conservatives, progressive activists are the most racially homogeneous group in the country."

At various times in my life, I could have been counted as a left-wing activist (although, unlike the group described above, I've never made more than $40K a year. I'm in journalism, remember!?). The biggest hole among we Iraq-war-protesting, shout-down-the-Klan rallying, abortion-rights-defending crowd are middle-class, married people with kids. My wife and I attended several Iraq war protests in the early 2000s, pulling a wagon with our toddler son and carrying our very young daughter. We stood out like a sore thumb.

It's not any better today. Anyone who attended Bernie rallies saw plenty of young radicals and empty-nester/Baby Boomer lefties. How many people with kids, of any race/income level? Not many.

One notable exception was the student-organized marches for gun control this past spring. We'll see if they made a difference in four weeks.

 

For O'Rourke, if he wins the Senate race. Short of that, he's a lead-pipe lock to keynote the 2020 Dem convention.

 

He backed out of their second debate because of the Kavanaugh hearings, which had to happen, but there was no immediate rescheduling and then they get rid of the third match-up. After the first debate, it seems very obvious Cruz wants nothing to do with getting in an arena against O'Rouke.

 

Yeah, but you grew up in Philly. Should we expect anything less than ridicule and scorn from you and your peers?

 

Interesting.

I've only skimmed the study, but I'm leery in general of slippery terms like "political correctness."

What does it mean? If you ask a thousand individuals to define it on their own, you'll get a thousand answers.

 

Yes. That was my question, too. Vague catchphrases don't make for good surveys.

 

Speaking of Jerry Rubin, I attended "Night of 1000 Secretaries," a howling Young Republicans fundraiser of power suits and big hair headlined by Rubin, at the Palladium in New York in the Eighties. Good times!

 

Awesome! I got stoned with Rubin and Abbie Hoffman in New Haven in 1970. Didn't take him long to change.

 

Trump calling in to Fox & Friends right now

 

Little known fact: MeToo started in the balcony of the Palladium, the bathroom at 54, and the back lounge at Limelight. You could look it up.