U.S. Politics: The Summer of Trump is Lasting Longer Than a Season in Westeros

[Gears of the Beast]

GotB,

No "Pro-life" does not mean "anti-choice" it means "anti-abortion rights" just like ""Pro-choice" means "Pro-Abortion rights".

If you've accepted that 'pro-choice' means 'pro-abortion rights' then why would you reject the anti abortion rights stance being labelled as 'anti-choice'? Pro-life doesn't work as a label because you can be pro-life and still think people should be free to make the choice for themselves even if you personally could not justify such a choice. Thus you would be pro-life and pro-choice which shows the dichotomy does not work. 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

I think the sides should represent themselves accurately.  Pro-abortion rights and Anti-abortion rights.  The need of both to have catchy "pro-[something]" monickers is more about marketing and spin than anything else.

[Gears of the Beast]

I think the sides should represent themselves accurately.  Pro-abortion rights and Anti-abortion rights.  The need of both to have catchy "pro-[something]" monickers is more about marketing and spin than anything else.

That's fair but I think the issue does boil down to choice so if we're using catchy euphemistic labels that's at least the accurate one. 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

GotB,

You know it just dawned on me that the preferred nominclature of both sides in the abortion debate is more about attempting to characiture their opposition than to accurately descibe their own position.  "Pro-lifers" want to say thos supporting abortion rights are "anti-life" ignoring that for most it is about a woman being able to have full control of her own body.  The "Pro-choicers" want to imply people against abortion rights are all about oppressing women when for those who oppose abortion rights the real issue is about protecting what they see as human life.

I like my discriptions of the two sides.  They represent them accurately without attempting to misrepresent the position their opposition holds.

[ThinkerX]

Is JEB! making a comeback?  Maybe so according to this biased (or possibly 'rabid') article.  Then again, it may just be wishful thinking:

 

http://americannews.com/jeb-bush-takes-trump-head-on-after-miraculous-jump-in-polls-you-wont-believe-how/

 

[TrackerNeil]

I'm under 30, know of the affair, hold it against him and am a voting Democrat. Same for many of my friends.

The only reason it didn't tarnish him more is because the Repoublicans went too far.

I suspect the Venn diagram of twenty-somethings who 1) remember Monica Lewinsky; 2) care about what happened to her; 3) still hold it against Clinton; 4) are Democrats; and 5) will allow that to significantly affect their primary vote in 2016 at its center encompasses just you and these friends you mention. Congratulations.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Tracker,

I depends on who draws and makes the definitions for such a diagram.

[TheKitttenGuard]

Jason Rezaian of the Washington Post has been released by Iran:

http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/16/media/jason-rezaian-released-iran/index.html

Thank you Lt. David Nartker* for your wisdom.  You look out not only for the best interest of your whole crew but for many Mr Rezaian and three others interest.

*U.S Navy did not state the commander, I got from the Chicago Tribune

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/naperville-sun/news/ct-navy-boat-capture-iran-naperville-0115-20160114-story.html

 

[Paladin of Ice]

I suspect the Venn diagram of twenty-somethings who 1) remember Monica Lewinsky; 2) care about what happened to her; 3) still hold it against Clinton; 4) are Democrats; and 5) will allow that to significantly affect their primary vote in 2016 at its center encompasses just you and these friends you mention. Congratulations.

More millenials than you think may know of the affair, and liberal ones also may care about it for different reasons than you'd think. My 30 year old fiancee thinks of Bill as being creepy and a borderline rapist because he explicitly held power over those women that he harassed and even though the affair was consensual, there is the implicit threat that he could have used his power to screw over or mess up Lewinsky or others he had affair with if they had refused him.

Her view is a little more extreme than mine, and while I'm not going to make the mistake of assuming that's the way that everyone, or even everyone of a certain age group views the Clinton affairs, I wouldn't be surprised if others saw it that way as well. Honestly I was always so caught up in the moral way that Republicans were caught up in trying Clinton over things to look at it from a liberal woman's perspective about being harassed and possibly at the mercy of a powerful man who might retaliate if you didn't go along with his advances.

[The Fallen]

Jason Rezaian of the Washington Post has been released by Iran:

http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/16/media/jason-rezaian-released-iran/index.html

Thank you Lt. David Nartker* for your wisdom.  You look out not only for the best interest of your whole crew but for many Mr Rezaian and three others interest.

*U.S Navy did not state the commander, I got from the Chicago Tribune

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/naperville-sun/news/ct-navy-boat-capture-iran-naperville-0115-20160114-story.html

 

Obama gets the last laugh again?

And egg on the faces of Joe Scarborough and all the Republican presidential candidates mocking Obama as weak?

Or will they use the fact that he released some Iranians and dropped arrest warrants on others (all related to the sanctions on Iran) as another sign of weakness?

Hey, Chuck Norris must have been unavailable to extract these guys out of Iran.

[TrackerNeil]

More millenials than you think may know of the affair, and liberal ones also may care about it for different reasons than you'd think. My 30 year old fiancee thinks of Bill as being creepy and a borderline rapist because he explicitly held power over those women that he harassed and even though the affair was consensual, there is the implicit threat that he could have used his power to screw over or mess up Lewinsky or others he had affair with if they had refused him.

Her view is a little more extreme than mine, and while I'm not going to make the mistake of assuming that's the way that everyone, or even everyone of a certain age group views the Clinton affairs, I wouldn't be surprised if others saw it that way as well. Honestly I was always so caught up in the moral way that Republicans were caught up in trying Clinton over things to look at it from a liberal woman's perspective about being harassed and possibly at the mercy of a powerful man who might retaliate if you didn't go along with his advances.

I wonder how many liberal women will vote against a female candidate because of her husband's misdeeds. 

[Guest]

Bill flew on a plane called the Lolita Express with a guy in trouble for teenage girls.  That could be a problem.

[Martell Spy]

Obama gets the last laugh again?

And egg on the faces of Joe Scarborough and all the Republican presidential candidates mocking Obama as weak?

Or will they use the fact that he released some Iranians and dropped arrest warrants on others (all related to the sanctions on Iran) as another sign of weakness?

Hey, Chuck Norris must have been unavailable to extract these guys out of Iran.

 

Well, you called it.

Shortly after the exchange was announced, Rubio said that while he was happy the Americans were coming home, the release would only encourage U.S. enemies to take more hostages abroad.

"They shouldn't have been in jail. I just saw Jason's brother on Tuesday night at the state of the Union. He's never been in jail, he did nothing wrong," Rubio told The Guardian's Sabrina Siddiqui. "Governments are taking Americans hostage because they believe they can gain concessions from this government under Barack Obama. It's an incentive for more people to do this in the future."

Obama Just Got 4 Americans Released From Iran, But Republicans Are Still Criticizing Him
They also criticized him for not doing enough to free them.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/republicans-criticize-prisoner-swap_5699452ce4b0778f46f93f6f

[TrackerNeil]

Obama Just Got 4 Americans Released From Iran, But Republicans Are Still Criticizing Him
They also criticized him for not doing enough to free them.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/republicans-criticize-prisoner-swap_5699452ce4b0778f46f93f6f

These "hostages" were released after less than 24 hours, which means Obama would barely have had time to mobilize a real assault even if he'd given the order the moment he heard of their capture. 

[TrackerNeil]

Bill flew on a plane called the Lolita Express with a guy in trouble for teenage girls.  That could be a problem.

Maybe numerous liberal women will decide to blame Hillary Clinton for the sins of her husband (sins that are nearly twenty years old and happened when these voters were eight or so) but I suspect that they'll follow the normal patterns of presidential elections and vote for whomever the Democrats nominate. It should be noted that these scandals have never hurt Bill's popularity, but maybe millennials are just itching to blame Hillary for something.

[James Arryn]

My read on the Lewinsky thing:

 

1) It WAS a big deal. Not the blowjob...I couldn't care less...but the perjury of a sitting President. Clinton lied under oath. Everyone knows he lied under oath, and got away with it. That's not good. I think he was probably the best President I've been alive for, but by rights he ought to have faced the consequences.

2) The Republicans completely screwed the pooch, too. By focusing on the meaningless sex scandal (because historically that's what worked in politics) and taking everyone's eye off the real issue...and the seeming self-righteous glee with which they did so...they played Clinton's game. He correctly read the national temperature better than they did, and knew a blowjob ultimately wouldn't move the needle much. If they'd focused on the head of state flagrantly violating the laws of the state for personal gain, that would Imo have had better legs and an actual point.

3) Again, though...since post-Nam, you can pretty much get away with anything as a President because the country didn't like feeling that insecure. The lessons actually learned from Watergate and Vietnam were not about accountability in leadership and foreign policy, but rather America feels bad about itself when it's forced to admit failure, so does doing so is  unpatriotic weakness which helps 'them'. 

[Dr. Pepper]

Maybe numerous liberal women will decide to blame Hillary Clinton for the sins of her husband (sins that are nearly twenty years old and happened when these voters were eight or so) but I suspect that they'll follow the normal patterns of presidential elections and vote for whomever the Democrats nominate. It should be noted that these scandals have never hurt Bill's popularity, but maybe millennials are just itching to blame Hillary for something.

Millennials might not blame Hillary for the sins of her husband, but she might very well have to answer for her views and positions on rape and sexual harassment.  I'm part of the earliest cohort of millennials and most of us (that I know) all remember Monica Lewinsky quite clearly.  It was part of our formative years, when snickering about cigars in orifices and blowjobs was a favored pastime.  Back then, we may not have paid attention to the rape and sexual harassment claims, but now when we are looking back on the Lewinsky era, these things are going to matter.  I think millennial women have cause to be concerned about the appearance that a woman would not support other women, especially those who are victims of sexual violence.  

It's true that those of us who are going to vote Democrat are almost surely going to vote Hillary over the Republican candidate if she's the nominee, but there could very well be a successful social media campaign around this issue that keeps millennials who'd normally vote Democrat from the polls.  I think it's a bad idea to brush off the potential disaster that could be caused by Bill's past. 

[Paladin of Ice]

I wonder how many liberal women will vote against a female candidate because of her husband's misdeeds. 

Not many, but the original issue was whether Bill helps or hurts her. And overall I would say helps... but there are probably some demographics where his unfavorables are higher and the favorables are lower.

[TrackerNeil]

Millennials might not blame Hillary for the sins of her husband, but she might very well have to answer for her views and positions on rape and sexual harassment.  I'm part of the earliest cohort of millennials and most of us (that I know) all remember Monica Lewinsky quite clearly.  It was part of our formative years, when snickering about cigars in orifices and blowjobs was a favored pastime.  Back then, we may not have paid attention to the rape and sexual harassment claims, but now when we are looking back on the Lewinsky era, these things are going to matter.  I think millennial women have cause to be concerned about the appearance that a woman would not support other women, especially those who are victims of sexual violence.  

It's true that those of us who are going to vote Democrat are almost surely going to vote Hillary over the Republican candidate if she's the nominee, but there could very well be a successful social media campaign around this issue that keeps millennials who'd normally vote Democrat from the polls.  I think it's a bad idea to brush off the potential disaster that could be caused by Bill's past. 

Do you know Hillary's positions on rape and sexual assault? I just checked her web site and found them, at least in regards to sexual assault on campus. I don't see what she has to answer for in regards to her views and positions on rape and sexual harassment. And how did she "not support other women"? By not taking after Bill with a knife? Do most female voters really expect her to do so?**

And what's this "potential disaster" about Bill's past? It wasn't a disaster for him when it went down twenty years ago, but for some reason you seem to think it will be an issue for Hillary when it wasn't in 2008. Did Americans forget about Monica eight years ago, but have all of a sudden been reminded in 2016?