US Politics: Culture Club

[DMC]

Gotta say, I'm rather shocked that Williamson is almost a year older than my mother (and 4 days older than my father).  I know I'll probably catch sexist flack for saying this, but she damn good for a 67 year old - or at least a lot better than my parents.

[Jace, Extat]

5 minutes ago, DMC said:

Gotta say, I'm rather shocked that Williamson is almost a year older than my mother (and 4 days older than my father).  I know I'll probably catch sexist flack for saying this, but she damn good for a 67 year old - or at least a lot better than my parents.

Really? I thought she looks like a leering skull. Oh well.

[The Mother of The Others]

[Non-combative]

Maryann upped her game!    Is the dnc happy about that?    They could be smile-testing as their potential response to this right now, or they could be gathering in the secret dungeon to plot her quick demise, who knows.  

Pete needs an 'incident' to help him get over into top tier consideration or it's just not gonna happen.   And he's too gentlemanly to do it himself like Kamela will, and he don't have the insanity going for him like Bernie uses the madman within to grab coverage with.  That's too bad.  He's the best speaker and galvanizer in this field.  Only to be squashed in the primary for not being nutty enough?  This system is silly.

Some of the others were less impressive than the first time around.   [Clove- it- chur],  [Hick- en- looper]- - if only his sanity could be mindmelded onto one of the other hopefuls to steady them or advise.  Hey, cabinet member!  Seriously, if someone picks him up in that capacity as soon as he drops out I'd look closer at that candidacy.   [ Ry- an]- - just impossible to remember what he said the next day.

[Beto ]--is at home on the campaign trail because it's like an endless meeting, and that's his fetish apparently.   I didn't get the sense that anything comes out of his meetings though.   Like if he won he'd be as surprised as Trump was.

 

 

 

[DMC]

2 minutes ago, Jace, Basilissa said:

Really? I thought she looks like a leering skull. Oh well.

Well, you haven't seen my parents.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

20 minutes ago, Maithanet said:

I didn't see the entire debate, but I thought he performed reasonably well.  Warren came out with the much better sound bite, but on the whole he was decent.  He avoided just fading into the background, which is more than I can say about Hickenlooper or O'Rourke or Klobuchar. 

I think the fairest commentary is that moderate Democrats thought the moderates did well and the liberals thought the liberals did well. I don’t think the debate changed much of anything outside of maybe helping Sanders stop leaking support.

[Zorral]

41 minutes ago, Jace, Basilissa said:

 

 

You mean the Gwenyth Paltrow Goop and Charcoal Trainy-wainy?

@DMC -- 

Quote

Gotta say, I'm rather shocked that Williamson is almost a year older than my mother (and 4 days older than my father).  I know I'll probably catch sexist flack for saying this, but she damn good for a 67 year old - or at least a lot better than my parents

That's what the 67 and older women around here, who eat carefully and exercise, and have the money for a good hair stylist, seen frequenly, dental, seen regularly etc., do look like these days.  Like everything else, it's all about money and time, i.e. vast income disparity.

Also about access.  All the services that the women around here employ regularly aren't available out there in the 'rural' America.

[Maithanet]

1 minute ago, Tywin et al. said:

I think the fairest commentary is that moderate Democrats thought the moderates did well and the liberals thought the liberals did well. I don’t think the debate changed much of anything outside of maybe helping Sanders stop leaking support.

I would be shocked if the debate changed much of anything.  At most it may (but hopefully not) have gotten Williamson onto the stage for the third debate. 

I thought Delaney came across as an asshole in the first debate, and he was able to mostly avoid that this time, so I suppose that's some progress for him.  Although it's very likely that this debate was the peak of his presidential run, and he just wasted several million dollars of his own money. 

[Clegane'sPup]

What I don't understand is how Williamson, A Course In Miracles, motivational addiction speaker made it into this farce.

On another note Medicare is not free.  A portion of social security is removed from the social security benefit without consent. The monetary portion removed from the social security benefit is based on percentage. And, that Medicare decuction does not cover full medical. There are other "parts" as in parts a, b, c, d.

Medicaid on the other hand is free for those who fall below the poverty line.

What I really need to focus on is the electoral college. Do we the american people actually pick our president? No, I don't think we do.

 

[Centrist Simon Steele]

3 hours ago, DMC said:

Gotta say, I'm rather shocked that Williamson is almost a year older than my mother (and 4 days older than my father).  I know I'll probably catch sexist flack for saying this, but she damn good for a 67 year old - or at least a lot better than my parents.

She's very pretty, I agree. She is the same age as my parents too. 

Edit: I think it's worth saying, that her ideas aren't bad ones. I actually very much appreciate her idealistic view of how the world can work. But her worldview is truly Utopian (unlike Sanders and Warren's views), and by this, I mean her worldview is unachievable.

[Zorral]

2 hours ago, Clegane'sPup said:

What I don't understand is how Williamson, A Course In Miracles, motivational addiction speaker made it into this farce.

On another note Medicare is not free.  A portion of social security is removed from the social security benefit without consent. The monetary portion removed from the social security benefit is based on percentage. And, that Medicare decuction does not cover full medical. There are other "parts" as in parts a, b, c, d.

Medicaid on the other hand is free for those who fall below the poverty line.

What I really need to focus on is the electoral college. Do we the american people actually pick our president? No, I don't think we do.

 

It bothered me very much too, that no one brought up those facts that medicare has premiums, deductibles and co-pays.  Also one pays additional 'premium' for medication coverage.  Even on public radio this morning none of the expert media commentators mentioned this in their discussion, just blathering on about free medical care for all.

Also the business about premium insurance that then doesn't cover the costs vs. higher taxes that will cover so much more.

Of course hospitals and doctors and all sorts of the medical industry takes total advantage of Medicare.

That's all the medical industry is here -- a means to extract as much cash from those it supposedly treats and helps as possible for the nabobs of the industry.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

3 hours ago, Maithanet said:

I would be shocked if the debate changed much of anything.  At most it may (but hopefully not) have gotten Williamson onto the stage for the third debate. 

I thought Delaney came across as an asshole in the first debate, and he was able to mostly avoid that this time, so I suppose that's some progress for him.  Although it's very likely that this debate was the peak of his presidential run, and he just wasted several million dollars of his own money. 

I pretty much agree with all of this. I can understand the frustrations of the moderates though. Most, if not all, of what Sanders and Warren are advocating for is DoA the moment the legislation hits the Senate, even if we retake the majority. I guess some stuff can be done through reconciliation, but I'm not sure how much of their agenda can actually be achieved via that process. 

[Larry of the Lawn]

3 minutes ago, Zorral said:

It bothered me very much too, that no one brought up those facts that medicare has premiums, deductibles and co-pays.  Also one pays additional 'premium' for medication coverage.  Even on public radio this morning none of the expert media commentators mentioned this in their discussion, just blathering on about free medical care for all.

Also the business about premium insurance that then doesn't cover the costs vs. higher taxes that will cover so much more.

Of course hospitals and doctors and all sorts of the medical industry takes total advantage of Medicare.

That's all the medical industry is here -- a means to extract as much cash from those it supposedly treats and helps as possible for the nabobs of the industry.

true.  And then there's shit like Medicare Part D(? I think), the prescription drug benefit where Bush's congress wrote it so the government cant negotiate bulk discounts on medications.  Who's interests are being represented there? 

Healthcare is a tough topic to run on because it's so complicated.

It's also complicated by the jargon, and the fact that MFA means very different things to different candidates.  Bernie obviously has a different system in mind where the patient never pays for any services out of pocket than Harris does.  Or at least that's the impression I get.  

4 hours ago, Simon Steele said:

It's interesting, tho, how many outlets are claiming he held up in that exchange and came out the better for it. I didn't see the debates, but I did see exchanges with him and Warren (and Sanders), and I thought he came off terribly. 538's podcast said he came out strong though. I don't know why I still listen to that one.

I think this is just the way the media and audience (political consumers?) will always work now - you hear what you want to hear.  I forget the theory or axiom or whatever it is that says that when you hear really divisive speech, it generally just entrenches existing viewpoints rather than getting anyone to change their mind.

This is why I'm coming around to the idea that at least for this election, it's more important to get a candidate that gets people to vote who don't usually vote.  The only three I'd be totally ok personally are Sanders, Warren and Castro.  Harris, Buttigieg, Inslee, Klobuchar, if that's what we got it's what we got and I will gotv.  Will even do that for Biden or a clown like Delaney but I'm going to feel super dirty about it.  

More generally, who the hell is the average voter anyway?  Where do they get their info from?  I'm guessing it's something like 80% word of mouth /gossip and 20% tv.  How do you reach the under 30 crowd or target registering them?  College campuses?  

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

13 minutes ago, Zorral said:

That's all the medical industry is here -- a means to extract as much cash from those it supposedly treats and helps as possible for the nabobs of the industry.

Yup. I work on the financial/business side of a major hospital chain, and much of what I see on a day to day process is a joke. I swear to god some executives like being as wasteful as possible because it jacks up the prices on everything. 

Honestly though, this has been my experience overall over the last five years working directly in the corporate world. Working politics was hard and largely thankless, but at least at the end of the day you could tell yourself you were doing something for the greater good. Mostly that is. 

[Larry of the Lawn]

4 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

I pretty much agree with all of this. I can understand the frustrations of the moderates though. Most, if not all, of what Sanders and Warren are advocating for is DoA the moment the legislation hits the Senate, even if we retake the majority. I guess some stuff can be done through reconciliation, but I'm not sure how much of their agenda can actually be achieved via that process. 

Doesn't matter - negotiate for what you can get.  At least it gives people hope that the people you're voting for give a fuck about you.   No one's going to jump off the couch and register to vote Delaney 

[Martell Spy]

10 minutes ago, larrytheimp said:

Doesn't matter - negotiate for what you can get.  At least it gives people hope that the people you're voting for give a fuck about you.   No one's going to jump off the couch and register to vote Delaney 

Also, on Delaney. The media was hacking on him even before the debate due to his national service proposal. 

[The Anti-Targ]

5 hours ago, Jace, Basilissa said:

Remember when she made her comment about how she lived in like a gated neighborhood and what happened to flint would never happen to her home and the audience wasn't sure if that made them like her?

What should make you like her or not should be what came after that statement. Was it a let them eat cake follow up or some proposition to make sure there decent public infrastructure everywhere?

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

19 minutes ago, larrytheimp said:

Doesn't matter - negotiate for what you can get.  At least it gives people hope that the people you're voting for give a fuck about you.   No one's going to jump off the couch and register to vote Delaney 

True, but you also have to consider the repercussions of over promising and under delivering. 

[Larry of the Lawn]

8 minutes ago, Martell Spy said:

Also, on Delaney. The media was hacking on him even before the debate due to his national service proposal. 

My favorite with him has been the comedian Rob Delaney, from Amazon's 'Catastrophe', referring to J Delaney on Twitter as "my big rowdy son Jon" or "rowdy nephew Jon" 

[Larry of the Lawn]

1 minute ago, Tywin et al. said:

True, but you also have to consider the repercussions of over promising and under delivering. 

It still keeps Trump out of office.  You can only underdeliver if you win.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 minute ago, larrytheimp said:

It still keeps Trump out of office.  You can only underdeliver if you win.

Swinging too far to the left could also backfire spectacularly, handing Trump his reelection. This is in part why I like Harris so much. She has a great deal of political elasticity that should be able to satisfy primary voters while also appealing to independents in the General.