US 2024 Election

[voice]

Sometimes its the one no one particularly wants, but doesn't really object to that gets the nod, its the way of things. At least the dems aren't being held hostage the same as the GOP is. Few in the GOP upper echelons want P01135809, a known looser, who dragged down the entire ticket in 2018, 20120 and 2022 to be their candidate, but they are deathly afraid of his cult like followers and know if they ever utter the truth about him they either have to debase themselves, grovel and kiss the ring or face getting ousted by the baying mob.

[rick49]

Nobody's very excited by Biden but also nobody's very put off by him.

even the donkies don't want a 2nd biden term. i would say thats put off by him.

[rick49]

Armed man arrested at RFK, Jr. campaign event in Los Angeles

"The man was impersonating a member of Kennedy’s security team. Kennedy posted on X (formerly Twitter) about the incident after the event."

"The man, wearing two shoulder holsters with loaded pistols and spare ammunition magazines was carrying a U.S. Marshal badge on a lanyard and beltclip federal ID. He identified himself as a member of my security detail. I’m still entertaining a hope that President Biden will allow me Secret Service protection." (fat chance of that)

"His father was assassinated just blocks away from where this guy was arrested. The first comments from LAPD downplayed the seriousness of the incident." (really???)
hotair.com/karen-townsend/2023/09/16/armed-man-arrested-at-rfk-jr-campaign-event-in-los-angeles-n578441

my loathing for the comrade grows by the day.

[flatandy]

So he's now playing the "my dad was assassinated" card? Indeed, another reason to loathe him.

[rick49]

Sept 16, 2023 20:10:20 GMT flatandy said:

So he's now playing the "my dad was assassinated" card? Indeed, another reason to loathe him.

we already know you wish the man had killed him. no reason to tell us that.

[flatandy]

RFK was killed.

[voice]

The idiots gone all hysterical again I see.

[unclejunior]

So now that St Barry & the Dems have decided to tell the media to dump Sleepy Joe…
Who is next up to bat?

x.com/afneil/status/1702573426475471222?s=46&t=18_1S7juL2xA4JEJyrKX7w

[voice]

This was truly hilarious

PO1135809 says cognitively impared Biden will lead the US into World War II while claiming he's leading Obama in the polls.

nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/09/trump-warns-impaired-biden-may-cause-world-war-two.html

Rather takes the sting out of saying Biden that is befuddled when you're rambling incoherently and can't even remember Obama left office 6 years ago.

The fact remains,they are both too old, though Biden is not quite as incoherent and demented as PO1135809.

[happyhammerhead]

Politicians all get rumours, scandals and (sometimes unwarranted) criticism aimed at them... but Trump just does it to himself!

The man may as well walk around shouting "I'm a f**k**g moron".

He'd still get votes of course.

[flatandy]

In the slow build up to the 2024 election, the Republicans want to perform as trying to cut the national debt*. They can't even agree among themselves to vote on a budget - and because of some of the idiotic set-ups in the US government from the 18th century that never got changed, if there is no budget passed then lots of federal agencies just stop functioning (it's not quite as moronic as the debt ceiling, but it's along the same lines).

When there's a federal shutdown, lots of people end up very pissed off. People don't get healthcare. People don't get to go to national parks. Veterans' benefit claims don't get processed. Federal government staff don't get paid (the most ridiculous thing about this is that they all get paid all their back pay when the stand-off ends, so the consequence of the Republicans efforts is that government employees get paid to sit on their arse doing nothing even more than usual, creating even bigger waste).

And one Republican has whined “We always get the blame,” said Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), a senior appropriator. “Name one time that we’ve shut the government down and we haven’t got the blame.”

Which is a brilliantly stupid line. "Why do I always get the blame every time I shoot myself in the foot? Why don't the people who aren't shooting feet getting blamed? It's so unfair!"

I don't think he realises quite how pathetic it sounds.




* Which could be a laudable goal in itself, leaving the government more capacity to borrow when it actually needs to. But to do that you'd need to cut in places where it would be most harmless like a lot of the excess in the military and some of the excess spending on supporting private healthcare, and by increasing taxes. None of them things that Republicans would ever do. And we know this is pure performance because when they have unified power (2016-2018, for instance), they massively increase the debt by spending more on the military and cutting taxes to billionaires.

[voice]

This congress has achieved nothing, they've put forward no solutions to any of the things they fundraise off, immigration, the border, and so on, perhaps they really don't want these issues fixed cos in reality the GOP these days is really a party bereft of policy. About the only thing they've done is Trumps bidding, Gym Jordan and his clown show investigations revealing no actual evidence of wrong doing, and now in impeachment inquiry even most of the GOP thinks is a joke.

I also think the likes of Gaetz just want to burn everything down just to see it burn.

[rick49]

Sen. Bob Menendez indicted again for corruption, allegedly had cash stuffed in coat, gold bars
abcnews.go.com/Politics/sen-bob-menendez-indicted-gifts-gold-bars-car/story?id=103407936

one of the most powerful donk members of the senate bought and paid for by egypt. a president bought and paid for by china, drug cartels and ukraine.. how many more donkeys have peddled the country for cold hard cash.

[flatandy]

The details are pretty special.

It's astonishing that after he was already indicted on corruption charges before he didn't think that perhaps he should have the evidence of bribery held at arms length. Instead it appears he had half a million in cash (and a bunch of gold bars) in his home, including envelopes of cash stuff inside jackets (which had his name on).

What a complete f**k**g moron - even if he has a good explanation for why he legally had to have half a million in cash, you'd not keep it in your house.

(Reader: I'd bet good money that there isn't a good explanation)

[voice]

What an idiot, though men with power often don't think the rules should not apply to them, money stuffed under the bed is as vad a look as waving classified documents around to impress your mates, they always think no one's gonna find out, and even if they do well, "don't you know who I am" or the current favorite "this is all a which hunt"

Time the DOJ stopped being so soft on corruption in public life.

[rick49]

he holds a very powerful position in the senate. there is concern about what secrets he traded for the all that money.

[voice]

Glad you're suddenly now concerned about the mishandling of classified documents and the risk to national security if they get in the wrong hands, can we expect this concern to extend to the ones being stored in a toilet, a garden shed and waved around to impress visiting foreigners at some country club in Florida?

[flatandy]

Without wanting to defend Trump, I would argue that this is slightly different. Trump's mishandling and stealing and concealing of documents seems to be all about ego, and if anyone got any secret stuff it was because Trump needs his ego stroked.

This is proper old school traditional corruption where someone paid Menendez to try and influence policy and to get specific info on specific things.

Both are bad, but I think probably Menendez (if guilty) is a worse crime, although Trump may have had more impact because as President he had more power.

[flatandy]

Meanwhile, on the subject of how utterly appalling Trump actually is, here's a rundown on a piece in the Atlantic about Gen. Milley and Trump's treatment of him. Of how Trump wants troops to throw other troops under the bus, how he wants US combat protocols to go back to pre-Vietnam era, how America would be in a war with Iran now, how bombs would have fallen on Mexico, etc, if the adults hadn't been in the room. And how Tommy Turbeville's current attempt to stop any US military getting their hard earned promotions may be an attempt to remove the adults from the room, to do a Garland-confirmation but on Generals who have earned their stripes, so that if Trump gets back into power he won't have anyone holding him back.

A reminder of how and why the US right now really, really hate the US military and want to gut it.

[voice]

Its easy to conclude the US right really really hate the US, as its presently organized, and would like nothing better than to simply have unassailable power and do away with any meaningful democracy. As the minority party, bereft of policy and ideas, you can see why they're going down that road, rather than trying to understand why they're in the minority and how they might widen their electoral appeal.