US Presidential Contenders

[Rusty Edge]

Quote from: Rusty Edge on Yesterday at 06:53:24 AM
Yes, I think global trade is a good thing on the whole. It creates interconnectedness, and is a cause for peace. Our economy depends upon it. So do the Clintons.

Bernie and [Sleezebag] are strongly against it.  So too, apparently is much of America.

Of course most people in the USA are against it we're the ones paying for it.
Its strip mining jobs and livelihoods for short term profits for a few.
Interconnectedness also means if one domino falls they all fall. Its one of the
reasons global trade was avoided in the past.

Well, most people are also perpetuating the system by buying Nikes, and shopping at WalMart and Target.

-but-it-wont-heres-why/]https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/03/14/this-new-revelation-should-cripple-donald-[Sleezebag]-but-it-wont-heres-why/ Some excerpts-

“Finding a company that made in America was never something that was specified.”

Today, Donald J. [Sleezebag] Collection shirts — as well as eye­glasses, perfume, cuff links and suits — are made in Bangladesh, China, Honduras and other low-wage countries.

[Sleezebag]’s GOP rivals and the Super PACs hoping to stop him have previously attacked [Sleezebag] for other similar revelations, declaring him a hypocrite and a phony who is conning working class voters by pretending to be on their side. But such attacks don’t appear to work. Why not?

The most likely explanation — beyond the most obvious one, which is that information like this is simply not getting through to Republican voters — may be that, in a perverse way, revelations like these actually bolster his message, rather than undercutting it. [Sleezebag]’s argument is that he has a unique grasp, via direct experience and participation, of all the ways in which our political and economic system is rigged to make it easier for people such as himself to fleece working Americans. This understanding of how the game really works positions him well to fix it. He has been in on the elites’ scam for decades, and now, having made a killing off of it, he’s here to put an end to it.

[Sleezebag] has made this argument explicitly, again and again and again, in multiple different ways. At the most recent GOP debate, [Sleezebag] effectively declared that he understood better than any other candidate that politicians are bought and paid for — because he has bought and paid for politicians himself! At the debate, [Sleezebag] also rebuffed criticism of his reliance on immigrant labor here and foreign labor abroad by arguing that “because nobody knows the system better than me…I’m the one that knows how to change it.” [Sleezebag] didn’t apologize for these things. Instead, he converted them into evidence that he understands how immigration and global trade rules are enabling people like himself to screw over workers, while his rivals don’t.

Now, as it turns out, [Sleezebag]’s actual tax plan delivers a huge windfall to top earners. And in many other ways, [Sleezebag] is scamming his supporters, as well: he’s exaggerating the impact of trade deals on the fortunes of American workers, and absurdly suggesting that his promise of carrying out mass deportations shows that he has the toughness necessary to crush the immigrant threat to their economic interests.

The point, though, is that voters who are prepared to buy into that larger story [Sleezebag] is telling — about the various ways in which our economic and political systems enable elites, immigrants, and shadowy foreign bureaucrats to screw over struggling Americans — probably won’t see it as a negative that [Sleezebag] himself profited massively off that system, and won’t see a problem with his argument that this uniquely equips him to blow it up. These are only the latest signs that he “tells it like it is.” For those who are already open to believing that [Sleezebag]’s tale shows that he has their backs, the final step of accepting that argument really isn’t all that big.

[Buster's Uncle]

Time for someone to quote the passage from Mein Kampf about the power of the Big Lie...

[Rusty Edge]

Just listened to a Ron Paul interview. Potential side effects of the [Sleezebag] campaign-

#1) The destruction of the Republican Party, according to the "party establishment". - "I don't care"

#2) Every primary [Sleezebag] wins while claiming he wants a  more even-handed/ neutral position on Israel is a nail in our coffin, according t the Israeli Lobby- "I don't see what's wrong with that"

[Buster's Uncle]

The quotes being Dr. Paul's response to the points?

[Rusty Edge]

Well, what he said according to how I remembered it. He said the Republicans were at their worst during one party rule. That he tended to see the candidates as statists and authoritarians, and therefore similar.

[Buster's Uncle]

And not a big huge fan of Israel?

[Rusty Edge]

And not a big huge fan of Israel?

He didn't talk about them directly. Here's my sense of it-

Non-aggression is one of the most basic concepts of Libertarianism. If it's not a golden rule society it doesn't really work very well. Ron Paul is normally opposed to foreign wars. To that end, his worldview is about treating other countries fairly.

The Israeli Lobby ..and I'm drawing a distinction between the American PACs and the sovereign nation, because I think Paul does, too. Fairness doesn't satisfy the Israeli Lobby. They seem to think that everyone not for them is against them. The Israeli Lobby wants every candidate to kiss their ring. Those that don't get a bull's eye drawn upon them, and suffer attack ads. I believe Paul was on the receiving end of that when he ran for president.

[Buster's Uncle]

Ah.  Gotcha.

-Not that any other advocacy group is much different than that...

[Rusty Edge]

True.

I might add that this is one of the problems I have with the whole Citizen's United system of PACs.
It lets powerful people ( and we don't even know if they're American ) have it both ways- secrecy and libel protection in their attempts to influence elections.

[Buster's Uncle]

Funny thing - back before your time at WPC, a drunk German kid happened to make the point that Jews are very well-represented in finance and showbiz and some very powerful lines of work.

-I made the counterpoint "So?  They're a bunch of overachievers."

[Buster's Uncle]

I am ecstatic to report that nothing of real interest happened at today's Hog Calling.

I'd have been embarrassed if 80 protesters had not shown up, but embarrassed if there'd been fighting.

[Rusty Edge]

Funny thing - back before your time at WPC, a drunk German kid happened to make the point that Jews are very well-represented in finance and showbiz and some very powerful lines of work.

-I made the counterpoint "So?  They're a bunch of overachievers."

Funny.
I appreciate over-achieving doctors and medical scientists.

Just stumbled across a related story-
-sparked-unprecedented-crisis-among-jewish-republicans]http://www.theweek.com/articles/612214/how-donald-[Sleezebag]-sparked-unprecedented-crisis-among-jewish-republicans

It could have been easy to anticipate this predicament. At the Republican Jewish Coalition Presidential Forum in December, [Sleezebag] drew criticism for promoting anti-Semitic stereotypes while speaking to an audience of Jewish activists, many of them wealthy donors to the party. He suggested that they might not support him because he wouldn't take their campaign contributions. He called himself a "negotiator, like you." He said they were, like him, great dealmakers.

The speech, a characteristic [Sleezebag] mash-up of insult and purported flattery, at the time provoked a nervous discomfort in the audience, but little tangible opposition.

Even [Sleezebag]'s promise to use his negotiating skills to reach a "great" peace deal between the Israelis and Palestinians — a heresy in conservative pro-Israel circles — failed to produce a coherent anti-[Sleezebag] strategy from Republicans. The reception he receives at his scheduled speech before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) next week will be telling.


As his campaign has marched on, [Sleezebag] has become more brazen with his Islamophobia, his scapegoating of immigrants, and his promotion of "roughing up" protesters at his rallies, who are frequently black.

The [Sleezebag] campaign also has failed to explain how it gave press credentials to a white supremacist radio host to broadcast live from a rally in Tennessee. When confronted by his refusal to disavow support from the anti-Semitic former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke, [Sleezebag] said, "I don't like to disavow groups if I don't know who they are. I mean, you could have Federation of Jewish Philanthropies in groups." The Anti-Defamation League called [Sleezebag]'s statement apparently likening neo-Nazi groups and Jewish charities "obscene."

Jews do not make Hitler comparisons lightly, but increasingly [Sleezebag]'s rallies, at which he has deployed strongmen and incited followers to violence, are inviting them.

______________________

Anyway, the article goes on with [Sleezebag]'s responses, and how it is causing Cruz to become more pro-Israel.

 

[Buster's Uncle]

Hard to BELIEVE how some people never learn, isn't it?

[Rusty Edge]

Yeah. Who cares about history 'n news n' stuff, anyway?

I'm still blaming the press on this one. They turned a presidential race into entertainment coverage to boost their own ratings.

[Buster's Uncle]

Oh yesindeedeedido.  Guilty as charged.

Hard to BELIEVE how some people never learn, isn't it?