The Making of the President 2016

RobB said:

GL2 said:

They live in a world where unemployment runs rampant, everyone is paying more to a doctor they didn't choose, ISIS is determined to strike in Bumpkinland (rather than NYC or DC), the military is vastly underfunded, etc. It's the world of right wing Fox and hate radio. 

I listen to Howie Carr on my way home every night. I'm not sure what cognitive dissonance is - but I'm pretty sure it's Howie and his listeners.

"The economy is crumbling! Unemployment is out of control! There are no jobs!"

1 hour later

"What is it with kids today, whining about low wages and lack of opportunity? In my day..."

These are the same people who can hold the thought in their heads that the U.S. in shambles, while at the same time proclaiming that the U.S. is the greatest country in the history of the world.

What is their personal reality? Are they out of work? Have they lost their health insurance? Have they or anyone close to them been the victim of a terrorist attack?

If they are working-class or lower middle-class and I saidd to them that Sanders says one of the greatest problems today is the growing wealth disparity between rich and the middle-class and that wages and real income for the latter have been falling and asked them if they agree, what would they say?

Benghazi!

LOST said:

What is their personal reality? Are they out of work? Have they lost their health insurance? Have they or anyone close to them been the victim of a terrorist attack?

If they are working-class or lower middle-class and I saidd to them that Sanders says one of the greatest problems today is the growing wealth disparity between rich and the middle-class and that wages and real income for the latter have been falling and asked them if they agree, what would they say?

If you tell them Trump or any Republican said it, they would agree.  If you said Obama or any Dem said it, they'd disagree.  

LOST said:

What is their personal reality? Are they out of work? Have they lost their health insurance? Have they or anyone close to them been the victim of a terrorist attack?

If they are working-class or lower middle-class and I saidd to them that Sanders says one of the greatest problems today is the growing wealth disparity between rich and the middle-class and that wages and real income for the latter have been falling and asked them if they agree, what would they say?

I doubt that personal circumstances enter into it.  It's all just part of the conservative mind-set, and the memes that are perpetuated in the bubble.  There used to be a frequent contributor on MOL -- a graduate of a lesser Ivy and a staunch conservative who was an example of that mindset.  He'd go on and on about American exceptionalism,  and how the U.S. was the greatest country EVER.  But if he wrote about actual Americans, he'd declare that we are an awful group, speeding to hell on a handcart.  We are permissive and decadent, awful parents, etc. etc.  And I'd think "how can we be such a great country if the people who live in it are so terrible?"

My assessment is that many right wing folks love America, but don't really like most Americans.

Can all the people who think that Kasich is "reasonable" please take a few minutes to actually look at his record?

Yes, I know, you are going to say, well, he is reasonable compared to the others.  But that is like saying that Speer was a reasonable Nazi because he was an architect and minister of armaments but at least did not run a death camp.

Kasich has called for establishing a Federal agency to protect and promote Judeo-Christian values in America.  He has gladly signed into legislation a dozen bills restricting the rights of women to health care (yesterday he signed one de-funding Planned Parenthood in Ohio).  He was one of Newt Gingrich's wing nuts, er wing men, during that "revolution".

What gets me about Kasich, just as with many other in the GOP, is that at one time he actually was pretty reasonable, if very conservative.  He worked with Ralph Nader to reduce corporate tax loopholes, and with Ron Dellums to kill the B-1 bomber, both of which he worked on because he was a deficit hawk who went after unnecessary pork.  He proposed a version of universal health care access that included an individual mandate back when the Heritage Foundation first put this idea forth (they now run from it like the plague).  But in recent years he pivoted and became a Tea Party darling on way too many issues--he should and does know better, but he caved in and sold out his own values.

.

I wonder if GOP leaders will encourage Kasich to stay in the race to help keep Trump under 50 percent of the delegates, even if he wins a plurality. Kasich would probably win Ohio and could get second place in some industrial Midwest and more centrist states. 

At the convention, he could be given the vice president slot behind Rubio in exchange for throwing his delegates to him. I agree that he's more conservative than people are making him out to be, but a Rubio-Kasich ticket might be the best Republican shot. 

It would provide some age and ethnic diversity and possibly bring along two huge swing states. You'd have a senator and a governor with significant Congressional experience and a VP candidate who would not prompt fears of a meltdown should he need to take over.

The Bern is over.  Clinton is the very presumptive nominee. 

bramzzoinks said:

The Bern is over.  Clinton is the very presumptive nominee. 

He'll stick around to keep the conversation going but his chances are slim and none.  And Slim just left town.

ffof said:

LOST said:

I just saw the three top Republican Candidates on TV.

Trump is, well, Trump.

Rubio thinks the last 7 years under Obama has been ruinous for America. Does he really have no memory of how Bush left the country?

.....

I hear the "ruinous" meme from my fox-news father (he loves carson!).  I am still not sure what they are pointing to when they say ruinous.  Do They think the ACA is ruinous or has been ruinous?  Do They actually believe the wrong-headed notion that the top 1 percent should be paying less taxes than they are now? What are they looking at that i am not?  

All they see is a black man as President.

LOST said:

How many Republicans will take this position?

http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-gop-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/02/erick-erickson-donald-trump-2016-219603?lo=ap_a1

He's not in office. GOP pols fear the base and cower before them, even as they drag the GOP into the abyss.

RobB said:

GL2 said:

They live in a world where unemployment runs rampant, everyone is paying more to a doctor they didn't choose, ISIS is determined to strike in Bumpkinland (rather than NYC or DC), the military is vastly underfunded, etc. It's the world of right wing Fox and hate radio. 

I listen to Howie Carr on my way home every night. I'm not sure what cognitive dissonance is - but I'm pretty sure it's Howie and his listeners.

"The economy is crumbling! Unemployment is out of control! There are no jobs!"

1 hour later

"What is it with kids today, whining about low wages and lack of opportunity? In my day..."

Nothing like fear to motivate the hopeless. There's a sadness to this whole constituency of folks who've lost out on decent jobs. Unskilled and low-skilled labor has no way of making a decent living and the whites among them can't understand why they've lost ground in "what should be" the normal pecking order. Their resentment needs to be channelled by GOP into resentment of folks in the same boat rather than those exploiting their plight.