Octopus Overlords

Pyperkub wrote: Seeing as how Darth Cheney and the Rumsfelds lied us into a war and essentially created the surveillance state in the US (with a lot of unconstitutional portions, as we've found out since ), I feel the term is still warranted.

But I will grant that he was a lot more competent than anyone currently serving, just missing a moral compass (torture memos. ..).

Rip wrote: I would like them to say that that candidate (whoever it ends up being) is a far better choice than Trump. Which will never happen. I will go ahead and predict that whoever the next person not named Trump to run on the Republican ticket will be widely vilified as being even worse than Trump. Although if you asked any of them right now they would say that no one could be worse than Trump because Hitler is dead.

Just like it was said at the time the only person that could be a worse POTUS than Bush was Cheney.

Unagi wrote:

So there's any number of things Trump could have been referencing here, I guess...whatever.

Ripcrickets

Rip wrote: Trump's policies aren't doing him in, his being an uncontrollable douchebag is.

Chaz wrote:

Rip wrote: Trump's policies aren't doing him in, his being an uncontrollable douchebag is.

I hope you weren't trying to use this as an argument that if he wasn't such an uncontrollable douchebag, that he'd be doing okay on the policy front. For one thing, he doesn't have policies. He has a page of vague bullet points, most of which are wishful thinking. He's never had realistic or robust policy proposals for anything. He has one-liners that he can't back up with specifics other than "It'll be great and beautiful, believe me."

For his candidacy and Presidency, that lack of concrete policy proposals, or even basic understanding of the issues, has been background noise, constantly overshadowed by whatever fresh hell he's spouted onto Twitter or into a microphone today. Strip all that away (you'll need a team of backhoes), and suddenly the complete lack of policy proposals would be the news of the day. Frankly, I'd be fine if that became the case.

Rip wrote:

Unagi wrote:

Rip wrote:

Holman wrote:The only thing that makes liberals remember Bush semi-fondly is his relative decency compared to Trump or to anyone in Trump's circle.

There's been no reassessment of the policy disasters that defined Bush's presidency.

But how are you going to demonize the next conservative Republican POTUS, you can't possible paint them with as fear and loathing as Trump has been. President Cruz is going to look like a brilliant statesman in comparison and that will be much more difficult to combat. Especially when I suspect he or Pence would manage to get things done that are far more damaging to the liberal agenda.

Should make for an interesting narrative.

AND what the narrative you would like to hear? nothing, right? nada.

I would like them to say that that candidate (whoever it ends up being) is a far better choice than Trump. Which will never happen. I will go ahead and predict that whoever the next person not named Trump to run on the Republican ticket will be widely vilified as being even worse than Trump. Although if you asked any of them right now they would say that no one could be worse than Trump because Hitler is dead.

Just like it was said at the time the only person that could be a worse POTUS than Bush was Cheney.

Freyland wrote:My simple contribution to the present conversation is that I was still a Republican at the end of Bush's Administration.

Now, I am not.

Freyland wrote:My simple contribution to the present conversation is that I was still a Republican at the end of Bush's Administration.

Now, I am not.

President Donald Trump has stepped up his attacks on Republican senators, an approach he may regret if he is someday impeached and the Senate has to weigh charges against him stemming from an investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.

More than half of the 11 Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which would be central to any proceeding to remove Trump from office, have tangled with the Republican president, including on Thursday when he fired off early-morning tweets.

In one Twitter series, Trump called Senator Lindsey Graham "publicity seeking" and said he "just can't forget his election trouncing" in the 2016 presidential race. Trump also assailed Senator Jeff Flake, another Republican critic, as "a non-factor in the Senate," adding, "He's toxic."

Flake and Graham are members of the Judiciary Committee, whose Chairman Chuck Grassley has urged Trump to tone it down.

"He should be 100 percent sticking to ideas and forget about personalities," Grassley said on Friday when pressed on whether Trump might find himself without the friends in Congress he would need to defend himself in an impeachment proceeding.

For his part, Grassley said his views would not be colored by past presidential sniping.

"Let's say the House of Representatives impeached the president of the United States. Then I'm a juror," Grassley said. "The Senate is the jury that decides whether he should be impeached. The jury is supposed to be impartial."

El Guapo wrote:Romney put out an absolutely blistering statement on Trump and Charlottesville.

El Guapo wrote:Romney put out an absolutely blistering statement on Trump and Charlottesville.

Kraken wrote:Yesterday I read a Newsweek interview with the fellow who actually wrote The Art of the Deal. He maintains that Trump will resign, most likely before the end of this year. Trump can't stand failure and he will pull the plug when he recognizes that that is the only possible outcome, as Mueller's noose tightens, his own party abandons him, his staff remains rogue, the business community continues to defect, and his ramshackle policy agenda goes nowhere.

Not linking it because it's just speculation and you can easily find it if you're so motivated.

Kraken wrote:Yesterday I read a Newsweek interview with the fellow who actually wrote The Art of the Deal. He maintains that Trump will resign, most likely before the end of this year. Trump can't stand failure and he will pull the plug when he recognizes that that is the only possible outcome, as Mueller's noose tightens, his own party abandons him, his staff remains rogue, the business community continues to defect, and his ramshackle policy agenda goes nowhere.

Not linking it because it's just speculation and you can easily find it if you're so motivated.

malchior wrote:I might not agree with some of Mitt's policy positions but he nailed it. Also interesting that people like himself and Kasich feel the need to speak out about taking the party back this week.

El Guapo wrote:At this point, unless something changes dramatically, I would be shocked if Kasich doesn't mount a primary challenge in 2020. It'll be interesting to see if there are others.

malchior wrote:I might not agree with some of Mitt's policy positions but he nailed it.

Captain Caveman wrote:

malchior wrote:I might not agree with some of Mitt's policy positions but he nailed it.

His statement is by far the best one I've read from any politician, left or right.

Captain Caveman wrote:

El Guapo wrote:At this point, unless something changes dramatically, I would be shocked if Kasich doesn't mount a primary challenge in 2020. It'll be interesting to see if there are others.

I don't see how he'd have any chance in hell to beat Trump in a Republican primary. GOP voters by and large support Trump and see Kasich as a RINO. Kasich is embodies the respectable, establishment GOP of a bygone era. It's Trump's party now.

msteelers wrote:More republicans better copy and paste it if they want any chance of winning statewide elections. In a few years we are going to see politicians falling all over themselves to claim how they were against Trump from the beginning, just like they have been doing with the Iraq war for the past decade.

The Republican Party under Donald Trump has regressed from the party of Lincoln to the party of Lee (who, as a historical matter, is actually a skeleton in the Democrats' closet). Hanging racism around Republican necks is the fulfillment of the dearest wish of the left, and unless powerfully rebutted by however many decent Republicans still exist, will discredit the party for years to come.

Captain Caveman wrote:The key, I think, would be that no other primary contenders enter the race. One on one, Kasich might have a shot. Trump benefited mightily in the 2016 primary campaign from the anti-Trump vote being split among so many rivals. Straight up against a single primary opponent, he's vulnerability would be a lot higher.

Members of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities resigned Friday over U.S. President Donald Trump's response to the violent unrest in Charlottesville, Virginia.

"Supremacy, discrimination and vitriol are not American values. Your values are not American values," the members wrote in their resignation letter dated Friday.

"If this is not clear to you, then we call on you to resign your office, too."

The committee included private members such as actor Kal Penn, author Jhumpa Lahiri, painter and photographer Chuck Close, singer-songwriter Paula E. Boggs and theatre performer John Lloyd Young​. All of the members were holdovers from former president Barack Obama's tenure.

"The Administration's refusal to quickly and unequivocally condemn the cancer of hatred only further emboldens those who wish America ill," the letter reads.

"Ignoring your hateful rhetoric would have made us complicit in your words and actions. We took a patriotic oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic."

The only private member who did not sign the resignation letter was Broadway director George C. Wolfe.

Representatives for Wolfe at Creative Arts Agency did not have any immediate comment on whether he had resigned, according to The Associated Press, and the White House also did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

Smoove_B wrote:

msteelers wrote:More republicans better copy and paste it if they want any chance of winning statewide elections. In a few years we are going to see politicians falling all over themselves to claim how they were against Trump from the beginning, just like they have been doing with the Iraq war for the past decade.

When Townhall is saying you have a problem, you better believe it's serious:

The Republican Party under Donald Trump has regressed from the party of Lincoln to the party of Lee (who, as a historical matter, is actually a skeleton in the Democrats' closet). Hanging racism around Republican necks is the fulfillment of the dearest wish of the left, and unless powerfully rebutted by however many decent Republicans still exist, will discredit the party for years to come.

malchior wrote:Word is dropping that Bannon has been fired! Stephen Miller has been unchained!

malchior wrote:Word is dropping that Bannon has been fired! Stephen Miller has been unchained!

El Guapo wrote:

malchior wrote:Word is dropping that Bannon has been fired! Stephen Miller has been unchained!

This seems like an unmitigated good thing. Both because Bannon is a noxious person who wants to do awful things, and because it would presumably cause Bannon to turn on Trump at least partially, which should further erode Trump's support.

A person close to Mr. Bannon insisted the parting of ways was his idea, and that he had submitted his resignation to the president on Aug. 7, to be announced at the start of this week, but it was delayed in the wake of the racial unrest in Charlottesville, Va.

El Guapo wrote:

malchior wrote:Word is dropping that Bannon has been fired! Stephen Miller has been unchained!

This seems like an unmitigated good thing. Both because Bannon is a noxious person who wants to do awful things, and because it would presumably cause Bannon to turn on Trump at least partially, which should further erode Trump's support.

El Guapo wrote:

malchior wrote:Word is dropping that Bannon has been fired! Stephen Miller has been unchained!

This seems like an unmitigated good thing. Both because Bannon is a noxious person who wants to do awful things, and because it would presumably cause Bannon to turn on Trump at least partially, which should further erode Trump's support.

El Guapo wrote:

malchior wrote:Word is dropping that Bannon has been fired! Stephen Miller has been unchained!

This seems like an unmitigated good thing. Both because Bannon is a noxious person who wants to do awful things, and because it would presumably cause Bannon to turn on Trump at least partially, which should further erode Trump's support.