"Democrats Have Been Acting Like the Proverbial American Tourist in France, …

trying to get their point across by shouting louder in a language only they understand."

A great line from Chuck Lane (Washington Post). Just to be clear, it is easy to imagine Republicans doing the same in a future election.

Comments

[Lee Moore]

Actually the Frenchies understand English pretty well. They are just trying to annoy you. They are offended that you’re not willing to humiliate yourself by making even a tiny effort to cough up a syllable in French. Just say “bonjour” at the start, try to look embarrassed and then launch into your pure Texan.

The same approach would work for the Dems. But in their case they won’t attempt it, because at heart they are OUTRAGED that the voters speak Trumpish.

[Brett Bellmore]

That wss certainly my experience decades ago in Ontario: Store clerks would be chatting with each other in English, then suddenly only spoke French when you needed help.

[Noscitur a sociis]

We’ve never seen this kind of thing before Trump started talking about the “deep state” and getting armed for a civil war.

I guess you weeent stop d

[Noscitur a sociis]

Well, that didn’t exactly come out how I planned it.

[Bwaaah]

LOL
Too late. I spent 30 seconds trying to figure it out. I gave up after my third attempted strategy in which I tried to bridge phonetic spelling with French pronunciation of words I couldn't imagine. And NOW you tell me it was a mistake? Do I have to start reading all replies to a post before I presume it reasonable to try to understand that post?

"Didn't exactly come out how I planned it," you say.

No. It didn't. But you want to leave it there, like that? You're not going to clarify? You're abandoning it, like it's unsalvageable?

I want to know why you're walking away like this. I'm suspicious. Could it be that it *did* come out the way you planned, and on readback you realized, "Well...THAT doesn't work."?

[bernard11]

I bet he doesn't clean up after his dog, either.

[Bwaaah]

That's what I'm saying. And an untold number of other horrible things. Who does that? I mean, what kind of a person?

[TwelveInchPianist]

Now who can argue with that?

[Archibald Tuttle]

Don't you mean Quebec?

[Dan Schiavetta]

Most of the electorate might not understand hope and inclusion as messages, but I don't mind continuing to shout in that language, louder.

[Frank Drackman]

Yeah, because we’re stupid Nazis, and we’ll continue crushing our enemies, seeing them driven before us, and hearing the lamentations of your women.
Umm, maybe next time don’t run spots with obviously Homosexual men talking about how they braid their daughter’s hair and eat Carburetors.

Frank

[SimonP]

Not everyone who voted for Trump is a stupid Nazi.

But you definitely are, Frank.

[Frank Drackman]

I know, a Jewish Nazi, we're the worst.

[Commenter_XY]

I dunno, Fema-nazis give 'em a run for their money.

[SimonP]

Your stupidity helps to explain why you think this is an effective rejoinder.

If anything, the presumption that Jews can't be Nazis makes it easier for them to behave even more like Nazis, as Netanyahu's government is making clear in Gaza and Lebanon. One wonders how far they'll be able to go before it'll be politically possible to describe the reality as it is.

[JesusHadBlondeHairBlueEyes]

AIDS has turned your brain to mush.

[Stella Link the dog]

"AIDS has turned your brain to mush."

If true, it proves that he had a brain to begin with.

[TwelveInchPianist]

Doesn't screaming, "Free sex changes for prisoners at taxpayer expense!" over and over again get boring?

[JesusHadBlondeHairBlueEyes]

Yes, that's why they rotate in "We'll trans your kids in secret against your will!"

[JasonT20]

Doesn’t screaming, “Free sex changes for prisoners at taxpayer expense!” over and over again get boring?

Apparently, not for the people making the anti-Harris attack ads. I've certainly never seen any Democrat "screaming" anything like that.

[MatthewSlyfield]

No shouting, but the ads in question have video clips of Harris saying exactly that in an interview during her failed 2020 primary campaign.

[TwelveInchPianist]

Yeah, it was funny watching the journalists react to that during the debate.

"Another bizarre off the wall false claim by Trump, he said that Kamala wanted to give free sex changes to illegal aliens.., What's that? Oh. Uh... Well, yeah, why wouldn't you give out free sex changes..."

[JasonT20]

No shouting, but the ads in question have video clips of Harris saying exactly that in an interview during her failed 2020 primary campaign.

Sure, and how many times has she said it since then? TwelveInchPianist specified not just "screaming" but "over and over again".

That's what I'm getting at. It is an easy to spot tactic when attack ads take one thing and beat it into the ground "over and over again". But hey, I get that when it is a politician you don't like, seeing those attack ads many times is the same in you're mind as Harris repeating it herself.

[Noscitur a sociis]

She expressly acknowledged that she planned to do it in her interview with Bret Baier last month.

[TwelveInchPianist]

"TwelveInchPianist specified not just 'screaming' but 'over and over again'."

Responding to captcrisis:

"Most of the electorate might not understand hope and inclusion as messages, but I don’t mind continuing to shout in that language, louder."

[JasonT20]

Hope and inclusion made you think about sex changes for prisoners, huh? Your mind must be a strange place.

[Armchair]

When "your side" claims inclusion, then decides to "skip" those houses with Trump signs for FEMA aid...

It's pretty clear your side isn't really inclusive.

[JesusHadBlondeHairBlueEyes]

Don't forget the Paradox of Tolerance, Armchair, and it's corollaries.

e.g. The Harvard Institute of Politics has recently abandoned it's tradition of non-partisanship to, get this, to save their tradition of non-partisanship.

”Today, Harvard’s Institute of Politics has a choice to make too. Nonpartisanship — a founding principle of the IOP — is no longer a tenable position in today’s political environment. Donald Trump’s imminent return to power underscores the importance of the IOP finally breaking from our long-standing commitment to it.”

“In fact, we must strive to defend principles of democracy, due process, and justice precisely to ensure that we can continue carrying out our age-old mission of nonpartisanship.”

Leftists are delusional retards.

[TwelveInchPianist]

Yeah, I can't say I'm shocked that the Biden/Harris administration would do such a thing.

[TwelveInchPianist]

I'd like to think that this was just an isolated incident of a bad apple, but I've been repeatedly assured that career bureaucrats don't make actual decisions and that the political appointees call the shots.

[MatthewSlyfield]

I've seen shots of one of his no contact reports where he explicitly states that skipping Trump supporter's houses is per leadership.

[Commenter_XY]

Still hurts, doesn't it? Maybe try some introspection.

[Bwaaah]

If they had any inclination toward introspection, they would long ago have developed some respectful regard for people who disagree with them. No election is likely to change that disinclination.

There are some left-leaning commenters here who add salient, if not agreeable, counter-arguments to right-leaning perspectives. But a bunch of them are more scorned bitch than anything else. You have to wonder why they lurk here despite the very negative feedback they receive. I suspect it indicates that they feed on their own moral revulsion. The mere expression of non-progressive leanings is prima facie evidence of an abominable spirit for these people. They hate that, and they LOVE TO HATE that.

That's what they're here for: that moral revulsion, that hatred they feel, the self-uplifting satisfaction that comes from contempt for others.

The only way some people can feel big is to see others as being small. Such are some of the dregs of humanity in politics.

[David Nieporent]

If they had any inclination toward introspection, they would long ago have developed some respectful regard for people who disagree with them. No election is likely to change that disinclination.

If there's one thing MAGA is best known for, it's respectful regard for people who disagree with them. And calling Democrats libtards.

[Frank Drackman]

For over a thousand years Roman conquerors
returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of a triumph,
a tumultuous parade. In the procession came trumpeters
and musicians and strange animals from the conquered territories together with carts laden with treasure and captured armaments.
The conqueror rode in a triumphal chariot
the dazed prisoners walking in chains before him.
Sometimes, his children, robed in white
stood with him in the chariot, or rode the trace horses.
A slave stood behind the conqueror holding a golden crown
and whispering in his ear a warning that all glory is fleeting.

[Mr. Bumble]

Sounds like the perfect plan for a Trump inaugural parade on Jan. 20, 2025.

[GKHoff]

Not a thousand years. During the Empire period, Roman generals were not allowed triumphs. Only the Emperor and his family could claim that honor.

[Frank Drackman]

Tell George S. Scott, it's from the final scene of "Patton"

[Stella Link the dog]

Mengele wrote: “Tell George S. Scott”

Who the hell is George S. Scott?

If you were a normal and decent person, this woud not deserve a comment, but you are not. In the recent past, you criticized somone for making a simple spelling mistake and suggested dementia was the reason. Dementia indeed.

[Bwaaah]

"Dimentia," bad. "Mengele," good?

[Armchair]

"FEMA employee fired after telling relief team to skip houses with Trump signs following Florida hurricane."

This is unbelievable. This is just the bit that was caught in writing (as per the linked daily wire post via MSN). Deliberately having FEMA workers skip houses for political reasons.

Sounds like FEMA may need some employee re-education on illegal discrimination

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/fema-employee-removed-from-role-after-reportedly-telling-relief-team-to-skip-houses-with-trump-signs-after-florida-hurricane/ar-AA1tMlOm

[Dan Schiavetta]

FEMA workers were attacked by Trump supporters who believed they were part of the “deep state”. The supervisor was probably afraid they would be armed and his people shot at. All while people who actually welcomed help were losing their lives as minutes ticked by.

[Dan Schiavetta]

one example

https://abc7news.com/post/fema-threats-helene-relief-operations-paused-north-carolina-due-reports-armed-militia-threatening-crews/15427615/

We’ve never seen this kind of thing before Trump started talking about the “deep state” and getting armed for a civil war.

I myself was a FEMA worker and our agency was very careful to remove us from places where people might put our lives in peril.

[Frank Drackman]

You realize you're talking about every single place with a significant Afro-Amurican Population.

[Absaroka]

A followup from a few days later.

[TwelveInchPianist]

So the Feds' claims of truckloads of militia going around attacking FEMA members were false?

[Absaroka]

In fairness, feds, locals, a Republican congresscritter, and lots of media outlets all played their parts in the game of 'Telephone'.

I expect such confusion in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. What's sad is that it is still being passed around as true.

[JesusHadBlondeHairBlueEyes]

Of course some Leftist comes in to excuse this illegal behavior.

[TwelveInchPianist]

It's not just rando lefties that are defending this. Jen Rubin from Wapo did as well. It's looking like denying government benefits to Trump supporters is becoming a somewhat popular Dem position.

Seems like kind of poor timing, tactically.

[Noscitur a sociis]

Since that appears to be the only example, and it happened in a difference state and didn't occur at a house with Trump signs, I'm not sure it actually is a very sound basis for the supervisor's actions.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Ah, you're not a Democrat.

[Kazinski]

Yeah, I can see being cautious in isolated hill country, we've all seen deliverance, and even JD Vance would concede their are eccentrics that are suspicious of outsiders.

But suburban Florida is quite different than an isolated Appalachian holler.

[Bwaaah]

Fuckin’ Deliverance. It’ll never be safe to go into the woods again. That shit is burned into people’s brains, with not a single competing vison that can overcome it. My ass gets parched just thinking about it.

(I spend a lot of time doing back country backpacking, and that Deliverance shit creeps right back into my head at the worst possible moments.)

I saw those people, those toothless unshaven men in dirty working clothes, in Arkansas, on a dirt road in the back country in the middle of nowhere. They were in a beat-up pickup truck, gun rack on the rear window. I was walking along the road when they pulled up next to me and stopped.

The driver said, “Hey.”

I said back at him, “Hey.”

“Y’all OK?” he asked.

“Fine,” I said. “Enjoying the country.”

They smiled, and drove away.

Fuckin’ Deliverance.

[Kazinski]

I'm not speaking from total ignorance, I lived in Arkansas for 2 years, in the Ozarks. Fayetteville, but still hill country. You don't want to go to far out off pavement sniffing around peoples houses, or shacks.

But the same is true in California where people might be growing stuff, or cooking stuff.

Booby trapped trails, or fishhooks hanging at eye level were not unheard of in Humboldt and Mendocino counties in the 70's.

[Bwaaah]

Yeah...getting on people's property and near their stuff is an altogether different risk profile. I try to keep myself out of trouble. I haven't run into many people who look for trouble I'm not starting.

People everywhere, no matter what they look like, tend to not be like those guys in Deliverance (and not like those guys in the pawn shop in Pulp Fiction neither). I'm not aware of bad dental care being a genuine sign of an axe murderer type. Still, some of those movie memories sure do put the fear of God into me. And I don't know many people who don't get a Deliverance flashback when they get out far enough to where nobody can hear their screams.

[Kazinski]

I got 15 acres and a house a few miles off pavement, myself.

But it is surprising what some people think is ok on other peoples property, I had someone set up and leave lawn furniture about 100 yards from my house from a nice view area to watch the sunset.

They seem to be in the habit of that, about a 1/4 mile away there's another spot they did the same thing in the national forest in a nice forest glade.

[Bwaaah]

"Leave no trace" is an operating objective for me. People setting up like that takes a kind of personal hubris, about law and property. That reminds me of people who feel cool about blasting their amplified music on the streets in the city. They think it's OK because "it's good music, and everybody likes good music."

I think it has something to do with believing in a notion of "people with good taste," to which I say, "Eye of the beholder; back the fuck off."

[CountmontyC]

One man who is not even accused of actually doing any actual violence and even helped FEMA deliver supplies to those in need is your evidence of why it was okay to skip houses with Trump signs? And apparently his threat amounted to "let's get a bunch of people together and force FEMA to deliver supplies to those in need ( paraphrased quote)." And their proof he was planning violence was that he had a handgun and rifle which means that he is in the same area of 45.8% of North Carolina households. So one person, no actual violence and actually helped FEMA load supplies for delivery.

[TwelveInchPianist]

I also haven't seen any evidence that the guy was a Trump supporter, or that the alleged incident had anything to do with Trump's comments, or a belief that FEMA was the deep state.

[Frank Drackman]

I’ll respond in the little French I know (I’m fluent in German, semi-fluent in Engrish, and can mumble enough Hebrew to sound like I’m retarded)
“Merde!”

Frank

[TwelveInchPianist]

"FEMA workers were attacked by Trump supporters who believed they were part of the “deep state”."

Correctly, as it turns out. I guess that since Harris supporting federal employees deny benefits to Trump supporters, it's time to remove Harris supporters from the federal bureaucracy.

[Armchair]

I honestly can't believe you're actually defending this blatant and horrible discrimination by FEMA workers.

It's.....it's....unbelievable. It's like FEMA saying "skip all the houses with Black people because this one time a black person shot at a FEMA worker in another state".

It's just blatantly wrong for FEMA to be discriminating like this.

[Dan Schiavetta]

No, it's protecting the people you send out into the field. The person responsible for this is Trump.

Trump could have said, "FEMA workers are there to help. Let them do their job." Instead he accused them of spurning American citizens and diverting their energies to cat-eating illegal immigrants.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Please, try just once to imagine the roles reversed. It's not that hard. Your screaming would reverse too.

[Dan Schiavetta]

No, if this were the Trump Administration, you would not have Harris spreading vicious disinformation about government workers in an emergency situation. What Trump does is something in entirely new. And it costs lives.

[TwelveInchPianist]

What disinformation?

The relief efforts were hampered by disinformation from FEMA itself about truckloads of armed militia.

[Kazinski]

That will probably be her defense when she appeals her firing whatever discipline they oppose:

"Trump made me do it."

[Armchair]

"No, it’s protecting the people you send out into the field. The person responsible for this is Trump."

No. It's not.

Listen very carefully. There is not excuse for FEMA workers to be "skipping" those people who have Trump signs on their yard in Florida. None at all. It is blatant, illegal, discrimination.

Trump is not in charge. He is not in the government. He has no authority over these people. None at all. These people with Trump signs in their yard have done nothing at all wrong, illegal, or anything of the such. They are by and large, American Citizens, who are merely expressing their rights. This type of discrimination against these Citizens is illegal and wrong, in every sense of the word.

If you truly feel the actions of these federal employees are just and right, I encourage you, if you have any position of authority, to report these feelings in their entirety to your superior. They will remove you from being able to discriminate against Americans, if they have any sense of their responsibility.

[Dan Schiavetta]

Trump made jokes about an 82-year-old man whose skull was fractured by a burglar. The crowd cackled with glee. (This was Nancy Pelosi's husband.)

It's obvious that if a FEMA was attacked and his skull cracked by a militia person watching Newsmax, Trump would make a joke about him too. And millions would laugh along with him.

[Noscitur a sociis]

It’s obvious that if a FEMA was attacked and his skull cracked by a militia person watching Newsmax, Trump would make a joke about him too. And millions would laugh along with him.

You claimed above that FEMA workers were so attacked. Can you point us to the laughing?

[Dan Schiavetta]

They were not actually attacked, their skulls smashed in. I’m waiting, though. It's not past Trump to do that. And it's not past today's Republican Party. Can you deny that?

[Commenter_XY]

So you totally made shit up that never happened, to justify discriminating against Americans whose only 'crime' is a difference of political opinion.

You maybe forget that they are Americans, like you?

[TwelveInchPianist]

"FEMA workers were attacked by Trump supporters who believed they were part of the “deep state”."

It probably should go without saying, but this is a lie.

[TwelveInchPianist]

It's not even clear that she's been fired.

"FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell called the actions of the employee “reprehensible” and said [she has] been terminated from [her] role."

She was "fired" from her role, but does she still work with FEMA?

[JesusHadBlondeHairBlueEyes]

You pretty much can’t fire a bureaucrat. Remember those bureaucrats that literally murdered those vets at the VA by putting them on secret wait lists so they could get greedy capitalist money wealth bonuses?

I think only 1 got fired, but that was after years and she even sued.

[Frank Drackman]

Probably, she works for Alejandro Major Dork-ass

[TwelveInchPianist]

And were the people that carried out the instructions fired?

[SimonP]

Of course, we only have more of this to expect, as Trump swaps out bureaucrats for loyalists, and is likely to revert to his habit of withholding aid for states that voted for his political opponents.

[Bob from Ohio]

Thing happens under Biden. It is Trump's fault!

[SimonP]

I was referring to Trump's previous attempts to withhold disaster aid for certain disfavored states (and his mismanagement of COVID resources), but I realize you're not really familiar with the record of the person you just elected president.

[Commenter_XY]

The record you make up in your fevered imagination, Simon?

[JoeFromtheBronx]

Eugene Volokh voted libertarian, but his heart is with the Republicans. First, he likes a Democrats bashing conservative op-ed (one badly argued), now we get this.

Democrats repeatedly did not do that. They supported a border bill that many liberals don’t like. They picked a comfortable older white guy military vet as vice president. They got a bunch of dissident Republicans to support them. They supported popular things like abortion rights that states that went for Trump signed on. etc.

(The military vet thing is another thing Democrats have supported loud and clear from Biden down. Sen. Gillibrand had a good ad about how she supported veterans, for instance. I figure this is not just something THEY understand.)

Democrats also promoted their own messages. As someone else noted, if “Trump is unfit” is something people don’t understand, I don’t mind if they loudly declare it.

Both parties are going to have some messages that aren't universal. They are political parties.

Since Republicans as a whole, helped often by the media, don’t want to promote the truth, someone should.

[Frank Drackman]

The “Old white guy military vet” (he’s 2 years younger than me, so you’re saying I’m old?) only carried his “Blue” State by 4%, I wonder if Shapiro would have helped a few percent in PA? But then that would have offended the Moose-lums in MI, that she couldn’t carry anyway (I’m sure a light-in-the-loafers Foo-Bawl coach really helped with them)
You left out the “23 Nobel Prize Winning Economists” who endorsed Cums-a-lot, maybe they should have had 24 or 25.
Oh, and somebody tell the Des Moine Register that “47” carried Iowa by 13 points, their Poll was only off by 17.

Frank

[JoeFromtheBronx]

The Democrats have won statewide races in states that went for Trump. The evidence repeatedly shows that voters support many of their policies. Maybe, we can look past them merely saying things that only they understand.

https://substack.com/inbox/post/151406952

[Mr. Bumble]

What evidence???

[JesusHadBlondeHairBlueEyes]

Like in AZ where:
- Trump won AZ by 6 pts
- Gallego had 127k more votes than there are registered Democrats
- Lake had 200k fewer votes than there are registered Republicans
- Gallego received more votes than Kamala Harris
- Lake received 140k fewer votes than Trump
- Uncounted ballot totals increased days after the deadline

That's evidence the people supported Democrat policies while voting for Trump!

[Kazinski]

I'm sympathetic to the argument Trump is unfit to be President.

Problem is neither Harris or Biden are fit to be President either.

While I think Trump did try to subvert the constitution when when he tried to overturn the electoral college count.

I also think the Biden-Harris has attempted or proposed subverting the constitution, some examples:

- Cajoling and threatening social media companies to censor speech they didn't like.
- Proposing outlawing assault weapons and confiscating them violating both the 2nd and 5th amendments.
- Forgiving student loans without either congressional authorization, or an appropriation. And structuring the program to try to evade.review by the courts, which they knew they would lose.
- Proposing taxing unrealized gains as income in violation of article 1, and the 16th amendment.

I should have had better choices.

If the Democrats are really that afraid of Trump they should have proposed a national unification candidate like Mitt Romney, Condoleeza Rice, or possibly a technocrat like Jerome Powell, who was appointed as Chairman of the federal reserve by both Trump and Biden.

Instead they double downed with Kamala Harris, and lost.

[Brett Bellmore]

And then once they lost, suddenly were all "Let's assure a peaceful transition." That is not how you react when ultra-Hitler wins the election...

It is how you react when calling an ordinary candidate ultra-Hitler fails, though.

[Kazinski]

Well I will give them credit for that, and say that's what Trump.should have done in 2020.

He would have won this year with 60% of the vote if he had.

Although Democrats fascist reaction rounding up peaceful protesters along with the violent thugs that invaded the capitol probably added a point or two to Trumps win.

[Bwaaah]

"With decorum and civility appropriate to a democracy, we concede the election and will do everything we can to support the transition to the new fascist dictator."

[Josh R]

Trying to steal an election subverts the Constitution. Advancing policy preferences, within (put pushing the limits of) constraints as determined by the courts, does not.

That's a language that all should understand, but Trump's lies convinced too many people otherwise.

[Kazinski]

Well I didn’t buy it, but that interpretation of the 12th amendment was first proposed in during The Hayes – Tilden election to force a negotiated outcome Hayes, who might have been the loser, prevailed.

The alternative electors scheme was implemented by the Kennedy team in 1960, and endorsed by a Democratic congressman and a Supreme Court Justice in the 2000 election:
“On December 11, 2000, the day before the Supreme Court issued its Bush v. Gore ruling, Congresswoman Patsy Mink (D-HI) circulated this Dear Colleague entitled “1960 Hawaii Presidential Election Provides Roadmap for Resolving Florida Election Dispute.” As Congresswoman Mink explained, in 1960 Richard Nixon was originally declared the winner in Hawaii by 141 votes over John F. Kennedy, and the Nixon electors were certified by the governor. The results were contested in court, and on elector balloting day both the certified Nixon electors and the uncertified Kennedy electors cast ballots.”

And Stevens said Congresscould pick and choose from alternative slates of electors:

“They do not prohibit a State from counting what the majority concedes to be legal votes until a bona fide winner is determined. Indeed, in 1960, Hawaii appointed two slates of electors and Congress chose to count the one appointed on January 4, 1961, well after the Title 3 deadlines.”

And remember when the 2020 alternative electors were selected Congress hadn’t acted yet.

[Commenter_XY]

Hayes probably was the loser. It came down to LA.

[Josh R]

They hadn't finished counting the votes in 1960 in Hawaii. In contrast, there was no legitimate basis for alternate electors in 2020 - or anything else Trump tried (Pence, Raffesnberger, the DOJ, doing nothing for 2 hours while rooting for the mob).

But, it appears you don't speak the language either.

[David Nieporent]

– Proposing outlawing assault weapons and confiscating them violating both the 2nd and 5th amendments.

A mandatory gun buyback program may violate the 2nd amendment, but it does not violate the 5th.

[Frank Drackman]

As someone who knows a thing or two about Western North Carolina (Mrs. Drackman loves the Harrah's Cherokee Casinos) the most dangerous place in all of Western North Carolina is also the wokest, downtown Asheville, it's almost like a miniature Berkley

Frank

[hobie]

Frankie 'wounded warrior' Drackman, America's neediest veteran, I know a lot miserable, disaffected housewives that seek the distraction booze and gambling supply from disappointing, misogynistic home lives.

[Frank Drackman]

How about other than your wives?? (I'm playing along that a putz like you has a wife that's not a Rosie O'Donnel double)

[hobie]

Frankie, I realize you've created a few active fantasies about me so let me give you the 411: I'm 6ft 165lb; wife is Dutch and taller than me. ChatGPT can probably help you determine our proper doses of dexmedetomidine

[Bwaaah]

I never would've guessed 6 feet. I was seeing small man all over you. What gives?

[Brett Bellmore]

"it is easy to imagine Republicans doing the same in a future election."

Imagine, yes. Let's not forget Haidt's study showing that, while right-wingers are capable of accurately predicting how left-wingers will answer questions, left-wingers fail at the mirror task.

The parties are not symmetrically situated.

[Noscitur a sociis]

The accuracy of this claim appears at least questionable.

https://www.experimental-history.com/p/ideological-turing-test

[Kazinski]

Up until this election at least it was common for large cities to give 80-90% of their vote to democrats, whereas most even heavily Republican states are 60-40, so most Republicans do get exposed to the other sides opinions a lot more frequently than a Democrat cocooned in Manhattan, DC, San Francisco or Seattle.

[Brett Bellmore]

Right, and that's on top of most media outlets being run by Democrats, so that if you want to hear a Democratic take on the events of the day, you just watch the evening news, or read a newspaper.

[Brett Bellmore]

Interesting, I wonder why the results were different from Haidt's?

[Dan Schiavetta]

As usual, the Democratic nominee got criticized constantly by other Democrats, to her left, to her right, and all in between. And as usual, Trump enjoyed the lockstep loyalty of a prostrate Republican Party.

[Bob from Ohio]

"Democratic nominee got criticized constantly by other Democrats"

Give two pre-election examples. Not randos, elected or appointed officials or prominent activists.

Because Dems were just as much in "lockstep" as the GOP.

[Davy C]

I'm sorry, but what? Republicans in lockstep? Are you kidding? As JoeFromtheBronx commented above, the Democrats "got a bunch of dissident Republicans to support them." Not just going against Trump on some issue - actually endorsing the Democratic candidate. That's not "as usual".

[Bwaaah]

I gotta say…Republicans move in “lockstep” like the Keystone Cops do. I give them credit…each one has his own genuinely original story about this shit. It’s really quite refreshing, I think. But lockstep? They must be doing that when I’m not looking.

Sure, they share a lot of the same material. But that’s what news media are for…daily story fodder…shit talk of the day. What partisan doesn’t do that?

[Kazinski]

I don't buy that formulation, but I will point out Trump did go through a contested primary, with more than token opposition and won decisively.

For people like me who voted against him in the primaries and lost have to acknowledge we were in the minority and come to terms with that.

The Democrats didn't give the voters much of a chance to make their voice heard in selecting their candidate.

And go ahead and correct me if you have some examp!es, but I think most of the criticism of Harris was about campaign strategy and messaging, not that she didn't represent the party, and was out of step with voters. I did see criticism that she should have run more left and embrace the base, or that she needed to more clearly repudiate her previous positions and move more decisively to the center, but not the personal criticism that at his core he was unfit that Trump got plenty of, and that voters rejected, or at least decided was a lesser evil.

[hobie]

Kazinski, I agree that this is entirely Harris' fault. From the very moment of her nomination pundits, experts and undecided voters made it crystal clear they wanted Harris to define her policies especially about the economy and immigration. That's all she had to to do, and she wouldn't do it. Regardless the obfuscation, still a better candidate than an anti-America election stealer. But that doesn't appear to matter to the electorate...so here we go

[Bwaaah]

hobie: "this is entirely Harris’ fault."

Yeah. It was her. There's your lesson. Next time, use somebody else.

Better yet, you should try drugs. And if that doesn't work, then try a lot more drugs. I believe you can learn more from this election than, "It was entirely Harris' fault."

Maybe not.

[hobie]

So what? You want some sort of contrition or self-debasement from me as well? Heh. Not a chance. Enjoy your power trip while it lasts

[Bwaaah]

Nope. Just hoping you can more accurately diagnose what's going on. That would generally be good for everybody, certainly for me and you.

[Brett Bellmore]

"From the very moment of her nomination pundits, experts and undecided voters made it crystal clear they wanted Harris to define her policies especially about the economy and immigration. That’s all she had to to do, and she wouldn’t do it."

They didn't just want her to define her policies. If that had been all they wanted, she'd have had no issues with doing it.

They wanted her to define her policies, with those policies being something they'd like.

Her problem was that her policies were NOT something they'd like. And if she defined her policies as something other than what she'd pursued and advocated previously, who would believe her?

So she tried to be really vague, in order to 'unburden herself from what had been', which is just a way of saying 'memory hole her past'.

[JoeFromtheBronx]

I am not sure if this is supposed to be sarcastic but she did set forth her policies.

[hobie]

Well, Volokh, if the electorate prefers to hear that the other party and their supporters are communists, marxists...that America is garbage and a failed state. If Latino's or their forbearers like being referred to as rapists...well, I suppose my side could adopt that kind of rhetoric. I, personally, am not yet prepared to go down that road. I'm just sticking with 'hayseeds' and ;'hillbiliies'...for now

[Frank Drackman]

Are you Paulie Kael? You don't understand how "45/47" won because nobody you know voted for him? (Nobody I know didn't vote for him, what?)

Frank

[Bob from Ohio]

"I suppose my side could adopt that kind of rhetoric"

Deplorables, garbage, fascists, racists, White Supremicists. Yes, your side never resorts to "that kind of rhetoric"

[hobie]

Yes, Bob, both sides have heaved hyperbole and superlatives. What I'm trying to figure out is why all these mean names animate you so.

My experience is that I've been called names in this order over the last 40 years: tax and spend democrat; liberal; socialist; marxist; communist; pedophile; liar.

I think the most my side had developed was 'wingnut' which isn't very hurtful. However, lately, you guys have gone anti-democratic including trying to steal an election. Gonna call you out on that regardless whether it hurts your feelings.

[Krayt]

This isn’t the first time I’ve heard of this idea, even in American politics. The Libertarians have a similar problem.

They think if they just speak slowly enough, people will understand. But their language is not the emotional language of the left, who ties up certainty of belief in feelings they are good people for thinking these things.

The Simpsons had an old episode (aren’t the average episode old now, like the average person is dead?), probably disfavored now as it featured Apu heavily. In it, Lisa goes vegetarian, and starts lording over everyone, superior. At the end, she stands on a roof somewhere with Apu, commiserating.

“When will people realize it’s wrong to eat anything but fruits and vegetables and eggs and milk?”

Apu: “Oh, no. I do not eat eggs.”

Lisa, aghast and panicked, starts wiping imaginary dirt from her body: “Oh NO! You must think me some horrible monster!”

Apu: “Yes, I do.” But he has learned to live with others

[hobie]

So why do Republicans get to be thin-skinned pussies, but us Libs have to suck it up and not dish it back?

[Kazinski]

Well "thin skinned pussies" is certainly in the eye of the beholder.

But I think most of the "did you see what a horrible thing he/she said" is just motivation for the base. It doesn't change anyone's mind, it just makes people more likely to vote.

Go ahead call me a garbage nazi, its not going to change my mind, but I sure won't forget about it on election day.

[Bwaaah]

I didn't forget. And with tens of millions more like him, it has become a prominent and unmissable feature of the American political landscape.

[hobie]

"Go ahead call me a garbage nazi, its not going to change my mind, but I sure won’t forget about it on election day."

Like I intimated, you seem to be primarily motivated by shallow grievance and the mean things Libs have said.

I remember Rush beat us all over the head for 30 years about nobility and how character mattered. Same with Shapiro and Vance. Then all their bank accounts required them to drop all that talk...same as you. Nothing you've said here is principled conservatism...just rank adolescent vengeance. The basest form of humanity. But, hey, enjoy it. You men have earned it. If I could cry, you'd have my tears as well

[Brett Bellmore]

It's not a shallow grievance, Hobie. If somebody calls you "garbage" and a "Nazi", it's an indication of how they'll treat you if they get power over you. The Democratic party leadership despise half the nation, and make no secret about it. We'd be absolute fools to not take that into account when we vote.

[SimonP]

You know, I've been called a lot of things by MAGA conservatives here, but it didn't factor at all into the voting decisions I made.

I grew out of that phase in my adolescence. What's your problem?

Let's be honest - this is a half-hearted attempt to blame "the libz" for your choices and shut down criticism. You're not a petulant teenaged boy. You're a full-grown adult who would have voted for Trump no matter what anyone called you or your ilk. You didn't need to be called "trash" to conclude that Trump was the only one for you. Indeed, the only reason that kind of rhetoric registered for you in the first place was that you were already all-in on that piece of shit.

[Bwaaah]

It’s the Democratic party policies, and their bad effects on life for most people, that piss off voters. Your smug insults and complete lack of personal responsibility for those policies just make it feel so good to see you as losers.

You’re not just bad policy-makers. You’re douchebags too.

[Bwaaah]