Interesting piece on Bernie Sanders in the Politico of all places, and there is some good stuff as well as some stuff to quibble with, and the title gets on one of my pet peeves
How Bernie Sanders’ ‘radical’ ideas entered the municipal mainstream
Clearly the author is noting that his past ideas are NOT radical for the municipal mainstream, but neither are any of his current ideas radical nor were they ever radical. They’ve long been well within the mainstream. It is only within the media environment that we live in this delusional center-right nation. Much like the ACA in which the individual components are rated extremely popular by the public but they hate the overall bill, liberal and progressive ideas across the spectrum have long been the preferred policy choices of the majority, but you slam the name “Democrat” or “liberal” or “progressive” (FSM forbid “socialist,”), and they become toxic.
This isn’t something new. Marc Crispin Miller and the good folks at the Media Education Foundation (here’s a .pdf transcript of the linked video, Constructing Public Opinion: How Politicians & the Media Misrepresent the Public) and countless others have been pointing this out for years, but for some reason it never sinks in with the bobbleheads and the Democrats continue to be the worst salesmen in the world.
It’s just maddening. Not only are left-leaning policies better, but they are actually more popular. It’s enough to make you scream.
Baud
Except for that one policy, which is unique to each voter but is the reason not to support liberal Democrats.
srv
It’s hard to keep up with liberals, they have faith in so many things.
But I do appreciate that you are opening up to other venues like Politico.
Villago Delenda Est
Which is why wiping out the vermin of the Village is important.
Bill Arnold
@srv:
OK, that was funny.
mtiffany
Republicans: “Our ideas suck, and you don’t like them, but at least they aren’t librul.”
JPL
@srv: The overton window has moved. I find myself going to Politico sometimes. Who woulda thought?
JPL
It appears that the Freedom Act is dead and the Patriots Act expires.
Baud
@JPL:
I don’t know who you are anymore.
@JPL:
Should have named one of those bills the Puppies Act. Who doesn’t love puppies?
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Rand Paul.
JPL
@Omnes Omnibus: Just wait until Paul wins and he names his across the board tax cuts, Cutting the deficit to save our grandchildren and their puppies.
David Koch
@JPL: no, they voted to move the Freedom Act to a floor for a vote (77-17), but because of length of debate rules, the vote won’t occur for 26 hours. the Freedom Act is an update and rebranding of the Patriot Act.
eta: there’s more on the reforms here.
JPL
Someone is on CSpan saying that he has been a strong Obama supporter and has voted for him and won’t make that mistake again. OKAY.. don’t.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: The Sad Puppies Act or the Rabid Puppies Act?
Baud
@David Koch:
Yeah. Looks like the Freedom Act is going to be it.
srv
@JPL: Puppy Vouchers for everyone.
I would worry you people might extend Obamacare to pets though. Why aren’t liberals out marching for that?
JPL
@David Koch: Oh, so the terrorists only win for a day. Is that right?
Baud
@srv:
In a heartbeat.
David Koch
@JPL:
My sense is that either McConnell is a bigger idiot than any of us could have imagined by letting it procedurally expire for one day, or more likely, he cut a deal with Baby Doc for his endorsement last year, in return Turtle would let the terriers win for one day, allowing Baby Doc to grandstand and declare victory.
there’s more on the reforms here.
MomSense
The problem is the opinions of those in the likely voter category ( they show up for midterm elections) skew more conservative than the voters who show up (with much GOTV effort) for Presidential elections.
JPL
Cspan callers are funny. I think Paul has his supporters calling in.
Baud
@JPL:
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Elwood is a terrorist, but Jake isn’t?
JPL
@David Koch: He supports Rand for president. I think he cut a deal. Thanks for the link to the article but I’m not sure it’s enough. The FBI is still going to be chasing down a lot of pizza delivery guys.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
I got lazy and didn’t feel like changing Jake’s name.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Well, thank you for your honesty.
Baud
@JPL:
Ah, good old kabuki. I actually haven’t heard that phrase in a long time.
David Koch
From 2012, Joe Biden tears up after his son calls him “my hero”.
Baud
From GOS. Stay tuned.
Felonius Monk
@Baud: This Bud’s for youse.
JPL
@Baud: My favorite thing about the Patriot Act is you might not be able to fly but you sure can buy a gun. 2nd Amendment trumps all.
Jim, Foolish LIteralist
Who’s got McCain’s pills?
Baud
@Felonius Monk: TY
@JPL: It is the Patriot Act, not the Pinko Commie Liberal Act.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish LIteralist:
Whereas Paul hopes for a terror attack so he can blame it on Obama.
dmsilev
Speaking of Baby Doc, apparently this is an ad from Rand Paul’s PAC.
It’s, …uh, different.
JPL
@David Koch: In 2008 he mentioned the time he asked Jill to become his mom and she got teary eyes. He lost his mother at such a young age, that she was a mother, not just a step-mother.
The Biden’s have a strong family but it will be awhile before they smile, I fear.
Baud
@dmsilev:
Was that the Colbert eagle?
Omnes Omnibus
@dmsilev: Um, wow.
NotMax
From EFF, re: USA Freedom act:
Just One More Canuck
@dmsilev:whatever medication they are on, they need the dosage changed
dmsilev
@Baud:Poor bird certainly has come down in the world since the Report ended.
Baud
@Just One More Canuck:
In Rand Paul’s America, it’ll be a piece of cake.
Gvg
@dmsilev: That….may pass demon sheep as the most unintentionally hilarious political add. WWW does politics, my lord that is dumb. it may however show that at least one pac is actually not coordinating with the campaign it claims to support. that add does not make Rand look like a real candidate. sometimes I hope foreigners don’t watch us too closely.
Omnes Omnibus
@dmsilev: I hear it has a SyFy channel movie in development. “Fire-Breathing Eagle vs Sharknado.”
Davis X. Machina
What if people like them, but don’t like them enough — enough to change their voting behavior?
People appear to be content with getting to watch other people’s lives be made worse, rather than having their own lives made better. In a majority of House districts this appears to be the case. Ditto the states, based on who their US senators are, controls the state houses, and who the governors are.
When people vote their party, race, region, religion – or its lack – or how their neighbors vote, or the way their parents vote, then biography, and then, maybe, at the end, policy, that bargain works.
Ruckus
@Gvg:
sometimes I hope foreigners don’t watch us too closely.
You know they don’t, if they did you could hear the laughter without any electronics.
muddy
@David Koch: I’ve been breaking down in tears over Beau Biden all day. Got into an email fight with Josh Marshall over it which bizarrely made me feel a little better. He’s a snotty fucker.
Valdivia
@dmsilev:
That ad is definitely something. Rand the manly man against all the feminized wimps against liberty? The pink car for Lindsey was a nice touch.
Tree With Water
Until reading this today, I had assumed all this talk about the Clinton Foundation to be so much hot air, a tempest in a teapot. Now I’m not so sure. The question is: will those willing to overlook H.C.’s record and the War in Iraq extend her the same courtesy now, in light of the facts Sirota presents in his report? Although I tend to think so, who knows? It certainly won’t win her any more supporters, I wouldn’t think.
http://www.salon.com/2015/05/31/the_cash_donations_hillary_simply_has_no_answer_for_partner/
Chris
People vote tribal. Not all of them, but enough to put a hell of a lot of pressure on the scale.
And Democrats are The Party Of These People. Have been since long before their public face stopped being white, even.
David Koch
@muddy: What was Josh saying that led you two to get into an argument?
muddy
@efgoldman: They have been itching for something all along so they could blame it on the president, so why not a little extra hope for schadenfreude through the tribble-pated one.
Spike
@Omnes Omnibus: Of course he hates puppies. They’re always barking at that thing on his head.
muddy
@David Koch: I objected to their big main article getting into details of a couple of murder cases that Biden didn’t win. Seemed like some petty details to get on about in the first moments.
I could post it? Not sure of rules of sharing emails publicly? It’s not like we’re personal friends or anything, he’s just responding to an email to their contact addy. I will say that he has not replied at all to me when I praise the site, but if it’s not praise then he replies right away and says some snippy shit like a mean girl. What do people think?
Jim, Foolish LIteralist
@muddy: The whole point of the on-going Benghazi tantrum is to somehow cancel out 9/11, the killing of Bin Laden and to prove Obama made us less safe. And fund-raising. And driving off a Tea Party challenge to Lindsay Graham.
Elizabelle
@muddy: Interesting.
Have been so sad and shocked for the Biden family, all day. Mind you, I did not pay that much attention to Beau in life. But I am so sorry for VP Joe. It’s cruel to lose a second child too young.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@dmsilev: I got nothin. Other than WTF? They let 4th graders make campaign videos now? I did kinda like THE CANADIAN though.@Valdivia: And also the lilac car for Huckleberry J. Butchmeup, as Peirce calls him.
Valdivia
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): you’re so right, it was lilac. All that fire was hurting my eyes so I was kind of squinting. :)
dmsilev
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): I noticed that the ad didn’t attack folks like Bush or Walker. Or Hillary Clinton, for that matter. Which just adds to the WTF factor. Why bother making an attack ad slamming Lindsey Graham?
David Koch
@muddy:no use getting more aggravated. unfortunately, when challenged bloggers get easily upset.
muddy
@Elizabelle: It’s especially tragic as they are so close as a family, and such decent people. Then you think about Rand Paul and Huckabee’s sons and goddamn I hate the universe.
Tree With Water
@Jim, Foolish LIteralist: The Wurlitzer is what is is, i.e., beneath contempt were it not for the fact that it is so dangerous. But I don’t think the facts as presented in Sirota’s article (posted today at Salon.com) can be dismissed as just another unhinged, reckless charge… just another one of the ceaseless attacks of the barbarians Hillary has suffered throughout her political career. It’s not. She’s got some explaining to do- which is probably why a few weeks ago Bill copped to mistakes having been made vis a vis the Foundation.
muddy
@David Koch: Apparently his skin is a micron thin. I found his little tirade pretty unprofessional. I’m just a blog rando, he’s supposed to be a real journalist now isn’t he? It’s not just his little personal opinion blog anymore.
I’m not feeling more aggravated from discussing it now, it was so ridiculous and childish that it actually improved my mood.
Jim, Foolish LIteralist
@Tree With Water: Huh?
Tree With Water
@Jim, Foolish LIteralist: Huh what?
Jim, Foolish LIteralist
@Tree With Water: I was talking about Benghazi, you started talking about David Sirota and the Clinton Foundation.
Zinsky
Great post. This is why our friends on the right side of the aisle never want to discuss policy. It’s because their policy choices not only result in poor outcomes – they also are unpopular. So, they appeal to fear and hatred – which evoke limbic system responses and short-circuit people’s ability to think rationally and intelligently.
muddy
@muddy: Maybe he reads Balloon Juice or secretly posts here. He just a moment ago emailed me again to say I was obsessed.
Alrighty then…..
I did say to him earlier that people who always accused others of projection might look to themselves. I will now say the same about coming back repeatedly in order to remark on obsession.
Tree With Water
@Jim, Foolish LIteralist: The Benghazi “story” has been consistently trumpeted on the aforementioned Wurlitzer from day one. I thought that connection more apparent than it obviously was.
Jim, Foolish LIteralist
@Tree With Water: Oh. That makes your reference to David Sirota and something about the Clinton foundation crystal clear.
Thor Heyerdahl
@dmsilev: Wat da fuq? Expecting to see a monster truck rally on The Mall with an ad like that.
Steeplejack
@dmsilev:
I think that’s a spoof. It’s the only thing posted by “America’s Liberty PAC,” and the account was created Thursday.
Omnes Omnibus
@Jim, Foolish LIteralist: He linked to a Sirota piece upthread. What that has to do with your comment remains unknown.
Jim, Foolish LIteralist
@Omnes Omnibus: ah, thanks.
Peter Daou, David Sirota, pixel-q-2, Armstrong has sort of restarted MyDD…. it’s like every day brings another flashback
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Valdivia: @dmsilev: None of it makes any sense, but it may outdo the demon sheep, as someone’s already mentioned. Carly’s gonna be pissed – she’s quite competitive!
BTW, I do actually now how to spell Charles Pierce’s name. It’s habit that makes me spell it Peirce, because that’s my doc’s name. His first name (we’re kinda casual that way.)
Heliopause
No, Democrats suffer from the dissonance of knowing who their benefactors are and what their nominal political beliefs are supposed to be..
Omnes Omnibus
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
A likely story.
Brachiator
@Tree With Water: Wow. Very odd article, almost like an old school Hillary hit piece. Lots of talk about Clinton’s State Department, as though it were her personal fiefdom. And then the sly assertion that despots and enemies of America are getting good deals. And I really like that end piece about fundamental questions of judgment, without specifying whether the author is talking about Bill or Hillary or both. I still don’t know what Hillary’s connection to the Clinton Foundation might be. But as far as I can tell, the author of the piece doesn’t know, either.
FlipYrWhig
@Brachiator: don’t forget to factor in that David Sirota is a grinning careerist clown.
catclub
@Omnes Omnibus:
I was saying “When are the eagles coming” at the end of San Andreas. Every adventure needs to end with eagles.
Of course, some smart aleck pointed out that if the eagles were available, why didn’t they fly Frodo TO Mordor and save a lot of effort.
Villago Delenda Est
@dmsilev: Telling that the cowards don’t allow comments.
VFX Lurker
@catclub:
“…you don’t want to be riding one when it gets hungry.”
WARNING — the above link is safe, but other comic strips on that site are Not Safe For Work.
Paul in KY
@muddy: Glad you gave him some Hell.
Paul in KY
@catclub: You wouldn’t want a sentinent eagle to have the Ring of Power. Never get it back. The Ring only has to exist for Sauron to win. He wants it bad, but doesn’t really need to have it to win. That’s why it has to be destroyed.
J R in WV
@muddy:
He sent it to you, not knowing who you are, so it’s your now. Do it. Any time someone’s an asshole, and in this case about a dead guy who worked hard, fuck him.
muddy
@Paul in KY: @J R in WV: Thanks for the support. I would have posted it last night had anyone expressed an interest, seems silly in a dead thread now.
Get this though – he kept on emailing me with his psychiatric diagnoses this morning. Can you imagine? I thought he’s trying to be a professional journalist? He just could not drop it after I said I was done? Be a grownup, dude!