tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post3767375724486849667..comments2024-03-26T06:17:49.527-07:00Comments on Had Enough Therapy?: And Then There Were TwoStuart Schneidermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-80966642775394636332016-01-16T11:13:55.741-08:002016-01-16T11:13:55.741-08:00With apologies for sloth, I posted this on Althous...With apologies for sloth, I posted this on Althouse earlier today:<br /><br />Trump's whole shtick is that he's the greatest, he's invulnerable, he's Superman! Well, Cruz tugged on Superman's cape and the Donald lost it.<br /><br />Birther? That's so 2008. We all know, thanks to the NYT and WAPO, that birthers are mentally unbalanced, more to be scorned than pitied.<br /><br />Cruz tweaked New Yorkers, something that seems to play well in Peoria. The Donald responded with a rousing chorus of Amazing Grace sung to the tune of I've Got You Under My Skin.<br /><br />Now that it's a two man race (sorry Rubio fans, I like him too) the choice is between Jerry Springer and Darth Vader. Given the current mood of the country I think that Jerry should think about renegotiating his TV show contract.Roy Lofquisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16536815900678298041noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-56220170862045937012016-01-16T06:09:28.128-08:002016-01-16T06:09:28.128-08:00Stuart,
With some reservations I have seen that c...Stuart,<br /><br />With some reservations I have seen that conservative argumentation, in general, has always had more complexity and nuance that today's liberal argumentation. This means that analyzation vice links. This of course may be issue determinate. For your edification: http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2016/01/settled-science-liberals-are-simple-minded.php<br />It maybe why so much of the argumentation coming from democrats is feelings based and might apply to some republicans as well. If someone like Hillary has trouble answering questions such as "What is the difference between democrats and socialist?," or "Why do you want to be president?"in might be because the ramifications (Complexity) have not been thought through.<br />It may be why we never, or very rarely, see solutions for the issues that need to be addressed vice a litany of how great am i and those other people are bad. Sadly, it maybe because the electorate has never taken the time to understand the issues and noted that there are both positives and negatives involved in each so we elect the lowest common denominator who fits our views without thinking about what is in our best interests.<br />Sorry, but some of the comments reminded me of how far we have fallen..Dennishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14962996070458991675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-2685135583775782512016-01-15T15:40:39.596-08:002016-01-15T15:40:39.596-08:00Joe Biden has suffered much personal grief in his ...Joe Biden has suffered much personal grief in his life, and I share his sorrow to that extent, but the fact still remains that the man is an idiot who has made his share of bloopers in his political career, all of which will come back to haunt him if he runs. <br /><br />As for his match with Paul Ryan, I saw it too. His attitude was grinning and completely dismissive (i.e., "you can't be serious" a la Jimmy Connors) not even taken Ryan seriously. That might work in a VP debate with no one watching and most voters not choosing on running mate choice, but it won't work in a presidential candidate debate. Remember Al Gore sighing and rolling his eyes during his debates with Dubya?<br /><br />sestamibinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-32094607985585706432016-01-15T10:11:41.229-08:002016-01-15T10:11:41.229-08:00Also, there is only two. But, it's not Cruz an...Also, there is only two. But, it's not Cruz anymore. It's Trump against Jeb, Rubio, carley, kasich. The GOP establishment candidates must be treated as one candidate, as they will all give their delegates to the establishment choice. Either Rubio or Jeb. <br /><br />Remember that Jeb said he'd win the nomination w/o the base of his party.Marshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16250976248077712248noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-38326819396782046192016-01-15T10:04:22.366-08:002016-01-15T10:04:22.366-08:00Trump won the debate last night. He was on the sid...Trump won the debate last night. He was on the side of every American on 9/11, while the Canadian born lawyer, was against us. <br /><br />Cruz never had a prayer of winning NY, but he just lost Florida, as most Floridians are former New Yorkers. <br /><br />Cruz is a coward, had he come right out and attacked Trump for being a liberal, he'd have done better, but he was trying to make a play for Iowa voters w/ his NY values comment...Trump isn't like us...He is a city slicker. He was either afraid to attack Trump too forcefully for fear of what Trump might do, or he was afraid of losing any chance he had at collecting Trump' s supporters, or both, but he BLEW IT, big-time. <br /><br />It was the pivotal moment of the debate. <br /><br />Cruz demonstrated to everyone why he has no friends in the Senate. He can only relate to certain kinds of people. He is only appealing to a small group of voters. <br /><br />Cruz lost everything last night. Including Iowa. Trump will sweep everything now.Marshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16250976248077712248noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-691428615335958762016-01-15T09:20:03.970-08:002016-01-15T09:20:03.970-08:00I don't think there's much here I'd di...I don't think there's much here I'd disagree with. The trio of Trump-Cruz-Rubio at least give republican voters something to look at. It's not clear there's anyone else who is going to last through February, unless one of them has a favorite state primary in March to prove something.<br /><br />And even a hypothetical 3-way debate this month would seem to be in order, to see if viewers are SURE that's enough. (Myself, I think they should do a GOP approval poll for inclusion asking "Who do you want to see in the debate?" with a high 40% threshold, and that would be a quick way to eliminate the rest at least for a more focused debate.)<br /><br />Stuart: Most commentators thought that Trump came out ahead in the debate, but that Cruz is the better debater. Trump is better at appealing to emotion while Cruz has a better command of the facts.<br /><br />It is always fun to say someone is a good debater. The main quality I find in Cruz is the ability to say things you know he doesn't believe, but he says them with such earnestness, you still have to wonder "Maybe he's right!". That's a strange skill to have. And it ought to make him good in sales.<br /><br />I wonder what's an example of his expert skills to slither out of trouble? Maybe Politifact can help? <br />http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/dec/16/ted-cruz/ted-cruz-misfires-definition-carpet-bombing-gop-de/<br />---------<br />Ted Cruz, began saying that his military approach to ISIS would be "carpet bombing." that "we will utterly destroy ISIS. We will carpet bomb them into oblivion. I don't know if sand can glow in the dark, but we're going to find out."<br />...<br />"To be clear, Sen. Cruz, would you carpet-bomb Raqqa, the ISIS capital, where there are a lot of civilians? Yes or no?"<br />...<br />Cruz responded, "You would carpet bomb where ISIS is -- not a city, but the location of the troops. You use air power directed -- and you have embedded special forces to direction the air power. But the object isn't to level a city. The object is to kill the ISIS terrorists."<br />---------<br /><br />That seems lame but when Cruz says it, you don't notice.<br /><br />Still, why not just say something honest like "Oh, that carpet bombing Raqqa boast? Oh, well, I just seen that Homeland episode when that apparent psychopath Quinn offers his second suggestion 'Hit reset, pound Raqqa into a parking lot'. But then I realized it was only a cable show, not reality, so we know we can't identify which Syrian refugees we can safely allow into our country, our embedded special forces (i.e. spies?!) will easily tell the good guys from the bad guys in a city of 200,000 and tell the us where to use their smart bombs to avoid civilian casualties."<br />http://savingtherepublic.com/blog/2015/10/showtimes-homeland-takes-direct-shot-at-obama-admins-failed-strategy-to-fight-isis/<br /><br />Okay, I guess Cruz is a better debater than me. Rule #1 - never explain your reasoning honestly. Instead redefine reality to fit your words.<br /><br />At least Rubio is more sensible...<br />http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/heres-marco-rubios-idea-dissuade-would-be-isis-recuits-n468261<br />Rubio: "I believe we should be carrying out attacks against Sunni leadership nodes, videotaping the whole thing and putting it up on Youtube so that the world can see these people are not invincible," he said. "I want the world to see how these ISIS leaders cry like babies when they're captured. I want the world to see how these isis leaders, once captured, begin to sing like canaries if they survive." <br /><br />So his idea of "A New American Century", reality-TV war. That worked really well the first time we tried it, in Vietnam, right?<br /><br />But probably we'd better not do live-feeds, just in case our guys are the ones crying like babies. And what if the leaders shout "Allahu Akbar!" before we kill them? Would that spoil the narrative too much?<br /><br />Anyway, these things need to be debated, so the GOP will be ready to face Bernie! <br />Ares Olympushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09726811306826601686noreply@blogger.com