Where the heck are the Republicans?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am somewhat connected to Republicans in Congress, especially their staffers. Three big points.

1. The base doesn't care. Like, seriously. They will support Trump and aligned GOP candidates.

2. It's fairly clear that the Russians took advantage of the "southern strategy," the NRA, and racism to pick off the GOP. It's sort of obvious but not really publicly reported.

3. People are tied up in this mess. Right now the issue is whether the GOP and Trump are going to continue to stick together.

Do they realize our national security, our democratic institutions including the truth and the rule of law are at stake? Will they put country over party?

Yes, they realized that. And if you followed closely Russian allegations, you should be well aware that they began operating well before 2013. Since democrats have not done anything in years to prevent Russian interference, I have to put country over the party and vote republican.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am somewhat connected to Republicans in Congress, especially their staffers. Three big points.

1. The base doesn't care. Like, seriously. They will support Trump and aligned GOP candidates.

2. It's fairly clear that the Russians took advantage of the "southern strategy," the NRA, and racism to pick off the GOP. It's sort of obvious but not really publicly reported.

3. People are tied up in this mess. Right now the issue is whether the GOP and Trump are going to continue to stick together.

Do they realize our national security, our democratic institutions including the truth and the rule of law are at stake? Will they put country over party?

Yes, they realized that. And if you followed closely Russian allegations, you should be well aware that they began operating well before 2013. Since democrats have not done anything in years to prevent Russian interference, I have to put country over the party and vote republican.

Same thinking here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am somewhat connected to Republicans in Congress, especially their staffers. Three big points.

1. The base doesn't care. Like, seriously. They will support Trump and aligned GOP candidates.

2. It's fairly clear that the Russians took advantage of the "southern strategy," the NRA, and racism to pick off the GOP. It's sort of obvious but not really publicly reported.

3. People are tied up in this mess. Right now the issue is whether the GOP and Trump are going to continue to stick together.

Do they realize our national security, our democratic institutions including the truth and the rule of law are at stake? Will they put country over party?

Yes, they realized that. And if you followed closely Russian allegations, you should be well aware that they began operating well before 2013. Since democrats have not done anything in years to prevent Russian interference, I have to put country over the party and vote republican.

Thanks for opening our eyes PP. I didn’t realize we now live in the Upside Down!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
I am somewhat connected to Republicans in Congress, especially their staffers. Three big points.

1. The base doesn't care. Like, seriously. They will support Trump and aligned GOP candidates.

2. It's fairly clear that the Russians took advantage of the "southern strategy," the NRA, and racism to pick off the GOP. It's sort of obvious but not really publicly reported.

3. People are tied up in this mess. Right now the issue is whether the GOP and Trump are going to continue to stick together.

Do they realize our national security, our democratic institutions including the truth and the rule of law are at stake? Will they put country over party?



Yes, they realized that. And if you followed closely Russian allegations, you should be well aware that they began operating well before 2013. Since democrats have not done anything in years to prevent Russian interference, I have to put country over the party and vote republican.


Same thinking here.

Oh really? I seem to recall that Obama wanted to go public in the fall of 2016 regarding Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election and Mitch McConnell (who has taken millions from the Russian-influenced NRA) refused to issue a bipartisan warning and told Obama that he would characterize any presidential statement warning of Russian interference as political grandstanding by the Dems. But continuing to support McConnell and the Republicans now is somehow putting country over party?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
I am somewhat connected to Republicans in Congress, especially their staffers. Three big points.

1. The base doesn't care. Like, seriously. They will support Trump and aligned GOP candidates.

2. It's fairly clear that the Russians took advantage of the "southern strategy," the NRA, and racism to pick off the GOP. It's sort of obvious but not really publicly reported.

3. People are tied up in this mess. Right now the issue is whether the GOP and Trump are going to continue to stick together.

Do they realize our national security, our democratic institutions including the truth and the rule of law are at stake? Will they put country over party?



Yes, they realized that. And if you followed closely Russian allegations, you should be well aware that they began operating well before 2013. Since democrats have not done anything in years to prevent Russian interference, I have to put country over the party and vote republican.


Same thinking here.

Oh really? I seem to recall that Obama wanted to go public in the fall of 2016 regarding Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election and Mitch McConnell (who has taken millions from the Russian-influenced NRA) refused to issue a bipartisan warning and told Obama that he would characterize any presidential statement warning of Russian interference as political grandstanding by the Dems. But continuing to support McConnell and the Republicans now is somehow putting country over party?

That is exactly what I was trying to explain above - total lack of leadership on the part of Obama. If he banded under McConnell, I could not expect him to take a stand against Russians. And you are talking about fall 2016. I was talking about five years of US government knowledge of Russian interference and doing NOTHING. Was it McConnell who was holding Obama's balls for five years?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am somewhat connected to Republicans in Congress, especially their staffers. Three big points.

1. The base doesn't care. Like, seriously. They will support Trump and aligned GOP candidates.

2. It's fairly clear that the Russians took advantage of the "southern strategy," the NRA, and racism to pick off the GOP. It's sort of obvious but not really publicly reported.

3. People are tied up in this mess. Right now the issue is whether the GOP and Trump are going to continue to stick together.

Do they realize our national security, our democratic institutions including the truth and the rule of law are at stake? Will they put country over party?

Yes, they realized that. And if you followed closely Russian allegations, you should be well aware that they began operating well before 2013. Since democrats have not done anything in years to prevent Russian interference, I have to put country over the party and vote republican.

Obama levied sanctions and strengthened the Magnisky Act. He also expelled a number of Russian spied. He would have done more, but was thwarted by McConnell. Maybe that is where your ire should be focused.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am somewhat connected to Republicans in Congress, especially their staffers. Three big points.

1. The base doesn't care. Like, seriously. They will support Trump and aligned GOP candidates.

2. It's fairly clear that the Russians took advantage of the "southern strategy," the NRA, and racism to pick off the GOP. It's sort of obvious but not really publicly reported.

3. People are tied up in this mess. Right now the issue is whether the GOP and Trump are going to continue to stick together.

Do they realize our national security, our democratic institutions including the truth and the rule of law are at stake? Will they put country over party?

Yes, they realized that. And if you followed closely Russian allegations, you should be well aware that they began operating well before 2013. Since democrats have not done anything in years to prevent Russian interference, I have to put country over the party and vote republican.

Obama levied sanctions and strengthened the Magnisky Act. He also expelled a number of Russian spied. He would have done more, but was thwarted by McConnell. Maybe that is where your ire should be focused.

How is sending a few Russians home equal to allowing hundreds of other Russians to interfere with our election system? Am I missing something?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am somewhat connected to Republicans in Congress, especially their staffers. Three big points.

1. The base doesn't care. Like, seriously. They will support Trump and aligned GOP candidates.

2. It's fairly clear that the Russians took advantage of the "southern strategy," the NRA, and racism to pick off the GOP. It's sort of obvious but not really publicly reported.

3. People are tied up in this mess. Right now the issue is whether the GOP and Trump are going to continue to stick together.

Do they realize our national security, our democratic institutions including the truth and the rule of law are at stake? Will they put country over party?

Yes, they realized that. And if you followed closely Russian allegations, you should be well aware that they began operating well before 2013. Since democrats have not done anything in years to prevent Russian interference, I have to put country over the party and vote republican.

Obama levied sanctions and strengthened the Magnisky Act. He also expelled a number of Russian spied. He would have done more, but was thwarted by McConnell. Maybe that is where your ire should be focused.

How is sending a few Russians home equal to allowing hundreds of other Russians to interfere with our election system? Am I missing something?

What would you do in the face of the opposition party supporting the Russians?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am somewhat connected to Republicans in Congress, especially their staffers. Three big points.

1. The base doesn't care. Like, seriously. They will support Trump and aligned GOP candidates.

2. It's fairly clear that the Russians took advantage of the "southern strategy," the NRA, and racism to pick off the GOP. It's sort of obvious but not really publicly reported.

3. People are tied up in this mess. Right now the issue is whether the GOP and Trump are going to continue to stick together.

Do they realize our national security, our democratic institutions including the truth and the rule of law are at stake? Will they put country over party?

Yes, they realized that. And if you followed closely Russian allegations, you should be well aware that they began operating well before 2013. Since democrats have not done anything in years to prevent Russian interference, I have to put ...over party vote republican.

Thanks for opening our eyes PP. I didn’t realize we now live in the Upside Down!

This is what conservatives are taught to believe, and taught to say. Upside down. Lies and deception. Taught by their politicians and the rightwing media.

Orwell explained it well, I think.


(OK, I just have to quote 1984. Scary that Orwell is so on point today.)

Orwell

To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it, to believe that democracy was impossible and that the Party was the guardian of democracy, to forget whatever it was necessary to forget, then to draw it back into memory again at the moment when it was needed, and then promptly to forget it again, and above all, to apply the same process to the process itself—that was the ultimate subtlety: consciously to induce unconsciousness, and then, once again, to become unconscious of the act of hypnosis you had just performed. Even to understand the word—doublethink—involved the use of doublethink.[4]

The power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them… To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just as long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies—all this is indispensably necessary. Even in using the word doublethink it is necessary to exercise doublethink. For by using the word one admits that one is tampering with reality; by a fresh act of doublethink one erases this knowledge; and so on indefinitely, with the lie always one leap ahead of the truth.[5]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am somewhat connected to Republicans in Congress, especially their staffers. Three big points.

1. The base doesn't care. Like, seriously. They will support Trump and aligned GOP candidates.

2. It's fairly clear that the Russians took advantage of the "southern strategy," the NRA, and racism to pick off the GOP. It's sort of obvious but not really publicly reported.

3. People are tied up in this mess. Right now the issue is whether the GOP and Trump are going to continue to stick together.

Do they realize our national security, our democratic institutions including the truth and the rule of law are at stake? Will they put country over party?

Yes, they realized that. And if you followed closely Russian allegations, you should be well aware that they began operating well before 2013. Since democrats have not done anything in years to prevent Russian interference, I have to put country over the party and vote republican.

Obama levied sanctions and strengthened the Magnisky Act. He also expelled a number of Russian spied. He would have done more, but was thwarted by McConnell. Maybe that is where your ire should be focused.

How is sending a few Russians home equal to allowing hundreds of other Russians to interfere with our election system? Am I missing something?

Obama confronted McConnell and Ryan with the analysis from the US Intelligence that outlined Russian interference. I don't know if "we" understood just how pervasive Russian influence in the GOP House and GOP Senate were, but in hindsight, even Obama said they should have done more. At the time, I don't think they thought they were dealing with traitors to the United States within the US Capitol.

So what would you have done differently in the face of an opposition party that controlled both houses of the Congress?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And libs forget that Obama’s campaign finance violation was very real and he simply paid a fine

Screw you - you keep trying to sell this story of Obama campaign finance violations as equivalent to Trump's secret payoff of sex workers, but that's totally not true.

Obama's violations were that his campaign received contributions within 20 days of the election, and failed to report them to the FEC within 48 hours of receiving them. The Obama campaign reported them, but just not within 48 hours, so they paid a fine. By contrast, the Trump campaign knowingly and intentionally hid secret payoffs to sex workers. Big difference. "Obama’s civil FEC infractions, while they resulted in a large fine, are legally distinct from what Cohen pled guilty to, which is the intentional commission of felonies intended to affect the outcome of a federal election."
https://www.snopes.com/news/2018/08/22/election-law-violations-compared-obama-2008-vs-trump-2016/

Trump used his own cash. Tell me how incensed you are about the taxpayer slush fund Congress uses to pay off women

This isn't about whether Trump used his own cash, just in case you didn't understand the law.

DP. It wasn't even a campaign contribution. Trump's lawyer was paying off an extortion to protect his marriage and business brand. It's a business expense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And libs forget that Obama’s campaign finance violation was very real and he simply paid a fine

Screw you - you keep trying to sell this story of Obama campaign finance violations as equivalent to Trump's secret payoff of sex workers, but that's totally not true.

Obama's violations were that his campaign received contributions within 20 days of the election, and failed to report them to the FEC within 48 hours of receiving them. The Obama campaign reported them, but just not within 48 hours, so they paid a fine. By contrast, the Trump campaign knowingly and intentionally hid secret payoffs to sex workers. Big difference. "Obama’s civil FEC infractions, while they resulted in a large fine, are legally distinct from what Cohen pled guilty to, which is the intentional commission of felonies intended to affect the outcome of a federal election."
https://www.snopes.com/news/2018/08/22/election-law-violations-compared-obama-2008-vs-trump-2016/

Trump used his own cash. Tell me how incensed you are about the taxpayer slush fund Congress uses to pay off women

This isn't about whether Trump used his own cash, just in case you didn't understand the law.

DP. It wasn't even a campaign contribution. Trump's lawyer was paying off an extortion to protect his marriage and business brand. It's a business expense.

Nice try but no. In Cohen's admission of guilt, he specifically stated that the payments were made to benefit Trump's presidential bid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And libs forget that Obama’s campaign finance violation was very real and he simply paid a fine

Screw you - you keep trying to sell this story of Obama campaign finance violations as equivalent to Trump's secret payoff of sex workers, but that's totally not true.

Obama's violations were that his campaign received contributions within 20 days of the election, and failed to report them to the FEC within 48 hours of receiving them. The Obama campaign reported them, but just not within 48 hours, so they paid a fine. By contrast, the Trump campaign knowingly and intentionally hid secret payoffs to sex workers. Big difference. "Obama’s civil FEC infractions, while they resulted in a large fine, are legally distinct from what Cohen pled guilty to, which is the intentional commission of felonies intended to affect the outcome of a federal election."
https://www.snopes.com/news/2018/08/22/election-law-violations-compared-obama-2008-vs-trump-2016/

Trump used his own cash. Tell me how incensed you are about the taxpayer slush fund Congress uses to pay off women

This isn't about whether Trump used his own cash, just in case you didn't understand the law.

DP. It wasn't even a campaign contribution. Trump's lawyer was paying off an extortion to protect his marriage and business brand. It's a business expense.

LOL, drink the kool-aid.

If that was the case, then why wasn't it paid off at the time? No, this was clearly to hide the affair from the American public in light of the Billy Bush tapes. Sorry, campaign related and very different from Se. Edwards, but nice try.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am somewhat connected to Republicans in Congress, especially their staffers. Three big points.

1. The base doesn't care. Like, seriously. They will support Trump and aligned GOP candidates.

2. It's fairly clear that the Russians took advantage of the "southern strategy," the NRA, and racism to pick off the GOP. It's sort of obvious but not really publicly reported.

3. People are tied up in this mess. Right now the issue is whether the GOP and Trump are going to continue to stick together.

Do they realize our national security, our democratic institutions including the truth and the rule of law are at stake? Will they put country over party?

Yes, they realized that. And if you followed closely Russian allegations, you should be well aware that they began operating well before 2013. Since democrats have not done anything in years to prevent Russian interference, I have to put ...over party vote republican.

Thanks for opening our eyes PP. I didn’t realize we now live in the Upside Down!

This is what conservatives are taught to believe, and taught to say. Upside down. Lies and deception. Taught by their politicians and the rightwing media.

Orwell explained it well, I think.


(OK, I just have to quote 1984. Scary that Orwell is so on point today.)

Orwell

To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it, to believe that democracy was impossible and that the Party was the guardian of democracy, to forget whatever it was necessary to forget, then to draw it back into memory again at the moment when it was needed, and then promptly to forget it again, and above all, to apply the same process to the process itself—that was the ultimate subtlety: consciously to induce unconsciousness, and then, once again, to become unconscious of the act of hypnosis you had just performed. Even to understand the word—doublethink—involved the use of doublethink.[4]

The power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them… To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just as long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies—all this is indispensably necessary. Even in using the word doublethink it is necessary to exercise doublethink. For by using the word one admits that one is tampering with reality; by a fresh act of doublethink one erases this knowledge; and so on indefinitely, with the lie always one leap ahead of the truth.[5]

Democratic societies flourish when we agree on an objective truth and use reason to analyze and interpret the meaning in a common set of facts. I don’t think democracy can survive in a post truth world in which populist leaders rely on instinct and emotions to guide their decisions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And libs forget that Obama’s campaign finance violation was very real and he simply paid a fine

Screw you - you keep trying to sell this story of Obama campaign finance violations as equivalent to Trump's secret payoff of sex workers, but that's totally not true.

Obama's violations were that his campaign received contributions within 20 days of the election, and failed to report them to the FEC within 48 hours of receiving them. The Obama campaign reported them, but just not within 48 hours, so they paid a fine. By contrast, the Trump campaign knowingly and intentionally hid secret payoffs to sex workers. Big difference. "Obama’s civil FEC infractions, while they resulted in a large fine, are legally distinct from what Cohen pled guilty to, which is the intentional commission of felonies intended to affect the outcome of a federal election."
https://www.snopes.com/news/2018/08/22/election-law-violations-compared-obama-2008-vs-trump-2016/

Trump used his own cash. Tell me how incensed you are about the taxpayer slush fund Congress uses to pay off women

This isn't about whether Trump used his own cash, just in case you didn't understand the law.

DP. It wasn't even a campaign contribution. Trump's lawyer was paying off an extortion to protect his marriage and business brand. It's a business expense.

Nice try but no. In Cohen's admission of guilt, he specifically stated that the payments were made to benefit Trump's presidential bid.

Sorry, Cohen had already gone on television and told the American public that he did it on his own to protect Trump's marriage. It had nothing to do with the campaign. Now he is lying to get a reduced sentence on tax related crimes. How do you prove in a court of law that the purpose of the payment was not for protecting the marriage and business brand? By Cohen's ever changing words?