I was typing a post delicately opining that discussion the effectiveness of the strategy of name-calling is within bounds for this thread, but endorsing/disapproving the specifics of that strategy might move closer to the PPB line - but others have already said as much, and far more effectively than I could.
So, along strategic lines - surely "Sleepy Joe Biden" is not a typo (or maybe that was tongue in cheek, bundaberg?), but instead a name meant to evoke "Creepy Joe Biden" while giving Trump's camp the ability to point to the widely covered instance of Biden appearing to sleep through one of Obama's speeches and insist that they are targeting his age and apparent drowsiness instead of creepiness, right? Two birds with one stone and all that?
Technically, pretty much anyone in the US making a "living wage" as defined by Sanders and Warren as $15/hr is in the top 1%. All it takes is $32,400 as a single person and you are in the top 1% of income worldwide. It's not a particularly hard hurdle to clear in the US of A (or most first world countries).
It also highlights that as much as politicians in the US like to complain about income inequality they rarely look at the problem with a global scale.
http://www.globalrichlist.com
I was trying to remember if Trump had used "Sleepy" for anybody else and lo and behold there is a "List of nicknames used by Donald Trump" entry in Wikipedia.
Well, I got the name calling/nick name conversation going but expect it to have a shelf-life of about 9:30 am tomorrow when Barr holds his pre-release press conference on the Mueller report. I think the release of the report essentially constitutes the beginning of the 3rd quarter and we'll be talking about this --- and the legal/political process will still be unfolding --- right up to election time.
Anyone have predictions they want to venture for what's in the public report and how it will start to play into the election going forward? Right now, I think we'll learn:
1. Jon wins GoT but Trump urged the creators to bring Joffrey back to kill the invading hordes and rebuild the wall.
2. Zion's Nike bursting was the next step in Littlefinger's plan.
3. In all seriousness, I think the ugliness is about to get turned up to an 11.
Barr, attempting to land the Mueller report...
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
and . . . nothing changes. IF you like Trump, this doesn't phase you. If you hate Trump. this just confirms your opinion.
I think for purposes of this thread, the question is: what do the Democrats do now? Do they follow the mantra of Pelosi to date and try to focus on policy issues? Or do the folks who wanted impeachment start to push for it? I do not think you can do both -- if someone seriously mashes the impeachment button, all focus on legislation is gone for the remainder of Trump's term.
(FWIW I think Pelosi's position is the smarter politically)
It seems to me (I have read a good 150 pages of this thing so far) that Mueller left the question of Obstruction up to congress. There will be Dems who will scream for it, but I don't see enough here to convince much of anyone in the GOP so conviction ain't happening in the Senate. I suspect Pelosi will realize that the press is carrying the "Trump is awful and a crook!" water for her party and she will continue to try to focus on issues. Given where we are today, I see very little chance of impeachment and I think that is probably good for the country.
-Jason "next big event for this thread will be Joe's decision" Evans
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
As I understand it there are essentially three things that happened. If I'm wrong can someone correct/summarize for me?
1. Russia trolled the interwebs and made comments to make each side not like each other, but in general more in favor of Trump?
2. Russia hacked the DNC email server and made public emails that exposed all the things the DNC had been doing to help Clinton and hurt Sanders?
3. Some Trump campaign folks tried to meet with Russians to get the dirty dirt on Clinton and in general came up empty handed?
Is there more to it than my understanding of the story?
This is a bit like saying:
As I understand the UNC thing is that these three things happened:
1) Some athletes weren't succeeding in the class room
2) UNC set up some classes that would help make easier for them to succeed
3) Other students also benefited from these classes
But yeah, there is significantly more to the story than you outlined.
Well, since we're allowed to give our opinion on the subject...Originally Posted by JasonEvans
I agree with OPK that not pursuing impeachment is the smarter move politically. However, it is a bit sad for the country in a broader sense in that it openly admits that part of our government is completely ineffective (surprise, I know). Impeachment was intentionally written as an option for extreme cases. Not pursuing it is a bit like the NCAA not giving the death penalty to Penn State or UNC... if the death penalty wasn't seriously considered for Penn State or UNC, what is even the point of having it as an option?
****READ ME****
I will freely admit that I am among the folks who have probably tread darn close (if not over) the line in the past several hours of Muellerstravaganza, but allow me to now reel things back in.
We all know that the content of this thread must be confined to the horse race aspect of the 2020 Campaign. So, while the Muellerapalooza is fascinating, I think we need to make sure our comments only connect to how Meullergate will or will not impact the election. And, frankly, I have not seen anything thus far that seems likely to move the needle even a tiny bit when it comes to a) folks with strong feelings about the President or b) the 2.37% of the country who does not have a fixed-in-stone opinion on him already.
So, I would urge all of us to not comment any more on the substance of what Mueller&Co found/wrote/concluded. If you want to talk about how it impacts the race, please do so carefully and if you can cite a source/article/poll/analysis to back up your comments, that would really be neat!
-Jason "put another way, I feel a case of Muelleritis coming on and I need to rest up to ensure I don't get too sick" Evans
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
To that point:
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features...s-that-matter/
it will be interesting to see if the approval/disapproval numbers move beyond the margin of error over the next week -- my guess is that it will not.