Tag: Political Debate

GOP Debate–Round 3 (dreary)

The news these days is just the same as the day before so when something now hits I need to cleanse my brain….

The candidates did what they always do….throw barbs at Trump and at times each other….

Republican debate No. 3 is underway, with a smaller of field of candidates—five—though none of them named Donald Trump. In the first question of the night, Lester Holt of NBC News asked each candidate why they should be the nominee instead of Trump. Some highlights:

  • Ron DeSantis: The Florida governor brought up Trump’s famous statement that Republicans would get tired of winning under his leadership. Pointing to the election results Tuesday night, DeSantis said, “I’m sick of Republicans losing.” He cited his own landslide win in Florida last year, and again went after Trump for skipping the debate, per the New York Times.
  • Nikki Haley: She praised Trump’s presidency but said, “I don’t think he’s the right president now,” per the Washington Post. She faulted him for running up the nation’s debt and accused him of becoming “weak in the knees” on Ukraine
  • Vivek Ramaswamy: He also cited Tuesday night’s GOP losses but chose to attack Republican National Committee leader Ronna McDaniel instead of the former president. “We’ve become a party of losers,” he said, per Politico. The Post notes that right-wing pundit Charlie Kirk suggested this week that Ramaswamy take over the position.
  • Chris Christie: The former New Jersey governor suggested Trump would have to devote too much time to his legal fights over the next year to be an effective president. He also said inflation is “choking” Americans, per the Hill.
  • Tim Scott: He struck a a more optimistic tone than his rivals, per the Times. The South Carolina senator said he could unite the country on matters including religion.

The debate, sponsored by the Republican Jewish Coalition, is being held at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County. Five Republicans will be on the debate stage, the smallest field yet as polling and donor benchmarks for qualification rise, the AP reports. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will participate in the Miami event. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who barely made the second debate, won’t be on stage. Neither will former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who participated in the first debate but missed the cut for the subsequent two.

Since a Jewish political group is the sponsor I guess the candidates had to weigh in on the Gaza thing.

One issue the five GOP candidates on stage Wednesday night agree upon appears to be Israel, or more specifically the need to wipe out Hamas. All were asked how they would respond to the Israel-Hamas situation:

  • Ron DeSantis: He said Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu should “finish the job once and for all with these butchers, Hamas.” The Florida governor also said he was “sick of hearing other people blame Israel for defending itself,” and he called for students who criticize Israel or join protests on behalf of Palestinians to be deported, reports the Washington Post.
  • Nikki Haley: She, too, called for Israel to “finish” Hamas, per the Hill. “The last thing we need to do is to tell Israel what to do,” said the former UN ambassador. “The only thing we should be doing is supporting them in eliminating Hamas.” The US, she added, should give Israel “whatever they need, whenever they need it.”
  • Chris Christie: He said the US must work with Israel to go after Hamas and make sure “something like this can’t happen to kill 1,400 individuals again.” However, Christie faulted Netanyahu and Israeli’s leaders for allowing the attack to happen. “They failed here, and they failed the people of the state of Israel,” he said.
  • Tim Scott: The South Carolina senator said he would send a clear message to Netanyahu: “Not only do you have the responsibility and the right to wipe Hamas off of the map, we will support you,” he said, per Politico. Scott also called for strikes and Iran, a Hamas supporter, and he supported DeSantis’s call to deport students who protest against Israel.
  • Vivek Ramaswamy: He said he would tell Netanyahu “to smoke those terrorists on his southern border,” adding: “I’ll tell him as president of the United States, I’ll be smoking the terrorists on our southern border. That’s his responsibility. This is our responsibility.” He faulted the “mistakes from the neocon establishment of the past,” suggesting he thought the US has been too involved in the Mideast, per the New York Times.

And that was about as interesting as the ‘debate’ got….

All in all this one was a sleeper….be thankful you guys have me to do this lifting for you….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

GOP Debate #2–27Sep23

Sit back and enjoy this magical journey into the minds of the ‘Sh*t Show participants.

But first a small amount of background.

The Republican National Committee announced Monday night that the other seven candidates who participated the first time around did make the cut, which included donor requirements (at least 50,000 unique donors, at least 200 of which had to come from at least 20 states or territories), polling requirements (3% or more support in two national polls or 3% in one national poll plus two polls from Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, or South Carolina), and the signing of a pledge to support the eventual GOP nominee.

Those seven are Ron DeSantis, Tim Scott, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, Chris Christie, Doug Burgum, and Mike Pence, the AP reports. Former President Trump is once again opting to skip the debate in favor of giving a speech to union workers in Michigan. On Monday, Trump gave a speech that Fox News broadcast live, until Trump mentioned that he skipped the first debate—which was hosted by Fox—at which point the network cut away, Yahoo News reports. So far, just Trump, DeSantis, Ramaswamy, and Haley have met the even-more-difficult requirements to participate in the third debate, which will take place in Miami in November, Politico reports.

THe night was anything but exciting….ion fact it was just a bunch of idiots taking shots at each other and the frontrunner.

Christie tried to be cute….Haley attacks….DeSantis struts like the depot he thinks he is….and the rest was pretty much a snooze.

Yes, the seven GOP candidates on stage are fielding a wide range of questions on policy—and talking over each other quite a bit—but an absent Donald Trump is surfacing as a topic, too. Chris Christie, for example, even floated a derisive new nickname for the former president. Speaking into the camera, the former New Jersey governor addressed “Donald” directly: “I know you’re watching,” he said, because “you can’t help yourself.” He then accused Trump of being afraid to appear on stage with his GOP rivals to defend his record. If Trump continues to skip the debates, “no one up here is going to call you Donald Trump anymore,” said Christie, per the AP. “We’re going to call you Donald Duck.”

Haley tries to be clever…..

It will be surely be one of the most repeated lines of the night: “Every time I hear you, I feel a little bit dumber,” Nikki Haley told Vivek Ramaswamy on Wednesday during the GOP debate. The shot came as Ramaswamy defended his decision to join TikTok even though it’s banned from government devices because of its ties to the Chinese government, per Fox News. Ramaswamy said he did so because it’s vital for Republicans to reach younger voters, though he added that as president, he would try to ban children under the age of 16 from using “addictive social media.”

Haley accused him of hypocrisy—”this is infuriating, because TikTok is one of the most dangerous social media apps that we could have”—before launching the zinger about feeling dumber. She further accused her younger rival of partnering with Chinese firms on business ventures. “We can’t trust you,” she told him. In response, Ramaswamy said, “We would be better served as a Republican party if we’re not here hurling personal insults.”

DeSantis was smug and a bit comical….

While Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was the very last candidate to speak Wednesday night, he made a point to go after Trump when he finally did so. The former president, he said, “is missing in action” because he’s skipping another debate, per the Washington Post. DeSantis made the case that Trump’s spending has paved the way for today’s inflation and thus he should be on stage to defend his policies.

But Americans in their competitive zeal need winners and losers…..so here are the results from last night….

Republican presidential candidates, minus frontrunner former President Trump, debated again on Wednesday night—and as in last month’s debate in Milwaukee, Trump is being seen as perhaps the night’s biggest winner. “This was another debate where the guy leading by 40 points was not onstage and took only the slightest of blows from those who were onstage,” writes Andrew Propkop at Vox. “It was also another debate where there was no clear winner—no breakout star that could be elevated to Trump’s main challenger.” Verdicts on the candidates who were actually on the stage:

  • Ron DeSantis. The Washington Times puts the Florida governor among the losers, saying: “The man is in second place and not moving. He didn’t do anything in this debate to change that calculus. And then there’s that awkward forced smile.” Liz Peek at Fox News, however, says DeSantis was a winner, “helped by low expectations,” who may have cemented his hold on second place with some effective attacks on President Biden.
  • Nikki Haley. A winner, according to SE Cupp at CNN. The former UN ambassador and South Carolina governor “was laser-focused on exposing the weaknesses of the candidates who did bother to show up—more so than anyone else on the stage,” Cupp writes.She pointedly took on Florid
  • Tim Scott. The senator from South Carolina was among the winners, with a lot more energy than in last month’s debate and a willingness to mix it up with rivals, says Sally Goldenberg at Politico. “At times, he risked undermining his affable persona, but it was a risk worth taking as Scott needs to demonstrate to GOP donors that he’s a reasonable alternative to Trump,” Goldenberg says. “On Wednesday, he made progress on that front.”
  • Vivek Ramaswamy. The biotech entrepreneur was considered one of the winners of the first debate but a lot of pundits put him in the losers’ column this time around. He “struggled to handle the attacks his opponents threw at him on Wednesday evening,” and there were plenty of them, per the Hill. One of the night’s standout lines came from Haley, who told Ramaswamy “Every time I hear you, I feel a little bit dumber” as he tried to explain why he joined TikTok.
  • Chris Christie. Another loser, according to Andrew Stanton at Newsweek. With his outspoken criticisms of Trump, “it was no surprise that he again found himself in hostile territory Wednesday evening, and his attacks against the former president fell flat,” with some audience members booing, Stanton writes.
  • Mike Pence. “The absence of sustained arguments about Trump himself and Jan. 6 stripped away the most interesting aspects of his candidacy, and what remained was just boredom and anachronism,” says Ross Douthat at the New York Times.
  • Doug Burgum. The North Dakota governor also failed to make much of an impact. He was “in desperate need of a knockout performance … and while the governor tried to steal the spotlight throughout the debate, he was unable to land a punch,” according to the Hill.
  • The debate was held at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California, and Adam Wren at Politico has another entry for the losers’ column. “Even though I watched a few candidates wander over to his gravesite not far from the media file tent earlier in the day, I was struck by how little candidates namechecked the Gipper even on his home turf,” he writes.

There you gp….all the fun you missed.

Actually the whole damn stage were losers including the moderators….

All in all a thoroughly wasted time for the networks….they should have stuck with profit seeking and left this pack of idiots to their own devices to get heard by the voters.

Now aren’t you glad the Old Professor has so much time on his hands?

I Read, I Write, You KNow

“lego ergo scribo”

Time Is Running Out For The GOP

Tonight is the second GOP debate in the series and Trump still holds a commanding lead…..the time is running out for candidates to make their move to give Trump a descent race.

Let me break it down for you….

The way things stood Monday remain how they stand just hours before the Republican presidential debate Wednesday in California, with two notable candidates not expected to take the stage. FOX 26 Houston reports that former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson didn’t make the cut, while former President Trump, far and away the GOP frontrunner in polls despite his four recent indictments, is skipping the debate to instead head to Michigan to meet with striking autoworkers. The debate will be moderated by Fox News’ Dana Perino and Stuart Varney, as well as Univision’s Ilia Calderon, and will be hosted on the Fox Business Network from 9pm to 11pm ET, per the New York Times. It will also air on Fox News and Univision and stream on Fox Nation, Univision, and Rumble. More on what to expect:

  • Catching up with the candidates: The AP runs through how each of the competitors did during the last debate, and where some may now stand with voters. Set to take the stage Wednesday night: former VP Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.
  • Ghost of the Gipper: Voice of America places its focus on the debate’s venue—the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, where the specter of No. 40 looms large. The location “brings back the views of a former president who still serves as a conservative model to the party,” VOA notes.
  • What else to watch for: CNN expands on the Reagan vibe, as well as on what else to expect during the show. For one, the news outlet anticipates “major divides on abortion,” after Trump recently opened “what could be the party’s most significant policy fissure.”
  • Peerino’s take: The debate’s host thinks “it is time for a breakout moment,” and predicts that’s exactly what the candidates will be vying for. “The debate is not just to showcase these candidates,” she tells the Hill. “It’s for one of them to say, ‘I can be [Trump’s] main rival.'” She adds, “You’ll see some posturing.”
  • Delicate attack: Political analyst Lara Brown agrees with Perino, telling USA Today that she expects Wednesday’s debate to be “more contentious and more confrontational” than the first one when it comes to Trump. It’s a fine line, though, she says, with candidates having to jockey for position without alienating GOP voters who once supported the former president. She notes some Republicans are worried that “if they hit him too hard or cut too close to the bone,” his supporters will “cancel” them from the party.
  • Blunting Trump’s ‘momentum’: The AP notes Republicans’ “growing urgency” to present a candidate that might be able to gain ground on the frontrunner. “It’ll be interesting to see whether or not folks realize that the sand is going through the hourglass pretty quickly right now,” GOP strategist Kevin Madden says.
  • At stake for DeSantis: One candidate under the spotlight in particular is the Florida governor, who’s running more than 40 points behind Trump in recent polls. “It’s too late for just a fine performance,” Republican pollster Christine Matthews tells the AP. “DeSantis has gone from leading alternative to Trump to just one of the pack of challengers, and he will be under pressure to perform.”
  • ‘Fake’ debate: That’s how Zack Beauchamp frames Wednesday’s event for Vox, writing that it will be “a cosplay of a competitive election—and a distraction from an ugly truth.” That truth being that it doesn’t look like anyone will be able to catch up with the former president. “At this point, the only things that could stop Trump are his death or incapacitation,” Beauchamp notes.

There you have it….all the information you need to watch (if you so desire) the next debate and what is at stake for these candidates.

For anyone interested I will watch the debate for I am a political junkie and will post detail analysis here on IST tomorrow.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Can You Argue?

Most people relish the idea of a good argument….the only problem is most have no idea how to set about doing it….they have these platitudes in their minds and that is as far as it goes….so the argument looks more like just a regurgitation of talking points rather than some intellectual exchange.

So begs to ask….do you know how to argue?

The Old Professor is here to help.

This is a fascinating article from Vox…..

Anyone who has argued with an opinionated relative or friend about immigration or gun control knows it is often impossible to sway someone with strong views.

That’s in part because our brains work hard to ensure the integrity of our worldview: We seek out information to confirm what we already know, and are dismissive or avoidant of facts that are hostile to our core beliefs.

But it’s not impossible to make your argument stick. And there’s been some good scientific work on this. Here are two strategies that, based on the evidence, seem promising.

https://www.vox.com/2016/11/23/13708996/argue-better-science

If that article did not help then maybe this one will….

Business professor Michael Norton and behavioral economist Dan Ariely have given us some hope to hang onto. Their research has showed that when stripped of partisan information, Americans’ description of an ideal society is remarkably similar regardless of political affiliation. They found that when we boil the issues down to core values, we tend to agree.

But we’re up against a massive force. Our modern political parties are powerful tribes through which we express our social identities and take cues on how to vote. Often, it’s more important to humans that they be accepted by their tribe than to be right. And it’s not even that irrational: evolutionarily, not being part of a tribe was a death sentence.

Given the fight we’re up against this November, we’ll need all the tools in our tool kit to change hearts and minds. We reviewed the literature on moral persuasion to help uncover clever strategies to use in debate. The hope is these tactics will help people have productive conversations with people we disgree with.

Here are five strategies to change someone’s mind (and your own). To illustrate each tactic we have used the example of how to argue for and against gun control.

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/try-these-5-techniques-to-make-your-next-political-argument-fruitful/

If that was a bust for you I have one more aid in your political arguments to come…..

You’ve probably gotten in a political argument in the recent past, whether with your nutso cousin at Thanksgiving or your militantly ignorant co-worker at a happyhour.

And you’ll probably get in another political argument sometime in the near future. Hard as it may be to believe, you can actually win these arguments.

Here’s how.

1. Forget facts.
Psychologists who study political belief and persuasion think it’s adorable how obsessed argumentative people are with those cute little things called facts. When it comes to winning arguments, truthfulness and details simply don’t matter as much as we think theydo.

“People think emotionally, and they very often will have these gut moral intuitions that certain things are right or wrong,” said Matthew Feinberg, a psychologist at Stanford. The process of belief formation runs in the opposite direction than we’d hope: People “come to the conclusion first, and then the reasons they kind of pull out just to support theirbeliefs.”

 

This runs counter to a lot of what we learn when we’re writing term papers in school or reading our favorite authors, of course — in these contexts, logical precision is key. But when you’re engaging in a live argument with someone who views the world very differently than you do, it’s important not to get too hung up on factualaccuracy.

So how do you capitalize on this knowledge?

Readon.

https://www.thecut.com/2014/05/how-to-win-your-next-political-argument.html

There you have it…..you are armed to the teeth with techniques for your next debate/argument….it is up to you to wisely go forth and argue.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

How To Buy A Campaign

We all know that it takes lots of cash to run for any office but especially for president it takes millions and millions….and I have been bitching for decades that money should not decide the best candidate……

The latest story about them 2020 Dem pursuit of the nomination has given us an example of just why money is the bane of democracy…..

Billionaire Steyer is spending his money and others but he has made it to the debate stage for January……..

And then there were six. On Thursday morning, just Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren had met polling and fundraising requirements to participate in Tuesday’s Democratic debate in Iowa. By Thursday evening, there was a new entry: businessman Tom Steyer, who Politico notes was able to take advantage of a surge in two early-state polls to qualify. In the first of two Fox News polls released late Thursday, Steyer ties for third with Warren with 12% among Democratic caucusgoers, behind Biden at 23% and Sanders at 17%. In the second poll, out of South Carolina, Steyer jumps to second with 15%, though he’s way behind Biden at 36%; Sanders and Warren come in at 14% and 10%, respectively. Buttigieg placed fifth in both polls, with 6% in Nevada and 4% in South Carolina.

Candidates can qualify polling-wise by Friday night’s deadline by reaching 5% in four DNC-approved polls, or 7% in two early-state polls. What likely helped push Steyer into debate contender territory in these two polls, per Politico: the $21.5 million he’s forked over in both states for direct-mail appeals and TV and radio ads. Steyer has spent $116 million on TV ads overall, reports the Washington Post, which compares his strategy with that of Mike Bloomberg, this campaign season’s other big spender. Cory Booker, Tulsi Gabbard, and Andrew Yang are the only other candidates who appear to have a chance to meet all requirements by Friday night’s debate deadline, but Politico says it doesn’t look likely. At least one more poll—the Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom survey—will be released before the door is shut.

Steyer has shot up in the polls because of the cash he spending in media….another candidate that is shooting up is Bloomberg and he as well is spending lots of cash on the media to gain in the polls.

Let’s not forget that Steyer is NOT the only billionaire in the race……Bloomberg is also willing to spend millions even billions to win this race….

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg is apparently willing to become slightly less of a billionaire in his effort to escort Donald Trump from the Oval Office, and the New York Times reports that he’s willing to spend $1 billion from his personal fortune—even if he is not the Democratic nominee. “I really don’t agree with them,” he says of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, “but I’d still support them, yes, because compared to Donald Trump that’s easy.” The candidate, entirely self-funded, has already burned through $200 million in his late entry to the race, and the Times notes that he’s on a path to equal former President Obama’s entire 2012 spending by March. “You know how much money a billion dollars is?” he says. “It’s a lot of money to me. It’s a lot of money to anybody.” Bloomberg, for the record, is reportedly worth about $57 billion.

Bloomberg is taking criticism, particularly from Warren, who would like to take money out of politics, that he’s trying to buy the nomination. He shrugs, telling Reuters, “these are just political things they say, hoping they catch on and they don’t like me doing it, because it competes with them, not because it’s bad policy.” One major buy: A Super Bowl ad, which Trump is also buying at a reported $10 million for 60 seconds. “You can’t get to 330 million people by shaking hands. Television is still the magic medium,” Bloomberg says. “If the Super Bowl wasn’t a place to get to an awful lot of people they wouldn’t be charging a lot, or nobody would be paying it. This is capitalism at work.”

Shame that it comes down to money and not issues….but that is typical for a presidential contest.  Cash and slogans is about all there is to most campaigns…..GOP or Dem not much difference….

My take is that we Americans get the worse government money will buy.

Learn Stuff!

VOTE!

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Capitalism Has Failed!

I realize this post will not sit well with those individuals that have more money than brains…….but let’s look at it….capitalism has failed.

The truth is that the “economy” is booming according to some….then why are most Americans are overworked and underpaid and the future looks no brighter than now……

Let’s look shall we?

Some years ago, I faced up to the futility of reporting true things about America’s disastrous wars and so I left Afghanistan for another remote mountainous country far away. It was the polar opposite of Afghanistan: a peaceful, prosperous land where nearly everybody seemed to enjoy a good life, on the job and in the family.

It’s true that they didn’t work much, not by American standards anyway. In the U.S., full-time salaried workers supposedly laboring 40 hours a week actually average 49, with almost 20% clocking more than 60. These people, on the other hand, worked only about 37 hours a week, when they weren’t away on long paid vacations. At the end of the work day, about four in the afternoon (perhaps three in the summer), they had time to enjoy a hike in the forest or a swim with the kids or a beer with friends — which helps explain why, unlike so many Americans, they are pleased with their jobs.

https://www.rawstory.com/2019/01/american-capitalism-failed-us-overworked-underemployed-powerless-ever/

Now we see a debate taking hold should the US embrace socialism over the soul sucking capitalism we have today?

In 2016, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders ran on a platform that many thought would’ve ruined his political chances. He ran as a democratic socialist, disavowing America’s longtime capitalist consensus and proudly wrapping himself in a label pundits considered political poison. And it worked.

In American politics, and particularly in the Democratic Party, the primacy of capitalism is, for the first time in ages, an open question. Sanders is expected to run again in 2020, and to run with the support of a grassroots movement that thrills to his break with capitalist convention. He’ll face, among others, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who says one key difference between her and Sanders is that she’s “a capitalist to my bones.”

https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2019/1/7/18167691/what-is-socialism-capitalism-sanders-warren

Personally I do not care what we call it…..as long as the children get educated, people make a living wage, health is for everyone, etc……so can a bit of socialism help capitalism?

Larry Fink, the chief executive and founder of BlackRock, published his annual letter to the chief executives of all the companies around the world in which it invests last week.

And Fink’s message was: don’t put profits first. Put “purpose” first. “Purpose is not the sole pursuit of profits, but the animating force for achieving them,” Fink explained.

“Profits are in no way inconsistent with purpose – in fact, profits and purpose are inextricably linked.”

This corporate purpose, he went on, means investing for the long term, serving a community, developing the talents of a workforce. And so on. BlackRock also says that bosses’ pay should not rise faster than that of the firm’s workers and has threatened to vote against remuneration committees that agree to excessive awards.

It’s enough to make the libertarian epigoni of Milton Friedman, the economist who famously asserted “there is one and only one social responsibility of business – to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits”, choke on their cornflakes.

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/blackrock-socialism-capitalism-stock-market-sacha-romanovitch-grant-thornton-a8737131.html

We need some help……this deal is just not working the way it was intended…..reform NOW or face the consequences.

Debate Night Is Set!

20 For 2020!

In about two weeks the first debates of the 2020 election cycle……Dems have a plethora of candidates to choose from….every flavor of Democrat available……female, gay, centrist, Leftist, Old White guys. African-American, Asian, Hispanic, mayors, Senators, etc etc…….all that is missing is a Partridge In A Pear Tree.

And the voting Dems have not made up their minds yet (I have but then I am not that typical) according to most reports……

Ahead of the first 2020 debates beginning in two weeks, a majority of Democratic voters are undecided or are open to changing their first choice. Twenty Democratic candidates will argue their case, with ten candidates each spread out over two nights in Miami June 26-27. Interest in the contest remains remarkably high while certainty around its outcome remains much lower than sometimes acknowledged.

There is the reality of currently undecided voters. Beyond that, the vast majority who have settled on a first choice candidate have indicated, when asked, that their support for that first choice is soft. They continue to consider other candidates, often multiple other candidates, or state that they may change their mind. The most recent SSRS/CNN pollputs the number of voters who may change their mind at 55%. A May 18-21 poll by YouGov noted that nearly 3 in 4 likely Democratic primary voters either have not settled on a first choice or are considering more than one candidate. A state poll in North Carolina released by Emerson has 62% indicating that they may change their mind. Emerson removes undecideds from their poll numbers before reporting. This means that closer to three-quarters undecided or willing to change their mind is realistic. 80% of likely Democratic caucus attenders in this weekend’s Selzer poll in Iowa named a second choice candidate when asked.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/06/11/as-first-2020-debate-looms-most-democrats-are-still-persuadable/

The roster has been set for the stages on the 26 and 27 of June…..

The Democratic National Committee announced Thursday that 20 candidates have qualified for the party’s first presidential debates later this month. Montana Gov. Steve Bullock and Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts were the only major candidates out of the two dozen Democratic hopefuls who failed to meet the polling or grassroots fundraising measures required to get a debate spot. Two lesser-known candidates, former Sen. Mike Gravel of Alaska and Miramar, Florida, Mayor Wayne Messam, also missed the cutoff, the AP reports. Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who had been on the bubble, both made the debate based on polling measures. The campaign’s opening debates, June 26-27 in Miami, will offer a prime opportunity for many White House hopefuls to reshape a race defined in recent weeks by former Vice President Joe Biden’s domination of polls.

An NBC News drawing Friday will divide the field between the first and second debate night. Party officials have promised to weight the drawing with the intention of ensuring that top-tier and lagging candidates are spread roughly evenly over the two nights. Those assignments will determine the debate strategies for many campaigns. Candidates will have to decide whether to go after front-runners such as Biden, challenge others in the pack or stand out by remaining above the fray. They must also decide how much to focus on President Trump. The polling and fundraising thresholds will remain the same for the July debates over two nights in Detroit. But the polling and fundraising marks will double for the third and fourth debates in September and October: Candidates will have to meet both marks instead of one or the other

As the elections and primaries move closer the more the DNC will push for certain candidates to participate……I have said before and nothing has changed…..I do not appreciate the DNC deciding who the candidates will be regardless of the number that are trying for the nomination…..it should be up to the voter to decide these things not a bunch of professional liars and cowards in the DNC.

Further Reading:

https://lobotero.com/2019/05/30/only-certain-dems-are-welcome/

Learn Stuff!

Then VOTE!

Saturday–06Oct18

The weekend begins and I would like to introduce my readers to a new website (stop here and let people know that I am in NO way being compensated for this post)……

I started this site IST with the hopes that we could have a spirited debate on issues…..that was wishful thinking on my part……while I have had some great debates with readers I have also had visitors that were the typical influx of insults and false facts.

If there are others out there that enjoy a spirited debate then may I suggest that they check out this new website…..https://www.kialo.com/tour/

There are many debates on a wide array of topics…like politics, ethics, science, philosophy, gender, etc etc…….

If you enjoy a good debate then stop by this site and see if it is to your liking.

There is also another debate site that you might check into (again no compensation for the mention of the site)…….https://www.debate.org/

Again many topics……guns, veganism, DNA testing, etc, etc………find one you like and join in the debate.

I feel that debates are how ideas take hold and grow……join the fun……join the conversation.

That Political Argument

As the week begins I would like to write about something that if you are a political blogger then you have had a political debate or if you will argument with someone who shows up on your blog.

Do you think you have ever won the debate with this person?  In your mind of course you have but in the other’s mind you have not…..

Let’s take a look at that political argument…….

We’ve all been sufficiently frustrated by the gap between the values someone espouses and the policies they support that we’ve gotten into political arguments to help them see their error. Perhaps, if we’re more honest about our own motivation, we just reacted to get rid of that visceral dissonant feeling that “something that wrong just can’t be allowed to stand.”

And, no doubt, whenever you do that, you lay out a clear, fact-based, logically consistent case for the correct view.

You’ve probably done it many times—and, if you’re like most people, you’ve changed next-to-no minds at all.

In fact, you may have often come away even more convinced of your opponent’s wrong-headedness than when you started, and likely gave your opponent the exact same view of you.

But you keep doing it—even though it does very little good indeed.

Given all the practice everyone is getting, why are millions of decent arguments made by clearly thinking individuals almost all utterly useless when it comes to enlightening others—let alone changing their minds?

This article will give you the answer. Understanding it may change your life.

https://theantimedia.com/political-argument-mistake/

Let me say about here…..no matter how well you give the facts to support your side of the argument…you will NEVER get through a closed mind……and thanx to the ear of social media a closed mind is the way of the world.

Further Reading:

https://lobotero.com/2009/08/19/argumentum-ad-populum/

https://lobotero.com/2011/05/09/argumentum-ad-hominem/

Tribes

An IST op-ed

My better half was watching a retro movie the other day entitled “Tribes” starring Darren McGavin about the USMC and a mystical wonder child that the Drill Sargent tried to break and could not….all so early 70’s…..and typical TV drama of the day.

The title got me to thinking about our country these days and the damage that all this silliness and yes it is flipping silly, is doing to the fabric of American society.

To begin with….what is political tribalism?  n….loyalty to a tribe or other social group especially when combined with strong negative feelings for people outside the group…..in other words….political division.

I read Political Tribes: Group Instinct And The Fate Of Nations, a new book by Yale law professor Amy Chua. Chua does not write as a political partisan. Rather, she writes as an analyst of our political culture, which is rapidly tribalizing. I strongly encourage everyone to read the book to understand the nature of our dire political moment, and how much worse it could get if we don’t find some way to stop the cycle.

I want to be very clear: Amy Chua does not side with either the left or the right in her book. She says that all of us are tribalizing. She doesn’t say this in an artificial “pox on both your houses” way. She really means it, and she shows how it’s happening.

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/a-time-of-tribalism-amy-chua/

Here on IST many visitors from the Right, because I criticize Trump, as being a Dem they are wrong and if they would just visit more often then they would have seen that I was a critic of Obama and his people as well…..but they read one post and label me.  I do not really mind just shows their ignorance.

This whole “us against them” mentality is not American in my book…..it accomplishes nothing politically and finger pointing is just as silly (even though I have done it in the past out of frustration).

This “tribalism” has been more successful for the Right than the Left……

In “How America’s identity politics went from inclusion to division” (Guardian, March 1, 2018), Amy Chua argues that the U.S. left has given us the U.S. right, or at least has provided opportunities for the political right to rise to power. Chua makes the case that identity politics on the left and right makes the U.S. a less inclusive society.

She is right to some extent about some kinds of identity politics, but it’s there where the equivalency ends because identity politics on the right has led to murder, mayhem at the highest levels of government, and a return to racism that is supported by the right’s enormous wealth. Identifying with their own best interests gave the gay community medicines that made AIDS less than a certain death sentence.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/03/05/political-tribalism-why-the-right-is-so-successful/

In my opinion the Right has succeeded in the division admirably and as they divide us the Dems try to counter and thus the division gets deeper and deeper…..as the country divides the Congress jumps on the bandwagon…..

A few days ago I argued that sins-of-omission by Paul Ryan and his fellow Republicans in the House, and Mitch McConnell and his fellow Republicans in the Senate, amounted to de facto shirking of their “check and balance” duty relative to Donald Trump. Because members of the majority party in the legislative branch  wouldn’t call out or even notice Trump’s excesses—except, as with Jeff Flake and Bob Corker, when they had decided not to run again—they were putting unsustainable pressure on other parts of the formal and informal governing system. The courts, the press, Robert Mueller, and so on.

https://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2017/11/a-nation-of-tribes-and-members-of-the-tribe/544907/

In the past I enjoyed political debate and discourse but these days it is not anything like the days I enjoyed……many especially on the Right will not except the title of “Tribes”……call it whatever you like but it boils down to political tribes…..

When it comes to politics, in 2015 we witnessed nothing less than a paradigm shift. The old rules are out the window. Technology and changing mores have conspired to lower barriers of entry—and acceptability. Gatekeepers no longer exist. What we have right now is closer to direct democracy than we’ve ever seen, and our civilization is regressing as a result.

One party (the Democrats) already represents the liberal half of the nation. The other half seems to consist of modern, Buckleyite conservatives, but also an increasingly large horde of populist, nationalist, individualistic Americans—who now have a megaphone and a vessel in the form of Donald Trump.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/americas-political-parties-are-just-tribes-now

If you do not like the term “Tribes” then maybe “politics of identity” or “identity politics” may  tickle your fancy……no matter the title it is NOT Making America Great…..in any way.