I know I am going to have to buck up, because I can’t bring this kind of negativity into the tournament, but reading about the Bush Family, the Paul Family, the Clintons, Romney, Huckabee, Santorum, and other retreads just makes me want to give up political commentary and go live on an ice floe.
It’s not just that I’ve already written pretty much everything I have to say about these people. The bigger problem is that I just don’t like them.
I need a pep talk.
Don’t give them any airtime unless/until you have to. Explore the people who don’t usually get any airtime (including 3rd/4th parties) and see if you can make a difference there.
Agreed- No challenge even noticing them; there is nothing new to hear from them and there are so many more voices to hear. Drown them out with real thinkers. American dialogue, like teenagers in a group, falls to the lowest common denominator, especially when there is money to be made.
I think I should have a polar bear brief you on the current conditions on ice floes.
I’ve got nothing.
For the present time, keep away from people you don’t like. There may be times when they are unavoidable, so then you can deal with them. Leave them in the past, and above all, don’t ever think about how they might affect your future unless you have to.
Political commentary has devolved into endless babbling about the horse race. Who might get to run, how did they look once, who might win? My question is usually why bother?
This is a matter of protecting your emotional health. Sports is a good focal point for competitions.
OT:
I’m curious what Boo, and any other PA resident here, thinks about this:
http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/new-democratic-contender-emerges-for-pennsylvania-senate-sea
t-20150118
The PA “establishment” is still so pissed at Sestak that they’d recruit a DINO? I know I shouldn’t be shocked but Carney would get his ass kicked in a primary.
I’m not from PA, but reading the article it almost sounds like Sestak recruited him to run in order to suck up some of the anti-Sestak air.
Good news for you. Lindsey Graham is considering running. McCain by proxy.
“McCain by proxy”
So who gets to play the “proxy Palin” part?
Well some might find a plus in this article and some will not. Here is a look at crime rates from 2004 to 2013.http://www.movoto.com/blog/opinions/crime-maps-over-time/ Depending on what state you live in some will smile others will feel like moving out of state fast!
Thus you will be focusing on states instead of the much bigger crime families of the Federal Government.
It will also be interesting to compare the facts on crime in your state and what the MSM there has been saying.
Wish I could help you out, man. These are motherfuckers are as boring and potentially disastrous as the clowns running for mayor of Philadelphia.
Congress, God damn it! Congress! It will make very little difference who the next president is if the Democrats don’t control both houses of Congress. It’s a tall order, but if you’re looking for hope, that’s where it is.
This is a serious moment, because Republican obstruction is on the verge of making Congress irrelevant. But there’s a huge opportunity if the Democrats seize it. Boehner and McConnell are barely even pretending to govern, so we already know that the 114th Congress is going to accomplish less than nothing. So what are the Democrats supposed to do in the meanwhile? Might as well start campaigning for 2016 by loudly and repeatedly pointing out everything the Republicans aren’t doing.
I fear we are on the brink of Caesarism. The American people will not tolerate failed government. They are already accustomed to thinking the President has extraordinary powers. If a charismatic president makes Congress irrelevant, the people will go along.
I would REALLY like to agree with you but I’m pretty convinced at least half of Americans embrace failed government.
No. I’ve talked with that half. They embrace the failure of the welfare state. They still want courts and police and the FBI/CIA/NSA and above all the military. They will not tolerate failures in those areas nor in public utilities and airports.
So in other words: Government that does stuff I like and/or benefits me directly: Good.
Government that does stuff to help Those People: Bad.
Tribalism at its finest.
Yes, you are correct. That’s politics – “Where’s mine?”
Sad but true. I firmly believe in the motto “E pluribus unum”, but it’s much easier politics to E unum pluribus (probably grammatically incorrect”
More like “None for all, all for one, and the devil take the hindmost.”
Very probably, you don’t want to hear me advise you to polish up your situational awareness, because you seem to think you already have too much.
But, really — and without rebuke, as you are in extremely numerous company — you are looking at the wrong things.
Don’t look at where we are. Look at how we got here.
Don’t look at the storytellers. Look at their audiences.
This will sound as corny as hell, but sometimes you have to look inward instead of outward. Outward is always a mess. Political Outward is a HUGE mess. People are stupid and they seem to be the ones who keep voting the bozos into office.
So sit down and take stock of your life for a minute. You had a recent health scare, but you’re feeling better now. You have a nice place to live, and a wife and family who love you, an adorable boy who thinks you invented sunshine, and you’re writing some great stuff.
I travel a lot with my work and wherever I go, I pretend what it would be like to live there. I always decide that my place is best for me. And you might feel that where you are is best for you.
You make a difference. You make a difference to me, a loyal reader. No matter how shitty things are, you are a singularly important human being. Don’t ever let the Outward overpower the Inward.
Martin, donnah speaks for me.
Love and accept love from your family and friends. We value what you’re doing here, and I expect to value your online contributions in the future. Know that I used to think of the Frog Pond as a moderate Dem place that didn’t meet my far lefty sensibilities and sense of outrage, but I became persuaded to make this my go-to site by you and the community here.
I still read the Digby types out there and value the stridency and the information I get from those sites and writers, but I have felt a growing sense of disempowerment from much of their stuff. For lefties to claim that both sides are the same and that Obama’s Presidency has been worthless or near worthless offends me in its wrongheadedness. I also believe that many of them have lost some of their perspective. For example, I’m totally with the anger about drones and other foreign policy errors, the national security state, and the lack of criminal accountability for the financial product leaders who were primarily responsible for the financial crash, but I find it astonishing that many lefties fail to understand or appreciate what President Obama and his first Congress were able to accomplish. Your work and our community discussions have cheered me up and helped give me proper perspective.
Our Movement is stronger with your organizing and educational help. Do what YOU need to do, but we’d love to have your entertaining, thoughtful help if you can continue to find ways to keep this work fulfilling.
A couple of King Day related links. Remembering how much harder it was for some and remembering that they still continued on, makes my problems, while real, seem small in comparison.
Let Freedom Ring: 15 Rare Photos Of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (PHOTOS) | Global Grind
http://globalgrind.com/playlist/let-freedom-ring-15-rare-photos-of-dr-martin-luther-king-jr-photos/i
tem/4051072/#.VL1HrxYe_rE.twitter
Also too, knowing even with the hardship, Dr King was still able to laugh and joke. I’d like to think aside from the big ticket issue vis a vis the movie Selma, the one thing I loved was seeing Dr King as just a man, interacting with his fellow activist who were his friends, and joking and laughing even in the mist of being jailed and protesting.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Tells a Joke on “The Tonight Show” from 1968.: http://youtu.be/vZw6iT_gcL8 via @YouTube
….the former Secretary of State, vying to become the first-ever female nominee of the major American political – and to break the 44-0 gender logjam in U.S. history – with with a bunch of GOP born on third-base types, Booman.
Hillary Clinton is no retread in the silver spoon boys club.
I feel the same way about writing about all of them.
No! No!
Warmonger!
Tool of Wall Street!
Bosom buddy of banksters!
Dynasty! Libya! AIPAC!
She’s worse than any of them.
Did Huckabee’s wife sign welfare reform?
Has the Obama nightmare taught you nothing?
…on your part.
Satire is impossible in a world where both Osama and the public option are dead, and by the same hand!
It was ever thus. Read some history for a while until you regain strength; you know you will.
Is there some reason why you need to write about these retreads? Is there some value in it that I’m failing to grasp? There is nothing new under the sun to write about them. No pep talk here.
This seems to be another result of Citizens United. The only people eligible to run for office are the cronies of the plutocrats who supply the money. So we now have political dynasties. Maybe we should name them all princes and princesses and be done with it. They are the only ones that can ascend to the throne. So we have a real uniparty.
I have an idea – let’s poll the Frog Pond and pick a candidate, then ride for that candidate like our lives depend on it and see if we make a difference. Only stipulation is that everyone agrees ahead of time to abide by the results. I’d also stipulate that we eliminate anyone who has run for president before, so no Hillary, no Biden, etc. What do you think?
None of the GOP candidate wannabees (especially “frothy” Santorum)have a snow-ball’s chance, either in 2016 or EVER!
.
The GOP are not a national party any longer. They are the Corporate Money Laundering Bag For American Industry, pure & simple.
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The Democrats should retake the White House and simply handpick 2-3 moderates on to the Supreme Court and do a full-court press on everything else and in every way possible.
.
Run the GOP into the ground, just beat’em merciless and use their money against them!
I think this is why there is such a boomlet for Elizabeth Warren. Not simply because she’s a real liberal but because she’s not one of the same-old-same-old.
Do we really know that she’s a good liberal? I know she’s good on some domestic policies but she’s been silent on a lot of them and not so good on her brief foreign policy statements.
A better idea is a series of articles inventorying the progressive bench. Is there one? How deep in the farm clubs are they?
A couple of pointers:
Do what you can, don’t be disillusioned, and try to help others and especially try to recruit others to the liberal cause that will continue for generations, if not forever.
I meant a couple of couple of points.
Loved the Bush family challenge:
Pretty good strategy:
I guess only Andrew Cuomo found his name a burden.