Il Douché and His Discontents: The 2016 Primary Voting Thread, Part 4

hey remember when rick perry put glasses on?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/04/05/trump-plans-a-series-of-policy-speeches/

Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at the at the Old Post Office Pavilion, soon to be a Trump International Hotel, in Washington on March 21. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
GOP front-runner Donald Trump, facing a likely setback in Tuesday's Wisconsin primary, plans to shift gears in the coming weeks, and give a series of policy speeches in settings more formal than the freewheeling rallies that have become his political signature.

Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said in an interview Tuesday that a memo published by The Washington Post detailing how Trump plans to get Mexico to pay for his proposed border wall is a prelude to a series of moves that flesh out the policies that Trump has been speaking about in general terms in his rallies and in interviews.

oh fucking shit i'm sorry about that

MODS HELP

wonder how many of those policy speeches his son-in-law is gonna write

i was like "jeez finally a candidate ready to talk about crosswords"

his mexico plan is nuts. of course it would be, but, it's nuts.

April 9
Wyoming holds it Democratic caucuses.

April 19
New York holds it primaries.

that's copy/pasted from washpo? that actually makes me feel better about my own neverending series of typos and missing words

wait can we go back to the news that Trump's buying Mexico

how ready for a take are you guys right now?

https://twitter.com/aantonop/status/717341020250370048

that NY Daily News interview with Bernie isn't that bad i thought. it's always been obviously he's not the sharpest dude but i don't think the interviewer got him to say anything too awful?

yeah, i don't think ppl like him bc of his incisive detailed plans. they're probably ok with "this is the general goal and we'll figure it out once we get there" as an answer. if he was running as a technocrat it would be a disaster, but he's not.

"it's always been obviously he's not the sharpest dude"

I would like to thank you for this amazing thumbnail of the general ILX level of self-estimation

Neither Braynard nor Lewandowski commented when asked whether Braynard left of his own accord or was fired. Sources say his top lieutenant in the campaign’s data shop, a former RNC data engineer named Witold Chrabaszcz, was elevated at least temporarily to run the team. Chrabaszcz, who goes by “Vito,” declined to comment. While he is regarded as a savvy manipulator of data, he’s largely unknown in the tight-knit world of GOP data strategists. He seldom worked on political strategy at the RNC and mostly interacted with the party’s other data engineers, a group known as the “basement dwellers.”

I mean obv we don't have a lockdown on the general Internet "get a brain morans" tendency but

it's the best basement though, really, the best, just yuge.

1) lol at putting a *data engineer* in a political strategy position

2) lol at taking a job where you are abused by polisci interns when you could be earning $200k

My point is not Sanders specific, btw, I'm just saying that if you spend large portions of your day on here, odds are you are not smarter than people who have ascended to the point of running for president of the United States. Ok maybe Webb, Santorum, and Rick Perry.

perhaps of interest

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/04/1976-convention-oral-history-213793#ixzz44zONlUTo

anyone seen the best man (1964)? gore vidal film about a brokered convention, with henry fonda, etc. alfred do you recommend?

My point is not Sanders specific, btw, I'm just saying that if you spend large portions of your day on here, odds are you are not smarter than people who have ascended to the point of running for president of the United States.

― Here, let me Danesplain that for you (jjjusten), Tuesday, April 5, 2016 5:28 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

why?

i'm not alfred, but i do like that movie!

xpost

anyone seen the best man (1964)? gore vidal film about a brokered convention, with henry fonda, etc. alfred do you recommend?

― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Tuesday, April 5, 2016

I'd recommend, yes, and would watch with you and goole

the sequel isn't very good, though

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d6/The_Best_Man_Holiday.jpg

Times change.

"de l'asshole (flopson)
Posted: April 5, 2016 at 4:36:09 PM
My point is not Sanders specific, btw, I'm just saying that if you spend large portions of your day on here, odds are you are not smarter than people who have ascended to the point of running for president of the United States.

― Here, let me Danesplain that for you (jjjusten), Tuesday, April 5, 2016 5:28 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

why?"

Just as a first clarification, it's not you specific either, and I don't want it to come off that way, but come on, Ilx/the Internet in general is full of the archetypical "the smartest guy in the room" dudes. (And yeah, I'm def using specific male terms there). The truth is we...probably aren't? Add the political rhetoric of "people I disagree with are clearly stupid/flawed, and not rationally opposed" and you've got a heady breeding ground for special snowflake moments.

"smarter" is a contentious term + if it includes things like social savvy, ambition, cleverness, common sense, etc then i'm sure jjj is right that anyone getting that close to the WH is smarter than me. i assumed flopson meant more like bernie isn't an "intellectual" which smarter is like often shorthand for and i'd agree that he isn't really (but how many presidents are actually intellectuals? obama. hillary seems a little wonkish. cruz seems frighteningly intelligent. otherwise...)

does cruz seem really intelligent in a broad sense? he strikes me as someone who has a very finely honed skill at certain narrow things (pulling out facts and figures, identifying counterarguments and weaknesses) who doesn't seem to grasp some larger concepts. he also seems to lack considerable social intelligence.

it is indeed rare to have a genuine intellectual in the white house, though as morbius would probably be quick to point out, it's not as if that means a ton, in terms of practical political ramifications.

My point is not Sanders specific, btw, I'm just saying that if you spend large portions of your day on here, odds are you are not smarter than people who have ascended to the point of running for president of the United States.

I would kinda say the opposite, given most of these fuckers! Not Rick Perry, though. He wears glasses. Granted, there are very few ilxors I would actually want to have as President, and I suspect Ned is the only nominee we could all agree upon, but idk a lot of people here are pretty smart.

dershowitz called cruz "off the charts brilliant" and while you may be inclined to dismiss that bc u don't like the dersh he has seen a ton of students so he probably has some good examples to measure him against. imo from what i've seen + read cruz does seem legitimately brilliant in addition to being evil + disgusting.

wonkish /= intelligence

I don't know if that's what Mordy meant. If not, I apologize.

(I also despise the word "wonkish"; it's Beltway contempt for someone who actually reads)

there are very few ilxors I would actually want to have as President, and I suspect Ned is the only nominee we could all agree upon,

nah I'd primary him

i meant wonkish as "someone who actually reads" lol - but that's getting pretty close to what i mean by an 'intellectual'

re: the '76 convention:

Back-to-back-eruptions greeted the candidates’ wives. One of the Ford children allegedly dumped trash on the delegates from Texas. A Ford delegate who broke her leg in the chaos was kept from the hospital for fear that her replacement would vote for Reagan; she suffered in a brace made from convention programs until the voting was over. Meanwhile, in a back room, Henry Kissinger was “raising hell” over a change to the platform, threatening to resign and demanding a roll call of delegates who were drunk as they deliberated.

man this is gonna be a hoot

yes that was an amazing read thanks for sharing -- esp kissinger as the too moderate secretary the conservatives hated!

I think someone being "off the charts brilliant" as a law student might very well line up with what amateurist is saying though - like the things that would register to a professor as brilliance in this context might totally leave out social intelligence, grasping larger concepts, etc. Like the equivalent of a chess prodigy, or lots of other fields where a certain kind of brilliance is absolutely a thing (I always think of things like music, computer programming, and architecture, which I've tried my hand at and know enough to recognize that I don't have the x factor that gives other people the ability to produce really elegant, well-formed solutions to problems). I've certainly had students that I've thought of as brilliant, even as I would not for a second vouch for their 'intelligence' in any situation beyond the participation in, and production of work for, the classes I was teaching. Or I'll have students that are kinda underperforming in my classes (architectural history) but I know from other instructors or from seeing their work pinned up that they are absolute gangbusters as designers. Etc. etc.

Basically, everything about Cruz radiates the sense of a guy who indeed would be very, very good at a certain world of formal debate, lawyering, beating you down with supporting facts that he has at the ready. Dunno if that means he's a smart guy though.

nah I'd primary him

career-ending move imo. this is the season of "hill you choose to die on" as a construction i'm seeing everywhere all of a sudden, and alfred, this is a curious hill indeed. i mean it's probably good for the party to have an open debate and air the issues and so on but come on. it's ned's turn.

ok well i don't think we're in disagreement. i was trying to disentangle the term "smart" from the term "intellectual" or calling someone an "intellect" which i think is more aligned with some of the quick grasp / deep memory / innovative thinking you're talking about. but which we're all in agreement does not qualify anyone to be head of state (tho it sure is nice to have along w/ other more important things). xp

"intellectual" is a tricky one too cause I basically think of it meaning what you describe, but there's a side of it also that indicates maybe a lifestyle, set of interests, etc., which one could have without actually having the kind of mental acuity under discussion. But that type seems really unlikely to succeed in politics - "I have no talent for debates, policy, or winning people over to my point of view, but as a matter of principle I favor jazz and the theater over the tastes of the common sheeple."

yeah but can Cruz does read Montesquieu

would alfred run to ned's left or right? or would he run below him?

or maybe it'd be more like speed-walking

take the opportunity to be strong - run over him! (politically speaking of course)

maureen dowd would devote every other column to you

I'll just chime in that I think Ted Cruz could probably make seven figures as a scumbag corporate lawyer none of us have ever heard of, but he seems to find being a scumbag Senator from Texas who has alienated ALL of his colleagues to be a much more exciting career. If that equates to "off the charts brilliance", then he certainly qualifies.

For comparison, Nixon was reputed to be extremely brilliant when talking foreign policy and Nixon was clearly a more talented politician than Cruz. At this early point in Cruz's career, it is hard to say which is the greater scumbag though. Nixon is pretty lofty competition.

how many innocent civilians has Cruz murdered by giving orders in a drunken rage

Nixon's foreign policy chops vastly overrated imo

I've never seen Nixon's foreign policy bonafides. Cambodians and Chileans sure are grateful though!

he was even wrong about Yeltsin!

xps How many? None, afaik. Why else do you think Cruz chafes at the limitations of the Senate and longs for executive power?

I've never seen Nixon's foreign policy bonafides. Cambodians and Chileans sure are grateful though!

^^^ every time some talking head starts prattling on as if Nixon's foreign policy skills are beyond dispute it's rmde time. Vietnam was a disaster, his China visit was 0 for 3 of its stated goals, etc.

straining to think of a single foreign policy crisis that he successfully resolved

i think people just like delivering some kind of counter-conventional wisdom when it comes to nixon, makes them feel wonkish, as it were.