Curb Your Authoritarianism? The 2016 Conventional Wisdom Thread (Elections, Part 6)

well obv not

Or he beat high voiced LBJ impersonator Hubert Humphrey?

Because I would say latter is a different situation... Nixon wasn't riding on Eisenhower's coattails.

i guess i was just thinking that ultimately he made good on that even tho it wasn't immediate

The wiki page for presidential approval has a breakdown for every prez

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_approval_rating

There's fairly substantial "No Opinion" percentage until Clinton, so now the disapproval % is basically exactly what you'd expect based on the approval %

That eight years was a huge period of time in politics, I don't think Eisenhower's approval ratings were the driving factor.

anyway... who's looking forward to Trump's statement on the coup in Turkey!

These people have acted!

Beautiful! Sad!

please clap:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/jeb-bush-trump-does-not-represent-the-future-of-the-country--or-the-gop/2016/07/15/370bb6f8-49be-11e6-90a8-fb84201e0645_story.html

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--kfrNQIVr--/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/cx1nxzk0ikbzns79dnql.gif

oh my God @ that bush editorial

It's pretty much what most movement conservative types are saying/doing at this point. They're in a total fix -- they want to spend all their time (as they have for the past few cycles) at this point just spending all their energy trashing the Democratic Party opponent and otherwise going "Yeah our candidate isn't perfect but it's still all good." They are spending half their energy or more of it going "AAARRRRRGGGGGHHH" at Trump's success and seizing up, all while babbling about what 'real' conservatism is as a catechism. They have nothing else to do and nowhere else to go.

but but but gary johnson!

if he really wants to stick it to trump he'd endorse hillary. you wonder if he really believes that nonsense about democrats tearing apart the country, maybe he spouted it so much that he really does. alternatively he just thinks that endorsing hillary will make him a pariah.

I love how Jeb goes to bat for term limits, a balanced budget amendment, and the line item veto - all bold, fresh ideas that the public is clamoring for

can someone explain to me why a /seemingly/ "normal" (by GOP standards) pol like pence would commit political suicide?

if he really wants to stick it to trump he'd endorse hillary. you wonder if he really believes that nonsense about democrats tearing apart the country, maybe he spouted it so much that he really does. alternatively he just thinks that endorsing hillary will make him a pariah.

― iatee

lol "make him" a pariah

because he wasn't going to win reelection anyway

xp

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/furious-christie-refuses-to-pick-up-trumps-dry-cleaning

Important Q: is the 'T' in the Trump/Pence logo penetrating the 'P' or is the 'P' a hand delicately jerking off the 'T'?

VP nod is basically a way for Pence to avoid having to run for governor, possibly catapult him onto the "national stage" without losing a humiliating election in his home state. This way when Trump loses he will still be a national GOP figure w career prospects.

xp

NO BOROWITZ
xp

yeah, let's make this a borowitz-free zone

VP nod is basically a way for Pence to avoid having to run for governor, possibly catapult him onto the "national stage" without losing a humiliating election in his home state. This way when Trump loses he will still be a national GOP figure w career prospects.

xp

― Οὖτις

i know people talk about what a close race he was running, but he really wouldn't have had that much trouble winning re-election. his would-have-been opponent is a mustachoied nonentity.

Wasn't there one time when Borowitz forgot to be desperately unfunny

lies

a 25% chance at becoming vice president and maybe then president - sure why not roll the dice

ok then what's yr explanation rushomancy? Pence dumb enough to think he can win the long odds?

I read that url as: jeb-bush-does-not-represent-the-future-of-the-country--or-the-gop, and I thought that's harsh of the WaPo, but fair.

ok then what's yr explanation rushomancy? Pence dumb enough to think he can win the long odds?

― Οὖτις

i have no explanation. he does have a reputation for being quayle-stupid, though.

That is the most logical explanation.

This way when Trump loses he will still be a national GOP figure w career prospects.

I think this is otm. Unless I've missed something, it's not like Mike Pence had some other incredibly bright potential future in store. I actually think the "say goodbye to your career" cost of associating with trump is pretty consistently overstated, at least for most GOP-ers. Not that anyone in this thread is saying that; I just see that a lot in the media generally, in my twitter feed, etc. But it seems pretty obvious that a far right dummy like Pence will have a much higher profile and better opportunities after this, even if he's on a losing ticket. It's not like anyone's going to blame him if they lose.

See: Sarah Palin

If Sarah Palin is the example then Trump will still be obnoxiously present years from now

I like this line from Nate Silver's state-of-the-race thing today--not saying it's actually ominous or anything, he's just throwing out questions ("What would keep me up late at night if I were Clinton?") because it's July and he has to write about something, but I think there's some validity to it: "In a big-picture sense, I’d be worried that Americans come to view the race as one between two equally terrible choices, instead of Trump being uniquely unacceptable."

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/election-update-10-questions-about-where-the-2016-race-stands/

yeah, I liked that piece too. It's good to see that guy back doing the thing he's actually good at.

https://twitter.com/ShaneGoldmacher/status/754095475888836608

don't know if people reading the front page of yahoo will catch the "satirical" aspect

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/etienne_saint/Screen%20Shot%202016-07-15%20at%206.05.42%20PM_zpsms4ledfj.png

If Sarah Palin is the example then Trump will still be obnoxiously present years from now

― Nhex, Friday, July 15, 2016 7:24 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Trump will be and was always gonna be obnoxiously present until he wheezes his final, fetid breath. The only difference is that he will soon be actively hated by a number of people who are now reluctantly supporting him once the veil drops and they realize how much damage was done to the GOP by the demon baby they birthed.

I don't think anybody posted this today--"top aides" going rogue.

http://twitter.com/DanaBashCNN/status/754007849022480384

We should remember that "destroying his own political career' is a moot point when you can be a failed prez candidate and land a six-figure contract with FOX News; some of these guys DO run so they can get their old age pension check signed by Roger Ailes.

interesting post from an FB friend:

The Trump Pence symbol is hysterical, it is obvious latent homosexuality. I really think, that almost all white males who vote Republican after 2008 are latent homosexuals. At the last Republican Convention in Tampa there was a 242% increase of grindr use in the city.

I think that the reason Republicans can adopt absurdities like global warming being a lie, the earth was created in 7 days, low taxes create jobs is because they spend everyday denying to themselves that they are at least bisexual, and from this root self-deception, all other lies flow out from.

Well, there's always the chance that faceless dude who messages you will turn out to be Aaron Schock, so you might as well try your luck

Saw on Twitter that "You Can't Always Get What You Want" was played over the PA at the Trump/Pence announcement event.

Trump's been using that song a lot

jagger should intervene but he's too busy impregnating pretty girls 1/4 his age

apparently this pence introduction was quite something

Heard just a bit of Trump's VP speech in the car. He's still cheerleading "the Evangelicals." If he ever becomes president, I think you're going to see a society-wide explosion of superfluous articles.

Hee: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/dominance-and-humiliation-no-middle-ground

Early on I realized that when it came to Trump if I figured out the stupidest possible scenario that could be reconciled with the available facts and went with it, that almost always turned out to be right. The stupider, the righter. So with this rule of thumb in hand, as the empiricist my Dad taught me to be, I just kept following that model and it kept working.