The Well-Mannered Politics Thread

[K-Dog]

Not disagreeing

Nope. Me either.

 

[flynismo]

The notion that politicians are only in it for themselves is a tired trope put forth by people that would rather complain about politics than actually try to understand it...
Life is more complex than saying "politicians are bad."

Overall I agree with this sentiment. I think this is the case much more often than not.

HOWEVER....

The assholery displayed by these same politicians, in addition to the non-stop lies and empty promises; well....I suspect you are fighting a losing battle here, even though I believe you're on the right side of it.

 

[The Raven]

Overall I agree with this sentiment. I think this is the case much more often than not.

HOWEVER....

The assholery displayed by these same politicians, in addition to the non-stop lies and empty promises; well....I suspect you are fighting a losing battle here, even though I believe you're on the right side of it.

Oof you quoted that right before I deleted it. You don't have to delete it lol. I took it down expecting a firestorm, but I don't really care. I stand by it. Just didn't want to offend anyone again.

The thing about "empty promises"... I tend to give politicians the benefit of the doubt. Oftentimes, it's not their fault if they can't get something done. Western MD's representatives can push all they want for jobs, but it's not their fault that coal is dead and the state just banned fracking. Same thing with steel in Baltimore. Not anyone's fault that Beth Steel died. On the eastern shore, the state officials and Andy Harris can't really be blamed for failing to grow jobs when the county officials don't even have public water and sewer in some areas. The local infrastructure is so lacking on the ES and I don't understand how people think they'll grow an economy without roads, water, sewer, and internet.

Similarly, state democrats that have been pushing for mandatory paid sick leave since 2012 can't be blamed for the bill not passing. The governor vetoed it this year, and Mike Miller essentially killed it last year by keeping it in the drawer. There are so many factors at play I can't fault them for broken promises.

 

[Somerset Ravens]

Oof you quoted that right before I deleted it. You don't have to delete it lol. I took it down expecting a firestorm, but I don't really care. I stand by it. Just didn't want to offend anyone again.

The thing about "empty promises"... I tend to give politicians the benefit of the doubt. Oftentimes, it's not their fault if they can't get something done. Western MD's representatives can push all they want for jobs, but it's not their fault that coal is dead and the state just banned fracking. Same thing with steel in Baltimore. Not anyone's fault that Beth Steel died. On the eastern shore, the state officials and Andy Harris can't really be blamed for failing to grow jobs when the county officials don't even have public water and sewer in some areas. The local infrastructure is so lacking on the ES and I don't understand how people think they'll grow an economy without roads, water, sewer, and internet.

Similarly, state democrats that have been pushing for mandatory paid sick leave since 2012 can't be blamed for the bill not passing. The governor vetoed it this year, and Mike Miller essentially killed it last year by keeping it in the drawer. There are so many factors at play I can't fault them for broken promises.

I do not disagree about giving politicians the benefit of the doubt but things on the eastern shore are not as bad as you make it seem.

 

[Willbacker]

Its the calm before the storm.

 

[Tank]

Assholery. Perfect. lol

 

[Willbacker]

So did anybody watch the Comey testimony or even have a comment? These people did. Poor little sad NY hipsters.

 

[The Raven]

So did anybody watch the Comey testimony or even have a comment? These people did. Poor little sad NY hipsters.

Comey said he felt he had to document their meetings and even asked Sessions to be present when meeting with Trump. He specified he didn't feel any need to do that under Bush or Obama. Nothing impeachable came out of it, but it certainly demonstrates how the former top law enforcement official in the country feels about the president's honesty and competency.

I don't know if you're implying the hearing was a victory for Trump, but it wasn't. We didn't really learn anything new, but Comey finally came forward on record and said some damning things about the president. There's obviously been talk of tapes in the White House, and that Comey said, "Lordy, I hope there are tapes" kinda suggests that Trump has said some ridiculous shit in the oval.

Again, nothing impeachable, but damning nonetheless.

 

[Willbacker]

Comey said he felt he had to document their meetings and even asked Sessions to be present when meeting with Trump. He specified he didn't feel any need to do that under Bush or Obama. Nothing impeachable came out of it, but it certainly demonstrates how the former top law enforcement official in the country feels about the president's honesty and competency.

I don't know if you're implying the hearing was a victory for Trump, but it wasn't. We didn't really learn anything new, but Comey finally came forward on record and said some damning things about the president. There's obviously been talk of tapes in the White House, and that Comey said, "Lordy, I hope there are tapes" kinda suggests that Trump has said some ridiculous shit in the oval.

Again, nothing impeachable, but damning nonetheless.

You didn't learn nothing new? Comey said Trump wasn't under investigation just like Trump said. 6 months of bullshit!! Trump. Russia. Trump. Russia. Best question of the night came from Rubio. " How come there were no leaks about this" lol. Comey admitted leaking. Good gawd. Another big thing came out of it that I sure didn't know about was Loretta Lynch wanted Comey to change the Clinton investigation into a "matter". Remember the tarmac meeting with Bill Clinton where they held up the Phoenix airport and said they were talking bout golf and grandkids? Like the worst lie ever. Didn't learn nothing huh?

 

[The Raven]

You didn't learn nothing new? Comey said Trump wasn't under investigation just like Trump said. 6 months of bullshit!! Trump. Russia. Trump. Russia. Best question of the night came from Rubio. " How come there were no leaks about this" lol. Comey admitted leaking. Good gawd. Another big thing came out of it that I sure didn't know about was Loretta Lynch wanted Comey to change the Clinton investigation into a "matter". Remember the tarmac meeting with Bill Clinton where they held up the Phoenix airport and said they were talking bout golf and grandkids? Like the worst lie ever. Didn't learn nothing huh?

I learned nothing all that new about the Russia situation that I didn't know before. Much of what he said was already reported in the media -- but wait, you don't read that fake news bullshit. What do you read, by the way? We knew Trump himself wasn't under investigation. That's not new information lol. And oh god, Comey leaked his own documents, how horrible. Technically, they could have been obtained via a FOIA request. They weren't classified. An existing government document in the public sector is subject to release unless it's classified or privileged info -- and since he wrote the documents, I'm inclined to think that he's qualified to leak it.

Lynch wanting to change it to a "matter" is bad news. Bubba's meeting with Lynch was never good, and we all knew it. However, that the Clinton investigation found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing lends credence to the idea that it was indeed a "nothing burger." I mean, c'mon. You right wingers harp on Hill day and night but she's still never been found guilty of anything, whether it's Benghazi or the emails. Either your GOP reps on the investigating committees are incompetent idiots or she's not as dirty as you think -- or both. How would you explain this?

How do you defend Trump after Comey talked about how much he couldn't trust him? I mean, how can you defend him period is a good question, but specifically with this issue. You're acting like the hearing was some great revelatory win for the right but it was anything but that. I want us to get past this Russia debacle as much as you do because I'd like to see some governing for once, but maybe it would go away if we actually saw some governing.

And in case you missed it: “There should be no fuzz on this whatsoever,” Comey said. “The Russians interfered in our election in the 2016 cycle. They did it with purpose, they did it with sophistication, they did it with overwhelming technical efforts, and it was an active measures campaign driven from the top of that government.”

We know Trump isn't under investigation. The question we have is why Trump is so adamantly against the investigation if he's not the subject of it. The intel community is clear that there was Russian meddling, and the president, who again is not the subject of the investigation, wants it shut down. What is it that he doesn't want people to know? Why is he worried, if they aren't looking at him?

 

[Tank]

Yeah, all in all the Comey hearings were anti climatic. Good for him that he was given the opportunity to testify. Between crooked Hilary, the Russia thing and Trump's gaff he was thrown into the middle of a shitstorm. Can't really blame him if he did screw some things up, but that's life. I'm sure he'll find work. lol

Curious to me in all of this is the difference in media attention given to Russian cyber espionage(which has been going on since the internet was a thing, and which the US participates in as well) and a former president's blatant attempts to influence the outcome of an election. To beat a dead horse, the reporting of "news" in this country is a joke.

 

[The Raven]

@K-Dog are you capable of discussion and formulating intelligent thoughts or are you content to hit the dislike button like the halfwits on facebook? I'm asking questions so I can better understand your viewpoints. I'd love to have an actual discussion if you're up for it.

 

[The Raven]

Yeah, all in all the Comey hearings were anti climatic. Good for him that he was given the opportunity to testify. Between crooked Hilary, the Russia thing and Trump's gaff he was thrown into the middle of a shitstorm. Can't really blame him if he did screw some things up, but that's life. I'm sure he'll find work. lol

Curious to me in all of this is the difference in media attention given to Russian cyber espionage(which has been going on since the internet was a thing, and which the US participates in as well) and a former president's blatant attempts to influence the outcome of an election. To beat a dead horse, the reporting of "news" in this country is a joke.

Are you suggesting that the news media didn't seriously report on Bill's talk with Lynch? Because the NY Times, WaPo, CNN, and all the major hubs ran stories on it for days.

 

[K-Dog]

@K-Dog are you capable of discussion and formulating intelligent thoughts or are you content to hit the dislike button like the halfwits on facebook? I'm asking questions so I can better understand your viewpoints. I'd love to have an actual discussion if you're up for it.

"Am I *capable* of formulating *intelligent * thoughts?"
Yes. I am. Can you guess my thought right now?

 

[The Raven]

"Am I *capable* of formulating *intelligent * thoughts?"
Yes. I am. Can you guess my thought right now?

I'm just asking why bother coming to a forum to press agree/disagree buttons and not discuss things... I could probably guess your thoughts better if you actually shared them, lol.

 

[K-Dog]

I like reading but have little interest in participating. This thread turned out exactly
as I anticipated.

 

[The Raven]

I'm going to do my best to avoid this thread. No sense in discussing things with people who have no interest in discussion. No sense finding common ground with people who can't even agree on which news is real or fake. How can you have a discussion when you can't agree on a common set of facts? You can't.

Good luck with your president. I hope he starts governing soon.

 

[Oldfaithful]

I like reading but have little interest in participating. This thread turned out exactly
as I anticipated.

I'm going to do my best to avoid this thread. No sense in discussing things with people who have no interest in discussion. No sense finding common ground with people who can't even agree on which news is real or fake. How can you have a discussion when you can't agree on a common set of facts? You can't.

Good luck with your president. I hope he starts governing soon.

Same sadly. I love politics but it's hard to find other people who are at least willing to listen to what you have to say.

 

[K-Dog]

Same sadly. I love politics but it's hard to find other people who are at least willing to listen to what you have to say.

BAM.
That exactly. People seem to be more about making their point ( being right, proving the other wrong ) than actually listening and attempting to understand.

 

[The Raven]

BAM.
That exactly. People seem to be more about making their point ( being right, proving the other wrong ) than actually listening and attempting to understand.

Shouldn't we aspire to be right and not be wrong? Facts > opinions and feelings.