Tag Archives: Democratic Party (United States)

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Make. It. Stop.

I generally like the idea of having a spirited conversation with someone who disagrees with me. I don’t believe either side has a monopoly on being right or wrong. First of all, I think life is boring when we only talk to people who agree with us, we never learn anything. Second of all, if we cannot defend our position to someone with the opposite view, how can we really know how good of a position it is? And lastly, we need to talk to each other if we are going to work together.

The problem today is that we all come to conversations with our own ideas about what the “truth” is. Daniel Patrick Moynihan said, “You have a right to your own opinion but not your own facts.” Well, today, you are entitled to both.

Here are some of the “facts” people have told me this year:

  • Huma Abedin is in the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood.
  • Angela Merkel endorsed Hillary Clinton.
  • Saudi Arabia funded 20% of Hillary’s campaign.
  • Hillary leaked Chris Stevens’ schedule and that’s what led to his death.
  • There is proof that the DNC has committed election fraud.
  • The Clinton’s skilled Anontin Scalia
  • President Obama is buying up all the emergency supplies and having FEMA move them to secret places so he could halt the election and stay in the White House.
  • China hacks us. Russia hacks us. We hack them.
  • Millions of illegal immigrants voted for Hillary.
  • And we’ve all heard of the Pizza Gate

Of course, I asked where they got these “facts.” They sent me a sundry of random blogs, websites and message boards. I tried to counter them with facts I had. None of it mattered. They asked where I got my facts and when I told them, they said, “If you are going to listen to the MSM…” At the end of the day, they told me that they thought their sources were right and mine were wrong. The argument that “they have their news and I have mine” creates a false equivalency. While, in a way, it is true, it isn’t really.

Here are the places I get my news: MSNBC, CNN, FOX News, Politico, the Washington Post, NY Times, Wall Street Journal, LA Times, the Daily Beast, NPR, BBC and others. If I read something that sounds “out there” I check more news sites. I don’t “blindly follow” anything or anyone.

Some journalists, like Chuck Todd, have called this era we are in “the post truth era.” How can we work together if we have different realities?

When it comes to the recent hacking stuff, I care because I don’t think we should let Russia get away with playing with our election. It would bother just as much if he had done this to the other side. I don’t want Russia hacking us in any way.

Donald Trump supporters don’t care. They say, “It wouldn’t have changed anything so, no harm, no foul. Let’s move on. Trump’s election was legitimate.” Move along, nothing to see here.

I honestly don’t know where we can go from here if we are going have our own facts but I do know this is a sad state of affairs. Welcome to the end of truth era.

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My Current Problem with Bernie Sanders

bernie sanders catFor most of the time I have known about Bernie Sanders, I liked him. Last year I wrote this about him. Now i just find him annoying. Never mind that he practically wrote and starred in a political ad for Donald Trump when he called Hillary Clinton “unqualified to be president.” Never mind that he just seems like an old guy yelling at kids to get off their lawn. Never mind a lot of things. I am mad about his hypocrisy. He claims to be purer than the driven snow but I am not so sure.

For most of his campaign, the narrative he has pushed has been that Hillary was winning only because of the shady super delegates. Democratic party insiders who are accountable to no one and have it in against Bernie. This is where we have problem number one. I am not sure how I feel about  the super delegate system but given Bernie’s top strategist’s role in creating the Democratic super delegate system, watching them rail against it seems disingenuinous at best and hypocritical at worst. You can read about top Bernie strategist Tad Devine’s role in creating the system here.

But wait, there’s more. For months this was the narrative, that Bernie was winning the popular vote and losing the super delegate count. Except that is not true. Hillary is far ahead in the pledged delegate count and the popular vote.

Including caucus results, Clinton leads Sanders by almost 2.4 million raw votes, 9.4 million to just more than 7 million, according to The Green Papers.

You can read the full piece, “Bernie Sanders Is Even Less Competitive Than He Appears.” So, now that the fallacy that Bernie has the “will of the people” his campaign is changing gears. Now that they see their only path to the nomination as wooing the super delegates that have committed to Hillary, they are going to spend the summer doing that. Personally, after hearing them whine about the system their people designed for months only turn to it when it serves them could be the worst kind of bullshit I have ever heard.

PS. I still think it sucks that Bernie doesn’t care about helping down ballot Democrats. That’s just douchie.

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After spending most of my day with my head up my butt…

Well, not really but I was accused of that this morning after I posted a column I wrote about Hillary Clinton for Firebrand Left. My general thesis is that if you like Hillary Clinton, you don’t care what the transcripts of her speeches say and if you do not like her, nothing in those speeches will change your mind. I stand by this. But it led some people on Facebook to get really pissy.

If you would like to see the exchange, please check it out here. You can read my original column about the transcripts here. I wrote a follow up piece about how Hillary and Bernie supporters need to treat each other better here.

Now, you may know that Susan Sarandon endorsed Bernie Sanders. While I think that’s great for him, I have to take issue to part of her endorsement speech. She claimed that one reason she is supporting him because she doesn’t “vote with (her) vagina.” Well, that’s good for her, I guess.

Now, I cannot get that out of my head. For instance, I wanted to watch the Superbowl but my pushy vagina wanted to watch some feminist clap trap on PBS so that’s what I watched. I had to miss the puppy, baby, monkey commercial. Dang, my vagina is so annoying sometimes.

Anyway, please check out my links and let me know what you think.

 

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No one who runs for office in the United States is “un-American”

 

This is the tattoo I have above my left butt cheek. It is the donkey from the DNC.

This is the tattoo I have above my left butt cheek. It is the donkey from the DNC.

I recently posted a comment on my Facebook wall about how I have friends who like Bernie

Sanders, Hillary Clinton, Marco Rubio Donald Trump, Ted Cruz… basically, I have friends who like all of the candidates. If you know anything about me, you should know that I do not have any kind of ideological requirement for my friends.

My point of the post — other than to say I am supporting Hillary Clinton — was to ask people to start treating each other better. I mean, I am going to vote for whichever Democrat gets the nomination but we should be at least civil to each other during the primary process. Continue reading →

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Mr. Scarborough, you’re earning your “RINO” title

English: American cable news host and former U...

English: American cable news host and former U.S. Representative Joe Scarborough (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Dear Joe Scarborough,

Your piece this morning in Politico was interesting and informative but not in the way you intended.  You gave Governor Scott Walker some tips for how he should respond to the silly questions he has gotten on evolution and President Obama’s faith and patriotism.  Your critics on the right think your time in New York City and on MSNBC have moderated your political ideology.  You just aren’t the firebrand you were in Congress. You’ve been drinking the progressive Kool Aid on set and have lost touch with your party.  Underscoring my point is the fact that all of your responses made perfect sense to me — a liberal Democrat.  You suggested this:

1. Do you believe in evolution?  “I believe those who try to set up a false choice between God and science are wasting their time. The two aren’t mutually exclusive. I believe in both.”

2. Do you agree with Giuliani on the president’s patriotism?  “Mayor Giuliani can speak for himself. I believe this president loves his country even if his policies are dangerously misguided.”

3. Do you believe the president is a Christian?  “He says he is. Why don’t you take him at his word?”

All of those answers look perfectly reasonable and you are right, these are sideshow questions aimed at tripping candidates up.  The problem?  The base to which your party needs to appeal wants to hear that President Obama is a Muslim who hates America.  Did you know that a quarter of Americans think the sun revolves around the earth?  This may be a horrible thing to say but I would be willing to bet those people live in red states.  Your party doesn’t seem to like science.  That’s not an opinion (and that isn’t a terrible thing to say).  This is why Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal called to offer his support to Mayor Giuliani.

As a Democrat, I like seeing Republicans do things that make them look petty, mean and/or stupid.  I also write satire so it makes my life easier.  As an American, however, I would like to see a real debate about the issues that face our country.  These questions don’t get us there but then again, I am not voting in the Republican primaries.

Sincerely,

Alyson

My thoughts on Giuliani’s comments can be found here.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/02/scott-walker-2016-elections-115409.html#ixzz3SZdpccxZ