US Politics Mega-thread - Page 2310

On September 18 2015 05:55 cLutZ wrote:


Its not. I had too much Pseduo and Jimmy Fallon appeared.

Nobody on Capitol Hill underestimates the lobbying clout of AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. For six decades — almost since the birth of Israel — AIPAC has presented itself as the deliberately bipartisan, and frequently victorious, voice of American-Israeli unity.

It has maintained this emphasis on bipartisanship even as American views of Israel have grown more partisan. Israel's politics have turned sharply rightward and are now much more closely aligned with American Republicans than with Democrats.

It's something Steve Rosen couldn't have imagined when he worked as AIPAC's foreign policy director from 1982 to 2005. "If AIPAC became a Republican organization it would cease to exist," he says of his outlook during that time.

So here's AIPAC's problem: While it's been walking that bipartisan line — it maintains its board of directors as a mix of Democrats and Republicans — Mideast politics in Washington have become a partisan football.

Last winter, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint meeting of Congress. (It wasn't a joint session because that would have required both chambers to adopt a resolution to convene it, a high hurdle given the Iran deal.)

Netanyahu and the Republicans used his visit to underscore their united opposition to the deal.

AIPAC isn't in the business of opposing Israeli government positions. So it entered the partisan fray and opposed the Obama administration.

Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East negotiator for the State Department, and now a scholar at the Wilson International Center in Washington, said AIPAC's mission was doomed from the start.

"This pro-Israeli community has a powerful voice, there's no question about it," Miller said. "But it does not and has never had a veto over what a willful and skillful and determined American president does."

AIPAC's spokesman declined to speak on the record for this story.

On September 18 2015 06:23 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:


Cold read: You're not from New Jersey and you're not a public servant.

On September 18 2015 06:21 Introvert wrote:
Parks, Anthony, and Adams are all good answers. I give Christie credit for Adams, but maybe that's because I like them.

The new New York Times-CBS News poll reveals that 39 percent of Republican primary and caucus goers see Donald Trump “as their best shot at winning the presidency.” That’s a 13-point jump since last month’s survey. This proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Republican Party has officially lost its mind.

There is no other conclusion. Think about it. The GOP is rallying around a man who holds views on issues that are antithetical to everything we have grown accustomed to the right disliking. And he is doing so with language and a tone that Vice President Biden rightly said are “appealing to the baser side of human nature.”

The reality television star has said nice things about Planned Parenthood — while arguing for it to be defunded. Conservatives don’t like ANYTHING about it. At the first Republican debate, the Manhattan real estate mogul stood by his past support of single-payer health care. Conservatives have ALWAYS hated it. The Big Apple billionaire builder has called for raising taxes. Conservatives have NEVER seen a tax increase they liked or could support — EVER. So much so, the conservative Club for Growth is so now running ads against Trump in Iowa.

Folks are overlooking the substance because Trump has done a disturbingly terrific job of saying out loud what many on the right have been seething about for years. The Republican front-runner has said some of the most intemperate, gasp-worthy things a candidate has ever said in pursuit of the Oval Office. And yet, with each utterance we have watched Trump’s poll numbers soar along with the lusty cheers to his whines about political correctness. The far right is too through with having to be respectful of differences.

There is a way to talk about illegal immigration without branding an entire group of people “rapists.” There is a way to criticize Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) without denigrating his service to this nation. There is a way to criticize a female journalist, a female entertainer or a female opponent for the nomination without misogyny. But Trump didn’t do that. And with each offensive utterance, the man whose mantra is “Make America Great Again” rose in the polls.

The tenor and tone of the discussion in the Republican primary process are distressing to hear and watch. While many Democrats and others take delight in the right’s self-immolation, I do not. This democracy depends on a functioning two-party system with both parties operating in the real world and coming to the table with real solutions to the nation’s and the world’s problems. Even since the establishment of the Republican Party opted to dance with the tea party in 2010 (and the far-right fringe that glommed onto it), the party of Reagan has drifted so far to the right that even the man it so reveres would be an unwelcome stranger in it today.

On September 18 2015 06:21 Introvert wrote:
Parks, Anthony, and Adams are all good answers. I give Christie credit for Adams, but maybe that's because I like them.

On September 18 2015 06:03 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:


I liked Susan B. Anthony too, and I give Christie some credit for Abigail Adams I guess. At least she's American, unlike Mother Teresa.

I'm surprised Mike Huckabee didn't say The Virgin Mary.

On September 18 2015 07:14 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:


I was exactly thinking he meant The Addams Family, as were many of my friends lol

Morticia FTW!

On September 18 2015 06:58 oneofthem wrote:

jane addams, 2 d