US Politics Mega-thread - Page 5157

On August 11 2025 20:40 Magic Powers wrote:


Did you hear me say that the US was ONLY considered a beacon of freedom because of abortion rights? No? Then stop being so intentionally inflammatory. Start arguing in good faith. You wanna be perceived as a rational person? Then act like it and stop attacking completely normal statements all the time.

On August 11 2025 21:53 Legan wrote:
Apparently, Schumer has made up an imaginary couple called Baileys that he uses as a reference point for voters. This has been going on for decades. Funnily, they keep voting for Republicans and have quite conservative views. It's just really weird that Schumer seems to use these imaginary people as an example of moderate Americans. Shouldn't he have actual voters to talk to? Also, if Schumer can't even convince these imaginary people, how is he going to convince the real and much more openly conservative voters? Really tells a lot about the current mindset if Schumer and Democrats still think that Baileys represent the voters that they should reach for.

On August 11 2025 22:14 Gorsameth wrote:
?

Using imaginary people to represent population groups in demograph research is pretty normal, this isn't weird. your own political party probably uses a similar imaginary couple as a representation for their target voters.

And the average American is quite conservative and with control of the House, Senate and Presidency they are probably Republican...

Schumer says that he is accompanied everywhere he goes by two imaginary middle-class friends, who advise him on all manner of middle-class concerns. Their names, until recently, were Joe and Eileen O’Reilly. “For the book’s sake, we wanted them to be more national,” Schumer said, “so they became the Baileys.” The Baileys live in Massapequa, in Nassau County, a town that is invariably known on Long Island as “Matzoh-Pizza.” The Baileys are both forty-five years old: Joe works for an insurance company, Eileen is a part-time employee at a doctor’s office. They worry about terrorism, and about values, and they are patriots—“Joe takes off his cap and sings along with the national anthem before the occasional Islanders game,” Schumer wrote. He elaborated, “They’re not ideologues. They’re worried about property taxes. It’s the tax they hate. And that’s what Democrats don’t get.” He has also drafted the Baileys in defending the C.I.A.’s human-intelligence program: “Had Joe and Eileen been in the room after the hum-int screwup, they would not have indulged in the blame game, gutted the human-intelligence program, or weakened America.”

The Baileys, Schumer said, sometimes dine out—not often, because of the cost—and they like Chinese. Which raised the question: What would the Baileys eat, if they were here at Hunan Dynasty? “The more conventional stuff,” Schumer said, “but they’re with it.”

They’re with it?

“I mean, they’re not not with it.” Schumer looked at a plate of steamed chicken and vegetables, and said, “They wouldn’t order that. They would order kung pao chicken.”

It was suggested to Schumer that he is a little bit weird. He acknowledged this to be true. “They’re real for me,” he said. “I love the Baileys.”

[..]

It turns out, Schumer said, as he ate an almond cookie, that there are some actual Baileys in Massapequa, and he once met a couple of them. Mrs. Bailey was a kind woman, “very nice, a nice lady,” but the actual Mr. Bailey was a Republican. Even worse, Schumer said, he had a goatee. “Joe Bailey would never have a goatee.”