Haley to announce presidential run

I think we're arguing semantics. We agree that they are by no means a majority. We also agree that in order for a Republican controlled House to get anything done without bipartisan support, they're pretty much going to need to keep that group of 10-20 Republicans happy.

And they've been enabled by party leadership over the last decade to dig their heels in to get their way.

I know ya'll hate him, and I have my issues with him too, but we need this guy back:

 

We are talking degrees. You are limiting to the 10-20’most completely insane members. I am expanding it to those that are full or near full MAGA, whether they actually believe it or not.

Trump still has high favorables among republicans.

 

Then the problem entirely depends on how you define "MAGA."

The broader you define it, the more reasonable those people are.

The narrower you define it, the less influential they are.

If DeSantis and Haley are "MAGA" Republicans, then the term is too vague to seriously be viewed as a pejorative.

 

the pork master. Not only was his district in the top 3 of all districts in the US in per capita pork, he advised his fellow BIG GOV lovers on how to secure lots & lots of pork.

 

Attempts to influence the outcome of the 2016 potus election is not in dispute. What is hugely questionable and thus far unsupported by any objective substantive data is these attempts had any impact on any voter. You may not like this but so it goes.

BTW, it’s very cute you choose to characterize something you do not understand and are unable to acknowledge due to your profound partisan bias as a “silly little game”. It’s just so adorable .

 

DeSantis is not MAGA? Are you calling him a liar?

 

I would say Desantis has morphed into a version of MAGA. His attacking vaccines on very spurious grounds is the most striking example. Haley not so much.

But even Haley apparently is reluctant to say anything to offend the MAGA base. She was asked twice by Hannity how she would differ from Trump on policy and she completely side stepped it and basically said they just need somebody younger.

This Article really gives insight as to who is driving Fox News viewership, which aligns heavily with most Republican thought. It is quite clear that Fox executives and opinion talking heads know the election conspiracies are crazy, but they ran with it because that is what their viewers believe and want. The same can be said for politicians. You only include the crazy ones that actually believe the nutty stuff. I’m including all of the ones that don’t believe it but roll with it because that is what most Republicans want.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/a...ting-lawsuit-2020-election-conspiracy/673111/

 

If all people who supported Trump in his presidency and Trump-endorsed politicians are "MAGA Republicans," then you're casting about 40-50% of the country as "MAGA Republicans."

You're not talking about some fringe minority group anymore. You're talking about almost half the country. Trump received more votes in the 2020 election than any President in the history of this country. If each and every one of those people are the ones that Joe Biden is berating when he gives a speech about "MAGA Republicans," then he's berating half the country.

 

That is both an over-inclusive and under-inclusive definition of "MAGA Republicans." A lot of people who hate Trump are anti-vaxers, even Democrats. A lot of people who like Trump are pro-vaxers (including COVID).

Still not sure what the "MAGA base" is, but there's a whole lot of room for reasonable people in there depending on what the definition is. Why would Haley want to alienate reasonable Republicans? She's a Republican politician. That would just be stupid politics.

 

We are getting into fun with words here. Don’t know about “a lot”. Let’s just say a disproportionate amount of Trump supporters were either anti vax or vax skeptical (even though Trump is not anti vax). Historically Dems have had a larger anti vax contingent but strangely (and hypocritically ) that was not the case with Covid. Marin County was a hot bed of upper middle class liberal anti vax ecosystem prior to Covid. Yet they had one of the highest Covid vax rates. Hypocrisy and partisanship runs both ways.

I understand politically why she is doing it. Reasonable is in the eye of the beholder. I don’t think anybody who entertains that the election is stolen is reasonable. I don’t think anybody who parrots anti vax narratives as reasonable.

There is probably no definitive definition of MAGA, but I use it to describe those Republicans who believe easily disprovable falsehoods and are overly preoccupied with culture war issues.

 

While not conclusive one could argue that the Russian attempt to suppress the votes of a certain Democratic voters was effective considering that turnout was down among minority and younger voters is 2016 compared with 2012 and that data is objective.
Black voter turnout fell in 2016, even as a record number of Americans cast ballots

Russian trolls' chief target was 'black US voters' in 2016

 

Porky

Newt Gingrich: Big Spender

In 1994, Congress inserted 1,318 earmarks into federal spending bills, costing taxpayers $7.8 billion, according to Citizens Against Government Waste. Total spending on earmarks peaked three years later to a whopping $14.5 billion. By 1998, Gingrich's last year as speaker, the total number of projects reached 2,143 at a cost of $13.2 billion.

"Speaker Gingrich set in motion the largest explosion of earmarks in the history of Congress," said Tom Schatz of Citizens Against Government Waste.

 

porky....

great clip..

 

porky

porky the pig liked guvment spending more than a dog likes to dig.

A 1996 Gingrich Memo Told Appropriators To Consider Elections When Doling Out Earmarks. "Gingrich in a memo earlier this year directed that spending bills be crafted with an eye toward how they might help Republican incumbents. Drafters were asked: 'Are there any Republican members who could be severely hurt by the bill or need a specific district item in the bill?'" (Jim Drinkard, "Republicans Using Control Of Congress As Re-Election Weapon," The Associated Press, 9/28/96)

"Gingrich's Office Asked Powerful Committee Chairmen To Include Earmarks For Members Facing Tough Reelection Bids That Year." "In one May 1996 memo, for example, Gingrich's office asked powerful committee chairmen to include earmarks for members facing tough reelection bids that year — projects that would help them curry favor with their constituents. 'Are there any Republican members who could be severely hurt by the bill or who need a specific district item in the bill?' the memo asked, referring to appropriations legislation." (Kimberly Kindy and Dan Eggen, "Expansion Of Earmarks While Gingrich Was Speaker Could Alienate Tea Party Voters," The Washington Post, 6/8/11)

In Pushing Earmarks, Gingrich "Found The Political Value Of Government Spending." "A year after stressing budget-cutting, House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) appears to have found the political value of government spending, directing that election year spending bills be examined for their effect on House Republicans and on the politically important state of California." (John E. Yang, "Gingrich Prescribes Legislative Political Test," The

 

Gives a speech saying DeSantis hasn’t gone far enough. Another unacceptable extreme right winger. The only reason any of these people get traction is because the GOP has gone so far to the right that they can’t get nominated south out the insane.

 

Look dude… there is voting for Trump…. Then there is voting for Trump while dressing your baby in MAGA onesies and declaring youself Trump’s pit bull defender…

 

The chief difference is they the squad is marginalized in the Democratic Party. The Dems aren’t rushing to adopt their views like the GOP is with respect to the fringe right wing views. Those are mainstream GOP, with every candidate racing to embrace them. And, I reject the defense that you offer about significant segments of the country blah blah blah. Posters articulate that nonsense here too because they share those values. It is a significant percentage of the country. That is what Haley, Trump and DeSantis appeal to

 

MAGA is different and Un-American after 1-6. Before 1-6 it was a lot of really bad ideas that were defeated in the marketplace of ideas in most places. DeSantis doesn’t get that his popularity comes from opening the state during COVID. He is committing political suicide nationally.

 

Well, now that you put it that way, he's obviously a monster.

 

Democrats are definitely better at keeping their party in line, but the party has moved farther to left in the last decade than in the last 30 years combined.

How quickly did we go from "we just want to get legally married under the law and visit our partner in the hospital" to "you must allow us to teach your kids that homosexuality is normal," "Christians must perform services for gay weddings," and "anyone who doesn't think homosexuality is normal or morally acceptable for religious reasons is a bigot and a homophobe."

Almost all conservative "radicalism" these days is conservatives growing a backbone and countering the advancements in the culture the Democrats have been making for decades, but mostly in really the last ten to fifteen years.

In the case of the freedom caucus, it's more just political stupidity than anything.