GustavBahler wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

martin wrote:

Nalod wrote:Briggs has mentioned his family falling victim to Nazi cleansing.
Yet he leans toward sociopath fascist who projects charismatic message catering to the vulnerable conservative whose collective self esteem depends on perceiving oneself as superior citizen based in race.
I don't understand this line of thinking.

You may have made a big assumption on that last part right there

You brought up Peter Thiel, a married gay dude who routinely backs people who are disgusted by him. At least I can understand that. He's essentially motivated by greed and tax cuts. I can't understand the average Joe living in a state that has a minimum wage of $7/hr, with ridiculous medical bills that may never get paid off and a stake in the American dream that has withered away the past few decades. There is no master race and there are no plans of upward mobility for the poor and middle class under the corporate prostitutes we have masquerading as politicians. This country has become the Matrix, but instead of killer robots harvesting us it's soulless corporations.

Billionaires like Thiel know that massive tax cuts for the rich. Fortune 500 companies who pay zero federal taxes, has consequences for the poor and middle classs. Thats why he tried to buy all that land in New Zealand. Billionaires invest a great deal of money into creating scapegoats. There are lots of folks out there who are hungry for one. The more vulnerable the better.

GustavBahler, yes and thank you.

I will build off of your post: Massively wealthy guys like Musk and Thiel and Putin use their wealth as a way to create different levels of chaos in the world (or their worlds) because it is a better environment for them to gain leverage and then power; the history of the world teaches us this over and over and over again. Give or take, that is their end game.

Maybe that chaos is to further a dream of landing on Mars or perfecting the self-driving electric car, but on that way you need to lay waste to a lot of people, families, lives, and resources. That is what Musk is doing.

Dark money via SuperPACs masked as free speech? Give me a freaking break. That's just a tool that the uber wealthy use to navigate laws, by buying the politicians through "donations" and then owning them via flat bribery and blackmail via kompromat. Look at how much Lindsey Graham squeals and does whatever his blackmail owners want - a ****ing United States senator. That guy is FUCKED and he must have some of THE most damaging material out there.

In the United States, we have at least one if not several Supreme Court justices who are owned or bought at different levels by massively wealthy people or organizations to get what they want.

Alpha1971 wrote:Ramaswamy is no sensible persons idea of a great candidate, back to the original post.

+10000000000000000

KnickDanger wrote:I don't know anything about him and it would be hard for me to vote for a Republican but I will say it's time for some balance in our political life. Time to start listening and moving to the middle. Of course circumstances matter.

I will add I recall an SNL sketch in early 1992 (I think) mocking the Democratic candidates jockeying for the privilege of being obliterated by George Bush Sr. Then Bill Clinton came out of nowhere and became a two term president.

Speeches to the New Hampshire Star Trek Convention:

Paul Tsongas "I am the Star Trek candidate.&

Bill Clinton "I didn't watch the original series but I later saw them in syndication."

That sketch was such a classic of politicians saying anything to anyone to get votes.

BigDaddyG wrote:

martin wrote:

ESOMKnicks wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

JesseDark wrote:He is just the latest shiney new thing on the republican side. He is somewhat articulate but can't see his views passing the muster to get the nomination. i.e. Saying he'd be find with China taking over Tiwain as long as we have access to the chips we need for high tech. He has also pissed off the Republican Jewish lobby with something else he said.
Just the latest new thing like Herman Cain and his 9-9-9 plan.

Yeah, but I remember that one time this orange skinned prune went all in about wall on the Mexican border. And Mexico was going to pay for it. Seemed ridiculous at the time, but all the stupid people stateside ate it up. A lot of smart people as well, but mostly stupid people. My point is that stupid people form one of the strongest voting blocks in the US. Never underestimate the crap stupid people are willing to stand behind.

Yeah, and I remember the copious amounts of vitriol that people (me included) spewed on the prune for the plans to build the wall. Yet now I am reading that under his presidency only 52 miles were built. And Biden has continued building the wall, and it's suddenly ok. What gives?

The problem with politics and voters is not that they are stupid. It is that the problems and issues are not correctly defined.

Biden did not continue with that failed effort of wall building stupidity, quite the opposite.

Is Biden building the wall or has he been actively disrupting efforts to continue wall building efforts? Yes, he has reinforced certain areas, but his actions indicate that he's been punting on the issue altogether.

Is Biden building the wall as a policy ala Trump? No. Are there efforts that were already underway that may still technically be still ongoing cause you just don't halt and unwind those things immediately? Sure. For me, that is not indicative of Biden "building the wall" as his policy and the way the public identifies with it.

Our collective immigration policy has been awful for a long time, but they are also gummed up on purpose as well; it's destructive and purposely so.

Why would Republicans vote for immigration policy when it is a scare tactic and talking point tactic they glom onto and dance out during voting time periods (you can almost hear the drumbeat of caravans picking up towards November time periods)? So yeah, punting cause you will never get the votes cause there is no leverage to get there.

Sometimes you just have to do what you can. It sucks.

Meanwhile, Greg Abbot is proactively putting out barbwire to kill those people that are seeking asylum. Florida governor douchebag is busing migrants directly into CA purposely. This is all very stupid.

martin wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

martin wrote:

ESOMKnicks wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

JesseDark wrote:He is just the latest shiney new thing on the republican side. He is somewhat articulate but can't see his views passing the muster to get the nomination. i.e. Saying he'd be find with China taking over Tiwain as long as we have access to the chips we need for high tech. He has also pissed off the Republican Jewish lobby with something else he said.
Just the latest new thing like Herman Cain and his 9-9-9 plan.

Yeah, but I remember that one time this orange skinned prune went all in about wall on the Mexican border. And Mexico was going to pay for it. Seemed ridiculous at the time, but all the stupid people stateside ate it up. A lot of smart people as well, but mostly stupid people. My point is that stupid people form one of the strongest voting blocks in the US. Never underestimate the crap stupid people are willing to stand behind.

Yeah, and I remember the copious amounts of vitriol that people (me included) spewed on the prune for the plans to build the wall. Yet now I am reading that under his presidency only 52 miles were built. And Biden has continued building the wall, and it's suddenly ok. What gives?

The problem with politics and voters is not that they are stupid. It is that the problems and issues are not correctly defined.

Biden did not continue with that failed effort of wall building stupidity, quite the opposite.

Is Biden building the wall or has he been actively disrupting efforts to continue wall building efforts? Yes, he has reinforced certain areas, but his actions indicate that he's been punting on the issue altogether.

Is Biden building the wall as a policy ala Trump? No. Are there efforts that were already underway that may still technically be still ongoing cause you just don't halt and unwind those things immediately? Sure. For me, that is not indicative of Biden "building the wall" as his policy and the way the public identifies with it.

Our collective immigration policy has been awful for a long time, but they are also gummed up on purpose as well; it's destructive and purposely so.

Why would Republicans vote for immigration policy when it is a scare tactic and talking point tactic they glom onto and dance out during voting time periods (you can almost hear the drumbeat of caravans picking up towards November time periods)? So yeah, punting cause you will never get the votes cause there is no leverage to get there.

Sometimes you just have to do what you can. It sucks.

Meanwhile, Greg Abbot is proactively putting out barbwire to kill those people that are seeking asylum. Florida governor douchebag is busing migrants directly into CA purposely. This is all very stupid.

https://nypost.com/2023/08/19/biden-sells-border-wall-parts-to-thwart-gop-push-to-use-them/

The Biden administration is quietly auctioning off millions of dollars’ worth of unused parts from former President Trump’s border wall for peanuts – in an apparent end-run around pending legislation in Congress.

martin wrote:

Rookie wrote:

martin wrote:

Rookie wrote:

martin wrote:Once you get past Ramaswamy's shiny veneer, he is a sham. Just like Trump before him.

Fall for the con, get burned by the con. He is a well spoken political actor who delivers his lines nicely. After you get past that almost transparently thin layer, he has nothing to offer.

Do your homework this time Briggs so that you don't have to get burned by your own question of "What have we got to lose?"

This message from the party that brought you Biden/Harris LOL. There is still tons of time to learn about the candidates, why try and shut down the conversation now?

Because he has been around along enough to gather such information?

The question me is why hasn't Briggs or perhaps you done enough of your homework to not realize otherwise?

Let me know if you have any specific questions about this guy, I'll be glad to help out.

Because it's still early enough in the process to let it play out. If you have dirt go ahead and spill it. I would like to hear it.

Then don't offer an option about what I had put out and you had bolded above, because you are telling us you don't really know any about this guy.

Briggs is the one to start this topic, perhaps he can tell us beyond the soundbites of what he has seen on TV. Those soundbites are fluff. So far we are up to "he sounds nice on TV" which I agreed with. Dude has a very nice silver tongue that is very versed in consultant speak and obviously beyond well practiced. Talk to us about the real problems our country faces and his realistic solutions for this country and how he intends to meet those goals. Tell us about his experience and why and how he will meet the needs of our people and country and how all of us will benefit in the long run.

I am not here to do your initial homework. I have done enough of mine and would be glad to help with any specifics you may have after the usual.

Perhaps we can get beyond the "she has a nice rack" looksie? Cause no ****, they are pumped up very nicely and in our face.

These choices that we as a nation have are incredibly important and there is no time to fool around.

Holy smokes his foreign policy is frightening. Ok this guy is a crackpot. Next.....

martin wrote:

ESOMKnicks wrote:

Yeah, and I remember the copious amounts of vitriol that people (me included) spewed on the prune for the plans to build the wall. Yet now I am reading that under his presidency only 52 miles were built. And Biden has continued building the wall, and it's suddenly ok. What gives?

The problem with politics and voters is not that they are stupid. It is that the problems and issues are not correctly defined.

Biden did not continue with that failed effort of wall building stupidity, quite the opposite.

Feel free to call the AP a hornet's nest of right-wing propaganda, but here it is:

https://apnews.com/article/mexico-arizona-colorado-river-dams-yuma-705ac42dca8af0288514e9dd723d392c

martin wrote:

ESOMKnicks wrote:

martin wrote:

ESOMKnicks wrote:

Yeah, and I remember the copious amounts of vitriol that people (me included) spewed on the prune for the plans to build the wall. Yet now I am reading that under his presidency only 52 miles were built. And Biden has continued building the wall, and it's suddenly ok. What gives?

The problem with politics and voters is not that they are stupid. It is that the problems and issues are not correctly defined.

Biden did not continue with that failed effort of wall building stupidity, quite the opposite.

Feel free to call the AP a hornet's nest of right-wing propaganda, but here it is:

https://apnews.com/article/mexico-arizona-colorado-river-dams-yuma-705ac42dca8af0288514e9dd723d392c

The article is pretty self evident, right?

It’s the reality of the situation.

That's my whole point. The reality of the situation is that it does not matter what you are doing, but what you are saying you are doing. A wall is being built against immigrants or for immigrants. But it is the same wall. In Obi Wan's words: "You're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."