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America Was Never That Great, says Andrew Cuomo

First, let's acknowledge this a a Trump distraction from his own legal and moral problems.

Second, this is what Cuomo said:
“We are not going to make America great, America. It was never that great,” Mr. Cuomo said. “We have not reached greatness. We will reach greatness when every American is fully engaged.”

He's right. It reminds me of this clip from Newsroom:
 
USViking said:
I don'y know if this Cuomo bastard has presidential ambitions, but if he does he has now torpedoed himself in the foot: all his opponents will justifiably recite, to his fatal disadvantage, his stupid "not great" slander against his own country.

I am about the last person around here to consider voting Republican for any office, but if I were a New York resident I would vote Republican against this Cuomo slug for damn sure.
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Were we great during Slavery and the Civil War, 1920s, and 1960s? Are we great now? How great Thou Art to deny VOTING to Women, Poor Whites who don’t own land, any Minority of which one can think.

Keeping Every Minority Out of Professional and Collegiate Sports. Separate And Unequal Education. Treating anyone other than a White Male as an ‘OTHER’.

Did you Support Segregation Now, Segregation Tomorrow, and Segregation Forever? And you know what you can do with your Weapons of War you defend, the Ones that Continue to Mass Slaughter Our Children.

You must have thought We Were Great when we Raped and Stole the Land from Native Americans. I’m sure you know my Rhetorical Gun is Reloaded for your Purity Ignorance.

I’m not sorry to cut you loose here.
 
During my lifetime, I haven't encountered anyone who is or was in my view "great," who had a need to say "I am great." Usually, they were quite humble about their accomplishments. Maybe it is a cultural thing I don't understand, but it is really so vapid and petty, it's not actually worth addressing again with another post.

I do bake great pies. So do many others.
 
Acadia said:
I think Americans in the Rust Belt would say it was great when the factories hummed along and employed most folks in the town.
I think many Americans felt that we were great when our military was robust and not shrinking.
I think many Americans felt that Obama was an apologist for America's exceptionalism.
I think many Americans felt that our culture was under attack and that somehow we needed to accept that it was going to change and our desire to hold onto our values, customs and mores was futile.

It's much more of an attitude and belief that American had been shrinking in stature under 8 years of Obama and that a sense of pride in our country was being sold as a bad thing.

Just my $.02. It's hard to explain fully.:)
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All very good points!

America has been looked upon by the rest of the civilized world (and envied) for the past 200 years, through our toils and our victories, as being the greatest nation on the planet. And, of course, we still are, despite the efforts of those like Obama who'd like to bring us to our knees. Our greatness lies in our patriotism, our culture, our people and our way of life.

We are, of course, negatively impacted by the ideology of the progressives, but of late, we've seen a resurgence of patriotism and the desire to put our own nation's needs before the needs of others.
 
America couldn't be described as great from the moment of inception to the 1960's due to slavery and segregation. The onset of neoliberalism from the 1980's onwards has been terrible for the average American, so that leaves late 60's and the 70's as the only possible era of greatness, but that had Vietnam. So when exactly was America great?
 
Acadia said:
I think Americans in the Rust Belt would say it was great when the factories hummed along and employed most folks in the town.
I think many Americans felt that we were great when our military was robust and not shrinking.
I think many Americans felt that Obama was an apologist for America's exceptionalism.
I think many Americans felt that our culture was under attack and that somehow we needed to accept that it was going to change and our desire to hold onto our values, customs and mores was futile.

It's much more of an attitude and belief that American had been shrinking in stature under 8 years of Obama and that a sense of pride in our country was being sold as a bad thing.

Just my $.02. It's hard to explain fully.:)
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Not really.

You just recited the litany from conservative media over the last couple decades.

Seriously.

The donor class sent your jobs overseas because they wanted the extra profits. They did it when it became possible.

Our military has been able to destroy the world for decades. We spend more than anybody. Have for decades.

America is not perfect. We HAVE made mistakes. Grownups admit when they make mistakes.

The ONLY universal constant is change. NOTHING stays the same.

What you believe is what conservative media preaches.

Divide and conquer.
 
USViking said:
You are having reading comp problems. Go back and start from the beginning.
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Take a Look in the Mirror on your Response here. Way to Think #45’s Stalinist Attacks on the Press are ‘Great’.
 
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USViking said:
You are having reading comp problems. Go back and start from the beginning.
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I read just fine, this is what you said,

America has been great to me, in every way, for my entire life. Why? Because America has allowed me polical freedom, social freedom, financial freedom, and has left me alone to go my own way in every way.
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Which means there would be no need for you, personally to need to go back to any other time, since if you have been allowed those posted things above your entire life, that includes now. Others have not been allowed those things their entire lives, even here in the US. Those things have changed, for the better, in many people's opinion. But Trump's slogan suggests that people need to be taken back to some time before "when we were great". According to your own words, it would seem we never stopped being great. In fact, it seems that we have been getting more great by allowing more people to have those freedoms you listed.

However, we are not exceptional in those things. Many other countries, their citizens have those exact same freedoms, sometimes to a greater extent, that you mentioned. So if we have those things, but so do many other countries (some to that higher extent), what exactly would make us great?
 
americanwoman said:
Yes, I am in jail getting free internet and three meals a day from you. MAGA!
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If it were up to me you would be in jail with no internet. No TV either.

Newpapers and books, OK.

As for the meals: raw vegetables; bread, beans; milk and cheese. No meat- that might stir up your already elevated aggression hormones.
 
OldFatGuy said:
During my lifetime, I haven't encountered anyone who is or was in my view "great," who had a need to say "I am great." Usually, they were quite humble about their accomplishments. Maybe it is a cultural thing I don't understand, but it is really so vapid and petty, it's not actually worth addressing again with another post.

I do bake great pies. So do many others.
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There is No ‘I’ in Team. We shouldn’t Rank Greatness, only Celebrate It. Those who Rank People are the REAL Dividers of this Nation, indeed the Entire World.

Keep Playing into #45’s Destruction of this Nation going after the Press. That is Stalin. Those are Tears you see from Our Forefathers on Mount Rushmore.
 
USViking said:
If it were up to me you would be in jail with no internet. No TV either.

Newpapers and books, OK.

As for the meals: raw vegetables; bread, beans; milk and cheese. No meat- that might stir up your already elevated aggression hormones.
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Even though it was a government set up that sent me to jail in the first place??

Aw shucks, good thing I prefer books to TV anyway. ;)
 
Acadia said:
I think Americans in the Rust Belt would say it was great when the factories hummed along and employed most folks in the town.
I think many Americans felt that we were great when our military was robust and not shrinking.
I think many Americans felt that Obama was an apologist for America's exceptionalism.
I think many Americans felt that our culture was under attack and that somehow we needed to accept that it was going to change and our desire to hold onto our values, customs and mores was futile.

It's much more of an attitude and belief that American had been shrinking in stature under 8 years of Obama and that a sense of pride in our country was being sold as a bad thing.

Just my $.02. It's hard to explain fully.:)
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Those are good points. We obviously cannot go back to those days, and Americans of color might have a slightly different take on the first one. So it is really more of a rejection of the inevitable change. The inevitability of it might help explain the rather angry and violent approach to it.

It appears that to Trump and his supporters, our exceptionalism is derived from disrespecting and degrading everyone else (Russia not included here, curiously). And that is never a healthy way to build up oneself.
 
HowardBThiname said:
All very good points!

America has been looked upon by the rest of the civilized world (and envied) for the past 200 years, through our toils and our victories, as being the greatest nation on the planet. And, of course, we still are, despite the efforts of those like Obama who'd like to bring us to our knees. Our greatness lies in our patriotism, our culture, our people and our way of life.

We are, of course, negatively impacted by the ideology of the progressives, but of late, we've seen a resurgence of patriotism and the desire to put our own nation's needs before the needs of others.
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I can't shake the impression that first and foremost, we are putting Mr. Trump's needs first. If our country's needs coincide with that, so much the better. But its not a given.
 
roguenuke said:
One looks at a future transformation, does not expect any sort of likeness to the past, while the other implies that we need to be taken back to a past point in time for America, when that person assumes that we were "great".
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I agree with that to an extent. The problem is in your deciding that Trump means that all US policies must be returned to that of some specific date/era. One can certainly change one federal policy without changing them all. IMHO, it was certainly better 'back when' the most powerful military on the planet could win even a 'world war' in less than 5 years and to repay our 'war debt' rather quickly but that in no way requires that we return to racial segregation or remove females/gays from combat duty in order to do so.

The same is true of managing the federal 'budget' - there is no reason to consistently spend at 20% of GDP and to tax at only 18% of GDP. Granted that Obama inherited a huge mess, yet even after the 'Obama' recovery, the 'Obama' deficit spending continued. In that respect the 'Trump' deficit spending is not making us great (again?) it is simply keeping us growing our national debt.
 
Between Trump America's pining for a past that treated many of us like garbage and Cuomo's "never great" comment, I think we have bad takes covered for a while.

Sent from my LG-H910 using Tapatalk
 
jimbo said:
It's been great for me and my family. My father began his adult life during the great depression as a poor farm boy. It's been all uphill since.
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For many of us who had this upward trajectory, we have had to ignore that so many of the opportunities that were made available to us were denied to people of color.
 
Acadia said:
I think Americans in the Rust Belt would say it was great when the factories hummed along and employed most folks in the town.
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And those jobs went away in search of greater and greater profits.

I think many Americans felt that we were great when our military was robust and not shrinking.
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We have, by far, the most powerful military on the planet. If that's not "robust," just what the hell is?

I think many Americans felt that Obama was an apologist for America's exceptionalism.
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Those people are stupid and victims of right-wing propaganda. Obama said that America had previously acted rashly and unilaterally. Are those "exceptional" traits to you? The closest he came to an actual apology was talking about torture. I suppose you think torture is America being "exceptional" also?


I think many Americans felt that our culture was under attack and that somehow we needed to accept that it was going to change and our desire to hold onto our values, customs and mores was futile.
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Change is a part of life. Some people need to grow up and learn to deal with that. Hold to whatever customs you like, you're just not allowed to inflict them onto others.

It's much more of an attitude and belief that American had been shrinking in stature under 8 years of Obama and that a sense of pride in our country was being sold as a bad thing.
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In stature in the minds of who? In the eyes of the world, our stature was rising under Obama. Pride wasn't being sold as a bad thing, blind nationalism was. Remember when people kept saying we shouldn't reform healthcare because America has "the greatest healthcare system in the world?" That was utter nonsense. That's not pride. That's delusion. Fantasy.
 
americanwoman said:
Lowdown, when exactly was America great to you and why?
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Its always been great.

We have our warts and scars, but we dont hide them, its a part of our greatness. Those looking for utopia and perfection, well, the intelligent and grateful appreciate our past and dont sacrifice our greatness on the altar of perfection.
 
Gaugingcatenate said:
Its always been great.

We have our warts and scars, but we dont hide them, its a part of our greatness. Those looking for utopia and perfection, well, the intelligent and grateful appreciate our past and dont sacrifice our greatness on the altar of perfection.
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Trump says it wasn't great.
 
j brown's body said:
For many of us who had this upward trajectory, we have had to ignore that so many of the opportunities that were made available to us were denied to people of color.
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So true.I remember taking a class in college that addressed this very topic..I recall a term 'middle classed measuring rod',which addressed the opportunities for blacks to have access to the 'American Dream as compared to whites. ( nepotism,discrimination in hiring practices,and other related issues)
 
Linc said:
The USA Will Survive This Criminally Insane Traitor and Racist. Trust Me.
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Slenderman and his sidekick, the Fat lady.

Yup, they are both going down for the conspiracy to overthrow our duly elected government...just showing again our greatness. We still have the courage to do what is right.
 
Gaugingcatenate said:
Its always been great.

We have our warts and scars, but we dont hide them, its a part of our greatness. Those looking for utopia and perfection, well, the intelligent and grateful appreciate our past and dont sacrifice our greatness on the altar of perfection.
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///we have our warts and scars,but we don't hide them.//// NONSENSE...I was taught in high school that Native Americans scalped the settlers.Truth is the settlers scalped the Native Americans so they could 'prove' they had actually murdered a certain number of Natives to collect their bounties..Please try to keep it real.
 
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ttwtt78640 said:
I see little difference in Obama saying that America 'must be fundamentally transformed' and Trump saying that America's 'greatness must be restored'. Both implied that America is in trouble now and needs a major overhaul.
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Which is not any different than what Cuomo was saying... Here's the context that Lowdown intentionally left out...

"We have not reached greatness. We will reach greatness when every American is fully engaged," Cuomo added. "We will reach greatness when discrimination and stereotyping of women, 51% of our population, is gone, and every woman's full potential is realized and unleashed and every woman is making her full contribution."​

Basically he's saying that there is much more room to grow.
 
Gaugingcatenate said:
Its always been great.

We have our warts and scars, but we dont hide them, its a part of our greatness. Those looking for utopia and perfection, well, the intelligent and grateful appreciate our past and dont sacrifice our greatness on the altar of perfection.
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Great when GOPs Rape the Land, steal it from Native Americans, Catastrophically Trash the Environment?

Great with the Civil War, 1920s White Nationalist Racists, 1960s White Nationalist Racists, TODAY’s White Nationalist Racists?

I understand why you Live and Love this ‘greatness’.
 
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