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The Losing Politics of Contempt

LowDown

LowDown

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In the New York Times, of all places:

In the Georgia 6th District Democrats did not lose because of lack of turnout or lack of money or lack of energy or lack of pandering. They lost because of their brand.

What is that? Democrats may think the brand is all about diversity, inclusion and fairness. But for millions of Americans, the brand is also about contempt — intellectual contempt of the kind Nimzowitsch exuded for his opponent ["to this idiot I have to lose?"] moral contempt of the sort Hillary Clinton felt for Trump (never more evident than last year when Hillary Clinton wondered, “Why aren’t I fifty points ahead?”).

That seems to have been what happened in the Sixth District the moment Democrats decided to turn the race into a referendum on Trump. “Republicans saw Ossoff’s campaign omnipresence as a political siege and call for resistance,” notes Billy Michael Honor, a Presbyterian minister and resident of the district and self-described progressive, in an astute column at The Huffington Post. “The end result being the Republican base outperforming an energized Democratic Party voter turnout campaign.”

Whatever their misgivings about Trump, those Republicans weren’t about to give Nancy Pelosi the satisfaction of a national victory. Contemporary liberalism now expresses itself chiefly in the language of self-affirmation and moral censure: of being the party of the higher-minded; of affixing the suffix “phobe” to millions of people who don’t appreciate being described as bigots.

It’s intolerable....
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And Democrats are not going to be able to change this dynamic, because their contempt for their political opponents is integral to their own self image, their own sense of self worth and superiority. Asking them to drop this is like asking them to saw off their legs.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/22/...-ossoff-politics-of-contempt.html?nytmobile=0
 
LowDown said:
In the New York Times, of all places:

In the Georgia 6th District Democrats did not lose because of lack of turnout or lack of money or lack of energy or lack of pandering. They lost because of their brand.



And Democrats are not going to be able to change this dynamic, because their contempt for their political opponents is integral to their own self image, their own sense of self worth and superiority. Asking them to drop this is like asking them to saw off their legs.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/22/...-ossoff-politics-of-contempt.html?nytmobile=0
Click to expand...

Lulz. "Contempt for their political opponents"?

You mean like how Ossoff's opponent ran ads claiming he supported shooting Republicans?

Or like how Eric Trump doesn't even consider Democrats human?

Like that?
 
Tanngrisnir said:
Lulz. "Contempt for their political opponents"?

You mean like how Ossoff's opponent ran ads claiming he supported shooting Republicans?

Or like how Eric Trump doesn't even consider Democrats human?

Like that?
Click to expand...

no, that's different.

;)
 
LowDown said:
In the New York Times, of all places:

In the Georgia 6th District Democrats did not lose because of lack of turnout or lack of money or lack of energy or lack of pandering. They lost because of their brand.



And Democrats are not going to be able to change this dynamic, because their contempt for their political opponents is integral to their own self image, their own sense of self worth and superiority. Asking them to drop this is like asking them to saw off their legs.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/22/...-ossoff-politics-of-contempt.html?nytmobile=0
Click to expand...

We will not know how things play out nationally until there is a national election. I would be much more interested to see how things go in purple states and districts versus ruby red ones.
 
I don't usually post just to say "I agree", but this nails it.

LowDown said:
In the New York Times, of all places:

In the Georgia 6th District Democrats did not lose because of lack of turnout or lack of money or lack of energy or lack of pandering. They lost because of their brand.



And Democrats are not going to be able to change this dynamic, because their contempt for their political opponents is integral to their own self image, their own sense of self worth and superiority. Asking them to drop this is like asking them to saw off their legs.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/22/...-ossoff-politics-of-contempt.html?nytmobile=0
Click to expand...
 
LowDown said:
In the New York Times, of all places:

In the Georgia 6th District Democrats did not lose because of lack of turnout or lack of money or lack of energy or lack of pandering. They lost because of their brand.



And Democrats are not going to be able to change this dynamic, because their contempt for their political opponents is integral to their own self image, their own sense of self worth and superiority. Asking them to drop this is like asking them to saw off their legs.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/22/...-ossoff-politics-of-contempt.html?nytmobile=0
Click to expand...

The pastor makes a significant point. Those of us who voted for or support President Trump not because he is not a flawed person, because he is, but because he has an agenda we can support. We believe he genuinely wants to accomplish that agenda. And the way to win our hearts and minds is via a better agenda and not by telling us that we are horrible people. Hillary's now famous 'deplorable speech' sums up how Democrats campaign these days: "You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right?" Clinton said. "The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic—you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up."

That was a flat out lie, both about Trump supporters in general and about Trump himself. And intellectually honest people know it.

I think the whole politics of personal destruction mantra is finally at long last starting to turn good people off no matter what their political leanings, most especially when that is all they have. The Democrats are losing because all they have to offer is ugly or hateful comments about people with no agenda, vision, solutions, hope to back it up.

Yes the Republicans also deal in negativity on the campaign and take advantage where they see it. But at least some of them, including President Trump who isn't really a Republican but is stuck with that brand, also offers a vision, a hope, concrete ideas about what needs to be done.
 
Tanngrisnir said:
Lulz. "Contempt for their political opponents"?

You mean like how Ossoff's opponent ran ads claiming he supported shooting Republicans?

Or like how Eric Trump doesn't even consider Democrats human?

Like that?
Click to expand...

More like mischaracterizing people and putting words in their mouths and intentions that they didn't say or mean and plucking one word or phrase out of a whole thought and context and holding it up as the total of what the person expressed.
 
AlbqOwl said:
More like mischaracterizing people and putting words in their mouths and intentions that they didn't say or mean and plucking one word or phrase out of a whole thought and context and holding it up as the total of what the person expressed.
Click to expand...


trying to recreate reality is a problem the right has.
 
AlbqOwl said:
The pastor makes a significant point. Those of us who voted for or support President Trump not because he is not a flawed person, because he is, but because he has an agenda we can support. We believe he genuinely wants to accomplish that agenda. And the way to win our hearts and minds is via a better agenda and not by telling us that we are horrible people. Hillary's now famous 'deplorable speech' sums up how Democrats campaign these days: "You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right?" Clinton said. "The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic—you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up."

That was a flat out lie, both about Trump supporters in general and about Trump himself. And intellectually honest people know it.

I think the whole politics of personal destruction mantra is finally at long last starting to turn good people off no matter what their political leanings, most especially when that is all they have. The Democrats are losing because all they have to offer is ugly or hateful comments about people with no agenda, vision, solutions, hope to back it up.

Yes the Republicans also deal in negativity on the campaign and take advantage where they see it. But at least some of them, including President Trump who isn't really a Republican but is stuck with that brand, also offers a vision, a hope, concrete ideas about what needs to be done.
Click to expand...


30 percent of the people who voted for Trump are Trump supporters and actually believe in sentence in bold....The other 70 percent didn't vote for Trump, they voted against Hilliary....
 
Tanngrisnir said:
Ah. Perhaps he meant like this?

Trump Adviser Who Called For Killing Hillary Clinton Gets Front-Row Seat At White House

Trump Adviser Who Called For Killing Hillary Clinton Gets Front-Row Seat At White House | HuffPost
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He didn't call for killing Hillary. After he recited what he considered illegal acts of Hillary re Benghazi and her e-mails he quipped that she should be put on the firing line and shot for treason. Not that much different from anybody quipping "he should be hung" for doing that.

You'll find that one line amidst a lengthy interview in which he had a LOT to say about many different things. You'll find his comments on Hillary beginning at about 8 minutes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7k0hka548w

The Secret Service investigated and found no threat there. I wonder if they investigate all the Democrats calling for violence including the death of President Trump?

1. Kathy Griffin posed with the severed of Donald Trump in a photo shoot that was very much reminiscent of ISIS execution videos and photos.

2. Jim Carrey
After Kathy Griffin’s despicable stunt with Donald Trump’s severed head, Jim Carrey tried to defend Griffin and even outdo her.
Carrey told Entertainment Tonight he had a dream about beating President Donald Trump with a golf club.

3. Madonna
Madonna joined the anti-Trump Women’s March on Washington in January where she took to the stage and threatened to blow up the White House.
“Yes, I’m angry. Yes, I’m outraged. Yes, I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House, but I know that this won’t change anything.”

4. Snoop Dogg
Rapper Snoop Dogg released a music video in March where he pulls out a gun and executes Donald Trump.
Along with executing Donald Trump, Snoop includes lyrics like “f*ck the police” and “I’m from the home of the brave, land of the gang bang.”

5. Bow Wow
Snoop Dogg’s nephew, Bow Wow, decided to get in on the action of inciting violence against the President and his wife Melania when he tweeted:
“Ayo Donald Trump shut your punk ass up talking **** about my uncle Snoop Dogg before we pimp your wife and make her work for us.”

6. Shakespeare in the Park
New York City’s Public Theatre which receives funding from CNN put on a stage production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. However, they dressed up Caesar like Donald Trump with a business suit and the iconic hair and brutally stabbed him to death.

9. Charlie Sheen
Following the deaths of actresses Carrie Fisher and her mother Debbie Reynolds, Charlie Sheen took to Twitter to call for President Trump’s death. He tweeted over and over Trump next please.

10. Mickey Rourke
Iron Man 2 actor Mickey Rourke was ahead of the curve when it comes to celebrities threatening violence against President Donald Trump. Rourke went after Trump in April 2016 where he threatened to beat him with a baseball bat.

12. Robert De Niro
The Oscar-winning actor threatened to punch President Trump in the face after going on a tirade calling Donald Trump all sorts of nasty names.
“He’s a punk, he’s a dog, he’s a pig, he’s a con, he’s a bullsh*t artist, a mutt who doesn’t know what he’s talking about, doesn’t do his homework, doesn’t care, thinks he’s gaming society, doesn’t pay his taxes.”
“He’s an embarrassment to this country,” he added. “He talks [about] how he wants to punch people in the face… I’d like to punch him in the face.”

13. Stephen Colbert
Stephen Colbert took things to the next level when he decided to go after Trump advisor Stephen Miller.
Colbert used his platform on CBS’ Late Show to depict Stephen Miller being brutally beaten with a spiked bat by The Walking Dead’s Negan. He then had his head placed on a pike, Game of Thrones style.


14. Larry Wilmore
Before he was let go from Comedy Central, Larry Wilmore fantasized suffocating Donald Trump on his The Nightly Show. In fact, he went out of his way to mention his threat of murder was literal.
“Anyway, since we’re talking about bigotry, we have to mention Donald Trump,” Wilmore said. “Sorry everyone, I don’t wont to give him any more oxygen. That’s not a euphemism by the way; I mean it literally. Somebody get me the pillow they used to kill Scalia, and I’ll do it. I’ll do it.

And most recently the reprehensible comments by Johnny Depp.
 
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AlbqOwl said:
He didn't call for killing Hillary. After he recited what he considered illegal acts of Hillary re Benghazi and her e-mails he quipped that she should be put on the firing line and shot for treason. Not that much different from anybody quipping "he should be hung" for doing that.

You'll find that one line amidst a lengthy interview in which he had a LOT to say about many different things. You'll find his comments on Hillary beginning at about 8 minutes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7k0hka548w

The Secret Service investigated and found no threat there. I wonder if they investigate all the Democrats calling for violence including the death of President Trump?
Click to expand...

So, IOW, he called for killing Hillary. You could have saved yourself the trouble of writing so much in a laughable rationalization.
 
AlbqOwl said:
More like mischaracterizing people and putting words in their mouths and intentions that they didn't say or mean and plucking one word or phrase out of a whole thought and context and holding it up as the total of what the person expressed.
Click to expand...

They said exactly those things. Nothing was taken out of context.

Your rationalizations are really getting threadbare.
 
LunaRose said:
30 percent of the people who voted for Trump are Trump supporters and actually believe in sentence in bold....The other 70 percent didn't vote for Trump, they voted against Hilliary....
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I strongly disagree. Yes, many didn't really want Trump either, but saw him as much superior to another four to eight years of the status quo that we would have had with Hillary. Trump offered us something to vote for. Hillary didn't.
 
Tanngrisnir said:
They said exactly those things. Nothing was taken out of context.

Your rationalizations are really getting threadbare.
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I'm sure you believe that. Which is why Democrats will continue (I hope) to lose.
 
Tanngrisnir said:
So, IOW, he called for killing Hillary. You could have saved yourself the trouble of writing so much in a laughable rationalization.
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Do you really think you score points when you push something so intellectually dishonest?
 
AlbqOwl said:
Do you really think you score points when you push something so intellectually dishonest?
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He called for the killing of Hillary. Full stop. Do not pass go. It's on the record.

Do you think you're winning any arguments with such brazen intellectual cowardice?
 
Helix said:
our two party system has been utter in-group / out-group hyperpartisan hatred for decades. where this issue is concerned, neither side has enough moral high ground to build a ****house on.
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There is nothing on the right that compares to the blind hatred and toxic vitriol being spewed from the left right now. I have lived a long time now and have observed many campaigns and presidencies and though there are memorable unpleasant words and incidents from all campaigns, I have never seen anything like this. And until good honest Democrats admit that and start denouncing it, I think there isn't much hope for the Democratic Party.

See my Post #12.
 
LowDown said:
No, he was calling for Hillary's lawful execution.

I agree that Hillary should have been prosecuted, but I'm against capital punishment in general.
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Which, of course, is calling for her to be killed.

Thanks for agreeing with me and conceeding the point.
 
Tanngrisnir said:
He called for the killing of Hillary. Full stop. Do not pass go. It's on the record.

Do you think you're winning any arguments with such brazen intellectual cowardice?
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Well keep it up my friend. The Democrats are losing ground day by day with this kind of intellectual dishonesty that the intellectually honest on both sides are rejecting. And the way I see it, that is a good thing. Have a pleasant day.
 
AlbqOwl said:
Well keep it up my friend. The Democrats are losing ground day by day with this kind of intellectual dishonesty that the intellectually honest on both sides are rejecting. And the way I see it, that is a good thing. Have a pleasant day.
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Good of you to come clean about you dishonesty and inability to accept basic reality.

Youu seem to have to do that a lot.
 
LowDown said:
In the New York Times, of all places:

In the Georgia 6th District Democrats did not lose because of lack of turnout or lack of money or lack of energy or lack of pandering. They lost because of their brand.



And Democrats are not going to be able to change this dynamic, because their contempt for their political opponents is integral to their own self image, their own sense of self worth and superiority. Asking them to drop this is like asking them to saw off their legs.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/22/...-ossoff-politics-of-contempt.html?nytmobile=0
Click to expand...
:lamo

So what? The Dems should take a lesson in showing respect from Trump or the GOP?

This is a joke.

Every person and party in power urges those not in power to respect them, the rules, and admonishes them to play nice. Why? They want to keep their power! Those in power cling to it, and try to coerce those not in power. They even try to stifle free speech. We see this now with the President's and the GOP's attempt to censure the arts.
 
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