Politics Schmolitics: August 2016

Thursday, August 4, 2016

The Republican Party: They're just gonna get stupider

In 2008, when the party went full birther, with their ridiculous "Obama is a secret Muslim who is going to send white people to FEMA death camps and declare Sharia Law" b.s. (bot to mention the pick of Nailin' Palin as the VP), some people said, "In 2012 the Republicans are going to get serious, and act like the party of grown-ups."

I said, "No, they are just gonna get stupider."

In 2012, when the Republican Primaries turned into a total clown show, with Michele "I swear my husband isn't gay" Bachman and Herman "Nine! Nine! Nine!" Cain leading at times, where ol' Niggerhead Ranch Perry showed up to a debate drunk and forgot what his policies were, where during one Republican debate the crowd booed a soldier who asked a question about Don't Ask, Don't Tell(and not a single candidate stuck up for the guy whose Commander-in-Chief they wanted to be), where we witnessed the absurdity of Mitt Romney apologizing for Romneycare (which left his state leading the country in healthcare) to Rick Perry (whose state is one of the worst states for healthcare), not to mention the 47% comment, talk of "self-deportation", and Romney only getting the nomination by going against everything he had ever stood for, some people said, "In 2016 the Republicans won't make the same mistakes. They will run a strong field of intelligent candidates who will show the country they aren't a bunch of know-nothing bigots."

I said, "No, they are just gonna get stupider."

Now they have nominated former host of the Apprentice (and three-decade-long pop culture punchline) Donald Trump. He beat out a guy who bragged that women "came out of their kitchens" to vote for him (Kasich), two guys who are on record saying the Bible should take precedence over Federal law (Jindal and Huckabbee), a guy who lied about being an attempted murderer and who thinks the pyramids are grain silos (Carson), a man whose name is synonymous with post-anal sex butt froth (Santorum), and the Zodiac Killer (Cruz). And already I hear people saying, "If he loses, the party will have to get serious, and they will run better candidates in 2020 who can show people that the party really is smart, and really does want to be inclusive."

I say, "No, they are just gonna get stupider."

My money for 2020 says they nominate a chimp who knows how to say ethnic slurs in sign language.

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Republicans: Feelings Over Facts

Ever notice that when a Republican is confronted with the reality that something they are saying doesn't line up with facts, they fall back on saying, "But people feel..."? Just look at the recent Republican National Convention. It was a parade of people talking about the way people feel. People feel the country is going in the wrong direction. People feel like they aren't safe. People feel that hordes of Mexicans are streaming over the border. People feel there is a war on cops.

Both Paul Manafort, Donald Trump's campaign chairman, and ex-Speaker Newt Gingrich, in separate interviews at the Convention were challenged on their claims that crime had skyrocketed under Obama's presidency. Both of them simply refused to listened to silly ol' facts, and insisted that people feel that crime is rising, therefore it is in fact rising. Manafort went a a step further and insinuated that the FBI was fudging crime statistics. At one point Gingrich all but admitted that he knew he wasn't telling the truth, but that the only thing that mattered was if people believed he was telling the truth. Scary stuff, folks.

Enough about what people feel; what are the facts?

1) Both violent crime and property crime have been dropping for nearly three decades, and have continue to drop throughout Obama's presidency: