Frank Bruni: Greed and the Presidency- Page 3

[South Florida]

Posted: 5/20/15 at 10:25am

Erik and Liza have valid misgivings, they are not just GOP talking points, they're our talking points.  If the Democratic party nominates HRC, people like me will vote for her.  I'm happy the voices of the poor and disenfranchised will be heard, and I understand the tremendous importance of SC appointments.  The Republicans will coalesce around one candidate and then all those polls showing Hillary winning head to head will be meaningless.  The question for the Dems is turnout, and registering voters, with the GOP controlling important states like Florida and Ohio, will a Clinton candidacy inspire the normally unmotivated?  She'll have to.  On the chance that she dosen't, which is at least a 50/50 proposition, it would be nice if RBG would step down now.

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 5/20/15 at 10:40am

I will have to disagree with your characterizations of some of the posters on this site.

I also think there is a possibility of the GOP not uniting under one candidate, as the remaining "Rockefeller Republicans" further splintering from the party depending on the nominee.  

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/20/15 at 11:08am

"I will have to disagree with your characterizations of some of the posters on this site."

in order to do that you have to ignore everything you learn over time with regular interactions with a phony poseur. 

Others don't think that's a factor. SouthFlorida recently told me that he doesn't discount things the 'band says because he doesn't "hold grudges".  But if you're the kind of person who has cumulative experiences, you'll eventually get tired of taking the phony at face value. 

Updated On: 5/20/15 at 11:08 AM

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 5/20/15 at 11:33am

YWIW - we'll simply agree to disagree about that particular issue, but I would love to hear your thoughts on Bruni's assessment...

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/20/15 at 11:47am

"The Republicans will coalesce around one candidate...."

 I don't know what tea leaves you're reading, but the Republicans are unlikely to coalesce around one candidate. If the establishment Republicans have their way and Jeb becomes the candidate, the entire conservative wing of the party will just stay home or vote for a third-party candidate, with massive chunks of former Republican voters drifting to Hillary.

If one of the more conservative candidates takes the nomination, the mainstream Republicans will not come out.

This is not an election in which the GOP will coalesce. This is an election in which it will splinter.

Let's just hope the Democrats don't splinter as well.

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 5/20/15 at 11:51am

^^^^^ Preach.

 

For the record, I think the article is simplistic and draws false analogies and equivalences. 

 

Updated On: 5/20/15 at 11:51 AM

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 5/20/15 at 1:07pm

So you don't believe the majority of politicians are in "public service" for the power, control, perks and money?  Alright then. I'll have what you're drinking. 

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 5/20/15 at 1:34pm

If that is what you think I said, then that explains a lot.

Updated On: 5/20/15 at 01:34 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/20/15 at 1:52pm

No answer, NOTHING, will satisfy the 'band.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/20/15 at 2:39pm

HEADBAND: "So you believe XXX XXX [insert false statement] X? Then you must be an idiot!"

 

How to Argue Like a Headband

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 5/20/15 at 2:50pm

Then I would respectfully submit a request for YWIW to expand on the original answer. To so strongly disagree with Bruni means you have substantive problems with the message and not just the messenger.

I'd like to understand how one could reasonably disagree that most politicians are merely puppets to masters like George Soros, The Koch Brothers, Tom Steyer, Kenneth Vogel, Sheldon Adelson, and numerous lobbying/special interest groups & firms. 

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 5/20/15 at 3:05pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ovo6uB0wNdo

[ErikJ972]

Posted: 5/20/15 at 3:09pm

The Democrats NEED to splinter from Clinton's brand of neo liberalism. Right now neither party stands for the working/middle class.

 

 

The Democrats Need To Stand For Something

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/20/15 at 3:45pm

The GOP and Fox News wants you to think Hillary Clinton is too rich to defend the middle class and poor. Their strategy is to do to Hillary Clinton what the left "did" to Mitt Romney: turn the candidate into an oligarch and build up resentment among poor voters.

 

NEWSHOUNDS: Fox Wants You To Think Hillary Clinton Is Too Rich To Champion The Middle Class Or Poor

 

POLITICO: The GOP's plan to turn Hillary into Mitt Romney Republicans are readying a familiar template: The out-of-touch plutocrat who lives in a world of private planes, chauffeured vehicles and million-dollar homes

 

So you're just allowing yourself to be duped by the GOP and turned into a tool of Fox News.

DOn't forget that the president who did the greatest good for poor people in the twentieth century was millionaire Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 5/20/15 at 4:13pm

Yes, back when politicians were more transparent and authentic. Back when public service wasn't a lifetime career but just that... public service for the good of the country. Much has changed since FDR was in office. That, my friend, is a terribly poor (and false) equivalency. Hillary is no FDR. She is a wealthy, out-of-touch career politician who raises hundreds of millions and earn millions more every year speaking at a few conferences. That was not FDR, who came from a family of immense wealth, and still desired to serve as President for only the best of intentions. Jeb, who also comes from family money, is just as removed from the realities of our current economic climate as Hillary. Empathy is easy to fake and emulate. Walk the walk, don't talk the talk.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/20/15 at 4:18pm

There's nothing sadder than a man pedaling nostalgia for something that never existed. There's nothing more dangerous than people buying it. 

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 5/20/15 at 4:21pm

I don't know if invoking the president that spurred the creation of presidential term limits is what you want to do when railing against career politicians.  He was also governor before his four terms as president.  And yes, I know he didn't complete his fourth term.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 5/20/15 at 4:22pm

Wasn't FDR pretty much the definition of a career politician?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/20/15 at 4:27pm

"Back when public service wasn't a lifetime career."

I beg your pardon...FDR died in office.

If his doesn't count as a "lifetime career," whose does?

He entered politics at age 28, was elected to the New York State Senate at 30, was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy at 31, and first ran for national office at 38. At 46, he became governor of New York, and at 50 he became president, in which office, as I said, he died at age 63, having won an unprecedented (and now illegal) fourth term in the White House.

He was the quintessential lifetime politician.

[Kad]

Posted: 5/20/15 at 4:42pm

Public service- either in politics or the military- was very much a lifetime career for the majority of our presidents and influential politicians.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/20/15 at 5:31pm

THE 'BAND WILL MOVE THE GOALPOSTS ONCE AGAIN.

In this latest round of the trolling the boards he introduced the "American politics was not designed to be a career" and I thought "sez YOU."

But whatever he sez is written in stone, even if it's wrong, even if he later contradicts it.

 

Updated On: 5/20/15 at 05:31 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/20/15 at 5:32pm

As Abraham Lincoln once said, "Better to be a career politician than a lifelong nudnik."

(I saw that on the Internetz.)

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/20/15 at 6:14pm

I sooooooooo wanted to throw the 'band out of my class when he got this way.  But I'm a professional lady and I get the job done.

[ErikJ972]

Posted: 5/21/15 at 2:12pm

"The GOP and Fox News wants you to think Hillary Clinton is too rich to defend the middle class and poor."

I find that kind of offensive to be honest. I'm smart enough to think for myself. I deal with these issues on a daily basis. And I don't listen to GOP talking points.

I think Hillary Clinton is an awful candidate because of her awful record. And so far no one has really been able to dispute her record.

Speaking of being fooled...

Updated On: 5/21/15 at 02:12 PM

[South Florida]

Posted: 5/21/15 at 8:19pm

I think they may be right Erik, Bernie can't win.  What I'm rooting for is a vigorous campaign that brings her more to the left.  Bernie Sanders makes this next election wonderful.