The campaign never stops; it just kicks into speculative mode
If you're on the Facebook feed of a bunch of Clinton critics you have perhaps seen this Atlantic piece by Derek Thompson:
The Dangerous Myth That Hillary Clinton Ignored the Working Class
You see, Clinton advocates don't just stop writing Clinton advocate stuff simply because their candidate lost the election. And it doesn't seem to matter too much to them that "Hillary Clinton's 'Corrupt Establishment' Is Now Advising Donald Trump." What's important is Hillary Clinton, now as always, because:
She detailed plans to help coal miners and steel workers. She had decades of ideas to help parents, particularly working moms, and their children. She had plans to help young men who were getting out of prison and old men who were getting into new careers. She talked about the dignity of manufacturing jobs, the promise of clean-energy jobs, and the Obama administration’s record of creating private-sector jobs for a record-breaking number of consecutive months. She said the word “job” more in the Democratic National Convention speech than Trump did in the RNC acceptance speech; she mentioned the word “jobs” more during the first presidential debate than Trump did. She offered the most comprehensively progressive economic platform of any presidential candidate in history—one specifically tailored to an economy powered by an educated workforce.
Well, that's what matters to Derek Thompson, at least. It will probably never sink in with the likes of Derek Thompson that Clinton's campaign promises, like Trump's, were and are of no consequence to actual policy, and that party platforms are also of no consequence regardless of how fervently Vox talks them up.
Nor, of course, does clarity matter to the likes of Derek Thompson, because it's supposedly "dangerous" to believe that Hillary Clinton ignored the working class. Those of you who are familiar with Clinton campaign rhetoric recognize that Clinton was a great champion of listening and of paying attention to ordinary people, but that everyone knows at this point that all of this nice listening and paying attention had nothing to do with, say, actual policy. So Thompson can say that:
The more frightening possibility for liberals is that Clinton didn’t lose because the white working class failed to hear her message, but precisely because they did hear it.
So let's not confuse "hearing" a message with actually listening to it, which itself is still a long distance away from heeding, or even believing, what the message-sender said or wrote.
At any rate, we may now proceed to the economic argument in the Atlantic essay. Thompson says:
What’s more, the evidence that Clinton lost because of the nation’s economic disenchantment is extremely mixed.
Of course, Thompson is the one doing the mixing here. Anyone can go to the NY Times election breakdown to see what the problem was. Neoliberal economics under Obama sacrificed the countryside for the cities, so people were doubtless angry about that. And you probably already know, now, that if you look at the county-by-county results you can see that Trump won the countryside whereas Clinton won the big cities. In fact, the only big cities I can find that went to Trump were Phoenix, Oklahoma City, and Jacksonville. In this regard Cracked magazine, peddlers of second-rate humor (when I was young, Cracked was a wannabe magazine for Mad Magazine -- it's what you read when you were finished buying up all of what Mad had to offer), counts as more incisive election analysis than Derek Thompson. (I"m not going to go over the Cracked article: it's amusing, so you should read it.)
At any rate, the pivotal question as regards the 2016 election is not one that Derek Thompson wishes to address. Here's a quick graph revealing what that question is:
The votes for the Republican Presidential candidates, then, appear to be about the same from 2008 to the present. Why did rural white voters in the swing states vote for Trump? Maybe, y'know, it's that they're Republicans? The obvious question, then, is one of why whole legions of people who voted twice for Obama failed to vote for President at all in 2016.
But Thompson does not care about this question, which is why at the end of his piece he asks:
But what if the vast majority of white voters who voted for Trump aren’t interested in any version of that future, no matter who the messenger is?
Of course, Thompson might have asked in his piece about whether or not Sanders could have beaten Trump, if he's interested in the idea of a different messenger for a promised future of nice stuff for the working class. But where's the nice job writing for David Brock in that?
Comments
That first quote has me looking for my violin.
They will learn nothing. We need another party - now, and I don't care what color it is.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Tiniest...
" In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry, and is generally considered to have been a bad move. -- Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy "
Does this mean I can keep
The I'm With Her poster on my wall, right alongside Bobby Sherman?
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Sure, but I hope you own your home because that is likely to
piss off the landlord when you take it down to move and he sees the wall looking like Swiss cheese from all the dart holes...
"I used to vote Republican & Democrat, I also used to shit my pants. Eventually I got smart enough to stop doing both things." -Me
That's what sharpies are for
lol
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Defeat Chelsea Clinton 2020!
And you thought Hillary was the other shoe dropping.
Like a case of the crabs, ya just can't get rid of the damn Clintons.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Have you heard Madonna's excuse yet?
According to her, Hillary lost because women hate women. Yep. Apparently, it's women who are the true anti-female sexists.
Do you have a source for this?
I was thinking of writing about it and submitting my article to Cracked magazine.
“The Democrats and Republicans want you to believe they are mortal enemies engaged in a desperate struggle when all the time, they are partners with a power-sharing agreement.” - Richard Moser
Do I have a source for Chelsea 2020?
No. I'm just inoculating the general public now.
Thinking of printing up a batch of bumper stickers.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
No, I mean Madonna's statement.
Remember that Katy Perry endorsed Clinton, too, for $70,000...
“The Democrats and Republicans want you to believe they are mortal enemies engaged in a desperate struggle when all the time, they are partners with a power-sharing agreement.” - Richard Moser
Article in The Hill, I think, about one week
after the election. But it was for 2018 and the House of Representatives. Nita Lowey's seat is in a posh Westchester non-gerrymandered district and Chelsea aims to get it. Bwahahaha! However, Nita already gave up her chance to run for the Senate - to Hill when she ran for Daniel Moynehan's seat. Nita says "no way", but Clintons have persuasive means at their disposal (wink, wink) and Nita is old.
Here you go....
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/dec/07/madonna-on-the-us-election...
ClintonWorld is a wee bit nutty these days.
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
It seems Bollox beat me to it. N/T
No!
Submit to the American Sociological Review. Sure you'll only reach a fraction of the readership. But think how much more annoyance you'll create with the same effort. And who needs to read it more?
I think...
Hillary lost because nobody in their right mind wants a BJ from Madonna.
Bwahahaa - you just made me, literally, lol! n/t
Does that include Satan?
According to Bill Hicks, Madonna had two of 'em at the same time.
From "Relentless" Full transcript here. www.gavinsblog.com/rel.htm
Warning: It is very raw!
Yaldabaoth, Saklas I'm calling you. Samael. You're not alone. I said, you're not alone, in your darkness. You're not alone, baby. You're not alone. "Original Sinsuality" Tori Amos
several years ago, somewhere in the print media, i read
an interview of madonna, by carrie fisher. they started talking about their particular approaches to giving head, and all i can say is, madonna made it sound more than a little, uh, shrinkage-inducing.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
I guess there's some truth to Madonna's
statement. An insane number of women voted for Trump in spite of his misogynistic attitude. Not in a million years would I have seen that. That as much as anything is why I was surprised by Trump's alleged victory.
"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones."
John Cage
Didn't really surprise me
the crap economy doesn't discriminate based on gender. Trump ran on improving a crap economy that rural people could see plainly, while Hillary ran on... being a woman, I believe it was? I'll be honest, I can't remember what message she had outside of that. Well, that and "fuck you poor people, go die from your health issues."
Except for the 'being a woman' part
She ran on Sanders' platform. heh. You're right. What would have happened if Obama ran on being a black guy?
"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones."
John Cage
She didn't really run on Sanders platform
Her sycophants did. In fact, after the coronation at the DNC, she wasn't really campaigning at all. Unless fundraising and warning us about the end of the world as we know it if we don't stop Trump counts as campaigning.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
This Here
This requires more of an examination. While her sycophants and surrogates raved about the most progressive platform in the history of ever, the problem was that Hillary gave it a giant "meh". What exactly did her ads talk about? Frightened moms looking at their children as the TV showed Trump saying one of his nasty comments. For Hillary, the platform was there to give ammo for her surrogates, but for her to utterly ignore on the campaign trail. Though, I have to take that back, the campaign trail being too generous to describe what she actually did. All black people like Beyonce and Jay-Z, so better schedule something with them. The poor won't care that I'm at a 50K a plate fundraiser, even though half of American workers make less than 40,000 a year. Gay people like Ellen, so better get on her show, also a plus because Ellen is gay, so double bonus. I've checked off all my identity politics. Oh wait, Latinos....oh yeah, Hi, I'm Hillary Clinton, and I'm like your abuela. Phew, back to fundraising with Wall Street.
Her campaign was just as tone deaf
In 2008. The behind the scenes fiasco of a campaign that was detailed in "Game Change" tells me she learned nothing since then.
My only "pleasure" in all this is an image of her lying in bed at 3am mumbling to herself that she lost to Donald Hairball Trump.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
... My only "pleasure" in all
In this image, is she on the phone at 3 AM, not dealing at all well with this disaster?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yr7odFUARg
Hillary Clinton Ad - 3 AM White House Ringing Phone
It could be worse; at least she isn't creating more disasters - especially for women and children - in the White House, even than she did as Secretary of State.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Small blessings
that she isn't the one answering the phone at 3am in the morning. But the idea of the Hairball answering it either isn't much better.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
No, but perhaps he'll just
No, but perhaps he'll just let it ring and things'll work out better that way than if Hillary woke up confused and irritated and just started randomly nuking whoever woke her?
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Perhaps "run" was too strong a word
She most certainly co-opted Sanders' platform and then hobbled on it after it was clear that he had struck a shining, harmonious chord. She continued to do so until, of course she had won the primary and pretended that she'd actually acquiesce to the Sanders' camp demands. She'd mention elements of it from time to time when it suited that days ersatz press conference or phony town hall meeting. Her surrogates all carried on with it, as you noted. Her surrogates all being fabulously well- to-do, representing every leftish members of society (except the working class) attempting to give the impression that if one votes for her, they too will be fabulously well-to-do.
So, we're really on the same page, you and I.
"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones."
John Cage
Ersatz..... perhaps the best way to describe her whole campaign.
Even the candidate herself...... given the pondering over body doubles after her 'pneumonia incident'.
Boy did those who donated waste their money. You'd think they would have learned from 2008.
I know there's been talk of 'running Chelsea', but I just can't see it. She has 'seriously empty pantsuit' written all over her.
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
They'll run Chelsea not matter what the cost..
Never say die. Maybe she'll
snagbe unlawfully awarded a congressional seat. I think she's a barred attorney so she can go straight to the Senate. Except, I think her mother will croak before then and she'll be much to grief stricken."I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones."
John Cage
Very interesting about female Trump voters: rape vs fat shaming
I guess I was believing the press that no right minded woman would vote for Trump after his remarks--which at the time seemed reasonable. But interesting in 2012 a number of gopers did lose based on remarks they made about women--those remarks were about rape and de-legitimizing and marginalizing it as a crime. I don't think that Trump said anything about rape that was close to what was said in 2012. Calling Rosie O'Donell names is not in the same league as marginalizing rape. I remember this quote from Karen Hughes:
I don't think Trump ever went there from what I remember.
Rosie O'Donell gave as good as she got--
Her and Donny have had a private war going on for quite sometime.
Not quite the same as the blanket, misogynistic remarks made by Donny DunderMoose, champion of racist, rapist frat boys everywhere.
"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones."
John Cage
Wed, 12/07/2016 - 11:46am —
Wed, 12/07/2016 - 11:46am — Thaumlord-Exelbirth
Lol, it's really just women weren't interested in the blow-jobs she was apparently offering for Clinton voters.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
They're trying to reelect Trump
Maybe not intentionally, but their forced denial of reality will keep those to the left of Trump divided, unless the media makes Hillary rightfully responsible for her loss.
Beware the bullshit factories.
Just wait until they start issuing Trump commemorative
coins! It's the loser function of the Democratic Party that makes this kind of BS possible. I recently saw commemorative coins for Reagan, Ford and, best of all, NIXON! Ah, the good ol' days of GOP power and Democratic ineptitude! Just like now. The more things change . . . Well, you know the rest.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
Dammit. I'm Still Payin Off My Collection
of Obama commemorative plates.
Is it time to order a new set already.
Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.
Please make sure you get the plate stand because it lacks
the supporting structure(backbone) to stand on its own.
"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"
Brilliant! Also true!!
n/t
Hell is empty and all the devils are here. William Shakespeare
Wow, I actually
read "Plate and Stand not included". I guess I'm conditioned after 8 years of empty rhetoric...
Hillary's face on a plug nickel
So apropos.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
In the background there is the sound of a tiara being
trashed.
'O' lost 6 million (mostly) white votes from 2008 to 2012; FSC
lost millions more this election cycle--the estimate was 5 million, but not sure that it stands now, since she supposedly gained a couple million votes.
They (Dems) lose because of epic fail. IMO, the Dem Party is dead, for all intents and purposes.
Proof of this is Pelosi prattling on during a Sunday political program, saying with a straight face--'people don't want a new direction;' that working class folks 'share our values.' And, Joe Biden actually contemplating out loud, a run for President in 2020!!!
Also, there's Schumer's appointment of a team of toxic 'centrist' and conservative Dems to the ranks of Leadership--ostensibly, to balance Bernie and Warren.
The MSM reports that Manchin began meeting with McConnell and DT, starting about November 11. Not to mention all the calls that flew between Schumer and DT according to George Stephanopoulos--which Schumer didn't deny. Schumer did, however, protest that 'he didn't know him all that well.'
Yeah, sure.
[Edit: Added Stephanopoulos; re-paragraphed.]
Mollie
“I believe in the redemptive powers of a dog’s love. It is in recognition of each dog’s potential to lift the human spirit and therefore– to change society for the better, that I fight to make sure every street dog has its day.”
--Stasha Wong, Secretary, Save Our Street Dogs (SOSD)
The SOSD Fantastic Four
Available For Adoption, Save Our Street Dogs, SOSD
Taro
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
Here's a better graph
Without cutting off the Y-axis.
"We've done the impossible, and that makes us mighty."
OT, but progressive groups met in NYC to join forces
http://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-groups-that-backed-bernie-sanders-j...
SNIP
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
That would be great news...except
Their FB page was originally 'New York for Bernie Sanders', and was chock-full of Hillbots and assholes of the 'you have to support Hillary because Bernie says so'.
I unblocked the page, and I'm going to keep a watchful eye on them. As a NYer, I smell a rat, but I'll give them a chance...
It will probably never sink
I'm sure Derek writes what he is told to write. That's how you keep a job and a career afloat among the Liberal elites these days. It's like they are all reading from Mao's little red book.
"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott
The Clintons refuse to go away
They have to keep that Foundation money flowing. God, I despise them to no end.
Hillary lost because she was a shitty candidate who symbolized everything that is wrong with politics today. People will vote their wallets first before anything else. The thought of them "grooming" Chelsea for a House or Senate seat nauseates me.
I want them gone far away from the levers of power forever. All of them!
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Pundits and politicians are sales
Outside sales and inside sales, but for the same shitty product.
Being the truly gifted salespeople they are, they have no need at all to believe in or even understand their product.
Thats why HRC can so easily claim to be and environmentalist without any conscience as the world biggest cheerleader for fracking, she is just trying to sell a product. She doesn't disregard truth, she just simply doesn't regard it in the first place. It has no place in a sales effort, it has no place in the formula.
Nice way to try to cover their asses
and make it sound like Americans just don't want any help with that massive income inequality thing. What a load, but the comfortable ones will buy into it - anything not to have to admit they too are part of the problem.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
What did the white working class see and hear?
Given the Derek's background I am not sure he knows anything about the white working class other than the cliches in his bubble living and working in Washington DC. This contrasts with Michael Moore who saw trouble for Clinton after talking to his home boys.
This guy writes about plans for steelworkers. But didn't Bill Clinton and free trade remove tariff's on steel which allowed China to glut the market and basically cause a huge reduction in number of steel mills and workers?
So what did the white working class think about Clinton and all her very detailed working class policies? Does anybody know of any? Only 9% of Clinton's ads were on the economy/trade/jobs.
I think what many people saw started in the primaries when she became of the candidate of the status quo and was against all of Sanders pro-worker policies. The Wall Street speeches may have really come back to bite her. She came off as the lackey of the big business which Wikileaks revealed to be utterly true. Who was going to trust her on any working class issue regardless of what she said. Maybe the white working class didn't read the NYTimes and WaPo to get her message.
This guy is trying to re-invent Clinton as the establishment tried during the general election.
The Great Leveler
Next on my reading list when it comes out next month:
For a bunch of people who claim to value education, the Dems and their professional class toadies really don't seem to read much.
We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg
Lol, it's the new propaganda
Lol, it's the new propaganda line - you can only have a living wage if you participate in their global War On The World carnage and disaster - or, more likely, you can manage to live on globalist 'competitive' slave wages nicely if you consume the remains of other poors who are victims of this carnage and disaster, as corporate mercenary forces kill off the defiant and those unable to work hard and fast enough to be worth feeding.
And with unlimited fracking and other global industrial pollution, you should be able to cook it, using your flammable cup of drinking tap-fluid for flambe - all while working your diapered 14-hour break-free day - right on the crumbling section of side-walk you get to sleep on. Sorta what they seem to be setting up for in India right now...
Too bad there's no 'World's Policeman' to step in demand the abused people in any and all countries be treated humanely, as many Americans could also use some help.
Edit: I thought I was snarking, but now I'm not so sure...
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Love your comment
Speaking from an economic perspective, and to paraphrase Chuck Heston:
'Lean Cuisine is people !!!'