Throw Hillary from the Train.
Yesterday, the ongoing American political soap, "All My Elections," put Bill Maher's groan-inducing blind spot on display. His profound disconnect from the plot first peeks out in the title:
Bill Maher Shreds ‘Liberal Purists’ Who Said Hillary Clinton Was ‘Lesser Of Two Evils’
Right or wrong, I've come to believe the Democratic Establishment cast Hillary as the "lesser of two evils," by default. Their entire campaign focused on Donald Trump, whom they billed as the greatest evil of them all. They talked all Trump all the time, right up to Election Day. There was not one coherent, in-depth discussion of Hillary's positions on the issues. She spent her campaign adjusting her character development. What could the Party say? Trump was running to her left.
So, is that headline calling the Democratic Party the "Libreral Purists?" I thought so. That's why I clicked on it. But it turned out to be the same old "Not Donald Trump" routine, with Bill Maher playing Madeline Albright, wagging her finger at the monolithic Hippie Left.
Bill Maher took aim on Friday at liberals who “couldn’t bring themselves to vote” for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.
We warned the Democratic Party, well in advance: "Run a candidate we can vote for. Don't try to stick us with the most unpopular politician in recent American history. We won't be voting for President Lady Parts." But did they listen to us? Nooo. The Democrats stopped listening to voters decades ago.
After noting how various liberal politicians, activists and commentators had said that either a Trump or Clinton administration would be a disaster, Maher asked whether conservatives would now control the Supreme Court if the “just-as-evil-Hillary” had won?
Why, yes they would, Bill. Conservatives would now control The Supreme Court because there would be a Neocon President nominating them. And Republicans would still control both houses in Congress because Hillary didn't have any coattails. She made a big deal of that, being a feminist and all.
Again, with the finger wagging:
"Just wait until the 5 to 4 decisions start rolling in, gutting unions, making it harder for minorities to vote, siding with polluters, overturning abortion rights,” he said.
And that's any different than the last 8 years, how?
Now, he's worked up a head of steam:
"…join me in saying to the liberal purists, go fuck yourselves with a locally grown organic cucumber. This is about winning the next election,” Maher said.
Best of luck with that next election, Bill.
This one is going to be a hard act to follow.
Comments
The only redeeming quality
that I can give Maher is that he smokes pot.
Unfortunately it causes him to have illusions of grandeur when he's actually a sniveling, over paid little prick.
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
What part of
"SHE'S A MURDERER!!", do people not get? The apologists for war via their politically pragmatic views are getting out of hand.
That is my question
How many people who didn't vote for her in 08 because of her Iraq war vote were then voting for her in this one?
Yes she finally admitted that her vote was a mistake but she didn't seem to learn anything from that mistake because she pushed for the Libyan war.
She hasn't seen a military intervention that she wasn't in favor of.
She was running on creating a no fly zone over Syria for gawd's sake. Which meant putting up to 70,000 troops in Syria. She told the bank CEOs that during one of her speeches to them.
Even saying that she got great advice from Kissinger when she was SOS was another reason for not voting for her.
There were plenty of reasons for not wanting her or Bill (who was going to be in charge of her economic policies ) back in the WH, but that was a big deal for me.
I'm tired of reading that more civilians have been killed because the USA's military is going from country to country so that the corporations can steal their resources.
I wouldn't have known that we have troops in Somalia if I hadn't read that a member of the military was killed during a fight there.
I must have missed that Somalia was responsible for 9/11. Isn't that what the AUMF is for?
Yes, I am afraid that you were sadly uninformed
Every one knows this! What they don't know, but which I have on good authority from the CIA, was that Yemen was Somalia's co-conspirator.
Heh and yep.
Most Americans don't have a clue on where our military is and what they are doing.
A few congress members want Trump to get a new AUMF before he puts troops into Yemen. I want to know why those troops will be fighting there. On what grounds could there possibly be for doing that?
I would also like to know how the troops feel about risking their lives in a country that hasn't threatened this one.
The man who died this week didn't fight to protect our country or our freedoms and that should be the only reason for them to fight.
Al Shabat isn't a threat to me or anyone in this country, so why did he die.
Gawd, how can so many people be okay with all the unnecessary deaths of both our military members and the civilians who are being killed only because they live in an area that our military decides to bomb.
And I just don't understand how so many other country's leaders can sit back and watch as our country kills so many civilians.
The whole damn world rose up against Hitler, yet this country has done much worse things to other countries.
I read what our military did to the North Koreans and can't understand how people could rationalize doing those things to human beings.
It's worse than you can imagine.
US Special Operations Forces (SOF) wage low-profile warfare — with little fanfare, press coverage, or oversight — in scores of nations every single day. From Albania to Uruguay, Algeria to Uzbekistan, America’s most elite forces — Navy SEALs and Army Green Berets among them — were deployed to 138 countries in 2016.
From the looks of the wholesale slaughter so far in 2017, US murder and mayhem has intensified. On any given day, around 8,000 commandos can be found in more than 90 countries worldwide. In other words, US hit men are deployed to 70 Percent of the World’s Nations.
That's why Hillary, the Butcher of Libya, cannot become President. She's a monster. She proved that every day she was fomenting global chaos as Secretary of State for the Neocons. Until she finally got caught gun-running for al Qaeda in Syria out of Benghazi.
https://www.thenation.com/article/american-special-forces-are-deployed-t...
Oh yeah.
Not to mention the fact that Her Heinous would have shown Obama just who's the Drone Boss.
"Just call me Hillbilly Dem(exit)."
-H/T to Wavey Davey
He pretends to know my mind.
Well not my mind specifically, but y'all know what I am saying. Rather than actually listen to those of us that did not vote for Her Majesty, he, like all of the false-left, prefers to spout the party (literally) line.
Screw it, I refuse to give up my community's name. I am of the Left those "others" are false-left or whatever they want, I don't care!
court jester
Maher got fired from teevee for saying 9/11 kamikazi pilots had courage. He got another gig a few years later and hasn't crossed an establishment line since.
bygorry
He's still suffering PSTD from his Nader vote.
So you see, he warned us not to make the same mistake, and we cucumber purists just wouldn't listen to the wise old goat.
I do not watch his show anymore. Stopped when he started ranting that everyone had to vote for Hillary, plus he's got a ton of conservatives on. Unfortunately, Maher isn't smart enough to handle them alone. People like Taibbi and Glen Greenwald don't get invited anymore. They make Maher look like the old fool he is.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Bernie Sanders isn't pure
Ergo, we weren't being purists, we were just being liberals. Ergo, we don't vote for conservatives.
Q.E.D.
"The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum." --Noam Chomsky
I thought Mahler was dead?
Quite the symphonist though.
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
Maher is brain dead, so what's the diff?
He is, his son taught me biochemistry at Indiana University.
Odd how things work out.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Interesting take.
Leftists who don't vote for conservatives are "purists." Conservatives who don't vote for leftists aren't "purists?" I'd like an impartial judge to weigh in on the criteria for these definitions.
I'd also like for someone in the mass media to school themselves and then their audience in the full spectrum of political leanings, so everyone understands that HRC was (and is) no liberal and never deserved the votes of liberals or lefties in the first place. I, a leftie, voted for a leftie, as is only appropriate. Damn purist Democrats wouldn't vote for my candidate, so they gave us Trump.
I just got timed out at
TOP for responding to a rec list diary about this called "Bill Maher Nails The Purists."
The diary mentioned rubbing purists (Bernie supporters) noses in the pile of shit (Trump presidency) they caused.
I simply responded that it was the impurists who caused the pile of shit and they can rub their own noses in it because Bernie would have won. The comment got 20+ recs and generated lots of comments.
I've been timed out before but this was weirdly different. There were no flags, no comments hidden, but I got a kosmail from Wee Mama (who I guess is a moderator?) accusing me of derailing the diary. I didn't respond. Then I signed in a little while later and saw that I was timed out. One person didn't like my comment (that was responding to a pie fight, not starting one) and that person single-handedly decided to give me a time out. I didn't even have a comment flagged.
Ides of March was dumb and unfair but at least it was honest. This targeting and one-sided enforcement of apparently still in place unwritten Ides of March rules is very dishonest. What a joke.
Just "click" the mea culpa and
genuflect until your Achilles tears, then they might take you back into the fold, you poor lost fool.
One small correction with respect to the Ides of March: They were test marketing this technique during the lead up to said temporal discontinuity. I got a time out identical to yours back then, so ...
Ran across this article in Salon today:
And if the American People could vote again today — Bernie would obviously win.
But if the race was between only Hillary and Trump? One cannot be certain.
My precinct person says third parties
can never be effective, so the Dems must be rebuilt from within. An old story.
Later I thought, she doesn't yet see the actual present split, built by the deep state and the DNC.
You should stop going there.
Trust me. You will feel a whole lot better.
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
What does he think this rant is going to accomplish?
Is *anyone* motivated to vote for democrats in the future because of being told to fuck off? This is the very attitude that the Clinton campaign had about progressives.
I'm reading the recent book about Hillary's campaign right now, and was just reading about how they made a very intentional, conscious decision in the primary to NOT try to win progressive votes. Their strategy was to write off Sanders voters as unpersuadable -- which was true -- and to instead focus on turning out people who would vote for Hillary, but who needed to be motivated to actually cast a ballot. They decided back then that winning the votes and support of progressive voters was not something they could or would try to do. They gave up on us.
So now they are pissed that we didn't vote for her? WHY? Look Bill Maher, you fuck off. Blame fucking Trump voters for voting in Trump -- and blame the loser Democratic party that forced Hillary into the nomination and then expected us to just choke her down in the general election anyway. That's fucking absurd. We don't owe Her our votes. No matter what names you call or insults you toss around, it won't change a thing, and it certainly won't make us vote for her or anyone like her next time.
Note to Democratic party: Change, or keep losing. The choice is yours.
Bravo!
Frankly, I'm starting to embrace the purist title because I think if we'd had a bit more purism, we wouldn't be where we are. As the essayist asks, how is what's happening now any different than the last eight years? It's more out in the open, but it's same as it ever was. We were asked to accept 11th dimensional chess and "play the long game", but got nothing in return. Sorry Bill, I'm done with neoliberal incrementalism. If that makes me a purist, so be it. Next time, give us a real alternative rather than a watered down Republican.
Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.
And they wonder why they lost.
Not just not try to win, they were trying to piss us off. From the way they humiliated Bernie, to the platform, to how they treated his delegates at the convention, to the Kaine pick, and on and on, all summer it was one middle finger after another.
Hillary just HAD to prove that she could win without any concessions whatsoever to Progressives. That this was her moment to show once and for all that the way you deal with lefties is to beat them like dogs and watch them come simpering home anyway. No token gestures. No hollow promises. No hope. You're either with her or against her.
In the history of US Presidential politics there has probably never been a more idiotic campaign strategy.
All Hillary had to do was pick Bernie for her VP and she wins the general in a landslide.
But the stubborn old bat just couldn't bring herself to do it.
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
A friend of mine posted Maher's rant on Facebook,
noting that although she thought his vulgarity was nearly faint-worthy (quelle horreur!!), she did agree wholeheartedly with his point. I usually love taking the opportunity to take the piss out of Clintonites, but instead simply replied, "Sorry, but that's how alliances work. If you're willing to dismiss half of your party's priorities as "purist," then you're clearly signaling that you're willing to go ahead without their support."
My wife, at least, was impressed with my restraint!
We warned them about more than that
And their response was not simply to ignore us. What they specifically said is that we'd come running home to the Democratic party because we'd have no choice. The response was explicitly, "We don't have to pander to what you want because we'll get your vote anyway."
We also warned them about independents to which they smugly informed us that there was no such thing as independents... simply Democrats and Republicans who don't like to wear the label.
In other words, we predicted this exactly and they smugly and confidently told us we were delusional.
A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard
Yet, we’re supposed to trust them on issues like global warming,
where everything hinges on whose predictions are likely correct and whose are delusional.
Absolutely!
we were openly taunted into not voting for HER, so confident they were she would win. Now that she lost, somehow it's our fault, even though she ran a campaign that was almost designed to be anti-Sanders. And don't even get me started on the whole "third parties are insignificant and we will margalize and ignore them but it's all Stein's fault that HER lost" horseshit.
Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.
9/11 isn't the reason, guess what is?
We are not involved in Somalia due to terrorists or pirates or anything like that. When Somalia was the pirate capital of the world a few years back, the US couldn't give a shit less what happened in Somalia. So, what changed?
In 2014-2015 seismic data found a vast potential oil field off the Somalia coast!!! Need I say more?
Yes I do! As a sailor, I'd really like to continue my adventures by sailing up the Red Sea and into the Med. Those plans have been on hold due to all the piracy, even of private yachts, and my fear that I would not do so well as a hostage in a third world hell hole like Somalia. Pretty much the same way I feel about being a slave in the US.
Back in the heyday of Somalia piracy I kept telling anyone and everyone that there was oil in Somalia. Sure, I was making it up, but I figured if I told enough people and it got spread around enough, maybe some dumb ass politician in the US would catch wind of it and decide they needed to do something about all that piracy. And I knew the one thing that would cause that to happen is finding oil.
And lo and behold, they've found oil!! I'm sure we'll be reading lots more about US troops getting killed in Somalia in the near future. If there's oil there, you can bet your ass US troops will be there too! It's what we do!
http://www.offshore-mag.com/articles/print/volume-76/issue-12/geology-geophysics/somalia-awakens-as-east-africa-s-oil-province.html
“Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.”
George W. Bush