Now that the Russia Hoax is behind us, this seems like a good time to shift into reality-based politics. It is the ideal way to understand why the elections will be steered down the same old cul de sacs, moving toward the same old outcomes with rampant misinformation and domestic propaganda littering the way. But eyes-wide-open politics can also reveal the occasional opportunity to nudge things in a different direction.

First of all, Meghan McCain is dumb as a rock.

Constipation of Imagination

You see things; and you say “Why?” But I dream things that never were; and I say “Why not?”
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW, Back to Methuselah, act I, Selected Plays with Prefaces, vol. 2, p. 7 (1949). The serpent says these words to Eve.

Robert F. Kennedy used a similar quotation as a theme of his 1968 campaign: “Some men see things as they are and say, why; I dream things that never were and say, why not.”

I used to think that the establishment hated Bernie the most. After all, he threatened the profits of Wall Street and Big Pharma, and for that he will never be allowed to win.

So the corporate Dems at TOP are going after Tulsi again.

Last night, I came upon an Eyes Left podcast about Tulsi Gabbard and a column about Bernie Sanders by Matt Taibbi. I found them both interesting because they were so opposite in tone and coverage. The Taibbi column was full of admiration and respect for Bernie, something we don't often hear; and the Eyes Left podcast was sort of insider and extremely negative about "Major Gabbard".

It is a primary season so here they are. Make of them what you will.

Few people are hated more by the Democratic establishment than Tulsi Gabbard.
On TOP there have been diaries with titles like:

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has turned into a stooge for Syria's dictator. Who will primary her?
A Real Dem is Running to Replace DINO Tulsi
Tulsi Gabbard: The Curiously Conservative and Nepotistic Network of a Democratic Candidate
Tulsi Gabbard's popularity drops, but guess who's propping her up? Republicans

After reading the highly popular, slanderous diary on the GOS yesterday (note: substituting "she joined the National Guard so she could claim veteran status" for "served two tours of duty in Iraq" is just naked slander), I got curious about Gabbard's record.
The reason was several "sourced" claims about her voting record, which indicated she was Republican-leaning.

Some thoughts on America's attack on Syria.

(add: Jacobin article)

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/05/tulsi-gabbard-president-sanders-democ...

Bernie, still gotta love him, started a movement going, even though he has chickened out in pursuing it, which has encouraged rising stars such as Tulsi Gabbard, Nina Turner, Tim Canova and revitalized people like Alan Grayson and Jeff Merkley. My favorite, bar none, the real deal, the real straight shooter, the one with guts, is Tulsi Gabbard.

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and Sen. Rand Paul introduced the Stop Arming Terrorists Act on Friday.