President Biden: The NEW one and only politics thread

Also, what the fuck is he talking about? He says "the teachers union" over and over, as if it's some single entity encompassing the entire nation's education system. My kid's in school. My wife is in school with her students. Their unions didn't at all try to stop or even slow any of that. They wanted safety measures, none of which was extreme, and got them in place. Everyone is doing well. Some kids, per their parents, not the "teachers union," opted to for virtual learning academies, or things of that nature. Teachers were not behind that at all. At my kid's school, VLA students are taught by teachers from their school.

So in summary, god I would like to throat-punch junior.

 

Not among the dissenters: Barrett, Kavanaugh.

 

It absolutely is.

 

No less a conservative than Jennifer Rubin rejects the concept that a two-party system needs a functional Republican Party.

Moreover, the pining for a sane Republican Party — a “center right” party — makes sense only if one thinks such a party has a constituency and sufficient distance from the Democratic Party. Can you find a base for a party that, say, wants to spend a trillion dollars instead of $1.9 trillion on a covid-19 relief bill? Perhaps in a few states, but nationwide, it is unclear that there is a felt need for a Democratic-lite party, beyond rich donors. It is even harder to find a substantial base for a Barry Goldwater-style “small government” party. Neither side ran on such a platform in 2020.

It is no secret that modern conservatism, in large part a response to the Cold War, is ideologically spent. The Bulwark’s William Kristol got to the nub of it in a September post:

So perhaps we need to acknowledge that it has come to this: Real, existing conservatism as it exists in America in 2020 is an accomplice to, an apologist for, and an enabler of Trump’s nativist, populist, unconservative, and illiberal authoritarianism. ... [P]erhaps every political movement has a natural lifespan: Modern American conservatism was born in 1955, peaked in full flower in the 1980s, and then aged, mostly gracefully, for three decades. Until it could easily, if suddenly, be pushed aside in its dotage—forced, or induced, to surrender to its younger and stronger, if disreputable, distant relative.​

If the Democratic Party were made up purely of devotees of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), one could see space for a center-right party. But contrary to GOP propaganda, that is not the case. A center-left nominee won the presidency. The Senate includes many moderate Democrats, including Warner, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Robert P. Casey Jr. of Pennsylvania.

All of that is to say that there is no particular reason to hope for a revived Republican Party insofar as we are looking for a vehicle for an exhausted ideology. If we need a second or a third party, the possibilities are endless. There are socially conservative but economically progressive parties in Western Europe that embrace a strong social contract. There could be a need for a centrist party if the Democrats go off the deep end.

However, as we think through this next era in politics, we should abide by one core principle: A right-wing, populist and authoritarian party should not be allowed to hold power. It has proved to be dangerous, racist and fundamentally un-American. Everything else should be up for debate.​

Opinion | Pundits are wrong. We don’t need a functional GOP. — The Washington Post

 

This is what the GQP descends from

 

Need to look for that.

I would add this book tells a story of what happened and why we need to do better.

The Story of a Secret State by Jan Karski

 

The Germans weren't ashamed of the Holocaust, they were ashamed that they lost the war.

Now it's happening here.

 

Sophie Scholl, her brother and another man of the White Rose resistance movement guillotined by the Nazis 78 years ago today for distributing leaflets.

 

They were too busy getting drunk on the sacramental wine

Biden is not center-left. He’s Center. He’s a Tip O’Neill type democrat. Center democrats are “help the under-privileged to get them self sufficient and a generation away from solid, college educated 1970-90 middle class.
Left or progressive democrats are put the underprivileged in the middle class with direct subsidies for education, housing, food and healthcare. Even if it means stripping the middle class of their ability to live in the style they are accustomed right now.
Manchin is a democrat in name only.

 

They are not "dealing with" very much. Good on them for trying to empathize and all, but I doubt either of them ever had to choose between health care and eating or paying a utility.

 

Tom Cotton is some sort of robot, isn't he?