Lock Him Up!!
Folks … this is crazy.
Even apart from the profound national security danger and, at least seemingly, breach of federal criminal law–hey, James Comey, wanna investigate this?–there is that little issue about, y’know, LOBBYISTS CONTROLLING THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.
And to think we thought the only conflicts of interest would be finance industry and fossil fuel industry cabinet department and regulatory capture. We were naive.
Will Fox News report this? Will this make it into all those circular Facebook feeds? Will there be a Twitter hashtag on it?
Look. Supposedly there are all these Democratic billionaires and near-billionaires poised to begin trying to start a rebuilding of the party from the ground up, beginning with state legislative races. Better extremely late than never on that. But the best way to begin that–and in any event–far and away more immediately important–is to force this gross, concerted bait-and-switch into the public’s consciousness. Meaning massive information campaigns on this.
Every Republican senator up for reelection, and every Republican House member, needs to be put on notice that this–this–will be the dominant issue in the 2018 election cycle. But first and foremost, those in the Midwest and the Rust Belt need to know this. That’s where the information campaign should begin. Tomorrow.
So let me get this straight.
I am politically incorrect by calling Trump voters racist. Meanwhile, telling Trump voters they have been had is accusing them of rank stupidity; rank stupidity because in more than 4 decades of public life Trump has never done anything for the working man in this country.
What you are saying is that we need to tell these people something that morons should have known. Even worse, this “drain the swamp” bs being replaced by the “elites” is just more of the same.
None of his voters( ok, maybe some of the more deranged) thought for one second that a gene pool winner whose only contact with working people his entire life was when they waited on him was going to help them. At the same time, in what world has Donald Trump ever even met the “non-elites” to staff his government?
They knew what they were voting for, no reason to call them stupid.
Political correctness isn’t the issue. Accuracy is. The question is the key motivation of voters in the Midwest and the Rust Belt who, yes, did vote for Obama, but voted for Trump against Hillary Clinton. It was not racism.
There’s a difference between swallowing a candidate’s racism because you want to vote for him for another reason, and voting for him BECAUSE of racism and xenophobia (which of course overlap). These may seem to you like a distinction without a difference, but it’s not–and critically so when the question is how to make known to the public Trump’s bait-and-switch, or even whether to bother trying.
The racists won’t care. the others will. Although of course you day they’re all racists. So you day a massive media information campaign will have no effect, so why bother.
Obviously, it’s enormously important which one of us is right.
“Look. Supposedly there are all these Democratic billionaires and near-billionaires poised to begin trying to start a rebuilding of the party from the ground up, beginning with state legislative races. … Meaning massive information campaigns on this.”
I’m starting my own massive information campaign. As of today I will have emailed (spammed) out 2,000 messages to state legislatures, press, progressive academics, and, oh yes, labor unions in Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota — telling how working people can help and rely on themselves when they find out Trump (not to mention Hill and O — but they already know about those two) is a big phony.
I’m planning to take weeks to spread it across the country (WA, OR, CA, NV, NY, MD, ET AL) — then I will start all over at the beginning (IL, WI, MN) with my next dose of snake oil.
I posted it here but if anybody want to look they can find it at:
http://ontodayspage.blogspot.com/2016/11/all-these-histories-are-bullshit-why.html
I’m not expecting a bunch (or any) hits. The last thing anybody ever seems to think about is the first thing that has to be done — and the wide open road to get there — re-constituting high labor union density.
Just saying.
EMichael,
See above.
I did.
I pay no attention to people who espouse the idea that both parties are the same.
That idea is why we now have Donald Trump in the White House. Y’know, the guy who has fought unions his entire life; and right now is going to have his corporation before the NLRB with his “boys” at the head of the table.
Wouldn’t it have been nice if Hillary Clinton had, like, mentioned this? At, say, rallies in the Rust Belt, had she had them? And, heck, even in ads?
‘Course it might have offended some of those moderate white Republican suburbanites. Better to run and almost 100% identity-politics campaign, while throwing in a few more lists of Republicans who’d just endorsed her. Retired generals and the Meg Whitman crowd.
Bev throwing rocks again. I don’t think she has a clue how this world works.
I think she should read up a bit before writing silly stuff. Starting with this WaPo piece:
There are 65 former
lobbyists currently
working in the Obama
administration
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2014/08/15/there-are-65-former-lobbyists-currently-working-in-the-obama-administration/
Did Obama promise that he would keep lobbyists out of his administration? I don’t remember that. So I’m not really sure what your point is.
Is it that it’s fine to cruelly campaign on getting insider corporatisst out of control of government, pitching this to white blue-collar voters, as a con–an outright lie?
Cuz otherwise, I don’t really know what the intended purpose of your incessant Look-At-What-The-Obama-Administration-Did-So-It’s-Fine-That-Trump’s-Doing-It-In-Spades is.
Oh, and are there any on that list who were lobbyists for foreign countries? Any who were or are in any sentitive national security position in the Obama administration? How about any who were lobbyists for foreign countries while they were receiving intelligence briefings?
Do tell. Also, do tell why this Flynn info doesn’t bother the hell out of you
I don’t think lobbyists are a major concern for people.
It looks gross, but not much more so than any other thing the government does. People want some results, and we should also want results. If the Democratic party decides to obstruct policies and bills that are in line with their platform, then what the hell are we sending them there for?
Why not just let Republicans have control over everything perpetually. I think the Republican voters should think the same way, but their leadership is expert at pulling the wool over people’s eyes for some reason.
I want some damn results. I don’t care who they have to deal with to get them. I don’t care if someone else gets to claim a victory, I want the result.
Bev conveniently says: “Did Obama promise that he would keep lobbyists out of his administration? I don’t remember that. So I’m not really sure what your point is. ”
But the ole internet says:
“5) Restricting Former Lobbyists from Serving in Obama Administration
As a candidate, Barack Obama deplored the prevalence of lobbyists in and around the White House. “No political appointee will be able to lobby the executive branch after leaving government service during the remainder of the administration,” said Obama in 2008.
However, according to politifact.com, the administration has granted waivers to several former lobbyists, allowing them to serve. The administration also allows “recusals,” in which a former lobbyists can recuse themselves from discussions surrounding interests they used to lobby.”
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/04/05/brief-look-at-candidate-obama-2008-campaign-promises.html
Obama did make comments about reducing the influence of lobbyists in his campaign for 2008. He also (like Trump is doing) had people sign agreements not to lobby for a period after service in the white house, but those were generally for a period of one year, I think.
Flynn is a bad guy even if you exclude his lobbying.
You don’t need to go that deep to find things that are offensive about him. Just go for what is obvious, not what needs a paragraph to explain it.
He’s a racist who can’t separate religion from ideology, a bad manager in his time at DIA, and has a “loose relationship with the facts.”
Wow. Perfect. He has all the qualifications for a high position in the Trump administration.
“No political appointee will be able to lobby the executive branch after leaving government service during the remainder of the administration,” said Obama in 2008.
What is the point of totally ignoring what this says?
Why do you people bother to waste your time on this utter bs?