For all the talk of his age, we are fortunate that Joe Biden is politically of another time and era, when compromise was both possible and practical, and it was okay to change your position on issues as long as it was for better. He gets it that Woke! has a shelf life and, at some point, the average voter not named Extremist wants what i…
For all the talk of his age, we are fortunate that Joe Biden is politically of another time and era, when compromise was both possible and practical, and it was okay to change your position on issues as long as it was for better. He gets it that Woke! has a shelf life and, at some point, the average voter not named Extremist wants what is best for him/her and not what makes for the loudest soundbite. One candidate puts his name to a book he didn't write about the art of the deal. The other actually practices it. Advantage: Biden.
Remember way back in November 2022, when the GOP said it was about the economy and jobs and the economy? Me too. Now it's about Woke!. Evidently the jobs and economy issues have been fixed to their satisfaction, since we're not hearing about them anymore. Accordingly, and all together now: Thanks, Joe.
I am offering a dollar to ANY of you that can define Woke for me, especially you Deutschmeister. Cuz the way I see it, conservatives have literally created an adjective to weaponize the diversification of our society. So please educate me.
I agree. I have never heard anyone use that term except hard right conservatives. I would love to kniw what they mean by that. It seems to mean anything they don't approve of.
In MAGA World the expression Woke! has no true meaning. It is a rallying cry, a symbol, a catch-all used to label mindlessly anyone who stands for something they do not -- even though in some cases they don't know what they stand for themselves and don't necessarily agree on the details of what does motivate them.
To an intellectually informed discussion Woke! is the equivalent of a can of Coca-Cola to a healthy diet. I mock it because it is the childlike symbol of MAGA shallowness and how devoid they are of true ideas and plans to move our nation forward. It demonstrates in one fell swoop that the MAGA agenda has become fully what they are against instead of formulating a coherent plan of what they are for and moving our nation forward. I'll challenge others in turn: name one country that has prospered and become an internationally respected global leader over time with such a backward-looking plan. I can't think of one in history. Instead the Taliban comes to mind. At the risk of stating the obvious: that's not a good thing.
Though I do agree with your "definition" of Woke. I have two problems with attributing all of this to MAGA, republicans have had no plan for moving this country forwards since they became the party of no in 2010. They have coalesced around moving the country back to their "better" time of the 1940's and 50's
Fair points. For my part I date much of this movement to the early 1990s, with the irrational anti-Clinton hatred, the rise of talk radio as a force in generating and sustaining political talking points, and the impact of Newt Gingrich and his grievance-based agenda seeking a constituency. The Tea Party then became the bridge that ultimately passed it along to MAGA, which is leaving its own imprint, and in a particularly destructive manner. My two cents' worth anyway.
"Woke" means "to be aware of." Its use began, I think, with black people referring to awareness of racism. I've seen it used by right-wing conspracy theorists to refer to being aware of what they think are hidden truths about the government.
The Republican propagandists consciously expanded it to label anything that liberals say or do that might seem silly to the magas, so that now it's well-entrenched by the right-wing media as a term of derision.
Example: Some liberals wear buttons displaying their preferred pronouns, thus showing awareness that not everyone''s gender can be defined as one of two possibilities. To magas,, this is ridiculous.
Totally agree. Bidenis older than most and because of that he has way more political and governing experience. It shows. It is refreshing that being president is more about competency and less of a beauty contest.
I think there is a divide opening up on the right on economic issues that increasingly poses a problem in holding their coalition together. I live in Nebraska where in the last two election cycles the voters passed initiatives to expand Medicaid and to increase the minimum wage. Translation: A lot of Republican and Republican leaning voters aren't buying the old time economic religion.
I wonder how much it matters that Trump doesn't hew to the Republican talking points on things like Medicare and SS? Not that I'd accuse him of caring for a second, but he is at least savvy enough not to go after those. His positions there give a permission structure for Republican voters to break with Republican orthodoxy to some extent.
Well, it comes out if he's the one running as a Republican. If he's not, just use his rhetoric to hurt the republican who is running.
"Donnie talks a good game, but let's look at his record:"
or
"You know, I disagree with just about everything Donald Trump says, but I do agree with him that cutting social security and medicare like my opponent wants to do is dumb."
I don’t know the specifics of what you are talking about, but I just talked to a friend who was bused into a mostly African American school in San Francisco when busing first started in the early 60’s. She said the gifted and talented classes were populated by the white kids from the suburbs, so it didn’t work very well for integration.
It's about the entire body of work. Dig deep enough into the past, and you'll find skeletons in everyone's closet. Including yours. My calendar reads 2023, and I'm focused on the future. I'll buy you a beer if you'll join me there.
No, Paul, it doesn't make his actions hidden. But we're all free to make our decisions on who to vote, or not vote, for. From my perspective, Biden has a good record overall on Civil Rights. He was wrong on busing, but I'm okay with someone making mistakes and working to overcome them.
If you want to hold something that happened 40 years ago against him, by all means go ahead. But please don't make it sound like if we disagree, we're unethical or racist or something like that.
To take it a step further (and I don't believe this either), I'd still vote for a Biden who believed in segregated schools over a MAGA who embraces hanging instead of segregation. There's always nuances involved and we're never going to have what any of us might consider The Perfect. Just the Best We Can Do. And that truly has been Biden and I think needs to be for a few more years.
It isn't just Biden's willingness to compromise and/or change his position on issues. He has much better political sense than most anyone else out there, from either party. "They" will make his age an issue, and there will be plenty of "flubs" to fuel it, but Joe was on fire during the SOTU and the more voters can see of that, the less his age will dominate. A resounding "Thanks, Joe!"
The ageism of this basically stupid American people (yes I said it out loud) is tiring! As long as he can walk and chew gum at the same time, he is better than the alternatives on either side at this point -- because we still need a calm, steady, EXPERIENCED hand at the rudder of the ship of state for the next 4-6 years. And he has the best political sense as well as the best foreign policy credentials and enough domestic policy creds.
That makes sense. But those average voters not named Extremist also are seeing more with each passing day, with Woke! and other culture war shenanigans, that the GOP is desperate for something, anything, to cling to in the name of tribal politics and tearing down the opposition more than actually giving us a better plan for success. Their glass is half-empty for all to see. At some point people become exhausted with constant negativity. If the Democrats stay on both task and message, I like their chances over time, especially as a younger generation, with a different outlook on politics, comes to the fore. If the GOP insists on being the rain, the Democrats should keep being the parade.
They have actually spent 75 years, even when they included actual legislators and statesmen instead of just performative clowns, trying to undo the New Deal and
"take back" all the prosperity and resources from the middle and lower classes to themselves. It is all they have done in my lifetime! Republicans take over and do harm to most of us. Dems take over and repair the harm. Rinse. Repeat. Maddening. Now of course Republicans have given up the pretense of not doing harm.
For all the talk of his age, we are fortunate that Joe Biden is politically of another time and era, when compromise was both possible and practical, and it was okay to change your position on issues as long as it was for better. He gets it that Woke! has a shelf life and, at some point, the average voter not named Extremist wants what is best for him/her and not what makes for the loudest soundbite. One candidate puts his name to a book he didn't write about the art of the deal. The other actually practices it. Advantage: Biden.
Remember way back in November 2022, when the GOP said it was about the economy and jobs and the economy? Me too. Now it's about Woke!. Evidently the jobs and economy issues have been fixed to their satisfaction, since we're not hearing about them anymore. Accordingly, and all together now: Thanks, Joe.
I am offering a dollar to ANY of you that can define Woke for me, especially you Deutschmeister. Cuz the way I see it, conservatives have literally created an adjective to weaponize the diversification of our society. So please educate me.
I agree. I have never heard anyone use that term except hard right conservatives. I would love to kniw what they mean by that. It seems to mean anything they don't approve of.
In MAGA World the expression Woke! has no true meaning. It is a rallying cry, a symbol, a catch-all used to label mindlessly anyone who stands for something they do not -- even though in some cases they don't know what they stand for themselves and don't necessarily agree on the details of what does motivate them.
To an intellectually informed discussion Woke! is the equivalent of a can of Coca-Cola to a healthy diet. I mock it because it is the childlike symbol of MAGA shallowness and how devoid they are of true ideas and plans to move our nation forward. It demonstrates in one fell swoop that the MAGA agenda has become fully what they are against instead of formulating a coherent plan of what they are for and moving our nation forward. I'll challenge others in turn: name one country that has prospered and become an internationally respected global leader over time with such a backward-looking plan. I can't think of one in history. Instead the Taliban comes to mind. At the risk of stating the obvious: that's not a good thing.
Though I do agree with your "definition" of Woke. I have two problems with attributing all of this to MAGA, republicans have had no plan for moving this country forwards since they became the party of no in 2010. They have coalesced around moving the country back to their "better" time of the 1940's and 50's
Fair points. For my part I date much of this movement to the early 1990s, with the irrational anti-Clinton hatred, the rise of talk radio as a force in generating and sustaining political talking points, and the impact of Newt Gingrich and his grievance-based agenda seeking a constituency. The Tea Party then became the bridge that ultimately passed it along to MAGA, which is leaving its own imprint, and in a particularly destructive manner. My two cents' worth anyway.
"Woke" means "to be aware of." Its use began, I think, with black people referring to awareness of racism. I've seen it used by right-wing conspracy theorists to refer to being aware of what they think are hidden truths about the government.
The Republican propagandists consciously expanded it to label anything that liberals say or do that might seem silly to the magas, so that now it's well-entrenched by the right-wing media as a term of derision.
Example: Some liberals wear buttons displaying their preferred pronouns, thus showing awareness that not everyone''s gender can be defined as one of two possibilities. To magas,, this is ridiculous.
Totally agree. Bidenis older than most and because of that he has way more political and governing experience. It shows. It is refreshing that being president is more about competency and less of a beauty contest.
People haven't complained about McConnell's age, and he's the emperor of the United States, a one-person legislature.
Indeed there is absolutely no other person today I would rather have in the WH, especially for Foreign Policy
I think there is a divide opening up on the right on economic issues that increasingly poses a problem in holding their coalition together. I live in Nebraska where in the last two election cycles the voters passed initiatives to expand Medicaid and to increase the minimum wage. Translation: A lot of Republican and Republican leaning voters aren't buying the old time economic religion.
I wonder how much it matters that Trump doesn't hew to the Republican talking points on things like Medicare and SS? Not that I'd accuse him of caring for a second, but he is at least savvy enough not to go after those. His positions there give a permission structure for Republican voters to break with Republican orthodoxy to some extent.
Rhetorically Trump is populist on economics. His one big bill on taxation and economics was the old time religion.
Agreed. In no way am I fooled by his bullshit, but that rhetorical difference may have opened up some possibilities around the edges here and there.
"Donald Trump doesn't agree with Republicans on X" might open a few minds here and there.
Well, it comes out if he's the one running as a Republican. If he's not, just use his rhetoric to hurt the republican who is running.
"Donnie talks a good game, but let's look at his record:"
or
"You know, I disagree with just about everything Donald Trump says, but I do agree with him that cutting social security and medicare like my opponent wants to do is dumb."
A good thing to hammer him on then. "Donnie talks a good game, but let's look at his record:"
A relevant fact is a beautiful thing.
So, we're lucky he made deals with segregationists to end school integration plans?
We're lucky he understands that deals need to be made. A leader who doesn't make deals is called a dictator. DeSantis doesn't make deals.
So we're lucky he made deals to prevent integration?
I don’t know the specifics of what you are talking about, but I just talked to a friend who was bused into a mostly African American school in San Francisco when busing first started in the early 60’s. She said the gifted and talented classes were populated by the white kids from the suburbs, so it didn’t work very well for integration.
It's about the entire body of work. Dig deep enough into the past, and you'll find skeletons in everyone's closet. Including yours. My calendar reads 2023, and I'm focused on the future. I'll buy you a beer if you'll join me there.
If you don't like what he did or said 40 years ago, you don't have to vote for him. Simple as that.
So that makes his actions hidden? Odd system of ethics you have
Why not be happy that Joe has evolved over time? Do you think he has the potential to regress? You don't think that he's being truthful?
What's your concern other than to simply criticize his past?
No, Paul, it doesn't make his actions hidden. But we're all free to make our decisions on who to vote, or not vote, for. From my perspective, Biden has a good record overall on Civil Rights. He was wrong on busing, but I'm okay with someone making mistakes and working to overcome them.
If you want to hold something that happened 40 years ago against him, by all means go ahead. But please don't make it sound like if we disagree, we're unethical or racist or something like that.
If I thought Biden today would work against integrating our schools, I wouldn't vote for him, but I don't think that.
To take it a step further (and I don't believe this either), I'd still vote for a Biden who believed in segregated schools over a MAGA who embraces hanging instead of segregation. There's always nuances involved and we're never going to have what any of us might consider The Perfect. Just the Best We Can Do. And that truly has been Biden and I think needs to be for a few more years.
It isn't just Biden's willingness to compromise and/or change his position on issues. He has much better political sense than most anyone else out there, from either party. "They" will make his age an issue, and there will be plenty of "flubs" to fuel it, but Joe was on fire during the SOTU and the more voters can see of that, the less his age will dominate. A resounding "Thanks, Joe!"
I agree! "Thanks, Joe!"
The ageism of this basically stupid American people (yes I said it out loud) is tiring! As long as he can walk and chew gum at the same time, he is better than the alternatives on either side at this point -- because we still need a calm, steady, EXPERIENCED hand at the rudder of the ship of state for the next 4-6 years. And he has the best political sense as well as the best foreign policy credentials and enough domestic policy creds.
One advantage of his longevity in gov't is he knows EVERYBODY in Washington and internationally.
I wish I could "Like" multiple times - very well said!
I think they are just banking on a recession and biding their time. I worry that the cyclical nature of economies could cost us dearly.
That makes sense. But those average voters not named Extremist also are seeing more with each passing day, with Woke! and other culture war shenanigans, that the GOP is desperate for something, anything, to cling to in the name of tribal politics and tearing down the opposition more than actually giving us a better plan for success. Their glass is half-empty for all to see. At some point people become exhausted with constant negativity. If the Democrats stay on both task and message, I like their chances over time, especially as a younger generation, with a different outlook on politics, comes to the fore. If the GOP insists on being the rain, the Democrats should keep being the parade.
I agree. If I was the Dems, I'd be highlighting the fact that Republicans have no real solutions.
Their solution on Guns - more guns.
Their solution on Drugs - invade Mexico.
Their solution on Education - ban books.
Their solution on Covid - get sick.
Their solution on the Economy - Tax cuts for the billionaires.
Their solution on Crime - Show trials and summary executions.
Their solution for International Aggression - Turtle.
You have the order inverted on the 6th Republican solution: It's "execution" then "trial."
Brilliant. Too big for a bumper sticker but fits on billboards.
Exactly what I thought!
You forgot that the solution to every problem is seeing Hunter Biden's genitals.
Great list, Knowltoc.
Succinct and correct. Excellent!
Let's hope someone from the DNC, or in office at the Capitol or WH reads comments here. You put that together wonderfully!
They have actually spent 75 years, even when they included actual legislators and statesmen instead of just performative clowns, trying to undo the New Deal and
"take back" all the prosperity and resources from the middle and lower classes to themselves. It is all they have done in my lifetime! Republicans take over and do harm to most of us. Dems take over and repair the harm. Rinse. Repeat. Maddening. Now of course Republicans have given up the pretense of not doing harm.
Can't argue with that, either!