That, or he’s a psychopath. The primary directive of a psycho is to use people, all people: Get the thing that you want from that person, then discard them in the trash. And they’re experts at it, because they were that way from birth. That being said, the fact that he’s an incompetent and bumbling boob makes me lean into thinking you’re more right. Slimy little fuck has all the charisma of ice tea with no sugar in it. I don’t think “sociopath” is overused since 1 in every 25 people in North America are a legitimate sociopath. Every member of this board either knows one, or is one themselves.
Thing is, it doesn't matter. She's 29. If she manages to stay in politics for another 20 and is still spouting the same stuff as she is now, then it'll matter. But right now she can pretty much propose anything along these lines and know that if she needs to change her tune in 5-10 years because these proposals aren't getting any traction she'll be able to switch gears without much issue - she'll be able to claim youthful naivety. And it'll work, because there's some truth at the core of it. A lot if not most of us were gung-ho for unrealistic idealist proposals when we were young and didn't have the knowledge of age. As long as she can keep her seat, there's really not much downside for her to push these ideas right now.
I think the big thing she brings to the table is her criticism of the old-boys network... calling out the bullshit, and showing some balls against the entrenched guard. Her proposals are naive and show her lack of understanding and experience, but the attitude she has is refreshing and welcome, if you ask me.
It’s really the same sort of outsider challenging the establishment that Trump was when he kicked off his campaign.
29 isn't a fucking child. She doesn't have that excuse imo. I find it encouraging that her approval numbers are horrible. Of course she knows why, racism and sexism. Wonder what she thinks of Haley's approval numbers when she was ambassador...
One of the fascinating things about AOC is whether or not it legitimately answers the question: "What would a Congress-critter be like if they didn't have to worry about donors?" Like a TRULY independent representative, not beholden to a given business, or set of donors, just actually to the group that elected her (in this case one of the most liberal areas of NY). I'm sure her ACTUAL career lies somewhere in punditry, or social media political science, or sponsorships should her Congressional tenure be short. Another thing is....well, exactly WHY are we so fascinated with her? If I had to guess, it's because she's dangled in front of the media as a distraction while Pelosi goes and makes actual governance happen. I say, meh fuck the haters. You've got a troll for a president, and he didn't get there by telling the truth, or setting realistic expectations. I have to imagine that a lot of the hate being thrown her way, and the "WHY DOES SHE GET ALL THIS ATTENTION WHEN SHE CAN'T LEGISLATE SHIT YET?" answer is because she might not have the customary corporate campaign overlords to worry about. Her media savvy might have solved that problem for her, and that makes her rare indeed. As far as the GND is concerned: yeah, it was never going to happen. However, I think it's clear that economically, things can't continue in the directions they have been for the next 10-20 years. Literally, it cannot continue, on any number of fronts (boomers aging, income inequality, environment, climate change, etc). So, by proposing something that's clearly never going to work, you can at least start the conversation a bit left of center when it comes down to addressing some of these issues. Trump got elected on the premise that a large swath of the people are fucked and unhappy about it. He's doing very little to fix that, and in fact, making it worse. Perhaps the next "solution" comes in the form of an opposing pendulum swing, where instead of trying to rewind the clock to when it didn't suck, we fast forward to making it not suck? There's a term for that, I think it's called "progress". The GND is going away, but upon the return of a functioning government, I think a similar piece of First 100 Day legislation that makes sweeping changes is going to happen, and the GND is certainly a conversation-starter on it.
People like Gabbard and Sanders were already around. She's not the first and only. I don't hate her just because her ideas are dumb. I hate her becauae she is about as mature as the average 14 year old retard on facebook. She is a fucking joke and no adult should take her seriously. She acts like the queen B in some shitty teenage movie. The fact that her 'ideas' are so breathtakingly stupid is just the AOC bonus. She is a classic example of the cure being worse than the illness. As an aside, I want to punch everyone who is acting like the GND started the climate change debate. No, it fucking didn't.
I guess my thing with the GND is that it’s SOMETHING to address the ongoing damage we are doing to our planet. I wish that people would see it as a puzzle to solve and address rather than as some kind of crazy wackadoo idea. Like hey! We know that fossil fuels aren’t the best for our climate! Let’s devote some R&D to evolving to a different fuel source as best we can. Or plastic bags - they’re messy and they’re everywhere, what can we do about that? Or whatever. Instead it’s an immediate braying of how absurd the idea of development with an eye toward clean energy sources would be. Also I’m definitely high af between meds, so I hope this made sense.
This is a dangerous stance, though. Something is NOT better than nothing, if that "something" is shit. This is the same premise as Security Theatre. Sure, you can do something stupid and ineffective that makes the soccer moms feel better about airport security, but if it's not actually helping security, it's a false sense of that security and does nothing to advance a real solution. It can even make the situation as a whole worse that it started. There needs to be a moderate, reasonable, realistic recommendation made that can actually be worked on rather than waste time on and then discard.
This is what bothers me most about the NGD. We are finally at a point where at least some republicans are admitting it's a serious problem. A large chunk of the republican base recognizes climate change now. I think some would sign onto the sort of approach you are talking about. But then AOC pumps out this stupid shit and sets back the conversation again. I really, really disagree with people who think it's helping work towards a solution. It's like when SJWs scream a bunch of crazy shit about racism, and people think it's helping just because they're talking about it.
No no. I don’t want something for The sake of Something. I want reasonable acknowledgment of problems and then methodical planning for solutions. Real, workable, long term solutions. But I also want everyone to realize there’s no “perfect” answer.
In other news Rachel Maddow's viewer numbers have plummeted. Gee, guess you need a new business model, eh? I love this "bravely soldiering on" narrative places like Vanity have been pushing. Yes sir, when I think of pushing unsubstantiated conspiracy theories for 2+ years every single goddamn day 'heroic' is definitely what comes to mind. I love the "didn't exonerate him" angle too. Yeah, just found no evidence. That's not a middle ground, that's reality telling you you look like a jackass. Amazing Mueller didn't keep the probe going forever, what with "no evidence it didn't happen". Why don't we investigate everything else that we don't have evidence of not happening? What, is that not how it works? These are the people who talked down to ANYONE the least bit skeptical like they were idiots. Unfuckingreal.
If there is nothing in there, why are they so against releasing the report? Devin Nunes said he wanted it burned. Clearly, such an exculpatory document that "just found no evidence" should be released. Ya know, to shut all us idiots up.
I'm sure there is stuff in there, but he quoted Mueller directly about the lack of evidence for collusion. You read people like Seth Abrahamson so there will be all sorts of shit in there you can use to chase endless rabbit holes if you want. Really though, you remember your answer for me when I asked to see evidence of collusion? It's too classified, man. Now, you are complaining they won't release an entire fucking report before even a week has passed that we KNOW is filled with classified information. Jesus fucking Christ, dude.
And what do you even think? Mueller had all this evidence leading to collusion and decided to close the probe because 'screw it'? Wake the fuck up.
A four page summary was written of a 300+ page report, authored by someone who is a notorious spin doctor and who included no full-sentence quotes from the report in his summary. The report has not come out. Don't fool yourself into believing anything remotely otherwise.