• Democrats Cracked?

    From Digimaus@618:618/1 to All on Wed Jul 23 14:16:47 2025
    (You know it's bad when James Carville starts talking smack about his beloved party. )

    From: https://tinyurl.com/25zvjvuj (thegatewaypundit.com)

    ===
    James Carville Says Democrat Party Has Become `A Cracked-Out Clown Car'

    by Mike LaChance Jul. 21, 2025 10:20 pm

    Veteran Democrat strategist James Carville is proving that old saying
    about how even a broken clock is right twice a day.

    Carville wrote an opinion piece for the New York Times over the weekend
    that described his own party as a `cracked-out clown car.' Who could
    possibly disagree with his assessment?

    A recent poll found that the approval rating for Democrats in Congress is
    now a measly 19 percent. The party just nominated a communist for mayor of
    New York City. They have no leader, no message, and offer no ideas to the
    American people.

    For once, Carville is right.

    His piece is behind a paywall, but there are details at The Hill:

    Carville: Democratic Party `a cracked-out clown car'

    Democratic strategist James Carville said in a new opinion piece for The
    New York Times that the current Democratic Party is "a cracked-out clown
    car."

    "Constipated. Leaderless. Confused. A cracked-out clown car. Divided.
    These are the words I hear my fellow Democrats using to describe our
    party as of late. The truth is they're not wrong: The Democratic Party
    is in shambles," Carville said in the Times piece released Monday.

    Carville pointed to the recent clinching of the Democratic nomination
    for New York City mayor by Zohran Mamdani, which shocked many political
    observers, saying it "wasn't an isolated event."

    "It represents an undeniable fissure in our political soul. We are
    divided along generational lines: Candidates like Mr. Mamdani are
    impatient for an economic future that folks my age are skeptical can be
    delivered," Carville added.

    "We are divided along ideological lines: A party that is historically
    allegiant to the state of Israel is at odds with a growing faction that
    will not look past the abuses in Gaza and the West Bank," he continued.
    "From Medicare for All purists to Affordable Care Act reformists, the
    list goes on and on."

    The list does go on and on, Mr. Carville. You're right.

    We will leave you with this astute observation:

    The biggest problem the Democrats face is their base is completely
    insane.

    - EducatedHillbilly(TM) (@RobProvince) July 20, 2025
    ===

    -- Sean

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  • From Mike Powell@618:250/1 to DIGIMAUS on Thu Jul 24 09:56:38 2025
    Veteran Democrat strategist James Carville is proving that old saying
    about how even a broken clock is right twice a day.

    Carville wrote an opinion piece for the New York Times over the weekend
    that described his own party as a `cracked-out clown car.' Who could
    possibly disagree with his assessment?

    A recent poll found that the approval rating for Democrats in Congress is
    now a measly 19 percent. The party just nominated a communist for mayor of
    New York City. They have no leader, no message, and offer no ideas to the
    American people.

    I have heard a lot of Democrats, including a young lady running for
    congress in Illinois, claim that now is not the time for the Democrats to
    try to appeal to the moderate/center voters but that instead they need to
    go even "farther left." Some of them back these claims with poll data of registered Democrats.

    My thinking is that those that are being polled are going to vote Democrat
    no matter who is running, even if we were in an alternate universe where
    Donald Trump was still a Democrat.

    There has been some online speculation that Kentucky's governor could run
    for President -- he is a two-term Democrat that wins in a state that is
    mostly represented by Republicans in Congress, and a state that voted overwhelmingly for Trump in the last 3 elections. Lot of these
    left-leaning Democrats poo-poo that idea because he is too moderate, he
    works with Republicans to get things done, and he is from -- ick! --
    Kentucky and not New York, Illinois, California, etc.

    The Democrats are likely already pulling in most of the left voters -- they certainly aren't losing them to the Republicans -- so the "farther left" strategy sounds like a losing plan.

    Jerking too far towards either side is what is breaking things. It is also what is causing so many people not to vote at all. They -- both parties -- need to figure out what it is that will attract those that are too turned
    off to vote at all. My guess is that most of them are moderates.

    Mike

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  • From Rob Mccart@618:250/1 to MIKE POWELL on Sat Jul 26 08:41:42 2025
    Jerking too far towards either side is what is breaking things. It is also
    >what is causing so many people not to vote at all. They -- both parties --
    >need to figure out what it is that will attract those that are too turned
    >off to vote at all. My guess is that most of them are moderates.

    That is why we in Canada have 3 main parties, a strong Right, a strong Left
    and a medium one, although the far left doesn't seem to get many of the
    votes. They have lots of 'great' ideas, but they are always expensive to implement and most people figure they will either not manage to get those things done or they will be paid for with higher taxes which may drive
    uber wealthy people and some businesses out of the country.

    It tends to make that middle party more popular who, although named as
    the Liberal party, usually aren't TOO Liberal. That's the party that is currently in power here and was Trudeau's party for the past 10 years.

    What often works out best (IMHO) is when (frequently) we get a party
    in power who didn't have a majority (50%+) so they need help to
    vote most things through, which you don't get without giving someone
    something in return. That swings the policies a little more one way
    or the other than they would maybe prefer, but not radically so.

    Since the extra votes often come from the far Left party, they agree
    to vote with you if they can get a few things going through that often
    help out low income people and seniors, moderately good dental covereage
    being the last big one that came from one of those deals.

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  • From Mike Powell@618:250/1 to ROB MCCART on Sat Jul 26 11:10:19 2025
    That is why we in Canada have 3 main parties, a strong Right, a strong Left and a medium one, although the far left doesn't seem to get many of the votes. They have lots of 'great' ideas, but they are always expensive to implement and most people figure they will either not manage to get those things done or they will be paid for with higher taxes which may drive
    uber wealthy people and some businesses out of the country.

    Unfortunately, our two main parties -- Republican and Democrat -- have
    things under control in most states that make it very, very difficult for a third party to get on the ballot and/or to have access to public funds
    and/or have access to debates and other "public access" that they have.

    You usually have to have a lot of money and be able to get X% of the vote
    in the state before you can be considered for any of those things. In some/many cases, just getting on the ballot requires you have a petition
    turned in, with X number of registered voters signing, before you can even
    get on a ballot and start trying for X% of the vote.

    Just as an example, some of the folks "on the ballot" for the last three Presidential elections -- like Kanye West or RFK, Jr -- were only on the
    ballot in some states. In a bit of irony, RFK, Jr won his fight to get on
    the Kentucky ballot just in time to drop out, but not with enough time to
    get himself removed.

    The Democrat and Republican politicians want to make sure our choices are limited which, in turn, allows them to field candidates who very in their
    level of "crapitude" and which causes some of their supporters to claim
    that you need to vote for their candidate because they are "less evil than"
    the other one -- note that only the delusional or completely dishonest will
    try to use the "not at all evil" approach.

    What often works out best (IMHO) is when (frequently) we get a party
    in power who didn't have a majority (50%+) so they need help to
    vote most things through, which you don't get without giving someone something in return. That swings the policies a little more one way
    or the other than they would maybe prefer, but not radically so.

    Since the extra votes often come from the far Left party, they agree
    to vote with you if they can get a few things going through that often
    help out low income people and seniors, moderately good dental covereage being the last big one that came from one of those deals.

    That'd be nice. Since we are down to 2 choices here, IMHO, there needs to
    be some safeguard in place that prevents one party -- either one! -- from having control of the White House and both Congressional chambers. Like
    maybe some "at large Representatives" who only get to serve/vote in the
    House if it is necessary to prevent full party control of all three.

    They often get nothing done anyway but, when all three are controlled by
    the same party, they often tend to get mostly only stupid, polarized things done.


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  • From Rob Mccart@618:250/1 to MIKE POWELL on Mon Jul 28 07:33:12 2025
    That is why we in Canada have 3 main parties, a strong Right, a strong Left
    >> and a medium one, although the far left doesn't seem to get many of the
    >> votes.

    Unfortunately, our two main parties -- Republican and Democrat -- have
    >things under control in most states that make it very, very difficult for a
    >third party to get on the ballot and/or to have access to public funds
    >and/or have access to debates and other "public access" that they have.

    You usually have to have a lot of money and be able to get X% of the vote
    >in the state before you can be considered for any of those things. In
    >some/many cases, just getting on the ballot requires you have a petition
    >turned in, with X number of registered voters signing, before you can even
    >get on a ballot and start trying for X% of the vote.

    Yes. I guess our systems are a little different. We always have a few
    minor parties as well as the top 3, like the Green party who is all
    about reducing pollution and such but they are lucky to get one or
    two seats in parliament. That and the French parties out of Quebec.

    There are still some hoops to jump through to get on the ballot
    and then you have to win in enough areas to get a minimum number
    of seats to get Party Status, which our far Left party lost last
    election. (You need at least 12 seats out of the total of 343)
    But they are still there voting on things since they did win in
    a few (7?) ridings so the benefit of Status is a bit confusing.
    Obviously there must be some other benefits like funding and
    maybe the ability to even introduce a question or Bill at all
    in the House of Commons.

    But getting on a ballot is not that difficult as there is a group
    messing with the bi-election where Poilievre, the leader of our
    Conservative Party, is trying to win a seat after losing his own
    riding in the recent election.

    Anyways, this group has managed to get over 200 names on the ballot
    there (I assume running as Independants) to try to confuse the issue..
    You don't need much other than being legal to run in Canada and,
    depending on the riding, you need 50 or 100 signatures of residents
    wanting you to run there.
    ---
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  • From Mike Powell@618:250/1 to ROB MCCART on Mon Jul 28 08:41:12 2025
    Yes. I guess our systems are a little different. We always have a few
    minor parties as well as the top 3, like the Green party who is all
    about reducing pollution and such but they are lucky to get one or
    two seats in parliament. That and the French parties out of Quebec.

    Yes, I suspect it is more "open" and not so controlled by the long-standing parties.

    But getting on a ballot is not that difficult as there is a group
    messing with the bi-election where Poilievre, the leader of our
    Conservative Party, is trying to win a seat after losing his own
    riding in the recent election.

    Anyways, this group has managed to get over 200 names on the ballot
    there (I assume running as Independants) to try to confuse the issue..
    You don't need much other than being legal to run in Canada and,
    depending on the riding, you need 50 or 100 signatures of residents
    wanting you to run there.

    So you don't have to be a resident of the riding in order to run for office there? I have never thought much about that here. In Kentucky, you have
    to be a resident of the state, but you may not have to be a resident of the district that you attempt to represent -- that might prove difficult if you live in a state where they are always shifting the boundaries.

    Mike


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  • From Arelor@618:250/24 to Rob Mccart on Wed Jul 30 02:47:46 2025
    Re: Democrats Cracked?
    By: Rob Mccart to MIKE POWELL on Sat Jul 26 2025 08:41 am

    What often works out best (IMHO) is when (frequently) we get a party
    in power who didn't have a majority (50%+) so they need help to
    vote most things through, which you don't get without giving someone something in return. That swings the policies a little more one way
    or the other than they would maybe prefer, but not radically so.

    This is the state of affairs we usually have hear and it is quite bad.

    What usually happens is the party with the most votes wants to pass a certain bill no matter the costs, and will make a deal with smaller parties in order to pass it, paying ANYTHING they demand to them. You end up with a frankenlaw.

    The best we have been in recent History was the last time in which big parties were so low in votes that nobody could add up the votes to build a government. We spent around a year with no functional government at all. As a result the economy and general wellbeing in the country rose noticeably. It was headline material.

    That people didn't take the clue and realize we are much better off when politicians are tied and doing absolutely nothing is depresing.


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  • From Rob Mccart@618:250/1 to MIKE POWELL on Wed Jul 30 08:25:18 2025
    Anyways, this group has managed to get over 200 names on the ballot
    >> there (I assume running as Independants) to try to confuse the issue..
    >> You don't need much other than being legal to run in Canada and,
    >> depending on the riding, you need 50 or 100 signatures of residents
    >> wanting you to run there.

    So you don't have to be a resident of the riding in order to run for office
    >there? I have never thought much about that here. In Kentucky, you have
    >to be a resident of the state, but you may not have to be a resident of the
    >district that you attempt to represent -- that might prove difficult if you
    >live in a state where they are always shifting the boundaries.

    You don't need to be a resident of the riding you are running in,
    but you may have to be living in the same Province.
    But most Provinces have a lot of ridings considering we only have
    10 Provinces plus 3 Territories, but there are 343 Ridings..
    (a.k.a. Electoral Districts)

    That Provincial restriction is just for Provincial elections, not
    Federal ones. Sort of like comparing running for Governor there
    compared to running for President.

    ---
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  • From Rob Mccart@618:250/1 to ARELOR on Thu Jul 31 09:12:12 2025
    What often works out best (IMHO) is when (frequently) we get a party
    > > in power who didn't have a majority (50%+) so they need help to
    > > vote most things through, which you don't get without giving someone
    > > something in return. That swings the policies a little more one way
    > > or the other than they would maybe prefer, but not radically so.

    This is the state of affairs we usually have hear and it is quite bad.

    Yes, I suppose in some cases it can be taken to extremes and not be
    good for the majority of people. The only saving grace is if the
    politician involved does really stupid things they (hopefully) won't
    get elected again next time.

    As I mentioned earlier one deal that was made in a case like that
    got us Government Dental insurance at no cost brought in which is
    horribly expensive so those who already had coverage through work
    or are too rich to worry about the cost no doubt resent the cost
    involved being paid through taxes.

    It is based on income so it pays most of the bill for lower income
    people and less of the bill as income goes up finally hitting Zero
    when your FAMILY net income gets up over $90,000 a year.

    Not everything is covered, and nothing cosmetic. It's more for cavities
    and repairs and covers checkups and limited time (1 hour a year) spent cleaning/polishing teeth. Dental here is ridiculously expensive.

    I'm not sure how it compares to the USA but in the past I knew a
    lot of people who needed a fair bit of work going Mexico or something
    to get the work done at about 1/4 the cost.

    My recent bills.. a 2 surface filling cost $308 and a 4 surface
    filling was $379.. Pulling a tooth will run about $400 and a
    Crown can easily get up close to $2000. A thorough checkup with
    full X-Rays but no cleaning or other work done costs $250.
    That insurance rarely covers a Crown.

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  • From Digimaus@618:618/1 to Arelor on Thu Jul 31 15:05:57 2025
    Arelor wrote to Rob Mccart <=-

    What usually happens is the party with the most votes wants to pass a certain bill no matter the costs, and will make a deal with smaller parties in order to pass it, paying ANYTHING they demand to them. You
    end up with a frankenlaw.

    Shows how we as a society have a lack of morals and scruples.

    -- digi <8D~

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