Politics

[bobquasit]

I've been making some lengthy comments - posts, really - on the Democrats blog, if anyone is interested.

First thread (now closed).

Second thread (still open).

The posts are made under my own name, so just search the pages for "Peter" or "Maranci". I assume that no one from the Democratic Party is actually reading the goddamned thing, of course.

Hmm, I just noticed that these are secured sites, so you may need to actually register in order to read them. If that's the case, maybe I'll post the text here sometime - although I'd probably have to start a Politics filter, I guess.

Comments

[charibdis.livejournal.com]

I have no problems reading those links without any registration.

[klyfix.livejournal.com]

Looked the threads over; perhaps the most interesting thing was the professed Christians disgusted with the GOP claiming in effect Divine sanction.

The thing we really, really need to keep in mind is that we don't have to persuade fifty percent of the Masses; 48% are with us (pretty much) already. We only need to get a few, comparatively. The GOP does not, absolutely does not, have a secure majority and they do not have enough control to prevent a change in the mid-terms when three or four or more percent of the people may very well shift their support. Yes, it was disappointing that the People voted to keep Bush and perhaps as somebody said we need to elect a new People but we make a serious mistake if we assume that the 51% or so who voted for Bush are all lockstep followers or complete morons. Some are, no question, but some voted for Bush for reasons that may not be relevant for the mid-terms and that won't carry on to the next GOP Presidential candidate.

So we're not in Germany in 1933 and Bush isn't Hitler and the GOP isn't the National Socialists. At worst we're going to have some social backsliding to the Fifties, well, and the US isn't going to be the dominant economic power any more. Sure, I'd like to see the country split and let the South go its own way with the rest of use reorganizing or maybe forming a new state with all or part of Canada; if something like that doesn't happen the "Culture War" is going to be pretty much on in perpetuity. But the Reality is that the US muddles on despite a history of buffoons in various areas of power. We're not going to have a dictatorship and we're not going to go splat; the Religious Right were pretty much saying the exact same things in the Seventies, just with different devils.

[charibdis.livejournal.com]

When you say we only have to persuade a few percent of the masses to vote for non-republicans you assume, in my opinion incorrectly so, that those votes you changed will be counted accurately.

Indications are very strong that this was not the case in either the 2000 elections or those of 2004, and bringing more voters intot the fold isn't going to change how accurately those votes are or are not counted.

[klyfix.livejournal.com]

If you mean the exit polls, there's an interesting bit at The Washington Monthly's blog. It appears that exit polls just about always wildly exaggerate the results for the Democrat, and it is just not true that exit polls are particularly accurate. Also note that the exit pollsters don't discuss their methodology. Basically, well, there really doesn't seem to be all that much justification for the "We wuz robbed!" idea this time.