29-08-2016, 09:53 PM
My comments in red
Paul Rigby Wrote:Consider that some polls found that 68 percent of adults think the country is on the wrong track and a recent average of six polls on the subject concluded that 64% of adults feel the nation is moving in the wrong direction.[/QUOTE]
This fit of wishful thinking overlooks the fact that the Republican congress has an 18% approval rating (latest Gallup poll) while Obama's approval rating has been north of 50% since early March.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/1600/congress-public.aspx
http://www.gallup.com/poll/113980/Gallup...roval.aspx
This means 2/3 of the nation's adults no longer buy into the Establishment/ mainstream media's narrative that the economy is expanding nicely, things are going in the right direction and Hillary Clinton has a lock on the presidency.
In 2009 the Republican Party leadership decided to oppose anything and everything Obama proposed -- even policies they agreed with.
This wholesale, knee-jerk obstruction has been unprecedented.
The GOP opposes extending unemployment benefits, supports cuts to food stamps, blocks raising the minimum wage, blocks infrastructure projects, blocks extending health care to the poor, and on and on and on.
If the Democrats pulled that stunt with a Republican president the GOP would be screaming "treason!"
Merry scored the economy as a positive for the incumbent party, but based on the public's view of where the nation is heading, I suspect the reality that the economy is weakening rapidly can no longer be hidden from the voting public. If we score the economy as a negative, that's nine negative keys for the incumbent party, well above the six minimum.
Yeah, it's brutal paying $2.16 a gallon gas ::rofl::, opening up 401k statements stuffed with high priced stocks, and facing a labor market where layoffs are at a 43 year low.
Fuck'n Obama...
Based on this analytic structure, Trump may not just win the election in November--he might win by a landslide--with landslide usually being defined by an overwhelming advantage in electoral college votes or 60% of the popular vote.
30% of the electorate is non-white.
Trump is running a blatantly white supremacist campaign.
His "outreach" to blacks includes celebrating the gunshot death of a mother of 4 in Chicago; his "outreach" to Hispanics includes throwing a "Taco Bowl" party in Southern California attended by 100 people, only half of them Hispanic.
Demographics are destiny, and the Goopers are screwed.
As improbable as this may seem at the moment, consider the improbability of Trump capturing the Republican nomination.
I didn't find it "improbable" at all. Last September I wagered $10 to win $30 that Trump would win the GOP nomination.
The modern Republican Party is NOT conservative -- it's reactionary.
And Trump is the biggest reactionary to come down the pike since George Wallace.
Consider the nature of Clinton's support: a mile wide (encompassing the entire Establishment) but only an inch deep.
People widely distrust Clinton -- and widely despise Trump.
It doesn't even look like the guy really wants to win.
If the mainstream media has failed to persuade the American public that everything's going in the right direction, why should anyone remain confident that they can persuade the American pubic that Hillary will be their president come heck or high water?
This comment reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the American electorate and the American media.
The claim that the mainstream media has been trying to persuade the American public that everything is going in the right direction is an egregious absurdity.
Charles Hugh Smith appears to know fuck-all about America.
As I have noted before, there are very few ways left to stick your thumb in the eye of the elitist, predatory, self-serving Establishment that won't get you tossed in prison other than voting against their candidate, which in this election is Hillary Clinton.
No force in American politics is more predatory and self-serving than the Dominionist Oligarchy supporting Trump.
Memo to Clinton supporters: if you want to persuade the American public the nation is going in the right direction, you'll have to actually change the direction rather than just promise more of the same.
Memo to Charles Hugh Smith: the Republican Congress is more to blame for gridlock than the Dems, and if we want that to change we need to get rid of the treasonous pricks with the R by their name.