Mad_Machine76
Mad_Machine76's JournalI really have a hard time with this argument
As a lay person with no access to anything other than basic knowledge reported by the media and having lived through the Persian Gulf War and the rest of the 1990's, I felt reasonably certain that Iraq was well-contained (no-fly zones, hello?) and couldn't threaten anybody and that, had things been different, it would be common knowledge and made screaming headlines everywhere. Truth is that Iraq was only a "threat" because Bush/Cheney cherry-picked RAW intelligence from the CIA, most of which was questionable to begin with, and because they were able to successfully exploit everybody's fears about more serious attacks than 9/11 because 9/11 had recently happened and everybody was already worked up about it. If you want to make the argument for invading Iraq on other grounds, that's one thing, but claiming to have been deceived by a dumber person with an already well-established penchant for lying and his deceitful "Co-President" whom was a part of group that was known to have been forcefully advocating for regime change in Iraq years before is just ridiculous IMHO.
This is where I'm at, unfortunately
Feels like an unfortunate rerun of our 2006 midterms victory. Little accountability for serious concerns and kowtowing to “moderates” constantly afraid of their own shadows.
I'm not AOC so I will not speak for her
But, while essentially true, *I* would take it as being dismissive and probably be a bit irritated with such a statement.
I don't want to feed into any kind of complacency when it comes to Trump/2020
I don't think that he has a good chance in 2020. I think that a lot of people are worn out and fed up with his bad behavior and Democrats and progressives are highly energized to vote against him and his enablers. Plus, his support has been consistently middling/weak. These are good signs but we cannot let our guard down and assume that it's in the bag. We still need to select a top notch candidate for 2020 who can present a competent, well-qualified, and rational alternative to Trump, which *should* be easy, but we also need to be unified and have their backs 24/7/365 until Election Day against the right-wing Trump smear machine.
You've hit on part of the problem
It will not be as big of a struggle to get rid of Trump as it will be to get rid of Trumpism, Birtherism, Tea Partyism. Not only will we need control of both chambers of Congress and the Presidency but we will absolutely need Democratic leaders whom won't constantly wring their hands at the slings and arrows the Republican leftovers will send our way while trying to fix/improve things. Getting rid of massive obstructionists like Mitch McConnell would go a LONG way towards getting things done. I'm not saying that we shouldn't expect to have to compromise along the edges to get things through- because there are still going to be different factions of Democrats to have to work with too, but we have to be prepared to reject and fight efforts to derail us. Oh, and keeping up the work to fight voter suppression/electoral shenanigans and just voting every two years is going to be hella important too. Otherwise, the right will take on a new form and rebound and start obstructing and/or taking us backwards again in a few years time. We MUST break the cycle we seem to be stuck in.
Which is really scary
because if something ever happens (for real) that we the people REALLY need to know about, we'd be so screwed because we wouldn't know for sure (or without further verification) whether or not what we're being told by Trump, et. al was actually real and not a diversion or a distraction or hoax.
What I would like to know
is, can the US ever be counted on to honor any of our agreements one President makes with other countries if the next President can easily back out of them? Note: I'm not saying we can't re-evaluate agreements if new circumstances arise, but it shouldn't be an easy process or shouldn't be for specious reasons (i.e. not liking the previous President)
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Name: Mara Alis ButlerGender: Female
Hometown: Indianapolis, Indiana
Home country: USA
Current location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Member since: Sat Feb 28, 2004, 01:13 AM
Number of posts: 24,412
