The General Election

zoogs said:
@GOP: Really, guys, this was the straw that broke the camel's back?This is what it took to suddenly remember that you had daughters and wives? And that that was a reason for treating women as people?Spare us. Y'all threw in for Trump knowing full well who he was. You own him. You just don't think he can win, now -- and you're busy trying to save your own hides.
Click to expand...
Might want to lighten up a little bit there. Not everyone that supported him knew "full well" who he was or everything he stood for. Sure, some thought him reprehensible before and still supported him for various self serving reasons. It's not a very good look to complain about those who are distancing themselves from him even if many of them should've done it sooner. How about just trying to be happy that his true character and the full weight of the situation is beginning to be realized by more and more people.

 
JJHusker1 said:
zoogs said:
@GOP: Really, guys, this was the straw that broke the camel's back?This is what it took to suddenly remember that you had daughters and wives? And that that was a reason for treating women as people?Spare us. Y'all threw in for Trump knowing full well who he was. You own him. You just don't think he can win, now -- and you're busy trying to save your own hides.
Click to expand...
Might want to lighten up a little bit there. Not everyone that supported him knew "full well" who he was or everything he stood for. Sure, some thought him reprehensible before and still supported him for various self serving reasons. It's not a very good look to complain about those who are distancing themselves from him even if many of them should've done it sooner. How about just trying to be happy that his true character and the full weight of the situation is beginning to be realized by more and more people.
Click to expand...
I have to balance the happiness with the exasperation. As I mentioned to BRB -- they've had many chances to decide what their priorities were. To make it clear, though, this is directed substantially less at voters, many of whom probably don't follow that closely.

Trump's ugly, very public swipes at Megyn Kelly were made over a year ago. His feud with Rosie O'Donnell and the other charges go way further than that. His treatment of the Gold Star parents, that was this summer. His questioning of the Mexican roots of the federal judge handling his Trump University case, that was before that -- and at the time, a prominent Republican Senator offered that this was the off ramp everyone was looking for, if they wanted to take it. What they've done, up to that point and through many ugly, disgusting episodes since then, was instead to double down and support the guy. Heck, the day he announced the campaign was the day he fueled the fire about Mexican criminals and rapists. Ugly language for anti-immigration fearmongering on which the party otherwise ranges from tepid opposition to enthusiastic support. See the 2013 bipartisan efforts at immigration reform that was abandoned and repudiated by its Republican participants, who nonetheless suffered among their party for it, long before Trump's rise.

If those endorsements were hollow all along, then equally so are these denunciations. These people did not discover that they had daughters today. That they up to this point were still endorsing him lays bare their values and priorities.

This is damage control, and it shouldn't be automatically accepted. Ref John McCain, who as part of his statement said that Trump and Trump *alone* should bear the consequences.

By the way: http://www.redstate.com/brandon_morse/2016/10/08/leaked-emails-show-trump-tool-used-hillary-campaign-day-one/

^ Politics is ugly, isn't it? The two things I have to say to that are:

1 - You can't force something on people who weren't already willing to accept it. That Trump and Cruz led the way was largely because they spoke to the hearts of two (largely non-overlapping!) parts of that base.

2 - I can't say I'm a fan of being complicit in enflaming and activating even already latent tendencies for the sake of political victory. Nor can I say that I'm surprised a party would love for the worst of the other side to be on display.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
They knew what he was. When you see it all laid bare, it's almost enough to make you sick to your stomach.


They knew exactly what they were dealing with. They explained it away because it was politically expedient for them, and because they convinced themselves, oh this 70 year old man will suddenly mature and become more presidential once the stakes are high.

Almost all of them, save for a select few, chose the same route: Party before country. That's a damn shame. That select few is the small number that I still have any kind of respect for.

Watching some of them waffle spinelessly in the wind, ala Cruz and Rubio, was especially pathetic.

The party of personal responsibility, indeed.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Well if that is the standard then I guess Hillary supporters are really no better. If we are to go back and lump in every single indiscretion by a candidate and then hold supporters accountable for being fully advised of every single flaw, well, it's not a bright day for either side or party.

I understand that Hillary supporters now want to have their moment of glee and rub it in but you might want to rethink that approach. Many of you have stated how Hillary is not a good choice but just a better choice than Trump. Do you really want to be held accountable for all of her baggage in the process? It seems maybe you do.

Maybe I should be glad that I bailed on both of them a long time ago and leave it at that. But I also realize there are some inconvenient truths in our political party system. As many have acknowledged prior, it is more a process of selecting the least distasteful candidate than it is picking a good one. Seems quite disengenius at this point in time to be crucifying those fleeing Trump unless you want to be held accountable for supporting the ugly aspects of Hillary Clinton. The fact that Trump may have more and worse skeletons may help assure victory but it sure doesn't improve the look of Hillary support.

C'mon, you guys know how politics works. There are almost always some unsavory aspects that have to be overlooked. I'm just glad that so many more have reached the breaking point with Trump. And now, what about Hillary...?

 
Either a person is of high moral character or they aren't. Another's shortcomings in that area have absolutely nothing to do with it. That is not an equivalency, it is a fact.

 
This is probably a good time to remember that there was one Republican official who put country over party and refused to support Trump from the start; and that was Ben Saase.

 
Back
Top