Saturday’s Forum

FILED UNDER: Open Forum
Steven L. Taylor
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog). Follow Steven on Twitter

Comments

  1. Teve says:

    Yesterday a dolt on Facebook was praising the confederacy because “that’s our Southern Heritage” and “they were fighting to be free of tyranny from Northern Carpetbaggers” (his profile photo featured Donald Trump, who I presume was born in Tuscaloosa Alabama) and I remarked that Nazis are a part of German heritage but only racist dipshits go around celebrating them. This morning I awoke to a response from one Kristi Mashburn, who said

    Teve Tory do you realize that people of all different races fought on the Confederate side?

    I shall not be engaging Kristi in a discussion. I think instead I’ll be browsing the issue of Vanity Fair which just arrived.

    5
  2. CSK says:

    @Teve:
    Ironic, isn’t it, that the epitome of a loud, brash, vulgar New Yorker should have become such an icon to southerners (or sympathizers) such as Kristi Mashburn, who otherwise despise anyone from the north and especially from one of the five boroughs.

    It’s even more ironic that they’ll never know how deeply Trump despises them because they’re not of the Manhattan haut monde, which he’s always wanted to be more than anything else.

    6
  3. Teve says:

    @CSK: other people made similar comments to mine, and Kristi has devastated our arguments by telling us “you need to read a history book.”

    I fear my self-confidence may never recover.

    4
  4. CSK says:

    @Teve:
    You could tell Ms. Mashburn to read the Declaration of the Secession of South Carolina, which makes it eminently clear that the only state’s right SC was interested in preserving was the right to keep slaves.

    I’m deeply sick of these ignoramus revisionists.

    10
  5. Teve says:

    @CSK: the Secession Statements are really hard to dispute, aren’t they?

    4
  6. CSK says:

    @Teve:
    I would think virtually impossible.

    4
  7. CSK says:
  8. sam says:

    Speaking of Egypt, the restored tomb of Queen Nefertari. A reminder that the Egyptians, like the Greeks, painted their statues and temples.

    3
  9. Teve says:

    LOL Paul Rudnick said Lauren Boebert needs a gun in case that person in the mirror calls her stupid.

    1
  10. Teve says:

    Slate (which is apparently a pay site now?)

    Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is ready to continue fueling speculation that a presidential run could be in his future. Earlier this week, a poll found that 46 percent of Americans would like to see the actor run for president. Johnson tweeted a link to an article reporting on the poll with words recognizing that he may not be the most traditional candidate but it’s something he is keeping in the back of his mind. “Not sure our Founding Fathers ever envisioned a six-four, bald, tattooed, half-Black, half-Samoan, tequila drinking, pick up truck driving, fanny pack wearing guy joining their club—but if it ever happens it’d be my honor to serve the people,” he tweeted.

    The poll showing almost half of Americans think The Rock could give a presidential run a shot comes after the former professional wrestler has been explicitly stating he was thinking about running. In 2017, the Fast and Furious star said he was “seriously considering” a run for the White House. In February, he said the possibility is still rolling around in his head. “I would consider a presidential run in the future if that’s what the people wanted,” Johnson told USA Today in February.

  11. CSK says:

    Trump will be delivering the keynote address at the annual RNC spring donor bash this weekend. Conveniently for him, it will be held near Mar-a-Lago.

  12. DrDaveT says:

    @Teve:

    Teve Tory do you realize that people of all different races fought on the Confederate side?

    Hundreds of Jews served in Hitler’s army, some as high-ranking officers. I wonder if Ms. Mashburn thinks this is an important fact.

    2
  13. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @Teve: @CSK: Do remember that in the minds (or lack thereof) of the Kristi Mashburns of the world that there’s no particular connection between racism, slavery, and the proto-Christian apologia that allowed Southerners to proclaim that blacks were an inferior race ordained by God to live a slaves.

    And yes, that level of cognitive dissonance IS breathtaking.

    2
  14. Teve says:

    For a long time Max Boot was an apologist for the GOP. He still portrays the rot as a recent aberration, instead of a 5-decade progression. But it looks like he’s not immune to reason:

    Most Republicans don’t care that Trump locked up children, cozied up to white supremacists, tear-gassed peaceful protesters, benefited from Russian help in both of his campaigns, egregiously mishandled the pandemic, incited a violent attack on the Capitol and even faced fraud complaints from his own donors. A new Reuters-Ipsos poll finds that 81 percent of Republicans have a favorable impression of Trump. Wait. It gets worse: 60 percent say the 2020 election was stolen from him, only 28 percent say he is even partly to blame for the Capitol insurrection, and 55 percent say that the Capitol attack “was led by violent left-wing protestors trying to make Trump look bad.”

    This is a portrait of a party that can’t be saved — at least in the foreseeable future. The GOP remains a cult of personality for the worst president in U.S. history. It has become a bastion of irrationality, conspiracy mongering, racism, nativism and anti-scientific prejudices.

    1
  15. CSK says:
  16. Teve says:

    @Just nutha ignint cracker: Kristi has left the discussion and been replaced with some brainless chump saying things like “Yall need to learn what it was really about cuase yall believe them liberal professors who wanna act like it was slavery and it weren’t about that at all…” and I Peaced Out hours ago. 😛

  17. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @DrDaveT: Yes, it’s most likely that she does. Cognitive dissonance and all that.

  18. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @Teve: Continuing on the cognitive dissonance theme, there’s no such thing as “peaceful” protesters. All protests are forged in the furnaces of violence and Satanic evil, merely waiting their opportunity to erupt in a frenzy of violence against the innocent.

    And before you even start, Teve Tory, let me note that the event of 1/6 wasn’t even a protest. It was the patriotic citizens of a great nation rising up in anguish at the injustice of a system perverting democracy and threatening our great country. Rising in unison to try to save this great nation. And they’d have succeeded, too, if it hadn’t been for you meddling kids.

    (Oops, accidentally pasted something from another script. My bad. 🙁 )

    1
  19. OzarkHillbilly says:

    Proud Boys and other far-right groups raise millions via Christian funding site

    A data breach from Christian crowdfunding site GiveSendGo has revealed that millions of dollars have been raised on the site for far-right causes and groups, many of whom are banned from raising funds on other platforms.

    It also identifies previously anonymous high-dollar donors to far-right actors, some of whom enjoy positions of wealth, power or public responsibility.

    Some of the biggest beneficiaries have been members of groups such as the Proud Boys, designated as a terrorist group in Canada, many of whose fundraising efforts were directly related to the 6 January attack on the United States Capitol.

    The breach, shared with journalists by transparency group Distributed Denial of Secrets, shows the site was used for a wide range of legitimate charitable purposes, such as crowdfunding medical bills, aid projects and religious missions.

    But the site’s permissive stance towards far-right actors meant groups who had been banned from other fundraising platforms and payment processors following episodes of hate speech and violence have also used the platform.

    It’s the Christian thing to do, right?

  20. Teve says:

    @Just nutha ignint cracker:

    And before you even start, Teve Tory, let me note that the event of 1/6 wasn’t even a protest. It was the patriotic citizens of a great nation rising up in anguish at the injustice of a system perverting democracy and threatening our great country. Rising in unison to try to save this great nation.

    And also, too, it was violent and deadly because it was really Antifa in a False Flag operation to discredit Patriots, and Real American Trump supporters weren’t within 100 miles of the place.

  21. Teve says:

    @OzarkHillbilly: I’ve got half a mind to start the 6 Percenters* and start fundraising to save America from the Globalist Soros One-World Yamulke-wearing WINK WINK FEMINAZI HILLARY BENGHAZI SECOND AMENDMENT UN SOY BOY SODOMITE LIBTARD ANTIFA PAJAMA HUGO CHAVEZ DOMINION…uh..where am I?

    *our motto: why give money to the 3%ers when we’re twice as powerful!

    2
  22. dazedandconfused says:

    @CSK:

    On the topic of secessionists, Allen West:
    https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/09/politics/allen-west-texas-kfile/index.html

    A black man urging southerners to secede takes the biscuit.

    1
  23. Teve says:
  24. Teve says:

    Holy Fork.

    @RepMattGaetz

    I may be a canceled man in some corners. I may even be a wanted man by the Deep State.

    But I hear the millions of Americans who feel forgotten, canceled, ignored, marginalized and targeted.

    I draw confidence knowing that the silent majority is growing louder every day.

    I’m at a loss for words.

    1
  25. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @Teve: I’m not:

    Dear Matt Gaetz: You are a dumb f*ck whiney ass rich boy who had the skids greased your entire life and was never taught how to treat a lady. Canceled? I wish. Hear? Hell’s Bells boy, how can you hear when you won’t STFU? But you won’t STFU because you know if you do you will be forgotten, canceled, ignored, marginalized and not even bothered to be targeted. You wrap yourself in victimhood as tho it were a kings robe: “Oh woe is me….” gack.. ack… gag me with a spoon.

    That silent majority you hear is a chorus of one. You, and we just wish you really would stfu.

    1
  26. OzarkHillbilly says:

    via Anne Laurie at Balloon Juice, Tom Lehrer turned 93 yesterday: He was/is the greatest musical satirist of all time (until a better one comes along)

    One funny mf’er.

    1
  27. JohnSF says:

    @Teve:

    I’m at a loss for words.

    “Pity Matt Gaetz ain’t…” (murmured Matt Gaetz’s lawyer).

    1
  28. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @Teve: Yeah. That was what I meant to write, but I clicked the wrong sentence in my stock list. 😉

  29. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @OzarkHillbilly: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=I%27ll+hold+your+hand+in+mine&view=detail&mid=A995759AE87D6F5AA947A995759AE87D6F5AA947&FORM=VIRE0&ru=%2fsearch%3fq%3dI%2527ll%2bhold%2byour%2bhand%2bin%2bmine%26cvid%3dff3d93e79dae42b9965aecf2cfb14ee4%26aqs%3dedge..69i57.22567j0j1%26pglt%3d299%26FORM%3dANNTA1%26PC%3dHCTS

    I sang this at a “talent show” party held by (and at the suggestion of) the woman I met in graduate school that I eventually married (and divorced several years later, oh well). A relatively young tenure track professor and his wife had been invited, too. Professor to be loved the song, his wife looked at me like I was an ax murderer while I was singing it.

    I used to play Tom Lehrer songs as background music at parties I threw, too. It was fun watching people’s expressions as they realized the songs weren’t what they sounded like.

    1
  30. JohnSF says:

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    I wonder if “Proud Boys” in American usage has anything like the snigger-inducing connotations it has in Britspeak?
    “I’m a Proud Boy!”
    *entire pub collapses in helpless laughter*

    1
  31. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @JohnSF: Not when a Proud Pus… I mean, Boy says it.

  32. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @Just nutha ignint cracker: My old man loved Tom Lehrer and had every one of his albums so I came by my love of him honestly. I play him from time to time and my Spanish born wife always gives me a bit of a queer look when I do.

    What can I say, English was her 4th language and I think that’s why she just doesn’t quite get it.

    PS: I am seriously jealous of your piano talents. I think I’d have gotten laid a lot more if I could have played Tom Lehrer.

  33. Teve says:

    @davidOAtkins

    The future looks like a combination of AOC-style and Yang-style politics, set against a Tucker Carlson-style white supremacist counterrevolution.

    1
  34. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @Just nutha ignint cracker: I had forgotten all about the Masochism Tango.

    1
  35. JohnSF says:

    @Teve:
    Joe Biden gives side-eye: “C’mon, man.”

  36. Teve says:

    The U.S. did 4.6 million vaccinations today if what I’m reading is correct.

  37. Kurtz says:

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    rich boy

    When VITAS, the hospice company he founded, was sued by DOJ for filing false Medicare claims, Don Gaetz publicly said that the suit was for action taken by the company after he sold it.

    He sold VITAS in 2004, but the suit alleged that the activities under investigation go back to “at least 2002.” Call me cynical, but if the fraud indeed started in 2002, it’s not difficult to see it as his company committing fraud to inflate the value of the company before sale and him being able to distance himself from wrongdoing in the future.

    Florida sure loves their politicians who make a habit of defrauding Medicare.

    Matt Gaetz, one of the people most likely to invoke “the swamp” is, quite plainly, a creature of said swamp. The whole family, as a low-rent political dynasty, is the epitome of the stated fears of their most loyal defenders.

    Williamson should be careful what he wishes for when he advocates “better voters.” The dumbest, least informed ones seem more likely to vote the same way he does.

    1
  38. Jax says:

    @Kurtz: If he really wants to require a civics test, I’m down. I suspect most anybody who’s recently become a US citizen knows more than some so-called “Real Americans™”.

    1
  39. Teve says:

    @Jax: if we want to bias voting strongly away from conservatives, all we have to do is give them a one question test. Name the recent law that protects your medical privacy. Everybody who spells it HIPPA is disqualified. Boom. In 2024 Kamala Harris wins the Presidency with 538 Electoral College votes.

    1
  40. Teve says:

    @shanegoldmacher

    New: Former President Trump attacked Mitch McConnell as a “dumb son of a bitch” in his speech at the RNC donor retreat tonight, per an attendee.

    Trump also said he wished that Mike Pence “had the courage” regarding not supporting certifying the election and that he was “so disappointed” (though he said he also likes Pence).

  41. Teve says:
  42. Jax says:

    @Teve: I recognize that slit-eyed look. It’s part lizard and part drunk/on drugs.

    Little shout-out to DMX…Trump’s gonna make me lose my mind, up in here, up in here.

    The less we link them, the less they make. 😉