No kidding.
George Clooney is making sense:
“I’m disillusioned by the people who are disillusioned by Obama, quite honestly, I am,” he said on ABC News Now’s “Popcorn with Peter Travers” before today’s release of “The Ides of March.”Democrats eat their own. Democrats find singular issues and go, ‘Well, I didn’t get everything I wanted.’ I’m a firm believer in sticking by and sticking up for the people whom you’ve elected.
“If he was a Republican running, because Republicans are better at this,” Clooney continued, “they’d be selling him as the guy who stopped 400,000 jobs a month from leaving the country. They’d be selling him as the guy who saved the auto-industry. If they had the beliefs, they’d be selling him as the guy who got rid of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ who got Osama bin Laden. You could be selling this as a very successful three years.”
I’m more than disillusioned by these people. I’m sick and tired of them. When you have so-called progressives arguing that Bill Clinton has a better record on LGBT issues than President Obama does, there’s a serious problem. When you have progressives calling for President Obama’s impeachment based on nothing but the opinions of Glenn Greenwald, there’s a serious problem.
At this point, the Professional Left and their sycophantic gripers inspire more loathing in me than right-wingers.
(H/T The Obama Diary!)
As if there aren’t enough already, here’s yet another reason to love George Clooney …
I constantly have the sense that Clooney is one of the smartest people in any room, anywhere.
I’m a firm believer in the same thing.
Is there a reason all these wingnut ads keep showing up on your site? Or is it because my browser is a fascist?
I keep getting Macintosh software ads. Must be your browser and/or computer :-)
With Google ads, you don’t control the ads, just the size and placement.
Clooney points out what many pragmatic liberals knew for a long time – the Professional Left are a bunch of Professional Whiners. Damn shame that the dude from ER makes more sense than your average political commentator.
“Damn shame that the dude from ER makes more sense than your average political commentator.”
Yup. And on this, he’s damned right.
The Frustrati seem to think that tearing down President Obama is going to make things better. Not only are they dead wrong, but it’s painfully clear that they are seriously deficient when it comes to American history over the past forty years.
Score one for Clooney!
“The Frustrati seem to think that tearing down President Obama is going to make things better. Not only are they dead wrong, but it’s painfully clear that they are seriously deficient when it comes to American history over the past forty years.”
But…but…at Netroots, he told us to keep his feet to the fire
There’s lighting a flame on him to warm him up, and there trying to burn him at the stake…..
Do they know the difference, or even care
“Strange” i just checked both FDL and Huffpost, neither of these blogs have ran with this story, though both couldn’t wait to run with the Matt Damon story.
Sometimes I can’t distinguish Frustrati sites from Fox “News”.
I was thinking about Matt Damon after I read this interview..as in Clooney’s statements seem to be the exact opposite of his buddy, Matt.
Did they bring out the “disappointment” on Education from Damon or is there a later one I’m not aware of?
Thanks, insipid.
I was just about to say “George Clooney: Smarter than Matt Damon. Hotter than Matt Damon.”
This ‘professional left”, I am not if they are actually Democrats. or, do they even votes? If they vote, they probably vote Green or Socialist.
Clooney got it right. As did Cappadonna; they are very many in the commentariat who make sense.
Clooney is right and I’m so disillusioned by the people who are disilluseioned by Obama.
I share Clooney’s sentiment completely.
The election of Obama has not only exposed racism on left, but it has also exposed other issues we’ve had for decades. It’s exposed our lack of patience and inability to expand our message to a larger audience.
We really, really need to get our s**t together. And not only does the ‘professional left’ not know a good thing when they see it (in President Obama); they are totally oblivious to stakes being a lot higher in 2012. My goodness, haven’t they taken a good look at the GOP lately? Why would you give any of these guys a chance? Even if I continued to be a whiner, the direction the GOP is now going would have me voting for Obama anyway. These guys really need to wake up.
Thank you for this, ABL! It’s grand to have George Clooney on the same page. It’s a direct contrast to those who are “disappointed” for ONE reason or another and can’t or won’t look at the overall accomplishments of President Obama.
The whole problem is, that people will dismiss this as another “Hollywood star trying to be a talking head.” I admire Clooney for speaking out, I admire him for making sense. What needs to happen is that higher powers in the Democratic Party NEED to be saying this for it to have any real impact. But as usual, they are running around like Chicken Little.
Love George…live about 4 miles from George’s parents…love all the Clooneys!
Republicans might criticize George for trying to be another talking head, but George is smart enough to do it. Nick, his father, is very astute and it was passed down to George and his sister Ada!
The sad thing is that there are so many stupid people out there who will never accept a half white/half black man, period. He is so intelligent, so effective, so cool and such an inspiration for so many it boggles the mind that his own party can’t handle it. Human beings have become so enamored with their own intellectualism that they can not accept what a tough job being President of the United States really is. Imagine having to sit across the table from John Boehner and Eric Cantor and not stand up and bitch slap them both and then kick their pathetic asses because you can. If it was me, I would have clocked them both by now to remind them that I am the President of the most powerful nation of people in the world today Honestly, when people lie and cheat I take measures to protect myself. If not by beating them senseless so they never do it again, or finding someone to do the job for me, either physically, emotionally or both. Who has President Obama’s back?
Yeah, ’cause it was clearly Obama that hunted down bin Laden. He masterminded that whole thing. And as wonderful as the bailouts that the GOP gave out, Obama has given away far more. And as for human rights, didn’t Obama promise to close Club Gitmo, and didn’t he keep that promise, as well as keeping us out of new wars?
You gotta hand it to Clooney. He’s brilliant.
/sarcasm mode off
He signed an executive order to close Gitmo
The countries of those prisoners dint want them back, and Congress cut off the purse strings, Dems and Reps to facilitate the closing, and in the case o KSM, that was the local NY pols that bitched up and abandoned Obama and Holder on that
Also, on health care, if its so bad, why re the current crop of republicans, especially Romney vowing to repeal it? And what give aways did President Obama give that would make him as bad as these Republicans?
And if he’s just as bad, just vote third party and move on
Clooney needs to replace Carney as press Sec’y, not saying Carney isnt doing a good job, but god damn.
How did they let this one slip though, it screw up the narrative that America hates Barack Obama
If Barack Obama were a Republican doing the exact things he’s done (e.g., more “free” trade agreements, a mandate to buy private insurance, tax cuts for the rich, etc.), people like Clooney would eat him alive. The only sycophants here are those blinded by partisanship.
There’s one problem with your analysis.
Obama isn’t doing anything that a Republican would do. Which is why the Republicans hate him so much.
Sure because no Republican would do anything like escalate the war on marijuana.
you are doing exactly what george clooney is disillusioned by. you are taking one issue and saying you did not get everything you wanted. look at the bigger picture.
Timothy Geithner, Larry Summers, extending the Bush tax cuts, failing to even investigate, let alone prosecute, anyone for the financial collapse, appointing Goldman Sachs lobbyist to the Treasury Department, sinking the public option all on his own, expanding domestic surveillance of citizens, expansion of Afghanistan war, and the utter, abject failure to challenge the GOP on issues of substance and principle.
He was the best hope for restoring social justice to America, and he killed that hope the minute he took office. The Corporatocracy continues. He’s a center-right politician at best.
And if it were just one issue, Clooney would have a point. It’s not just one issue. Escalating the war on marijuana, lowering taxes (Reuters has a piece about this from ~3 hours ago) on millionaires, defending warrantless wiretaps, supporting the PATRIOT Act, and so-on. And, yeah, when you’ve spent that much time and taxpayer money on defending the PATRIOT act, remaining silent on Prop. 8 speaks volumes. obama isn’t a moderate, he ain’t a liberal, he’s a freaking neocon.
Let’s not forget his bush league anti-science stance on “Plan B”. Or how about that oil pipeline he was stumping for?
Umm, about Prop 8. First, it was a state issue, and Obama was a candidate for Federal office in 2008. Second, when you say he remained silent on it, you’re actually, you know, lying.
http://www.calitics.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=6307
Now I can be disillusioned with Clooney. I really thought he was a true liberal but now he is playing the part of an apologist. Obama should have been tough from day one instead of trying to accomodate the right. They were never going to compromise! Instead of starting in the middle every time he should have been starting where we really wanted to be and ONLY then negotiate. He gave into the right at almost every turn. With that said I will fully support the 2012 election campaign.
To all you pragmitists out there–go F off! You and your kind are damaging and dangerous for the future of our country.
LMFAO! It’s emoprogressives like you who are the real threat. You’re so busy whining and complaining to accomplish anything.
I’m a true liberal, pal! But, unlike you, I’m a liberal who wants results, not more whining and complaining from the likes of you.
70 – 80% of the liberals in this country are ready to move forward. Its the minority of idiots like you are in the way.
Either be a part of the solution or get the F out of the way!
This is a wonderful example of why Republicans kick liberal ass. Democrats at each others’ throats, blamin’ and namin’. When people like you learn to have reasoned discussions without acrimony and pull together in spite of differences in opinion, the conservatives will start losing again.
You appear to have mistaken the people clogging this thread with their Obama Derangement Syndrome for Democrats. They are not. They are purists untainted by association with any actual political party, or else GOP ratfuckers copying & pasting Disillusioned Liberal Script #37 from their boiler room in Virginia.
Then that is your fault for listening to what you wanted to hear.
He’s always been a centrist, he’s always talked about working with Democrats and Republicans to solve problems, and he’s done so by including what was left of the reasonable republicans into his administration.
Your type is in the minority, at least 78% of liberals want to re-elect Barack Obama, you barely make it to 20%
So, if you hate everything, just check out, stay home and pout and leave building the country up though incremental change to us
Well, Schore, you are entitled to your opinion.
But, I am not buying your argument. I will take pragmatism over your version of ‘idealism’ 100 times out of 100.
Have a nice day.
“Pragmatism” is just the name that Dems give for a lack of balls, for a tendency to pander to big money and Wall Street, to fail time and again to make any kind of case for social justice and progressive values. When Dems call themselves “pragmatists” they think they’re being all grown-up and realistic, but they’re not – they’re being pussies. They’re giving in without a fight. What the Dems call pragmatism, the Repugs call defeat.
The level of obtuseness required to dismiss pragmatism is unbelievable. It’s one thing to believe that he could’ve done more. The thing to do would be to explain a better strategy for dealing with Boehner and Cantor. These guys made the debt ceiling a circus. They only passed one part of the Job’s Bill. How do you get them to act right? If you can come up with a plan that could stop that kind of obstruction, you’re better than any politician in D.C.
Excuse me George, but trivializing our problems with Obama like that does nothing but further alienate the liberal base who, if you will take a minute to remember, elected Obama. Would you like a short list of legitimate grievances with Obama? 1) He left Geithner, Summers, and Bernanke in place, thereby cementing the Goldmann-Sachs connection (in case your memory fails you, these are the people who CAUSED the derivatives crash). 2) He has instructed his DOJ to lay off of Wall St criminal prosecutions for the above mentioned crash. 3) His insistence on attempting bipartisan solutions with a Republican party that has stated and shown over and over again that they refuse to work with him has resulted in the watering down to the point of near ineffectiveness every regulatory initiative he has proposed. 4) His DOJ and DHS have worked with local law enforcement to brutally crack down on OWS demonstrators all across the country, while he took a trip to Australia. Shall I go on? These are not insignificant, meaningless problems. I am voting for him again, because the alternative is horriffic. But these are not trivial and insignificant issues.
Obama is an extension of Bush. I think the people who find any difference between democrats and republicans are disillusioned. They are 2 sides of the same coin. What has Obama done differently from Bush??? NOTHING….Ron Paul 2012 for REAL change.
Ron Paul? Oh, please.
If there’s no difference between Democrat and Republican, then why is Paul a Republican and not a Democrat? Why is he even in one of the major political parties.
Obama is not an extension of Bush. If you think ACA would have passed under a GOP President then you’re disillusioned. If you think the repeal of DADT would have happened under a GOP President – then it’s you who needs to have their head examined.
And with Paul, if you want a President who would overturn major parts of the Civil Rights Act, go right ahead and support him. If you want a President who would continue the same failed economic policies that got us in the financial crisis of 2008, go right ahead and support him. And it’s amazing to me how some OWS protesters actually think Paul is on their side!
But none of this matters, because Ron Paul will never become President. End of story! He doesn’t have enough support within the GOP and if he ran as an independent, his chances would be even lower. All he would end up doing is splitting the vote among conservatives. That’s it.
How he praises how Galveston, TX handled the flood of the early 1900s should tell you something.
He hates FEMA, but is sure to direct funding to Galveston every chance he gets
He cool with you smking your weed, but if you need real medical help, like his 2008 campaign manager, who wasnt insured, just leave him to die and put that family into debt, its magical
if you want to live in a Ron Paul type paradise, Somalia is the country for you
I would ask you how is that so, but seeing you might be getting fed from the teat of Glen Greenwald, I choose not to inquire
Ron Paul? He represents corporate interests to the millionth degree. Ever read about the John Birch Society…the organization he belongs to? If not, you really should!
http://lawsonzepeda.blogspot.com/2011/12/ron-paul-and-john-birch-society-or.html
Clooney is a fool, and his movies are garbage. You sheep need to stop sucking up to celebrities, and begin doing research instead of gobbling up every clip that appeals to your short attention span.
I don’t like George Clooney’s movies either (with the exception of “Brother Where Art Thou”). However, I agree with him on this. I think both him and Martin Sheen are correct on this…Obama is doing a great job of President.
i feel so blessed to have the benefit of your wisdom, Mr. Sux. do you have a newsletter to which i might subscribe?
I want to read your newsletter as well.
I am sure that it is brilliant.
I’m willing to bet the newsletter will garner a good audience if it’s republished here. Though the feedback may be a bit…interesting.
I can’t let even the slightest Ron Paul apologisms go. It is true that John McCain, Jon Huntsman and Barrack Obama want to reinstall Glass Steagal; but with any of those three leading it will be still be necessary for the people to assemble and petition for redress of grievance. The office of the President needs the support of people assembled to be able to overlook the ever-present bank lobbyists.
There is pervasive collegiate mythology active that claims Ron Paul is anti-war, anti-prohibition, and anti-plutocracy. Not one of these three claims is true. Many people think Ron Paul will legalize pot and he has never said any such thing. What Paul wants to do is remove the federal penalty component of the drug war which removes the only means by which huge banks who launder money through Mexican drug cartels can be combatted. Paul has only said that he’d leave decisions about legalization to the states which makes legalization absurdly impossible.
Not even Nevada (with its lush green pastures cough cough) could farm marijuana without the USDA, process it without an FDA, and no one could collect proper taxes without a repurposed DEA bulwarking the ATF. Instead it would be true that Nevada would move immediately to replace what they lose in Federal funds to operate/employ its police/state workers with increased citations, fines, and detentions. More hillbillies would go to jail and stay and Ron Paul would not care.
Consider recent evidence that banks launder money through drug cartels:
bloomberg 6.28.10
http://bloom.bg/bqGMmf
the guardian 4.2.11
http://bit.ly/hjdTAL
latimes 12.27.11
http://lat.ms/sxNKlt
new york times 12.4.11
http://nyti.ms/rGYk4O
some of the problem is with legal ownership of property in mexico. often no deed is required so fat european companies can launder money through cartel based purchases that no one can prove that they own. citation from latinlawyer.com http://bit.ly/vWzTXU petitions like this one ask to get corrupt mexican officials tried by the ICC/Hague instead of being tried in Mexico
http://www.petitiononline.com/CPI/petition.html
http://bit.ly/ssHZCQ – english translation
(can sign that petition even if you don’t speak Spanish)
Ron Paul is the paid spokespolitician for warplane companies and banks that are famous for laundering money. Opensecrets makes it at least as clear that where affiliates, employees, and subsidiaries of warplane companies are noted that they are merely the tip on an iceberg (think upon episodes of Breaking Bad where Saul Goodman donated back to Walt through his son’s website donation page with thousands of stolen identities). There are very likely incentives where Lockheed matches employee donation of x (money or miles walked) with amount y. At the very least Ron Paul is not ashamed to take money in this way and he didn’t give it back the way many gave back BP campaign money. It may sound like a stretch but remember that Lockheed was actually caught bribing the Yakuza and that the US government had to bail Lockheed out afterwards.
http://i.imgur.com/jlv0W.jpg
http://bit.ly/tZN79E paul paid by lockheed
http://bit.ly/vahJF lockheed pays mafia/yakuza
http://ti.me/88pNQh lockheed periodically bailed out
http://bit.ly/grz0UM trolls love paul
http://bit.ly/I1cHm sock puppets love paul
http://bit.ly/htRdn8 sock puppets we paid for
Ron Paul doesn’t think he is a villian. He believes (like many members of “military intelligence” who see the past and present, but cannot predict different possible futures) that he is part of a Nash non-cooperative equilibria and that “mutually assured destruction” is the only way forward. Nash (yes the guy from Beautiful Mind) is disproven when you remove credible threats from his equilibria. The John Birch Society (Alex Jones is one of these now) used to paleoconservatively proselytze all things anti-communist. Birchers got sad when communism was no longer a viable threat, so they’ve been trying to turn “arab spring” into “arab uprising.” Its ridiculous. Anyone can see that now is the right economic time to monetize the disarmament phase of our global economy.
Also weird but true: Iran already owns Lockheeds, Boeings, and Northrops. Its Iraq who hasn’t been unoccupied long enough to start buying US subsidized warplanes. Iraq still has MiGs. Of course Ron Paul wants to let the Military Industrial Complex he represents in to Iraq after the US Military is gone so that they can try selling a whole bunch of $150,000,000 F-22s to Iraq. Of course he does.
http://bit.ly/sCbm38 10 other reasons
http://bit.ly/b1ZXuV nailing them with rosa parks
I am disillusioned by Clooney’s delusions and comments he made.
I’m disillusioned myself by the people who are disillusioned by Obama.
If I was to write all my, what other people call political, views some would want to find and burn me, so I will keep it light I HOPE.
For those folks that are negative towards our President. Please stop and look the the overwhelming situations he came in to. It would not have mattered who took office, and it usually does not, nothing can be changed enough to fix the engine. It is too big and way too many pokers in the fire. Not tajlking about any party or the such.
That’s it, hiding in the BBQ
To George Cloony…
Oh Brother Where art thou?
Why do they aim so low?
We SHOULD have a one World government but not in the hands of bankers and eugenicists. Only in my hands inspired by the hands of GOD.
I am not a religious man.
I am not cynical about World peace.
All these movies and elections flow beneath me like a river.
I am contact. I am peace. I am order out of chaos.
What are they?
They are greed and ego who would make names for themselves for themselves to alter history.
I would show that I take all the money and power in the World with a grain of sand and cast it back into the ocean.
All the people here are lost…
But still we love them and hope to save this Earth.
I am http://www.AloneALONE.com
Sorry, dude, but it looks like you’re the one who’s lost.
He aims low because it simply doesn’t affect him. But you are correct, of course.
Clooney says, “I’m a firm believer in sticking by and sticking up for the people whom you’ve elected.”
I’m not…not if they aren’t doing what they promised!
I voted for Obama. I won’t vote for him again. He has accomplished some great things. I won’t deny him that; but he SHOULD have as the leader of this company. Are we scoring presidents these days on getting some things done or fixing our problems?
My problem with Obama is that he has become a political puppet, IMO, for bipartisanship. He has chosen to remain too safe in some areas and I voted for him to enact “CHANGE” which what he represented himself to do; not to buddy up with the people who screwed up this country to begin with.
I don’t blame Obama for the economy, I blame Bush. I understand that he came into a difficult situation and tried to give him points for that. But, even with these things considered, I cannot vote for him again. That doesn’t mean I will vote for the GOP. I will go much further out and try Stewart Alexander for change!
What did Obama do to correct Bush’s tax breaks given to multinational companies?
“Though the tax break lured them into bringing $312 billion back to the United States, 92 percent of that money was returned to shareholders in the form of dividends and stock buybacks, according to a study by the nonpartisan National Bureau of Economic Research.
This money comes from overseas operations and in some cases accounting maneuvers that shift domestic profits to low-tax countries. The study concluded that the program “did not increase domestic investment, employment or research and development.”
Indeed, 60 percent of the benefits went to just 15 of the largest United States multinational companies — many of which laid off domestic workers, closed plants and shifted even more of their profits and resources abroad in hopes of cashing in on the next repatriation holiday.”
(Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/20/business/20tax.html?pagewanted=all)
Here’s something for Clooney and his lunacy on supporting a leader.
“Dear American: We don’t like unions or high-paying union jobs, so we’re sending manufacturing jobs offshore. We’re not going to support the communities that this will disastrously impact when all those jobs are lost because, frankly, we don’t give a damn. We’re going to do little or nothing to retrain the individuals who have lost those jobs due to offshoring. But don’t worry. The stock market will do better, and trickle-down economics tell us that someday, somehow, good jobs, different jobs, will come back to America.”
(Source: http://www.progressiveliving.org/editorial_offshoring_American_jobs.htm
I’m sure Mr. Clooney isn’t too concerned about this since it really doesn’t impact him as an actor. But for the rest of us, this IS a big issue. So Mr. Clooney, for right now, you aren’t speaking for me. Come down from your ivory tower and go jobless for awhile like many Americans and THEN let’s see how loyal you are to one person you elected.
So then…your realistic, plausible alternative would be???
I had to Google her Messiah Stewart Alexander. Socialist candidate for the Presidency, whose qualifications appear to be losing every election in which he’s ever entered by humiliating margins. Can’t you smell the purity?
When you can’t even bring in 1% of the vote, that’s looking up at the floor.
And when most people’s reaction to your candidacy is “Who?” you’re not going to get even 1%.
Yeah, that’s a real hardcore solution there…
You had to Google…FABULOUS! And YOU vote? Glad to see the common American is well read on all of his or her options. Now for your next act, do you play a shell game to choose your candidate?
Wow, you had one chance to convert me to your faith and you chose to be an asshole instead. I’m not joining your church, thanks anyway!
If you can’t even be bothered to research who is running, then don’t vote. Your political and philosophical laziness does nothing to help the country. It only further digs the country into the decline it has been spiraling on for some time. Settling for mediocrity out of sheer ignorance is timeworn, but stupid.
Shouting wildly from the pinnacle of unwarranted arrogance, Jennifer Lawson Zepeda shrieked:
First, the facts. When you’re running for President and the reaction most people give to your candidacy is “Who?” you’re not only going to lose, you’re going to have no practical effect on the outcome. So the notion that Joe Schmo from Idaho will somehow provide a way out of the “decline” you decry is completely mistaken. Like it or not, running for office is a sales job, and the candidate and platform are the product.
Now, on to the erstwhile candidate and the above-mentioned sales job. Sometimes, good marketing can fail to save, or even kill, a bad product. Just to point this out in a simple way, here’s one of the most awarded commercials in television history:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yulxnzAsWEM
Southern Airways was not a good airline. Where are they now?
Think on that.
Now, let’s talk tone. We already know you’re politically irrelevant, your candidate of choice barely registered statistical significance in any of the campaigns he’s run. Calling me “ignorant” or “lazy” will have a positive effect on that how, exactly?
Bluntly, pouring all your energy into the campaign of someone that’s never likely to register on anyone’s radar, even should he somehow be granted both immortality and an unlimited budget, is the dictionary illustration directly adjoining your beloved word “stupid” – and you can consider that merely a glancing blow from a blunt instrument of truth. Pray you do not receive the direct impact next time.
This is not some sort of thought experiment, this is a choice between imperfections, in the real world, not the abstractions in your addled head. In that real world, there is one and only one thing to remember when it comes to such matters as electoral politics:
The object of the game is to win.
Without that, you get to make exactly no choices about your own future. With that, you get to make some. Not all, some. Some is better than none 100 times out of 100.
It’s not therapy, it’s not self-actualization, it’s electoral politics, and it makes a difference only if you win. Short run? Long run? I’ll take either of those over “also ran”.
And here’s one more thing I would like to add to “That Guy with the Ponytail’s” point. It deals with the hard cold realities of our system of voting.
In the U.S., we have what is known as “vote plurality.” This basically means, “winner takes all.” Whoever gets the majority of the votes gets the power. Those in the minority get nothing. It does even matter if the minority gets 49% (or 49.9%), they still get nothing.
Now, in Europe, most countries have “proportional representation” in that even if a political party gets a minority of votes, they can still get seats in the legislature. The political party’s vote percentage has reach a minimum threshold and this varies from country to country. In some countries, a political party only needs 5%. In others, it’s as high as 20%. And of course, the parties with higher vote percentages get more seats.
Our vote plurality system makes it extremely difficult for any third party to break through (especially on the national level). Yet, people who support third parties are under the mistaken impression that their vote counts like it does in a “proportional representation” system. Well, it doesn’t. Unless a candidate is running extremely high numbers, there is no way they can be a serious challenge to the major political parties. The best 3rd parties end up doing is splitting off votes from one of the political parties to the detriment of the other. But, there are so many times when the votes are so low, a 3rd party can’t even manage to do that!
Even a 3rd party candidate with name recognition has low chances. Ralph Nader has way more name recognition than this Stewart Alexander, but has failed at every attempt at running. Even Theodore Roosevelt, who was a former President, didn’t succeed when he ran on a 3rd party ticket! And TR was the most successful of all 3rd party candidates in U.S. history.
The fact is that this option is plausible, but it’s going to take more work, dedication, and TIME than most who support 3rd parties are willing to sacrifice. And it may be a situation where a 3rd party would have to start on the local and state levels before trying to go national. Unfortunately, from the behavior I’ve seen among many involved in 3rd party politics, I’m not so sure if there will ever be a serious challenge to either of the major political parties.
So, please be my guest and vote for Stewart Alexander. But, what are you going to do when he inevitably loses? It may even be a situation where the votes he receives are so small that he doesn’t do any real damage to either of the major political parties.
If you are comfortable dealing in political fantasyland, you will probably have no problem with this inevitable loss. But, what about those who want real change (even it if happens incrementally)? Thanks, but no thanks.
Well put.
I had the interesting experience of meeting the local Green mayoral candidate a couple cycles back.
It was interesting because when I asked her how, as mayor, she’d get her agenda through a city council where she had no allies, I was treated to a blank stare of a response.
Look at it as though building a house. Does it make sense to begin at the roof-peak and work downward to the foundation?
Hey Ponytail – as a former Green I can tell you that many who pollute the third party movements aren’t citizen-activists tired of the two party duopoly. They’re the kind of wackos, freaks, rank opportunists and puritanical wannabe tyrants that both Major parties usually dump off. So yes, they were good people (plenty of them) in the Green Party. But it was also divided amongst the kind of aged hippies, truthers, Mau-Mau militants of every ethnic stripe and left wing cranks with martyr complexes that would make many emo-progs cringe.
So, no offense to all the uber-lefties, but this sharecropper’s son ain’t buying the horse manure you’re selling. I’ve seen these wack-a-do fairy tale candidates before, who can promise us a New Age Marxist Utopia but don’t know the basics of managing budgets, can’t manage to win a seat on a neighborhood watch and whose entire political operation could fit into a Porta-Potty. The Left needs to stop looking at this political navel-gazing and face realities about how our nation works.
Despite what people think the Tea Party nuts aren’t something that sprung up over night. The Right has been build this over 20 years, Obama’s election and the Banking crisis were just the match to the gasoline. And, when push comes to shove, they can actually fix real problems (they’re right wing douches, but they can fix stuff) The Left, by chasing vanity candidate, nitpicking over relative non-issues or grandstanding on Democracy Now and actually focusing on fixing things that actually matter for real people – no 3rd party liberal candidate will be anything more than a minor pest to the Democrats at best.
“They’re the kind of wackos, freaks, rank opportunists and puritanical wannabe tyrants that both Major parties usually dump off. So yes, they were good people (plenty of them) in the Green Party. But it was also divided amongst the kind of aged hippies, truthers, Mau-Mau militants of every ethnic stripe and left wing cranks with martyr complexes that would make many emo-progs cringe.”
Agreed, and amplified. They’re absolutists who live in abstractions that exist entirely within their own minds.
You wouldn’t happen to be referring to the screedster prompting my response a couple boxes above, by any chance?
Let’s be nice – Ponytail. Nothing against Ms. Zepeda, but her candidate ranks up there with “The Rent is Too Damn High” cat and Donald Trump as a waste of political oxygen.
Shouting wildly? Syntax isn’t BIG with you, is it, you poor little man — with a “pony tail!” (What an image that leaves one of the stereotypical aging hippie that Repulicans love to laugh at and equate the rest of us with!) Way to show me!
Now here is a little Marketing 101 for you…from a political standpoint. Ever hear of Senator Barry Goldwater?
In 1964, the Republican candidate, Senator Barry Goldwater had a complete lack of support from the Republican party. He lost his election to Johnson who successfully portrayed Goldwater as a “dangerous extremist.” However, Goldwater’s unsuccessful bid influenced the Republican Party and the modern conservative movement and still does. Which brings us to today’s candidates…follow along now, okay?
If you go down through history and research other candidates who have run on an independent ticket, you will see some other familiar names who gained branding through time. Names that have enacted change through other means by helping to draw up legislation that might baffle your small mind if you knew the impact of said legislation. For instance, take into consideration the current state of affairs that renders many of America unemployed and foreclosed upon. Are you so dull that you think this snuck up on us in one presidential election?
If so, here’s a history lesson in banking for you to learn why our country is in the state it is today…something lengthy but beneficial for the pseudointellectuals who view politics by Google populist rhetoric. Granted, it isn’t nearly as sexy as your “Southwest Airlines” humor, but it is educational for the nitwit political blowhards who have to Google political candidates to see who they want to vote for and justify their reasons why.
http://lawsonzepeda.blogspot.com/2011/12/history-of-bankingas-it-applies-to.html
About marketing — Building a brand often takes time; but, if you fill a need (which is what marketing is all about) your “product” can take off like wildfire if given the right circumstances. Nobody votes for a person like Stewart Alexander believing he will overcome the bipartisan system of voting the first time he runs. To assume so is the height of stupidity! But even Newt Gingrich has built his brand (as deporable as it is) to the level that he is running neck in neck these days for the number one GOP candidate to run against Obama. How do you think this came about?
We vote for candidates like him to enhance his “brand” and to send a message to both parties that they need to do better.
Right now, it’s fairly obvious that Obama will win, based simply on the GOP candidates set forth and some of their well publicized failings…even if Obama is sitting at a 44% approval level by most polls.
As for your laughable rah rah compadres admitting their naivety as well…I’m left EXTREMELY unimpressed. You’ve certainly been programmed well by our Prussian Educational “Go TEAM” system — where the policy makers take the 2% cream of academic thought and knowlege to control the rest of us. Your bottom run team mates and their Google abilities prove that some people really shouldn’t vote, as I’ve said. But they suit you well with your feigned arrogance and laughable analysis of marketing. Go for your candidate, pony tailed man, but don’t blame me when your job is the next to fall by the wayside. At least, I can move forth with a clear conscience that I didn’t settle for more of the same. I’m left very unimpressed by internet blowhards and their rooting squads, but go ahead…show me how brilliant you are! I love good comedy. BTW, now I’ve done some shouting…get it?
Of course you voted for PBO.
I believe you. I really do
And there you have it! And as my grandmother used to say “Stop of it!”. I firmly believe this attitude and lack of overt championing and supporting of the Pres. suppressed the turnout of Democrats in the last election and allowed these awful govt hating, incompotent not-yet-ready-for-prime-time -players to regain control of the House and thwart everything the President has tried to do for the middle class. Not only is it amazing what he HAS been able to accomplish in three years – given the obstructionist unprecedented legislative terrorism of the GOP Congressional wrecking crew, it’s an absolute MIRACLE