Discussion: The REPUBLICAN Party XVII

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Again for anyone looking into the facts of this case it has been known that he was not going to be blessed with an honorable discharge. So for this administration to parade him as a hero is mind boggling but then again you really can do whatever the hell you want in your 2nd term since reelection doesn't matter and with the gridlock in congress I doubt Obama is trying to do what he can to leave Hillary (If she wins) a great starting point. As much as I love Obama at this point he really doesn't seem to care too much for the path he leaves behind him.

In my mind I think he is trying to stir the pot so to speak, and get everyone primed for how progressive and expansive we are going to get. Matt pointed out a great candidate I had never heard of in the Dem thread and I like what he is saying. But the fact is with the way the Republican's are doubling down on their backwards and insane views and they way the country is moving the Dem's can coast by on Presidential elections and let the Republicans take congress and both parties are happy with the gridlock since they are all getting paid by the same corporations

 

[Thundercrack85]

I really think they should just let this one go. Unless this turns into Homeland, they should just force Bergdahl to retire, and let him be. Five years with the Taliban is enough punishment for desertion. Taking him to court at this point is just overkill.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

I disagree. As ex-military myself there is a lot of things he will be entitled to that he doesn't deserve if they go that path like back pay and veterans benefits. He swore an oath when he signed up and if he didn't agree there are other paths he could've taken that didn't cost other soldiers lives like a conscientious objector which would have allowed the military to process him out under a general discharge. He signed up well after 9/11 and when both wars started and I understand that being out in the thick of it gets to you and weighs heavy but to let him slide for what he did would set a dangerous precedent for the military.

Should he be thrown in the brig and further tormented? No, just an other than honorable discharge and let him try to adjust to civilian life

 

[Thundercrack85]

I don't know how dangerous the precedent would be, since it involves a 5 year stay with the Taliban. I don't see too many people going that route...

But alright, a general discharge would be fine. I'm just saying, dragging him to court, and letting this turn into a media circus at this point is just overkill.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

I agree they need to be done with this but with the way the Republicans are demanding his blood and head on a pike this is going to be another Benghazi for Obama if they don't at least try and do something

 

[Schlosser85]

Part of me says, Bergdahl spent five years with the Taliban, stop poking at a fly with its wings torn off, just discharge him and let him fade back into anonymity.

But the Obama administration somehow trying to pimp him out as a returning American hero when his service record is....questionable, at best, is horribly, ineptly miscalculated and setting themselves up for the Republicans to be on this like maggots on a rotting carcass.

Not that it either excuses the ridiculous and blatant outright hypocrisy of the conservatives who were beating the drum for Bergdahl's return as long as they could make Obama look bad, and now that he's back, switching 180 degrees and condemning Obama for bringing home "the traitor". It's just so transparently obvious that they just take whatever side of an issue they can at any given moment to have something to criticize Obama about.

It's just all ridiculous. Obama and his administration are bumbling around bumping into each other, and the GOP are blatant hypocrites. There's no one to sympathize with here, except maybe Bergdahl's family who are getting shoved into the mess.

 

[SV Fan]

Part of me says, Bergdahl spent five years with the Taliban, stop poking at a fly with its wings torn off, just discharge him and let him fade back into anonymity.

But the Obama administration somehow trying to pimp him out as a returning American hero when his service record is....questionable, at best, is horribly, ineptly miscalculated and setting themselves up for the Republicans to be on this like maggots on a rotting carcass.

Not that it either excuses the ridiculous and blatant outright hypocrisy of the conservatives who were beating the drum for Bergdahl's return as long as they could make Obama look bad, and now that he's back, switching 180 degrees and condemning Obama for bringing home "the traitor". It's just so transparently obvious that they just take whatever side of an issue they can at any given moment to have something to criticize Obama about.

It's just all ridiculous. Obama and his administration are bumbling around bumping into each other, and the GOP are blatant hypocrites. There's no one to sympathize with here, except maybe Bergdahl's family who are getting shoved into the mess.

They could have easily attacked Obama for showboating and not telling congress and left it at that(and taken the high ground), but they just couldn't help themselves. No matter what Bergdahl did some of the attacks towards him and his parents are just plain nasty(even if everything they say is true).

 

[hippie_hunter]

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor lost his primary by a whopping margin. Kinda surprised by this one.

 

[Thundercrack85]

Not sure how they can go any more far right. This should be entertaining if nothing else. It's sort of like trying to out-Left Pelosi.

 

[hippie_hunter]

Not sure how they can go any more far right. This should be entertaining if nothing else. It's sort of like trying to out-Left Pelosi.

I really don't see this as the GOP moving further to the right and more along the lines of the GOP establishment got cocky and took the race for granted. Even with the establishment beating the Tea Party pretty handidly this year, there is still no reason to get arrogant about it.

 

[Thundercrack85]

The Tea Party does what it likes.

 

[hippie_hunter]

The Tea Party does what it likes.

Very true, but they're very disorganized, underfunded, and undisciplined. The only reason why they've been able to upset the GOP establishment at times is because the GOP establishment incumbents took victories for granted and got cocky. But when GOP establishment incumbents take Tea Party challengers seriously, the Tea Party gets crushed as we saw with Mitch McConnell destroying Matt Bevin. Looking more into the Cantor story, it's blatantly obvious that the Cantor team was extremely arrogant in their victory and had extremely faulty polling.

 

[SV Fan]

Very true, but they're very disorganized, underfunded, and undisciplined. The only reason why they've been able to upset the GOP establishment at times is because the GOP establishment incumbents took victories for granted and got cocky. But when GOP establishment incumbents take Tea Party challengers seriously, the Tea Party gets crushed as we saw with Mitch McConnell destroying Matt Bevin. Looking more into the Cantor story, it's blatantly obvious that the Cantor team was extremely arrogant in their victory and had extremely faulty polling.

It basically seems the Tea Party's way to the house or Senate is win low turnout primaries in heavily red districts

I give then credit for using the system to their advantage but I can't stand when they try claim they somehow share the majority opinion with the US public

 

[Persistence]

Surprised he lost, but I don't see how a Majority Leader who votes for TARP bailouts, increasing debt limit, and immigration reform is a 'Far Right' candidate. Cantor seems to have been business as usual, its important to look at actual results, not the rhetoric in Washington Post or New York Times headlines.

 

[hippie_hunter]

It basically seems the Tea Party's way to the house or Senate is win low turnout primaries in heavily red districts

Not really. If you look at some of these primaries like Mississippi's Senate primary or Eric Cantor's House primary, they were relatively high turnouts for primary races. The Tea Party's way to the House or Senate comes through two ways:

1. An open seat that doesn't have an incumbent. This is the easiest way for a Tea Partier to get the nomination because even though the establishment has preferred candidates, they're not as directly involved the way they would with an incumbent.

2. The incumbent is either ridiculously out of touch with his constituents (see Richard Durbin or Thad Cochran) or extremely cocky to the point where he/she doesn't take their Tea Party challenger seriously (i.e. Lisa Murkowski or Eric Cantor). This creates an opening for a Tea Party challenger to win an upset victory.

But if the incumbent takes the challenger seriously, the Tea Party challenger usually loses pretty badly. We saw this in Kentucky, we just saw it in South Carolina, and so on.

I give then credit for using the system to their advantage but I can't stand when they try claim they somehow share the majority opinion with the US public

Both parties do this. You really can't criticize one or the other when they're both equally guilty.

 

[SV Fan]

Not really. If you look at some of these primaries like Mississippi's Senate primary or Eric Cantor's House primary, they were relatively high turnouts for primary races.

High turnout for a primary or not, it's still a low turnout for the amount of people that can potentially vote. Just looking at the 2012 election Cantor had 220k votes so that means more then 70% of these people didn't even bother showing up to the primary yesterday

Both parties do this. You really can't criticize one or the other when they're both equally guilty.

1. Democrats actually do have a majority of America voting for them(that goes in the House, Senate and President)

2. Democrats generally point to polling to show they have a majority view on an issue.

 

[Kelly]

There is far more to read into the Cantor loss than a Tea Party win.....the Tea Party did little if anything for Brat's campaign. Laura Ingraham came out and did a rally for him. No national Tea Party group that I know of did anything for him, he sure wasn't on their radar.

What got Cantor was the fact that he never went home, the day of the election he was in Washington doing fundraisers for other candidates....he did $180,000 Steak Dinner Fundraisers and got beat by a guy that had only raised just over $200,000. To me its more of a slap in the face of an out of touch incumbent who had no idea who his constituents were and more about a guy that people liked who could talk hours about new ideas, rather than 10 minutes of talking points.

 

[Webfoot Hero]

There is far more to read into the Cantor loss than a Tea Party win.....the Tea Party did little if anything for Brat's campaign. Laura Ingraham came out and did a rally for him. No national Tea Party group that I know of did anything for him, he sure wasn't on their radar.

What got Cantor was the fact that he never went home, the day of the election he was in Washington doing fundraisers for other candidates....he did $180,000 Steak Dinner Fundraisers and got beat by a guy that had only raised just over $200,000. To me its more of a slap in the face of an out of touch incumbent who had no idea who his constituents were and more about a guy that people liked who could talk hours about new ideas, rather than 10 minutes of talking points.

That's basically what I'm getting from the stories about the race. Cantor was spending more time with Washington insiders and K Street lobbyists than his actual constituents. They got tired of him taking them for granted and then blowing off more than a few town hall-style meetings. I find it funny that Cantor, with all his resources, couldn't beat an economics professor, who actually missed several fundraising events to grade papers and who had a 23-year old grad student/campaign manager basically starting the whole campaign in a campus coffee shop.

 

[SV Fan]

I wonder if Cantor will try run as a write in candidate

Simple fact is the guy who beat him only got 36k votes(Cantor won with 220k in 2012)

 

[Kelly]

I wonder if Cantor will try run as a write in candidate

Simple fact is the guy who beat him only got 36k votes(Cantor won with 220k in 2012)

Doubtful, from his speech, and now stepping down as Majority Leader, I would be pretty comfortable and saying....no, he is not going to go the write-in route. That would guarantee a pretty much guaranteed Republican seat turning Democrat.....

Some are trying to say that Dems voted in the primary in order for this other guy to win.....but voting was down in usually democrat areas and hugely up in republican areas...Cantor just LOST and LOST IN A BIG WAY.

 

[SV Fan]

Doubtful, from his speech, and now stepping down as Majority Leader, I would be pretty comfortable and saying....no, he is not going to go the write-in route. That would guarantee a pretty much guaranteed Republican seat turning Democrat.....

Murkowski in Alaska won as a write in candidate for Senate and her name is much harder to spell then Cantor. lol

 

[wiegeabo]

He said earlier he wouldn't do a write in.

 

[Kelly]

Murkowski in Alaska won as a write in candidate for Senate and her name is much harder to spell then Cantor. lol

Totally different situation...and again, he is stepping down from Majority Leader, he wouldn't do that if he was planning on winning a write in campaign.

 

[hippie_hunter]

I wonder if Cantor will try run as a write in candidate

Simple fact is the guy who beat him only got 36k votes(Cantor won with 220k in 2012)

Virginia law prevents Cantor from doing that.

 

[Thundercrack85]

This guy must be something else, if he's to the right of Cantor.

I'm still not sure if this is a good thing or not.

This guy is probably going to try to ruin the country like his buddies, but his attempt may discredit the Tea Party further.