Open Thread - Politics Plus

@blatham,

You see, our cars aren't half as bad as us Krauts. I have a BMW myself after decades of driving the star, but you can't beat 4 years of free service.

In other news, the governor of Iowa is actively campaigning against Ted Cruz. This would be a first for any Iowan (?) official, yet Iowa has mainly farmland and Cruz is the biggest opponent of renewable fuels (naturally coming from Texas and being backed by big oil companies). The governor proceeds to tell his people that Iowans have to realize that Ted Cruz would
be very damaging to their state.

Of course Donald Trump "the huge one" had an immediate response via
twitter (he could use a proof reader) "Wow, the highly respected Governor of Iowa just stated that "Ted Cruz must be defeated." Big shoker! People do not like Ted."
I left Trump's typo in place! Smile

1 Reply

@CalamityJane,

The spelling error won't matter. Trump now will carry Sarah's neckerchief into battle. He'll be unstoppable.

My second bimmer. Love 'em.

1 Reply

@blatham,

Laughing my head off. One of my sports cars was a TR3 (I'm not sure of the number). Took it right back to the person I bought it from as it started freaking out about two miles from their house. It was the guy I hired's daughter's car. They took it back. I had a nice white MGB GT very cool, used, except that while I and everyone else was going over the limit in Marina del Rey, the hood flipped up and bent over the windscreen and I had a scary move to the side of the fast road, vision being occluded; soon found by a policeman who wrenched down the hood and followed me home to make sure I got there (say, ten blocks). Sometime years before that there was my second Fiat, the red convertible (I'd actually had a new good Fiat sedan before that, but I'd sold it to buy a new Audi, which broke down near San Diego and had to be towed. And so on.

The cheap red Fiat 124 convertable, I loved it. It had a transmission leak that needed attention and got it. Meantime, it was swell to ride Topanga Canyon in, happy days. Sold it to buy a van, to carry paintings.

Hey, I always had buyers for my cars.

I'd have more money now if I'd been saner about cars.
I'll try to shut up now.

Trump and Sarah, Disney on Parade.
That may be mean re Disney.

1 Reply

@ossobuco,

Why on earth would you try to shut up?

After the Sprite and a Triumph Spitfire, I was done with the English (though an Austin Cambridge worked out well). Had an A4 cabriolet that was little problem and I loved it. My Japanese cars Mazdas and an Acura were great. I've been more fortunate than you with autos, it seems. But you had California, damn you.

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@blatham,

We have a 2006 Acura TL, and it's been a great car - even though I don't put that much mileage on it. Wink

Still looks like new.

1 Reply

@blatham,

You know why England fell behind in the personal computer race, don't'cha? They spend too much trying to develop a leaky oil pan.

1 Reply

@blatham,

I also finally wised up and bought a Toyota Celica. Had that one a long time. When it was in old age, that's when my friend suggested I buy her Volvo as she was moving up... which I did. It was great, rather majestic. It also saved my life. I was at a west LA intersection waiting for the light to turn, it turned to red with me in mid intersection and a woman behind me, and while I was turning left, some lugnut changed lanes, swooped around and hit me, and the Volvo did a twirly. Much ado happened, big clog up. The police were there fast, fire people showed up.
The good thing is that both a guy at a bus bench and the woman behind me stayed to stand up for me.

The redlight runner's family tried to sue, but my insurance co. backed me.

Long will I love old volvos, they had good bones.

1 Reply

@cicerone imposter,

the TL is a great car. And quite beautiful, I think. Good pick, man.

1 Reply

@roger,

And their computers had Lucas electrics.

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@ossobuco,

One cannot go wrong with toyota. Been true for a long time.

A friend of mine in a Volvo was following a truck carrying lumber. The lumber came lose and hit right where the windshield and roof meet. The roof did not move down, just sideways.

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@blatham,

blatham wrote:

The spelling error won't matter. Trump now will carry Sarah's neckerchief into battle. He'll be unstoppable.

This is actually a big deal. I know you guys are all being the "cool" crowd 'cause it's cool to degrade women when they are white Republicans. But, Palin's endorsement should put the stake in the Cruz campaign as they (Trump and Cruz) are competing for the same voters. Palin will solidify Trump's position with that particular voter block.

Despite your sarcasm, insults, degradation, and other various internet bullying or whatever it is that guys do, that block exists and it ain't small.

http://www.electproject.org/_/rsrc/1437674011310/home/voter-turnout/demographics/CPS%20age.png

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@McGentrix,

Quote:

Despite your sarcasm, insults, degradation, and other various internet bullying or whatever it is that guys do,

Look up Alinsky. Killarys pen pal.

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@McGentrix,

Quote:

I know you guys are all being the "cool" crowd 'cause it's cool to degrade women when they are white Republicans.

You got us nailed dead to rights on that one. Likewise you got nailed some other cool crowd dudes like Rod Dreher over at The American Conservative who headlines his piece...

Quote:

GOP Drops Acid (crossed out) Palin Endorses Trump

and whose first sentence reads...

Quote:

If I were a Democrat or a comedy-show writer, I would be on the floor now flopping and hallelujah-ing like a holy roller at an Alabama tent revival:

http://bit.ly/1nxN5ph

At National Review, Charles Cook describes this exciting endorsement as...

Quote:

the inevitable and rational confluence of two ghastly cults of personality

...Like Palin, Trump has embraced his ignorance and wielded it as a sign of strength and normality against the ever-protean “elite.”

http://bit.ly/1nxNqbk

1 Reply

@blatham,

Oh, yeah, right. I forgot that as long as someone else does something, that makes it ok for a liberal. I don't know why I keep forgetting that. What a perfect justification.

1 Reply

@McGentrix,

Please explain what it is the fellow at National Review and the other fellow at The American Conservative are doing that is wrong?

1 Reply

Not so much politics but more like sociology - a review of a book I'd like to read:

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jan/20/this-is-london-by-ben-judah-review

I'll not use a clip, better to read the whole review, but I'll show the photo at the start of the book review -

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/f777f515de70ab66311283ccd8ac8bd1db20e2bc/267_62_1880_1129/master/1880.jpg?w=620&q=85&auto=format&sharp=10&s=0784ad830cfc6fb8233910170dcf2b17

Multitudinous and multi-ethnic … Whitechapel High Street, London. Photograph: Rex Features

0 Replies

@blatham,

blatham wrote:

Please explain what it is the fellow at National Review and the other fellow at The American Conservative are doing that is wrong?

Not a thing, they are doing their jobs as political hacks.

Did you read this from that fellow at the American Conservative?

Quote:

Well, I thought the Palin speech was grating and idiotic, but then, I would think that. But in terms of politics, I agree with Scott Adams: it was probably a home run for Trump.

Before Palin took the stage, my colleague Daniel Larison tweeted that Trump, who gassed on about his greatness for over 20 minutes, was saying the same things that made us all dismiss him as a joke six months ago. Who’s laughing now? You wanna laugh at this year’s model of Palin too?

She’s a much better articulator of Trumpism than Trump himself is. She’s upbeat, she’s folksy, she brings the you-betcha populism home hard. Her entire message was, “They think they’re so much smarter than us, but our Donald, he’ll show them! Come on, gang, are you with us?” She’s a much more practiced giver of speeches than Trump is, and much better at it. It doesn’t matter that people like me blanch at her whiny accent, her cheesy rhetoric, her dopey malapropisms (“squirmishes” for “skirmishes”). She killed on that stage.

Trump is not favored by the "Republican Establishment" which really means he won't bend to their will. They should have considered that before they allowed him to run on their ticket. They were afraid of his running as independent and guaranteeing a Dem win. They hedged their bets and now have to pay for it.

1 Reply

@blatham,

It even has a navigation system - that still works! LOL

1 Reply

@cicerone imposter,

So? The early VW Beatles had little plastic arms that you could flip out to indicate an upcoming turn. I bet they still work, too.

1 Reply

@roger,

I know that the innovations at VW were superior. Who else could have thought about a flip out plastic arm?
However, wasn't VW fined a few million bucks for cheating on smog output? Now, that's technology!

1 Reply

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