Posts Made By: James Brown

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

Here's a look at some of the numbers:
"Overall approval rating jumped to 47%, up 8 points from the NPR poll last month. Presidents don't generally see much, if any bounce, out of a State of the Union address. Since 1978, there had only been six times when a president saw an approval rating improve 4 points or more following State of the Union addresses, according to the pollsters. Three of those bounces were for former President Bill Clinton.
Ukraine handling is up 18 points to 52%.
Coronavirus pandemic handling is now 55%, up 8 points.
Economic handling up 8 points to 45%."

https://www.npr.org/2022/03/04/1084463809/biden-approval-poll-ukraine-economy

I am sure the poll bounce is real.  The outbreak of war better give the US president a poll bounce.  Do you remember Bush's polls after 9/11?  See below.  This is not yet and hopefully never will be a war with direct US involvement, but heaven help Biden if the past 8 days do not give him a significant poll bounce.  Jim

Originally Posted by James Brown

I am sure the poll bounce is real.  The outbreak of war better give the US president a poll bounce.  Do you remember Bush's polls after 9/11?  See below.  This is not yet and hopefully never will be a war with direct US involvement, but heaven help Biden if the past 8 days do not give him a significant poll bounce.  Jim

538 is not so sure though.  As of today, they are not seeing broad evidence of a bump in Biden's overall polling and they have some thoughts as to why, here:  https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/americans-care-about-the-invasion-of-ukraine-but-that-doesnt-mean-they-will-rally-around-biden/?ex_cid=biden-approval

Originally Posted by Greg Shaffer

Considering the Ukraine was Hillary's top contributor there is some truth to what Tucker said......

Depending on who you read, Ukraine is/was:

A. Hillary's top contributor
B. Trump's stooge through Manafort
C. The Biden family's own personal gravy train through Hunter and his board memberships
D. Did Jared and Ivanka enrich themselves in Ukraine?  I can't remember...  
E.  All of the above.

Anyway, from the American elite's perspective is Ukraine a country or a cookie jar?  

None of this effects my opinion of Putin and his actions of course.  And obviously, none of the blue collar Ukrainians who are being killed and having their country destroyed had anything to do with these scandals.  

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

Guy Reffitt, a Texas three percenter and avid supporter of Donald John Trump, was found guilty by a jury of his peers on all federal counts against him:
1. Transporting guns to DC.
2 . Carrying a Smith and Wesson handgun onto restricted Capitol grounds.
3. Wanting to obstruct the certification of the 2020 election.
4. Interfering with Capitol police.
5. Obstructing justice
He faces up to 20 years in prison when he's sentenced on June 8th.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/08/politics/january-6-reffitt-verdict/index.html

Sounds like justice was served.  Sounds like his wife is as crazy as he is.  Was there any testimony linking him to Trump or his senior aids?  I assume not, can you imagine the headlines if there were?  So I don't think this is a big deal politically.    Jim

Originally Posted by James Lacey

But I get it. Your need to downplay January 6 and claim it was only a few isolated nutjobs, despite all the evidence that it was more than that, is entirely in keeping with your irrational need to defend every immoral and reprehensible thing Trump did while in office.

Hi James:

I'll keep an open mind, but so far, I have not seen any info come out of these investigations that link Trump to the conspiracies hatched and acted upon by the more organized factions of the people who breached the capital, people like this defendant.  So, while I am not downplaying January 6, I am downplaying the importance of this conviction.  It is good police work, a good prosecution and a just outcome.  

In my view, Trump gave a fiery and provocative speech.  It may have been ill advised, but it was not criminal.  There was a ton of ambiguity in the speech too, so I doubt Trump had any plan at all, he was just blabbing away.  Sometimes CNN portrays Trump as a fool, sometimes he is portrayed as an evil genius whose deep plans brought us to the cusp of totalitarianism.  Personally, I only buy the fool characterization.

It looks like the DOJ will get to the bottom of most everything to do with Jan 6 and prosecute several hundred criminals.  Good for them.  I will be shocked if they lay a glove on Trump.  At least based upon what I have read so far, which is frankly not that much.   

I think it is clear the overarching story theme from CNN, and embraced by people like Rod, is that the Jan 6 criminal activity was sanctioned by or even planned by Trump and is condoned by a vast majority of Republicans.  It is a lot like the Russian collusion myth that way.   I think this story theme is sort of desperate on CNN's part.  Sadly, the "Trump is a seditionist" story line is only making him stronger.  It also is apparently ineffective at deflecting blame for inflation and gas prices away from Biden.  In my opinion, only Putin can save the D's chances in the 2022 midterms now, and that is not a comforting thought.

Jim

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

Jim,
Here's what's coming down the pipe in Trump World:
https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-2022-lawsuit-court-case-timeline-2022-1
and, specific to Trump:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/12/politics/list-investigations-trump/index.html

Hi Rod:

Maybe one of these will stick.  Maybe not.  The second link kind of proves my point about CNN's reason for existence these days.  Jim

Originally Posted by James Lacey

Yeah, this is not true at all. If you look at the basic cable ratings for the week of Feb. 28, 2022, then CNN and MSNBC combined have the exact viewership as Fox. Fox is just about the only right-wing network to choose from, but the top 3 are Fox, CNN, and MSNBC.

James, Darian, Rod:

What is surprising to me is the limited viewership of Fox, CNN, and MSNBC put together.  6M out of a country with 260M adults?  It is obvious that most folks get their news from somewhere other than the 24/7 cable outrage machines.  Me included.  

I'm guessing the extent these cable outlets shape the debate in the US is far less than they think it is.  Jim

Originally Posted by David Cotterell

...

Hi Dave:

This is a staged photo of the photographer's 9 year old daughter.  The gun was unloaded. https://en.as.com/en/2022/03/12/latest_news/1647049220_819544.html

I agree it is an emotionally engaging photo.  The destruction Putin is  raining down on the Ukrainian people, including children is horrible and reprehensible.  So, the message of this photo is real and the cause is noble.

Still, it leaves me a bit cold.  This is propaganda.  Propaganda for the good guys to be sure, but still it is propaganda designed to tug at our hearts.  I know that every war and every political conflict creates propaganda.  This particular photo seems a bit heavy-handed to me.  It is less persuasive (in my opinion) than genuine photos of the destruction caused by the Russians. 

Jim

Originally Posted by James Lacey

The House Impeachment Report is an excellent source for understanding how concerned the Ukrainians and Zelensky and US State Department officials were about Trump's hold on military assistance and how it would encourage Russia.

https://www.congress.gov/congressional-report/116th-congress/house-report/346/1

Hi James, Rod:

I'm curious why you guys care, other than maybe to troll Richard or Greg?  The fact is that Putin started this war under Biden's presidency.  The voters and history will judge Biden for his response, which is of course still developing.  My gut tells me the economy is going to be the big issue in 2022 and 2024, not the war - unless the war escalates outside of Ukraine.  

So what if Trump or his sycophants in the alt-right press boast and chest-thump that Putin would have never dared this invasion under the Trump administration?  Trump lost the election.  Biden won.  I certainly hope that the vast majority of voters are focused on the here and now, not on the rantings of the last election's loser or his sycophants in the press.

Jim

Originally Posted by Richard Davis

https://thefederalist.com/2021/01/22/heres-the-full-list-of-every-lie-joe-biden-has-told-as-president/

Hi Rich:

I often agree with the Federalist writers.  This list seems like weak soup to me though.  The second "lie" is reproduced below.  How did they order these?  In the first place, the example reproduced below is no lie.  Biden's statement is literally false of course, but there is no intent to deceive, no evil intent at all here, which are hallmarks of an actual lie.  This is just puffery or a throw away compliment designed to build rapport with the press.  Kind of like any compliment from one being to another that arguably stretches the truth.  I deny that the word "lie" means any statement which can be proven false.  Any three year old knows this.

"I did not have sex with that woman, Ms. Lewinski"  That was a lie.   “If you like your health care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health care plan.”  That was a lie.  "I did not know about the payment to Stormy Daniels and did not know where Cohen got the money for the payment..." That too was a lie.

A lot of the stuff on the Federalists' list are simply not lies in the conventional sense.  To be fair, CNN has complied similar lists regarding Trump's "lies", and many of their examples are simply not lies either, at least not as the word "lie" is defined by actual users of the English language, rather than by hyper-partisans with an axe to grind.  Jim