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Give the man what he wants

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwb (Post 2131402)

I would say it's already been proven not to work as said bulwark. Iraq already formally voted for us to leave and Trump responded with the threat of sanctions if they force us out. Which means we are engaged in a de facto occupation of a country ruled by a Shia majority with close ties to Iran that now wants us out.

And we're the ones who installed said Shia government, banning the Sunni Baath party and thus alienating the Sunni minority and leading to the creation of first the insurgency and then later ISI$. That leaves only the Kurds as serious allies in that country. I'll return to this point later in my post.*

I was only commenting on why it's understandable that it's not very big news with everything else going on. If there's not a real risk of conflict here then a peace deal is cool but probably not massively important news. Especially since while Israel is a large military power, the UAE isn't.

You're dreaming, imo. Getting Iran to the table in the first place was incredibly difficult. The relatively radical and hawkish Revolutionary Guard has a massive influence over Iranian foreign policy and if anything, assassinating Soleimani assures that not only will we not get a better deal, we won't even get the original deal back.

The moderates in Iran stuck their necks out in the first place by signing a deal with the US. The fact that we tore it up at first chance made them look stupid. The fact that then we killed a cult icon and a top level official in their country made them look beyond stupid. There were protests over the economic situation in Iran leading up to his death and that strike completely took the air out of any sorta resistance to the govt and their military objectives.

... We literally just took soldiers from northern Syria and shifted them to other parts of the middle east when we saw the Turks mobilizing for a likely invasion. We stayed in the other parts of Syria, or as Trump put it we "protected the oil", and then eventually later on we ended up redeploying troops to northern Syria.

* There's literally no silver lining you can put on this. We didn't disengage from the region, we didn't bring our people home. We stepped aside to let an ethnic cleansing happen. Against the only allies we actually had left in the region. So now we've effectively ****ed over and pissed off the Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds each in their own unique way.

I gotta be honest, I didn't realize that we simply shifted our troops from Northern Syria, rather than pulling them back home. That definitely gives me pause and makes me reconsider my thoughts on it.

I did know about Iraq's formal vote for us to leave the region. I wish Trump's administration would give 'em what they want. But, I fear that regardless of if Trump or Biden wins, we're still going to maintain a presence there.

You could very well be right about getting Iran to the negotiating table at this point, after Soleimani's assassination. I know the Revolutionary Guard are filled with hardliners and they will do almost anything to avoid the appearance of weakness or appeasement. We'd probably have to completely crush them economically to the point where the regime would lose serious legitimacy with the Iranian public before they would be willing to negotiate. It certainly would've been easier before the killing of Soleimani.

She might be the only person on earth that I don’t even hate a little.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoundgardenRocks (Post 2131536)

I have no faith in the idea of sanctions working. We tried it with Iraq and we tried it with North Korea. Regimes like that will just let their people starve and go ahead with their military ambitions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by elphenor (Post 2131671)

I'm going to write-in Hillary Clinton this year

I’m gonna vote for Trump but I’m not going to mark it next to his name I’m going to write it in too. President Donald J Trump.

Why not write in Sanders? ****ing Chomos.

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Originally Posted by Lucem Ferre (Post 2131685)

Why not write in Sanders? ****ing Chomos.

It’s not as funny.

I always write in Garth Brooks

I have a feeling some of you might find this of interest.

List of Atrocities committed by US authorities

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lucem Ferre (Post 2131685)

Why not write in Sanders? ****ing Chomos.

me and all my dead illegal immigrant friends are voting for Biden by mail.

He's been saying that since 2016.

The reality is people will lose their **** regardless of who wins.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwb (Post 2131746)

He's been saying that since 2016.

The reality is people will lose their **** regardless of who wins.

Yup. 50% of the population will not believe the results of the election, regardless of how it goes. The only way that could be avoided if it's a complete landslide victory, which I doubt.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoundgardenRocks (Post 2131989)

Yup. 50% of the population will not believe the results of the election, regardless of how it goes. The only way that could be avoided if it's a complete landslide victory, which I doubt.

Hard to predict the election before the debates. If Biden does reasonably well I think it's over for Trump.

All Biden has to do is avoid any race-related gaffes and he's good.

You guys underestimate how rigged the process has become.

Quote:

Originally Posted by debaserr (Post 2132017)

You guys underestimate how rigged the process has become.

We have to buy in or we would be undermining our own democracy.

I thought I heard/read that Biden's lead has diminished in newer polls. With or without election rigging I still wouldn't count Trump out. I wouldn't bet on him but it's not that hard to imagine him winning.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwb (Post 2132035)

CNN recently reported that Trump was a point behind Biden in 15 battleground states.

I, unlike you, would bet on Trump. In fact, I'll be surprised if he doesn't win.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anteater (Post 2131997)

All Biden has to do is avoid any race-related gaffes and he's good.

Like the interview where the guy asked him if he would take a mental test and Biden asked him if he would take a drug test?

It seems like when he gets on the defensive he's most prone to start melting down like an elderly robot with a malfunctioning chip.

He held his own in the last debate against Bernie but that's cause Bernie is a pussy who won't go for blood and a nerd who sticks to policy. Trump is a different animal.

Any time Biden says "come on man" you know he's in trouble. That's like the cry of a wounded antelope.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoundgardenRocks (Post 2132037)

CNN recently reported that Trump was a point behind Biden in 15 battleground states.

I, unlike you, would bet on Trump. In fact, I'll be surprised if he doesn't win.

I told you to act a couple weeks ago. Your odds are only getting worse.

If I had any real confidence in anyone's prediction I probably would put money on it tbh. All I have is guesses and gut instinct.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwb (Post 2132039)

I told you to act a couple weeks ago. Your odds are only getting worse.

I should put money down on Predictit. But I have made a few bets with a few friends. I'll be making a neat little sum if he does win.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwb (Post 2132038)

He held his own in the last debate against Bernie but that's cause Bernie is a pussy who won't go for blood and a nerd who sticks to policy. Trump is a different animal.

Any time Biden says "come on man" you know he's in trouble. That's like the cry of a wounded antelope.

100% agreed. Bernie doesn't seem to have it in him to go after people like Trump does. He made a point of grandstanding about how he wasn't going to go after Hillary for her e-mail scandal.

Trump will know all of Biden's tells in the debate - he'll push him just enough to get Biden to start chasing his tail and to reveal how mean-spirited Biden can actually be. And when Biden devolves to Trump's level, Trump has won. Trump, for all his faults, can keep his composure in confrontational situations. When Trump smells blood, he'll attack. Biden will try to attack but he will stumble, bumble and it should result in some hilarious facial expressions from Trump

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoundgardenRocks (Post 2132043)

Remember how Trump made Jeb Bush look like a little bitch at the Republican debates? I think the Dems are severely underestimating what Trump can do on a debate stage.

Quote:

it should result in some hilarious facial expressions from Trump

https://media2.giphy.com/media/Xnhrfkfiawumk/source.gif

He was a good campaigner and I give him credit for what he accomplished but he definitely uses the kid gloves during debates with other Democrats. You can say that's irrelevant to his ultimate results but my only point is that that's why Biden did alright in that debate.

To me it makes him look like a bitch though the way the Democrats give him zero respect and yet count on his continued loyalty. I get you gotta play the game but he doesn't even really do that part well. Like in SC he never even tried to reach out to Clyburn etc. His entire strategy was reliant on an increased youth turn out which is a hell of a losing bet in most cases.

Quote:

he never even tried to reach out to Clyburn

Bernie’s a Jew. If you ain’t trying to shuck and jive in black churches you ain’t gettin the endorsement.

I'm not saying he would've gotten it but to not even try doesn't make sense. He plays the game when it comes to falling in line behind the nominee and party after they finish smearing him but not when it comes to coalition building.

Like I said I respect what he accomplished in terms of shifting the conversation but he also has his weaknesses. Not being willing to draw blood being the obvious one this conversation started with. For all his grandstanding about refusing to address Clinton's scandals that didn't make them any less prominent a talking point for Trump during the general election. I don't see the pragmatic benefit of the kids gloves approach other than temporarily sheilding your opponent from scrutiny they will later face from the GOP. Meanwhile they don't extend the same courtesy.

I really wouldn’t care how black boomers vote if their oppression wasn’t tied to my own.

I would care about how young people vote if they actually voted.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwb (Post 2132060)

I would care about how young people vote if they actually voted.

There would probably be a lot more republicans among them than people assume.

Democrats are ****ting on Bernie like, "We might have a lame candidate but at least we don't have a passionate following."

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoundgardenRocks (Post 2132043)

When Trump smells blood, he'll attack. Biden will try to attack but he will stumble, bumble and it should result in some hilarious facial expressions from Trump

You're right he'll attack, and if Biden has any sort of team behind him they'll practice ignoring the insane **** Trump says* and force him to answer questions. If people stop taking Trumps bait, Trump will lose. As I said before, we'll see how the debates go.

That said, his closing speech at the DNC was solid. You shouldn't be impressed by it necessarily, but he spoke publically and wasn't the person Trump made him out to be. Which only serves to hurt Trump going into the RNC. Suspicion in the center is mounting that he's probably not truthful.

*"But it could also be China. It could also be lots of other people. It also could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds, okay?"

Quote:

It also could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds, okay

Batlord’s mom?

A 400 pound bed would be unnecessarily heavy, I'm with Donnie on this one.

Granted, my expectations were low, but I liked the Biden speech.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frownland (Post 2132072)

A 400 pound bed would be unnecessarily heavy, I'm with Donnie on this one.

Granted, my expectations were low, but I liked the Biden speech.

I think, given how much I'm told Biden is basically the second coming of George W. Bush on the internet, the fact that he said things like "we're going to strengthen unions, which built the middle class" felt somewhat bold to me. I also happen to support that position, but I rarely hear Democrats say it.

Also, compared to the 2016 DNC, this one might as well have been the Communist Party.

Yeah picking Kamala "Centrist Cop" Harris really communicates Biden's interest in going to the left rather than going even further right to appeal to moderate Republicans. Totally does.