Taliban or Tea Party?

[amIblue?]

Ok, google just answered my question: Wayne Brady is the ass who made fun of Trig.

[PiKA2001]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

Nowhere in there did I defend anyone. I just said that Palin bears some culpability for not protecting her children from the onslaught caused by her own rhetoric. There are nuts on both sides of the aisle, and MOST politicians are smart enough to keep their kids out of the spotlight. I think most of the drama could have been easily prevented and those kids would have been much better off by leaving them all back in Alaska. The people that attacked are nuts, but we have paparazzi chasing teen stars and people commenting about these children on websites everyday. Some of the ugliness was inevitable because people love a trainwreck.

But you're justifying it. Politicians have their familys on the campaign trail all of the time so I don't know what you mean when you say she should have kept them out of the spotlight.

Originally Posted by amIblue?

Ok, google just answered my question: Wayne Brady is the ass who made fun of Trig.

I posted a link in my post. Louis CK, Seth McFarlane and Bill Maher also made digs at him too in the past.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by PiKA2001

But you're justifying it. Politicians have their familys on the campaign trail all of the time so I don't know what you mean when you say she should have kept them out of the spotlight.

Perhaps my perception was wrong or my memory is wrong (or both -- it's quite possible), but it seemed to me that Sarah Palin didn't just not keep them out of the spotlight, but that she often seemed to push them into it. By contrast, I don't think the Oabama kids were seen on the campaign trail that often in 2008. From what I'm reading, that may be changing some this year.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Perhaps my perception was wrong or my memory is wrong (or both -- it's quite possible), but it seemed to me that Sarah Palin didn't just not keep them out of the spotlight, but that she often seemed to push them into it. By contrast, I don't think the Oabama kids were seen on the campaign trail that often in 2008. From what I'm reading, that may be changing some this year.

That was my perception as well. She continued to do the same after the election by signing up for a reality TV series, etc.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by amIblue?

I overlooked the link. Sorry.

He's still an ass. So are the others you mentioned.

Originally Posted by PiKA2001

But you're justifying it. Politicians have their familys on the campaign trail all of the time so I don't know what you mean when you say she should have kept them out of the spotlight.

I posted a link in my post. Louis CK, Seth McFarlane and Bill Maher also made digs at him too in the past.

They are all comedians. Comedians make asshat comments all the time. Are we shocked? No. Actually, I was a little shocked by Wayne Brady bc it's not his usual topic. Again, other than Bill Maher, comics aren't defining political commentary. They are making a buck making people laugh. Wayne Brady obviously didn't get away with it. Trying to pretend there is some liberal conspiracy to trash Trig Palin is ridiculous.

[PiKA2001]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

They are all comedians. Comedians make asshat comments all the time. Are we shocked? No. Actually, I was a little shocked by Wayne Brady bc it's not his usual topic. Again, other than Bill Maher, comics aren't defining political commentary. They are making a buck making people laugh. Wayne Brady obviously didn't get away with it. Trying to pretend there is some liberal conspiracy to trash Trig Palin is ridiculous.

Actually many comics regularly discuss politics in their routines and on interviews. Dennis Miller, Stephan Colbert, Jon Stewart, George Carlin, Lewis Black and Janeane Garofalo instantly come to mind and believe it or not, a lot of them are quite influential within certain demographics.

And I'm not pretending there is a liberal conspiracy to trash Trig Palin. I just mentioned instances where liberal leaning people have actually trashed him. No conspiracy theories needed there.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by PiKA2001

Actually many comics regularly discuss politics in their routines and on interviews. Dennis Miller, Stephan Colbert, Jon Stewart, George Carlin, Lewis Black and Janeane Garofalo instantly come to mind and believe it or not, a lot of them are quite influential within certain demographics.

And I'm not pretending there is a liberal conspiracy to trash Trig Palin. I just mentioned instances where liberal leaning people have actually trashed him. No conspiracy theories needed there.

The ones you mentioned before don't. Notice I gave you Bill Maher because I recognized that some do, but rarely do these people actually effect policy. They also, with the exception of Miller, Colbert and Stewart, don't have daily platforms to spout their ideas.

BTW, I love Bill Maher. I don't agree with him on everything, but it never fails that I'll be bitching about something, and I flip on his show and it's on his monologue. He's very inciteful and not afraid to say something even when it's not popular. He's been "anti-war on drugs" since the 80s, before it was cool. He's a misogynist, but I'm not going to marry him.

[AGDee]

Extremists of any kind are scary. I agree that there are differences between the Tea Party and the Occupy movement. The Tea Party has candidates as part of the Republican party. Occupy does not support either major party. In fact, they pretty much feel like the whole government, as is, is corrupted by corporate interests. You may see some people who support Occupy on the Green party ticket. A lot of them really like Ron Paul, who is so much more Libertarian than Republican.

I do love The Newsroom. I'm watching the finale right now because I couldn't see it Sunday. LOVE this show

[TonyB06]

For some reason, it's not an apples to apples comparison. As someone said upthread, left wing extremists haven't dominated the Democratic Party as Tea Partyiers have come to take over the "directional arc" of the Republican Party.

It's axiomatic in politics that the hard-core; those that make the calls, knock on doors, give early, stuff envelope, have first and early say on the slate of candidates. It's always been that way.

Honestly, I think Mitt Romney, and probably to a lesser extent McCain in the previous cycle, are held a bit "hostage" to the Tea Party/Republican base. Looking at his Massachuttes (sp, I know) record, I have no doubt he's a moderate. But he's beholden to this current party's dominant group think(his Ryan selection was another sop to them).

Were he a "freer" candidate, allowed to run closer to his own (historic?) views, I think he'd be a more formidable candidate among the sliver of independents who may tip this election. (of course, he wouldn't have the Rep base, so there is that.)