Bill Maher weighs in.....

[Heartstrings]

"If a Democrat president did a tenth of Trump's crimes/crazy pronouncements, etc would Republicans hesitate for a minute to impeach him? Would they worry "how it would look" and say "what about the backlash?" Fuck no. 'Do what you believe' beats 'Finger in the wind' with voters almost always."

Taken from Facebook, 1 hour ago....

[spanone]

1. K&R...

[DavidDvorkin]

2. Well said, but why "Democrat" as an adjective?

[Marcuse]

3. Poor grammar or successful psych-op.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

11. Democrats get with the program! Successful psy-ops by Republicons FRAMING WITH LANGUAGE since 1970s.

Democrats are good on messaging some things but RepubliCons are relentless about using language their party specifies. Hence even a good Democrat (noun) like Bill Maher uses "Democrat" as an adjective. He should know better. Republicons have been doing this since the think tanks of the 1970s identified the technique and since Frank Luntz's polling.


Many Democrats (members or voters or supporters of the Democratic Party) need to get hip to controlling discussion of issues by framing with language.

"Republican Tax Heist" vs "Middle class Tax Cut"

Healthcare for all vs Death panels

and so much more.

[The Wizard]

12. We're in the center and the Repubics are far right.

Republicans are radical right wing Russian assets.

[deurbano]

15. Boehner said "Democrat" Party even when handing the gavel over to Madam Speaker in 2007.

I just re-watched his speech on C-Span because it had pissed me off at the time, and i wanted to see if I remembered correctly. (On the transcript, it says "Democratic" Party.) Boehner was not quite as much of a partisan asshole/hack as"My Kevin" (or god forbid, the evil Cheney spawn), but it's been drummed into all of them... with apparently spillover onto our side.

[PeeJ52]

9. Exactly... It's ANYBODY... IF ANYBODY did a 10th of what tRump does...

How he gets away with not even making sense when he speaks is amazing. He should be in a dementia facility. He can't speak a complete, coherent sentence.

[LiberalLovinLug]

17. Meh...I always thought that was way too overblown by some

A subset of the grammar police.

But just to point out that he is not using it as an adjective, but as a noun. And in fact the word "Democratic" is much more easily confused with an adjective.

I make that mistake sometimes too. The structure of the word lends itself to being mistakenly used.

And its so easy to cross use Democratic and Democrat. Much easier than Republican and Republic.

We do not ever use the word "Republic", as in "He's a Republic", to describe a politician. The word "Republic" has a much broader, different meaning.

Much the same as the word "Democratic" has a much broader, different meaning. So I think an English person would have a subconcious aversion to using the word "Democratic" other than in its broader definition.

On top of that, the repeated usage of he's a Republican, and He's a Democrat. Then folks use the same word on their side when describing their party, "Republican". Yet we use a different type of noun to describe our party. "Democratic".

It is a bit confusing. They say "a Republican" and "a Republican President". We must say "a Democrat", and "a Democratic President".

I just think there are bigger issues to be concerned about. Most of the times the wrong, shorter version, is used is simply done in ignorance or confusion. And I'd even go so far as to say that many times that is true even when spoken by a Republican. (not always of course)

[Progressive Jones]

19. Democrat v Republican. nt

[defacto7]

20. Because it's a name.

You say a Republican president because it's a president that is a Republican not because Republican describes the president. If it was a description then they could be describing a president who is a republic. It doesn't work.

You say a Democrat president because the president is a Democrat (see the article). You would say a democratic president to describe the president as participating in a democracy. A Republican can also be a democratic president but not "a" Democrat.

So if you say a democratic president you are describing their choice of government same as any other person, party or affiliation.

He's correct. It's a very common mistake to say a Democratic president.

[DavidDvorkin]

22. Wrong

It's an adjective. The Republicans invented the use of "Democrat" as the adjective instead of the correct "Democratic" because they intended it as a slur.

The noun is "Democrat." The adjective is "Democratic".

[DavidDvorkin]

25. Republican is both the noun and the adjective

Democrat is only the noun. Democratic is the adjective.

[defacto7]

27. Ok, got it

That's certainly more to the point.

[Eliot Rosewater]

28. Yep

[defacto7]

26. OK, I give in. I read up on it and it follows a different rule.

The party chose to be called the Democratic Party as a noun. It's not modifying party because it's used as a proper name. It can also be thought of as an adjective by popular usage, either way. In that case you can say Democratic president. Democratic is not necessarily modifying president because it's a chosen proper name... or it could. The person calling themself a Democrat has nothing to do with it.

To beat a dead horse, Democrat president is wrong because the party's name is The Democratic Party.

I really shouldn't have overlooked that. But I did. Sorry for making a fool of myself but I'll take my lumps.

[Baitball Blogger]

4. I think what Maher really meant was,

Motherfucking fuck-NO!

[dlk]

5. In a Rush to Impeachment, Critical Investigations Could Get Dropped

If nothing else, it’s become glaringly obvious the corruption is deep and wide. I’m in favor of rooting out as much of this cancer as possible prior to an impeachment.

[TexasBushwhacker]

7. Works for me

Not to mention, with the GOP majority in the Senate, I think Trump would have to be caught eating aborted fetuses for breakfast before we could get 67 Senators to agree to convict. While part of me hopes they will impeach him anyway, I worry about the damage it could do if they aren't successful.

Also, if Pence doesn't go down at the same time as Trump, and becomes POTUS, I think he would be harder to beat in 2020.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

10. Trump could shoot a Honduran baby live on national t.v. and not lose a single GOP vote in the Senate

Fox Snooze would praise IQ45's decisive action to personally reduce the number of illegal immigrants. There would not be a peep from the Repugs in the Senate nor the House.

And Alex Jones would go off on another incomprehensible rant.

Such be the way of our lives today.

Historians will label these as the years the United States of America lost its way and allowed an insane man beholding to the Russian leader to set foot in the WH.

[The Wizard]

14. He could abort his grandchild

and eat the fetus on TV, and the cult would just say,"He must have been pretty hungry."

[elmac]

16. I would also like to see the House investigations. that are just getting started,

add to the evidence against the orange turd. They will be brutal and open.

[BootinUp]

6. Talking about it and cursing him is fine until

The report is finished.

[AlexSFCA]

8. exactly

why dems are so obsessed with how things look? When will we start setting the narrative instead of always being on the defensive from RW media?

[smirkymonkey]

21. +1000

Thank YOU!

[Blue_true]

13. Even Trump should get due process.

Investigations of him should be thorough, with his Attornies getting a chance to represent him appropriately. If the evidence shows that he comitted serious crimes (felonies) while seeking the office of president or after in office, then impeachment proceedings should start. Anything else is wrong and wrongheaded and only help Trump.

[Eliot Rosewater]

29. he should have the very best atty therefore he should not be involved in picking one

[Blue_true]

30. Yes. He does pick clueless one. nt

[lame54]

33. He is getting special treatment...

Mueller can convict anybody with 1/10th of what he has on Trump
He has to prove him guilty several times over to maybe - just maybe - get a conviction
Trump may never be charged
Anybody else would be serving time already

[Blue_true]

34. That is one of the unfortunate outcomes of him being president.

He can somewhat get away with past and current criminality. I prefer that he hang on as more evidence pile up against him. The reason why? By him hanging on as more Americans that currently give him a break start to see him as a shameless criminal, republican Senators and Representatives will get exposed as they stand by him, clever democratic candidates can take advantage of that. One question that I would encourage democrats that are running in red and deep red districts to ask while looking republican voters in the face as record of Trump's crimes pile up is "If you son or daughter did what the Predident has done, would you defend them against paying for their crimes?" If they answer yes, then say "So, if you feel that way, then you are by definition ok with freeing all prisoners that did those crimes, immediately and without any conditions". If republican voters can't feel shame, then we need to expose them for what they are to their face.

[lame54]

35. The NY Times did an...

8 page expo on Trump's lifelong crime spree
It fell flat
A few days later they ran it again
Still nothing
I'm not sure what can shock people into abandoning him

[Trumpocalypse]

18. First it is Democratic President

Second, I refuse to take bad advice from an independent who supported Ralph Nader in 2000.

[lunatica]

23. This is a death match for our country AND the planet

No holds barred or we don’t survive.

[EarlG]

31. I'm not worried about how impeachment "looks" per se

I want it to be thorough, and successful. Done right, this ongoing process could root out an awful lot of corruption and take down a lot of assholes.

But an impeachment that leaves Trump in office would not be a good outcome, and could actually make him stronger.

“The wheels of justice turn slowly, but grind exceedingly fine.” I don’t mind if it takes a while, as long as we can suck Trump and co. up with a dustbuster when we’re done.

[Trumpocalypse]

32. That is the risk

An acquittal in the Senate could propel him to re-election. Better to investigate him and then let the American people decide.