It's not funny anymore...

[KansDem]

Last edited Tue Aug 4, 2015, 01:35 PM - Edit history (1)

Is this really what our country has come to?



We used to chuckle or roll our eyes at such inanity, however, we weren't concerned much as such public figures were few and far between. But now, sheer stupidity is the rule, not the exception.

It used to be that public discussion and debate presented the arguments of public figures and we decided who best represented the needs and concerns of our country based on their logic and reason. But now, it's a f*cking sideshow with assinine remarks from morons becomning the norm.

No doubt the billionaires don't want someone smarter than they to hold public office. They couldn't be assured the puppets will do what they're told to do. And with the media acting as side-show barkers, we are getting the creme da la crap.

But the national discourse has become a sick joke, and I feel a lot like this cat!

[Agschmid]

1. That cat nailed it.

[TwilightGardener]

2. It's funny, in a dark way.

[progressoid]

3. Yep. It would be funny if so many Americans didn't actually take these clowns seriously.

[Wounded Bear]

4. The Repub primary has become our biggest selling reality series...

complete with seasons and regular characters.

It's bizarro world crap.

[Ed Suspicious]

7. +1

[Facility Inspector]

5. It is a joke

and the joke is on us.

US politics is a wholly owned subsidiary.

[oldandhappy]

6. Love the cat. Thanks. Yep.

[hfojvt]

8. the national discourse?

Well, WE help to make the national discourse - by nutpicking and demagoguery.

Nutpicking happens when you sift through everything somebody said to find one bumper sticker phrase you can wave around to 'prove' what a lunatic or idiot that person is.

You know like when Obama said he had been to 57 states.

Oh, and make sure you use a picture that will help to make the person look bad.

Have you seen the one of Michelle Obama coming off of Air Force one wearing shorts, and comparing that to a publicity still of Jackie Kennedy?

THIS is what the discourse is. NOT a discussion of ideas or policies or problems, but attempts to belittle the other side in any way we can.

You think something like this couldn't have been done in 1992? or 1980? or 1960?

The difference between then and now is that in the glorious past we had gatekeepers. No newspaper would publish something like that. The big three would not air it. The news was a little bit less like National Enquirer.

Yeah, too, back in the day, nobody would even be running for President in August of the year before the election. Carter was kinda the one who started THAT particular slippery slope. He started early in 1976 and won the nomination and the office. So now it is a race for who can start the earliest. So the poltical silly season NEVER ends. And it is all about PEOPLE - WHO is going to be President. Who? Who? Who? and not about what that person is gonna do as President. He's either gonna be a saviour (if our side wins) or a demon (if the other side wins).

[2banon]

9. "we are getting the creme da la crap"

Excellent one liner! And I LOVE the cat quote too!

[Whiskeytide]

10. Watch for the one who stays out of the clown car...

... as much as possible. THAT's the one to watch. The Koch money/machine will be poured into the one that can claim to rise above the primary's insanity while still being relatively ideologically pure (it's a fine line to walk between the Primary and the general, but I'm confident they have very smart people working on it). The others will be bought off or drilled unmercifully by attack ads.

So, while frightening, it promises to be entertaining as hell.

[nruthie]

11. Personally I am frightened and not entertained at all.

Horrified is more like it.

[zeemike]

14. I think you are supposed to be frightened and horrified.

Last edited Tue Aug 4, 2015, 02:49 PM - Edit history (1)

You can herd people with a stick or a carrot...but the stick is effective if you have no carrots.

[juajen]

20. I heard the herd, stomping down the road.

You're welcome.

[zeemike]

22. Thank you...I changed it.

[Whiskeytide]

17. Console yourself in the thought...

... that being horrified at this debacle is a good sign that you're mentally sound and relatively normal. To me, it is fascinating to watch as they try to "out-absurd" one another. They HAVE to play to the 20% tea-party element in order to win the primary - those are the people who vote in their primary. But all these crazy/extreme statements won't always be attractive to mainstream voters when the general comes around. Romney had to flip flop - to his great disadvantage - on several issues for the same reason - and he was pretty tame in the 2012 primary compared to these idiots. How is Fla. going to react in the general to Jeb's statement about phasing out Medicare? How about Cruz's machine gun bacon bit in an ad about Sandy Hook/Va. Tech/the Col theater being the "real" purpose of a machine gun/assault weapon?

As nutty as this all is, the fact that they are doing it - and with passion - can only help us in the long run. Pop some popcorn. You'll feel better.

[smirkymonkey]

34. Reminds me of one of my favorite quotes...

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." - Krishnamurti

If you aren't constantly walking around saying to your self "What the f**k???", there is probably something seriously wrong with you.

[Whiskeytide]

35. Love that quote! n/t

[daleanime]

12. It never was.....

[BeanMusical]

13. You are correct.

Each election time they are more pathetic and moronic than the previous one.

[tavernier]

15. True, but

if there is such a person left as a reasonable and coherent republican, who would it be? I don't think there are any such left, at least not in politics.

If so, who?

[olddots]

16. Maybe we are watching a bad reality show

" The Dip Shits Of D.C " it pre emps all the other Dip Shits Of shows .

The news has become a kind of guitar stomp box that changes the tone of our realities .Politicans fight for ratings instead of issues that are important to people not mega corporations who are not now or ever will be humans .

[KansDem]

24. "Maybe we are watching a bad reality show"

How about "19 Dips and Counting!"

[Whiskeytide]

31. That's "The REAL Dip Shits...

... of D.C.", or maybe "Survivor - Faux Island Bubble". How about "Donald and Scott Plus A Lot"? "Trumpy Boo Boo"?

[stage left]

18. Yep

What is this shit indeed? Any country where Donald Trump is considered a viable candidate for the highest office in the land is in deep trouble.

[rhett o rick]

19. I have a smart TV and it refuses to show Fox News Channel where the debates will be. nm

[AwakeAtLast]

33. Heh heh

I see what you did there...

[Old Crow]

21. Imagine if you're NOT an American, and you're looking at all this from abroad

Here's a country that spends more on its military than the next dozen countries COMBINED. A country that is no longer a functioning democracy and whose policies are increasingly dictated by war-profiteering corporations and demagogues. A country that flies armed drones over other countries' sovereign airspace and routinely conducts remote control assassinations. A country whose citizens--who seem to know nothing about world history or geography--are SATURATED with belligerent propaganda.

And now you observe this election cycle. The pundits are all proclaiming that a Republican will almost certainly take the White House because it's been held by a Democrat for two terms. The Republican field seems to consist of nothing but Neanderthals who would be laughed off the political stage in most of western Europe.

You might come to the conclusion that such a country poses a real threat to world peace.

[hifiguy]

26. Can you imagine how deeply and long people in Berlin, Seoul, Paris, or Beijinglaugh

when they read something like what is described in this excellent post?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027038271

We are the laughing stock of the civilized world. The terrifying imbecile child of modern civilization possessed of only weapons and ignorance, and far too much of both.

[Old Crow]

29. That phrase of yours!

It made me laugh because it's so spot-on--a bit over-the-top, in my view, but there's a lot of truth in it: the terrifying imbecile child of modern civilization.

Go Bernie, by the way!

[hifiguy]

30. I read a LOT of Hunter Thompson while I was

in my impressionable late teens. The HST in me sneaks out every now and then.

[janlyn]

36. We are the laughing stock of the civilized world.

That says it all!
I hope you don't mind, but I had to share such brilliance on my Facebook page.

[Oneironaut]

23. A normal Conservative Republican cannot exist in this current political climate.

Everything must be a hyperbole for that party. All normal Conservatives are forced to either become DINOs or be ignored.

[hifiguy]

27. We had a sane Republican party full of adults in Minnesota for longer than most states.

Then the screeching jebus-wheezers showed up and chased all the sane people away with torches and pitchforks, damn near literally. And then the religulous morons invited the Ayn Rand zombies.

Game over.

[hifiguy]

25. Kitteh speaks for me.

[noiretextatique]

28. assolish is the republicon brand

the candidates are is a "who is the biggest asshole" contest. the frightening thing to me is the number of people who want a gigantic asshole to be president.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

32. That's a small sliver of the clown car. A: Yes

[mwooldri]

37. When the citizens of other countries are more interested in the US Presidential Primaries...

... than their own country's elections (I'm thinking of Canada for starters) then that gives you an idea of what the rest of the world thinks. It's more than a media circus and creme de la crap. All we need now is Kim Kardashian piling in and running for office (on any political party ticket) to put the cherry on top.