Graham: Republicans happy about Russian meddling are political hacks
http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/313194-graham-republicans-gleeful-about-russia-election-interference-areSo I guess we know where dt stands.
Graham: Republicans happy about Russian meddling are political hacks
By Mallory Shelbourne - 01/08/17 09:00 AM EST
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Sunday ripped Republicans who are "gleeful" about Russia’s meddling in the U.S. election, saying anyone who isn't condemning the meddling is "a political hack."
“Most Republicans are condemning what Russia did. And to those who are gleeful about it — you're a political hack. You're not a Republican. You're not a patriot,” Graham said during an appearance on NBC News's “Meet the Press with Chuck Todd.”
On Friday, the Intelligence Community released a declassified report that concluded Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign before the election in an effort to help President-elect Trump win.
“We should all — Republicans, Democrats — condemn Russia for what they did. To my Republican friends who are gleeful, you're making a huge mistake," Graham said.
Graham added that he hopes Trump, who signaled in his campaign that he would work for a better relationship with the Kremlin, takes advantage of the chance to “make Russia pay a price” for trying to meddle in the election.
Trump has criticized the Intelligence Community for its various assessments over Russia’s cyber activities. Trump said early Saturday in a tweet following the report that “hacking” did not affect the election outcome.
“Intelligence stated very strongly there was absolutely no evidence that hacking affected the election results. Voting machines not touched!” he wrote on Twitter.
Graham also said he was “perplexed” by Trump’s rhetoric on Russia.
“I don't know what drives him on Russia, but I do know this. That if our policies don't change vis a vis Russia, the worst is yet to come. And the Congress is going to have a different view on Russia than the president-elect does,” he said.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Ayn Rand (Who Paul Ryan is a big fan of BTW) was a child of expatriot Russian Czarist Aristocrats.
"Ayn Rand born Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum, (February 2 1905 – March 6, 1982) was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism. Educated in Russia, she moved to the United States in 1926. She had a play produced on Broadway in 1935–1936. After two early novels that were initially unsuccessful in America, she achieved fame with her 1943 novel, The Fountainhead.
In 1957, Rand published her best-known work, the novel Atlas Shrugged. Afterward, she turned to non-fiction to promote her philosophy, publishing her own magazines and releasing several collections of essays until her death in 1982. Rand advocated reason as the only means of acquiring knowledge, and rejected faith and religion (Take note Evangelicals ). She supported rational and ethical egoism, and rejected altruism. In politics, she condemned the initiation of force as immoral, and opposed collectivism and statism as well as anarchism, and instead supported laissez-faire capitalism, which she defined as the system based on recognizing individual rights. In art, Rand promoted romantic realism (If you want to know what these look like see any painting of Hitler or Trump). She was sharply critical of most philosophers and philosophical traditions known to her, except for Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, and classical liberals.
Literary critics received Rand's fiction with mixed reviews, and academia generally ignored or rejected her philosophy, though academic interest has increased in recent decades. The Objectivist movement attempts to spread her ideas, both to the public and in academic settings. She has been a significant influence among libertarians and American conservatives."
More (If you can stand it) Here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand
It looks like we're going to try Objectiveism for a national philosophy with a little help from Putin... Even though it has been thoroughly debunked as a way to run any society.
It came to me last night why there's a segment of Republicans who are A-OK with the Kremlin Koup.
All good questions MissKat. I don't have the answers either. The conservatives have come up with an answer and it's worked. I used to write it off as something I could joke about and disregard but, because I'm concerned about my kid's future, it's now a real question that can't be ignored.
I think that there is a way to appeal to these people. George Lakoff ("Don't Think of an Elephant"
has made a case for how much time and money the conservatives put into this, starting in the early 70's. They've found issues, angles, spins, and language that brings in all aspects of the movement together on moral terms (what they see as moral). Liberals tend to think that quoting a statistic once will convince people. Conservatives know that it has to be said over and over and over and over again, and even a lie will become the truth.
I just saw an article describing how the issue of breaking up monopolies could achieve a lot of liberal goals. Maybe that's a viable avenue.
I'm relying on people who are a lot smarter than me for the solution. I'm just trying to present the question.
