Past their prime...
 

I believe some politicians just don’t realize when they are no longer relevant.
So, I propose we let them know in a very gentle way,
so they can leave the building gracefully.

Here are my first two nominees:

Newt Gingrich
Attachment 52201

James Carville
Attachment 52200

They keep reading how youth flock to the elders for their accumulated wisdom, not realizing that went out with sword fighting and knickers.

Yes I'm old, and yes I've acquired a lot of wisdom. But that's only because I was to0 stupid not to have to learn all those lessons that leave scars. :facepalm:

Here are a few more.

:D McCain was already on my list too...

Here's my next two:

Henry Kissinger
Attachment 52207

Joe Lieberman
Attachment 52208

These 2 get my vote for retirement:

John Cornyn and Jim Inhofe

Why is there a picture of Gollum under Newt Gingrich?

From the third branch of government...

Antonin Scalia
Attachment 52242


Clarence Thomas
Attachment 52241

From the Democrats...

Harry Reid
Attachment 52250

Al Gore
Attachment 52251

.

And from the GOP - they get 3


Ben Carson
Attachment 52265

Chris Christie
Attachment 52266

Donald Duckorwhateverhislastnameis
Attachment 52264

.

I hadn't been paying much attention to these guys, but I saw a headline in the paper today that Trump is actually surging in the polls with his party as a result of his anti-mexican comments and the resulting publicity backlash.

You just have to shake your head. Give the extremists enough rope, and they will hang themselves and anyone around them. The better Trump does with the republicans, the more likely the republicans will lose.

People (not just conservatives, btw) get in an echo chamber and they have no idea they are in there.

Back to politics...

Mitt Romney
Attachment 52273

Joe Biden
Attachment 52274

It's true. I have a big L libertarian bacefook friend from high school who makes me reflect occasionally. I remember being that guy, it's great for personal motivation, and it makes perfect sense if everyone is on the same page. Since the rest of the world isn't libertarian you're doing the hard right's work for them advocating for a vacuum where government oversite would be in the mistaken belief that corporations will take personal responsibility for their actions. This disengagement from politics is perfect for the political criminals of all stripes.

kinda off the rails there... but yeah echo chamber bad

Libertarianism is great in theory, rewritten history, and Hollywood movies, but only works in the real world when dueling is legal. ;)

I'm going to nominate Hillary. I don't see her as relevant despite strong polling inside her party. More hawkisk and anti-union than Obama, she really only appeals in terms of willingness to say or do anything to be elected. This is where team play, "gotta beat the GOP" undermines representation. Will she actually represent working people?

Bring back the duel!

There's an aspect of this thread I find uncomfortable. Someone being irrelevant I can go with. Someone being in office for a long time and feeling like it's their God-given personal fiefdom, unaccountable to the electorate, I can go with. But there's an assumption that seems to be made about age in this context that I don't like.

Actually, I'm a Bernie Sanders booster so I'm cool with age as long as the mindset is relevant.

Looking through the nominees, I'd say Lamps has mostly identified people whose thinking is not of this age. They are still relevant to the electorate because only retired people vote, but I think he was mostly fair about that.

Not likely considering who started the thread: it would be a bit like the pot calling the kettle black.

Hear hear, but I'm afraid congress would shut him down if he tried to do anything he wants to.:(

Aren't you running for Congress?

Were I elected, I fear the next mass shooting you'd hear about would be in the halls of congress. A carnage of smarmy lying motherfuckers, and their puppeteers. :rattat:

Speaking of Bernie, he was ahead of the curve in 1985. :thumb:

The thing I see in Bernie lacking in some other liberal politicians is respect for people. He has a long track record so I feel like we have an idea about what we're going to get. Bernie and the punks.

It's odd, because I thought this too.
I didn't comment because it's not my field of play - I know little to nothing about those named.

I'm pleased that people I trust on here (which is most Dwellars TBH) have clarified the issue.

Dana - most of these people are both old and in the way. Those two descriptions can be and in these cases, are mutually exclusive.

There are young idiots too, but they are nowhere near as firmly entrenched as their 30+ year counterparts.

Past their prime...
I stand by my co-optation.
... and now Huffington Post is following suit

Huffington Post to cover Trump as an entertainer, not a politician
CNN - Tom Kludt - 7/17/15

HA!

With Trump leading in the polls, I wonder if the G.O.P is finally getting a glimmer of Niemöller's poem.

Touche'.

Trump's latest campaign slogan...

Today's King of the Post-Prime business talking heads....

Attachment 52856

Ben Stein: Cell phones are a drag on the economy
Sunday Morning tv - 8/2/15 - CBS News
Even if you don't believe the connection between productivity and wages,
(or between productivity and unemployment)...

productivity has continued to rise since the birth of the cell-phone...

True.

So what I am reading here is... Gen X'ers want the babyboomers to retire from politics so that they can finally have their day.

I hear you... But here's the thing... Millennials have already discussed this - on the latest social media thingy that you still haven't heard about that will fade off by the time you will - and we decided we're skipping you guys. We've contracted the babyboomers - the ones we've taught to use email - and they agreed it's for the best. They are already expanding the White House basement.

Speaker John Boehner Will Resign From Congress
NY Times - JENNIFER STEINHAUER - SEPT. 25, 2015

Is this a trick or a treat?

If he's being pushed out because he's not partisan enough, I can only imagine that his replacement is going to be swell.

Attachment 53892

Next in line for media attention is Ben Carson
--- at least until the end of the Iowa Caucuses, then this too shall pass.

Meanwhile the base is apoplectic.. Another Nigerian, oh noes. But Carson is just a tool to trip Trump, cause confusion and consternation, so when the power behind the curtain offers up the chosen, the base will gasp him like he's the messiah.

Are you saying Clinton v Bush?
:vomit:

No, I'm saying we won't know until the chosen is revealed.

It's like that study they did, where they put a particular scent on the first female that a male rat is allowed to fuck, and for the rest of his life he will show a preference for that scent, even if it's a horrible death/sewage smell. Our nation is always going to want to fuck Bush/Clinton again, no matter how many better lays might be out there.

Thanks for that visual image, Clod. I'm going to clear my mental palate with zombie death in Walking Dead.

That explains wacko extremists. They only believe the first thing they are told. So a wacko extremist has much in common with a rat. Both want to fuck others.

Mr & Mr Whiner lead GOP candidates in Denver...

Campaigns erupt over greenrooms at third GOP debate
Aides to Chris Christie and Rand Paul complain their work spaces look like bathrooms.
Politico - Alex Isenstadt - 10/27/15
I'm imagining the responses of the other candidates:
Trump: Mine is bigger than yours ... It's so great.
Carson: A large mind needs a large space for intellectual reasoning.
Rubio: Gee, I don't know what to make of it ... yet.

:rolleyes:

How fitting, coming from you. Your self reflection is improving.

Absolutely.
Sadly, Clinton is the best Republican running. She simply has Bernie getting the uber left interested in the election and then when he gets his ass crushed in the primaries, he will hand all of that faction over to her with his endorsement.

Aren't you one of the ones who took an online quiz that told you Bernie was your man?

My sense of it is that Bernie gets a lot of independent support that won't be there for Hillary.

Yup ... Just goes to show how much stock I put in "those" quizzes.

Those quizzes aren't going to tell you about the personality of the candidate and if they have the charisma that draws you in, but they are a good source for matching how you feel on the different issues to the candidate who has the same position on those issues.

I've often wondered if it's better to vote for a candidate who is likable and a strong leader, even if I disagree with them, or if I should vote for an unlikable person who matches my own beliefs. Is is better to elect a good leader who is leading in the wrong direction, or a poor leader who knows the right way?

That is an interesting point. I think about Reagan that way. The country was mired in pessimism. The country needed its optimism back, unfortunately that optimism made us ripe for military adventurism and the Bush hijacking. You can't put that on Reagan but he set the stage for smaller men to make bigger messes.

Neither. It is about someone who can see a bigger picture.

For example Curtis LeMay was a brilliant General. When it came to tactical military decisions, he was among the best. But he could not see the bigger picture. He viewed war in terms of 'them vs us'. And not about the bigger picture of how we all coexist after the fact.

Kennedy was clearly a superb example of a leader. In an administration chock full of brilliant men, Kennedy saw things even they did not see.

Johnson was probably one of the best power brokers in office. If ever it came to getting political solutions, nobody was better. However he did not see the big picture overseas. He could not understand why he created the quagmire and why others would not negotiate with what to him was a sweetheart deal. He could see the big picture in domestic politics. But could not see the big picture worldwide.

Nixon is the classic example of a superb politician incapable of understanding that his job (and not his legacy) was more important. Much of what he did domestically and internationally was shrewd but undermined by what he wanted. Nixon saw big pictures, but was subverted by his own personal needs.

It is far more complex than strength vs charisma. The ability to see big pictures and to act upon them is critical. Kennedy's weakness was domestic politics. But he was the perfect leader for that time. In fact, most other men in that position probably would mean none of us exist.

Having said all that, can anyone say anything good about George Jr - other than he finally stopped listening to Cheney?

So you're saying that when faced with such a choice, you should not vote at all?

Start a campaign...

If you're disgusted with government, how it's run, and who runs it, send a message, vote for glatt.

Kind of a long slogan, but you'd probably win.
I defy Diogenes to find an American who says, "Oh yes, the government is doing a fine job." At least one who isn't mentally ill.
Nobody is happy, they only vary on who to blame.

I'd like to think that I'm a poor leader who leads poorly in the right direction, but it's just as likely that I'm a poor leader who leads the country in the wrong direction.

That would have no bearing on the voters who are looking for any port in the storm. Like in TV viewing and in pornography, they just want something different.
Hmm... gotta find a shorter slogan.

"And now for something completely different, glatt"

Yes, this EXACTLY! :thepain::mad2:

A poor leader can still be a good manager who chooses subordinates with strong leadership skills to move things in the right direction.

A strong leader going in the wrong direction is unlikely to choose subordinate leaders who would turn things around.

To thine own self be true.

That's what Cheney did. :(