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Dem Post Mortem

pood said:
I’d like to ask the undereducated idiot who wrote this piece for the Atlantic, what does “overducated” even mean? Is it even possible to be overeducated? Maybe we should stop people from attending school after the fifth grade, as the Taliban assholes do to girls in Afghanistan? Trump won not because of “overeducated” people, but because of pig-ignorant people!

And here is The Atlantic, which is aimed at literate and educated people, publishing this swill!
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I'm assuming overeducated is referring to someone who would not make the mistake of misspelling the word "overeducated". ;)
 
IMO, the deciding factor is that Trump played up the negative partisanship angle much better than Harris. It helps insulate the user from scrutiny by partisans and potential supporters by focusing on the “evil” opponent. It makes it more important to not elect the opponent and to ignore the policies of the candidates.
 
pood said:
We want a populace that reads nothing but comic books and the bible, and views online porn. That way we’ll elect Democrats, right? :confused2:
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Its a little disingenous to presume that its just the Republicans who are not educated. There is no shortage of poorly educated Democrats.

At 13 Baltimore City high schools, zero students tested proficient on 2023 state math exam

BALTIMORE (WBFF) — The latest round of state test results is raising alarm in Baltimore City Schools. Project Baltimore found that 40% of Baltimore City high schools, where the state exam was given, did not have any students score proficient in math. Not one student.
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Baltimore has been strongly Democrat for decades, as has its elected leaders.
 
Thomas Chatterton Williams

Hey, Thomas, I bet you Google your own name all the time, just to see what people are saying about you, right? If you find this, join us online and explain how anyone can “overeducated,” please. :)
 
pood said:
I’d like to ask the undereducated idiot who wrote this piece for the Atlantic, what does “overducated” even mean? Is it even possible to be overeducated? Maybe we should stop people from attending school after the fifth grade, as the Taliban assholes do to girls in Afghanistan? Trump won not because of “overeducated” people, but because of pig-ignorant people!

And here is The Atlantic, which is aimed at literate and educated people, publishing this swill!
Click to expand...
The world is being taken over by simpletons.

"Overeducated" is just a needlessly verbose way to say "them".
 
bilby said:
pood said:
I’d like to ask the undereducated idiot who wrote this piece for the Atlantic, what does “overducated” even mean? Is it even possible to be overeducated? Maybe we should stop people from attending school after the fifth grade, as the Taliban assholes do to girls in Afghanistan? Trump won not because of “overeducated” people, but because of pig-ignorant people!

And here is The Atlantic, which is aimed at literate and educated people, publishing this swill!
Click to expand...
The world is being taken over by simpletons.

"Overeducated" is just a needlessly verbose way to say "them".
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Or alternately, "liberal."

Reminds me of that old movie trope when the well-dressed kid wanders into the rural town and everyone dismissively calls him "college boy." Or dismissively say "the big city." "You come here with your fancy clothes and your big city smarts, but look at you now, college boy!"

But that was just the movies. In reality, the children of poor immigrants who came here 100 years ago just wanted their kids to be middle class. Then those folks wanted their kids to go to college (helped greatly by the GI Bill after the war) and maybe make enough to afford those "fancy clothes." It was at least part of the "American dream" to have your kids go to university. My grandparents were working class, my parents (and aunts and uncles) were middle class, and my generation was the first to go to anything other than a community college or trade school.
Now the "poorly educated" call themselves "garbage" at the whim of their ultra-wealthy king, and rant on about how getting educated makes you a "snowflake lib." There's even a strong insinuation that getting an education might turn you gay.
 
thebeave said:
pood said:
We want a populace that reads nothing but comic books and the bible, and views online porn. That way we’ll elect Democrats, right? :confused2:
Click to expand...
Its a little disingenous to presume that its just the Republicans who are not educated. There is no shortage of poorly educated Democrats.

At 13 Baltimore City high schools, zero students tested proficient on 2023 state math exam

BALTIMORE (WBFF) — The latest round of state test results is raising alarm in Baltimore City Schools. Project Baltimore found that 40% of Baltimore City high schools, where the state exam was given, did not have any students score proficient in math. Not one student.
Click to expand...

Baltimore has been strongly Democrat for decades, as has its elected leaders.
Click to expand...

And what does this tell you about our educational system? Maybe that we should strengthen it, rather than destroy it, as MAGGOTS want to do?
 
pood said:
What “argument” did good ol’ “Bret” make that you would like me to respond to?
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Responding to any would be a good start. Instead you just offer childish insults.

How about this argument:
Bret Stephens said:
There was also the larger error of anointing Harris without political competition — an insult to the democratic process that handed the nomination to a candidate who, as some of us warned at the time, was exceptionally weak. That, in turn, came about because Democrats failed to take Biden’s obvious mental decline seriously until June’s debate debacle (and then allowed him to cling to the nomination for a few weeks more), making it difficult to hold even a truncated mini-primary.
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Both parts are true I think. Dems did not take Biden's decline seriously and by the time he stepped down, they coalesced around Harris since there was no longer time for even a blitz primary.

Or how about this:
The Democratic Party at its best stands for fairness and freedom. But the politics of today’s left is heavy on social engineering according to group identity. It also, increasingly, stands for the forcible imposition of bizarre cultural norms on hundreds of millions of Americans who want to live and let live but don’t like being told how to speak or what to think. Too many liberals forgot this, which explains how a figure like Trump, with his boisterous and transgressive disdain for liberal pieties, could be re-elected to the presidency.
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back to pood said:
He said mumble-mumble something-something about how tired Americans are of liberals. And the Times pays this guy good money to drool in the public prints?
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Case in point.
I wonder if I submitted an essay to the Times contending that the reason Trump won is because this nation is chock-full of deeply repulsive and pig-ignorant people who are just like him, do you think the Times would print that in the interest of their precious “balance”
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Why don't you give it a try.
 
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pood said:
And what does this tell you about our educational system?
Click to expand...
Note that these schools are in Baltimore. A city run by Democrats (the mayor and all 15 council members are Democrats!) in a state run by Democrats.
Maybe that we should strengthen it, rather than destroy it, as MAGGOTS want to do?
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Good idea! The educational standards have been slipping in recent years. Grade inflation, college courses covering less material because underprepared students can't keep up, villainizing of objective measures like SAT and MCAT and emphasizing subjective ones like essays or identity.

The left must face up to its own role in the problems that our education system is facing. Often it has become a venue for indoctrination by left-wing professors rather than a venue for learning and developing thinking skills. It even goes so far that universities like Columbia have been hiring left-wing terrorists like Kathy Boudin to "teach".
 
Derec said:
pood said:
What “argument” did good ol’ “Bret” make that you would like me to respond to?
Click to expand...
Responding to any would be a good start. Instead you just offer childish insults.

How about this argument:
Click to expand...

How about this argument: America is a floating island of garbage.

Well said, Rude Pundit, though actually America is not an island. That is the only thing you got wrong in the whole piece. (y)

Wonder if the New York Times would publish that? :unsure:
 
I want to offer some more thoughts on this topic.
Let's talk about lawfare - weaponizing criminal and civil law to go after Trump. I think Dems' efforts to destroy Trump by legal means actually made him more popular and contributed to his victory.

There were a couple of good cases against Trump that should have been pursued. The fake elector case and the documents case.

But what do Dems do? They lead with the weakest case, about hush money to a porn star.
We have the DA who infamously reduces armed robberies to misdemeanor theft, but who invented novel legal theories to upgrade expired misdemeanor record keeping charges into 34 felony counts.

Then there is the civil suit over rape charges. EJC could not even recall the year this supposed rape happened, much less produce any evidence, and yet a NYC jury found him liable. The case should have been dismissed from the jump, especially since EJC first made her accusation when she was selling a misandrist book, named "What do we need men for?".

There are other things. A Colorado court trying to boot Trump off the ballot based on an interpretation of 14th Amendment, Section 3.
 
pood said:
How about this argument: America is a floating island of garbage.
Well said, Rude Pundit, though actually America is not an island. That is the only thing you got wrong in the whole piece. (y)
Click to expand...
"America sucks" is not really an argument. It's pouting put to keyboard.
The same America that voted for Trump also voted for Biden. It voted for Obama - twice.
It's silly to think that a better candidate could not have won, even though this year has been bad for incumbents around the world.
Wonder if the New York Times would publish that? :unsure:
Click to expand...
No, I doubt the Times would publish that drivel.

How about something more thoughtful?
The Democratic Blind Spot That Wrecked 2024
Ezra Klein @ NY Times said:
I was no fan of the Obama administration’s turn to deficit reduction. But then, I’m a liberal. The Obama administration didn’t need to win me back. After the disastrous 2010 midterms, it needed to win back voters who believed the administration was listening to me and not to them. It focused relentlessly on that project, even when it infuriated the Democratic base.
I think this dynamic helps explain a political blindness that Democrats developed around Biden. There was always a huge gap between the near reverence for Biden among Washington Democrats and Biden’s weak approval rating. One reason Biden was so beloved among congressional liberals was that, unlike previous Democratic presidencies, his administration didn’t reorient its politics in a way that alienated its base in order to win back disaffected voters. There’s a reason Biden’s staunchest defenders, even after the disastrous presidential debate, were Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Instead of focusing on the voters they were losing, Biden and the Democrats kept focusing on the voters they were winning.
Click to expand...

I think he is right. Take the issue of student loan forgiveness. It is one that would help only a minority of voters, and a minority that was better off than the average voter anyway. And it was a policy pushed by the likes of AOC - in fact, she wanted all student loans forgiven, no matter the amount or the salary of the debtor.

Or even this:
A Sex Strike Is a Losing Strategy for American Women
Kami Rieck @ NY Times said:
No dating men, no sex with men, no heterosexual marriage and no childbirth. These are the four principles of South Korea’s 4B movement, a radical feminist movement that gained popularity in 2019, in response to sexism, hidden camera pornography and intimate partner violence. After Donald Trump’s victory, some American women have sought out the movement. But it would be a mistake for women in the United States to adopt its principles, which risk alienating those who would be our allies while ensuring little actually changes about our reality.
[...]
Trump’s win was devastating for many women. Their rage is understandable, but a 4B-style reaction is not constructive or sustainable. Women shouldn’t reduce their ability to demand policy changes and equal dignity to the ways in which we should or should not have sex or bear children. The 4B philosophy is shortsighted, primarily because it demonizes men, including those who champion equality and reproductive freedom, while constraining the women who participate in it.
[...]
Women also must take this opportunity to bring men along with us. Changing gender roles is a main reason many young men say they feel economically and socially left behind. Instead of boycotting men, feminists should acknowledge the legitimate ways men have lost ground in education, employment and health and find ways to craft a feminist message that includes them in the project of ensuring equal rights for us all.
Click to expand...

A short article, but still far more thoughtful than whatever Rude Pundit managed to produce.
 
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Derec said:
I want to offer some more thoughts on this topic.
Let's talk about lawfare - weaponizing criminal and civil law to go after Trump.
Click to expand...
Prosecuting offenders is not "weaponizing criminal and civil law"; And the law is supposed to go after offenders. Trump was given special treatment, in that he was treated less harshly than most defendants would have been.
Derec said:
I think Dems' efforts to destroy Trump by legal means actually made him more popular and contributed to his victory.
Click to expand...
I think you are right. But that shouldn't persuade us to abandon rule of law.
Derec said:
There were a couple of good cases against Trump that should have been pursued. The fake elector case and the documents case.
Click to expand...
I agree.
Derec said:
But what do Dems do? They lead with the weakest case, about hush money to a porn star.
Click to expand...
Well, if that was the weakest case, then the fact that he was found guilty provides good reason to expedite those even stronger cases, which if they are less weak, will surely lead to further convictions.

But it probably wasn't the weakest case; Rather, it was the case most difficult for the voting public to comprehend, so the convictions could be spun by the convict as unjust bullying, when in fact they were a perfectly just and normal response to his having committed crimes.

The double standard from the "Party of Law and Order", and from law and order advocates such as yourself, is glaring, if unsurprising.

Trump has committed crimes that would typically result in jail time. The question is not "How dare the Democrats be so mean?", it is "How can such a criminal still be at large, and allowed to run for President?".

What's the protocol for inaugaurating a President who is in jail?
 
Derec said:
pood said:
How about this argument: America is a floating island of garbage.
Well said, Rude Pundit, though actually America is not an island. That is the only thing you got wrong in the whole piece. (y)
Click to expand...
"America sucks" is not really an argument. It's pouting put to keyboard.
The same America that voted for Trump also voted for Biden. It voted for Obama - twice.
It's silly to think that a better candidate could not have won, even though this year has been bad for incumbents around the world.
Wonder if the New York Times would publish that? :unsure:
Click to expand...
No, I doubt the Times would publish that drivel.

How about something more thoughtful?
The Democratic Blind Spot That Wrecked 2024
Ezra Klein @ NY Times said:
I was no fan of the Obama administration’s turn to deficit reduction. But then, I’m a liberal. The Obama administration didn’t need to win me back. After the disastrous 2010 midterms, it needed to win back voters who believed the administration was listening to me and not to them. It focused relentlessly on that project, even when it infuriated the Democratic base.
I think this dynamic helps explain a political blindness that Democrats developed around Biden. There was always a huge gap between the near reverence for Biden among Washington Democrats and Biden’s weak approval rating. One reason Biden was so beloved among congressional liberals was that, unlike previous Democratic presidencies, his administration didn’t reorient its politics in a way that alienated its base in order to win back disaffected voters. There’s a reason Biden’s staunchest defenders, even after the disastrous presidential debate, were Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Instead of focusing on the voters they were losing, Biden and the Democrats kept focusing on the voters they were winning.
Click to expand...

I think he is right. Take the issue of student loan forgiveness. It is one that would help only a minority of voters, and a minority that was better off than the average voter anyway. And it was a policy pushed by the likes of AOC - in fact, she wanted all student loans forgiven, no matter the amount or the salary of the debtor.

Or even this:
A Sex Strike Is a Losing Strategy for American Women
Kami Rieck @ NY Times said:
No dating men, no sex with men, no heterosexual marriage and no childbirth. These are the four principles of South Korea’s 4B movement, a radical feminist movement that gained popularity in 2019, in response to sexism, hidden camera pornography and intimate partner violence. After Donald Trump’s victory, some American women have sought out the movement. But it would be a mistake for women in the United States to adopt its principles, which risk alienating those who would be our allies while ensuring little actually changes about our reality.
[...]
Trump’s win was devastating for many women. Their rage is understandable, but a 4B-style reaction is not constructive or sustainable. Women shouldn’t reduce their ability to demand policy changes and equal dignity to the ways in which we should or should not have sex or bear children. The 4B philosophy is shortsighted, primarily because it demonizes men, including those who champion equality and reproductive freedom, while constraining the women who participate in it.
[...]
Women also must take this opportunity to bring men along with us. Changing gender roles is a main reason many young men say they feel economically and socially left behind. Instead of boycotting men, feminists should acknowledge the legitimate ways men have lost ground in education, employment and health and find ways to craft a feminist message that includes them in the project of ensuring equal rights for us all.
Click to expand...

A short article, but still far more thoughtful than whatever Rude Pundit managed to produce.
Click to expand...
It ultimately worked in Lysistrata, maybe it will work here too. :D
 
pood said:
Derec said:
pood said:
What “argument” did good ol’ “Bret” make that you would like me to respond to?
Click to expand...
Responding to any would be a good start. Instead you just offer childish insults.

How about this argument:
Click to expand...

How about this argument: America is a floating island of garbage.

Well said, Rude Pundit, though actually America is not an island. That is the only thing you got wrong in the whole piece. (y)

Wonder if the New York Times would publish that? :unsure:
Click to expand...
The Rude Pundit is actually an Associate Professor and the Chair of the English Department of the College of Staten Island. I think he knows America isn't really an island. But he might be overeducated.
 
ZiprHead said:
pood said:
Derec said:
pood said:
What “argument” did good ol’ “Bret” make that you would like me to respond to?
Click to expand...
Responding to any would be a good start. Instead you just offer childish insults.

How about this argument:
Click to expand...

How about this argument: America is a floating island of garbage.

Well said, Rude Pundit, though actually America is not an island. That is the only thing you got wrong in the whole piece. (y)

Wonder if the New York Times would publish that? :unsure:
Click to expand...
The Rude Pundit is actually an Associate Professor and the Chair of the English Department of the College of Staten Island.
Click to expand...

Right. And he has it all exactly right.
 
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