Eric Swalwell: Republicans smear him on Fox News then want to be friends with him

[lpetrich]

Rep. Eric Swalwell: Republicans smear me on Fox News then want to grab dinner. But Congress isn't the WWE. - "You can’t smash a chair over someone’s head in the ring, then hang out backstage like it was all an act."

Rep. Eric Swalwell is of CA-16 and he was a Presidential candidate in 2020, though not a very successful one.

Congress has become a deeply divided, almost toxic work environment in part because of the “pro wrestling” mentality too many members have adopted, putting showmanship ahead of statesmanship.

You may be surprised to know that most of the right-wing House members who spend endless hours on Fox News smearing Democrats actually want to be back-slapping buddies with us when the cameras are off. Some have defamed me on national television or by tweet and then, within a day, approached me in a hallway or on the House floor, smiling and wanting to chat me up. They seem surprised when I don’t want to share pleasantries; to them, they’re just “playing the game.”

Last week one representative told me we were due to grab dinner again, as we had before the insurrection. I was stunned. This guy tweets about me and slams me on Fox News at every opportunity.

That's why I like it when AOC recently refused to work with Ted Cruz on some issue because of his support of the Jan 6 insurrection.

Too many conservative lawmakers are fast to throw away any shred of respect for a political opponent’s knowledge or motive, tossing truth and facts aside in favor of whatever will “own the libs” and get hourly coverage on Fox News, One America and Newsmax. It’s a battle for ratings, not results, and it gets Americans nothing.

THIS Is Why People HATE Politicians - YouTube
Notes Kamala Harris and Lindsey Graham fistbumping on the Senate floor, even after LG claimed that the recent Presidential election was not legitimate because of huge amounts of voter fraud, an election that made KH VP.

Then Kyrsten Sinema patting Mitch McConnell a pat on the back before giving a thumbs down to the $15/hr minimum wage, and Dianne Feinstein hugging Lindsey Graham during the Amy Coney Barrett confirmation hearings.

Ana Kasparian and Francesca Fiorentini spent the rest of the video jumping up and down on such politicians for preferring theatrics over serious policy efforts. AK noted

"The age of party democracy has passed. Although the parties therselves remain, they have become so disconnected from the wider society, and pursue a form of competition that is so lacking in meaning that they no longer seem capable of sustaining democracy in its present form."

Peter Mair in his book about UK politics, "Ruling the Void"

AK then mentioned John Boehner being anti-marijuana while in office, then working for some marijuana company afterward.

 

[untermensche]

AOC said she feared for her life.

Some of her staff were trapped in her office and by sheer chance were not discovered.

Humans in helmets and flak jackets with spears coming after you will frighten you.

The deluded insurrectionists get a little sadistic pleasure knowing she was frightened.

But she was unharmed and not permanently traumatized and will not forgive and forget.

They gave her more resolve.

 

[Trausti]

AOC said she feared for her life.

Some of her staff were trapped in her office and by sheer chance were not discovered.

Humans in helmets and flak jackets with spears coming after you will frighten you.

The deluded insurrectionists get a little sadistic pleasure knowing she was frightened.

But she was unharmed and not permanently traumatized and will not forgive and forget.

They gave her more resolve.

She wasn't in the Capitol Building. The protesters were never in her office building, where she was. Give it up, drama queen.

 

[untermensche]

AOC said she feared for her life.

Some of her staff were trapped in her office and by sheer chance were not discovered.

Humans in helmets and flak jackets with spears coming after you will frighten you.

The deluded insurrectionists get a little sadistic pleasure knowing she was frightened.

But she was unharmed and not permanently traumatized and will not forgive and forget.

They gave her more resolve.

She wasn't in the Capitol Building. The protesters were never in her office building, where she was. Give it up, drama queen.

I am telling you what she said drama queen.

Apparently some police searched where she was and she could hear them and imagined the worst.

She was hurried out to safety. Yes.

Why did she need to do that?

 

[lpetrich]

She wasn't in the Capitol Building. The protesters were never in her office building, where she was. Give it up, drama queen.

So what? They considered gassing Congresspeople in the Congressional tunnels, and after taking over the Capitol building, they would likely have moved on to the office buildings.

Here's someone else who feared for her life: Republican Rep Nancy Mace. Trausti, do you think that this Republican was a drama queen?

Also, Trausti, there are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in Fox News.

 

[TV and credit cards]

There was a time when politicians would vigorously argue their point but still be decent to one another. Still get together for a meal. This isn’t that. Treating your job of working for the American people as a game to be played out on the major biased news networks and that insults are just so much gamesmanship shows the true character of these people, who they really serve: themselves. And they’re not even much bothering to hide it any longer.
ES should give a speech to this on the House floor and/or start naming names.

 

[untermensche]

There was a time when politicians would vigorously argue their point but still be decent to one another. Still get together for a meal. This isn’t that. Treating your job of working for the American people as a game to be played out on the major biased news networks and that insults are just so much gamesmanship shows the true character of these people, who they really serve: themselves. And they’re not even much bothering to hide it any longer.
ES should give a speech to this on the House floor and/or start naming names.

There was a time when politicians would vigorously argue what they thought to be the truth.

Today they argue with total lies.

The entire so-called election fraud was just one big lie.

Trump lowered the bar pretty far. It is amazing how so many looked away from his daily and constant lies.

 

[Shadowy Man]

There was a time when politicians would vigorously argue their point but still be decent to one another. Still get together for a meal. This isn’t that. Treating your job of working for the American people as a game to be played out on the major biased news networks and that insults are just so much gamesmanship shows the true character of these people, who they really serve: themselves. And they’re not even much bothering to hide it any longer.
ES should give a speech to this on the House floor and/or start naming names.

I think a big part of the change is Twitter. Now with social media the congresspeople have a constant audience for everything they say. Back in the old days they’d have to go on a TV show or write an editorial. Now they can just snipe at each other with pithy 140 characters with their thought as soon as they think them instead of crafting arguments that may need to convince a trained journalist.

 

[prideandfall]

There was a time when politicians would vigorously argue their point but still be decent to one another. Still get together for a meal. This isn’t that.

there was a time when a significant portion of the US population wasn't considered to be 'people' and were not thought of by elected representatives.
when your entire political sphere consists only of wealthy northwestern european descended protestants, it's pretty easy for everyone to be on more or less the same page and to be able to argue minor points without too much drama.

it's amazing to me the extent to which people forget that just 60 years ago non-whites and catholics were pretty much considered insects politically, and that the age of divisive politics that we're seeing bloom today is the result of inclusivity in politics - this is what happens when instead of the political body of the country only catering to a central fairly uniform demographic, politics instead becomes about representing a huge swath of incredibly diverse people.

it's easy to vigorously debate which state should get the bigger allotment of federal highway money and then have a taxpayer funded steak together while chuckling over how silly it is that the niggers are trying to ask for voting rights again.
it's another thing entirely to be a mexican trying to argue for universal health insurance when the person you're arguing with is still having a taxpayer funded steak and chuckling about how silly it is that the niggers are trying to ask to not get shot in the street.

 

[Worldtraveller]

There was a time when politicians would vigorously argue their point but still be decent to one another. Still get together for a meal. This isn’t that.

there was a time when a significant portion of the US population wasn't considered to be 'people' and were not thought of by elected representatives.
when your entire political sphere consists only of wealthy northwestern european descended protestants, it's pretty easy for everyone to be on more or less the same page and to be able to argue minor points without too much drama.

it's amazing to me the extent to which people forget that just 60 years ago non-whites and catholics were pretty much considered insects politically, and that the age of divisive politics that we're seeing bloom today is the result of inclusivity in politics - this is what happens when instead of the political body of the country only catering to a central fairly uniform demographic, politics instead becomes about representing a huge swath of incredibly diverse people.

it's easy to vigorously debate which state should get the bigger allotment of federal highway money and then have a taxpayer funded steak together while chuckling over how silly it is that the niggers are trying to ask for voting rights again.
it's another thing entirely to be a mexican trying to argue for universal health insurance when the person you're arguing with is still having a taxpayer funded steak and chuckling about how silly it is that the niggers are trying to ask to not get shot in the street.

Excellent points.

 

[Elixir]

There was a time when politicians would vigorously argue their point but still be decent to one another. Still get together for a meal. This isn’t that. Treating your job of working for the American people as a game to be played out on the major biased news networks and that insults are just so much gamesmanship shows the true character of these people, who they really serve: themselves. And they’re not even much bothering to hide it any longer.
ES should give a speech to this on the House floor and/or start naming names.

I think a big part of the change is Twitter. Now with social media the congresspeople have a constant audience for everything they say. Back in the old days they’d have to go on a TV show or write an editorial. Now they can just snipe at each other with pithy 140 characters with their thought as soon as they think them instead of crafting arguments that may need to convince a trained journalist.

There's something to that IMO, though I think prideandfall put his/her finger on the real meat of "the problem".
Twitter is a mechanism whereby a politician - or even a bumbling half-wit wannabe politician - can selectively appeal to Teh Stoopids.

In the past, Teh Stoopids were dispersed among the audience and when a politician said something really truly moronic and harmful, it would elicit boos, informing Teh Stoopids that the politician had stepped in it and they should disapprove even though they didn't understand why.
Then Trump comes along and aggregates a Twitter following comprised almost exclusively of the least intelligent, least informed one-third of the population, and voila - an emotionally fired up following that is willing to turn its back on anyone less fortunate than they are, ignore science and revert to white supremacy, Naziism or whatever else Dear Leader wants to spoon-feed them no matter how senseless or dangerous.
At least they feel like the are able to follow Dear Leader's third-grade level of intellect, whereas they were previously left out of the entire conversation.

 

[Swammerdami]

There was a time when politicians would vigorously argue their point but still be decent to one another. Still get together for a meal. This isn’t that. Treating your job of working for the American people as a game to be played out on the major biased news networks and that insults are just so much gamesmanship shows the true character of these people, who they really serve: themselves. And they’re not even much bothering to hide it any longer.
ES should give a speech to this on the House floor and/or start naming names.

I think a big part of the change is Twitter. Now with social media the congresspeople have a constant audience for everything they say. Back in the old days they’d have to go on a TV show or write an editorial. Now they can just snipe at each other with pithy 140 characters with their thought as soon as they think them instead of crafting arguments that may need to convince a trained journalist.

There's something to that IMO, though I think prideandfall put his/her finger on the real meat of "the problem".
Twitter is a mechanism whereby a politician - or even a bumbling half-wit wannabe politician - can selectively appeal to Teh Stoopids.

In the past, Teh Stoopids were dispersed among the audience and when a politician said something really truly moronic and harmful, it would elicit boos, informing Teh Stoopids that the politician had stepped in it and they should disapprove even though they didn't understand why.
Then Trump comes along and aggregates a Twitter following comprised almost exclusively of the least intelligent, least informed one-third of the population, and voila - an emotionally fired up following that is willing to turn its back on anyone less fortunate than they are, ignore science and revert to white supremacy, Naziism or whatever else Dear Leader wants to spoon-feed them no matter how senseless or dangerous.
At least they feel like the are able to follow Dear Leader's third-grade level of intellect, whereas they were previously left out of the entire conversation.

I strongly agree with this, and with most of the other posts in the thread as well.

I strongly recommend the Netflix documentaries again: the names are something like Big Hack and The Social Dilemma. Must Watch!!

These docs are very well done. Interviewees include former top executives or techies from Facebook or Google insiders who are now whistle blowers. They don't imagine any conspiracy: the disintegration of a society's capacity for coherent thought is an automatic consequence of powerful social media coupled with a profit motive. One researcher projects the end of democracies and, perhaps, civilization if no remedy is found soon.