Kamala Harris

[Tank]

This made interesting reading. Any thoughts?

Long-doubted by Democrats, Kamala Harris faces her biggest political moment

[Icarus]

Harris is a competent candidate for the presidency. She has in the last few weeks emerged as a force to be reckoned with. She has the benefit of expert coaching and councelling for her campaign. She is an intelligent woman who displays a good measure of common sense as well as sufficient political savvy. Her background as a litigator is a plus factor. Finally she is NOT Trump.

Since she has begun to campaign, her poll figures have exceeded those of Trump. Trump had previously had the advantage in the polls. Harris has attracted groups that were improbable before Biden relinquished the intent to run for another term. Among the organized groups are.... Christians For Harris, Most of the nations labor unions, even some macho men have organized a large contingent they are calling; Dudes for Harris and many more.

Despite all the plus factors for Harris, we have an unfortunate method of electing our president.  It is called the electoral college. The result of the electoral college system is that the candidate with the largest popular vote may very well lose the election. That system of selecting a president was a practical one in the 18o0sand parts of the 1900s.  We did not have the ability to deliver the will of the majority in the times before voting numbers were easily and instantly transmitted. voters sent delegates to the capitol to cast their votes. Those delegates  presumably represented the will of the people in which the delegates lived.

The race may be close because of the electoral college system. I am waiting to exhale

Bottom line: Harris could lose the election even though she will surely receive an overwhelming majority of the nations votes.  We still have a significant number of ill informed, gullible, poorly educated people who will vote for the madman Trump even when it is not in their best interests.

aside note below

(please observe that in the above diatribe I have refrained from using pejoratives to describe the dumb fucks (oops I slipped) who will vote for the addled, narcisist, greedy, conniving, serial lying, insulting, miserable scum of the earth, Trump.)    

[Tank]

Thank you for your considered insight. Much appreciated.

[zorkan]

If it's true she has shark malaria she could give it to Lord Dampnut.

[billy rubin]

that electoral college makes no sense, but to get rid of it our small-population states would have to vote to give up power.

they wont do it.

[Asmodean]

Nor should they. While it does make some votes more potent than others in certain respects, that's the price of a "properly done" federation.

I suppose President being the head of the federal government, he could be elected by a simple majority in each individual state and then whoever won the highest number of states gets the office, but that would not address the above concern. Reforming into a unitary state would be way too much of an ask, but that would have the benefit of being able to do stuff like elect presidents by majority vote.

Hmm... Complicated. How would you solve it?

[billy rubin]

i would indeed change our system so that all voters have an equal say. currently a state like wyoming has as much votibg power in the senate as a state like california.

wyoming has some 600 000? people, while california has over 39 000 000.

the electoral college similarly disenfranchises large population areas in favour of ancient political boundaries.

change would not be possible. i do not see any reforms being made without another revolution. what we have is a constitution designed for a country that no longer exists.

[Tom62]

I think that the most qualified person should win. Comparing the achievements of Trump and Harris, I don't think that Harris is qualified enough to become president.

[billy rubin]

what were donald trumps achievements?

[Dark Lightning]

Golf, and inciting an insurrection. Oh, don't forget, waving classified information around. Stunningly, amazingly UN-presidential toad. With apologies to toads, worldwide.

[Recusant]

Experienced practitioner of the Gish gallop . . .

"Trump's 'Gish Gallop' Debate Tactic Comes from Creationists" | Scientific American

In politics, the Gish gallop is precisely what Trump deployed in the June debate, putting Joe Biden at a significant disadvantage in attempting to refute even some of the falsehoods in the torrent of lies. Trump, as anyone even half paying attention to his speeches knows, is an expert at the Gish gallop. He projects the utmost confidence while bombastically repeating lie after lie until it overwhelms his audience into either accepting every word he says as the truth, or walking off in disgust because there is no way to get him to acknowledge any truth. At this point, everyone knows this so well that news reports scarcely cover it.

[Icarus]

^ Tom, Harris has far more credentials than Trump, More experience in politics, and a reputation for playing fair. Trumps original popularity came from a Television show in which he was the Boss. The show was called The Apprentice. Potential apprentices were given a few hundred dollars with which to start and run a business or otherwise increase the net worth of the fledgling business. The apprentice would report back to the Boss in a week or two with a profit and loss statement. Trump the Boss became famous for shaking his finger at the apprentice and telling them in a gruff voice: You're Fired. That is his claim to fame.

Trump claims to be a successful business man. He has a whole series of failures, bankruptcies, and ill conceived  business decisions. He is the scoundrel who famously stiffs the contractors who do work for him. He  has faced hundreds of court cases for not paying his contractors.  Take the Scotland golf course as evidence.  He has lost his hat and his ass with that venture. Trump is responsible for instigating a tax reform that rewarded only top tier billionaires to the tune of 1.2 trillion dollars. The middle class got nothing. He also has four children by his three different wives. He cannot even choose a lasting relationship.

There is a whole boat load of dumb ass mistakes that he made as president as well as in his business ventures. He is not very bright either. During the Covid crisis, he suggested that chlorine bleach be injected into victims of the virus. If that failed he figured that injecting UV light into the patient would kill the virus.

Harris, has intellect and sound judgement that far exceeds Trumps, even in his wildest dream. Yet he still claims to be "a stable genius" His words repeated publicly on several occasions.  Harris has been a prosecuting attorney,  attorney General in our most populated state, California, served a term as U.S. Senator, and almost four years as vice president of the U.S. She has credentials that imply that she is a pretty savvy individual. No comparison between the two candidates as far as sound judgement is concerned. 

[Tom62]

Just have a look here to see a huge list of Trump's accomplishments. Most of it I fully agree with; some of it I take with a grain of salt. Personally, I only care about his international successes like his major peace agreements in the Middle East (for which he should have received a Nobel price); urging other NATO member to pay their due and improving the relationship between the US and North Korea.

The way I see it, the only accomplishments of Biden/Harris administration are creating the border crisis; fucking up the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan; increasing racial tensions; protecting BLM/Antifa -rioters, -looters and -arsonists; pumping huge amounts of money and weapons in the Ukrainian/Russian war; and creating a huge inflation by government overspending. Clueless as she is about economical issues, Kamala Harris now wants to control prices, that even the mainstream media agrees, will cause huge economical problems. Most of her ideas are driven by ideology instead of common sense.

[Recusant]

^ Tom, Harris has far more credentials than Trump, More experience in politics, and a reputation for playing fair. Trumps original popularity came from a Television show in which he was the Boss. The show was called The Apprentice. Potential apprentices were given a few hundred dollars with which to start and run a business or otherwise increase the net worth of the fledgling business. The apprentice would report back to the Boss in a week or two with a profit and loss statement. Trump the Boss became famous for shaking his finger at the apprentice and telling them in a gruff voice: You're Fired. That is his claim to fame.

Trump claims to be a successful business man. He has a whole series of failures, bankruptcies, and ill conceived  business decisions. He is the scoundrel who famously stiffs the contractors who do work for him. He  has faced hundreds of court cases for not paying his contractors.  Take the Scotland golf course as evidence.  He has lost his hat and his ass with that venture. Trump is responsible for instigating a tax reform that rewarded only top tier billionaires to the tune of 1.2 trillion dollars. The middle class got nothing. He also has four children by his three different wives. He cannot even choose a lasting relationship.

There is a whole boat load of dumb ass mistakes that he made as president as well as in his business ventures. He is not very bright either. During the Covid crisis, he suggested that chlorine bleach be injected into victims of the virus. If that failed he figured that injecting UV light into the patient would kill the virus.

Harris, has intellect and sound judgement that far exceeds Trumps, even in his wildest dream. Yet he still claims to be "a stable genius" His words repeated publicly on several occasions.  Harris has been a prosecuting attorney,  attorney General in our most populated state, California, served a term as U.S. Senator, and almost four years as vice president of the U.S. She has credentials that imply that she is a pretty savvy individual. No comparison between the two candidates as far as sound judgement is concerned. 

Couldn't have said it better myself, Icarus.   

As for self-promoting lists of accomplishments, the Biden-Harris administration has one too.

[Icarus]

The Democrat nominating convention is in full bloom. The list of speakers has been spectacular. The organizer of this event sure as hell brought out the heavy artillery.

Rumor is that there is a warrant out for Michelle Obama. That's because she is accused of destroying a building....a metaphor of course. Her speech certainly did bring the house down. There were several others who delivered dynamite speeches.

All the major networks have covered this event with wall to wall coverage. Too bad that the Trump people will not have watched any of this tremendously emotional and motivating production. Had they done so, more than a few of them would surely have changed their candidate preference.