Hilarity at CPAC

[Tom Montgomery]

.
Seriously, the shameless wretches have a low, low opinion of the intelligence of their adoring base. How else to explain those pontificators such as Pete Hegseth, the co-host of Donald Trump's favorite morning show Fox and Friends?

From Hegseth's speech at CPAC: "I sit down with a school teacher, or a construction worker, or a small business owner, or a cook at a restaurant, or a waitress at the restaurant we're at. And they're not talking about esoteric things that the Ivy League talks about or MSNBC talls about."

Pete Hegseth obviously figures the ignorant base will never investigate his own resume. He graduated from Princeton in 2003 with a Bachelor of Arts degree and in 2013 received his Master of Public Policy Degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

The fake populists were also taking broad shots at all the big-taxing "Country Club Democrats." Pretty rich (pun intended) given that they all worship a Mango God who resides at a country club that he also owns.

Almost as amusing is the down-home, folksy demeanor that Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) cultivates. Of course, he never advertises to the unwashed masses that in 1979 he earned a Bachelor of Civil Law degree with first class honours from Oxford University (Magdalen College) in England, where he studied under Sir Rupert Cross and John H.C. Morris.

Then there is Josh Hawley (R-MO) who studied history at Stanford University (the Harvard of the West) and graduated in 2002 with a Bachelor of Arts degree with highest honors and Phi Beta Kappa membership. After spending a year in London as a teacher at St Paul's School from 2002 to 2003, Hawley returned to the U.S. to attend Yale Law School, graduating in 2006 with a Juris Doctor degree. While at Yale, Hawley was an editor of the Yale Law Journal.

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), of course, graduated from Princeton University and earned his law degree at the Harvard School of Law. And Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) graduated from both Harvard University (1998) and Harvard School of Law (2002). You could not throw a stone at a group of speakers at this year's CPAC without hitting an Ivy Leaguer.

You cannot make this stuff up.
.

[hawkeye54]

P T Barnum had the right of it, with his statement that there was 'a sucker born every minute, and two to fleece him' - He just never mentioned that a college education seemed to help doing that




Rick

[Kevin T]

<Quote; Tom Montgomery . . ."You could not throw a stone at a group of speakers at this year's CPAC without hitting an Ivy Leaguer.". . .>



​And if you missed an Ivy Leaguer you'd be pretty much guaranteed, and I don't wish to be uncharitable here, but there's pretty much no getting around it, that you'd hit either an easily duped individual or a person so blinkered by their hatred of the left that they will fervently believe anything.

[amish rob]

It was going on when W played cowboy.

[LeeG]

Listening to the news segment on Jesus radio it’s obvious how evil the Democrat Communist Socialist Devil Worshipers are and how they threaten everything patriots and Christians hold dear.

[Keith Wilson]

It's been building for a while, but White Evangelical Christian Ethno-Nationalism is becoming a larger and larger percentage of what the Republicans stand for. There isn't much left, for better or worse, of old small-government conservatism, the attempt to roll back the New Deal, or cold war internationalism, or even vestiges of pseudolibertarianism. They're definitely starting to resemble European right-wing populist parties (Fascism Lite, at worst); LePen's National Front in France, Fidesz/Hungarian Civic Alliance, that kind of thing. 'Keep America White and Christian' is almost all that remains, aside from idolizing Trump.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Add British Brexiters. The Conservative Party is now sitting on the same ground as the Trumpery Party.

[LeeG]

Kind of a hysteria.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...t-their-peril/

Trump reveals an important truth
As expected, Trump’s CPAC speech doubled down on the big lie that the election was stolen from him — and then some. Aaron Rupar tallies up at least five different ways he told this lie, which drew at least one standing ovation.

But embedded in that big lie was an unintentional truth. It was revealed when Trump uncorked an extended riff suggesting that the GOP’s future prospects depend on what he called “election reforms.”
“Another one of the most urgent issues facing the Republican Party is that of ensuring fair, honest, and secure elections,” Trump declared. “We must pass comprehensive election reforms, and we must do it now.”
By “election reforms,” Trump actually meant a redoubled commitment to making it harder to vote. We know this, because he said so: He went on to declare that Democrats had used the “China virus” as an “excuse” to make vote-by-mail easier.

[Keith Wilson]

Paywall on the Washington Post, alas.

[LeeG]

Paywall on the Washington Post, alas.

In a nut shell, believe them when they say what they’ll do everything they can to make voting difficult for their political opposition. They are acting on Trump’s big lie the election was stolen and the process was fraudulent.

[Art Haberland]

those being duped also believe that the White House has been "shuttered" and that all governance is coming from the new White House at Mar-a-Largo.

[Keith Wilson]

In a nut shell, believe them when they say what they’ll do everything they can to make voting difficult for their political opposition. They are acting on Trump’s big lie the election was stolen and the process was fraudulent.

OK, sure. The problem, of course, it that while it's fairly straightforward to make it more difficult to vote, measures that have a truly disproportionate effect on one group rather than another are likely to be overturned by the courts. This isn't 1880, or even 1950, where you could get away with blatantly keeping black folks from voting. Voter suppression methods that are legal don't work very well, can only shift margins a little, and can often be overcome by good get-out-the-vote efforts. I guarantee that Stacy Abrams can do that. When people catch on, it doesn't work nearly so well.

[John Smith]

It was going on when W played cowboy.

Have we forgotten Reaganomics? Cut taxes. Increase spending. Borrow money to fill the shortfall? The promise it would 'trickle down'? The debt tripling?

[skuthorp]

I keep telling you, you are dealing with a quasi-religious militant cult, not a political party per se.
And add this.
http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthre...ids-Jon-Oliver.
to the mix given the penchant for the right amongst police forces and they may get away with it.

[Tom Montgomery]

those being duped also believe that the White House has been "shuttered" and that all governance is coming from the new White House at Mar-a-Largo.

Man! THAT would produce numbing cognitive dissonance! I mean, how can one decry the "lib" White House policy while simultaneously believing the whole show is being run off-site by Trump at Mar-a-Lago?

[Gerarddm]

Let's hope it was a serious superspreader COVID event.

BTW, the fact that the over-the-shark gold statue of him was made in Mexico never even got near their irony meter, much less activated it.

Jesus, there are a LOT of stupid people in the country.

[CWSmith]

Say what you will about CPAC, and it is difficult to underestimate them, but I learned today that there are a lot of very recent "news" broadcasts on YouTube that disparage Biden severely. There is an audience for this and the machinery is spinning up.

[oznabrag]

'Hilary at CPAC' would have been EPIC!

[stromborg]

OK, sure. The problem, of course, it that while it's fairly straightforward to make it more difficult to vote, measures that have a truly disproportionate effect on one group rather than another are likely to be overturned by the courts. This isn't 1880, or even 1950, where you could get away with blatantly keeping black folks from voting. Voter suppression methods that are legal don't work very well, can only shift margins a little, and can often be overcome by good get-out-the-vote efforts. I guarantee that Stacy Abrams can do that. When people catch on, it doesn't work nearly so well.

I hope you are right but don't share your optimism regarding the courts. The SC has already rolled back a chunk of the Voting Rights Act and looks to be poised to do more damage this week.

[LeeG]

Man! THAT would produce numbing cognitive dissonance! I mean, how can one decry the "lib" White House policy while simultaneously believing the whole show is being run off-site by Trump at Mar-a-Lago?

We are in the age of unenlightenment.

[CWSmith]

'Hilary at CPAC' would have been EPIC!

That's how I first read the thread title, too. Yes, I would pay good money to see that.

I mean, they boo'd the woman who reminded them that the hotel had a mask rule... What would happen if Hillary Clinton walked out? Heads would explode.

[John Smith]

Say what you will about CPAC, and it is difficult to underestimate them, but I learned today that there are a lot of very recent "news" broadcasts on YouTube that disparage Biden severely. There is an audience for this and the machinery is spinning up.

35% or more get their 'news' from FOX, Newsmax, and similar. We accept it as free speech, and that spells our doom.

[John Smith]

We are in the age of unenlightenment.

endarkenment?

[oznabrag]

I keep telling you, you are dealing with a quasi-religious militant cult, not a political party per se.
And add this.
http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthre...ids-Jon-Oliver.
to the mix given the penchant for the right amongst police forces and they may get away with it.

Not only a quasi-religious death cult, but a masterful winnowing out of the remotely-sane.

They say the reason those Nigerian Prince get rich quick scams are so ridiculous is that the methodology is to get rid of the people who won't go along from the very first.

The Republican Party has stratified into the Moron Horde and those who will exploit their imbecile ravings to murder Liberal Democracy once and for all.

As Voltaire said, "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

With a hard core of ~20% who have already conditioned themselves to believe any number of absurdities, those who will benefit from a mob committing atrocities must be licking their lips.

If Trump were not such a miserable coward, January 6 would have been quite a different story.

[LeeG]

endarkenment?

or willful ignorance

[skuthorp]

"If Trump were not such a miserable coward, January 6 would have been quite a different story."

As cult leader donald is a manipulator not a risk taker himself.
And it seems Hillary also terms his following a cult. How long before the cult claims religious status and subsequent tax and other privileges?

Not long at all I'd say.

[Keith Wilson]

If Trump were not such a miserable coward, January 6 would have been quite a different story.

Cowardice is not his main problem, it's rather gross incompetence and lack of organizational skill and planning. Had he managed to get a significant number of his loyalists in the Capitol police, or in command of the National Guard or military units that would be called in to help, things could have gone very differently. If you want to stage a coup, you need to have military and/or police on your side. It's in the first week of 'Statecraft for Would-Be Dictators 101.'