tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post7179338579534893072..comments2023-10-24T09:06:30.200-04:00Comments on No More Mister Nice Blog: Steve M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11963290427258439242noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-65267646397095967572013-03-18T04:28:46.589-04:002013-03-18T04:28:46.589-04:00At the risk of sounding pedantic, the authority fo...At the risk of sounding pedantic, the authority for Congress to regulate the militia is found in Article I, Section 8. Cruz is being incredibly condescending. He just wants to show off that fancy book larnin' he got from the commies at Harvard!Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04457840137546321485noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-48725745476658739702013-03-15T22:03:52.704-04:002013-03-15T22:03:52.704-04:00Yes, with all respect to the horror of the Milk-Mo...Yes, with all respect to the horror of the Milk-Moscone moment, is anybody sure that Feinstein isn't for gun control the way Mr. Portman has become for marriage rights, on the basis of pure (and understandable) emotion? It strikes me now and again that we don't really know much about how these "centrists" think. But I somehow don't think constitutional arguments occupy the same space in her brain.Yastreblyanskyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08335868257729063363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-48139429040288875852013-03-15T18:27:33.313-04:002013-03-15T18:27:33.313-04:00Luigi, I know the history. I'm old enough to ...Luigi, I know the history. I'm old enough to remember the shootings. It just doesn't answer Cruz's question. I still think the wingers need to be rebutted on their terms, not just on ours.Steve M.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11963290427258439242noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-84421329672477546272013-03-15T14:22:17.030-04:002013-03-15T14:22:17.030-04:00I'm about as skeptical as SteveM is about the ...I'm about as skeptical as SteveM is about the electoral future, for somewhat different reasons. Starting with the roughly 27% lumpenright base (which rabidly votes), the R's got up to 47-48% just last year in the Presidential election, without a gutted VRA & with perhaps the most mannikin-like R candidate since Dewey. It was never as close as Ailes, Rove et al. were fantasizing, but it was also never quite nailed down from the D's side either, as witness the disconcertingly rapid & sizable Obama poll drop after the 1st debate. Had he stumbled just one more time, it seems to me quite possible that even the hapless Mitty might have prevailed. In short, nationally the R's start from a larger base of sure voters than the D's, demographics so far notwithstanding; and among less ideologically-committed but likely voters, they retained the ability to sway numbers enough to avoid anything like a landslide except in the EC. The midterms of '14 should be telling, but right now I'd say that come '16, after a gutted VRA, with a candidate almost guaranteed to be a better campaigner than Mitty, & factoring in the inchoate "time-for-a-change" impulse after 2 Obama terms, it would be foolish to be too confident. BHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12991272246814476124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-67047018174164920442013-03-15T09:16:31.587-04:002013-03-15T09:16:31.587-04:00Imdeed, Philo, The Second in fact doesn't say ...Imdeed, Philo, The Second in fact doesn't say one thing about overthrowing the government. Not one word.<br /><br />No fear...Ten Bearshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06594307610015584119noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-86656193627819257262013-03-15T09:05:33.613-04:002013-03-15T09:05:33.613-04:00The First Amendment says congress shall make no la...The First Amendment says congress shall make no law, etc.<br /><br />The Second only says the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.<br /><br />That first is a blanket prohibition on federal interference.<br /><br />The second is not, and does not promise a right to keep or bear just any weapon at all.<br /><br />Clear, now?<br /><br />And incorporation is a silly fraud, by the way.Philo Vaihingerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17150326435392881297noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-2549151859197524072013-03-15T08:12:46.418-04:002013-03-15T08:12:46.418-04:00Feinstein knows the answer. It came to her as she...Feinstein knows the answer. It came to her as she tried to revive Harvey Milk's blood soaked body 30 years ago.<br /><br />Bloggers who don't remember history are doomed to keep publishing the same silly column.Luigihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16483229810538275725noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-4753587868562621762013-03-14T22:22:04.443-04:002013-03-14T22:22:04.443-04:00Let's talk again in November '16 -- or Nov...Let's talk again in November '16 -- or November '14.Steve M.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11963290427258439242noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-45951397457254586942013-03-14T19:44:57.964-04:002013-03-14T19:44:57.964-04:00I'm not even worried about the mugging of the ...I'm not even worried about the mugging of the voting rights act. The harder they try to keep people from voting the more people want to vote. Most of the ways they keep people from voting just shave a few people off of a larger, non voting population. If the dems activate all their potential voters there is going to be a fucking tidal wave. One of the voting groups the GOP has lost are women--single women--but no method can be devised that disenfranchises young single women that doesn't also disenfranchise young white men. Same damned category of people. <br /><br />There's really no coming back from the demographic ditch they've dug themselves. I don't care what they manage to do in places like South Carolina they can only make red states redder and it won't make a damned bit of difference.aimaihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03956073425680585780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-79459547943913902932013-03-14T19:43:53.185-04:002013-03-14T19:43:53.185-04:00Out here on The High Desert we old timers chuckle ...Out here on The High Desert we old timers chuckle when the fools and newcomers predict the weather. Three years out. Let's not let the media rope us into another horserace just yet, it's just another distraction.<br /><br />No fear...Ten Bearshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06594307610015584119noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-37168328871224645932013-03-14T18:19:27.775-04:002013-03-14T18:19:27.775-04:00The asshole vote is never going to go above 27 per...<i> The asshole vote is never going to go above 27 percent.</i><br /><br />Yeah, but 27 percent of people who are eligible to vote <i>now</i> will add up to what percentage of people who are eligible to vote after the Supreme Court mugs the Voting Rights Act in a dark alley?<br /><br />And who's going to be the "liberal" media darling in 2016? Maybe not Rand -- though he's certainly been the LM darling this past month -- but very possibly Jeb or Marco Prettyboy or Paul Ryan. (Or do you think the media will someday stop jonesing for us societal losers to get screwed out of our entitlements?)Steve M.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11963290427258439242noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-22704370514117907702013-03-14T17:30:36.865-04:002013-03-14T17:30:36.865-04:00No, we are not going to wake up with Ted Cruz as P...No, we are not going to wake up with Ted Cruz as President. The asshole vote is never going to go above 27 percent. No single incident, no single play for the peanut gallery, is going to add up to a knock down win for these assholes. There are going to be millions more incidents before he even gets to the primary and he may well win the primary but no one who can win the Republican primary can pull liberal/independent votes anymore. Its just not going to happen. Romney got as close as he did because (some) people couldn't believe he wasn't just posing as a wingnut. From now on out, however, none of the Republican contenders will ever have had a different pedigree, a different life, to point back to. <br /><br />Neither Ted Cruz nor Rand Paul will ever pull the "sensible centrists" to the right. And they won't even bother to pose as centrist for the sake of getting over. Cruz lost that battle with Feinstein with everyone except people who already agree with him and basically stick their fingers in their ears when old broad dems speak. Nothing she said would have disturbed their comfort. <br /><br />I think, contra what you are arguign, that she used very specific and highly effective factual language: "I've seen bodies...we need to do something" is, in fact, EXTREMELY persuasive to the majority of Americans who don't give a fuck about constitutional fetishism.aimaihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03956073425680585780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-83238511138236511302013-03-14T17:02:13.556-04:002013-03-14T17:02:13.556-04:00"Anonymous" is me, Steve. Kathy Kattenbu..."Anonymous" is me, Steve. Kathy Kattenburg. Sorry about that.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14860696617234912771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-10568322816523201772013-03-14T16:59:13.434-04:002013-03-14T16:59:13.434-04:00Totally disagree with you here, Steve. Cruz is man...Totally disagree with you here, Steve. Cruz is mansplaining; Feinstein knew he was mansplaining, and she responded as one would expect a woman to respond to mansplaining.<br /><br />I would, as gently as I can, suggest to you that perhaps the reason you see nothing unreasonable about Cruz's reply is that you don't recognize mansplaining when you see it, for obvious reasons (which does not mean a man cannot recognize mansplaining, but clearly it's something women are much more sensitized to than men are, in the same way a black person would be more sensitized to and quick to recognize subtle racism.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14860696617234912771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-21021766378667113182013-03-14T16:48:23.863-04:002013-03-14T16:48:23.863-04:00trnc--kudos for remembering that clause. In the ru...trnc--kudos for remembering that clause. In the rush to own personal cannons and anti-aircraft guns, many on the right forget (or ignore) about the 2nd amendment being "well-regulated."Uncle Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04579861730666088507noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-88366800538861369332013-03-14T16:44:45.304-04:002013-03-14T16:44:45.304-04:00Thanks....Thanks....Steve M.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11963290427258439242noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-69685089389485032452013-03-14T16:27:48.237-04:002013-03-14T16:27:48.237-04:00Just wanted to highlight "cloacal tsunami of ...Just wanted to highlight "cloacal tsunami of bad ideas." That's just brilliant.Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06254085752967725917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-75200807996571195382013-03-14T16:20:09.742-04:002013-03-14T16:20:09.742-04:00In what should have been Feinstein's answer, I...In what should have been Feinstein's answer, I would add that Article 2 section 2 of the constitution explicitly gives congress control over the training and organization of the militias, and it's highly disingenuous to pretend that such authority doesn't include the ability to decide which tools to use.trnchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11288449285041026538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-2296783255336651952013-03-14T14:17:14.726-04:002013-03-14T14:17:14.726-04:00"Feinstein should know that this is the answe..."Feinstein should know that this is the answer."<br /><br />Yes, but she she stooped to the Republican level.<br /><br />The problem is, that this smug and impudent weasel-faced ratfucker, comes across as such a smarmy know-it-all, that people, even Senators, want to take him down a notch or two, or twelve, and respond emotionally, instead of intellectually.<br /><br />Republicans do "emotional" very well, but can't do "intellectual" at all - Democrats are the opposite.<br /><br />Democrats in Congress need to remember to stick to their strengths.<br />Let the Republicans stay on the low-road.<br /><br />Cruz is obviously highly intelligent. But he is not "emotionally" intelligent at all.<br />He is a classic sociopath.<br /><br />He's a smarter "Tailgunner Joe."<br /> Victorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06609452382111686086noreply@blogger.com