Musings —03.19.2020 04:52 PM
—We must defeat this lying bastard
This new ad from @ForTheRuleOfLaw will run Friday morning on Fox and Friends.
"We pretty much shut it down…It'll be down to close to zero…It's really working out…No, I don't take responsibility at all."
America needs a president who tells the truth. Our lives depend on it. pic.twitter.com/l8pzdbItrk— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) March 19, 2020
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
Everyone, particularly we seniors, is faced with staying psychologically and spiritually healthy in the face of prolonged isolation attended by major worries about basic provisioning, family welfare, financial stress and even challenges to the civil order. I’m just starting to try to figure out how to do this, but I’m pretty sure the path not to take is to spend my days practicing amateur epidemiology on social media, fueling the partisan divisions that have blighted our politics for too long and generally sounding as if I think the pandemic would be brought to a halt if only I were in charge. Every country has been slow off the mark to grasp the severity of the threat, but it can hardly be said Trudeau and Trump haven’t taken dramatic remedial steps in the past ten days. Of course they aren’t beyond criticism, but for my part I’ve had my fill with pundits and talking heads furthering their careers by moving seamlessly from Middle East peace and climate change to how to stop a pandemic and casting contemptuous aspersions on their every move .
JT would hardly be my first choice for leader in a national emergency, but that is exactly what he is and, absent egregious blunders or dereliction, he’s got my cooperation and support. Americans would be wise the think similarly regardless of who they intend to vote for, not to give succor to Trump, but to promote the social cohesion and collective will we are going to need so badly. If someone as unlikely as Ilhan Omar can laud him, I suggest what a privileged professional bien pensant like Kristol thinks is and is not the truth about the virus could profitably be ignored in favour of a good mystery on Netflix.
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
Peter,
I’m probably not fully up to speed but thus far, I’m more satisfied with the Canadian than American response. (The PM can consider this as a late-arriving Christmas present.) LOL.
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
C’mon, how do you know what news they watch? It’s not surprising that rural and small town folks are less engaged so far. At this point, the virus is heavily concentrated in dense, Democrat-controlled urban areas with high incidences of travelling populations. That may or may not change, but it’s obviously grounded in some time-tested scientific realities about the spread of disease. Here’s a good article about it.
I’m not shilling for Trump or Trudeau. Surely it’s one thing to criticize a specific measure or lack of one based on solid knowledge and another for a political wonk who has dedicated his life to searching for new countries to bomb to vent for the gazillionth time about Trump lying, etc with respect to a matter he knows nothing about. There are all kinds of different measures being taken in different countries by different governments. Not all Governors are pissed at Trump by any means. Self-isolation in Canada and the U.S. is both voluntary and very selective. Both Trump and Trudeau are reassuring us they have a handle on it, which is what political leaders do. Would you prefer they said they haven’t a clue what to do? Does the fact they haven’t shut us down like China or even Spain mean they are lying to us?
Slightly OT, I assume we can all agree that food security will be a priority if this goes on for a long time. Canadian farmers rely on 50,000 migrant workers mainly from the Caribbean and Central America to bring in the annual harvest. Apparently the work is more skilled that we may think and they can’t just be replaced by locals. Any ideas what we should do about that?
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
Don’t tell me, tell this guy. It seems to me the biggest criticism you can make is that Trump was about five or six days behind Trudeau, who was similarly behind several other countries. I’d bet you and I were both in comparative denial as recently as ten days ago.
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
Good response.
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
For someone isolating himself in the countryside, Mike, you sure seem to know what’s going on in everyone else’s heads. 🙂 Best wishes.
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
Peter: EXACTLY!! Both have their faults but are now doing what needs to be done!
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
Good Luck!
They are fighting two plagues and the same time
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
Meanwhile over on Breitbart, Trump supporters are claiming that the coronavirus is a bioweapon manufactured by the Chinese, in cahoots with the DNC and George Soros to sabotage Trump’s re-election.
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
Seems as useful as any other theory. It seems no one knows right now.
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
Why do you think the WHO is “reputable”? Does this sound like a reputable organization? https://dailycaller.com/2020/03/20/who-taiwan-coronavirus-warning/
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
If you consider the Daily Caller to be a reputable source of information, then you need to get your head examined.
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
In other words a “Chinese” virus….
Why do I feel like you will like that as a response?
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
Wow, Doc…those same six or eight people over there just trigger you every time, don’t they? Try Global Research Organization, Reddit or Rabble.ca, where a suspiciously similar number of people are fervently claiming that the US engineered the virus and planted it in China (no, really…that’s what they believe) as part of their ongoing trade war.
Go looking for nutjobs, and you’ll find them. So what?
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
Those places hardly have the takeup or wide readership that Breitbart has. Way to compare apples to rocks.
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
“Those places hardly have the takeup or wide readership that Breitbart has. Way to compare apples to rocks.”
Their relative size is meaningless. The point is, Breitbart *isn’t responsible* for making those comments any more than Reddit or Rabble are. Breitbart is a large international news agency that just happens to believe in free speech. Those comments don’t reflect the opinions of Breitbart itself (and gee, they even say so in the standard disclaimers, just like every other news source or aggregator does). You have a habit of bringing up their name here as if they are part of some vast right-wing Trump-inspired conspiracy. They aren’t, sorry.
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
Mike,
Kristol like Will, Frum and a host of others is a reasonably long-term anti-Trumper. Nice to see some people with personal integrity that trumps blind ideology and obedience.
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
Doc,
Kinda disappointed that it’s not Trump’s Russian BFF.
(As an aside, foolish me, I thought that continuous Breitbart reading was like masturbation — making you go blind. LOL.)
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
The Breitbart comments section is both horrifying and pure comedy gold. Never fails to deliver. Goober moonbat central.
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
I feel the same about CBC. The difference is, I actually have the balls to post there. You?
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
Why does it take balls to post on the CBC website?
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
From what I’ve seen, the majority of comments on CBC News are from right-wingers.
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
I think Trump is doing a pretty decent job of this.
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
I guess you’re not alone. Trumps personal popularity is up 4 points (meaning more Americans now support his presidency than oppose it) and his handling of this crisis itself is up 5 points.
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
Fred – that pretty much says it all doesn’t it? We’re fucked.
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
“Fred – that pretty much says it all doesn’t it? We’re fucked.”
I wish I could disagree. 🙁
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
Umm Fred, at 538.com today, Trump’s net disapproval rating is -9.
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
And over at realclearpolitics, Trump’s net disapproval rating today is -7.7.
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
Keep hanging around only the sites that tell you what you want to hear, Doc…I’ll keep visiting both sides of the spectrum. We’ll see which one of us turns out to be better informed…
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
Fred, 538 and RCP are both respected poll aggregators. Note the word “aggregator”. That is the antithesis of cherry-picking a poll.
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
“And over at realclearpolitics, Trump’s net disapproval rating today is -7.7.”
Thanks for sharing that one, Doc. I have no time at all for Nate Silver, but RealClearPolitics I had been ignoring because it sounded too much like RealClimate.org (which is anything *but* real). Great site, anyway…I bookmarked it and will add it to my list.
Oh, and today’s Gallup on Trump: 49% approval, 45% disapproval overall. 60% approval on his handling of the coronavirus (interesting) and probably the same on the economy (predictable).
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
Trump’s numbers seem to pretty clearly be going up in the last couple of days, after that initial drop a couple of weeks ago. My first guess is that it’s the very common rally-around-the-flag effect that Presidents typically benefit from in times of national crisis. Chris Cillizza, of all people, has a fairly good piece about in on the CNN website today. Even though Cillizza is usually to blinded by his anti-Trump stance to be objective.
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
November elections, every Republican for him/herself. GOP will turn on Trump.
A goner by mid-August.
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
Douglas W. Do you have anyone in mind to replace Trump by the way Nicki Haley, Pennce, Mark Meadows, Ted Cruz there are a few good people out there but I do like Trump and the deplorable people like him as well.
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
Two cents worth…
Couple months ago I dropped all the “News” channels from my cable pack…save for Fox. I get CBC whether I want it or not…not! CNN, MSNBC, etc., pretty much are now in the business of insulting people’s intelligence by spewing anti-Trump venom into their living rooms, while pretending they’re in the “news” business.
Anyone want to trade places with either Trump or Trudeau? I thought not. A tad tricky trying to reassure people while at the same time preparing them for the worst. Six of one, half a dozen of the other, it’s a fine line to walk.
That said…
The best the Dems have come up with is down to Sanders…pretty much a quasi-communist Marxist…and Biden…who never seems too sure of what day it is, or for that matter, what year. The likes of Roosevelt and Kennedy must be spinning in their graves.
Being a Rubio kinda guy, I didn’t start out as a Trump fan.
But by God, he’s turned me into one.
Anyway…stay healthy everyone.
Notice: Undefined offset: 180 in /home/q84jy4qfdyhq/public_html/wp-content/themes/warroom/functions.php on line 314
We have our own lying bastards. Bill Blair and the airport screenings is the most recent.