11.16.2022 04:40 PM

Free advice, CNN

45 Comments

  1. Warren,

    Sure, coverage helps him perhaps more than at the margins. If he somehow manages to become the nominee, let’s just say he likely won’t be the next Grover Cleveland.

    This fucker is like spoiled wine. I doubt he can win a plurality of votes in 2024. But never say never.

  2. Sean says:

    I see a dynamic unfolding in the primaries. DeSantis will come out looking like a moderate savior of the old guard / non insane wing of the Republican Party. Trump will make him look normal / acceptable to middle of the road republicans / red Dems. Campaigns are often who you are against, rather than who you are…. and if DeSantis establishes himself as the guy who finally put Trump down…. well, that’s going to be a tough act for Dems to follow.

    • Sean,

      Trouble is DeSantis is anything but a moderate and centrist Republican. He proved that in spades with the bus convoys to NYC, Chicago and other cities.

      He’s just a bit less of a whacko and asshole than Trump.

      • Sean says:

        RO’D – you are actually proving my point… Political perception is entirely relative. He’s obviously not moderate or centrist… but Joe and Jane Frontporch USA will only see … as you put it… that he is “a bit less of a whacko and asshole than Trump:…” Thats all the folks in the mushy middle need.

        • Martin Dixon says:

          Right-Ronald is looking at him front the point of view of a Red Tory. It is all relative. That is what makes me laugh about people who used to call Harper some sort of fascist. He would have been just to the right of Bernie Sanders if he were in the senate given how he governed.

          • Martin,

            With respect, assholes come in every political variety. It has nothing to do with my perspective of things. Anyone who would put refugees seeking asylum on buses without providing financial assistance at origin is a POS in my book. This is way beyond which politicians I happen to like or support. It’s about how you treat humanity when they are in dire need of urgent and vital assistance.

            As for Harper, I called him any number of things but never a fascist as that is patently ridiculous on its face — fascists, like Trump, do everything possible or probable not to lose power. That’s what January 8th was all about. I would put Harper in the same category as Mitch McConnell, up until 2015. When he went overboard to the right in that election, then he fell in with people like Ted Cruz. Wrong choice on his part: it cost us government. That’s why Harper took sole and complete responsibility for the loss, as he should have. (Full disclosure: I was still a Liberal in that election.)

          • Ha, ha, ha! January 6th. (Getting old.)

      • Martin Dixon says:

        Ish. That would be the CNN/MSNBC view. Bill Maher considers him a normal Republican. That is good enough for me. He pretty well thinks his party has gone nuts with the woke bullshit.

        • Martin,

          Normal Republican my ass. He’s in no way a Barry Goldwater (in later years), a Howard or Jim Baker, a Bob Dole, a John McCain, a Mitt Romney, a John Boehner, a Paul Ryan and I could go on.

          Any of them who bought the Trump bullshit/con job and enabled it are POS in my book and will remain so for eternity.

          • Martin Dixon says:

            I have a friend that has voted for the Dems his whole life so I told him and a few other liberal friends that they will blindly vote for their tribe no matter what(I don’t) and that it is pretty well set at birth. Bright guy so he was offended and said he was actually a Republican but there hasn’t been a decent one since Ike!

            If you think CNN is centrist then you will never be persuaded Desantis is a normal Republican. The bottom line is he may be the only one who can stop T.

          • Martin,

            DeSantis doesn’t have a prayer in hell of stopping Trump. None of them do. Trump will only be stopped by A, B or C: a) the largest political disgrace ever seen in American political history; b) civil lawsuits and/or criminal indictment; or c) a sudden and untimely death. This jackass will never, ever, be president again.

  3. Sean says:

    people forget… the news business is about selling advertising… that is the first, second and final concern of all news companies that are not owned / operated by the government. Trump drives up ratings. It’s that simple.

  4. Martin Dixon says:

    That memo will need to be sent to the late night talk show hosts too.

  5. EsterHazyWasALoser says:

    CNN needs the ratings; that is why it is pushing Trump. He was the main reason for their success between 2016 and 2020.
    https://www.businessinsider.com/cnn-ratings-have-crashed-since-donald-trump-left-the-white-house-2021-3

    In principle, yes, they should ignore Trump (hell, the whole world should ignore him). But there is money to be made, so they will continue to ficus on the dumpster fire.

  6. Warren,

    Watched Anderson tonight and they are now following your lead and ignoring Trump.

    • Martin Dixon says:

      Why would anyone watch that network?

      • Maybe because someone might happen to be a centrist and moderate. And yes, they are just as biased as Fox but I’m centrist and moderate rather than being a Kool-Aid drinking rabid-right-wing Trumpist. At least my side doesn’t go around reveling in sedition and treason. The Fox crowd, not so much.

        • Martin Dixon says:

          They are exactly the same. If I want to get the far left and far right view of any issue and get some chuckles, I will turn them on. They are just entertainment networks. Why watch either?

        • Although to be fair, Murdoch has finally moved on from Trump now that he’s no longer in office. Rather…self-serving, if nothing else.

          But he’ll regret it when Trump gets nominated again. (Yes, they are stupid enough to do it again.)

          • Martin Dixon says:

            Ronald-but they treat them like they are in the mainstream and Bernie isn’t that much to the left of your typical blue liberal up here. AOC and the squad needs to be mocked.

      • Sean says:

        I honestly turn on CNN just to see what crazy shit Trump is getting into that day. If there isn’t some crazy Trump shit going on, I usually don’t even watch CNN anymore.

        • Sean,

          I’ve come to conclusion that Warren is 1000% right. CNN gave Trump far too much oxygen, albeit negative oxygen. They are ensuring that he’s the nominee in ’24. Call it counterintuitive and ironic that they are strengthening him for that race. CW says almost any Dem can beat him in ’24 FCS, all of us better be right about that otherwise CNN and the rest of us will have inflicted DT on the American people once again. A far better political strategy is to do as Warren suggests: pretend that he’s no longer politically relevant and ignore his political events.

  7. Gilbert says:

    A lot of Republicans are tired of Mr. Trump. He has so many enemies I don’t think he’ll get the nomination.

    • Gilbert,

      I could be intellectually dishonest and merely shit on Republicans who support Trump but in truth, all politicians are exactly alike: most never individually or collectively have any stones to hold their own leadership accountable and ensure that serious political consequence flow from that flawed leadership. In this country, exceptions are rare: Stockwell Day, Marc Garneau and most recently, the O’Toole-led CPC caucus come to mind.

      And with all of that, most weak and pathetic politicians in DC will finally politically cut Trump’s throat but only when it becomes crystal clear that a) he has no hope of winning the nomination or b) he has no hope of winning a subsequent election. That’s how true cowards operate in politics.

  8. Put another way, REAL political winners don’t fall for the tired, old, bromides and canards so typical of political orthodoxy, be it on the left or the right. These dupes highly amuse me what with their frenzied simulated oral-sex feel good political moments. In short, cheap talk that means absolutely nothing in reality.

  9. Martin Dixon says:

    Ronald-I am unable to reply directly to your message about McConnell and Harper up there for some reason. On some stuff, we could only wish he was like McConnell. I am being hyperbolic when I said people called him a fascist but not much. Compare how they governed or attempted to govern on abortion, gay marriage, public health care, the death penalty, etc etc. There is no comparison. As far as 2015 goes(and you were not alone), the fact that so many people fell for JT when it was patently obvious he was not ready still shocks me. It is people like you and Coyne that basically put him in power. That would have been one time that voting for your tribe would have been the smart move. Say what you will about Harper but it was still a binary choice. And we made the wrong one.

    • Martin Dixon says:

      And when I say Desantis will “stop” T, I don’t mean it in the literal sense. I mean he has the best chance to be the nominee and ultimately become president. You and I are not really in a position to define what a “normal” Republican is. When I say normal, I mean electable. Unless you want to write off 60 per cent of an entire state(you can’t and that is Maher’s point-stop with demonizing just because someone votes Republican), then he is both.

    • Martin,

      I left the CPC when Dion was Liberal leader because I felt that Harper had tilted too much to the right and secondly, did not agree with his command and control style, more particularly with his PMO style where absolutely no one, minister, PS, and especially candidate could go on air without prior approval of the PMO. Harper’s government was a one-man show and as a result, he won repeatedly based on his decisions and also lost spectacularly on same in 2015.

      As for this Prime Minister, everyone knew he wasn’t ready in that election and that he’d have to fake it to make it in that campaign. He did that then and to a great extent is still doing that now. But for notes, briefs and cue cards, the guy is totally lost when an unexpected question comes out of left field. He’s way out of his depth: he knows it and boy does it show. That’s why I supported Garneau for leader.

      • Martin Dixon says:

        I also supported Garneau(he was the only choice for those who had any interest other than getting power back-there is no other explanation) but people like Coyne did not understand the concept of a binary choice once the election rolled around-people should have been screaming from the rooftops at what was about to happen. Harper sure doesn’t look too bad in hindsight and that should have been patently obvious to any conservatives back then. And his tilting too far to the right was the MSM narrative. Not accurate for most of us. And as far as the PMO was concerned, it has been ever thus. Once JT got in, I said I would give him a chance but he quickly confirmed all my original impressions of him and it was over. I thought Morneau was a good pick but he quickly drank the kool-and and reversed his positions on pension reform so he was no longer credible to me, etc.

        • Martin,

          From CTV News:

          Remember this? ‘Harper defended his party saying, “We do not offer them [immigrants] a better health plan than the ordinary Canadian can receive. That’s something new and existing and old stock Canadians agree with.”’

          Harper later clarified his remarks with this:

          ‘After reiterating his party’s stance on health care for refugees, Harper said, “It’s supported by Canadians who are themselves immigrants, and also supported by the rest of us – by Canadians who have been the descendants of immigrants for one or more generations.”’

          But the damage was done. And then failing to stop Kellie Leitch finished the Harper government off.

          • Martin Dixon says:

            Yes. Dumbass things to say and the MSM rode it hard but they would have found something else, if not that. That is the problem and that should be currently patently obvious. People like me, you and Coyne should have been smart enough not fall for the nonsense that the MSM was selling us about JT(and Harper) because we KNEW Harper would not govern that way. He had a majority for 4 years and we did not became some sort of dystopian Atwood novel.

            This is all relevant today. Heather Mallick pointed out in the Toronto Daily Star yesterday that most of us up here feel the same way about most issues as Dems (I would not go so far to say those same people would necessarily vote for the Dem as she and the poll does but I digress).

            She uses the results to tell PP he needs to stop with the MAGA stuff. It’s straw man nonsense and why he needs to maintain his policy of not talking to the CBC/MSM etc. unless it is to call out their bullshit.

          • Martin,

            I don’t care what any of them say. The next election is already likely Pierre’s to lose: he’s a big boy and his conduct and policies will either win us government or deny it to us. So…in short, he gets to make his own bed. His judgment better be on target or the prime ministerial disaster gets in again.

  10. Martin Dixon says:

    Have to love how the MSM is trying to portray the upcoming opposition to Justin-a bunch of whacko right wing populists.

    https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canadas-trudeau-faces-populist-headwinds-economic-slump-looms-2022-11-16/?fbclid=IwAR2CMUFe0o5_AEGdV452HouiQcs92gW6a3nLA3gTJoONow6ppxIhCC22A1w

    Two things can actually be true. One can think Justin is an embarrassment who should never have been elected PM and also not be a gun toting white nationalist.

  11. Martin Dixon says:

    Can’t reply directly to that thread-Ronald, we need to care about what they say(and certainly not buy into it-lots of other ways that Harper comment could have been painted or explained but I digress-certainly it was nothing bad enough to put JT in power). You underestimate how much they control the narrative and their bullshit needs to be called out when presented with it.

    • Martin Dixon says:

      Here is the latest-CBC was slamming the latest video by PP last night. They trotted out some guy that used to work for Harper for about 10 minutes 10 years ago and no doubt PP offended the guy when he was there so he probably has an axe to grind. Never heard of him but they will ALWAYS find some “conservative” to give their bias a veneer of credibility. He hasn’t donated anything to the party since 2008(strangely enough) and currently works in one of the ivory towers. It’s silly to label him as they did. A FORMER HARPER STAFFER-technically true but still silly. The whole bit was almost funny and there will be more to come as it becomes more clear that PP could actually(gasp!) win this thing. Talk to anyone in Vancouver about the drug problem. Whatever is going on there is not working.

      • Martin,

        The last preferred PM poll by Nanos shows Trudeau at 31% and Poilièvre at 26%. Translation: they can see the writing on the wall and are scared shitless that PP will pass Trudeau in an election campaign.

        • Martin Dixon says:

          And right on cue, Lawrence Martin of the former Tory paper(The Globe)got the memo to step up to the plate. There is so much dumbassity in his column, I don’t even know where to start. PP DID NOT win the leadership by appealing to the hard right and he is no T. He likely thought the tank and army references were a real knee slapper.

          Lametti and his smirking face reminded me of this:

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CxX8nvLalE

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