Led Zepplin (parody)"Build The Wall"

why democrats can’t win the 'respect’ of trump voters

friday, june 1st, 2018

in the endless search for the magic key that Democrats can use to unlock the hearts of white people who vote Republican, the hot new candidate is “respect.” If only they cast off their snooty liberal elitism and show respect to people who voted for Donald Trump, Democrats can win them over and take back Congress and the White House.

The assumption is that if Democrats simply choose to deploy this powerful tool of respect, then minds will be changed and votes will follow. This belief, widespread though it may be, is stunningly naive. It ignores decades of history and everything about our current political environment. There’s almost nothing more foolish Democrats could do than follow that advice.

Before we proceed, let me be clear about what I’m not saying. I’m not saying that the desire for respect isn’t real. As a voter says in “The Great Revolt,” a new book by conservative journalist Salena Zito and Republican operative Brad Todd, “One of the things I really don’t get about the Democratic Party or the news media is the lack of respect they give to people who work hard all of their lives to get themselves out of the hole.”

Nor am I saying there aren’t some liberals who express elitist ideas, because there are.

But the mistake is to ignore where the belief in Democratic disrespect actually comes from and to assume that Democrats have it in their power to banish it.

It doesn’t come from the policies advocated by the Democratic Party, and it doesn’t come from the things Democratic politicians say. Where does it come from? An entire industry that’s devoted to convincing white people that liberal elitists look down on them.

It’s more than an industry, actually; it’s an industry, plus a political movement. The right has a gigantic media apparatus that is devoted to convincing people that liberals disrespect them, plus a political party whose leaders all understand that that idea is key to their political project and so join in the chorus at every opportunity.

If you doubt this, I’d encourage you to tune in to Fox News or listen to conservative talk radio for a week. When you do, you’ll find that again and again you’re told stories of some excess of campus political correctness, some obscure liberal professor who said something offensive, some liberal celebrity who said something crude about rednecks or some Democratic politician who displayed a lack of knowledge of a conservative cultural marker. The message is pounded home over and over: They hate you and everything you stand for.

This machine is extraordinarily powerful. It may not be able to guarantee Republican victory at the polls, but it absolutely can determine how conservatives – including those Trump voters – view what happens on a day-to-day basis in the political world, including efforts by Democrats to reach out to them.

Let’s take, for instance, Barack Obama. Can you think of another president who spent more time reaching out to the other side and showing respect for them? You might or might not like his policies, but nobody tried harder to be respectful than Obama. And Republican voters had eight years to watch him. Let’s take, as just one example, the speech he gave about race during the 2008 campaign. Here’s one small part:

“Most working- and middle-class white Americans don’t feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience - as far as they’re concerned, no one’s handed them anything, they’ve built it from scratch. They’ve worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor.”

That is extremely respectful. But it’s not what Republicans think of when they think of Obama. “I despise Barack Obama. I think primarily because I don’t think he thinks very much of people like me,” one Republican told The Post’s Dan Balz. “One of the places I would agree with the hard-core Trump people, they’re tired of being treated as the enemy by Barack Obama,” he went on. “His comment, the whole thing, it’s been worn out to death, that clinging to God and guns, God and guns and afraid of people who don’t look like them, blah, blah, blah. Just quit talking down to me.”

Ah yes, the “clinging to guns and religion” quote. One thing Obama said in 2008, taken out of context and repeated a million times until it was all any Republican voter needed to know about his entire presidency. But if you look at what Obama actually said, you’ll see that it’s different from the way it has been characterized. He was asked how Democrats could appeal to working-class whites in the Rust Belt, and he replied that people have watched their communities struggle for decades, through Republican and Democratic presidencies alike, so they wind up forming their political identities and channeling their frustrations through non-economic issues. Which few would actually dispute, but such controversies are rarely created out of what a Democratic politician actually said. They flow from whether it can be twisted around and repeated endlessly to make them look disrespectful.

The same is true of Hillary Clinton. At a town-hall meeting in March 2016, she was talking about how to revitalize communities that had been dependent on coal but had been devastated by a loss of jobs driven mostly by automation and the fracking boom that made natural gas cheaper than coal. Here’s what she said:

“And we’re going to make it clear that we don’t want to forget those people. Those people labored in those mines for generations, losing their health, often losing their lives to turn on our lights and power our factories. Now we’ve got to move away from coal and all the other fossil fuels, but I don’t want to move away from the people who did the best they could to produce energy that we relied on.”

Wow, that’s pretty respectful! It acknowledges the people’s hard work, their sacrifices, their contribution to the rest of the country. And yet because she also acknowledged that all those millions of coal jobs aren’t coming back, but said it in a way she would surely have liked to rephrase – “we’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business” – the only thing anyone remembers is that one half-sentence, which was immediately turned into “Hillary hates coal miners! She wants to destroy their lives!” All the respect-offering she tried to do was meaningless once it was chewed through the gears of the conservative outrage machine.

We see this again and again: Democrats bend over backward to show conservative white voters respect, only to see some remark taken out of context and their entire agenda characterized as stealing from hard-working white people to give undeserved benefits to shiftless minorities. And then pundits demand, “Why aren’t you showing those whites more respect?”

So when we say that, what exactly are we asking Democrats to do? It can only be one of two things. Either Democrats are supposed to abandon their values and change their policies, despite the fact that many of those policies provide enormous help to the very people who say Democrats look down on them, or they’re supposed to take symbolic steps to demonstrate their respect, which always fail anyway. How many times have we seen Democrats try to show respect by going to a NASCAR event or on a hunting trip, only to be mocked for their insincerity?

In the world Republicans have constructed, a Democrat who wants to give you health care and a higher wage is disrespectful, while a Republican who opposes those things but engages in a vigorous round of campaign race-baiting is respectful. The person who’s holding you back isn’t the politician who just voted to give a trillion-dollar tax break to the wealthy and corporations, it’s an East Coast college professor who said something condescending on Twitter.

So what are Democrats to do? The answer is simple: This is a game they cannot win, so they have to stop playing. Know at the outset that no matter what you say or do, Republicans will cry that you’re disrespecting good heartland voters. There is no bit of PR razzle-dazzle that will stop them. Remember that white Republicans are not going to vote for you anyway, and their votes are no more valuable or virtuous than the votes of any other American. Don’t try to come up with photo ops showing you genuflecting before the totems of the white working class, because that won’t work. Advocate for what you believe in, and explain why it actually helps people.

Finally – and this is critical – never stop telling voters how Republicans are screwing them over. The two successful Democratic presidents of recent years were both called liberal elitists, and they countered by relentlessly hammering the GOP over its advocacy for the wealthy. And it worked.

© May 17, 2018 by PAUL WALDMAN, "The Washington Post". Original Title: "Why Democrats can’t win the ‘respect’ of Trump voters".

[JS – The whiny article is pure libturd bullshit, but it's always a good thing to read what the opposition thinks and writes.]

A Day In The Life.

I went to sleep around midnight on Thursday, full well knowing that I'd penciled-in an 8a app't with a wood refinisher and Master Carpenter for Friday, so I set the alarm for 7a. That's plenty of time to get ready, have coffee, an English muffin, while sitting on the front porch, before the day gets too hot and humid. I was on the front porch, and thinking about next week's hectic schedule, when I saw traffic getting heavier by the minute. I'm staying off the clogged roads today, and plan to go on the back roads to their condos, to help Dad out with some food I'd gotten for him earlier today, plus rewire and clean-up his laptop computer's extra USB wires.

It doesn't even come within 3 light years of the USB mess I have under my round, butcher block kitchen table, which has been that way since 2009 or so. That's going to be a 1-2 day nightmare and I've enlisted the help of Matt and Ryley to do most of the heavy lifting of miles of wire, special connections and CommieCast/xfinnity hardware etc, as soon as the sunroom is done, and I can turn it into my new computer room. I should have done it 20+yrs ago – I've been there 27yrs, since 1990, and just got comfy where it was: next to the 'fridge, booze, food, all my cooking hardware etc. Big mistake; me a certified idiot.

I took a whole Rx Ambien 12.5mg (extended release) sleeping pill, a whole Rx 10mg Valium and an Rx 20mg Oxycodone, to make sure I got some sleep, before my 8a app't arrived. I set my alarm for 7a. Sleeping late on Saturday will be a better option, as Dad almost always sleeps until 10a, 11a or noon. Sure wish I could do that.

Up at 6:30a on Friday, I had coffee made and was thinking about breakfast, when the Master Carpenter arrived at 8a. I had several small jobs for him to bid on, in addition to the sunroom, so I will wait for written estimates to arrive, and hopefully get started. I also called a highly-recommended flooring refinisher for the front foyer and hallway, and will wait for him to return the call, so I can get him out here for an on-site visit.

My new MediCare card arrived yesterday; our Mid-Atlantic Region was the last in the country to receive them in the mail. The Social Security numbers have been removed from the new cards, unlike previous versions which had birthdays, SSI, address etc... enough for computer hackers/thieves to start new financial-related accounts in your name, or get into existing accounts and drain your savings, checking and IRA.

I had some errands to get done, before 3p, and traffic was definitely building for the weekend holiday, and mindful that I had some places to go, before they closed until Tuesday, after the holiday weekend. I did some condo chores, rescheduled some app'ts from next week to June, since I have my regular CPC Dr's app't on Wednesday, and the Penn State Hershey Med Ctr consult on Friday is going to be the week's main event for me, leading up to the gallbladder removal operation.

I have a 'endoscopic procedure' coming up, to get thru at PSU-Hershey Med Ctr, within 2-3 weeks, before I go to York Hospital for the full-blown gallbladder operation. I am worried and yes, *scared*, since I've never had a real big time operation before, in my short 68yrs. Lots of 'procedures' (tonsils, small bone chip from ball of foot, inner ear drainage) under anaesthesia, but no real operations.

After visiting Essis Flooring, I spent the rest of the day doing paperwork, paying some bills, and talking to some flooring sub-contractors, who called back from my messages during the week, about the sunroom and foyer/hallways refinishing project. By 10:45p, I was tired, pulled the plug and shut down everything so I could get some sleep and hopefully sleep later than I have, for the past 8-10 days.

Saturday wasn't much different from Friday. Up later at 9a, the Master Carpenter called and arrived at 10a to look at the sunroom wood damage, and a couple other, smaller projects, and will give me an estimate. I spent some more time at Essis Flooring going thru samples in their massive showroom, met with another guy who refinished wood flooring, did more paperwork, and just stayed in and out of the heat and humidity, except for a short trip to the East York Weis Market store./

Not having any pain, of any kind, for over a week now, has been wonderful. I still don't have much of an appetite, but I can taste the food that I eat, and the other nice thing is that I don't need/want any of the Rx 20mg Oxycodone pills. I hate that stuff. I watched CATV into the evening, did some computer maintenance and sketched out some furniture layouts and made-up lists of what I'll need for help, even though the real bulk of this isn't happening until Sept-Oct, and my GC (General Contractor) will take care of 95% of it, I have some special additional projects in mind, that only I can manage/direct/do.

The F-1 Monaco Grand Prix (78 laps on an old, narrow, shitty street course) is on ESPN at 9am, the Indy 500 (200 laps on a 2.5mi oval) on ABC at 12:30p, and the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 (400 laps on a 1.5mi oval) is on FOX Sports at 6p. 400 laps! I'll join that race much later in the broadcast, towards the end. IMO, just too much racing for one day; they should have moved the NASCAR race back into Saturday, or into tomorrow, Monday. By 11:45p, I was tired, pulled the plug and shut down everything so I could get some sleep and hopefully sleep later than I have, for the past 8-10 days.

I got-up at 7:30a on Sunday, though I could have slept all morning, no problem. I had shredded wheat and blueberries, with plenty of coffee for the next couple of hours. At lap 23 of the Monaco F1 Grand Prix, I grabbed a shower, started a load of laundry and came back down by lap 44 to watch the rest of the un-exciting race. The Indy 500 was much more exciting, with a lot of one-car crashes and carnage. Hey, is 2 + 2 = 22, or 4? Nevermind. I tuned the 600mi race on and off, between other programs, took my Rx pills, and wrapped-it-up for the day at 12:30a. I slept downstairs on the LR couch; since it's been months, and I wanted to try it once again. I'll be staying down there after my gallbladder operation until the incisions heal and pain stops.

I don't say, "Happy Memorial Day", and haven't for many years. I say "Thank You" to all our Vets and Active Duty Personnel, for their service and sacrifice. If they're in line for coffee or something, I'll pay it for them; likewise at a restaurant, I'll ask the waitress give me their bill, and I'll pay it and tip. I simply go up to them and thank them for their service, on my way out. The look on their faces is priceless when they find out someone took care of something for them, after their taking care of us for so many years.

I slept-in until 9:30a on Monday, made coffee, had some Ensure, rye toast, checked the weather and news, and drove over to Rite Aid to p/u some waiting Rxs. The roads were almost empty, again, but I knew that by 12-1p, that would all change and it'd be a traffic nightmare. It did, they were, and it was already beginning on the main roads. I had a Chicken Salad Sandwich on Wheat Toast for a late lunch, and watched the full season 2 of Iron Resurrection "Refueled" episodes, as they were in a recap mood on Velocity TV, while season 3 was being edited and readied for the coming months.

I'm going up to sleep in my bed tonite, as sleeping on the couch wasn't any fun last night. I finally pulled the plug on the day around 11:30p, and had no clue what I'd be doing tomorrow, except for meeting with the last two of the master carpenters to show them the sunroom project. And the cleaning ladies are coming in on Wednesday, this week, instead of Thursday.

Up at 8a, it looked like we had a rainy day ahead, but the storms were far south and west of us, and wouldn't arrive until tonite or tomorrow. I made coffee, an English Muffin w/ butter & Philly Cream Cheese, scanned the news and weather. Becky and I both have busy weeks, and then the pre-op gallbladder/pancreas consult mtgs at PSU-Hershey Medical Center in Lancaster Cty. I have a Dr's app't tomorrow afternoon, to update Rxs, and get refills on the Schedule 1 Rx pills. I had to run over to Rite Aid today anyway, to p/u some OTC pills and some other things. My wonderful friend, Sherry, called and we spent some time catching-up. I feel pretty good, and wo/ any pain, have stopped taking all painkillers, until the pain returns. That alone makes me feel so much better.

I made a late afternoon Ham Sandwich w/ Sauerkraut on Pumpernickel Swirl w/ Chips, had a few more sugary, delicious, canned Coffee Energy drinks, watched some car shows on The Velocity Channel, until 12:45a, and shut things down to get some sleep.

“People of all races, religions and nationalities work at Sanofi every day to improve the lives of people around the world,” Sanofi U.S. said in a statement posted to Twitter. “While all pharmaceutical treatments have side effects, racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication.” – Sanofi-Aventis, manufacturer.

Up at 8:45a on Wednesday, I had the cleaning ladies coming in at 10, so I had to get coffee and breakfast over with. I did and they were here at 10. I fell asleep in the leather recliner in the LR, while they were working. I scanned the weather and news, and this floored me: Roseanne Barr's new stream of abuse: blaming Ambien sleeping pills for her racist remark about Valerie Jarrett and claiming 'I thought she was white'. Truth be told, Jarrett looks like a LIZARD, not an APE. Ha! A few years ago: Kerry Kennedy claims she was accidental Ambien zombie, for DWI, and she got off on the charge. Double Ha! And then there's all the Ambien Zombie cases. Total freaking BULLSHIT! Anyway, I don't do dumb shit like that, closed down and went to bed early.

Up at 7a, I had lots of paperwork to get done before tomorrow's trip to PSU-Hershey Medical Center, plus get my monthly nmaint fee paid online to a mghmt group in Nevada. My computer's Outlook shit-the-bed, and I lost everything I had coming in as new mailk. I callerd Matt, Amon, Doug and Ryley to get help. Acccccccccccccck! Along with my coffee, my cellphone wasn't hollding a charge and I had to drive west to "Batteries & Bulbs" in West York, and get a new Lithium Battery. I also got some 3-way LED bulbs for lariopus lamps, and eventually the entire condo will be outfitted with LED and new switches.

I had to uninstall it because it was making my usernames and paasswords disappear, in favor or the ones it wanted me to use. I wasn't buying that. It was also trying "take over" my desktop, and replace MS Office 2007 with MS Office 2016, without my persmission. That wasn't happening either, dammit. I made sure I had everything lined-up for the PSA-Hershey Mediccal Center trip tomorrow, and bagged it around 9:30.

"Celebrity" Filth.

They had, and many still have the world by the short hairs, bank accounts overflowing with cash, notoriety and stadiums of adoring fans. They're liked and revered by 7 out of 10 people (my guess), get A-List treatment everywhere they go. 200+ so far have been accused, amd more will be joining that infamous list, with many more getting charged and scores doing prison time for their crimes: rapists, molestors, sexual harassment, sexual predation, and crimes against children. I recognize a few names, but barely enough to field a football team (11).

At least I hope so, but I'm not holding my breath.

It's already a long, 200+ name list, with thousands of accusations misdemeanors and felonies. I'm familiar with less than 15-17 of the following names. So far... O'Reilly, Hannity, Kalanick, Caldbeck, McClure, Sacca, Kelly, Bolling, Polanski, Elnashai, Belove, Jaeger, Payne, Knowles, Weinstein, Marchant, Nelly, Affleck, Stone, Price, Trump, von Trier, Grasham, Weinstein, Courtney, Scoble, Savino, Blaine, Steele, Besh, Toback, Jennings, Kath, Landesman, Wieseltier, Guerrero, Bush, Halperin, Baker, Bocanegra, Webster, Fish, Spacey, Whalen, Kelley, Heatherton, Piven, Dick, Oreskes, Hoffman, Ratner, Corn, Masterson, Rubin, Venit, Hafford, Mendoza, Marshall, Westwick, Tambor, Knepper, Simmons, Balazs, Weiner, C.K., Moore, Seagal, Lebsock, Smyre, Takei, Kreisberg, Goddard, Dreyfuss, Wenner, Berganza, Nassar, Jensen, Schwahn, Ingenito, Sizemore, Lacey, Kruse, Larsen, Henry, Jeremy, Stallone, Franken, Zimmerman, Miller, Goodman, Thrush, Conyers, Rose, Lasseter, Keillor, Lauer, Pishevar, Farenthold, Horovitz, Hockenberry, Kihuen, Levine, Dababneh, Martins, Singer, Martinez, Isaly, Uresti, Miles, Stein, Howard, Franks, Ford Jr, Ashbrook, Heely, Kozinski, McNabb, Weinberger, Evans, Taylor, Faulk, Lizza, Batali, Johnson, Friedman, Smiley, Murray, Spurlock, Scott, Ogden, Ramsey, Miller, Marshall, Schwartz, Lopate, Hazen, Lewandowski, Mojica, James, Germano, Creighton, Hallowell, Carrasquillo, Ayers, Harmon, Butts, Schultz, Savage, Tooker, Braun, Haggis, Vereen, Lee, Greitens, Klein, Rosen, Franco, Ansari, Testino, Weber, Kramer, Muqtar, Douglas, Levinsohn, Meehan, Moore, Lubin, Kenneally, Copperfield, Strider, Wynn, Baio, Walk, Candappa, Witty, Pacelle, Shapiro, Marciano, Cirrincione, Mills, Zwerdling, Klein, Garcia, Hutchison, Crane, Templer, Bellemere, Kadel, Passos, Sabal, Demarchelier, Kettle, Sneed, Ussery, Handler, Feinberg, Krauss, Berk, Seacrest, Domínguez, Franklin, Jones, Alexie, Isabella, Ferro, Reece, Hybels, Strampel, Kricfalusi, Nixon, Sparks, Jacoby, Strong, Brokaw, Cárdenas, Jamieson, Johnson, Díaz, Schneiderman, and now Freeman.

Morgan Freeman is one of ~220 celebrities, politicians, CEOs, and others who have been accused of sexual misconduct since April 2017. IMO, all of the above need summary killing. The Weinstein pig surrendered to NYC's 1st Precinct Police on Friday, easily posting a $1-million cash bond to get out of jail. I never liked him for anything he's ever done, and now that I know what a lowlife scumbag he really is, I hate, loathe and despise him even more.

What's important here are the victims, who have had to suffer in silence for all these past years and decades, and they will get a raft of bullshit thrown at them for going public with their personal truths. I just hope there are no fakes, frauds and liars in the accusers' group, and that all their accusations hold-up under scrutiny. Even one or two frauds will cause the whole class action suit to unravel and undo what needs to be done, so it doesn't happen again.

Liberal Media BS

The most insidious power of the corrupt, criminal liberal media, is the power to ignore the truth.

Here, have some fun. Something stinks within America's newsrooms. It's the stench of liberal bias permeating the so-called mainstream media. From lies and deceit to distortions and character assassinations, the liberal media dish out leftist BS to drive their radical agenda.

Chris Plante, host of The Chris Plante Show on WMAL (DC) from 9-12, weekdays, said, "The most insidious power the media has, is the power to ignore." Think about what that really means and you can readily see what an evil force the corrupt, criminal, liberal-demokkkRAT-controlled, butt-kissing, fawning circlefest media assholes, are.

Think you can detect it? Take this test and find out just how much BS the liberal media are dishing out. Wear your hip-waders; the bullshit is deep!

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