Republican Propaganda Memo

SoxIlliniRob wrote:This is pure political calculation.  GOP has decided that the harm from releasing it is going to be less than the harm if they don't release it.  At this point, the GOP is engaged in one and only one activity, and that's to obfuscate the investigation and cast doubt on anyone that might offer the opinion that Donald committed any wrongs.  Instead, you just diminish the reputation of the accusers so that their every finding is questioned.  

I'm not really surprised this is going on, but it's surprising that pretty much the ENTIRE Republican party, save for a tiny handful of politicians (Flake, Graham, Corker...), are doing this.  It's utterly amazing.  Every day I am more stunned than the previous day that this many of these guys have decided that this is the strategy to take.  They've tossed out all semblance of integrity.  They're not even hiding it.  It's obvious and most of the media Republicans are aghast over it, save for the shills on Fox News.  Every day it's some new conservative shaking their damn head in disbelief over this.  George Will, Michael Steele, Bret Stephens, and about 50 more I could list.  Every one of them are like "How can they possibly think this is a winning strategy?"

I suspect they may get away with a lot of this, but only along the lines of winning the battle but losing the war.  They are KILLING their brand.  They are destroying the reputation of their party and doing lasting damage.  Millennials think Repubs have gone off the deep end.  High school kids (soon to be voters) are utterly disgusted by this shithead president and the Repub party right now.  Maybe they figure just pass whatever the fuck you can right now and then filibuster everything for the next 20 yrs if they lose their majorities.

SoxIlliniRob wrote:This is pure political calculation.  GOP has decided that the harm from releasing it is going to be less than the harm if they don't release it.  At this point, the GOP is engaged in one and only one activity, and that's to obfuscate the investigation and cast doubt on anyone that might offer the opinion that Donald committed any wrongs.  Instead, you just diminish the reputation of the accusers so that their every finding is questioned.  

I'm not really surprised this is going on, but it's surprising that pretty much the ENTIRE Republican party, save for a tiny handful of politicians (Flake, Graham, Corker...), are doing this.  It's utterly amazing.  Every day I am more stunned than the previous day that this many of these guys have decided that this is the strategy to take.  They've tossed out all semblance of integrity.  They're not even hiding it.  It's obvious and most of the media Republicans are aghast over it, save for the shills on Fox News.  Every day it's some new conservative shaking their damn head in disbelief over this.  George Will, Michael Steele, Bret Stephens, and about 50 more I could list.  Every one of them are like "How can they possibly think this is a winning strategy?"

I suspect they may get away with a lot of this, but only along the lines of winning the battle but losing the war.  They are KILLING their brand.  They are destroying the reputation of their party and doing lasting damage.  Millennials think Repubs have gone off the deep end.  High school kids (soon to be voters) are utterly disgusted by this shithead president and the Repub party right now.  Maybe they figure just pass whatever the fuck you can right now and then filibuster everything for the next 20 yrs if they lose their majorities.

SoxIlliniRob wrote:And is it me or are we getting ever perilously closer to a constitutional crisis?  McCabe pushed out today.  Is Rosenstein next?  Probably.  After he's gone, dumping  Mueller Mueller becomes much easier.

 I noticed that the state dept has chosen to ignore the Russian sanctions law that Congress passed (House 419-3, Senate 98-2) that is supposed to go into effect today.  Where are the checks and balances?  Who will do something?  What happens now?  Trump says he won't impose the sanctions.  Are laws meaningless now?  Maybe we ought readdress Sharpy's and Cream's warnings???

blondy28 wrote:


So do the Democrats pull a Feinstein and release their memo anyway?

blondy28 wrote:

I get that they're trying to hang onto power however they can, but do they think there won't be consequences to this, not the least of which involves half of the country turning on the FBI?  It's astounding!  It's one thing to employ a strategy to demonize the democrats.  They kicked that into high gear with Clinton, and then took it to a new level with the black guy, but demonizing our intelligence community, Republicans who speak out (John McCain, war hero), etc.  Is there no group that's safe from these immoral people?  They're like the mafia.

sharpy wrote:Were' rosebowl to tell us how whacked we all are and how overly obsessed I am about Donald trump. Control the courts, control the congress, control the presidency - that is a coup and a dictatorship. I am still not convinced we are going to have a 2020 presidential election - and that 61% of republicans will be okay with it all.  Shit, I'm beginning to think 2018 elections are in peril. 

SoxIlliniRob wrote:

sharpy wrote:Were' rosebowl to tell us how whacked we all are and how overly obsessed I am about Donald trump. Control the courts, control the congress, control the presidency - that is a coup and a dictatorship. I am still not convinced we are going to have a 2020 presidential election - and that 61% of republicans will be okay with it all.  Shit, I'm beginning to think 2018 elections are in peril. 

Let me just say that these opinions sounded a lot goofier a year ago than they do today, Tim.  Hopefully you can appreciate that.  

Let's just be fucking honest...If Obama or a Hypothetical Prez Hillary did even 1/4 of the shit Trump has done in the first year of his presidency, the GOP House would have first burned DC and the Capitol Bldg to the god damn ground, and then they'd have moved forward with impeachment.  And I suspect that the Dems would have been ok with it if either Obama or Hillary had been even half as erratic as Trump.  Can you imagine Hillary trying to cozy with the Justice Dept to make sure she's not indicted?  Hillary firing FBI investigators?  Are you kidding me?  Political norms are out the window and our system of checks and balances is under attack and is compromised.  

We passed a law to sanction Russia in congress by a vote of 417-5 and Trump just decides he's not going to move forward with the sanctions.  Basically, fuck ya'all, I don't have to enforce a unanimously passed law that hurts my Russian pals.  

There'll be a 2018 election, but Lord knows if they'll be legit.  Hacked voting machines, Russian interference, gerrymandering and black voter suppression all seem the norms.  I fully expect for there to be some funny business, and when there is who the hell will do anything about it?  Nobody.

sharpy wrote:Were' rosebowl to tell us how whacked we all are and how overly obsessed I am about Donald trump. Control the courts, control the congress, control the presidency - that is a coup and a dictatorship. I am still not convinced we are going to have a 2020 presidential election - and that 61% of republicans will be okay with it all.  Shit, I'm beginning to think 2018 elections are in peril. 

alohafri wrote:

sharpy wrote:Were' rosebowl to tell us how whacked we all are and how overly obsessed I am about Donald trump. Control the courts, control the congress, control the presidency - that is a coup and a dictatorship. I am still not convinced we are going to have a 2020 presidential election - and that 61% of republicans will be okay with it all.  Shit, I'm beginning to think 2018 elections are in peril. 

Been there done that. A buddy is currently reading The Plot to Seize the White House: The Shocking True Story of the Conspiracy to Overthrow F.D.R. History doesn't repeat itself but it sure does rhyme. It should be comforting to know that we have been through worse.

SoxIlliniRob wrote:

alohafri wrote:

sharpy wrote:Were' rosebowl to tell us how whacked we all are and how overly obsessed I am about Donald trump. Control the courts, control the congress, control the presidency - that is a coup and a dictatorship. I am still not convinced we are going to have a 2020 presidential election - and that 61% of republicans will be okay with it all.  Shit, I'm beginning to think 2018 elections are in peril. 

Been there done that. A buddy is currently reading The Plot to Seize the White House: The Shocking True Story of the Conspiracy to Overthrow F.D.R. History doesn't repeat itself but it sure does rhyme. It should be comforting to know that we have been through worse.

Yeah, we've been through worse, such as in the 1850's.  Hopefully we don't end up solving it the same way they did.

alohafri wrote:

Yeah, we've been through worse, such as in the 1850's.  Hopefully we don't end up solving it the same way they did.

Kill all of the political talk shows. 

SoxIlliniRob wrote:

alohafri wrote:

Yeah, we've been through worse, such as in the 1850's.  Hopefully we don't end up solving it the same way they did.

Kill all of the political talk shows. 

I just wish those shows were required to be truthful.

alohafri wrote:

Even if they were, you would still see hosts crucifying anyone from "their party" who dared to work in the spirit of bipartisanship with the "other party."

SoxIlliniRob wrote:

alohafri wrote:

Even if they were, you would still see hosts crucifying anyone from "their party" who dared to work in the spirit of bipartisanship with the "other party."

I watch plenty of Maddow and occasionally Nicole Wallace or Chris Hayes on MSNBC.  I don't get the feeling that any of those three would crucify anyone for daring to work across the aisle.  I believe any of them speak very highly of any such efforts.

alohafri wrote:

SoxIlliniRob wrote:

alohafri wrote:

Even if they were, you would still see hosts crucifying anyone from "their party" who dared to work in the spirit of bipartisanship with the "other party."

I watch plenty of Maddow and occasionally Nicole Wallace or Chris Hayes on MSNBC.  I don't get the feeling that any of those three would crucify anyone for daring to work across the aisle.  I believe any of them speak very highly of any such efforts.

If you want to hear a show of true bipartisanship, listen to Steele and Ungar on XM POTUS.

alohafri wrote:

SoxIlliniRob wrote:

alohafri wrote:

Even if they were, you would still see hosts crucifying anyone from "their party" who dared to work in the spirit of bipartisanship with the "other party."

I watch plenty of Maddow and occasionally Nicole Wallace or Chris Hayes on MSNBC.  I don't get the feeling that any of those three would crucify anyone for daring to work across the aisle.  I believe any of them speak very highly of any such efforts.

If you want to hear a show of true bipartisanship, listen to Steele and Ungar on XM POTUS.

blondy28 wrote:

alohafri wrote:

SoxIlliniRob wrote:

alohafri wrote:

Even if they were, you would still see hosts crucifying anyone from "their party" who dared to work in the spirit of bipartisanship with the "other party."

I watch plenty of Maddow and occasionally Nicole Wallace or Chris Hayes on MSNBC.  I don't get the feeling that any of those three would crucify anyone for daring to work across the aisle.  I believe any of them speak very highly of any such efforts.

If you want to hear a show of true bipartisanship, listen to Steele and Ungar on XM POTUS.

Michael Steele?  I like the guy a lot.  He's come a long way since heading up the RNC.

Who is Ungar?

SoxIlliniRob wrote:

blondy28 wrote:

alohafri wrote:

SoxIlliniRob wrote:

alohafri wrote:

Even if they were, you would still see hosts crucifying anyone from "their party" who dared to work in the spirit of bipartisanship with the "other party."

I watch plenty of Maddow and occasionally Nicole Wallace or Chris Hayes on MSNBC.  I don't get the feeling that any of those three would crucify anyone for daring to work across the aisle.  I believe any of them speak very highly of any such efforts.

If you want to hear a show of true bipartisanship, listen to Steele and Ungar on XM POTUS.

Michael Steele?  I like the guy a lot.  He's come a long way since heading up the RNC.

Who is Ungar?

Pam, you'd like Ungar.  He spends an hour with Fugelsang on his Sirius show every Friday when they talk politics from 2 to 3.  Kev, I've listened a couple of times to the Steele/Ungar show and I like the both of them.  Steele is a regular on MSNBC.  He is often on Maddow's show with her, or on Nicole Wallace's show at 3 pm.  I don't see Ungar around anywhere.  I just hear him on the radio.  Must have a face for radio.

blondy28 wrote:

alohafri wrote:

SoxIlliniRob wrote:

alohafri wrote:

Even if they were, you would still see hosts crucifying anyone from "their party" who dared to work in the spirit of bipartisanship with the "other party."

I watch plenty of Maddow and occasionally Nicole Wallace or Chris Hayes on MSNBC.  I don't get the feeling that any of those three would crucify anyone for daring to work across the aisle.  I believe any of them speak very highly of any such efforts.

If you want to hear a show of true bipartisanship, listen to Steele and Ungar on XM POTUS.

Michael Steele?  I like the guy a lot.  He's come a long way since heading up the RNC.

Who is Ungar?