Yet they get mad when they are called deplorable.

Anywhere in the real world this would be considered a hostile work environment and shut down immediately. Of course, anywhere in the real world she would have been fired long ago for refusing to wear a mask or trying to bypass metal detectors.

At the risk of being accused of propagating a false equivalency, there's some reeling in of the far-left (policies, words, and actions) to do as well before we'll see true unity again. Brandon's suggestions are a great start for the GOP. For starters on the Dem side, I'm talking tamping down:

1. The hyper-aggressive woke cancel culture that has over-corrected for every single legitimate grievance by minority or underserved groups. Just because I'm a Rep white male with a good job who lives in the suburbs doesn't make me an selfish, evil, homophobic, bigot.
   
2. The Great Green Hypocrisy - we should all strive for a better, cleaner planet, just don't ask me to not fly in my private plane, live in my 3500 sq.ft. house or drive to work in my 18 mpg Lexus SUV. How about adding some teeth to the Paris accords, rather than just patting ourselves on the back?
3. The violent fringes of BLM/Antifa/etc. Just because Trump used them as a go-to boogeyman for everything, doesn't mean we don't need to be rid of them. Just as we should be prosecuting every single one of those fuckwads that entered the Capitol, we should do the same that have destroyed people's businesses or government property while flying the flag of a legitimate cause.
4. Throwing money at education with no accountability, student loan forgiveness, pandering to teacher's unions (who are pulling a McConnell-level obstruction of getting kids back in schools)
   

If you're trying to understand the moderate Republican, the above is why a large number of people held their noses and voted for Trump 2016 and even in 2020 (for what it's worth, like Brandon I didn't in either case). Unfortunately opposing those things got you lumped in with the evangelical and white nationalist (or both) wackos and here the Republican party is.

I voted for Biden as both an anti-Trump message and because I believed he would lead from the center and provide competence in the Executive branch, so we can start debating policy from the center as well.

I was with you until the bolded. Just as everyone talks about painting all GOPers with the Trump brush, many, if not most, on the right paint all teachers with the Chicago/LA/NYC teacher's union brush. The vast, vast majority of teachers want to go back to school or are already back. However, they do want it with the same safety and security precautions any worker wants when they return. The comments are always, the kids need to be back in school, and I agree with this, but there is little to no concern with the teachers when these comments are made.

My wife has been back in school since the beginning of January and has had to do an excessive amount of work for the kids who either get quarantined or their parents decide to go on vacation since any kid can work virtually now. Her average work week since going back has been 70 - 80 hours. I know this is not typical but I do know an awful lot of teachers going way above and beyond so all of their students are getting an education when the conditions are not optimal.

Finally, look at the state of Indiana. If there is a state who puts less emphasis on education and more on screwing over their public school teachers, I don't know which one it would be. In PA, it was a major concern to get kids back in school so teachers were given priority for the vaccination. In Indiana, they keep getting pushed further down the line.

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TEAM HD
Each day is what you make of it so make it the best day possible.

I would describe myself as center-left, and I am with you on this (perhaps with the exception of the teacher union thing, which isn't really the case in most of the country).

The fringes of both parties need to be excised. It's unfortunate that the "fringe belief" on the Republican side is a actual large portion of the party. I might even say it's a majority. Perhaps that ship can be righted though over the next couple of years.

In Maryland, teachers have vaccine priority and yet their unions are refusing to budge, continuing to move the goalposts. I don't fault teachers for having concerns, and I'm not painting most teachers with that brush. And I really appreciate those that are going above and beyond to make the best of what is there. Just what I'm seeing here locally.

Let's cross out the COVID issue and discuss teachers' unions as a whole, as I was just pointing out an example. I'm more concerned of the "throw more money at education without any accountability for results" attitude the the unions demand. The teaching profession should be elevated as a whole, from education to qualifications to certifications to salary, rewarding great teachers and training-up or dismissing bad ones. Unions have no interest in that. Well except the more money part.

ETA: sorry to derail, was just finishing up the sidebar with CMM. Back to rightfully slamming the village idiot.

It is worse than you think.

Representative Newman has the office across the hall from her. Rep Newman has a transgender daughter and put up a trans pride flag up for that.

So yes, it is even worse than it appears.

I think that is overall the problem with the gop. The fringe on the gop is the controlling faction (and probably the majority).

In the senate, the controlling faction of the Dems is actually right of center. And Biden is center left. Pelosi in the house is also fairly moderate, or at least doesn’t give into the left wing.

In the senate during the trump years, a couple of center leaning gop members could have kept the party in the center but they all decided to retire. What is left is around 30 gop senators that are hard right (opposed to around 10-12 hard left, which also include 2-3 that are actually right leaning. Kelly, manchin, sinema. Tester. King. ).

We are in complete agreement on this and as you said, "Back to rightfully slamming the village idiot."

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TEAM HD
Each day is what you make of it so make it the best day possible.

I am encouraged that you have not been accused of resorting to a false equivalent in your post. Reeling in, or if you will marginalizing, the margins on both ends of the political spectrum has to be job #1 right now. We have always owned ,and will always own, a population of folks who exist happily out in the margins in their cults . It is just that their voices are now amplified with overwhelming media access and their hearing is dominated by their own echos.

While there is no going back to the public square, soapbox and megaphone to limit the voice of the margins, we do need to modulate better both the amplitude and frequency of their cries.

Years back I used to watch America's Funniest Home Videos. They would occasionally show videos of some toddler or kid who was unbelievably disrespectful to adults - and people would laugh at it. It made me cringe, but they thought it was funny.

Trump is the toddler, and a lot of his supporters are the ones who laugh at his childish, disrespectful antics and encourage him to do more. Now, other toddlers have found their way into office. It is disgraceful.

1. As someone who used to be not so understanding of various marginalized groups I have learned a lot in the last few years. I agree there are large portions of white males in the suburbs who are "woke" and they should not be painted with a broad brush
2. I see the retooling of America's power infrastructure as a huge economic opportunity that will create jobs, give America a competitive advantage, and reduce the importance of countries like Saudi Arabia. I have zero problem with people flying or driving gas guzzlers in the meantime. Industry will eventually provide alternatives that are better and do not pollute.
3. It is indeed the violent fringe. Anarchists' and criminal gangs who take advantage of peaceful protests should be put down hard.
4. I don't know about the teachers union stuff as that is state and locality specific. Totally agree on student loan forgiveness. I am open to some forgiveness but we should focus on making education more affordable and available before we toss more money at it.

trump was not the first though, he was part of a clear progression. Look at lots of the tea party group, like Jim Jordan. The right wing feed back loop of politicians and media had already been established to that rewarded childish behavior over any sort of actual governing. trump just added to the feedback loop.

This is the key to me right here. I can agree w/ most of what MikeH is saying, but where the rubber actually meets the road is that the Q-loons are effectively running the GOP now, whereas on the D side the grown-ups are still mostly in charge. AOC gets a lot of publicity, but she doesn’t even chair any committees.

There is a video of her posting that shit. What a despicable person she is.

Even if you don't agree with AOC's policy proposals, at least she has policy proposals that are meant to address real problems. She also clearly does the homework before people are brought before committee hearings, she asks substantive questions in order. She does not just go on long political speeches that are tangentially related to the topic. She actually cares about legislation. She is much more of a grown up than these Republicans.

Also AOC will be much more critical of Biden than these people were ever of trump.

Compare that Madison Cawthorn, who actually says he built his staff around communication and not legislation.

But it's not you whose approval she's seeking.

Her supporters are lapping this shit up, because even after Trump got kicked out of the WH, they still get to "own the libs".

I keep saying, this all goes back to those "My kid beat up your honor student" stickers. Celebrate stupidity, boorishness and bullying for long enough and what you get is what we're seeing today.

Entirely agree.

You know exactly how I feel about MTG, so don't misunderstand this post. I had only seen MTG's tweet and thought it was what I had come to expect from her. I didn't realize it was in response to Newman's tweet 4 hour earlier, until I saw that tweet this morning and was disappointed.

This is from Rep Newman's twitter:



MTG's twitter had this response and video:


Recommend that you watch the twitter video in both links as MTG mimics Newman's actions.

We've elected children to represent us. And I see wrestling with a pig and getting dirty.

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Suffer Well.

If you replace transgender with something like gays, women, or minorities would you still think of both sides as children?

It takes extreme pretzel logic to try to "both sides" this.

Greene has been spewing vile hate about trans people for years. She actively spread lies about the Equality act. Newman put out a trans flag to show support for her child and the act. Green responds with more hate.

Perhaps I misunderstood your point but it is clear who the child is here.

I am closer to Newman than MTG on this issue, but I don't think I am 100% aligned with her either. It is complicated issue, that isn't as clear in my head as I would like it to be to before engaging in a debate on the issue.

That said, It doesn't have anything to do with the issue. It has everything to do with how our representatives chose to handle disagreements.

I don't approve of how Newman chose to respond to MTG's objections to the bill in the first tweet. I found MTG's tweet boorish and offensive. And then I realized she was mimicking Newman's tweet.

Should my view of Newman's handling of the difference in their position on the issue be any different than that I had formed of MTG?

(MTG, admittedly, comes into this with much baggage, so again I wasn't surprised by her poor response. But Newman doesn't bring that same baggage. No one in Congress is calling for Newman to be censured or removed from Congress for her prior actions. I think Congress would be a better place without her.)

I see Newman dropping to MTG's level of pettiness. There are better ways to fight a good fight.

I used to expect that our elected officials would handle disagreements professionally, now I am surprised when they do.

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Suffer Well.

Not trying to "both sides" this one. As above, I saw MTG's tweet yesterday and found it boorish and offensive. Then I saw Newman's tweet this morning and only then realized MTG was mimicking Newman.

That forced me to reconsider MTG's tweet. I still found it offensive. So what should I conclude of the tweet she was mimicking? I found that it was disappointing.

And like I said, Newman chose to wrestle with a pig. She got dirty. And the pig likes it.

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Suffer Well.

I do not see how showing support for her child and the bill she was voting on today is wrestling with a pig.

People like Greene want to pretend that Trans people do not exist.

To a degree, I do think you're propagating a false equivalency. The issues I have with the current GOP are their actual platform. It's not an effective counterpoint to identify individuals on the left, ascribe their views and behaviors to the Democratic Party as a whole and say everyone's equally bad.

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"Are you sure we're going fast enough?" - Emil Zatopek

Fair. But she directed he show of support for her child at MTG, who has made herself well known for being offensive and willing to do and say anything. It was at best equal parts show of support and picking a fight with a "pig."

If it was a show of support only, she could have framed it was such in her tweet. Something like "I've put a transgender flag out in front of my office as a sign of solidary and support of the Equality Act" Instead, she decided to begin the wrestling when she tweeted this "Our neighbor, @RepMTG , tried to block the Equality Act because she believes prohibiting discrimination against trans Americans is “disgusting, immoral, and evil. Thought we’d put up our Transgender flag so she can look at it every time she opens her door"

She clearly wanted to pick a fight on twitter with MTG. So MTG gave her one.

There are better ways to fight the good fight than doing so on Twitter if you are a Congressional Rep. No issue with Newman's point of view or her support of her child, but rather the forum and method she chose to do it.

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Suffer Well.