The Cellar  

Go Back   The Cellar > Main > Politics

Politics Where we learn not to think less of others who don't share our views

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 08-19-2012, 11:06 PM   #1
footfootfoot
To shreds, you say?
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: in the house and on the street-how many, many feet we meet!
Posts: 18,449
Politicians who are legitimately stupid rarely get elected.

Discuss.
__________________
The internet is a hateful stew of vomit you can never take completely seriously. - Her Fobs
footfootfoot is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-19-2012, 11:11 PM   #2
xoxoxoBruce
The future is unwritten
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 71,105
Unless they're sock puppets for the nefarious power brokers... It was easier, however, before the internet.
__________________
The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.
xoxoxoBruce is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-19-2012, 11:15 PM   #3
morethanpretty
Thats "Miss Zipper Neck" to you.
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: little town (but not the littlest) in texas
Posts: 2,957
They just act legitimately stupid?
__________________
Addicts may suck dick for coke, but love came up with the idea to put a dick in there to begin with.
-Jack O'Brien
morethanpretty is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-20-2012, 05:00 AM   #4
DanaC
We have to go back, Kate!
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Yorkshire
Posts: 25,964
Emphasis on the 'rarely', I think. But y'know....it only takes one or two to right royally fuck up the landscape.
__________________
Quote:
There's only so much punishment a man can take in pursuit of punani. - Sundae
http://sites.google.com/site/danispoetry/
DanaC is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-20-2012, 06:37 AM   #5
Griff
still says videotape
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Posts: 26,813
"If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down." - recently flown stupid flag

I do know smart people who put their brain through a lot of hoops to match their belief system. It isn't out of the question that politicians have to put their brains through a lot of hoops to meet their constituents dumbass beliefs.
__________________
If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you.
- Louis D. Brandeis
Griff is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-20-2012, 07:10 AM   #6
ZenGum
Doctor Wtf
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Badelaide, Baustralia
Posts: 12,861
Politicians who are legitimately brilliant also rarely get elected.

2000, dude, how was it even close???
__________________
Shut up and hug. MoreThanPretty, Nov 5, 2008.
Just because I'm nominally polite, does not make me a pussy. Sundae Girl.
ZenGum is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-20-2012, 07:15 AM   #7
infinite monkey
Person who doesn't update the user title
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 13,002
I don't think it's rare at all. I knew foot was alluding to this gem of a statement, but couldn't figure out any intricate cut and pasting from my phone. Again, I don't think this kind of thinking is an exception to the rule; for many it is the be-all end-all rule. And it scares the bejeebus out of me:

Quote:
"First of all, from what I understand from doctors, that's really rare," Akin said of rape-induced pregnancy in an interview with KTVI. A clip of the interview was posted online by the liberal super PAC American Bridge.

"If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down," Akin continued. He did not provide an explanation for what constituted "legitimate rape."

He added: "But let's assume that maybe that didn't work or something. You know I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child."
Quote:
Akin, a six-term U.S. congressman, touted his socially conservative values on the primary campaign trail, and gained the support of 2008 presidential candidate and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. He was one of the first members of Congress to join the Tea Party Caucus in 2010 and has easily won re-election in recent years.

The lawmaker raised a notable $2.2 million this cycle, as of July 18.

Akin - who sits on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee - has long held a hard-line stance on abortion. He is opposed to abortions in all circumstances, and has said he also opposes the morning after pill, which he equates to abortion.
Later, his handlers had him issue an "well I didn't mean it like THAT" statement, because he really does empathize with women who are victims of rape and abuse. Legitimate rape and legitimate abuse, whatever that is.

There are no words, except: stop the planet, I want to get off.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com...ncy/?hpt=hp_t1
infinite monkey is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-20-2012, 08:59 AM   #8
infinite monkey
Person who doesn't update the user title
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 13,002
Hey, if it takes a spammer to reply to absolutely anything I say...I'll take it!

Did the spammer express outrage (or even thinly veiled disdain?) on behalf of women everywhere?
infinite monkey is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-20-2012, 09:13 AM   #9
glatt
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Arlington, VA
Posts: 27,717
Hard to say. The spammer's post started off like this, and went on for several hundred similar words.

Quote:
Opisu najprostszych sposobow smazenia i brykiety z glosami....
glatt is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-20-2012, 09:15 AM   #10
infinite monkey
Person who doesn't update the user title
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 13,002
Well heck, that's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.

In my interpretation, of course.
infinite monkey is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-20-2012, 10:38 AM   #11
BigV
Goon Squad Leader
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Seattle
Posts: 27,063
I also read the story about Akin's remarks with disbelief and horror. TWIL and I talked about it extensively yesterday. We disagreed about some parts and agreed about some parts. Both of us agree that Akin is a dumbass and that his remark is legitimately stupid. We disagree about whether or not Akin actually believes what he said the first time, "If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down". I contend that he doesn't really believe it and that it was just stupid pandering. I just find it hard to believe despite their alluring mystery, believing this statement indicates a lack of understanding about where babies come from that every ten year old I've ever met already knows. TWIL on the other hand thinks that it he's just stupid. Hard to say. I think it is clear that he's pandering--"look how hardcore I am--no abortion, no way, no how". And, though it saddens me, I think many of the people he directs such a message to may well believe his statement.

His follow up remarks, and I paraphrase: "I misspoke. Rape victims are understandably emotional, and while I have great sympathy for them I don't believe that harsh punishment is fair to the innocent child".

Misspoke? Yes, yes he did. He mistakenly spoke his thoughts when the right thing to do would have been to keep his mouth shut in range of a hot mike. I believe he believes this is the right way to think and act. Just look at his "clarification". He says he misspoke, right. But then he quickly switches to how emotional these women are and that the bad guys (assuming the rape was, you know, legitimate) should be punished but not the baby. Think of the children! No retraction, no "wow, that came out wrong, let me set the record straight", nothing like that. This is his position. It just...smacks of victim blaming to me, like he thinks there's no risk for the woman.

When I read through Google News' front page, I see news items from everywhere (well, it seems like everywhere, but how would I know?). Fox News is a very prominent name in lots of the world news and US news and political news sections, etc. In reading about this story, they were very conspicuously absent from the top thirty or forty providers of this story. I went to FoxNews.com and looked for the article. I *did* find it, but it's pretty well buried. Not something Fox's editorial and journalistic standards for important news. Unsurprising.

Name:  www.foxnews.com-Akin.jpg
Views: 307
Size:  143.4 KB
__________________
Be Just and Fear Not.
BigV is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-20-2012, 12:00 PM   #12
monster
I hear them call the tide
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Perpetual Chaos
Posts: 30,852
Maybe he does really believe that's possible. Cognitive dissonance is a powerful thing paving the way for all sorts of strange beliefs to develop. He knows abortion is bad. He knows rape is bad. He knows that people cite rape as the most legitimate reason for abortion. So he needs to use the word legitimate and he needs to address the what if a pregnancy results from rape. Easiest option is Denial. Pretend that it doesn't. We all know humans are naturally wired for Denial. it's a great self-defence mechanism. Deny the problem exists, deny abortion is the only solution.

The stupidity perhaps lies in the not questioning/checking the soundnes of his beliefs once in a while. But so few people do that, and they can't all be stupid. Can they?

Or maybe he doesn't believe it and it's just a political maneuver. Well that's stupid too because the obvious answer would have been to get all religious about it. He's not sucking up to the people who support abortion in case of rape, he's sucking up to the extreme pro-lifers, so why not just go the religous route? works for the creationists.

But then, I think a lot of people are pretty stupid and it generally causes trouble for me when I say so, especially if I don't "know them in real life" So I now tend to just keep it shut and stay away from them, because I have a low tolerance for stupid. I may even have a stupid allergy.
__________________
The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity Amelia Earhart
monster is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-20-2012, 12:07 PM   #13
Griff
still says videotape
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Posts: 26,813
So he is saying, if a man and a woman really love each other... it isn't legitimate rape. Where does the stork figure in?

Also a neat little assumption here is that women's work is having babies, so it doesn't really matter whose babies.
__________________
If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you.
- Louis D. Brandeis
Griff is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-20-2012, 12:14 PM   #14
monster
I hear them call the tide
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Perpetual Chaos
Posts: 30,852
I think the use of the word "legitimate" may be kind of smart just as long as he doesn't let himself get tricked into defining "legitimate rape", which he's successfully done so far.

Unspeakably immoral IMO, but maybe not stupid. Remember, some geniuses are evil.....

I'm finding it really hard to stay away from religion here, which will undoubtedly cause me to offend just about every body, so i think I'd better stop.

I think what this guy says does and believes is despicable, i was just rising to the challenge of the thread. And now I remember why i stay away from the politics forum.
__________________
The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity Amelia Earhart
monster is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-20-2012, 12:17 PM   #15
Griff
still says videotape
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Posts: 26,813
Quote:
Originally Posted by monster View Post

I'm finding it really hard to stay away from religion here, which will undoubtedly cause me to offend just about every body, so i think I'd better stop.
[my teenage]Do it! You won't.[/daughters]
__________________
If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you.
- Louis D. Brandeis
Griff is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:52 PM.


Powered by: vBulletin Version 3.8.1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.