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PoliGAF 2017 |OT4| The leaks are coming from inside the white house

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Kevinroc

Member
I saw this on twitter earlier and didn't know what to make of it.

https://twitter.com/TopherSpiro/status/888730395235282944

ALERT: We're hearing from Republican sources that calls into Capito and Murkowski recently swung from anti-repeal to pro-repeal.

But I just saw this...

https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/888907069117673472

The commander-in-chief ordered naval personnel to call congress and lobby for taking 22 million people's health insurance away.

https://twitter.com/Carter_PE/status/888899959508094978

In serious breach of civ-mil norms, Trump exhorts sailors at USS Ford commissioning to support him politically

DFYByyHXgAA7Sfk.jpg

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...s-contact-with-russia/?utm_term=.5c74a0ecffc4
 
But what's the point of this forum if not to get angry and start bitching prematurely?

You can always watch someone make an ass of themselves and implode in an OT thread. Thats always fun.


Not this shit again...
 

Ogodei

Member
Ah, my mistake. A bit too late to parse this stuff well.

That's less of an issue, then. Though interesting if GOP's managing to get out a grassroots call in Alaska and West Virginia on this.
 

Mgoblue201

Won't stop picking the right nation
I think that activist/public pressure is only the fourth or fifth most important factor anyway. What matters more is a combination of Republican inter-party dynamics, the actual substance of the bill, the dire polling numbers, and how it affects everyone's reelection chances.
 

Loxley

Member
Regarding Trump's comments to the servicemen and women, there are two possibilities here, I think.

1) Trump is just dumb enough and ignorant enough about his job as Commander in Chief that he doesn't realize that saying things like that can be construed as direct orders and, as a result, are highly unethical.

2) Trump fully realizes it could be construed as an order and doesn't care because he genuinely thinks he can just order the military to do whatever the fuck he wants because he's the President and they're automatically "on his side". They don't swear oathes to protect and defend the United States Constitution, they swear an oath to protect and defend the President's political agenda.

Trump is equal parts monumental idiot and monumental fascist asshole, so it's just a matter of which half of his brain is taking the lead on this one.
 
Actual bills exist though. It's not "crying wolf" if more wolves keep coming.
Constant alarms about how the bill is about to pass and hidden GOP movements are afoot are crying wolf. They make it impossible to separate the real reasons to be worried from the false. I have to fight an urge to roll my eyes at any twitter thread about how the GOP is about to pass a bill now.

You can thank that wolf crying for keeping the wolves away thus far.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/20/16000752/health-resistance-gop-senators
I don't think daily twitter aneurysms are responsible for this.
 
T

thepotatoman

Unconfirmed Member
Jokes on you all, I never bothered to call my senator and never will. Can't be tired of doing something you never do.

Cory Gardner is too big of a dick to ever, ever vote no on that bill. I think he is like Rubio where he said he was undecided but no one believed him, except with Rubio it's cowardice while with Gardner it's pure evilness.

Might have to call Bennett about the Israel boycott thing though.
 

Loxley

Member
Jokes on you all, I never bothered to call my senator and never will. Can't be tired of doing something you never do.

Cory Gardner is too big of a dick to ever, ever vote no on that bill. I think he is like Rubio where he said he was undecided but no one believed him, except with Rubio it's cowardice while with Gardner it's pure evilness.

Might have to call Bennett about the Israel boycott thing though.

Likewise I have to contend with Ron Johnson, who's a climate change-denying Tea Party nutbag.
 
T

thepotatoman

Unconfirmed Member
Likewise I have to contend with Ron Johnson, who's a climate change-denying Tea Party nutbag.

Good example. So many people include people like Gardner and Johnson in their lists of senators you should call just because they're from purple/blue states while not taking into account who those senators actually are.
 
Good example. So many people include people like Gardner and Johnson in their lists of senators you should call just because they're from purple/blue states while not taking into account who those senators actually are.

I have Senator Snowball and the Albino Baptist Preacher. To describe contacting them as futile would be to understate matters.
 

pigeon

Banned
Good example. So many people include people like Gardner and Johnson in their lists of senators you should call just because they're from purple/blue states while not taking into account who those senators actually are.

I mean, you should still call them to waste their staff's time and make them miserable for working for scumbags.
 

sc0la

Unconfirmed Member
Nobody is crying wolf, a whole pack of wolves is out there, if you let your guard down they will eat you. Sometimes some people will be wrong about how close or how rapidly it's approaching

I have Senator Snowball and the Albino Baptist Preacher. To describe contacting them as futile would be to understate matters.
Your not calling to change their hearts, it's basically a social DDOS
 

Suikoguy

I whinny my fervor lowly, for his length is not as great as those of the Hylian war stallions
Your not calling to change their hearts, it's basically a social DDOS

That's an interesting way of putting it.

Kinda like voting in an election where the Democrat is guaranteed to win.
Running up the score can have an effect, though it may not be as obvious.
 
Senators only care about polls and donors. If you represent a few million people, it doesn't matter if two hundred, or even a thousand angry liberals call you. They weren't going to like anything you did anyway. Their supporters and the people who actually like them aren't calling in to say good job. I like my senators but I've never called Feinstein to tell her I think she's cool or that I'm glad she voted on something. Not unless I'm a donor or the leader of some important faction. I feel really bad for the people who are calling their senators to let then know how they feel because it's really a self-serving expression of histrionics.
I mean, you should still call them to waste their staff's time and make them miserable for working for scumbags.
See, this is way more honest and an actually decent reason to call your senators.
 

Chichikov

Member
Senators only care about polls and donors. If you represent a few million people, it doesn't matter if two hundred, or even a thousand angry liberals call you. They weren't going to like anything you did anyway. Their supporters and the people who actually like them aren't calling in to say good job. I like my senators but I've never called Feinstein to tell her I think she's cool or that I'm glad she voted on something. Not unless I'm a donor or the leader of some important faction. I feel really bad for the people who are calling their senators to let then know how they feel because it's really a self-serving expression of histrionics.
Pretty much every person who ever worked in congress says these calls matters.
It won't get Rand Paul to vote for a single payer healthcare bill, but those things do seem to factor into their elected officials decision making process.

I obviously can't quantify how much and if the effect is worth your time, but that's a question for you to answer anyway.
 

watershed

Banned
Senators only care about polls and donors. If you represent a few million people, it doesn't matter if two hundred, or even a thousand angry liberals call you. They weren't going to like anything you did anyway. Their supporters and the people who actually like them aren't calling in to say good job. I like my senators but I've never called Feinstein to tell her I think she's cool or that I'm glad she voted on something. Not unless I'm a donor or the leader of some important faction. I feel really bad for the people who are calling their senators to let then know how they feel because it's really a self-serving expression of histrionics.

See, this is way more honest and an actually decent reason to call your senators.

Phone calls and letters are like long distance town halls. Senators can feel the heat. What proof do you have for your defeatist attitude?
 
I don't care if you call your senators every single day, but there's no point in making up rumors to get people scared every single day

They eventually just tune it out to cope instead of living with constant stress.
 

Mario

Sidhe / PikPok
Senators only care about polls and donors. If you represent a few million people, it doesn't matter if two hundred, or even a thousand angry liberals call you. They weren't going to like anything you did anyway. Their supporters and the people who actually like them aren't calling in to say good job. I like my senators but I've never called Feinstein to tell her I think she's cool or that I'm glad she voted on something. Not unless I'm a donor or the leader of some important faction. I feel really bad for the people who are calling their senators to let then know how they feel because it's really a self-serving expression of histrionics.

The NRA has exerted major pressure on government by mobilizing a relatively small but highly active part of their membership to engage in relentless phone in campaigns. Their success in influencing policy in the face of holding positions at odds with a majority of Americans should be some evidence of the power of calling representatives.
 
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