There are 28 declared and likely-to-declare Republican presidential candidates, a dozen of whom might be viable. On the Democratic side, there are 3, of whom only one, Hillary Clinton, stands a chance. Democrats ought to be ashamed of the lack of democracy in their party, which hasn’t had a contested primary since 2008, yet they’re making fun of the GOP “Clown Car” instead.
Saddam vs. Clown Car
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication, WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal, a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "The Stringer."
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So, 28 mostly indistinguishable morons are better than 3 mostly indistinguishable morons? And this coming from the US stooge for Vladimir Putin’s RT mouthpiece?
Err … rrr ALL those morons express the same attitude about Putin that you apparently do.
Make it 32, at least.
Even morons can see the obvious, especially in the case of Ted’s pal Comrade Vlad.
The only thing OBVIOUS about Putin is that he does not say: “how high, comrade” when the US says “jump.”
Of course, this was/is the the very same “offense” of former Yugoslavia, Saddam, Quadaffi, Assad etc.
The “only” difference is that Putin has thousands of functional, deliverable, nuclear warheads. So IF we foolishly press our suicidal adventure in Ukraine we may be “spared” the slow, miserable end caused by climate change.
Unlikely. The fundamental character of a Russian is that of a dog in a pack. To the weaker, they’re ruthless and to the stronger, obedient. The Russians wouldn’t dare antagonize a stronger power like the US, aside from some face-saving posturing.
And even if he would, his kleptocrat buddies wouldn’t allow it. Trade with the west has given them lives of wealth and ease and open war would ruin that completely.
Well – you guys can yack about Putin all you want, but I won’t bother, because that’s exactly where the big money, corporations and political pundits want you – off to the side, trolling each other over issues that are the result of bigger forces – keeping you distracted.
rikster, you’re right. But my original point was that it’s pointless to argue about numbers in this case. Sure, let’s have 20-30 Democrat candidates! They’ll all say the same things and they’ll all be lying their butts off – for exactly the same reasons – and ultimately be just the same as the Republican offerings, but, hey, so long as we have a choice…
It reminds me of a throwaway gag in an old comedy movie called “Moon Over Parador”. It takes place in a tiny Latin American dictatorship where the people get to vote as to whether the local dictator is fascist or communist.
«The fundamental character of a Russian is that of a dog in a pack.» The fundamental characteristics of persons who make such ethnicist allegations are ignorance and stupidity – generally speaking spiced with a good dollop of pusillanimity as well…..
Disgusting….
Henri
Putin is not being baited into a response to Obama war mongering, and deserves credit for his prudence.
Europe is eventually tire of their self-inflicted austerity, consequence of acting the vassal to the U.S. evil empire, and see that Putin has no interest in turning Europe into a world war battlefield for a third time.
U.S. hates Putin because he has not surrendered sovereignty to the U.S., as Europe has.
@henri, “ethnicist” is a new word for me and my spellchecker but yeah, you’re right.
The Western elites severely underestimated President Putin’s shrewdness–and continue to. They thought he would invade the Ukraine and give them easy ammo to use against him. So now all they can do is keep claiming presence of an imaginary invasion force.
Long live Mr. Putin, paragon of strength and sanity in a decaying world!
Aside from the obvious advantages they would reap from «regime change» in Russia – consider what they gained during the period under which Russia was ruled by that drunken sot Boris Yeltsin – those who run the US government are also obviously attempting to æäżćœç鞥ćäžćœççŽ – kill the Russian chicken to frighten the Chinese monkey. So far, the technique has failed ; on the contrary, China and Russia have come closer to a de facto alliance than at any time since the late 1950s. What Washington strategists have managed to do is to bring us closer to a thermonuclear Armageddon than at anytime since 1962 ; alas, the price of their hubris may well be paid by us all….
Henri
Uh…right. Putin is a worse tyrant than any Soviet premier – and doesn’t even pretend like they did that he gives a rat’s a** about “the people” – and the Russian people cannot love this guy enough. Even the people I’ve met who’ve left Russia for the US because of what he’s done to that country can’t stop idolizing the guy.
Deal with it. This is proof of a fundamental law of human nature – the harder you kick a Russian in the face, the more he’ll kiss your a**.
Oh, and on this kerluffle in the Ukraine consider that a) Gazprom, the Russian natural gas Megacorp, holds a lot of influence in the Gangsterocracy that is Putin’s Russia and b) The Crimea, and all the other areas of eastern Ukraine Putin wants to “liberate” for all those downtrodden ethnic Russians holds billions in proven natural gas reserves. 1+1 equals…?
«Deal with it. This is proof of a fundamental law of human nature â the harder you kick a Russian in the face, the more heâll kiss your a**.» From what you write, «Fleming Balzac», I suggest that you’ve never had the opportunity to «kick a Russian in the face» – although I suspect you’d dearly like to do so, but lack the nerve. I am, however, more than willing to grant that you’re likely quite the expert on kissing the arses of others. As to dealing with you, that’s no great matter – you can easily be catagorised under the rubrics «bigoted fool» and «wimp» (by the latter, I am not here referring to Weakly Interacting Massive Particles), but rather a Walter Mitty without that character’s charm…. đ
Henri
Lol. Think what you like. I get the feeling you’ll also need to explain why Putin’s backing down on Ukraine by the fall is a victory for your heroic strongman, so I’ll leave you to think about that, too.
«… victory for your [sic !] heroic strongman …» My strongman ?!! You really are as stupid as your posts indicate, «Fleming Balzac»….
A sad case, unable to even provide comic relief….
Henri
When the Mongols kicked Ivan III in the face, instead of kissing their boots, he kicked their asses out.
I also think of the millions of Russians who fought to their deaths to defeat Hitler. And I would never forget the millions who were put to death for the crime of not kissing Stalin’s ass…
And of course today, most Russians have the pride and sense not to cave to Western pressure.
As far as ‘Putin backing down in Ukraine,’ I was unaware of this. As far as I knew he had allowed Crimea to rejoin Russia and reinforced the territory with strong words and arms. He was an important partner to the Minsk Agreements and hasn’t changed his position that the factions in Ukraine must come to a peaceful political solution. He has not caved to the pressure of sanctions and indeed, has imposed withering counter-sanctions. He has stepped up Russian war games in response to those of NATO. He has resisted invading Ukraine which would be the move the West has been dying for him to make…
Also so far as I know, as far as ‘Putin being worse than any Soviet Premier,’ the gulags have not been reopened.
And since Putin’s ascension, wages are up and employment is down. And Russia has grown strong enough to defy the U.S. As far as being such an aggressive villain in the international sphere, he stopped the fighting in Georgia. He kept the U.S. from bombing Syria. And again, the Minsk agreements.
The one who thinks the Cold War never ended isn’t Putin, it’s Obama. Putin advocates an international system of equal partnerships and mutual benefit and understanding. Obama coerces the EU.
You’re a gentleman, Mr. Rall, as “clown car” is a nice way of putting it. My image of the plethora of GOP candidates is a group of slimy frogs piled on top of each other under the banner “CLUSTERF*CK”
“Democrats ought to be ashamed of the lack of democracy in their party, which hasn’t had a contested primary since 2008” – Oh, give me a break Ted! – Who are you trying to bait here? We both know the simple fact that money runs the elections, not the Democrats or Republicans, and that the lack of choice is on both sides of any REAL candidates is the result of money calling the shots. Democrats? Republicans? The “democracy” timed out many years ago, and trying to bait one side against the other is a shill move – especially when you know that none of them will do anything to make any difference except make things the same or worse. If anyone wants to see something done, then the first thing they have to do is to get the money and its influence out of our system. Everything else is just small change unless we can break the influence of big money, corporations and political partisanship that’s taken hold so ridiculously. Democrats ought to be ashamed? No – you should be ashamed, Ted.
Bernie is going to give lip service for change.
Change is drastically needed. But the Democratic Party is not ready for reform, much less drastic change.
So Bernie will play at being pro-social instead of anti-social, and when his time is up he will act the conservative by supporting the conservation of the Democratic status quo.
What a disgusting hypocrite.
New bosses, old bosses, and Manchurian candidates … BS will continue to take his orders from whatever Netanyahu-bot is in charge of Zionland now and/or any time in the future. His “patriotism” to America still comes in second to his slave-status loyalty towards that SLAS.
DanD
– and as far as bringing Putin into this discussion – What a load of crap and garbage that brings with it! A “developed” country that can’t even provide universal healthcare for its own citizens, and continues to try to police the world while locking up and persecuting its own people “ought to” get the hell out of everyone else’s backyard and tend to its own problems first.
I agree, we should attend to OUR OWN massive problems first!
Right on Falco!
Right on Falco and Rikster!
I second that emotion! đ
«A âdevelopedâ country that canât even provide universal healthcare for its own citizens, and continues to try to police the world while locking up and persecuting its own people âought toâ get the hell out of everyone elseâs backyard and tend to its own problems first.» Couldn’t agree more ! Indeed, one might want to point out the connexion between interference in «everyone elseâs backyard» and tyranny at home – one can’t have both an Empire and a Republic at the same time….
Henri
I guess it’s up to me to play the contrarian. (Not like THAT’s ever happened before ;-))
So, hell yeah, we gotta get our tanks & armies & drones out of everyone else’s back yards. We started the fire in the Muddle East, and there’s no way we can make it better by pouring more fuel into randomly selected area.
We’ve also gotta quit with the economic imperialism. That’s part of the problem in the ME, we propped up horrible dictators like Saddam just so that Exxon could save a few bucks for their VIPs.
BUT – we also have to realize that we have a global economy and global problems. When our economy crashed, we took the rest of the world with us. We’re a major player in global warming, and we need global action to fix it.
We should absolutely provide jobs for our people at home. But much of our wealth was accumulated by sucking it out of other places, we have a moral obligation send some of it back where it came from. If the moral argument doesn’t work, consider what would happen if we just sat on that wealth and turned our backs on the rest of the planet. They’ll come asking for a piece of the action, and they’ll be carrying arms when they come.
Whatever jobs we do create overseas should absolutely not be in sweatshops, the workers should have safe working conditions and reasonable hours. The profits generated should go to the workers, not the wealthy assholes running the place.
We need to provide leadership in the global arena, Not by force, but by showing the way. We’ve got massive wealth and brainpower, we should make a concerted effort to find solutions to energy generation, food & water production and most importantly, global warming.
We could lead the way in economic justice for all, we control enough of the world’s economy that anything we do would have global effects.
OK, CrazyH – I can agree with you on the responsibility part and the need to make amends for past crimes, but just what are you proposing that the US government do ? Frankly, «provid[ing] leadership in the global arena» doesn’t elicit a cheer – isn’t that how the «indispensable nation» usually describes its interventions ’round the world ? I think it would be quite enough if you got off our backs – closed those more than 1000 military bases abroad, cut the various military and (un)intelligence budgets by at least half, no more coups d’Ă©tat, Putsche, or «regime changes», no more «trade agreements» which mask the installation of a secret tribunal of corporation lawyers to determine suits lodged by corporations against state actors, etc, etc. There may be more to be done, but to my mind, the above wouldn’t constitute a half-bad beginning….
Henri
You got it Henri.
The American tiger will eat you before it changes its stripes.
> what are you proposing that the US government do ?
Fund research and pas laws establishing what I laid out above in terms of economic justice. That would include ensuring that American companies *don’t* create jobs anywhere the workers don’t have basic human rights.
Melt our swords into plowshares. Repurpose 90% of the military into providing humanitarian aid. Take all the olive drab trucks & transports, paint ’em white white & put red crosses on the side.
Dropping bombs on the ME won’t help, but providing food and medical care would go a long ways. Even if it’s so dangerous we can’t have moccasins on the ground we could still air drop supplies.
I’ve got this crazy idea that if people see the flag on the side of a care package, they’ll hate us less than when they see a flag on the side of a bomber.
@glenn,
Oh, I believe you’re right. Nothing’s going to change until & unless the whole house of cards comes tumbling down.
But it’s still nice to dream. We *could* fix things, or at least make them better.
Well, CrazyH, that beating swords into ploughshares is just the thing for a plaque outside a building on 1st Avenue between 42nd and 48th Streets, but somehow it doesn’t seem to reflect the policies of any US government with which I am familiar, least of all those since 1945. Nor have I seem much of that funding of research and passing laws which would promote economic justice, within or without the United States. But perhaps I am too much the cynic, and somehow these laudable objectives will be achieved under the 2016 election cycle….
But as I said, I’d personally be happy if you people would just get of our backs. Your country – with the aid of its vassals, not least my very own government – just got finished using the northern one-third of my country as a bombing and firing range (Arctic Challenge Exercise). Just say NO !…
Henri
@henri –
I haven’t seen it either, nor do I expect to. But this thread started with “ought to” and this IMHO is what we “ought to” do.
The system is broken and unsustainable, therefore it *will* come tumbling down. This will be a good thing overall, and the sooner it happens the better chance for the human race to survive it.
But it won’t be much fun for those who have to live through it.
Bernie Sanders should run in the Republican primary.
He could showcase his right wing votes and maybe move the Republican party to the popular left, this being the onetime home of the Republican progressive movement of “Fighting Bob” La Follette Sr.
Sure, he is going to lose, so it doesn’t matter where he runs, but think of the fun if he made some inroads there. He might be competitive in a field split 28 ways.
I’ve been thoroughly enjoying watching the GOP disintegrate, knowing they did it to themselves.
They played the Voodoo Economics card so often that idjits like the Tea Party expect ’em to deliver the impossible.
They played the anti-gay & anti-abortion cards & now the religious wrong expect them to deliver a theocracy. But gay rights are on the upswing and the state efforts to regulate abortions will ultimately backfire.
A majority of voters today believe the rich aren’t taxed enough, but the GOP has an entrenched cut-taxes-for-the-rich mentality. They can’t change without pissing off their owners, but they can’t pursue it with the majority against it.
Nearly 2/3 of Americans realize that climate change is the real deal, and the GOP is in the same leaky boat as they are with rich-guy-taxes.
Then you’ve got yer chicken hawk GOPranos, but the constant fear of terrorists under your bed has lost its novelty. The country as a whole has figured out that intervention doesn’t work so well.
Then there are the few remaining true conservatives who’ve been looking aghast at their party for years, and are now trying to get it back.
End result is that Karl Rove’s beloved wedge issues have splintered his own party. That’s a good thing.
You’ve bought into the crazy cool-aid , and are lost in your own circle of logic- missing out on the fact that you have no real voice or power beyond your ability to type…
Not sure I understand what you’re getting at, rikster. But I long ago figured out what little power I have.
At this point, I consider politics to be a spectator sport. I expect to sit on the porch, beer in hand, and watch the world burn.
Doesn’t stop me from handicapping the contestants, though.
So many candidates, and not a sane choice among them. But what does it really matter when it’s a corporate vote-counter that owns and controls all the digitally proprietary, electronic selection machines?
DanD
Election day is about as meaningful to me as New Years Eve and New Years Day.
Social stir, tears of joy, drinks, out with the old, and in with the new, then more of the same old stuff. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
No wonder millennials don’t respect older people. I’m an older person and I find little to respect among people my age who have the same two years experience twenty times over.
Well, it ain’t over ’til the fat lady sings.
đ
Hillary can sing?
đ
Ms Clinton has gained weight ?…
Henri