Love it when a sexual predator president insists on a sexual predator justice

[Cassius Clay]

Nice. It's crazy how scarcely people seemed to talk about the supreme court during that crazy election from a couple years back.

[Gendo]

Is the last sentence sarcasm? I during the election I heard nothing but “But SCOTUS!"

[Monk]

Is the last sentence sarcasm? I during the election I heard nothing but “But SCOTUS!"

Honestly, the whole Merrick Garland thing was barely covered throughout the election. I think it was largely because everyone just assumed Hillary would win, and Dems were hoping for a younger and more liberal appointment.

[Cassius Clay]

“But SCOTUS!"

Exactly...emphasis on "but". It was often introduced as an afterthought. People spent most of their time arguing about Hillary's crimes or Trump's instability. SCOTUS wasn't given nearly enough weight. I mean...when talking about the difference between Trump and Hillary, that should be like the first(and maybe only) thing talked about. I, myself, didn't talk about it that much because I was in denial that Trump could really win(even though he had a lot of momentum). And I feel like there are a lot of young people, who aren't very politically engaged, that bought into the idea that voting is useless because there's no difference because blah blah blah...the kind of people who think it's funny to vote for Harambe.

[Derived Absurdity]

I mean...when talking about the difference between Trump and Hillary, that should be like the first(and maybe only) thing talked about.

No, when talking about differences between presidential candidates the first thing talked about, always, with no exceptions, should be foreign policy. SCOTUS nominees should probably be second.

Edit: Like the candidates' positions on Yemen alone were more important than every single domestic issue put together.

[Gendo]

It's possible my bubble just had different talking points. I definitely heard many different people making the emphatic point that this election was so important because the next president would pick 1-3 SCOTUS members.

[Cassius Clay]

No, when talking about differences between presidential candidates the first thing talked about, always, with no exceptions, should be foreign policy. SCOTUS nominees should probably be second.

Yes...yes, let us spend a year going back and forth over the foreign-policy distinctions between a warhawk and an unpredictable madman.

...this business about lifetime nominees to the most powerful court in the country(a court that can limit some of president's powers, including on foreign policy) should always come second to that specifically impotent exercise. No exceptions. It's not as if this is a unique situation that requires more than a broad-brush principle.

One of the biggest predictable differences between these specific candidates are their SCOTUS picks? No exceptions.

Candidate might be choosing up to 3 judges? No exceptions

Judges will likely be in power long after candidate is gone? No exceptions

[Cassius Clay]

It's possible my bubble just had different talking points. I definitely heard many different people making the emphatic point that this election was so important because the next president would pick 1-3 SCOTUS members.

I definitely saw a lot of that too. I'm still thinking it wasn't emphasized with the appropriate urgency.

[Derived Absurdity]

K. As a principle foreign policy should be the primary focus, how 'bout that.

[Cassius Clay]

Fair enough

[Derived Absurdity]

My comment was way too over-hasty, I guess. It was stemming from frustration at how everyone always treats foreign policy as completely unimportant when in reality it's of absolute primary importance. But in an election like 2016 when both candidates' foreign policy were essentially identical and multiple SC vacancies were on the line I guess that makes an exception.

[phe_de]

I mean...when talking about the difference between Trump and Hillary, that should be like the first(and maybe only) thing talked about.

No, when talking about differences between presidential candidates the first thing talked about, always, with no exceptions, should be foreign policy. SCOTUS nominees should probably be second.

Edit: Like the candidates' positions on Yemen alone were more important than every single domestic issue put together.

Actually, when it comes to politics, in Europe at least, it's the economy that is most important for most.
Like: What are the politicians going to do about unemployment? Inflation?

In fact I'm a bit surprised that the phrase "It's the economy, stupid" is from an American campaign. I thought it was something that Winston Churchill might have said.

[BruceSmith78]

Phe de, I think the key word in DA's post that you're overlooking is should.

[phe_de]

Phe de, I think the key word in DA's post that you're overlooking is should.

I believe that economy is more important than foreign politics, and should be the primary focus.

But economy and foreign politics overlap.

[Derived Absurdity]

In the US the President's power over the economy is negligible compared to foreign policy.

[Anakin McFly]

Kind of serious question: what exactly is the evidence that Ford is lying - and especially that she's been bribed to do so - about her assault? I keep seeing that claim (including from a black female friend of a friend, as well as from sexual assault survivors) treated as obvious fact, and I'm bothered by the possibility I'm missing something due to not being in America and mostly getting my news about this from social media echo chambers. It's been impossible to find any unpartisan analyses of what's been happening. While I do believe Ford, I'm also incredibly biased towards believing victims in sexual assault cases, and I'm sure that's also skewing my perspective.

[Gendo]

To the best of my knowledge, no such evidence exists, and such claims are as outlandish as any other run-of-the-mill conspiracy theory.

It does seems like it may be fair to say that there isn't good evidence in the other direction either... and least not outside of Ford's own testimony. But even if Kavanaugh is in fact innocent, that's far from the same thing as Ford being a democratic plant. It's far more like'y that it would be either a case of mistaken identity, or false memories, or different interpretations of events, or any such things.

[Anakin McFly]

There were a few women very suspicious that Ford would have just left her friend Leland alone with a roomful of drunk teenage boys who had just attempted to rape her, instead of warn her to get out of there. But that's consistent with shock and trauma.

There was apparently also some article or something about how Ford had done polygraph coaching at one point.

[Anakin McFly]

A friend of a friend on FB claimed that this was part of a ploy to boost enrolment at Ford's university. wtf.