Oof. Way too young.

If Democrats had nominated someone who'd been consistently and sincerely closer to the center, that probably would have gone over a lot better.

You're not wrong, but Harris took some pretty far-left positions (e.g., "defund the police") a few years before the election, so when she took more centrist views at election time, it came across as insincere.

come across as moderate on policy, but authentic and sincere. Moderates overperform in elections, and people with more extreme views underperform. This is often obscured by the number of people with extreme views running in safe seats, but it's true. And I want to win the next election. 2/2

You'll have to clarify which part you believe is "absolutely untrue".

I agree, people are less inclined to vote for someone they think is pandering and wishy-washy. But they're even *less* inclined to vote for people they disagree with. The most electable candidates are the ones who /1

(5) my only beef is with the idea that this is exclusively (or even primarily!) the job of politicians running for office. I'm not trying to completely let them off the hook, I'm saying we all have to do our part rather than blaming them for not "leading".

Thanks again for your courteous reply.

(4) doesn't advantage me (or the policies I believe in) for them to advocate views that are so far to the left that they make it more difficult for members of my party to be elected in battleground seats.

Finally, I agree that the party has to stand for something and persuade undecided voters;

(3) me on other issues, rather than "punishing" that party by withholding my vote. I can't expect, nor should anyone expect, a party platform in perfect agreement with us on everything.

Third, I agree that reps in safe seats have more of an obligation to "lead" politically, but also that it

(2) just that it shouldn't be *solely* their responsibility.

Secondly, I don't follow UK politics closely enough to comment re: your position on Labor and trans people. But I will say that if two parties disagree with me on a single issue, it's my inclination to vote for the party that agrees with

(1) First of all, let me say that I appreciate the thoughtful and polite response you've offered. I don't think we're really that far apart here.

Your point that it's not always an election is a good one, and to be clear, I didn't say (nor do I think) that politicians play *no* role in persuasion,

Furthermore, saying "it's the politicians' job to persuade people" is an abdication of responsibility. Democracy belongs to all of us, and we all have a duty to uphold it, and that duty doesn't begin and end with marking a piece of paper in a voting booth once every two years.

Trying to persuade people is not a waste of time.

Trying to persuade people *and win elections at the same time* is very difficult.

There are hundreds of millions of Americans who are *not* running for elected office who can do the persuasion.

I read something recently, and I cannot remember who said it or the exact phrasing. But it was something like "The worst people among us believe that everyone is secretly just like them, and that others only pretend to be kind. So nothing wounds them as badly as evidence that this isn't true."

Amen.

I agree, more serious work is in order to work out details of a solution to reform or replace ICE.

But the subject is salient right now, and it's not plausible for politicians to say "we'll figure out a solution soon". They need to tell the public, at least in broad strokes, what they want to do.

the best antidote to blackpilling is remembering that every video you see of an ICE thug abusing their power was recorded by an American who volunteered to put themselves in harm's way for the sake of people they've likely never met and never will

Tom, I was only familiar with the quote out of context. I'm still no fan of Reagan, but I genuinely appreciate you correcting the record.

We were apparently ahead of our time in recognizing it as overly tourist-y!

"Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom". I'm not sure that bodes well.

Every Christmas tree has a combination of "beautiful glass ornaments lovingly made by a master craftsman" and "lopsided yarn cartoon characters made by a relative in 1982."

🎶 Watching in slow motion as you turn around and say...

Take my tree away... 🎶

I agree that Carol's past isn't essential to the plot. But it helps give us another reason why she's going to fight *so hard* to resist when other un-Joined people have given up or don't see the point.

Uh...which one are you dreaming of?

And you might say "good", but if he wants to do that, he shouldn't be an officer of the DNC, which has a policy about not taking sides in Democratic primaries.

So the *way* the DNC has chosen to oust him seems like bullshit, but I can't blame them for *wanting* to oust him. After being elected vice-chair, he announced his intent to use his PAC to primary insufficiently progressive Dems in safe seats.

The man is practically an ascetic.

To be fair, if my spouse had arranged a car bombing fourteen years ago, I would absolutely still be bringing that shit up.

The Life of Tau

Every time I see Ben Shapiro, I remember that that nasty little homunculus graduated from the same college and program that I did. But congrats, this is worse.

made this argument last month but trump’s retribution campaign is very clearly against the entire american people.