Pew polls US partisan divide on Israel, Russia, world leaders, etc.

[TJ in Oregon]

Oh boy, Republicans sure know what major threats are

I never took this poll. I don't personally know anyone who did. Republicans I know agree with the 41% who say Putin is a threat.

-He's a much bigger friend to the U.S. than Israel is, as Israel's not fighting ISIS, despite it being directly on its border. Russia is a much smaller threat to the U.S. than Israel (it's less influential in American politics) and is about the same size a threat as, say, Britain.

Russia has less influence on American politics??  Did Israel just hack a US election that I missed?

Unless you can prove voting machines were altered, that is a false statement.

I never said the voting machines were altered.  I said the election was HACKED.  Take your fake news elsewhere.

The problem with the bolded sentence is that it is so vague it could mean anything from:

Russia managed to get John Podesta's email via phishing scam and released a bunch of unflattering emails showing DNC chicanery

or:

Russia hacked us voting machines to alter the outcome of the election by interfering in the ballot counting process.

Yet the media continually repeats just about the least articulate way of describing things as possible. I get why the Democrats are displeased since they feel they've been unfairly targeted by a foreign government, but the US tries to influence elections in other countries all over the place too. Let's at least be specific in our claims.

[TJ in Oregon]

Democrats are stupid in liking Angela Merkel, who's policies have inflicted pain and suffering in Germany, less so because of the coalition with the social democrats, but throughout Europe with austerity and increased neoliberalism.

Yeah there seems to be a perception in the US that Merkel is a left leaning politician.

Which is fycking dumb. Conservatives should love her though, as she's stopping CDU, and slowly implementing a conservative, neo-liberal economic agenda through Europe, and would also do that full-on in Germany if the wind swayed that way, and the social democrats weren't in coalition.

From a conservative perspective, Merkel is one of the most damaging figures to the cause out of all leaders in the West. She's taken a conservative party and slowly stripped it of principle. It's much better to be in the opposition every now and then and stand for something than to have a conservative party be in power so long that it is reduced to mere liberal conservatism as to not rock the boat. But then again I am not a liberal conservative.