Most annoying "normie" political takes ?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

One that comes to mind now is the notion that political campaigns were not "nasty" until the Internet...or even until Trump ran.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Not really a take but it's annoying to me how much time people devote to trying to point out Republican inconsistencies as if they were "gotchas". E.g., "Kevin McCarthy said this recently, but two months ago he said this totally opposite thing!"

The GOP hasn't stood for any sort of principle other than the accumulation of power. If you ever took anything they said as anywhere close to reflective of their beliefs or true intentions, here have you been for the last decade-plus?

I don't know if this is so much a "normie" thing as it is a "stupid partisans who don't really understand campaigns and voter demographics in general on both sides" thing, but the idea that showing hypocrisy in some figure on the other side is some sort of DEVESTATING burn that'll ruin them has always been one for me. A great example is when it was revealed that Sarah Palin's daughter was pregnant in 2008 and a bunch of liberal pundits and social media users were all "HA HA SO MUCH FOR GOP FAMILY VALUES AMIRITE?" as if both socons and swing voters weren't fully aware that teen pregnancies happen with teens from conservative families too and that supporting things like abstinence-only education doesn't give a parent full reign to control every matter of their kid's private life. (On a side note the Obama campaign's decision to stay out of attacks on this completely was not only extremely smart it's something that I wonder if it would happen or even be possible today with how campaigns are ran and that certain blue check types would try to force it into being an issue even if it clearly doesn't help.)

Bringing up Al Gore or some liberal celebrity engaging in some not exactly carbon neutral lifestyle activity or random Democrats going out in public without a mask back when mask mandates were common are the right-wing equivalents.

[Conservatopia]

One of the most dense takes has to be the Political Compass.

Fortunately, most here realise that it's total nonsense but it's close cousin, "the divide isn't right v left anymore, it's open v closed", still exists here.

[beaver2.0]

One of the most dense takes has to be the Political Compass.

Fortunately, most here realise that it's total nonsense but it's close cousin, "the divide isn't right v left anymore, it's open v closed", still exists here.

I think what makes the compass and indeed many of the "takes" in this thread so popular is that they have a kernel of truth to them.

I imagine that a lot of Americans don't think about politics as anything but a Democrat-Republican dichotomy so when they realize there is more nuance, they embrace the compass.

[Хahar 🤔]

(Tbf these sort of diagnoses: this one magic trick will result in better politicians! appear in "high info voters" as well, who are replete with reforms and tricks that will save everything, a classic example being the British liberal who believes that MPs sitting in a hemicycle would save Westminster debate)

Ha, I wasn't familiar with the hemicycle opinion. Similarly, a "wonk" opinion rather than a "normie" opinion (but nevertheless an opinion from someone who knows less about elections than we do) is that you can use electoral reform to socially engineer voters into choosing the right candidates who will make government work. It's essentially an outgrowth of the same naïve anti-partisan view.

I am curious about the view that seems commonplace in Europe that the electoral process should be more American. In so many countries you see "primaries": they have very little in reality to do with American primary elections, but they're meant to imitate those.

[Xing]

“Working class” = No college degree.

Is it normies who actually push this one or political pundits/pollsters? I think it's the latter.

Both do, honestly, though pundits were probably the first to make the two seem interchangeable.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Not really a take but it's annoying to me how much time people devote to trying to point out Republican inconsistencies as if they were "gotchas". E.g., "Kevin McCarthy said this recently, but two months ago he said this totally opposite thing!"

The GOP hasn't stood for any sort of principle other than the accumulation of power. If you ever took anything they said as anywhere close to reflective of their beliefs or true intentions, here have you been for the last decade-plus?

I don't know if this is so much a "normie" thing as it is a "stupid partisans who don't really understand campaigns and voter demographics in general on both sides" thing, but the idea that showing hypocrisy in some figure on the other side is some sort of DEVESTATING burn that'll ruin them has always been one for me. A great example is when it was revealed that Sarah Palin's daughter was pregnant in 2008 and a bunch of liberal pundits and social media users were all "HA HA SO MUCH FOR GOP FAMILY VALUES AMIRITE?" as if both socons and swing voters weren't fully aware that teen pregnancies happen with teens from conservative families too and that supporting things like abstinence-only education doesn't give a parent full reign to control every matter of their kid's private life. (On a side note the Obama campaign's decision to stay out of attacks on this completely was not only extremely smart it's something that I wonder if it would happen or even be possible today with how campaigns are ran and that certain blue check types would try to force it into being an issue even if it clearly doesn't help.)

Bringing up Al Gore or some liberal celebrity engaging in some not exactly carbon neutral lifestyle activity or random Democrats going out in public without a mask back when mask mandates were common are the right-wing equivalents.

Yah Obama in 2008 basically decided to campaign like if George W Bush was John McCain's running mate and not Sarah Palin and Biden did it too.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

(Tbf these sort of diagnoses: this one magic trick will result in better politicians! appear in "high info voters" as well, who are replete with reforms and tricks that will save everything, a classic example being the British liberal who believes that MPs sitting in a hemicycle would save Westminster debate)

Ha, I wasn't familiar with the hemicycle opinion. Similarly, a "wonk" opinion rather than a "normie" opinion (but nevertheless an opinion from someone who knows less about elections than we do) is that you can use electoral reform to socially engineer voters into choosing the right candidates who will make government work. It's essentially an outgrowth of the same naïve anti-partisan view.

I am curious about the view that seems commonplace in Europe that the electoral process should be more American. In so many countries you see "primaries": they have very little in reality to do with American primary elections, but they're meant to imitate those.

Yes, electoral reform as a silver bullets are definitely a type (and I will admit to have being one).

Incidentally D66 in the Netherlands was designed around creating an American political system with FPTP and a two party system that would end the evils of pillarisation.

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

(Tbf these sort of diagnoses: this one magic trick will result in better politicians! appear in "high info voters" as well, who are replete with reforms and tricks that will save everything, a classic example being the British liberal who believes that MPs sitting in a hemicycle would save Westminster debate)

Ha, I wasn't familiar with the hemicycle opinion. Similarly, a "wonk" opinion rather than a "normie" opinion (but nevertheless an opinion from someone who knows less about elections than we do) is that you can use electoral reform to socially engineer voters into choosing the right candidates who will make government work. It's essentially an outgrowth of the same naïve anti-partisan view.

I am curious about the view that seems commonplace in Europe that the electoral process should be more American. In so many countries you see "primaries": they have very little in reality to do with American primary elections, but they're meant to imitate those.

Yes, electoral reform as a silver bullets are definitely a type (and I will admit to have being one).

Incidentally D66 in the Netherlands was designed around creating an American political system with FPTP and a two party system that would end the evils of pillarisation.

I was about to mention that, hilarious example of grass being greener syndrome.

[PSOL]

At least we are aware that the self-appointed activists and "peaceful protesters" that are part of the progressive middle class that most posters on these boards belong to, are not average/normal people or voters so neither are we.

The protesters over Floyd’s death were the epitome of “normie”, moreso compared to other protests during the Trump administration. Activists and partisans for civil rights organizations, or the few feckless virtue signaling troupes made by Democrats, were swamped by mostly normal people reflecting the diversity of America.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

That we're out of the Pandemic, it's an illusion they opened up sports STD and we don't have to wear masks my DAD literally said oh I don't need the get vaccinated because we're coming out of Pandemic, he DIED, due to Sports STDs opening up, but if you are inside not outside and you are in community living you are still at risk and he was at a nursing home, that's why shelters want you to get tested for TB before you get in one mahe sure you have meds in case you have it

He could of used a pacemaker, his heart pumps too slowly but when you are in a nursing home, they don't exhaust every last medical technique except for chest compression if you are having a heart attack

Sports STDs is the cause of mass homelessness Dodger STD and Mission needed to be remodeled and missions can be turned into Subsidized Housing but they gave us SOFI STD

I literally read online Newsom is giving money to film makers for making films in LA but won't remodel shelters into Subsidized Housing

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

If politicians were paid minimum wage that would be good (although some contrarians go the opposite way, and defend ridiculous wages for MPs for vague "talent retention" reasons).

Related to this, one of my least favourite is the idea that reducing the size of Parliament will inherently make it less bloated let alone more responsive to the people (or save a meaningful amount of money). Yes, I am an Italian politics nerd whose first referendum was 2020, how could you tell?

Another great one is inheritance taxes being one of the most unpopular kinds of tax for... reasons.

[sting in the rafters]

My mom-mom is good health for 80. God bless the VA.
My great uncle, her brother is in good health for 78. God bless the VA.
My nanie smoked like a chimney, took 2 bypasses, and died at 76.
My papou ate like a man who ditched Greece for the US and died at 74.
My step-grandma caught COVID in her mental health facility and died at 68.
My paternal great uncle smoked like a chimney and died at 67.
My pop-pop succumbed to radon-induced lung cancer at 65.
My uncle OD’d at 47. Guess I’m middle-aged by his benchmark.
My stepmom survived kidney cancer at 43.
And today, I thank fate my dad escaped blood clots with his life at 56.

So think twice the next time you hear some multi-acred cowboy rancher or book-smart Whole Foods wonder-bread lionize “blue-collar American heroes”; for some of us they only serve a warning how fast we need to get out.

[Figueira]

"We need a third party"

Or the belief that centrism is a cohesive ideology or that it's inherently good by virtue of being centrist.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

R wave in October, by MT Treasure, lol early voting starts Oct 1st thru Halloween and that's the Urban vote, the rural vote votes on Eday, they just won't be counted until EDay the early vote, so if you see Trump up 15 in OH in Emerson Poll 8gnore it because that's oversampling too many Rs there are more urban votes than rural votes

We're all getting closer to EDay we are all anxious but we will win D's Biden Approvals are now 47/52 in Rassy polls the best ever, 50 is the magic number

[MT Treasurer]

R wave in October, by MT Treasure

no response from MT Treason on the DeWine Lake internal showing a dead heat fir Gov

"The duality of MT Treasurer"

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Voters don't need a conviction from Garland to believe the R party is corrupted under Trump he isn't Nixon, Reagan or Bush W that committed single crimes. He is a repeat offender WikiLeaks, in Benghazi Hillary, Ukraine probe, insurrection and now Espionage just because DOJ doesn't prosecuted, he is guilty in the voters minds


Assumption by Trump is voters will acquit him if DOJ doesn't prosecuted, wrong, he is still guilty like OJ Simpson was eventhough he was acquitted

That's why the R brand name is down

Reagan Iran weapon, Bush W Iraq War and Nixon and Clinton were all single criminal offenders, Trump has committed 4 crimes that hurts Rs and R H isn't inevitable it can be a range from 235 RH and 50/56 D Senate seats

[Blow by blow, the passion dies]

That New Mexico will be competitive in 2024, and that Lula is a radical socialist

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

That New Mexico will be competitive in 2024, and that Lula is a radical socialist

As it's been covered here, any "X is a swing state" or "this state will be competitive" takes are by definition NOT "normie" takes.

[All Along The Watchtower]

- The Electoral College exists so that rural areas aren’t dominated politically by urban areas
- Divided government/gridlock is an inherently good thing that forces politicians to compromise across party lines
- The more strident a political movement’s rhetoric, the better, and if you disagree you are “part of the problem”
- TERM LIMITS

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Left wingers. like all classes of people, think that their views are normative and applicable to everyone.

Never mind that in um, say, the last British general election, it was a SECRET ballot, and that in the privacy of the voting booth there is NO pressure or fear of reprisal and the ordinary voters can cast their ballot as they think.

"Some people have normative political principles and sometimes those principles aren't winning ones at the polls" is a normal thing to notice, sure, and annoying because of what a pointless statement of the obvious it is.

[All Along The Watchtower]

Oh, here’s one within the last year:

“The Afghans weren’t willing to fight for their own country.”

Remind me, exactly how many tens of thousands of ANA troops and Afghan police were killed fighting the Taliban—to say nothing of the many more who were injured, or all the translators, civilian contractors, and others who assisted the US and NATO forces at great risk to their lives and those of their families?

[The Mikado]

- Divided government/gridlock is an inherently good thing that forces politicians to compromise across party lines
- The more strident a political movement’s rhetoric, the better, and if you disagree you are “part of the problem”

I'd love to see the person who has both of these takes.

That said, "Divided government good" is a bizarrely common take that once basically bordered on conventional wisdom.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Left wingers. like all classes of people, think that their views are normative and applicable to everyone.

Never mind that in um, say, the last British general election, it was a SECRET ballot, and that in the privacy of the voting booth there is NO pressure or fear of reprisal and the ordinary voters can cast their ballot as they think.

"Some people have normative political principles and sometimes those principles aren't winning ones at the polls" is a normal thing to notice, sure, and annoying because of what a pointless statement of the obvious it is.

well obviously they are not normative or they wouldn't poll so poorly once people are in the privacy of the booth, rather than talking publically to pollsters. This is true whether you are Millitant Tendency in 1983 or Jeremy Corbyn once he was no longer lucky enough to be facing Ms. May.

What do you think the word "normative" means, exactly? It's not a highfalutin way of saying "normal".

[All Along The Watchtower]

Oh, here’s one within the last year:

“The Afghans weren’t willing to fight for their own country.”

Remind me, exactly how many tens of thousands of ANA troops and Afghan police were killed fighting the Taliban—to say nothing of the many more who were injured, or all the translators, civilian contractors, and others who assisted the US and NATO forces at great risk to their lives and those of their families?

Oh, our main left wing party here did indeed call Afghanistan a "colonial war of aggression". That makes out the existing rulers when the USA arrived in 2001 as legitimate but, yeah.

see here: Parliament must vote to deploy ADF troops overseas

If Afghanistan was meant to be a colonial war of aggression it certainly wasn’t very successful. NATO and all the other countries who helped us in the post-9/11 war in Afghanistan didn’t seem to try very hard at colonizing Afghanistan, though the country’s eastern neighbor/India’s western neighbor has had a consistently negative influence on the country.

Which brings me to another question—if the Taliban were, per the popular anti-imperialist claims, the reactionary product of US and Gulf support funneled through Pakistan to destroy Communism in Afghanistan and give the Soviet Union its own Vietnam, then surely the US and its allies were justified in removing them from power in Afghanistan after 9/11, right? Wouldn’t that have been a positive change in US policy? Or are murderous jihadists and fundamentalists only Bad if there’s an alleged US or US ally connection?

After all, a lot of the “left-wing anti-imperialist” crowd don’t seem overly bothered about the Islamic Republic of Iran (in spite of the mass murder of Iranian Communists and other leftists in the 80s), or Hezbollah, or Hamas. Curious.