The Death of a once Great Republic

[Rigel4]

These are not my words 
they are from an American called Mary Blevin.

but oh do I revere
https://lairdslair.com/pierce.shtml
“In my life, I have watched John Kennedy talk on television about missiles in Cuba. I saw Lyndon Johnson look Richard Russell squarely in the eye and and say, "And we shall overcome." 
I saw Richard Nixon resign and Gerald Ford tell the Congress that our long national nightmare was over. 
I saw Jimmy Carter talk about malaise and Ronald Reagan talk about a shining city on a hill. I saw George H.W. Bush deliver the eulogy for the Soviet bloc, and Bill Clinton comfort the survivors of Timothy McVeigh's madness in Oklahoma City. 
I saw George W. Bush struggle to make sense of it all on September 11, 2001, and I saw Barack Obama sing 'Amazing Grace' in the wounded sanctuary of Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina. 
"These were the presidents of my lifetime. These were not perfect men. They were not perfect presidents, god knows. Not one of them was that. But they approached the job, and they took to the podium, with all the gravitas they could muster as appropriate to the job. 
......

 

---

mod note to add link.
do NOT post quotes without sources
trimmed quote as well
thanks

[UltraBudgie]

That is not from Mary Blevin; it is an excerpt from a 2018 Charles Pierce article in Esquire. Here is the original:

This Vicious Buffoon Is a Vessel for All the Worst Elements of the American Condition
Charles P. Pierce

Everyone who does not agree with me is a traitor and a scoundrel.
—HRH George III, King of Great Britain and Ireland
 
This video should be the only news from now until Election Day, and probably beyond that, all the way to the next Election Day in 2020 as well.

This video captures perfectly where we are as a nation at this moment in history. It shows with startling clarity the end result of civic disengagement and democratic apathy. It shows without question that we have allowed our republic to fall into the hands of a sociopath whose feeling for his fellow human beings can be measured against a poker chip. It shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that the better angels of our nation have been sold out to anger, and greed, and stone hatred. It shows precisely the depths to which our fellow citizens will follow this bag of old and rancid sins. Some of those citizens know better. Some of them don't. All of them are dangerous blockheads.

 Look at the man behind the seal of the President of the United States, mocking the recollections of a survivor of sexual assault. In my life, I have watched John Kennedy talk on television about missiles in Cuba. I saw Lyndon Johnson look Richard Russell squarely in the eye and and say, "And we shall overcome." I saw Richard Nixon resign and Gerald Ford tell the Congress that our long national nightmare was over. I saw Jimmy Carter talk about malaise and Ronald Reagan talk about a shining city on a hill. I saw George H.W. Bush deliver the eulogy for the Soviet bloc, and Bill Clinton comfort the survivors of Timothy McVeigh's madness in Oklahoma City. I saw George W. Bush struggle to make sense of it all on September 11, 2001, and I saw Barack Obama sing "Amazing Grace" in the wounded sanctuary of Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

These were the presidents of my lifetime. These were not perfect men. They were not perfect presidents, god knows. Not one of them was that. But they approached the job, and they took to the podium, with all the gravitas they could muster as appropriate to the job. They tried, at least, to reach for something in the presidency that was beyond their grasp as ordinary human beings. They were not all ennobled by the attempt, but they tried nonetheless.

 And comes now this hopeless, vicious buffoon, and the audience of equally hopeless and vicious buffoons who laughed and cheered when he made sport of a woman whose lasting memory of the trauma she suffered is the laughter of the perpetrators. Now he comes, a man swathed in scandal, with no interest beyond what he can put in his pocket and what he can put over on a universe of suckers, and he does something like this while occupying an office that we gave him, and while endowed with a public trust that he dishonors every day he wakes up in the White House.

The scion of a multigenerational criminal enterprise, the parameters of which we are only now beginning to comprehend. A vessel for all the worst elements of the American condition. And a cheap, soulless bully besides.

We have had good presidents and bad—a Buchanan is followed by a Lincoln who is followed by an Andrew Johnson, and so forth. But we never have had such a cheap counterfeit of a president* as currently occupies the office. We have had presidents who have been the worthy targets of scalding scorn, but James Callender went after giants. We never have had a president* so completely deserving of scorn and yet so small in the office that it almost seems a waste of time and energy to summon up the requisite contempt.

Watch him make fun of the woman again. Watch how a republic dies in the empty eyes of an empty man who feels nothing but his own imaginary greatness, and who cannot find in himself the decency simply to shut the fuck up even when it is in his best interest to do so. Presidents don't have to be heroes to be good presidents. They just have to realize that their humanity is our common humanity, and that their political commonwealth is our political commonwealth, too.

Watch him again, behind the seal of the President of the United States. Isn't he a funny man? Isn't what happened to that lady hilarious? Watch the assembled morons cheer. This is the only story now.

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/po...l-assault/

[David64]

I'm kinda surprised a Leftist actually said this about Joe Biden.

It's about time they admitted it.

[UltraBudgie]

I'm kinda surprised a Leftist actually said this about Joe Biden.

It's about time they admitted it.

It's 99% hateful bloviation. But, the left got an emotional charge out of it when they were ranting about that clown Christine Blasey Ford 8 years ago, so someone decided to plagiarize it and edit it to try and apply it to Renee Nicole Good. Then it gets passed around on Facebook, BlueSky, and eventually, here, as some type of "final gotcha" to put the nail in the coffin of how bad Trump really is.

It's typical narcissistic "debate"—not actual reason, but simple emotionally-manipulative regurgitation. "This worked before and all my friends said it's great, I really got the bastard, so I'm going to try and score points with it again." Another nothing-burger only intended to evoke pushback that they can attack and further satisfy some sense of smug self-righteousness.

[David64]

It's 99% hateful bloviation. But, the left got an emotional charge out of it when they were ranting about that clown Christine Blasey Ford 8 years ago, so someone decided to plagiarize it and edit it to try and apply it to Renee Nicole Good. Then it gets passed around on Facebook, BlueSky, and eventually, here, as some type of "final gotcha" to put the nail in the coffin of how bad Trump really is.

It's typical narcissistic "debate"—not actual reason, but simple emotionally-manipulative regurgitation. "This worked before and all my friends said it's great, I really got the bastard, so I'm going to try and score points with it again." Another nothing-burger only intended to evoke pushback that they can attack and further satisfy some sense of smug self-righteousness.

What pisses me off is that they claim Trump is a Dictator and his followers are Nazis, but seem to forget they had a President who used the IRS against Conservative groups and another who sent the FBI after parents who fought against school boards, labeling them as domestic terrorists.

They can save their faux outrage 'cause I am way past GAF about their opinions.

[FlyersFan]

It's 99% hateful bloviation. 

^^ that

Faux outrage and hyperbolic language.

Ridiculous.  

[Creaky]

These are not my words 
they are from an American called Mary Blevin.

but oh do I revere

“In my life, I have watched John Kennedy talk on television about missiles in Cuba. I saw Lyndon Johnson look Richard Russell squarely in the eye and and say, "And we shall overcome." 
I saw Richard Nixon resign and Gerald Ford tell the Congress that our long national nightmare was over. 
I saw Jimmy Carter talk about malaise and Ronald Reagan talk about a shining city on a hill. I saw George H.W. Bush deliver the eulogy for the Soviet bloc, and Bill Clinton comfort the survivors of Timothy McVeigh's madness in Oklahoma City. 
I saw George W. Bush struggle to make sense of it all on September 11, 2001, and I saw Barack Obama sing 'Amazing Grace' in the wounded sanctuary of Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina. 
"These were the presidents of my lifetime. These were not perfect men. They were not perfect presidents, god knows. Not one of them was that. But they approached the job, and they took to the podium, with all the gravitas they could muster as appropriate to the job. 
They tried, at least, to reach for something in the presidency that was beyond their grasp as ordinary human beings. They were not all ennobled by the attempt, but they tried nonetheless.
"And comes now this hopeless, vicious buffoon, and the audience of equally hopeless and vicious buffoons who laughed and cheered when he made sport of a woman whose lasting memory of the trauma she suffered is the laughter of the perpetrators. 
Now here comes, a man swathed in scandal, with no interest beyond what he can put in his pocket and what he can put over on a universe of suckers, and he does something like this while occupying an office that we gave him, and while endowed with a public trust that he dishonors every day he wakes up in the White House.
"The scion of a multigenerational criminal enterprise, the parameters of which we are only now beginning to comprehend. A vessel for all the worst elements of the American condition. And a cheap, soulless bully besides.

Pretty sure Epstein was pre Trump, pretty sure Ukraine was pre Trump, pretty sure the poor economy was pre Trump etcetera etcetera
Not saying he is a saint, ai bet he keeps his closet door closed and locked up tight, just don’t think he is responsible for all the nasty he has to deal with at the moment
Not sure he is dealing with it the best way possible but, to me it looks as if he isn’t sitting around wasting time or money with the other presidents legacies