Reddy

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 22, 2017 -> 01:08 PM) Showing up at an event full of politicians and shooting it up, when he doesn't know any of them, to me, is pretty clearly terrorism. For the reasons I noted earlier. But even if one is on the fence, I found it odd that law enforcement said - unprompted, from what I could tell in the video - that it wasn't terrorism. Agreed with the second sentence for sure.

Is a guy shooting congressmen because he's personally really mad at their politics terrorism? I have literally no idea where I stand on this, and am actually having a tough time defining for myself what I consider to be terrorism and what I don't.

Question - do we consider Presidential assassins or shooters "terrorists"? Honestly asking.

In 2014 the Democratic candidate for Congress in #GA06 got 70k votes. In 2017, turnout was up by 50k from '14, and the Democratic candidate got a total of 125k votes. That's a jump of 55k votes since the last mid term election. The Republican? Only 5k more. Let Republicans call that a win, today. Let them crow. Let them talk nonsense. I'm not going to fight a word of it. Let them be complacent. As my former international relations professor always reminds me: Never interrupt your opponent when they're making a mistake.

QUOTE (KagakuOtoko @ Jun 20, 2017 -> 11:18 PM) It's obvious the democrats keep picking losers. They think Trump's impending implosion will keep people voting for status quo democrats? lol Ossoff was the right type of candidate (and he'll run again in 18 months, and with much less media hype and attention, likely do better) You can't overcome a congressional shooting AND 5 inches of rain in 6 hours in the bluest part of the district while also running for a seat that was last held by a Dem 40 years ago. Are there things Ossoff could've done better? Absolutely. But no campaign is perfect. They all have flaws and all make mistakes. The dice roll came up badly for us today. So you pick 'em up and throw 'em again. At least I went semi-viral on Twitter haha:

QUOTE (maxjusttyped @ Jun 19, 2017 -> 12:18 AM) Specifically in GA-6? Polling and betting markets both have him favored to win that race. You don't think he'll pull it off? I don't, but I'm busting my ass to prove myself wrong. Hit ~350 houses today, 700 so far. Hoping to hit 1,000 by poll closing time.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 19, 2017 -> 01:08 AM) Nobody noticed the sarcasm, alas... Sure did. He didn't have one because he didn't need one, and because he had no idea how a campaign works. Lightning in a bottle

QUOTE (bmags @ Jun 18, 2017 -> 10:31 PM) Yeah trumps ground game in those states was incredible. Acting like Trump is the new "rule" as opposed to an anomaly is... misguided, IMO. Trump didn't need a ground game, because he was appealing to people in a way no politician has for a long, long time. Republicans in general don't need a ground game nearly as much as Dems do, because their voters vote come hell or high water. They will ALWAYS turn out. D's need cajoling and constant reminders/pressure. That's why Dem ground game matters. That's why Hillary lost. That's our only advantage in GA-6 right now. Though again, I doubt it will be enough.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jun 18, 2017 -> 09:44 PM) 2016 made me lose all hope that ground game means s***. Maybe 04. Why do you say that? Hillary had a trash ground game in MI, PA and WI, which is why she lost those states. They completely misallocated resources.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 18, 2017 -> 08:41 PM) So two weeks of Democratic infighting nearly guaranteed if they lose despite spending nearly $30 million by the end of the campaign. The Sanders Wing will argue he was too plain vanilla, inoffensive and didn't fight hard enough for progressive issues so as not to offend mostly conservative constituents in that particular district. Hopefully the Obama "out of context" attack ads end up backfiring. All we can do is hope our massive ground game and GOTV effort is enough to outweigh the BS. They timed all of this brilliantly though, down to the fact that both elections took place after holiday weekends, so as to hurt the effectiveness of canvassing and GOTV. People are none to pleased to talk to folks on Easter or Father's Day. Gotta hand it to the GOP, they're brilliantly conniving. Fortunately, what we're doing is working, it's just a matter of if it'll be enough. There's a definite hidden Ossoff vote, but probably not a lot. Talked to a few african americans today who said they're not telling anyone, and they're keeping it quiet, but they're voting for Jon. 2017 y'all. Sigh.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jun 18, 2017 -> 08:43 PM) I can't wait to hear about how Ossoff wasn't progressive enough which will piss me off to no end, because anyone who says that knows nothing about the demographics of this district. But it's a fun headline!

I was so confident prior to last week's shooting. Now I'm 100% expecting a loss. All the numbers are going the wrong direction. Thank you, lunatic-left.

We're working our OSSES OFF here in GA6, but I'm not confident Ossoff wins this race, even though he's been ahead in every single poll. I think the baseball shooting may have done just enough damage to flip what was already going to be an insanely close race, but dammit I hope I'm wrong. In any case, three more days of knocking doors!

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jun 17, 2017 -> 02:52 AM) Just make it so everyone can have access to a firearm. However, if they fit the profile of someone that will use it in a mass shooting, then they have to pay more for the gun. But, they still have access to top of the line guns. Seems reasonable

It was good guys with expert level training that saved the day in Alexandria, Alpha... Turns out they're way better at protecting you than you are.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jun 16, 2017 -> 07:38 AM) We didn't, so please stop generalizing. And if we're going to generalize, the biggest snowflakes are the GOP right now. Truest truth to ever truth

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 15, 2017 -> 06:51 PM) How many times does someone from the GOP argue they need to listen more...? Democrats get called weak or soft for even taking that seemingly reasonable approach. Attacking the Clinton's, Obama, Pelosi, anyone who challenges expansion of gun rights...has resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in fundraising that just perpetuates the cycle of attack ads. People hate the "both sides do it" nature of some corners of mainstream journalism, believing that it creates a sense of equivalency when there is none. Fair enough. But in this case, both sides do do it! Casting your political opponents as not just wrong but dangerous motivates the bases of the respective parties. And fired-up bases turn out. And that, for most politicians, is plenty of justification to keep playing to the extremes rather than trying to land somewhere in between those two poles. Until the electorate stops rewarding politicians for saying the most outlandish things about the other party, they will keep right on doing it -- no matter how many attacks like the one Wednesday morning happen. Depressing but true. Chris Cilizza, CNN.com https://www.yahoo.com/tv/ted-nugent-promise...-205716922.html Ted Nugent has seen the light about divisive rhetoric fomenting violence Dude it doesn't matter. I can't control what Republicans do. I can't control how they perceive me. I can control whether I'm contributing to the problem or not. And I'm going to do my best to stop contributing to the problem. I can't control them. I can control me. Liberals can't control what Republicans do, but we can control what we do. We're the ones who want change, right? They don't. So it's us that need to do whatever it takes to reach out to them and create arguments that will bring them to us. Divisive, angry, hateful rhetoric will never achieve that goal.

QUOTE (KagakuOtoko @ Jun 15, 2017 -> 06:16 PM) Well said, especially for you. It's so bizarre how poorly y'all know me. But that's my fault, and the joy of the anonymity of the Internet. Edit: and the fact that I've been part of the problem in regard to divisive rhetoric. It's not gonna completely stop, because I'm passionate about what I believe, but over the last week's and months I've realized we all need to do a better job of listening, myself included.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 15, 2017 -> 04:46 PM) https://news.vice.com/story/extremism-exper...source=vicefbus This disgusts me.

I absolutely hate every single thing about this. I was in Arlington yesterday when it happened. Not far. I had lunch with a former Congressman hours after the shooting, and it was definitely weird for him. He'd played in that game for 23 years. I don't pray, but I'm hoping Scalise comes through this alright. NO ONE deserves to be shot for their political beliefs, and any liberal who says he "had it coming" is not someone I want to associate with. But I will say that I hate that a deranged, far-left radical can completely undermine every single bit of progress liberals have made against the Trump agenda in one swoop, and validate every Trump supporter in America. I'm nervous about the impact it has here in Georgia. I just got to the 6th this afternoon for GOTV, and both campaigns have had to put out statements about receiving death threats in the last two hours. I'm nervous about knocking on doors all weekend. But we can't let fear dictate our lives, and we need to spread a message of compassion. We have to start listening to each other. The end.

The vast majority of independents tend to lean consistently D or R. I feel like it'd be impossible to be a true independent unless you actually don't care about the issues going one way or the other, but I'm interested to see if I'm off base on that. It's difficult for me, though, when I hear things like "social liberal and fiscal conservative", because fiscal conservativism is what causes so many of the social problems in this country. Poverty, crime and racism exist because of conservative fiscal policy. So the basic premise is completely hypocritical, in my mind at least.

QUOTE (Tex @ Jun 12, 2017 -> 07:47 AM) Civility is the main thing we are looking for. What Greg writes may at times be frustrating, challenging, baiting, maybe what some people would call trolling, I can't think of a post where we attacked someone personally. I don't know Greg the person, I only know what he writes which creates a screen character. Is it his true thoughts and beliefs? I don't know and don't worry about that. Same with every other poster here. I personally believe the 'Buster is a little better because of Greg and other posters like him stirring the pot. Let me offer an example. Years ago a poster here who I greatly respect and like accused me of not liking him based on the battles we had here on the pages of the 'buster. I was shocked that he thought that, but after thinking about the arguments we had and how we responded to each other, it made sense. That should not have happened and are the types of posts we would like to tone down. I recognize that the hope he has for America is the same as mine, we only differ on the route to that dream. Mine works and his won't. A final thought. I believe the topics we discuss here are important to the future of our country. If we each tried to move people to our point of view that is truly doing something for what we each believe is right. We aren't going to do that by insulting each other. I really want y'all to resist a border wall, especially through a National Park. I'm not going to do that by calling you a racist idiot. I want y'all to support a guest worker program and a path to limited citizenship for the undocumented workers contributing each day to our success. I can't achieve that through insults. I'd like y'all to push for less government borrowing. And I will leave you with this. A now banned poster accused me of always humming this tune as I was sitting around this campfire . . . Kumbaya my Lord, kumbaya Kumbaya my Lord, kumbaya Kumbaya my Lord, kumbaya Oh Lord, kumbaya Someone's singing Lord, kumbaya Someone's singing Lord, kumbaya Someone's singing Lord, kumbaya Oh Lord, kumbayah Someone's laughing, Lord, kumbaya Someone's laughing, Lord, kumbaya Someone's laughing, Lord, kumbaya Oh Lord, kumbaya Someone's crying, Lord, kumbaya Someone's crying, Lord, kumbaya Someone's crying, Lord, kumbaya Oh Lord, kumbaya Someone's praying, Lord, kumbaya Someone's… I really enjoyed this post. Thanks, man.

I assume calling someone "racist" qualifies under these new rules? I just want to make sure I understand.

Didn't miss a thing, good buddy. Just stoked to have a fair playing field

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 10, 2017 -> 09:10 PM) I think you pretty well missed the point of the initial post. We don't want people making personal insults, which is exactly what this post is about. I'm excited that mods are going to be held to the same standard.