Ted Cruz compares climate change activists to ‘flat-Earthers.’

[Revoltingest]

That is just no excuse for saying stupid things to gather support.

I don't excuse it. I'm just saying it's standard procedure for politicians.

That makes him a moron. Or perhaps something worse than a moron, seeing how much damage he is encouraging and attempting to take advantage of.
Maybe he is just morally bankrupt without being completely stupid. Which is far worse in my book, since I see morality as a consequence of intelligence, but I am trying to be compassionate and see people by the most favorable light possible. Maybe he has no choice but to act stupid.

Mayhaps you're letting your political & partisan differences affect your judgement of his intelligence.
I notice that the left rarely acknowledges that a Republican is capable of chewing gum & walking at the same time.

 

[LuisDantas]

I don't hate him at all.
To think he's not as smart as Cruz ain't so bad.
(I'm not as smart as Cruz either.)

Ok, I see that we will just not reach an agreement. Again.

 

[LuisDantas]

I don't excuse it. I'm just saying it's standard procedure for politicians.

Mayhaps you're letting your political & partisan differences affect your judgement of his intelligence.

I am. To give him the benefit of the doubt.

I am ready to be proven wrong, but that will not work to his advantage far as I am concerned.

I notice that the left rarely acknowledges that a Republican is capable of chewing gum & walking at the same time.

Yes, it is astounding to see what the GOP has become.

 

[Revoltingest]

Ok, I see that we will just not reach an agreement. Again.

Are you saying that I'm smarter than Cruz?
That would be ridiculous!
Anyway, how dull would it be if we always agreed?

 

[LuisDantas]

Are you saying that I'm smarter than Cruz?

OF COURSE I am. Did you think so little of me?

 

[Revoltingest]

I am. To give him the benefit of the doubt.
I am ready to be proven wrong, but that will not work to his advantage far as I am concerned.
Yes, it is astounding to see what the GOP has become.

Dems play the same game.
But the loopyness & pandering in a campaign often isn't noticed by fans of a candidate.
But to the opposition, every wart & blemish is magnified.
So Dems see Pubs as boneheads, & Pubs see Dems as Satan's servant.
The reality is less extreme.

 

[Revoltingest]

OF COURSE I am. Did you think so little of me?

I do now.
To think that I'm smarter than Ted Cruz shows very poor judgement on your part.

 

[LuisDantas]

Dems play the same game.
But the loopyness & pandering in a campaign often isn't noticed by fans of a candidate.
But to the opposition, every wart & blemish is magnified.
So Dems see Pubs as boneheads, & Pubs see Dems as Satan's servant.
The reality is less extreme.

You miss the point. Dems are not trustworthy. That does indeed come with the role of politicians, at least these days.

But that career politicians actually attempt to carry some specific banners with borderline retarded arguments and end up attaining votes for doing so is just mind-boggling.

It is not even a matter of whether Reagan and company are "right-wingers", but rather of whether they want to be perceived as stupid people.

 

[LuisDantas]

I do now.
To think that I'm smarter than Ted Cruz shows very poor judgement on your part.

We will both have to live with that, all the same. I can't very well conceive of a scenario where evidence to convince me otherwise will arise.

Among other reasons, because it seems that Cruz wants to keep the votes that he would lose if that evidence appeared.

 

[Revoltingest]

You miss the point. Dems are not trustworthy. That does indeed come with the role of politicians, at least these days.
But that career politicians actually attempt to carry some specific banners with borderline retarded arguments and end up attaining votes for doing so is just mind-boggling.
It is not even a matter of whether Reagan and company are "right-wingers", but rather of whether they want to be perceived as stupid people.

Meh.....I just don't find Dems & Pubs to be generally different in intelligence.

 

[LuisDantas]

Meh.....I just don't find Dems & Pubs to be generally different in intelligence.

I just don't know how you can hold such an opinion, when the Pubs go out of their way to evidence otherwise, but if you say so.

 

[Revoltingest]

I just don't know how you can hold such an opinion, when the Pubs go out of their way to evidence otherwise, but if you say so.

You've offered som views I find bonkers, but I don't judge you less intelligent because of it.
Some wickedly smart people (eg, George Lemaitre) believe in sky fairies & Jewish zombies.
So if smart people can believe loopy things, that just isn't a good indicator of low intelligence.

 

[LuisDantas]

You've offered som views I find bonkers, but I don't judge you less intelligent because of it.

Thanks, but that is really not the matter. The comparison does not hold, far as I can tell.


I don't think I have any choice when it comes to what is considered typical GOP views these days.

That is just how it is.

Some wickedly smart people (eg, George Lemaitre) believe in sky fairies & Jewish zombies.
So if smart people can believe loopy things, that just isn't a good indicator of low intelligence.

Of course.

That, too, is not the matter, though.

 

[Marisa]

That makes him a moron. Or perhaps something worse than a moron, seeing how much damage he is encouraging and attempting to take advantage of.

You know, as politically different as I am from anything conservative, I have a hard time "blaming" conservative politicians for this. I think this sort of candidate (one who shuts down the government in a temper tantrum and reads Green Eggs and Ham on the Senate floor and asks NASA "please, won't you focus a little less on the atmosphere of the planet whose atmosphere you're trying to escape and then re-enter?") is a natural progression of a voting base which doesn't value intellect. They want someone they can have a beer with, stick their hands down their pants and fart with. The whole conservative party isn't like this, but the "top seeds" certainly are.

Of course, you'll (rightly) argue that this is what their "representatives" have taught them to value, and I agree, but from my perspective, as one who expects and demands that my representatives be competent to explain not just why a policy is good or bad for the country (not just me, but all of us), but competent to explain the policy itself. I mean that's what they're there for, right? My congressional district is represented by a woman who boasts a Bachelor's degree in Home Economics. Without dissing having a college level cooking and cleaning skill, is this really the sort of background that prepares one for a live action game of civics? In my district, you don't get elected to any office unless you can convince enough of the voting base that god has chosen you over the other candidates trying to convince you that god has chosen them. I've been through 2 election cycles, and have yet to hear any one of her policies mentioned (lots about her unsuccessful challengers) with the exception of her abject approval of continued efforts to repeal the ACA, and not much else. And her base thinks she's doing a great job, despite the trickling away of jobs in our area, the failure of a major plant facility to open, and rising costs in healthcare due to a GOP governor who thumbed his nose at the ACA.

 

[Marisa]

Mayhaps you're letting your political & partisan differences affect your judgement of his intelligence.
I notice that the left rarely acknowledges that a Republican is capable of chewing gum & walking at the same time.

I don't. I figure they must all be fairly intelligent simply to get where they are. I think Jon Huntsman is probably right on up there in IQ, but he's not "conservative party" smart. He focuses too much on domestic economic and foreign policy, and not enough on god for the base. I see this as a simple fact, and the natural consequence of allowing the party to be usurped by a base that literally thinks a prayer ralley is the best solution to any given problem, and that if we can just shut down female equality and autonomy and move all the gays onto their own island, god will go back to blessing 'Murica.

 

[Marisa]

Dems play the same game.
But the loopyness & pandering in a campaign often isn't noticed by fans of a candidate.
But to the opposition, every wart & blemish is magnified.
So Dems see Pubs as boneheads, & Pubs see Dems as Satan's servant.
The reality is less extreme.

Question: When the DNC called a vote to ask whether god should be mentioned in the party's platform, and the vote was clearly "**** NO!" and the party overruled that, I didn't notice much made of that in the conservative bubble, but admittedly I don't travel in that bubble. It was a major kerfluffle in the liberal bubble, that "we" should be forced to deal with this when their are far more pressing issues than which deity most pray to. So was it a big deal with conservatives?

 

[leibowde84]

Eh, in what sense? Because of policies, his public speeches, hmm?

I mean, he is either ignorant, or blatantly misleading people. Either way, it's not a sign of upstanding character.

 

[leibowde84]

Jimmy Carter studied nuclear engineering, & even he said it the Homer Simpson way.

But it's actually a weird trait of government types to mispronounce the word.
It grates on me too.
The other pronunciation I hate is to pronounce "turbine" as "tur bine".
It sounds so ignant!

Caution:
We shouldn't be looking for reasons to dislike a candidate, when these same reasons wouldn't bother us in one of our own.

"Don't worry Bart, I'll bring you home a weapon of unimaginable destruction." (Marge) "Homer!" "But, only if your good ... and even if your not."

 

[dust1n]

What an *** hat. Hopefully he'll win the primary. Given the slop of crap it looks like the Democrats are going to pull out, it would be nice to ensure that the GOP won't be winning no matter what.

 

[Typist]

Ted Cruz is a certified moron.

If only it were true. I'm thinking more highly intelligent cynical political opportunist game player interested only in power, and willing to do or say pretty much anything to get it. House Of Cards.