Merv's Politically Incorrect Audio Blog

I stated this before, but Trump should had done more of the Ed Koch route on engaging to the public. Hold onto your viewpoints but use wilt to win the hearts of people, not too much vinegar. While he used his NYC traits good, he should had gone with the Ed Koch route with his mouth. Witt sells, not vinegar. Even with Covid-19 I do believe if he had more witt and use it in perfect-timing doses it would be a different ball game.

 

Shit, I did post that 2020 was Empire Strikes Back (But for 2020) earlier. But I dunno if I wanna call the GOP the enemy.

But whatever, still funny as f**k.

 

Man sometimes it is interesting with my GF who is 180 of me, being a pure leftist.

When: Watching the Biden/Harris Speech that just happened this Saturday after they gotten 270.

Me: Kamala's speech today was pretty damn flat, if she is running in 2024 she needs to be a hell a lot more charismatic if she has a chance in 2024.

GF: Are you saying it because she is a women because men say things differently if that was a man?

Me: I'm saying it as someone who might run the top ticket in 2024.

GF: What you said can be considered sexism.

Me: I dunno why this is considered sexism when I look at her as someone who is Vice-President Elect. I didn't thought of her as a women, but as a person.

GF: Men have a thing when they will say something as flat since the person is a female, but won't say it if that was a man. You should reflect what you just said just for a few minutes.

Me: Ok.......


After she is out of the room: I f'ing hate this crap. No wonder the left is losing the culture wars with this garbage.

 

I've... never heard of that. I mean, I remember the whole 'shrill' thing with Hillary. Unless you were talking about Harris's boobs, I really don't get it. "Flat" is a pretty common descriptor for a person's delivery. Does she really think nobody in the history of political commentating has ever said the phrase "His speech fell flat in the end"? Goes along with terms like "stale" or "deflated." That usage, I have heard plenty of times. As far as I can tell, it has nothing to do with gender.

Generalizing to get out of being asked to back a specific claim is a little bit annoying. If you're gonna say the thing, you gotta give a relevant example! I'm sorry, man. That's no fun. You ask "How is calling her speech flat sexist?" and she says "Men will describe things about females as flat"...? That's definitely irritating, as in this case it actually does fit for a man or a woman. The burden of proof is still on her. Until then it really just seems arbitrary. Who's really the one making assumptions about genders there? "Men have a thing where... [insert vague generalization about all men here]" I guess you'll have to do some introspection to figure that one out

 

Seriously, all this fag talk is starting to piss me off. What happened to the early Roman Empire and Cursus Honorum? You had to have military experience followed by multiple years in different offices before being eligible to run the "Empire". The USA will be the greatest empire in history, but also the shortest... The leaders keep getting diluted from great men with ideals, to weasels, and from that into worthless puppets of poop with veneers. We already are and have been for a while the laughing stock of the world. Come to America to lie, steal, and cheat your way to "success". Mortgages, loans, and credit...

No matter how you candy coat it, the basic human instincts of jealousy, greed, and aggression will rule (funny how those traits have no language barrier). All the fancy words with multiple syllables will mean nothing, the techno gods (rlon pusk), info gods (booble), and every ideal, and the interests they stand for will be all for naught. The human mind and it's atrocities are the most dangerous weapon on our planet. We all know what's right and wrong, yet the wrong keeps on going, and going, and going like the mutherfucking energizer bunny.

Like every great civilization before, this one will fall, but when? ... and what will be left if anything?

 

I think that people will say, "he isnt very charismatic" as opposed to "her message fell flat"

You dont see women referred to as charismatic, engaging or powerful very often.

Trump for all his faults had/has the ability to draw people in with his voice. People gravitate to him and the way he talks. For better or for worse.

How many women draw you in with their voice? (not counting their come hither to my bedroom voice)

More then likely they come off as crazy, bitchy, over emotional, motherly, scolding, sad, etc. Very hard to be a woman and give a pep talk or leader of men type speech.

I wonder how Merkel comes across in German, which is a more gutteral language.

It would be interesting to get Bill Clinton to read some of Hillarys speeches and see how they are received vs the same speech read by her, randomized focus groups and what not.

 

oh i completely agree, ive thought he was a joke since i saw him in home alone 2 as a kid.... but some people eat up every word he says....

 

This is true, but I think in the political world, that's probably because there are fewer chances to see what is already a pretty rare set of attributes for a person to have. You might be onto something in that people just don't see women that way. Perhaps it's also just a role they don't gravitate towards as much. But then, there are also times and places in history where women were considered international leaders and trailblazers.

I can only say that in my work life I have encountered women in leadership who were more charismatic and composed than many of their male cohorts. So to me it's not like it can't happen. Kind of neither here nor there for me. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a woman as president sometime soon.

See, I wonder about that. In my mind that doesn't ring true at all. I'm sure there are plenty of people who think that way, though. In my mind it's not 'leader of men' but 'leader of all'. If you appeal only to men, you lose. Many male politicians have trouble appealing to female voters. I think it is very difficult to appeal to a wide range of people, in general. Man or woman are just kind of different flavors. Different challenges. I'm sure there are winning strategies for women, but not being the majority, it's not as refined. It's definitely different, trying to appeal to people as a woman instead of a man.

 

My first time at voting was 1984. I was that one guy who voted for Mondale. Because my liberal history professor told us that you vote democrat if you support the blue collar working man. I was 18, and believed him. By my mid 20s I had several years management experience and was an economics nerd which started me down a different path. People can change as they accumulate knowledge and life experience. Some people can’t deal with cognitive dissonance and continue the path.

 

With you on this one.

And I am one who is quite hot on gender discrimination and sexist language --- although 15 years of India has worn away a lot of my good feminist training.

In this instance, your GF is picking words, hairs, and bullshitting.

Nope,

We could go off on a tangent about the relative likelihood of women being in positions of power, etc... but there are plenty of charismatic/powerful women

So it would seem. I'm one of those whose response to the man was visceral. And his voice? I've tried not to listen often, and I am no expert on American dialects (long may diversity live) but... had he acquired a weird, wheedling, fake southern drawl in recent times? Anyway. Just glad not to have to listen much more. How could anyone give him houseroom? Especially Whitehouseroom!

How can you ask that on a music forum?

Today, I watched both of those speeches (I was asleep when they were given). I expected more charisma and energy from Kamala and less from Biden. I was absolutely wrong. And I'd say that Kamala was flat. Maybe she meant to be. Maybe she could have upstaged Biden but tried not to.

 

As a non US citizien I don't know enough about US politics to have an opinion about democrats or republicans. Personally I think it is not only about the program of the party but also whether their main candidate (less important in Germany than in the US) is fit for purpose or not. There have been elections where I did not vote because I had the feeling that the candidate of the party whose program I liked was not fit for purpose.
My take on this is the republican party chose Trump back in 2016 because of his pulling power. I think what happened then was a little bit like Goethe's Faust, Trump corrupted the republican party like the devil corrupted Dr. Faustus and in turm the republican party corrupted the US like Dr. Faustus did corrupt Gretchen.
He is not and never was fit for being president in my eyes. @LetMeBeFrank is right lots of politicians lie. Normally they lie, when they think it is neccessary, Trump tells the truth, when he thinks it is neccessary. He may be a good business man but his school yard bully boy tactics do not befit a president of the US in my opinion.
What is even more telling is how he is behaving since the 3rd of November. Imagine the coach of a football team qualified for the superbowl who knows his team are quick of the mark but lack stamina. So when his team are leading with 10 min still on the clock and being in front by a small margin, he tells the umpires to stop the game becuse his team have won anyway and it is no use to continue play. When the umpire do not do as he wishes he is crying that foul play is robbing his team of their deserved victory and asks for the teams supporters to do something about it. Gimme a break, the guy is deluded, he is too full of him self. Next time he should run for president in Bielorussia.
I think McCain would have been the better choice for the republicans in 2016, I am with @ultrabike on this. I am sure that the divide which is visible in US society was not created by Trump, yet I feel he did everything in order to increase the divide. I am not one to eschew conflict for just for harmony's sake but I don't think that divide and conquer is a solution, anywhere anytimes.

 

Putin, like every leader in the world, who has not been bought yet, is confronted and scared of China.
Anything Biden said about China so far indicates that he either is a useful idiot or worse. So that is huge problem for Putin.
And I am not referring to Hunter's laptop or anything around family finances, that does not matter to me.

 

Here's the most insignificant question on this forum, but it has crossed my mind every few weeks for the past few years... Is Trump actually any good at golf?

Not that it matters.

 

Just a day after Pennsylvania was called for Biden and he is now the President elect, 90% effective safe COVID vaccine is ready, market 1600 up.
https://www.marketwatch.com/
"Dow futures soar 1,500 points after Pfizer, BioNTech call coronavirus vaccine candidate 90% effective. Pfizer CEO: ‘Today is a great day for science and humanity.’"
It would be even better day for humanity if the Pfizer CEO, and other CEOs, email and telephone records for the last 3 months were seized and properly investigated, but that is not going to happen.
For those who think we live today in a better world than few days ago, maybe this should be the reason to give it some more thoughts.
Unless of course it is a pure coincidence. I am sure it is. The Biden COVID taskforce delivered in one day, well ahead of schedule.
Great that we have a vaccine of course but I guess we had it some time ago, but until today they did not have a good reason to tell us.