Do you know people who decide their politics based on the party line?

@AnneHoney Sure, I guess it's just more double-think. I'm so used to Democrats asking for more regulation that it threw me off.

@melloquacious Agree. I also remember the Republicans saying that Obama was too soft on Putin. Its funny how party line changes perception of the facts.

Edit: I didn't read that properly. No way that the Republicans are the party of the working class.

@AnneHoney Wow, you really should think about taking your comedy routine on the road.

It’s all sales. They say whatever they think will help sell their product. Stick a finger into the wind and say anything. Obama was the great fooler. Fooled so many stupid people

@AnneHoney Fooled us with all those jobs and all that healthcare. Thanks, Obama.

Yea people working three minimum wage jobs with no benefits, record numbers giving up, leaving the work force, double the national debt, double the number needing food stamps while increasing the super rich pay level, increasing the cost of health care so people would rather pay the fine than get health coverage, deductibles so high people had to pay out of pocket. Thanks for screwing the country Obama, just to line you anfpdand your buddies pockets

@AnneHoneyYou think we don't have serious unemployment now? People working 3 jobs and double shifts, commuters who rely on city transportation because they can't afford a car? Fewer people today have health care coverage than had 2 years ago. Food stamp recipients didn't double. In fact, might want to read up on things before you make up stories about entire periods of history.

And I know you'd like it to be true, but Trump doesn't get to take credit for what began to happen almost a year before his election and is continuing now.

@AnneHoney
The US economy gained jobs and unemployment dropped below the historical norm.

https://www.factcheck.org/2017/09/obamas-final-numbers/


Obama increased the national debt but that was because he inherited a post-banking crisis economy and needed massive fiscal stimulus to prevent it from collapsing. Now I do think he would have been better nationalising the banks and spending that money straight to the citizens but that is certainly not something Republicans would have considered. The alternative to increasing debt would have been to let the whole economy go under and have Grapes of Wrath style living conditions.



OK, you are against Obamacare (which was in its first iteration a Republican plan.) So what is your alternative? Are you in favour of the pre-Obamacare market model which left a third of the US uninsured or are you in favour of a European style single-payer system? If its the latter, it puts you further away from the Republicans.

Well paying jobs increasing for the first time in a generation. People finding jobs with real benefits. People who had given up returning to the work force. Food stamp recipients down. Record low minority unemployment. Don’t let your ignorance get in the way of facts you can’t understand. We will judge how much credit Trump gets in a couple years. But we know Obama gets an F

@Graylight I think this is a case in point which proves the original question about partisanship. Trump gets a pass for the same thing and also facts are interpreted differently depending on who is in office.

@Burnley123 Very true.

Politicians are mostly scum. They all fool most of the people. The bad part is it has gone from disagreeing about policy to demonizing. The Dems found out it was easier. Then the republicans with the stupid comments about only caring to get Obama out of office.

People vote like they did in HS, cute guy that speaks well. That is how a completely unqualified Obama got elected. Make deals with enough super reach people to back your campaign, get elected and make sure your policies make the richer. Never did the gap between super rich and middle class increase more than under Obama. Was bad enough under Bush another crappy president.

I don’t think the media or Dems have given Trump a pass on anything. Either side he takes on any issue is wrong according to them. Not because they disagree, but because it helps them win next time. It’s all a game. Is Trump very good? Who knows ask in 3 years, but Hillary is far worse and would have been awful.

@AnneHoney You criticise Obama for being unqualified but give Trump the benefit of doubt.

Relevant experience for President: Lawyer and state senator vrs TV host. Discuss.

@Burnley123 Just saw your other comment. Democrats practically demonized rural, working class white people for voting for Trump during the past election. It isn't far-fetched to say the Republicans are pandering to the working class anymore. Inner-city working class tend to favor Democrats, because they are more likely to benefit from government programs. Hillary said she would shut down coal mines, and the working poor took that as a threat to their livelihoods.

@melloquacious They took it as a threat because they didn't take the entire comment into context. She didn't want to eliminate jobs, she wanted to transform old industry jobs into new industry jobs. Very different.

@Graylight Either she failed to communicate that, or the working class just didn't believe it. Whatever the case, plenty of journalists wrote about how the democratic party has lost touch with the working poor, and they are right.

@Graylight Bernie Sander's platform was basically that: the Democrats are out of touch with the working class, and he wanted to bring them back. He lost, so what does that say about Democrats?

That said, I don't think Republicans are the party of working class people, either. I'm just saying I can see why someone might think that, looking at who is doing the voting.

@melloquacious Oh no, she actually said it. It was part of one sentence. Her detractors simply chose to listen only to the first part.

On the point that the Democrats have lost touch with the working class,you are absolutely correct. At least, I think so. It was assumed that white middle-class voters everywhere would vote Democratic down the line, but they still feel unheard and left out. Having just driven a tour through the middle of this country, I can see why. They need a stronger voice, both to talk with and to listen to. Right now, the focus is on the train wreck that is the Republican Party, but I fear the Democrats are sitting idly on the sidelines with popcorn rather than getting down to serious work.