Inaguration crowd size

[Starlight]

The "tiny peaceful protest" where they seized six city blocks and declared it a separate political entity not beholden to U.S.? Talk about seditious insurrection. The one held for nearly a month and patrolled by armed thugs who shot at those who dared approach "their" autonomous zone resulting in the killing of two in separate instances? The one where, like in so many other sites where there were "mostly peaceful protests," a police precinct was set on fire after the exits were blocked in an attempt to barricade those inside so they would burn to death? That "tiny peaceful protest"?

You're getting confused. The topic of discussion was the small protest yesterday in Seattle, not the CHAZ protest last year.

[rogue06]

What drugs are you on to make this stuff up? Did you not see the huge number of flags at the rear of the stage at the Republican convention?

Even the vaunted political guru of the left, Nate Silver of Five Thirty Eight, has covered this shift, pointing out the marked shift over the past couple of decades. And most of that shift has been since the beginning of the Obama Administration.

For instance on the issue of immigration:

When I see Mexican flags waved at pro-immigration demonstrations, I sometimes feel a flush of patriotic resentment. When I'm forced to use a translator to communicate with the guy fixing my car, I feel a certain frustration.

No that wasn't something Donald Trump said but rather a quote from Barack Obama back in 2005. And in 2008 the Democratic Party platform declared that "We cannot continue to allow people to enter the United States undetected, undocumented, and unchecked," further noting that "those who enter our country's borders illegally, and those who employ them, disrespect the rule of the law."

By the end of his term eight years later the Democrat Party platform was proclaiming that virtually everything wrong was the fault of America's immigration system rather than illegal immigration itself.

Hillary Clinton talked about her dream of open borders in a paid for 2013 speech but tried to backtrack later on laughably claiming she was actually referring to free trade. But in 2016 she made what she meant clear during one of the 2016 primary debates when she said:

Of the people, the undocumented people living in our country, I do not want to see them deported.

Likewise, at the same debate, in response to Jorge Ramos question, "And can you promise not to deport immigrants who dont have a criminal record?" Bernie Sanders emphatically responded, "I can make that promise."

And in 2020 you had several presidential candidates declaring their support for open borders like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and former San Antonio mayor and U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro.

Likewise, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi put it very clearly in 2013:

If somebody is here without sufficient documentation, that is not reason for deportation.

Moreover, after Trump's calling the ultra-violent MS-13 "animals" we witnessed the Democrats refusing to distinguish between illegal immigration (including MS-13) and legal immigration as they conflated the two by claiming that Trump was calling all immigrants "animals" even though the most cursory of checks show he wasn't.



The same dramatic shift can be seen wrt gay marriage. While running for president, at the Saddleback Presidential Forum, Obama declared

I believe that marriage is the union between a man and a woman. Now, for me as a Christian — for me — for me as a Christian, it is also a sacred union. God’s in the mix.

Shortly thereafter, during an interview with MTV, Obama declared

I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. I am not in favor of gay marriage

Then a few years later he reversed course and for him and the rest of the Democratic Party the support of gay marriage became a core part of their political beliefs.

And since then that opened the left voicing support for allowing biological men into women's restrooms and shower facilities as well as being allowed to compete in girls and women's sports (the latter of which was one of the first acts that incoming president Joe Biden is requiring through an Executive Order).

If you had said that the Democrats would have required these things back in 2008 you would have been openly mocked as some sort of crazed conspiracy theorist, and yet here we are.


Then there is abortion.

When Clinton was president the left was talking about how they merely wanted abortion to be "safe, legal and rare." Not any more. Those on the left scorn the phrase today, seeing the "rare" part as being too much of a concession to pro-life advocates. When Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) repeated that phrase during a Democrat presidential debate in 2019 she was savaged.

For instance, a spokesperson for NARAL huffed "This is a position -- making abortion 'rare' -- not supported by pro-choice advocates." Likewise a headline in Vice declared that Gabbard was "stuck in the ‘90s" and complained that she had revived a "decades-old talking point that pro-choice supporters say only further stigmatizes abortion at a critical moment."

Today the left quite literally laments any news that shows that the number of abortions have dropped and insists that they should be celebrated.

Moreover, they've begun championing the idea of allowing abortions not just in the third trimester, but right up to the moment of birth like the recently passed law in New York which was celebrated by the governor ordering the Empire State building and bridges with pink lights.

And it doesn't stop there. The left is now openly talking about allowing a something that you support, post-birth abortion. In Virginia, shortly after New York passed their law, the governor, Ralph Northam, voiced his support for the idea. And you recently couldn't get even a single Democrat in Congress to vote in favor of a law mandating medical care for a baby that was born alive after a botched abortion.

Again, all of this marks a dramatic shift to the left for Democrats.


Other major shifts in policy seen among Democrats, mentioned by Nate Silver include a shift in support for such things as a wealth tax and offering reparations to blacks for slavery (although there is not one person alive who was a slave or slave owner, and only a handful who are even the grandchildren of any). In the latter case, Silver reported a 20 point shift in favor among Democrats between 1986 and 2018.

He also noticed that Democrats also moved to the left on health care while noting that Democrats have long been supportive of the government taking a more active role in health care. We could see this shift particularly during the primaries when all the Democrats came out in support of Medicare for all -- especially during Democratic debate back in June 2019 when everyone who was running for president, including Biden, raised their hands in support of providing millions of illegals with unlimited health care.

[rogue06]

You're getting confused. The topic of discussion was the small protest yesterday in Seattle, not the CHAZ protest last year.

From the local press (which is not exactly noted for being conservative)

Source: Three arrested during destructive demonstration in Seattle

Several buildings were damaged and three people were arrested Wednesday night after protests against President Biden and Federal agencies turned violent on Seattle streets.


Source

© Copyright Original Source

Not as bad as the actions last year but hardly "peaceful."

[rogue06]

Even the vaunted political guru of the left, Nate Silver of Five Thirty Eight, has covered this shift, pointing out the marked shift over the past couple of decades. And most of that shift has been since the beginning of the Obama Administration.

For instance on the issue of immigration:

When I see Mexican flags waved at pro-immigration demonstrations, I sometimes feel a flush of patriotic resentment. When I'm forced to use a translator to communicate with the guy fixing my car, I feel a certain frustration.

No that wasn't something Donald Trump said but rather a quote from Barack Obama back in 2005. And in 2008 the Democratic Party platform declared that "We cannot continue to allow people to enter the United States undetected, undocumented, and unchecked," further noting that "those who enter our country's borders illegally, and those who employ them, disrespect the rule of the law."

By the end of his term eight years later the Democrat Party platform was proclaiming that virtually everything wrong was the fault of America's immigration system rather than illegal immigration itself.

Hillary Clinton talked about her dream of open borders in a paid for 2013 speech but tried to backtrack later on laughably claiming she was actually referring to free trade. But in 2016 she made what she meant clear during one of the 2016 primary debates when she said:

Of the people, the undocumented people living in our country, I do not want to see them deported.

Likewise, at the same debate, in response to Jorge Ramos question, "And can you promise not to deport immigrants who dont have a criminal record?" Bernie Sanders emphatically responded, "I can make that promise."

And in 2020 you had several presidential candidates declaring their support for open borders like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and former San Antonio mayor and U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro.

Likewise, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi put it very clearly in 2013:

If somebody is here without sufficient documentation, that is not reason for deportation.

Moreover, after Trump's calling the ultra-violent MS-13 "animals" we witnessed the Democrats refusing to distinguish between illegal immigration (including MS-13) and legal immigration as they conflated the two by claiming that Trump was calling all immigrants "animals" even though the most cursory of checks show he wasn't.



The same dramatic shift can be seen wrt gay marriage. While running for president, at the Saddleback Presidential Forum, Obama declared

I believe that marriage is the union between a man and a woman. Now, for me as a Christian — for me — for me as a Christian, it is also a sacred union. God’s in the mix.

Shortly thereafter, during an interview with MTV, Obama declared

I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. I am not in favor of gay marriage

Then a few years later he reversed course and for him and the rest of the Democratic Party the support of gay marriage became a core part of their political beliefs.

And since then that opened the left voicing support for allowing biological men into women's restrooms and shower facilities as well as being allowed to compete in girls and women's sports (the latter of which was one of the first acts that incoming president Joe Biden is requiring through an Executive Order).

If you had said that the Democrats would have required these things back in 2008 you would have been openly mocked as some sort of crazed conspiracy theorist, and yet here we are.


Then there is abortion.

When Clinton was president the left was talking about how they merely wanted abortion to be "safe, legal and rare." Not any more. Those on the left scorn the phrase today, seeing the "rare" part as being too much of a concession to pro-life advocates. When Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) repeated that phrase during a Democrat presidential debate in 2019 she was savaged.

For instance, a spokesperson for NARAL huffed "This is a position -- making abortion 'rare' -- not supported by pro-choice advocates." Likewise a headline in Vice declared that Gabbard was "stuck in the ‘90s" and complained that she had revived a "decades-old talking point that pro-choice supporters say only further stigmatizes abortion at a critical moment."

Today the left quite literally laments any news that shows that the number of abortions have dropped and insists that they should be celebrated.

Moreover, they've begun championing the idea of allowing abortions not just in the third trimester, but right up to the moment of birth like the recently passed law in New York which was celebrated by the governor ordering the Empire State building and bridges with pink lights.

And it doesn't stop there. The left is now openly talking about allowing a something that you support, post-birth abortion. In Virginia, shortly after New York passed their law, the governor, Ralph Northam, voiced his support for the idea. And you recently couldn't get even a single Democrat in Congress to vote in favor of a law mandating medical care for a baby that was born alive after a botched abortion.

Again, all of this marks a dramatic shift to the left for Democrats.


Other major shifts in policy seen among Democrats, mentioned by Nate Silver include a shift in support for such things as a wealth tax and offering reparations to blacks for slavery (although there is not one person alive who was a slave or slave owner, and only a handful who are even the grandchildren of any). In the latter case, Silver reported a 20 point shift in favor among Democrats between 1986 and 2018.

He also noticed that Democrats also moved to the left on health care while noting that Democrats have long been supportive of the government taking a more active role in health care. We could see this shift particularly during the primaries when all the Democrats came out in support of Medicare for all -- especially during Democratic debate back in June 2019 when everyone who was running for president, including Biden, raised their hands in support of providing millions of illegals with unlimited health care.

This from CNN

Source: The 2020 Democratic field is more liberal than past years

A look at the policy positions of the 2020 Democratic field suggests this group of candidates and potential contenders is further left than those running in previous cycles.

In past years, you might not have expected, for instance, that so many candidates would sign on to Medicare for all or the Green New Deal.

But are the Democrats running for president this year truly further to the left than other recent cycles? A look at the candidates who have been members of Congress suggests that they are, as a group, considerably more liberal.

We can see their liberalness in their voting records. To be clear, there are many ways to calculate a candidate’s ideology (as we’ll talk about a little below). Depending on which one you use, you can come to a different conclusion about how liberal someone is.


Source

© Copyright Original Source

Interesting that they put John Kerry as being closer to the center than Hillary considering that both he and his running mate John Edwards were consistently rated as having two of the three most liberal voting records in the U.S. Senate (the other being the late Ted Kennedy).

[Mountain Man]

And there's this from Axios:

President Biden talks like a soothing centrist. He promises to govern like a soothing centrist. But early moves show that he is keeping his promise to advance a liberal agenda.

https://www.axios.com/biden-centrist...m_content=1100

[kccd]

This from CNN

Source: The 2020 Democratic field is more liberal than past years

A look at the policy positions of the 2020 Democratic field suggests this group of candidates and potential contenders is further left than those running in previous cycles.

In past years, you might not have expected, for instance, that so many candidates would sign on to Medicare for all or the Green New Deal.

But are the Democrats running for president this year truly further to the left than other recent cycles? A look at the candidates who have been members of Congress suggests that they are, as a group, considerably more liberal.

We can see their liberalness in their voting records. To be clear, there are many ways to calculate a candidate’s ideology (as we’ll talk about a little below). Depending on which one you use, you can come to a different conclusion about how liberal someone is.


Source

© Copyright Original Source

Interesting that they put John Kerry as being closer to the center than Hillary considering that both he and his running mate John Edwards were consistently rated as having two of the three most liberal voting records in the U.S. Senate (the other being the late Ted Kennedy).

I do not understand your concern over shifting political positions on the left.

After all, Republicans do the same thing. For example, Prescott Bush (father of GBushI and grandfather of GWB) was a national officer (Treasurer) of Planned Parenthood. And then there is Trump, who used to be pro-choice. Also Mitt Romney.

Politicians change their positions as society changes and to match the concerns of their constituents.

[rogue06]

I do not understand your concern over shifting political positions on the left.

After all, Republicans do the same thing. For example, Prescott Bush (father of GBushI and grandfather of GWB) was a national officer (Treasurer) of Planned Parenthood. And then there is Trump, who used to be pro-choice. Also Mitt Romney.

Politicians change their positions as society changes and to match the concerns of their constituents.

The example of a couple of individuals (especially one who fought in WWI) doesn't exactly constitute a trend unless the entire party moves with them -- which is not the case here. And IIRC, Preston also supported eugenics so even if it represented a shift that would be a good one.

Trump has been literally all over the place changing from being a Republican to a Democrat and an Independent and back again.

The reason I brought it up was star's claim that the Republicans have moved way to the right while the Democrats have remained unchanged. This is demonstrably incorrect.

[Bill the Cat]

Personally I'm surprised you didn't go in the direction of calling them fascists for having soldiers there. I see Mossrose has you covered on that one.

I guess if you're calling them namby-pamby for wanting social workers not soldiers, and Mossrose is calling them fascist for having soldiers, then they must be threading the needle correctly as your two critiques are from opposite directions.

I'm not surprised that you can't see the difference. These clowns want armed soldiers where armed soldiers are unnecessary and unarmed social workers where armed cops are needed.

[Cow Poke]

I do not understand your concern over shifting political positions on the left.

After all, Republicans do the same thing. For example, Prescott Bush (father of GBushI and grandfather of GWB) was a national officer (Treasurer) of Planned Parenthood. And then there is Trump, who used to be pro-choice. Also Mitt Romney.

Politicians change their positions as society changes and to match the concerns of their constituents.

It's kinda like how we rejoice when somebody wakes up and quits doing drugs, but are sad when people start doing drugs. Some change is good, some change is bad.