At a certain point you have to admit that its purposeful and its what people want. I guess its easier to do that than *gasp* elect someone who lacks charisma.

Most of politics is just a popularity contest.

---

Well, yes, but people like Trump, Cruz and DeSantis don't have much in the way of personality other than cruelty.

But maybe that's what people want?

Quote
pdq
Well, yes, but people like Trump, Cruz and DeSantis don't have much in the way of personality other than cruelty.

But maybe that's what people want?

Yep.

---

Not sure who you’re referring as the “scoundrels.”

But I’ll note lies are an easier sell than boring truths.

Quote
deckeda
Not sure who you’re referring as the “scoundrels.”

But I’ll note lies are an easier sell than boring truths.

Especially if the lies are what your target audience wants to hear,

---

e pluribus unum

Quote
pdq
Well, yes, but people like Trump, Cruz and DeSantis don't have much in the way of personality other than cruelty.

But maybe that's what people want?

Most politicians just talk a lot without saying anything. I wasted(?) 6 hours watching 3 online debates for Mass Governor back when Baker was running for office.
After all was said and done, none of the candidates really answered the questions, they danced around, sound spewed out of their mouth and didn't really answer anything. I did not have a better grasp of who I wanted to vote for. Answer were far too vague, so not to alienate anyone.
I just ended up frustrated with the whole thing, did not vote for Baker, but I feel he did great job especially considering all the uncharted problems he had to deal with in 2020/2021.

Dave

---

Welcome to Dave's BBQ!

Many have eaten here....

Few have died

Quote
Ted King

Quote
deckeda
Not sure who you’re referring as the “scoundrels.”

But I’ll note lies are an easier sell than boring truths.

Especially if the lies are what your target audience wants to hear,

what they said.

---

!#$@@$#!

proofraed by OwEn the c@t.

I'm not sure anyone can get elected telling the truth. No one wants to hear the truth, unless it's about something relatively inconsequential to them. We're gluttons in this country. We have too much. Try running for office on that.

Quote
kj
I'm not sure anyone can get elected telling the truth. No one wants to hear the truth, unless it's about something relatively inconsequential to them. We're gluttons in this country. We have too much. Try running for office on that.

In Hollywood, it was Robert Redford’s character in The Candidate. But after he won, the last line is, “Now what do we do,” a tacit admission that delivery of truthful campaign promises will be harder than creating them. It’s probably why most candidates don’t bother doing what they say they’ll do if elected.

Quote
DeusxMac

Quote
pdq
Well, yes, but people like Trump, Cruz and DeSantis don't have much in the way of personality other than cruelty.

But maybe that's what people want?

Best political cartoon ever. And we still elected him anyway, of course, which is kinda what made that frame even more sage in its summation.

I used to ask why regressives vote against their best interests, until I learned they possess no self interest, suffer from self-esteem issues, and project everything onto the rest of us.

I'm not sure anyone can get elected telling the truth. No one wants to hear the truth


They can't handle the truth.

So lies are much more palatable.

At some point, the truth needs to come out, and an elected official needs to do what they're supposed to do— make the world, or at least this part of it, a better place.

But scoundrels gonna scound, and they get RE-elected anyway.

---

I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

Quote
deckeda

Quote
kj
I'm not sure anyone can get elected telling the truth. No one wants to hear the truth, unless it's about something relatively inconsequential to them. We're gluttons in this country. We have too much. Try running for office on that.

In Hollywood, it was Robert Redford’s character in The Candidate. But after he won, the last line is, “Now what do we do,” a tacit admission that delivery of truthful campaign promises will be harder than creating them. It’s probably why most candidates don’t bother doing what they say they’ll do if elected.

That's weird. If they had no intention of doing what they said, was it truthful? Sounds like their lies were just things people didn't want to hear, which doesn't make them truthful. If you're going to lie, you might as well make it sound enticing.

In a vast majority of contests, an absolutist or completely truthful candidate wouldn't stand a chance against an opponent who's willing to tell people what they want to hear.