Journal of Other Forum Analysis

[benji]

It just drives me crazy that nobody sees this as a blatant attempt to get power/clout. Shit heads like Liz Cheney or Adam Kinzinger are still bad people. They're still Republicans. They'd flip the moment Trump dies/leaves. But for now, they can't get power in their own party so they'll hijack ours. Don't normalize these people!

Okay this rhetoric bothers me. It's one of the reasons things have become so polarized is because we treat opposing parties as blood enemies as if we should never associate with them because "GOP" blood runs through their veins. We already seen instances on the other side where they claim they would rather vote for Putin or a pedophile than a Democrat.

But aside from extremists or political diehards, most regular everyday Republicans and Democrats have somewhat irregular shaped political beliefs. I watch a local city council meeting where this very pro-military Republican was giving a passioned speech on the need for our local & state government to do more to house, feed, and give medical assistance to the homeless. His stance on homelessness was super liberal and he's probably been more actively involved on the issue than most people in this forum where we just talk about it. But he's still a diehard 2nd amendment Republican and on the balance of issues, I probably wouldn't agree much with him at all. Does that mean though I should spit in his face if he offers to collaborate on an anti-homelessness initiative or event because he's a "filthy Republican"? If your answer is yes to the latter, then nothing will ever get better and we might as well throw in the towel and just get started on the civil war now.

Liz Cheney actively supported policies that I found disgusting. I would never vote for her unless under extreme circumstances. Liz Cheney was in lockstep with the MAGA GOP, but when they tried to overthrow democracy, that was too much for her. However unlike other Republicans who only made complaints behind closed doors and still kissed Trump's ass in public to protect their career, Liz Cheney said, "WTF GOP" and then when she was met with silence and threats, and instead of slinking away quietly like everyone else does, she said "Fuck you GOP!" She lost her high ranking House position. She lost her seat, which she could have kept for the rest of life. She lost her influence in the party. And instead of hiding under rock for the storm to blow over for a cushy GOP lobbyist job, she's now on even bigger "Fuck you GOP!" tour by actively campaigning for Kamala Harris AND the Texas Democratic Senate candidate! She's also been continuing to bang the J6 drum and is one of the reasons why Jack Smith's J6 case was even able to take flight in the first place.

Say what you will about Liz Cheney, she has giant steel ovaries who was willing to torch her political career in order to try to burn out MAGA from the GOP, which she sees as a threat to democracy. Our interests are definitely aligned right now and she can certainly speak to Never Trumpers or help convince a few moderate Republicans on the margins that "maybe Harris isn't such a radical lefty if NeoCon Liz is actively campaigning for her".

When Kamala Harris becomes President, what will happen to Liz Cheney? No clue. I don't really care. If she wants to become the new Michael Steele and go on the MSNBC news circuit, that's whatever. Keep in mind, being a MSNBC paid contributor is a HUGE step down from being in House leadership of Congress, so let's not pretend she's doing all of this just so she can sit next to Rachael Maddow for 80k a year. Maybe Harris will throw her a low level cabinet position? That's better than nothing, but still nothing compared to the path she was on in the GOP leadership where she had the potential to be the speaker of the House.

Like quite a few Americans, Liz Cheney is complicated. On quite a few issues her moral compass is way off the mark, but on democracy, her compass points at true north and unlike most politicians, she was willing to slash and burn her own career to stay on true north with democracy. I give her respect on that. Most people sacrifice their principles for career and power. She sacrificed her career and power for her principles on democracy.

 This kind of white nonsense is exactly why Nepenthe doesn't feel safe in the PoliEra thread.