I think part of the disconnect here is that, yes, there are a few people on the left who are calling for the abolition of ICE. But it comes across (to me, anyway) as Fetterman - and you, in your defense of his statement - thinking that that’s the official position of the Democratic Party, and not just the opinion of the fringe, and fringe-adjacent.
Yeah, jezus, there’s no defending this fucker.
Yes, it was quoted above. He doesn’t think ICE should be going after random immigrants at all, much less going about it brutally.
No, this whole thread is about Fetterman doing and saying normal liberal Democrat things and getting skewered for it by people who are much further Left than the party as a whole and who are mad that Fetterman isn’t following their lead.
I’m not ignoring it, I’m disputing that ridiculous interpretation.
You’re accusing Fetterman of saying right wing shit, and then when I point out that actually what Fetterman said was totally reasonable for a mainstream Democrat, you counter by saying that I’m ignoring the context of Fetterman saying a bunch of right wing shit lately. You haven’t actually established that.
Here’s another Fetterman tweet. It’s pretty ridiculous to try and paint him as “fully supportive” of Trump’s mass deportation agenda. Why would you do that?
I’ve addressed this multiple times above, so it’s pretty ridiculous that you’d pretend I am taking the position that mainstream Democrats support abolishing ICE.
It is precisely because most Democrats don’t support this policy that Fetterman said what he said.
If we don’t support abolishing ICE - and I certainly don’t - what is with this weird policing of saying that we do not support abolishing ICE?
Can you repost it? I’m not sure which quote you mean.
Because it’s part of Trump’s agenda.
This is from today:
Axios: MAGA on “amnesty watch” as Trump weighs migrant worker protections
“What we’re doing is getting rid of criminals. But we are doing a work program,” Trump said at a Cabinet meeting this week.
So no, that tweet you keep bringing up means nothing when compared to Fetterman’s openly-admitted corroboration with MAGA talking points.
Fetterman tweeted that ICE shouldn’t be going after “otherwise law-abiding migrant workers”.
But that’s just a really small part of what’s wrong with ICE at present. What’s wrong with ICE at present is their fascist behavior – hiding their identities, refusing to follow the law, refusing to show legal basis for their violent actions, roughing people up for no good reason, etc.
I’ve seen no evidence Fetterman disapproves of this. Without that, it’s entirely reasonable to presume he’s okay with it.
OK, I didn’t know you disagreed with the spirit of the entire thread. If I missed earlier posts in which you expressed that, my bad. (I’ve read the whole thing, and I think I would have noticed that…) Anyhow, yeah, we totally disagree on everything about Fetterman, I guess. What annoys me is how you don’t seem to understand, or are perhaps refusing to admit that you understand, how Fetterman’s words and actions to date have rankled Liberals. I think it makes for a much better debate when one at least recognizes where one’s opponents have been coming from. A lot of this back and forth about ICE has thus been totally fucking pointless.
Bullshit. He’s a loose cannon who’s said a bunch of RWNJ-adjacent shit and been called out for it by a bunch of people of varying degrees of Leftness. I myself am a somewhat left-of-center Liberal, hardly far left, and I think he’s a self-indulgent jackass who likes this kind of attention.
Okay, I guess the thinking of most everyone in this thread is just ridiculous except for you. Maybe just come out and say that instead of arguing a specific point to death.
The whole thread establishes that, lol.
What Fetterman said about ICE is, as I have explained, not what a mainstream Democrat would say. Certainly not in the manner that he said it. Evidence: no mainstream Democrat has said anything close to that! Quote someone if you can.
Bullshit. It’s left-baiting RW trolling. If you can’t see it or refuse to see it, then that’s your issue.
This is sophistry again. Not a single other Liberal in this thread (that I know of) thinks ICE is just peachy and fine as is. That’s the important thing. That shit needs some serious unfucking. Border control is also necessary. If ICE is abolished and something else is put in its place, then I’m fine with that. Focusing on the word “abolish” is pointless and, in essence, you are committing the logical fallacy of equivocation on purpose; hence, engaging in sophistry.
Well said.
Not to mention, Trump praised his comments, and Fetterman is quoted as saying that his Fox News-watching parents would be pleased by that.
He knows exactly what he’s doing. He has abandoned the Democratic platform. I’m not sure what he’s trying to do; if he’s getting out of politics with a bang, trying to switch sides, I just don’t know.
If we need to use a cork board and red yarn to clarify what a Fetterman means, it’s a good sign that he’s not fit to be a politician.
Exactly. What “mainstream Democrat” is doing this?!
He’s on a Trumpian ego trip for sure (similarly with cognitive issues clouding his judgment, it seems), but yeah, also like Trump, exactly what he is trying to accomplish is unclear.
I will defend Fetterman in saying that at least he has been open about his medical issues. He didn’t pay a doctor to write a puff piece about how he is the healthiest man he ever saw or anything (at least not as far as I know).
^That is true.
You accuse me of sophistry and then drop this turd? 
for the zillionth time: ICE is not “peachy and fine as is”, it’s an absolute fucking disgrace to this country.
I guess you think that your points in this thread are not confusing and that they represent a coherent viewpoint of some sort. I would say they are the opposite of that.
If you think ICE is a disgrace, that’s great, but I think and I think most people here think that, but no one else is making the very difficult-to-understand arguments that you are.
Maybe we should defund it then?!
^LMFAO. 
We should absolutely cut the big funding increase it just got in Trump’s bill back to around where it was, and give it new management. We shouldn’t get rid of it altogether, though (or if we do, it would be to restore the basically identical NIS). I wouldn’t call that “defund”. I was brought around by the “Defund actually means reform” arguments when it came to defund the police, but in hindsight, I think that was pretty stupid. If you want reform, say reform.
I can’t imagine why Fetterman weighed in with a tweet on this at all. Did anyone ask him for his views? Does he think it’s going to help his future plans (whatever they may be)? I miss the days before tweets. If something was important, a politician issued a press release. A senator can also speak on the floor of the Senate, at committee hearings, and issue a statement when they vote for or against something. Wouldn’t they be happier without twitter?
I mean tweeting random crap no one asked for is something basically all politicians do at this point.