See also Producerism - Wikipedia (of course)
In another thread, problems of democracy in Thailand are discussed and some of the participants there seem to treat it as axiomatic that Western democracy is a paragon. Some present-day developments in “democratic” America make me question that assumption.
This is brilliant. I have been a fan of Judis since buying his and Texeira’s book The Emerging Democratic Majority when it came out fifteen years or so ago.
Then you are a reactionary pre-Enlightenment monarchist who makes Ted Cruz look like Emma Goldman. Perhaps you’ve been reading some Dark Enlightenment stuff?
There’s an interesting head to head comparison among the top 3 Republicans in an NBC/WSJ poll published earlier this week. Insert caveats about one poll, small differences, etc
The only race, among the combinations, where Trump gets 50% of the vote is head to head against Rubio. If Cruz is in the mix Trump either loses or likely fails to get enough support to avoid a brokered convention. Trump picks up only a tiny chunk, 3 points, of the Rubio support when he’s dropped. If you compare to their numbers in that one poll (Trump 33, Cruz 20, Rubio 13) Trump gets less of other candidate votes than either Cruz or Rubio. It seems to show Trump sitting in a place where he’s got limited support as a second choice among everybody but Cruz voters.
Unless Cruz implodes this could been a long and interesting slog to the convention. The March 15th winner take all states of Illinois, Ohio, and especially Florida also loom larger in such a tight race.
insert more caveats about one poll 
It’s good to get some empirical confirmation, but this is merely a quantitative statement of what most of us have mostly been saying for the last month-ish. There’s an establishment lane and a rebel lane. And Trump/Cruz are fighting over the rebel lane while all the others are fighting over the establishment lane. The two lanes are broadly neck and neck, wandering between 55/45 and 45/55.
IMO the real key development now is whether the establishment can get its act together and stop this ruinous 5-way (or is it 7-way?) competition in their lane. If they got solidly behind one establishment candidate today they’d be able to turn all their fire on the rebels.
Conversely if they keep the internecine establishment warfare going much longer they’ll not only lose the chance to coalesce behind a standard-bearer and regain control of the establishment narrative (and money).
More dangerously, the ongoing establishment indecision and backbiting will begin to actively push marginal establishment voters into the rebel camp. So far the defections have been mostly rebel pull. When it becomes establishment push then look out; the hemorrhage could become an unstoppable flood.
On my Facebook feed just now, I see that Trump racked up the endorsement of leading conservative intellectual, role model, and mechanic Jesse James.
Now, if Dog the Bounty Hunter puts his chip down on Trump, it’s game over.
Don’t forget Gary Busey!
So to review the bidding: The Duck Dynasty dude endorsed Cruz. OC Choppers went for Trump. Dog the Bounty Hunter, Ax Men, and Ice Road Truckers are still in play. I’m not sure the Swamp guys can be located or know there’s an election going on.
Given all this public policy & electoral wisdom being deployed, I just have one question: WWSD?
Who would Snooki do?
Sleep tight World. It’s not like any of this stuff is actually, you know, important and stuff.
You left off the all important endorsement from Jim Tom of Moonshiners. Hopefully they caption the announcement. Three days of arguing in the media about who he actually supporte would be frustrating.
So there’s a modern-day celebrity named Jesse James?
Ex-husband of Sandra Bullock. Had a reality show on TLC( Maybe History or Discovery Channel), don’t remember what it was. Something about choppers(motorcycles), I think.
I never watched his show. I think he customized bikes and cars. He apparently got into trouble with the state of California for unleashing customized vehicles that violated emissions regulations (whodathunk it!). Wiki says he was fined in 2007 for selling bikes that blew 11 times the legal limit of hydrocarbons.
For the benefit of those without Facebook or the inclination to look it up, I think it’s more important to note what James said rather than the fact he was the one who said it…unless of course being a blue-color worker equals liar. To wit:
*"Donald Trump
I’ve met a lot of people in life and I have found it best to form opinions about them by actually meeting them in person. In 2009 I agreed to do that tv show Celebrity Apprentice on NBC. This meant I had to move to NYC for 6 weeks and spend every day with Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump, and Don Jr. I really had no expectations. I think I was actually the only “Celebrity” that had a semi normal manual labor job. I think this gave me a very different perspective on things. I actually think Donald Trump had no idea who I was or what I actually did for a living. Over the next month I was able to observe him and his kids in their day to day routine. What I saw was a person that treated everyone with respect. Even the (Hispanic) guys in the mail room. He had coffee from the coffee machine and BS’d with them every single morning. Trash men and cops would stop him on the street and he would stop whatever he was doing and spend a little bit of time with every one of them. As the month went on I used my hard work and perseverance to gain respect of the Trumps and most everyone around me. I made it all the way to the top 3 and when I was let go Donald Trump stood up and shook my hand and said " Great Job Jesse".
Now I know that a lot of you will think that is some dumb reality TV show, not real life…and especially Not the presidency. Trust me I know that is very true, but the majority of the Anti-Trumps are basing their opinion of him on sound bites from that very same Reality TV Show. I think you should look above what the TV Network put out there to boost ratings. Nobody wants to watch somebody be a nice guy, they want to see him say “Your FIRED!”. What I personally observed is a man that is perfect suited to run this country. He is respectful to the little guy (which shows he worked hard to get where he is) and he is also tough as nails when he needs to be. The people he will appoint to key top positions will be top shelf, and you can bank if they don’t perform? They will get the boot. Lastly the best quality I observed about Donald Trump is being a dad. This is by far his strongest quality. Ivanka is an super smart, driven woman. The shakes your hand firm and looks you in the eye when she talks to you. Donald Jr. Also has the same smarts and drive, but is also a pretty regular guy that has a “almost” restored 69’ Camaro and loves to long range shoot ( don’t let anyone know I told you that). The poise in these two shows a lot in their parents. I think we are lucky to have his kids as part of the deal.
So before you guys react to what I have written here. One thing you know about me is Good or bad I will always tell it like it is. This guy is the Real Deal, and will Make America Great Again.
Thanks for reading."*
I note also that well known white-collar liberal Piers Morgan, also a contestant on The Apprentice, had many of the same things to say about Trump following his time on the show. It’s comments like these plus what I’ve learned about Trump myself in following his career over the last three decades that tell me an actual President Trump would be a far different person than the one his ideological opponents like to think, and one whose positions and actions would be far more nuanced than the impression one gets from his sound bites.
Huh, I never would have guessed Sandra Bullock had been married to someone like that.
Well, I almost had. Thanks, John. Owe you one.
He’s the one she was married to that was cheating on her with a bunch of people while she was doing the Oscar circuit. It all blew up right about as she won her statue and she dumped him shortly afterwards.
Real great character witness there, Donald. Real man of integrity.
If his facts are correct what difference does his marital behavior (which after all is not dissimilar to that of Bill Clinton) make?
The facts are that Jesse James lacks integrity. There’s no reason to take James’ word as to Trump’s character - especially since we can see for ourselves Trump’s “respect for the little guy” every time he opens his mouth.
So he’s saying what it takes to get elected and will do something different once he’s in office? Good thing he’s an outsider and not just another beltway politician.