Daily Clips: August 7th, 2015
This crop of GOP candidates is bat s*** insane: That was more or less what Paul Krugman was trying to say in his column this morning. To his credit, he employed a great deal of self-restraint as he eviscerated the GOP’s current field. His whole point can be summarized up in the following way:
- The media thinks Trump has lost the plot and represents politically asinine ideas. However, they’re also failing to see that the other bajillion candidates are equally as detached from reality. As Krugman asserts, “for while it’s true that Mr. Trump is, fundamentally, an absurd figure, so are his rivals.”
In his opinion, in order to get the GOP nomination you have to be willing to peddle “crank economics, crank science, [and] crank foreign policy.” This may sound like hyperbole, but I wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Krugman’s analysis. As a people, we should be aware of the fact that the media will juxtapose Jeb!, Marco, and Scott to “crazier” candidates like Trump, Huckabee, and Cruz and in the process, make you feel that the former group represents a “middle of the road” agenda. If we are to make sure that the GOP won’t see the White House until (at least) 2020, we must listen to Krugman’s advice: “Judge them by positions as opposed to image, and what you have is a lineup of cranks.”
Full-time jobs are on the rise: We’re back in business baby! According to Bloomberg, full-time jobs’ share of all total employment in the nation rose up to 81.7 percent – the highest level since November 2008. So, I guess we’re actually more “back to square one baby”! Nonetheless, it’s good news for Americans workers.
Bernie Sanders is coming to Seattle: SOCIALISTS ASSEMMMMMMMBLE! Your man of the hour is coming to Seattle this Saturday and reports say the rally could draw as many as 10,000 Seattleites. But this support isn’t just coming out of nowhere. According to the Seattle Times, “local organizers point to 200 house parties organized last month that drew thousands of supporters”, so Seattle is well and truly #FeelingTheBern.
Goodbye, Jon Stewart: All good things come to an end, as Nelly Furtado once told me. And so it is with The Daily Show – whose last episode was deeply humble and remarkable. As a millennial, I cannot express how much Jon Stewart has shaped my political mind. His humorous analysis has influenced the way I look at, and laugh at, the world. During the dark days of Glenn Beck and the Tea Party (when I was just starting to become politically engaged), it was Jon (and Colbert) who were there to remind me that there was still some sanity in this nation. He has forever shaped my political opinions and will undoubtedly go down as one of America’s greatest political commentators. As Colbert said in his surprise appearance last night, “we owe you, Jon.”
