HBO Teases Sorkin's 'The Newsroom'

[Data Holmes]

A meaningless statement, because the Democratic Party is not a liberal party. It is a centrist party that occasionally leans liberal. Calling it a liberal party is a joke in countries that actually have a strong liberal movement. In a country where the range of mainstream political opinions is not restrict from "slightly-left-of-center to extreme right," the Democratic Party would be considered a conservative party.

Then what does it say that not a single democrat in the house voted for the presidents budget plan?

I don't know. What does it say?

That he is either so far left he's lost his own centrist party, or he has retreated to so much of a centrist position that he isn't left enough for his own party. Either way, he's lost the support of his party so much they don't even want to be shown as being on record for his budget.

 

[Sci]

Then what does it say that not a single democrat in the house voted for the presidents budget plan?

I don't know. What does it say?

That he is either so far left he's lost his own centrist party, or he has retreated to so much of a centrist position that he isn't left enough for his own party.

No, it says that the bill was sponsored by a Republican playing political games and the Democrats had no interesting in playing along.

 

[stj]

Well, there are many authorities on political leftism, and I can't claim any world stature on the matter. But on this bbs I think I can safely say that I have a sounder idea of what leftism is than most. Neither the Democratic party nor liberals in general are left-wing.

 

[the G-man]

A meaningless statement, because the Democratic Party is not a liberal party. It is a centrist party that occasionally leans liberal. Calling it a liberal party is a joke in countries that actually have a strong liberal movement. In a country where the range of mainstream political opinions is not restrict from "slightly-left-of-center to extreme right," the Democratic Party would be considered a conservative party.

If we assume your biases are correct that means we are a center-right country.

And, if that's the case the ones one the far left of the US spectrum are out of the US mainstream.

As demonstrated above, by US standards, the Democrat leadership is far left.

Therefore, that would mean the leaders of the Democratic party are outside the mainstream.

Thanks for proving my point

 

[Sci]

A meaningless statement, because the Democratic Party is not a liberal party. It is a centrist party that occasionally leans liberal. Calling it a liberal party is a joke in countries that actually have a strong liberal movement. In a country where the range of mainstream political opinions is not restrict from "slightly-left-of-center to extreme right," the Democratic Party would be considered a conservative party.

If we assume your biases are correct that means we are a center-right country.

The power elite in the Untied States range from centrist to rightist. The opinions of the American people are entirely different from the opinions the powerful allow to be expressed by our political elites; we don't have real democracy in this country.

As demonstrated above, by US standards, the Democrat leadership is far left.

No, it's not. Even by U.S. standards, the Democratic leadership is mostly centrist -- of the lot of them, only Pelosi is actually a left of center to any degree whatsoever, and even then not that much. You need only go back a few decades to find American politicians much further to the left than the modern crop; the range of acceptable political opinions in the power elite has been shifting further and further to the right for decades.

ETA:

Further, your point was not that the Democratic Party was "out of touch." Your point was that the Democrats were as far to the left as the Republicans are to the right, which is just nonsense. Indeed, your primary goal was to disprove Christopher's assertion that the Republican Party has moved further to the right than it used to be, not to make any particular claims about the Democratic Party.

 

[IndyJones]

While in the Senate, Obama voted with his party 97% of the time and had one of the most liberal voting records in that body (along with Biden).

A meaningless statistic as a candidate for President would undoubtably miss many votes and would make a point to return for the more partisan bills that needed his support.

As to your other point, there's a list a mile long of policy positions Mitt Romney is criticizing President Obama for that used to be GOP policies and were, in most cases, policies Romney himself endorsed (individual mandate, cap and trade, abortion rights, Planned Parenthood). I'd be interested to learn how you'd argue with that.

 

[the G-man]

A meaningless statement, because the Democratic Party is not a liberal party. It is a centrist party that occasionally leans liberal. Calling it a liberal party is a joke in countries that actually have a strong liberal movement. In a country where the range of mainstream political opinions is not restrict from "slightly-left-of-center to extreme right," the Democratic Party would be considered a conservative party.

If we assume your biases are correct that means we are a center-right country.

The power elite in the Untied States range from centrist to rightist. The opinions of the American people are entirely different from the opinions the powerful allow to be expressed by our political elites; we don't have real democracy in this country....

Polls of the public tend to confirm the US public is a center-right nation.

 

[Sci]

If we assume your biases are correct that means we are a center-right country.

The power elite in the Untied States range from centrist to rightist. The opinions of the American people are entirely different from the opinions the powerful allow to be expressed by our political elites; we don't have real democracy in this country....

Polls of the public tend to confirm the US public is a center-right nation.

Polls of the labels members of the public prefer to themselves tend to range from centrist to rightist, yes. On the other hand, polls of specific policies and programs tend t reveal widespread support for programs and policies which are much further to the left than can be found amongst centrist and rightist politicians.

 

[Gaith]

Love Sorkin's movies, never care for his TV shows.

I loved The West Wing in its day, but I'm reluctant to revisit it much... I fear it'd just feel dated.

OTOH, Charlie Wilson's War, The Social Network and Moneyball were all fantastic, and I have a feeling they'll hold up much better in the long run. And, given Sorkin's experience as an addict, I was particularly interested in seeing what he might do with Jon Edwards, and his apparent addiction to that one crazy lady.

This looks as though it could be entertaining, sure, but truly memorable, in the way of the aforementioned three movies? I doubt it. Write the Edwards movie, Aaron!