2020 POTUS ELECTION THREAD

[DanCR]

It was Boebert who apparently gave the tour. She’s smarter than Green, by a hair.

For some reason, in my head, they're the same person. I understand that in reality they're different people representing different districts, but for some reason I just can't tell them apart and mentally I just identify them both as the MAGA female congressperson.

I’d argue that you’re not wrong.

[Philbert]

But certainly there has to be at least one intelligent person around them, right?
I mean, she might have had soup for lunch and saw the word, but in the winter? And I had to help prep and then take orders of it for a few years (during the summer) and that word would never have come to mind talking about secret police. It's a very unusual brain fart, is what I'm getting at, and the people that I know who I would assume are supporters of hers would absolutely eat up any chance for her to play the victim card.
Plus, didn't she give a Capitol tour to some people like two days before they were arrested in the riot? That was her, right? And now there is news of un-logged WH calls that day and all the improperly removed and destroyed documents? Seems suspicious.

I just saw a YouTube clip where she said that the Catholic Church imprisoned Gallileo because he thought the world was flat.
I think Green just says shit like this all the time.

That is spectacular. She got the question wrong, who was on which side wrong, and the punishment wrong. This is the new model for politics: bold assertions made without regard for facts give the impression of sincerity rather than calculation.

[hsilman]

I am not impressed that the loyal members of her constituency is a particularly bright group, and most younger Americans I encounter spell like illiterate ESL speakers and then select the first word offered by spellcheck.

Who the heck are you talking to? You mean teenagers or...?

[Hanley]

I am not impressed that the loyal members of her constituency is a particularly bright group, and most younger Americans I encounter spell like illiterate ESL speakers and then select the first word offered by spellcheck.

Who the heck are you talking to? You mean teenagers or...?

1) You, Boomer.

2) Ellipsis.

[Philbert]

I am not impressed that the loyal members of her constituency is a particularly bright group, and most younger Americans I encounter spell like illiterate ESL speakers and then select the first word offered by spellcheck.

Who the heck are you talking to? You mean teenagers or...?

I don't understand your first question. Are you asking who the post is addressed to? Second question, people young enough to have been exposed to spellcheck their entire writing lives. Almost everyone now in their teens or twenties, some people in their thirties. Basically the entire pool from which the staff of a junior congressperson would be drawn. That such an individual would neither know nor care how to spell Gestapo correctly is not a surprise.

[hsilman]

I am not impressed that the loyal members of her constituency is a particularly bright group, and most younger Americans I encounter spell like illiterate ESL speakers and then select the first word offered by spellcheck.

Who the heck are you talking to? You mean teenagers or...?

I don't understand your first question. Are you asking who the post is addressed to? Second question, people young enough to have been exposed to spellcheck their entire writing lives. Almost everyone now in their teens or twenties, some people in their thirties. Basically the entire pool from which the staff of a junior congressperson would be drawn. That such an individual would neither know nor care how to spell Gestapo correctly is not a surprise.

Really? You think people who intern/work as junior staff with congresspeople are ignorant of how to spell English words? Even congresspeople like Boebert and MTG?

I don't know the pool of young people you interact with, but as someone who has been earning a second degree, I've spent the last decade or so around a few dozen 18-25 year olds and none of them are as you described. Of course, my pool is people who went to community college or higher, so that's going to be self selecting. But you are saying this is so pervasive that even young people who are, again, interested and selected to intern/work for Congress, don't know how to spell.

I'm going to go see if I can find academic studies on this, because obviously our personal experiences have led us to wildly different views of this cohort, so I'm curious now to see if there's a more objective, or statistically representative view on the matter.

edit: additionally A) this was a tweet, so spellcheck would be available anyway. B) The issue isn't spelling anyway, it's context since gazpacho is spelled correctly. Not to mention, how would you attempt to type gestapo where gazpacho would be the suggested correction?

I've typed too much lol

[DanCR]

Really? You think people who intern/work as junior staff with congresspeople are ignorant of how to spell English words? Even congresspeople like Boebert and MTG?

Focusing on spelling may be narrowing it too much, but if we’re talking grammar and sentence construction, along with spelling, yes.

[alek]

Really? You think people who intern/work as junior staff with congresspeople are ignorant of how to spell English words? Even congresspeople like Boebert and MTG?

Focusing on spelling may be narrowing it too much, but if we’re talking grammar and sentence construction, along with spelling, yes.

Meh. I'm not a Lit professor, but I have lots of 18 to 22 year olds in my classes. I think this--:waves hands at the recent discussion:--fits nicely on a normal, bell curve. Most of them do just fine with their writing--again, I ain't no english perfesser. A few are quite eloquent, and then some like to use SMS short-hand in their emails to me. I usually respond with a tactful, "Lolwut? English, motherfucker, do you type it?"

[Culican]

Not to mention, how would you attempt to type gestapo where gazpacho would be the suggested correction?

I was typing a report about a foodborne illness and spell check changed "prosciutto" to "prostitute." Everyone in the office got a good laugh out of that.

[hsilman]

Really? You think people who intern/work as junior staff with congresspeople are ignorant of how to spell English words? Even congresspeople like Boebert and MTG?

Focusing on spelling may be narrowing it too much, but if we’re talking grammar and sentence construction, along with spelling, yes.

Meh. I'm not a Lit professor, but I have lots of 18 to 22 year olds in my classes. I think this--:waves hands at the recent discussion:--fits nicely on a normal, bell curve. Most of them do just fine with their writing--again, I ain't no english perfesser. A few are quite eloquent, and then some like to use SMS short-hand in their emails to me. I usually respond with a tactful, "Lolwut? English, motherfucker, do you type it?"

hmm that makes sense, a normal distribution is...well normal. I was just thinking young people who want to work on capital hill would have a liberal arts background and more likely to have more practice writing. Though I just realized I incorrectly narrowed the cohort compared to the statement made. Sorry @Philbert, though I don't think it's much more of a problem than previous generations qualms about "ain't".

I'm having trouble finding anything particularly definitive on google scholar.

[alek]

I was just thinking young people who want to work on capital hill would have a liberal arts background and more likely to have more practice writing.

Oh, I totally agree with this. Hunnerd percent.

[JonA]

If we're going to go down the 1/6 rabbit hole I think there's a lot of shit to tall about. Not the least of which is the explosive that was discovered early on and then never mentioned again. But I ultimately and strongly doubt Green was any kind of architect or mastermind or even aware prior.

There were actually 2 pipe bombs. Only one of them got any media attention.

[dw]

If we're going to go down the 1/6 rabbit hole I think there's a lot of shit to tall about. Not the least of which is the explosive that was discovered early on and then never mentioned again. But I ultimately and strongly doubt Green was any kind of architect or mastermind or even aware prior.

There were actually 2 pipe bombs. Only one of them got any media attention.

I remember hearing there was one near the RNC HQ and one near the Democratic HQ, fwiw.

Or at least I think that's what I remember...

[dw]

If we're going to go down the 1/6 rabbit hole I think there's a lot of shit to tall about. Not the least of which is the explosive that was discovered early on and then never mentioned again. But I ultimately and strongly doubt Green was any kind of architect or mastermind or even aware prior.

There were actually 2 pipe bombs. Only one of them got any media attention.

I remember hearing there was one near the RNC HQ and one near the Democratic HQ, fwiw.

Or at least I think that's what I remember...

[hector]

If we're going to go down the 1/6 rabbit hole I think there's a lot of shit to tall about. Not the least of which is the explosive that was discovered early on and then never mentioned again. But I ultimately and strongly doubt Green was any kind of architect or mastermind or even aware prior.

There were actually 2 pipe bombs. Only one of them got any media attention.

I remember hearing there was one near the RNC HQ and one near the Democratic HQ, fwiw.

Or at least I think that's what I remember...

F. Now I have another rabbit hole to go down. Ughhh.

[Philbert]

Really? You think people who intern/work as junior staff with congresspeople are ignorant of how to spell English words? Even congresspeople like Boebert and MTG?

Focusing on spelling may be narrowing it too much, but if we’re talking grammar and sentence construction, along with spelling, yes.

Meh. I'm not a Lit professor, but I have lots of 18 to 22 year olds in my classes. I think this--:waves hands at the recent discussion:--fits nicely on a normal, bell curve. Most of them do just fine with their writing--again, I ain't no english perfesser. A few are quite eloquent, and then some like to use SMS short-hand in their emails to me. I usually respond with a tactful, "Lolwut? English, motherfucker, do you type it?"

hmm that makes sense, a normal distribution is...well normal. I was just thinking young people who want to work on capital hill would have a liberal arts background and more likely to have more practice writing. Though I just realized I incorrectly narrowed the cohort compared to the statement made. Sorry @Philbert, though I don't think it's much more of a problem than previous generations qualms about "ain't".

I'm having trouble finding anything particularly definitive on google scholar.

No problem, my original statement was somewhat hyperbolic, partly in response to recent experiences with employees who have Bachelor's degrees, and use correctly spelled wrong words then have the gall to argue with me about it "because I used spellcheck" when I ask them to stop doing that. And I agree it is not the end of Western Civilization, but it is in my opinion the most believable explanation for how Cold Italian Soup Police became part of a congressperson's speech.

[mbasic]

INB4

[BostonRugger]

Remember when the CIA and the NYT chattering classes said without any evidence that Hunter Biden's laptop had suspicious origins and was almost certainly "Russian disinformation?"

Welp, turns out that its origin is the much more pedestrian "he left his laptop at a repair shop" (rich people, amirite?).

Hey NYT/Politico, are the Russians in the room with you right now?

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/1 ... nfo-430276

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/16/us/p ... ation.html (paywall, but it's 2022 and you can figure it out).

[DoctorWho]

Remember when the CIA and the NYT chattering classes said without any evidence that Hunter Biden's laptop had suspicious origins and was almost certainly "Russian disinformation?"

Welp, turns out that its origin is the much more pedestrian "he left his laptop at a repair shop" (rich people, amirite?).

Hey NYT/Politico, are the Russians in the room with you right now?

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/1 ... nfo-430276

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/16/us/p ... ation.html (paywall, but it's 2022 and you can figure it out).

OK, but thank goodness the CIA and the NYT are there to give us nothing but objective truth about Ukraine and Russia now.

[dw]

Remember when the CIA and the NYT chattering classes said without any evidence that Hunter Biden's laptop had suspicious origins and was almost certainly "Russian disinformation?"

Welp, turns out that its origin is the much more pedestrian "he left his laptop at a repair shop" (rich people, amirite?).

Hey NYT/Politico, are the Russians in the room with you right now?

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/1 ... nfo-430276

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/16/us/p ... ation.html (paywall, but it's 2022 and you can figure it out).

OK, but thank goodness the CIA and the NYT are there to give us nothing but objective truth about Ukraine and Russia now.

I skimmed the article linked by the original post and all I saw was national security people (not current CIA iirc) saying it looked like a Russian plant.

Intelligence analysis is a guessing game. Guessing wrong doesn't in itself prove bias. It doesn't even prove incompetence.

I'm not trying to let the people in question off the hook but let's spike the ball here.