The American ruling class is now older than Kruschev's - add h's - gerontocratic politburo.
the trick to spelling Khrushchev is to just keep adding H's until you can't anymore
The new premier has taken office from his hospital bed without regaining consciousness.
26th Politbureau of the CPSU, 1981-1986 (Brezhnev, Andropov, Early Gorbachev) Members Ages in 1981:
Heydar Aliyev (Azeri Ultranationalist) - 53 Years Old
Pyotr Demichev (Anti-Reformist) - 64 Years old
Tikhon Kiselyov (Unknown, but liked trains) - 64 Years old
Vasili Kuznetsov (Unknown, diplomat) - 80 Years Old
Boris Ponomarev (Anti-Reformist, Khrushcevite) - 76 Years Old
Sharof Rashidov (Kleptocrat) - 64 Years Old
Mikhail Solomentsev (Russian Chauvinist, Gorbachevite) - 69 Years Old
Eduard Shevardnadze (Social Democrat, Gorbachevite) - 53 Years Old
Vladimir Dolgikh (Technocrat) - 57 Years Old
Vitaly Vorotnikov (Technocrat) - 55 Years Old
Viktor Chebrikov (Anti-Reformist, KGB) - 58 Years Old
Sergey Solokov (Unknown, Military) - 70 Years Old
Nikolai Talyzin (Reluctant Gorbachevite) - 52 Years Old
Boris Yeltsin (Liberal) - 50 Years Old
Yuri Andropov (Reformist, KGB) - 67 Years Old
Leonid Brezhnev (Bureaucrat) - 75 Years Old
Mikhail Gorbachev (Social Democrat) - 50 Years Old
Viktor Grishin (Careerist) - 67 Years Old
Andrei Gromyko (Anti-Reformist, Diplomat) - 72 Years Old
Andrei Kirilenko (Reformist) - 75 Years Old
Dinmukhamed Kunaev (Anti-Reformist, known for competence) - 69 Years Old
Arvīds Pelše (Anti-reformist, met Lenin pre revolution) - 82 Years Old
Grigory Romanov (Anti-reformist) - 58 Years Old
Mikhail Suslov (Bureaucrat, Brezhnevite) - 79 Years Old
Nikolai Tikhonov (Bureaucrat, Brezhnevite) - 76 Years Old
Dimitry Ustinov (Soviet Nationalist, Militarist) - 73 Years Old
Konstantin Chernenko (Anti-reformist) - 70 Years Old
Volodymyr Shcherbytsky (Russian Chauvinist, Anti-reformist) - 63 Years Old
Yegor Ligachev (Reformist, Anti-Gorbachevite) - 59 Years Old
Nikolai Ryzhkov (Reformist, Anti-Gorbachevite) - 52 Years Old
Lol remember when, in 2018, she said that that would be her final term as Speaker?
love getting rinsed by :good-morning: the senile lady over and over again
Immortal Pelosi, but she has to listen to ten hours of Zoidberg "woop woop woooop" every day.
That's probably what she hears inside her head 24/7 anyway, it's the sound of neurons popping
:liberalism: they knelt for eight and a half minutes and got away with that shit
Hey, at least she's learned from her mistakes and developed a backbone, right? ... Right?
An out-of-touch gerontocracy was certainly a significant factor in bringing about the collapse of the USSR. But at least the Soviets had a good excuse - the generation that would have taken the mantle of leadership in the 70s and 80s was practically exterminated in WWII. What's Nancy's excuse?
Even with the tiniest possibility that she could be replaced by someone to the left of her, Dems don't want to risk it. They prefer losing more seats.
she could be replaced by someone to the left of her
Like who? Who could the Dems possibly field capable of whipping more votes?
This is the real joke of the Speakership. She only holds it if you vote for her. And the bottom line is that the majority of House Dems are old. 59 is the average age of a Dem House Rep.
Age Group |30 |40 |50 |60 |70 |80 |Grand Total
Democratic |14 |41 |53 |57 |48 |9 |222
Republican |16 |40 |70 |64 |17 |2 |209
Grand Total |30 |81 |123 |121 |65 |11 |431
Derp. How do you tables in this thing? Ah well.
Full disclosure: I haven't followed the day to day politics super closely because I 100% have taken Matt's grill pill and believe my obsession with politics was essentially its own form of impotent self flagellation entertainment....but:
The last go around when a lot of the left started to raise a fuss about pelosi being speaker I distinctly remember there was a moment where they asked "ok.....who?" And all anyone could offer was crickets.
I don't know if it's just that nobody really wants the job or believes in themselves enough to do it and to be honest I don't think it really matters (see paragraph one), but:
I'll ask again: if not Pelosi, who? Who should the left throw it's weight behind who can point to absolute disaster on the horizon to seize leadership that we can rally behind?
Frankly, until there's at least a left-ish person who could be speaker, let Pelosi have it. The alternative is getting a Pelosi clone who's younger and has less baggage, and will be around until they're the same age as Pelosi.
My answer to literally everyone who posed that question was “How about you? It’d be better than Pelosi.” Why are all of them afraid to do it themselves?
My answer to literally everyone who posed that question was “How about you? It’d be better than Pelosi.”
Shoot at the Queen, you best not miss.
It's easy to say "Pelosi is the worst!" but much harder to float alternatives given the poor base of support most of these alts have. And there are costs associated with rivaling the sitting Speaker. If you lose, you're immediately giving up the chits associated with patronage. Also risk getting Ralph Nader'd in the press and suffering a backlash in your own district.
And if you don't have the votes... simply putting Hakeem Jeffery's name on a piece of paper and saying "This guy is better!" doesn't mean anything unless you can count to 218.
That's my point though: nobody seems to be able or willing to step up...which is a bit revealing to me. We can laugh at the Gerontocracy and how obviously not competent Pelosi is but even if they're critical of her I'm not sure how much anybody whose in a position to replace her actually really wants to do so. She's a bit of a convenient excuse to point to when we can't have nice things.
In 2023 pelosi will have been in this speaker / minority leader position for 20 years
give it up girlie
She's in her 80's, why is she doing this still? She needs to just retire and go eat that freezer full of Ice Cream.
Pelosi’s deal to step down after 2022 was with right-wing Democrats, not AOC. This deal was made before AOC was elected to Congress. People get a weird Mandela Effect here.
Don’t even say that. Vicente was a reactionary caricature for Mexican men. He was a shitty neoliberal when he started and he died a shifty neoliberal. This is the dude who endorsed and made “El Cordido de Hillary Clinton.” Which I now must decide if I want to listen to it. I totally forgot about it. :hillgasm:
