- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
“Asked how many members of the House of Reps there were, Stein guessed 600-some before hosts corrected her.”
“Asked how many members of the House of Reps there were, Stein guessed 600-some before hosts corrected her.”
Alleged russian agents aside:
I actually have no problem with a politician not remembering the exact number of House representatives there are. That number actively does not matter because it is never a case of “I need 435 to vote for this”. It isn’t even “I need 218”. It is “After checking with everyone, we need to convince five more people to vote with us”.
But there are definitely ways to answer that convey that. Guessing a number and hoping you got it right is… not.
Also, because I had no idea and other people in this thread are outright wrong:
435 in the house. 100 in the senate. And 3 electors for DC and Puerto Rico (?) who don’t get a say in legislature because Yes Taxation Without Representation.
Would you trust a brain surgeon who didn’t know and understand the various regions and structures in the brain? Or an electrician who wasn’t exactly clear on what the building codes allowed regarding which gauge of wire could be installed and what material it was made of?
A President shouldn’t have to know everything, but they should at least know enough to ace a high school civics exam.
Yes. Because surgeons are the grease monkeys of medicine and I care more that they know exactly what they are doing to a specific part of my brain rather than are reciting generalist brain facts.
Very different scenario. That electrician is doing a specific job in my house, not wiring up an entire grid.
Which is kind of what it is. Getting a bill passed is very much about knowing what specific parts of Congress you need to interface with. And being a leader is actually having people who canvas the other congress people and figure out who to focus on.
Maybe it is just my engineer brain but I always prefer to work with people who know what it is important and are able to quickly look up the other stuff.
“Nurse please pull up Google and see where I’m supposed to be slicing this patient open from”
No. I expect them to have figured that out during the prep for my surgery. Even a surgeon who does that exact procedure every week should be reviewing the steps before they scrub up. Same with the team.
Yeah, we’re both probably getting too abstract here :)
So I guess the question is: Do you believe any of this applies in the analysis of Stein’s qualifications? She has essentially zero experience as an elected official, she has zero experience as a leader of any kind. And she has not demonstrated a basic understanding of the fundamental structure of the government.
Or do you believe there is any evidence that offers evidence to the contrary?
Oh, I think stein is a fucking moron and, at best, a useful idiot for putin.
This? This doesn’t factor into that at all.
Who?
which is how you get the number 538, like the website or the total number of electoral votes
No. Just no fuck that. That’s the dumbest fucking thing I’ve ever heard.
The President is the head of the Executive Branch of the US government. As much as it is analogous to a corporation, the position of President is akin to CEO.
Do you think it would ever be acceptable for the chief executive officer of an organization responsible for the well being of hundreds of millions of people to not know how many board members they have?
You might not know this if you grew up in Russia, but the number of Representative in the US House is something we learn very early on. It is one of the first and most basic civics lessons Americans learn.
It’s one thing for ignorant adult Americans to not know there are 435 Reps. But the President of the United States? Are you having a fucking laugh?