2012 Elections

Eightball · Post by **Eightball** » Sat Nov 26, 2011 3:35 pm

YellowKing wrote:I don't find it funny, I find it frightening. We have a sitting President with some of the worst approval ratings in years (yes, he's even LESS popular than W was at this point in the election), and our alternative is a bunch of SNL characters.

Just think. While 44% approval is pathetic, it's almost 5x the approval rating of Congress...

Canuck · Post by **Canuck** » Sat Nov 26, 2011 9:00 pm

Pyperkub wrote:
YellowKing wrote:We need an inspirational leader right now in this country, and Obama definitely ain't it. Heck, if not for the occasional shot of him frolicking in Hawaii I wouldn't even know we had a president.

The problem is I don't think any of the Republican candidates are inspirational either. So this election will all come down to policy. Perhaps that is a good thing. I voted for the inspirational guy last time and look where it got me.
I just can't fathom a McCain-Palin as inspirational, much less any better, even from your more conservative perspective than mine, and I'm pretty sure you don't think a wet slimy turd would have gotten bin-laden and the other terrorists that Obama has gotten.

Epic 4g/Tapatalk

How in the fack do you do a double post on Tapatalk??

Victoria Raverna · Post by **Victoria Raverna** » Tue Nov 29, 2011 12:06 am

Woman accuses Herman Cain of 13 years long affair that ended just 8 months ago.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Nov 29, 2011 1:05 am

Barney Frank is out:

Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, a quick-witted and outspoken voice of the liberal House caucus for more three decades who helped write the most sweeping overhaul of the nation’s financial systems since the Great Depression, announced Monday he wouldn’t seek re-election next year.
...
Mr. Frank, 71, who is considered the most prominent openly gay politician in the country, said during a press conference in Newton, Mass., that he initially planned to seek a 17th and final two-year term before retiring. But he said he changed his mind in part because redistricting would leave him with a significantly different constituent base.

“To go into a new district - 325,000 people new - and ask them to trust me with being their advocate on their problems, and then say, by the way, that expires in two years. … I would have a hard time telling people that,” he said.
...
Mr. Frank, who is as deft discussing fishing rights issues vital to his coastal district as he is Wall Street-related matters, said he plans to spend his post-congressional career indulging in two passions - writing and advocating public policy issues.

“I expect to be saying the exact same things as a private citizen … a year and a month from now that I’ve been saying as an elected official, but I think I will find my motives less impugned, and I will be able to talk more about the merits,” he said.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Tue Nov 29, 2011 1:10 am

Canuck wrote:
Pyperkub wrote:
YellowKing wrote:We need an inspirational leader right now in this country, and Obama definitely ain't it. Heck, if not for the occasional shot of him frolicking in Hawaii I wouldn't even know we had a president.

The problem is I don't think any of the Republican candidates are inspirational either. So this election will all come down to policy. Perhaps that is a good thing. I voted for the inspirational guy last time and look where it got me.
I just can't fathom a McCain-Palin as inspirational, much less any better, even from your more conservative perspective than mine, and I'm pretty sure you don't think a wet slimy turd would have gotten bin-laden and the other terrorists that Obama has gotten.

Epic 4g/Tapatalk
How in the fack do you do a double post on Tapatalk??

Super crappy signal while on vacation -also I can't delete a post from tapatalk curiously enough.

Epic 4g/Tapatalk

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Tue Nov 29, 2011 3:23 am

MA will miss Barney Frank. Can't blame a 71-year-old man for wanting to retire, though.

“As you stand there with a picture of the president defaced to look like Hitler, and compare the effort to increase health care to the Nazis, my answer to you is, as I said before, it is a tribute to the first amendment that this kind of vile, contemptible nonsense is so freely propagated. Ma’am, trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table. I have no interest in doing it.”

-- to a woman at a 2009 town hall.

Exodor · Post by **Exodor** » Tue Nov 29, 2011 4:41 pm

Cain "reassessing his campaign".

Oh God, it's going to be Newt vs. Mitt, isn't it?

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Tue Nov 29, 2011 5:08 pm

Exodor wrote:Cain "reassessing his campaign".

Oh God, it's going to be Newt vs. Mitt, isn't it?

Looks like. I wasn't expecting to vote for Newt.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Tue Nov 29, 2011 5:52 pm

Nobody expects a Newt! Wait. I'm mashing up my Python.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Tue Nov 29, 2011 7:40 pm

I can't even imagine a conservative population so desperate that they would vote for Newt.

Good lord.

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Tue Nov 29, 2011 7:52 pm

GreenGoo wrote:I can't even imagine a conservative population so desperate that they would vote for Newt.

Good lord.

They want spending cuts bad enough to vote for Nixon if they thought that would make it happen.

Enough · Post by **Enough** » Tue Nov 29, 2011 9:03 pm

GreenGoo wrote:I can't even imagine a conservative population so desperate that they would vote for Newt.

Good lord.

I'm guessing you didn't have the post-Thanksgiving dinner conversation that I did with my more conservative family members.

In fairness, one of them said no way no how for Newt. But when it's Newt vs. Obama, oh well of course I would vote for Newt.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Tue Nov 29, 2011 10:14 pm

GreenGoo wrote:I can't even imagine a conservative population so desperate that they would vote for Newt.

Good lord.

They're dating Newt today, but they'll marry Mitt tomorrow. They're just having one last fling with the bad boy.

Grundbegriff · Post by **Grundbegriff** » Wed Nov 30, 2011 1:04 am

Am I wrong?

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Wed Nov 30, 2011 1:36 am

LOL....excellent! I am a big fan of who looks like who...and that one is just subtle enough to be brilliant.

noxiousdog · Post by **noxiousdog** » Wed Nov 30, 2011 1:52 am

Little Raven wrote:
msduncan wrote:I think I'll speak for YK here when I reply that we could pick a slimy wet TURD and it would be better than what is in office right now.
Heh. I am reminded of Frum's recent thoughts on this subject.
But the thought leaders on talk radio and Fox do more than shape opinion. Backed by their own wing of the book-publishing industry and supported by think tanks that increasingly function as public-relations agencies, conservatives have built a whole alternative knowledge system, with its own facts, its own history, its own laws of economics. Outside this alternative reality, the United States is a country dominated by a strong Christian religiosity. Within it, Christians are a persecuted minority. Outside the system, President Obama—whatever his policy errors—is a figure of imposing intellect and dignity. Within the system, he’s a pitiful nothing, unable to speak without a teleprompter, an affirmative-action phony doomed to inevitable defeat. Outside the system, social scientists worry that the U.S. is hardening into one of the most rigid class societies in the Western world, in which the children of the poor have less chance of escape than in France, Germany, or even England. Inside the system, the U.S. remains (to borrow the words of Senator Marco Rubio) “the only place in the world where it doesn’t matter who your parents were or where you came from.”
Of course, if an alternate reality gets big enough, it becomes the dominant one. We'll see how it goes.

Imposing intellect?

The most rigid class societies in the Western world? (estimates from "The Millionaire Next Door" is that 80% of millionaires are first generation.)

I can see his point, but it's hard to find in the irony.

Little Raven · Post by **Little Raven** » Wed Nov 30, 2011 3:40 am

noxiousdog wrote:Imposing intellect?

Uhh...yes?

Look, Obama has had his share of brain farts, and we can all point to a multitude of what we would consider mistakes. But he's still a scary smart dude.

Grundbegriff · Post by **Grundbegriff** » Wed Nov 30, 2011 8:25 am

Little Raven wrote:Look, Obama has had his share of brain farts, and we can all point to a multitude of what we would consider mistakes. But he's still a scary smart dude.

Because he reads eloquently?

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Wed Nov 30, 2011 10:33 am

Grundbegriff wrote:
Little Raven wrote:Look, Obama has had his share of brain farts, and we can all point to a multitude of what we would consider mistakes. But he's still a scary smart dude.
Because he reads eloquently?

You've got the cart before the horse on that one.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Wed Nov 30, 2011 10:34 am

Rip wrote:
GreenGoo wrote:I can't even imagine a conservative population so desperate that they would vote for Newt.

Good lord.
They want spending cuts bad enough to vote for Nixon if they thought that would make it happen.

The man in office has offered them enormous cuts already. It's not spending cuts they're after.

Alefroth · Post by **Alefroth** » Wed Nov 30, 2011 12:27 pm

Grundbegriff wrote:

Am I wrong?

I don't know, I haven't heard Newt sing.

Ale

silverjon · Post by **silverjon** » Wed Nov 30, 2011 12:41 pm

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Wed Nov 30, 2011 12:56 pm

noxiousdog wrote:
Little Raven wrote:
msduncan wrote:I think I'll speak for YK here when I reply that we could pick a slimy wet TURD and it would be better than what is in office right now.
Heh. I am reminded of Frum's recent thoughts on this subject.
But the thought leaders on talk radio and Fox do more than shape opinion. Backed by their own wing of the book-publishing industry and supported by think tanks that increasingly function as public-relations agencies, conservatives have built a whole alternative knowledge system, with its own facts, its own history, its own laws of economics. Outside this alternative reality, the United States is a country dominated by a strong Christian religiosity. Within it, Christians are a persecuted minority. Outside the system, President Obama—whatever his policy errors—is a figure of imposing intellect and dignity. Within the system, he’s a pitiful nothing, unable to speak without a teleprompter, an affirmative-action phony doomed to inevitable defeat. Outside the system, social scientists worry that the U.S. is hardening into one of the most rigid class societies in the Western world, in which the children of the poor have less chance of escape than in France, Germany, or even England. Inside the system, the U.S. remains (to borrow the words of Senator Marco Rubio) “the only place in the world where it doesn’t matter who your parents were or where you came from.”
Of course, if an alternate reality gets big enough, it becomes the dominant one. We'll see how it goes.
The most rigid class societies in the Western world? (estimates from "The Millionaire Next Door" is that 80% of millionaires are first generation.)

Yeah, but there aren't that many millionaires, so they're more than made up for by all of the poor people who don't become millionaires. By most measures the U.S. is behind most European countries in terms of class mobility.

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Wed Nov 30, 2011 2:30 pm

GreenGoo wrote:
Rip wrote:
GreenGoo wrote:I can't even imagine a conservative population so desperate that they would vote for Newt.

Good lord.
They want spending cuts bad enough to vote for Nixon if they thought that would make it happen.
The man in office has offered them enormous cuts already. It's not spending cuts they're after.

I don't call reductions in increases cuts or general numbers we will expect some committee to actually figure out specifics on as cuts either.

They want there cuts done, figured out, and enacted before they are asked to pay increased taxes. They have become very skeptical given how seldom spending cuts actually ever happen.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Wed Nov 30, 2011 2:49 pm

I prefer to view budgetary policy in real rather than nominal terms.

If you're willing to treat $1 in 10 years the same as $1 today, I'd like to see you put your money on that principle. Maybe you won't mind a bad deal as long as you don't get cut by a "loss."

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Wed Nov 30, 2011 2:52 pm

Oops.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Wed Nov 30, 2011 2:55 pm

post inflation!

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Wed Nov 30, 2011 3:12 pm

Rip wrote:
GreenGoo wrote:
Rip wrote:
GreenGoo wrote:I can't even imagine a conservative population so desperate that they would vote for Newt.

Good lord.
They want spending cuts bad enough to vote for Nixon if they thought that would make it happen.
The man in office has offered them enormous cuts already. It's not spending cuts they're after.
I don't call reductions in increases cuts or general numbers we will expect some committee to actually figure out specifics on as cuts either.

Neither does he. But the spin keeps on spinning. You're not alone in your opinion. It's just that your opinion is wrong. This fiasco would be already taken care of if the Right didn't keep moving the goal line. Eventually Obama stopped playing. Which was about time.

I'm surprised I'm the one mentioning this. Someone with a stake in the matter should take over.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Nov 30, 2011 5:36 pm

Cain: Stupid people are ruining America

Finally! A sentiment I can get behind (if not the candidate).

Cain asked voters to be skeptical of campaign "disinformation" as he continues his quest for the White House.

"Here's what I need you to do to help me get there: Stay informed," he said. "Stupid people are ruining America."

Grundbegriff · Post by **Grundbegriff** » Wed Nov 30, 2011 6:40 pm

GreenGoo wrote:
Grundbegriff wrote:
Little Raven wrote:Look, Obama has had his share of brain farts, and we can all point to a multitude of what we would consider mistakes. But he's still a scary smart dude.
Because he reads eloquently?
You've got the cart before the horse on that one.

Eloquent reading is done by him?

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Wed Nov 30, 2011 7:04 pm

Keep at it, you'll get it eventually.

Chrisoc13 · Post by **Chrisoc13** » Wed Nov 30, 2011 7:50 pm

GreenGoo wrote:Keep at it, you'll get it eventually.

Pretty sure he had it right both times...

Little Raven · Post by **Little Raven** » Wed Nov 30, 2011 9:11 pm

Will Newt take it after all?

We’ve frequently noted the boom-and-bust cycle of would-be Romney slayers in the GOP primary race. And Newt is currently in his ‘Angry-Birds-like’ arc across the polling chart. But like some others, I now have my doubts whether Newt’s really going to tank like the others. Look at the data from the various primary states in this article.

Gingrich is now significantly ahead of Romney in Iowa and South Carolina. And even in New Hampshire, which has always been the lynchpin and backstop of Romney’s primary strategy, Romney appears to be moving into a genuine race with Newt.

If Newt DOES end up taking it, pencil me in among the honestly surprised. I really thought his personal history alone would sink him.

Arcanis · Post by **Arcanis** » Wed Nov 30, 2011 9:51 pm

Chrisoc13 wrote:
GreenGoo wrote:Keep at it, you'll get it eventually.
Pretty sure he had it right both times...

[yoda] Read eloquent does he. [/yoda]

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Wed Nov 30, 2011 10:46 pm

Little Raven wrote: If Newt DOES end up taking it, pencil me in among the honestly surprised. I really thought his personal history alone would sink him.

It will in the Presidential election. I practice tax law because of Newt's Reagan-era ideas and think he's the best of the bunch, but he's unelectable once the primaries end. Except for his immigration stance, Newt completely plays into the Democratic re-election plan.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Wed Nov 30, 2011 10:46 pm

TapaTalk Hiccup.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Thu Dec 01, 2011 12:09 am

If Newt DOES end up taking it, pencil me in among the honestly surprised. I really thought his personal history alone would sink him.

Yeah, but his personal history is old news. The public only cares about fresh scandal.

Exodor · Post by **Exodor** » Thu Dec 01, 2011 12:34 am

YellowKing wrote:
If Newt DOES end up taking it, pencil me in among the honestly surprised. I really thought his personal history alone would sink him.
Yeah, but his personal history is old news. The public only cares about fresh scandal.

The public also has a very short memory. How many people do you think really know about Newt's habit of leaving a wife whenever she gets too sick?

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Thu Dec 01, 2011 1:10 am

Chrisoc13 wrote:
GreenGoo wrote:Keep at it, you'll get it eventually.
Pretty sure he had it right both times...

I disagree. Now what?

Anonymous Bosch · Post by **Anonymous Bosch** » Thu Dec 01, 2011 1:22 pm

GreenGoo wrote:
Chrisoc13 wrote:
GreenGoo wrote:Keep at it, you'll get it eventually.
Pretty sure he had it right both times...
I disagree. Now what?

No need to strain yourself, but perhaps you could expound your reasoning?