Should be interesting. Not sure if I'll pay attention till the end.

Life is sooooo much better not paying attention to politics.

AFAICT, there's a stronger "not-Romney" element than a "not-McCain" element at this point.
I think it's a little soon to predict it'll be just Romney vs. Obama.
I could see a third party candidate emerge to throw a wrench into things.

Life is sooooo much better not paying attention to politics.

QFT

I think some plot turns are still coming. If Newt goes heel and pulls out to align with Santorum to try to beat Romney, they just might.

Also, Mr. X's mask gets removed to reveal that it's actually Ron Paul running third party!

Also, has anybody seen any polling with Obama/Hillary vs. Obama/Biden?

Just wondering if following the seemingly natural succession plan of swapping in Hil would be a net + or -.

Hillary has high negatives that have always matched her positives and Obama's problem is with white men who Hillary doesn't help with. No way she is a net positive on the ticket.

Nice read on the topic by Bill Keller.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/09/opinion/keller-just-the-ticket.html?ref=opinion

In much the same manner that it was politically dumb for Cheney to stay as VP after his heart issues during the second term, I think it'd be silly for Biden to stay as VP should he get re-elected on an Obama/Biden ticket. I don't see 74-year old Biden with a history of brain aneurysms being elected President under most circumstances.

In much the same manner that it was politically dumb for Cheney to stay as VP after his heart issues during the second term, I think it'd be silly for Biden to stay as VP should he get re-elected on an Obama/Biden ticket. I don't see 74-year old Biden with a history of brain aneurysms being elected President under most circumstances.

But 'we' still won.

So far all I see shaping up is a choice between shit sandwich on wheat and shit sandwich on rye.

But 'we' still won.
I said "after the second term". Bush should have been grooming a successor, a logical choice to run for President in 2008. Imagine Bush had appointed, say, Haley Barbour or brother Jeb in the wake of Cheney's heart issues in 2005 or so.

But Bush successor was going nowhere. The country elected a community organizer that had very little experience as a Senator, because of the anti'Bush vote. I mean no disrespect to the man, but just pointing out that he had/has very little experience and got elected.

If it weren't for Clinton's monicagate, Gore would have been elected. The left, imo, was able to make the Iraq war into a scandal. Bush successor was going NOWHERE.

Gore lost his home state, otherwise he would've been elected.
Monicagate didn't help, but I can't blame Clinton for Tennessee.

Obama beat the experienced Clinton machine.

My point is that a VP for a president's second term is a door knob unless he's being groomed as a successor. Barring assassination, Cheney wasn't going to be Bush's successor. Biden isn't going to be Obama's successor (if he gets a second term). They should've filled that slot with the next president -- someone with enough of a political footprint to be VP, but not such a big footprint that they can be attacked nationally (a shorter-term governor vs. a lifetime congresscritter).

McCain also won the nomination by grabbing the Bush mantle and running with it which was a juxtaposition of how he positioned himself in 2000 and rang hollow with his base. If there would have been a true successor the base would have bought it more and then the Pub nominee has a stronger position to fight for the independents on rather than having to fight for both base turnout and independents.

That said, Gore lost because of monicagate. Senators don't always pull their home states like governors do (which is partly why they are seen as weaker presidential candidates) and Tennessee is a swing state rather than say Kerry pulling Massachusetts.

Gore wasn't just a senator, he was VP and knew he'd be running.
Tennessee was a state Clinton/Gore pulled off four years prior.
If you can't get your own house in order, don't try for the White House.

The argument has been floated that Gore's reaction to Monicagate, rather than Monicagate itself, had more to do with why he lost. I just don't think it matters much if you can't win your home state.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/01/15/andrew-sullivan-how-obama-s-long-game-will-outsmart-his-critics.html

Boom.

He might get lucky, but imo, Odumba isn't outsmarting anyone.

I think it's a little soon to predict it'll be just Romney vs. Obama.
Looks like Santorum beat Mittens in Iowa after all, and Mitt is no sure thing to win South Carolina with Perry out. Gingrich would be more entertaining than Mitt -- that I'm sure of.

In about a week the dude could go from sweeping the first 3 and winning as early as possible to losing 2/3 and having a possible real challenge. Pretty crazy.

In about a week the dude could go from sweeping the first 3 and winning as early as possible to losing 2/3 and having a possible real challenge. Pretty crazy.
All hell will break loose if Newt wins Florida.
And Mitt has a couple probably-lousy news cycles coming out between the Florida debate on Monday and the release of his tax returns on Tuesday.

Think I heard that almost 200,000 votes have already been cast in Florida's early voting period. That should help Mittens.

http://www.borowitzreport.com/2012/01/23/concerned-white-house-aides-say-obama-has-not-stopped-laughing-since-saturday-night/

I watched much of the Republican debate last night, especially after quickly concluding that the Pistons would lose badly. Unlike the turd-on-good action against the Thunder, it was full turd-on-turd action with Newt and Mitt. Wow.

Romney just released his tax returns. Talk about idiot timing. He should have done so DURING the SOTU, not beforehand. I wonder if Obama will mention it.

Romneymania is sweeping the country:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/romneymania-sweeps-america,27155/

Romneymania is sweeping the country:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/romneymania-sweeps-america,27155/

so stupid the Onion is blocked here.

JK3wMFiSq8U

And now Santorum has taken over as the "anyone but Romney" candidate... fascinating.

santorum (san-TOR-um) n.
1. The frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter
that is sometimes the by-product of anal sex.

http://www.buzzpics.de/images/rmoneyowns.jpg

Romney's support collapsing in Michigan... amusing:

http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/14/opinion/granderson-romney-michigan/

I don't understand what's wrong w/ Romney. He's the only one who has the war chest and the backing of high-dollar donors to be able to take on the Obama smear machine that is surely coming this summer.

It's not about electing a true conservative. It's about electing a non-"progressive".

Way I see it -- Obama won't win Florida or Ohio.

Still shocked that this was the best they could do.

Shocked that Ledezma doesn't understand people not liking a lack of moral character.

Way I see it -- Obama won't win Florida or Ohio.

New FOX NEWS poll has Obama beating Romney head-to-head in both Ohio and Florida. And 8 other swing states.

TRYING TO UNITE THE REPUBS

I don't understand what's wrong w/ Romney. He's the only one who has the war chest and the backing of high-dollar donors to be able to take on the Obama smear machine that is surely coming this summer.
He's made a lot of unforced errors. Observe:
http://www.buzzpics.de/images/romneydetr.jpg
His attempts to compensate only lead to depressed turnout. Few people really want to vote for him. Santorum is polling ahead of Romney in Michigan without even having a fucking campaign office in Michigan. It's not because Santorum is drawing all sorts of new people in, but because Republicans apart from some theocrats are disgusted with their choices.

Romney's going to blow through his war chest going through the primaries. The changes they made to do more-proportional delegate allocation (because McCain won too soon) are kicking them in the wazoo. I foresee some major cockblocking. I could envision Ron Paul or Gingrich deciding who the next candidate is.


It's not about electing a true conservative. It's about electing a non-"progressive".
I would have pegged you for a Santorum fan.

FWIW, I'm probably voting for Ron Paul in the primary, but I'm sorta hoping Stephen Colbert tells me who to vote for so I'm holding off on getting an absentee ballot.

Rubio as VP will solve everything for the GOP.

Rubio as VP will solve everything for the GOP.

There's some "hope" that you can try to believe in.

Rubio as VP will solve everything for the GOP.

I doubt Minny will let him out of his contract. :)

Fuck Detroit but the banks are ok... here's some of Romney's biggest contributors...
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres12/contrib.php?id=N00000286

Looks like Santorum endorsed Romney:

http://www.freep.com/article/20120220/COL05/120220057

So Mxy, who's the choice for the "chaos vote" next week? Santorum?

The choice for Republicans is who is the least on the Take... the winner is Paul... the others are corrupt mother fuckers.... please try to dispute this.

I don't care who the choice for Repubs is, Dems get to vote in this, too.

Let's have some fun.

I'm likely voting for Paul, because he's consistent and batshit on less issues.

I think Santorum is the one to vote for to cause maximum chaos. But Paul is pretty close because he has his electoral shit together (on the ballot in every state, knows how to maximize delegates out of caucuses, etc.).

Rubio as VP will solve everything for the GOP.

Rubio the closet Mormon might have trouble...

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mckaycoppins/exclusive-marco-rubios-mormon-roots

Romney really packed Ford Field with his supporters:

http://distilleryimage11.instagram.com/fcd5b3185f1011e18bb812313804a181_7.jpg

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/24/at-a-romney-speech-1200-people-and-65000-seats/

Do they have puke buckets in the voting booth?

Thinking about voting for Santorum.

Who's on First... http://www.soopermexican.com/2012/01/30/mitt-and-newt-whos-on-first-parody-video/

Kid Rock as Mitt Romney's VP?

http://www.freep.com/article/20120227/NEWS15/120227069?google_editors_picks=true

Seriously, the part that gets me is the electrician talking about the economy.


The message resonated with Mike Castonia, 56, of Royal Oak. He said he likes all the Republican candidates, but came to Romney’s final rally of the campaign at the Royal Oak Music Theater to show his support for the man he thinks is best to take on President Barack Obama.

“I like Rick Santorum, but I don’t think he’s the best guy for the position. The only thing he’s run is a political race,” he said. “I believe in proven leaders and governors have already run something.”

The social issues have been blown up by the media, Castonia believes, and are unimportant in this year’s primary.

“None of the social issues make a difference in the long run,” said Castonia, a self-employed electrical contractor who went from employing 42 people in 2004 to his lone status today. “It’s about the economy, stupid.”

Doing some Google-fu, it's clear he lost his management job during the second half of the Bush era when real estate took a dive. Bush was a governor with an MBA, even -- someone who had already run something. LOL.

Do they have puke buckets in the voting booth?

Thinking about voting for Santorum.

9OXrnnmvdXg

The Freep is porting a twitter feed of the hashtag #MIprimary on their home page and including pictures. They've got someone weeding out stuff they don't like but it is after the fact. They didn't like my picture of two guys kissing subtitled "we love Romney!"

Was ballot #4 this morning in my polling place. It took 45 minutes to get 4 voters.

Voted for Tricky Ricky.

I think he'll win by 6-8 pts.

Romney by 3%... interesting.

But, the delegate math is interesting. Michigan has 14 congressional districts (they use the maps from 2013 where we lose a seat) where the winner takes 2 delegates each, plus another 2 statewide delegates (1 for Romney, 1 for Santorum since they were close). Especially given how the gerrymander worked relative to Romney's core supporters, it's possible that Santorum could end up totally tied for delegates, or perhaps have more delegates, even in the loss.

http://www.buzzpics.de/images/romneyjrj.jpg

Michigan has 14 congressional districts (they use the maps from 2013 where we lose a seat) where the winner takes 2 delegates each, plus another 2 statewide delegates (1 for Romney, 1 for Santorum since they were close). Especially given how the gerrymander worked relative to Romney's core supporters, it's possible that Santorum could end up totally tied for delegates, or perhaps have more delegates, even in the loss.
So Santorum had tied with Romney for delegates... until the MI GOP changed the rules after the fact.

http://www.freep.com/article/20120301/NEWS15/120301038/Mitt-Romney-gets-Michigan-s-large-delegates

Buffoonery.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/tom-hanks-stars-obama-campaign-documentary-161040381.html

Trailer looks incredible on iPad.

Has there been a solid week since Santorum dropped out that Romney has clearly won a news cycle over Obama? Between his support of gay marriage, the executive part of the DREAM Act, and Obamacare being upheld -- Obama has pwned Romney over and over.

With summer here and a lot of folks not paying much attention to news, I don't see a lot of daylight for Romney until the RNC.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/americans-favor-obama-defend-against-space-aliens-poll-225920716.html


Nearly two in three Americans think President Barack Obama is better suited than Republican rival Mitt Romney to deal with an alien invasion, according to a survey released Wednesday.

I don't understand what's wrong w/ Romney. He's the only one who has the war chest and the backing of high-dollar donors to be able to take on the Obama smear machine that is surely coming this summer.

It's not about electing a true conservative. It's about electing a non-"communist".

phyksed!

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9228791/IT_offshoring_Romney_vs._Obama?taxonomyId=72&pageNumber=1

Is the Republican plan for healthcare to ignore the kids of laid off employees?... let em die who needs em.

http://p.twimg.com/AxtcOPOCMAANWtS.jpg:large

http://twitter.com/BorowitzReport/status/223874006154096640/photo/1/large

FAKE!

Fuckin' libs'll believe anything.

It's notable that both Obama and Romney have dated info from their 2008 campaign on their real LinkedIn pages.

One section of Obama's points at an old campaign site, and Romney is missing a couple grandkids.

In 2008, I voted for Obama. I lived in Michigan then. Now, I live in an upper-middle class community in Indiana. Its kind of weird.

When we drive down into the large city near us to mingle with all the cool hipsters, metrosexuals, etc. and eat in their restaurants, go to the museums, etc. we invariably are exposed to "diversity". My wife still thinks its a travesty and that they are victims and we should throw money at them out the window while begging for forgiveness. I don't feel that way anymore. I used to, but I don't now. I also would like to punch 99% of the cool hipsters in the face and make the metrosexuals go do chores with my dad in the barn so he could teach them how to be men. Maybe cut some wood, too.

It seems to me now that to a very large degree, people have the ability to make their own luck through hardwork and planning. That doesn't mean I don't appreciate the huge hurdles that confront "diverse" people, but the state and federal government are constantly throwing money at programs for them and if they can walk and chew gum at the same time upon graduating high school, they are granted admission into a Big Ten college (practically). However, I would definitely give money to start more early childhood intervention programs in place of affirmative action. But thats another story.

Anyway, in the last two years I have undergone this transformation. When I lived in Michigan we lived amongst "diversity" and I was just used to it. Now, I live amongst fairly educated and gainfully employed people. Not just white people either. We have Asian, Indian (the curry kind, not the whiskey kind) and a few blacks in our neighborhood. Everyone is cool and comports themselves with respect and dignity. Now when I see "diverse" behavior it makes my stomach turn.

I guess I am rambling.

To the point of politics. Due to these new feelings, I am having a hard time voting for Obama again. I despise the "Julia" campaign and I damn well did earn what I have achieved and worked for. I think the OWS types need a foot in their ass. Additionally, I think Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and the entire NAACP should be shot out of a cannon at a wall covered with poisoned spikes. However, the idea of voting for Romney and all the fruitbats that surround him is very unappealing as well.

Why can't people just take responsibility for themselves and not be a bunch of simpering cadgers and sissies?

I damn well did earn what I have achieved and worked for.


Just curious, does this refer to the "you didn't build that" sound byte that the Limbaughs/Hannitys/Romneys have been lying to everyone about? If so, have you heard the original/uncut portion?

Just curious, does this refer to the "you didn't build that" sound byte that the Limbaughs/Hannitys/Romneys have been lying to everyone about? If so, have you heard the original/uncut portion?

Yes, it does. Are you going to clarify a la, 'he was talking about the roads leading up to the businesses'? If so, its too slight of a clarfication for me. Yes, we do "stand on the shoulders of giants", but damn it, you can't overstate such things. There are enough lazy, ne'er do wells in this country already looking for handouts. If you start telling them people that worked their asses off haven't earned what they have worked for, they will start thinking part of it should be theirs'. Hogwash.

Sounds like you're too far gone, nevermind.

Enjoy your "transformation".

Sounds like you're too far gone, nevermind.

Enjoy your "transformation".

Really? Thats it? If there is a better explanation, please, provide it. If by "taking your ball and going home" you are capitulating to the fact it is merely the, "roads to the businesses" tripe, then, frankly, thats pretty weak.

Just decided that based on the tone of your rhetoric that I'm not really interested in what else you have to say on this.

Still love ya, though.

Just decided that based on the tone of your rhetoric that I'm not really interested in what else you have to say on this.

Still love ya, though.

Pffft. You strike me as something like the love-child of Barney Frank and Nancy Pelosi.

Come on, don't be the typical liberal. Don't cringe and shrink when someone asks your input based on your own thoughts instead of just Bill Mahrer regurgitations. Think, man! Use your own brain instead of following the "diversity" PowerPoint.

I actually like 'bukky the neocon' better than 'bukky the guy who touches himself and thinks about Elizabeth Warren'.

This works for me.

I actually like 'bukky the neocon' better than 'bukky the guy who touches himself and thinks about Elizabeth Warren'.

This works for me.

So, you just will not even attempt to articulate your thinking/reasoning on the subject. I am not a "neo-con". I don't think you even really know what a "neo-con" is. It is just a negative term thrown around to make conservatives sound crazy.

Warmed over Marxism is just not attractive to me anymore. Socialism and the egalitarian myth that goes along with it is for children. Look at Greece. Look at all of Europe except Germany. This type of "have fun now, pay later" socialist buffoonery is not merely counter-productive, but destructive.

You seem intelligent, Gla, but perhaps you lack the sophistication to see through the sophistry. Too bad.

So do you still read the magazines? Those are good magazines. Mean it.

The 'mid-life crisis Republican awakening' bit is a natural regression of the bukdow character, as he's always been a "lookin' out for #1"-type of guy. Self-absorbed, selectively pious, socially awkward, afraid of those different than him, it all fits.

Brilliant.

Romney = fake ass dickhead... more than willing to create a larger humanity divide.

The 'mid-life crisis Republican awakening' bit is a natural regression of the bukdow character, as he's always been a "lookin' out for #1"-type of guy. Self-absorbed, selectively pious, socially awkward, afraid of those different than him, it all fits.

Brilliant.

Actually, I have already thought of that and I am pretty certain thats not it. Frankly, I think its the opposite. I have a son now (5 years old) and I am more concerned about his future. I have a 529 account for him and another account that will provide him seed money to get started. But, the country he grows up in is important as well. I want a country where hard work and planning is rewarded instead of a Marx-lite state that just hands out money to every "Julia" and asks how high when the NAACP yells jump (you know, because of slavery and everything) and decides that because someone has worked hard and made something of themself they should feel guilty and hand half of it over because they didn't really earn it.

There are certain aspects of a society that are important. Like marriage, stable families, opportunity based on merit (a meritocracy, if you will), planning, impulse control and no everything isn't "OK" just because some jackass says its his religion, self-respect and respect for others, etc. There is right and wrong as well as good and bad and no amount of excuse making or victim mentality will change that.

Yeah, I heard that stuff on Hannity the other day, too.

bukdow: Where's the handouts in Obama's "Julia" campaign?

Are Social Security and Medicare handouts? I've been paying taxes for decades for them.
Is equal pay for equal work a handout?
Are loans that you have to pay back a handout?

Is Head Start *not* a childhood intervention program that you claim to be in favor of?

I believe that the issue itself, the intertwining of business, government and society would be a great discussion to have. However I believe that the US is too bi-polar, too black and white, to have that conversation right now if ever. Btw here's an all right article about that from Inc. magazine: http://www.inc.com/gene-marks/president-obama-is-right-i-got-help-building-my-business.html

On a personal note: I started and ran my own million dollar company for years. I never once felt that it was all about me. If not for my previous company I would have never entered or learned about the business. Without my first partner encouraging me I would never have seen the opportunity. I received a loan from a family member to make my first purchase. I had other partners bet on me. I had collaborative help from people who worked for me and with whom I worked. I lived in Europe and the market, government, attitudes and times were the right mix to help me with my company.

Hard work and talent are vital. There's no doubt about that. But there is no way a very successful business can only be about the hard work and talent of just one person. That at least, especially as we seem to have a revival of entrepreneurship going on, is a great discussion to have.

Personally I'm tired of the whole opinions on the role of government because you've met deadbeats thing. I've lived in enough areas to know that there are deadbeats living off the government. There are. I've seen them too. But that's just what I've seen. I've also seen way more talented people over the last two to five years who've had to work for less money than before or can't even find a job. Which one is more common? So many people see things and regardless of what they see being true or not love to generalize on government policy based on those observations and generalizations. I don't understand that.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7xebfYnUD1qzs5cqo1_500.jpg

Romney a hit with sex workers!

http://www.wtsp.com/news/national/article/266612/81/Porn-star-endorses-Romney

zHWAeSmSlB0

Paul Ryan as VP? WTF?

I think Obama's campaign staff had wet dreams of Romney picking Ryan.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/story/2012-08-07/romney-microsites-domain-names/56863680/1

Paul Ryan as VP? WTF?

I think Obama's campaign staff had wet dreams of Romney picking Ryan.

Yeah, its too bad. Not for the reason you state, but because Romney attempted to make the election a serious debate about two different directions for the country. The Obama direction is more entitlements leading to insolvency and economic growth being driven by the government. The Romney direction is taking a logical look at entitlements and doing what needs to be done to prevent a Southern Europe style meltdown and economic growth being driven by the private sector.

Four more years of Obama is going to embolden entitlement addicted minorities even more and do much to undermine the economic engine of this country. Its really too bad.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/story/2012-08-07/romney-microsites-domain-names/56863680/1

Do you read anything besides liberal cartoon papers?

Yeah, its too bad. Not for the reason you state, but because Romney attempted to make the election a serious debate about two different directions for the country. The Obama direction is more entitlements leading to insolvency and economic growth being driven by the government. The Romney direction is taking a logical look at entitlements and doing what needs to be done to prevent a Southern Europe style meltdown and economic growth being driven by the private sector.

Four more years of Obama is going to embolden entitlement addicted minorities even more and do much to undermine the economic engine of this country. Its really too bad.

Are you saying that entitlements are what caused the economic problems in Greece and Spain?

Are you saying that entitlements are what caused the economic problems in Greece and Spain?

To a degree, yes. When the government promises more than it can provide (Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, etc.) serious problems arise. Nobody is saying do away with the aforementioned programs. However, a serious overhaul is required. At some point we must start dealing with reality before it deals with us.

Heres a fair assessment

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/frame_game/2012/08/paul_ryan_for_vice_president_he_s_the_fiscal_conse rvative_a_republican_should_be_.html

To a degree, yes. When the government promises more than it can provide (Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, etc.) serious problems arise. Nobody is saying do away with the aforementioned programs. However, a serious overhaul is required. At some point we must start dealing with reality before it deals with us.

See this is where you lose me. I won't even get into Greece, where it still wasn't the case. But let's talk about Spain which I know very, very well. Entitlements had nothing to do with Spain's problem. Not at all. Nothing. Hell, government spending itself had nothing to do with the current problem in Spain.

Maybe it's a global trend but we love to throw shit around in the US to prove out points. And this isn't even liberal vs. conservative. Both sides pull this bullshit. It's like the framing of the argument is more important than the substance itself.

Do you read anything besides liberal cartoon papers?

Like the Smithsonian and Harper's?

See this is where you lose me. I won't even get into Greece, where it still wasn't the case. But let's talk about Spain which I know very, very well. Entitlements had nothing to do with Spain's problem. Not at all. Nothing. Hell, government spending itself had nothing to do with the current problem in Spain.

Maybe it's a global trend but we love to throw shit around in the US to prove out points. And this isn't even liberal vs. conservative. Both sides pull this bullshit. It's like the framing of the argument is more important than the substance itself.

OK, what was it?

Paul Krugman gets Spain pretty much nailed down. Part of this started with the Euro. When the Euro came into affect Spain became the cheap country for the rest of Europe. What was already a huge country for tourism became even more so. And, with interest rates at super huge lows, real estate became THE craze. You had Spaniards buying second houses if nothing else but to invest their undeclared pesetas that they would have had to declare with the change to the Euro (in other words, laundering) and you had a lot of the rest of Europe buying up the coast of Spain. But that's still not the biggest part, Spain itself saw this housing boom and turned it into a huge housing bubble. Speculation went crazy and Spaniards went crazy financing 110% of their homes and paying 70% of their monthly income on mortgages. It's important to understand that Spain is a buying housing market. Whereas the UK or Germany might have around 35-50% of homes owned it's around 70% for Spain. So they had this enormous housing bubble that was the only driver fueling the economy. Spain itself is a debtor nation and its businesses even more so, with huge construction companies taking up huge credit to build huge projects. Mix that with the enormous % of the population of the country also taking on more credit than it could handle. I would add cost of living in Spain also grew disproportionately to the rise in average salaries. So when the global crisis hits and the bubble burst, the country was left with tons of temporary jobs and construction jobs that were no longer needed and companies that couldn't pay their debt causing even more unemployment of a workforce that had mortgaged itself to the teeth.

Yeah, its too bad. Not for the reason you state, but because Romney attempted to make the election a serious debate about two different directions for the country. The Obama direction is more entitlements leading to insolvency and economic growth being driven by the government. The Romney direction is taking a logical look at entitlements and doing what needs to be done to prevent a Southern Europe style meltdown and economic growth being driven by the private sector.
Logical look? Do tell. Here's a quiz for you. Thus far, since Ryan has been named VP, what did Romney say about his plan relative to Ryan's?

a) His plan is very different than Ryan's plan
b) He couldn't think of any differences between his plan and Ryan's plan
c) He and Ryan are on 100% the same path
d) His plan is not the Ryan plan
e) all of the above.

HINT: The correct answer will give you whiplash.

Ryan couldn't even communicate this so-called plan to the satisfaction of Brit Hume from Fox News. Both of them are trying to run away from their largest entitlement-related economic achievements in office. It's amusing. A serious debate about entitlements? Puh-leeze!

Hilarious....read below.


Logical look? Do tell. Here's a quiz for you. Thus far, since Ryan has been named VP, what did Romney say about his plan relative to Ryan's?

a) His plan is very different than Ryan's plan
b) He couldn't think of any differences between his plan and Ryan's plan
c) He and Ryan are on 100% the same path
d) His plan is not the Ryan plan
e) all of the above.

HINT: The correct answer will give you whiplash.

Ryan couldn't even communicate this so-called plan to the satisfaction of Brit Hume from Fox News. Both of them are trying to run away from their largest entitlement-related economic achievements in office. It's amusing. A serious debate about entitlements? Puh-leeze!

Paul Krugman gets Spain pretty much nailed down. Part of this started with the Euro. When the Euro came into affect Spain became the cheap country for the rest of Europe. What was already a huge country for tourism became even more so. And, with interest rates at super huge lows, real estate became THE craze. You had Spaniards buying second houses if nothing else but to invest their undeclared pesetas that they would have had to declare with the change to the Euro (in other words, laundering) and you had a lot of the rest of Europe buying up the coast of Spain. But that's still not the biggest part, Spain itself saw this housing boom and turned it into a huge housing bubble. Speculation went crazy and Spaniards went crazy financing 110% of their homes and paying 70% of their monthly income on mortgages. It's important to understand that Spain is a buying housing market. Whereas the UK or Germany might have around 35-50% of homes owned it's around 70% for Spain. So they had this enormous housing bubble that was the only driver fueling the economy. Spain itself is a debtor nation and its businesses even more so, with huge construction companies taking up huge credit to build huge projects. Mix that with the enormous % of the population of the country also taking on more credit than it could handle. I would add cost of living in Spain also grew disproportionately to the rise in average salaries. So when the global crisis hits and the bubble burst, the country was left with tons of temporary jobs and construction jobs that were no longer needed and companies that couldn't pay their debt causing even more unemployment of a workforce that had mortgaged itself to the teeth.


lol

This shits over.

http://hoopshype.com/campaign.htm

I'm waiting for the report on how Mitt Romney plays dressage:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tucker-max/obama-basketball_b_1783260.html

http://hoopshype.com/campaign.htm
Many ballers set up donations through their relatives, so they don't show up on such reports.
Ben Wallace donated money to Obama in 2008, for example, through his wife Chanda:

http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?st=OH&last=wallace&first=chanda

Now with Citizens United, it's easier than ever to donate without being obvious about it.

lol

Is this really the best you got? Your go to bullshit lol? This is how fucking retarded you've become. What a fucking joke you've become on this board. When you would blast 8k posts a day some of them we're actual fucking conversation. You could talk sports and even politics and ask questions. But now you're a fucking joke troll who gets off posting whatever the fuck occurs to him in that split second you're out of your vodka haze.

I don't even pretend to understand the northern California contractor market. Granted I don't really know you, but I'm still going to at least listen and consider whatever post you would have on that subject due to the fact that according to your posts, that's your market. I think it's fair to say that my knowledge of Spain is on the same level as that. Enough to at least, in theory, avoid your lol seal of stupidity.

Is this really the best you got? Your go to bullshit lol? This is how fucking retarded you've become. What a fucking joke you've become on this board. When you would blast 8k posts a day some of them we're actual fucking conversation. You could talk sports and even politics and ask questions. But now you're a fucking joke troll who gets off posting whatever the fuck occurs to him in that split second you're out of your vodka haze.

I don't even pretend to understand the northern California contractor market. Granted I don't really know you, but I'm still going to at least listen and consider whatever post you would have on that subject due to the fact that according to your posts, that's your market. I think it's fair to say that my knowledge of Spain is on the same level as that. Enough to at least, in theory, avoid your lol seal of stupidity.

LOL!

Posted by T_P_K at 10:19 AM on July, 31, 2012
“If Obama wins this election I will shut down my company and go on every government assistance program I can find. I will not continue to beat my head against the wall another four years. What’s the point?”

Dutchess St. Rollins responds:
Promise? That would be fucking AWESOME!
Make sure to report back and let us know how far that dollar and a half per meal and between $100 and $600 a month in cash gets ya’.
What I find unreal about you Teabilly fucksticks is that you actually seem jealous of poor people. Like it’s super fun to be a single mom or elderly person who is forced to rely on welfare to fulfill basic human needs.
Half of the people receiving benefits are kids and one third are elderly or disabled. Only a TINY percentage of people getting assistance are able-bodied adults, but don’t let facts get in the way of your pathetic little pitty party.
You assholes begrudge poor children hot meals, yet don’t seem to give a shit that the multimillionaire, Ann Romney, takes a $77,000 tax deduction for her dancing horse and the taxpayers just funded her trip to the Olympics. Where’s the outrage about that insanity?
How about the dozens of huge corporations that are making record-breaking profits and getting tax refunds? That doesn’t chap your moonshine-swillin’ hillbilly hides a little bit?
You’re working yourselves into a tizzy over some bullshit “welfare queen” myth and the thought that some icky POOR PERSON might get a few free fucking meals so they don’t end up homeless, yet turn away while the oil industry gets billions in tax subsidies, even after turning huge profits! You bed-pissing rednecks are a fucking disgrace to this country. FUCK YOU.
H/T to: The POLITICAL CARNIVAL
¹As far as we know, “DW” stands for DimWit.

money.

Romney and Ryan are coming to Commerce Township on Friday.

Posted by T_P_K at 10:19 AM on July, 31, 2012
“If Obama wins this election I will shut down my company and go on every government assistance program I can find. I will not continue to beat my head against the wall another four years. What’s the point?”

Dutchess St. Rollins responds:
Promise? That would be fucking AWESOME!
Make sure to report back and let us know how far that dollar and a half per meal and between $100 and $600 a month in cash gets ya’.
What I find unreal about you Teabilly fucksticks is that you actually seem jealous of poor people. Like it’s super fun to be a single mom or elderly person who is forced to rely on welfare to fulfill basic human needs.
Half of the people receiving benefits are kids and one third are elderly or disabled. Only a TINY percentage of people getting assistance are able-bodied adults, but don’t let facts get in the way of your pathetic little pitty party.
You assholes begrudge poor children hot meals, yet don’t seem to give a shit that the multimillionaire, Ann Romney, takes a $77,000 tax deduction for her dancing horse and the taxpayers just funded her trip to the Olympics. Where’s the outrage about that insanity?
How about the dozens of huge corporations that are making record-breaking profits and getting tax refunds? That doesn’t chap your moonshine-swillin’ hillbilly hides a little bit?
You’re working yourselves into a tizzy over some bullshit “welfare queen” myth and the thought that some icky POOR PERSON might get a few free fucking meals so they don’t end up homeless, yet turn away while the oil industry gets billions in tax subsidies, even after turning huge profits! You bed-pissing rednecks are a fucking disgrace to this country. FUCK YOU.
H/T to: The POLITICAL CARNIVAL
¹As far as we know, “DW” stands for DimWit.

Bullshit!

so this is pretty awesome http://littlefacemitt.tumblr.com/

During the RNC, Mitt's was doing some superdonor schmoozing on a yacht named Cracker Bay, which was flying the Cayman Islands flag:

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/romney-party-yacht-flies-cayman-islands-flag/story?id=17105028#.UD5X346VKQz

Lifestyles of the Rich and Shameless, coming to a presidency near you... Robin Leach must be shitting himself with anticipation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGAvwSp86hY&feature=player_embedded

Wow...Mitt is rich! KILL HIM KILL HIM! Typical fuckin libs.

Wow...Mitt is rich! KILL HIM KILL HIM! Typical fuckin libs.
LOL. It's the tone-deaf optics that amuse me, and it doesn't just have to do with wealth. "Cracker Bay"? C'mon. this is like Gary Hart banging Donna Rice on a boat called "Monkey Business". Cayman Islands? Remind people of the taxes you don't want to show? Fucking brilliant.

Romney's big challenge at the RNC is to show how "relatable" and "likeable" he is. He's sending his wife out there to claim he's just this shy kid from a small town. There's reporters swarming moreso than usual. Now is not the time to do the kissy kissy faced thing at the millionaire's yacht club.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B39W91O-rUg

^OMG! I'm done! I'm voting for Obama cuz of that!

LOL. It's the tone-deaf optics that amuse me, and it doesn't just have to do with wealth. "Cracker Bay"? C'mon. this is like Gary Hart banging Donna Rice on a boat called "Monkey Business". Cayman Islands? Remind people of the taxes you don't want to show? Fucking brilliant.

Romney's big challenge at the RNC is to show how "relatable" and "likeable" he is. He's sending his wife out there to claim he's just this shy kid from a small town. There's reporters swarming moreso than usual. Now is not the time to do the kissy kissy faced thing at the millionaire's yacht club.

OMG! A candidate sent his wife out for a speech!

You are getting close being put in the Glanzie category. Michelle Odumba can go do a speech for Prez Odumba but Romney can't send his wife out?

Thats like Glanzie saying Sarah P having her kids out there was a prop, but the Odumbas can have their kids out there and it put a tingle up his leg.

It's uncommon for the would-be First Lady to give a separate speech at the national convention to humanize their wanna-be President. Historically, most wives just did a brief intro to their man as they were accepting the nomination. Back in the day, most First Ladies adopted some apolitical non-objectional cause and stayed in the background of their political campaigning (though there were First Lady characters like Lady Bird Johnson and Betty Ford).

I did some digging and it turns out that Barbara Bush was the first wife who spoke separately to the RNC -- and that was to humanize Biush 41. At the time, he was running against someone who needed (but never got) humaniziing in Dukakis, and it was successful. Afterwards, you had these poiltical wives:

Back in 1992, HRC wasn't there to humanize Bubba -- like he needed that. Bubba goit elected despite her.
Liddy Dole was a politician and gave the same sort of speech she might have given even if she weren't his wife.
Laura Bush sure as shit didn't need to humanize Dubya, and talked a lot about about being a teacher.
Tipper Gore DID need to humanize Al Gore, but mostly did so by giving him a big kiss, not big speechifying.
Teresa Heinz Kerry -- yeah, right -- you don't put her out there to humanize anyone!! LOL.
Michelle Obama didn't humanize Barack Obama -- was mostly there as a female voice to heal the Obama-Hillary rift.
Cindy McCain didn't really need to humanize John McCain, and she dressed like a million bucks to prove it.

So really, Ann Romney's roughly the second First Lady wannabe to do this humanizing thing at the big convention.

FWIW, her speech didn't work for me. Maybe it's because I live in metro Detroit and know the score. You have Ann Romney talking about Bloomfield Hills like it was every small town as opposed to one of the richest places in the United States. She talked about how broke they were in college even when they had millionaire parents on both sides and trust funds. Oh, the suffering!. I grew up poor in Michigan, spent formative years in a motor home and guv'mint subsidized housing, with parents who busted up. I've done well for myself since then. I don't begrudge wealth. Hell, I voted for Perot in '92. I do bedgrudge disingenuous bullshit, and what I've seen of the RNC is plenty of that.

It's uncommon for the would-be First Lady to give a separate speech at the national convention to humanize their wanna-be President. Historically, most wives just did a brief intro to their man as they were accepting the nomination. Back in the day, most First Ladies adopted some apolitical non-objectional cause and stayed in the background of their political campaigning (though there were First Lady characters like Lady Bird Johnson and Betty Ford).

I did some digging and it turns out that Barbara Bush was the first wife who spoke separately to the RNC -- and that was to humanize Biush 41. At the time, he was running against someone who needed (but never got) humaniziing in Dukakis, and it was successful. Afterwards, you had these poiltical wives:

Back in 1992, HRC wasn't there to humanize Bubba -- like he needed that. Bubba goit elected despite her.
Liddy Dole was a politician and gave the same sort of speech she might have given even if she weren't his wife.
Laura Bush sure as shit didn't need to humanize Dubya, and talked a lot about about being a teacher.
Tipper Gore DID need to humanize Al Gore, but mostly did so by giving him a big kiss, not big speechifying.
Teresa Heinz Kerry -- yeah, right -- you don't put her out there to humanize anyone!! LOL.
Michelle Obama didn't humanize Barack Obama -- was mostly there as a female voice to heal the Obama-Hillary rift.
Cindy McCain didn't really need to humanize John McCain, and she dressed like a million bucks to prove it.

So really, Ann Romney's roughly the second First Lady wannabe to do this humanizing thing at the big convention.

FWIW, her speech didn't work for me. Maybe it's because I live in metro Detroit and know the score. You have Ann Romney talking about Bloomfield Hills like it was every small town as opposed to one of the richest places in the United States. She talked about how broke they were in college even when they had millionaire parents on both sides and trust funds. Oh, the suffering!. I grew up poor in Michigan, spent formative years in a motor home and guv'mint subsidized housing, with parents who busted up. I've done well for myself since then. I don't begrudge wealth. Hell, I voted for Perot in '92. I do bedgrudge disingenuous bullshit, and what I've seen of the RNC is plenty of that.

When the current Prez has NO record, or actually a record of failure, so the current Prez strategy is to 'Kill Mitt' with the felon thing and trying to attach him to the death of a cancer victim, the candidate doesn't have much choice but try to humanize him.

Also, I remember Mrs Lincoln giving a speech humanizing Abe. I was there. So get your facts straight.

Also, the Repub Convention has been pretty damn good. Facts are a hard truth for the Pres and MSNBC, CNN and the NYT can only lie about the peeps heard.

I will say this, Clint was awesome, imo, but right before the next Prez of the US is going to be introduced? Way too late in the proceedings for him. I'm looking forward to the Dems response. Hopefully Barack himself will be sitting in the chair answering the questions or some shit...It should be good. Then again, the Dems will prolly fuck that up too.

The Dems already did respond:

http://www.buzzpics.de/images/2012/09/02/e0WGi.jpg

By all rights, Romney should have won this week's news cycle.
This was DESIGNED for Romney to win.
But Clint won the news cycle instead.
Thus far, no real convention bounce.
I still haven't found a weekly news cycle that Romney's won since beating Santorum.
There's been lots of unforced errors from Team Romney.

The latest that amuses me is Ryan lying about his personal-best marathon times and the GM plant in his congressional district.
Both are easily proven bogus, and weren't central issues to Team Romney.

Clint was an amusing loose cannon, though. I LOLed when he started talking about Biden the intellectual. :)

Rasmussen polls showed Romney got a bounce.

Clint might have been domlinating the networks you watch (not surprised they'd be covering anything but the speeches), but not the most watched News network.

Cock blocking does not make you a better candidate... the GOP congress is more corrupt than their main contributors.... these cats need to talk less religion and go to confession.

Domlinating is not a real word.

Cock blocking does not make you a better candidate... the GOP congress is more corrupt than their main contributors.... these cats need to talk less religion and go to confession.

LMAO!....Left wing echo chamber is alive and well.

It's uncommon for the would-be First Lady to give a separate speech at the national convention to humanize their wanna-be President. Historically, most wives just did a brief intro to their man as they were accepting the nomination. Back in the day, most First Ladies adopted some apolitical non-objectional cause and stayed in the background of their political campaigning (though there were First Lady characters like Lady Bird Johnson and Betty Ford).

I did some digging and it turns out that Barbara Bush was the first wife who spoke separately to the RNC -- and that was to humanize Biush 41. At the time, he was running against someone who needed (but never got) humaniziing in Dukakis, and it was successful. Afterwards, you had these poiltical wives:

Back in 1992, HRC wasn't there to humanize Bubba -- like he needed that. Bubba goit elected despite her.
Liddy Dole was a politician and gave the same sort of speech she might have given even if she weren't his wife.
Laura Bush sure as shit didn't need to humanize Dubya, and talked a lot about about being a teacher.
Tipper Gore DID need to humanize Al Gore, but mostly did so by giving him a big kiss, not big speechifying.
Teresa Heinz Kerry -- yeah, right -- you don't put her out there to humanize anyone!! LOL.
Michelle Obama didn't humanize Barack Obama -- was mostly there as a female voice to heal the Obama-Hillary rift.
Cindy McCain didn't really need to humanize John McCain, and she dressed like a million bucks to prove it.

So really, Ann Romney's roughly the second First Lady wannabe to do this humanizing thing at the big convention.

FWIW, her speech didn't work for me. Maybe it's because I live in metro Detroit and know the score. You have Ann Romney talking about Bloomfield Hills like it was every small town as opposed to one of the richest places in the United States. She talked about how broke they were in college even when they had millionaire parents on both sides and trust funds. Oh, the suffering!. I grew up poor in Michigan, spent formative years in a motor home and guv'mint subsidized housing, with parents who busted up. I've done well for myself since then. I don't begrudge wealth. Hell, I voted for Perot in '92. I do bedgrudge disingenuous bullshit, and what I've seen of the RNC is plenty of that.

Funny how I just listened to CNN and they said Mitchelle is going to give a speech to humanize Barackiepoo.

I just read a few articles on that a few minutes ago -- seemed like the idea was more specifically to "feminize", not so much "humanize".

The people have had 4 years of Obama. They either know who he is, or have already made up an invisible Obama to fill an empty chair. :)

For example:

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2012/09/michelle-obama-democratic-convention-tuesday-julian-castro/1?csp=34news#.UEYZunp3dEM


Look for Michelle Obama to talk about how the president's policies are moving the country forward, even in the face of a slow economic recovery. Unlike Ann Romney, who helped soften her spouse's edges at last week's GOP convention, the first lady doesn't need to dwell much on the president as a husband and a father.

Cock blocking does not make you a better candidate... the GOP congress is more corrupt than their main contributors.... these cats need to talk less religion and go to confession.

When has that fantastic Senate passed a budget?

Deal wit reality for just a minute...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/41483956#41483956

Deal wit reality for just a minute...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/41483956#41483956
tl;dl -- and it's the Ed Show -- Ed Schultz and Rush Limbaugh are gasbags.

Tahoe is absolutely correct in stating that the Senate hasn't really passed a budget in years. I believe the current dogma is that like positions in the NBA, the Senate passing a budget is an obsolete model, since we have automatic cuts due to the Budget Control Act unless both sides agree otherwise. It's a dysfunctional load of crap, but the process has been a dysfunctional load of crap for decades -- "reconciliation" dates back to the 70s.

This might be the first time in history that a Republican candidate gets a bounce from the Democratic convention. It was that bad. Peeps see through Odumba's lies now.

Tahoe, are you talking to the invisible pollster?
Hell, even Rasmussen has a bump for Obama.

Obama’s convention bounce is evident both in the head-to-head numbers with Romney and in his Job Approval ratings

Didn't Obama's favorability jump like 12 points?

#smh

Tahoe, are you talking to the invisible pollster?
Hell, even Rasmussen has a bump for Obama.

LOL

I WAS JUST FUCKIN AROUND!

Odumba was lying, but I was just goofin.

Poor Tahoe. Probably going to die from old age with Obama in office.

lol

Couple of interesting recent articles -- one about Obama, the other about Romney:

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/10/michael-lewis-profile-barack-obama
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/81280.html

A little leaked video problem. Whoops!

Well, the polls are in... good news for Romney:

http://wonmag.com/3140

Trying to look objectively at the race for a minute...obviously I want Romney to win.

The momentum has shifted to Mitt. He has made up huge ground after debating the empty chair at the last debate. And now with the Libya issue blowing up for Odumba, the mo may continue to go in Mitts direction. We shall see...

It seems that even if they tie in the next debates, Mitt will have taken advantage of that whole debate situation.

Thanks for the "objectivity"... always appreciated.

You are welcome.

The national polls have swung far more than the swing state polls, and Obama's job approval #s are coming in at 50+% (a function of the unemployment #s).

It'll be interesting to see how things play out.

Obama's pulled out Morgan Freeman narrated ads. That's like bringing a nuke to a knife fight. This thing's over now.

No it's not. Lindsay Lohan came out in support of Romney. This shit's getting real now!

It seems that even if they tie in the next debates, Mitt will have taken advantage of that whole debate situation.
Clearly, Romney won this night's debate.
Fortunately, I was watching Verlander lose Game 3.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/10/17/romney-won-second-debate/

I'm sure that I have binders on when it comes to Romney, so someone may have to fact check me.

Please proceed, Tahoe.

I have NOT watched the debate. From everything I've heard though, each candidate won on certain issues and polls show Odipshit won 37 to 30% and 33 called it a draw, iirc.

I just didn't care too much about the middle debate. The first debate is kind of crucial for a newcomer, Romney and he did great, or Odumba did really poorly. It was a 'game changer' or so peeps on both sides have said.

That said, I think the final debate will mean something again. My guess is both sides are holding lil snipets that they hope will be bomb shells for the final debate. If candidate A sez X, candidate B might be NOT able to counter X cuz it might be the first time they heard it. And with it being the final debate, even if they refute or counter it, they'll have to do it in the press and not in front of 50 million or so peeps.

What I took from the 2nd debate just from reading and talking to peeps is that they both looked kind of bad up there. Constantly bickering with each other is what it sounds like happened. To me, a conservative but also one who loves politics, that helps Romney. If peeps came away with an unfavorable opinion of them bickering, it will most likely bring down Odumbas favorables. Romney's are already not great so if Odumba's comes down, it equals that sector of voting public.

Not sure about this but heard that Romney made huge gains with Women in the swing states ??? not sure but thats whay I remember hearing or some shit like that. The whole Libya thing has taken Odumba down on handling of foreign affairs. So the last sector that Odumba had a huge lead is his favorables. So hopefully his favorables came down after last nights debate. The last part is obviously from me a conservative.

Not saying Romney is going to win, but...

It really seems that Odumba overdemonized Romney, to the point where once the peeps saw him at the first debate, they decided overwhelmingly that he was not a felon, murderer and a liar. I hope Odumba is happy with spending 200million dollars trying to kill Mitt, but with one debate, Romney squashed that shit.

Its prolly just me being a conservative but Odumba can't seem to get much right, right now. Poll show that shift after the debate, continues. It looks like Romney's momentum is continuing. The bounce Romney got out of that debacle of a debate from Odumba has stuck. It hasn't fallen back, yet anyway. So the VP debate and the 2nd debate, as I expected, didn't effect much but to keep the momentum on Romney's side, afaict.

I don't think its as much of a lead as Gallup has it, but still a lead, nonetheless.

Gallup's 7-day tracker had it tied a week after the first debate among their definition of likely voters.

They then changed their polling methodology and are getting results inconsistent with a lot of other pollsters.

We'll see if they got it right.

Gallup's 7-day tracker had it tied a week after the first debate among their definition of likely voters.

They then changed their polling methodology and are getting results inconsistent with a lot of other pollsters.

We'll see if they got it right.

But its been a lil while since that first debate and every day that goes by, Romney is getting more peeps to his side. So Gallups 7 day post debate numbers seem a lil low but pretty much on track.

You are correct, for a change :) , on gallup being a lil out of whack with the rest of the polls. They have it higher but Romney still has a lead and some polls show him with a lead outside the MOE.

As you said, we'll see...

Armed with his astounding knowledge of middle east geography and naval forces, Mitt won yet another debate!!!

Obama's been stealing from Jeff Foxworthy's "You might be a redneck" routine with Romnesia, but he ought to try stealing from "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader" too.

Mitt won the first one and the last 2 were even.

Odumba thinks he inherited a mess with the economy. If he gets re-elected, he can finally say that with and be the truth.

Odumba thinks he inherited a mess with the economy. If he gets re-elected, he can finally say that with and be the truth.

So he didn't inherit a mess with the economy? LOL

I'm loving all the national pollsters being shut down due to Hurricane Sandy.

So he didn't inherit a mess with the economy? LOL

I'm loving all the national pollsters being shut down due to Hurricane Sandy.

Its a joke. You didn't hear it? Things must be getting a lil desperate on the left. The are in panic mode.

Also, I bet you are loving polling being shut down...cuz YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH! :) your guy has no mo, but the storm may stop Romney's mo.

As an un-biased Australian everything I have read says that Romney has done much better than anticipated against Barak.... and Mitt might even win.

To that I say: WTF?

Obama swept into office on a red carpet, was handed a big fat steaming pile of shit and it seemed the gool ol' US of A said "please, please Mr Obama... someone has to DO something"

And after 4 years some of you expect everything to be squeaky clean, smelling of lavender and roses? Bunch of fucking window lickers! Y'all talk the short bus to school, didn't you?

Without having a massive majority to pass through whatever "reform" or "legistration" he and his party wanted it's no surprise "the recovery" has been slow.

Not that it makes a lick of difference who wins. Nothing will really change. The average person will be no better off than they are now. Costs of living rise faster than your wage!

Hope everyone is well after the storm... looked pretty fucking intense

http://norvig.com/election-faq-2012.html

Nice link, thanks.

Early turnout for Dems is down, way down in some states. Up for Pubs. We'll see...

Closest race in history?

http://tytempletonart.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/all-you-need-to-know-websize.jpg

The storm might have halted Romney's mo. Odumba might've got a lil luckly. But still dodging questions on the 4 murdered Americans in Libya is behyond belief for some peeps. Others, not so much.

Tahoe - what does Obama need to do to get you to vote for him?

As an outsider I'm interested to know what it would take to make someone "switch sides"

Chris Christie Denied Mitt Romney Request To Appear At Campaign Event Days Ahead Of 2012 Election
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/2012/11/05/chris-christie-mitt-romney_n_2079371.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003


Christie vs. Hillary in 2016?

Tahoe - what does Obama need to do to get you to vote for him?

As an outsider I'm interested to know what it would take to make someone "switch sides"

Help businesses not hurt them. Stop trying to make everyone equal with taxpayer money...ain't ever gonna happen...EVAH! Quit being such a dipshit in general.

Stop spending...in his case wasting money, on stupid shit.

Motörhead!!
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/lemmy-mitt-romney-is-a-monster-20121105

Late-breaking write-in candidate -- SHEED!!!!

http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2012/11/6/3605670/rasheed-wallace-for-president-the-list

Just got done cancelling Tahoe's vote :^)

The exit polls look great for John McCain.

Turned it off and watching West Wing instead. So much happier.

Congrats Peeps! Ur guy won.

Great night.

Tahoe - you mention wasting money. Didn't "your guy" (Bush) waste shitloads of money? Wars and all that

You also mentioned that you wanted Obama to help businesses... I'm not sure what in particular you want done but if its anything like here I'm guessing small businesses aren't helped by the government in power - regardless of which side they're from.

That's the nature of the beast my friend. Small businesses are never EVAH gonna get any help from the government. Who funds political parties? Who lobbies governments? Who really controls shit around the world?

If you think for one second the government of the day can do anything to help any individual or small business then you're nuts IMO. Big business, global companies control everything. Governments are powerless to stop big business because they are funded by big business. It's all well and good for a candidate to SAY they wanna change things - they wanna look after the average person, families, minorities, small business and all that shit they SAY

Then they get into office and NOTHING changes! Not because they dont give a fuck or because they're now on easy street. Nothing changes because any change to the status quo (good band) will mess with the people who PAID big fucking money to put them and every other elected person in the position they're in!

Do you honestly believe these big business DONATE money to political parties out of the goodness of their hearts? Do they think businesses that are flithy rich DONATE money because it's good business?

Or do you think businesses finance BOTH political parties to ensure a certain result?

If I owned a huge global company I would certainly finance both/all political parties... to ensure that I remained a huge fucking company! I'm not paying millions for change! I'm paying millions so you can do what I fucking tell you to do... hang on, that sounds sinister... I pay all that money in order to maintain my position...

"You know where your bread is buttered, right?"... and "you know who makes the fucking bread, right?"... and "you know who pays for the flour and yeast and stuff, right?"

You get the point, yeah?

Anyway, congrats to Obama and all his supporters... but IMO Mitt (what kind of stupid name is that!) lost the election more than Obama won it. Bit stupid pissing off some women and some minorites... hard to win when you piss off some of the key sections of the population. The fact it was still so close means Romney has to live with the fact he fucked it all up!

And now the talk is all about how Obama needs to "cross the aisle" to "make change happen" LMFAO!

There's your problem straight away... if a policy is good for the people then it should be a slam dunk! You rule for the majority, not any one little section. But some of y'all are crazy about being red or blue over there. A gang mentality... a mob mentality...

I do like the fact Obama said something to the effect of "If an elderly woman in Shitsville USA can't afford both rent and medication and is forced to choose.. that worries me even if she's not related to me"... FUCK YEAH!

How the fuck can we call ourselves civalised when we have people "worth" billions of dollars while people BEG... fucking BEG for food? Like a dog! Like a PET! That's BULLSHIT! No one should have billions of dollars when people on this planet don;t have fucking water or food or housing! It's just fucking WRONG!

And if any HUMAN can't fucking understand that and stands behind the "I'm a self made man. I've never been given a hand out ever" then fuck you too pal! Good for you! I'm happy you've had a good life or a decent one or a reasonable one. I've never got a hand out either but like Tupac once said "don't want a hand out... just a hand UP!" Fuckers need to realise that there are people all over the world that are suffering... and THAT should offend you!

Gay and lesbian marriage? Who gives a fuck? PEOPLE ARE STARVING TO DEATH! How fucking civalised are we when we debate abortion... "was she raped? Well that might change my opinion on the subject but in ALL other cases fuck you you can't have an abortion"... WHAT? Fuck off with your bullshit! PEOPLE ARE STARVING TO DEATH!

Maybe not in your neighborhood, maybe not in your town, maybe not in your state (blue or red?).... but it's fucking happening... you know about it... so get the fuck outta here with whatever pathetic shit you wanna debate while you sit in your nice house (rented or not) with running water, electricty and all your fucking iGadgets...

It's not all about "I".. ipod, ipad, iphone iOFFENDED!

For the life of me I cannot believe that the vast majority of the world's wealth is owned by such a tiny percentage of the world's population... and the majority ALLOW that shit to continue! Cause make no mistake about it - the vast majority of the planet are fed the fuck up with this shit! But there is the problem!

Assume everyone that gives a fuck actually gave $100 to some random candidate who would run for President... and he fucking won.... what happens next? Dude has to "cross the aisle" to get shit done!

LMFAO!

How much do you honestly think that cunt could get done in Washington? The system is set up to ensure ain't nothing gonna change, boys.

Gonna book a trip to Colorado just to walk into a store to buy a nickelbag... Rocky Mountain High.. Colorado... next stop Washington!

tl;dr lolllerz


Tahoe - you mention wasting money. Didn't "your guy" (Bush) waste shitloads of money? Wars and all that

You also mentioned that you wanted Obama to help businesses... I'm not sure what in particular you want done but if its anything like here I'm guessing small businesses aren't helped by the government in power - regardless of which side they're from.

That's the nature of the beast my friend. Small businesses are never EVAH gonna get any help from the government. Who funds political parties? Who lobbies governments? Who really controls shit around the world?

If you think for one second the government of the day can do anything to help any individual or small business then you're nuts IMO. Big business, global companies control everything. Governments are powerless to stop big business because they are funded by big business. It's all well and good for a candidate to SAY they wanna change things - they wanna look after the average person, families, minorities, small business and all that shit they SAY

Then they get into office and NOTHING changes! Not because they dont give a fuck or because they're now on easy street. Nothing changes because any change to the status quo (good band) will mess with the people who PAID big fucking money to put them and every other elected person in the position they're in!

Do you honestly believe these big business DONATE money to political parties out of the goodness of their hearts? Do they think businesses that are flithy rich DONATE money because it's good business?

Or do you think businesses finance BOTH political parties to ensure a certain result?

If I owned a huge global company I would certainly finance both/all political parties... to ensure that I remained a huge fucking company! I'm not paying millions for change! I'm paying millions so you can do what I fucking tell you to do... hang on, that sounds sinister... I pay all that money in order to maintain my position...

"You know where your bread is buttered, right?"... and "you know who makes the fucking bread, right?"... and "you know who pays for the flour and yeast and stuff, right?"

You get the point, yeah?

Anyway, congrats to Obama and all his supporters... but IMO Mitt (what kind of stupid name is that!) lost the election more than Obama won it. Bit stupid pissing off some women and some minorites... hard to win when you piss off some of the key sections of the population. The fact it was still so close means Romney has to live with the fact he fucked it all up!

And now the talk is all about how Obama needs to "cross the aisle" to "make change happen" LMFAO!

There's your problem straight away... if a policy is good for the people then it should be a slam dunk! You rule for the majority, not any one little section. But some of y'all are crazy about being red or blue over there. A gang mentality... a mob mentality...

I do like the fact Obama said something to the effect of "If an elderly woman in Shitsville USA can't afford both rent and medication and is forced to choose.. that worries me even if she's not related to me"... FUCK YEAH!

How the fuck can we call ourselves civalised when we have people "worth" billions of dollars while people BEG... fucking BEG for food? Like a dog! Like a PET! That's BULLSHIT! No one should have billions of dollars when people on this planet don;t have fucking water or food or housing! It's just fucking WRONG!

And if any HUMAN can't fucking understand that and stands behind the "I'm a self made man. I've never been given a hand out ever" then fuck you too pal! Good for you! I'm happy you've had a good life or a decent one or a reasonable one. I've never got a hand out either but like Tupac once said "don't want a hand out... just a hand UP!" Fuckers need to realise that there are people all over the world that are suffering... and THAT should offend you!

Gay and lesbian marriage? Who gives a fuck? PEOPLE ARE STARVING TO DEATH! How fucking civalised are we when we debate abortion... "was she raped? Well that might change my opinion on the subject but in ALL other cases fuck you you can't have an abortion"... WHAT? Fuck off with your bullshit! PEOPLE ARE STARVING TO DEATH!

Maybe not in your neighborhood, maybe not in your town, maybe not in your state (blue or red?).... but it's fucking happening... you know about it... so get the fuck outta here with whatever pathetic shit you wanna debate while you sit in your nice house (rented or not) with running water, electricty and all your fucking iGadgets...

It's not all about "I".. ipod, ipad, iphone iOFFENDED!

For the life of me I cannot believe that the vast majority of the world's wealth is owned by such a tiny percentage of the world's population... and the majority ALLOW that shit to continue! Cause make no mistake about it - the vast majority of the planet are fed the fuck up with this shit! But there is the problem!

Assume everyone that gives a fuck actually gave $100 to some random candidate who would run for President... and he fucking won.... what happens next? Dude has to "cross the aisle" to get shit done!

LMFAO!

How much do you honestly think that cunt could get done in Washington? The system is set up to ensure ain't nothing gonna change, boys.

Anyway, congrats to Obama and all his supporters... but IMO Mitt (what kind of stupid name is that!) lost the election more than Obama won it. Bit stupid pissing off some women and some minorites... hard to win when you piss off some of the key sections of the population. The fact it was still so close means Romney has to live with the fact he fucked it all up!
It wasn't really that close. Give Mitt Romney 3% more of the popular vote and Obama still wins. The nature of the Electoral College really fucks up how elections play out. I'd love to have mandatory voting like y'all have in Australia.

excuse the rant people - was watching some depressing shit

Mxy, being forced to vote doesn't mean people care or pay more attention over here. IMO we care less about politics than you guys do

Thought I would drop in and post for once (been a long while). Two things:

1) I see Tahoe still hasn't learned
2) Pharaoh is back?!?!?!

Wow, hi Chris.

Hey, somebody we can remove from "The WTF Dead List"!

http://politicalwire.com/images/Screen%20Shot%202012-11-07%20at%208.16.28%20PM.png

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/romney-staff-credit-cards-110812

Yes Chris... I'm Back!

Where the fuck have you been :)

s7GsZix0Lrk

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/11/inside-team-romneys-whale-of-an-it-meltdown/

excuse the rant people - was watching some depressing shit

Mxy, being forced to vote doesn't mean people care or pay more attention over here. IMO we care less about politics than you guys do

It does make voter disenfranchisement harder, though. In a variety of states, laws were passed (then fought in the courts) with the aim of discouraging would-be voters. Compulsory voting makes a lot of that shit go away. And, at least you get some real idea of "the will of the people", as opposed to our system where 40% don't show up. For anyone who thinks this would make for some permanent Democratic majority, Pharaoh -- just how much of a lefty was John Howard? :)

Used to think compulsory voting was a bad idea. Still think so for the most part. But I heard an interview with an election historian who says the primary thing it does is assures parties that their base will show up so that campaigns don't have to pander to the extremes or pretend their opponents ideas are going to cause satan to take over the urf. Says elections become about the moderates who truly agree with some planks of both sides' platform and determining which is better for this point in time. That sounded appealing.

Howard was extremely popular... but he hung on too long and the mob turned against him.

IF he had of handed the top job over to his #2 (Costello) the Liberal Party would probably still be in power today

Fun Fact... at one time Australian politics (Liberal Party) featured Abbott and Costello in important positions :)

I do think our elections tend to focus on the big issues more than the bullshit - although the rest of the time is full of bullshit personal attacks but whatever

When an election is on it seems both parties focus on the issues in an effort to sway those "swinging" votes that decide the election...

Considering how much money is spent over in the US on election campaigns maybe forcing people to vote is the way to go?

Of course, not having the opposing party beat the shit out of each other so they can choose a candidate to run for President might be a better way to go... seems foolish to trash your own party members in public in an effort to become the candidate... and then square off against the President after the public has heard and read all your dirty little secrets

Hey P, so over here the public is the primary funder of election campaigns (even before the latest Supreme Court rulling that allowed billionaires to fund their own campaign messages the main funding of presidential campaigns came from government funding) and the media kind of just watches things go down and reports on it, but in Britain, their campaign financing laws severely limit the public directly financing of campaigns. This has the benefit of not allowing billionaires to control the message (like happens here) but it has the negative effect of giving the media (newspapers in particular) has a monopoly on campaign messages and way too large role in choosing government officials as the pretty much have to lobby for different media endorsements to have an avenue for getting out their message.

How does it work down-under? Do you see a shit load of political advertisements al over the place funded by political groups or does everything go through the established media companies who pick a candidate to support? Rupport Murdoch is an Aussie, right? Does he run shit during campaign time because he owns all the papers/news channels?

All media (IMO) tend to favor the Liberal Party more than Labour.. and that's to be expected because the Libs apparently are all about businesses and screwing the worker :)

Note that "Liberal" has an almost entirely different meaning outside of Oz.

Mods,

Election is over. Please cease-thread.

DrRay11

Awww, c'mon -- there's interesting tidbits to be had!

http://protectourelections.org/index.php?q=node/1107

Fallout from Obama's re-election:

WQV_YKBvxbc

It wasn't really that close. Give Mitt Romney 3% more of the popular vote and Obama still wins. The nature of the Electoral College really fucks up how elections play out. I'd love to have mandatory voting like y'all have in Australia.

Actually, give Mitt Romney 5% more of the popular vote in each state and Obama still wins.

But they're having lunch together today.