Only One Year to Go

[rick]

One year from today, January 20, 2009, the new president of the United States will be inaugurated into office, and no matter who that person is, it will mark the end of the most inept and corrupt administration in American history.

Centuries from now, the historians will still be writing books about the criminality, veniality and smug certainty in the face of their own reprehensible actions of the Bush administration.

Let’s hope the mad bastard manages to keep a low profile for the rest of his term and not fuck things up any worse than he already has.

[Ronald Bryan]

Fortunately, it's too late for Bush to get the two term limit eliminated.

[Spike-X]

Let’s hope the mad bastard manages to keep a low profile for the rest of his term and not fuck things up any worse than he already has.

Yeah, good luck with that.

I'm still half expecting him to declare martial law and suspend elections indefinitely. I hope it doesn't happen, but it honestly would not surprise me at this point.

[Ronald Bryan]

Yeah, good luck with that.

I'm still half expecting him to declare martial law and suspend elections indefinitely. I hope it doesn't happen, but it honestly would not surprise me at this point.
DON'T GIVE HIM IDEAS!

[Gingold]

It will be very nice to have a president who speaks English again.

[Rabid Trekkie]

Here's hoping the next won't be as bad as the last. I mean throughout history we always seem to say, "It can't get any worse." and the minute we say that fate's sarcastic sense of humor comes into play.

[StoneGold]

One year from today, January 20, 2009, the new president of the United States will be inaugurated into office, and no matter who that person is, it will mark the end of the most inept and corrupt administration in American history.


Just out of curiosity, are you saying it is the most inept and corrupt combined, or it is the most inept administration, as well as the most corrupt? Because I think you might have something if you combine the two. But separately, there were more inept and corrupt administrations.

[Donald M.]

Just out of curiosity, are you saying it is the most inept and corrupt combined, or it is the most inept administration, as well as the most corrupt? Because I think you might have something if you combine the two. But separately, there were more inept and corrupt administrations.

Yeah, on the corruption front Ulysses S. Grant and Warren Harding come immediately to mind, and it must have been a lot easier to be deeply corrupt in those days.

Or maybe not. Hardly anyone seems to care how corrupt Bush is.

Edit: And of course Richard Nixon . . . :(

[Michael P]

One year from today, January 20, 2009, the new president of the United States will be inaugurated into office, and no matter who that person is, it will mark the end of the most inept and corrupt administration in American history.
Oh, don't say that. You're just tempting God to make it the beginning.

[Tom-El]

Yeah, good luck with that.

I'm still half expecting him to declare martial law and suspend elections indefinitely. I hope it doesn't happen, but it honestly would not surprise me at this point.

I've discussed that very thing with my wife and friends. I contended that the emergency declared in Pakistan was a dry run for Bush.

It gives me chills!

Tom

[StoneGold]

I've discussed that very thing with my wife and friends. I contended that the emergency declared in Pakistan was a dry run for Bush.

It gives me chills!

Tom

And we've seen how well that's going.


Besides, too many people to assassinate in this case.

[Jack Zodiac]

A year's a long time. He could do all kinds of stupid, crazy shit in just a year.

[BlairH]

I've discussed that very thing with my wife and friends. I contended that the emergency declared in Pakistan was a dry run for Bush.

It gives me chills!

Tom

Just remember that the tinfoil hats actually amplify the mind control signals.

[Michael P]

A year's a long time. He could do all kinds of stupid, crazy shit in just a year.

Oh, I think we all know the chances are much, much higher than "could."

[Sean Whitmore]

I just hope the next guy isn't too smart, or all the stand-up comedians are gonna be in a bit of a bind.

Nothing quite so sad as beginning a routine with, "Hey, remember how dumb the last guy was?"


SEAN

[Mac Danny]

Please just elect someone who believes that the earth is older than it says in the Bible. Please please please!

[Donald M.]

I just hope the next guy isn't too smart, or all the stand-up comedians are gonna be in a bit of a bind.

Nothing quite so sad as beginning a routine with, "Hey, remember how dumb the last guy was?"


SEAN

Don't worry, Hilary's our next President. Between her and Bubba being back in the White House (albeit in a lesser role) there'll be no shortage of material.

Yeah I know I could be wrong, but I've got a feeling about this one.

Of course, I've voted for the losing candidate in every Presidential election I've participated in so far, so my feelings aren't especially reliable.

[Rabid Trekkie]

Please just elect someone who believes that the earth is older than it says in the Bible. Please please please!

I'd settle for a guy who treats the Earth with a little respect. Don't care if he believes it started last Wednesday as long as he's not trying to kill it by the next.

[Sean Whitmore]

I'd settle for a guy who treats the Earth with a little respect. Don't care if he believes it started last Wednesday as long as he's not trying to kill it by the next.

An environment-friendly president would be nice, but it's unlikely. There's no money to be made in it.

I'd settle for someone who doesn't believe stem cells should all have individual names.


SEAN

[Omega Alpha]

Two things that I'm really looking forward when Bush leaves.

1) Obviously, Bush won't be there anymore.
2) Who are Chavez and other left-wing populists from Latin America and the rest of the world are going to blame for all the problems in their countries and the planet. Whoever is the next president won't be so easy of a target. My bet is on evil corporations that want little children and their puppies dead.

[Nitmo]

Just remember that the tinfoil hats actually amplify the mind control signals.

It's true

Some guy at MIT actually found this out!!

Here's the proof! (http://people.csail.mit.edu/rahimi/helmet/)

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

2) Who are Chavez and other left-wing populists from Latin America and the rest of the world are going to blame for all the problems in their countries and the planet. Whoever is the next president won't be so easy of a target. My bet is on evil corporations that want little children and their puppies dead.

Probably the President who is screwing them for the corporations.

Get your head out of the sand, they really are getting screwed by your government for not towing the line (ie. doing what their people want).

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

Besides, too many people to assassinate in this case.

I don't know - if Haliburton gets a contract for 'grave digging', then I'd invest in quicklime.

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

Besides, too many people to assassinate in this case.

I don't know - if Haliburton gets a contract for 'grave digging', then I'd invest in quicklime.

[Serik]

Too bad this wasn't the case on January 20, 2004...

GG America, GG indeed.

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

Don't worry, Hilary's our next President.

I like how she uses the fact she's a woman as part of her candidacy - 'show everyone women are equal, by voting for me because I'm a woman'.

The sad part is, a lot of people will vote just because of that, regardless of her policies or fitness for the job.

[Paul McEnery]

I like how she uses the fact she's a woman as part of her candidacy - 'show everyone women are equal, by voting for me because I'm a woman'.

The sad part is, a lot of people will vote just because of that, regardless of her policies or fitness for the job.

Nah, the sad thing is, we've got a choice between two centre right politicians both running on nothing but gesture politics: vote for me because I'm black/female.

Is it too late for Rice to run for the Republicans?

[Sean Whitmore]

I like how she uses the fact she's a woman as part of her candidacy - 'show everyone women are equal, by voting for me because I'm a woman'.

The sad part is, a lot of people will vote just because of that, regardless of her policies or fitness for the job.

On the other hand, that'll probably be canceled out by all the people who don't vote for her because she's a woman, so it all comes out in the wash.


SEAN

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

On the other hand, that'll probably be canceled out by all the people who don't vote for her because she's a woman, so it all comes out in the wash.


SEAN

But we're meant to all be equal now.

It just makes me sad to hear people talk about equality, and then in the next sentence how good it will be to have a black man/any woman in the top seat to show how equal we are.

It's just missing the damn point altogether.

[Valmore]

But we're meant to all be equal now.

It just makes me sad to hear people talk about equality, and then in the next sentence how good it will be to have a black man/any woman in the top seat to show how equal we are.

It's just missing the damn point altogether.

Because we haven't had a black or female in the top seat? Being first is kind of a historic thing, you know.

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

Because we haven't had a black or female in the top seat? Being first is kind of a historic thing, you know.

Yeah, but they are trying to take it in the name of equality, and as such, they, and the voters, should be going into this both colour blind, and genitalia blind.
That's true equality.

[Serik]

Fuck monetary policy, foreign policy, anything policy...let's make the Democratic nomination all about race and gender.

At least that's what I think it's come to based on my RSS feeds from CNN, MSNBC, etc.

[Rattlehead]

I like how she uses the fact she's a woman as part of her candidacy - 'show everyone women are equal, by voting for me because I'm a woman'.

The sad part is, a lot of people will vote just because of that, regardless of her policies or fitness for the job.

Don't count on that. I'm guessing a lot of women won't vote for her just because she's a woman. All the women I've talked to about her aren't exactly thrilled with the way she's been running her campaign, and she's still being vague about just what she wants to do if she wins. She's a phony, and her handlers don't seem too concerned with hiding that fact. I think Edwards is still very much in the race as well. Hillary is acting as if she's already won the nomination, but it's still anybodies race right now.

[Dreadstar]

... and she's still being vague about just what she wants to do if she wins.


Business as usual then.


And before folk go incendiary, it's not just Hilary.

[thespianphryne]

Nah, the sad thing is, we've got a choice between two centre right politicians both running on nothing but gesture politics: vote for me because I'm black/female.

Is it too late for Rice to run for the Republicans?

She's part of a chamber music quintet!

[Shellhead]

I'm guessing a lot of women won't vote for her just because she's a woman. All the women I've talked to about her aren't exactly thrilled with the way she's been running her campaign, and she's still being vague about just what she wants to do if she wins.

There was a female reporter on Meet the Press last Sunday who complained that it was disappointing and inappropriate that the first serious female candidate for president needed her husband to go out and campaign for her.

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

Don't count on that. I'm guessing a lot of women won't vote for her just because she's a woman. All the women I've talked to about her aren't exactly thrilled with the way she's been running her campaign, and she's still being vague about just what she wants to do if she wins. She's a phony, and her handlers don't seem too concerned with hiding that fact. I think Edwards is still very much in the race as well. Hillary is acting as if she's already won the nomination, but it's still anybodies race right now.

I'm a big fan of Edwards campaign and views, but unfortunately for him, it really is hard being a white male in this race.

For personal preference I'd put him first, then Obama, then Clinton (if I have to put her).

Like Bush, she seems to have no reason to be running (changes she wants to make, an agenda she wants to push etc) except that she wants the power.
And that's a scary person to give power to.

[rick]

Honestly I don't care if the winner is the chick, the black dude or the white guy with the hair, just not another Republican.

We've had enough evil to last us a little while.

[cactusmaac]

Just see this as the 4 to 8 year gap before Jeb gets in.

[Drew Van T.]

One year from today, January 20, 2009, the new president of the United States will be inaugurated into office, and no matter who that person is, it will mark the end of the most inept and corrupt administration in American history.

There's one question left to be decided: which legacy of his will be considered to be the most lasting, the most weighty, in 2009?

The legacy of the disaster that is Iraq, or the legacy that he presided over an economic recession in his final year?

For a long time, you might have assumed that it was going to be the first, and it might yet be, but both the Surge (a political failure but not entirely without getting Bush results) and the nascent economic turmoil suggest that it's not a done deal yet. As with his daddy, the recession in his final year could yet eclipse everything else.

[rick]

There was a female reporter on Meet the Press last Sunday who complained that it was disappointing and inappropriate that the first serious female candidate for president needed her husband to go out and campaign for her.


Yeah, but that was Peggy Noonan who has spent the last 15 years writing about how evil and awful the Clintons are.

As a former speechwriter for Reagan, she hardly is what anyone would consider fair or balanced.

[Shellhead]

As with his daddy, the recession in his final year could yet eclipse everything else.

Hopefully this recession will squash any nonsense about making the Bush tax cuts permanent. If tax cuts for the rich were good for the economy, we would have seen results by now. So much for supply-side economics, with its colorful trickle-down metaphor.

[Shellhead]

Yeah, but that was Peggy Noonan who has spent the last 15 years writing about how evil and awful the Clintons are.

As a former speechwriter for Reagan, she hardly is what anyone would consider fair or balanced.

Ah, that makes sense. I missed the first ten minutes, so I knew she looked familiar, but I didn't catch her name. And here I was assuming that she was rooting for Obama, when she is just supporting anybody against Hillary.

[Drew Van T.]

Hopefully this recession will squash any nonsense about making the Bush tax cuts permanent.

It indubitably will.

The stimulus plan being hammered out in Congress right now contains some welcome relief (more unemployment and food stamp benefits, for one thing) but the tax cuts in it will not have a major impact on the economy. Most Americans will use the tax rebates to pay off a small part of their debts, and the rest will probably go towards buying something at Wal-mart that was produced in China...

[Sean Walsh]

Yeah, but they are trying to take it in the name of equality, and as such, they, and the voters, should be going into this both colour blind, and genitalia blind.
That's true equality.

And of course, if you don't vote for them............you're racist and/or sexist. I've heard that one bandied about quite a bit already...

[Serik]

And of course, if you don't vote for them............you're racist and/or sexist. I've heard that one bandied about quite a bit already...

When I told my mother I didn't support Hillary Clinton's bid for the presidency, she immediately fired back, "Why? Because she's a woman?" I was disappointed to say the least. Nah, I just don't support political hacks, that's all. :D

[Valmore]

Yeah, but they are trying to take it in the name of equality, and as such, they, and the voters, should be going into this both colour blind, and genitalia blind.
That's true equality.

It's hard to say we have an equal society when it comes to the highest office until one of them actually claims it.

Though they probably both got beaten out by the first gay President by a century or so.

[Rachel Grey]

Looks at the running campaigns. So this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause.

[BoosterBronze]

I just hope the next guy isn't too smart, or all the stand-up comedians are gonna be in a bit of a bind.

Nothing quite so sad as beginning a routine with, "Hey, remember how dumb the last guy was?"


SEAN

I saw Dennis Miller last year, and in an hour set he did 20 minutes of Clinton/Lewinski jokes.

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

It's hard to say we have an equal society when it comes to the highest office until one of them actually claims it.

Though they probably both got beaten out by the first gay President by a century or so.

So you'd rather not have the best person for the job, but one that makes a statement?

[BoosterBronze]

It's hard to say we have an equal society when it comes to the highest office until one of them actually claims it.

Though they probably both got beaten out by the first gay President by a century or so.

BUCHANAN WASN'T GAY!!!

He just didn't like women and had close friendships with men he lived with, by his own words 'wooed' men and had a life partner Washington insiders called "Miss Nancy."

None of that means he was gay.

[Paul McEnery]

So you'd rather not have the best person for the job, but one that makes a statement?

Well, for the most part, you are just picking out the drapes.

[Paul McEnery]

It's hard to say we have an equal society when it comes to the highest office until one of them actually claims it.

Though they probably both got beaten out by the first gay President by a century or so.

There's a "black" President somewhere in the mix, isn't there?

And I've got a terrible feeling that was Buchanan as well.













And for God's sake, there's a woman got to be Pope! You'd think we could run one for the Presidency without making such a fuss.

[filterpunk]

The sad thing is that people are, as usual, backing candidates for the wrong reasons. Plenty of people will vote for Hilary because she's a woman or Obama because he's black, but I doubt that most of them can say much about their policies beyond the overly broad buzzwords being tossed out by the candidates themselves. So, while those supporters can toss out little convenient factoids from her speeches, they rarely know the specifics behind them.

Anyone else notice that she put out a plan to alleviate the effects of the subprime mortgage crisis, but seems to conveniently ignore people with an adjustable line of credit rather than an adjustable mortgage loan? She also notes it as being strictly applicable to subprime borrowers, despite the fact that changes to the federal rates have impacted regular borrowers too.

[Nitmo]

And of course, if you don't vote for them............you're racist and/or sexist. I've heard that one bandied about quite a bit already...

One of the girls at work keeps telling me that Hillary's screwed because she's a woman. If she acts all emotionless, she's a bitch, and if not, she's too weak for the job.

And this is the point where I ask her, who says that? and she just ignores the question.

[Tom]

One of the girls at work keeps telling me that Hillary's screwed because she's a woman. If she acts all emotionless, she's a bitch, and if not, she's too weak for the job.

And this is the point where I ask her, who says that?

The media. Constantly.

[Nitmo]

The media. Constantly.

Well, they're practically the only ones. Unfortunately they've become a little too powerful

[Serik]

If Hillary is elected (and reelected), that will mean 28 years of Bush/Clinton presidencies...that's kinda troubling, that the best we can do is these two families. I mean honestly.

[Tom]

The sad thing is that people are, as usual, backing candidates for the wrong reasons. Plenty of people will vote for Hilary because she's a woman or Obama because he's black, but I doubt that most of them can say much about their policies beyond the overly broad buzzwords being tossed out by the candidates themselves. This is no different than voting for Huckabee because he's an evangelical Christian or Romney because he's Mormon or Bush because he's from Texas.

Mind you, I'm not saying these are good reasons to vote for someone, but identity politics are always major factors in voters' decisions.

[filterpunk]

This is no different than voting for Huckabee because he's an evangelical Christian or Romney because he's Mormon or Bush because he's from Texas.

It's completely different, actually. If you're a conservative Christian and see that Huckabee is too, you know that his religion is a system of beliefs, so it's at least a reasonable assumption that he's pro-life and against gay marriage. That doesn't mean that there are no Southern Baptists that support both or either of those things, but it's probably not very common.

On the other hand, if a candidate is a woman or a minority, there's not much you can infer about their political positions, other than that they probably support their own interests. That's a foregone conclusion, since it's probably not too likely that a woman who's worked into a position of power supports the idea that women should all be barefoot, pregnant, and making dinner or that a black man is going to support the idea of a return to slavery.

Inferring anything about someone's political positions based on their race or gender would just be baseless speculation, while knowing their religion would at least provide some degree of insight into their beliefs. I understand what you were getting at, but I don't think the criteria is the same.

[Drew Van T.]

If Hillary is elected (and reelected), that will mean 28 years of Bush/Clinton presidencies...that's kinda troubling, that the best we can do is these two families. I mean honestly.

It would be Shakespearian, and not in a good way.

Every democratic political culture has a few prominent "dynasties" among its elite, that's not out of the ordinary, but it's rare to find one where two families exchange the highest office between them.