Between Barack and a Hard Place: Ultimate US Elections 2012 Thread

[the4thpip]

[the4thpip]

And if anyone doubts that Palin still has an army of supporters on the web, check out the results of the online poll here:
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/ba..._m.html?r=news

[FalconX2000]

Many of the better US Presidents are people, who if alive tody, mot of Us would not let inside their front door, Washington, Wilson and Jefferson for example. The likeability of a president has little to do with his capablity and Job performance

Agreed.

On the other end of the scale, Lincoln was very likable and was derided after getting the nomination as a poorly educated simpleton who was there just because he was relatable to the average man. Carter was unlikable and rather lacking in presidential quality, though not as horrible as his reputation suggests.

[inferno]

And e-mailed blocked. I hope.

I would reflexively block you; but I am neither a Communist nor a medieval priest.

[the4thpip]

Meanwhile, Herman Cain's campaign lied about not working with gay people.

"A conservative candidate, Mr. Cain is on the record as stating that he believes homosexuality is a sin and a choice. And they know that, if his top adviser, his highly paid adviser, is openly gay that it would cast a negative light on Mr. Cain and would cost him in his efforts to become president," he testified. "Basically the campaign was trying to cover up the fact that Mr. Toomey was still involved. They asked ... me to help them cover up that fact."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...79c4750bb52386

Look, we can't possibly let our prospective voters know that we are not QUITE as bigoted as they are! They'll vote Constitution Party instead!

[Michael P]

That depends on wether you think that Obama has the Balls to nominate anyone to the left of center to the court and fight it though.

He's already done it twice.

[worstblogever]

In GOP Candidates pandering to the right-wing base news...

Mitt Romney praises former VP Dick Cheney, calling him "wise" before a crowd of retirees in Sun Lakes Retirement Community, in AZ. If you want a reason to not like the crowd, note at the end of the story where a guy shakes Romney's hand and tells him about how he made a "political statement" by naming his yacht "DEREGULATION".

Meanwhile, Michelle Bachmann met with Joe Arpaio, the self-professed "America's Toughest Sheriff" to gain support. Nevermind that he's been in the center of corruption charges throughout his sheriff's office, or that he's refusing to tell the county he works for what he does with tens of millions of dollars in funding, or obstructs federal investigations into wrongdoing within his jurisdiction (among other crooked goings-on)... that's all fine because, "He's tough on criminals and hates illegal immigrants! GET HIS SUPPORT!"

[the4thpip]

Posted a bit about this on another thread, but Savage sums it up nicely.

For those of you confused why Michele Bachmann is jumping on Jenny McCarthy's "vaccines are bad, mkay?" bandwagon:

"Religious conservatives loved the HPV virus because it killed women. Here was a potentially fatal STI that condoms couldn't protect you from. Abstinence educators pointed to HPV and jumped up and down—they loved to overstate HPV's seriousness and its deadliness—in their efforts to scare kids into saving themselves for marriage. And they fought the introduction of the HPV vaccine tooth-and-nail because vaccinating women against HPV would 'undermine' the abstinence message. Given a choice between your wife, daughter, sister, or mom dying of cervical cancer or no longer being to scream "HPV IS GOING TO KILL YOU!" at classrooms full of terrified teenagers, socially conservative abstinence 'educators' preferred the former." -

Dan Savage, writing for Slog.

[PiratesPensSteelers]

I wasn't calling you a name, I told you to go fuck yourself. That's not calling a name, that's making a suggestion.

And in my defense, you were talking about developmental aid in general and you were acting like a selfish, spoiled child.

I spend a large part of my free time volunteering and raising donations for social causes. I take that kind of stuff personal.

And if somebody I'd chatted with for years here had said the same thing, they would have gotten the same suggestion from me.

And that comes back round to something I mentioned about posters in Ritas the other day. Washington Irving wrote "He could never enjoy the kernel of the nut, but pestered himself to get more out of the shell."

I'm talking about people getting ganged up on here and calling names, and because I can't remember word for word what you said months ago you dismiss my point and focus on the fact that I said calling names and not obnoxious behavior like telling someone to fuck off because we don't see the world in the cliched and cotton candy vision you do.

It's cool that you want to paraphrase Douglas Adams and pretend you have an original thought and use it as a reason to mock people, but let's focus on the kernel here. The minority in the thread here don't get treated fairly, and you're one of the main culprits.

You have good points, a lot of which I agree with. But your tone is shit and it gets you nowhere. I can remember plenty from that Bin Laden conversation months ago. I remember a lot that Nick Soapdish had to say and it went a long way in changing my viewpoint that day. You...I remember nothing you said other than you not being able to hold a conversation without getting all militant about it.

Nobody cares that you volunteer if you're going to use it as an excuse to get on your pedestal and be a bully later.

[the4thpip]

I was paraphrasing Adams?
Adams is actually one of the major gaps in my trivial culture knowledge. What was I paraphrasing there, just out of curiosity?

[PiratesPensSteelers]

I was paraphrasing Adams?
Adams is actually one of the major gaps in my trivial culture knowledge. What was I paraphrasing there, just out of curiosity?

With the whole not all opinions and viewpoints are not of equal value thing.

"I don’t accept the currently fashionable assertion that any view is automatically as worthy of respect as any equal and opposite view."

It's a true statement both of you made, I just think it's pretty easy not to add "fool" to the end of your opposing and superior view.

[the4thpip]

With the whole not all opinions and viewpoints are not of equal value thing.

"I don’t accept the currently fashionable assertion that any view is automatically as worthy of respect as any equal and opposite view."

It's a true statement both of you made, I just think it's pretty easy not to add "fool" to the end of your opposing and superior view.

The idea is not very far fetched, so I am sure Adams was not the first to have it, either. Seems like common sense to me that sadly, got lost in parts of the foolish media.

[the4thpip]

Contrary to what many pundits believe, a new poll shows that President Obama continues to earn fairly strong support among those who backed him in 2008. However, around 20% of his former fans do say they will not vote for him again. That's a margin to be very worried about.

http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2011/09...upporters.html

[finfangfool]

First off, Mods: We need a damn +/- on comments for this board. The comment about Glen Rice being known for nailing 3s on page three had me having to clean off my keyboard. So mad I can't plus that.

As for Barack vs the Republican field, I still think it's only down to Romney. Perry's too Bush-like. And even though I think he's been misinterpreted as far as his views on Social Security, just the doubt raised on the issue will probably be enough to let Obama carry Florida. His positions and background work great for winning parts of the country that are reliably Republican already, but don't really help outside of those areas. Romney on the other hand I could see putting more states into play, though I'm not sure he could do that as just the Vice Presidential candidate. As a lefty myself I really hope Perry holds on to his lead through the primaries. Maybe I'm naive, but I really think he's beatable, even in this economy.

If it would help Obama's chances, wouldn't mind seeing Biden swap places with Hillary and take over as Secretary of State and let her get the base excited by taking over the Vice Presidency. Not to be vulgar, but she seems to have more balls than Obama and might help him push harder for more traditional lefty positions (or at least not fold like a cheap card table before he even gets to negotiations with the other side).

[the4thpip]

If it would help Obama's chances, wouldn't mind seeing Biden swap places with Hillary and take over as Secretary of State and let her get the base excited by taking over the Vice Presidency. Not to be vulgar, but she seems to have more balls than Obama and might help him push harder for more traditional lefty positions (or at least not fold like a cheap card table before he even gets to negotiations with the other side).

They seem to have been grooming John Kerry for secretary of state for a while now. I think Biden might just retire. He'll turn 69 this November.

And of course, if Ruth Bader Ginsburg plays it safe and retires in time for Obama to replace her in his first time, Hillary might be her replacement.