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

[the4thpip]

Jerusalem - Officially, U.S. policy was that Jerusalem's status should be determined through negotiations, but he was on record that he favored Israeli rule.

That was not the question. Recognizing it as the country's capital.

[Charles RB]

Looks like more Americans still prefer Mitt over Barry. Let's hope we all get our wish.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/publ..._tracking_poll

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows President Obama attracting 47% of the vote, while Mitt Romney earns support from 45%. Four percent (4%) prefer some other candidate, and four percent (4%) are undecided.

Try again.

[Charles RB]

That was not the question. Recognizing it as the country's capital.

Even Dubya didn't want to do that.

[bringthenoise]

Try again.

I genuinely didn't even consider that Raspie would be THAT dumb. The mind boggles.

[The Darknight Detective]

That was not the question. Recognizing it as the country's capital.

Which I answered. Of course, Romney wouldn't have said what he said in 1980, either. Different times.

[the4thpip]

Which I answered.

Maybe in your head.

Whether Jerusalem is under shared rule or exclusively ruled by Israel is a related question, but not the same as whether Jerusalem (and not Tel Aviv) is being recognized as capital of the country.

[Darrell D.]

Reagan would still have gotten a pass today in today's climate if he cut taxes as much as he did during the '80s.

However, congressional Republicans would feel the wrath of the Tea Party. Therefore, Reagan would never have raised taxes if he were president today.

Reagan had plenty of problems with 'the other' (not white) and had a big problem with gay people (his inaction during the AIDS epidemic, for example), and he used the Southern Strategy to great success ('Welfare Queens').
He would fit in fine with the Tea Party and the batshit conservatives of today.

[Darrell D.]

I genuinely didn't even consider that Raspie would be THAT dumb. The mind boggles.

Really? I've seen goldfish grasp logic faster than that guy.

[The Darknight Detective]

Maybe in your head.

Whether Jerusalem is under shared rule or exclusively ruled by Israel is a related question, but not the same as whether Jerusalem (and not Tel Aviv) is being recognized as capital of the country.

It's a point of semantics, though, since it would still be Israeli rule either way. However, you're free to mark that as a more conservative moment for Romney. Does that make Romney so much more conservative than Reagan that the latter would have had zero chance of becoming the GOP's standard bearer? The evidence is still lacking.

[Matt Algren]

oh look, Mitt is lying again

Romney Falsely Accuses Obama Campaign Of Trying To Restrict Military Voting Rights

I am generally loathe to post something directly from the Obama campaign, but as one of the 93,000 Ohioans who voted in the three days before the 2008 election (waited for over three hours on a Saturday morning with several hundred people at my precinct), it's important for people outside Ohio to understand what Mitt Romney is lying about, what this lawsuit is about, and what Ohio Republicans are doing to voting rights in the state, and nobody else seems to be putting for the facts so succinctly.

What happened to early voting in Ohio?

• In the 2008 presidential election, more than 93,000 Ohioans utilized early voting in the three days before the election.
  
• Earlier this year, Ohio’s GOP-controlled legislature passed an election reform law that cut off early voting three days before the election.
  
• More than 300,000 Ohioans signed a petition to secure a referendum on the November 6th ballot in order to repeal this law. Rather than face the referendum, the legislature, at the urging of Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted, decided to repeal the law.
  
• However, “in an unusual turn of events,” Ohio Republicans managed to keep a technical provision of the bill that shortens the early voting process and eliminates the last three days of early voting for all citizens except military personnel and their families.

What does that mean for voters?

In addition to reducing Ohioans’ access to the polls, the legislature created inequality between military voters who can cast early ballots in person through the day before the election and all other voters who only have until 6 p.m. on the Friday before the election to vote in-person absentee.

Why is there a lawsuit?

These restrictions are a violation of the equal protection guarantees in the U.S. Constitution. The lawsuit seeks to make sure that all Ohioans, including military members and their families, can exercise their right to vote early. “This lawsuit seeks to treat all Ohio citizens equally under the law,” said Obama for America attorney Bob Bauer. “We want to restore the right of all to vote before Election Day.”

The facts show that Romney’s claim about restricting military voting is a blatant distortion. The purpose of the lawsuit is to ensure that every Ohioan—including military voters—has the right to make their voices heard at the polls.

Hopefully enough Ohioans remember the issue well enough to turn them against Romney. His lie should be a major issue.

[Abomination]

Even Dubya didn't want to do that.

Maybe not. But Obama did in 2008.

[bringthenoise]

Really? I've seen goldfish grasp logic faster than that guy.

Logic, yeah, but this is COUNTING.

[Charles RB]

Maybe not. But Obama did in 2008.

I don't remember that. Where did he say it?

EDIT: Ah, there we go. So by that precedent, Romney could also be fibbing to get pro-Israeli votes.

[Iangould]

It's a point of semantics, though, since it would still be Israeli rule either way. However, you're free to mark that as a more conservative moment for Romney. Does that make Romney so much more conservative than Reagan that the latter would have had zero chance of becoming the GOP's standard bearer? The evidence is still lacking.

No, it really isn't.

Israel claims to have unilaterally annexed all of Jerusalem.

US policy is not to recognize that claim and to support the division of Jerusalem with part of the city under Palestinian control, part under Israeli control and with a third small part encompassing the Temple mount under some sort of joint administration or international control.

Recognizing Jerusalem under current borders as Israels' capital is basically endorsing the annexation of East Jerusalem, the continued exclusive control of the Temple Mountain by Israel and by extension endorsing the policy of the most extreme and violent factions within the Israeli government.

Hell why not wipe your arse publicly on a Palestinian flag while you're at it?

[worstblogever]

I'm not sure the Romney campaign is going to want to use job creation numbers as a measuring stick from now until the election. Typically, the rate of increase goes up, historically each year from July through December, to pick up more staff for the back to school/holiday season, before finally job loss for one month a year (December into January, when holiday employees are laid off after Christmas season). Expect the Obama campaign to cite these, while the Romney campaign clings to unemployment percentage. Or as they often do, a claim of what the "real" unemployment rate is.

But when you see that graph, with a gray background during recessions that coincide with times when job growth stalled in years like the 1930s, 1981, 1990, 2000... it's pretty clear that the Obama administration actually is leading us out of a recession, in terms of employment at the very least.